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Katy Perry: 'Firework' inspired by Jack Kerouac's On the Road
by Jerry Cimino
Katy Perry was not unknown to us here at The Beat Museum – after all, for a while she was married to Russell Brand, who in 2007 participated in a cross-country road trip commemorating On the Road's 50th Anniversary. At the end of the journey, Russell did a live performance about Kerouac here at the Beat Museum that was recorded by the BBC and later broadcast all over the UK. This was before Forgetting Sarah Marshall hit it big. The BBC had contacted us weeks prior and asked if they could record an up and coming comedian who was about to make a splash with a US debut. Turns out Russell was a big Kerouac fan, and had retraced Jack's journeys in On The Road across the US for the BBC, with a final stop here in San Francisco at The Beat Museum.
Russell was a pretty interesting guy. I liked him. He really understood Kerouac, and I remember thinking while I watched his live performance, "This guy's pretty funny in an outrageous sort of way. I wonder if he'll make it here in the States?" Russell was very approachable and very casual, but also very focused and deliberate right before he went on stage. Made sense to me—he was doing a live performance in front of an audience of about 100 and it was being recorded for broadcast for millions. When the show was over he let his hair down (!) and we all went for drinks over at Vesuvio.
Now I don't know if Katy read On The Road before she met Russell or not, but it sounds like it made a pretty big impression on her, as well. It turns out her big hit, "Firework," was inspired by probably the single most famous line Kerouac ever wrote:
"…the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes, "Awww!"
Now in the first video (top of page), during the live interview, Katy kind of garbles the quote. I'm not faulting her for it—she is, after all, a civilian and not a Kerouac aficionado like the likes of us here at The Beat Museum. Her heart was in the right place and she certainly summarizes the spirit of Kerouac's message well.
In the YouTube video below, "Firework" has racked up over 273,000,000 views, a pretty impressive showing by any measure.
I really liked this video. You gotta love a girl who's got fireworks shooting out of her chest and who encourages others to go make their own light in the world. It's all about Tolerance and Compassion and living with Courage and Authenticity. It encourages people who are different or considered to be "less than" by some to go make their own way and to not be afraid.
Katy Perry and Russell Brand—they may have gone splitsville, but The Beat lives on.


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Although Miss Rose & Her Rhythm Percolators retired back in 2018, the music lives on in the memories of our friends and fans and in our timeless recordings.
Travel back in time to the earliest days of the Jazz Age with Miss Rose & Her Rhythm Percolators.
The Seattle-based trio faithfully recreates the vintage jazz of the early 1920s to the mid '30s -- the era when this original American music provided a playful soundtrack for the flappers who danced the Charleston and sipped illicit booze in the glitzy underworld of the speakeasy. Miss Rose & Her Rhythm Percolators play well-known popular tunes that have since become part of the great American songbook and dust off forgotten gems from the early jazz era. Audiences delight at the unabashed romance, the playful humor, and the irresistible swing rhythms. Some can't help but dance or sing along. To fully transport audiences, the band members dress in period clothing, share some of the music's history and run a slideshow of art and photos from the era during performances. Singer Sunga Rose croons and strums a ukulele while the Percolators -- Carey Rayburn (cornet/flugelhorn/percussion) and Hugh Sutton (piano) -- keep time and knock out solos. Miss Rose & Her Rhythm Percolators revive for modern times a wonderful sound from a bygone era. |

subset: commoncrawl


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VMware has announced vFabric Data Director, a new platform to deliver a Database as a Service solution for the enterprise.
Announced at the company s VMworld 2011 conference, vFabric Data Director presents a new database provisioning and operations solution designed to deliver a Database as a Service (DaaS) model for the enterprise. VMware s vFabric Data Director is an extension of the company s Cloud Application Platform strategy, said David McJannet, director of cloud and application services at VMware, in an interview with eWEEK. The solution enables IT to control and manage a growing set of heterogeneous databases through policy-based automation, while streamlining application development via a self-service provisioning model for developers to access the database services needed for modern applications.
Built on VMware vSphere, vFabric Data Director will also extend the benefits of virtualized infrastructures to the database tier, enabling optimization of resource utilization for increased operational efficiency and cost savings.
"Enterprises are increasingly challenged to manage the significant growth of data needed for modern applications while supporting critical application development initiatives," said Tod Nielsen, president of Application Platform at VMware, in a statement. "Today, VMware is advancing its ongoing cloud application platform strategy by delivering innovative data access and management services that more efficiently serve today s applications and establish a foundation for next generation, cloud era applications."
To address this changing nature of applications including web, cloud, social and mobile platforms — VMware is investing in a complete cloud application platform, including new developer frameworks, application and data services and new cloud based Platform as a Service (PAAS) delivery models that promise to significantly increase developer productivity and operational efficiency while enabling access to the broadest range of infrastructure services from VMware, third parties and the open source community.
Indeed, VMware is advancing the modern cloud application platform, extending the Spring community of Java developers with key framework innovations, delivering a core set of cloud application services including messaging and in-memory data services, and introducing Cloud Foundry, the company s Open PAAS.
To read the original eWeek article, click here: VMware Launches Database as a Service


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A dental crown is a tooth-shaped cover placed over a tooth and secured with dental cement. Crowns are generally used to improve the strength or appearance of the tooth. A dental impression usually takes place in order to fabricate the crown.
Most crowns are made from Gold and Porcelain:
Crowns are used to protect broken, worn down teeth. They are also used to cover dental implants, a dental bridge or a tooth with a large filling.
Bridges are used as a replacement for a missing tooth by attaching permanently to adjoining teeth or dental implants. They are an alternative to dental implants or dentures. Bridges are important because the teeth on either side of a missing tooth can shift and potentially lead to gum disease. Bridges are most often made with porcelain and gold.
Benefits of Dental Bridges:
Home|Our Office|Our Team|Dental Services|Dental Health|Forms|Contact Us


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Light green Ribbon Awareness Glitter heart Peace Love cure sublimation heat press transfer.
Sublimation transfers require a material that is at least 50% polyester. The higher the count the brighter the image will be. * Please keep in mind this is a mockup
How To Apply
- Temp: 400 degrees
- Pre-press your garment for 15 seconds
- Press for 60 seconds
- Cover with parchment paper
- Formula:
- Sublimation


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create your selection+
Funerali di P. zza Fontana, Milano (4), 1969
Loaned to
GAM Galleria d'Arte Moderna
gelatin silver print on baryta paper
16.93inch x 11.42inch
No. Elements
Object Type
© Ugo Mulas - Courtesy GAM - Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Torino - Proprietà della Fondazione per l'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea CRT
The Artist
For Mulas, photography is thought. In order to indicate the creative process of the artists he observed and portrayed working in their studios, he often used the word "operation." It is a term close to the act of photographing and, in a broader sense, closer to mental elaboration than to manual work. Perusing his writings, a reader will find numerous passages where he seems to programmatically enunciate the desire that is the rational aspect of the artistic activity of conquering the scene where his pictures are shot.
This is the case with the notes on David Smith, where Mulas explicitly points out the importance of the artist's mental operation in choosing pieces and executing his sculptures, as opposed to the mere physical operation. Or there is the consonance that Mulas expresses with the ironic analysis conducted by Roy Lichtenstein on the presumed spontaneity of the expressionist brushstroke, hemmed in by the thick outlines and rigid stylistic code of comic-book drawing. [...]GAM – Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Torino
Via Magenta, 31
10128 Torino


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Matte is foggy, in the light can not see luster, is the effect of grinding. In recent years, the popular trend of matte has not been receding. It has not only matte eye shadow, matte lipstick, matte blush. Nail polish has also got rid of the past bright effect, and walked up the line of matte effect.
In recent years, the trend of matte nail art design has not changed at all. Matte nail art design is very common in coffin shape nails. The matte effect of various colors can be used on coffin nails, and can be matched with gradients, artificial diamonds or jewelry.
Matte nails are popular in Central Europe and Asia. In this article we collected 30 Pretty Matte Nails for Summer. Let me share with you today.
Source: @upperclassnails


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Self-portrait in Blue Neckcloth
John Ruskin
Source: Spates (see below)
Peirpont Morgan Library, New York
"It is almost universally agreed that Self-Portrait in Blue Neckcloth, 1873 is not only the most striking and accomplished picture Ruskin ever made of himself, but the most honest, a portrait of a soul divided, with one side of his face imaging a face full of light and purpose, while the other side shows a countenance almost monstrous, a half-visage peering out of a terrifying dark, a dark which terrifies the artist himself. Specifically: Ruskin has rendered the right side of his face (the left side in the portrait) in warm flesh tones, its soft-blue, intentioned eye staring straight ahead, its forehead only slightly lined, the hair and sideburns full and robust, the mouth set and determined, the trademark neckcloth perfectly arranged and brilliantly blue. [Continued below]


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Fat Loss Myths Revealed
[sb name="Adsense 3250″]
Wouldn't it be great to be able to eat as much as you want as often as you want and have body fat melt away while you sleep, watch TV, or sit behind your desk at work? I'd certainly go for that – being able to be fit with very little or no effort at all.
Turn on the TV and what do we see? Television ads promising you weight loss and fitness with no effort. Want to lose that extra fat around your belly? Just take these pills. Walk into the bookstore and browse through the rows and rows of books advocating one diet fad or the other. The problem is that most of them offer conflicting information. I'll be straightforward in telling you that rather than separating the fat from your body, most of these people are more interested in separating your money from your wallet.
I've tried many of these diet and exercise fads and can tell you that most of them flat out do not work. Some of the diets will work, but will force your body to do things that it was designed to not do, therefore your body thinks it's deathly ill and starts burning fat as an energy source. Losing fat is not a bad thing at all, but tricking your body into burning fat by responding with a survival mechanism is. What are the long term effects of these fad diets? Who really wants to live the type of restrictive lifestyle that these diets push on you? Who really wants to work hard and suffer for something that in 20 years from now will be the laughingstock of the fitness community? There has to be a better way…
The true path to fat loss is so simple, yet no diet book author would ever admit it. The secret is this:
Burn more calories than you eat.
That's all. There's really nothing more to it than that, and you probably already know this! There is no more effective way, no special fruit from the amazon, no machine that you can use that will give you better results.
Unfortunately there are plenty of people who would like to pull the wool over your eyes about what to eat, how to starve yourself, what machine to use to get the perfect body. Next time you reach for the next diet fad book, brochure on an ab exerciser, or pick up the phone to dial a number you got off of an infomercial, think about this – they didn't work in the past, and they won't work again because you're still not burning more calories than you're taking in.
After scouring the internet, bookstores, and trying just about any diet I could find to lose that extra 30 pounds I'll tell you what's worked for me:
Keep a food journal, tracking all of the calories that you take in. Be detailed. You'll be surprised at how much stuff you can cut out if you just write it down. Personally, I was disgusted at the amount of sugars and junk foods I was ingesting on a daily basis. I didn't eliminate them, only cut back a little.
Find out how many calories you burn in a day. You burn most of your calories just by existing. This is called basal metabolism. Find a chart to see how many calories are burned for certain activities for your weight class.
Exercise regularly. It doesn't take much, only around 20 minutes a day 3-5 days a week. Regular exercise will increase your metabolism and cause your body to burn even more calories even while you're not active.
Being fit is a lifestyle. It doesn't have to be severely limiting and it doesn't even have to be painful. Being fit is always easier in the long run than putting yourself through the ringer with limiting or starvation diets.
My search for the perfect diet and exercise program took me 8 years and ironically the one thing that worked for me was the easiest and least expensive thing out of all of the others I tried.


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Bed bugs are nocturnal and elusive insects which can make them very difficult for Ancaster residents to spot and identify. Bed bugs are small insects with oval shaped, flat bodies and they do not have wings. Bed bugs are visible to the naked eye at all stages of life; however, when they are young they are only about 1mm which could make them difficult to spot. Fully grown bed bugs are generally 4-5mm in length. Bed bugs are brown in colour; however, when they become engorged with blood their body elongates and swells, changing colour from brown to a dull red.
How can I locate bed bugs if I think they are in my residence?
One of the most visible signs of an infestation is dark spotting or staining on clothing, sheets and mattresses. Other signs include: eggshells, molted skins or excrement found in small crevices, the most common being mattresses; red itchy bumps on the body, and- in severe cases- a sweet, stale odor can be detected.
To force bed bugs out of their hiding spaces you can use: a hair dryer (bed bugs are sensitive to heat); a playing card or a thin knife. You can also use a flashlight to look for bed bugs and their droppings in a room.
Where should I look for bed bugs?
Bed bugs generally migrate to dark spots where it is difficult to detect their presence. When looking for bed bugs you should generally check: the seams of your mattress; the box spring and bed frame of your bed; baseboard cracks; around and inside nightstands; in the cracks of your bed and behind your headboard as well as any other bedroom items.
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This post was originally featured on WRIInsights and was co-authored with Daniel Bongardt, Transport Policy Advisor with the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ).
China—especially its cities—has embraced sustainable transport in a big way. The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development recently urged Chinese cities to increase the number of travelers using non-motorized transportation to at least 50 percent by 2015. The country has been undergoing the most rapid expansion of urban rail systems in world history, and it leads Asia in bus-rapid-transit (BRT) and busway implementation. Plus, dozens of cities are expanding non-motorized transport. Hangzhou, for example, has built up the largest public bike program in the world, accumulating 65,000 bicycles in fewer than two years.
But while China leads the developing world in sustainable urban transport expansion, the country faces great challenges when it comes to financing the construction, maintenance, and operation of new and existing public urban transport projects.
The Great Challenge of Funding Sustainable Transport Projects in Chinese Cities
China lacks dedicated funding structures for planned public transit, biking, and walking facilities—at both the national and local levels. The Ministry of Transport provides funding only for inter-city highway projects, acquiring this revenue from gasoline taxes and vehicle registry fees. Local governments, which are often in charge of urban public transport development, currently support metro or BRT construction through per project-based funding, mainly via land leasing and local loans–neither of which is sustainable.
At the same time, the country's sustainable transport costs are projected to skyrocket: The planned construction of 2,500 km of metro rail lines across 28 cities by 2015 will cost $186 billion, without accounting for the $8-10 billion required for BRT and non-motorized facilities.
What China Could Learn from Other Countries to Solve the Transportation Funding Dilemma?
The challenges of and solutions to funding sustainable urban transport systems in China was the topic of a recent workshop co-organized by GIZ, EMBARQ, Custrec, and SLoCaT, held outside Beijing in early November. The workshop hosted representatives of several Chinese research and government institutions, as well as international experts from the International Transport Forum, the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, and the World Bank. In an interactive setting, participants collectively identified challenges to funding transportation and shared stories from other countries. Experts then used these experiences to shape recommendations for creating a comprehensive transport funding strategy in China.
The EMBARQ network shared a few examples of sustainable transport funding models, including:
- India's National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM):The transport component under this landmark program for urban reform allowed 63 cities in India to obtain national funds to advance public and non-motorized transport. The concept of the program is to move people, not vehicles. Cities like Ahmedabad, Surat, and Indore, among others, are developing or expanding advanced BRT systems, which are changing the way urban transport is organized and provided in India. Cities have undergone several reforms as part of the program, including preparing comprehensive mobility plans and modernizing local institutions to face urbanization challenges. For example, cities created urban metropolitan transport authorities and parking policies, among other initiatives.
- Mexico's Federal Financial Program, PROTRAM: In Mexico, a very decentralized country, urban transport is a state and local responsibility. Nevertheless, the National Government created the federal financial program, PROTRAM, to support the sub-national levels in developing mass transit projects. The program has provided 34 cities with grants for preparing rail and BRT projects; 10 of these cities are now implementing their systems.
How Can China Expand its Sustainable Transportation Systems?
These experiences—along with those in Germany, the United States, Colombia, Brazil, the United Kingdom, and France—were part of the dialogue for crafting a comprehensive transport strategy in China. It was evident that China must solve a couple of key questions: At the national level, how do you shift spending from highways to sustainable urban transport? At the local level, how do you widen the sources of sustainable funding? And how do you solve both of these dilemmas in ways that are consistent with the Chinese institutional framework?
Some key recommendations for answering these questions included:
- At the national level: China needs a solid, integrated national urban sustainable transport funding program, with clear objectives and a strict oversight system. Localities developing urban mobility plans through this program must develop performance measures through indicators like modal share and trip distance to show the impact of the national funding. This program would guide cities in solving their public and non-motorized transport needs while helping the country reduce energy consumption and harmful emissions.
- At the local level: Cites need to change their land-leasing-dependent fiscal structures and be creative in collecting new revenues for sustainable urban transport projects. Chinese cities must reform local debt management and municipal government credit systems in the near future in order to allow cities to sustainably fund urban transport projects through local bonds or loans. They could expand their transport funding sources by applying traffic demand management policies, such as congestion and pollution charges, parking management, and vehicle license bidding fees. They could also learn to fund public transit projects by capturing the land value increases of adjacent properties (much like Hong Kong has done).
- Participants also suggested creating regional transport authorities with capacity to plan, develop, and oversee all components of the transport system, rather than having multiple agencies and jurisdictions managing various pieces of it .
This workshop showed that learning through partnerships is vital for making progress on sustainable transportation development—not only in China, but in other parts of the world. Organizing partners will summarize the workshop's main recommendations in a forthcoming paper and submit it to China's central government early next year.
Dario Hidalgo, Amit Bhatt, Rodrigo Diaz, Haitao Zhang, and Heshuang Zeng also participated in the workshop and contributed to this piece.


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Announcement: Whitley Manufacturing Acquires Capsys
Capsys is a premier modular manufacturer specializing in non-combustible buildings. Capsys modular units are an efficient and cost effective way to construct almost any kind of residence including student housing, hotels, townhouses, apartment buildings, affordable housing, supportive housing, and assisted living facilities.
Photos and other information about a variety of our projects can be viewed under the Portfolio tab, for example our beautiful Harborfront Inn project. To learn more about Capsys' capabilities, click here.
The Capsys process for translating your building project into a modular construction offers advantages over conventional construction methods. By fully adapting our overall process to the inherent requirements of the assembly-line production method, we are able to employ an order and rigor with all our projects that would be difficult to achieve using traditional construction methods.
Please visit the Capsys Process page to learn
more. We are also proficient partners in green projects.


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At the end of 2022, Hasan Kujjah finished publishing his large scale project on poetry and writing about Aleppo. His monumental 'Aleppo Through Poets' Eyes and in the Writings of Historians, Scholars, Visitors and Literati' collects and indexes more than 900 poems, descriptions, and impressions about the city. The first three volumes focus on the poetry (written from the 7th to the 21st century). The fourth volume focuses on descriptions and impressions from historians, visitors, and writers, over a time span of fifteen centuries.
We sat down with Hasan Kujjah to talk about his work, about poetry and what it discloses about the Middle East and Aleppo, about what makes Aleppo such a beloved subject for poets and writers, among many other things.


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Collaboration and Grant Program
Work Closely with Beckman Coulter Life Sciences to Accelerate Research Workflows
From the Human Genome Project to the quest for precision medicine, we are invested in providing sample prep solutions that improve your research productivity.
Our genomics reagent solutions, powered by SPRI technology, empower those seeking answers to life's important scientific and healthcare questions.
We frequently collaborate with scientists to create the tools they need to solve their research challenges.
You can also take advantage of our bi-annual grant program.
Click here for official rules and eligibility for the SPRI Grant Program
Submission is not confidential. Do not share confidential information.
Not intended or validated for use in the diagnosis of disease or other conditions.
© 2022 Beckman Coulter, Inc. All rights reserved. Beckman Coulter, the stylized logo, and the Beckman Coulter product and service marks mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of Beckman Coulter, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.


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These 5 key innovation metrics are not to be missed if you are aiming for more innovation within your organisation. We also list some great tools for measuring them. Corporate Innovation School brings you bite-sized actionable insights each and every day to help you and your organisation move from delivery to discovery in order to survive and thrive in what is an era of rapid change. Your hosts, Steve Glaveski and Shay Namdarian, will unpack the mindset, methods and tools you'll need to drive culture change, ideate, test ideas, move quickly and explore new business models. Corporate Innovation School is brought to you by Collective Campus (www.collectivecamp.us), a global innovation hub, school and consultancy that works with both large organisations and startups on their innovation and growth initiatives. Class is now in session! Tools Mentioned: Google Analytics: https://analytics.google.com/ Mailchimp: https://mailchimp.com Kiss Metrics: https://www.kissmetrics.com/
The podcast is available on:
iTunes: http://bit.ly/cispod
Stitcher: http://bit.ly/cisstitcher
Soundcloud: http://bit.ly/cissound
Collective Campus: www.collectivecamp.us
Steve Glaveski: www.twitter.com/steveglaveski
Shay Namdarian: www.twitter.com/shaynam85
The WorkFlow podcast is hosted by Steve Glaveski with a mission to help you unlock your potential to do more great work in far less time, whether you're working as part of a team or flying solo, and to set you up for a richer life.
To help you avoid stepping into these all too common pitfalls, we've reflected on our five years as an organization working on corporate innovation programs across the globe, and have prepared 100 DOs and DON'Ts.


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Today marks the second anniversary of the murder of Wichita, Ks., abortion provider Dr. George Tiller by anti-abortion extremist Scott Roeder. Dr. Tiller was one of only a few doctors in the nation who offered late-term abortion services.
Tiller was shot at point-blank range during a Sunday service at the Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita, his murder being the culmination of years of harassment and threats. His clinic in Wichita was bombed in 1986, and in 1993 he was shot by another anti-abortion extremist, but survived.
In the Summer 2009 issue of Ms., senior editor Michele Kort wrote of the late doctor:
At age 67, financially comfortable, Tiller didn't have to continue working in his long-embattled profession, says Susan Hill, who operates a number of abortion clinics and often referred late-abortion patients to Wichita.
Over the past decades, abortion providers live with increasing risk: One in five clinics annually are the targets of repeated violence. Since the early 1990s, nine doctors and clinic workers have been murdered in attacks by anti-abortion extremists, and 30 others wounded, including law enforcement officers responding to the incidents.
Each time, the killers, or attempted killers, (like Rachelle "Shelley" Shannon, who shot Tiller in both arms in 1993,) would be characterized as lone nuts. But in truth, they are often involved with extremist anti-abortion organizations that track the whereabouts of abortion doctors and deliver white-hot rhetoric that paints someone like George Tiller as a murderer rather than a healer. Anti-abortion extremists have even promoted the assassinations of abortion providers as "justifiable homicides." So these "lone nuts," heeding the call to violence, are as good as licensed to kill.
Tiller also faced a concerted attack through the courts, including two grand juries convened to investigate him as a result of a citizen petition drive organized by Operation Rescue and other anti-abortion groups (neither jury found any basis for indictment). And in 2004, then-Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline, a right-wing anti-abortion Republican, subpoenaed Tiller's patient records, supposedly to determine if he hadn't reported statutory rapes of pregnant girls under 16. Kline got some of the records and filed 30 criminal charges, but a state court judge quickly dismissed them.
Kline was voted out of office in 2006, but the new attorney general, Democrat Paul Morrison, surprisingly charged Tiller with 19 misdemeanors. Morrison downplayed the charged that Tiller failed to get a legally proper second opinion on some abortions as just "technical," but if Tiller were to have been convicted, he could have served 19 years in prison. After nearly two years of legal proceedings, the jurors in the case delivered a resounding "not guilty" verdict in just 25 minutes.
"It was Kansas jurors, men and women, who were brave enough to deliver Kansas justice," says Dan Monnat, Tiller's attorney in Wichita. "Everything else was nonsense Kansas politics."
The legal battles were exhaustive and expensive for Tiller, although he "held up like a soldier," says Monnat. Nonetheless, his friends worried about him. "The last time I talked to him," says Susan Hill, "I said, 'Why are you still doing this, George? You certainly don't need to. Why don't you just retire, enjoy life?
"He said, 'I can't, I can't leave these women. There's no one else for them.'"
You can read the rest of the article here. In the Spring 2010 issue, Ms. reporter Amanda Robb conducted an in-depth investigative report on Scott Roeder's connections to a larger network of anti-abortion extremists, some of whom preach "justifiable homicide."
The anniversary of the Tiller tragedy also comes on the heels of a foiled plot by a Wisconsin man to kill other abortion physicians.
Photo of Missouri candlelight vigil for Dr. Tiller courtesy of Flickr user KOMUnews under CC 2.0.


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Are you looking to start a new business?
Did you know that...
- 40% of new businesses will fail in the first year!
- Within 3 years, 56% will have failed
- Within 5 years, 76% will have failed
Of those who go past 5 years, there's no guarantee they will survive the next 5 years.
We take a special interest in start ups whether you are a one person operation with no aims to grow or an entrepreneur starting out that wants help to make their business grow!
So whether you need help with all the formalities of keeping books and the tax system or more pro-active business advice to help ensure your success, we'd like to help.
Investing in the right advice when you start up will help ensure you are one of the successes and we have very attractive fee packages for start ups to ensure you can get all the help you need.
Key start up services available include...
- Business Plans. To make sure you have a viable business strategy to start with and that the cashflow works;
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- Strategic Planning. To make sure you know where you're going and how you're going to get there;
- Business Growth Planning;
- Introductions. Introduce and help you foster relationships with key local business providers such as the banks, solicitors and other professional advisors;
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More information on Reasons to Choose Us and Promises We Make
We aim to help you Make More, Keep More, Work Less
See all the services we can offer.


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Can't You See War On The Horizon?
Paul Craig Roberts
According to news reports in the British press, Russian President Vladimir Putin has instructed Russia's industries to prepare themselves to be able to make a quick switch to war production. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/vladimir-putin-russia-business-war-production-sochi-military-talks-a8069951.html
Clearly, the Russian government would not make such an announcement unless it was convinced that the prospect of war with the West was real. For some time I have emphasized in my columns that the consequence of years of hostile actions taken by Washington and its European vassals against Russia was leading to war.
It is easy to understand that the massive US military/security complex needs a convincing enemy in order to justify its enormous budget, that the crazed neoconservatives put their fantasy ideology of US world hegemony above the life of the planet, and that Hillary and the Democratic National Committee will do anything to overturn Trump's presidential victory. However, it is difficult to understand why the European political leaders are willing to put their countries at risk for Washington's benefit.
Yet, they do. For example, on November 13 UK PM Theresa May said that Russia was a threat to international security and was interfering in European elections and hacking European governments. There is no more evidence for these claims than there is for "Russiagate." Yet the allegations continue and multiply. Now the European Union is organizing former provinces of the Soviet Union—Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan—into an "Eastern Partnership" with the European Union. https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2017/11/27/british-pm-makes-clear-eastern-partnership-created-damage-russia.html
In other words, the West is openly organizing former provinces of Moscow against Russia, declared by Prime Minister May to be a "hostile state." Russia knows that there is no basis for the allegations against Russia and regards them as identical to the false allegations against Saddam Hussein, Gaddafi, and Assad in order to justify military attacks on Iraq, Libya, and Syria. Having convinced Russia that she is being set up for attack, Russia is preparing for war.
Think about this for a moment. The world is being driven to Armageddon simply because a greedy and corrupt US military/security complex needs an enemy to justify its huge budget, because Hillary and the DNC cannot accept a political defeat, and because the neoconservatives have an ideology of American Supremacy. What's the difference between the detested White Supremacy and the American Supremacy that President Obama himself endorsed? Why is white supremacy terrible and American supremacy God's gift to the "exceptional" and "indispensable" country?
The Russian government has openly shared its concern that Russia is being set up for military attack. As I, if not CNN, the New York Times, and the Washington Post, have reported, the deputy commander of the Russian military's Operation Command stated publicly the concern that Washington is preparing a surprise nuclear attack against Russia. President Putin recently called attention to Washington's collection of Russian DNA for a US Air Force weapons lab, which implies development of a Russian-specific bio-weapon. On many occasions Russia has called attention to US and NATO bases on its borders despite previous assurances from US administrations that no such thing would ever happen.
We have to ask ourselves why it is not the top item of public and political discussion that Washington has convinced Russia, a premier nuclear and military power, that Russia is going to be attacked. Instead, we hear of football players who kneel for the national anthem, fake news about Russiagate, a Las Vegas shooting, and so on.
We also must ask ourselves how much longer Washington is going to permit any of us via the Internet to report the real news instead of the fake news that Washington uses to control explanations. The effort by the Federal Communications Commission chairman to destroy net neutrality and other efforts underway to discredit factual news as Russian propaganda indicate that Washington has concluded that in order to war on Russia Washington must also war on truth. https://www.globalresearch.ca/the-fccs-order-is-out-it-will-end-net-neutrality-and-break-the-internet-weve-read-it-and-heres-what-you-need-to-know/5619857 and https://www.globalresearch.ca/selected-articles-good-bye-to-net-neutrality/5620061
Washington will not survive its war, and neither will the American and European people.


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Peak Hill
Peak Hill has a population of around 700. The town was established when gold was discovered in 1889. Peak Hill is centrally located on the Newell Highway in the Parkes Shire New South Wales - the Newell Highway is the main highway link between Melbourne and Brisbane.
Peak Hill is 49km north of Parkes and 71km south of Dubbo.
With three motels, one hotel and two caravan parks in town, Peak Hill offers the traveller an inexpensive alternative stop over.
From Peak Hill it is an easy drive to Western Plains zoo at Dubbo, the Dish radio telescope or Goobang National Park. In January the Elvis Festival is held in nearby Parkes.
A friendly, peaceful, rural community, Peak Hill is nestled close to the Hervey Ranges which form an enchanting kaleidoscope of colours as the eastern backdrop of the town.
Peak Hill offers many tourist attractions such as the Open Cut Gold Mine, Flora and Fauna Reserve Nature Walk, Bogan Weir, Australia's first upright wheat silo, heritage listed hospital, arts and crafts, Big Fish Fossil hut, and a unique street facade which takes you back in time.
It is well worth visiting Peak Hill. Stay for a day, or stay for a lifetime, a perfect place to call home.


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Hello, it's Kat here today to share a card with you!
I have used one of the girls from Three Little Party Girls available from the All Dressed up Etsy shop.
She was so much fun to colour with my Copics and had to be finished with some pretty girly details.
More details and pics on my blog post :-)


text: Top quality Bradley mirror designed for commercial restroom applications. One piece roll formed stainless steel frame with corners welded, ground and polished smooth to a satin finish. First quality 1/4 inch float glass, triple-silver-plated with electro-copper-plated layer and thermosetting infrared cured paint packing with Poly-Glaze protective finish. Includes wall hanger – 18 gauge cold rolled steel, all welded construction. Installer to provide mounting hardware. Mirror is 72 inches wide by 36 inches high. Mirror glass manufactured in accordance with ASTM C 1036. ADA compliant.


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It's morning, deep in the Amazon jungle. In the still air innumerable leaves glisten with moisture, and fog drifts through the trees. As the sun rises, clouds appear and float across the forest canopy … but where do they come from? Water vapor needs soluble particles to condense on. Airborne particles are the seeds of liquid droplets in fog, mist, and clouds.
To learn how aerosol particles form in the Amazon, Mary Gilles of the Chemical Sciences Division at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and David Kilcoyne of the Lab's Advanced Light Source (ALS) worked with Christopher Pöhlker of Germany's Max Planck Institute for Chemistry (MPIC) as part of an international team of scientists led by MPIC's Meinrat Andreae and Ulrich Pöschl. They analyzed samples of naturally formed aerosols collected above the forest floor, deep in the rainforest.
Combined with results from other facilities, the ALS analysis provided essential clues to the evolution of fine particles around which Amazon clouds and fog condense, beginning with chemicals produced by living organisms. The team found that among the most important initial triggers of the process are potassium salts.
Dissecting invisible aerosols
At ALS beamline 18.104.22.168, the researchers performed scanning transmission x-ray microscopy (STXM) to determine the near-edge x-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) of particles collected during the wet season in the remote, pristine forest northeast of Manaus, Brazil.
"Through absorption of soft x-rays by an atom's core electrons, and subsequent emission of photons, the identity and exact location of the elements in the aerosol samples can be identified," says Kilcoyne. "The essence of STXM is that it not only tells you if carbon is present but how this carbon is bound to other elements within the aerosol particles. This allows us to distinguish between soot, which is graphitic, and organic carbon."
The researchers found three different types of organic aerosol particles, all similar to laboratory-generated reference samples: oxidation products based on precursor chemicals emitted in the gas phase by trees, including terpenes (the major component of turpentine) from tree resin, and isoprene, another organic compound abundantly released through leaves.
"In the beginning we focused on the carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen contents of the organic materials," says Pöhlker. "But then, to our surprise, we found very high potassium levels, up to 20 percent." The 77 Amazonian aerosol samples were remarkable for the strong signal of potassium, in the form of salts, in all but three of them.
The samples were on the scale of mere millionths or billionths of a meter. The smaller the aerosol, the greater the proportion of potassium – those collected early in the morning were the smallest and richest in potassium. Larger particles contained more organic material but not more potassium. These facts suggest that potassium salts generated during the night acted as seeds for gas-phase products to condense onto, forming aerosols of different kinds.
"Biomass burning is also a rich source for potassium-containing aerosols in forested regions, but potassium from forest fires is correlated with the presence of soot, a graphitic form of carbon," Gilles says. "Before and during the collection period there were no documented fires that could have affected the biosphere where the samples were collected, and no evidence of soot was observed in the samples. Hence the source of potassium could only have been natural forest organisms."
Prime suspect
Fungal spores in the larger aerosol samples pointed to the prime suspect. Some fungi launch spores by building up water pressure through osmosis in sacs (asci) that contain the spores; when the pressure is great enough, the ascus bursts and squirts the spores into the air, along with fluid containing potassium, chloride, and sugar alcohol. Other fungi fire "ballistospores" when water vapor in the atmosphere condenses and causes a sudden release of restraining surface tension, also ejecting potassium, sodium, phosphates, sugars, and sugar alcohol.
Other biogenic mechanisms also release salts into the early morning mists that cover the forest, including salts dissolved in water by transpiration during the day and, at night, the oozing of sap rich in sugars, minerals, and potassium from the edges of leaves.
Thus invisibly tiny grains of potassium salts, generated by natural plants and other living things at night and early in the morning, play a key role in the formation of aerosols in the rainforest.
Terpenes and isoprenes are primarily released in the gas phase by plants in the jungle, and once in the atmosphere they react with water, oxygen, and organic compounds, acids, and other chemicals exuded by indigenous plants. These reaction products are less volatile and initiate the condensation within the low-lying forest biosphere. Since the smallest particles are typically the most important in condensation, potassium salts fill the role. As the day goes on, gas-phase products continue to condense and the particles continue to grow.
Throughout the rainy season the cloud cover, precipitation, water cycle, and finally the climate of the Amazon basin and beyond can be traced back to salts from fungi and plants in the undisturbed jungle, providing the precursors of natural cloud-condensation nuclei and directly influencing how fog and clouds form and evolve in the rainforest.
– Paul Preuss
*Source: Berkeley Lab


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We caught up with American Mike Wolfe in Chamonix shortly after his second place finish at the 2010 Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc. In the interview, Mike discusses what it feels like to place well at the "restart" UTMB. He also gives a full blow-by-blow on his experience in the first attempt at UTMB '10, his Friday evening after the cancellation, including a 3 hour hike, and his run at the second UTMB. Mike also talks about what it's like to be relatively unknown at a race and the advantage that provides.
Mike Wolfe also talks about what his experience as an American at the Ultra-Trail du Mont Mont Blanc. He touches on the special mountain culture of the area, how he'd like the American ultrarunning scene to grow, and how every American ultrarunner should run UTMB at least once. He also talks about using trekking poles in the race, the differences between American and UTMB aid stations, the ease of being an English-speaker racing in non-English speaking countries.


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Softshell Snapling
Looks around and bobs head. Also rears up and roars (rare).
Pit-pattering footsteps; vocalizations (on-click)
I feel that turtles just don't stand up well in todays PvP enviroment. Suffer even more since Crows/Dread Hatchlings are quite popular and thea really eat turtles well. The attacks hit for less than 300 damage, and you will only really be able to go toe to toe with undead or things with multi hit attacks like rabbits. Also might be fun to capture a elemental with grasp and forcing them to keep getting grasped. But to me turtles are benched for now. There are other aquatics that are better.
I am actually suprised at the low level this one has recived. This turtle is one of my main battle pets (my top Aquatic). His damage is great and the ability to heal is most valuable. Even stands up pretty good against Flying pets. I was so impressed with him, I even named him Tank, cause that is what he is.
These seem to have a bit of a rabbit gene.. you find one, you're no doubt going to find 20 more.
Abundant around a lot of water areas, but easiest is just going up and down VotFW's main river, Zan-Zhe River.
Found one following a Malayan Quillrat


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If you own a restaurant, café or food service business, WP Food is a must-have plugin. Designed to make ordering menu items seamless and hassle-free, WP Food is the simplest way for your business to display food items and for your customers to order. With the intelligent WP Food plugin, you can manage everything from showcasing your menu to receiving and processing orders all from one handy place. For your customers this means a straightforward way to place an order and the very best user experience, ensuring they'll be back – again and again. It helps you create and display food menu with many styles, layouts and anywhere via shortcodes or widget, support WPBakery Page Builder, Elementor, Site Origin ….
Features Of Free Version
- 4 Styles support
- Online Food ordering and manager
- Fully responsive and mobile ready.
- Unlimited WP-Food anywhere.
- WP-Food with many columns(2, 3, 4, 5)
- WP-Food with Grid, List, Carousel(Slider view)
- Ajax load more foods
- Vertical and horizontal support
- Unlimited customize with font
- WPBakery Page support
- Supper easy configuration
- Shortcode builder support, easy to create shortcode with few click
- Free Version Demo
Pro Version Features
- 10+ Best Beautiful Layouts
- Grid shortcode with 4 style
- List shortcode with 3 styles
- Table shortcode with 1 styles
- Carousel shortcode with 4 styles
- Menu filter(Category filter)
- Ajax load more + pagination
- Woocommerce integrate
- Print order support
- Minimum Order Amount
- Email notification to admin and customer after order
- Open and close time
- RTL Support
Free email support
Install via WordPress admin
1. Login to WordPress Admin > menu panel go to Plugins > Add New > Upload to install plugin
2. Click Upload > Browse your download package to select installation files.
3. Click Install Now button.
4. Once it's uploaded, click the Activate link.
How do I create food info?
You could follow guideline in document in https://exthemes.net/wp-food-lite/doc/#!/create-foodinfo
Can it be translated into other languages?
Yes, you can install Loco translate plugin to change it.
Is there a way to disable link of Single member page?
You can disable it in setting: Food->Setting->Disable link & Single member page.
>How do I deactivate, reinstall, and update pro version without losing all the profiles I created?
All food data still save in database although you uninstall or delete plugin, you just need delete old version and install version pro. Addition, shortcode also same structure with free version so you don't need change shortcode.
>How do I disable or enable ordering online?
You can control it in setting: Food->Setting->Food ordering via. When select Built-in, it will enable ordering. If you want to disable ordering, you just need choice Disable
- Add ordering online.
- Initial release.


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We are glad to bring our customers great value and service. That's why we provide fast shipping from our Fulfillment Center in California by UPS and USPS.
As of now, we're delivering to the United States only.
Once your parcel has left our Fulfillment Center, you will receive an email with a tracking number to monitor your parcel movements.
Yes, you can write your business address in your order details if it's more convenient to you.
Yes, you can select delivery to a PO Box if it's more convenient to you.
Yes, we ship anywhere in the United States, and to all US territories and military APO/FPO addresses.
Depending on the destination and the package size, your parcel will be left in your mailbox or on your porch, or it may be left with a neighbour.
All orders can be canceled until they are shipped. If your order has been paid and you need to change or cancel it, please contact us within 12 hours of placing it.
Within 14 days of receiving the parcel, you can ask us for:
Full refunds are not available under the following circumstances:
All our products are backed with a 14-day money back guarantee. Just send us a message on the Contact Us page and we will refund the purchase price.
Yes, you can! Kindly Contact Us form to discuss the details with us.
All our products are backed with a 14-day money back guarantee. Just contact us and we will refund the purchase price.
If you are not satisfied with your purchase, you can return it for a replacement or refund. No questions asked! You only should return it at your expense.
Please contact us first and we will guide you through the steps. We are always ready to give you the best solutions!
Please do not send your purchase back to us unless we authorize you to do so.
Hygiene and our customers' safety is our top priority, which is why there are specific types of products that can't be returned such as:
I just got this in the mail today because I love to spoil my kitties and it's super cute. I love the design of it. It's super smooth material and I love that it can suction to things so it doesn't have to sit in the middle of the floor. It comes with a bell, a light up ball and 2 catnip balls to put in the windmill. It's very easy to set up. Highly recommend! Even my dog loves it!
I recommend this store! Good quality products as you described
It's a very interesting toy. It's made very well. It's of good quality. It's easy to install. It's also OK to put it on the wall. It's firm after installation. It won't shake. It won't fall off on the wall. It's fun to play with. It's flexible. It doesn't get stuck at all. It's a small toy that can be used for a long time.
The cat toy arrived in perfect condition. It's well made; arrived the day early ordering. Our cat was inquisitive immediately. I slowly spun it with her and she started doing the same. That was on the floor; and we currently have it on the refrigerator front. She spins it and is interested in the end compartments. She hasn't used the scratching piece yet; but she most likely will.
My cats loved it. We have it stuck to a window, they hit it to make it spin. One of my cats rubs against the ball. Lots of entertainment.
My product arrived quicker than I expected, in great condition. It is really cute and sticks to my glass door without falling off. Not only is it great entertainment for cats but my 18 month old grandson loves it to!! Will buy more for other areas of my home.
All four of my cats like this toy. Samson loves it! I have tried to stick it several different surfaces and it will not maintain suction. My cats don't seem to care about that feature so I stopped worrying about it. My cats like to wrestle, bunny kick, and gnaw on this toy. It has withstood their rough play quite well. The catnip balls would be more accurately described as pellets. They are the same size as a rabbit (poo) pellet. The catnip is a good size for the toy and 4 of 4 cats agree that it's of good quality. The flashing ball is very bright. My cats prefer to play with it outside of the spinner toy. I haven't used the bells because my cats aren't all fans of bells. Overall, this is a fun kitty toy and I recommend it.
Arrived as scheduled and is ready to go right out of the box. Included are two each bells and catnip balls to enhance your cats play time. My cats investigated it and gave it a test spin. I think once they get used to the new toy it will see more action. Size is right, does not take up too much room.
Our cats love this. It sticks like glue to a wooden bookshelf and they can spin at it for a long time before they finally get it off.
Our kitten is so cute and makes us laugh watching her play with this toy. As with any toys we get for her, we have to engage her to it first and the flashing light helps to get her attention much faster! The suction works great on the kitchen floor also! Plus the toddler plays with it (when we don't have the cat nip in it and supervised obviously lol). Super fun toy for the kitten and little one!
I was somewhat disappointed in the size of the toy. Advertisement said for CATS (not kittens), but the toy is quite small. I have difficulty finding toys for bigger cats. However, the toy is very well made, looks great, works well and is attractive. From the time of ordering to shipping/receiving was very short and much appreciated.
it arrives at my expected time. The shipping is fast and the toys are of good quality
My only complaint would be that it was a tad difficult for me to remove the plastic to put the bells/catnip in, but that's only because the product is made well. If it didn't hold it tight the kittens would pull it out or it would fall out. Thankfully, that's not an issue. Once I got the bells/catnip inside and suctioned it to the are I wanted it in, my little kittens went nuts! My little Merida will sit there and play with it forever! She just loves this thing. I am going to get one for my daughter's cat too. There was also no damage to the package. I'm quite pleased overall.
Item arrived quickly and was ready to use out of the box. Also included were the bells and catnip balls as well as a light up ball. I opted not to use the lighted ball as it was going in a window my cat only uses during daylight. So far she has shown interest, especially when I give it a spin on the window however she is yet to spin the toy on her own. Im sure it is only a matter of time, until then it give me enough entertainment spinning it as I walk past the window for me to purchase it again. Fun cat toy.
I have two cats and I bought two. I put him on the wall, on the floor, and near the cat's nest. I can play with my cat no matter where I go.
The cats were really curious about it. Jackson especially. I was really hoping it would stich to the wall but didn't expect it to. They tried playing with it on the wall and it fell. Now it is on the window by the cat tree but they haven't really been interested in it there. I plan to get a piece of plexiglass to put on the wall so I can stick it there for them. It would be nice if it came with a piece of plastic that is sticky on one side to stick to the wall so it would be more at cat level.
My cat just loves this toy! We have it on the window by our bathtub and she's always running to spin the toy. She even rubs her head on the center to itch her head which she never does with other cat toys. I love the little blinking ball that goes inside one of the sides of the spinners. My cat will watch the lights blink and go back to spin the toy so they will blink again. Definitely keeps her interest and worth every penny! Highly recommend!
This toy is not very entertaining for our cats. Mind you, we have a Siamese kitten who is VERY curious and playful and still isn't really interested in this toy unless it's suction cupped to the floor. The suction on this is not very strong and releases with even the pressure of our tiny kitten pushing against it. The bells inside catch her attention, though, so she does revisit it when either of us push on it for our cats. Thankfully it was a very inexpensive purchase, so nothing lost from this.
I was excited to receive this cat toy for my three cats. At first, I had one that was semi-interested and the other two were not at all. However, after a few days, the other cats will now play with it in the middle of the night. I put it near their climbing structure and they seem to enjoy spinning it when they climb up or down. It is a toy that doesn't hold their attention for long, but it does keep getting played with as time goes on.
Everything is cool we liked it! Two balls of Mint are probably included to put them in a toy.
This cat toy was bigger than expected (I liked it). The construction quality is very good. It will last a long time. My cats were instantly drawn to the catnip balls that you insert inside the outer edges, which made them want to play with it. The bells are a fun sound too. My only negative is that the suction didnt last long for the areas I placed it. The suction last less than a minute. I tried on the flat laminate flooring and the smooth baseboard (around the door).
My cats really enjoy this interactive spinner. I've filled one with catnip balls and the other with treats (I purchased two). They really engage with both of them and keep them entertained. The suction seems to stay on hardwood & tile. Make sure the surface is clean and your really wet the suction cup and push the air out. They haven't used the bubble in the center yet but I'm sure if I spray a little catnip on there, they will be hooked! Great toy. Highly recommend.
Just received this adorable cat toy, so far my kitten loves it. He's not old enough for the catnip balls yet but I will use them in the future. Super sturdy, suction cup is good, stuck it right to my dresser.
My cat is still a little hesitant of this toy, but I believe he'll eventually love it. It's great quality and I do like that it comes with cat nip balls, bells and a flashing light to attract the cat. The suction works well; very strong. I currently have it stuck to my bedroom door and it's been stuck there for about 3 days now and hasn't fallen off yet.


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OS X: Divvy, the awesome app that splits up and organizes your windows for maximum productivity, is half off in the Mac App Store right now at only $6.99.
Divvy is just one of many, many, many apps that brings Windows' Aero Snap-like functionality to your Mac, but it's arguably the best. Not only can you split windows up side by side, but you can do them in pretty much any configuration you want: left side and right side, top and bottom, two quarters and one half, and more. You can even assign keyboard shortcuts to your favorite window layouts, too, which is great. It used to be $14, but it's currently on sale for $6.99 if you buy it from the Mac App Store, so head over and grab it now if you haven't before. Windows users, sadly, still have to pay full price on Divvy's web site. Though frankly, it's still worth every penny.
Divvy | Mac App Store


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The old idea of a cultural flatrate or an internet levy has popped up again. This idea basically says "tax the net heavily – maybe €10 per user and month – and give that money to creators via the legacy copyright industries; the more somebody's work is shared, the more money they get". This idea will not work. Here's why it will not work.
Let's ignore for a moment that one-third of the material shared online is pornography, and that it would be politically impossible to subsidize the porn production industry with the several billion euros a year that would result from such a scheme.
Let's ignore for a moment the insanity of giving the copyright industry a guaranteed source of income, regardless of their utter business failures, where they can take another 40% in "administrative costs" to pay for their zillions of lobbyists.
Let's ignore for a moment the fact that something like 99.9% of the culture on the net didn't fit in the previous remuneration scheme, and that if all creators are to be rewarded according to share, then there will be thousands of times more creators to be thus remunerated than there ever were in the legacy copyright industry. (The writers of this very blog, for a tangible example.)
Let's ignore the legislative quality control that fails to answer the basic who is going to be compensated for what? question.
Let's ignore the impossibility of measuring what is shared without invasive surveillance that is utterly incompatible with fundamental rights.
In fact, let's assume that all of these problems can be solved, or already have been solved.
Let's assume, then, that there is a fixed pie to be divided among creators, divided according to popularity, as measured by how much they are shared on the net. This is the cultural flatrate concept. What would happen?
This is where it gets convenient, as we already know for a fact what would happen.
We know how the events would play out, as exactly this has been tried over ten years ago, and it failed in the most predictable way possible. It was tried by the site mp3.com, which was so much a forerunner and vanguard that it was promptly sued out of existence by the copyright industry, bought out, and closed down. Only in recent years has its business model of cloud music storage been established as valid, but by new players such as Apple, Google, and Cablevision.
Here's what they did. They had this pay for play business, where the more an artist was played and shared from mp3.com, the more money they got from mp3.com out of a revenue sharing pool. The band 303 Infinity was a favorite that rose to prominence through mp3.com, for instance. This is the exact model of the cultural flatrate idea.
So what happened?
As described on Wikipedia (my highlighting):
For a time, it looked like this continent of new artists would indeed change the music business, but several factors came about to stall the momentum of mp3.com. The pay-for-play experiment that rewarded artists monetarily for their downloads was sabotaged by the artists themselves. Honest acts were robbed of their intended share by enterprising gamers who exploited the system with programmed play bots and download gangs (posses) who would play long songlists often with the volume turned down to run up artificial numbers that equated into big bucks. Mp3.com tried and threw numerous cheaters off the site but they could not control the gaming…
This is the most predictable development ever. The second somebody gets paid from a common pool if a file is shared or downloaded, that file will get shared over and over again way beyond what would have happened otherwise, just to rack up artificial numbers that will translate into financial reward.
This is a school textbook example of how you can't measure something for money without changing the thing measured completely in the process.
This is why cultural flatrate will never work. Please stop pretending it's a good idea. It's a terrible idea, as I have described previously, for many other reasons as well.


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Message in a Bottle — Special
Thoughtful Gifts Require a Little More.......Thought
Posted by Danielle Long on
With Mother's Day approaching, and gift giving holidays always upon us, many of us are scrambling to find the perfect gift. Those very special people in our lives deserve the very best. We can always follow tradition and go with the acceptable staples, such as flowers, candy, jewelry or gift cards. Most friends and relatives are appreciative of those things. Especially our moms, because they love us so much, and any form of gifting from their children is cherished. But....it's time to start thinking out of the box. Try something unexpected. Not only will our loved ones enjoy an added...


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Brewing is our life, beer is our water so don't waste time drinking all kind of
other things which won't make your life better.
Leverage agile frameworks to provide a robust synopsis for high level overviews. Iterative approaches to corporate strategy foster collaborative thinking to further the overall value proposition. Organically grow the holistic world view of disruptive innovation via workplace diversity and empowerment.
Iterative approaches to corporate strategy foster collaborative thinking to further the overall value proposition.
Taking seamless key performance indicators offline to maximise the long tail keeping your eye.
Collaboratively administrate empowered markets via plug-and-play networks. Dynamically procrastinate.
Override the digital divide with additional clickthroughs from DevOp immersion along the types and frameworks.
Quickly maximize timely deliverables for real-time schemas. Dramatically maintain clicks-and-mortar solutions.
Bring to the table win-win survival strategies to ensure proactive domination. At the end of the day, going on.
My goodness – that was quick! I received my order at approx. 15min. Anyway – well done indeed. I'm impressed.
The guys are always keen to share their knowledge and the selection is always changing. Awesome craft beers!
Great to have access to such a great range of beers so close to home. The guys are a great help too and clearly love beer.


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Active community events calendar
We offer a range of physical activity and wellbeing-based events – from activities for children and young people, through to Nordic walking for adults.
Due to the physical activity involved with our active community events we request that you provide us with some basic medical information to enable us to safely deliver sessions.
In order to capture these details, you will need to complete a short registration form before booking your place(s).
Three options are available within the registration form: adult only, child/children only and adult and child/children - a maximum of six children can be added onto each account.
Registration is easy and should take no longer than five minutes to complete. The registration process only needs to be completed once in order to create your account, which will enable you to easily book active community events in the future.
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Date:10 December 2022


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Staying put is what's best for reducing the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), but home-bound consumers are having an immediate impact on brands. The pull-back on advertising spend will cut expenses in the short term but will affect a brand's resilience. How can businesses support their brands and make money in such uncharted waters?
We know that TV has always been a great way for businesses to build brand loyalty. Marketers now have to reduce spending while continuing to engage buyers. This is all happening so quickly against the backdrop of two key global, and not surprising, trends: an increase in media consumption and a decrease in advertising spend.
Media consumption is increasing. We predict that being home-bound could lead to almost a 60% increase in the amount of video content we watch globally. As each country is at a different stage of responding to COVID-19, TV engagement is varied. But one thing is consistent: time spent per viewer watching news and entertainment is going up as the spread of COVID-19 worsens and isolation becomes the best solution to reducing the spread.
To make use of longer periods of TV engagement, marketers should be asking themselves:
- How can I adjust my content to reach new audiences? By building new strategies to reach local areas, different demographic splits and new interests, marketers can hold the attention of consumers longer.
- Has the concept of the primetime daypart changed? With people applying social distancing, is primetime still in the evenings after dinner? As viewing times shift, content needs to be considerate of a flexible primetime period and the verifying types of content consumers are hungry for.
- Sport is one of the most engaged types of content on TV. With the impact of cancelled competitions and closed stadiums, broadcasters need to find a way to replace this sorely missed content. NASCAR, for example, has taken the bull by the horns and started hosting virtual races with live, professional racers—with the first event attracting significant engagement. Testing historical sports content, other applications for esports and potentially offering home workouts could also be new ways to engage the home-bound audience.
Italy is the epicenter of the pandemic within Europe. Understanding the impact it has had on their advertising volumes helps foretell the fate for many markets which are a few weeks behind. According to Nielsen Ad Intel, for the TV advertising volumes data released so far (January 2019-8 March 2019 vs the same period for 2020), Italy saw a 5% decline in the volume of ads – Entertainment (-42%) and Transport and Tourism (-67%) sectors took a large hit. The U.K. is starting to follow suit, with 3% fewer ads than last year. Belgium and the Netherlands have seen small increases (4.2% and 4.5%, respectively).
India, however, is a surprising outlier to these television advertising volume trends. In week 1 of the lockdown advertising volumes saw a 13% increase when compared to week commencing 14 March 2020 to 11 January-31 January 2020. Social advertising (+147%), food and beverage (+36%) and banking and finance investment (+47%) drove the advertising volume increases. However, these volume increases did not equate to a similar rise in advertising revenue.
Marketers need to reexamine their advertising message by asking:
- How can I build a steady stream of customers with brand loyalty advertising? Showing that your brand is making an impact in the community or demonstrating new ways to use your products (recipes, DIY sanitation, crafts to keep the kids preoccupied) could increase your customer adoption in the long term. In order to overcome the pain the travel industry is facing, airlines are partnering with local governments to help people seeking to return home, they've changed their cancelling policies, allowed flexibility to move flights to later in the year and even extended the expiration of their loyalty program benefits.
- How can my brand connect with how people are feeling and experiencing COVID-19? Interestingly, for as late as 8 March, new ads in Italy were reported to be promoting a train service where the people featured were hugging. Recognising this, brands in Italy are changing their creativity. It's essential to quickly adapt content to changing times and demonstrate ways to meet new customer needs. Introducing shopping hours for the elderly, hours dedicated to medical service workers, free delivery, limiting purchases to reduce bulk buying, for example, are powerful ways to drive increased product margins.
COVID-19 poses a serious threat to our media ecosystem. By looking at content and ads through a different lens, marketers can adapt brand strategies and reverse shrinking margins.


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Designing Vehicle-Mounted Communications Systems with Simulink
In vehicle-mounted communication systems, the vehicle's motion can affect the pointing of the antenna and, hence, the quality of the transmission. In this webinar, we will use integrated models of communications systems to investigate the interaction between the antenna control system and the wireless communication link.
Specifically, we will demonstrate a model of a ship-mounted system. We will test, through simulation, the controlled motion of a gimbal linkage for pointing the system's antenna. To ensure the system will be able to maintain communication in stormy conditions, the test case harness must be able to subject the antenna system to the acceleration fields typical of a small ship in turbulent waters.
Because the model includes the signal processing system, users can assess the effect of a pointing error on the quality of the signal transmission through metrics such as bit error rate. In the case of video transmission, users can directly view the predicted transmitted image stream. By representing such full integration of the control and signal processing systems, the model enables users to assess the antenna pointing accuracy requirement in reference to the overall requirement of the system, which is to provide high quality and robust transmission of a given signal.
About the Presenters:
Terry Denery has spent his career pursuing innovation in engineering designs through the implementation of simulations. This pursuit began at the University of Virginia where he completed degrees in chemical and mechanical engineering. While at Hercules, Inc., he developed solid rocket propulsion systems. He then attended Stanford University where he earned a Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics, studying fluid dynamics and thermodynamics. Terry later joined Knowledge Revolution, which produced the motion simulation tools Working Model and Interactive Physics. While there, he formed the Technical Services group, which served customers through technical support, training, and consulting. After MSC.Software's acquisition of Knowledge Revolution, Terry served in the sales organization as an applications engineer, supporting the products ADAMS, visualNastran 4D, Dynamic Designer, and CATIA v5i. Terry joined The MathWorks in 2004 as marketing manager for the physics-based modeling and simulation tools.
Mike Donovan graduated with an MSEE from University Of Connecticut. He has worked on radar and satellite communications systems for Westinghouse and the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, and in the broadband telecommunications industry for GTE and Motorola. He joined the MathWorks in March 2004 and is a manager in the Applications Engineering Group.
Recorded: 15 Jul 2010
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DK Yakity Yak Yarn - Powder Semi Solid
DK Weight Yarn
Powder Colorway
Semi-Solid Dyed
100 grams 232 Yards 4-Ply
65% Superwash Merino Wool 20% Yak 15% Silk
DK Yakity Yak is such a soft, smooth, round yarn that it is a personal favorite. We've made shawls, sweaters, hats, and even socks with this yarn. It works up quickly because of the DK weight. The color is rich and deep with a silvery undertone. It also has great stitch definition and shows off textured knits well. We've used this yarn in many of our kits and our customers love it. It could possibly be the world's most perfect yarn!
Our semi-solid colors are kettle-dyed in small batches. This hand-dye process creates a yarn with a slight color variation throughout the skein which gives great visual interest to your project.
We recommend hand washing in warm water and laying flat to dry to ensure the best care for your project.
If you need a larger amount of Powder or of any of our colorways, please contact us. We would be happy to dye some up for you.


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Indian Communications Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has said that India is ready for 5G service launch in October this year. In an effort to facilitate faster and easier deployment of telecom infrastructure in India for faster 5G roll-out, the Indian Telegraph Right of Way Rules, 2016 has been amended by the BJP government. In his address at an event in New Delhi, the Communications Minister underlined the four basic ingredients for ensuring a faster rollout of 5G services across the country, namely spectrum allocation, reforms in the processing of RoW permissions, co-operative federalism, and service rollout. Harmonization and allocation of spectrum have been completed successfully.
According to Minister Vaishnaw, the GatiSakti Sanchar Portal was launched by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in May this year in alignment with the vision of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the development of infrastructure services in an integrated manner in accordance with his vision. In order to get India ready for the launch of 5G, Mr Vaishnaw said that the IT systems of all the states and union territories, along with major infrastructure ministries such as Railways and Highways, have been integrated with the portal.


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Ayon Conquistador
Conquistador – Linestage Preamplifier
Timeless beauty – elegant, pure and full of innovative technology
This preamp is inimitable with a unique character. With the Conquistador everything started with a blank sheet of paper. Developing and designing a new project you must think outside the box, and scrutinize everything. This is the way the Conquistador was created, and it is a highlight in design and engineering art.
Four AA45 Mesh-triodes of our own proprietary production, coupled with the unique quadruple VTC volume control, a special circuit design with four separate tube grid bias drivers, and the shortest thinkable signal path underline this absolutely exceptional concept in the world of preamps.
It's extremely light-footed and a joyful reproduction paired with a big soundstage and full of aura re-creation–which is a very special way of sound deployment. This preamplifier shapes and impresses its magical character on the whole chain of reproduction to an extent that never existed before, a magic putting all listeners under its spell. Those subtle differences are exactly the difference between the so-called super pre-amps and the Conquistador. The Conquistador is a pre-amp turning over a new leaf in the story of preamplifiers. We are convinced that the Conquistador will contribute to the way that the Ayon brand will be perceived in the future.
Limited production, 10 units per year only!
Features & Design
2 Chassis full-featured Class A – triode single-ended & true balanced vacuum- tube stereo preamplifier. Unique new pure vacuum tube-circuit design with single gain stage and incorporates only one coupling capacitor at its output stage.
Limited production
Vacuum Tubes
The choice of signal and power tubes have a significant influence on the sound, and hence, on the inspiration and joy of listening. This is not only the difference between good and bad tubes, but the interaction of the different types of tubes and their combination, that are used in the various Ayon amplifiers.
Signal Path
We believe that the simplest circuits work best together with the shortest signal path. The shorter the signal path is, the less possibility of sonic degradation from various sources, including the wire itself. Even on the circuit boards, the copper traces are kept to a very minimum length. The completely redesigned circuit board provides a more straightforward and direct approach to the signal paths.
● Ultra short signal path
● Simplest direct circuit path for purest musical sound and high reliability
● Very low output impedance to drive any tube or solid state power amp
● No solid state devices in the signal path
● High current and low impedance design that operates tubes in the best areas their curves
● Minimal discrete wiring for optimum signal propagation
● No followers or buffers in the signal path
● High quality parts throughout
● 0dB negative feedback (of any kind)
● Selector switch engages relays located near RCA jacks to switch all inputs
● Special alloy solder used for the best electrical connection
Tube Power Supply
The power supplies have been further refined with new components and enhanced AC line noise filtration. 3 separate power transformers, chokes and filters provide total isolation between the input and output stages which makes this a pure power source. We also use electrolytic capacitors with much larger storage capacity to make up for the loss in filtering when using resistors in lieu of inductors.
● Tube rectified power supply with two 5U4G rectifier tubes
● Superior noise reduction
● 3 separate low noise –insulated power transformers
● Innovative power supply provides a high speed energy delivery on transients
● Triple choke filtered power supply for power tubes
● Separate and isolated power supplies over each stage of amplification
● Regulated DC filament supplies with soft-start power up for extended tube life
● AC power line filter to avoid noise and hash from entering into the unit.
● High capacitance energy storage.
Dual Grounding System
The modification of the grounding topology leads to increased reduction of noise from the power supply and other areas. The dual grounding topology used in all of our amplifiers is quite unique to the whole hi-end tube amplification industry. Such extensive topology provides for quieter backdrop in which the music can unfold in its entirety. It further establishes the quick and controlled bass response and the full bodied expression of the high frequency. The ground leg of the signal has not been neglected and has been given meticulous attention in its implementation. The importance of proper grounding cannot be over emphasized.
● Ground switch
● Central one-point star earth grounding
● Dual grounding system (switchable)
The type of parts used therefore must have a synergistic relationship to the circuit they are placed in. It is this relationship of which type of part to use where, that sets our products apart from the masses.
● Ultra selected, absolute best quality passive components used in all applications
● High speed & high quality audiophile grade coupling capacitors
● Special tube sockets with beryllium- copper spring pins, custom made by Ayon
● WBT-NextGen – RCA input jack
● Neutrik/Swiss – XLR chassis connectors
● Special isolated – internal wiring
● Premium internal signal cable uses ultra pure, soft annealed copper and super low loss insulation
● Gold-plated industrial grade PCB
● Elma/Swiss – Input selector switches
● VTC – "volume transformer control", 4 channels / 42 position – electronic-relay system, custom made by ayon
● This stepped volume control system has a channel balance within +/- 0.05dB.
● Tantalum– best sounding precision resistors, best resolution and lowest noise.
● Rifa – Long life capacitors, Mundorf and V-cap caps.
Mechanical Construction
The high grade aluminum chassis impart a richer, more lustrous tonality with a cleaner background and less hash and grain. All brushed anodized anti-vibration-resonance and non-magnetic chassis's are fully hand assembled to insure the highest level of craftsmanship.
● Improved heat ventilation chassis
● Backlit front panel displays indicate level attenuation & input selection
● 3 Platinum knobs with backlit glass pivot, custom-made by Ayon
● The aluminium feet are resonance absorbing types
● All front & rear panel descriptions are engraved
● Ground switch
● Volume & Mute function – RC
● Metal remote commander
● Chassis finish: black / chrome
Tube Preamplifier | Ayon Conquistador – Linestage |
Class of Operation | Pure Class A, SE-Triode |
Tube Complement | Ayon AA45-Mesh, ECC88 & 5U4G |
Maximum Output (at 1 kHz ) | 30V rms |
S/N ratio | > 98 dB |
Input Impedance | > 1MOhm |
Output Impedance | 30 Ohm |
Frequency Response / Line | 3Hz – 100kHz |
Harmonic Distortion (at 1V ) Line | < 0.01% |
Input | 4 x Line RCA, 2 x Bal-XLR. |
Output | 1 x RCA & 1 x XLR |
Dimensions Pre (WxDxH) cm | 50x43x25 cm |
Dimensions P.S. (WxDxH) cm | 50x43x13 cm |
Weight (Pre & Power Supply) | 52 kg net |
Specifications subject to change without notice
Please request a Password from your distributor, dealer or Ayon Audio. Also indicate in which country the device is operated, as well as the model name and the serial number.


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Started this discussion. Last reply by I. J. Parker Apr 5, 2013.
Started this discussion. Last reply by Jackson Burnett Dec 1, 2012.
Started this discussion. Last reply by I. J. Parker Feb 18, 2012.
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Posted on May 21, 2011 at 7:27am — 2 Comments
Posted on April 1, 2011 at 8:08am
Posted on January 17, 2011 at 2:14pm
Sometime in the next few weeks, I will be celebrating my birthday. I won't tell you exactly when, because for identity theft protection purposes, I protect the date almost as well as I protect my social security number and full name. I will divulge that I am a Leo. And, don't ask how old I'm going to be either! ;-)
To celebrate, instead of collecting gifts, I am giving…
Posted on August 10, 2010 at 10:06am
Posted on February 5, 2010 at 5:25am
Well, thanks, Beth!
Thanks for connecting me with this website! Looking forward to reading all the neat things on it!
Thanks Beth. I'm looking forward to reading the blogs. Have you read many of Jeffrey Martin's books?
Hi ! Beth and thanks for welcoming me :-)
Hi Beth:
Yes, except for his most recent, I've read everything Grisham has ever written. I would like to read your Deadly Currents. I'll be looking for it at the book store.
Hi Beth,
Crime Fiction is my niche. Kimberley Chambers is my current read. Yourself?
I would give one or two of such novels a read. Always open to trying books that don't seem to be my usual first choices. As an idea of what I prefer, my two most recent mysteries were The Geneva Trap by Stella Rimington and Blood Line by Lynda LaPlante. Both are latest installlments in series and both were well written. Now I'm into The Bookseller by Mark Pryor. While I have some misgivings about the plot,. the descriptions of Paris are so authentic that I would recommend the book just on its compelling sense of place.
Thanks for the add, Beth.
Looking forward to getting to know you and your work.
Hi Beth,
Thank you! That would be fine! Also, thank you for the recommendation. I'll check it out.
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Georgia Refund Status – Where's My GA Refund?
Georgia Refund Status – Where's My GA Refund?
Find your Georgia State Refund here. Follow the links below to Track your GA Refund. Georgia Refund Status
Waiting for your state tax refund? Track the status of your refund by using the Georgia Tax Center's "Where's my Georgia State refund?" tool. Just fill in your Social Security number or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, expected refund amount, and the filing tax year, and you can get instant information about your refund.
The Georgia Tax Center is a secure, electronic self-service system. It allows you to submit payments securely and view account balances, make payments for returns and assessments, protest appeal assessments, and view copies of correspondence.
For more information about filing your state tax return and locating your refund, visit the Georgia Department of Revenue.
Georgia Department of Revenue issues most refunds within 21 business days. You may check the status of your refund on-line at Georgia Tax Center. You can start checking on the status of your return within 24 hours after we have received your e-filed return or 4 weeks after you mail a paper return. Our phone and walk-in representatives can research the status of your refund only if it has been 21 days or more since you filed electronically, more than 6 weeks since you mailed your paper return, or Where's My Georgia State Refund? directs you to contact us.
Before making an inquiry, please allow:
- ● 4 weeks for returns filed electronically.
- ● 6 weeks for paper returns filed prior to April 1st.
- ● 12 weeks for paper returns filed after April 1st.
For more information on returned and uncashed checks, click here
where's my refund georgia


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Greek Banks to Show Pain of Bond Swap, Bad Loans
April 20, 2012
ATHENS, April 20 - Greek banks will post big losses for 2011 on Friday, as they will include the writedown on government bonds suffered during last month's bailout deal for the country as well as provisions for higher bad loans due to a deep recession.
Greece's big four lenders, Alpha, Eurobank, National and Piraeus, will treat losses from last month's bond swap to cut the country's debts -- part of a rescue package negotiated with the European Union and International Monetary Fund -- as if they took place last year.
The bond swap inflicted real losses of about 74 percent on bondholders, wiping out 22 billion euros ($29 billion) of the banking system's 23.8 billion in core Tier 1 capital ratio, according to International Monetary Fund estimates.
Banks, holders of about 45 billion euros of government bonds, will likely value the hit from the bond swap at its net present value be cause a recapitalization plan for the sector and accounting treatment issues have not been finalized.
This is the reason most analysts would not give loss estimates. Banks will report annual results after the Athens stock market closes at 1430 GMT.
A previous March 31 deadline to report earnings was extended to April 20 to give banks more time to assess the impact of the debt swap and prepare their capital plans.
"It is difficult for us to come up with estimates as the precise accounting treatment of the bond swap losses is not known," said analyst Nick Koskoletos at Eurobank Equities.
Applying a 75 percent haircut on some 35.6 billion euros of bond swap eligible assets -- Greek government bonds and state-guaranteed loans -- the pretax impairment for the four large banks may reach 26.7 billion euros, said Euroxx Securities analyst Manos Giakoumis in a note.
Banks will need to fill the resulting capital shortfall and meet a core Tier 1 target of 9 percent by end-September demanded by the Bank of Greece, the country's central bank.
On this front, banks have acted to boost their core capital, including issuing preferred shares to the government, buying back hybrid securities and selling foreign subsidiaries.
The government, which was due to announce a framework to recapitalize banks on Friday, is still working on technical aspects of the scheme with EU/IMF officials, the country's prime minister told an economic conference on Friday.
"The completion of this procedure and the restructuring of the banking system will create new favorable conditions for the financing of the Greek economy and in particular of small and medium size companies," Prime Minister Lucas Papademos said.
With the economy mired in recession and unemployment at a record 21.8 percent, asset quality will have deteriorated, meaning banks' non-performing loans are certain to rise from 14.7 percent of their books at the end of the third quarter.
Banks are unlikely to spell out capital plans to address the shortfall while the government is still working on the structure of the recapitalization plan, largely funded by the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (HFSF).
On Thursday, the fund received 25 billion euros of European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) floating rate notes and has been cleared to provide letters of commitment to banks that it will underwrite their capital needs.
About 50 billion euros have been earmarked in Greece's second bailout to prop up the banking sector.
"Without this support, the banking system can't operate smoothly," Papademos said. (Additional reporting by Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by Mark Potter)
Copyright 2010 by Reuters. All rights reserved.


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ARDMORE, Pa. — Considering the history of bad pants in golf, Billy Horschel had to go a long way to stand out.
But the Octopus-print pair he donned for Sunday's final round at the U.S. Open did the trick. Somewhere, John Daly, long considered golf's leader in the clubhouse for bad fashion, is rummaging through his closet for a response.
Horschel, a former University of Florida golfer, teed off in eighth place at 3-over, four strokes behind final-round leader Phil Mickelson. While Mickelson went with an all-black ensemble, Horschel tweeted a photo of himself in the navy and white giant squid-patterned slacks, set off by a magenta-toned polo shirt, before heading over to the course.
"Well here they are! The highly anticipated highly controversial....Octopus pants!"
Strange as the pants looked, few people should have been surprised by the unusual fashion statement. Eclectic only begins to describe Horschel; according to his PGA Tour bio, he also devoured the Twilight young-adult vampire novels in the span of two weeks and is "a believer in Bigfoot and UFOs."
But as far as fashion, Horschel is hardly alone. Bad pants are such a staple of the sport that a number of amateur tournaments are organized each year requiring participants to show up in stunningly loud slacks.
At the professional level, Englishman Ian Poulter has long been considered the front-runner in today's game, wearing everything from his native flag to something best described as an old TV test pattern. Rickie Fowler has pushed the boundary in terms of color, but usually wears the same tone from head to toe.
But just like those two, Horschel has no problem making a "look-at-me" statement. Anybody who saw him pumping his fists and hopping around while celebrating his first tour win in New Orleans earlier this year — after rolling in a 20-footer to win — knows that.