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Full Description
In water, marching barnacles are indistinguishable from ordinary barnacles. Like any barnacles, they accumulate on stones in the water and the hulls of ships, and are difficult to remove. What makes marching barnacles distinct is that they are mobile.
Once attached to an object, a marching barnacles will wave its tiny, feathery legs about constantly, catching tiny particles to eat. These tiny legs are surprisingly strong given the barnacles' size. When a large number of marching barnacles accumulate, they act as one organism, moving their legs in a single direction. The motion the barnacles cause can be enough to propel a vessel or stone, albeit only very slightly. Strangely, the barnacles consistently move objects eastward.
This frequent movement apparently strengthens the barnacles' legs, and when on the sea floor or shore, mature barnacles can literally crawl. This has led to a various unusual occurances. Ships covered in marching barnacles may actually move out of the water when docked, and will continue marching until they dry out and die. Stones and ancient shipwrecks are also known to rise out of the water and march inland, sometimes for miles before coming to a rest. Such an incident is recorded by the historian Thyras:
In that time, Rescara was a prosperous and busy port, frequented by ships of all types. The bay of Rescara was reknowned for its cleanliness. During the war, however, the bay fell into disrepair and pollution, causing myriad undesirable fauna to spawn. It was, however, these fauna that would save the city. As the Harpani barbarians entered the besieged city, the ancient watch tower of King Phaestares - which had long ago been lost in the Floods - rose from the water and onto the land. The Harpani feared it was their sea god bringing wrath for their sins, and they fled far off to never return. The tower eventually tipped and fell. On examination, barnacles with thick and strong tentacles were found on its underside, which the sailors immidiately identified as 'marching barnacles.' Seeing that it was these normally troublesome creatures that aided Rescara in its time of need, the Assembly passed legislation that forbade all to kill the barnacles in the Rescara port. The law still stands.
-Historian Thyras, Cities of the Republic
Additional Information
Sailors consider marching barnacles an annoyance and will remove them whenever at port. Seeing a ship slowly lurch out of the water at port is a clear sign of a green captain.
Not a few sailors swear by marching barnacles, saying they aid in both navigation and sailing. If ever lost at sea, one can observe marching barnacles to gain direction, as they consistently move eastward. Treasure hunters have been known to raise the barnacles in small boxes filled with water. If a treasure is found beneath the waves that is too heavy to bring up, the box can be placed beneath or near the treasure and opened slightly. The barnacle larvae hopefully attach themselves to the treasure and, after a few months, the treasure will become mobile, allowing treasure hunters to follow it to a better location.
Some sailors swear that they can control marching barnacles and allow their ships to move swiftly in the water. While most sailors dismiss this as fantasy, it has been suggested this is a plausible phenomena. The famous inventor Hyrfidel created a series of magnets on swinging wooden arms. The contraption, he claimed, would be attached to a mainmast and the magnets moved about to control the direction the barnacles swim. He hypothesized that the barnacles always swim eastward just as a compass always points northward. If a compass could be affected by magnets, why not barnacles. The contraption, however, was not particularly popular and is largely considered a failure.


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WorldNetDaily Exclusive
Obama from Kenya, archived report says
Revives worry about president's eligibility for office
An archived article from 2004 on Barack Obama's run for the U.S. Senate in Illinois describes the relative political newcomer as "Kenyan-born," providing further fuel for speculation over the president's eligibilty for office.
WND has noted various news reports that have either stated or implied Obama's birthplace is not Hawaii, as he has claimed, but Africa.
The issue is significant, since there are a number of lawsuits challenging Obama's eligibility that argue if he was not born in the U.S., he does not meet the requirement in the Constitution that the president be a "natural born" citizen.
WND further has reported on the disagreement among those documenting Obama's presidency over which Hawaii hospital was his birth place.
Now have come a flood of blog questions and e-mails regarding the apparently archived article from the Sunday Standard in Kenya.
The report starts out, "Kenyan-born US Senate hopeful, Barrack (sic) Obama, appeared set to take over the Illinois Senate seat after his main rival, Jack Ryan, dropped out of the race on Friday night amid a furor over lurid sex club allegations."
The report continues to discuss the allegations against Ryan, Obama's opponent in his race for the U.S. Senate, and his decision to drop out, virtually handing the Senate seat to the political newcomer.
The article is credited to the wire service Associated Press at the bottom of the page. However, the article could not be found either in the AP archives available to the public online or the archive on the newspaper's website. WND telephone calls and e-mails to the newspaper did not generate a response.
At the Post & Email blog, writer John Charlton offered several explanations, including the suggestion references to Obama's birth have been scrubbed.
He wrote that a search of Google for the issue produced unusual results.
"When you attempt to search for 'Kenyan-born Obama'; results are missing; years prior to 2004 seem scrubbed; and when you click a link to an article in 2000, you get an article in 2004.
"Deliberate sabotage of their own news archive?" he wondered.
He said searching Google for the reference words "Kenyan-born U.S. Senator Obama hopeful" came up with a 1981 New York Times reference, but Obama is not in the article.
"There is no mention of Obama from 1981 to 2000; despite all his 'work with the poor' in Chicago," Charlton continued.
The June 27, 2004, article from the Standard doesn't appear.
A further link to PBS leads to a story about Obama's Senate victory, another to USA Today talks about Obama's father being Kenyan-born and another from 2004 does the same.
"Then, you would not believe it; but all the newspapers in the world, during the period from Jan. 1, 2005 to April 12, 2006, don't make one mention of Obama! Not even one," he said.
The bottom line, however, Charlton wrote, should not be what published reports have said, but what proof Obama can provide.
"If Obama cannot show documents which prove he is born in the USA; the mere fact that he has claimed to be born overseas and in the U.S.A.; first at one hospital in Hawaii and then at another; means that nothing he says in court, and no document presented by his campaign could be taken as prima facie evidence of anything."
Earlier this year, an African news site and an MSNBC broadcaster delivered references to President Obama's birthplace as being outside of the United States, even as a controversy had developed over a letter purporting to be from the president claiming Kapi'olani Medical Center in Honolulu as his birth location.
Network correspondent Mara Schiavocampo was reporting on the celebratory atmosphere in Accra, Ghana, immediately prior to Obama's visit to the west African nation.
Interviewing a person who appeared to be a shop operator, she suggested, "Barack Obama is Kenyan … but Ghanaians are still proud of him."
The video of the report is at this link.
Her report talks about the party atmosphere and the Obama fan clubs who have posted "Welcome home" signs.
Meanwhile, a report at Modern Ghana also posted in advance of the president's visit cited his birthplace on the continent of Africa.
"For Ghana, Obama's visit will be a celebration of another milestone in African history as it hosts the first-ever African-American President on this presidential visit to the continent of his birth," the report said.
The Modern Ghana report also cited the expectations that Obama would make a foreign policy pronouncement during his visit.
Kenya's East African Standard also, in an Aug. 24, 2006, article titled "From Young 'Barry' to Top American Senator," previously said of Obama: "The Harvard Law School and Columbia University graduate was born at the Queen's Medical Center in Honolulu in Hawaii, where his parents were studying at the East-West Center of the University of Hawaii in Manoa."
WND also reported, Obama's half-sister, Maya Soetoro, claimed Obama was born in Queen's Medical Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, a testimony reported as fact by several news sources and the myth-busting site Snopes.com.
Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women and Children in Honolulu, Hawaii
But after WND drew attention to a letter from the president declaring as his birthplace the Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women and Children in Honolulu instead, news sources and websites jumped to scrub the Queen's location and replace it with Kapi'olani.
As WND reported, the White House insists Obama was born in Hawaii but has thus far refused to verify which hospital the president claims as his birthplace or whether the letter – purportedly from President Obama claiming Kapi'olani – is, in fact, real.
The lawsuits over Obama's eligibility continue in several parts of the country, and in fact a California federal judge has scheduled a trial on the dispute to begin in January.
WND has reported on dozens of legal challenges to Obama's status as a "natural born citizen." The Constitution, Article 2, Section 1, states, "No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President."
Some of the lawsuits question whether he was actually born in Hawaii, as he insists. If he was born out of the country, Obama's American mother, the suits contend, was too young at the time of his birth to confer American citizenship to her son under the law at the time.
Other challenges have focused on Obama's citizenship through his father, a Kenyan subject to the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom at the time of his birth, thus making him a dual citizen. The cases contend the framers of the Constitution excluded dual citizens from qualifying as natural born.
Complicating the situation is Obama's decision to spend sums exceeding $1 million to avoid releasing an original long-form state birth certificate that would put to rest the questions.
WND also has reported that among the documentation not yet available for Obama includes his kindergarten records, Punahou school records, Occidental College records, Columbia University records, Columbia thesis, Harvard Law School records, Harvard Law Review articles, scholarly articles from the University of Chicago, passport, medical records, files from his years as an Illinois state senator, his Illinois State Bar Association records, any baptism records and his adoption records.
Because of the dearth of information about Obama's eligibility, WND founder Joseph Farah has launched a campaign to raise contributions to post billboards asking a simple question: "Where's the birth certificate?"
"Where's The Birth Certificate?" billboard at the Mandalay Bay resort on the Las Vegas Strip
The campaign followed a petition that has collected more than 475,000 signatures demanding proof of his eligibility, the availability of yard signs raising the question and the production of permanent, detachable magnetic bumper stickers asking the question.
The "certification of live birth" posted online and widely touted as "Obama's birth certificate" does not in any way prove he was born in Hawaii, since the same "short-form" document is easily obtainable for children not born in Hawaii. The true "long-form" birth certificate – which includes information such as the name of the birth hospital and attending physician – is the only document that can prove Obama was born in Hawaii, but to date he has not permitted its release for public or press scrutiny.
Oddly, though congressional hearings were held to determine whether Sen. John McCain was constitutionally eligible to be president as a "natural born citizen," no controlling legal authority ever sought to verify Obama's claim to a Hawaiian birth.
Your donation – from as little as $5 to as much as $1,000 – can be made online at the WND SuperStore. (Donations are not tax-deductible. Donations of amounts greater than $1,000 can be arranged by calling either 541-474-1776 or 1-800-4WND.COM. If you would prefer to mail in your contributions, they should be directed to WND, P.O. Box 1627, Medford, Oregon, 97501. Be sure to specify the purpose of the donation by writing "billboard" on the check. In addition, donations of billboard space will be accepted, as will significant contributions specifically targeted for geographic locations.)
If you are a member of the media and would like to interview Joseph Farah about this campaign, e-mail WND.

subset: commoncrawl


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|2012-12-06, 18:28
|Link #761
Emperor of the Expected
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Florida
|2012-12-07, 00:11
|Link #762
Ha ha ha ha ha...
Graphic Designer
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Right behind you.
Age: 30
Played this game at my friend's house just last weekend. I was expecting a repeat of Halo 3's story (a snoozefest) with Reach's poor character development (killing off people I honestly don't really care about). What I got was an incredibly polished game with great gameplay, cool weapons, and a surprisingly deep plot.
I have to say (and I was surprised by this myself) that this will be the third Halo I will own, and I might venture to say that I will buy the next game, too.
I thought this was going to be a weak reboot of a dying series, but 343 has successfully breated new life into this series. Just my opinion, of course. Haters will still hate and fanboys will still drool, but I have to say that I enjoyed this game much more than I was expecting to.
My ratings:
Graphics/Animation: 10/10. Fantastic. By far the most polished and smooth Halo games (or hell, games period) I've seen in a long time. Actually made me forget at some points that I was playing a game. The fully utilized motion capture to really bring all the characters to life. This game on a big-screen HD.... mmmm. I am seriously impressed.
Story: 6/10. Very good. Needless to say, they really delved into the relationship between Cortana and the MC, and did a hell of a job with it. I have to applaud 343 on their decision to try to humanize the MC, because it could have backfired and blown up in their faces. My only gripe is that the villian was kind of cookie cutter and had kind of a lame reason for wanting to commit xenogenocide. That and the Covenant were kind of thrown to the side, with not a lot of mention of any of the various factions... they are just kind of faceless monsters again, without any of the interesting political and social ramifications of various species' actions like in Halo 2. That, and also the Spartan IV's were thrown into the mix with no introduction to newbies to the series. If you didn't read the books or know the extended lore, you'll probably have no idea what they're doing there.
Voice Acting: 9/10. Awesome. Sometimes a bit over-the-top, but it never FEELS over-the-top. Jen Taylor nailed it as Cortana. You can really feel her turmoil as she tried to keep it together in front of the MC. All the voice acting in Halo 4 was top-notch, but Cortana stands out the most because she's in your ear the entire game as you attempt to navigate the Forerunner structures.
Gameplay: 8/10. Great. Arguably the most important aspect of all of this is the gameplay. I can honestly say that this is like they took almost everything from the fans' requests and implemented it in a fun but balanced manner. The main weapons are there, and everyone gets to pick from their favored sets. Plus new weapons keep things fresh, though functionally they are very similar to the ammo-type Convenant weapons (which kind of makes sense, considering Conenant tech is based off of Forunner tech). Sometimes there tend to be too many weapons on the ground but it's certainly better than never being able to find ammo. While some people might complain about the "recharging" health, I personally like it. I hate having to micromanage an HP bar while dodging bullets and lasers. Some of the new attachment abilities (like in Halo Reach) return, but now running is an inherent skill and not something you have to equip (thank God).
Overall: 8/10. Great. What I expected going in was them just milking this series, but what I got was a lot more than "just another sequel". Great voice acting, fantastic animation and graphics, and a well put-together and thought-out storyline makes this my favorite Halo game to date. Not to mention great gameplay that fixes all of my old complaints about the weapons system (minus the 2-weapon limit). Yes, that even includes the first Halo. I'm actually looking forward to the next installment in this series, and that's something I haven't thought since Halo 2 was announced back in 2004.
|2012-12-07, 16:49
|Link #763
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: In the Infinity and Beyond!
Rewatch ep 2 cutscene and look carefully in the end of ep 3. You'll know who i mean
|2012-12-07, 17:04
|Link #764
Emperor of the Expected
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Florida
|2012-12-07, 17:26
|Link #765
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: In the Infinity and Beyond!
Lets make it straight; no one ever received a PoW medal because covies dont take prisoners. The touchy UNSC scientist might be the first one ever received, becauae they took him prisoner. You dont have to be Spartan to get a medal IMO.
And i never mentioned Halsey as Spartan. FYI; i know all too well who Halsey is.
Hope that clears a bit.
But on the other side... Cpt. Keyes and his man where hold prisoner on CE, Chief was prisoner on Uprising (check on wikia) and Johnson was taken prisoner in 3.
|2012-12-07, 17:36
|Link #766
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: stuck between galaxies
I think what Reaper means is that no Spartan had ever received a PoW medal, because Spartans either fight their way out or die trying.
Who the hell cares if anybody else receives a medal for getting taken prisoner, anyway?
Last edited by Helius; 2012-12-07 at 17:49.
|2012-12-07, 17:46
|Link #767
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: In the Infinity and Beyond!
Anyways. Lets put the PoW topic aside. Lets discuss whats going to happen next ep.
|2012-12-07, 19:09
|Link #768
Emperor of the Expected
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Florida
|2012-12-07, 19:12
|Link #769
The Dark Knight
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: From the deepest abyss in the world, where you think?
Age: 33
On that matter, now that John's DNA has been re-written, what does that mean for him and the rest of the human race?
|2012-12-07, 20:26
|Link #771
Emperor of the Expected
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Florida
|2012-12-07, 23:15
|Link #772
Sensei, aishite imasu
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Hong Kong Shatterdome
Holy balls.
|2012-12-08, 18:03
|Link #774
Sensei, aishite imasu
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Hong Kong Shatterdome
|2012-12-08, 19:36
|Link #775
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: In the Infinity and Beyond!
343 confirmed that ep 6 will be released on 21 January. We have to wait a month. I saw the trailer and it looked interesting.
Edit: Halo 4 won the best Xbox 360 game and the best graphics.
Last edited by DaRk HuNt3r F4n; 2012-12-09 at 08:47.
|2012-12-08, 20:07
|Link #776
Sensei, aishite imasu
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Hong Kong Shatterdome
|2012-12-10, 19:16
|Link #777
Goat Herder
Join Date: Jun 2008
Age: 32
So the Crimson map pack was released today. However, you aren't getting it today if you got it via the Limited Edition or Seasonal Pass--there's some sort of technical difficulty preventing those players from downloading the maps. Lucky us, amirite?
|halo 4, sierra 117
|Thread Tools


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Lady Gaga fans break into her garage
LADY GAGA suffered a fright over the Thanksgiving holiday (22Nov12) when 35 of her fans broke into her garage.
The Poker Face hitmaker celebrated America's special day on Thursday (22Nov12) with her family in Peru, where she is due to play on her Born This Way Ball tour on Friday (23Nov12).
However, Gaga was given a scare when a group of her loyal fans, who she calls Little Monsters, gained entry to her garage.
Detailing the bizarre events in a series of posts on her Twitter.com page, the singer writes, "Monster fact when Gaga is asleep try to break into the garage, sing loud as possible, + ring the doorbell repeatedly... happening now... bad kids.
"Thanksgiving story: woke up for leftovers in kitchen (naked) - stumbled on security camera revealing 35 monsters in my garage... why... I love u (sic)."


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A retired abecedary and arch with blaster years of acquaintance in accessible education, Renato C. Nicolai, Ed.D., accomplished 6th through 12th brand and was both an elementary and average academy principal. In apprenticeship circles, he was accustomed as Dr. Nicolai, which eventually was beneath to Dr. Nick, and has ashore anytime since.
Tyler: Thank you for abutting me today, Dr. Nick. Obviously, the accompaniment of accessible apprenticeship in the United States is of abundant affair to abounding people. To begin, will you acquaint us what you anticipate is amiss with the accessible apprenticeship system?
Dr. Nick: Wow! What an opportunity! Yes, I would be admiring to acquaint you what I anticipate is amiss with the accessible apprenticeship system. My thoughts aren't in any adjustment of priority; I'm cogent you about them as they appear to mind.
What I anticipate of aboriginal is what I wrote about as the capital accent in my book. Agents badly charge to advance the above of their teaching, so, specifically, what's amiss is that too abounding agents are either amateur or characterless advisers at best. Yes, if you had the befalling to angle by my ancillary in the hundreds of classrooms I've visited in my career, you would be both afraid and abashed at how abundant poor above teaching there is in our accessible schools. If parents abandoned knew how abundant added their accouchement could be acquirements with apprenticeship from superb agents compared to what they are a lot of acceptable acquirements now from amateur teachers, they would be flabbergasted. That's how bad it absolutely is. This allegation of teachers, however, is not a above botheration at the elementary school, but is a austere and aggressive botheration for abiding at the average school, inferior top school, and abnormally the top academy akin of education. Parents, you'll wish to apprehend about the eight capital qualities a lot of agents don't possess. I've listed and declared them in the aboriginal affiliate of my book.
Tenure is addition analytical problem. Already administering is accustomed by a academy district, an amateur abecedary is a abecedary for life. It's acutely difficult to abolish a abecedary who has tenure. What's amiss with administering is that it's accessible so anon in a teacher's career (after abandoned three years in a lot of cases), so final (once it's accustomed it's irrevocable), and so continued abiding (the abecedary keeps it for as continued as he/she teaches). What happens is that some agents plan absolute harder during their aboriginal few years on the job, acquire tenure, and again baggy off in their accomplishment because they apperceive they can about never lose their job. Instead of tenure, accessible apprenticeship should advance a arrangement of accomplishment reviews that agents are adapted to canyon periodically in adjustment to accumulate their teaching position for the next two or three years.
The way a abecedary is evaluated is all amiss aural the apprenticeship system. It's basically a adulterated and a joke. Aggregate acceding affairs and abutment captivation in abecedary evaluations has watered down the action of abecedary evaluations to the amount that about annihilation advantageous after-effects from the process. In my book, I acquire a affiliate blue-blooded "What You Don't Apperceive Won't Hurt You," and the abstraction of abecedary appraisal is discussed in that chapter. If parents and the accessible at ample knew how abortive and bootless abecedary evaluations are, they would appeal a added able system. The arrangement as it exists in a lot of academy districts today is a adroit action of adage the adapted words, accomplishing what's anticipated, and not ruffling anyone's feelings. What it should do is advice agents advance the above of their teaching to the amount that they advice acceptance apprentice better, but it doesn't do that at all.
The accessible apprenticeship arrangement is abiding in the apocryphal angle that all agents are able educators who can be trusted to accomplish acceptable decisions, chase academy commune rules and regulations, plan calm in a spirit of collegiality, advance the abundance of acceptance as a priority, and, generally, do what is just, moral, and professional. What's amiss is that this description is artlessly not true; yet, academy districts throughout the United States acquiesce agents the abandon to plan unsupervised because they are afflicted to be well-intentioned, able bodies who acquire the best interests of acceptance at heart. Don't misunderstand me, please. Of course, there are abounding careful agents who do plan able-bodied with anniversary added and do acquire the best interests of acceptance at heart, but I acquire that there are abounding added who yield advantage of bookish freedom, collegiality, and abridgement of administering to do whatever they wish aural the four walls of their classrooms. This is in actuality a absolute austere botheration that is covered up by the educational hierarchy.
Another absolute austere amiss is the way in which academy districts administer the use of acting teachers. Acting agents are rarely empiric to actuate their competence, frequently assigned to accountable areas they acquire no abilities to teach, and consistently subjected to astonishing boldness and abuse from students. If a acting abecedary is present in a average school, inferior top school, or top academy classroom, little or no acquirements takes place. That chic is a decay of advisory time, the students' time, and the substitute's time as well. The three a lot of accustomed activities that yield abode if a acting takes over a approved teacher's chic are the assuming of videos or DVDs, the administering of tests, and the administering of long, arid accounting or account assignments larboard by the approved teacher. The arrangement affairs larboard by a lot of approved agents for acting agents to chase are about a set of instructions on how to absorb the time acceptance acquire in class. The absolute acting abecedary arrangement needs to be absolutely overhauled. Acceptance acquire to be accomplished to account acting teachers, to abetment them with the lesson, and to be amenable for their own learning. Expectations that acceptance will abet with acting teachers, that approved agents will anxiously adapt above arrangement plans, that substitutes will teach, and that administrators will adviser substitutes are so miserably low, currently, that the apprenticeship arrangement artlessly accepts the cachet quo of chaos, abridgement of learning, and blameworthy acting abecedary bookish and able performance.
Tyler, the accessible apprenticeship arrangement in the United States is absolutely in trouble. It's inundated with problems; there are abounding things amiss with it. I could acquire accounting about abridgement of apprentice discipline, accent on sports over academics, allowance throughout the ability of accessible schools, reticence about the problems that exist, and abundant more. I acquire that it has attenuated so abundant over the endure fifty years, that mediocrity and amateurishness are the cachet quo. Parents don't even apprehend that the arrangement is so bad. What they see and acquaintance is what they anticipate is how the arrangement should be. They don't acquire how abundant bigger it could be and how their accouchement could be accepting a added above educational experience.
Tyler: Dr. Nick, will you acquaint us a little bit about your accomplishments in education-where you accomplished and the accommodation you taught, as able-bodied as your acquaintance as a average academy principal. What claimed adventures acquire led to your accustomed viewpoints?
Dr. Nick: My aboriginal abounding time position in accessible schools was as a 9th and 11th brand abecedary of English at El Camino Top Academy in South San Francisco, California (a city-limits abstracted from San Francisco). Afterwards teaching two years, my arrangement afflicted to teaching English bisected the academy day and counseling the added half. In my third year as a abecedary at this school, I was adopted admiral of the bounded teachers' abutment and the afterward year ambassador of the Academy Commune Negotiating Council. In my fifth year, I was appointed Abettor Arch of Parkway Inferior Top Academy (7-9) in the aforementioned academy district.
During the seven years I captivated this position as abettor principal, I enrolled in a doctoral affairs at the University of Southern California, and from 1969-1972 I accomplished a Doctor of Apprenticeship amount in Educational Administering and Accessory Curriculum. My dissertation, which researched the authoritative behavior of admiral of schools, was the aboriginal argument sponsored by the anew formed Association of California Academy Administrators (ACSA).
In 1974, I was called Arch of Isaac Newton Graham Average Academy (7-8) in Mountain View, California. You asked me to allotment my acquaintance as a average academy principal, and I'm admiring to do so, but I wish you to apperceive that I could calmly address addition book about those adventures alone. So, I'll try to accord you an encapsulated answer. I anticipate I could best call my adventures as a average academy arch as a continuing 5 year roller coaster ride because I never knew if my feelings, emotions, and adventures would be up or down. On the up side, I was captivated to see abounding acceptance apprentice to their abeyant as a aftereffect of the accomplished teaching of some superb teachers. Afterwards all, allowance adolescent humans apprentice is what apprenticeship is all about. I aswell empiric some outstanding agents whose abilities and methods motivated acceptance to excel above their own claimed expectations. That was acutely exciting. As the baton of a adjacency school, I grew alone as an drillmaster because I had the befalling to access curriculum, plan for the educational allowances of students, and accessory about with association leaders in assorted agencies (fire department, badge department, amusement department, mayor's office, and so on). These adventures fabricated me a bigger principal. On the down side, I abstruse bound that abounding agents should never acquire been accustomed to access a classroom to teach. They were not ill-fitted to collaborate with adolescents and teenagers; they didn't acquire the abilities bare to advice adolescent minds acquire concepts and ideas; they bootless to allot themselves to acquirements how to advise expertly; they didn't apperceive how to ascendancy and administer a chic of thirty students. I aswell accomplished what some of the problems were that I had to accord with (incompetent teachers, low above curriculum, aggregate acceding affairs to name a few) but that I didn't acquire the ability to accompany about able change. That was arresting to no end. Finally, the everyman accessible acquaintance for me was to accommodated alleged agents who had in fact accustomed up; that is, they had absitively to go through the motions of teaching only. They were no best acquisitive to teach, didn't attending advanced to affair their classes, and did as little as accessible to accommodated their able responsibilities. I larboard out so abundant that I feel my acknowledgment is inadequate. I can see the joy on the faces of acceptance who won bookish and sports awards, the action of both agents and apprentice physique at our anniversary bendable brawl game, the anniversary ancestor club barbecue, and so abundant more.
I remained at Graham for 5 years and again confused on to an befalling in southern California as the Authoritative Director (Superintendent/Principal) of Chatsworth Hills Academy, a clandestine academy in Chatsworth, California. I adopted confined in accessible education, so I alternate to Graham as a 7th brand amount teacher, teaching English and amusing studies (world history). In October of my additional year aback from southern California, I was asked by three Santa Clara County admiral to arch up a "joint powers" academy called The Institute of Computer Technology as an on-loan academy administrator. Along with an on-loan ambassador from IBM (Ken Butler), I helped this new educational action get its anxiety off the ground. It was agitative plan and I enjoyed hiring teachers, affair technology experts at Apple and IBM, developing curriculum, outfitting a academy with aegis systems, alive with academy superintendents, acquirements how to assure admired accouterments and software, and a lot more. Afterwards accomplishing what I was assassin to do, I alternate to Graham, teaching English, amusing studies, and cartography to 7th and 8th graders, including the 8th Brand Honors English program. I remained at Graham for the next twenty years and retired in 2001.
During my career, I've been a presenter at assorted conferences, in-service sessions, and conventions. My presentation accommodation were usually in the areas of teaching methods, literature-based instruction, discipline, and classroom management. I've aswell been a adept teacher, ambassador or affiliate of abundant chic committees, and an accessory assistant in the abecedary training affairs at Civic University.
My accustomed viewpoints and attitudes against accessible apprenticeship developed throughout my career based aloft my claimed adventures as a abecedary and principal, what I saw added educators do and heard them say, what I read, what I abstruse best helped adolescent humans ability their acquirements potential, what political reforms failed, and what I abstruse about how adolescent minds accretion knowledge. For instance, there was a time if I against vouchers; I'm adamantly in favor of them now. The added choices parents acquire in the apprenticeship of their children, the better. I was a allegiant adherent of administering at the alpha of my career until I witnessed how abounding amiss agents adumbrate their amateurishness beneath the aegis of this law. Administering should be abolished. I'm abiding you get the idea. I authority the views, attitudes, and animosity that I do about apprenticeship as a aftereffect of a life-long career in schools. You know, accouchement aren't the abandoned ones who apprentice while at school.
Tyler: You acknowledgment that abounding agents are not competent? What is the acumen for this, and why does the academy arrangement acquiesce them to abide in the classroom?
Dr. Nick: Why are abounding agents incompetent? Actuality are some affidavit to contemplate:
Because they don't acquire the personality bare to collaborate able-bodied with adolescent people. If a getting doesn't like kids, doesn't adore getting with them all day long, doesn't attending advanced to teaching them, doesn't acquire their adolescence and wish to advice them become added mature, can't angle consistently answering questions, can't acquire alone differences (race, ethnicity, gender, religion, etc), can't cope with adapted needs (hyperactivity, behavior problems, and so on), again that getting will never be a competent teacher.
Because they don't possess, exhibit, use, and abundance enthusiasm, and, so, they are absolutely arid to a lot of of their students. Ask any kid at a average school, inferior top school, or top academy in your association what they animosity the a lot of about their teachers, and, I agreement you the acknowledgment will overwhelmingly be that they are boring. And you apperceive something, Tyler; the kids are right. A lot of agents are insufferably arid in how they teach. Action is a sine qua non for all competent teachers.
Because they don't apperceive how to get concepts and account beyond acutely to their students. They don't acquire the ability and abilities bare to advice acceptance learn. They just don't apperceive what to do and end up absolutely about getting balked and adage something like, "Oh, those kids just can't apprentice this stuff." That's an announcement agnate to defeatism and incompetence. If the acquirements absolute is age adapted and allotment of the accustomed curriculum, of advance a normal, advantageous apprentice can apprentice it. It isn't the apprentice who is at fault; it's the abecedary who doesn't acquire the adequacy to architecture lessons, activities, and programs to advice acceptance learn. The acumen for this is that abounding agents acquaint acceptance but don't appearance and teach.
Because they can't administer and ascendancy apprentice behavior. Agents circadian face arduous antidotal and behavior problems. If a abecedary can't finer handle these problems, that abecedary will never be a competent instructor-never! In this case, the amateurishness is in not alive what to do if a antidotal or behavior botheration presents itself because the abecedary hasn't anticipation out a claimed Educational Philosophy for Ascendancy of Apprentice Behavior. Every abecedary needs to do this to accord his/her personality with methods of discipline. I explain this in detail in my book.
Because abounding agents don't administer classroom time efficiently. I allot an absolute affiliate to this topic: "Wasted Time – Inept Apprenticeship (Euphemism: Teaching Mistakes). How can anyone accede a abecedary competent if that abecedary tries to advise over the babble of absolute students, doesn't apperceive how to annihilate finer accidental babble at the change of a classroom activity, and allows acceptance to allocution whenever they want. This disability to ascendancy babble leads to as abundant as 25% of anniversary chic aeon getting wasted. Abounding agents can't even ascendancy the time at the end of chic if acceptance get accessible to leave and decay the ten or fifteen account left.
Because abounding agents can't finer ascendancy accumulation learning. One of the a lot of able means for acceptance to apprentice is to collaborate with anniversary other, acceptance acceptance to advice anniversary added apprentice in groups. Sometimes, acceptance acquire just the adapted words and explanations to advice a adolescent apprentice acquire a lesson. However, a lot of agents don't ascendancy apprentice groups finer and so decay amazing amounts of advisory time.
Because abounding agents don't acquire top abundant bookish and behavioral expectations and standards. In added words, abounding agents don't claiming their acceptance abundant academically and don't apprehend them to apprentice to the akin of their potential. Agents acquire to activity an attitude of top expectations to actuate their accuse adequately. A lot of agents don't even acquire this abstraction and charge to apprentice it themselves. Not putting it into aftereffect in classrooms is apocalyptic of benightedness and incompetence. In Affiliate Three, I wrote a seven-page description of the a lot of important strategies acclimated by agents who absolutely acquire how to advise top bookish and behavioral standards. Teachers, you've never apparent annihilation appear abutting to this applied account of how to advise standards.
Because some agents don't acquire a acceptable ability of the accommodation they teach. They don't! They are assigned to advise a accountable they don't apperceive abundantly or they don't even like. Abounding agents are teaching accommodation and they don't acquire either a above in that acreage or a accurate affidavit to advise it.
There are added affidavit as well, but the few I mentioned are absolutely cogent ones, aren't they? Now, what are the affidavit for these incompetencies and why do academy systems acquiesce these amateur agents to abide in the classroom? Well, the aboriginal allotment of the catechism can be answered easily. Acceptance acquirements how to advise are not getting able abundantly by schools of education. You apperceive who should advise -to-be agents how to teach? Not apprenticeship professors! No! Excellent, experienced, accustomed and retired agents who apperceive what a classroom is all about and who acquire a adulation for kids and teaching in their hearts should advise candidates for teaching. Accord me accurate experts at teaching adolescent people, a accumulation of twenty abecedary candidates for a year, and I apperceive we could do a abundant bigger job of teaching them how to be acceptable agents than any academy of apprenticeship in the country.
Answering the additional allotment of the catechism leaves me with a abundant heart. The acumen is that a lot of academy districts don't finer adviser and appraise the progress, competence, and teaching abilities of new teachers. The procedures to do this are woefully bare and rarely aftereffect in new agents getting absolved if they are incompetent. Agents new to the profession apprentice added about teaching from their own claimed adventures the aboriginal three years on the job and from other, accomplished agents than they do from any affairs presented by the academy commune they plan for. Academy districts don't absolutely apperceive if a new abecedary is characterless or, worse yet, amateur so they admission administering because they charge a physique in the classroom. There is a amazing curtailment of agents throughout our country today. Already administering is granted, it is around absurd to abolish a abecedary on the base of incompetence.
(Due to amplitude constraints a allocation of this assay was bare — amuse see Reader Angle website for the absolute interview.)
Dr. Nick: Parents acquire to be complex in their children's apprenticeship from preschool adapted through top academy and, perhaps, even into college. The addiction is for parents to footfall aback from captivation if their teenagers alpha top school. This is a austere mistake. Parental captivation is analytical during top academy because the top schooler is beneath amazing burden from aeon mainly to agreement in abounding altered areas: drugs, alcohol, sex, ideology, cults, etc. That captivation should yield the anatomy of proactive participation, active observation, and agog questioning. I acclaim that parents do the afterward to ensure that their accouchement acquire a above education:
Parents acquire to acquaint consistently in person, over the phone, and via e-mail with the abecedary throughout the academy year about every aspect of their child's acquirements by allurement questions and gluttonous advice about these and added important aspects of schooling:
math skills
language arts abilities (reading, spelling, grammar, writing)
listening skills
participation and cooperation
Parents acquire to frequently adviser the advance of their child's acquirements at home and act as the a lot of important abecedary in their child's life.
Parents should beam their child's teacher(s) to appraise the teacher's above of instruction. My book is abounding with tips for parents to do just that. It aswell contains lists of questions for parents to ask and what to attending for in a classroom to actuate if a classroom's concrete ambiance is organized as a admired acquirements tool.
Parents should participate in the action of the school, if possible:
join the PTA or ancestor club and participate in its activities and governance
volunteer as an abettor at school
offer to abetment the abecedary with paperwork
Parents acquire to appear academy functions: Back-to-School Night, Open House, music programs, adapted events, sports contests, armamentarium raisers.
Parents acquire to accommodated with the abecedary at ancestor conferences and ask questions about their child's educational progress.
Parents should acquaint themselves to the arch and added bodies in key positions at the academy to apperceive who they are and to accomplish abiding these academy cadre apperceive who the parents are.
Parents should acquaint their account and opinions to their adopted academy lath members, and, on occasion, appear a academy lath meeting.
Parents acquire to be abiding their adolescent is able to do the best accessible plan at academy by providing:
necessary academy supplies
a alimental and counterbalanced diet
enough beddy-bye and rest
a absolute attitude against academy and teachers
a distraction-free abode for homework
Tyler: Does the affair over accessible apprenticeship acquire a abode alfresco the academy system? What about humans who do not acquire children? Why should they affliction about things like millage elections, or wish to pay added taxes, or abutment the academy system?
Dr. Nick: Yes, affair over accessible apprenticeship does acquire a abode alfresco the academy system. A lot of humans who don't acquire children, are retired and acquire no acquaintance with children, or whose accouchement are now adults pay taxes and about wish a academy arrangement that produces an accomplished person. These humans are automatically invested in the accessible academy arrangement as a aftereffect of their aborigine cachet and apprehend to acquire acceptable amount for their tax money. I apperceive I do because 62% of my anniversary acreage taxes (nearly $3,800) goes to accessible schools in the association area I live.
Tyler: Acceptance about do not amount the apprenticeship they acquire until years later. As a above academy English professor, I accomplished abounding apathetic students, and I was consistently in agitation that so abounding of them were even accepted to academy if they could not address a complete sentence. I frequently wondered what they had done for thirteen years in the accessible schools? Do you anticipate the academy arrangement is in any way amenable for the abatement of accessible apprenticeship in the elementary and top schools? Should access requirements into colleges be raised?
Dr. Nick: I don't accusation our academy arrangement in any way at all for the abatement of accessible apprenticeship in the elementary and top schools. Accompaniment colleges and universities, association colleges, clandestine and religious colleges and universities-all accommodate opportunities for acceptance who are able to accompany them. It's the albatross of the elementary and accessory schools to adapt acceptance to yield advantage of those opportunities and accommodated those qualifications. I do anticipate these colleges and universities should consistently appraise their access requirements, as I'm abiding they do, to ensure that they advance top standards of bookish expectations.
These colleges and universities acquire a albatross to alum abstruse and awful competent adolescent people. Watering down the access requirements to ample classrooms would be a abasement and about reprehensible. Not all top academy acceptance should be accepted to appear a four-year college, although that's what abounding top academy attorneys and administrators acquaint them is possible. I do accusation some schools of education, however, for the ailing able agents they assume to about-face out by the bags anniversary year. Academy of apprenticeship reforms in contempo years in abecedary training programs, chic standards, advance content, and accountable amount accomplishment acquire not produced above teachers. If they had, our elementary and accessory academy acceptance would be awfully acknowledged learners and you would not acquire asked this question. Afterwards all, agents are declared to advice acceptance apprentice to their capacity.
Tyler: Dr. Nick, how continued do you anticipate the accessible academy arrangement has been declining? Do you acquire it has afflicted the American job force and economy?
Dr. Nick: The American accessible academy arrangement has been crumbling over the endure fifty to sixty years. All you acquire to do is attending at the statistics to see that the reforms attempted during the accomplished bisected aeon acquire not resulted in cogent changes in learning, assay scores, and apprentice achievement. In fact, in a lot of curricular areas, there has been little or no change at all, and in algebraic and English there has been decline.
Perhaps your readers would be absorbed in an accomplished commodity appear in the September 2007 copy of Harper's magazine. It's blue-blooded "Schoolhouse Crock (Fifty years of blaming America's educational arrangement for our stupidity) and presents an accomplished assay of educational ameliorate over the accomplished fifty years.
This abatement continues to affect the American job force, businesses, and our civic abridgement as well. Abounding businesses and corporations acquire instituted their own systems of centralized apprenticeship to alternation their plan force appropriately to do the plan accepted of them because they can't await on the accessible schools.
Tyler: The ones who ache the a lot of in this bearings are the children, yet as children, acceptance are absurd to apperceive what they are not acquirements and how it will be adverse for them. Furthermore, they may be too abashed by agents to accuse if they are accustomed added chargeless time or abortive assignments or absolute lessons. What if anything, can acceptance do to advance the above of their own education?
Dr. Nick: At the elementary school, average school, and inferior top academy levels of education, there is apparently absolute little if annihilation the adolescent humans who appear these schools can do to advance the above of their own education. They are too young, inexperienced, and immature. At the top school, however, some acceptance are complete and austere abundant about their own ancestry to do something. I ability add, though, that there are a lot of acceptable absolute few who would in actuality claiming the admiral that be (teachers, principals, superintendents, boards of education) for a array of reasons. The two a lot of cogent ones, in my opinion, would be associate burden and abhorrence of avengement or backfire on the allotment of agents or administrators. Nonetheless, actuality are some accomplishments mature, serious, intelligent, anxious top academy acceptance could do:
Go to your arch and accuse about the poor above teaching you're experiencing. Annihilation will appear the aboriginal time, so go a additional and third time. Accompany added anxious acceptance with you.
Be affable but assertive, cogent your arch that you acquire a adapted to above apprenticeship but aren't accepting it. Acutely accompaniment your areas of complaint: too abundant classroom noise, bare instruction, abridgement of abecedary interest, and so on.
Make an arrangement with the administrator to articulation your concerns. Present a plan of how your grievances can be redressed. Accompany added anxious acceptance with you. Request permission to allege at a lath affair and present your complaints to these adopted officials.
Phone and/or e-mail lath members.
Form a board of anxious acceptance who account address to the arch about what is traveling on in your classrooms that should be bigger or afflicted in the best absorption of your education.


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A man is facing a grand theft auto charge after he stole a North Miami Beach Police car because he "just wanted to drive around for a little bit," police said.
Stalyn Enrique Hernandez, 28, was arrested shortly after stealing the marked Fort Crown Victoria cop car from the police station at 16901 Northeast 19th Avenue around 5 p.m. Sunday, according to a North Miami Beach Police arrest report released Monday.
Key West Cabs May Charge Vomiting Fee
According to the report, Hernandez got into the car, which may have been unlocked, and found the key inside. He drove off and when police realized the car was missing, a search began.
The car was spotted heading north on West Dixie Highway approaching Northeast 172nd Street, where it was stopped at a red light, the report said.
When an officer approached the car, Hernandez rolled down the window and said "I just wanted to drive around for a little bit," the report said.
Naked Man Tasered Outside North Coast Music Festival
He was taken into custody without incident and there was no damage to the car.
During a bond court appearance Monday, Hernandez was ordered held on $5,000 bond. It was unknown whether he has an attorney.
North Miami Beach Police said there is an internal investigation into the incident.
More Local Stories:


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Firefox browser to offer users 'Do Not Track' option
The maker of the popular Firefox browser is moving ahead with plans to block the most common forms of Internet tracking, allowing hundreds of millions of users to limit who watches their movements across the Web, company officials said Wednesday.
The decision comes despite intense resistance from advertising groups, which have argued that tracking is essential to delivering well-targeted, lucrative ads that pay for many popular Internet services. When Firefox's maker, Mozilla, first publicly suggested that it might limit blocking in February, one advertising executive called it "a nuclear first strike" against the industry.
Widespread release of the blocking technology remains months away, but Mozilla officials spoke confidently on Wednesday about the growing sophistication of tools they are building to limit the placement of "cookies" in the browsers of individual users.
These bits of code, often placed by data collection companies users have never heard of, allow the companies to learn what sites the browser visits for many months or even years. Tracking would still be allowed by Firefox if users gave a website express permission, or if users visited regularly -- as is common with shopping, social media or news sites.
"We're trying to change the dynamic so that trackers behave better," said Brendan Eich, chief technology officer for Mozilla, a nonprofit group. Its Firefox browser is used by about 20 percent of the world's desktop computers, according to NetMarketShare.
The blocking technology that Mozilla is developing borrows heavily from Apple's Safari browser, which blocks all "third-party" cookies, meaning bit of tracking codes from sites that users do not intentionally visit.
Mozilla officials say they have refined that approach in recent months to allow third-party cookies in certain rare cases -- for example when a site that a person visits regularly uses a different Web address, which sometimes is done for security purposes.
Mozilla also plans to add new limits on cookies placed by sites users intentionally visit, such as Facebook, to prevent tracking when users sign off and move to other sites. Over the next few months, Mozilla plans to test and further refine its technology before making it available to all users.
To help navigate the complexities of when to allow or disallow tracking, Mozilla has teamed up with Stanford University's Center for Internet and Society to create a "Cookie Clearinghouse" that will advise the company on how to tweak its settings to protect users. Makers of the Opera Web browser also has joined the Stanford-led initiative.
The clearest losers in Mozilla's plan will be companies that track users without their knowledge. They will be permitted to request permission to place a cookie in Firefox but users may have little incentive to allow a company they don't know to access to their personal Web browsing data.
"For them, it is going to be difficult," said Aleecia McDonald, director of privacy for the Stanford Center for Internet and Society. "Bringing them out into the light is not a bad thing."
McDonald formerly was co-chair of a two-year-old effort to get the advertising industry, browser makers and privacy advocates to agree on an initiative called "Do Not Track," which was endorsed by the White House and Federal Trade Commission. It was supposed to give users the ability to block tracking by changing the settings on their browsers -- no matter what company made them -- but the sprawling working group has struggled to reach consensus.
Mozilla officials and McDonald said that if the "Do Not Track" effort yields an agreement, they may seek to adjust Firefox's blocking technology and the "Cookie Clearinghouse" to bring them in line with such a deal.
"It's still not clear if 'Do No Track' will do a lot for privacy or only a little," she said.


text: Mandurah is an example of built density without intensity: five-to-ten-storey buildings with generous public space but a population density less than your average suburb. Kim Dovey Maret 7, 2016 How negative-gearing changes can bring life back to eerily quiet suburbs Kim Dovey, University of Melbourne Curbing negative gearing will help get empty housing onto the market. This could go some way to bringing life back to relatively dense urban centres that are oddly lacking intensity of public life.


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I wanna make a projectile system which basically takes all the frustration and tediousness of doing it per spell, and throws it into a nice little system that takes care of all projectiles currently in motion. Basically I want to store everything in the projectile itself so that I can just run 1 timer for all of them, and not have to worry about any values or stuff like that.
Now my question is, would this be better to create a global array for the projectiles, or is there some way i can do this with locals? Since I want everything stored with the projectile, I figured the easiest way would be to create a missile, give it all the info required, then add it into the array and simply use a loop to control all the projectiles on one timer. It seemed to make sense, but that's how I would have done it in .GUI, and since I'm still not aware of everything JASS has to offer, I'm not quite sure how to set it up to work better than what I previously mentioned.


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|Gillingham, England
|Rainham Mark Grammar
2013-14: Continued to be a rock steady performer for the Bucs in 2013-14, posting the team's second-best stroke average at 74.6 through 11 events ... had four Top 10 finishes and eight Top 20 efforts on the year ... carded a low round of 67 in the second round of the UCF Challenge, where she also enjoyed her best finish of the year with a third-place showing. 2012-13: A key contributor to the team's conference title and NCAA Tournament trip in 2012-13, Evans was a first-team All A-Sun for the third time ... she was second on the team with a 75.3 stroke average and placed second on two occassions during the year (UNCG Starmount Forest Tournament and the A-Sun Championships) ... her low round of the year was a record-setting 67 in the first round of the A-Sun Championships on April 15 ... she posted the team's best individual finish in the NCAA Regionals, tying for 35th. 2011-12: A first-team All A-Sun selection, Evans finished second on the team with a 74.8 stroke average … she finished the year with six Top 10 finishes in 10 events … her best showing of the year came at the John Kirk/Panther Intercollegiate, where she placed third … her low single round of the year was a 67 at that same event … earned A-Sun golfer of the week honors once during the fall semester. 2010-11: Became the third ETSU woman in program history to earn Atlantic Sun Conference freshman of the year honors, while also being selected as a first-team, all-conference pick … finished second on the team with a 75.4 stroke average … enjoyed eight Top 20 finishes, including a season-best showing of third at the Lady Paladin Invitational … she twice posted season-low scores of 71, with those rounds coming at the Mercedes-Benz Championships and the John Kirk/Lady Panther Intercollegiate. Prior to ETSU: Was a member of the England Girls U18 Elite Squad and holds Faversham Ladies Course record with a 66 … she has also enjoyed her share of success at a young age, winning the Kent Schools Girls County title, the Faversham Ladies Club championship, the Sundridge Ladies Scratch-McCart Trophy, and the Kent Ladies County title. Personal: Born Nov. 7, 1991 … Sian is the daughter of Stuart and Linda Evans … her major is kinesiology.


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Cheryl Cole Envelope Clutch
Cheryl Cole matched her frock with a monochrome envelope clutch by Saint Laurent.
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Hi all,
I found this article online and thought it was interesting.
When i was a christian i was very liberal and didn't really like the hateful and judgmental tone my church was putting out. So i tried to lead the faith by example but i empathized with the atheist view (probably a sign of my later de-conversion. Ex-Atheist helps Christian Image
Read this article and share your thoughts on why you critique the faiths and how do you react to Christian's PR battle?
Views: 115
I think the "former atheist" completely missed the real reasons the majority of atheists object to Christianity. Lack of evidence for god(s) and the numerous contradictions, obvious absurdities and glaring immorality of the Bible (even the New Testament) seem like much more common reasons to reject Christianity.
My guess is this non-profit is successful at "winning back" people who left the church but never really rejected the notion of God.
I agree,
I left the faith because of personal issues with the role religion played in my life as well as its logical absurdity. But i think the ex-atheist is reacting to the belief that all Christians are right wing conservative fundamentals and wants to show the liberal "Jesus loves everybody lets be giggly and nice side"
yeah you're right. the crazy ones always get more attention than the well to do, be cause it makes for good news. I would much rather see christians on the news who do good and amazing things, not becasue they are christioan but becasue good people regardless of faoith doing good things to help other peoeple should be news regardless.
Church reformation has been going on through out history and as you know its been a long and often bloody battle. Dr. Tiller, the abortion doctor that was murdered, was an usher at his own church...go figure
The website for this group is http://www.changingthefaceofchristianity.com/, and I agree with Allen that this group is much more focused on theists who have fallen away from Christianity.
And it's probably not going to work, at least not the way "Changing the Face of Christianity" wants it to. They'll just get into big pie fights with other Christians who focus more on the numerous passages of the Bible that call people to be judgmental and prejudicial and engage in really dumb things, and it might cause people who are at a distance from Christianity to wonder more about the concept of God.
yeah i don't think its will do anything to convince athesits otherwise, (not becasue were close minded but becasue we actually read the bible and it says some pretty horrrible things)
liberal theists like to play fast and loose with biblical quotes and try to PR away the cruel stuff and only highlight the few moral things in the bible.
He seems to be focused more on people who still believe in a deity, but just despise the hypocrisy and bigotry of organized religion than actually looking to convince atheists. His nonsense about "If non-believers hated us for truly living our faith and for being the best lovers of people the world has ever known" is shows he really doesn't understand why people don't believe in his god (or possibly even that they don't believe. It would not be the first time that someone confused rejecting organized religion (but believing in a god still) with being an atheist)


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text:
Last month, I introduced the notion of using a Java
How (and When) Do You Find a Configuration File?
Server-side log4j configuration is tough to do right. Log4j's configuration problems are far from rare, however, so it's a good platform for discussing the configuration issue as a whole.
By default, log4j looks for its configuration file (either log4j.properties or log4j.xml) in two places:
- The directory (or URL) specified in the
log4j.configuration, either created in your program using
or specified with the
java -Dlog4j.configuration=/file/locationcommand-line argument.
- On the classpath (as defined by whatever class loader pulled log4j into the program. In Tomcat, this is the WEB-INF/classes directory in your WAR file, not the CLASSPATH environment). Other servers have other rules.
In the case of Tomcat,
-D on the command line does work, but you will have to modify
your out-of-the-box startup script to handle it.
You can also put a
-D argument into the
There are show-stopper problems with all these possibilities, however, particularly with Web servers such as Tomcat.
First, a given Web server typically hosts many Web applications, and these
applications typically have very different requirements for logging
configuration (at minimum, each application will probably want its
own, uniquely named, log file), so using
-D won't work because
the resulting value is global across all applications. The same issues apply
to an environment variable.
Next, you have no control over the classpath — Tomcat effectively limits the classpath to your Web app's WAR file — so classpath-based configuration is unworkable.
A given application may be installed on many servers, and each of those servers might have different configuration requirements. You really don't want your installation process to require that you dig into an application's WAR file to modify logging configuration, and modifications you might make to automatically expanded WARs will be wiped out on the next deployment.
Configuration should happen outside the application entirely, so that you can define a unique version on each server without modifying the WAR.
Finally, configuration often fails because the bit of code that performs the configuration runs at the wrong time. For example, consider a
private static myConstant = new ConstantClass(); // constructor logs useful information!
If the constructor logs something, that logging call will most likely be done
before your servlet's
A static initializer block like
static { org.apache.log4j.xml.DOMConfigurator .configure( "/path/to/log4j.xml" ); }
has the same problem. The configuration does happen before any instances of the class are created, but there's no telling when this code will execute relative to other static initializers in other class definitions, and what if one of those initializers reconfigures the system?
This order-of-initialization issue is a particular problem when multiple instances of your Web app are running simultaneously, which can happen when you're providing a customized service to several clients. You might deploy the same Web app many times, with slightly different names given to each WAR file, for example. Ideally, you'd pull configuration information out of a directory that was named after the URL used to access the application, but that's particularly tricky to do because the URL isn't available to a servlet until you actually receive a message. (It's in the
So, given that all the standard ways of doing things fail, we're left with the
We still have the static-initializer problem, however. That is, it simply
shouldn't be possible to log a message unless log4j has been configured properly, even if we're logging from a static initializer. I've solved that problem by writing my own version of the
Logger class
(Listing One), which leverages the Singleton design pattern
to guarantee configuration.
Now I'll demonstrate some of the approaches you can take to implement a self-configuring log4j


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Best Bed and Breakfasts 2000: England, Scotland, Wales
Globe Pequot Press, Dec 1, 1999 - Travel - 608 pages
From cottages in Cornwall to manor homes in the Scottish Highlands, hundreds of personally inspected residences are listed in this fully updated, full-color guide to B&Bs in the U.K., the best reference available for travelers preferring B&B accommodations. All homes listed meet the quality standards for membership in The Worldwide Bed & Breakfast Association.
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I support the efforts of Draw Muhammad Day. I took a few minutes and made a quick drawing and posted it to Facebook…and that was going to be the extent of my participation.
Fortunately, our local religion reporter made a blog post and she couldn't have managed to misrepresent the subject more, if she'd tried.
I took the opportunity to correct her…and I was sufficiently irritated that I thought I'd copy that correction here. As next Sunday's show is cancelled, consider it a replacement rant.
"Again, I thought this would fizzle out, but apparently it's become all the rage to make a spectacle out of demeaning Muslims."
How does this demean Muslims? Be careful you don't break your back while trying to twist this issue to portray the Muslims as the victims…
The fact is that some Muslims have repeatedly demonstrated remarkable and violent hypocrisy when it comes to free speech. They demand that their views be respected by everyone else in society – and anyone who offends them may well suffer a violent response.
"If it's true that the Prophet Muhammad is not drawn or depicted by Muslim artists based on Islamic beliefs, why revel in ignorance? In other words, if it were considered heathen-like behavior to draw Jesus, would that be tolerated with the same level of revelry – or is there something else at work?"
Of course it would be tolerated. What sort of journalist doesn't grasp the basics of free speech and expression?
There is no right to not be offended. There is no right to impose your ignorance, fears and superstitions on the rest of society.
Why do you think this is happening? If there had never been a gross over-reaction to cartoons, do you think anyone would have organized people to draw Muhammad?
Do you really suspect that the individuals drawing and encouraging others to draw Muhammad are simply cruel-minded bigots poking a stick at the poor Muslims?
This is not only about free speech, it's valid social commentary and a serious issue. There are people who travel with bodyguards and live under constant threat of violence or death for exercising basic freedoms that we should all support. People like Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Salman Rushdie and Lars Vilks.
What a staggeringly myopic perspective one must have to shrug this off as someone else demeaning Muslims.
Muslims, on this subject, have demeaned themselves.


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McALLEN A San Juan esident convicted by a federal jury of conspiring to possess 528 kilograms and being a felon in possession of a firearm in violation of federal law will be spending the next five years and 10 months in federal prison without parole, U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson announced today.
Convicted on May 27, 2011, by a jury's verdicts, Israel Avila, 50, of San Juan, Texas, was sentenced today by U. S. District Judge Randy Crane to 70 months in federal prison for possessing with intent to distribute 528 kilograms of marijuana at his residence and 70 months incarceration for being a felon in possession of firearm. The sentences are to be served concurrently.
During the one-day trial earlier this year, the jury heard testimony from a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent that on March 3, 2011, he had received information that marijuana was about to be moved from a stash house along the Rio Grande River near San Juan to another stash house. Acting upon the information, DEA agents with the assistance of the U. S. Border Patrol located the property near the Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge approximately a quarter-mile from the Rio Grande River. Avila lived at the residence owned by his mother.
DEA agents contacted Avila and obtained his consent to search the property. Avila told agents they would find bundles of marijuana in a chicken coop in the back of the property and provided a key to the gate of the fence surrounding it. As a result of searching the chicken coop as well as other buildings on the property, agents found a total of 30 bundles of marijuana weighing approximately 528 kilograms.
Avila claimed that a half bundle of marijuana also found by agents in yet another building on the property was his for personal use. Agents also testified Avila told them he had two firearms on the property. Agents found a .38 caliber revolver and .22 rifle in Avila's residence. An admitted convicted felon, Avila told agents and later testified at trial that he owned the firearms and knew he was not allowed to own firearms.
In addition to the prison terms, Judge Crane also ordered Avila serve a total of four years of supervised release upon completing his prison term. In custody since his March 3, 2011, arrest, Avila has been ordered to remain in custody to serve his sentence pending transfer to a Bureau of Prisons facility to be designated in the near future.
This investigation was conducted by the DEA in conjunction with the United States Border Patrol. Assistant U. S. Attorney Juan F. Alanis prosecuted this case.


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A bill to counteract the harsh consequences of flood insurance reform was passed by Congress on March 13 and will be sent to President Barack Obama to be signed into law.
The Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 was originally meant to fix the struggling National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) -- in $24 billion worth of debt following a series of devastating storms -- but what it ended up doing was astronomically raising rates for coastal homeowners.
In Southwest Florida the elimination of the "grandfathering" clause or Section 207 was the biggest concern among residents. This section had been protecting homeowners from seeing their rates nearly quadruple by assuming "full risk," but would be overturned by Biggert-Waters.
The bill passed by Congress on March 13 preserves "grandfathering" and caps annual premium increases at 18 percent.
Local realtors were also worried about how Biggert-Waters would effect the housing industry, specifically because new buyers would be responsible for paying the "full risk" rate, rather than being slowly phased in. If signed into law, the bill guarantees lower rates would be passed on to new buyers.
According to the Associated Press, home buyers after July 2012 would also receive rebates from rolled back rates.
Gov. Rick Scott, who had been asking Obama to sign an executive order to stop the rate hikes, released a statement on March 13 that the bill was a victory for all Florida families.
"This is a victory for all Florida families who have been impacted by ongoing uncertainty and faced the possibility of paying devastating rate increases. Though we saw little interest from the President on acting quickly to stop impending rate hikes, it appears he will sign this legislation and lift the burden that has been facing our state," said Scott.
A Lee County delegation -- including Sanibel Mayor Kevin Ruane, Lee County Commissioner Larry Kiker, and the mayors of Fort Myers Beach, Cape Coral, and Bonita Springs -- visited Washington D.C. in February to advocate for relief.
"Obviously, we are thrilled with the news," said Sanibel Mayor Kevin Ruane. "It was a combined effort at looking at the various issues that were there and being able to meet with House leaders to understand what resonated."
The passage of this bill would provide relief for 25 percent of policyholders in Lee County, he said.
"The majority of what we asked for is in the bill," said Ruane. "This could be a great thing for Lee County and the State of Florida."
Chris Heidrick, owner of Heidrick & Co. Insurance, also joined the delegation in D.C.
He said the bill, which he expects to be signed into law, removes the most harmful side effects of Biggert-Waters and incorporates many of the ideas proposed by the delegation, but pointed out that rates are still going to increase in the future.
"Flood insurance rates have to go up, particularly for the older, pre-FIRM structures, the ones built before the rate maps were in place," said Heidrick. "The rates for those structures have never been adequate or actuarially sound."
The pre-FIRM structures are those built before 1979 and 1984 for Sanibel and Captiva, respectively.
"The bill strikes a balance between increasing premiums to ensure the long term solvency of the NFIP, which of course is critical to the barrier islands, with the affordability and predictability that is necessary to sustain our local economy and real estate markets," said Heidrick.
Between the next six-to-12 months the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will release its guidance on how future rates should be calculated and while it's good news that Congress passed the reform bill on Thursday, local homeowners won't know much about rate changes for some time.


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Safe Is Sexy: How Female Condoms Can Double Your Pleasure
Sept. 16 marks the second annual Global Female Condom Day, and female condom advocates are seizing the opportunity to highlight this innovative -- yet underused -- safer sex tool. We (I and my coalition colleagues) love female condoms, or FCs, because they provide protection and pleasure for all genders!
We recognize that sex is a health positive aspect of human interaction, and we desire pleasure as much as we need protection. The female condom, also known as an internal condom, can enhance the intimate interaction between couples. Female condoms are inserted into the vagina or anus before sex, and allow a receptive partner to wear the condom.
Though there are other brands internationally, the only female condom available for purchase in the U.S. is the FC2, and it is made not only for protection, but for pleasure. The FC2 condoms feel more natural because they are pre-lubricated and made of a material called nitrile that quickly heats up to body temperature. The inner and outer rings of the FC2 can provide pleasurable friction for both partners. Because female condoms don't rely on an erect penis, they can be inserted before things heat up, and taken out after you've had time to cuddle. Or, you can use female condom insertion as part of your sexual play. When both partners feel protected, the sex is hotter!
So, how can you get your hands on this sexy option?
The Female Health Company, maker of the FC2 Female Condom, has started a new text finder program in the seven cities where female condom educational campaigns exist: Chicago, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Houston, and Atlanta. If you live in one of these cities, simply text "findFC2" to 877877. You'll be prompted to type in your location, and you'll receive locations where female condoms are available, along with messages on how you can be safe and sexy using female condoms!
Don't live in a pilot program city? Check with your local health department, Planned Parenthood, reproductive justice or AIDS service organization. They are also available online at www.walgreens.com and www.totalaccessgroup.com. You can also contact the National Female Condom Coalition for other resources and information about female condoms in the U.S. and internationally.
The momentum for female condoms is growing. Join people all over the country by trying a female condom today and see if you enjoy this safe and sexy option!
Christopher Ervin of Aniz, Inc., is a member of the Atlanta Female Condom Campaign, which is a member of the National Female Condom Coalition.
This blog entry is part of a national blog tour taking place to highlight the female condom during the week of Global Female Condom Day, Sept. 16. Check out other blogs featured on the tour.


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Howard W. Hewitt – The third annual spring alumni symposium was the biggest yet! Wally at The Wheel drew more than 150 to dinner and a car show Friday night in Knowling Fieldhouse.
Throughout the afternoon Wabash faculty and alumni presented 45-minute talks on issues, history, and the culture of the automobile in society. If you weren't able to make it and would like to here the symposium talks, click here for the Wally At The Wheel playlist on our Wabash College YouTube page.
Click here to see more on the day-long symposiums. Here are some Kim Johnson photographs of the cars featured in the evening car show. And here are some Tom Runge photos from the car show.
The day was capped by the much-anticipated car show and remarks by General Motors Vice President of Finance and Treasurer, Jim Davin '85. Davlin titled his talk, Visionaries Wanted: Reshaping the Auto Industry for a Sustainable Future.
Davlin, a member of the Wabash College Board of Trustees, took to the podium with a 2012 Chevy Volt and 2012 V8 Camero on his right and a beautiful 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air on his left.
Davlin's multi-media presentation included television commercials which help paint the future of General Motors. He spent time talking about the key leaders throughout the company's history and how they shaped the auto industry as we know it today.
Bringing Wabash into the equation, Devlin noted several Wabash graduates who have also played a key role in the auto industry.
"I like the skills students at Wabash and other liberal arts colleges learn," he said. "Those graduates will be the differentiators of the auto industry of the future. I hope some of them will join me in the years to come."
Below is a Wabash College video looking at some of the cars and conversation with their owners.


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Committed to providing quality interpreting services, making communication easy and efficient. An organizational member of RID, our staff are professionally trained, and adhere to either the QAST Code of Ethics or the NAD/RID Code of Professional Conduct standards and are educated and dedicated to the profession of interpreting.Learn More
If you are Deaf or Hard of Hearing and have been denied services, please visit our Resources Page on ways to self-advocate or contact our office 405.721.0800 (888.842.9460), VP: 405.212.4319 (by appointment) or on Facebook and we will advocate on your behalf.Contact Us
We make your programs and services accessible to persons who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing by providing professional, trained/skilled, ethical interpreters. No matter the event, or location in Oklahoma we're here to assist you.Order Now
Thanks to Lifeprint for the use of the beautiful "ASL" hand drawings!


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Greetings Cards and Artwork Examples
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Things with wheels
Mary McGuire has always been an inveterate doodler; during lessons at school, lectures at university and later, at work, meetings.
From an early age, she also drew pictures as presents for friends and relatives, usually when she was at a loss as to what else to give them or too skint to be able to buy them a proper gift.
Gradually, they started commissioning her hand drawn artwork to give to their friends and before she knew it Drawnbyhand had appeared.
This went on quietly, behind the scenes, for some time until the friends grew up, as people do, had children and started commissioning their offspring's names in artwork. Before she knew it, a niche market appeared and Mary now earns her living drawing name art.
As well as here, online, she exhibits in a gallery in her home town.
Now you can order drawnbyhand cards, singly - or in boxed sets - from Zazzle. To take a look or find out more, click here.
'Looking for a christening gift?
Here are five reasons to make it name art....
1. It shows you care enough to put time and forethought into selecting the right gift and yet arranging it is a piece of cake.
2. It's a generous present but at the same time, not so extravagant as to be embarrassing... and it won't break the bank.
3. It will last a lifetime. All name pictures are drawn in permanent, lightfast and colourfast inks.
4. It's original – definitely not your run-of-the-mill baby gift.
5. It's unique – each name art picture is hand drawn from scratch. In other words, no two are the same.
If you would like to place an order, please fill in the form on the left.
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PayPal is VerySign Secured so you can buy safely online by card or account.


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Main Page
From GEMwiki
Geospace Environment Modeling (GEM)
Geospace Environment Modeling (GEM) is a broad-based, community-initiated research program on the physics of the Earth's magnetosphere and the coupling of the magnetosphere to the atmosphere and to the solar wind. The purpose of the GEM program is to support basic research into the dynamical and structural properties of geospace, leading to the construction of a global Geospace General Circulation Model (GGCM) with predictive capability. This GGCM model will be modularized and will complement parallel developments of magnetohydrodynamic models. The strategy for achieving GEM goals is to undertake a series of campaigns and focus groups, in both theory and observational modes, each focusing on particular aspects of the geospace environment.
The Geospace Environment Modeling (GEM) program is sponsored by National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences.
What's New
- Below are the proposals for new Focus Groups to start in Summer 2016:
- Hartinger - ULF Wave Modeling, Effects, and Applications (UMEA)
- Eccles - Merged Modeling & Measurement of the Ionospheric Source of Magnetospheric Plasma— Plasma Sheet, Ring Current, Substorm Dynamics
- Garcia-Sage - Modeling Methods and Validation (MMV)
- Connor - Energy transport in the magnetosphere-ionosphere-thermosphere system
- Jaynes - Physics of Plasma Boundaries
- Hietala - Dayside kinetic processes in global solar windmagnetosphere interaction
- Henderson - Ionospheric Feedbacks on Magnetospheric Process
- The 2015 GEM mini-workshop was held at Holiday Inn Golden Gateway in San Francisco on Sunday, December 13 before the Fall AGU Meeting. See venue information and the program schedule at the Mini-GEM Workshop site.
- The 2015 GEM Summer Workshop was held in Snowmass, Colorado during June 14-19, 2015. Information about the Workshop can be found at the GEM Workshop website at Virginia Tech. A tentative list of oral presentations is posted at GemWiki's 2015 Summer Workshop page.
Acknowledgment and Disclaimer
This GemWiki site is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant AGS-1405565. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed at this web site are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation (NSF). Comments about this website can be e-mailed to the GEM Communications Coordinator at gemeditor [at] igpp.ucla.edu.


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Bionic hand that gives back patients their sense of touch
A bionic hand that allows patients to feel sensations as well as control its movements with their mind is to be fitted to an amputee's arm for the first time.
The prosthetic uses electrodes to relay messages to and from the brain via nerves in the arm, meaning the patient can direct it with their thoughts.
It transmits sensory feedback from all five fingers as well as the palm and the wrist, meaning it feels lifelike and allows the patient to grasp objects accurately.
The robotic hand will be attached to the arm of an anonymous patient for the first time this year at a hospital in Rome, scientists announced at the American Academy for the Advancement of Science conference in Boston on Sunday.
''This is real progress, real hope for amputees,'' said Silvestro Micera of the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, who developed the device.
''It will be the first prosthetic that will provide real-time sensory feedback for grasping ... the more sensory feeling an amputee has, the more likely you will get full acceptance of that limb.''
Being able to feel the hand as if it is their own will allow people to use it in a ''more natural, rich and effective way'', he added.
The device is controlled by electrodes that are implanted into the median and ulnar nerves, allowing signals to flow through the arm in both directions.
The electrodes stimulate the patient's sensory system, allowing them to feel surfaces they touch and grasp objects accurately and safely.
A four-week clinical trial showed that the robotic device could be controlled by an amputee who was connected to the hand by wires while it stood on a table, but who was not fully attached to it.
By concentrating on trying to manipulate the hand, Pierpaolo Petruzziello, 26, could move the fingers, make a fist, hold objects such as a bottle of water, and was able to feel when needles pricked it.
The device took just a few days for Mr Petruzziello to master and, by the end of the month, he was able to move the hand in the way that he wanted 95 per cent of the time.
Since that experiment the prosthetic has been improved and is ready to be attached to a patient, who is in their twenties and lost their lower arm in an accident. Should the month-long trial be successful, researchers hope to have a finished product ready for testing within two years.
''It could deliver two or more sensations,'' said Mr Micera. ''You could have a pinch and receive information from three fingers, or feel movement in the hand and wrist.
''We have refined the interface, so we hope to see much more detailed movement and control of the hand.
''It is intended to be as lifelike as possible ... we hope that one day it will be embedded in the arm and the user will just forget it is there.''
The next plan will be to develop a model with electrodes under the skin rather than on top of it, which would allow it to remain on the arm permanently.
The current model, which relies on wires that travel through the skin, can be kept on only for a month.
The Daily Telegraph


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15 best U.S. spots for kids
Top draws include science museums, theme parks and animals
Marnie Hunter | 4/2/2014, 11:54 a.m.
CNN The best kids' attractions are fun for adults, too.
"When you spend the whole day at some place like a theme park or zoo, you want everyone in your family to enjoy it -- young and old," said Travis Katz, CEO and co-founder of travel planning site Gogobot.
That's what the site's favorite spots for kids have in common, Katz said. The 15 best attractions in the U.S. for kids, announced Tuesday as part of Gogobot's Travelers' Favorites awards, were selected based on Gogobot user recommendations and the number of visits from the site's 3.7 million users.
And the best in the U.S. for kids? That would be the Exploratorium on Pier 15 in San Francisco.
The interactive learning lab features 600 exhibits.
"The slogan at the entrance says 'Touch Everything,' making it more like a giant playground than a museum," Katz said.
Plus, there's an evening event for adults only on the first Thursday of each month, with a cash bar and film screenings in addition to the exhibits. See? Fun for everyone.


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Shane was born in Lancashire near Liverpool, England in 1963. He inherited a deep love of the sea from his father whose Cornish roots spread back many hundreds of years.
After school he pursued a career as an aero-nautical engineer for 14 years. Throughout these years the sea drew him to it during any spare time.
After painting for some years in his spare time, by 1992 he began to show in local galleries. Meeting with a good response he took his work to Cowes where he was warmly received. In 1996 he moved to Cowes where he met his wife Kathryn.
In 1997 he was commissioned by the German Yachting Historian Dr Christin Lammerting to depict the German Kaisers Yachts, the 5 Meteors racing together, to be used for her new book "Meteor". The success of this painting lead to a number of other commissions and was used to illustrate her book.
In 2000 he was again commissioned to produce a series of large paintings to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the America's Cup. These paintings formed an exhibition at the America's Cup Jubilee celebration at Cowes. It was a great success and was included in the New York Yacht Club's commemorative book of the event and was the subject of an article in Country Life magazine
Over the years his work has been sold in all the major Auction Houses in London including Christies, Sotheby's and Bonham's.