text:
What is the Schengen area?
The Schengen area is a part of the territory of the European Union in which the rules of free movement of persons, goods, services and capital apply. People may freely travel around this area without any border checks at internal borders of Schengen Member States. In fact, the internal borders were abolished and border checks at Schengen external borders have been reinforced in order to safeguard the security of Member States. The joint border check rules and effective oversight on the external borders aim at preventing illegal migration, drug trafficking and other illegal activities. The Schengen Member States also apply a uniform visa policy regime.
Members of the Schengen area: Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, the Netherlands, Iceland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, Germany, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Austria, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Swiss Confederation, Sweden and Italy.
More information about the Schengen area is available at: ec.europa.eu
Do I need a visa to enter the Schengen area? Where can I apply for a visa?
Foreign nationals who are subject to visa requirement and want to enter the Schengen area, with Slovakia being their target destination, must file a visa application with the competent Slovak embassy or consulate general. Foreign nationals legally residing in a third country (i.e. other than the country of their citizenship) may apply for a visa at the embassy/consulate general competent for the country of their current residence.
Third countries whose nationals are exempt from a visa requirement upon entry into the Slovak Republic (pdf; 109.08 KB)
What is a visa?
A visa is issued in the form of a visa sticker. Visas are issued by Slovak embassies and consulates general abroad or, under extraordinary circumstances (e.g. humanitarian reasons), by the Slovak police at a border crossing point. The visa entitles the foreign national to transit through or to stay in the Schengen area for the period of validity of the respective visa. The length of stay and expiry date of the visa is specified on the visa sticker. Within local Schengen co-operation the Schengen Member States issue a uniform visa valid for all Schengen countries.
List of border crossings:
Land border between Slovakia and Ukraine:
1. Čierna nad Tisou – Čop (railway border crossing)
2. Ubľa – Malyj Bereznyj
3. Veľké Slemence – Mali Selmenici
4. Vyšné Nemecké – Užhorod
5. Maťovské Vojkovce – Pavlovo (railway border crossing; cargo only)
Air borders:
1. Bratislava airport
2. Košice airport
3. Poprad airport
What type of visa do I need?
The type of visa you will need depends on the length and purpose of your visit. A decision on the particular type of visa is made by the competent embassy or consulate general.
Types of visas currently available:
Type A Schengen visa: airport transit visa
You can normally stay in the international transit area at the airport without a visa while waiting for a connecting flight. However, some natinalities are required to have a valid visa, even if they do not leave the international transit area. The Airport Transit Visa only authorises the holder to transit through the airport's international transit area.
Type C Schengen visa: entry visa
The visa entitles its holder to enter and stay in the Schengen area for not more than a total of 90 days within a six-month period subsequent to the date of the first entry. This visa may be issued for one or several entries (single entry and multiple entry visa).
National visa type D (long-stay)
National (long-stay) visa may be issued in relation to the granted residence permit or in connection with Slovakia´s commitments under international treaties or for the benefit of the Slovak Republic. It si allowed for long-term visa holders to travel to other member states (outside the frontier of the state who issued the visa), however the total of stay cannot exceed 90 days in any six month period.
When should I apply for a visa?
The visa application procedure may be lengthy in some cases. Therefore, you should file your application well in advance, but not sooner than three months prior to your planned trip. Under the applicable law, the visa application procedure shall not take longer than 15 days, in exceptional cases the decision may take up to 60 days.
Exemptions apply to the nationals of the third countries which have signed Community-level visa facilitation agreements. Such countries include Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia, Moldova, the Russian Federation, Serbia, Georgia and Ukraine. With respect to the nationals of the aforementioned countries, the decision must be delivered within 10 calendar days of the delivery of a completed visa application. Nationals of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia don´t need visa, if they are holders of biometric passports.
Conditions for the granting of a visa:
General conditions
When intending to apply for visa the foreign nationals are urged to contact the territorially competent Slovak embassy/consulate general in order to receive a detailed and up-to-date information on visa requirements since the general information provide below may not fully cover the visa requirements applicable in the third country.
In general, when applying for a Schengen visa, foreign nationals have to submit the following:
1) a completed "Application for Schengen Visa" form
The application must be signed by the applicant; in the case of minors or persons lacking legal capacity, the application must be signed by their legal guardian who is required to attach a copy of the document identifying him/her as the applicant's legal guardian.
Visa application forms
2) full-face colour photo, with dimensions of 3x3.5 cm.
3) valid travel document; the travel document must be valid for at least three months longer than the expected validity of the visa requested and it must have been issued within previous 10 years. The document shall contain at least 2 blank pages.
4) documents demonstrating the purpose and conditions of the planned stay (a letter of invitation, a voucher in the case of an organised trip etc.)
5) accommodation-related documents, e.g.:
- a voucher/reservation confirming hotel accommodation and services provided;
- a personal letter of invitation confirming that the applicant will stay at the inviting person's place;
- other documents.
6) documents confirming sufficient means of subsistence, e.g.:
- cash in a freely convertible currency;
- travel cheques;
- a bank account statement confirming that the applicant has had a regular income (salary, pension) in the previous 6-12 months;
- other documents safeguarding funds in a convertible currency.
No general amount of funds to cover the costs of living is prescribed, but the funds must be sufficient for the length and purpose of stay and costs of living in the final country of destination or Schengen area countries.
At a Slovak border crossing the foreign nationals may be asked to demonstrate that they have sufficient means to cover the costs of living for the length of stay specified in the visa in the amount of EUR 56 per person per day.
7) documents enabling an assessment of the applicant's intention t leave the territory of the Member States before the expiry of the visa applied for, e.g. means of transport – a return (not open) air/bus/train ticket.
When travelling by a passenger motor vehicle, the applicant must submit a valid driving licence and roadworthiness certificate, motor third-party liability insurance certificate (so-called green card), and demonstrate possession of sufficient funds for fuel.
8) travel medical insurance – the insurance must cover all costs that may arise in connection with the repatriation of the applicant to their home country due to health problems, urgent medical treatment, emergency hospital treatment or death.
The travel insurance must be valid for all Schengen Member States and the entire length of the applicant's stay. A minimum insurance coverage of EUR 30,000 is required. Family members of EU or EEA nationals are exempt from the obligation of submitting travel health insurance. Such exemption does not apply to the family members of the Slovak citizens.
9) other documents – for the purposes of the visa application procedure, the embassy or consulate general may ask foreign nationals to submit other documents in order to verify the declared purpose of the visit and applicant's intention to return to their home country or the country of their residence.
Documents demonstrating the purpose of stay:
Documents demonstrating the purpose of stay may include also
Organised/individual travels, e.g.:
- voucher issued by a travel agency confirming the provided services;
- in case of a private visit (visiting your family, acquaintances), a personal letter of invitation is required, with an officially authenticated signature of the inviting person, or a letter of invitation authenticated by a competent alien police department. An invitation authenticated by the alien police department may be requested from visa applicants of any nationality.
Business trips, e.g.:
- invitation issued by a business partner or institution;
- invitation issued by a competent alien police department. An invitation authenticated by the alien police department may be requested from visa applicants of any nationality. The embassy or consulate general is free to decide what type of document they will require for the verification of the purpose of stay. For repeated business trips, foreign nationals are required to submit a cooperation agreement concluded with a Slovak company and other documents.
International conferences, seminars, symposia, cultural and sport events, e.g.:
- invitation by event organisers;
- official letter by a dispatching organisation applying for a visa for its employee;
- invitation verified by a competent alien police department.
Other purposes: other documents demonstrating the purpose of travel and stay in the Slovak Republic (e.g., medical treatment, study visits shorter than 90 days).
Visa application fees:
|Fee charged
|Uniform schengen visa application
|Uniform schengen visa application for children from the age of 6 to 12 years
|National (long-stay) visa granted in connection with the performance of Slovakia's commitments under international treaties or for the benefit of the Slovak Republic or along with a residence permit in the Slovak Republic
|National (long-stay) visa issued in connection with collection of granted residence permit in the Slovak Republic
Visa application administration fee for nationals of third countries which have signed a Visa Facilitation Agreement with the Community:
The fees are paid in a freely convertible currency or in a national currency of the third country, in which the application has been filed, converted using the applicable official exchange rate.
No administrative fee is charged for visa application filed by a third country national who is a family member of an EU or EEA national and exercise their right of free movement.
Entry into Slovakia by citizens of Member States of the EU/EEA, and the Swiss Confederation and their family members
Third countries whose nationals or specific categories of such third country nationals who are subject to prior consultation (pdf; 122.36 KB)
Visa Code (pdf; 1,23 MB)
Frequently asked questions:
Do I need to file my visa application in person?
You must visit the embassy or consulate general in person in order to submit your visa application and verbally explain the purpose and circumstances of your journey. In the case of minors, the application is submitted by their legal guardian.
You may be exempt from the requirement to submit your visa application in person in certain exceptional cases. To learn if you are exempted from requirement of personal apprearance, you should contact the competent embassy or consulate general.
Can I apply for visa at the Slovak consulate even if I intend to visit other Schengen countries?
The consulate of the Schengen state which is the main destination of your visit is always competent to process your visa application.
If you are going to visit several Schengen states, the Slovak consulate will be competent to process your application only if Slovakia is the main destination of your stay(s) in Schengen and Slovakia is the state in which you intend to spend most of your time.
I applied for visa. What does the admissibility stamp in my passport mean?
Upon submission of the application a stamp indicating that the application is admissible shall be placed in the passport or the travel document. This stamp has no legal implications and will be covered by a visa sticker if the visa is granted.
I have a valid Schengen visa in my passport. Can I be denied entry to Slovakia?
Your Schengen visa allows you to travel to Slovakia and usually to other Schengen States. But it does not automatically entitle you to enter the Schengen area. You may have to provide certain information at border or other controls. You may, for instance, have to provide information on your means of support, how long you intend to stay in Slovakia, and why you are visiting Slovakia. In some cases, such checks may result in a refusal for you to enter Slovakia.
It is therefore recommended that you carry with you copies of the documents which you presented when you applied for the visa (e.g. letters of invitation, travel confirmations, other documents stating the purpose of your stay). This will help to make the border control procedure easier and avoid delays at the border.
Warning: You must keep to the period of stay allowed by your visa. Misuse and overstay may result in your being expelled and banned from obtaining a new visa for a certain period of time.
What happens if my visa application has been refused?
The decision on and the motivation of the refusal of a visa are notified to the visa applicant in writing by means of a standard form.
May I file an appeal if my application has been refused?
If your application has been refused you have the right to appeal. A written decision on visa refusal you have received provides detailed information on available remedies.
The appeal shall be lodged at the Embassy/Consulate General of the Slovak Republic which has issued the decision. The appeal must be lodged within 15 days of receipt of the decision. It must contain information about the appellant; specify what is the incorrectness in the decision and its discrepancy with the legal regulations. The appeal must be submitted in the Slovak language; otherwise an official certified translation must be attached. When lodging an appeal the appellant is required to pay an administrative fee of EUR 30 (in respective currency). If the appeal has been allowed (the application will be re-opened) the Embassy/Consulate General shall reimburse the fee.
Is my visa valid only in Slovakia?
Territorial validity of the visa is specified on a visa sticker in the "Platné pre/Valid for" line. The visa may be valid for all Schengen Member States. In that case, "Valid for: Schengen countries" is specified on the visa sticker entitling its holder to move freely within the entire Schengen area for the period of the visa validity and duration of stay.
In the case of a visa with limited territorial validity, the following may be specified on the visa sticker: "Valid for: the Slovak Republic" (i.e., the visa is valid only for the Slovak Republic), or "Schengen countries – GR" (i.e., the visa is valid for all Schengen countries except Greece), or "Valid for: SK, AT" (i.e., the visa is valid only for the Slovak Republic and Austria).
Can I use my visa for travels from/to the Schengen area?
A short-stay Schengen visa can be issued for one or several entries.
If you have been granted a single entry visa and you leave the Schengen area, you cannot use the same visa for the re-entry.
A multiple entry visa entitles you to repeatedly enter and leave the Schengen area during the period of its validity and permitted duration of stay.
Can I use a Schengen visa issued by a Slovak embassy to enter Slovakia via an airport outside the Slovak territory?
Yes. A valid Schengen visa entitles you to enter the Schengen area via any Schengen border crossing or airport.
What do I have to do upon my arrival in Slovakia?
Foreign nationals who have been granted a short-stay or long-stay visa, or who are exempt from the visa requirement upon entry, are obliged to inform, within three days of their arrival, a competent police department of the commencement, place and anticipated length of their stay. EEA nationals or foreign nationals with a preferential status are required to do so within ten working days of their arrival.
If you are staying in a hotel or other accommodation facility, the aforementioned obligation is performed by the respective accommodation provider.
Is it possible to extend my visa in Slovakia?
Commencing 1 December 2008, it is possible, in exceptional cases, to extend a short-stay visa for a maximum of another 90 days over a period of six months. The validity of the visa is extended by the Ministry of the Interior if the foreign national concerned cannot leave the Slovak Republic due to a natural disaster, humanitarian grounds or a serious personal reason. In any other case (tourism, family visit, etc.), the visa cannot be extended.
Which countries are part of the European Economic Area (EEA)?
The contracting parties to the EEA Agreement are
The contracting parties to the EEA Agreement are
European Community
(European Union)
European Community Member States:
Czech Republic
The Netherlands
United Kingdom
and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) Member States participating in the EEA Agreement:
More information about EEA countries is available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Economic_Area


text:
Hello everyone!
After a long time of hard work, and lots of testing, I'm extremely happy to announce that Game Character Hub is finally out! It is available for purchase on Steam for $14.99 only! There is a special promotion that ends on May 30, with a lower price $9.74, saving you 35%!
There have been a lot of changes since the Beta version. Here is a list of the main ones: (You will see a full list of features on Steam!)
I really hope you will enjoy it!
I've had lots of questions about the licence, and whether the characters created with GCH could be used in commercial products. Those licensing issues are now solved! The answer is as follows: if your character uses the default item library, which is a property of Enterbrain, you may use your character for RPG Maker products only (and then, games made with RPG Maker may be sold with no problem according the licence). This means you may sell your game as long as it's made with RPG Maker and you own a licence. However, if you don't use GCH item library but your own graphic materials, then you are free to use the character in any commercial product.
By the way I'd like to thank everyone who tested the Beta version and gave their feedback, or encouraged me in any way! That really mattered to me, and without any positive feedback from your part, I would never have achieved this. So, thanks again, I really mean it!
As for the Beta version, I remind you that it was only temporarily available, until the full release. The Beta will be disabled on June 6. This means that the Beta won't be available for download any more, and that the version you have won't be working any longer. To continue using GCH, and to enjoy its new features, you need to get the final release on Steam. I would like thank you all again for testing the product, and I hope you have enjoyed it :-)
Date: 2014-05-24 | Time: 18:14:00 | Posted by: Sébastien Bini | Related: Game Character Hub, Project advancement | Comments (9)
Hello everyone!
This news is about Computer Science and is not directly related to any of my other projects. It may be difficult to understand if you are not familiar with CS.
The purpose of this post is to introduce an article I just wrote about file saving. This document attempts to find a way to ensure that every file written by a program is comprehensible by the next and former versions. It also suggests a nice way to handle files: a data structure that will handle files and bytes once and for all, so programmers won't need to deal with those convoluted stuff anymore.
I found that solution to handle the problem when I was tired of dealing with files and versioning in my own software (especially in Game Character Hub). So I spent some time thinking of a solution, and came up with this. I now use it in every of my projects, and I really don't have any more worries about file versioning: saving and loading data has become a safe, fast and easy to implement process.
The article is a PDF downloadable here.
Date: 2013-04-20 | Time: 18:14:00 | Posted by: Sébastien Bini | Related: Algorithmics | Comment (1)
Game Character Hub is the brand new name of Fusion Maker. It used to be RPG Maker Tools, but it has been renamed to a more explicit name: Game Character Hub.
If you don't know Fusion Maker, RPG Maker Tools, or Game Character Hub, you may read this, and their main features there. For your convenience here is a short description:
Game Character Hub is the next version of a program I designed. It is still under development. The latest release is called Fusion Maker.
Game Character Hub is a helper program for 2D game design. There is a series of 2D game design software: RPG Maker, which is made to design a particular kind of games: RPGs. Game Character Hub is mainly for two issues of that series: RPG Maker XP and RPG Maker VX, but not only.
Game Character Hub provides additional tools for RPG Maker or game design in general. In RPG Maker, you need to have graphics resources in order to design the game. Game Character Hub helps you to create those resources, missing in RPG Maker. Those resources can be designed for RPG Maker or any other program like.
I am proud to announce that the Beta version of Game Character Hub has been released! You may download it for free here.
This new version is mainly an entirely revamped version of the last one. Huge performance improvements have been made: the program no longer slows down as you zoom, or use some specific functions.
Several features have been added to make it more powerful, and the user interface has been overhauled so it is easier to use. Lots of tiny details have changed, to make your work easier and more efficient and the program more convenient.
Here is a list of the new features of this release:
All those features are already implemented in the beta version. However some features (e.g. drawing functions) are still left to implement for the final version.
The beta version is provided for free. However you can only use it until the final version is released. An internet connection is required to run the beta version (only to launch the program, no need for a permanent connection), as it will be for the final version.
The final version won't be provided for free, but at a very low price (< $10).
In a few months the final version will be released. After that another version will be under development. It will include – as a main feature – a collaborative online item library so everyone can create and share items (like hat, clothes).
Date: 2012-09-22 | Time: 14:00:00 | Posted by: Sébastien Bini | Related: Game Character Hub, Project advancement | Comments (2)
Game Character Hub est le nouveau nom de Fusion Maker. Auparavant le nouveau nom était RPG Maker Tools, mais il a été renommé pour un nom plus explicite : Game Character Hub.
Si vous ne connaissez pas Fusion Maker, RPG Maker Tools, ou Game Character Hub, vous pouvez lire une présentation du logiciel ici. Pour plus de facilté, voilà un courte description du logiciel :
Game Character Hub est la prochaine version d'un logiciel que j'ai fait. Il est toujours en développement. La dernière version sortie est nommée Fusion Maker.
Game Character Hub est un assistant pour la création de jeux vidéo 2D. Il existe une série de logiciels de création de jeux: RPG Maker, qui est faite pour créer des jeux vidéo d'un certain type : RPG. Game Character Hub est principalement destiné à deux versions de cette série : RPG Maker XP et RPG Maker VX, mais pas seulement.
Game Character Hub fournit des outils additionnels pour RPG Maker. Dans RPG Maker, des ressources graphiques sont nécessaires afin de créer un jeu. Game Character Hub vous aide à créer ces ressources, manquantes dans RPG Maker. Ces ressources peuvent être faites pour RPG Maker ou tout autre programme semblable.
Je suis fier d'annoncer que la version beta de Game Character Hub est maintenant disponible ! Yous pouvez la télécharger gratuitement ici.
Cette nouvelle version est une refonte complète de la précédente. D'énormes améliorations sur les performances ont été faites : le logiciel ne ralentit lors d'un zoom important, ou lors de l'utilisation de certaines fonctions.
Plusieurs fonctionnalités ont été ajoutées, rendant ainsi Game Character Hub plus puissant. L'interface graphique a été repensée et est maintenant plus simple. Beaucoup de petits détails ont changé pour rendre votre travail dessus plus facile et plus efficace, et le logiciel plus agréable.
Voici une liste non exhaustive des nouveautés de la version beta :
Toutes ces fonctionnalités sont déjà implémentées dans la version beta. Cependant quelques fonctionnalités (par exempe : les fonctions de dessin) ne sont pas encore implémentées et le seront dans la version finale.
La version beta est fournie gratuitement. Cependant vous ne pouvez l'utiliser que tant que la version finale n'est pas sortie. Une connexion internet est requise pour lancer la version beta (seulement pour démarrer le programme, une connexion permanante n'est pas nécessaire). Il en sera de même pour la version finale.
La version finale ne sera pas disponible gratuitement, mais à un très bas prix (< 10€)
Dans quelques mois la version finale sera disponible. Ensuite une autre version entrera en développement. Cela comprendra principalement une bibliothèque d'éléments collaborative en ligne. Ainsi tout le monde pourra créer et partager ses éléments.
Date: 2012-09-22 | Time: 14:00:00 | Posted by: Sébastien Bini | Related: Game Character Hub, Project advancement | Comments (3)
Hello everyone!
I have been working on my personal website for a month. Almost everything has been designed by me. Now that it's fully working and contains several articles, I am proud to release it!
I have made this personal website to share my own programs, and my knowledge in Computer Science. Thus this website is divided in sections, and each section stands for one project of mine.
In a project section, I always show its features. For some projects I explain how they work. For others which are still under development, I share their development: what's left to implement, and what are the known issues. When a release is available users may download it. The most advanced project I show is RPG Maker Tools, formerly known as Fusion Maker, which has been used by hundreds of people.
This website allows me to post news. Every news is related to a project, or to a more general matter, such as algorithmic. Users may comment every news, and every project. They may even rate comments.
I hope you will enjoy it!
Date: 2012-08-15 | Time: 16:46:45 | Posted by: Sébastien Bini | Related: Website | Comment (1)

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Corey Hickey and Brooke Scriven, sisters and co-founders of On Stage Theatre in Abington, are no strangers to the stage scene.
As children, they took classes for singing, dancing, modeling and acting. They performed around New England as well as New York.
"It was all for fun and we were really into it," said Hickey. "However, we never pursued it professionally until five years ago."
In 2001, long before the opening of On Stage, Hickey's daughter was performing in theater herself just as local schools were cutting back on performing arts programs.
Hickey found herself driving her daughter all over the South Shore so that she could participate in theater. Hickey would help out as a backstage mom.
"I'd watch these great performances and think I could so do this and bring it to our town," Hickey said.
From there, the sisters began a theater workshop.
"We got the rights to Annie and posted flyers around town," Hickey said. "We had a huge audition turnout and rehearsed in Holy Ghost Church in Rockland."
"After six weeks, we put on the show; and at the end, parents were literally begging us to do this again," said Hickey.
"The kids were so sad when it was over," she said.
After some time off to raise their own children, Hickey and Scriven began directing theater at the Whitman Middle School.
"We had a huge following," Hickey said. "Our shows had 90-120 kids in them. That's when we decided to open a permanent space five years ago."
Opening its first location on Orange Street in Abington, the enrollment started off with about 90 students. However, it grew steadily over that time.
"As of last June, our enrollment was 225," said Hickey. "Our classes were bursting at the seams and we couldn't turn anyone away."
"That's when Brooke and I sat down and talked about expanding; and when space became available across the street-– we took it as a sign," Hickey said.
Musical theater, glee and voice are now held in the Studio One building on Orange Street. Dance classes are offered at the Studio Two building on Washington Street, which includes jazz, tap, ballet, modern and hip-hop.
"We are also fortunate enough to have guest artists have come to teach some of our master classes," Hickey said. "We've had artists such as Eden Espinosa, Paul Canaan and Nikki Snelson."
"We try to bring artists from Broadway right here to Abington to give kids advice about the industry and teach choreography from the shows," Hickey said.
They have brought in guest choreographers such as Chelsea Sebes and Lacey Donnelly.
"Chris Howard from Phantom of the Opera was here two weeks ago," Hickey said.
On Stage has proven success when grooming the young students for future entertainment endeavors.
"We've had a few students enter into a BFA program which auditions literally hundreds and usually will only take seven boys and seven girls," Hickey said. "The chances of getting in are so small."
In celebration of five years, Hickey and Scriven have a few ideas up their sleeve.
"We are planning a spring trip with the students to New York City where we will see a show, tour Radio City Music Hall and take a class," said Hickey. "We will also have some special guest artists again and a gala for our five-year students."
For more information, call On Stage Theatre, located at 11 Orange St. Abington, at (781) 871-1398 or log onto www.onstagetheatre.com.


text:
Download document
Executive summary: The Economics of Nuclear Power examines the reasons behind the huge delays and cost over-runs which are common to nuclear power construction projects, and concerns over safety and reliability of new technology, concluding:* that in country after country nuclear construction has gone massively over budget;* that long construction periods are symptomatic of a range of problems including managing the construction of increasingly complex reactor designs, and inherent within the ailing nuclear infrastructure;* that combined with the huge subsidies required, uncompetitively high prices, poor reliability and serious risks of cost overruns,nuclear power stands no chance of being economically viable in countries that have moved to competitive power procurement; that significant and widespread concerns remain over the basic safety, waste disposal and decommissioning of existing plants;* that there are similarly significant concerns over new, untested technology in currently- proposed nuclear power projects.
Num. pages: 68


text:
Red Tail
Red Tail Previous Broadcasts
KQED World: Sun, Sep 2, 2012 -- 10:00 PM
On August 19, 2005 Roy Koch, along with 4,400 airline mechanics, custodians, and cleaners, went on strike against Northwest Airlines, the fourth largest airline in the world. Northwest, otherwise known as "The Red Tail" by its employees, wanted to lay off 53% of their union and outsource their jobs. What followed was a 444-day strike that would end with 4,000 union members out of work, including Roy. Instead of being left in the wake of this battle, Roy and his daughter Melissa (co-director of The Red Tail with Dawn Mikkelson) set on a journey to meet the worker to whom Roy's job was outsourced in China. The journey provides a renewed sense of purpose for Roy, and while Melissa wants to get answers to his plight, her determination as a filmmaker is always tempered by her love as a daughter. The film interweaves Roy and Melissa's search for connection in China with the premeditated downfall of Northwest Airlines. This downfall serves a vibrant example of the dangers of our current economic system, and casts a spotlight on the future of the working class. Official Selection - IDFA (International Documentary Festival Amsterdam) Docs for Sale 2010; DocuFest Atlanta 2010; Leipzig DOK Market 2009; Reel Work May ay Labor Film Festival, Santa Cruz, CA; 2009 Galway Film Fleadh, Ireland; 2009 Minneapolis/St Paul International Film Festival.
Repeat Broadcasts:
- KQED World: Wed, Sep 5, 2012 -- 11:00 AM
- KQED World: Wed, Sep 5, 2012 -- 8:00 AM
- KQED World: Mon, Sep 3, 2012 -- 4:00 AM


text:
Top Activities
Overland Track - Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National ParkThe Overland Track is one of the world's great walks, undertaken by around 9000 people every year, mainly between December and...more
Reef HQReef HQ is home to the headquarters of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. This underwater observatory is both informative...more
Bay of Fires WalkMount William National Park and the adjacent Bay of Fires are well known for their pristine white-sand beaches framed by pink-granite ...more
Top Eats & Drinks
Matso's Broome BreweryThey've been brewing at Matso's since 1997, but the plant has been substantially upgraded in recent times and now includes a...more
Blackwood ValleyThis is a low-key region between Margaret River and Great Southern. The climate is perfect for the full ripening of cabernet sauvignon...more
RutherglenWinemaking in Rutherglen has been more or less continuous since 1839, and many of the wineries go back well beyond 100 years....more
Top Stays
Gunlom camping areaThis is a great camping spot with access to Gunlom Falls and a swimming hole, as well as a bushwalk to the top of the waterfall. There are...more
Blue Waterholes Campground (northern section)You'll need a 4WD in wet weather, and an off-road camper trailer to get to this cracking campsite. From here you can access multiple...more
West Bay camping areaThis site, perched atop the island's westernmost inlet, offers seclusion and spectacular views. While shipwrecks lie just beyond its...more


text:
Gilmore Girls
"Norman Mailer, I'm Pregnant" - (TV-PG) (HDTV)
Tuesday , January 11 2005 (R)
PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING NOVELIST NORMAN MAILER GUEST-STARS - Lorelai (Lauren Graham) and Sookie (Melissa McCarthy) are thrilled when author Norman Mailer (guest starring as himself) and a young reporter (guest star Stephen Mailer, real-life son of Norman) show up repeatedly in the dining room of the Dragonfly Inn, but Sookie's awe turns to annoyance when Mailer refuses to order any food. Working on a story for the Yale newspaper, Rory (Alexis Bledel) uncovers evidence of an intriguing secret society to which Logan (Matt Czuchry) belongs. Meanwhile, when Rory's father, Christopher (David Sutcliffe), appeals to Lorelai for help after his girlfriend leaves him to raise their baby daughter by himself, Rory orders him to leave Lorelai alone. Finally, Sookie realizes that she is pregnant again. Scott Patterson, Yanic Truesdale, Liza Weil and Sean Gunn also star. James Berg & Stan Zimmerman wrote the episode directed by Matthew Diamond (#2T5306).


text:
Thursday's surreal stock market performance was like something out of "The Twilight Zone." Call it the Twilight Exchange – a place where stock markets crash but trades didn't happen, a place where investors watched their stocks fall to a penny a share only to find out it was all one big … mistake.
Yes, investors, in a 20-minute period Thursday afternoon the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by more than 600 points, only to reverse itself and climb by the same amount. (On Friday, it fell another 138.89 points, closing at 10380.) But some of the exchanges have "busted" many of those Thursday trades, saying they really didn't happen. What does this mean?
First of all, the companies that maintain the indices – Dow Jones Indexes, a member of the CME Group, and Standard & Poor's (S&P) – say they are not planning to revise their numbers to reflect stock trades that have now been reversed.
For example, none of the individual components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose or fell by 60 percent in that time period, says Sybille Reitz, a spokeswoman for the Dow Jones Indexes. "We did reflect the market at the time, but at the same time we didn't use the pricing information that they busted."
Most important, says Ms. Reitz, there was no need to adjust closing values because they were not affected by the decision to negate trades.
Likewise, Standard & Poor's, which manages various indices, says it has no plans to account for the trades that did not happen.
"We don't rewrite history," says David Guarino, a spokesman for S&P in New York. "This is more of a question for the exchanges and product providers."
If the whole thing has left you scratching your head, join the crowd. Here are answers to some questions about what happened.
What are the Exchanges doing to protect investors?
According to the New York Stock Exchange/ARCA, the electronic trading arm of the NYSE, many trades that took place Thursday between 2:40 p.m. and 3 p.m. in which the stock rose or fell 60 percent or more have been canceled.
So, for example, the stock price of American Tower Corp., a Boston-based company that manages broadcast tower sites, started Thursday at $39.79 a share, then dropped below $15.92 a share as the market went into its free-fall. Now, the NYSE/ARCA is negating any of those trades below $15.92, which, according to the exchange, would be 60 percent off the opening price. The company's stock closed at $40 per share.
What are the regulators doing about this incident?
The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodities Futures Trade Commission are investigating the wild day. "We will make public the findings of our review along with recommendations for appropriate action," the SEC stated on its website.
What's the leading theory about what happened?
Initial rumors were that a trader had make a mistake while keying in a sale of $16 million worth of stock, mistakenly typing $16 billion with a "b." Those rumors placed the trade as coming from Citigroup. However, Citigroup stated on Friday, "Based on our review, rumors about a trading error by Citi are unfounded. It is troubling that inaccurate and unfounded rumors were spread as far as they were."
What else might have caused the free-fall?
It's not clear yet. Theories range from cyberterrorism (someone hacked into the computers and placed fake trades) to suspicions that electronic trading got out of hand. In electronic trading, stock traders try to use computers to execute trades quickly, perhaps seeking to make a profit on small changes.
According to the Simon Graduate School of Business in Rochester, N.Y., there was a rapid-fire, two-minute selloff of 16 billion futures contracts tied to the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index, known as E-mini S&P 500 futures.
Not the case, says the CME Group, which oversees the exchanges where the E-mini is traded. "All our markets operated properly. There was no issue with the S&P futures contracts, and there was not any unusual activity," says Michael Shore, a spokesman for the CME Group in Chicago.
Fred Dickson, chief investment strategist at D.A. Davidson & Co. in Lake Oswego, Ore., wonders if the steep downdraft was the result of a "cascade" effect. For example, the market on Thursday was having a bad day trying to absorb the implications of a sharp drop in the value of the euro. On the NYSE, specialists had started to institute "shock absorbers," whereby they tried to slow trading by instituting an auction process. However, it's possible the slower markets drove some of the traders into the electronic markets, which have much less liquidity, says Mr. Dickson.
"All of a sudden there were all sellers and no buyers," he reasons. "We may be seeing the penalty for not having any human intervention to slow things down and get it back to an orderly marketplace."
Are there implications from the day?
The wild ride indicates that the trading system failed, says John Broussard, an associate professor of finance at Rutgers University's School of Business in Camden, N.J. "There was a system failure somewhere," he says, "and I'm not sure where it was."
It's imperative that the exchanges restore confidence in their integrity, says Dickson. Moreover, Congress should hold hearings to determine what happened, he says. He anticipates that the financial regulatory reform legislation currently being debated in Congress may incorporate some changes to protect investors from extreme days in the markets. He adds, "The legal ramifications are off the charts."


text:
Day 4, June 20
Read the blog post from this day at http://gtitours.org/2011/06/20/day-4-leaving-the-wilderness/Read More
Featured Trip
This trip will enrich your understanding of the Scriptures by introducing you to the vivid context in which the Bible was written.
Together with Rich Ferreira and Ronen Ben Moshe, we'll explore the past and present of Israel & Jordan. Each day we'll unpack what we've learned in the context of biblical history as well as our daily faith.
In addition to visiting the ancient sites where Jesus lived and taught, we'll have the opportunity to dip our toes into the Sea of Galilee, the Dead Sea and the Jordan River, not to mention the unique cultural experiences and conversation and fellowship over delicious meals.


text:
Kindle Fire HD 6" Parts
Kindle Fire HD 6 Digitizer
Replace a scratched or cracked front glass digitizer screen for the Kindle Fire HD 6. This assembly includes the front glass digitizer, and frame bezel.
Kindle Fire HD 6 Battery
Replace a worn out or damaged battery for a Kindle Fire HD 6 and fix problems with charging and battery life.
Kindle Fire HD 6 LCD
Replace the 1280x800 resolution LCD for the Kindle Fire HD 6.
Kindle Fire HD 6 Motherboard
Replace a damaged or malfunctioning motherboard in a 1sf generation Kindle Fire HD 6 and fix a bricked tablet.
기기 정보
The Kindle Fire HD 6 is a low-cost, versatile tablet released by Amazon in late 2014. It is the smallest in the line of Kindle HDs, with a high definition screen measuring 6". It features two cameras (front-facing and rear-facing), and weighs 10.1 ounces (290 grams). The device is Bluetooth-enabled, and comes with either 8 GB or 16 GB of storage.


text:
Well that sucks.
Not that we want to engage in any discussions of the relative merits of scrappy left fielders. But Shannon Stewart has to take that bat of his shoulder with a man at third and the pitch dead red right down the middle of the plate in extra innings. That was just brutal.
There's no excuse for the Jays handing this game back to the Rays. None.
P.S. We think Shawn Camp may be a double agent. Somebody hook up some electrodes to his nether regions and make him deny it.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Missed opportunities
2 comments:
I love Stewart but you are right. Gotta swing. I'm pretty confident he'll be fine when it is all said and done. His numbers even last year were quite good considering he played in Oakland, a pitchers' park with massive foul territory that creates some extra outs. In the Dome, I bet he is close to .300 at the end.
- May 9, 2008 at 12:27 AM
- the ack said...
Once Stewart stood there and watched that meatball slice the heart of the strike zone for the K, I could feel in my gut that it was game, set, and match. And I don't even like fucking tennis.
- May 9, 2008 at 1:09 AM
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


text:
- Hillsborough
High Court quashes Hillsborough verdicts
The High Court has quashed the original accidental death verdicts returned on 96 Liverpool fans who died in the Hillsborough disaster.
Fresh inquests have been ordered by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Igor Judge, following an application from the Government's top law officer.
Dominic Grieve, the Attorney General, made the application last week after an independent report highlighted attempts by the emergency services to shift blame on to fans for the tragedy, which happened at the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest on April 15, 1989.
The quashing of the original inquest verdicts has come on the same day that Home Secretary Theresa May announced a new police inquiry into the disaster.
Families of the victims, who attended Wednesday's hearing in London, are hoping that both developments will mark a significant move towards achieving justice. Trevor Hicks, of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, said the quashing of the inquest verdicts was "a huge step for the families".
A report into the disaster, published by the Hillsborough Independent Panel in September, produced new medical evidence that raised major questions of the original 1991 inquests conducted by coroner Stefan Popper.
Dr Popper did not consider any evidence collected after 3.15pm on the day of the tragedy, ruling that none of the victims could have been saved after that time. But the independent report - which also cleared fans of any blame for the disaster - established that 41 of the supporters who died might have been saved.
Campaign groups have long maintained that Dr Popper's original verdicts of accidental death prevented a proper investigation into the events at Hillsborough that day. In making his decision to quash those inquest verdicts, Lord Judge said there had been "deliberate misinformation surrounding the disaster".
He added: "There has been a profound and palpable belief that justice had not been done, and it is clear there are sound grounds for this application."
The judgement was applauded in court by the families of some of the victims. Speaking outside the court, Mr Hicks, who lost his daughters Victoria and Sarah in the disaster, welcomed the decision.
He said: "We're obviously delighted. We thought this would be the result. We've actually got it now. It is clear that justice is on its way. It's a huge step for the families, and I think a lot of us are going to have a much happier Christmas."
Kenny Dalglish, who was Liverpool's manager at the time of the Hillsborough disaster, said on Twitter: "Two fantastic results today for the Hillsborough families. Your support has been unbelievable."
Ian Ayre, Liverpool's managing director, said in a statement on the club's website: "Everyone at Liverpool Football Club remains committed to supporting the fight for justice and we hope that every person affected by this can take some comfort from today's announcement."
Joe Anderson, the mayor of Liverpool, added: "This is a watershed moment on the road to justice for the families of the 96, and I share their overwhelming relief that, after 23 very painful years, the inquest versions have been quashed.
"We must all keep up the pressure that has driven the momentum over the last few months to make sure that the families get the justice they deserve."


text:
Will millionaires "pay a little more" under Obama plan?
In a campaign ad titled "Worried," President Barack Obama takes aim at Mitt Romney's economic program while defending his own. In the ad, the campaign repeats a line that the White House has used before -- that under the Obama tax plan, "millionaires pay a little more."
"You watched and worried: Two wars, tax cuts for millionaires, debt piled up," the narrator says in the July 31, 2012, ad. "And now we face a choice. Mitt Romney's plan? A new $250,000 tax cut for millionaires, increase military spending, adding trillions to the deficit. Or President Obama's plan? A balanced approach, $4 trillion in deficit reduction, millionaires pay a little more."
We've heard similar comments from Obama and his aides before:
• In remarks at the White House on Aug. 3, 2012, Obama said, "Instead of the middle class paying more, we should ask the wealthiest Americans to pay a little more, a modest amount, so that we can reduce our deficit and still make investments in things like education that help our economy grow."
• In a campaign event in Minneapolis on June 1, 2012, Obama said that to Republicans, "ideologically, the notion of billionaires and millionaires paying a little bit more in taxes didn't adhere to the philosophy that they've been fighting for over the last several years."
• And in a press briefing on Nov. 28, 2011, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said that Republican senators "seem not to believe … that millionaires and billionaires ought to pay a little extra in order to ensure that middle-class Americans get a payroll tax cut."
We wondered whether the Obama campaign was justified in saying that millionaires would "pay a little more" in taxes under the Obama plan. We considered putting this to the Truth-O-Meter, but we decided that "a little more" is an opinion, not a checkable fact. Still, we thought it would be valuable to see exactly how much millionaires would pay.
One preliminary note: The term "millionaire" technically refers to people who have $1 million in wealth, not $1 million in annual income. However, the primary analyses of presidential candidate tax plans, produced by the Urban Institute-Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center, do not measure the impact of tax plans on different wealth levels, only on income brackets. Indeed, in the ad we're looking at, the Obama campaign referred to "a new $250,000 tax cut for millionaires" -- a number that refers to a Tax Policy Center estimate (now outdated) for Americans with $1 million in income. So we'll stick with the $1 million in income figure.
According to the center's analysis of Obama's fiscal year 2013 plan, millionaires would see an average tax increase of nearly $190,000, leading to an 8.8 percent decrease in after-tax income. Roberton Williams, a Tax Policy Center senior fellow, confirmed that the analysis we were looking at included all of Obama's proposed tax increases that might hit millionaires.
We could not find hard data to make a statistical comparison of how big a tax hit this is to a specific income group. Instead, we asked a few economists for their professional opinion. Did they think the Obama campaign was justified in using that terminology to refer to the proposed tax increases on high earners?
"In the real world, an 8.8 percent reduction in after-tax income is a significant blow," said Daniel Mitchell, a senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute.
Dean Baker, co-director of the liberal Center for Economic and Policy Research, said, "For my part, I would grant that this is more than 'a little.'"
William McBride, an economist with the business-backed Tax Foundation, agreed that 8.8 percent of income "is not a little."
"Historically, the president's tax plan would be the largest tax increase on high-income earners since World War II," McBride said. "The rates on personal income, dividends, and capital gains would all be the highest in 30 years."
When we contacted the Obama campaign, they argued that the use of the phrasing "a little more" is a judgment call, and they added that Romney once told reporters that the $362,000 in speaking fees he earned in a year was "not very much." But we don't think Romney's comment -- an off-the-cuff remark widely ridiculed as a gaffe -- should set the standard in this case, especially since Romney's net worth is as high as $255 million, making him worth quite a bit more than a garden-variety millionaire.
Supporters of Obama's tax plan are free to argue that the tax hike on high earners is wise policy or morally justifiable. However, we think that even for a millionaire, an extra $189,000 in taxes on average -- resulting in a decline in after-tax income of 8.8 percent -- goes well beyond chump change.


text:
- Professionally Trained Team
- We take care of the customer
- We Deliver Solutions!
- Best Deals On The Market
Learn what can be expected
To put together the best choices for Drywall Contractors in Opelousas, LA, you have to be well informed. We won't encourage you to come up with poor choices, as we know what we are working on, and we ensure that you understand what to be expecting from the work. You won't need to face any kind of unexpected situations whenever you choose Drywall Installation Guys. Step one will be to call us today at 800-340-5756 to arrange your job. We are going to discuss your concerns whenever you call and help you get set up with a scheduled appointment. We are going to work closely with you through the entire process, and our staff can appear on time and organized.
Drywall Installation Guys is going to be here for all of your requirements concerning Drywall Contractors in Opelousas, Wyoming
Whenever you are planning a venture regarding Drywall Contractors in Opelousas, LA, you'll find reasons to call Drywall Installation Guys. Our materials are of the very best quality, our cash saving solutions are functional and effective, and our customer care ratings are unparalleled. We've got the experience you will want to meet all your ambitions. Whenever you need Drywall Contractors in Opelousas, get in touch with Drywall Installation Guys by dialing 800-340-5756, and we're going to be beyond glad to help.


text:
We are a team of skilled technology consultants working at the SICS offices in Florence Alabama and Montgomery Alabama.
Founded in 1998, SICS has over 15 years of experience providing full service IT solutions for businesses, large and small, and government agencies, with expertise in GIS, mapping, photogrammetry & remote sensing, and web technologies.
GIS Development Expertise:
- Aerial Imagery Processing & Photogrammetry
- Google Maps Engine, Google Maps for Business
- Google Earth, Maps API, Custom StreetView
- Google Earth Enterprise Server
- OpenLayers, OpenStreetMap
- ESRI ArcGIS Server, Desktop
- ESRI ArcGIS API
We create innovative solutions for our clients in the private and public sectors.
Our team engages projects with a variety of skills, from project management and marketing to GIS analysis, remote sensing, aerial imagery processing, photogrammetry, and mapping, web application development, mobile development, server software engineering, database systems design, Windows applications and services, Linux systems administration and services, etc.
Our Clients:
nSide™ offers the world's first fully collaborative, 'building interior' and campus visualization solution. With nSide™, all responsible parties throughout an organization can look 'inside' every building and actually see what exists 'inside'.
At the request of the Governor, AL DHS began exploring and identifying ways to leverage existing state asset imagery and infrastructure data into a visualization tool that is affordable, scalable, maintainable, and capable of employing the power of existing and evolving internet based applications. As a result, the Virtual Alabama program was created.
Virtual Alabama uses a 3D globe interface to retrieve images from a merged global imagery dataset. This dataset transforms massive amounts of data into useful information for technical and non-technical users. As an example, Virtual Alabama provides the common operating picture and situational awareness needed by Alabama's first responders to protect lives and safeguard citizens before, during, and after a disaster. Virtual Alabama serves a wide user base of state and local officials at various levels of technological proficiency.
The Virtual Alabama School Safety System (VAS3) provides a secure web-based system where local schools, school systems and the Alabama Department of Education can maintain and access information that may both save critical time during emergency situations, and provide ease of use for planning and information management. This information includes important points of contact within a school (e.g. Principals, maintenance staff, etc.) as well as external points of contact, such as local law enforcement, utilities, and medical facilities. Additionally, the system provides tools for developing, maintaining and searching annotated floor plans of schools, thus making it quick and easy for emergency response personnel to locate critical infrastructure features. A document management capability allows schools to maintain and make available emergency plans, procedures and check lists.
VAS provides an access-controlled, centralized system to manage this information and is able to make it available on an as-needed basis to administrators and emergency response personnel. Hierarchical levels of access are provided for schools, school systems and the Alabama Department of Education with visibility into subordinate institutions.
The Virtual Alabama Critical Infrastructure Program (VACI) was created to extend the benefits of the Virtual Alabama School Safety System beyond the public school system, to include Community Colleges, Universities, Hospitals, Courthouses, and other public buildings.
The Policymaker's Dashboard leverages the power of mapping within Virtual Alabama to provide specific demographic and criminal justice information related to the districts of Alabama's elected officials. The website provides easy to understand data about the population within a district and, currently, the violent crime that has occurred there for the past several years. The goal is to continually update the site with new types of relevant and interesting Alabama data to ultimately assist our elected officials with making better informed decisions, as well as giving insight into our communities for our citizens.
As the State Reapportionment Office began working on new plans for the redistricting of the State Legislature, this project was completed to offer ability to view the current legislative districts and compare them with potential plans under consideration by the legislature, with side-by-side comparisons of geography and demographics.


text:
As residents confront a gigantic cleanup following the tornado that savaged Joplin, experts say environmental dangers could lurk amid the mountains of debris in the southwestern Missouri city and even in the water and air.
Damage from tornadoes, like floods and hurricanes, often goes beyond what is readily visible. Liquid fuels and chemicals can leak from ruptured containers and contaminate groundwater. Ruined buildings may contain asbestos. Fires can generate smoke containing soot, dioxins and other pollutants. Household, industrial and medical wastes are strewn about.
In the initial hours after the May 22 twister, the odor of gasoline was evident around several flattened service stations. A large fire burned for hours near the devastated St. John's Regional Medical Center. Heavy rains caused flash flooding, possibly fouling local waterways.
Yet U.S. Environmental Protection Agency teams sent to inspect the damage turned up no serious pollution issues in the first week, although the search was continuing, spokesman Chris Whitley said.
"Until the systematic assessment of the tornado's impact area is complete, it is not possible to fairly evaluate levels of risk or priorities for environmental response," he said in an email.
The nation's deadliest single tornado in more than six decades packed winds of more than 200 mph and measured a half-mile across. It killed at least 132 people and injured more than 900 while severely damaging or leveling many buildings in the city's industrial corridor, which includes chemical suppliers, natural gas companies and paint manufacturers. An estimated 8,000 structures were destroyed.
A brief anhydrous ammonia leak from a valve at the Jasper Products trucking company was sealed by the company's hazardous materials crew. Otherwise, an EPA emergency response team combing the area last week found no significant toxic releases after checking 40 sites, coordinator Eric Nold said.
"If there was a screaming release that needed to be found, it would have been by now," he said. His two-person team looked at underground storage tanks, wastewater treatment plants and other potential pollution sources.
"Given this size tornado, there could have been a lot worse from a chemical release standpoint," Nold said over the sound of crunching metal as bulldozers worked nearby.
Many companies sent their own environmental response teams to the disaster area.
Among other places being examined were the destroyed hospital and a Superfund site in western Jasper County tainted by years of lead and zinc mining. The tornado missed piles of waste material from the mines, but touched down in nearby neighborhoods where clean layers of topsoil were placed atop polluted soils between 1995 and 2002, Whitley said.
Property owners and emergency workers were advised to use caution when removing debris from the area, he said. Lead exposure happens primarily by ingesting contaminated soil on dirty hands _ a particular danger for children _ and breathing contaminated dust.
Another likely hazard is oil spilled from downed electrical transformers, some of which contain highly toxic polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs. It wasn't immediately clear how many were blown down during the storm.
But a spokesman for Alabama Power, that state's largest electric utility, said more than 4,000 transformers had been recovered there following a series of tornadoes last month. Some of the older ones contained trace amounts of PCBs, spokesman Michael Sznajderman said. All were bagged and sent to a licensed recycler, while oil and dirt around fallen transformers were hauled to a hazardous waste landfill.
Some of the greatest long-term environmental risks from tornadoes come during the cleanups, experts said.
The Missouri Department of Natural Resources last week announced a temporary waiver of some solid waste and air pollution regulations for Jasper and Newton counties, where the tornado struck. The move allows landfills to accept brush, yard waste, appliances and other materials that normally wouldn't be allowed, although recycling of appliances is encouraged. It permits burning of tree and brush waste under certain conditions.
Also waived was a requirement that state-certified supervisors be involved in removal of material containing asbestos, a fiber that can cause lung diseases including cancer. Federal asbestos regulations remain in place.
Relaxing the rules during an emergency is understandable, but improper handling or disposal of waste material could make a bad situation worse, said David Carpenter, director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at the University at Albany-SUNY.
If plastics, asbestos material or treated wood find their way into brush fires, they could produce emissions particularly dangerous for people with asthma or respiratory diseases, he said.
"I know there's a huge amount of debris, but finding a landfill in a valley someplace where you can put it and cover it over is a lot wiser than burning it," Carpenter said. "There are health hazards associated with burning debris of any sort."
Some storms produce such overwhelming volumes of waste that limited burning must be allowed, said John Mitchell, environment division director with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. Fires were permitted after the 2007 tornado that wiped out Greensburg, Kan., he said, although the state prefers other disposal methods.
It's important to segregate different types of waste so they can be disposed of properly, as some landfills aren't suitable for materials such as household chemicals, paints and treated woods, Mitchell said. The Missouri Department of Natural Resources is urging people to recycle appliances and compost vegetation.
Environmentalists weren't objecting to bending the rules for a while.
"The last thing you want to do when a community's dealing with a situation like this is require a lot of permits and paperwork," said Kathleen Logan Smith, executive director of the Missouri Coalition for the Environment.
People in the Joplin area aren't the only ones who should be on the lookout for contaminated materials, said John Snow, a University of Oklahoma meteorology expert. Research has shown that tornadoes can suck up debris and deposit it up to 200 miles away, he said.
"This is kind of an unappreciated hazard that merits a lot more careful attention than it's been given," Snow said.
Flesher reported from Traverse City, Mich. Associated Press writer Jim Salter contributed to this story from Joplin.


text:
BOSTON – Researchers from the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Loyola University Chicago Health Sciences Division and their collaborators have isolated an elusive human gene that causes a common form of Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA), a relatively rare but devastating form of early-onset blindness. The new LCA gene is called NMNAT1. Finding the specific gene mutated in patients with LCA is the first step towards developing sight-saving gene therapy.
LCA is an inherited retinal degenerative disease characterized by reduced vision in infancy. Within the first few months of life, parents usually notice a lack of visual responsiveness and unusual roving eye movements known as nystagmus. LCA typically involves only vision problems, but can be accompanied by disease in other organ systems in a minority of patients. LCA is a common reason children are enrolled in schools for the blind.
"The immediate benefit of this discovery is that affected patients with mutations in this new LCA gene now know the cause of their condition," said Eric Pierce, M.D., Ph.D., co-senior author and director of the Ocular Genomics Institute at Mass. Eye and Ear. "Scientists now have another piece to the puzzle as to why some children are born with LCA and decreased vision. The long-term goal of our research is to develop therapies to limit or prevent vision loss from these disorders."
NMNAT1 is the 18th identified LCA gene. The gene resides in a region that was known to harbor an LCA gene since 2003, but the specific disease gene has been undiscovered until now. These findings will be published on July 29 in the online edition of Nature Genetics.
To identify NMNAT1, scientists performed whole exome sequencing of the family of two siblings who initially presented for evaluation of LCA but who had no mutations in any of the known LCA genes. Being seen by a multi-disciplinary team that took the case from careful clinical characterization to genetic testing to the research laboratory was an essential ingredient for success.
"By using whole exome sequencing, we found a mutation in a gene that no one could have predicted would be associated with LCA," said Dr. Pierce.
"Whereas most of the known LCA genes involve dysfunction of retinal ciliary proteins necessary for light detection in the eye, NMNAT1 is uniquely distinguished by being the first metabolic enzyme linked to LCA," said Marni J. Falk, M.D., co-first author and Clinical Geneticist at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine.
Having found a mutation in NMNAT1 in this one family, the investigators next asked if mutations in NMNAT1 also cause disease in other patients with LCA. Screening of 284 unrelated patients with LCA from the United States, England, France and India allowed them to identify 13 other patients with mutations in NMNAT1 as the cause of their disease.
Drs. Falk, Pierce and colleagues also studied how the identified mutations in NMNAT1 affect the function of the NMNAT1 protein, and thus may cause dysfunction and death of the light sensitive photoreceptor cells in the retina. Working together with Eiko Nakamaru-Ogiso, Ph.D., in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at The University of Pennsylvania, they found that mutations in NMNAT1 appear to decrease the ability of the NMNAT1 protein to produce NAD+, a key mediator of cellular signaling and energetics.
Early treatment for patients with NMNAT1-related LCA could be especially beneficial.
Researchers found that all but the youngest patient with NMNAT1 mutations had damage to the macula, the center of the retina that is needed for central vision. "This 4-year-old girl who doesn't have central vision loss yet can possibly benefit substantially if we can devise a therapy for her NMNAT1-mediated LCA that prevents her from developing severe central vision loss," Dr. Pierce said.
This study is an example of the multidisciplinary collaboration among the three institutions, using exome sequencing to discover genes involved in inherited diseases caused by mutations of a single gene. "With the robust database and pipeline that we have developed, we have analyzed more than 300 whole exomes of patients and families with single-gene diseases," said Dr. Xiaowu Gai, co-senior author and director of the Center for Biomedical Informatics at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. "We are following up on a number of strong candidate genes. We are sequencing many new samples and expect similar exciting discoveries for other diseases."
About Massachusetts Eye and Ear
Mass. Eye and Ear clinicians and scientists are driven by a mission to find cures for blindness, deafness and diseases of the head and neck. After uniting with Schepens Eye Research Institute in 2011, Mass. Eye and Ear in Boston became the world's largest vision and hearing research center, offering hope and healing to patients everywhere through discovery and innovation. Mass. Eye and Ear is a Harvard Medical School teaching hospital and trains future medical leaders in ophthalmology and otolaryngology, through residency as well as clinical and research fellowships. Internationally acclaimed since its founding in 1824, Mass. Eye and Ear employs full-time, board-certified physicians who offer high-quality and affordable specialty care that ranges from the routine to the very complex. U.S. News & World Report's "Best Hospitals Survey" has consistently ranked the Mass. Eye and Ear Departments of Otolaryngology and Ophthalmology as top five in the nation. Mass. Eye and Ear is home to the Ocular Genomics Institute which aims to translate the promise of personalized genomic medicine into clinical care for ophthalmic disorders. For more information about life-changing care and research, or to learn how you can help, please visit MassEyeAndEar.org.
Grant support:
This work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health [RO1-EY12910 (E.A.P.), R03-DK082446 (M.J.F.), R01-GM097409 (E.N-O), P30HD026979 (M.J.F.,R.X.) and P30EY014104 (MEEI core support)]; the Foundation Fighting Blindness USA (I.A.,A.D.B.,E.L.B.,S.S.B.,Q.L.,A.T.M., D.S.M.,E.A.P., J-A.S.,S.M-S., A.R.W.); Rosanne Silbermann Foundation (E.A.P.); Penn Genome Frontiers Institute (E.A.P, X.G.); Institutional Fund to the Center for Biomedical Informatics by the Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine (X.G.); the Foerderer Award for Excellence from the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (M.J.F. and X.G.); The Angelina Foundation Fund from the Division of Child Development and Metabolic Disease at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (M.J.F.); The Clinical and Translational Research Center at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (UL1-RR-024134) (M.J.F. and E.A.P.); the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India and the Champalimaud Foundation, Portugal (C.K); the Hyderabad Eye Research Foundation (C.K.); a senior research fellowship from the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (R.S.); Foundation Voir et Entendre (C.Z.), Ville de Paris and Région Ille de France; RP Fighting Blindness (UK)(A.R.W.), Fight For Sight (UK) (A.D.B.,S.S.B.,A.T.M., D.S.M.,A.R.W.), Moorfields Eye Hospital NIHR BRC for Ophthalmology (A.D.B.,S.S.B.,A.T.M.,D.S.M.,A.R.W.), Special Trustees of Moorfields Eye Hospital (A.D.B., S.S.B.,A.T.M.,D.S.M.,A.R.W.).
Massachusetts Eye and Ear


text:
AngelMBA99 necesitaba un nuevo diseño de página web y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 73 diseños de 23 diseñadores freelance.
Please Note Website Name Change:
At GND-Seattle.com our mission is to help people into successful and rewarding relationships. But that can't happen unless we first establish a fun and friendly social connection.
Our objective is simple. It is to provide Guys and Girls Next Door dating intelligence and simple make-overs for people seeking long-term relationships.
We understand that people have careers and are busy every day of the week and don't have time to go looking for a relationship. Our service is to provide Guys and Girls next door an opportunity to meet their "type!"
For marketing purposes, we would like a design that gives us credibility. We would like users to see our site as incentive to provide us their personal information. They may have met us at a bar, gym, coffee, school, etc. and going to this site validates our business. People may have come across our site because of a referral, facebook, mySpace, a search online, or they may have been forwarded our information via a business card from a friend, relative, or business colleague. Referrals our important to us. Our service will be high-touch, relaxing, confidential, and discreet.
They will go to this website to check us out, contact us, and, eventually, subscribe to our service via a credit card. All of our clients will go through the GND screening process. If they pass our screening process, they will become a Guy or Girl Next Door Client.
Please keep in mind that the design needs to be fast loading so no massive images etc. The site must appeal to both men and women. As such, please use a neutral design.
The homepage design needs to set the organization, style and design tone of the whole site. The design needs to be welcoming. It must intrigue you. Users will have been fed up with match, chemistry, and eharmony. This site is local. We do the leg work. We are hands on.
The main Challenges
· Usability – Clear & Easy navigation
· Features – Communicate our services
· Appeal – Single Guys and Girls AND Friends of Single Guys and Girls
· Sign-in – Existing clients should easily be able to log into their account.
Please feel free to ask questions.
Feedback will be provided daily
Thank you and good luck!
- I like that you can forward the site to a friend. http://www.eharmony.com/singles/ser…ferfriend- I like simple; we have a black business cards (and black book) and red business cards (and red book) to mimic where guys and girls keep name and phone numbers.- I like match.com landing page and, of course, apple.com. - The site is for both guys and girls... it will not be a place where people put up their pictures and profiles... as all of that is confidential. This site should say we are professionals! - We need a place to put our professional information. Succinct. Simple.- ORIGINAL LAYOUT/IMAGINATION- Intelligent & Clean Web 2.0- Well thought out fun and professional design- Innovative, energetic, exciting and creative (just as our programs are)- Engage Visitors (Single Guys and Girls in Seattle; Friends of Single Guys and Girls in Seattle)- Easy for new customers to understand- Easy to sign in for existing customers and- Communicate Features without clutter- Corporate appeal and consumer appeal- Ability to easily turn into RSS/XHTML/CSS
- I don't like busy.- The site can't be trashy. - No scandalous looking women or guys that are muscle meat heads ;-) - The site must reflect guy or girl next doors as the audience is 25 - 40 years of age.- No cartoons, animals, kids. We don't want a site busy with a lot of words.- Copies of templates- Copies of work of others- Too busy / cluttered- Heavy Flash or similar- Dark- SHARP EDGES ON IMAGES - SHOULD BE VERY PLEASING TO THE EYE AT A DISTANCE OR CLOSE UP


text:
Lodore Falls Pudding SocietyLodore Falls Hotel, Keswick Cumbria
Thu, July 11th 7:00 pm - 9:15 pm
The Lakeland Pudding Society which has been created to celebrate the great British tradition of the homemade pudding and gatherings takes place at the Lodore Falls Hotel on the second Thursday of each month.
For one night forget the calorie count and diet and indulge yourself in our fantastic choice of eight freshly prepared puddings – some hot, some cold – lovingly created by our expert chefs.
To find out more or to book give us a call on 017687 77285


text:
"The biggest lies appear not only to attract the most attention, but they also ensnare the auditory and sensory perceptions of the greater percentage of the populace. Few entities can be credited with capturing the masses with more lies and deceptions than the U.S. Government's propaganda agency, NASA.
The following fantastic tale is one of the latest from NASA. Its yarn is worth your attention. Why?…………………"


text:
Wellemeyer says he's considering Rockies; Colorado will watch Lowry
When I talked with GM Dan O'Dowd earlier this week, he said the club was done shopping, save for a few minor-league signings. Todd Wellemeyer has emerged as one of those options, saying today on 1380 AM in St. Louis that he is considering signing with either the Rockies, Giants or Mets.
A person close to Wellemeyer said that the Giants are the favorite to get him, followed by Colorado.
The Rockies will also be among numerous clubs sending scouts to watch free agent Noah Lowry throw, though it's considered a longshot that the lefty ends up in Colorado.
Wellemeyer, 31, posted a 5.89 ERA in 122 1/3 innings last season. The guys at mlbtraderumors.com have been all over this development. So cap tip to them. And I urge all to keep the site in their favorites. It's a fabulous resource.


text:
Why you'd want to live in Mukilteo
Mukilteo is a quaint, yet vibrant little town nestled in the trees along the waters of Possession Sound, about 25 miles north of Seattle. It's a community blessed with natural beauty, sitting amid serene woods and natural vegetation and offering panoramic views of the Sound and the snow-covered Olympic Mountains across the water. The Mukilteo Lighthouse stands proudly near the landing where ferry boats cross to Whidbey Island, adding to the picture-postcard scene that creates the magic of Mukilteo.


text:
Page 14
Feature story 1: "Das Ende der Welt (The End Of The World)"
At Snake Mountain, Trap Jaw and Beast Man watch as Skeletor magically takes control of Anti World, a planet traveling through space destroying planets in it's wake. The planet is populated by horrible monsters, which Skeletor hopes to use in defeating the Masters of the Universe. While Prince Adam, Cringer and Teela stroll through Eternos Marketplace, the Sorceress telepathically alerts him of the approaching danger. Prince Adam and Cringer excuse themselves and disappear into an uninhabited part of the Market Place. There Prince Adam and Cringer, make their transformations into He-Man and Battle Cat race to Castle Grayskull. On their way to the Castle, they run into Whiplash, who tries to smash them with his massive tail. He-Man grabs Whiplash by the tail and swings him around and around, then throwing him deep into the Evergreen Forest. At Castle Grayskull, He-Man and Battle Cat appear before the Sorceress and Zodac. They show He-Man images of the coming catastrophe. Zodac asks for He-Man's assistance in stopping the planet. Afterwards, He-Man and Battle Cat, rush back to the Royal Palace of Eternos, to talk to Man-At-Arms. He-Man, Man-at-Arms and Battle Cat take the Eternos Space Cruiser and begin theit travel to stop the rogue planet before it reaches Eternia. Their plan is to divert the planet to a different course. As they travel begin their launch into the sky, Tri-Klops sends up two robotic ship to destroy them. Stratos comes to the rescue and chases Tri-Klops away, before he could launch anymore. As the heroes go through the surrounding asteroid field, Mam-At-Arms outmaneuvers the two ships, causing them to crash into the asteroids. After the coast was clear, they run into a bunch of giant monsters, that He-Man had a hard time defeating them. At the same time on Eternia, Mer-Man and Beast Man begin to fear that Skeletor will use the rogue planet to destroy Eternia. The two attack Skeletor directly in his stronghold at Snake Mountain. In the heat of the brawl, Trap Jaw falls directly into the magic table, that Skeletor was using to control the course of the planet, smashing it and making it impossible to control the planet's destination. As the planet moves closer to Eternia, He-Man and Man-at-Arms learn that the planet's inhabitants are peaceful magicians, who have sent all evil beings to the world's outer surface. The magicians live in the core of the planet in a paradise like environment, not knowing what was going on. Before He-Man could act, a god-like being appears and uses magic to send the rogue planet back to it's original galaxy. Afterwards, the man simply disappears. When they return to Eternia, He-Man asks the Sorceress about the strange being. She tells him that he was once the leader of the Ancients. He was called the All-Father.
Feature story 2: "Der Tag der zürnenden Schädel (The Day Of The Angry Skulls)"
Skeletor resurrects an army of magical skeletons. They have the ability to reconstruct themselves after being destroyed, making them pretty much undefeatable. Skeletor sends his new army to destroy He-Man. As the skeletons marched along, Stratos spotted them from the sky and went to warn He-Man. He-Man attacked the skeletons with his sword, while Stratos dropped a large rock on them, leaving them in a pile of bones. The two watched as the skeletons reconstruct themselves. He-Man recognizes that he can only win if he goes to their center of power. Destroying their graves, the evil magic fades and the bones disappear.
Clawful94 Translation


text:
Barton Theys
Flower Mound High
Memories of Barton Theys
Are you Barton Theys?
This page means someone is someone is looking for you. Register for free to let other alumni contact you and more:
- Let others find you
- Contact old friends
- Share photos and memories with other registered alumni
Looking for Barton Theys?
This is a placeholder page for Barton Theys, which means this person is not currently on this site. We do suggest using the tools below to find Barton Theys.
About placeholder profiles
You are visiting the placeholder page for Barton Theys. This page is here because someone used our placeholder utility to look for Barton Theys. We created this page automatically in hopes Barton Theys would find it. If you are not Barton Theys, but are an alumni of Flower Mound High School, register on this site for free now.


text:
Never Ending
Never Ending
I love to experiment with texture, color and a wide variety of approaches. The exciting thing about creating a painting is discovering it. I have a very general idea of how it is going to turn out and it always ends up different than I expected. I hope you take the time to reflect upon what you see in the painting and share your thoughts with me.
Add To Cart
Never Ending is 5pounds and 2ft tall x 2ft wide.


text:
First release will be at the Comic-Con International: San Diego, Ca. --- July 24-27, 2014!
First release will be at the Comic-Con International: San Diego, Ca. --- July 24-27, 2014!
Last edited by Commander_Lane; 07-25-2014 at 11:34 AM.
I heard something about this involving Toys 'R' Us.
Now I see it as a Comic-Con run.
I'm a little confused.
Please send help.
I am pretty sure that it will be available at Toys R Us or toysrus.com after the convention. We'll see how well that works out.
Both versions are suppose to be available at TRU
Awesome set. Hope they don't make these too limited or hard to get.
So there are 2 coming out? the BBTS/TRU one has the digi camo and blue boat. I prefer this color scheme. Hopefully everyone who wants one can get one. i know Hasbro SDCC exclusives are impossible to buy on their site. And TRU has a loyal group of scalpers who buy everything . "even held stuff for customers and employees" so good luck getting one. I'll try. :P
Last edited by firstname.lastname@example.com; 07-07-2014 at 07:39 PM.
I hope Toys R Us floods its stores with this. I like the BBTS version, but I do want a classic color Flint and VAMP. I wish every store in creation would stop catering exclusively to scalpers. No one should be permitted to purchase 15 to 20 of a single item so they can re-sell it as quickly as possible. Every hobby is now the realm of scalpers who just want to flip their items.
I wish the club would be allowed to carry all the 50th items, especially the SDCC VAMP.
Cant wait to go up to the Hasbro booth and be told these are sold out at 9am, when they have a display model and a big pile of them behind the table and all the sketchy dealers at the con have 5 of them for 3x mark-up. Just like every year.. :/


text:
Adm. James Stavridis, USN (Ret.) is a 1976 distinguished graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy who spent over 35 years on active service in the Navy. He commanded destroyers and a carrier strike group in combat and served for seven years as a four-star admiral, including nearly four years as the first Navy officer chosen as Supreme Allied Commander for Global Operations at NATO. After retiring from the Navy he was named the dean of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in 2013. In addition, he currently serves as the U.S. Naval Institute's Chair of the Board of Directors. He has written articles on global security issues for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Atlantic Magazine, Naval War College Review, and Proceedings and is the author or co-author of several books, including Command at Sea 6th Ed. and Destroyer Captain.
Articles by James Stavridis
Books by James Stavridis
The Leader's BookshelfHardcover
Division Officer's Guide, 12th EditionHardcover
The Accidental AdmiralHardcover
Watch Officer's Guide, Fifteenth EditionHardcover
Destroyer CaptainHardcover | Softcover
Division Officer's Guide, 11th EditionHardcover


text:
What's My Service Cost?
Car Links
Your Comments
Cadillac Service
For your Cadillac servicing cost, select your model. This will then display the Interim Service and Full Service price along with a comparison of servicing points. You can also compare free collection and delivery of your car and free valet.
Cadillac Service Costs
Cadillac BLS Service
Cadillac CTS Service
Cadillac Escalade Service
Cadillac SRX Service
Cadillac STS Service
Cadillac XLR Service
Quick Links
Alfa Romeo Servicing
Mazda Servicing
Audi Servicing
Mercedes-Benz Servicing
Austin Servicing
MG Servicing
BMW Servicing
Mini Servicing
Cadillac Servicing
Mitsubishi Servicing
Chevrolet Servicing
Nissan Servicing
Chrysler Servicing
Opel Servicing
Citroen Servicing
Perodua Servicing
Daewoo Servicing
Peugeot Servicing
Daihatsu Servicing
Porsche Servicing
Daimler Servicing
Proton Servicing
Dodge Servicing
Renault Servicing
Fiat Servicing
Rover Servicing
Ford Servicing
Saab Servicing
FSO Servicing
Seat Servicing
Honda Servicing
Skoda Servicing
Hyundai Servicing
Smart Servicing
Isuzu Servicing
Ssangyong Servicing
Jaguar Servicing
Subaru Servicing
Jeep Servicing
Suzuki Servicing
KIA Servicing
Toyota Servicing
Lada Servicing
Vauxhall Servicing
Lancia Servicing
Volkswagen Servicing
Land Rover Servicing
Volvo Servicing
Lexus Servicing
Yugo Servicing
Lotus Servicing
What's My Service Cost © 2010 - 2019


text:
May 19, 2009 | ISBN 9780307387820
Jul 15, 2008 | 851 Minutes
"Turbo-charged…. Entertainingly serpentine."—The New York Times"A globe-trotting, bomb-ticking, loyalty-blurring thriller." —People"Rules of Deception packs a wallop. Christopher Reich is at the top of his game."—David Baldacci"First-rate…. Sophisticated, suspenseful, even surprising." —Washington Post"Never has a plane ride gone by so quickly! Rules of Deception was such a thrilling and compelling read that I spent the whole flight anxiously turning the pages, breathless to find out how it ended. Full of stunning twists and turns, packed with suspense, this is everything a great thriller should be."—Tess Gerritsen"Rules of Deception is an ingenious thriller set credibly in the shadowy world of international espionage. This one has it all: well-drawn characters, wonderful writing, exotic settings, and a high-tech terrorist plot that will keep you breathlessly racing along right through its electrifying climax."—Nelson DeMille"There's a reason why Christopher Reich is a superstar writer. You'll find it on page one of this book. And page two. And page three . . . and all the way to the vivid end of this great new thriller."—Lee Child"Rules of Deception is pure suspense—an ingenious spy thriller for the new millennium."—Linda Fairstein"Rules of Deception delivers pure suspense, intrigue, and adventure from its first page to its last. Christopher Reich is the master of the espionage thriller for the twenty-first century."—Clive Cussler"Fast-paced and intriguing, Rules of Deception is a great international thriller full of twists and turns that kept me guessing to the very end. A very enjoyable read."—Kate Mosse"Once again, Chris Reich is firing on all cylinders. Rules of Deception is a supple, elegant thriller with a beguiling sophistication. Reich catches the reader on page one and utterly commands you to finish through a plot that carries triumphantly from one thrilling climax to another. He certainly knows how to manipulate the reader in exciting ways, and he's an expert (as his award-winning The Patriots Club proved) in creating a riveting imagined world so real you wonder if it was actually imagined."—Steve Berry"Rules of Deception is an intense, impossible-to-put down spy novel—like Robert Ludlum at his very best."—Vince Flynn


text:
Farewell to KFMB radio
KFMB 760 AM and 100.7 KFMB-FM to be sold by November 15
Ken Leighton 12:30 p.m., Oct. 21
Nine high-ranking San Diego State University officials went on a high-flying, if brief, junket this spring, courtesy of Alaska Airlines. The occasion, on May 31, was an "Inaugural flight for SDSU officials on the SDSU theme painted Alaska Airlines plane," and the passenger list included vice president for business and financial affairs Sally Roush; School of Communication director Bill Snavely; athletic senior associate John David Wicker; associate athletic director Bob Moosbrugger; head women's basketball coach Beth Burns; chief communications officer, university relations, Jack Beresford; and university controller Lorretta Leavitt. The "flight circling San Diego County," plus meals, was valued at $1215, according to a disclosure statement posted on the university's website.
"We're proud to add San Diego State University's bold colors to our fleet of university planes and especially pleased that this aircraft represents our first California school," said Joe Sprague, Alaska Airlines' vice president of marketing, in a news release, which mentioned that the plane was painted at no cost to SDSU. "We hope the Aztec plane will bring smiles to our passengers and be a source of pride for SDSU students, alumni and faculty for years to come as we fly it throughout our regional route network."
The release added, "In conjunction with the SDSU plane's unveiling, Alaska Airlines is starting new nonstop daily service from San Diego to Fresno/Yosemite, Monterey and Santa Rosa/Sonoma County on June 4 and 5."
More free traveling was done by San Diego State business-school dean Michael Cunningham, say the SDSU travel disclosures. He caught a $525 one-way flight from McClellan-Palomar Airport to New York last September 7, courtesy of beer distributor and new Padres owner Ron Fowler. Under the line "Provide a specific description of the nature and use of the payment for official agency business," the reporting form, dated this June 1, was blank.
Cunningham also traveled round-trip from Palomar to Ocala, Florida, from February 26 to 29 of this year. The cost of the flight, $2000, along with lodging of $237 and meal expenses of $164, was covered by Leonard Lavin of Ocala, according to an undated disclosure report signed by SDSU vice president Mary Ruth Carleton. As in the case of the New York trip, the purpose for the journey was omitted from the form.
Lavin, 92, founded the Alberto-Culver Company, maker of Alberto VO5 shampoo, and now races horses and endows universities, among other endeavors. This May, SDSU awarded Lavin an honorary degree for funding the school's Lavin Entrepreneur Program, "which provides individual mentoring" for upper-division students, according to the university's website.


text:
|Liam and Aunt Rae (& Elmo!)
Five Little Squirrels
Five little squirrels up in the tree,
This little squirrel says, "What do I see?"
This little squirrel says, "I smell a gun!"
This little squirrel says, "Let us run!"
This little squirrel says, "I'll hide in the shade."
This little squirrel says, "I'm not afraid!"
BANG!!! goes the gun and they run, everyone.
I was curious about this little poem, so I went in search of its history. I haven't yet figured out the origin, but did find several versions of it in old teaching manuals, including one that dates back to 1888! Nearly a hundred and twenty five years ago, teachers used this as a counting poem as well as to teach language.
Since Aunt Rae passed away last year, this has brought back very sweet memories of her for Cindy and me. Now, it's up to us to make sure that Liam and his brother, Evan, remember this poem to share with future generations!


text:
Police are once again investigating Justin Bieber for alleged incidents of reckless driving in his gated community, even though it's a proven fact that's how serious artists drive. (Ask Billy Joel.)
According to the L.A. County Sheriff's Department, two residents of the Biebs' swanky Calabasas neighborhood called police on Sunday (May 26) to report the singer's Ferrari cruising down the streets at a "startling high rate of speed" while kids were nearby.
TMZ reports that police officers were dispatched but Justin gave them the cold shoulder and they went on their way. Because the rich and famous can do that to the cops.
As you might recall, this isn't Justin's first brush with the law for his douchey driving habits. Prosecutors are already looking into a previous case that involved him tearing around his swanky 'hood and then maybe spitting on a neighbor who complained about it. Now they can add this incident to their docket.
Life is tough for 19-year-old millionaire artists. Your neighbors hate you. Jon Bon Jovi thinks you're an asshole. Taylor Swift is disgusted by you. People like to boo you. And worst of all, everyone's always harshing your mellow by telling you to go below 80 mph in a 25 mph zone.
It's enough to drive a brother to drink.


text:
Section 9A: Fee for use of state house during non-business hours by non-governmental individuals, entities and groups; indemnification; disposition of monies received
Section 9A. The superintendent of the state house shall establish and charge a fee or service charge to nongovernmental individuals, entities and groups using the state house for meetings, receptions or exhibits, which may be reduced at the discretion of the superintendent. The superintendent or a designee shall establish such fee or charge based upon the actual cost of use, including personnel, requests for security, preparation, equipment replacement, cleanup, utilities used and compensation for wear on the building. The superintendent, or a designee may, in the superintendent's discretion, require a nongovernment entity to enter into a written agreement indemnifying the commonwealth against any claims for casualty liability and may require the posting of an insurance bond. All monies received by the superintendent under this section shall be by check made payable to and deposited in the State House Special Event Fund, as established in section 35P of chapter 10; provided, however, that the superintendent may retain funds to be expended after consultation with the committee on rules of the 2 branches, acting concurrently, for restoration, equipment repair and replacement and educational and cultural programs and tours at the state house.