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A popular member of the WWE's high-flying "Team Extreme" has had his wings clipped. Buried in the "Headlines" section of the WWE's official site it was announced today that the company has fired the popular Jeff Hardy.
"WWE.com regrets to inform its fans that WWE has severed its relationship with Jeff Hardy effective today. We wish Jeff the best of luck," reads the brief statement played as the second story on the "Headlines" portion of their site. In conjunction with the announcement, Jeff Hardy's bio has been removed from the "Superstars" section. Jeff's brother Matt, the WWE's current Cruiserweight Champion, will remain with the company.
NWA-TNA is expected to make a play for Hardy, but may be hampered by a no-compete clause in the termination contract.
It has been rumoured that the WWE hasn't been too appreciative of Hardy not showing up on time for live events and skipping house shows altogether.
In an interview with Tim Baines of the Ottawa Sun last weekend, Hardy complained bitterly about the rumours swirling about him on the Internet.
"That's the power of the Internet for you. I can't really do anything about it. That really sucks," Hardy told Baines.
On tour promoting "Exist 2 Inspire", a WWE-issued biography on him and his older brother Matt, Hardy was hopeful that he and Matt would reunite soon as the Hardy Boys tag team.
"The Dudley Boyz are back together," he said. "Having a Hardy Boy on each roster is the way to go. But Team Extreme was a good thing. We will reunite."
In a recent interview with Orlando radio host and SLAM! Wrestling writer
Brian Fritz, Jeff explained where his focus is these days. "Music is a
big thing. It's probably my #1 (hobby) now and that's what is drafting
me away from wrestling," he told Fritz. "But my passion is still there.
I still love it. I still get just as nervous as always before I go out
for a match. I
can't say that I love it more than I love life like Matt has said
because he is 100% dedicated to pro wrestling. I give it my heart and
soul but I give other things my heart and soul as well and I still try
to follow my heart and go wherever it takes me. I can't give up things I
really enjoy. I don't plan to stop wrestling at all. If anything, I'll
just take a break within
the next few years just to see what happens with the music but I don't
plan to quit wrestling at all."
As The Hardy Boys team, Jeff and his brother Matt won the WWF Tag Team Titles five times. On his own, Hardy has a brief run with the WWF Intercontinental by defeating Triple H in April of 2001 and captured the now defunct WWE World Light Heavyweight Title in May of 2001 by besting Jerry Lynn only to lose it 20 days later to X-Pac. Hardy was also the WWE Hardcore Champion three times defeating Mike Awesome, Rob Van Dam and Bradshaw.


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"The Bachelor" Finale Pulls in 10 Million Viewers
(LOS ANGELES) -- ABC's ratings on Monday night were rosy, thanks to the season finale of The Bachelor.
The two-hour episode, in which "The Bachelor" Sean Lowe proposed to Catherine Giudici and turned aside runner-up Lindsay Yenter, was seen by 10 million viewers, according to Variety.
It was followed by the After the Final Rose special, which actually drew a bigger audience: 11 million viewers. The special featured Lowe, Giudici and Yenter, plus the newly-introduced "Bachelorette," Desiree Hartsock.
The totals are slightly misleading, since the Bachelor season finale didn't technically end until 10:07 p.m. Eastern time.
The most popular primetime program for the week ending Sunday was the CBS hit NCIS, which attracted 20.8 million viewers.
CBS won the network ratings race for last week, followed by Fox, ABC, Univision, NBC, Telemundo, ION Television and the CW.
Here are the top 10 primetime network and cable programs for the week of March 4-10, according to the Nielsen Company:
1. NCIS, CBS, 20.81 million
2. The Big Bang Theory, CBS, 17.63 million
3. NCIS: Los Angeles, CBS, 16.24 million
4. Person of Interest, CBS, 14.57 million
5. Two and a Half Men, CBS, 13.54 million
6. American Idol (Thursday), Fox, 13.12 million
7. American Idol (Wednesday), Fox, 12.84 million
8. American Idol (Tuesday), Fox, 11.72 million
9. 60 Minutes, CBS, 11.58 million
10. The Walking Dead, AMC, 11.46 million
Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

subset: commoncrawl


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TELL CITY – The Southern Indiana Horseman's Club will host a Fun Horse Show and benefit at 5 p.m. Aug. 24 at 9455 Summer Road, north of Tell City. Those attending are asked to follow signs approximately five miles north on Indiana 37.
The event will include games for all ages. There will also be some bleacher seating available but lawn chairs are recommended.
If you currently subscribe or have subscribed in the past to the Perry County News, then simply find your account number on your mailing label and enter it below.
Click the question mark below to see where your account ID appears on your mailing label.
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Box Score
DURHAM, N.C. – Junior attackman Josh Dionne and senior midfielder David Lawson scored three goals apiece to lead seventh-ranked Duke to a 17-6 victory over visiting High Point in men's lacrosse action on Friday night at Koskinen Stadium. The Blue Devils outscored the Panthers 11-2 in the second half to earn the 11-goal victory.
"We wanted to create some tempo," said head coach John Danowski. "We didn't know if High Point had a lot of depth and we were going to rotate three short-stick d-middies, two longstick poles, five close defensemen and we thought we could create some tempo. And I thought we did. We created 32 shots in the first half, which was probably a season-high for us. I think we challenged the guys at halftime and I thought in the third quarter the guys did a better job of shooting overhand, putting the ball in people's sticks and finishing their shots."
The Blue Devils, who received a game-high five total points from rookie attackman Case Matheis, extended their nation's best winning streak to seven games. Matheis has 15 goals and 11 assists during the win streak after posting just four points in the opening six games. Duke controlled the game from the faceoff X, where Brendan Fowler secured 15-of-18 draws while collecting eight ground balls. Fowler has won at least 10 draws in 12 of the 13 games this season and has at least seven ground balls in all 13.
"Our wing play was really good with Will Haus and Luke Duprey continues to get better every week," Danowski said. "He's been really impressive."
After battling to a two-goal, 6-4 advantage after 30 minutes, Duke (9-4) broke open the contest with eight straight goals to start the third period. After the Panthers (3-9) snapped the run with less than one minute remaining in the quarter, Duke responded with three consecutive markers to open the fourth frame, pushing its lead to 12 goals at 17-5.
"While we had a lot of shots we didn't think that we were fundamentally sound in the first half," Danowski said. "While the game was going fast, one of our goals coming into this game was really to be fundamentally sound. We challenged them on that at halftime and I think the guys did a better job of executing in the third quarter."
Matheis posted two goals and three assists while Josh Offit and Christian Walsh logged two goals and one assist apiece. In the Blue Devil net, Kyle Turri was credited with seven saves against five goals allowed.
Duke outshot the Panthers, 57-30, on the evening and held a 45-28 advantage on ground balls.
High Point's offensive effort was spearheaded by Dan Lomas, who recorded three goals. Starting goalkeeper Austin Geisler posted 15 saves against 15 goals allowed in just under 46 minutes of action.
Duke remains home next Friday night to entertain ACC foe Virginia. Faceoff is set for 6 p.m. and the game will be televised live by ESPNU.


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|Seattle, WA
|High School:
2007: Team captain... Named to the All-Northeast Region third team by the NSCAA... A second team All-Ivy selection... Earned Academic All-Ivy honors... Started all 17 games... Helped anchor a defense that allowed just 16 goals... Her only goal was the game-winner in Yale's victory over Cornell. 2006: One of only four players to start all 17 games... Her goal with seven seconds left in the first half started a Yale comeback from a two-goal deficit in a 4-2 victory over Brown in the season finale. 2005: Joined the team after transferring from the University of Portland... Started 19 games... Scored the game-winning goal in Yale's 3-0 victory over Central Connecticut in the first round of the NCAA College Cup... Her other goal came in a victory over Sacred Heart. Before Yale: Played in four games for Portland in 2004... The 2003 Washington State Player of the Year at Lakeside High School... All-Seattle Metro League selection four times and claimed league MVP honors in 2002 and 2003... Scored 27 goals and added 37 assists in 2003 for a Lakeside team that went undefeated, won the state title and was ranked 11th nationally by the NSCAA... A two-year MVP on the Emerald City FC Premier state championship teams (1999-01)... A standout on the U-19 Eastside Football Club team that advanced to the 2004 state championship game... Took part in the 2002 Region IV ODP Camp.


text:
Snapshot gallery of images from the Woodbrook Hunt Club October 3rd, 2015 Hunter Trials. Images Copyright © 2015 J. Andrew Towell All Rights Reserved. Please contact the copyright holder at email@example.com to discuss any publication or commercial usage rights. Small web use images available upon request with any print order.Read More
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text:
Some Good News About Bad Decisions
When companies fail, conventional wisdom often blames outside factors. The economy, regulatory actions, and geopolitical challenges are but three prime culprits beyond the control of decision makers.
In reality, however, it is bad decisions—factors within the control of companies themselves—that overwhelmingly cause firms to lose their leading positions. Over the past 10 years, 159 of the 500 largest companies globally by revenue have been displaced. And in many of those cases, company executives may not have realized the impact of their own decisions—or been well informed when they made them.
This observation was supported by a survey of 1,028 executives and 993 junior managers and individual contributors conducted by Cisco's Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG). Though many of their subordinates begged to differ, 71 percent of executives rated their performances and decision-making abilities as "good" to "excellent." These included leaders in financial services, where 439 bank failures since 2008 continue to leave a legacy of economic malaise; and retail executives, who have seen 37 major companies file for bankruptcy protection in their industry since 2010.
The good news is that a revolution in decision making stands to change things for the better. Cisco IBSG calls it Decision-Driven Collaboration.
This new model represents a fundamental transformation in the way leaders perceive and manage collaboration in the workplace. It is supported by breakthroughs in collaboration tools, including video, mobility, social media, cloud services, and cutting-edge analytics. But it begins with recognition that everyone is a decision maker. And while the executives still make the final call, expertise from all corners of the organization is welcomed into the process.
These are the three core steps of Decision-Driven Collaboration:
- Collaborate to Engage: Identifying key contributors, soliciting input, sharing ideas. This stage is designed to frame the goals that decision makers should attain, and to identify the team members who will evaluate and execute decisions.
- Collaborate to Evaluate: Shaping the matter to be decided, considering viable alternatives. Once the objectives of a decision have been outlined and the team members with the right expertise have been identified, collaboration can focus on the matter to be decided. One crucial element is identifying alternative strategies. From there, decision makers can choose the best option.
- Collaborate to Execute: Making a clear decision, aligning the relevant parties, putting it into practice. Once alternatives have been presented, decision makers must make a decision and share it with those who will execute it, as well as with those who will be affected by it.
Decision-Driven Collaboration places a premium on how people connections are managed; how value is extracted from collaboration; and how organizations make strategic use of their human and information capital. It helps companies concentrate their collaboration efforts where they add the most value: in framing, making, and executing much better decisions. But Decision-Driven Collaboration does not imply a diffusion of authority. Rather, it is focused on increasing the intelligence of every decision taken in the business.
Once this happens, innovation and ideas flow from the bottom up, all parties have a stake in the success of the decision, and the ultimate decision makers are themselves connected and aware—before, during, and after the decision is reached.
The ultimate payoff is millions of better decisions (not just big, critical decisions, but smaller, daily ones as well) that are fact-based, highly informed, and ever more efficient and effective.
To read the complete white paper, click here.
To view the SlideShare presentation, click here.
In an effort to keep conversations fresh, Cisco Blogs closes comments after 60 days. Please visit the Cisco Blogs hub page for the latest content.


text:
Message Board
Holly Black Message Board
Talk about the novels, new and used books that Black has written!
Author Black's Book Reviews
Red Glove
Cassel comes to terms with his magical powers and solves the mystery behind his brother's death, eluding members of his dysfunctional family, the Feds and mobsters who are all trying to recruit him to their cause. Cassel Sharpe is a high-school student who is also a curse worker, part of a group of people that have various magical abilities to affect the people or the world around them just by touching things. In this case, Cassel is specifically a trans...
Kaye is a sixteen year-old girl who travels constantly with her mother's unsuccessful rock band. Her life is pretty normal until she meets Roiben, the enigmatic knight of the Unseelie Court. Her meeting with Roiben involves her in a struggle between the two faerie courts, and she finds out from her childhood friends, the solitary fey, that she is in fact a pixie that has been unwittingly disguised all her life. She is also told that every seven years ...
White Cat - The Curse Workers
Cassel, the only normal member of a curse worker family, attempts to discover what happened years ago when he remembers killing his friend. Cassel comes from a family of curse workers- people with strange abilities that let them control other's emotions, break their bones, and even kill them. All with just a touch. Of course, curse working is illegal, and Cassel's family has deep ties with the local crime syndicate. Cassel though, is relatively normal. H...


text:
Cork still stuck
As the legislative session comes to a close, our customers have been asking about the status of HB 2206, a bill written to end a government-mandated monopoly that restricts alcohol sales to liquor stores only.
We're disappointed to report the bill was tabled in committee this year by Reps. Corbet, Whipple, Ruiz, Houser, Tietze, Brunk, Carpenter, Carlson and Frownfelter. Their actions ensured Kansas consumers will have to wait yet another year for meaningful action from Kansas Legislators on their ability to make alcohol purchases at locations other than liquor stores.
Though the majority of Kansas consumers believe they should have the choice about where they buy legal adult products, no action was taken this year that finally would end a prohibition era law that permits only one kind of business to sell you your alcoholic beverages.
In a state that values free market principles, we hope legislators in 2014 will be compelled to vote in favor of letting their constituents decide how they make their alcohol purchases, rather than continuing to protect a market segment.
Jessica Lucas
Uncork Kansas Coalition


text:
A Very Glee Christmas is the tenth episode of Glee's second season and the thirty-second episode overall. The episode aired on December 7, 2010. It was the final episode before the mid-season break.
The Glee Club celebrates Christmas, Will saying that trees and gifts is not the true meaning of Christmas. They prepare a plan to help out homeless children and raise money. While the Christmas season progresses, the Glee Club attempts to help Brittany forget about Santa as she has true faith that he is real. When the Glee Club brings her to sit on Santa's lap and ask for a gift, she asks for Artie to walk again, giving New Directions another problem to solve. Sue conducts a devious plan to destroy New Directions' Christmas while Rachel tries to win back her lost love with Finn.
This episode was written by Ian Brennan and directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon.
PlotThe episode starts off with Emma approaching Will to ask if they were okay since she told him that she got married. Emma also insists that he come to her Christmas party but Will feels like it is best to keep separate for a while. Coach Beiste brings around the Secret Santa votes and Will pulls Sue's name out of the hat. The New Directions put up a very pitiful tree in the middle of the choir room while singing The Most Wonderful Day of the Year. Will walks in and says that the tree and the presents are not what Christmas is about. He tells them they are going to help out homeless children by caroling to the classrooms around school to raise money for the kids who need it most. The first song that they sing in front of the students is We Need a Little Christmas except the students throw insults and the teacher herself throws a shoe at them and they run out. Rachel asks Finn to meet her at the auditorium at four while Artie explains to the group that Brittany still believes in Santa Claus and that they should make it so she never knows any different.
The group goes with Brittany to sit on a mall Santa's lap. They all participate in sitting on his lap so that Brittany can keep her faith in Santa. Brittany asks Santa to make it so Artie can walk and, despite Artie's desperate hand signals, the mall Santa agrees to make her wish came true.
Finn meets up with Rachel while she is surrounded by fake Christmas trees and a band. She tries to give him a song but he refuses the gift and walks away. Rachel figures that the show must go on even though Finn has turned her apology down so she sings Merry Christmas Darling.While Will is stressing about what to give Sue for the Secret Santa, Blaine asks Kurt if he can help him practice the song Baby, It's Cold Outside, flirting heavily throughout the song. At the end of the duet Blaine tells Kurt that he is better than the girl he has to sing with. As Blaine leaves, Will stops in to say hello and asks Kurt if Blaine was "someone special," meaning if Blaine is Kurt's boyfriend. Kurt explains that he and Blaine are simply friends, but that Kurt does love him and Blaine is gay, so he is making progress. Will then admits to be bad at Christmas shopping and asks for help with his Christmas shopping for the Staff Secret Santa. He tells Kurt that he drew Sue and Kurt says he has the perfect idea. As Will walks down the hallways of the school he asks Emma who she was gifting to and she said she had drawn Sue's name as well. It turns out that Sue is everyone's Secret Santa. Sue tells them that she had rigged it and that she hates Christmas but she loves presents. The teachers say that they aren't going to let her steal Christmas.
Will and Coach Beiste decide to take back all her gifts to give to the homeless kids. Sue says that she has legal right to the gifts but Will checks and they have every right to take them back. They tell Sue that she is a Grinch. The Glee boys ask Coach Beiste to dress up as Santa to tell Brittany that they may not be able to get Artie walking right away. Sue meanwhile paints herself up as the Grinch and Becky as the Grinch's dog Max, so she can steal back the gifts that she feels are rightfully hers with the song You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch in the background. She not only steals the presents but she ruins their tree as well. In the middle of her destruction, Brittany walks in and thinks that Sue is Santa. Sue gives the story and lies to Brittany that she would fix up their tree and bring it back and leaves with Brittany's gift that was intended for the homeless children... just like the Grinch.When Will walks in and sees the mess the Glee group realizes that everything is gone. Rachel accuses the football players while Will accuses Sue. However Brittany explains that it was Santa who took everything supposedly to fix it and make it better. Will, under Artie's request, doesn't dispute this opinion. Finn doesn't want this to get them down because way worse things happen all around the world. Rachel asks Finn if he would help her save Christmas for the Glee club so they go looking for a tree. Rachel tries really hard to get Finn to be romantic again, but Finn really doesn't seem to want anything to do with her. While they are looking at trees separately they sing the song Last Christmas. At the end of the song they kiss but Finn still refuses to forgive her. Right then and there Finn officially breaks up with Rachel and leaves her all alone surrounded by trees.
The group decides that the boys will sell watches while the girl cut their hair, a reference to the O. Henry story "The Gift of the Magi." Before they can do anything, Will walks in and stops them and gives them a pep talk about how Christmas has become more of an obligation and less of a magical night. He suggests that they go out and find someone who needs Christmas magic and sing for them.
Brittany stumbles upon Santa (in truth, Coach Beiste in a Santa suit), and she sits next to him and Santa tells her that he has tried his best but it just isn't manageable to make Artie walk again. Brittany looks very upset after hearing that her Christmas wish isn't going to come true.
The next day Brittany tells Artie that she lost the Christmas spirit, because Santa isn't able to make it possible for Artie to walk. Will gathers Artie and Brittany but Artie decide to take Brittany home because she does not feel good. The Glee club decided to sing Welcome Christmas in front of the teachers to raise money for the homeless children. Meanwhile, Sue feels very proud of herself for being able to get her presents back but she isn't too happy to find out that she couldn't break the Glee club's spirit. It even looks like they have touched Sue's heart.When the Glee club gets back from singing, they find Artie using a new walking device called the ReWalk that Brittany found under her Christmas tree. No one knows where it came from, (Artie asked if it was Brittany's dad, though he says he didn't) but either way Brittany got her Christmas wish and Artie got to walk. Coach Beiste is seen secretly observing the Glee club's reaction to Artie walking, with a look of sheer joy. When Will gets home, he notices he isn't alone. Inside his house is Sue returning the presents, and she even brings him a present of his own. Inside is a pair of clippers so he can give himself a better hair cut. It turns out that Sue had a little help from the Glee club. They all join Will and Sue in the room and start decorating his tree and his house. While they decorate the tree, Finn and Rachel exchanged a look of tenderness towards each other, meaning that despite everything they've been through they still care about each other, and there's a possibility for reconciliation. Rachel looks away first, knowing they had broken up, but Finn stares for moments longer, meaning he still wants to be with her. The episode ends with a sight of Will and Sue as they watch the glee club decorating the tree.
|Song Title
|Original Artist
|The Most Wonderful Day of the Year
|Cast of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
|New Directions
|We Need a Little Christmas
|Cast of Mame
|Merry Christmas Darling
|The Carpenters
|Rachel Berry
|Baby, It's Cold Outside
|Cast of Neptune's Daughter
|Blaine Anderson and Kurt Hummel
|You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch
|Cast of How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
|k.d. lang and Will Schuester
|Last Christmas
|Finn Hudson and Rachel Berry
|Welcome Christmas
|Cast of How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
|New Directions
Background Songs
- Silent Night by Traditional played when Finn officially breaks up with Rachel.
Guest Stars
- Iqbal Theba as Principal Figgins
- Dot-Marie Jones as Shannon Beiste
- Harry Shum Jr. as Mike Chang
- Chord Overstreet as Sam Evans
- Darren Criss as Blaine Anderson
- Jernard Burks as Mall Santa
- Max Adler as Dave Karofsky
- James Earl as Azimio Adams
- Ashley Fink as Lauren Zizes
- Scott Henson as Bassist
- Lauren Potter as Becky Jackson
- Corina Boettger as Student #1
- Damian Haas as Student #2
- Malerie Grady as Student #3
- Luke Youngblood as Student #4
- This episode was watched by 11.09 million viewers.
- The background of the title-card is green instead of black.
- Mike and Tina get slushied onscreen for the first time.
- For Christmas, Lauren asked for Puck to fall in love with her. Later on, Puck eventually falls for her, but she continually played hard-to-get and was unimpressed with him.
- In Showmance, when talking with Mr. Schuester, Coach Sylvester says, "I'm not sure that anyone wants to swim over to your island of misfits." The glee club sings "The Most Wonderful Day of the Year," which has the line, "We're on the Island of Misfit Toys....." This has later been given reference again by Tina in the next Christmas episode, Extraordinary Merry Christmas during the third season.
- One of the few episodes where Brittany and Shannon are prominent characters in the storyline.
- This is the first Christmas episode of the series, followed by Extraordinary Merry Christmas, Glee, Actually and Previously Unaired Christmas.
- This is the second episode that contains a wordplay with the word "Glee" in its title, the others being The Rocky Horror Glee Show, Saturday Night Glee-ver, Glease, and Glee, Actually.
- In the episode Extraordinary Merry Christmas, it is told that the Re-Walk that Artie got in this episode broke down the day after he got it.
- The machine Artie uses is a real invention. The ReWalk was invented in Israel.
- This episode was released as a DVD, and the second episode to do so thus far, next to Pilot.
- The episode makes the first time that Kurt and Blaine sing a duet together starting the tradition of a Christmas duet (Baby, It's Cold Outside), followed by Let It Snow (Season Three) and White Christmas (Season Four).
Cultural references
- This episode contains several references to the movie The Grinch.
- When Sue destroys the choir room she is dressed as The Grinch with Becky dressed as the dog. This is almost an exact replica of when The Grinch destroyed Whoville in the actual movie.
- When Brittany walks in and sees Sue destroying the choir room, it is again a replica of the actual movie. Her hair is in the style of that of Cindy-Lou's from the movie. In the movie Cindy-Lou sees the Grinch destroying Christmas but falls for his lie the same way Brittany did.
- The final song is Welcome Christmas.
- Sue's present to Will was a shaver, the same gift the Mayor gave the Grinch in the movie.
- In the episode, Mike wishes for "Channing Tatum to stop being in stuff". Harry Shum Jr. was featured in the 2008 film Step Up 2: The Streets, which Tatum was also featured in. Also, the film 21 Jump Street actually makes a reference to Glee in which Tatum's character says: "F*ck you, Glee".
- In the scene where the Glee Club are classroom-caroling, Rachel's hair is wavy, but in the next scene, still the same day, her hair is suddenly straight.
- As the Glee kids perform and Sue first looks into the teachers' lounge, Emma appears to be walking back to her place after putting money in the jar. In the next shot we see a close-up of the jar and Emma's hand putting a bill in it, then walk back again and high-five Will on the way.
- In the scene where Artie is talking to Brittany at her locker, the snowflake Christmas lights go from being on to off and then to on again.


text: Already know the name of the KI furniture you're interested in? Simply click on the appropriate letter to quickly find the listing. Our complete offering of contract furniture is listed here, including movable walls, tables, desks, casegoods and filing cabinets as well as task chairs, guest chairs, stack chairs, nesting chairs, patient chairs, stools, healthcare furniture and classroom desks and chairs. You may also search by category. Within each product page, you'll find a wealth of information such as image galleries, product downloads, CAD/Revit symbols and more.


text:
During his 28 years at Precor, Paul Byrne helped the Woodinville, WA-based company grow from a home fitness equipment manufacturer to a global supplier of commercial and home fitness equipment. He also helped introduce the elliptical to the industry.
But after spending 13 years as president of Precor and the previous 15 years as vice president of sales and marketing for the company, Byrne says he's "ready for another adventure."
That adventure began on Sept. 1, when Byrne retired and Rob Barker, Precor's former vice president, assumed the role of president.
Byrne began his career in the fitness industry selling Paramount Fitness equipment out of his apartment while getting a master's degree at Syracuse University. Several years later, he co-founded Concept 90, a chain of specialty fitness retail stores. (For more on how Byrne got his start in the fitness industry, watch Club Industry's exclusive video interview.) While at Concept 90, he got to know Precor founder David Smith, who offered Byrne a chance to join the young company in 1985.
"[Byrne] was there at the earliest stages of the development of the company, and he has just grown immeasurably over the years," says Rick Caro, president of consulting firm Management Vision, New York. "He was someone who really believed in change and creating more answers to challenges we had in the industry in terms of new equipment and new expertise."
Byrne's willingness to pursue new ideas was crucial not only to Precor's growth, but in getting other fitness companies to take risks as well, says Jim Birrell, Precor's chief innovation officer and Byrne's longtime colleague and friend.
"I think that ultimately Paul will be viewed as somebody who was instrumental in pushing the entire industry to innovate," Birrell says.
In an exclusive interview with Club Industry prior to his leaving the company, Byrne reflects on the changes he's seen in the industry and offers advice to the next generation of fitness entrepreneurs. He also discusses his accomplishments and failures at Precor, making the difficult decision to retire and the legacy he hopes to leave behind.
Precor's Evolution
CI: How did Precor change during your time there?
PB: In a way, it hasn't, and in a way, it's changed massively. Obviously when I started, it was a very small company, but still $19 million or so. It was decent sized, but it was essentially a one product company. We sold mainly rowing machines and mainly one rowing machine that was hugely profitable. We were just starting to dabble in bikes and treadmills, so a very small single product company, but a great spirit, which is what attracted me to Precor. David was a perfectionist, and that's what Precor means, Precision Corporation. There was this drive and this passion to be perfect that I liked and a spirit that I say drew me there. That spirit is still there.
How it's changed is that obviously we have a super broad line of products. We've reinvented ourselves many times. Back in those days, we had that one product selling through primarily one channel, which was sporting goods at that time, then a smattering of small specialty operations, like Concept 90, which were just starting to emerge, but it was a much more simple business. Now we're basically in every country. We sell through multiple channels just about in every country. We have a broad range of products that we didn't have back then, but certainly the core spirit is still there. One of the great things is that we do have a super solid culture, and anybody that's been there will comment on it.
CI: What role do you think you played in the evolution of that culture, as well as Precor's growth?
PB: On the growth part, I think I have a lot to do with it. I started out really as a product guy. I came in for sales and marketing, but I think I've always had a decent eye for product. I had a decent feel for what could be successful in the marketplace and, you know, the elliptical was the first big hit. Obviously I had a lot to do with that, as did Jim [Birrel] and Bill [Potts, former president of Precor]. And that helped us get into the commercial space, which I thought was so important to our future because just being in retail, it's very hard to build a brand. To me, the way you did that was to get into those key spaces like health clubs and hospitality and universities where you gain the credibility you need to get a solid brand.
So that was the whole point of the elliptical, and it was the first time ever that we had actually developed a new product and introduced it first in the commercial space instead of introducing it in the consumer space because we thought this was so different. We wanted that credibility, and we knew it's going to resonate with that group, and we took a shot. It was actually very controversial internally, but that's what we did, and obviously it was a huge success.
We decided we really needed to build on that because my fear was that we would do the same thing that some other companies did. We used the elliptical as a springboard to other products, and I'm really proud of that. If you look at where our revenue comes from, ellipticals are big, but we sell a lot of treadmills, and AMT (Adaptive Motion Trainer) is super successful, and our strength business is up. Cardio theater was a big, big driver of our growth. So we've kind of spread it around. Now we've got a broad, wide base, and that's important because you can absorb any shocks that come along in any given product line.
Successes and Failures
CI: What do you consider your biggest accomplishments?
PB: Well, the elliptical was personally satisfying because we knew the inventor, and he came to see the people who thought maybe it would be successful, but marginally so. We even showed it to some customers who said, "Meh, some people might like this." We felt it was going to be a big hit, and it was, so that felt good.
The others, that in a way were just as important, were getting into entertainment early. We acquired ClubCom's cardio theater [division in 2004], and this is a time when most of the entertainment was ambient TVs on walls. Nobody was really integrating entertainment units in a meaningful way. So when we bought cardio theater, that's the first thing we did. We went out and we integrated the 12-inch screen into the system so it would fit beautifully and be easy to navigate. It was the right height so that you could watch the television, and you could buy the product so that it had the TV or it didn't, and if you wanted it later you could. It was really thoughtfully done by our design team, and that was huge for us because sales really took off.
But that was really gratifying. That was significant growth, and it was broad-based, it wasn't just the elliptical. It was everything we sold. We acquired Icarian at that time and the strength sold well, so I think that was one of the more significant and successful moves.
CI: What do you consider to be your biggest failures?
PB: I like to quote Jackson Browne when it comes to that. I forget what song it is, but he has a line in one of his songs that says, "We forget about the losses, and we exaggerate the wins." And I kind of like that. My memory…I don't remember those failures that much, but they were there. The good news is there was never anything catastrophic. If I look back, I look at acquiring Icarian... I wouldn't call that failure at all, but I look back and think I should have invested more in. We bought it, but it required more resources. I should have hired more engineers sooner. We should have amped up the product development more quickly. So in a way, kind of a missed opportunity there. We've caught up, but that was definitely a lesson in if you're going to do something new, make sure you fully analyze the resource needs and allocate the resources to make sure you're successful.
Other failures have been just product things that didn't maybe work out as well as we thought. The stretch trainer, which is a great product, has been successful, but it hasn't been a home run. We've had a few home treadmills when we tried to do low-end that fell flat on their faces, but those things all happen. Luckily, the big bets have paid off.
I think it's really important to learn from [mistakes], but I'm not a big believer in rear-view mirrors. It's what's here and now and it's what's in the future that's all that really exists. You have to learn, but you can't dwell, and you can't get scared.
(Later in the interview, Byrne recalls what he considers to be his greatest failure.) I just remembered, it was buried so deep in my brain. When we did the StretchTrainer, I decided that it needed a lot of marketing. We actually tested an infomercial with the StretchTrainer, and that was very expensive. We had to shoot in Florida, we had talent, we used a famous physical therapist, and everything was great. The ad was great, the product was great, there was just one problem—it never sold. So that experiment was one that certainly taught me a lot about direct marketing. I know now that direct marketing is a big, big bet, number one. And number two, you better have the margins built into the product to pay for a huge, huge advertising cost. From a dollar point of view, that was probably my biggest screw-up.
Taking the Lead
CI: How would you describe your leadership approach?
PB: With my team directly, I try to give them a lot of space. I think if you asked any one of them, they would say I'm like the opposite of a micromanager. I try to manage the way I like to be managed, which is totally hands-off. And I have to say as an aside how lucky I was in the early years of Precor to work with Bill Potts, who was president most of the time when I was here. Bill left me alone completely and also allowed me at the same time to be part of the senior team where I learned operations and finance. It was tremendous on-the-job training, so I think Bill was really, really critical in getting me where I was just with his style.
I appreciate that same style, so I try to give it to my guys. We agree at the beginning of the year what are the goals, what do you want to accomplish, and that's very clear. But once that's established, I let them run. We meet once a week and catch up, and if it's off course, I tell them. But I think my style is more questioning. I play devil's advocate a lot. I'll take positions sometimes that I don't even believe in, but I want to see if that direct report is going to fight back and how much he or she believes in their position. I don't like to be the Shell Answer Man. I think it's more important that they come up with the solutions and defend the solutions. If I felt really strongly about something, I'll tell them and pull out the president trump card, but that's rare. I try not to do that.
CI: What was the learning process like when you transitioned directly from vice president of sales and marketing to president in 2000?
PB: When you just look at it on paper, it looks like it was handed to you. But I started in 1985, so it was 14 years or so to becoming president. As I said earlier, working with Bill was fabulous because we had this senior team that we made all the decisions together, and it was a way for me to really learn business. So you had that kind of situation, and then you had just the fact that we kept changing over time. Being vice president of sales and marketing at a $19 million business that had one product that was selling through one channel is completely different when you fast-forward 14 or 15 years later to an international business with a much more full product portfolio selling through multiple channels, so I got to learn all that as I went along. I think I was really ready by the time I got to 2000 to take over.
CI: How has your leadership approach changed over time?
PB: When you first get into the role, you're coming out of a functional role. I think in the early years, it's hard to let go of being the one who directs, in particular, that area. You're president, so you're still in many ways directing it. It took me a few years, but I was able to back off completely and be a leader.
I'm watching Rob, who's taking over for me now, and I've counseled him that's one of the things you really need to be cognizant of. You're no longer the operations head of whatever area; you're the president, and those are really two different things. So the role has to be setting the direction, making sure you're surrounding yourself with a great team, understanding the importance of culture and buy-in and everybody moving in the same direction. That's about communicating on a regular basis, getting out and talking to people and making sure people are excited about what you're doing. That's completely different from being part of a functional area, and that's a transition that I think I was able to make. That's a fun, fun part of being a leader, and it's a part I'm going to miss quite a bit.
Trends and Advice
CI: What stands out as the most important changes that you have seen during your time in the industry?
PB: From the equipment perspective, obviously I've seen a lot of changes. When I first got into the business, it was basically a strength business. It was Nautilus and Paramount and some free weights. Augie [Nieto, founder of Life Fitness] was kind of just getting going selling people those funky bikes called Lifecycles to whomever he could convince to buy them. And he may have had some kind of stationary bike, but that was it. Even treadmills weren't there in any major form. There were a few treadmill manufacturers that were mainly medical. So the big change that I saw early on was the move to cardio, not necessarily away from strength, but to balance strength.
I think it's important to understand the underlying drivers. We also viewed it as sort of the baby boomers moving through their life cycle, and that's one of the reasons that when the elliptical came along, we jumped on that. We were thinking, first baby boomers ran. They were running in races, doing 5Ks or 10Ks, and working out until they puke on Nautilus. It's really funny, if you look at it now, it's really the same things that are happening with my kids' generation. They're doing CrossFit and all this really tough stuff, and it was the same then. Then, as baby boomers aged, you could see that the cardio modalities took that into account, like the elliptical trainer. We were the first ones to do a low impact treadmill for that very reason, following those changes that were driven by demographics kind of along the way.
I think in the broader sense, we've seen a lot of changes just in the clubs and how they approach customers because early on, most clubs were going after the same customers roughly in the same ways. And I think what you see now, and what we've been seeing, is segmentation getting more and more fine, in a way. You see the Anytime Fitnesses and the Planet [Fitness clubs] and all the low-cost guys. You saw Curves and how brilliant that concept was going after women who were intimidated to walk into a club. Slicing and dicing these customers into their segments and giving them a lot more focused experience is a change that's been happening, and I think will continue to happen.
CI: What would be your advice for somebody starting out in the fitness industry today?
PB: There would be two pieces of advice. One would be just a general statement that I think this business is poised to go to a whole new level. I think that the focus on wellness and health is only going to continue.
But then the next statement would be to be really clear about your customer segment. Know exactly who it is you're targeting. I'd make sure you were very, very specific around that, whether it's a product or a club. What's the segment? What are you going after? And then make sure if you're building the business that you surround yourself with good people and execute. It's not that complicated a formula, but if you don't go in with a clear vision of who is the customer and how am I going to go after the customer, you risk sort of flailing around for a while. A lot of times when you first get started, you don't have the money to do too much floundering, so do your homework up front.
Looking Forward
CI: Why did you decide to retire?
PB: I was just asking myself that. It was just time. I'm 62, and I've been thinking about it for a while. I was actually thinking about retiring earlier, but I wanted to see us through the kind of tough period of 2008, 2009, and I wanted to make sure networked fitness was successful, so I'm feeling good about that.
I'm 10 years out from my own health scare. I had prostate cancer when I turned 50, and luckily it's apparently in full remission, but that's a wake-up call. And my wife, she vouched for running the numbers, and in the 28 years I've been here, I've been away from home for over three of those years flying to different parts of the world. That's a big price to pay for my wife and my family, so I think I owe her a little more time. It may be something she'll grow to regret, but I think that's important. And I just had some other things I wanted to do.
I'm a little conflicted to be honest, but I know it's the right move for me and I'll emerge, probably in some other role, in a couple of years. But for now, there are rivers I want to fish. I'd like to be a little better skier, a little better golfer. I'd like to get my Spanish a little better. But I definitely will come back and talk to people about advisory positions at different businesses. I'll stay involved. I love business, but I'm ready for another adventure.
CI: Why did you recommend Rob Barker to succeed you as president?
PB: I've known Rob since 1995, and we've worked together all that time. He was the guy who I felt embodied what we are. He knows the culture. He knows all the people. He has a demonstrated track record of success. And I felt like he could not only sustain where we are but help take us to the next level. Rob's from the [United Kingdom], and his world has been the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and Asia. He's run our international business, and he's done a tremendous job running that, so he'll give the homeland here a much better international perspective.
I think he's brilliant at what we call go-to-market. He's a brilliant sales and marketing guy, and having his experience available more closely to our team here is going to be really helpful. I'm super confident that he's the right guy, and he's going to take Precor to the next level.
I'm staying on as an advisor through the end of the year for sure and probably next year. To the extent that he wants me, I'll be available to him. As a senior seasoned executive, you've seen things and you've made decisions and you have the capabilities to put a bunch of pieces together and predict an outcome that is probably better than a guy who is 30 years younger than you. He may be twice a smart as you are, but he hasn't seen those things yet, so you want to be able to take advantage of that experience in some fashion. That's why I'd love to be involved with young companies that are trying to take their business to the next level, because I've done that, and I know I can help people get there more quickly.
CI: What do you want your legacy to be?
PB: I'd like to think that Precor has such a solid foundation, and at the bottom of the foundation is the people and the culture. And from that, we can adapt to anything in the market and continue to grow and be a great company. That's what I try to focus on. Bringing in the best people we can possibly bring and attract them because we have such an amazing culture that people love to work there. They're passionate about what they do. We have a creed that we read before every company meeting. It's about what we believe in. [The creed begins: "I desire a life without limits. I believe fitness is key to living the life I desire."] Those are the first two lines, so when people come in, they know what they are getting into. We want people who are passionate about our mission and that are smart, self-starters, ask questions, always want to be better. So if you can bring those kinds of people in and create a culture that sustains itself, then we'll be great. I'm not worried about that.
I hope that's my legacy. I hope Precor continues to get better and better and better. That would make me feel great.


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Holy cow, Josh Keyes has been charging ahead with more incredible paintings. Just look at some of these recent ones.
Josh Keyes was born in Tacoma, Washington. He received a BFA in 1992 from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an MFA in 1998 from Yale. Keyes is drawn to the clinical and often cold vocabulary of scientific textbook illustrations, which express the empirical "truth" of the world and natural phenomena. He infuses into a rational stage set many references to contemporary events along with images and themes from his personal mythology and experience. These elements come together in an unsettling vision, one that speaks to the challenges of our time. Keyes currently lives and works in Portland Oregon with his wife, graphic designer Lisa Ericson.
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Very few people will be familiar with this particular release since it was a limited edition of – brace yourself – 24 numbered bottles. The occasion was the celebration of the 7th anniversary of Bar Lagg Time in October 2006. All nice and well, you may think, but what makes this interesting is the fact that it's from the same cask – mizunara hogshead #9500 – as the "Two of Clubs", which was released the following year (and in that year the abv dropped a percentage, from 58% to 57%abv).
We're quite fond of this label, understated but playful, and a little surprised that nobody ever followed up on this brilliant "whisky for the whole family" idea: while mum and/or dad ponder the merit of the liquid inside, the kids can have some fun with the actual bottle. What's not to like?
Read more about Hanyu Distillery here.


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- Home >
- Auto Care /
- Maintenance /
- Shock Strut Warning Signs
Shocks and struts do not need to be replaced at specific mileage intervals so understanding how to identify the warning signs associated with failing shocks and struts is integral to your safety and the safety of your passengers. Shocks and struts wear out over time and the implications of failure could be dangerous. New shocks and struts can make you stop up to 10 feet sooner, while providing increased vehicle stability and better driver control.
Shock and Strut Warning Signs:
1. Excessive Bouncing
Coil springs are part of your vehicle's suspension system. If your vehicle is designed with shocks, the coil springs are mounted between the wheels and the frame of the vehicle. Struts, on the other hand, are essentially a coil spring and shock absorber all in one piece. When you drive over a bump, your car bounces on the coil springs, regardless of whether you have shocks or struts. The shock absorbers in both cases keep your car from bouncing nonstop. So if you drive over a bump or a patch of rough road and your vehicle continues to bounce, it is an indication that you require a shock or strut replacement.
2. Nose Dives/Rear End Squats Dipping
Your car should be steady and stable at all times – whether you are braking, accelerating, or turning – so that you can maintain control as you drive. Shock and struts help keep the car steady.
When braking, if the front end of your vehicle, otherwise known as the nose, of your car dives, it is an indication that your shocks and struts need to be replaced, or at least evaluated. Another sign that your shocks or struts require service is if the rear end of your vehicle "squats" when you accelerate. Additionally, if you make a turn and the vehicle dips drastically to one side, your shocks or struts may need to be replaced.
3. Tire "Cupping"
If the struts or shocks on your vehicle are bad, the tires will literally bounce up and down as you drive. Each time the tires hit the ground, bits of rubber can get scraped off. This is commonly referred to as "cupping" or "scalloping." So instead of having a consistent treadwear pattern across the tire, you might have some tread, a smooth patch, some tread, a smooth patch, and so on. This is because the holes left by the missing rubber tend to get smoothed over as you drive.
4. Leaking Fluid
Inside every shock and strut is a piston and hydraulic fluid. When you drive over a bump or a rough stretch of road, the shocks or struts compress, causing the piston to push against the hydraulic fluid, which absorbs the force of the piston. Sometimes that fluid that can leak out of the shock or strut. Believe it or not, a little leakage is perfectly normal and will look like a small wet spot on an otherwise dry shock or strut. Leakage that you need to worry about will make most of the shock or strut look wet and oily.


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An adorable little Astros fan is struggling to cope with her favorite player's engagement
After winning a World Series Championship ring with the Astros, Carlos Correa gave an engagement ring to girlfriend Daniella Rodriguez in a nationally televised proposal.
While the majority of his fans congratulated him for putting a ring on the former beauty queen, one of his younger fans was heartbroken.
On Sunday, Correa shared a video on Twitter of a little girl crying on someone's shoulder over his engagement to Rodriguez.
In the tweet, Correa says, "My heart is melting. @DaniellaRdz1 said that she can share me only with you. Retweet so I can meet this cute little girl."
In less than 16 hours, the tweet had been retweeted more than 4,000 times with more than 6,200 likes.
There are a few people who have identified her as a little girl named Scarlett, but this has yet to be confirmed. According to one of the women identifying her, Scarlett made Correa a sign for the parade that said, "Correa is my hero."


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Out of stock
Rose Gold "I Am Enough" CZ Heart Necklace 15.5-18.5" | Heart Disease
Let your love multiply for those who need it most with this this exclusive and meaningful Rose Gold, Cubic Zirconia Heart Necklace. Featuring "I Am Enough" inscribed on the underside of the heart, this Necklace has been designed to empower, encourage and uplift with a powerful message that, "I am enough, you are enough, there is enough." Perfect for gifting, this Necklace includes an adjustable 15.5-18.5" attached Chain and makes the perfect style statement while giving back, too! With every Necklace purchased, Origami Owl® will donate $1 to benefit The American Heart Association in the United States or The Heart and Stroke of Canada.
Product Information
- While supplies last; Substitutions may apply.
- Includes an adjustable 15.5-18.5" Chain
- Designed as a Necklace for layering; it is not recommended to wear a Locket on this Chain.
- Material: brass
- Finish: rose gold
- Cubic zirconia
- Heart measures approximately 10mm wide x 9mm high


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Press Release
Pamela Williams
Mark Mitchell
Strong & Healthy Oklahoma Showcases Healthy Programs at http://HealthyPrograms.OK.gov
Search for Programs and Resources Available in your Community
OKLAHOMA CITY – March 4, 2011 – In 2010, Strong & Healthy Oklahoma, a division of the Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH), conducted a 12-question survey to capture current physical activity, nutrition, and tobacco programs/resources across the state. The collected information is now available online through an Online Resource Inventory at http://HealthyPrograms.OK.gov.
"The information provided in this resource inventory will help the public find health programs in their community," said Landon Norton, OSDH Nutrition Coordinator. "The information provided in this resource inventory will provide creative ways for individuals and local communities to join in the effort to make Oklahomans healthier. Also, it will support the goals of the Strong & Healthy Oklahoma, the Get Fit Eat Smart OK State Plan, and the Oklahoma Health Improvement Plan, which are designed as guides to encourage healthy behavior changes," Norton said.
The public and interested health partners may search for programs and resources available in the community or look for program examples through the Online Resource Inventory. Types of programs include, but are not limited to, school, afterschool, or childcare-based programs, worksite-based wellness programs, community-based programs focusing on physical activity and/or nutrition.
Strong & Healthy Oklahoma will continually update the program database as new information becomes available to ensure the best possible representation of health programs in the state of Oklahoma. Those interested in adding their program to the Online Resource Inventory may do so by filling out the survey available at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SHOresourceinventory
The Online Resource Inventory is a product of a partnership between Strong & Healthy Oklahoma and OK.gov, Oklahoma's Official website.
About Strong and Healthy Oklahoma
About OK.gov
About NIC
– 30 –


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Animal Ark - Africa
- Publisher: Sketch Games
- Genre: Educational
- Released: 22 Feb, 2010
- Size: 165.4 MB
- Price: $0.99
- App Store Info
Description8,8/10 is evaluation average of Animal Ark - Africa at the world gaming web sites!
Discover the wonderful world of African animals...
Animal Ark - Africa is a casual puzzle game developed primarily for iPhone / iPod Touch. The game features African animals you have to combine in individual columns into groups according to their type. In addition, sometimes after the combination of question marks a quiz question appears, that can win you a large number of points, if you answer it correctly.
In addition to the game itself, you can read through an encyclopedia, where you can find information on all animals in the game, on the environments and on the African continent. This encyclopedia features beautiful hand-drawn pictures of animals and environments.
A virtual safari and great fun await you in Animal Ark – Afrika.
In next update:
- expansion of the encyclopedia
Game features:
- Casual & easy to play
- Beautiful hand drawn graphics
- High quality animal models, sounds and animations
- 5 different enviroments (jungle, savana, desert, mountains, lake) with unique background animations
- Original soundtrack
- Detailed encyclopedia of Afrika and animals – discover this wonderful continent and its inhabitants
- Plenty of trivia questions
- Top 50 online high-score table
Hra je aj plne lokalizovaná do slovenského jazyka!


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From R$ 240,00 per day (For more than 30 days, until december 20th 2019). Lower periods under request.
Beautiful and comfortable one bedroom apartment, one complete bathroom, kitchen, laundry area, 48m ², rear view, 8th floor, with privacy and calm.
Living room equipped with table and four chairs, a sofa bed, cable TV, air conditioner, pictures and others.
Bedroom with double bed, ceiling fan, air conditioner and closet.
Full bathroom with shower stall. Full kitchen with stove, refrigerator,microwave oven and cabinets, with all kitchen utensils.
Service area with washing machine.
Ideal accommodation for 4 people. Linen and bath, weekly cleaning and change of bed linen and bath already included. Located 3 blocks from Ipanema beach. Secure building with doorman 24 hours and all the facilities of the neighborhood (24 hours supermarkets, drugstores, bars and restaurants etc..).
Rua Barata Ribeiro
Section: 2
Up to: 4
Rua Domingos Ferreira
Section: 4
Up to: 3


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Enchanted Forest Of Etheria
The Whispering Woods is a large, enchanted forest in the kingdom of Bright Moon. It is also home to the Great Rebellion. Adora, Madame Razz, Bow, Kowl, the Twiggets, and all the other rebels reside in Whispering Woods. The enchanted nature of the forest makes it impossible for the Horde to locate the rebel camp, for the woods actually twist and turn about anyone entering them who is not a part of the cause of good. The Woods also resist destruction attempts by the Horde (fire bombs, rays, etc.) and the dark, dreadful spells of Horde magic workers like Shadow Weaver. The Whispering Woods is, in fact, the focal point of the lines of magic power which run all over Etheria. Given this fact, it is logical that visitors from other dimensions (such as He Man) will appear either in or very close to the Whispering Woods.
ALLEANZA : Great Rebellion, The
LUOGO DI ORIGINE : Planet Of Etheria


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Often overlooked is how threading impacts class loaders. NetBeans modules, when "they" create a thread for you, will generally set the context class loader to the current class loader. However, in your own code you need to handle this.
Note Runnable is mentioned above. This does not necessarily consider the cases of EventQueue.invokeLater and invokeAndWait as those things are generally cases where the object instances have been realized, and class loading is no longer in the picture, or at least they should be, as those things should be short and to the point as they happen on the EDT, but it focuses on Runnable when given to the Thread constructor.
However, this could become a source of issues, and if creating new object instances in the Runnable, and it is ever a possibility those classes could be included in more than one module in the targeted system, then you should probably go ahead and deal with a class loader change out as your code will be running on the EDT.
Either way, the reason this becomes important is class access and class collision.
Access deals with the visibility or permissions a given class loader gives the calling code. Calling code may not have access to a certain class, and thus the current class loader should not be the one to load classes, but should instead delegate that to another module which has access to not only the public API but the private API of the module itself. That would be the one loading the classes the caller can access or the public API of the called module.
Collision is a more subtle thing to deal with. Imagine one module has class mine.Foo and another module does as well. Even though these modules may not call or touch each other and thus not collide with each other under normal calling conditions, they may very well do that in a thread without setting the context class loader as those classes will have to be loaded some how, and here the system class loader will be used which will access all the class loaders, and that means either an arbitrary class must be chosen or the first one found, and in nearly all conditions this is not what you want.
In the NetBeans module system this will cause an error as the NetBeans developers do not want this to be a surprise and thus hide crashes. Others may load them; I'm not sure, so if anyone knows how various module systems handle this please comment. Either way, unless you give Java and the module system more guidance, you will run into strange and unusual problems.
Given a class, the following should really be used:
public class MyClass {
Runnable r = new Runnable(){
public void run(){
ClassLoader oldCl = Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader();
try {
Thread t = new Thread(){
public void run(){
ClassLoader oldCl = Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader();
try {
SwingWorker<Void, Void> = new SwingWorker<Void, Void>{
public Void doInBackGround(){
ClassLoader oldCl = Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader();
try {
return null;
This does a couple things at various runtimes. When the code runs in a regular Java application with no module system, the system class loader will always be used. Next, when run in a modular application, the current caller, or current module will use its class loader in the threaded logic. Finally, in both cases, the loader is reset to whatever it was before; for throw away threads, that is probably not a big deal, but what if your code is using a thread pool?
This is a basic convention to follow for safety and refactorability. Safety as noted in access and collision. If your code is used in a modular system, and does not follow the above, it will crash as soon as you add the same classes to other modules. Refactorability per the fact that if more than one module later adds a different version of a class, or the same version different class loader, then the application will start to crash until fixed, and if the person tracking down the issue has to spend time finding and/or fixing it, they can't focus on refactoring code to work with the same classes in different ways.
Another thing to keep in mind is there are times when you may need to pass a specific class other than your own for some block of code to pin-point an exact class loader. Imagine some code you are calling will need classes which your class loader does not have access as the module being called does not expose them as part of its public API.
So, there are times when you have to think beyond the current class loader, but the good thing is no matter which class works in the modular system, the code will continue to work if used outside of one in a standard Java application.
The one major time this differs are libraries written to load and use classes dynamically. MyBatis is a good example. In such cases, the current thread context class loader should be passed along. The idea being the caller is telling you which class loaders to use. This only applies to threads however as the module wrapping the called code will have configured the context class loader as needed for the current thread.
The MyBatis folks were working to address this issue the last time I was on the lists. Someone using it in such a context now should comment if able.
I hope this will help projects (open source and not) write Java code which is compatible in both modular and non-modular applications.


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Due to successful animal vaccination programs, human
rabies is not common in North America. But rabies can
occur in all areas of the United States except Hawaii.
Rabies is a much bigger problem in other parts of the world than it is in
North America. It's worse in developing countries where humans most often get it through dog bites.footnote 1 Areas where
rabies is most common include Africa, Asia, India, Indonesia, and Central
and South America. Travelers who will be spending time in rural parts of these
areas are encouraged to get vaccinated against rabies.
occurs in most regions of the world, except Antarctica and some island nations,
such as Japan and New Zealand. Some areas of Europe are also rabies-free. They include Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, and most of Scandinavia.footnote 1
CitationsPlotkin SA, et al. (2009). Rhabdoviridae: Rabies virus. In RD Feigin et al., eds., Feigin and Cherry's Textbook of Pediatrics Infectious Diseases, 6th ed., vol. 2, pp. 2494-2511. Philadelphia: Saunders Elsevier.
ByHealthwise StaffPrimary Medical ReviewerE. Gregory Thompson, MD - Internal MedicineAdam Husney, MD - Family MedicineSpecialist Medical ReviewerMartin J. Gabica, MD - Family Medicine
Current as ofMarch 3, 2017
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Healthwise Staff
Medical Review:
E. Gregory Thompson, MD - Internal Medicine & Adam Husney, MD - Family Medicine & Martin J. Gabica, MD - Family Medicine
This information does not replace the advice of a doctor. Healthwise, Incorporated, disclaims any warranty or liability for your use of this information. Your use of this information means that you agree to the Terms of Use. Learn how we develop our content.
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Last modified on: 8 September 2017


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Turkey, for all its health benefits as a lean protein, harbors a dirty secret. Read on and you'll wish you could un-learn it.
Ground turkey, it turns out, is teeming with fecal bacteria. Consumer Reports says more than half the samples in a just-published study tested positive for poop germs, among other things. And nine out of 10 harbored at least one of five toxic bacteria: salmonella, E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus and enterococcus. None had campylobactor, as if that cancels the rest out.
Better get that burger well-done! But still, ew.
Researchers tested 257 samples bought at regular grocery stores in 21 states from 27 distinct brands. Yeah, so? It's raw meat, it's all riddled with microscopic nasties, just some more than others, right? Well, true, but there's an added level of ick-factor to this mess. The bacteria continues to evolve into strains super-resistant to antibiotics because, contrary to scientific advice, Big Turkey hasn't curbed its use of the medicine, the magazine states. The study says a lot of the contamination came from feces in slaughtered turkey guts getting mixed up with the muscle meat.
"When any food animal is slaughtered, the bacteria that normally live in its gut without causing harm can wind up on its carcass," the Consumer Reports article reads. "To limit contamination, federal law requires processors to create a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point plan. For turkey processors, HACCP includes steps for washing and chilling carcasses throughout processing to reduce the growth of harmful bacteria and contamination of the finished product."
So yeah, a little more washing and chilling — you hear that, agri-business? Remember when Cargill recalled 36 million pounds of the stuff a couple years ago because a bunch of people wound up sick?
Unsurprisingly, the arbiter of the $29.5 billion U.S. turkey industry, the National Turkey Federation, calls the research alarmist and sensationalized. There's no reason to freak out over a few turkey germs when the same pathogens live on your own hands, the federation's Vice President of Scientific and Regulatory Affairs Lisa Picard says.
"Enterococcus and generic E.coli are everywhere, and there is more than one way they can wind up on food animals," Picard notes in a press release shared Tuesday on the Wall Street Journal. "In fact, it's so common in the environment, studies have shown that generic E.coli and MRSA can even be found on about 20 percent of computer keyboards."
It's like finding out your favorite hole-in-the-wall restaurant has a rat infestation. You almost miss the days before consumer awareness was a thing, when you could stuff your face in ignorant bliss. Then you remember that, sadly, what you don't know and can't see (like salmonella and poop germs) can, in some cases, actually kill you. Or at least gross you out.
Find Jennifer Wadsworth on Twitter at @jennwadsworth.


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The controller ships on December 16 and costs $39.99 on Amazon.


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I used to notice that when I put up a purely political piece, that the comment section was usually over-run with biting responses from conservatives. I attributed this to the fact that the med-blogosphere has an undeniable right-wing, reactionary slant. And I don't mind, truly. There is something satisfying about being a gadfly to those who see things differently. Sometimes it got a little depressing, though, when the comments section would devolve into a shouting match between the trolls and me.
Lately, I've noticed a shift. A lot more people are commenting on the political posts from a progressive point of view. Maybe it's the generally increasing traffic here, or maybe it's due to the increased energy and attention on the left, as the political cycle heats up. I don't know, but it's a welcome change. There are still plenty of dissenters, but I enjoy seeing that there are readers out there who share my viewpoint on politics and health policy.
So to all of you who venture into the sandbox in support: thanks. It's good to know you've got my back.
24 September 2008
Politics (Meta)
I used to notice that when I put up a purely political piece, that the comment section was usually over-run with biting responses from conservatives. I attributed this to the fact that the med-blogosphere has an undeniable right-wing, reactionary slant. And I don't mind, truly. There is something satisfying about being a gadfly to those who see things differently. Sometimes it got a little depressing, though, when the comments section would devolve into a shouting match between the trolls and me.
Posted by shadowfax at 11:27 AM
15 comments:
There might be a tendency to comment on things you disagree with more often than on things you agree with, although I think you may be right that the med-blogosphere has a politically regressive slant...at least if you primarily consider MD's blogs.ReplyDelete
- Anonymous9/24/2008 1:45 PM
It's not just the docs, but nurses and EMT bloggers, too.ReplyDelete
From what I can see, there's a lot of anger out there, especially among your ED colleagues, at what they perceive as abuse of the system. Entitled Medicaid patients, convoluted and impossible Medicare requirements, low insurance reimbursement, non-emergencies presenting for treatment, and so on -- all frustrations I'm sure you've dealt with. They seem to have bought the party line and are wont to blame the healthcare crisis on those d*mned "tax and spend Democrats."
They see progressives as socialists, and think a healthcare plan that's proactive for patients means higher taxes and worse reimbursement for them. In short, both the progressives, and medical patients in general, are the adversary.
I'm amazed at having to argue with anyone that basic healthcare should be a fundamental human right.
Conservatives need to take a good, hard look at which party is really responsible for dismantling funding of social programs, creating an obstructionist bureaucracy, and allowing insurance companies to dictate medical policy. It sure ain't the Dems.
Unless certain doctors consider themselves members of the Investor Class, they are voting against their own best interests, and their patients' best interests, by endorsing McCain. I don't understand why they're reluctant to see that.
*disclaimer: I'm not entirely sure this makes sense because I've mislaid my glasses and can't read my own typing.
- Anonymous9/24/2008 2:13 PM
"I'm amazed at having to argue with anyone that basic healthcare should be a fundamental human right."ReplyDelete
But this is a serious question: if it's my fundamental right, then who will be ordered to provide it to me? I don't think any other rights require the action of another person. I have the right to speak, but no one is ordered to listen.
If I have a fundamental right to an appendectomy, then is Shadowfax required to perform it? If not him, then who? I can't pay!
we're paid lip service to the fact that we have a "right" to protection by the police (although I'd argue we more often need protection FROM the police) as well as the "right" to fire safety via the Fire Department (which used to be privatized, until too many people's houses burned down for having the wrong fire protection subscription badge hanging in front of their house). Over the years we've had the money to provide these basic services (with the exception of the police strike of 1919 in boston maybe), so why not preventative and curative health care services?ReplyDelete
The reason is because the government is interested in protecting the rights of PROPERTY, not the rights of people.
Of course, with the money we spend on military adventurism, we could provide health care to the entire global population several times over, as well as feeding and educating them, and still have money left over for a self-defense force.
Such is the fate of declining empires, I suppose.
- Anonymous9/24/2008 4:13 PM
Oh, no, BC. If your appendix bursts and you have no money, you should be left to die on the streets.ReplyDelete
Is that the way you want it? Serious question.
There's a wildly hyperbolized example of this in the excellent novel "Jennifer Government". The protagonist happens upon a young girl who's been critically injured in a shopping mall. When he calls 911, the emergency dispatcher won't send help until a credit card number is given and verified. I sympathize with the frustrations of emergency MDs, nurses and medics, hell, their blogs probably make up half of my blogroll. Still, I can't accept that reducing access to care is going to somehow cut down on abuse of the system. Sure, free care equals more care, but that's a good thing if there's a care deficit. The trick is making sure the resources are used appropriately, and in the healthcare-as-subsidized-business model, it doesn't seem to be working.ReplyDelete
I'm amazed at having to argue with anyone that basic healthcare should be a fundamental human right.ReplyDelete
Define "basic" health care. Good luck with that task.
Should I be able to access specialized health care services for free for "really bad" acne? Should I be able to get cardiac stents for free when I'm 90 years old? Should I get a brain tumor removed if I am a death row inmate? How about a total knee replacement if I'm 450 lbs, unemployed, and refuse to exercise? Should I be able to get all the services that privately-insured people get for "free" and deprive the privately-insured of the same services for an extended length of time given that health care is finite?
- Anonymous9/24/2008 7:38 PM
No, Nurse K, I'm not saying that. We all understand healthcare resources are finite, and at some point decisions will have to be made as to how to apportion care.ReplyDelete
That may mean hospice treatment rather than futile care for many people (often more humane, anyway); limiting invasive procedures for those over a certain age, and so on.
Obviously, certain categories of treatment, such as purely elective procedures, can't be doled out like Halloween candy.
We already make decisions about who qualifies for donor organs on the basis of lifestyle choices and ability to benefit. There may be a need to broaden the kind of services that warrant such scrutiny (like your knee replacement example).
I'm not saying we'll ever be in a position to do everything for everyone, nor is that the goal as I understand it. But everyone should have timely and affordable access to primary care and preventative medicine, and no one should have to die in the street from a ruptured appendix, as BC seems to advocate. Nor should the insured or uninsured be bankrupted by serious illness.
Imo we need to rethink our national priorities, and shift toward more humanitarian goals. Do we really need to spend trillions of dollars on the war in Iraq? Have we accomplished anything positive in that endeavor? The money spent could have bought a lot of medical care, increased primary physician salaries, staffed hospitals at a safer level, and so on.
I would go on, but I'm being thrown out of my office/daughter's dorm room so she can sleep.
What do you think is a fair solution to the healthcare crisis?
- ladyk739/24/2008 9:00 PM
We when talk about "rights" in America, we often end up talking about money and who pays who.ReplyDelete
As a society, we have declared that every child has a right to primary schooling, basic nutrition, and to be safe from abuse from their caretakers.
I use this as an example. We as a society has agreed to these principles. And we as a community pay taxes to provide these services.
Now, I know the counter arguement....but MY kids go to a private school. I have no idea what happens in YOUR state. But in most places, BOTH private and public schools receive a specific amount of money per child. Of course public schools are funded beyond that.
So yes, in my community my taxes go to teach children in religious schools.
Yes, because we have decided that education is a right.
I believe that basic healthcare is a right. I am not going to define it, but I do think it is important for some regulatory body to define what that basic care may be.
However, my taxes will go towards paying for that care, as it does (very inefficently now).
Yes, that may be the bank of "medicare and medicaid."
Nearly all large medical instituions have some relationship with medicare. Most of these facilities are receiving some funding somewhere that is not flowing through the billing office. Nonprofits and government run facilities receive lots of $$$$$$$$$ to offset charity care, capital purchases, etc...Most of this $$$ comes from state and federal sources.
I know that doctors do not directly benefit from this funding as they are billed seperately from the facility charge. But, I imagine that many doctors benefit from being able to use facility materials and staff.
If a private facility exists, they are making money somehow, or they would not be in existant. Funny how many skilled nursing facilities are private? That is because long term custodial care is not paid for by medicare.
I am sorry, but my background is in finance, in , um, healthcare.
So what I am saying as that we are ALREADY funding basic healthcare but in a horrible, unfair, and inefficent system.
- Anonymous9/24/2008 10:36 PM
"Oh, no, BC. If your appendix bursts and you have no money, you should be left to die on the streets.ReplyDelete
Is that the way you want it? Serious question."
No, so I have insurance. I wouldn't be without insurance, because I'd hate to have to spend my house on the operation.
I'm suggesting that the terms "really good idea" and "fundamental right" are not interchangeable.
I'll bet you Shadowfax would do the job if he was the one to find me. But if it's a "fundamental right", then it seems the first doc on the scene with the skills would be required to do it. By law.
I think people have a "fundamental right" to listen to music; but I don't want to be forced to play for them.
And if insurance is a "fundamental right", then that means insurance companies are required to insure people.
Here's my serious question: can we not change the structure of health insurance slightly--so that any group of people, not just employees, can form a group for insurance? It's the insurance being tied to jobs that hurts a lot of people (like me, for instance).
Is health care a right? Great discussion, and a timely one. I will expand on all these shortly in a real post.ReplyDelete
thanks again for playing...
In my world, rights are limitations on government power. So, I don't think a person has a right to healthcare.ReplyDelete
That said, I think it is immoral for someone's access to healthcare, politics, or justice to be dependent on how good a capitalist he or she is. And therefore, I think we should use the government to ensure that people from all economic classes are treated equally in this sense.
- ladyk739/25/2008 7:55 PM
Article 25ReplyDelete
Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care ......
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Ah, the UDHR...such a great idea..it's unfortunate that the US opted out of the whole "right to return" thing because of the middle-east situation.ReplyDelete
Anyway, back to health care, I think the reason things are so screwed up is because from the point of view of the patient, it's cheaper to let chronic problems become acute problems that MUST be treated, because it would cost them more money to go to get preventative "elective" health care due to the "market" in it's "infinite wisdom". In reality it would probably be cheaper for the state to provide preventative healthcare and still have insurance to cover the acute problems.
"How will the doctors get paid?" is the rallying cry I see on the blogs. We can consider a 1.2 trillion dollar financial market bailout, but spending 30-something billion to insure uninsured neonates? Out of the question! It's clear what is of value to the powers that be, and it's not US. It's profit, in and of itself. It's a myopic position to take. Without people, the economy is just a balance sheet. "Education would be a great business if it weren't for the damn kids" is the old joke.
1.3 trillion sounds like a lot, but a conservative estimate of the cost of the iraq war put forth by the washington post was 3 trillion. We're already up to 12 billion a month.
The failure of our health care delivery system is merely another casualty of War. If we were governed by people who believed that the welfare of it's people was worth investing in, I'd imagine things would be strikingly different.
It's been suggested that the market is the best vehicle to deliver health care services, but the market has long ago figured out it can make more money through government subsidized warfare.
The system is sick, and all it takes is a simple application of the Nursing Process to diagnose this maladaptive response to disease process.
I've got your back on all things Apple too!ReplyDelete


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Mar 01, 1983
Lupita Amondi Nyong'o was born March 1, 1983 in Mexico City, Mexico, to Kenyan parents, Dorothy and Peter Anyang' Nyong'o. Her father, a senator, was then a visiting lecturer in political science. She was raised in Kenya. At age 16, her parents sent her back to Mexico for seven months to learn Spanish. She read film studies at Hampshire College, Massachusetts and, after


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What's New
Stretto Regular Font by Canada Type
Stretto (Italian for narrow) is a revival and expansion of an Aldo Novarese font called Sintex, done for VGC in 1973.
Openly idiosyncratic and rebellious in its design idea, In Stretto, straights and rounds get together in a most unusual manner, playing on the idea of hand-made sign letters yet still adhering to the odd grid's parmaeters. In spite of its counter-stress, its legibility is high and even, helped by its unicase forms and very distinct counters.
Stretto comes in all popular font formats, and boasts an expanded character set supporting Western, Central and Eastern European languages, as well as Greek. A few alternate forms are also included.
Tags: 1960s, 1970s, Font, Groovy