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Hollywood Reporter - May 15, 2014
Sandra Oh on Her 'Grey's Anatomy' Exit: 'I Came Apart'
The actress talks with THR about leaving the show after 10 seasons, how Cristina's journey ended and what's next: "I want to be as open as possible to anything that comes."
Sandra Oh is sitting in her trusty director's chair — only she's not on the Los Angeles set of ABC's Grey's Anatomy. It's Monday, April 28, the morning after the ABC drama's season 10 wrap party, and Oh is in her backyard, now settling in to the first day of her post-Grey's Anatomy life. She sounds content, laughing and reflective as she talks by phone about her now-complete 10-season journey as Dr. Cristina Yang.
For ABC's Grey's, the departure of one of its few remaining original stars — and an Emmy nominee, Golden Globe and SAG Award winner as well as a fan favorite — leaves the series with a noticeable void heading into its 11th season.
Here, eight months after she revealed she'd be leaving the drama, Oh opens up in an exclusive interview with The Hollywood Reporter about how Cristina's story concluded, the final table read, her emotional farewells and her final scenes with leading man Kevin McKidd (Owen) and "person," Ellen Pompeo (Meredith).
PHOTOS: 'Grey's Anatomy' Cast, Creators Say Farewell to Sandra Oh
What was your last day on set like?
I will say, my last day, people asked if I was going to be sad. I didn't know. But by the end of the day — which ended up being late since we shot late — Kevin threw me this little party. There was lots of celebration because the party was myself, [co-showrunners] Tony Phelan and Joan Rater, who [both also] left. Gaius Charles [Shane] and Tessa Ferrer [Leah] had left earlier that week. The party was joyous for me — the whole day was. I was so excited to come to work. I came in early, which I never do, and hung out.
Take us back to your final table read. What was that like for you?
I realized during this last month that the table read is definitely a ritual. I sit in the exact same spot every time because I'm a creature of habit. Every single table read for 10 years — that's 200-odd episodes. It was this ritual that we have every week, to come together to read these words. It was really rich. What got me was, we were starting and as we're all sitting down, our casting director Linda Lowy came up to me — she cast the pilot and put me in a lot of stuff before Grey's like Under the Tuscan Sun — she came up to me and hugged me. Then we read the script, and it was great, and I was filled with all these feelings.
Besides work, what did you do on your final day?
We usually have a big lunch, but we didn't have it this year so I gave out 250 gifts. To give these gifts out personally and to look people in the face and say "Thank you" to everyone — my stand-in, the grips, post, production, the writers — that helped me process a lot. That is why I think the day was joyous. With each person I was able to have a personal moment and tell them what I thought about them. I walked up to my DP, Herb Davis, who is not an emotionally expressive person and has been my DP for eight years. He made me look good, he protected me and taught me a lot. I went to give him this gift and I started crying. He scooped me up, put his arm around me, moved me into a private room and so much came out.
What was the gift you gave out?
Because it was a celebration, it was this beautiful champagne in a box, and on it is an anatomical heart and a "10." It's was like, "Here's my heart in a box for a celebration. Please take it. This is my gift of thanks." It was inscribed on the back with a card, too. I walked into the OR with this gift for Linda Klein, our medical adviser, and just started crying. For me — and I think for the other person — it was good to have that moment of being able to say goodbye. I remember going toe-to-toe with her on the pilot. Everyone goes through being Linda Klein-ed — and I did that on the pilot. She's the best person in the world — the same with the DP — and just … everyone. I could tell this story a hundred times over with my makeup man, who has been with me since the pilot; with Susan Bale, who was our head editor who was on the pilot. Susan and I are good friends and we see each other a lot. I went up and said, "I want you to know that I gave everyone in post a gift except you because I can't handle it." I was just like crying and — this is so great — she goes, "Don't worry. Just come over to the house and we'll just hang out," and it was just like, a lot.
PHOTOS: 'Grey's Anatomy's' Famous Departures
What was going through your mind as you're having these moments with everyone?
Only thing: Be as present as possible to whatever feeling is going to come and be as open and giving as possible to my crew. The last day after lunch, Laura Petticord, my AD, told me Tony wanted to talk to me, and I knew something was happening. The entire crew — every single person from construction to rigging — everyone was in the lobby near where we were shooting. There was a bit of cider and my first AD, Chris Hayden, thanked me, Tony, Joan and various crew members. It was so great. They gave Tony and Joan their first script page with their signatures on it. They gave me the very first call sheet from the pilot and Cristina had this other last name. And they gave me the last call sheet. March 17, 2004, and April 24, 2014. My first and last days.
How did you feel after getting that?
I came apart because I saw everyone was in one room. It felt extremely operatic. In that moment, I knew how this goes because I have been on a show before that lasted seven seasons [Arli$$], and I have not seen those crew members — who I think about a lot and was close with — in 10 years. Chances are, for the majority of the people I've worked with, I may never see them again. In that moment, it felt like one of those scenes where you're spinning the camera around the actor because I'm standing in the lobby and I'm turning around and seeing the set filled with people I've worked with for a decade. It was that moment where I realized I could publicly thank every single person for this experience.
Were you able to make it through it?
No. I was completely in tears — but not broken. It was not a place of being sad. It was a place of being tremendously moved. It's not like I broke down and I was crying. I felt so filled with the meaning of this moment that it was very emotional. I do want to try to be specific about the quality of the emotions because many people can be sad — and it is sad — but I was extremely moved.
How much of a say did you have about how Cristina's journey should end? What were your conversations like with Shonda about bringing Isaiah Washington (Burke) back?
I told her I was going to go at the end of season nine and we didn't really talk about [how Cristina would exit] until the back-half of season 10. She had an idea, but I don't think that idea really happened. I don't remember at what point she said, "How would you feel if we brought Burke back?" because she and the writers were trying to come up with an exit, which is tricky. There were a lot of things to consider on Shonda's part, but for me, I thought it was a great idea.
VIDEO: Meredith and Cristina's Best Moments on 'Grey's Anatomy'
Do you think it was it fitting that Cristina replaced Burke at his own facility?
Yes. I felt like you could show the most amount of growth by seeing her come face-to-face with one of the most influential beings in her life. To see how she has surpassed him and how she flourishes beyond him. I thought that was a great way to go. It's almost like you need a big, strong force like Burke to help her get out. What Burke offers her is so tremendous that she's willing to change her life for it, to leave her family — Meredith and Owen. We set it up well that there were certain things that were lacking for her in Seattle: the Harper Avery award, the questioning of her relationship with Owen. Kevin and I were trying to move their relationship into a place of deeper friendship where even though there was still romance, it's still painful and where you've gone through so many things that there is no more arguing left because you really accept the person for who they are.
You really see that in both of them.
Kevin and I fought really hard for that because we spent two years being really reactive and excited all the time — like what happens with a couple. You go through a year of terribleness and hopefully you come through it. Then it's a year of really accepting the person and you come to a new plateau. We wanted to develop them to where you get beyond a place of sex.
You've had the whole season and more to prepare for your final scene. Was it as hard as you expected?
My very final moment of shooting was with Kevin, and it was the final moment where Cristina says goodbye to Owen. It was a beautiful image of Cristina in the gallery, basically behind glass and tapping on the OR theater below. Symbolically, with that distance, it cinematically tells the story of where they are and also puts a distance that they don't want between them. It felt right because it was tough shooting that. Both Kevin and I, when we were shooting each other's close-ups, the other person was in the complete dark. We were both holding a flashlight up to our face so that we could actually see each other. Usually Kevin and I are about a foot away from each other, so for there to be so much space between the glass was really rich. It's not happiness; it's not sadness. It was very full and rich — even in the way we wanted to be closer to each other, which is exactly like how Cristina and Owen are: They just want to be closer to each other. It's just not the time now.
What was your final scene with Ellen like?
My three most difficult scenes in the past three years have all been the same scene number. There was an episode in season six that I did with Kevin where I talked about Burke — the "Pieces of Me" speech. That was Scene 44; I could barely get through it. Then in this season's Burke episode when Cristina equalized herself with Burke — that was Scene 44; it was really challenging. In the finale, Scene 44 was an extremely important scene between Meredith and Cristina. I remember reading it and I hated the scene. It made no sense to me and I couldn't connect to it. But sometimes the place that is the most resistant is, a lot of the times, the place to mine. It was deeply emotional. It was the last scene that Ellen and I shot. I can't speak for how it was for her to shoot that, but at the very end, I remember feeling for our chests embracing. I'm holding her and I can hear that she's tearing up. I was holding her and it felt like we were one body.
The one line that was the most filled for me was when Cristina says, "You and I, Mer, we're not finished." At the wrap party, they showed the famous scene where Cristina asks Meredith to be her person. From that to the point where Cristina is saying, "You and I are not finished," is like the two sides of one coin. Their love is like that. I felt very fulfilled with Cristina saying goodbye to Meredith. I have to give Cristina her space and her truth to say goodbye to her best friend. These two know what's coming, which is a great change in their lives. That's how I want to frame it, with all the feelings that come along with it. This great change is happening and eventually Cristina has to ask Meredith to help her with the final change. "I need you to help me to change," she says or, "… to make this change."
PHOTOS: The Couples of Shondaland: 'Grey's Anatomy,' 'Private Practice,' 'Scandal'
We see Cristina in Zurich at the very end of the episode. How do you think she felt in that moment?
She's filled with hope and with everything moving forward in the future. The scene, which we filmed with CGI, was such a beautiful image for me to concentrate on; for me to put myself in that place and to see this is what she's seeing as she's in her office — which was Burke's old office. Then there's a knock at the door and Shane goes, "Dr. Yang, they're ready for you." She looks at him and says, "Let's do it." It was so good again within her ritual — which I'm obviously really into. I would walk out the glass door and had to physically walk into a light because we wanted to have this effect of the shadow on the glass door. And as I would close the door, it says, "Dr. Cristina Yang, Director of Cardiothoracic Surgery." I just thought, look at what she has grown into.
Shonda has said before that surgery is the love of Cristina's life. Looking at her complete journey, do you agree?
Oh yeah. You can say love of her life, you can say purpose, meaning. Those all make sense to me. If we are ever lucky in our lives, we actually pay attention to the fact that that is what we're here to find. And if you are able to find it in your life, one: you're very lucky; and two: honor it.
With so many goodbyes that final week, what was the one that struck you the hardest?
When they called me up after lunch and there was a cake and the whole crew was on the stairs. It was proof of all the people I work with; I saw everyone's faces. I was looking into everyone's faces. They exist. This happened. That's undeniable.
How did you feel leaving the lot for the last time, knowing that you're not really sure when — or if — you'll be back?
It was joyous. The whole day was. It was joyous, and it felt complete.
What was the last thing you did before you left the set? Did you take anything?
The last thing that I did was wheel my chair out. In one of the early seasons I bought myself a nice chair. I'm sitting on my chair in the backyard right now. There are certain things that really absorb the time, place and the energy and all of the stuff that has happened, and my chair certainly did.
Was there anything that you kept from the set?
I want that wedding dress. And I want my coat, stethoscope, scrubs and my Stanford jammy pants (laughs).
STORY: 'Grey's Anatomy' Quartet Inks New Deals
Did you already speak with Shonda about potentially coming back for the eventual series finale?
We talked about that when I told her I was going to leave but we haven't talked about it again. There are certain things that Shonda and I talk about once and then we leave it because we want things to happen without pressure. I told her, "If you guys want to finish it out however you want to finish it out, I'd be more than happy to come back. And if it doesn't fit in that way, I totally understand. I just want you to know that I'm available." Who knows! I might be doing something fabulous and it might not work out but I did say, "Yes, of course I would."
Have there been moments this season where you second-guessed your decision to leave?
Yes and no. I would definitely get flashes of fear, but I know that that's my fear talking. I've been given such a bountiful gift of the past 10 years and, at this point in my life, I choose not to live my life from fear. The landscape for a working actor now is very worrisome. Having a shorter order of episodes is better for the writers and in the creative sense but being able to make a living and support a family? It's worse. So there have been moments where I have been talking with friends and fear creeps in. But as quickly as it does, I feel like I have built up a reserve to remind myself that I don't want to make decisions from that place because a lot in this town is based on fear, and I don't want to be a part of it anymore.
Looking back over 10 years, do you have any regrets? Is there anything that you would have done differently?
There wasn't so much regret as in "done differently." But I would wish for certain things. I wish I was able to get more sleep (laughs). I remember talking to our script supervisor about the tough years — basically two to six — where a lot of us don't remember what happened, honestly, because we were so exhausted. I cannot express to you the profundity of this exhaustion, but what I feel now, being able to zoom out and have a bit more space, was in the state of exhaustion, I feel like I was more reactive than I wish I would have been. Ask any parent of a newborn. They're punchy.
PHOTOS: On the Set of 'Grey's Anatomy's' 200th Episode
What will you do next? What kind of offers are you getting?
I'm going do plays [Death and the Maiden] and after that, I don't know. I want to be as open as possible to anything that comes. I just spent a decade of producing intensely. I think I'm going to take some time to retreat and see what happens. But I'm free — you can totally put that out there! "By the way, Sandra Oh is completely free July 20th when the play ends!" (Laughs.)
Looking back over 10 seasons as Cristina, what's your takeaway from her journey?
I think back to Scene 44 — the last scene that I shot with Ellen — and this one line that had tremendous specific meaning to me. It's Ellen's line where she says, "I am not finished." In the context of the scene, it means something else because Cristina is trying to leave and can't because she doesn't feel finished. What was challenging for me was, I was finishing. I spent the past year finishing to get the character to this moment. But for me, it was the specific interpretation I had of Cristina saying, "I am not finished." That speech fills me now. That speech is about how she is not finished. Anyway, I wish I said that more eloquently because I cannot tell you how much that line means to me.
Grey's Anatomy will return in the fall in its new slot at 8 p.m. on Thursdays.
Full article here:


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Kerrash jumps into the pilot's seat of the Orange Sidewinder and Lave gets mobbed by distracting Commanders as we attempt to talk about the latest development news, Newsletter and the state of the war in Lugh. We have even got some bloopers for you good folks!
Download the episode directly from here.

subset: commoncrawl


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Looking at my to-do list today, I noticed for the millionth time how two key attributes of a task seem to be either redundant or in conflict: its due date and its priority.
It always seemed to me that you should only need to assign one or the other. If you have a deadline, then what does the priority affect? If the item is high enough priority, isn't the due date ASAP?
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by Tom Hill A self-admitted wine geek, Tom lives in Northern New Mexico and works as a computational physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory doing numerical neutron transport & large scale code development. He has been tasting wines since 1971, participates locally with a couple of large tasting groups in his area, and is practically a fixture at most California wine festivals, such as the Hospice du Rhône, Rhône Rangers, and ZAP. Other interests: Tom is heavily into competitive sport fencing (foil & epee), biking, cooking, basketball, skiing, backpacking, mountain climbing.
We tasted last night (7/19/06) Some New (Unusual) Whites:


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Small increases in vaccine cost can cause large gaps in protection
Public immunization efforts may be much more sensitive than previously realized to small changes in the perceived costs or risks of vaccination, scientists at Harvard University report this week. In some cases, the spread of vaccine avoidance via social networks can make the difference between a minor, localized outbreak and an epidemic four times as large.
The finding, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, comes amidst one of the worst pertussis outbreaks in 50 years, in which 1,500 Californians have contracted whooping cough. Public health officials have cited reduced vigilance in vaccinating against the disease, which sickens 90 percent of those exposed to it.
"People sometimes say that voluntary vaccination is doomed to fail because of the 'free-rider' problem, in which people assume they will be protected by other people's immunity," says co-author Daniel I. Rosenbloom, a graduate student in Harvard's Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, led by Martin A. Nowak. "We find that's not true, as a population of self-interested people can defeat an epidemic. But the trouble is, success is sensitive to small changes in perception of a vaccine's costs -- in terms of money, time, inconvenience, or perceived side effects."
Together with lead author Feng Fu, Rosenbloom and Nowak are the first researchers to incorporate epidemiological data into modeling of how vaccination spreads by imitation in a social network. They found that increasing vaccination cost prompts more free-riding and leads to larger epidemics.
"Herd immunity in a social network is fragile," says Fu, a postdoctoral researcher in mathematical biology at Harvard. "As public perceptions of vaccine side effects change, a population can rapidly switch from high vaccination and herd immunity to low vaccination and a larger epidemic."
The good news, the authors say, is that the sensitivity of vaccination to perceived costs cuts both ways, meaning it's easy to get a population back on track with voluntary immunizations in the wake of an outbreak.
The Harvard team found epidemics are amplified when individuals mimic others in their social network, such as by avoiding immunizations during vaccine scares. Behavior driven by "strong imitation" -- reliance on anecdotal information from social contacts in deciding whether or not to immunize -- could cause up to a 14 percent decline in vaccination rates, and a four-fold increase in the size of a flulike epidemic.
"It's possible to be too clever for your own good in dealing with risk," Fu says. "These 'strong imitators' chase unwise risks, and their behavior exacerbates the fragility of herd immunity, causing it to break down more easily. Those in our model who ignored friends' outcomes and stuck with their own decision ended up better off, on average."
Fu, Rosenbloom, and Nowak's modeling also showed that in an epidemic, individuals who are hubs in a social network are likelier to choose vaccination than their less connected peers. However, this outcome emerges primarily from self-interested behavior -- the desire to avoid sickness -- rather than altruistic behavior to protect friends and family.
"Altruistic behavior could certainly lead to increased vaccination of hubs, but we find that it's not required -- self-interested behavior suffices," Rosenbloom says.
This work builds upon the tradition of evolutionary game theory, where researchers construct simple mathematical models to explore human behavior in social dilemmas and scenarios where people can cooperate for the common good. While this study specifically modeled influenza, the results apply to a wide variety of diseases, and are consistent with data from past epidemics


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Very high quality parametric and shelving equalization is available to sweeten the sound of any microphone as desired without adding noise or undesirable artifacts to the signal.
Wheatstone Processing Presets
A variety of ready-to-use factory processing presets are provided, carefully tailored for different processing goals and formats. You can select a factory preset, confident that it will sound great just as it is. Or use a factory preset as a starting point and create a custom sound for each announcer, then save the new settings as a personalized user preset. In a facility with multiple microphone processors, presets saved in one unit can be easily copied to the others.
Control of all audio parameters
Intuitive PC graphical user interface (GUI)
High quality, low noise microphone preamp
Phantom power
Metering: In/Out, de-esser, compression, expansion
Password based security
44.1, 48 or 96 kHz AES3 output sample rates
Mic or line level out, selectable from rear panel
24-bit A/D, D/A converters
Preset storage/recall via GUI
Variable frequency de-esser
Voice phase scrambler
Adjustable compression
Downward expansion
EQ: two-band parametric plus variable high and low shelving
Tunable high and low pass filters
FFT voice energy display via GUI
Quick save/compare function
TCP/IP Ethernet remote control
Takes up only one rack space
MG-1 Control GUI
The Control Software loads on an external PC. You can connect the PC directly to the processor, or install the processor on your station's Ethernet LAN and access it from anywhere in your network (or remotely over VPN).
With Control Software no adjustment is more than two mouse clicks away. And unlike other processors, every processing control is available and labeled for exactly what it does, giving you ultimate power to create your ideal sound.
The remote control screen is divided into an upper control area and a lower dynamic section that includes real-time display of gain reduction as well as a frequency-domain graph that shows the spectral characteristics of your audio. Every screen also includes accurate metering of input and output peak and average levels. Tabs across the top of the GUI software allow immediate access to each section of the processing - parametric EQ, de-esser, filters, compressor and downward expander.
All parameters of the MG-1 are adjustable using the included Windows-based GUI which can control as many as 254 MG-1 devices.on.
Voice talent can activate his or her own personal sound at the press of a button using the Talent Control Interface, a special GUI designed for talent recall of pre-existing audio presets. The Wheatstone Talent Control Interface software can reside on an air studio/control room PC and can recall presets from any Wheatstone microphone processor, but does not allow the user to modify those presets.
Factory presets are pre-installed and write protected.
New factory presets can be downloaded from the Wheatstone-Processing.com web site and installed via the Windows-based GUI software.
Unlimited preset storage on the host PC
Electronic differential: >2KΩ (bridging)
Optimum source impedance: 200Ω
Phantom Power: 48VDC, switchable on/off
Gain: -10dB to +70dB in 1dB steps
Frequency response: ±0.2dB 20Hz-20KHz
Equivalent input noise (EIN): -128dBu
THD+N: <0.03%, 20Hz-20kHz, -50dBu input
Line-level output
Digital XLR-M connector: one
Reference Level: 0VU=-20dBFS
Output Sample Rates: 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz and 96 kHz
Balanced: 110Ω AES-3 0VU=-20dBfs
Analog XLR-M connector: one
Electronically balanced: <10Ω source impedance
Optimum load impedance: >600Ω
Maximum output level: +24dBu
Asymmetry filter Phase rotator, 4th order allpass, switchable in/out
High-pass: 24dB/octave Butterworth
Adjustable: 20Hz-1kHz
Low-pass: 24dB/octave Butterworth
Adjustable: 1-20kHz
Threshold Adjustable: -60dBFS to 0dBFS
Depth Adjustable: 0-40dB
Close Adjustable: 50ms-3s
Control: Recursive-style
Threshold Adjustable: -10dBFS to -60dBFS
Release time Adjustable: 50ms-500ms
De-ess frequency Adjustable: 20Hz-20kHz
Routable: Pre or post compressor
Band 1: Shelving
Adjustable: 20-200Hz
Boost/cut: ±14dB
Bands 2 and 3: Parametric
Adjustable: 20Hz-20kHz
Boost/cut: ±14dB
Bandwidth: 0.2-3.0 octave
Band 4: Shelving
Adjustable: 2kH-20kHz
Boost/cut: ±14dB
Control: Broadband
Threshold: -10dBFS to -50dBFS
Attack time: 0.2ms-1s
Release time: 33ms-1s
Ratio: 1:1-20:1
Optional Wheatstone Announcer Panel or custom interface Connections:
ON, OFF, Cough, ON tally, OFF tally, power and ground
Ethernet 10-100BASE-T,
19"/48.3cm wide
1.75"/4.5cm high
10"/25.4cm deep (allow 3.25"/8.25cm for rear connectors)
Weight: 8.1lbs/3.68kg
Shipping weight: 13lbs/5.9kg
Power Requirements: 90-260VAC, 50-60Hz, 24VA


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Top Reasons Why Athletes Should See a Sports Medicine Doctor
The life of professional athletes isn't easy. They have to participate in intensive exercises and training activities constantly to deliver maximum performance in front of an audience.
While these activities are crucial for athletes to stay in shape, they can also damage their body.
Sports medicine is a growing healthcare field dedicated for treatment of injuries related to sports and exercise like fractures, dislocations, sprains and strains, tendonitis, overtraining syndrome and degenerative diseases.
Besides injury treatment, it also focuses on helping the athletes improve their performance prevent future injuries.
Despite being a relatively new medical specialty, it has become essential for athletes thanks to its ability to address their specific needs and concerns.
Who is a Sports Medicine Doctor?
A sports medicine doctor is a licensed and trained individual who focuses on the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of injuries related to athletic activities.
These specialists treat their patients using physical therapy, orthopedic surgery, massage therapy, exercises, and other techniques so that they can return to their desired activity level quickly, safely and successfully.
They also teach the athletes on nutrition to help them maintain an optimal level of health and fitness and achieve their sports performance goals.
The sports medicine team includes sports physiotherapists, sports massage therapists, sports orthopaedic surgeons, sports podiatrists, athletic trainers, sports dieticians, exercise physiologists and sports biomechanists.
Common Sports Injuries:
Some common sports injuries athletes suffer on the filed include ankle sprain, groin pull, hamstring strain, knee injury, tennis elbow, Achilles tendinitis, concussion, shoulder injury, hip bursitis, quadriceps strain and shin splints.
They can also experience the exacerbation of pre-existing health problems like diabetes, asthma, allergies and arthritis.
Reasons to Visit a Sports Medicine Doctor:
There are many reasons for an athlete to see a sports physician.
Let's take a look at some of them.
(1) Customized Care:
Sports medicine doctors are specially trained healthcare professionals who have an in-depth understanding of what could be the impacts of an exercise on their patient's body. They collaborate with physical therapists and orthopedic surgeons to develop a customized treatment for their patient.
(2) Injury Prevention:
Sports physicians can provide the athletes with expert advice on the how to prevent injuries during the practice or play and how to reduce the likelihood of resurfacing a previous injury. They also conduct pre-participation physical exams of their patients to determine whether they are fit enough to resume sports activities.
(3) Pain Management:
Sports injuries may lead to several orthopedic issues that often cause chronic pain, making it difficult for the athletes to return to the game and carry out their activities.
While the primary aim of sports physicians is always to diagnose, treat and resolve the injury, they also use pain management therapies like electrical stimulation, spinal decompression, prescription medications and injected medications, to help their patients prevent or defer the need for surgery and continue their daily activities without any hindrance.
(4) Rehabilitation:
For an athlete, a return from an injury can be a complicated and lengthy process. If you find yourself sidelined by an injury, a sports physician can help you restore your movement and function and return to same or higher level of fitness quickly.
(5) Improving Athletic Performance:
Sports physicians diagnose and treat uncomfortable conditions to help you deliver your maximum performance, both on and off the field.
They also suggest you exercises and techniques to improve your strength and balance that contribute to your success as an athlete.
(6) Improving overall Fitness:
Sports physicians help athletes prevent muscle sprains, strains and tears to keep their bodies in shape.
They also conduct full body and musculoskeletal examinations to help them maintain their overall fitness.
(7) Non-Surgical Treatment:
Sports physicians try to avoid surgery in less severe cases and instead focus on treating injuries with non-surgical methods like physical therapy and acupuncture.
These treatments are often non-invasive and require shorter recovery time.
(8) State-of-the-Art Surgical Treatment:
In the cases where surgery is indispensable, sports physicians use advanced surgical procedures, like arthroscopic ACL repair, platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy, hip arthroscopy, stem cell therapy and rotator cuff repair to restore the function of injured areas.
(9) Education & Nutrition:
Sports medicine doctors teach you how to fuel your body properly to deliver greater performance consistency.They also focus on each athlete's dietary needs depending on his/her general health and athletic goals.
(10) Rehabilitated Mobility:
Sports injuries can impair your mobility and flexibility, thus preventing you from conducting your athletic activities. Sports physicians help you restore function, increase strength and flexibility, improve range of motion, and prevent injuries from occurring.
(11) Improving Confidence:
An athlete fights with different type of injuries on the field that could make him/her self-conscious. Sports physicians address their specific needs, thus helping them regain their confidence and enjoy their game.


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I have been meaning to do this since Kim, over at My City Mommy, posted this GREAT piece of advice on printing coupons. And now, that the beginning of a new month is upon us, which means a NEW stock of printable coupons, I thought there were a few things worth sharing.
Do you ever feel like this when you are trying to print coupons? I wanted to teach you how to print bricks coupons whether your browser is Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Safari.
If you are having problems printing a bricks coupon you can easily solve the problem by changing two letters in the url.
This is an example of a bricks coupon:
The highlighted letters in the url are the letters you'll need to change depending on your browser to make the coupon print.
Here are the letters you should use instead:
Internet Explorer: vi or wi
Firefox: vg or wg
Safari: xs
Make sure your printer has paper, ink, and is plugged in. I have lost more than a few coupons because my printer wasn't on, but the silly coupon didn't recognize that and thought it had printed. So, I lost it.
Also, most printable coupons can be printed twice. As soon as the first one prints, hit the browser back button about 2 or three times until you see the computer and the printer icons.
I will put this tip on the sidebar under Printing Coupons 101 and add to it if I think of another printing coupon tip.
Have any tips you want to share? Leave a comment, by clicking 'comment' at the end of this post.
Keep up with the freebies, coupons and discounts! Subscribe Now! It's Free!
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
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text:
Helmsley Trust gives $22 million to Israeli institutions
Magen David Adom, Barzilai Hospital, Haifa University among recipients of donation aimed at boosting protection against disasters
The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust announced almost $22 million in new grants to four Israeli institutions.
The four grants are being awarded to Magen David Adom, Barzilai Hospital, Haifa University and Friends of the Israel Defense Forces. The grants are intended to strengthen and protect facilities in the event of natural disasters or regional conflict, expand Israel's environmental research of the Mediterranean seabed and provide scholarships for disadvantaged soldiers to pursue higher education, according to the trust.
The New York-based trust, which began awarding grants to Israel in 2009 and holds more than $4 billion in assets, has committed over $110 million so far to various organizations in the Jewish state. It also funds a range of education, health care and environmental projects in the United States.
"These grants illustrate our basic philanthropic approach toward Israel," said Helmsley trustee Sandor Frankel in a statement. "They will strengthen Israel's scientific, technological and medical research, which will benefit not only Israel, but the rest of the world as well."
The Helmsleys earned their fortune in the real estate and hotel businesses.


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Film and Media Culture
The Film and Media Culture Department is dedicated to the study of film and audiovisual media as vital aspects of a liberal arts education. Our students study a wide range of media, including cinema, television, and digital media, considering them as aesthetic forms and in relation to the cultures that produced them.
Our curriculum fully integrates the creation and critical study of film and media in a manner appropriate to a liberal arts education. Students combine the critical studies of film and media with the creation of media work, often within the same course. Our courses situate media within national and global contexts and examine transnational and transcultural media flows, and our classes incorporate numerous screenings of films and media texts, with scheduled evening sessions and hands-on lab sections.
Faculty and Facilities
The faculty in the Film and Media Culture Department are active scholars and creators, writing books, creating films, and contributing to the vibrant academic field of film and media studies. We are housed in the Axinn Center, with state-of-the-art digital video production facilities and high-end screening rooms.
We believe that Middlebury is a leader in teaching film and media studies in a liberal arts context, with alumni finding success within the film and media industries, as well as in a wide variety of other fields.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q Can film and media majors study abroad?
Yes. FMMC majors often spend a semester away from Middlebury on a range of programs. Many of the Middlebury Schools Abroad offer courses on local or regional film and media that can be transferred as elective credit. We also run an exchange program with the Universities of Nottingham and East Anglia in the United Kingdom, both of which have strong film and media programs. Some students also look to spend a semester at an American film school, such as NYU or USC. Your advisor can help arrange this, but students should be aware that financial aid does not transfer to these programs. Students interested in studying a full year abroad must plan early to complete all core courses in the major prior to their junior year.
Q How can you make films at Middlebury?
The Film and Media Culture Department has high-end production facilities for creating digital videos. We do not support production using actual film, due to the expense of equipment, film stock, and processing; we have found that teaching videography and digital editing is the most effective way to prepare undergraduates who want to become film creators within the liberal arts context. Students in FMMC have opportunities to produce creative projects in a range of media forms, and can choose to work toward a creative senior project of a video, screenplay, or other media form.
Q What does it mean to study film at Middlebury?
Middlebury's Film and Media Culture Department treats film as an aesthetic form to be analyzed critically, as well as an art form to be created. We explore films from around the world, spanning over a century of film history. A student graduating with an FMMC major will have in-depth knowledge of a broad range of cinematic traditions, critical approaches, and aesthetic movements.
Q Does Middlebury have a film school?
The Film and Media Culture Department is the place at Middlebury to study film production as well as criticism and history. We do not see ourselves as a "film school," as we do not specialize in production and our curriculum is not primarily designed to prepare students for jobs in the industry. Instead, we believe that film and media are a key part of a liberal arts curriculum, and the creative process in all art forms strengthens a student's education. Students can get hands-on education in video production, animation, digital art, and writing for the screen as components of a broader education in film and media.
Q Can I take film classes without being a major?
Yes. None of our courses are restricted to majors or minors. Most intermediate and advanced courses do have prerequisites of introductory courses, however, as students need a background in the core concepts and vocabulary of studying film and media before studying production or advanced critical studies.
Q Why do film and media courses have so many hours scheduled?
Most FMMC courses have specific screening times scheduled in our course registration system—screenings are a core component of a course and are not optional. If students have a conflict with screening times, they may contact the professor in advance of registration to request a waiver allowing them to make up the viewing on their own, but waivers will be issued by discretion of the professor. Some courses have designated labs, which are required hands-on sessions for production-centered courses.
Q What can I do after graduating with a film and media major?
FMMC students often do go into the film and media industries. In recent years, graduates have found jobs working for film production companies, television stations and networks, and advertising agencies, and as freelance writers and editors. Students have also gone into other career areas, from teaching to banking, as all Middlebury graduates can use their liberal arts foundation to explore an array of career options. Film and media students have also pursued graduate education in top MFA and PhD programs. See our alumni section for some profiles of recent graduates.


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Imam Ibn Taymiyya Mentions some Great Shaykhs of Sufism
And we wish to mention some of the shaykhs which Imam Ibn Taymiyya accepted from the well-known Sufi shaykhs. This is found in his volume entitled 'Ilm as-Sulook [the Science of Travelling the Way to God], which consists of the whole of volume 10 of Majmu'a Fatawa Ibn Taymiyya which is 775 pages in length, all of which is about the knowledge of the ways of true Sufism, the Science of Travelling to God, ['ilm us-sulook].
On page 516, the third paragraph he says:
"the great Sufi shaykhs are the best shaykhs to be known and accepted, such as: Bayazid al-Bistami [a grandshaykh of the Golden Chain of the Naqshbandi Tariqat], Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani, Junayd bin Muhammad [the most well-known Sufi] Hasan al-Basri, al Fudayl ibn al-Ayyad, Ibrahim bin al-Adham [very famous sufi, known as Sultan of the Ascetics], Abi Sulayman ad-Daarani, Ma'ruf al-Karkhi [a well-known Sufi], Siri as-Saqati, Shaykh Hammad, Shaykh Abul Bayyan."
He continues, stating:
"Those great Sufi people were the leaders of humanity: they were calling to what is right and forbidding what is wrong."
In Majmu'a Fatawa, Vol, 11, page 497. Book of Tassuwuf, Ibn Taymiyya says:
"You have to know that the rightly-guided shaykhs must be taken as guides and examples in the Din, as they are following in the footsteps of the Prophets and Messengers.And the Way (tariqat) of those shaykhs is to call people to Allah's Divine Presence and obedience to the Prophet."
Here we find Ibn Taymiyya calling for people to take a guide and mentioning that each guide has his own method (tariqat) in calling people to the Prophet's ways.
Ibn Taymiyya says on page 499 of the same volume:
"And the shaykhs whom we need to take as guides are our examples that we have to follow, as when on the Hajj, (the pilgrimage) one needs a guide [daleel] to reach the Ka'aba, these shaykhs are our guide [daleel] to Allah and our Prophet (s)."
Ibn Taymiyya quotes from Bayazid al-Bistami, who said, on page 510,
Volume 10:
"…the great Sufi shaykh Bayazid al-Bistami and the famous story about him when he saw God in a vision (kashf) and said to Him: 'O Allah what is the way to You?' And Allah responded 'Leave yourself and come to Me.'"
Ibn Taymiyya continues quoting Bayazid al-Bistami,
"I shed my self as a snake sheds its skin."
This quotation is an indication of the need for zuhd (self-denial or abstention from the worldly life), as that was the path followed by Bayazid al-Bistami.So we see from the above quotes, that Ibn Taymiyya was accepting many shaykhs by quoting them and urging people to follow guides to show the way to obey God and to obey the Prophet (s).


text: If you like to solve various puzzles and word games, then you have got there where you need to. This site contains answers to the most popular games with words on iPhone and Android. See the list below and choose the game you want. Bookmark your site and use it at any time.


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GAI member receives Japan-America Society fellowship
Congratulations to GAI member Eric Schulz (middle school geography teacher; Anamosa Community School District) who received a prestigious Keizai Koho Fellowship to travel to Japan for approximately ten days in July 2012 to learn about Japanese society and enhance their teaching of global perspectives. Eric visited Japanese schools, toured disaster preparation facilities related to the 2011 tsunami, stayed with a host family, presented a seminar, and participated in other tours and activities. Mr.


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If you can make puzzles out of king's tours, why not try to do the same with knight's tours? Here is a first attempt. Remember, a knight moves this way:
So, the goal of these puzzles is to complete a "knight's tour" of the board, honoring the numbers that have already been filled in. The types of boards that you can use for a knight's tour are much more limited than those you can use for a king's tour. The two puzzles in this post are based on a 5x6 board (as in "quick chess" if you have ever played that).
First draft of "kixote" instructions: Fill in the missing numbers so that when followed in order they form a "knight's path" around the grid, where each square is visited exactly once. A knight is a chess piece that follows an L-shaped path, moving in one of these ways: (a) two steps vertically followed by one step horizontally, or (b) two steps horizontally followed by one step vertically.
Kixote Puzzle A
Kixote Puzzle B
OK, but what about the silly name "kixote"? Well, it's clear that any number puzzle has to have a three syllable name that sounds vaguely Japanese, and this one should have something to do with knights that roam around.
It seems that one way to make a puzzle is to start with a problem and its solution, and then hide part of the solution. Finding the solution to the problem is now just a puzzle, since some of it is right there in front of you. In this case, the original problem is finding a knight's tour - the puzzle is generated by taking some particular solution and hiding some of it. To be a well-formed puzzle, you should only be able to obtain the original solution, not several other solutions that just match on their exposed parts. Making sure that the puzzle is well-formed either takes good puzzle-making skills, or good puzzle-checking algorithms. Right now, I have neither - please let me know if these puzzles work or not.
Update: the solutions to the puzzles in this post are here.


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Welcome to our research center. We've put together a library of information on important financial topics that we believe you'll find helpful.
Simply click on one of the general financial topics below, and you'll find a selection of easy-to-understand information about related financial concepts. This information is updated regularly to reflect the latest facts, figures, and trends.
Commercial Insurance
- Insuring the Vehicles That Drive Your Business
- Business Owners Policy: Basic Protection for Multiple Risks
- Specialty Liability Coverage
- Workers' Comp Takes Care of Your Team
Home Insurance
- The 17 Perils
- Actual Cash Value vs. Replacement Cost
- Understanding Deductibles
- Documentation of Valuables
- Floaters for the Finer Things
- Flood Insurance
- Insuring a Home
- The Basics of Homeowner's Insurance
- Cover Yourself with an Umbrella Liability Policy
- Insuring a Condominium
- Special Circumstances: Property Under Construction and Rental Property
- Renters Insurance
Vehicle Insurance
- On the Move: Insurance Protection for Your Automobile and Other Vehicles
- Auto Insurance: Determining Your Policy Needs
- Vehicle Insurance Coverage Extras
- Who's at Fault? A Look at Liability Issues
- Premiums and Discounts: Factors that Affect Your Rate
- What To Do After an Accident
- Getting Your Car Back
- Is It Business … or Is It Personal?
- Risky Drivers
- Insuring Teen Drivers
- Motorcycle Insurance
- Watch the Hull: Insurance for Boats and Other Recreational Watercraft
- Specialty Policies Can Help Insure Fun
- Aviation Insurance
Risk Management
What Is Term Life Insurance?
Term life insurance differs from permanent forms of life insurance in that it offers temporary protection.
What Is Universal Life Insurance?
Consider a universal life insurance policy if you want the flexibility to change your premium or death benefit.
What Are the Main Types of Auto Insurance?
Even if your state doesn't require certain types of auto insurance, it may be wise to purchase multiple types to ensure you are covered for a variety of situations.
How Can I Protect My Home?
Since your home is one of your greatest assets, you should make sure it is adequately protected. That's where homeowners insurance enters the picture.
How Can I Extend My Liability Coverage?
Consider additional liability insurance to help protect you from the potentially devastating effects of liability lawsuits.
How Likely Am I to Need Long-Term Care?
If you were to suffer an illness or disability that required long-term nursing care, would you be covered?


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Wyoming wildlife officials have regained managerial control of the state's wolf population as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has approved the removal of Wyoming wolves from federal Endangered Species Act protections.
Wolf Populations Rebounding
Regaining managerial control over its estimated 350 wolves, Wyoming joins Idaho, Montana, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, each of which regained similar control during 2011 and 2012.
Wolf populations have rebounded strongly in the Upper Rocky Mountain states and in the Upper Great Lakes region, prompting federal wildlife officials to return oversight of the species to the individual states in those regions.
The return of wolf population management to the respective states was long overdue, says H. Sterling Burnett, a senior fellow with the National Center for Policy Analysis.
"Wolves exceeded the population goal set by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service years ago and should have been delisted then," Burnett said. "There was no evidence that Wyoming's previous wolf management plans would have endangered their recovery.
"This is a win-win for the environment, the economy, and state sovereignty," said Burnett.
Rangers Fear Predation
Liz Lausk, communications director for the Wyoming Stockgrowers Association, says wildlife officials must ensure the resurgence in wolf numbers does not decimate ranchers' livestock.
"Wolves are predators, and they don't respect boundaries. Since being reintroduced into the state they have affected producers that graze on public lands. Many growers graze on public lands and the ones that graze on lands in the northwestern part of the state where most of the wolves are located have seen a sharp increase in the number of wolf attacks since wolves were reintroduced there," said Lausk.
"Contrary to public perception, wolves don't just attack sick or injured animals. Many growers have reported wolf attacks on healthy, vibrant ones. This can cause a great financial loss to a grower's herd," Lausk explained.
Mark Holyoak, public relations director for the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, says the Fish and Wildlife Service should have returned wolf management to Wyoming and other states a long time ago.
"We believe they should fall under the same jurisdiction as any other predator, including lions and bears, and be managed by the state agencies so that if there is an excessive number, more hunting licenses should be issued and a proper balance restored," said Holyoak.
Limited Hunting Permits
The Wyoming Game Commission will issue wolf hunting licenses this year but will call a halt to wolf hunts after hunters kill 52 wolves.
Eric Keszler, public information officer with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, says the way his state's hunting season is structured, the 52 trophy animals that can be hunted this year are a conservative number because the wolf population would have to decline to about 150 before they could be considered again for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act. This year's wolf season will end as soon as the quota is met or on December 31, whichever comes first.
"Most of the hunters buying licenses are people in the area, and they want to have a wolf license just in case they encounter one while they're hunting elk, deer, moose, or bighorn sheep. They want to be prepared," said Keszler.
"I think it's great that they've delisted the wolves from the ESA. We've been stuck in such a bureaucratic morass for so long now that this is a big relief," said Colin Simpson, former Speaker of the House in the Wyoming legislature.
"When you live in a rural area, there are wolves, coyotes, and grizzly bears to contend with. I'm getting a hunting license for wolves, and my wife is too. I haven't yet decided if I'm going specifically to hunt wolves or whether I'm getting it just to have it," he explained.
Kenneth Artz ([email protected]) writes from Dallas, Texas.


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"2K edit pack" is geared specifically towards DJ's. All of the edits in the 2k edit pack were made within the last three months. The edits were made for specific shows the duo was performing at in the Las VegasHard Rock Cafe. The edits were sitting in their private collection so they decided once they reach 2,000 likes on Facebook they would give them away for free to thank their fans for all their support
Dirty Lazrs was formed when two friends "Chris Johnson" & "Nayibe Paredes" were not satisfied with the nine to five jobs they were working. They both wanted more, so every day after work they starting learning how to produce, and soon after bought their own DJ equipment. "We felt like doing this because of the feeling you get when you are on a stage getting ready to play. People are gathered together, just waiting for you to start the journey of forgetting everything and feeling connected through the music, the lights, and the vibes that others are emitting off each other. We want to make people happy, and forget what happened the day before. That is our passion."
Andrew Lazar +1 (707) 419-1294 ,


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The SG Airy Premium Blend definitely emanates a noted lounge vibe – not surprisingly, since we certainly enjoy the civilised art of lounging about. Its pros: the radiating of an easy grace, as well as the elaborate colour effect. In the Blend Variation the play of colours is becoming even more intensive by a combination of 2 or 3 fibres in different colours.
pile height | approx. 55 mm |
total weight | approx. 5400 g / m² |
acoustic behavior | sound absorbing |
electrostatic behavior | antistatic |
capability to restore | suitable for tables and chairs; we recommend furniture glides. |
floor heating | suitable for floor heating |


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Edited by Dr. David Shatz, Dr. Joel B. Wolowelsky and Rabbi Reuven Ziegler.
Abraham is not only the first Jew, but also a historical prototype, his
experiences and actions foreshadowing critical patterns in the history
of his people. In addition, Abraham serves as a spiritual and ethical
model to his descendants. He is a teacher, a paragon of kindness, a
lonely iconoclast, a master of sacrifice, and a knight of faith.
Through careful exegesis of verses, illuminating analyses of character,
and insightful readings of classical commentators, the essays in this
book seek both the eternal and the contemporary messages of the Abraham
Regularly $26.95 / Now $22.90


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Plumber Burnside
Plumber Burnside - Open Seven Days
Do you need a fully qualified, registered, reliable, trusted, and recommended plumber in Burnside? Our local plumbers in Burnside can cater for all your needs if you do.
With nearly 50 years of experience and a reputation built on repeat custom, recommendations and referrals, we provide extensive professional plumbing services for domestic and commercial customers in Burnside.
We specialise in kitchen, utility room, toilet, shower room, ensuite, and bathroom plumbing. We provide general plumbing repairs, scheduled maintenance, breakdowns, and routine servicing.
Our services include new tap installation and repair, new toilet installation and repair, new sink installation and repairs, new mixer and electric shower installation and replacement, dishwasher and washing machine installation, leaking, dripping, broken, and burst pipe repairs and replacement, clearing clogged or blocked toilets and sinks and more.
Additionally, we are open seven days a week if you need an emergency plumber in Burnside.
For your peace of mind, our plumbing contractors are City & Guilds Qualified, Gas Safe Registered, our work is guaranteed, and we are fully insured.


text:
The short version? Having the government do your restructuring for you isn't necessarily the brightest thing in the world. Particularly when there's a variety of conflicting objectives. At least, if what you're trying to do is actually create a better version of your company; if your goal is to use government fiat to streamline the operations of your newly government-owned automobile manufacturer it apparently works out just fine.
Longer version after the fold.
Some background (all quotes from here):
Pursuant to their loan agreements with Treasury, as a condition of receiving additional TARP funding, GM and Chrysler were required to submit restructuring plans to the Treasury Auto Team in February 2009. GM's restructuring plan explicitly spelled out its plan to reduce its dealership network gradually, by approximately 300 dealers per year over the next five years. In March 2009, Treasury's Auto Team rejected both companies' restructuring plans. In GM's case, the Auto Team specifically highlighted GM's planned "pace" of dealership closings as one of the obstacles to its viability. In response to the Auto Team's rejection of their restructuring plans and in light of their intervening bankruptcies, GM and Chrysler significantly accelerated their dealership termination timetables, with Chrysler terminating 789 dealerships by June 10, 2009, and GM announcing plans to wind down 1,454 dealerships by October 2010.
And how did that work out?
First off, there are legitimate concerns that dealerships were removed too quickly:
The representative from J.D. Power and Associates, for example, said that Chrysler's decision to terminate 789 dealerships within three weeks in an environment that was already disrupted by the poor economy could bring about an even greater crisis in sales. Although he did not disagree from a business standpoint that terminating some dealerships was necessary, he asked why Chrysler would want to "create a wave of chaos amidst [an economic] crisis." Indeed, in September 2009, Chrysler officials themselves told SIGTARP that closing dealerships too quickly would have an adverse effect on sales.
Also, SIGTARP maintains that the reductions targeted rural areas (50% of total for GM) unduly:
According to Mr. Bloom, of the experts that he consulted, only one — from the Center for Automotive Research — voiced opposition, as noted below, to dealership terminations. However, SIGTARP interviewed that expert and one from J.D. Power and Associates, who was not consulted by the Auto Team. Both experts said that while metro areas were oversaturated with GM and Chrysler dealerships and reductions were needed in these areas, this was not the case in rural areas where GM and Chrysler had an advantage over their import competitors.
And that the criteria ostensibly used by GM was not uniformly followed:
SIGTARP found that GM did not wind down all the dealerships meeting the aforementioned criteria. For example, although 992 dealerships with a DPS below 80 were selected for closure, another 763 with a DPS below 80 were retained. Similarly, for dealerships with a DPS of 100 and a non-GM brand in the same facility, 226 were phase one wind-downs, 43 were phase two wind-downs, and 299 were retained. Additionally, SIGTARP noted that 39 wind-down dealers in phase two did not meet any of the performance-based criteria (DPS, RSI, new vehicles sold, non-GM dual).
SIGTARP also found that GM was missing data to evaluate some of the dealerships based on the established criteria. GM was missing at least one of the following criteria for 30822 dealerships; DPS score, RSI, or 2008 retail sales. We determined that a total of 61 dealerships that lacked at least one of these criteria were terminated, and 247 were retained.
SIGTARP's conclusion:
at a time when the country was experiencing the worst economic downturn in generations and the Government was asking its taxpayers to support a $787 billion stimulus package designed primarily to preserve jobs, Treasury made a series of decisions that may have substantially contributed to the accelerated shuttering of thousands of small businesses and thereby potentially adding tens of thousands of workers to the already lengthy unemployment rolls — all based on a theory and without sufficient consideration of the decisions' broader economic impact. That the automakers have offered reinstatement to hundreds of terminated dealerships in response to Congressional action without any apparent sacrifice to their ongoing viability further demonstrates the possibility that such dramatic and accelerated dealership closings may not have been necessary and underscores the need for Treasury to tread very carefully when considering such decisions in the future.
Which, of course, they will not do. At least, in GM's case; it's partially owned by the Treasury Department now, so the final determination of what happens with that company is largely in the hands of the administration. Which, unfortunately, means that a lot of what GM does from now on will be based on political considerations – and arguably worse, partisan political considerations. I say 'arguably' because even absent the adjective the situation is quite bad enough…
Moe Lane
Crossposted to Moe Lane.


text:
The San Francisco Municipal Authority has released a Google Map to help improve car parking in the city. The new map displays real-time information about where parking is available so drivers can quickly find open spaces.
As part of the new initiative San Francisco now periodically adjusts meter pricing to match demand. To help keep car drivers informed about the variable meter prices SFpark displays in real-time current prices.
Roads on the map are color-coded to reflect real-time meter pricing. The darker the shade of green of a road the higher its current pricing. It is also possible to view in real-time the current availability of parking spaces.
City owned parking garages are also displayed on the map. Rates at these garages will now also vary to match real-time demand.


text:
Up today, I continue my efforts to build something of a testing solution for Polymer elements. The built-in testing Dart solutions have been more than up to the task with Polymer.dart, but the JavaScript testing setup has proved trickier. To resolve the various annoyances, I have what I think is a relatively simple approach, but with some definite opinions. This seems ideal for extracting into a node.js package, if only to ease my own Polymer testing.
Last night, I extracted a bunch of the Karma configuration out into eee-polymer-tests. Now that it is a GitHub project, I can specify it as a development dependency in custom Polymer elements:
{ "name": "parent-events", "devDependencies": { "eee-polymer-tests": "eee-c/eee-polymer-tests" } }After
npm install
(following the traditional rm -rf node_modules
), I have Karma, Jasmine, and other testing requirements as well as settings from eee-polymer-tests:$ rm -rf node_modules $ npm install email@example.com node_modules/karma-chrome-launcher firstname.lastname@example.com node_modules/karma email@example.com node_modules/karma-jasmine firstname.lastname@example.com node_modules/eee-polymer-tests $ ls -l node_modules/eee-polymer-tests total 16 -rw-r--r-- 1 chris chris 2022 Aug 31 01:06 karma-common.conf.js -rw-r--r-- 1 chris chris 1078 Aug 31 01:06 LICENSE -rw-r--r-- 1 chris chris 1340 Aug 31 22:02 package.json -rw-r--r-- 1 chris chris 306 Aug 31 01:06 README.mdThanks to NPM peer dependencies, the Karma and Jasmine packages are installed for easy use in my element's tests. Thanks to the
from last night, my own karma.conf.js
is nothing more than:module.exports = function(config) { var common = require('./node_modules/eee-polymer-tests/karma-common.conf.js'); config.set(common.mixin_common_opts(config, { // ... })); };With no other setup required, my tests still pass:
$ karma start --single-run INFO [karma]: Karma v0.12.23 server started at http://localhost:9876/ INFO [launcher]: Starting browser Chrome INFO [Chrome 37.0.2062 (Linux)]: Connected on socket B3i3n_dnKrvjoYei80Jc with id 60115395 Chrome 37.0.2062 (Linux): Executed 2 of 2 SUCCESS (0.076 secs / 0.072 secs)That is pretty good, but I would like to be able to generate some of the testing code that is currently required to make all of this work:
. ├── bower.json ├── elements │ └── click-sink.html ├── index.html ├── karma.conf.js ├── package.json └── test ├── ClickSinkSpec.js └── PolymerSetup.jsThe
file exposes a hidden dependency on Bower. The only real consideration for Bower is that my tests expect Polymer dependencies to be installed in bower_components
. I will defer consideration of that until another day. For now, I would like to write a script that creates the other three files in the list. I start with
, which is nearly boilerplate except for the inclusion of the main Polymer element at the very end of the file:// Delay Jasmine specs until Polymer is ready var POLYMER_READY = false; beforeEach(function(done) { /* wait for polymer-ready */ }); // 1. Load Polymer before any code that touches the DOM. var script = document.createElement("script"); script.src = "/base/bower_components/platform/platform.js"; document.getElementsByTagName("head")[0].appendChild(script); // 2. Load component(s) var link = document.createElement("link"); link.rel = "import"; link.href = "/base/elements/click-sink.html"; document.getElementsByTagName("head")[0].appendChild(link);I am unsure if there are any standard templating solutions for Node.js (a quick search did not turn one up), so regular expressions it is!
I create a
file in eee-polymer-test that is identical to the current setup from my working tests. The only change is a mustache-like placeholder for the element name:// Identical up to... // 2. Load component(s) var link = document.createElement("link"); link.rel = "import"; link.href = "/base/elements/{{element-name}}.html"; document.getElementsByTagName("head")[0].appendChild(link);I would prefer that eee-polymer-tests be installed globally (i.e. with
npm install -g
), but that is not going to be an option because of last night's peer dependencies. Instead, this will be run as:$ ./node_modules/eee-polymer-tests/cli.js click-sinkGiven that execution path, the template path will be
. There is probably a way to determine this path relative to the currently executing script, but I will leave that for another day.I just want to be able to read the template and write the template with the element applied. The read should look something like:
#!/usr/bin/env node var element = process.argv[2]; var fs = require('fs'); fs.readFile('./node_modules/eee-polymer-tests/templates/PolymerSetup.js', 'utf8', function (err,data) { if (err) { return console.log(err); } writeSetup(data); });The
can then do the opposite with writeFile()
:function writeSetup(template) { var content = template.replace(/\{\{element-name\}\}/g, element); fs.writeFile('./test/PolymerSetup.js', content); }That takes care of globally replacing the
template placeholder (thanks to the g
modified on the regular expression). And that seems to do the trick. I run that code—overwriting the current
—and re-run the tests to find everything still passing.This seems quite promising for my needs. I am unsure if anyone else will find it similarly useful, but I am definitely filling a need of my own here. I think tomorrow I will continue with this, adding in some overwrite protection. That aside, this is already quite close to what I need.
Day #169


text:
Patmond Energy Limited was established in 1996. Initially set up to trade coal the company has expanded and now successfully charters and operates both deep sea and coastal vessels. We source our coal supplies from South Africa, South America, USA & mainland Europe.
We supply to various sectors in industry and have now expanded our portfolio so that we now ship a range of dry bulk chemicals, cement, clinker as well as coal, petcoke and metcoke, consultancy and freight forwarding.
Based in Cookstown, Northern Ireland, Patmond Energy is a privately owned company with extensive relationships with major companies within the industry.
Learn more
Coal Trading
Freight Forwarding


text:
...one of the most highly
regarded and expertly designed C++ library projects in the
— Herb Sutter and Andrei
Alexandrescu, C++
Coding Standards
In the previous section we showed how to format a complex number (i.e. a pair of doubles). In this section we will build on this example with the goal to avoid using semantic actions in the format specification. Let's have a look at the resulting code first, trying to understand it afterwards (the full source file for this example can be found here: complex_number_easier.cpp):
template <typename OutputIterator> bool generate_complex(OutputIterator sink, std::complex<double> const& c) { using boost::spirit::karma::double_; using boost::spirit::karma::omit; using boost::spirit::karma::generate; return generate(sink, // Begin grammar ( !double_(0.0) << '(' << double_ << ", " << double_ << ')' | omit[double_] << double_ << omit[double_] ), // End grammar c.imag(), c.real(), c.imag() // Data to output ); }
Let's cover some basic library features first.
All Numeric Generators
(such as double_
, et.al.)
take the value to emit from an attached attribute.
double d = 1.5; generate(out, double_, d); // will emit '1.5' (without the quotes)
Alternatively, they may be initialized from a literal value. For instance,
to emit a constant 1.5
may write:
generate(out, double_(1.5)); // will emit '1.5' as well (without the quotes)
The difference to a simple 1.5
or lit(1.5)
is that
the double_(1.5)
an attribute if one is available. Additionally, it compares its immediate
value to the value of the supplied attribute, and fails if those are not
double d = 1.5; generate(out, double_(1.5), d); // will emit '1.5' as long as d == 1.5
This feature, namely to succeed generating only if the attribute matches the immediate value, enables numeric generators to be used to dynamically control the way output is generated.
Note | |
Quite a few generators will fail if their immediate value is not equal
to the supplied attribute. Among those are all Character
Generators and all String
Generators. Generally, all generators having a sibling created
by a variant of |
In addition to the eps
generator mentioned earlier
Spirit.Karma provides two special operators enabling
dynamic flow control: the And
predicate (unary &
and the Not
predicate (unary !
The main property of both predicates is to discard all output emitted by
the attached generator. This is equivalent to the behavior of predicates
used for parsing. There the predicates do not consume any input allowing
to look ahead in the input stream. In Karma, the and predicate succeeds
as long as its associated generator succeeds, while the not predicate succeeds
only if its associated generator fails.
Note | |
The generator predicates in Spirit.Karma consume an attribute, if available. This makes them behave differently from predicates in Spirit.Qi, where they do not expose any attribute. This is because predicates allow to make decisions based on data available only at runtime. While in Spirit.Qi during parsing the decision is made based on looking ahead a few more input tokens, in Spirit.Karma the criteria has to be supplied by the user. The simplest way to do this is by providing an attribute. |
As an example, the following generator succeeds generating
double d = 1.0; BOOST_ASSERT(generate(out, &double_(1.0), d)); // succeeds as d == 1.0
while this one will fail:
double d = 1.0; BOOST_ASSERT(!generate(out, !double_(1.0), d)); // fails as d == 1.0
Neither of these will emit any output. The predicates discard everything emitted by the generators to which they are applied.
Sometimes it is desirable to 'skip' (i.e. ignore) a provided attribute.
This happens for instance in alternative generators, where some of the
alternatives need to extract only part of the overall attribute passed
to the alternative generator. Spirit.Karma has a special
pseudo generator for that: the directive omit
This directive consumes an attribute of the type defined by its embedded
generator but it does not emit any output.
Note | |
The Spirit.Karma |
Very similar to our first example earlier we use two alternatives to allow
for the two different output formats depending on whether the imaginary
part of the complex number is equal to zero or not. The first alternative
is executed if the imaginary part is not zero, the second alternative otherwise.
This time we make the decision during runtime using the Not
predicate (unary !
combined with the feature of many Karma primitive generators to fail
under certain conditions. Here is the first alternative again for your
!double_(0.0) << '(' << double_ << ", " << double_ << ')'
The generator !double_(0.0)
does several things. First, because of the Not
predicate (unary !
it succeeds only if the double_(0.0)
generator fails, making the whole first alternative
fail otherwise. Second, the double_(0.0)
generator succeeds only if the value of its attribute is equal to its immediate
parameter (i.e. in this case 0.0
And third, the not predicate does not emit any output (regardless whether
it succeeds or fails), discarding any possibly emitted output from the
As we pass the imaginary part of the complex number as the attribute value
for the !double_(0.0)
the overall first alternative will be chosen only if it is not equal to
zero (the !double_(0.0)
does not fail). That is exactly what we need!
Now, the second alternative has to emit the real part of the complex number
only. In order to simplify the overall grammar we strive to unify the attribute
types of all alternatives. As the attribute type exposed by the first alternative
is tuple<double, double, double>
we need to skip the first and last element of the attribute (remember,
we pass the real part as the second attribute element). We achieve this
by using the omit[]
omit[double_] << double_ << omit[double_]
The overall attribute of this expression is tuple<double, double, double>
, but the omit[]
'eats up' the first and the last element.
The output emitted by this expression consist of a single generated double
representing the second element of the tuple, i.e. the real part of our
complex number.
Important | |
Generally, it is preferable to use generator constructs not requiring
semantic actions. The reason is that semantic actions often use constructs
like: |


text:
Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, 4 rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, do you wash my feet?" 7 Jesus answered him, "What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand." 8 Peter said to him, "You shall never wash my feet." Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no share with me." 9 Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!" 10 Jesus said to him, "The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you." 11 For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, "Not all of you are clean."
12 When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, "Do you understand what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. 16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. 18 I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, 'He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.' 19 I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he. 20 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me."
21 After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, "Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me." 22 The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke. 23 One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table at Jesus' side,24 so Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. 25 So that disciple, leaning back against Jesus, said to him, "Lord, who is it?" 26 Jesus answered, "It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it." So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. 27 Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, "What you are going to do, do quickly." 28 Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. 29 Some thought that, because Judas had the moneybag, Jesus was telling him, "Buy what we need for the feast," or that he should give something to the poor. 30 So, after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.
31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, "Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. 32 If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once. 33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, 'Where I am going you cannot come.' 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."


text:
From our correspondent in Freetown
22 June 2016
As results of the Sierra Leone People's Party lower level elections held on Saturday 18 June 2016 emerge, the Sierra Leone People's Party membership has demonstrated a desire for hope over fear.
Initial results from these elections show that nominees are supportive of Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella's candidacy for the SLPP presidential nomination.
From the results analysed so far, Yumkella has secured 59 percent of constituencies in the country. KKY supporting candidates have won constituencies in the following districts:
Western Urban District- 30% of constituencies; Port Loko District – 80%; Bombali District – 50%; Kambia District – 90%; Koinadugu District – 100%; Kenema District – 70%; Kono District – 85%; Kailahun District – 0%; Pujehun District – 30%; Moyamba District – 50%.
Bo District is yet to be declared, due to the campaign of violence allegedly orchestrated by supporters of Julius Maada Bio. However, Dr. Yumkella is believed to have won 60% of the constituencies that conducted a free and fair poll.
Tonkolili, Bonthe and the Western Rural districts are yet to be confirmed. Despite the skirmishes, which occurred, Yumkella hopes to do very well in Bonthe District where he has the staunch support of the District Council Chairlady.
Despite the claim by Julius Maada Bio that he will defeat John Oponjo Benjamin in his home town, reports emerging show that Benjamin has secured all the constituencies in Kailahun District.
Munda Rogers is believed to have secured 70% of the constituencies in his home district of Pujehun. Given the level of violence directed towards other candidates, who have not been able to gain the same access to the party offices and to campaign unhindered, it is no surprise that Bio is said to have secured 70% of constituencies in the Western Urban Area. Outside of Western Area, Bio is understood to have secured 50% of constituencies in Moyamba District.
The outcome of these elections would be greeted with relief that the party can now begin to put behind it, the unnecessary legal actions and meetings with the Party Political Registration Commission (PPRC), chaos caused by the hijacking of the party offices by so called "Benghazi Boys" and weak leadership, due to the continuing undermining of the office of the Chairman and National Executive.
Yumkella who attributed his success as a win for the All flag-bearer Alliance and their efforts towards getting the party membership across the country ready for positive change, within the party and country, said that "it is not possible for our Alliance to be defeated in the Western Area where we are all resident and stronger. Bio's supporters might defeat my movement, but he cannot defeat Timbo, Benjamin and me, plus others in the Alliance joined together." (Photo: John Benjamin).
These unofficial results show that Yumkella has emerged as the hot favourite to win the SLPP nomination.
And it demonstrates that party members are fed up of the violent actions of the 'Paopa faction' which has left the party completely ineffective in addressing the aspirations of the people of Sierra Leone, in spite of the continuing economic decline and mismanagement under the APC.
The need for unity was foremost in Yumkella's mind when he said that "this is the time we need to talk more about how the APC has wrecked our economy, and let the people know how men in government are getting richer by the day, while the people go to bed hungry with their children who have been denied quality education."
Many supporters believe that Bio who is resident in Sierra Leone, cannot now realistically hope to retain a stranglehold on the SLPP, through violence, indiscipline, thuggish behaviour and flouting of the party's constitutional and governance arrangements.


text:
This website is dedicated to the fallen liberators of WWII.
Since a long timeI have certain sentiments with the history of WWII. My family experienced this war, so there has always been some interest in WWII History. These sentiments have grown stronger when I grew up and realized how important it is to keep the memory alive of all those brave men who fought and died for our freedom.
My grandmother lived in Rotterdam, as a child she witnessed the heavy bombardment on Rotterdam. Her husband, my grandfather, was forced to work in German factories. She also had a brother who fought in the Dutch Army until Holland surrendered to the Germans. He escaped to Spain, was put in jail there but managed to escape again and made it to England where he became a soldier of the famous Prinses Irene Brigade. He landed in Normandy in August 1944 and fought against the Germans in France, Belgium and Holland. During the winter of 1944-1945, known by the Dutch as the famous 'Hunger Winter', my grandmother had to walk to Overijssel to find food to survive. She ended up eating flower bulbs....
In 2005 I had the opportunity to meet British, American, and Canadian veterans from WWII. I was also honored for meeting some liberators of my hometown 's-Hertogenbosch. After all these experiences, I wanted to do something in return. I found out about the adoption program at the US cemeteries here in Europe. I decided to adopt 25 graves of US soldiers who fought and died for our freedom.
I have adopted 5 graves at the U.S. cemetery and memorial Margraten (NL), 10 graves at the U.S. cemetery and memorial Ardennes (BE) and 10 graves at the U.S. cemetery and memorial Henri-Chapelle (BE).
On this website you learn about the men who gave to ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. They should never be forgotten, you can see the Faces Beyond their Graves.
Martijn van Haren