text:
Pentagon's satellite termination leaves no clear plan for midcourse BMD tracking, despite years of work
Since President Ronald Reagan's time, U.S. Missile Defense experts have pursued the notion of "birth-to-death" tracking of ballistic missiles to improve the chances of an intercept. Though the billions of dollars spent on a new missile warning system have begun to bear fruit, the Pentagon is still struggling with workable blueprint to provide solid coverage, particularly in the infrared spectrum, during the crucial midcourse of a missile's flight—when it is most likely to be intercepted.
Advances with two Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS) demonstration satellites have proved that midcourse, space-based infrared tracking can alert Navy ships to launch interceptors accurately before their radars can see the incoming missiles. A test in February was an eye-opener for the Navy, which now hopes that improved sensors outside of the ship's radar—combined with responsive communications links—can reduce the number of Aegis assets needed to patrol for the anti-ballistic missile mission.
But, only months after the seminal test, the Pentagon announced in its fiscal 2014 budget request it was terminating the Precision Tracking Space System (PTSS), a follow-on to STSS. Through PTSS, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency was pursuing a more simple satellite under the leadership of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL).
The termination comes as the U.S. intelligence community has all eyes watching for a mobile missile launch from North Korea, which has vowed to attack American cities and interests abroad. Though the Pentagon is building more interceptors as a response to Pyongyang's aggression, a hole in the U.S. missile defense tracking net remains. And, missiles from North Korea, China and possibly Iran are becoming more sophisticated, potentially able to deploy more complex countermeasures that could fool radars.
The termination was partly a result of harsh fiscal cutbacks at the Defense Department. But, some in industry wonder whether the steps taken by then-MDA Director Army Lt. Gen. (ret.) Patrick O'Reilly in developing the program doomed it. He assigned the laboratory to lead the design and build of the first two PTSS demonstrator satellites, an unconventional approach possibly crafted to reduce industry's influence over the design. MDA officials, at the time, were concerned with poor quality control in industry and a perception of high fees charged for services. O'Reilly's strategy never won full support from industry and its powerful lobbies in Congress.
So, Pentagon officials are once again studying options. Some question whether the Pentagon is merely "studying the question to death" in order to avoid proposing a new, high-cost satellite program to Congress.
By launching on remote—as was done in February—operators have more time to engage a target because the satellites are able from the vantage of space to see the ballistic missile before it can be detected by the Aegis ship's SPY-1 radar. "Launch-on-remote" depends on disparate systems to work in concert as one weapon using communications infrastructures.
This is key for an overarching missile defense, which by nature requires global engagements that far exceed the abilities of any one set of sensors or interceptors.
STSS demonstrated the "art of the possible" of tracking ballistic missile targets from space, Air Force Space Command chief Gen. William Shelton told Aviation Week this month. "If you have got the capability to provide [infrared] tracking from space, you can do really cold-body tracking [and] you can rely less on ground-based radars" for midcourse discrimination.
STSS was designed with both acquisition and tracking sensors—separate systems optimized to acquire the target as it is boosting and track it against the cold backdrop of space in its midcourse of flight. In an effort to reduce the price of the program, officials at the APL suggested a design that allows for Space-Based Infrared System (Sbirs) High satellites to manage the target acquisition role, leaving only the infrared bands on a PTSS sensor required for cold-body tracking in the midcourse of flight. And, PTSS was to prioritize a larger telescope than STSS and rely on subtle movements in space for tracking, not a sophisticated, gimbaled design.
MDA had planned to launch two PTSS demonstration satellites in 2017, which is now off the table. They were to be a follow-on demonstration to Northrop Grumman's STSS spacecraft that placed two satellites in orbit in 2009.
The PTSS termination raises a question of whether the Pentagon is risking a midcourse tracking gap. The STSS satellites were designed for a two-year in-orbit life, which has already been exceeded. And the spacecraft, which carry gimbaled infrared sensors, still have redundant systems. "If you don't get a failure early on in [a satellite's] life, it could go on for a long time," says one industry official. Northrop is working to extend their service lives. "Current trends suggest that these satellites should be available for several more years," says Bob Bishop, a company spokesman. However, program officials have not said just how long the satellites could last in orbit. Furthermore, STSS was intended to be a demonstration and, in its inclined position in low Earth orbit, provide only limited coverage with two satellites operating in tandem.
The ultimate goal from more than a decade ago was near-persistent coverage, a concept unlikely to be palatable in today's budget environment, and one that is being reevaluated. Officials are said to be once-again reviewing architecture concepts. Still on the table are hosted payloads, though operators are loath to consign missile-tracking sensors to a backseat when it comes to a primary spacecraft's mission, which is typically the case for a hosted payload. Radar advocates are also pushing for the use of such capabilities as the AN/TPY-2, multiples of which can be "stacked" for improved range. Radars, however, require a protected area from which to operate, which can be tricky when dealing with some host nations.
At issue in these studies is striking a balance between the infrared and radar phenomonologies. "Radar does its job by reflecting off of objects and IR does its job by detecting differences in temperature" between a missile and the cold backdrop of space, the industry source says. "Having two phenomonologies look at something makes it easier to do . . . discrimination" of a warhead and countermeasures.
The STSS satellites were crafted from parts fabricated during the defunct Air Force Sbirs-Low program and later put in storage once that project was terminated. Sbirs Low was intended to be a low-Earth-orbiting complement to the service's Sbirs-High infrared missile-detection satellites. Once resurrected as STSS, the program was transferred to MDA for management, and the Air Force focused on Sbirs High, but dropped the "high" portion of the moniker.
Sbirs has billions of dollars worth of overruns relating to technical problems and years of delay in service. But, after all of this scar tissue, commanders crow about its performance.
Two Sbirs payloads are in highly elliptical orbit (HEO) on classified host satellites, and the second satellite was lofted into geosynchronous (GEO) orbit in March. Though the GEO satellites are not yet certified for missile-warning messages, Air Force officials brag about their capabilities in detecting targets after launch. And, they are capable of capturing "dimmer" targets, Shelton says. These include shorter-range missiles or other "infrared events," such as rocket flashes. "Has it been more expensive than it should have been? Absolutely. But, we are getting great operational capability from HEO and GEO."
The second Sbirs satellite achieved "first light," and officials expect that it will be certified to warn commanders of ballistic missiles by year-end, says Jeff Smith, vice president of the program for prime contractor Lockheed Martin.
First light means the cover for the sensitive infrared payloads—a scanner and a starer—were removed. The system is now being calibrated.
This satellite was launched March 19 on an Atlas V from Cape Canaveral. GEO-1 was launched in May 2011. Its scanner has yet to be certified to deliver Integrated Tactical Warning/Attack Assessment messages, though approval is expected soon. These ITWAA messages are used to tip off U.S. missile defenses on incoming targets. The Air Force has prioritized use of the scanning sensor, leaving the newer staring sensor for certification later. The Sbirs scanner is faster than the Defense Support Program (DSP), which scans its field of view once every 10 sec.
As a replacement for the DSP, Sbirs will be responsible for providing information on targets—such as launch point, vector and impact point. Its data will be fed into the Missile Defense Agency's Command, Control Battle Management and Communications System, which links to sea- and ground-based interceptors in the field.
Because Sbirs GEO-1 was the first of a new breed of spacecraft, ITWAA certification has been a long journey. Officials, citing security concerns, will not provide details on what, specifically, has taken so long to vet. But, Smith says GEO-1's scanner is in what is expected to be the final, 30-day trial period. "It is a rigid structured process, and we are just checking every box."
GEO-2 is in en route to its operational location. Once in place, the two GEOs in orbit will be able to provide "stereo" coverage from launches from the Middle East to the Pacific region. "That gives you a much more accurate . . . launch point, state vector and impact point" for targets. Shelton refers to an accurate state vector at booster burnout as the "holy grail."
Two scanning payloads are also continuing operations on separate, classified satellites in highly elliptical orbit.
Meanwhile, Lockheed Martin has begun work on GEO-3, and HEO-3 is slated for delivery within six weeks. The company has submitted a proposal to the Air Force for production of GEO satellites 5 and 6. A contract award is expected by the end of September, when the fiscal year ends.


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|Muppet Babies
|Air Date
|December 8, 1990
|Written by
| Hank Saroyan
J.R. Young
|Yes, I Can Learn
Piggy loses her copy of Alice in Wonderland, so the Babies help her write and draw another one.
- This episode refers extensively to the Creature Shop movie Labyrinth, and also features footage from The Witches.
- The animated portions feature the Muppet Babies as characters from the film, and incorporates clips with the babies' voices dubbed over the original. In one scene, Piggy runs into Rowlf and Fozzie sharing a joke book, a reference to The Four Guards. Later, Piggy runs into Gonzo as Hoggle (based on his library book about goblins) and takes Piggy on her "journey" to find the missing book. Along the way they run into Animal (as Ludo).
- Meanwhile, Kermit imagines himself as a mouse during the episode, and the cartoon cuts into footage from The Witches.
|Previous episode:
|Next episode:
|Remote Control Cornballs
|Happy Birthday, Uncle Piggy

subset: commoncrawl


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Since the release of Wings of Liberty, the StarCraft II balance team has been diligently studying how the game is being played, playing it ourselves, and seeing how evenly the three races match up on the battlefield. While we regularly examine Battle.net player data and statistics from all regions, the information we're examining in this blog was pulled exclusively from the North American region for simplicity's sake.
Protoss are played 38.5% of the time.
Terran are played 38.0% of the time.
Zerg are played 23.5% of the time.
These are overall percentages, but they're mirrored in nearly the same exact separation through each of the leagues. This clearly shows that zerg are played less often than the other races. When we look at things like the Top 200, we like to have this data in-hand so we can ensure that it's proportionate to the amount of each race actually being played. We don't want to have a huge chunk of zerg players sitting somewhere further down, unable to rise through the ranks.
Let's take a look at win percentages on a race-versus-race basis. This is something else we look at to see how matchups are faring over many games. These numbers take individual player skill into account, which helps to avoid the 50% win/loss percentage effect that the matchmaking system can impart on straight win/loss ratios.
Win % in Diamond (accounting for player skill)
49.6% win rate for Protoss when fighting Terran.
52.8% win rate for Protoss when fighting Zerg.
49.6% win rate for Terran when fighting Zerg.
Win % in Platinum (accounting for player skill)
56.3% win rate for Protoss when fighting Terran.
47.3% win rate for Protoss when fighting Zerg.
44.5% win for Terran when fighting Zerg.
Win % in Gold (accounting for player skill)
61.0% win rate for Protoss when fighting Terran.
61.1% win rate for Protoss when fighting Zerg.
49.5% win rate for Terran when fighting Zerg.
Win % in Silver (accounting for player skill)
63.6% win rate for Protoss when fighting Terran.
50.7% win rate for Protoss when fighting Zerg.
51.6% win rate for Terran when fighting Zerg.
Win % in Bronze (accounting for player skill)
59.0% win rate for Protoss when fighting Terran.
55.1% win rate for Protoss when fighting Zerg.
45.4% win rate for Terran when fighting Zerg.
As you can see there are some issues with protoss vs. terran in many of the leagues. From our own play experience, as well as feedback from the community, this matches pretty closely with what we're already aware of. We're working on solutions. What we're also aware of is that, while the numbers don't necessarily support the need for zerg changes across all leagues, the feedback from the community as well as our own play experience tells us that improvements are necessary to make zerg matchups feel and play better.
The balance changes in our next patch will primarily focus on improving the zerg.
Here are a few of the changes we currently have planned:
• We're increasing roach range. This will allow roaches to be more effective in large groups, giving the zerg more options in the mid to end game.
• Fungal Growth will now prevent Blink, which will give zerg a way to stop endlessly Blinking stalkers which can be very challenging to deal with in large numbers.
• The Barracks are going to require a Supply Depot, which will impact a lot of early terran reaper pushes.
• The reaper speed upgrade will require the Factory, which is meant to weaken a lot of the early terran reaper attacks that dominate so many matches, especially in team games.
• We're making a number of increases to the health of zerg buildings, which will make the very vulnerable zerg technology structures more resistant to raids. We don't expect these hit point changes to have a super significant impact on the game, but the current numbers felt way too low.
We want our avid and talented StarCraft II players to know that we're here, we're listening, and that our intent is to continue making careful and measured approaches to balance based on community and fansite feedback, our numbers and data, watching pro players and tournaments, and our own time on Battle.net playing the game alongside you.


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Amelia Earhart Game - Test your knowledge of Amelia Earhart, a famous Kansan.
Carry A. Nation Game - See how much you know about this famous Kansas reformer.
Junior Detective Series Game - Track the clues and see if you can solve the mystery.
Movie Quest - "Real" history is sometimes stretched on television and in the movies. Test your knowledge and see if Hollywood got it right.
Wheat Game - Every decision you make affects how successful you will be. It's a gamble farmers take every year. Test your decisions.
Kansas Symbols Game - How well do you know the Kansas state symbols?


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To stem the tide of alcohol-related crashes, no single remedy is likely to be enough. However, one tool that can help is the alcohol interlock, a device that many people with impaired driving convictions are required to install to prevent them from starting their vehicles if they have been drinking.
A new study from the Institute shows that requiring interlocks for everyone convicted of alcohol-impaired driving, not just repeat offenders and those with high blood alcohol concentrations (BACs), reduces the likelihood that people will reoffend. Researchers studied driver records in Washington for people with convictions related to alcohol-impaired driving. They found that after the state expanded its interlock requirement to everyone convicted of driving under the influence (DUI), the recidivism rate for people affected by the expansion fell 12 percent. However, only about a third of those offenders actually went through with interlock installations. If all of them had, their recidivism rate would have fallen by nearly half, the researchers estimate.
"Drivers with previous impaired-driving convictions are overrepresented in alcohol-related fatal crashes, so deterring people from reoffending is a good first step to reduce the death toll," says Anne McCartt, the Institute's senior vice president for research and the study's main author. "This study shows strong interlock laws can help."
Alcohol-impaired driving deaths fell sharply in the U.S. during the 1980s and early 1990s, but there has been little progress since then. The proportion of fatally injured drivers with BACs of 0.08 percent or higher has remained at about one-third. In 2010, about 7 percent of drivers with BACs of 0.08 percent or higher who were involved in fatal crashes had previous alcohol-impaired driving convictions within the past 3 years on their records. Using interlocks to cut the ranks of repeat offenders can help chip away at the overall impaired-driving problem.
An alcohol interlock is a breath-testing unit connected to a vehicle's ignition. The driver blows into it and must register a BAC below a preset level. If the reading exceeds that level, the vehicle won't start.
Washington is one of 15 states that require everyone convicted of DUI to install an interlock for a certain period of time if they want to drive. An additional 22 states apply the restriction to drivers with high BACs and/or to repeat offenders. In the remaining states, interlock requirements aren't mandatory but may be imposed. An estimated 249,000 interlocks were in use throughout the nation during 2011.
Legislation pending in Congress would encourage states to require interlocks for all impaired-driving convictions by linking highway funds to the issue. Opponents of the measure argue that interlocks should be mandated only for people with multiple convictions or BACs of more than 0.15 percent. However, nearly a third of legally impaired drivers involved in fatal crashes have BACs below 0.15 percent. The new study shows that an interlock requirement for first offenders in that range reduces the likelihood they will be caught doing it again.
Previous interlock studies have found that offenders who get interlocks are much less likely to be arrested again on DUI charges than those who don't. One Institute-sponsored study randomly assigned offenders with multiple DUIs to get interlock-restricted licenses and found that recidivism dropped 64 percent with the restrictions (see "Ignition interlocks reduce re-arrest rates of alcohol offenders," Jan. 15, 2000).
That earlier study looked at the effect of interlock restrictions on all offenders subject to them, not just those who obtained interlocks. Similarly, the latest study looks at the effect of the interlock law on all offenders. Unlike the random-assignment study, it focuses on first offenders.
Judges in Washington have had the authority to order the installation of interlocks since 1987. In 1999, interlocks became mandatory in the state for repeat offenders, first-time offenders with BACs of 0.15 or higher, and offenders who refused an alcohol test. In 2004, Washington extended the interlock requirement to all drivers convicted of DUI. That includes first-time offenders with BACs of less than 0.15 percent, referred to in the study as simple DUIs.
To examine the effect of the 2004 expansion, Institute researchers obtained driver records from Washington's Department of Licensing. The records, current as of July 22, 2010, included information on convictions for DUI and negligent driving convictions stemming from a DUI arrest. The researchers gathered data on prior and subsequent offenses to identify first offenders and calculate recidivism. They also tracked interlock orders and installations associated with the convictions. Trends were analyzed for people whose initial conviction stemmed from an arrest during January 1999-June 2006.
About three-quarters of convictions from DUI arrests during the period were first offenses. Of those, about 30-40 percent were simple DUI convictions. Another 30-40 percent were alcohol-related negligent driving convictions, which occur when drivers arrested on DUI charges are allowed to plead guilty to the lesser charge. Such a conviction doesn't carry an interlock requirement, but it does count as a prior offense if the person is arrested again on a DUI charge.
Analyzing recidivism rates over time, the researchers concluded that expanding the interlock requirement reduced the 2-year recidivism rate for first-time simple DUI offenders by 1.3 percentage points. For example, in the second quarter of 2006, the last part of the study period, the recidivism rate was 9.3 percent. That is a 12 percent reduction from the 10.6 percent that would have been expected without the change. There also was an 11 percent reduction in recidivism (from 10.2 percent to 9.1 percent) among all first offenders, including those convicted of negligent driving, those with high BACs, and other types.
Trend in 2-year recidivism rates for simple DUI offenders arrested during January 1999-June 2006
The law change didn't result in all offenders getting interlocks, but the number who did rose sharply. Among simple DUI offenders, about one-third got the devices, compared with less than 5 percent before. The researchers estimated what would have happened if everyone had gotten interlocks and concluded that recidivism would have fallen more steeply. For instance, recidivism for simple DUI offenders arrested in the second quarter of 2006 would have gone from 9.3 percent to 5.3 percent. If all first offenders arrested in that quarter, including those convicted of negligent driving, had gotten interlocks, the rate would have dropped from 9.1 percent to 3.2 percent.
The ability to plead to negligent driving allows impaired-driving offenders to avoid interlocks. Not surprisingly, the number of such convictions went up somewhat after Washington's law was changed to include simple DUI convictions. So one obvious way to increase the proportion of first offenders who get interlocks is to require them for alcohol-related negligent driving convictions.
Beyond that, it is unclear whether all the offenders covered by the law can be compelled to install interlocks, but Washington is trying to increase the number who do. After the study period, in 2011, the law was changed again so people with DUI convictions now can't simply wait out the interlock period with a suspension. If they ever want to regain their license, they need to first drive with an interlock.
"The latest change could be expected to increase the number of people convicted of impaired driving who go through with installing an interlock, which should further cut the number of convicted drivers who go out and reoffend," McCartt says.
As part of the study, the Institute also looked at single-vehicle nighttime crash trends, used as a surrogate for alcohol-related crashes, during 2001-07 in Washington. Comparing them with crash trends in California and Oregon, which didn't have any big changes in impaired-driving laws during those years, the researchers found a small reduction in crashes resulting from the change in the interlock law, but the effect wasn't significant.
"The increase in interlock installations resulting from the 2004 law change was still too small to have a substantial effect on crashes," McCartt says. "If the 2011 change is effective, then crash rates could be expected to go down. However, large effects on crashes will require more impaired drivers who have never had a DUI arrest to change their behavior as well. Interlock programs can help here, too, because the more they are publicized, the more of a deterrent effect they will have on the general population."
Of course, a more effective deterrent would be technology to prevent impaired drivers from starting any vehicle. The Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety, a joint project of the government and the auto industry, is developing such technology. The goal is to come up with a reliable and unobtrusive system (see "Alcohol-detection device project is now in development phase," Nov. 17, 2011). Current interlock technology, although reliable, is too intrusive for this purpose because it requires a driver to blow into a device and takes at least 30 seconds to compute a BAC.
Russ Rader Senior Vice President, Communications
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I bought a used Bass Station Rack today. i checked it before buying and it was working fine.
When i got into my studio i connected it, and than connected the cv/gate outs to the cv/gate ins on my SH-101.
I started programming the BSR settings (midi ch, cv/gate type ect.) and suddenly the power went down on all the rack. than i saw that the wall socket is out of its place. now, i dont know if i hit it accidently when i moved the rack back to its place or if it popped out because of wrong wiring (unlikely though) but when i turn everything back on, the BSR doesnt stop making a sound. it doesnt response to the filter nor the env and mods and also not to the volume knob. anyone knows if its something in the settings or the the filter and gate died and needs to be replaced?


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Keith Urban Says Marriage, Family Are 'A Garden'
Keith Urban may not have a green thumb, but he understands the concept that gardening is all about maintaining -- and he strives to look at his family and marriage in the same way.
Urban has a beautiful wife in A-list actress Nicole Kidman, plus two daughters -- Sunday, 5, and Faith, 2, but he doesn't take his family for granted now that he has them. Instead, the singer works at maintaining those relationships every single day.
"Nic and I say, 'Balance is never achieved; it's just maintained,'" the 'Little Bit of Everything' hitmaker shares in People's December country issue. "I'm a guy, so I'm not used to having to maintain anything. I'm used to achieving something, and good, that's done, move on to the next thing."
He continues, "No, no, this marriage, this family, it's a garden. It's not fixed and then you move on; it's maintained on a daily basis. I finally get that now."
The 46-year-old relishes soaking in the moment, knowing life moves by so very quickly. "Somewhere in the last couple of years, I've really grasped the concept of the brevity of time," he reflects. "It's very, very fleeting. No matter how many years are ahead of us, it will all be gone very quickly. I don't want to miss any of it."
With his tenacious efforts in maintaining his family, combined with his admiration of Kidman (who calls Urban her great love), there's no question that the Urban-Kidman household will flourish, as long as they keep giving it some TLC.


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Facts and figures of the 97th Indianapolis 500
Facts and figures of the 97th Indianapolis 500-mile race Sunday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway:
EVENT — The 97th Indianapolis 500.
DISTANCE — 500 miles; 200 laps around the asphalt-on-brick Indianapolis Motor Speedway track, a 2.5-mile rectangular oval.
SANCTIONING BODY — IndyCar.
RACE CARS — Open-cockpit, open-wheel and single-seat, with 2.2-liter, 550-700 horsepower turbocharged V-6 engines.
ENGINE MANUFACTURERS — Chevrolet, Honda.
CHASSIS — All cars use Dallaras.
PACE CAR — 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray driven by Jim Harbaugh, the San Francisco 49ers coach and former Colts quarterback.
START — Noon EDT from a flying start, following warm-up, parade and pace laps.
FINISH — Standings are unofficial until posted by the IndyCar Series.
NUMBER OF STARTERS — 33 cars; three abreast in each of 11 rows.
POLE POSITION — Ed Carpenter, the Indianapolis native and stepson of IndyCar founder Tony George won Indy's pole with a four-lap qualifying average of 228.762 mph. He will be the first member of the track-owning family to start from the inside of the front row.
SLOWEST QUALIFIER — Katherine Legge, who averaged 223.176. Will start 33rd, the outside of the 11th row.
FASTEST ROOKIE — Carlos Munoz, 228.342 mph. Will start second, the middle of the front row — the first rookie on the front row since Juan Pablo Montoya in 2000.
2012 WINNER — Dario Franchitti, who averaged 167.734 mph for his third win at Indianapolis.
FORMER WINNERS IN RACE (4) — Helio Castroneves (2001, 2002, 2009), Dario Franchitti (2007, 2010 and 2012), Scott Dixon (2008), Buddy Lazier (1996).
ROOKIES IN RACE (4) — Carlos Munoz, AJ Allmendinger, Tristan Vautier and Conor Daly.
YOUNGEST IN RACE — Carlos Munoz (Born Feb. 2, 1992)
OLDEST IN RACE — Buddy Lazier, 45 (Oct. 31, 1967)
MOST PREVIOUS RACES — Buddy Lazier (16).
FOREIGN BORN (22) — Ana Beatriz, Brazil; Sebastien Bourdais, France; Ryan Briscoe, Australia; Helio Castroneves, Brazil; Scott Dixon, New Zealand; Dario Franchitti, Scotland; James Hinchcliffe, Canada; James Jakes, England; Tony Kanaan, Brazil; Katherine Legge, England; Pippa Mann, England; Carlos Munoz, Colombia; Simon Pagenaud, France; Will Power, Australia; Sebastian Saavedra, Colombia; Takuma Sato, Japan; Oriol Servia, Spain; Simona De Silvestro, Switzerland; Alex Tagliani, Canada; Tristan Vautier, France; E.J. Viso, Venezuela; Justin Wilson, England.
FIELD AVERAGE IN QUALIFICATIONS — 226.176 mph (Record 228.648 mph, 2002)
QUALIFICATION RECORD — 236.986 mph, Arie Luyendyk, 1996.
RACE RECORD — 185.981 mph, Arie Luyendyk, 1990.
CLOSEST FINISHES — 0.043 seconds, Al Unser Jr. over Scott Goodyear, 1992; 0.0635 seconds, Sam Hornish Jr. over Marco Andretti, 2006.
PURSE — Depends on attendance and accessory awards; 2012 payoff was $13.28 million, of which winner Dario Franchitti received $2.47 million for Bryan Herta Autosport.
CROWD — Estimated at up to 400,000. Speedway never discloses attendance but admits to more than 250,000 reserved seats in permanent stands and room for 100,000 or more in the infield.
TELEVISION — Televised live and in high definition by ESPN on ABC starting at 11 a.m. EDT, one hour before the race, with host Lindsay Czarniak, the first woman to serve as host, lead announcer Marty Reid, analysts Eddie Cheever and Scott Goodyear, and pit reporters Rick DeBruhl, Jamie Little, Jerry Punch and Vince Welch.
RADIO — More than 350 affiliate IMS Radio Network stations throughout the United States and Canada, plus Sirius XM 211, the Verizon IndyCar13 app, LeSea Broadcasting on shortwave radio worldwide, American Forces Radio Network, shortwave radio worldwide and the Internet, with Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network anchor Mike King, driver analyst Davey Hamilton, IMS historian Donald Davidson, Jerry Baker and Paul Page in the booth; Jake Query, Mark Jaynes and Chris Denari in the turns; Nick Yeoman, Michael Young and Dave Furst in the pits and Dave Wilson in the garage and medical center.
MORTALITY — There have been 68 deaths at the Speedway, including pre-500 races of 1909-10. Last death was Aug. 30, 2010, when motorcycle rider Peter Lenz of Vancouver, Wash., was killed in a preliminary race to the Indianapolis MotoGP.
THE TROPHY — Sterling silver Borg-Warner Trophy, 5-feet, 4 3/4-inches, 110-pounds, with bas-relief bust of each winner. Valued at more than $1 million, on permanent display at Speedway Hall of Fame Museum. Each winner receives an 18-inch sterling silver replica.


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Public Openings
Related Programming
Janet Cardiff: Forty-Part Motet NGC@WAG
Janet Cardiff: Forty-Part Motet
Friday, February 15, 2013 from 7pm to 10pm
Please join us for the official free public opening of this stunning sound installation featuring the music of 16th century English composer Thomas Tallis.
Janet Cardiff: Forty-Part Motet is the first exhibition of NCG@WAG, a three-year partnership between the WAG and the National Gallery of Canada that will see the two institutions co-organize a series of exclusive exhibitions in the WAG's spaces, drawn from the NGC's exceptional collection. Mr. Marc Mayer, Director and CEO of the National Gallery of Canada, will be attending the opening.
Previous Events
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One fine July day, while better cyclists were battling for a yellow jersey in France, we drove up to Montauk on the far tip of Long Island for a day of trail and mountain biking in Hither Hills state park. It was a gorgeous day, and despite getting caught in crawling parade of Hamptons traffic on our way up and the sundry tailgating, over-aggressive at 10mph assholes those towns seem to attract, there was nothing that could dim our spirits on such a beautifully hot, sunny July day.
Our trek began at the overflow parking area along Old Montauk Highway, the state park's primary parking lot already being full to capacity with beachgoers. Setting out west along the Old Montauk Highway, we soon came to its intersection with the more heavily traveled Montauk Highway, aka Highway 27. It's a short ride west along the road until you reach the turn-off for Old Tar Road, a rough little jeep road that might have been paved at one time but is now a patchwork of crumbled asphalt, sand, gravel, loose rock, and mud. We continued up along the road, where I can advise that, if the entire road is covered by a puddle, you try to find away around rather than attempting to simply barrel through.
The road follows the Long Island Railroad tracks for a spell, then cross the tracks and meets up with the Fresh Pond Landing Road, which we followed to the Waterfence Overlook, affording one a nice spot for a break with a wonderful view of the water and the rough rock beach below. From there, it was a short way down a spur that meets up with the single-track Stephen Talkhouse Path. The path skirts along the coast, with beautiful views of Long Island Sound as the track meanders in and out of the woods.
There's one stretch of the path that hits a sand depression, which if you've ever tried to bike through sand, should clue you in to a short slog before the trail turns rideable again. We eventually hooked up with the double-track Old North Road to the single track Coastal Trail, finally turning back inland when the Coastal Trail meets up with Redmond's Path, back across the railroad tracks, to the old Power Line Road.
Although wide, the old Power Line Road (you know you are in the right place because the road is lined with the sawed off stumps of old wooden utility poles), it's in a pretty serious state of disrepair, with long stretches of loose rock, some steep climbs, tricky gullies formed by run-off, as well as stretches of sand and mud that guarantee you're going to get dirty. We followed the Power Line Road all the way back down to the Montauk Highway, then cut down a local road to the Old Montauk Highway, which deposited us just a few hundred yard's away from the parking lot where we began the ride.
Gotta say, Hither Hills in an exceptionally fun place to go biking. The combination of old roads and single-track paths means that anyone from a novice to an expert can find something challenging, and you can stitch together enough variety to make sure it never gets old. What we rode was just a small sampling of the trails that criss-cross the woods. You could stay out there all day and go back several times still and not repeat yourself. The only drawback is that there is no signage. Single-track is blazed, but the maps they give out don't tell you which colors correspond with which maps. The old roads aren't marked at all. You really need to pay attention to your map or bring a GPS unit with you know where you are going — although to be honest, Long Island at this point is only a mile or two wide, so you can never get that lost.
Still, it pays to do some research ahead of time and know about where the turn-offs for the trails are, lest you pedal right by them without noticing. That said, the sheer number of options available to cyclists and hikers means that even on a day where the park is seeing heavy use, you may not see anyone else (we didn't), so come prepared. Bring water, your map or GPS, a first aid kit, and anything else you may need in case there's an emergency. Cell phone coverage was OK.
Our ride was just over nine miles, and it took a couple off single track novices about three hours to complete. Not exactly fast going, but that included ample time for sight seeing and photo taking, not to mention one wipe-out (going uphill, thankfully), one idiot riding his bike into a knee-deep puddle, and that same idiot taking a few minutes to compose himself after hitting a patch of sand that stopped him like a glue trap and caused, let's say, a certain part of the anatomy to be thrust forward and against the bike bar.
We were pretty dirty by the end. Parking in the state park lot costs you $8, but it also means you have easy access to restrooms, shower, and the Atlantic coast beach to cool down and rinse off. Afterward, we headed into Montauk proper and grabbed some fried chicken and fries at a place called The Munch Box.


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Uylenburch (Van) family
Uylenburch (Van), a Dutch family of which there was both a Reformed branch, to which Saskia van Uylenburgh belonged, who was the wife of Rembrandt, and also a Mennonite branch. Mennonites were (1) Gerrit Uylenburch, who moved from the Netherlands, probably from Leeuwarden in Friesland, to Krakow, Poland, where he was a cabinetmaker for the King of Poland. His son (2) Hendrick Uylenburch, b. at Krakow ca. 1587, d. 1661 at Amsterdam, lived at Danzig ca. 1612-1625 and thereafter at Amsterdam, where he founded an Academy of Art, lodging and stimulating young artists, among whom were Rembrandt, Flinck, and Jacob Backer. At the same time he operated an art store. A son of (2) Hendrick was (3) Gerrit Uylenburch, b. ca. 1625 at Amsterdam, d. ca. 1690 in England. He married Elisabeth Just, a Mennonite of Königsberg, and continued his father's art business, which under his leading became known at home and abroad. Gerrit Uylenburch, who was also an artist and made a self-portrait, was considered the best art connoisseur of his time. In 1645 he was baptized into the Amsterdam Waterlander Mennonite congregation. In 1681 he became bankrupt and moved to England. His brother (4) Abraham Uylenburch, who died at Dublin, Ireland, in 1688 where he was a court painter, was probably not a Mennonite. Another son of (1) Gerrit's was the painter (5) Rombout van Uylenburch, b. ca. 1590 at Krakow, d. ca. 1628 at ?. From about 1610 he lived at Danzig, Prussia; one of his paintings was a portrait of the Mennonite elder Jan Gerrits van Emden.
Hege, Christian and Christian Neff. Mennonitisches Lexikon, 4 vols. Frankfurt & Weierhof: Hege; Karlsruhe: Schneider, 1913-1967: v. III, 242.
Thieme, Ulrich and Felix Becker. Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart. Unter Mitwirkung von 300 Fachgelehrten des In-und Auslandes, 37 vols. Leipzig: W. Englemann, 1907-1950: v. XXXIV: 16 ff.
Wijman, H. F. "Rembrandt en Hendrik Uylenburgh." Amstelodamum (June 1956).
Winkler Prins Encyclopedie. 6th ed., Vol. XVII. Amsterdam, 1953: 810 ff.
|Nanne van der Zijpp
|Date Published
Cite This Article
MLA style
Zijpp, Nanne van der. "Uylenburch (Van) family." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1959. Web. 24 Mar 2019. http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Uylenburch_(Van)_family&oldid=146211.
APA style
Zijpp, Nanne van der. (1959). Uylenburch (Van) family. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 24 March 2019, from http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Uylenburch_(Van)_family&oldid=146211.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 795. All rights reserved.
©1996-2019 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.


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Those of you heading to Washington, DC this weekend for the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) may be in for a treat as the local chapter of the AFL-CIO is planning a protest of the event, dubbed "Occupy CPAC":
With workshops like "Return of Big Labor: What Can We Learn from Wisconsin & Ohio," and "Taking back Wall Street: The Tea Party vs. Occupy Wall Street," the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) descends on the nation's capital February 9-11 and local labor activists are planning a DC lesson to ensure that the voice of the 99% are heard at this elite conservative gathering. Actions are currently being planned for noontime and after work on Friday, February 10. Featured speakers at CPAC include Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, and presidential candidates Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, and Rick Santorum.
The AFL-CIO will have "tents, an inflatable fat cat, puppets, "candidate Walmart," and more to LET THE VOICES OF THE 99% BE HEARD!"
Oh, this should be hilarious. The last time that an Occupy group tried to protest a conservative conference, it ended up being an embarassment for the protesters as attendees, including myself, had cameras and iPhones aimed at them when they tried to force their way into the private event.
DC-based Occupy protesters haven't had much luck recently. This past weekend they were cleared out of McPherson Square and Freedom Plaza. And given that the Marriot where CPAC is hosted is private property, they may not be around for long.


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Laser eye surgery, or laser refractive surgery, is a general term that refers to the use of lasers to reshape the cornea in your eye in order to adjust its focus. Your cornea is the clear part of the front of the eye and by altering the cornea with a precise pattern, the focusing power also changes. These procedures result in better vision and can eliminate altogether the need for corrective eye glasses and contact lenses.
Procedures using lasers are also known by other terms including keratectomy, Lasik, LTK and PRK. They work primarily by correcting any refractive error caused by an in-congruent match up of the eye's lens and the cornea. These procedures can be used to correct
- Farsightedness – Also called hyperopia, farsighted people see distant objects well, but have problems with blurry, close-up vision. People that need glasses to read a book or see a computer screen are farsighted.
- Nearsightedness – Myopia, another name for nearsightedness, is a condition where a person can see close up objects well, and have difficulty with distance vision. If you need glasses to drive a car, watch television or see the board in school, you have myopia.
- Astigmatism – This is a condition where both near and far objects are blurry.
Whereas eye glasses and contacts are used as aids to help people see better, laser surgery is a permanent adjustment to the eye itself to correct for a mismatch between the lens and the cornea. Many people experience perfect 20/20 vision after surgery.
The type of laser surgery and the exact surgery performed are specific to your eyes. Skilled surgeons have the training and experience and know exactly how to alter the cornea to achieve the vision results you desire. The precision of lasers and their widespread use are testaments to their effectiveness in achieving better vision.


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You are here: Home ‹ Board index ‹ Movie Discussion ‹ All Other/Older Movies ‹ (2009) Disney's A Christmas Carol
Christmas Carol Promotion Tour
Discuss this movie. Available on DVD and Blu-ray.
I've only taken the train...
to downtown Toronto.
It would be interesting to go to more places.
I think they should make a train that's run by solar,
I wonder if it's possible
thats because he got a big brain LOL
Choose your friends by their character and your socks by their color, choosing your socks by their character makes no sense, and choosing your friends by their color is unthinkable!
Christmas 'train tour' comes to N. Arizona this weekend
http://www.abc15.com/content/entertainm ... hYzpQ.cspx
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I Heart Milfs
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http://www.adelaidecyclists.com/. It's awesome. On their forum today are a heap of photos sent in by readers showing them with their first bike - their pride and joy. I've put a few of my favourite pics up on http://www.ridehappy.com.au/, and you can find the rest at Adelaide Cyclists here.
Does anyone have others to add?
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Adelaide's first bikes
Posted by Lisa Jacobs at 11:00 AM
3 comments:
- Lee MitchellJune 24, 2011 at 12:52 AM
How cool was the Chopper! So wrong - but was my pride and joy before I got my 16 speed at age 9.ReplyDelete
It's a ripper Lee!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousAugust 13, 2011 at 7:14 PM
please try this it may usefull.. Never use a dryer or air compressor to dry the vehicle as it might grit the finish and cause irreparable damageBikes AdelaideReplyDelete
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Garner State Park Map
The park is located in Uvalde County, 31 miles north of the town of Uvalde, nine miles south of Leakey, and eight miles north of Concan, on the Frio River. From U.S. Highway 83, turn east on FM 1050 for 0.2 miles to Park Road 29 to the new entrance.
The Park HQ is located at:
Latitude (degrees, minutes, seconds) N: 29° 35' 55.9932"
Longitude (degrees, minutes, seconds) W: -99° 44' 38.3316"


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By now, I think it's clear to everyone who follows politics that President Obama's domestic policies are fixed around one objective. That objective is gaining control of the House of Representatives in the 2014 election so that his final two years at the White House will bring a bang, not a whimper.
Flush with his success in November, Obama initially believed he could achieve this goal via the same means through which he secured that success — by demonizing Republicans as tools of the wealthy. Hence his approach, with road show included, to the fiscal cliff and sequestration.
But this approach manifestly hasn't worked. Obama's approval number has tumbled. Even in New York State, it dropped by 10 points (from 66 percent to 56 percent) in the past month. And 60 percent of New York voters now believe the country is on the wrong track.
But it's not just voters who are disillusioned with Obama's performance. According to Politico, "Democratic candidates and operatives in the districts on which control of the House will hinge [say] that the message and issues Obama has emphasized since the election are creating a difficult political headwind for them."
For example, Jim Graves, the Democratic candidate who gave Michele Bachmann a very tough race in 2012 and plans to have another go in 2014, complained that "the tone coming out of the White House. . .could probably be more conciliatory." Graves added: "There's no question — Obama has taken a fairly liberal tack in his second term. But I'm not here for the president. I'm here for the people of the 6th Congressional District."
The political math confirms the concern of Graves and similarly situated Democrats. As Politico points out, to net 17 seats and flip the chamber, Democrats have to win predominantly on GOP turf, in districts that Mitt Romney won and where Obama and his agenda are unpopular. If class warfare were effective in these districts, Obama would have carried them. So too, more likely than not, would the Democratic candidate for the House.
This reality, by the way, should ease (though certainly not eliminate) the concern expressed by Newt Gingrich and others that the Democrats may be able to approach their vastly impressive 2012 turnout numbers in 2014. Even the 2012 turnout numbers weren't good enough in the districts the Dems need to gain control of the House.
The headwind Obama creates for Democrats in swing congressional districts isn't just the product of his non-conciliatory stance on the fiscal cliff and sequestration. Politico cites the issues of gun control, immigration, and gay marriage. Significant gun control legislation isn't going to happen in the Congress, so the Dems can probably dodge that bullet, so to speak. The gay marriage issue will be fought primarily in the courts during the next year-and-a-half. Thus, Obama's stance on this issues most likely will not be significant in local congressional elections.
But Congress will be front-and-center on the immigration front. If, as seems like to happen, Republican Senators join with Democrats to support amnesty for illegal immigrants, they will provide some cover to Democratic congressional candidates who support amnesty. If House Republicans fail to block what the Senate hatches, Democratic candidates will have received a "get out of jail card" on the issue. This is another reason why House Republicans should hold the line against comprehensive immigration reform.
These days, Republicans are preoccupied with trying to squeeze out a few extra percentage points from the Hispanic vote, which still constitutes a relatively small minority within the electorate. For purposes of the election of 2014, which will determine Obama's level of success in his quest to become "transformative," Republicans should focus more on how to hold, and expand upon, their margin among the cohort of voters — a majority of the electorate — that opposes amnesty and a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.


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Amanda Diva (Feat. Johnny Polygon) - Neon
The official music video for Amanda Diva's "Neon" featuring Johnny Polygon, off of Diva's "Spandex, Rhymes, & Soul" out now.
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|It's either for more water or extra head protection. Mandatory bucket laws aren't far behind.
I rediscovered my love of trails for this ride home. While I've previously disparaged trails because they're just sidewalks between trees, I remembered, thanks to a shady 34th street, that the tree canopy can provide welcome relief from a scorching sun. So, I took the Custis back this afternoon and while it was longer and less direct, at least it was covered (in parts)
Some graffiti on the Custis: NO ONE IS SPECIAL in orange spray paint. I guess that applies to spray paint scribes as well. It's a good message though.
There's a stretch of the Custis between the bend where it meets Lee Highway and the other bend where it meets Lee Highway again that's a long stretch of exposed concrete bounded by chain link fence on both sides. Riding along there today was horrific and happily it wasn't that long of a stretch. Here's a picture. This might be the least interesting or informative picture I've ever posted.
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I passed a fellow cyclist who was wearing a fluorescent yellow strap draped across his shoulder and chest like one would a bandolier. I don't really get what that was about. Very safe Pancho Villa?
I stopped at Cherrydale Hardware to pick up some screws to use in mounting my new folding basket to my other bike. The screws that come with the basket aren't long enough on account of the irregularly wide width of the side-rails on the attached rack of the bike. Local hardware stores are weird, anachronistic places with an overly helpful staff and an overly smiley clientele. I was immediately asked what I needed. I said screws and fumbled around for the prepackaged screws that came with the basket that I had the prescence of mind to bring with me. I struggled to rip the bag to get out one of the too-short screws, drop the screw on the floor, picked it up and handed it over to the clerk. He walked us over to the screws, measured the width of the width of the screw and got out four of the allegedly appropriate sized screws. I paid 28 cents and declined a receipt. I left my water bottle on the counter and had to go back into the store to get it. The screws don't fit right, so I guess I'll have to go to Home Depot at some point. I don't have the best track record with hardware stores or anything that involves tools so I was sincerely hoping to avoid having to do this, but at least the mis-sizing is the result of the friendly shop clerk and not my own fault.
Anyway, I mounted the other basket using zip ties. Here's a picture:
|Twice as many folding baskets as before.


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A multi-colored, authentic cotton woven border, handmade in Uzbekistan, but ships from the U.S.
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International buyers may have Customs, duties, VAT or other service charges imposed by their government. Seller is NOT responsible for customs fees and import taxes imposed on Buyer by their country of residence. We will refund items cost minus 20% restocking fees and minus original shipping cost, if Buyer refused to pay for customs.
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Network Security Software: Drilling Down on DangerBy Baselinemag | Posted 2005-12-13 Print
Countering new threats to your data requires more brainpower—and lots of persistence.
For Cigna, a health insurance and benefits provider based in Philadelphia, the biggest security issue isn't necessarily neutralizing the virus du jour or fending off shadowy mobster-hackers—it's sifting through mountains of data.
"Sometimes we get overwhelmed because of all the information that comes out of the devices we're monitoring," says Craig Shumard, Cigna's chief information security officer. "It's data overload."
Cigna, which had $18.1 billion in 2004 sales, employs about 100 people in its information security management unit. Still, the company has for the past five years outsourced security event monitoring to Symantec, which looks at trends and detects when coordinated attacks are being mounted against Cigna systems or networks.
Shumard's challenge is finding folks who have the expertise to understand and analyze security data. "It's very difficult to attract and retain people in that field, because it's very specialized," he says. "It's hard, even for a company our size, to do a good job 24/7."
Getting a 30,000-foot view of information security is tough, especially when trying to gather metrics from different vendors' systems. But many security managers believe that dealing with multiple suppliers is simply a fact of life.
"It's easier to maintain a relationship with one vendor instead of 10," says Mike Howell, an information-technology security consultant at health maintenance organization Humana. "But you're not going to find somebody who can do antivirus and firewalls and intrusion detection all better than anyone else."
The problem is, many information-security vendors have solely focused on their own little niche and haven't done a good job of delivering products that provide a holistic view of security conditions across the enterprise, says Eric F. Guerrino, senior vice president of information security for The Bank of New York.
"A lot of the vendors don't realize that the technology itself isn't the whole solution," Guerrino says, though he declines to name specific companies. "Some of these products really do a good job at their primary focus, but the administration of the products sometimes falls short."
For example, he says, intrusion prevention systems are great at providing alerts, but his team still needs to figure out what extra steps to take, such as reconfiguring a firewall, to counter threats.
meanwhile, the threat of financial loss from malicious attacks has continued to climb. The average annual loss attributable to attacks that resulted in the theft of proprietary data in 2004 was more than $355,000, according to the annual Computer Security Institute/FBI Computer Crime and Security Survey; in 2003, the figure was $169,000.
Gartner analyst John Pescatore says he's seen a rise in more financially damaging security incidents aimed at an individual company, involving extortionists or disgruntled workers—for example, stealing employees' account numbers to make fraudulent purchases.
The danger is that such targeted attacks often happen below the radar and don't get much publicity. "I can't scare the CEO with that," Pescatore says. "Worms make it easy to get money for security because it's on the front page of the newspaper."
At the same time, the viruses and other junk on the wire are morphing into more virulent strains. Information-security executives say they're seeing an uptick in viruses and worms that can clog networks or disable computers.
The most pernicious new threats are "multi-headed" ones that automatically attempt to exploit multiple vulnerabilities simultaneously, says Stan Gatewood, chief information security officer for the University of Georgia. "These aren't plain old hackers sitting in an easy chair," he says.
Some may be tempted to pin the blame for the rising tide of viruses, worms and spyware on Microsoft. Holes in its operating systems have allowed hackers halfway across the world to wreak havoc with a single, targeted piece of self-replicating code.
For advice on how to secure your network and applications, as well as the latest security news, visit Ziff Davis Internet's Security IT Hub.
"It's been a continuing frustration with Microsoft," says Matt Speare, chief information security officer for M&T Bank, which is based in Buffalo, N.Y. But he also realizes that Microsoft's software is targeted because it's so ubiquitous. "If I were writing a virus, the return on my time to write an exploit for Windows is higher," Speare says.
A Microsoft spokesman says the company has increased its focus on minimizing security problems and fixing flaws but adds, "The important thing to remember is that no software is 100% secure." That means, then, that computers will need to be loaded with additional security software for the foreseeable future.
That extra overhead can be significant: Security agents, including antivirus, anti-spyware and personal firewalls, can consume up to 30% of the processing capacity on a single computer, says Lynda Fleury, chief information security officer at UnumProvident, a disability insurance company.
"The next thing that we want vendors to work on is bundling [multiple security enforcement features] into one product," Fleury says. "The big push for me is having these tools be agentless."
But security technologies and systems are only effective if the people using them know the drill. Health insurance company Aetna, for one, has required employees to complete security awareness training every year since 1999.
"It's just good risk management," says security adviser Donna Richmond, who oversees the training program.
Aetna's training includes perennial guidelines (such as how to create a strong password) plus new procedures; for example, this year the company started requiring employees to encrypt any health or financial information when transmitting it electronically. Richmond's group starts shepherding 30,000 employees through the training process in early September and aims to achieve 100% compliance by Dec. 31.
For Richmond, it's a key part of the information security loop. "If you have a rule, you have to let people know about the rule," she says. "And then you have to monitor their behavior."
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Hewlett Packard 9-cell Lithium-Ion Battery for HP Pavilion HDX9000 Notebook PC - GJ114AA
Want maximum battery life so that you, friends, and family can keep playing games, watching videos, listening to music, or viewing slide shows without having to plug in your AC adapter?
HP 9-cell Battery for HP Pavilion HDX 9000 Series Notebook PCs is the solution. This Lithium-Ion battery will double your available work time, and it also works with your laptop's power management system to reduce consumption, letting you work longer than with other types of batteries.
Features & Specifications:


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No sh¡t sherlock..
" If it's hoping to boost market share and shipment figures in the medium term by forcing its fans to buy new phones, that's not a strategy that's going to pay off in the longer term, we fear."
No, it isn't
I've got a Lumia 800 - nice phone, well made, should last years - say what???
My next phone is probably going to be dumber than Microsofts planning division


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She is Member Tera-Mai Reiki & Seichem association US & Founder of Tera-Mai Reiki & Seichem association of India.
Reiki/Seichem is a powerful healing method rediscovered in Sanskrit texts at the end of the 19th century, by a Japanese scholar Mikaomi Usui. Reiki translates as Universal Life Force. Tera-Mai Reiki/Seichem is the registered trademark of Kathleen Milner (USA). This method is more suitable for the raised vibrational frequency of the times in which we live.
Reiki/Seichem is a natural, holistic and safe system of healing, even for babies, pregnant women, the elderly and after surgery. It is also a powerful tool for self-development. Reiki/Seichem energy goes to the deeper levels of a person's being, where many illnesses have their origin. It works wherever the recipient needs it most, releasing blocked energies, cleansing the body of toxins and working to create a state of balance.
Energy (our life force) flows within us and around us (our Aura). It nourishes our cells and organs and supports their vital functions. When this flow of life force is disrupted, it causes diminished function in one or more of the organs and tissues of the physical body. Even negative thoughts can disrupt the flow of our life force.
Reiki/Seichem heals by flowing through the affected parts of the energy field and charging them with positive energy. It clears and heals the body's energy pathways by cleansing the body of built up toxins, relieving pain, soothing shock, calming the mind and emotions and accelerating the body's natural ability to heal itself, at the same time promoting a state of total relaxation and well-being.
It is a non - invasive therapy, a hands on healing process. No clothes need be removed and it can even work by simply holding the practitioners hands in the aura around the client's body.
Get your body's "batteries" recharged with gentle yet powerful transmissions of natural life energy, leaving you calm, refreshed and energised.
Seichem, pronounced say keem, is reputedly one of the healing arts practised in ancient Egypt. In the Tera-MaiTM system, Reiki is an element of Seichem.
As Teri-MaiTM healing is energy channelling; it has no association with any religion, faith, or belief system and can be received by anyone who is willing to be healed. Healing can be given in a hands-on-treatment and can also be sent across time and space to people, situations plants and animals.


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The Chevrolet Trax® offers the best safety technologies so you won't have to worry about anything else than making plans. It includes Electronic Stability Control Stabilitrak®, ABS brakes, and front, side and curtain airbags.
It is also equipped with five 3-spoke safety seatbelts, height-adjustable front seatbelts, and driver's safety belt accoustic warning. It includes Electronic Brakeforce Distribution and Traction Control System.
It incorporates LATCH anchor system on the rear seats for securing child safety seats.


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Message Board
Ian Randall Wilson Message Board
Talk about the novels, new and used books that Wilson has written!
Author Wilson's Book Reviews
Hunger and Other Stories
Hollyridge, Dec 2000, 186 pp. ISBN: 0967600308 The two common themes to this fourteen-story collection are (1) relationships are dark and costly; and (2) Ian Randall Wilson is a talented writer. Each one of the terrific tales deals with the path to fulfillment with the end state not always reached and when attained not always worth the price paid to achieve it. The stories are ultra dark, often depressing, especially when the audienc...


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Another four-lap race, the Royal London 360 Superstock TT features the big bikes, but as the name implies, in superstock trim (i.e. with only a few modifications to motorcycle compared to as it comes from the factory).
Even though these bikes are only mildly tuned, the mostly 1,000cc four-cylinder field is surprisingly fast — putting down average lap speeds that are only shy of the Superbike and Senior laps by a mile per hour or two. The second race from Monday, after Race 1 of the Monster Energy Supersport TT, we have a Superstock TT race report for you after the jump.


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Translation Disclaimer
Welcome to the website of Councilmember Rashi Kesarwani, who represents City Council District 1 in the City of Berkeley, CA.
Friendly, tree-lined streets characterize this part of Berkeley, with small neighborhood shops along Gilman, the enormously popular 4th Street shopping area and West Berkeley Historic District, several major parks (Ohlone, Cedar/Rose, James Kenney), our new sports fields near the Gilman interchange, the Berkeley Adult School, and the West Berkeley International Marketplace. Our West Berkeley library is a hub for many families, children, seniors. District 1 is best described as the northwest quadrant of Berkeley's flatlands. We encompass Berkeley's dramatic waterfront to the west and the district runs to the Albany line or Cordonices creek to the north. The south border is University Avenue and the east border stretches along the mid-line of Grant Street but gets a little squiggly as it veers west at Rose.


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albravo needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 132 designs submitted by 28 freelance designers.
LaVida "This is the life."
The name "LaVida" means 'the life' in Spanish, a fact highlighted by the tagline "This is the life."
This brand new villa sits on a beautiful secluded beach on Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands. LaVida will rent for between $15-20,000/wk in high season.
Key elements to potentially consider in the design are palm trees and the rocks as evident in the photos here:
It is also worth noting that some 12 islands are visible from the house's expansive decks.
Keywords/images in interior design thus far have been barefoot elegance and white linen dresses and sipping champage with sandy toes.
As logos go, I value simple over busy.
Sophisticated, wealthy, high-end tourists.
Travel agents and villa rental wholesalers.
Travel magazines.
Oprah Winfrey
We plan to use the logo in various applications so it needs to look good:
* in different sizes
* on different materials,
* and in grayscale
* must work as stamp on different colored backgrounds
* It should be usable on the right or left side of a page
* It should not include restrictive elements that would make it hard to embed in other graphics
*No cartoons
Formats (all should be provided)
* CMYK image in Adobe Illustrator AI
* Layered RGB file in Photoshop PSD
* Jpeg and Png versions
* Fonts used in the design
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


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SAN JOSE — When San Jose detectives this week identified Ryan Goodson as the suspect in the fatally stabbing of a transient on a storm drenched downtown street in February, there was no need to arrest him.
Goodson, 34, was already in a Santa Clara County Jail.
Just 15 hours after police believe Goodson killed 26-year-old Jason Rosario across from Cesar Chavez Park, he was arrested in Palo Alto for allegedly assaulting police officers there.
During a struggle, Palo Alto authorities say, Goodson grabbed an officer's firearm and holster and pointed it at him but could not separate the weapon from the holster. After more fighting, other officers tazed Goodson and took him into custody but not before continuing to struggle. Two officers suffered minor injuries.
Hours earlier, Rosario was found gravely injured near Market Street and Paseo de San Antonio around 12:20 a.m. Feb. 6. Arriving officers saw Rosario was suffering from at least one stab wound, and he was rushed to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Goodson, who is also a transient, had already pleaded guilty in the Palo Alto case and been given an eight-year prison sentence for the assault when he was tied to Rosario's death, which was San Jose's fifth homicide of the year.
Lt. Michael Kihmm, SJPD homicide commander, lauded responding patrol officers' work on the investigation given that the stabbing was in the early morning hours with scarce witnesses and was compromised by heavy rains.
"Their work at the initial crime scene by preserving evidence was crucial in the identification of the suspect and resulted in building a solid case," Kihmm said in a statement.
Contact Robert Salonga at 408-920-5002. Follow him at Twitter.com/robertsalonga.


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Bonhams is proud to hold a long and exceptional record of selling fine Irish Art through a select group of auctions at our New Bond Street and Knightsbridge salerooms, preceded by Irish/International previews. Both Traditional and Modern tastes are catered for through a wide selection of the very best paintings, drawings, sculpture and prints by Irish artists (18th Century to the present day).
Bonhams Irish Art department is the only one of its British competitors to be overseen by Irish born Specialists, who have many years of experience between them in selling Irish Art for exceptional prices. This understanding of the Irish market coupled with Bonhams global presence put us in a unique position. As such, we are ideally placed to advise the best course of action for your art to achieve and surpass its potential at auction.
A case in point was 'Dooega, Achill Island, Co Mayo' by Paul Henry. Following its discovery on the Antiques Roadshow, Bonhams sold it for £172,000 – almost 5 times the pre-sale guide of £40,000-60,000.
This field has become a truly international market in recent years with buyers and investors now being drawn from all four corners of the world. Bonhams worldwide Irish team pride themselves on exceptional and approachable client service. We travel regularly and would be delighted to hear from you, in confidence and without obligation.


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Adult Diryy Riddles
Looking for a huge collection of Adult Dirty Riddles? Well, you've found the right place! We have several thousand jokes and hundreds if not thousands of Adult Diryy Riddles. Just check the links to the left to get started. We're sure you will find more than a few to make you laugh. Don't forget to rate some of our Adult Diryy Riddles too.
Are you a webmaster with a desire to have Adult Diryy Riddles on your site? Let us help you with that. Click on the webmaster link to find out how easy it is to have Adult Diryy Riddles or any other kind of joke on your site. It's as easy as copy and paste.


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Recent rainfalls across most of the nation's key cattle grazing areas are greening up pastures and refilling farm ponds, fueling optimism among ranchers that they may soon begin the difficult process of rebuilding herds decimated by years of drought.
The recent rains that have soaked the Great Plains and most of the nation's cattle grazing region has spurred talk of rebuilding the herd.
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"We have had enough rain to at least change our attitude," said Kansas cattleman Ken Grecian said. "We are not out of the woods by any means, but we are green again."
Grecian, who ranches northwest of Hays, said he culled during the drought about 40 percent of his herd, sending to the auction barn more than 150 cows and calves to stretch his grass as far as he could. His ranch can support about 350 cows in a normal season, but it may be years before he restocks his ranch to those herd numbers again.
He now plans to keep the female calves from this year's calf crop, rather than sell them in the fall. To rebuild some of the genetics lost by selling so much of his herd, he artificially inseminated 100 of his cows this season in a move to get the quality up as he rebuilds the herd.
"I am a lot more optimistic, but we are not going to go out and buy cows," Grecian said. "We will grow back into it, so our grass has a chance to rest."
It's likely to take the beef industry years to recover from the widespread drought. Cows have a nine-month gestation period, and it can take up to two years after calves are born for them to grow big enough for slaughter. The time needed to repair drought-damaged pastures will only extend that timetable because ranchers must have grass for grazing before they can add animals.
"I think it will take us three years to get back to the numbers we were at – it might take a little longer than that," Grecian said.
It takes time for the grass to grow a healthy root system and it takes time for thin grass stands to recover enough to support a full stocking rate of cattle.
"My approach – and I have done it before in other droughts – is more of a plan to improve our resources back to the point that they were when we went into a drought," Grecian said.
While the nation's western grazing region – an area that includes New Mexico, California, Oregon, Idaho and Montana – have had worse pasture conditions this year than last, this region accounts for only 10 to 12 percent of the nation's beef cow herd. The parts of the country that encompass the vast majority of the grazing lands for cattle have seen improving pasture conditions, said Glynn Tonsor, an Extension beef specialist at Kansas State University.
Pastures in the Great Plains of Kansas, Nebraska and the Dakotas – where 30 percent of the cows graze – are in better shape. The Southern Plains of Oklahoma and Texas, with 20 percent of the cows, are also doing better than last year.
"The week-to-week cow slaughter numbers were still fairly high 90 days ago, but more recently they have been down," Tonsor said. "There is less forced liquidation – the cows that are going to market now are kind of by choice. It is no longer the case that there isn't pasture for them to be on."
Ranchers also will have more feed available to carry their cows through the next winter.
Steve Hessman, hay market reporter for the Agriculture Department's Dodge City office, said not only is there a better supply of forage and feed crops, the alfalfa crop itself is doing much better, and this cutting of alfalfa is expected to be the biggest. While there will be more tons of hay available, however, the quality is more questionable because there has been so much rain that the crop has bloomed and is past its prime for cutting into the good quality dairy hay.
"There is going to be a better feed supply than we were looking at earlier in the year, that is for sure," Hessman said. "You probably are not going to see as much culling of cow herds this fall – anything that is pregnant they should retain, whereas in the past they simply didn't have feed or it was too expensive to keep them."


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CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (MarketWatch) — Have you been picking stocks based on who you think will win the election?
Political posturing
MarketWatch photo illustration, Reuters
• Why the election doesn't matter
• Picking stocks right before an election
• Post-election pair trades hold promise
• Are coal stocks predicting a Romney win?
You might want to think twice about that strategy.
In most cases, the evidence shows an individual company's prospects over the next several years will be determined far more by what happens to the economy than by who wins the election.
Consider the coal industry, which is one of the sectors that has been the focus of those playing the popular parlor game of compiling lists of "Obama stocks" and "Romney stocks." Companies in this industry will supposedly do better if Romney is elected.
But how do you explain the performance over the last two weeks of the Market Vectors Coal ETF KOL, +0.00% an exchange-traded fund that is benchmarked to companies in the coal industry? Over this time, the Intrade contract pegged to Romney's chances of winning have fallen from more than 45% to their current 34%. And yet, far from losing ground, this coal-related ETF has risen 3%.
My hunch is that, Romney's election chances notwithstanding, stocks in the coal industry are responding to evidence of a gradually strengthening economy.
Or take the health-care sector, which is at the top of Wall Street's "Obama stocks" list. Three weeks ago, in the wake of the first Presidential debate, when Obama's Intrade contract dropped to indicate just a 59% chance of winning. Today, in contrast, that contract reflects a 67% chance of victory. And yet, over these three weeks in which Obama's election odds have risen, the SPDR Select Health Care ETF XLV, +0.79% has fallen more than a 1%.
My suggestion, if you want to focus on these industries that dominate the pundits' "Obama stocks" and "Romney stocks" lists: Pick those stocks in these industries that are favored by the top-performing advisers. The list below shows those issues in these industries that are currently recommended for purchase by at least two of the advisers on the Hulbert Financial Digest monitored list who have beaten a buy-and-hold in the stock market over the last 15 years:
- Alternative Energy: None
- Coal: None
- Defense/Aerospace: General Dynamics GD, -0.55% Lockheed Martin LMT, -0.35% Northrop Grumman NOC, -1.41% Raytheon RTN, -0.03% United Technologies UTX, -0.31%
- Health care: Aetna US:AET and Unitedhealth Group UNH, +0.84%
- Infrastructure/Building & Construction: Watsco WSO, -1.23%
Note carefully that, as best as I can determine, the top performers' opinions of these companies and sectors are not based on who they think will win the election.
Click here to learn more about the Hulbert Financial Digest.


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Join us for a Big Gay Matinee: WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? Costumes encouraged! Raffle & Mimosa Specials! Presented with support from ION AZ! A portion of the proceeds to benefit an LGBT Charity.
As a child, Baby Jane Hudson was the toast of vaudeville. As an adult, however, Baby Jane was overshadowed by her more talented sister, Blanche, who became a top movie star. Then, one night in the early '30s, came the accident, which crippled Blanche for life and which was blamed on a drunken, jealous Jane. Flash-forward to 1962: Jane (Bette Davis), decked out in garish chalk-white makeup, still lives with the invalid Blanche (Joan Crawford) in their decaying L.A. mansion. When Jane isn't tormenting the helpless Blanche by serving her dead rats for breakfast, she is plotting and planning her showbiz comeback. Convinced that her days are numbered if she remains in the house with her addlepated sister, Blanche desperately tries to get away, but all avenues of escape are cut off by the deranged Jane. What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? sparked a trend toward casting venerable Hollywood female stars in such grotesque Grand Guignol melodramas as Lady in a Cage (1964) and Hush...Hush Sweet Charlotte (1965). In addition to revitalizing the careers of Davis and Crawford, whose real-life mutual animosity came through loud and clear, the film made a star of sorts of 24-year-old character actor Victor Buono, cast as a porcine mama's-boy musical composer. Lukas Heller's screenplay was based on the novel by Henry Farrell.


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Where are IFC's SME clients located? How much has IFC invested in infrastructure projects in Africa? How have IFC's investments in different sectors changed and grown over time?
For the first time, users will be able to find the answers to these and many more questions about International Finance Corporation's (IFC) work on the World Bank Group's Open Finances website. Eight data sets with detailed information on IFC's financial commitments and projects are now available for the public to slice, visualize and share in the ways that they choose.
Supply Meets DemandThis initiative helps to answer requests from our stakeholders, to share information about IFC's finances and projects in a detailed and user-friendly way. Information on IFC's investment and advisory services projects is pulled from IFC's Disclosure Portal and updated daily, while data on IFC's financial highlights, investments by industry, region, and product, and cumulative gross commitments is refreshed yearly with the publication of IFC's Annual Report
What's New?IFC has published this information before, but had never previously shared it in a format that's machine-readable and open for people to explore, rate, and discuss with their social networks. This added dimension of openness contributes to greater public awareness of IFC's work, and will strengthen IFC's engagement with its stakeholders. Ultimately, our belief is that an informed public dialogue will improve project design and implementation, and also strengthen development outcomes. The Open Finances initiative won't achieve this by itself, but it is an important – and powerful - tool that stakeholders can use to understand and interact with IFC's data in new ways.
Open Finances: from World Bank to World Bank GroupWith this development, the WBG Open Finances platform is now publishing information covering the entire World Bank Group. It is branded as a World Bank Group site, marking the outcome of a successful collaboration between IFC and the World Bank on an important initiative to enhance transparency and accountability.
A positive development in
A positive development in transpareny.


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The Ballet Petticoat is a short, extremely full at the hem dance petticoat with 5 bias-cut circular gores gathered on to a yoke. It has more fullness than a circle skirt creating lots of movement and twirl. The Ballet Petticoat includes four 1/2" tucks for length alter-ability. It has a 7" ruffle and a 25" waist to hem length. This versatile petticoat would be ideal for musical theatre productions or for any dance sequence.
Fabrics and colors: white, off-white, and black 100% cotton broadcloth.
Sizes: S, M, L, XL, 2XL. [Sizing info] [Custom sizes]


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Are YOU up for a challenge?
Ready to stand out from the clutter of blogs and be one 3 winners of BLOG idol as Jim becomes Simon and Em becomes Sharon or the other way around perhaps, only at weekends!
Can you take the rough with the smooth here at GO! Smell the flowers and join our 17 founders from 10 countries at the start of something unique? Post the content of your choice here, promote what you do, build a network, inspire others and learn from the other flowers here whilst enjoying it along the way.
As our garden grows & develops we've 3 founders to find as our global search begins for lively, thick skinned yet motivational bloggers with a sense of humour / humor and the ability to make people think, inspire them and challenge the norms. It is the thorny issues that we grow and learn from here at GO! Smell the flowers not just the petals and the pretty stuff.
There is room for both here and we're opening our doors in the hunt for the 3 final founders and it could be YOU!Move over X Factor, Pop idol, Simon & Sharon – welcome to the first ever BLOG idol, courtesy of flowers founder, creative wizard and author Mike French! Here we GO! :-
If you liked what you saw then feel free to fave it over on youtube and get this climbing the ranks of youtube
Interested? What you need to do:
First dig around then post your answers to the following questions right here by Tuesday 18th March 2008:
1) Describe yourself in less than 20 words.
2) Details of your blogs URL and why you bother.
3) Why GO! Smell the flowers appeals to you.
4) What you can bring to the community.
5) What you'd like from the community.
So, post your comments right here to be considered for the final round.The top 5 will be given flowers access to post 1 blog entry of their choice which will then be planted in the garden, commented on, questioned and discussed.
Here is the BLOG idol trailer one more time! You may find clues as to what we're looking for here:-
Get through that as one of the best 3 then you'll be awarded your founders badge and our founders document so you can see where we're headed with this unique community at GO! Smell the flowers.Any questions? Feel free to contact us here at GO! Smell the flowers about all things BLOG idol and good luck! GO! for it!


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The Genomic Functional Analysis Section (GFAS) identifies and characterizes novel functional elements embedded in genomic sequences and addresses the role of epigenetic dys-regulation in human tumors. Since 2005, Dr. Elnitski has led a group pioneering both experimental and computational approaches to discern and validate uncharacterized regulatory components of the human genome. Most notably, the group produced a new method for assessing the activity of silencer elements embedded within the 98 percent of the genome that contains noncoding sequences. These assessment methods, or assays, were utilized as part of the ENCODE (Encyclopedia of DNA Elements) Consortium project, of which Dr. Elnitski has been a member since its inception as a pilot project in 2003. Furthering efforts toward discovery of important elements within the human genome, Dr. Elnitski and her group have mapped thousands of bidirectional promoters across five vertebrate species to identify and explain common core mechanisms of gene regulation in mammals and to narrow the search for the origin of human-specific genes in the genome.
In 2010, they identified a set of more than 1,000 genes whose expression was limited to primates and originated through the activity of bidirectional promoters as divergent transcription products. By extending the computational analysis of noncoding regulatory elements into the realm of regulated splicing, team members produced a predictive suite of software programs to detect previously unrecognized regulators. The unique locationof the regulators within coding exons meant that disruption by sequence variants could lead to exon skipping and protein dysfunction. The software tools were made publically available on a web server (Skippy) and further used by the group to find evidence of synonymous substitutions in CFTR that disrupt normal splicing patterns and play a likely role in cystic fibrosis and melanoma. Most recently, the central role of epigenetics in genomic studies has motivated Dr. Elnitski to address the role of aberrant DNA methylation in tumor samples, both as a means to understand the mechanistic properties of DNA methylation in gene regulation and to advance diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to cancer treatment.
Laura Elnitski obtained her B.S. in molecular and cellular biology at The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), with specialty research in chemical engineering. She obtained a Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology, also at Penn State, while pursuing one of the first projects to look at multi-species comparisons of noncoding regulatory elements. She was awarded a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award fellowship from the National Institutes of Health for postdoctoral training in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Penn State where she focused on the development and interpretation of multispecies genomic alignments to detect conserved regulatory regions.
Dr. Elnitski joined the National Human Genome Research Institute in 2005 as a tenure track investigator. She has participated in numerous genome sequencing projects including mouse, rat, cow and chicken, as well as the ENCODE Consortium to elucidate functional elements in the human genome. Her work specializes in developing tools to identify and discern the mechanistic action of functional elements in the human genome, including promoters, enhancers, silencers, splicing elements and epigenetic regulators. She received an Outstanding Research Achievement Award at the International Symposium on Bioinformatics, Research and Applications, Harvard University in 2007, and was selected for a Genome Technology International Young Investigator Award in 2009.
In 2013, Dr. Elnitski was awarded the Faculty Mentoring Award at NHGRI. She serves as a standing member of the Genomics and Computational Biology Study Section of the NIH.
Last Updated: January 5, 2015


text: Hi guys, A couple of days ago my ISP Config started showing this message in the system status pages (all Server State options): Code: Data from: ????-??-?? ??:?? No data about xxxxxxxxxx at the moment. Please check again later. Where xxxxxxxxxx is either the CPU, the RAM, the disk or whatever... What to check? P.S.: it's a multiserver installation (no mirror). Same problem if I select the secondary server... thanks in advance! rashef


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- Follow my blog. (See all the little pictures of people on the right under the ads? Click "Follow." Leave a comment here letting me know you're following my blog. (Must be a public follower.) Get one entry.
- Follow me on Twitter. Tweet this: "Enter to win JL Yarnworks' Scrabble Tile Pendant Giveaway! http://bit.ly/5tuP4D ." Leave a comment here letting me know you've done this. Get one entry.
- Become one of my Facebook Fans! Leave a comment here letting me know you've become a fan. Get one entry.
- Blog about this contest, linking back to this blog post. Leave a comment here with a link to your blog. Get TWO entries!
Yep, that's 5 potential entries per person. If every entrant gets 5 entries, then everyone will have a 1 in 20 chance of winning a pendant! Those odds are pretty good, don't you think?
Monday morning (January 11th, 2010), whenever I get to the computer, I'll tally up the entries based on the comments on this blog post. If you don't leave a comment, your entry will NOT count! For every 100 entries, I will let the random number generator choose one winner. (If there are 158 entries, there will be one winner; if there are 320 entries, there will be 3 winners.) I will post the winners here and contact them (be sure I can reach you through Twitter, Facebook, or leave your email!). Winners get to choose which Scrabble Tile Pendant they want from the above choices. Unfortunately, I will not be able to do custom letter choices for the purposes of this contest. Sorry! Scrabble Tile Pendants come on a length of ribbon and can be transferred to your favorite cord or necklace. They will ship to the winners for free. If too many winners want the same pendant, or if I'm sold out of the winner's chosen pendant on Monday, winners will be allowed to either choose a different pendant OR wait up to 2 weeks for new pendants to be made.
Good luck to you all!
**If your'e observant, you'll notice that not all Scrabble Tile Pendant options are currently available in my store. I'll be adding more all weekend. Want one that's not yet available in the store? Just contact me!**