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Jarl Moe necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 31 diseños de 10 diseñadores freelance.
4 Calls
We are a new voip telecoms company that have invented a new cool technology where you can get 4 land line numbers on your phone and call and receive phone calls all over the world for free or for 0,01 per minute to your cell!! never been done before.
We have opened office in Norway and in Cyprus to get started but need a presentation... Besides beeing rewarded for your work you will also get free calls as a bonus:-)
Business people
Travelling People
People receiving calls from outside their own country
We need a LOGO and an ICON.
The company is called 4 calls so either the "badge" can be the number 4 and the logo can be the badge with calls somehow attached to it.
Just like Skype has Skype and the S as their badge.
Twitter, and Skype are good examples on what we are looking for...
The "badge" will also be an icon on users PC just like SKYPE because our app can be used both on your PC/Mac and your phone.
Make something young and at sametime business like....
We do not have any particular colour in mind.
We are in a hurry as we have a big presentation Wednesday 5th August.
Can you make examples before this date it would be fantastic,
Good luck!
Best wishes
4 Calls
Good luck
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


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As part of an effort to encourage Mexicans living in the United States to enroll in the federal food stamp program, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) employees have met with Mexican officials over 150 times in the last eight years, the Daily Caller reports. The result: an enormous increase in the number of noncitizens participating in the program and a concomitant rise in federal spending and debt.
As The New American reported in July, the USDA and the government of Mexico entered into a partnership in 2004, under President George W. Bush, "to help educate eligible Mexican nationals living in the United States about available nutrition assistance." Among the available assistance is the food stamp program, formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
"The government of the United States is asking the government of Mexico to spread the word to its ex-pats living in America (legally or otherwise) that there is plenty of money in the welfare trough and they'd better hurry or they might miss getting a prime spot," observed TNA's Joe Wolverton, II.
Seeking to determine just how extensive the U.S.-Mexico partnership had become, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, sent a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on July 18. Sessions requested a variety of documents related to the partnership, including "a list of all programs, meetings, or other activities involving USDA and the Mexican Government to increase enrollment" in SNAP. He also asked for statistics regarding the number of noncitizen immigrants who have been enrolled in SNAP over the last decade and for the USDA's position regarding implementation of the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program, which allows states to determine quickly whether non-citizen applicants are eligible for benefits.
According to the Daily Caller:
"The Mexico-U.S. Partnership for Nutrition Assistance Initiative is just one of a wide range of USDA partnership activities intended to promote awareness of nutrition assistance among those who need benefits and meet all program requirements under current law," Vilsack wrote to Sessions in a letter obtained by The Daily Caller.
Since the partnership began, Vilsack wrote, USDA personnel have met at least 151 times with officials from the Mexican government "to discuss nutrition assistance programs as well as to provide program updates." Those instances included 91 meetings with embassy and consulate staff in 25 U.S. cities; 29 health fairs in 19 U.S. cities; and 31 roundtable discussions, conferences and forums in 20 U.S. cities.
Roughly 30 of these meetings and activities occurred under the Obama administration, Vilsack's letter revealed.
The partnership has paid off for both Mexicans who live in the United States and politicians who benefit from having a large segment of the population on the dole, writes the conservative website:
Statistics in Vilsack's letter indicate that the number of legal non-citizens participating in SNAP increased approximately 190 percent from 2001 to 2010, from 425,000 to 1.23 million legal non-citizen participants. That number rose 77 percent since the program's inception in 2004, when it served 693,000 non-citizen participants.
USDA did not offer data for 2011 and 2012, but a Republican Budget Committee staffer told TheDC that based on the growth rate, the number of legal non-citizens participating in the food stamp program today is about 1.63 million. That's more than double the number of legal non-citizens who participated in 2008.
None of this accounts for the illegal noncitizens participating in SNAP. The number of illegal aliens receiving such benefits is unknown; but as Sessions pointed out in his letter, "Applicants need only attest that they are citizens of the United States, and the state must accept that attestation as conclusive." (The SAVE program, already in use in some states, helps reduce the likelihood of fraud; Vilsack said the USDA supports implementing SAVE in all states.) In addition, Sessions wrote, "illegal immigrants may obtain food stamp benefits for their household if other members of the household are deemed eligible," meaning that illegals who bear children in the United States may be able to obtain SNAP benefits through those children.
Given the enormous increase in noncitizen participation in SNAP since the U.S.-Mexico partnership began, it is difficult to take seriously Vilsack's assertions in his letter that the USDA is not "simply" interested in "increas[ing] the number of program participants" but also wants "to help people move toward gainful employment and financial independence." It is, after all, well known that the department has been doing everything in its power to ensure that as many eligible — and, in the case of illegal aliens, not-so-eligible — individuals as possible are obtaining SNAP benefits. "The agency has been engaged in aggressive advertising campaigns and issuing guidance to state and local offices about how to enroll more beneficiaries," the Daily Caller notes. It has even encouraged senior citizens to throw parties to promote SNAP.
Moreover, Vilsack is clearly engaging in games of semantics when he writes that the USDA "do[es] not pressure any eligible person to accept benefits." The department may not do so directly, but it certainly encourages others to pressure their peers into enrolling. The seniors' "tool kit," for instance, provides "mini-scripts" to help recruiters "overcome the word 'No' when trying to convince seniors to sign up for food stamps." And as Sessions recalled in his letter:
A character in a USDA-produced Spanish-language "radio novela" tries to convince a friend to enroll in food stamps even though that individual says, "I don't need anyone's help. My husband earns enough to take care of us." The first individual responds: "When are you going to learn?"
The vast increase in SNAP beneficiaries, naturally, translates into higher federal spending. "Spending on SNAP has doubled in the last four years and represents USDA's single biggest annual expenditure," according to the Daily Caller. That, in turn, means more debt.
"Our nation is nearing a debt crisis and yet the Obama Administration has conducted thirty activities and meetings with the Mexican government to place even more foreign nationals on American welfare," Sessions told the Daily Caller. "The number of non-citizens receiving food stamp support has doubled since the president took office. Such a policy defies rational thinking during a time of weak growth, high debt, and increasing welfare dependency. President Obama will have to defend this alarming partnership to the American people."
Sessions' attempt to score political points over the Mexican outreach program rings somewhat hollow given that the Bush administration initiated the program and met with the Mexican government about it four times as much as the Obama administration, but his point about the program's irresponsibility is well taken. It would be bad enough if the government were encouraging foreign nationals to obtain welfare benefits during good economic and budgetary times; to do so when many Americans are out of work and the government is deeply in debt is unconscionable.
The USDA-Mexico partnership is, in Wolverton's words, "immoral, illegal, and unconstitutional." Voters and their elected representatives would be wise to put a stop to it — pronto.

subset: commoncrawl


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Langholmens Vandrarhem STF/HI
Langholmens Vandrarhem STF/HI enjoys a unique setting in an old prison. Old cells have been renovated to create comfortable, modern accommodation for budget travelers. We are located on Långholmen, an island in central Stockholm which is close to the lively area of Södermalm as well as beaches, green spaces and public transport connections.
We have a range of private rooms and dormitories, all with bunk beds. Most cells have en-suite bathrooms. Facilities at the hostel include a pub, a restaurant, free wireless Internet, a launderette and bicycle rental. Bed linen and towels can be hired at reception or guests can provide their own. Breakfast is available.
We operate a 24-hour reception.
We are an HI property.
Located in central Stockholm, the large hostel Langholmen is situated on a green and quiet island close to public communications. Langholmen is the most captivating hostel in Stockholm. It offers accommodation in the original, but now freshly renovated, prison cells in what used to be the Crown Prison. Built in the 1840s, it served as a prison until 1975, when the last convict left the island.
Accommodation is in well-equipped cells with two to four bunks, with or without private bathroom. All rooms have bunk beds, even the twin rooms. Most cells have their own shower and WC. Every morning we serve our deliciuos breakfast. Enjoy our capting pub and our restaurant. Free wireless Internet. Internet café if you don't have your own computer.
Our reception, which contains a boutique and a cafeteria, is open 24 hours a day.
Our reception, which contains a boutique and a cafeteria, is open 24 hours a day.
Availability & RatesTo view availability and prices please select dates and click 'Update Dates'
Hostel Facilities & Policies
- 24 Hour Reception
- Age Restriction
- Bar
- Bicycle hire
- Bicycle parking
- Book Exchange
- Breakfast Not Included
- Cable TV
- Café
- Card Phones
- Child Friendly
- Common Room
- Credit Cards Accepted
- Currency Exchange
- Dryer
- Elevator
- Telephone/Fax Facilities
- Free City Maps
- Free Internet Access
- Free Parking
- Free WiFi
- Hair Dryers
- Hair Dryers For Hire
- Hot Showers
- House Keeping
- Internet Access
- Iron / Ironing Board
- Key Card Access
- Self-Catering Facilities
- Late check-out
- Laundry Facilities
- Linen Not Included
- Security Lockers
- Luggage Storage
- Meals Available
- Meeting Rooms
- Microwave
- No Curfew
- Non Smoking
- Outdoor Terrace
- Parking
- Postal Service
- Reading Light
- Reception (limited hours)
- Restaurant
- Safe Deposit Box
- Taxes included
- Tea & Coffee Making Facilities
- Tours/Travel Desk
- Towels For Hire
- Towels Not Included
- Washing Machine
- Wheelchair Friendly
- Wi-Fi
Cancellation PolicyThis property has a 1 day cancellation policy. Failure to cancel within this time will result in a cancellation charge equal to the first night of your stay.
Must-Read Hostel InfoThis property has specific Terms & Conditions.
Please note that all our rooms have bunk beds :)
Langholmen is a Hostelling International (HI) member hostel.
Check in time: 15.00.
Check out time: 10.00.
Reception opening 24h.
Cash, credit cards and debit cards payment accepted on arrival.
Taxes are included.
breakfast not included.
Groups bookings age restriction : +18.
DirectionsShow MapHide Map
By car:
Cross Langholmsbron bridge. Turn left and follow the wall towards the Crown Prison entrance. There are parking spaces inside the walls of the complex where guests can park free of charge. Ask for a parking permit at the hotel reception or conference reception, or in the restaurant, and follow the parking instructions.
By underground:
From T-Centralen: take the red line southwards in the direction of Norsborg or Fruangen. Disembark at Hornstull/Langholmsgatan station. Walk along Langholmsgatan towards Vasterbron bridge and, just before the bridge, turn left into Hogalidsgatan and then take the first road to the right across Langholmsbron bridge.
Travelling time by underground is approximately eight minutes.
Walking time from the underground station to the complex is approximately 10 minutes.
By bus:
From the University: take the No. 40 bus via Odenplan, Scheelegatan and Fridhemsplan to Hornstull. Disembark at the Bergsundsgatan stop.
From Radiohuset:
Take the No. 4 bus via Karlaplan, Odenplan and St. Eriksplan to Fridhemsplan. Disembark at the Hogalidsgatan stop.
From Gullmarsplan: take the No. 4 bus via Skanstull to Sodra station. Disembark at the Hogalidsgatan stop.
Located Near
Located near Sodermalm, Hornstull and Langholmen.


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D&D Adventurers League
at multiple locations
Save to calendar
Import (copy and paste) this link into your calendar
or download the iCal file here.
The world's greatest role-playing game is back! Join the D&D Adventurers League at Forbidden Planet Liverpool & Newcastle!
Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition is the latest version of the world's most popular RPG. Explore the Forgotten Realms and take your heroic adventurer from obscurity to fame and fortune.
Will you play a daring and versatile Human, a courageous Dwarf, a graceful Elf, or a fearsome Dragonborn? Will your hero be a fierce Barbarian, a noble Paladin, a sneaky Rogue or a spell-slinging Wizard? You and your team of adventurers must work together to plunder dark dungeons, solve devious puzzles, battle terrifying monsters and save the world!
Every Wednesday, Forbidden Planet Liverpool and Forbidden Planet Newcastle are hosting D&D Adventurers League games. Officially sanctioned by Wizards Of The Coast, these short 2 hour sessions are the perfect introduction to Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition. Whether you're a lapsed gamer or a brand new player, there's something for everyone.
Suitable for 1st Level characters: bring your own or choose a pre-generated character.
Dungeons & Dragons Adventurers League games have a maximum of 6 players. Seats are filled on a strictly first come, first serve basis, so let the store know as soon as possible if you want to play!
So what are you waiting for? Get your armour on, grab a weapon and prepare some spells: after all, the world won't save itself!
Running Times
Liverpool: 18:00 to 21:00
Newcastle: 13:00 to 16:00
Please contact the shop for more details.
Locations and Times
From to
From to


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The Great Journeys of New Zealand Wellington Railway Station | Northern Explorer
Take a breath-taking journey through the heart of the North Island on The Northern Explorer, running between Auckland and Wellington and through Tongariro National Park.
- Adult
- $199.00 - $239.00
- Child
- $139.00 - $137.00
Contact Us
1 / 5
This remarkable, ever-changing journey between Auckland and Wellington takes you into the North Island's heartland, through lush green farmland, native forests, over stunning river gorges and across New Zealand's volcanic plateau.
The train passes over 25 major bridges and through 14 tunnels, and also traverses the famous Raurimu Spiral just North of National Park.
On the Northern Explorer you wont miss a thing. Capture amazing views from the open-air viewing deck, or through panoramic sky view windows in our air-conditioned carriages. Sit back and relax with our delicious food and beverages from the licensed onboard cafe, and listen to GPS triggered at-seat commentary as you journey through some of NZ's most stunning scenery.
Show more The Great Journeys of New Zealand locations Get directions
Physical address
The Great Journeys of New Zealand Wellington Railway Station | Northern Explorer, Bunny Street, Wellington Central, Wellington, 6011, New Zealand.
Opening times
- Business hours:
- Mon-Fri: 8am to 6pm, Sat-Sun: 8am to 5pm
- Months of operation:
- All months of the year
Facilities and Features
- Proximity to airport:
- Approximately a 30 minute bus ride in both Wellington & Auckland.
- Proximity to coach terminal:
- Coach services are available nearby.
- Proximity to town:
- Both Wellington Railway Station and Auckland Strand Station are located in the central city, in close proximity to hotels, buses, restaurants and other facilities.
Pricing and Conditions
|$199.00 - $239.00
(14 year(s) and under)
|$139.00 - $137.00
- Further pricing information:
- Fares are subject to availability, see www.greatjourneysofnz.co.nz for full terms and conditions.


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Gilmore Girls
"Twenty-One Is The Loneliest Number" - (TV-PG, D, L) (HDTV)
Tuesday , October 25 2005 Original
RORY'S TWENTY-FIRST BIRTHDAY - As Rory's (Alexis Bledel) twenty-first birthday approaches, both Lorelai (Lauren Graham) and Rory are saddened by the fact that their ongoing estrangement will keep them from spending the day the way they had always planned. Richard (Edward Herrmann) tries to convince Lorelai to help him with a plan to get Rory back to Yale, but Lorelai insists that Rory has to make the decision herself. While Richard continues to worry about Rory's future, Emily (Kelly Bishop) throws herself into planning an elaborate birthday party. Meanwhile, Emily and Richard are shocked when they realize that Rory and Logan (Matt Czuchry) have been having sex. Melissa McCarthy, Scott Patterson, Keiko Agena and Liza Weil also star. Bob Berlinger directed the episode written by Amy Sherman-Palladino (#2T6307).


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EDT:Debug Regression Testing
The following test scenarios should be run each release.
Common scenarios to be run as part of each of the other sections
Stepping through statements when suspended
- Step into
- Step over
- Step return
Run to line:
- "Ctrl + r" with the cursor on the target line
- Right-click in the editor and select "Run to Line" with the cursor on the target line
- Can be set by double-clicking the editor's left margin, or right-click the margin to add
- Can enable/disable breakpoints, changes take immediate effect
Variables view
- All variables in scope are listed
- Value and type for each variable looks correct
- Values can NOT be changed during debugging (future feature)
- Test all the supported types (primitives, arrays, records, dictionaries, delegates, handler fields, etc...)
Debug view
- When suspended, the function stack looks correct
- Stack frames have correct names and line numbers
- Clicking on frames updates the variables view to show that frame's variables, and selects the appropraite line in the editor
Batch programs (Java)
Launched by right-clicking a main program source file > Debug As > EGL Java Main Application
Drop to frame
- Pops off any frames above the target frame
- Repositions to the beginning of the function
- Note: Disabled on frames that are directly above native methods, or when a native method is above the target frame (JDT restriction)
- Can step into Java code, such as a user-written external type.
Hot code replace
- Limited support from JDT, no EGL-specific support
- Small changes might work, like changing logic
- Structural changes might not work, like adding new functions or global variables
Type filters
- When enabled, certain types are automatically run instead of suspending inside them
- Located in Preferences > EGL > Debug > Java Debugging
- Can disable filters as a whole
- Can disable specific filters
- Can change step type ("step into" will step "through" the code until it reaches an unfiltered type, while "step return" runs much faster)
- Can define your own custom filters at Preferences > Java > Debug > Step Filtering
- Quick toggle located in Debug view's toolbar menu (click the downward triangle to the right of the stepping buttons, and expand the "EGL" submenu)
Services (Java)
To debug a service you will need to write a client that invokes it (see the "Rich UI" section below). You cannot "step into" the service invocation from RUI, so put a breakpoint in the service function. To have RUI run the service in debug mode, either use dedicated services or a workspace:// URI for a REST service.
Everything from the "Batch programs" section above is applicable to services.
Note: You will not be able to drop to the bottom frame because it always sits on top of a native method.
More extensive testing of the test server itself will be handled by the test server regression test wiki page
Rich UI Handlers (JavaScript)
Launched by:
- Right-clicking a Rich UI Handler source file > Debug As > EGL Rich UI Application
- Selecting a Rich UI Handler file (in Project Explorer or making its editor active) and clicking the Debug icon in the main toolbar
Drop to frame
- Not supported, button should be disabled
- Can NOT step into non-generated JavaScript code, such as user-written external types.
Hot code replace
- Not supported, changing source does not affect active debug sessions
Service calls
- Using dedicated services will cause the test server to run the service (where breakpoints can be set in the service)
- Using a workspace:// URI for a REST service will also cause the test server to run the service
- Using any other URI like http:// for a REST service will NOT cause the test server to run the service, and the deployed service will instead be invoked
- Using the Visual Editor's Preview pane will follow the same rules as the Rich UI debugger for determining whether the test server is used for a service call


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Nick Young is Greenpeace New Zealand's Web Manager, but right now he's on the Greenpeace vessel Arctic Sunrise, in the Arctic Circle.
The oil industry is pushing further and further into the world's most remote and pristine environments, to drill in deep and deeper water, in its pursuit of the last drops of oil. That search has taken it both to the Arctic, and to New Zealand. Greenpeace is campaigning against this around the world, because of the increased risk of spills that come from operating in extreme environments like the Arctic, and in deep water, and because any oil recovered from the final frontiers of the fossil fuels industry will only make the climate crisis worse.
Despite it being the size of a small cathedral, locating Cairn Energy's oil rig Leiv Eiriksson amongst the icebergs in the North Atlantic is like finding a needle in a haystack.
But, after a week long search for the giant 53,000 tonne rig we found it last night 200 miles west of Greenland under the escort of a Danish warship!
I'm writing this from aboard the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise. Along with a second Greenpeace ship, the Esperanza, we are now in a rather tense stand-off with Danish navy commandos protecting the oil drilling operation.
Confidential UK government documents acquired by Greenpeace and released today reveal that the British foreign office believes any oil spill in Arctic waters would be impossible to deal with.
Take action: Ask Cairn Energy for the Greenland oil spill response plan.
The rig's destination, in a place known locally as iceberg alley in the freezing seas between Canada and Greenland, is a dangerous minefield of travelling icebergs – just one of the many reasons that drilling for oil here is a risky business.
The company is planning to drill at depths of 1500m – as deep as the BP well that blew up in the Gulf of Mexico last year - but in far more challenging conditions. Freezing temperatures, severe weather and a highly remote location mean any spill could be very difficult – if not impossible - to contain and clean up.
Cairn Energy is the only company aiming to drill in the region this year, but the big boys are watching with interest. If Cairn strikes oil it will spark an oil rush that could devastate the fragile Arctic environment.
We should not be pushing to the ends of the earth, risking everything to get at the last drop of oil – instead we should be seeking clean energy alternatives, and better fuel efficiencies, to break free of our addiction to oil.
Image - Crew from the MY Esperanza engage with the Leiv Eiriksson rig off Greenland. © Steve Morgan / Greenpeace
Nick has worked with Greenpeace for more than 10 years and is now Head of Digital at Greenpeace NZ.


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About 300 people, many of them veterans, gathered at the Greebrier Recreation Area this morning to bring awareness to post-traumatic stress disorder. Several of those on hand brought service dogs, a show of support for James Glaser, a U.S. Air Force veteran whose service dog was not allowed at Big I's diner. Controversy over the owner's actions prompted calls for a boycott that evolved into today's rally. For updates on the rally, follow reporter Shaun Sutner on Twitter @ssutner. Return to telegram.com for full coverage.
Vet James Glaser, diner owner Ireland and Glaser's service dog share the stage in Oxford after hugging. pic.twitter.com/1ZjWQj6YbF


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These are films that I either suffered through, or whose trailers assaulted me while waiting to see something else.
Not So Bad Once You Get to Know Them
These are two individuals who made careers out of dehumanizing others. Yet, we're supposed to sympathize with them because one was a repressed gay man and the other a woman who faced off against men and is now suffering from Alzheimer's. Fuck them both. There are many legitimate ways to approach biopics about interestingly evil people (e.g. Downfall), but a liberalized understanding is not one of them.
I've previously expressed my horror at seeing simple 2D cartoonish figures rendered in photorealistic 3D detail. Who needs to count the black lines in Scooby's iris or see the snot dripping from his nose to get into the plot? But this grotesque disfiguration has really reached its aesthetic nadir with Spielberg's adaptation of the comic famous for its clear line style, Hergé's TinTin. Rather than believe Spielberg can't see how hideous these deformed monsters look, I suspect that this kind of adaptation is really a simulation of a live action adaptation. Ultimately, it's a portent of a later stage of the technological revolution in which actors and much of the old film crew will be out of a job. A perfectly realistic CG star can't join a union. Of course, that'll only happen if they can digitally create the voices, too, which brings me to why the Muppets are dead and should not be brought back as zombies. Maybe Gallagher and Sam Kinison can be safely simulated by a close relative, but there is no muppet without the original muppeteer. Kermit and Fozzie might look the same, but they're obviously defective clones, being revealed as recovering stroke victims upon opening their mouths. (Not that I've ever been much of a fan of the Muppet movies, which tend to identify more with the lame humans than the characters of interest.)


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Sign In
Save and Track Your Favourite Properties
Kamloops is a Thriving Hub in the Interior of British Columbia. As we grow and edge closer to 100,000 in population, Kamloops still maintains it small town feel.
Kamloops has been know as the Tournament Capital of Canada since 2001. The City of Kamloops offers World Class Facilities and has recently built The Torunament Capital Center that is located next to TRU.
Thompson River University, located on the hillside overlooking the City of Kamloops, continues to expand with the addition of a New Law School that began in September 2011 with many other programs to follow in the future.
Kamloops is Trisected by 3 major Highways. The Trans-Canada Highway, the Yellowhead Highway and the Coquihalla Highway and is bisected by Canada's two railways.
Kamloops' name is dervied from a version on the Shuswap word "Tk'emlúps" which means "meeting of the waters". Kamloops is built in the valley of the mountains and along the North and SouthThompson Rivers.
Have a look through our website and see what Kamloops has to offer you, and browse through the neighborhoods to see area speaks to you.
You can also visit www.kamloops.ca


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Institute of Education Sciences
Functional Statements > Institute of Education Sciences
D. National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance
The National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance is one of the four National Education Centers of the Institute. The mission of the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance is to:
- Conduct evaluations of Federal education programs administered by the Secretary, and as time and resources permit, other education programs, to determine the impact of such programs;
- Support synthesis and widespread dissemination of the results of evaluation, research, and products developed;
- Provide technical assistance; and
- Encourage the use of scientifically valid education research and evaluation throughout the United States.
The National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance is headed by a Commissioner for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, who reports to the Director of the Institute. The duties of the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance are to:
- Conduct evaluations;
- Examine evaluations supported by others to determine the quality and relevance of the evidence of effectiveness generated by those evaluations;
- Disseminate information widely on scientifically valid research, statistics, and evaluation in education, especially with respect to information relating, at a minimum, to the core academic areas of reading, mathematics, and science, closing the achievement gap, educational practices that improve achievement and promote learning, education technology, including software, and those topics covered by the Education Resources Information Center;
- Make information accessible in a user-friendly, timely, and efficient manner;
- Support regional educational laboratories in conducting applied research, development, dissemination, and technical assistance to serve the needs of their respective regions;
- Support a prekindergarten through grade 12 mathematics and science teacher clearinghouse; and
- Manage the National Library of Education.
The National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance consists of two divisions, each headed by an Associate Commissioner.
The Evaluation Division is responsible to the evaluation activities of the center. The staff is organized in teams responsible for:
- Teaching and Learning Evaluations,
- Policy and Systems Evaluations, and
- The What Works Clearinghouse.
Team leaders and team members report to the Associate Commissioner. Teams design evaluations, develop Requests for Proposals and Requests for Applications, serve as contracting officer representatives for evaluation contracts, monitor and evaluate the substantive aspects of the performance of evaluation contractors and grantees, prepare evaluation reports and summaries and syntheses of evaluation findings, coordinate the work of technical advisory groups, and carry out other activities to further the mission of the center. Teams may be reconfigured over time as needed to reflect changes in the evaluation agenda of the center.
Knowledge Utilization
The Knowledge Utilization Division is responsible for dissemination and technical assistance activities. The staff is organized in teams responsible for:
- Regional Educational Laboratories,
- National Library of Education, and
- Education Resources Information Center.


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Many companies have embraced the notion that to operate effectively in today's economy, it is necessary to become a knowledge-based organization.1 But few truly understand what that means or how to carry out the changes required to bring it about.
Perhaps the most common misunderstanding is the view that the more a company's products or services have knowledge at their core, the more the organization is, by definition, knowledge-based. So, for example, a research institute or consulting firm whose product is entirely knowledge would be at the high end of the knowledge-based continuum, and companies making and selling simple physical products like cement would be at the low end. That is a dangerous assumption, both for industrial-age businesses that may believe they can't change and for information-age businesses that complacently believe they don't need to change the way they operate.
In short, the focus on products or services as a means of categorizing companies or defining the knowledge-based organization leads to a distorted image. Products and services are only what are visible or tangible to customers — they're the tip of the iceberg. But like the iceberg, most of what enables a company to produce anything lies below the surface, hidden within the so-called invisible assets of the organization — its knowledge about what it does, how it does it, and why.2
In the course of working with more than 30 companies over the past eight years, I have found that a knowledge-based organization is made up of four characteristics that can be summarized as process, place, purpose and perspective. Process refers to the activities within an organization, some of which are directly involved with making a product or selling a service and others that are ancillary but no less important. Place refers to the boundaries of the organization, which for the purposes of sharing and creating knowledge often go beyond traditional legal boundaries. Purpose refers to the mission and strategy of the organization — how it intends to serve its customers profitably. Perspective refers to the worldview and culture that influences and constrains the decisions and actions of an organization.
Each of these elements forms a basis for evaluating the degree to which knowledge is an integral part of the organization and the way it competes.


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Thursday, September 10, 2009
Weekly claims still trending down
As I read this chart of weekly unemployment claims, there has been a steady decline in claims since reaching a high in late March. Claims are down from 674K per week to now just 550K, a drop of almost 20%. That's nice, but at this rate of decline it could take a little over two years for claims to return to the 325K level that would be consistent with a "normal" economy. It's clear improvement, but the return to healthy conditions is likely to be prolonged and painful, and we're likely going to be hearing a lot about how this is a "jobless recovery."
(The big drop in claims that occurred in the first week of July was due to faulty seasonal adjustment factors relating to auto plant closures. That's now history, and shouldn't be interpreted to mean that things have gotten worse since then.)
3 comments:
- Public Library said...
Dollar weak, oil at $70+, gold at a grand, and the 10YR at 3.36%.
Interesting times...
- September 10, 2009 at 10:16 AM
- alstry said...
If we continue on this trend....clearly things will stabilize.
It seems like the mood is much better these days.
When you view things on the margin, it helps give you a better perspective of where things are....
- September 10, 2009 at 4:53 PM
- Public Library said...
Alstry has changed his tune. Might be a signal of a reversal. Here is an interesting post from zero hedge.
"One thing is for sure propping the economy up because we can't tolerate volatility, whether it's in the GDP numbers or the stock market, is a very bad idea in the long term, and we have been doing it for a very long time.
If it works this time it will be worst the next. By trying to fight volatility we are guarantying explosions of volatility far more painful than what would occur otherwise."
- September 10, 2009 at 7:01 PM


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Revolution's Daniella Alonso Lands Regular Gig on Night Shift
Jul 24, 2013 6:45 PM EDT
Daniella Alonso won't be away from NBC for long! The Revolution star, whose character was killed off in the Season 1 finale, has landed a series regular gig on NBC's new medical drama Night Shift, according to The Hollywood Reporter. How to fix Revol… Read more


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Load Absorption Units, measures up to 2000 HP, 2000 FT LBS, 200 MPH, and is capable
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Unlike inferior non adjustable wheelbase designs, the model 424xLC2 can adjust wheelbase
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please give us a call at: 800-992-3525.
Get right right docs
Dynojet offers competitive and affordable lease-purchase options through programs that are provided by third party Equipment Leasing Partners. Over the years we have developed strong relationships with our vendors and trust in their abilities to provide prompt service, and 'best in the business' lease rates for our dyno customers. We have long term partnerships with lease vendors who can facilitate lease/finance programs for all types of buyers – whether you're a new start-up performance shop or a multi-line dealership.
Our Leasing companies are quick to respond to your needs, and after receiving your basic one-page application, you can expect an offer put together for your lease within 24 hours, many times the same day! Most of our Leases are structured with a $1 buy-out (some states are restricted to a slightly different term) and this makes Leasing your dyno even more attractive.
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For more information, contact our Dynamometer Sales Department US toll free: 1-800-992-3525. Locally: 702-399-1423. Optionally, you can send us a quick email using the following contact form: click here to access.
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Verify that you are a human not a robot, please choose: Strawberry


text: December 22, 2011Jessica VanderbergComment I printed 50 of each of these limited edition Linen Union Kitchen Towels. This combination of 50/50 Cotton and Linen is perfect for drying dishes and glassware. The miniature, New Zealand Penguins in their sweater vests are printed on either end of the towel in a festive mint green and the Squirrels and Chipmunks taking tea together on the other towel (also printed either end) are printed in a very cheery red. They will be available in the shop until Christmas!


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When A Humor Site Understands The Implications Of Abundance Better Than The 'Experts'...
from the nicely-done deptA whole bunch of you* sent over the article from humor site Cracked, all about scarcity and abundance in economics. Wait, what? A humor site? Yeah, a humor site. Of course, they don't officially claim it's an article about scarcity and abundance in economics (though, they come close). Instead, in true linkbait-fashion it's called "5 Reasons The Future Will Be Ruled By B.S." Nicely done. Then, it focuses on the idea that the future can be described as FARTS: Forced ARTificial Scarcity.
That, of course, is the kind of thing we talk about all the time, and damn these Cracked guys, they actually make it funny:
Remember the debut of Sony's futuristic Matrix-style virtual world, PlayStation Home? There was a striking moment when the guys at Penny Arcade logged in and found themselves in a virtual bowling alley... standing in line. Waiting for a lane to open up. In a virtual world where the bowling alley didn't actually exist. It's all just ones and zeros on a server--the bowling lanes should be effectively infinite, but where there should have been thousands of lanes for anybody who wanted one, there was only FARTS.The key point, raised at the beginning of the article, which is the point we've been trying (and most likely, failing) to make for years, is that this isn't just about music and movies. Issues of abundance where there used to be scarcity is going to impact all sorts of industries, even beyond what many people expect. Or, as the folks at Cracked explain:
Which brings me to an amusing story. In the last few decades, thousands of babies in Third World countries have died from contaminated baby formula. Wait, did I say amusing? I typed the wrong word there. Anyway, what happens is the mothers mix the baby formula with contaminated water, because sanitation is poor. So why the hell do the mothers feed their infants poison formula when they can just produce milk, for free, from their own bodies? The answer is that they do it because the manufacturer of the formula, Nestle, ran lots of ads telling them to.In other words, get ready to learn how to "compete with free." Of course, it turns out that it's really not that difficult. They also do a bang up job walking through the basic thought process that goes into the steps down the road of abundance:
If you want to know what the future looks like, there it is. The future is going to hang on whether or not businesses will be able to convince you to pay money for things you can otherwise get for free.
Some of you think I'm about to talk about file sharing and DRM and the evil record labels. But that's just a teaser of what's coming. The world has changed. All the rules we were trained to believe about society from birth until now are about to go out the window.
An ebook sold to a library will thus delete itself out of existence after a year, or after X number of times it had been lent out. This is a big source of controversy between publishers and public libraries, maybe because both of them know they've found the loose thread that can unravel all of society. After all:So, the article's author, David Wong, concludes, the future of pretty much all commerce is going to be about marketers trying to convince you to buy stuff that you can get for free anyway, and when he notes that you probably think you're too smart to fall for that, he points out that you probably have already, and goes about listing just a couple of examples on his own desk, such as bottled water, Windows on his computer and Excedrin pain medication.
A. Why can't the library just buy as many digital copies as are needed for the customers, and keep them forever, if they don't naturally degrade?
B. Wait a second. It's just a digital file. Why not just buy one copy, and just copy and paste it for every customer who wants to read it?
C. Wait a second. Why do you need the library at all? Why can't a customer just buy a copy from the publisher and "lend" copies to all of his friends?
D. Wait a second. If no printing and binding needs to be done, why do you need the publisher? Just buy it directly from the author.
E. Waaaaait a second. Why buy it? Once the author makes one copy available, why can't everyone just grab it for free?
Now, I recognize that it's a humor piece, and not meant to be taken that seriously, but since it makes some good points in a humorous manner, I do want to push back (not in a humorous manner) on some of the points made in the article. First up, I'd argue that what he's talking about isn't really "forced artificial scarcity" at all. Forced artificial scarcity is when the laws are set up to artificially create the barriers that leave you little choice to buy. What he's talking about isn't forced, but voluntary -- and that's cool. And it's also not artificial. The reason people buy things, even when there are free alternatives is because of some very real scarcities, such as convenience, trust, reputation and patronage. So, for example, when he talks about buying Excedrin over the generic, he's paying for a real, not artificial scarcity (and certainly not forced). He's paying extra for the very real scarcity of brand comfort and trust.
Separately, he exaggerates (yes, yes, I know, it's a comedy piece, and exaggerating is how comedy works, but I'm the idiot trying to pretend there are real lessons in it, so hear me out) the jobs "lost" due to these changes. The jobs change, certainly, but they're not necessarily lost. And that's because with each abundance, all kinds of new scarcities are created as well. Historically, as industries defined by scarcity move to abundance, the new scarcities tend to create even more new jobs. Now, it's true that it's not always easy for those in the old jobs to make the switch to the new ones, but almost always other new jobs do open up (which were often more lucrative than the old jobs). Remember when automated phone switching was going to put all those operators out of work? Except, yeah, that didn't happen. Instead, automated switching created tons of new jobs, such as call centers, and led to new innovations (like the internet) that created even more new jobs.
But, yeah, those are finer points to nitpick in an otherwise quite enjoyable piece on the economics of scarcity and abundance. And, now, I'm left wondering why I don't go out and hire someone who's actually funny to write about the various important issues we like to cover on this site...
* And despite so many of you sending it in, we already knew about it by the time you did. That's because hidden in the middle of the article there, Cracked links to our story about libraries fighting with publishers over ebooks. And, despite the fact that this is the sort of link in the middle of a long story that people normally ignore, Cracked appears to get more traffic than Google and Facebook combined, and so even when an infinitesimally small number of those readers chose to click on that obscure, boring-sounding link in the middle of such an article, it shows up prominently in our log files, making me wonder who cracked Cracked to add a link to Techdirt and what could I ever do to get that sort of traffic to an article on the economics of abundance and scarcity?


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Ever been to Ames, IA? Ever needed a ride somewhere? The CyRide bus system is a nifty way to get around town, and now there's an equally nifty way to see the bus schedule.
CyRide is an app that lets you view the schedules for any particular day, right from your iPhone or iPod Touch. Browse to see when the bus is coming, and check out the Twitter feed in seconds.
This app has been discontinued.


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This month I write to honor Dr. Roy Vagelos, a long-term member of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology who helped us create theASBMB Earl and Thressa Stadtman Distinguished Scientist Award after Earl Stadtman died in 2008. The Stadtman Award recognizes a scientist for his or her outstanding achievement in basic research in the fields encompassed by ASBMB; it will be given annually and alternate between an established scientist and a young investigator with less than 10 years of experience as an independent investigator. Earl Stadtman helped elucidate the role of coenzyme A in fatty acid metabolism and made major contributions to our understanding of reversible, interconvertible enzyme cascades in regulating glutamine synthetase (1). Thressa Stadtman made important contributions to vitamin B12 biochemistry, and her work included the first demonstration that selenium plays an essential role in the catalytic activity of many selenoenzymes (2, 3). Drs.Michael Brown and Joseph Goldstein from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School were the first recipients of this award this year, which was especially gratifying for Mike Brown as a former Stadtman lab postdoctoral fellow.
Roy Vagelos presented the award to Brown and Goldstein at the 2011 annual meeting. Vagelos also was a Stadtman lab postdoctoral fellow. He earned his Bachelor of Science in chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania and his M.D. from Columbia University. After an internship and residency at Massachusetts General Hospital, he joined the National Institutes of Health and served as senior surgeon and then section head of comparative biochemistry. While at the NIH, Vagelos began his own pioneering research on lipid metabolism, which led to the discovery of acyl-carrier protein (4). Later, he became chairman of the department of biological chemistry at Washington University School of Medicine. In 1975, Vagelos joined Merck, first as president of Merck's research division and then as senior vice-president; he served as president and chief executive officer of the company from 1985, and chairman from 1986, until his retirement in 1994. Not only was he the lead scientist in Merck's development of the statin drugs Lovastatin and Zocor, he also was the key advocate in Merck's decision to make Ivermectin freely available to the people of Africa and Central America for the treatment of river blindness, a widespread, chronic and debilitating disease caused by the parasite Onchocerca volvulus and disseminated by black flies.
Roy's son Randall Vagelos, an outstanding cardiologist at the Stanford School of Medicine, adds, "My father treats the development and evaluation of every new and potential drug as critically as if he were assessing and treating a patient. This strong association is what drives him to push to deliver new therapies to patients and can be seen in the novel approach he took in his leadership style at Merck and afterward in his career. He is patient-centered."
Having worked in academia and the pharmaceutical industry for more than 40 years, Vagelos has long been an advocate of the importance of interactions between these two arenas (5). He points out that these interactions are essential for the discovery and development of new drugs and for providing scientific and educational information about new products to physicians for use in patient care. Drug discovery usually takes place in industry, but it is absolutely dependent upon knowledge that is generated at universities. Once a drug is developed (usually in industry), testing often involves close collaboration with university physicians to design and analyze data from clinical trials and to help formulate a strategy for U.S. Food and Drug Administration review of the findings.
During our annual meeting in March, Vagelos took time to talk with ASBMB leadership about the continued importance of links between academia and industry. He noted that some companies now are turning to academic institutions to help discover new targets and new drugs. According to Vagelos, Pfizer is cutting back intramural research and is providing academic researchers with access to chemical libraries and antibodies and preliminary toxicology results in exchange for rights to develop future discoveries. Merck, on the other hand, is one of the large pharmaceutical companies that is not cutting back basic research activities.
Vagelos noted that the medicinal chemistry needed to develop effective drugs is not an academic activity; rather, it is an area in which industry excels. He feels strongly that translational research is best tackled in partnership with industry – and that it would be foolish not to take advantage of the vast expertise and resources that industry can provide. Vagelos added, "Universities are best at obtaining new knowledge. Industry needs that new knowledge, and if the U.S. National Institutes of Health wants to best support new drug discovery, pursuit of fundamental knowledge should be the focus of its limited resources."
Vagelos, and recently Johnston et al. (6), summarized a number of cases where a drug could not have been developed without productive interactions between academia and industry. For example, Imatinib (Gleevec) is used as a first-line therapy for patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia. Nicholas Lydon, an industrial scientist, partnered with an academic investigator, Brian Druker, to identify novel tyrosine kinase inhibitors for the Bcr-Abl kinase implicated in this disease. As noted by Johnston et al. (6), "Academia is not charged or organized to bring therapies to the public … With rare exception, the public benefits of discoveries made in academia are realized only when they have been translated into use through industry. Unlike academia, industry is designed to effectively and efficiently produce and distribute therapies. Thus, academia and industry each have an essential role in improving health through biomedical discoveries."
The reputation of collaborations between industry and academia has suffered in recent years from undisclosed financial ties and perceived conflicts of interest (5, 6). These must be dealt with explicitly and with maximal transparency to ensure the reliability of research findings, proper design of clinical trials and avoidance of corruption of the prescribing behavior of physicians. But all of us must work together to promote strategic research interactions between academia and industry.
As the NIH prepares to establish a National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, ASBMB urges NIH to leverage what industry brings to the table rather than trying to reinvent the wheel. Congress and the public are justified in wanting cures, but they will not be there if we stop supporting basic research. Drug company breakthroughs are few and far between, and when existing drugs stop working, it is only the basic science that can help industry determine what tack to take next. There was no Gleevec before we knew about tyrosine kinases. And given that we have no idea what a large proportion of human genes do, there is plenty of fundamental research that still needs to be done.
Thank you, Roy Vagelos, for your outstanding contributions, your advocacy for basic research, and your continued support of ASBMB.
1. Kresge, N., Simoni, R.D., and Hill, R.L. (2005) Fatty acid synthesis and glutamine synthetase: the work of Earl Stadtman. J. Biol. Chem. 280, e23.2. Park, B. S. Thressa Stadtman: how does vitamin B12 function? 3. Park, B. S. Thressa Stadtman: pioneer of selenium biochemistry 4. Kresge, N., Simoni, R.D., and Hill, R.L. (2005) The role of the acyl carrier protein in fatty acid synthesis: the work of P. Roy Vagelos. J. Biol. Chem. 280, e32.5. Vagelos, P. R. (2007) Innovation and industry-academia interactions: where conflicts arise and measures to avoid them. Cleve. Clin. J. Med. 74, Suppl. 2:S12 – 3.6. Johnston, S. C., Hauser, S. L., and Desmond-Hellmann, S. (2011) Enhancing ties between academia and industry to improve health. Nat. Med. 17, 434 – 436.
ASBMB President Suzanne Pfeffer (email@example.com) is a professor of biochemistry at the Stanford University School of Medicine.
More from the current issue


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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Ohio's unemployment rate continued its slow downward march in November, state officials reported Friday.
The Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services said the state's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for November was 6.8 percent -- down slightly from 6.9 percent in October and 7.1 percent in September.
It's the lowest since an identical 6.8-percent rate in August 2008, and it's down more than a full percentage point from November 2011, when it stood at 8.1 percent.
Ohio's unemployment rate has remained below the national rate, which was 7.7 percent in November and 7.9 percent the previous month.
"Our outlook hasn't changed at all," said Angela Terez, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services. "We still think we're in a recovery, it's just a slow recovery. We expect there to be small increases and decreases."
The number of unemployed Ohio workers dropped by 5,000 to 391,000 last month. Meanwhile, the state's non-farm payroll increased by 1,600.
Ohio gained about 3,700 jobs in goods-producing industries in November, and manufacturing added 4,700. Construction lost 1,000 jobs, and mining and logging remained unchanged from the previous month.
The agency said Ohio gained 100,400 non-farm jobs between November 2011 and the end of last month. A total of 132,000 have been added since the beginning of 2011.
"The number of unemployed came down in November, but it's still high," Terez said. "It's headed in the right direction, but that's still a high number. We think this is another sign that we're in recovery, even though it's taken time and it's kind of a bumpy recovery."
The fact that many Ohioans are still struggling financially was underscored by Gov. John Kasich's announcement this week that he's sending another $1 million in state money to Ohio food banks to meet the growing need.
It's the second year in a row that Kasich authorized an additional appropriation for the Ohio Association of Foodbanks. The money from the state's Temporary Assistance to Needy Families fund will benefit more than 3,300 pantries, soup kitchens and shelters.


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Fast Forward Technologies
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More Information Download WS, the Programmer's Shell
Contact us


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On Sept. 11, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) revoked Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng's (王金平) party membership. As a consequence, Wang may be stripped of his status both as legislator-at-large and as legislative speaker. However, the Taipei District Court on Sept. 13 ruled in favor of Wang's provisional injunction seeking to retain his membership.
By comparison, the German federal court believes that even if a party revokes the membership of a legislator-at-large, that legislator will not lose their status as a lawmaker and they can continue to perform their duties as an independent.
This makes it clear that the claim that a legislator-at-large will lose their legislative seat and even their status as legislative speaker if their party membership is revoked is not necessarily accurate. The long-term goal for legislative reform should be to make the speakership a position of impartiality. To do this, the law should be amended to demand that a legislative speaker withdraw from their party in order to remain neutral.
A legislative speaker should always remain neutral. The UN secretary-general, for example, is elected from among diplomats from neutral states, so that they can remain neutral when handling UN affairs. Similarly, a legislative speaker's job is to maintain order on the legislative floor, and the speaker should have no concrete power to participate in the operations of the legislature.
Because of this, the post is normally a symbolic one in other countries. Yet in Taiwan, legislative speakers do not have to withdraw from their party after being elected, and they can continue to participate in legislative operations without any separation between party and government. This could hinder the legislature from performing its duties in a rational manner and keep it from remaining neutral.
In any democratic country, parties are seen as a means, while the goal is to rule the nation. Therefore, the ultimate goal of a party is to win public support in order to be able to gain power. Once it has gained power, it has to respect mainstream opinion in order to maintain its advantage and stay in power.
If it moves in the opposite direction to public opinion and places its own goals above the nation's will, so that the party overrides public opinion — intervening with appointments of government personnel and policy implementation — that would be tantamount to a party directing the government. This is the source of chaos in a democratic society: a group of people external to the government system blocking or even hurting government operations.
The anti-democratic nature of such practices is obvious. It is thus evident that a party leading the government is both illegitimate and illegal.
Directly elected representatives are required to follow the will of their constituencies, not the opinion of their parties. However, most parties excessively manipulate their representatives, making it hard for them to fully reflect public opinion. Since they have to follow the orders of their parties, they often oppose issues for the sake of opposition, which in the end will lead to public condemnation.
In some countries with a cabinet system, legislative speakers withdraw from their own parties once they are elected, in order to remain neutral and keep a distance from party affairs. They gain a higher status because they devote themselves to legislative operations alone. Speaker impartiality is an option well worth considering.


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Machias, ME- The University of Maine at Machias men's basketball team defeated Vermont Tech 68-62 in a Friday afternoon game in the Reynolds Center. The win improves the Clippers to 8-5 overall and 5-3 in the Yankee Small College Conference standings.
The Clippers played a strong first half leading to a 36-28 lead at the break. After extending the lead to as many as fifteen early in the half the Knights chipped away at the lead cutting it to 4 late in the game. The Clippers held on for the victory behind 18 points from Elias Gutierrez and 17 points from Floyd Higgins. Aaron Van Buren also netted double figures scoring 10. Brian Getchell led all rebounders with 10 and AC Ford tallied 6 assists. The Knights were led by Jamal Hughes with 30 points and Andrew Scott 11 points.
Clipper Coach Brac Brady was pleased with the outcome, "I was happy that we improved as a team today. Our execution was better today and we were much more patient offensively. It will be fun to see how good we can be when our execution and ability to finish matches our willingness to be patient."
The Clippers return to action Saturday, January 11th when they face Fisher College in the Reynolds Center. Tip for the game is at 3 pm.


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Our monthly night of prayer and worship is an opportunity for our church body to gather together for the sole purpose of bringing our petitions to the Lord as we seek his continued direction for our church. Come join us as we sing, pray, and read scripture together to magnify Jesus and to ask for his continued help in our church, families, and city!
Location: Freedom Christian Academy (3130 Gillespie St)
Childcare will be provided for ages 4 and under.


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Indie developer Alex Rozgo is working on Rawbots, a game that's all about designing and building robots then having them...do stuff.
Drawing on inspiration from stuff like LEGO and Spore, the idea is that you design, program and build your own robot then mess around with it in a virtual sandbox.
So you can shoot stuff, yeah, but there's also more pedestrian pursuits you can cobble together as well.
Rawbots [Facebook]


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Looks like you are using an old version of Internet Explorer - Please update your browser
The Religious Studies departments of secular universities almost always work hard to undermine biblical authority.
No results found in .
Answers in Genesis is an apologetics ministry, dedicated to helping Christians defend their faith and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.


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Nazaré Blows Up
Before sunrise the farol da Nazaré was packed like never before with spectators to watch the ZON North Canyon Team – Garrett McNamara, Andrew Cotton and Hugo Vau – ride collosal waves from the biggest Atlantic swell so far this winter.
The day was similar to last January 28th. This time it was the UK's Andrew Cotton who snagged the wave of the day. "Definitely the biggest waves I have ever seen." said Cotton. "Tricky, challenging and definitely dangerous".
"It was a wild day in Nazaré and I am so grateful everyone survived and that I was able to put my good friend on that bomb", said Garrett McNamara, who haunts the Nazare canyon whenever the charts turn scarlet.
Also in the water today were Carlos Burle, Maya Gabeira, Pedro Scooby, Felipe Cesarano, Eric Rebiere, Sylvio Mancusi and Rodrigo Koxa.
McNamara decided to stop surfing after Maya Gabeira suffered a brutal wipeout, and was washed unconscious onto the beach. Fortunately, she was successfully resuscitated faces no serious consequences.
*Sessions from this swell are eligible to enter The Winter Session. To enter send your edit via wetransfer.com to: firstname.lastname@example.com and we'll do the rest.


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WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama is asking a team led by Vice President Joe Biden to offer "concrete proposals" to curb gun violence no later than January, in the aftermath of the horrific massacre at a Connecticut elementary school.
Obama says after he receives recommendations from Biden's group, he will push legislation "without delay." The president is urging Congress to hold votes on the bill.
Obama says the issue is complex but quote, "we have a deep obligation -- all of us -- to try."
Biden, a longtime gun control advocate, will lead a team that will include members of Obama's administration and outside groups.
The move comes after Friday's shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn. Twenty children and six adults were killed at the school by a gunman wielding a semi-automatic rifle.
Do you think think the government should regulate gun sales more? Tell us in the comment section.


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Police lieutenant tops city payroll
City's 100 top paid employees earned combined $14 million in 2013
STAMFORD -- Police Lieutenant Diedrich Hohn topped the city's public employee payroll last year, pulling in $288,699 in wages, overtime and extra duty pay.
Hohn's earnings were up slightly from 2012, when he made $277,567. Reached by phone Tuesday, the lieutenant said he works overtime whenever he is offered the opportunity and spent a great deal of time last year completing an in-depth school security audit for the Board of Education.
"Whenever they called me I worked," Hohn said. "After (the school shooting in) Newtown we were tasked with doing security assessments for every school in Stamford. So that took up about the first five months of my year and factored in heavily to my overtime."
Public safety employees, who are mainly police officers, occupied 80 spots on the list of the city's 100 highest paid workers in 2013, according to a roster released by Mayor David Martin's office Tuesday. The list included police extra duty pay, which officers earn when they take on side jobs policing construction sites, special events or other privately-paid work.
Extra duty pay is processed by Stamford's payroll department, but not directly funded by taxpayers through the budget process unless they are hired for Board of Education or other city events. The Stamford Police Association paid the payroll department $1.3 million last fiscal year to administer its extra duty program.
The association released a statement Tuesday criticizing the city's inclusion of extra duty pay in its payroll roster.
More Information
Major wages
Stamford's top 100 municipal earners. Page A9
See Stamford's top 100 municipal earners. Page A9
"Stamford's police extra duty program succeeds in putting additional uniformed officers in highly visible locations across the city without cost to taxpayers," SPA President Todd Lobraico said in a statement. "Not only has this served as a key deterrent to crime, but the city treasury even achieves a 16% mark-up for administering the program."
Hohn drops to No. 2 on the city's list of highest paid employees if his $23,000 in extra duty pay is removed from his earnings. In that scenario, Schools Superintendent Winifred Hamilton claims the city's highest paid position with $271,019 in 2013 earnings.
Hamilton did not immediately return a call for comment Tuesday evening.
Excluding extra duty pay, Stamford's 100 top-paid employees earned a combined $14 million in 2013.
The city and Board of Education's entire payroll, which listed 5,133 workers last year, cost taxpayers $261.4 million.


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Managing the Job Queue
Applies To: Microsoft HPC Pack 2008 R2, Microsoft HPC Pack 2012, Microsoft HPC Pack 2012 R2, Windows HPC Server 2008 R2
In Job Management, you can monitor and manage jobs that are submitted to the cluster. In the job list, each row represents a job, and the columns display job properties, job states, and metric values. The job list provides a starting point for drilling down into job details and performing actions on one or more jobs.
The order of the job queue is based on job priority level and submit time. Jobs with higher priority levels run before lower priority jobs. The job submit time determines the order within each priority level. You can help regulate the order of the job queue by:
Creating Job Templates that define the valid priority range for different types of jobs or different sets of users.
Modifying the priority level of submitted jobs to change the order of the job queue. You can specify Priority in terms of a priority band, a priority number, or a combination of the two. The numerical priority can have a value between 0 (Lowest) and 4000 (Highest).
This topic provides an overview of how you can manage and monitor cluster jobs.
Configuring job scheduling policies
Job submission policies: Job templates are your primary method for defining custom job submission policies for your cluster. A job template allows you to associate a set of default values and value constraints for job properties (such as priority level) with a particular set of users. For more information, see Job Templates.
Resource allocation policies: Job scheduler configuration determines how to allocate resources to queued jobs. When you configure the HPC Job Scheduler Service, you can set scheduling policy (such as balanced or queued mode, preemption and backfilling), error handling, and job history options. For more information, see Configure the HPC Job Scheduler Service.
Advanced policy enforcement and license-aware scheduling: You can enforce site-specific job submission policies and job activation policies (such as license-aware scheduling) by creating custom job submission filters and job activation filters. For more information, see Understanding Activation and Submission Filters.
Viewing jobs and tasks
Monitor jobs: The job list displays information about jobs in the cluster. You can filter and sort the list, and choose which job properties and metric values to display in the list. For more information, see Filter and Sort the Job List.
Drill into job details: When you click a job in the list, detailed information about that job appears in the Detail Pane. You can also view job and task results. For more information, see View a Job or Task.
Track job statistics over time: HPC Cluster Manager provides several charts and reports to track job statistics for your cluster. For more information, see Charts and Reports: HPC Cluster Manager.
Performing job and task actions
As a cluster administrator or as the job owner, you can perform the following actions:
Cancel a Job or Task: Remove a job or task from the queue and free its resources.
Force Cancel a Job or Task: Stop a job or task immediately.
Requeue a Job or Task: Put unfinished jobs or tasks back into the queue.
Modify a Job: Make changes to job properties (such as priority level) or add tasks to active jobs.
Set and Clear Excluded Nodes for Jobs: If you notice that tasks consistently fail on a particular node, you can exclude that node from one or more jobs. If you resolve issues on a node, you can clear that node from the Excluded Nodes property of any active job.
Set the Progress and Progress Message Job Properties: Provide custom progress information about a job.
Copy a Job or Task: Run a job again, either as-is, or with changes.
Save a Job or Task to a File: Export the job or task specifications to an XML description file.


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THE ACT OF KILLING 3 stars. A frightening, fascinating documentary about the gangsters and paramilitarist thugs who led the Indonesian death squads of 1965. And who now blithely revisit, and re-enact, the tortures and murders they once committed � in makeup and costume, as if they were actors in a Hollywood movie. 1 hr. 55 No MPAA rating (violence, adult themes) � Steven Rea
BLACKFISH 3 1/2 stars. This excellent documentary looks at the deadly consequences of keeping killer whales in captivity for human entertainment. 1 hr. 23 PG-13 (disturbing subject matter, some violence, animals in peril) � Tirdad Derakhshani
BLUE JASMINE 3 stars. Cate Blanchett storms her way through the title role of Woody Allen�s pastiche-y melodrama, about a fallen socialite seeking refuge in her sister�s San Francisco flat. Lifted in chunks from �A Streetcar Named Desire,� and offering wincing blue-collar-type caricatures, the film is nonetheless a wonder � thanks to its star. With Alec Baldwin, Sally Hawkins and Bobby Cannavale, looking on in awe. 1 hr. 38 PG-13 (adult themes) � Steven Rea
THE CONJURING 3 stars. Husband-and-wife paranormal investigators are thrown for a loop by the most terrifying case they�ve ever dealt with in this unexpectedly fresh, alive and vibrant haunted house thriller. 1 hr. 52 R (profanity, violence, demonic horror, filicide) � Tirdad Derakhshani
DESPICABLE ME 2 2 1/2 stars. The Anti-Villain League recruits Gru when a powerful new criminal emerges in this animated family sequel. 1 hr. 38 PG (mild scares, rude humor, use of flatulence guns) � Tirdad Derakhshani
DRUG WAR 3 1/2 stars. The leader of a Chinese drug cartel is faced with the choice of being executed or becoming a turncoat after he is arrested. Mandarin and Cantonese with subtitles. 1 hr. 47 No MPAA rating (profanity, violence, drug use, smoking, sexual situations) � Tirdad Derakhshani
ELYSIUM 3 stars. Matt Damon is a 22nd century factory worker on a �diseased, polluted and vastly over-populated� Earth, trying to crash the gated community in the sky where the rich live in smug splendor. A rabble-rousing sci-fi allegory from the director of �District 9.� 1 hr. 49 R (intense action, violence, profanity, adult themes) � Steven Rea
EUROPA REPORT Ecuadorian director Sebasti�n Cordero�s low-budget space exploration suspenser is a modest, elegant chamber piece with a gifted ensemble cast. Six astronauts face insane odds to travel in search of life on the Jupiter moon, Europa. A found footage picture shot with fixed cameras in the spaceship, the drama is uneven but contains powerful visual poetry. 1 hr. 30 PG-13 (some violence, adult subjects, sci-fi creature scares) � Tirdad Derakhshani
FRUITVALE STATION 4 stars. Michael B. Jordan gives a deeply nuanced performance as Oscar Grant, the 22-year-old Oakland, Calif., man shot and killed by a transit cop in the early hours of New Year�s Day, 2009. Ryan Coogler�s film reconstructs � and in some instances, reimagines � the events of the day and night leading up to this tragic episode. 1 hr. 25 R (violence, profanity, drugs, adult themes) � Steven Rea
GIRL MOST LIKELY 2 stars. Kristen Wiig stars as a once-promising young playwright who loses her job, her boyfriend and her self-esteem and is forced to move back home (to the Jersey shore) with her kooky mom (Annette Bening). Hilarity does not ensue. With Matt Dillon as a guy who thinks he�s a spy, and Darren Criss as the frontman in a Back Street Boys tribute band. 1 hr. 43 PG-13 (sex, profanity, adult themes) � Steven Rea
THE HEAT 2 1/2 stars. Sandra Bullock is the brains, Melissa McCarthy the mouth and the muscle in this mismatched-cop comedy founded on the proposition that the lower the humor, the louder the laughter. That�s true until this profanely funny comedy veers into a sinkhole of �Pulp Fiction� comic violence in its final third. 1 hr. 57 R (extreme profanity, violence, sexual candor, surgical humor, drugs) � Carrie Rickey
THE HUNT 3 stars. Mads Mikkelsen in a bracing, complex performance as a schoolteacher falsely accused of sexual abusing a child. Danish director Thomas Vinterberg�s parable about mob mentality and the fabric of trust is a sad, sobering � and powerful � thing. 1 hr. 51 R (violence, profanity, nudity, adult themes) � Steven Rea
I�M SO EXCITED 3 stars. In the latest film from Pedro Almodovar, fear leads the passengers on an airplane to reveal some startling confessions. Spanish with subtitles. 1 hr. 35 R (strong sexual content, drug use, smoking) � Tirdad Derakhshani
IN A WORLD ... 3 stars. Lake Bell wrote, directs and stars in this winning, off the wall comedy, set in the world of voice actors � an egomanical and neurotic Hollywood clan. With Demetri Martin, Fred Melamed, Rob Corddry and Ken Marino. 1 hr. 33 R (profanity, adult themes) � Steven Rea
JOBS 2 1/2 stars. Ashton Kutcher tries on the guise of Steve Jobs, the 1970s college dropout turned new millennium computer company billionaire, in this less-than-multi-dimensional biopic. Apple products changed the world; this movie about its co-founder, will not. 2 hrs. 02 PG-13 (profanity, drugs, adult themes) � Steven Rea
KICK-ASS 2 1 1/2 stars. A lame followup to the punky, profane 2010 misfit teens superhero spoof, with Chloe Grace Moretz and Aaron Taylor-Johnson back as the costumed crimefighters, but with none of the novelty or nutball charm of the original. Jim Carrey, Morris Chestnut and the increasingly annoying Christopher Mintz-Plasse co-star. 1 hr. 43 R (violence, profanity, adult themes) � Steven Rea
LEE DANIELS� THE BUTLER 3 stars. Based on the true story of an African-American who served eight presidents, from Truman to Reagan, in the White House, with Forest Whitaker, full of dignity and humilty in the title role, as pivotal events in the history of the Civil Rights movement swirl all around him. With Oprah Winfrey, Cuba Gooding Jr. and David Oyelowo. 2 hrs. 12 PG-13 (violence, profanity, adult themes) � Steven Rae
MONSTERS UNIVERSITY 2/12 stars. Pixar�s first prequel takes a look at how its �Monsters, Inc. stars, Mike and Sully (the voices of Billy Crystal and John Goodman), first met, in the ivied halls of a college campus where the multi-hued, multi-limbed, multi-eyeballed students learn how to be �scarers.� Cute, funny, but not on the top tier when it comes to originality. 1 hr. 50 G (mild scares) � Steven Rea
PACIFIC RIM 3 stars. Guillermo del Toro�s thunderous, thumping monsters-vs.-robots throwdown fuses a modern day, apocalyptic sense of dread with the crazed spirit of those vintage Japanese sci-fi pics starring Godzilla and Gorgo. It�s a nuclear-powered mixed martial arts match, and pretty soon you lose count of how many rounds they�ve gone. Big, loud fun. PG-13 (intense action, violence, adult themes) � Steven Rea
PARANOIA 2 stars. A corporate espionage thriller that�s pretty much completely lacking in thrills, unless Liam Hemsworth with his shirt off meets your requirements. With Harrison Ford and Gary Oldman as business rivals, and Amber Heard as the beautiful, brainy love interest. 1 hr. 46 PG-13 (violence, profanity, adult themes) � Steven Rae
PLANES 1 star. Dusty the cropduster pursues his crazy dream of racing elite aircraft around the globe. Dane Cook, Stacy Keach and Brad Garrett lend their voices to a dismal kids� film that exists mostly as an excuse for a toy line. 1 hr. 32 PG � David Hiltbrand.
RED 2 2 1/2 stars. The explosive adventures of retired spies Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren and John Malcovich never get old. Just a little formulaic in this sequel. 1 hr. 56 PG-13 (profanity, violence, drugs) � David Hiltbrand
THE SPECTACULAR NOW 3 stars. A high school romance that feels genuine, and finds deep places to go, with Miles Teller as a freewheeling senior who surprises himself by falling for a shy and unlikely schoolmate, beautifully played by �The Descendants�� Shailene Woodley. 1 hr. 35 R (sex, alcohol, profanity, adult themes) � Steven Rae
TURBO 2 stars. A snail in the Indy 500? That�s the premise of this formulaic animated feature that definitely isn�t hitting on all cylinders. With the voices of Ryan Reynolds, Paul Giamatti, Michael Pena, Maya Rudolph and Snoop Dogg. 1 hr. 36 PG (mild action and thematic elements) � David Hiltbrand
20 FEET FROM STARDOM 3 1/2 stars. A rocking doc about the unsung singers standing just to the right and left of Mick Jagger, Bette Midler, Bruce Springsteen, Sting, and other music superstars. Backup vocalists finally get their due. 1 hr. 30 PG-13 (profanity) � Dan DeLuca
2 GUNS 2 1/2 stars. Mark Wahlberg and Denzel Washington team up in this slambang adaptation of the comic book about dueling undercover agents, dealing with a crazed Mexican drug lord and their own crooked bosses. The two stars riff, wrestle and crack wise like they genuinely enjoy each other�s company, but their chemistry experiment is tainted by pointlessly nasty violence. 1 hr. 49 R (violence, sex, nudity, profanity, adult themes) � Steven Rea
THE WAY, WAY BACK 3 stars. Sly, richly modulated, emotionally engaging, and brutally honest, Oscar winners Nat Faxon and Jim Rash�s brilliantly cast coming of age dramedy is about Duncan, a geeky, awkward, alienated 14-year-old boy forced to spend summer vacation with his single mom (Toni Collette) and her new beau, an obnoxious, overbearing car salesman (Steve Carell). Duncan comes out of his shell when he befriends a local water park manager played with manic glee by Sam Rockwell. 1 hr. 43 PG-13 (profanity, adult themes, mild sexuality, smoking) � Tirdad Derakhshani
WE�RE THE MILLERS 2 1/2 stars. A pot dealer and a stripper � Jason Sudeikis and Jennifer Aniston � pose as an all-American, RV-driving couple, recruiting two misfit teens to play their kids so they can smuggle a huge shipment of marijuana across the Mexican border. Innocuously smutty, intermittently funny road comedy. R (profanity, nudity, drugs, violence, adult themes) � Steven Rea
THE WOLVERINE 3 stars. Hugh Jackman stars in this dark and stormy � and ragingly fun � X-Men thriller, in which Logan, the brooding mutant with the retractable adamantian claws, finds himself is the thick of whooshing ninjas, tattooed yakuza and all the anime cool of 21st century Japan. 2 hrs. 06 PG-13 (violence, profanity, adult themes) � Steven Rea
WORLD WAR Z 3 stars. Brad Pitt goes running around the world � and driving, and helicoptering, and bicycling and jet-planing � in a desperate attempt to find the cure for a zombie pandemic. A relentless horror thriller. First stop: Philly. 1 hr. 56 PG-13 (intense scares, zombie violence, adult themes) � Steven Rea
4 stars: Excellent; 3 stars: Good; 2 stars: Fair; 1 star: Poor


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I'm always looking for new zines to review on this blog. If you'd like your zine to be featured here, send an email to spillthezinesukATgmailDOTcom with the subject line "review request", and the name of the author, the zine title, a short description, and the location of the author, like so:
Name of Author: Cath Elms
Zine Title: Here. In My Head. #4
Short Description: A feminist perzine featuring written pieces on friendship, jealousy, casual sexism, and things that make me happy. 40 pages, ¼ sized, £1.
City/county of Author:
Preferred gender pronoun (optional): she
I will then get back to you and let you know if you need to send me a copy, or if I already have a copy of your zine. If I do not have a physical copy of your zine, you'll need to send me one. If you provide me with a SAE, I can return the zine when I'm done. UK zines only please.
Zines we like at Spill the Zines:
Feminist zines
Queer/sexuality zines
Queer/sexuality zines
Political zines
Philosophical/contemplative zines
Environmental/activism zines
Philosophical/contemplative zines
Environmental/activism zines
Cookery zines
Arts/crafts zines
Travel zines
Mental health/disability zines
Zines we dislike: Anything hateful, which includes (but is not limited to) homophobia, transphobia, racism, sexism, and ableism.
If your zine fits in to the like category, send it over! If it doesn't fit in to either category, you can still request a review. I might not be into other types of zine (e.g. lit zines) but I'll try to review them as fairly as possible. Please bear in mind that my reviews are sometimes critical.
Any questions, feel free to email - spillthezinesukATgmailDOTcom. :)


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Politics & Government
Coal bill seeks to thwart EPA
FRANKFORT — Kentucky should be a "sanctuary state" for the coal industry, free from "the overreaching regulatory power" of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, according to a measure expected to get a Senate committee vote Thursday.
Senate Natural Resources and Energy Chairman Brandon Smith, R-Hazard, said he got the idea for Senate Joint Resolution 99 after hearing about "sanctuary cities" declaring themselves exempt from federal immigration law.
If cities can ignore federal law to protect illegal immigrants, Smith said Wednesday, then why can't Kentucky do it for coal companies?
Smith's resolution would give state agencies jurisdiction over mining-related environmental standards and require state agencies to "respect the rights of Kentucky coal operators." The Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet would be instructed to issue coal-mining permits that the EPA has denied because of concerns over water pollution.
Smith and his wife were managers at Perry Oil Co. in Hazard in 2008, around the time the company entered a consent agreement with the EPA. The EPA blamed the company for 7,000 gallons of oil poured into an unnamed tributary of Lick Creek in Laurel County. The company agreed to pay a $14,595 fine.
Smith said he since has left the company and was unaware of the consent agreement. That isn't what turned him against the EPA, the senator said. Rather, under President Barack Obama, the once-friendly EPA has become more adversarial, Smith said.
"Now they come down here, and they go out of their way to find things to write you up about," Smith said. "The EPA clearly is reacting to what it feels is the will of this president. They are going far above and beyond the call of duty."
Smith's resolution would be enacted law if the Senate and House passed it, although it wouldn't go onto the statute books. Smith said he doubts the EPA would change its pollution enforcement in Kentucky if the resolution passed, but he wants the legislature to make its beliefs clear. If enacted, a copy of the resolution would be sent to the EPA.
"We're doing it to raise awareness of the fact that the federal government is overreaching into parts of our economy and it's having a negative impact on Kentucky," Smith said.
Also Thursday, the House Natural Resources and Environment Committee will hear House Bill 421, sponsored by Chairman Jim Gooch, D-Providence. It would exempt coal mining from the federal Clean Water Act and other EPA regulation if the coal is used inside Kentucky and does not cross state lines.
Environmentalists say they're unhappy Gov. Steve Beshear and the General Assembly are attacking the EPA for enforcing environmental laws, some of which, they said, were neglected under previous presidents. Fourteen of them occupied Beshear's outer office last weekend, and hundreds more rallied Monday on the Capitol steps.
The Beshear administration has joined the Kentucky Coal Association's lawsuit against the EPA over water-pollution enforcement. In this month's State of the Commonwealth address, Beshear won thunderous applause from lawmakers by demanding that EPA regulators "get off our backs."
Federal action is welcome because the state government has done too little to protect the environment, said Truman Hurt, a retired coal miner in Perry County and member of activist group Kentuckians for the Commonwealth.
"The people and communities of Eastern Kentucky have suffered unnecessarily for years because the state environmental and mine-safety agencies have failed to fully and fairly enforce the law," Hurt wrote to Smith on Wednesday.
"Now that the EPA is finally stepping up to enforce the law and protect our precious water, you and the governor are making every effort to block that enforcement," Hurt wrote. "You seem willing to sacrifice the health and safety of your own constituents and the future of Eastern Kentucky in order to protect the rights of the coal companies to flatten the mountains and fill the valleys with their mine waste."


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Swimming Pool Blog
by Rob Cox August 9, 2013
Holiday Vacation Planning
August is holiday time, what about the pool? If you're planning some vacation this month, away from the pool - a week, maybe two, do you need to worry about the pool?
Maybe not, if you're the laid back type, and in case you are, here's a few things to worry about before you go on vacation.
For you higher strung pool owners, don't worry you can leave your pool for a week or two, just take care of these things ahead of time.
A Week Before You Leave:
BALANCE THE WATER: A week or so before you leave, take the whole battery of tests - Chlorine, pH, Alkalinity, Calcium Hardness and Cyanuric Acid. If you don't have a full range test kit or strips, you can take a sample to a local pool store.
Testing is only half of it, though - you likely need to adjust one or two of the levels tested. Bring the levels in balance by adding the recommended amounts of adjustment chemicals.
FIND A POOL SITTER: If you are concerned about leaving your temperamental pool for very long, you could get someone to come check on it. Good prospects are neighbors who have pools, friends or co-workers even. You could do the favor for each other.
Ideally you'd want someone who is familiar with pools to look in on your pool for you, just to check the water level and filter pressure. Maybe empty the skimmer basket or pool cleaner. It could also however, be someone responsible, who knows very little about pools.
HIRE A SERVICE: Most pool service companies would take on a 'Vacation Service', where they visit during your absence and clean the pool, manage chemistry and maintain the equipment. This can cost as low as $30 in southern areas with many pools; up to $90 in some regions of the country.
A Few Days Before You Leave:
SHOCK THE POOL: Lowering the pH before you shock, to around 7.2, will make your shock more effective, and it has the added benefit of being a pH level that algae and bacteria are not fond of - they prefer their pH environment much higher.
BRUSH THE POOL: Why not, you probably haven't all summer anyway - it's good for the pool, and helps to disturb the surface while shocking, to allow the chlorine to really sanitize the pool.
COVER THE POOL: If you have a winter safety cover, nothing keeps your pool safer. Putting on the cover, if it's a simple enough affair, should be considered. Keeps your pool clean and reduces sanitizer demand. Also locks the pool to wild animals, and I'm not just talking about neighborhood teenagers.
CHECK THE GATES: If you have a combination padlock, locking your external pool gates would keep the pool safer for animals, pets, and neighborhood kids. Take the time to inspect the pool fence all the way around the perimeter, to make sure there are no leaning sections, missing boards, or holes dug under the fence. For above ground pools, lock the ladders, or remove them if they are not lockable.
The Day Before You Leave:
CLEAN THE POOL: You know, the usual, whatever that is for you. Emptying the pool cleaner, or vacuuming and skimming the pool. At least you should check the skimmer and pump baskets, to make sure that they are clean.
BACKWASH THE FILTER: Backwash your sand or DE pool filters, or hose clean your cartridges, unless you are sure that they are in clean condition already.
STOCK UP THE CHLORINATOR: If you have a chlorinator, you likely know your pool's appetite for chlorine tablets, so give it enough to last for the entire vacation. You can also use a floating chlorinator, but if you have a swimout or wedding cake steps, where it could come to rest, tie it up in one area. Salt systems - check your salt levels, and your controller for any errors.
And that should be it! Go on vacation, you deserve it - go sit by someone elses pool, and leave yours at home!
- Rob


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DASH is a POSIX-compliant implementation of /bin/sh that aims to be as
small as possible. It does this without sacrificing speed where possible.
In fact, it is significantly faster than bash (the GNU Bourne-Again SHell)
for most tasks.
Maintained by: Vincent Batts
Keywords: sh,dash,shell,POSIX,posix
ChangeLog: dash
Download SlackBuild:
dash.tar.gz.asc (FAQ)
(the SlackBuild does not include the source)
|Individual Files:
| dash.SlackBuild
| dash.info
| slack-desc
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