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We live in a complex world. There are rules and more rules, regulations and more regulations. Somewhere out there, there are opportunities. Everyone is trying to sell them to you. Independence. Integrity. Objectivity. These are not commodities. In fact, in this day, they are quite rare. For eighty-five years, the family of Silas Simmons, LLP has tried hard to help our clients uncover the real opportunities and capitalize on them while navigating the minefields of regulation.
Within, we hope you will find some useful information about our firm, a description of some of our services, articles that might be of interest, and some useful financial tools. For those who might be interested in the challenging and rewarding opportunities of helping our clients achieve their success, we invite you to see our career opportunities.
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— Within 30 seconds in her airy, orchid-filled office three floors above Central Park, Betty Halbreich had zeroed in on one of my chief torments as a professional woman.
"I know why you have a problem with pants," Halbreich said dryly, patting my hip.
Halbreich, an 85-year-old personal shopper at Bergdorf Goodman in New York, has dressed Joan Rivers, Meryl Streep and Candice Bergen, and helped costume designer Patricia Field adorn the women of "Sex and the City." She's one of the supporting characters in "Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf's," a new documentary, which opens May 3 in New York and Los Angeles, about the aspirational fashion emporium, and she is writing a memoir that HBO recently optioned for Lena Dunham to adapt.
Frank, warm and wickedly funny, Halbreich counsels powerful women at their most vulnerable moments — when they're standing naked in the luxury department store's mirrored rooms, trying to dress for a new career, new spouse, new body size.
For a recent hour, on a springlike Tuesday afternoon, she was dressing me.
Halbreich had pulled from the racks a soft, pastel green Theory leather jacket (marked down from $825 to $499); a flowing, navy, sequined top from Alice & Olivia ($330); a black-and-white, graphic print A-line Prada dress that was missing a price tag ("very expensive," Halbreich said with a shrug). She tossed aside a printed green dress as "too sweet," declared a blazer too short and dismissed my fears of horizontal stripes on a Missoni knit dress as outmoded thinking.
"Oh, dear God, come up into the new world," Halbreich said. "First of all, this skirt moves. It covers whatever you're trying to hide."
When director Matthew Miele started making "Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf's" in 2011, his primary interest was in the artists who designed the store's intricate windows, which his family had come into New York City from New Jersey to see every holiday season when he was a child. As Miele, whose film was made to mark Bergdorf's 111th anniversary last year, spent more time there, he began to identify other key characters, such as the store's elegant vice president and principal tastemaker, Linda Fargo, and Halbreich, whose unpretentiousness has endeared her to clients and designers in a world that is often fawning.
"She was no-holds-barred candid; she came out with the funniest things," Miele said.
Halbreich began her career in her 40s, when she was a mother of two with an unraveling marriage. She started at Bergdorf's in 1976, running the shop's Geoffrey Beene boutique, an era when women — even the rich ones — were changing the way they lived and the way they shopped.
"I'd see these women, they were needy," said Halbreich, who was wearing a dark Marni blazer, sensible shoes and a whimsical wooden brooch she had bought for $2 in the Berkshires decades ago. "In my day, we didn't work. What's evolved is most women work ... most women do something. These women are on a timetable."
Halbreich has an uncanny ability to size up her clients' moods in an instant and coax them through life's difficult moments with a joke and a properly fitted dress.
"I love the baggage," she said. "I love the stories. I have someone this afternoon, she's the ugly stepmother of the child getting married. Which means I'm going to get a chip on the shoulder because she's buying anything."
Halbreich is not paid on commission by choice, and she loves to dig up bargains in a store that caters to the kind of people who can own their own islands. In a designer-obsessed industry, she is agnostic.
"I don't pick from labels," she said. "I pick visually. I pride myself on that."
And she does it well. After three dresses in a row fit impeccably, Halbreich declared, "I've done very well on you. Maybe I'll keep this job."
She had brought several pairs of black pants into the fitting room for me to try as well but grabbed my arm, looked me in the eyes and said, "For the pants, go to J. Crew."

subset: commoncrawl


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TVCatchup, a company based in Britain which allows the watching of live television on its website, managed to get itself into trouble with broadcasters last year after offering a free program recording service, which it was then forced to suspend after its hosting was terminated by its ISP.
However, the site has now launched an iPhone (or iPod Touch) version of its website that allows anyone who visits iphone.tvcatchup.com on their handset to watch live UK television, albeit with a delay of about a minute.
It won't work outside of the UK, but within the country it claims that it's completely legitimate. A mobile version had originally been planned for early 2008 but was abandoned after browsers that supported Flash (like SkyFire) began to appear on mobile phones.
The iPhone, which still doesn't support Flash, was left out of the party, but this new solution offers playlist downloads to get around the problem. If you have an iPhone or iPod touch then give it a go and let us know what you think.


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Hi, my name is JP Gonzalez-Castellan and I'm the Accessibility Program Manager for IE8. The IE team has been working towards making IE8 the most accessible browser possible, and we wanted to detail some of the work we've done toward this end. In this post I will provide you with some background on Accessibility, I'll cover new UI features (Caret Browsing, Find on Page, Adaptive Zoom, High DPI, etc) and also platform features (support for ARIA, support for IAccessibleEx, and support for additional WinEvents) that improve the Accessibility of the browser.
Q: What percentage of users benefit when you make software accessible?
A: One hundred percent.
When you improve the Accessibility of software, or any product for that matter, you are also improving the Usability of the product. Usability is defined by the International Organization for Standards as the:
"extent to which a product can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals effectively, efficiently and with satisfaction"
This is ultimately what we all want for the things we create. Accessibility ensures that a webpage is effective, efficient, and satisfying for user with disabilities. This allows for all users to reap the benefits. My favorite example to illustrate this is access ramps for wheelchairs. After the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed, public gathering places like airports added wheelchair ramps. Airports soon noticed that mothers with baby strollers and passengers with rolling suitcases were using the ramps too, since it was easier than picking up a stroller or a suitcase over the ledge. In much the same way, when you make software more accessible, everybody wins.
An example closer to the software realm is keyboard usage. Some users can't use a mouse, and the keyboard is their sole input device. However, being able to perform common mouse tasks entirely with a keyboard not only benefits users who can't use a mouse, but also users who can use a mouse but choose not to; users may find keyboard shortcuts to be a much faster or more efficient way to interact with software.
New UI features that improve the experience for low mobility and low vision users
IE8 adds a number of new features that are particularly helpful to low mobility users - those users who prefer to use the keyboard, or devices that interact with the keyboard, over the mouse or other pointing devices. Features like the new Caret Browsing feature, Accelerators, Web Slices and revamped Find on Page help these users particularly, who also benefit when we reduce the number of steps to complete specific tasks. Low vision users will find the new Adaptive Zoom and High DPI support especially useful.
Caret Browsing
Caret Browsing is a new feature that allows users to navigate a webpage using a moveable cursor on the screen and the keyboard. Users can select and copy text down to a single character using only the keyboard. Other content types, like tables or images, can also be selected and copied.
Moving the cursor within the text of a webpage is similar to moving the cursor within the text of a Word document. Holding the shift key down and pressing the arrow keys selects text. Pressing F7 turns Caret Browsing on or off. It can be enabled on a per tab basis or for all tabs and windows.
Many users use the keyboard instead of the mouse because they find it to be faster for certain tasks. Users are now able to select a word, bring up Accelerators through the context menu key on their keyboards ; (which sits between the right Alt and right Ctrl keys), select Translate with Windows Live (or any other Accelerator), and see its meaning in Spanish without ever taking their hands off the keyboard.
Accelerators, Web Slices and Find on Page
You are probably already familiar with IE8's Accelerators, Web Slices and the improved Find on Page feature. I'm not going to cover them again in detail, but it's important to note how they each make the browser more accessible.
Accelerators simplify the common task of copying, navigating, and pasting into a single action. Keyboard only users can save a lot of time and keystrokes.
Web Slices bring your favorite pieces of the web with you. Web Slices are portions of a webpage that you can subscribe to and view updates directly from the Favorites Bar. This means that instead of having to open a new tab and having to navigate to the same page every so often to see if it has been updated, you can stick to your regular browsing until you get notified via your Favorites Bar that the page has been updated. This also saves a lot of time and keystrokes for blind users who can only use the keyboard.
With the revamped Find on Page feature you no longer get a dialog hovering over your page. Now you get the Find on Page toolbar below your tabs. As soon as you start typing in the Find textbox, IE starts highlighting the matches on the page with a yellow background and scrolls the page to your first match. This saves a lot of keystrokes since you do not have to click search to see if your term is on the page. IE also displays on the toolbar the number of matches found. The new yellow background highlighting makes it easier for low vision users to quickly find the term on the page; while having a docked toolbar below the tabs takes up less screen real estate than a floating dialog. Screen real estate becomes more important when you start increasing the zoom factor of your monitor, which many low vision users do.
The key takeaway is that features that can be simplified for everyday tasks are beneficial for keyboard users, and as an added bonus, beneficial for the Accessibility community.
Adaptive Zoom and High DPI
The new support for Adaptive Zoom and High DPI has already been covered in depth on the IE blog and on MSDN, so I won't go into too much detail here. Most low vision users benefit from an enlarged UI (user interface). In Windows Vista the Windows DPI Scaling feature only scales up the operating system's fonts and UI elements (menus, toolbars, buttons, etc) but now it will also scale up IE8's fonts and UI elements. When scaling IE8 we use UI elements that are drawn with more pixels, resulting in a higher fidelity experience. Sometimes the size of the menus and toolbars of the browser is big enough, but the displayed content on the webpage is too small. By using the Adaptive Zoom control webpages can look bigger. Compared to IE 7, in IE8 we do not just make all the content in the page bigger, but we actually redraw the page and adjust the content to avoid displaying horizontal scroll bars. This makes it easier to browse zoomed pages since you only need to scroll up and down, and not also left and right.
From the beginning the target audience for this feature was low vision users; however this feature is also a great example of how making something more accessible also makes it more usable. I find myself using this feature all the time at home. I have my PC connected to my TV. I can normally sit 10 feet from the TV and enjoy all my shows without a problem. However when I try to use my TV as a PC monitor, I find that I can't read much of the content when I'm 10 feet away. It is then that I use the Adaptive Zoom to make all the pages look bigger, so I can read them from my couch. Even though I might not be considered a low vision user, I find this feature extremely useful. In previous releases the horizontal scrollbar would show up all the time and I had to use my mouse to move the horizontal scroll bar left and right, besides the usual vertical scrolling. Now I'm able to do all my browsing just with vertical scrolling.
For more information, especially for developers who want to take advantage of High DPI in their webpages and WebOCs, please see: Making the Web Bigger
New Platform features that improve the experience for low vision and visually impaired users
In this section I'm going to cover the new support for ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications), the IAccessibleEx interface, and the support for additional WinEvents for DHTML (Dynamic HTML) and how each of them affect the end-user experience.
Depending on the level of low vision some users require specialized 3rd party assistive technologies (ATs) to interact with computers, such as screen magnifiers; while others can get along with features and tools shipped with the product and the operating system (Adaptive Zoom, High DPI support). Visually impaired users also use a type of AT called screen readers. A screen reader is a software assistive technology that 'reads the screen out' to the user. As we all know a webpage is more than a string of words and pictures. The way those words and pictures are laid out on the page, the way they interact with the controls around them, is not as easily read out loud as the text in a book. The HTML on a webpage is useful data for screen readers, but sometimes the HTML is not enough to programmatically convey to ATs all the information and interactions a webpage has. Here is where the new support for ARIA comes into place to markup the page with additional information, while, as we will see later, the IAccessibleEx implementation exposes this information to ATs. To complement it all ATs can now subscribe to 4 new WinEvents that get triggered by dynamic changing pages.
ARIA Support
The W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) defines ARIA as a syntax for making dynamic web content and custom UI (user interface) accessible. IE8 recognizes the ARIA role, state, and property information and exposes it to ATs, which in turn can use the Microsoft Active Accessibility (MSAA) and/or Microsoft UI Automation implementations to retrieve the information. Instead of building separate simplified Web pages for Accessibility, you can use ARIA to mark up your rich Web applications with roles, states and properties. For example, to match the behavior you created through a script, you can define a div element as a button, checkbox, or another ARIA role.
ARIA syntax is a great mechanism to use to unlock your dynamic, rich Web applications for everyone. Today Web pages with dynamic content and custom UI controls (such as TreeView controls) do the best they can to be accessible by reusing existing HTML controls. For example, custom TreeView controls are made accessible by defining each item as an HTML list element. This approach can add complexity to the code, make it more difficult to implement, and prevent all users from getting the same rich behavior. With ARIA you can markup your custom TreeView control with tree and treeitem ARIA roles.
From the early stages of IE8 we've worked closely with the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative group and Assistive Technology Vendors (ATVs). During the last year we were happy to hear that more browsers have pledged support for ARIA in their future releases; while at the same time screen readers continue to expand their support for ARIA. Here you can find the list of ARIA roles, states and properties supported in IE8.
Support for IAccessibleEx
When IE8 recognizes ARIA information on elements, it exposes more information for these elements through the MSAA implementations, than HTML alone. However not all ARIA roles, states and properties can be mapped directly to MSAA's Accessibility roles and properties. This is because ARIA definitions are different from MSAA definitions, and the ARIA scope is bigger than MSAA's. The UI Automation Community Promise Specification will provide you with more background on the IAccessibleEx interface. This interface extends IE8's MSAA implementation and allows richer information to be exposed and retrieved using Microsoft UI Automation properties and control patterns. This guarantees that all of the ARIA information can be made available to ATs (Assistive Technologies) through Accessibility APIs. Here you can find IE8's mappings for ARIA to MSAA and to UI Automation.
ATs have supported the MSAA APIs for many years now, but they are starting to add support for UI Automation, including the IAccessibleEx interface. If an AT doesn't support UI Automation, then it won't be able to get some of the ARIA information from the Accessibility tree; since the tree exposes through UI Automation what it can't expose through MSAA. As a fallback, ATs are able to parse the DOM (Document Object Model) directly and extract the ARIA information themselves. This is a practice we are discouraging, since ATs constantly accessing the DOM causes performance and security issues. This tutorial will get you started with code samples to retrieve information from IE8' Accessibility tree through UI Automation.
New supported WinEvents for DHTML
Due to the ever increasing dynamic nature of webpages, we've added support for new WinEvents to notify ATs when the content of a page changes dynamically. This way ATs can keep their users more in sync with the state of the page they are browsing. For example, a webmail client provides potential contact names when the user starts typing the first letters of an email address. As soon as those contact names are exposed we fire EVENT_OBJECT_REORDER so the AT becomes aware of the new options and can inform the user that those names are available for selection. The work item for ATs is to listen for these events and decide how they want to relay the information to their users.
The following are the 4 new events we want to encourage ATs to start listening for, with links to more information on what triggers each of these events:
We've made key Accessibility investments both in the UI and the platform during the IE8 development cycle. If you are an end-user that doesn't use ATs, you probably discovered a couple of new features that will come handy. You can now try those features you had heard about but didn't know you could benefit from using them - like browsing the web from your couch using the Adaptive Zoom at 150%, or browsing in High Contrast mode to keep your eyes more relaxed, or using Caret Browsing to access Accelerators entirely through the keyboard. If you use ATs to browse the web, then we also encourage you to try IE8 out and share your experiences with us.
If you are a web developer we encourage you to mark up your pages with ARIA and let us know how it improves your web applications' Accessibility. (Also let us know how the learning process went based on the documentation available on the internet.) Try out our new Adaptive Zoom on your web sites; to further improve your site's user experience with Zoom, try Saloni's suggestions in the Adaptive Zoom blog post. If you are an assistive technology vendor let us know if the four new WinEvents worked the way you expected them to. Let us know if you were able to expose Accelerator and Web Slices to your users. Last but not least, let us know if you were able to get started with your support for UI Automation through the tutorial and the UI Automation Community Promise Specification previously provided.
JP Gonzalez-Castellan
Program Manager


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Article source: ConstructConnect
The accompanying tables rank seven major cities along America's northern Atlantic coastline according to eight demographic and economic criteria. In the 'overall' listing that appears at the end of this article, Washington comes out best and Philadelphia worst. To reach those conclusions, however, it has been necessary to journey through the following data sets.
Population size: It's no surprise that New York (20.2 million) is number one in terms of population size. Washington and Philadelphia (both with 6.1 million) are virtually tied for second. Across the U.S. as a whole, the population of Los Angeles (13.3 million) is not as big a step back from 'The Big Apple' as one might suppose.
Population change: With respect to population change, measured as the average annual growth rate over the latest two years for which statistics are available, Washington (+1.12%) is on top, followed by Richmond (+1.00%). New York (+0.47%) is in the middle and Philadelphia (+0.28%) and Providence (+0.25%) are barely making any headway at all.
Housing Starts: Residential building permits, as compiled by the Census Bureau and readily made available at the website of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), serve as the equivalent of new home starts for cities in the U.S. Through May of this year, New York (14,582 units) has been the leader in the number of residential building permits issued. Washington (10,937) has placed second. Providence hasn't even exceeded 1,000-units.


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Judges 9-10 New International Version (NIV)
9 Abimelek son of Jerub-Baal went to his mother's brothers in Shechem and said to them and to all his mother's clan, 2 "Ask all the citizens of Shechem, 'Which is better for you: to have all seventy of Jerub-Baal's sons rule over you, or just one man?' Remember, I am your flesh and blood."
3 When the brothers repeated all this to the citizens of Shechem, they were inclined to follow Abimelek, for they said, "He is related to us." 4 They gave him seventy shekels[a] of silver from the temple of Baal-Berith, and Abimelek used it to hire reckless scoundrels, who became his followers. 5 He went to his father's home in Ophrah and on one stone murdered his seventy brothers, the sons of Jerub-Baal. But Jotham, the youngest son of Jerub-Baal, escaped by hiding. 6 Then all the citizens of Shechem and Beth Millo gathered beside the great tree at the pillar in Shechem to crown Abimelek king.
7 When Jotham was told about this, he climbed up on the top of Mount Gerizim and shouted to them, "Listen to me, citizens of Shechem, so that God may listen to you. 8 One day the trees went out to anoint a king for themselves. They said to the olive tree, 'Be our king.'
9 "But the olive tree answered, 'Should I give up my oil, by which both gods and humans are honored, to hold sway over the trees?'
10 "Next, the trees said to the fig tree, 'Come and be our king.'
11 "But the fig tree replied, 'Should I give up my fruit, so good and sweet, to hold sway over the trees?'
12 "Then the trees said to the vine, 'Come and be our king.'
13 "But the vine answered, 'Should I give up my wine, which cheers both gods and humans, to hold sway over the trees?'
14 "Finally all the trees said to the thornbush, 'Come and be our king.'
15 "The thornbush said to the trees, 'If you really want to anoint me king over you, come and take refuge in my shade; but if not, then let fire come out of the thornbush and consume the cedars of Lebanon!'
16 "Have you acted honorably and in good faith by making Abimelek king? Have you been fair to Jerub-Baal and his family? Have you treated him as he deserves? 17 Remember that my father fought for you and risked his life to rescue you from the hand of Midian. 18 But today you have revolted against my father's family. You have murdered his seventy sons on a single stone and have made Abimelek, the son of his female slave, king over the citizens of Shechem because he is related to you. 19 So have you acted honorably and in good faith toward Jerub-Baal and his family today? If you have, may Abimelek be your joy, and may you be his, too! 20 But if you have not, let fire come out from Abimelek and consume you, the citizens of Shechem and Beth Millo, and let fire come out from you, the citizens of Shechem and Beth Millo, and consume Abimelek!"
21 Then Jotham fled, escaping to Beer, and he lived there because he was afraid of his brother Abimelek.
22 After Abimelek had governed Israel three years, 23 God stirred up animosity between Abimelek and the citizens of Shechem so that they acted treacherously against Abimelek. 24 God did this in order that the crime against Jerub-Baal's seventy sons, the shedding of their blood, might be avenged on their brother Abimelek and on the citizens of Shechem, who had helped him murder his brothers. 25 In opposition to him these citizens of Shechem set men on the hilltops to ambush and rob everyone who passed by, and this was reported to Abimelek.
26 Now Gaal son of Ebed moved with his clan into Shechem, and its citizens put their confidence in him. 27 After they had gone out into the fields and gathered the grapes and trodden them, they held a festival in the temple of their god. While they were eating and drinking, they cursed Abimelek. 28 Then Gaal son of Ebed said, "Who is Abimelek, and why should we Shechemites be subject to him? Isn't he Jerub-Baal's son, and isn't Zebul his deputy? Serve the family of Hamor, Shechem's father! Why should we serve Abimelek? 29 If only this people were under my command! Then I would get rid of him. I would say to Abimelek, 'Call out your whole army!'"[b]
30 When Zebul the governor of the city heard what Gaal son of Ebed said, he was very angry. 31 Under cover he sent messengers to Abimelek, saying, "Gaal son of Ebed and his clan have come to Shechem and are stirring up the city against you. 32 Now then, during the night you and your men should come and lie in wait in the fields. 33 In the morning at sunrise, advance against the city. When Gaal and his men come out against you, seize the opportunity to attack them."
34 So Abimelek and all his troops set out by night and took up concealed positions near Shechem in four companies. 35 Now Gaal son of Ebed had gone out and was standing at the entrance of the city gate just as Abimelek and his troops came out from their hiding place.
36 When Gaal saw them, he said to Zebul, "Look, people are coming down from the tops of the mountains!"
Zebul replied, "You mistake the shadows of the mountains for men."
37 But Gaal spoke up again: "Look, people are coming down from the central hill,[c] and a company is coming from the direction of the diviners' tree."
38 Then Zebul said to him, "Where is your big talk now, you who said, 'Who is Abimelek that we should be subject to him?' Aren't these the men you ridiculed? Go out and fight them!"
39 So Gaal led out[d] the citizens of Shechem and fought Abimelek. 40 Abimelek chased him all the way to the entrance of the gate, and many were killed as they fled. 41 Then Abimelek stayed in Arumah, and Zebul drove Gaal and his clan out of Shechem.
42 The next day the people of Shechem went out to the fields, and this was reported to Abimelek. 43 So he took his men, divided them into three companies and set an ambush in the fields. When he saw the people coming out of the city, he rose to attack them. 44 Abimelek and the companies with him rushed forward to a position at the entrance of the city gate. Then two companies attacked those in the fields and struck them down. 45 All that day Abimelek pressed his attack against the city until he had captured it and killed its people. Then he destroyed the city and scattered salt over it.
46 On hearing this, the citizens in the tower of Shechem went into the stronghold of the temple of El-Berith. 47 When Abimelek heard that they had assembled there, 48 he and all his men went up Mount Zalmon. He took an ax and cut off some branches, which he lifted to his shoulders. He ordered the men with him, "Quick! Do what you have seen me do!" 49 So all the men cut branches and followed Abimelek. They piled them against the stronghold and set it on fire with the people still inside. So all the people in the tower of Shechem, about a thousand men and women, also died.
50 Next Abimelek went to Thebez and besieged it and captured it. 51 Inside the city, however, was a strong tower, to which all the men and women—all the people of the city—had fled. They had locked themselves in and climbed up on the tower roof. 52 Abimelek went to the tower and attacked it. But as he approached the entrance to the tower to set it on fire, 53 a woman dropped an upper millstone on his head and cracked his skull.
54 Hurriedly he called to his armor-bearer, "Draw your sword and kill me, so that they can't say, 'A woman killed him.'" So his servant ran him through, and he died. 55 When the Israelites saw that Abimelek was dead, they went home.
56 Thus God repaid the wickedness that Abimelek had done to his father by murdering his seventy brothers. 57 God also made the people of Shechem pay for all their wickedness. The curse of Jotham son of Jerub-Baal came on them.
10 After the time of Abimelek, a man of Issachar named Tola son of Puah, the son of Dodo, rose to save Israel. He lived in Shamir, in the hill country of Ephraim. 2 He led[e] Israel twenty-three years; then he died, and was buried in Shamir.
3 He was followed by Jair of Gilead, who led Israel twenty-two years. 4 He had thirty sons, who rode thirty donkeys. They controlled thirty towns in Gilead, which to this day are called Havvoth Jair.[f] 5 When Jair died, he was buried in Kamon.
6 Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord. They served the Baals and the Ashtoreths, and the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites and the gods of the Philistines. And because the Israelites forsook the Lord and no longer served him, 7 he became angry with them. He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites, 8 who that year shattered and crushed them. For eighteen years they oppressed all the Israelites on the east side of the Jordan in Gilead, the land of the Amorites. 9 The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin and Ephraim; Israel was in great distress. 10 Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord, "We have sinned against you, forsaking our God and serving the Baals."
11 The Lord replied, "When the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines, 12 the Sidonians, the Amalekites and the Maonites[g] oppressed you and you cried to me for help, did I not save you from their hands? 13 But you have forsaken me and served other gods, so I will no longer save you. 14 Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them save you when you are in trouble!"
15 But the Israelites said to the Lord, "We have sinned. Do with us whatever you think best, but please rescue us now." 16 Then they got rid of the foreign gods among them and served the Lord. And he could bear Israel's misery no longer.
17 When the Ammonites were called to arms and camped in Gilead, the Israelites assembled and camped at Mizpah. 18 The leaders of the people of Gilead said to each other, "Whoever will take the lead in attacking the Ammonites will be head over all who live in Gilead."
Cross references:
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Luke 5:17-39 New International Version (NIV)
Jesus Forgives and Heals a Paralyzed Man
17 One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick. 18 Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. 19 When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.
20 When Jesus saw their faith, he said, "Friend, your sins are forgiven."
21 The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, "Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?"
22 Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, "Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? 23 Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? 24 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins." So he said to the paralyzed man, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." 25 Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. 26 Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, "We have seen remarkable things today."
Jesus Calls Levi and Eats With Sinners
27 After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. "Follow me," Jesus said to him, 28 and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.
29 Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. 30 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"
31 Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."
Jesus Questioned About Fasting
33 They said to him, "John's disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking."
34 Jesus answered, "Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? 35 But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast."
36 He told them this parable: "No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. 38 No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, 'The old is better.'"
Cross references:
New International Version (NIV)
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2 search results
Targeting the 2 Percent
- Grade Range: K-5
- Subject: ELA & Reading
This resource provides reading intervention lessons for teachers who work with students in grades K–5. Targeting the 2 Percent (T2%) aims to improve the instruction, content knowledge, and academic achievement of Texas students transitioning from assessments based on modified standards to the general state assessment, the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR®).
For more information about this project and other materials available, visit the T2% Support Center.
Complete "Red Book Series" Focused on Reading Instruction
- Grade Range: K-12
- Subject: ELA & Reading
This binder provides copies of the original "Red Book Series" titles and links to online resources created for today's classrooms. Educators can access basic research about reading, view videos, download lesson plans, and learn how to adapt materials to meet the needs of diverse learners.


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Rihanna Gives Back to Hurricane Sandy Victims With 'Unapologetic' Party
In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, many A-listers have taken their names and put them to good use. Though the storm hit landfall almost two weeks ago, people are still reeling from the devastation it caused, and one of those said A-listers, Rihanna, gave back in a big way.
The singer unexpectedly showed up at a club Friday night (Nov. 9), to deliver a ton of necessary goods and supplies to the NY Daily News Hurricane Sandy relief drive.
The 40/40 club was in the midst of playing RiRi's new album 'Unapologetic' when she showed up unannounced. Immediately fans, who were busy getting down to her latest hits, began simultaneous chanting her name to express their gratitude.
"I'm so excited," she said to the newspaper, while shaking fans' hands and giving out hugs. "I didn't know all these people were coming, but it's all for a good cause."
Before the listening party even took place, she sent a message out to her Rihanna Navy, urging them to donate "tools to move forward from this terrible tragedy."
"Hurricane Sandy has deeply affected the lives of millions all across the Eastern Seaboard," wrote Rihanna in an email to the New York based newspaper. "Many are still without power, heat, and the basic supplies necessary to rebuild in the aftermath of such a horrific event."
"Now is the time for us to come together and do whatever we can to aid those in need," continued the singer, who already pledged to donate 1,000 sleeping bags to the cause.
The donations from Rihanna and her fans at the listening party were then loaded on to a NY Daily News truck, and delivered to the most hard-hit areas affected by the storm.
Good for you, RiRi!
Watch the Rihanna 'Diamonds' Video


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|Photo by John Kotula
Through March 15th, I have a few pieces in a kiosk, dubbed the World's Smallest Art Gallery and sponsored by Hera Gallery, on the bike path in Peace Dale, RI. If you're passing through, check it out.
Read the write up by John Kotula here.
The pieces include:
Two pages from Dr. Bigfoot, MD
Blitz Randall, Man of Action
Stanley, Out Of Work Automaton
Post-Apocalyptic Surf-Bot Battles Wave Zombies


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Click HERE to read full article.
|Top Water Stories: Hot Water News
|GEORGIA: 11th Circuit hands Georgia victory in water wars case
|NATIONAL: One-third of Oklahoma ranks in the worst drought category
|INTERNATIONAL: Scientists' concerns over new water plan
|See more stories
Make sure your swimming pools, fountains, and ponds are equipped with re-circulating pumps.
Source - Water: Use it Wisely


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Sometimes you just need to get to where you're going. But why do it on a bike? It's fun; convenient in the spring, summer and fall; and if you're headed to Bristol from Middlebury or visa-versa, it only adds about 20 minutes to your trip. Both my colleague Brian King and I regularly ride this route. He rides from Bristol to Middlebury and back everyday, and I frequently ride to Bristol for an interview, meeting or my favorite beer around — the Bobcat's Chewy.
Subscribe to Online Edition
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Copyright 2011 Addison Independent | 58 Maple Street, Middlebury, Vt. 05753 | All Rights Reserved
Site Development by Surf New Media


text: Here's my situation - I have a table, where x is always incremented by 1: 1, 2, 3, 4, etc... and then the y is a mystery - but I know it's consistent. I need to find the equation for the line that is created. I know that all the data points are EXACTLY on the line. I was told that Linear (or Least Squares) regression is a good solution, but so far, I've only found a method for determining how good the line of best fit is once you've found it. My line of best fit would be exact (in other words, r=1), and I need to know how to FIND THE LINE, not test it. Anyone have any ideas? I was told about an equation involving a whole lot x and ys squared with epsilons all over the place. Ring a bell?


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Dandelion Clock Photographic Art Print
Title: Dandelion Clock
Printed on 240gsm matte paper using pigment inks.
An unframed print with a white border, titled and signed on the back by Cassia Beck.
Please allow up to 3-5 working days before this item is despatched. If your order is urgent, just let me know!


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Army Veterans "Living the Dream" with SBA Help
There's hot fudge, strawberries, chocolate sprinkles, rainbow sprinkles, cherries and whipped cream, but the only topping that suits Sonja and Damon Draught these days is success. Three years ago the couple became Dairy Queen franchisees in Watertown, NY.
The U.S. Army took the Ohio natives all over the world, including Germany for 12 years, before bringing them to Fort Drum in Northern New York. After retiring as a Master Sergeant in 2012, Damon spent a year taking care of their three boys while Sonja continued working as a U.S. Army civilian employee on post. The time and freedom of retirement allowed the couple to dream of what their next chapter could be….
"It always stayed in the back of our minds to open a Dairy Queen since we grew up with the franchise in Ohio and there weren't any around Fort Drum. We were interested in opening a quick-service restaurant, but not until after Damon retired," says Sonja.... Read More


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Monday, March 05, 2007
My Low-Cost Chili Dinner
I apologize if you 're starting to feel nauseous by the sight of tonight's dinner. After I finished cooking and compiling it on the plate I took the time to actually look at it and just laughed. Awesome! As I drove home from work today I was thinking of what I could do with my $1.69 can of Trader Joe's Turkey-Chili. It's a cheap and healthy meal (3g fat; 230 calories) but unlike other chilis there's not much to grit to it.
So once I got home, I started boiling pot of water for spaghetti noodles. In my local culture (as opposed to my ancestral one), we like putting chili on top of rice. But alas, I was too tired to bother with that tedious process. Boiling spaghetti takes 1/3 the time.
I searched my fridge for things that were firm, chewy or even crunchy. There wasn't any frozen beef but I did find one bag of peeled shrimp, again from Trader Joe's.
There was an onion sitting on my counter so I halved that and sliced it thin. Then I put it in a pot and stir-fried it in Enova oil, which makes me feel less guilty since it has some magical property to burn away, or something like that. There were some baby carrots sitting in my 'Crisper' bin so I tossed them into the boiling spaghetti just for the heck of it. I've been lacking in the vitamins so I found some lettuce and lined my plate with a few leaves.
Now, I love Trader Joe's Turkey Chili but I was craving something with a little kick, so I dug around my spice cabinet and found these guys:
A few shakes of each was enough. That thing in the middle, Aromat, is something a friend from Switzerland sent me. I kept asking him what it was but he didn't really know either. It's a combination of spices which no doubt includes MSG. Very tasty. I woulda chopped some garlic, but why bother when you have it in the form of salt?
So guess what? My dinner tonight was excellent! Who cares if it looks ugly? It all ends up in the same place anyway. Best part though, is how much money I saved by using my resources. Now for tomorrow's dinner, here's what I have left in the fridge: an eggplant, cheddar cheese and a tomato.
Hahah. Okay, I'll spare you the visuals.
5 comments:
- BoLA said...
Dude. You sound just like my boyfriend in the kitchen! Muhahah! ;)
I like my chili on top of spaghetti with some cheddar cheese grated on top! YUM!
- H. C. said...
Haha, great improv-ed dinner, but seriously, just one shrimp?! Poor guy...
- Pirikara said...
haha, actually there's two more hiding in the onions!
- themirthmobile said...
- annie said...
not quite sure about tha meal.....
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


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Redshirt Senior (2014): Returned from offseason shoulder surgery saw action in only two matches ... did not allow a goal in 46:21 minutes against UAB and Pittsburgh ... notched five saves.
Redshirt Junior (2013): Started 13 games for a record of 6-4-3 ... registered 55 saves including a career-high of nine against Maryland (Oct. 13) and nine against Colorado College in the first round of the NCAA Tournament ... ranked fifth in the ACC for save percentage with .797 ... ranked third in the ACC for saves per game with an average of 4.23 in 13 games ... named to TopDrawerSoccer.com Team of the Week on Oct. 15 ... landed on the CS630 Primetime Performer List for two consecutive weeks on Oct. 15 and Oct. 23 ... earned four of Duke's seven shutouts ... tallied 1,173 minutes played.
Redshirt Sophomore (2012): Appeared in four games … registered one save and did not allow a goal … tallied 87 minutes played.
Redshirt Freshman (2011): Saw action in four games ... recorded three saves and did not allow a goal in a season-high 60 minutes played in a 1-0 win against 25th-ranked Virginia Tech on Oct. 30 ... played 163 minutes on the season.
Freshman (2010): Redshirted the season.
Regional Team Experience: Member of her ODP Region IV squad from 2006-09 ... led her ODP squad to the Region IV Championship Finals her sophomore year … was captain in 2009.
High School/Club: Team captain her junior and senior seasons … a four-year letterwinner … 2010 Spring All-America by ESPN Rise as a senior ... selected to Colorado All-State First Team, Colorado Class 5A All-Star Team, Continental League Player of the Year, Continental League First Team and All-Academic First Team as a senior ... played in the CHSSA All-State Game ... RJHS Women's Soccer MVP ... led her Regis Jesuit squad to eight shutouts and first ever 5A Tournament win... RJHS Loyola Award for Athletic Excellence in 2010 ... selected to the Continental League First Team as a junior … earned All-State honorable mention her junior year … voted Defensive MVP for three straight years ... helped lead her team to the 4A State Finals as a freshman … earned Continental League Second Team honors as a freshman … led her Real Colorado National 91/92 team to the USYSA National Championships before falling in the title match -- was named the winner of the U-19 Golden Glove Award ... guided her Real CO Super 20 team to win the Rocky Mountain Region of the USL in 2010 ... led her Real Colorado Club team to Region IV semi-finals in 2006, CO State Cup finalist for 2010 and team captain from 2006-10 ... played in the ECNL from 2007-09 … earned CHSAA Academic Achievement awards for soccer her freshman, sophomore, junior and senior seasons … in the summer of 2010, played on the Real Colorado U-20 Superleague team -- Rocky Mountain Region -- for the United Soccer League ... a member of National Honor Society and Key Club … earned Highest Honors as a freshman, junior and senior … active in community service in leadership roles... RJHS Raiderwoman … recipient of the Loyola Leadership Award … team captain and MVP of her basketball team as a freshman and sophomore.
Personal: Meghan Judith Thomas was born on Apr. 3, 1992 in Aurora, Colo. … daughter of Peter and Cynthia Thomas … has two sisters, Katherine (27) and Laura (24) … graduated Maxima Cum Laude from Regis Jesuit High School...plans to pursue a degree in the medical field ... a four-time ACC Honor Roll selection ... named to the Dean's List in the Spring of 2011 at Duke ... received a degree in English along with a markets and management certificate in May of 2014 ... attended Duke Fuqua Business School in 2014-15.


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Roddran Grimes likes to reinvent herself about every 10 years.
From working in the information technology field to incorporating that into the healthcare field to becoming a special education teacher to now becoming a professor, Grimes has been unafraid to remake her life.
"I never want to live a stagnant life and I'm not afraid of change," she said. "Therefore, when there is something that I want to do or have, I am willing to take calculated risks in order to obtain it. I enjoy being the butterfly and going through a metamorphosis once the desire sets in to try something new."
Twice, she has selected Indiana State University to help her on that journey of change.
"I bleed ISU blue," she said. "This is my school."
Grimes first encountered Indiana State as a high school student when she traveled from her hometown of Gary, Ind., to Terre Haute to attend the Summer Honors program at ISU. When it came time for her choose a university, she recalled how much she enjoyed her summer and enrolled.
"It was the best time of my life," she said of her undergraduate years at Indiana State.
For four years, she lived in Hines Hall room 313 where she had to ask the switchboard operator for an outside line. After graduating with a degree in safety management in 1982, she moved to Atlanta and transformations continued. About eight years ago, she decided to leave healthcare information technology and become a teacher.
"I felt a calling to be a teacher," she said. "This is the journey I was meant to follow. It has been good to have corporate experience to bring to my teaching career."
When she looked at the critical need fields in education, she knew she had the patience to become a special education teacher in junior high.
"I like the fact that all children are unique, all children are special," she said.
While she has experience teaching a variety of subjects, Grimes especially liked finding ways to help students engage in reading.
"Everything is geared toward reading," she said pointing out that students need to be able to read instructions on tests.
She worked with them one-on-one, played games to increase their reading levels and found subjects to interest a child in reading.
"I love it when there's that light bulb moment," she said.
When Grimes decided to pursue her doctorate in education, she first investigated schools in Georgia. Since the mid 1990s, Grimes had been involved with ISU's Alumni Association, including now serving on the association's board of directors, and she felt once again drawn toward her alma mater.
"Something said to me to investigate Indiana State," she said.
She spoke to Susan Kiger, chair of curriculum, instruction and media technology, who encouraged her to apply for the Ph.D. program, though it's not set up as a distance program.
"Roddran made the distance factor work by planning her course work carefully and making the 'trek' to campus during her summer hiatus from teaching in middle school in Atlanta, Georgia," Kiger said.
On those summer sojourns, Grimes again found herself living in a dorm and attending classes at Indiana State.
"It was a nice sense of déjà vu. I love ISU and walking around the campus. It was a great educational experience," she said.
She also attended classes through Skype and other programs while living in Atlanta.
"I'd be the talking head," she said.
Through that she found a friend. Melanie Beaver, who was also working on her doctorate, saw Grimes attending class via a laptop.
"I don't feel successful unless I'm building relationships with people so I figured she needed to feel connected to us," said Beaver, who also teaches junior high. Though Beaver said she felt intimidated using Skype, when the class broke into pairs to discuss that week's reading, Beaver "scooped her up."
Beaver began taking Grimes to class via her laptop. One of the times, Beaver even dropped off her laptop, Skyped her in to the class and left another classmate to "Roddran-sit" while she attended another function. She picked up her laptop after class and found Grimes had taken careful notes and emailed them to her.
"If you think about it, I refused to let her miss class, and she refused to let me miss out on what was covered," Beaver said. "Our relationship was a blessing both ways."
And that relationship has grown through the semesters. Now, when Grimes comes to visit Terre Haute, she stays at Beaver's house.
"Roddran is a phenomenal person of integrity and class. She's well-read and heralds the loudest laughter in the room," Beaver said.
Relationships such as the one Grimes formed with Beaver and other women coalesced in a group Beaver dubbed the DocDivas.
"I think that's what made our journey so successful," Grimes said. "You need a partner."
Beaver said the four women made, and still make, conscious efforts to support each other through cards in the mail, encouraging texts and reminder emails.
"There were times when we'd cry, laugh ridiculously, take walks together around the Bayh College of Education and, of course, overeat chocolate," Beaver said about their time in the doctoral program. "Truly, the drama seems trivial now, but it is undeniably what helped us stay the course. We took our coursework seriously, but we refused to take ourselves seriously. As adult women with full-time careers and families, we needed each other."
Beaver and Grimes even defended their dissertations on the same day, Beaver successfully completing at 2 p.m. and Grimes at 4 p.m. In the acknowledgements section of Beaver's dissertation, she wrote, "Completing a dissertation is a lonely task. I was lucky to meet Atlanta-based Roddran Grimes along the way. I tethered myself to her via Skype, email and text and did not let go. She spoke my language every step of the way, and she is now my lifelong friend."
Grimes said completing her doctorate at ISU was the best decision she could make.
"Professors here care about you...they'll get you through," she said. "It was good for a working adult. I was able to maintain my lifestyle in Atlanta, my home, everything and work full time. With online classes, one can go to a traditional research institution and have the same robust education."
With her doctorate in hand, Grimes decided to reinvent herself once more and in a new place. She is now an assistant professor in special education at Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho, which she described as a smaller version of ISU.
"I feel such a peace when I walk on campus," she said. "It's nice living in a totally different part of the country. Life takes us to interesting places."
Kiger said that while the program has intelligent, highly motivated professionals, that Grimes's empathy for others and dedication to their welfare distinguished her.
"As she continues on in her new academic endeavors among the professorate, she will model and promote those qualities among developing teachers," she said. "Those qualities are a critical foundation for teachers as they promote the academic and social development of our youth."
In the future, Grimes plans to continue transforming herself into the woman that she wants to be.
"I have an adventurous personality type so when boredom or a need for change sets in, my mind starts working to determine a solution," she said. "The answer always comes to me and then I take action to bring what I want to fruition."
Photos:http://isuphoto.smugmug.com/Other/ISUphotoservices/Roddran-Grives/i-wQvShNM/0/L/Roddran_Grives-1648-L.jpgRoddran Grimes ISU Photo/Rachel Keyes
http://isuphoto.smugmug.com/Other/ISUphotoservices/Roddran-Grives/i-DttM6xC/0/L/Roddran_Grives-1652-L.jpgRoddran Grimes ISU Photo/Rachel Keyes
http://isuphoto.smugmug.com/Other/Media-Services/RoddranGrimes/i-B5qzJnw/0/L/Melanie_Me_Sycamore%20Sam-L.jpgMelanie Beaver, Sycamore Same and Roddran Grimes Courtesy Photo
http://isuphoto.smugmug.com/Other/Media-Services/RoddranGrimes/i-mMZKKKk/0/L/Sandy_Me_Melanie_Rachel_Sabrina-L.jpgDoc Divas Courtesy Photo
Writer: Jennifer Sicking, Indiana State University, associate director of media relations, at 812-237-7972 or firstname.lastname@example.com
For Roddran Grimes, life is about transforming herself into the woman that she wants to be.
Indiana State halfway toward Habitat fundraising goal
Sycamores post best finish in IMG Learfield Directors Cup in five years
Indiana State University announces the spring 2019 dean's list
Sycamores keep momentum going in classroom during 2018-19 academic year
Indiana State Speaker Series announces 2019-20 season lineup


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The Case for Taxing the Wealthy
The 1% didn't get there by themselves. Chuck Collins offers a TED Talk on why the wealthy should pay it forward.
Chuck Collins is a senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) and author of several books including Economic Apartheid in America: A Primer on Economic Inequality and Insecurity as well as Wealth and Our Commonwealth: Why America Should Tax Accumulated Fortunes, which he co-wrote with Bill Gates Sr.
In October 2011 he participated in a TEDx event at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, where he spoke about the importance of taxing the wealthy.
- of the Occupy Wall Street movement.
The latest from a growing international movement to make corporate tax dodgers pay ... so public services don't have to.
In this time of austerity, major corporations are spending more on CEO pay and Congressional lobbying than they're paying the IRS. How we can make them pay up.


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Cycling in Taupo
Taupo Offers every kind of cycling from extreme cross country to riding along the lake front. Why not come and ride!
This is hopefully going to be the first of many articles to try entice you to Taupo to ride your bike. We have just put in a fancy new bypass to keep trucks out of town and now we no longer have SH1 rolling through town. The roads are quiet for recreational road riding OR for some great hill training for the Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge in November and we have some of the best mountain biking trails that can be ridden year round close to town.
We have over 80km of single track mountain bike trails on our back door step. All of which are over pumice soils that are well drained and you can ride all year round and even when it is raining.....
Check out some of the following links for more riding advice and trail maps:


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01489 550999
We can provide Servicing and Repairs for all types of garden equipment including lawnmowers (both ride on mowers and walk behind mowers), chainsaws, brushcutters, cultivators, hedgetrimmers.
Sharpening and balancing of rotary mowers and machine sharpening of chainsaws
Attachments for Ride On Mowers & Lawn Tractors
Sections In Attachments for Ride On Mowers & Lawn Tractors
Ride On Mower & Tractor Accessories, Attachments & Security Clamps
An ever growing and developing range of ride-on mower, garden tractor accessories, attachments and security anti theft wheel clamps. The lawn tract...
Trailers, Trolleys and Sweepers.
An ever growing range....


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And just like that with very little fanfare (or even a press event), Sprint has let us know that they will indeed bring at least two new Windows Phone 8 devices to market. The bad news is we don't know what those devices are even worse, they won't arrive until "summer". That's a heck of a long time if you ask us.
The presser mostly focuses on Sprint's "unlimited" (but nascent) 4G LTE network, which when it finally reaches a decent size will be a competitive offering. What is lacking in the presser of course are details about the devices themselves, which is why we bet Sprint bypassed a formal press event as they would literally have nothing to show.
Will these be rebranded 8Xs and ATIV Ss or completely new and unique devices? We'll have a few months to ponder such things as we wait for more from Sprint.
Full presser after the break.
Sprint Selects Samsung and HTC for Windows Phone 8 Launch with Truly Unlimited Sprint 4G LTE
LAS VEGAS (BUSINESS WIRE), January 07, 2013 - Sprint (NYSE:S) today joined with Microsoft to announce the upcoming availability of Windows Phone 8 smartphones on the Sprint nationwide network. Sprint will bring two initial handsets to customers by summer – one each from Samsung and HTC.
Sprint is the only national carrier with Truly Unlimited? 4G LTE data, text and calling to any mobile with no metering, no throttling, and no overages. Sprint will bring the unlimited data experience to Windows Phone 8 with Sprint's Everything Data plan with Any Mobile, AnytimeSM including unlimited Web, texting and calling to and from any mobile in America while on the Sprint Network, starting at just $79.99 per month. This is a savings of $20 per month versus Verizon's comparable plan with unlimited talk, text and 2GB Web (excludes taxes and surcharges).
"Sprint has had a strong relationship with Microsoft for many years so we are excited to reinforce our commitment to the Windows 8 platform by sharing the details and timing for our first Windows Phone 8 smartphones," said Fared Adib, Sprint senior vice president, product development and operations. "These smartphones combine a robust new operating platform with the benefit of Sprint's unlimited data plans. There is no doubt these phones will quickly become an extension of your PC experience right in the palm of your hand."
Both the Samsung and HTC smartphones will offer Sprint 3G and 4G LTE and impressive lists of features including dual cameras enabling video chat, dual-core processors for enhanced internal speed between applications and support for expandable external memory. Additional device details, including pricing, will be shared closer to their availability dates.
Windows Phone 8 offers a truly personal phone experience, connecting Sprint customers to the people and information that matters most to them. With a similar look and feel, the same technology core, and the same built-in SkyDrive cloud service, Windows Phone 8 is built to work seamlessly with Windows 8 PCs, Microsoft Surface devices and the Xbox 360 console.
"We're looking forward to bringing two new Windows Phone 8 devices by Samsung and HTC to market with Sprint this summer, adding to our strong Windows Phone 8 portfolio," said Terry Myerson, Corporate Vice President of the Windows Phone Division. "These devices, coupled with Sprint's unlimited 4G LTE data experience, will make it easy for Windows Phone 8 customers to have the most personal smartphone experience possible, wherever they are."
Sprint introduced its all-new 4G LTE network in July 2012 and now offers service in 49 marketsi. Sprint has announced nearly 150 markets that will see an official LTE launch in the coming months. For the most up-to-date details on Sprint's 4G LTE portfolio and rollout, please visit www.sprint.com/4GLTE. For detailed 4G LTE maps, providing coverage information right down to the address, please visit www.sprint.com/coverage. Customers are encouraged to check back often, as the maps will be updated when coverage in these markets is enhanced.
For more information, visit www.sprint.com/windows8.