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These astonishing pictures show one of the rarest and most elusive creatures on Earth - the mountain snow leopard.
Camouglaged against the rocks the leopard was captured by a camera trap in the remote Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan between India and China
The first ever snow leopard prey survey in Bhutan's newest national park has revealed amazing footage of snow leopards.
Only 4,500 to 7,500 exist in the wild. They live in some of the most remote and inhospitable places on Earth making finding them extremely difficult.
This is the first visual evidence that snow leopards are thriving in Wangchuck Centennial Park, a vital snow leopard corridor between Jigme Dorji National Park in the West and Bumdeling Wildlife Sanctuary in the East. Field biologists from the Government of Bhutan and WWF captured over 10,000 images during the camera trap survey in Wangchuck Centennial Park.
The automatic cameras were set up to locate snow leopard "hot-spots", but in addition to snow leopard images, they also captured images and footage of Tibetan wolf, wild dog, red fox, blue sheep, Himalayan serow, musk deer, Pika, pheasants and several birds of prey.
"The findings are phenomenal as these are the first snow leopard images recorded in Wangchuck Centennial Park," said WWF's Dr. Rinjan Shrestha, who led the survey team.
"It suggests that the network of protected areas and corridors is helping to link local snow leopard populations, which will be invaluable to ensure long-term persistence of snow leopards in the region."
Bhutan is the only country on Earth where the habitat of snow leopards and tigers intersect. It's unknown how many exist there, but it's critical to find out as threats are mounting – from retaliatory killing from herders, loss of habitat to farmers and poaching for their pelts. And then there's climate change.
Warming at high elevations in the Himalayas is causing treelines to ascend and isolating snow leopard populations. The overall goal of the survey is to determine how many snow leopards there are in Wangchuck and where they exist, in order to prioritize the best areas for conservation.
"The snow leopard images from the park show the incredible richness of wildlife thriving in Wangchuck Centennial Park and prove why the park must be supported by donor agencies for conservation," said Dr. Pema Gyamtsho, Minister of Agriculture and Forests, Royal Government of Bhutan.
The Government of Bhutan and WWF have partnered to co-manage Wangchuck Centennial Park since it was designated as Bhutan's tenth national park in 2008. More than half of Bhutan is now under protection.


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Michael Caty looks forward to leading pediatric surgery to a new level
The new chief is recruiting surgeons, exploring an unusual technique
Michael G. Caty, MD
Michael G. Caty, MD, MMM, the new chief of pediatric surgery for the Department of Surgery and Yale Medical Group, and pediatric surgeon-in-chief of Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital (YNHCH), sees exciting potential to take pediatric surgery here to a new level.
"The things I've noticed are a real willingness to work together," he said. "There's a real passion to make things better, and have continual self-improvement and institutional improvement. I've noticed a richness in intellectual life and scientific inquiry."
Dr. Caty's arrival two months ago after years at Women's & Children's Hospital of Buffalo furthers the goal of making Yale a regional and national referral center for pediatric surgery, said Robert Udelsman, MD, chief of surgery. After a national search, Dr. Udelsman called the new chief "the obvious first choice. He is an extremely successful and experienced surgeon. He is widely respected throughout the field as a thought leader and a spokesperson for pediatric surgery."
Hiring new surgeons
Dr. Caty sees Yale's program evolving, with new surgeons coming in—the ultimate goal is six pediatric surgeons for the section of pediatric surgery, which sees 3,500 outpatients and performs 1,200 surgeries a year.
He was recruiting surgeons long before his start date, and is already welcoming two. Doruk Ozgediz, MD, from Buffalo and the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, also coordinates care at a hospital in Kampala, Uganda, and expects to develop programs in concert with the Yale School of Public Health. Emily Christison-Lagay, MD, is a surgical oncologist from Massachusetts General Hospital and Memorial Sloan Kettering.
Joining Yale from Buffalo
Dr. Caty obtained his medical degree at the University of Massachusetts. He completed his general surgery training at the University of Michigan, where he served as administrative chief resident and pursued a research fellowship investigating intestinal injury during ischemia and reperfusion. He finished his pediatric surgery residency at Children's Hospital of Boston and Harvard Medical School, where he served as chief resident. He recently completed a Masters degree in Medical Management from the Heinz School of Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University.
In Buffalo, where he worked since 1993, Dr. Caty was surgeon-in-chief and director of pediatric surgical services. He was considered the driving physician leader for the planning and development of moving both the inpatient and outpatient services to the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.
He was a professor of surgery and pediatrics at the University of Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. Board-certified in pediatric and general surgery, his clinical interests include neonatal surgery, thoracic surgery, intestinal motility disorders, pediatric surgical oncology, pediatric laparoscopy and minimally invasive thoracic surgery.
Dr. Caty is a member of the American College of Surgeons, American Pediatric Surgical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, Association for Academic Surgery, Society of University Surgeons and many others. This month he is being inducted into the American Surgical Association, the oldest and most exclusive surgical society in the United States.
Special interest in imaging technique
As a clinician interested in research, Dr. Caty is drawn to minimally invasive surgical techniques, as well the development of an unusual imaging technique called "augmented reality," which involves creating 3-D models of organs so that the surgeon can see the insides of the organs. "It will change the way we think about surgery and diagnostics," he said. In addition, he is working on developing prototypes that will make it possible to repair esophageal atresia with an endoscopic approach.
Personally, coming to Yale was an excellent decision, said Dr. Caty, a Massachusetts native. His three children are all pursuing their educations in the Northeast. "My wife, Diana, and I are both from New England, both from large families, and it just got very easy to be involved in family life," he said.

subset: commoncrawl


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Hydrangea Incrediball
* Common name: Hydrangea Incrediball
* Botanical name: Hydrangea arborescens 'Abetwo'
* What it is: A new version of native hydrangea that gets unusually big flower heads in summer — often as big as a volley ball. The bright-white, round flowers also are held on stiffer stems than older 'Annabelle' types, which tend to look floppy. Incrediball stays more upright.
* Size: 6 feet tall by 5 to 6 feet wide.
* Where to use: These flower well in shade to part shade and so are excellent flowering specimens in a wooded garden or any shade garden. Really impressive when several are planted together in a mass.
* Care: Cut back all growth to about ankle high at the end of winter. Browned-out flower heads can be snipped off any time, or you can let them on all winter if you like the texture of them. An annual spring scattering of Plant-tone or similar balanced organic fertilizer is helpful but usually not necessary. Water needed only in a drought after the first year. Cut a few flowers for arrangements.
* Great partner: Brunnera 'Jack Frost' and astilbe 'Pumila' or 'Visions in Pink' are good shade-perennial partners. Or do a groundcover planting of leadwort.
No comments


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We went to the Alabama book festival yesterday and wandered around with the heady smell of intellectualism in our noses for three hours until Sam started trying to break antiques. The festival was housed in Old Alabama Town, a sort of miniature Ye Olde Williamsburg. I've avoided the place before, because I feared it would be all Gone With the Wind veneration of the old South. (Hey, I can be forgiven. I live in a city that simultaneously advertises itself as the Cradle of the Confederacy and the Birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement. The First White House of the Confederacy sits cattycorner to and within a block of The Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, where pastor Martin Luther King, Jr. organized the Montgomery Bus Boycott.)
Anyway, Old Alabama Town turns out to just be an overpriced historic village. But we got in free with the book fair, and besides shooting adorable photos of my kids, I snuck behind the barrier in the recreated printing shop where the historic typewriters all suspiciously have the number 1 on them. (This leads me to wonder about their actual age. I thought all typewriters left off the 1 to make room for the striking keys until relatively late in the game. Maybe it was just many. Maybe it was just mine. (I learned to type and wrote for several years on an antique Remington Rand.)
The pictures are awesome, and they certainly look authentic as hell. It was kind of cool that Sam was as enchanted by the printing presses and typewriters as we were. (My pictures here are mostly of the typewriters and typing area. I couldn't sneak over to get a good angle on the printing presses.)
Jessie Powell is the Jester Queen. She likes to tell you about her dog, her kids, her fiction, and her blog, but not necessarily in that order.


text: Holiday Inn Express & SuitesOnlineWebsite - www.hiexpress.comCapacitiesMax Capacity Classroom - 80Number Of Meeting Rooms - 1Seating Capacity Smallest Event Room - 10Address16905 Caldwell Creek Dr.Huntersville, NC 28078PhonePrimary - (704) 892-9487Toll Free - (800) 527-1133Fax - (704) 892-9402 Nestled near Lake Norman's shores, this all-suite hotel offers both studio and delux suites with full kitchens inluding coffeemaker, microwave, toaster, dishwasher, china, silverware, cooking utensils, and cookware. Room to walk, meet with associates or just relax in the comfortable living area. The ideal location to host small and medium size meeting groups. AmenitiesAccommodations on-siteFree parkingHandicap accessibleInternet – wireless


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Restriction on the employment of children at night.
15.—(1) An employer shall neither permit a child to do work at any time between the hour of 8 p.m. on any day and 8 a.m. on the following day nor permit a child to do any work until the expiration of fourteen hours from the time at which he ceased to do work on the previous day.
(2) An employer who contravenes subsection (1) of this section shall be guilty of an offence.


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By Robyn Collins
Veteran Chicago journalist Jim DeRogatis has been investigating R. Kelly since the 2000s when the crooner was tried for child-porn. His latest article about the artist in Buzzfeed alleges that R. Kelly has recently been imprisoning women in a "sex cult."
Related: R. Kelly Makes First Public Comments after Sex Cult Allegations
An interview with a woman in Kelly's entourage seems to confirm DeRogatis' story. The woman, who was part of Kelly's harem talked to Jezebel about the situation, which she called "so f—— up."
The article refers to the woman as "Kim" to protect her real identity. Kim met the singer after a concert, in which she was invited onstage and then asked to attend an after-party. At the event, Kelly gave her his phone number and allegedly said, "Baby girl, I want you."
The next day Kim and Kelly reportedly hooked up at his hotel and had sex in his tour bus. Kim told the publication that Kelly paused "long enough to ask, 'Baby girl, how old are you?'" Then, he programmed her number into "all three of his iPhones" and told her he wanted to see her again.
Kim said that she is different from the other girls because she knew what she was "getting into," while she claims the other girls are "completely manipulated and brainwashed."
Kim calls Kelly "controlling," explaining that when women would go out together, they were not to look at anyone and had to keep their heads down. They were also told to tattle on each other.
The women are forced to call him "Daddy," while he calls them his "babies."
No one is allowed to enter a room without knocking three times and waiting for permission to enter, as well as to leave.
"He never makes threats," she said. "But the girls are so eager to do whatever he wants. He'll wake us out of a dead sleep and say to this girl, 'Suck my —-,' or to these two girls, 'Kiss on each other,' and immediately without thought, they jump right to it. It's just bizarre. It's unlike anything I've seen before honestly."
"It's not non-consensual, I guess," she added. "But I don't know if they even realize the situation they're in is wrong."
Kim did admit that she didn't know the other women lived with the singer, or that they were not allowed to come and go. She claims that she personally never had her phone taken, never took the MDMA that was readily available, or had to sign any kind of contract. She also pointed out that she was older than the others, and she was white, where the others were mostly black.


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Skip to comments.Singapore economy "may contract in third quarter"
Posted on 09/17/2013 11:53:09 PM PDT by TexGrill
SINGAPORE: Singapore's non-oil domestic exports (NODX) contracted unexpectedly in August, falling 6.2 per cent on-year following a 1.9 per cent drop in July.
August's fall is the seventh straight month of decline, according to figures from trade agency International Enterprise Singapore (IE Singapore).
The pullback in trade performance surprised some economists who had expected a 2.4 per cent on-year increase in August NODX.
Compared to July, NODX declined by 6.0 per cent in August, following the previous month's 1.8 per cent contraction.
From January to August, NODX fell 7.7 per cent on-year, and some economists say Singapore could miss its official forecast of a 0 to 1 per cent growth this year.
Singapore's economy may even see a contraction in the third quarter, following a strong 15.5 per cent quarter-on-quarter growth in the second quarter.
DBS Bank senior economist, Irvin Seah, said: "If we do get a contraction in August industrial production number, I think it is almost a given that we will get a contraction in GDP growth for the third quarter.
"Over the last one month or so, we have seen problems emerging in two of our key neighbouring trading partners, essentially Malaysia and Indonesia.
"These two countries account for quite a big chunk of our exports. With the problems in these two countries, the depreciation of their currencies, it will certainly affect our non-oil domestic exports performance and indirectly our GDP growth."
(Excerpt) Read more at channelnewsasia.com ...
Not a good economic sign...Singapore is one of the stronger economies
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.


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Bihar Government approved to implement benefits of 7th Pay Commission for Bihar state government employee and pensioners. After Meeting on 21 December 2016, Nitish Kumar government has finalize to give new revised salary as per 7th CPC to all state government employee and pensioners. Central Government implement 7th pay commission, after that different state government implement 7th CPC for their state government employee. Now Bihar Government is Going to Implement 7th Pay Commission. For this, CM Nitish Kumar has formed fitment committee to review 7th CPC report. This article provides Bihar 7th Pay Commission Latest News.
Bihar Government is Going to Implement 7th Pay Commission
For this implementation, Bihar Government set up one review committee. Committee would be headed by retired bureaucrat and former state Chief Secretary GS Kang .Secretaries of Finance and Rural Works Department Rahul Singh and Vinay Kumar are the members of this committee and Principal Secretary is Cabinet Coordination Department Brajesh Mehrotra.
There are around 4.5 lakh employees under Bihar government and 3.5 lakh pensioners who will get the benefit of new pay scale / revised salary structure.
There are so many question in your mind. Here, some most discussed questions and their answers are given below.
What are the Pay Scale for Different Post for Different Department?
ANS: 7th Pay Commission Projected Pay Scale and Grade Pay for All Pay Band
What are the Minimum Salary in 7th CPC for Uttrakhand?
ANS: 7th Pay Commission Minimum Pay Scale
What are the Maximum Salary as per seventh pay commission?
ANS: 7th Pay Commission Maximum Salary
Calculate your Salary As per 7th Pay Recommendation (SALARY CALCULATOR)
Calculate your Arrears as per 7th Pay Commission Notification (ARREARS CALCULATOR)
How much salary hike in their current salary? ANS: Pay Matrix Table of 7th Pay Commission
How pay fixation is done in 7th pay commission? ANS: Steps for 7th Pay Fixation for Bihar Government Employee
Article Bihar Government is Going to Implement 7th Pay Commission cover Bihar 7th Pay Commission Latest News in Hindi and in PDF format.


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A Master Closet Designs will send an experienced designer to your home to consult with you on your individual storage needs and then provide you with a complimentary custom closet or cabinetry design and estimate.
We are locally-owned and family-operated. We have been serving builders and homeowners in Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River Counties since 1987.
Using only the most skilled professionals and the highest quality materials, we are so confident in our workmanship and products that we offer you a lifetime warranty for as long as you own your home.
Your custom closet or cabinetry will be manufactured in our state of the art facility by our craftsmen, then our professional installers will come to your home to assemble and install your system.
Before your eyes, you will see the ordinary become the extraordinary.
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Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Phone: (772) 781-7357
Monday - Friday: 8:00am - 4:00pm
Saturday: 10:00am - 4:00pm
Sunday: Closed


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M2: Harmony – Fiasco of the Dragonist Cult
By Alpha the Beta
A teenage girl sat on the cold, hard floor of a cell resembling that of one you would find in a national prison. Her legs were bent into a sitting position. A bowl full of cold, hard grits sat next to her. She eyed it with repugnance, and pinched her forefinger and thumb over her nostrils. They were clearly revolting. Suddenly, a light streamed through the door several feet away, and in it a figure resembling that of the common adult man appeared. But, he was wearing a mask that vaguely resembled the face of a mythical dragon.
"Miz Prophet, ma'am, have you learned y'all a lesson here?" His voice slurred. He was not intoxicated with alcohol, he just had a rather thick accent.
The girl's thin, blonde hair swayed with her face to meet the eyes of the odd man.
"Um…yes. Just, please, let me see my friends again." She asked in a quiet, polite voice. She clearly did not want her friends to be punished for her own misgivings.
"Urm, yes, y'all friends ure okay. Jus' don' do anythin' like tha' again, mizzy." His eyes whirled around the room. They seemed to have difficulty looking directly at the girl. He knew that the powers of a Prophet were not to be taken lightly.
"Um…thank you." She muttered in a small voice.
The dragon-faced man extended his arm, and she took an unsteady hold of it. He pulled her up with ease. Their hands became separate again, and she walked timidly behind him to the room where she had eaten food the night before. Or, one could just replace the word "food" with "grits", because it seemed as if that was all these dragon-y folk consumed.
The dragon-man's pace quickened, and the girl's red dress flowed behind her as she struggled to keep up. It seemed her friends were being held in a cell on the opposite side of the main cult building.
"…And uvv course, y'all know we'll have to re-in-statuh yer clothin's. Miz Cazula dun like vivud cullers."
"Um, yes sir." The girl didn't know what else to say. She was awfully nervous.
They entered into a room that contained three cells. Like hers, the room was dank, cold, and musty. Hardly fitful for living.
"Tracy!" A girl's voice yelled from one of the cells. "Tell this idiot to let me out of here! I'm serious, my dad'll have you on trial!"
"I will ask yoo wunce, li'tl mizzy, to keep quiet. Miz Cazula won' like it if yer shootin' off words like a buncha fireworks. She dun like fireworks, eithurr. Too noisy, she says."
"Why, you! I'll have you incarcerated, you hear me!" Afterwhich, the girl shot off a volley of curses and insults that Tracy wouldn't say to her worst enemy.
"Lydia, um…it's probably better that you do be a little quieter," Tracy spoke up.
"Ugh, fine, whatever you say! What am I, chopped liver…?" The girl called Lydia choked out.
"So, uh…could you let them out, please?" Tracy said, her voice small.
"Yeah, c'mon!" A young boy's voice bounced off of the walls of the dank room. "I'm not gettin' any younger here!"
"Kang, you're really not helping the situation," An older boy said sagely. "I mean, Tracy's trying to get us out as quick as she can. And if we don't get out of here, it'll be your fault, not hers."
"Ugh, fine!" Kang huffed, clearly defeated.
"Thank you, Picky…" Tracy said, a grateful look in her large, blue eyes.
"We-yull…" The man with the dragon mask spoke up again. "I guess I'll let 'em out. Just promise not to do that again."
"Thank you!" Tracy whispered loudly, a sincerely gracious tone in her voice. A feeling of relief spread throughout her body and her muscles relaxed. She released a puff of air that seemed to have been stuck in her lungs ever since she was thrown into that jail cell.
The dragon-ish man quickly unlocked the cell doors, and opened them. Three people came pouring out. The one in the cell closest to the exit of the room was the teenage boy, adorned in a leather jacket, a gray undershirt, and worn-out blue jeans, with shaggy, blonde hair concealing most of his face. The person that had been in the cell to his right, the young boy, was fashioned with a yellow robe set tucked neatly inside a pair of puffy, black pants. His head was topped with a yellow cap, covering most of his black hair, the rest of which was faltering behind him in the way of a royal ponytail. He looked a bit like a child martial artist. The cell farthest right had contained a teenage girl with a large, ginger, heart-shaped hairstyle. She sported a light purple button-top and a deep purple dress bottom. She also wore large, oval shaped, red-rimmed glasses that vaguely concealed her eyes in the right lighting. The bottom half of her legs were covered with white, knee-high socks
Tracy spread her arms around the three with a sigh of relief. The other girl seemed somewhat apprehensive to this idea, claiming it was a "corny charade of happiness". Nobody could care less about what she had to say at that moment, however.
But then, the dragon-faced man quickly led them to a small room that contained four comfortable-looking cots and scattered bedside tables, each of which were adorned with a uniquely colored flower. Tracy dragged the table that held a pink rose next to one of the similar looking cots and she sniffed it, her nose seemed to defy the laws of gravity as it almost comically rose into the air. Kang snorted at this strange display, and then coughed, as Picky had elbowed him in the stomach just then. They all assorted into their respective cots, and quickly fell into a deep sleep.
Where was she? Tracy observed her surroundings, but the most she could see was a strange spotlight centered on her person.
"Uh, hello?" She said as bravely as her meek voice could muster.
"Hello?" She said, with a bit more confidence.
"Greetings, child."
Tracy subconsciously jumped with fright. She was not honestly expecting anyone to answer back. When she peered into the air, she observed a pair of deep, shining, red eyes, glowing through the dark haze surrounding her.
"U-uh, who are you?!" She demanded, frightened curiosity encompassing her being. It may not have been the right question to ask, however, as the strange being speaking to her growled. Though, a split-second later she noticed there was no animosity in the vocal utterance.
"I, my child, am what you humans know as the 'Dark Dragon'. I am as large as an island, more powerful than the forces of Mother Nature, and wiser than the most intelligent philosophers of mankind's feeble existence."
"S-so, uh, what am I doing here? What do you want from me? Please don't hurt me!" She pleaded feebly.
The Dark Dragon let out what could be interpreted as a hearty guffaw.
"I have merely appeared to you in this vision to tell you that this 'cult' dedicated to I that you have encountered is nothing more than a scheme devised by their leader to receive power. Cazula, the wicked girl who rules over these people, is nothing more than a harmless little girl without her henchmen…huh. They seem to have taken most of the world into their grasp. You must act quickly, and defy them at any cost. Make no mistake though, you cannot go on without your companions. They are very important to you. If you were a fraction, combining with the three of them would make you whole. Escape their headquarters tomorrow evening, but do not forget its location. I must leave you now."
"W-w-wait! I have to ask you something!" Tracy called out.
The Dark Dragon's gleaming red eyes focused on her.
"This question may sound weird, but, uh, I really want to know what's going on. There isn't something right about all of this…"
The Dragon merely snorted. "Girl, I have not time for your pathetic excuses for questions. Begone."
And so, Tracy bolted upright, waking up in a cold sweat. It was the most surreal and vivid dream she had ever had. It almost seemed…real. But it was real. She supposed if the Dark Dragon had told her to escape, she might as well have. That was going to be her next course of action anyway.
Tracy was the last one to arrive to breakfast. She had woken up late, and spent a few minutes picking out the minute details of the new and drab clothes she had been given. It was a simple gray dress, no frills attached. It was the most boring piece of clothing she had ever worn. She said nothing about her dream when she sat down at the table, but talked quietly amongst her friends about how wanted to escape.
"I was sick of this place anyway," Lydia remarked emptily.
"Hey, Tracy!" Kang spoke up. "That thing you did the other night was hilarious! I mean, you threw the grits at that prophet and – ack-ha-ha!" He seemed to choke on his words, and his grits.
Tracy threw the most vicious glare she could muster at Kang. It did not seem to faze him much, but he dropped his ridiculous grin.
"The most important part, though, is…how are we gonna do that?" Picky questioned with concern. "I mean, they're all over the place! It's not like this is just a couple of guys, there are thousands!"
"I, uh, I…" To be honest, Tracy had not thought out a decent plan. Really, all she came up with was "run away and beat up as few people as possible". Obviously, this wasn't a very well-thought out method.
"Oh, this is hopeless," she said to herself, all the while burying her face in her arms. "I wish my big brother was here! He would sort it all out! I mean, when we defeated your older brother, Picky, it was only because he helped…"
"Er. Well, what about that Cerberus thing? The four of us did that on our own!" Picky stated.
"Well, yeah," Lydia commented. "And that thing was a total freak. Good thing we beat the crap out of it."
"Well," Tracy spoke again. "Does anyone else have any ideas?"
Lydia, Kang, and Picky all shrugged.
"Well, uh, it's decided then. I guess we'll just storm out tomorrow evening, when the security isn't so tight, and beat everyone up, then?"
Picky and Kang nodded in agreement. Lydia did not look satisfied by this course of action, however.
"We can't just, like, charge in like neanderthals. We gotta have, uh, grace and finesse. Like this."
The girl began to dance around. Well, at least it kind of looked like it. She was more or less just flaying her arms about like jell-o. Dragonist cult members, whom were also sitting about, glared at her, perturbed and not at all happy with what they were seeing. Dancing was frowned upon in this culture.
A dragonist couple promptly seized her under her armpits and hurled her out an open window onto the soft grass outside.
The three remaining friends stared in shock, at least, until Kang began to laugh.
"Ahahahaha! Did you see how she was dancing?! And the way they threw her out like that! I would pay good money to see that again!" He guffawed.
Picky snapped out of his trance and glanced at the floor absentmindedly, as if he had been doing that the entire time.
Tracy strode out the doors to help Lydia.
But none of them forgot. Tonight, seven PM. It was about time they got out of here.
Kang's head protruded from the slightly open door, pupils shifting about to check his surroundings.
"Everything's clear," He stated in a raspy whisper.
"Alright," came the small but clear voice of Tracy. Kang tiptoed out of the room, followed by Tracy, then Picky and Lydia.
Tracy glanced at the door located at the end of the hallway. The wholesome guards were quite asleep.
Kang was about to say something, perhaps tell a joke or make a humorous comment about the guards or something relating to the two men, but Tracy's harsh shushing interrupted him. When the four came to the door, one of the guards was beginning to stir. Tracy managed a hoarse "PSI Hypnosis Alpha!" and the man fell to the ground, and began to snore. Very loudly, too. The other guard quickly was quickly awoke due to the noise. While he was still in a state of catatonic shock, Picky threw a swift punch, and the dragon-like guard was knocked out cold. The four friends rushed through the door and into a round room, hoping not to attract too much attention.
However, their hopes would quickly be dashed when a Dragonist cult member burst through the wooden ceiling! Tracy shrieked as he started after Picky, but Lydia quickly shot him, and he fell to the ground, limp and unconscious.
"Damn!" Kang swore loudly, but Lydia had elbowed him to stop him from going on a further tangent and attracting more guards.
They quickly scrambled to a door on the left side of the room. When the opened it, however, they came upon a wispy looking man in white. He, unlike the other Dragonists, was wearing a pure black Dragon mask. This may have signified a certain elite position.
"Face," he began, his voice barely above a rasp. "The wrath of the Choir."
The man slowly stepped into the center of the next room (which was oval shaped), and looked to both his immediate right and left. As if out of thin air, seven more of the Choir had appeared, all looking quite similar to the one wispy man they had originally faced.
The four quickly gathered their bearings and fled to the door at the opposite side of the room they had been in previous. It was an empty corridor, save for another oak-wood door on the side adjacent of them. They scrambled across the corridor as the door in the Oval Room had been projected from its hinges, somehow flying through the hole in the ceiling a Dragon cultist had made just moments ago. It bounced off of the unseen support beams above and crashed through the corridor ceiling, nearly crushing Picky who held the rear.
As they flew threw the door, Tracy had the strangest feeling that they were drawing nearer to the exit of this confounded place.
They had entered another oval shaped room. There was a door on the other side. But unfortunately, standing between them and the door was a member of the Choir.
He smiled, and merely chortled.
"Well, well, well, y'all complacent lit'tl children. Seems y'all've have gone as far as you could. Might as well give up now. The Choir is much too much for y'all to handle."
"Well, uh…" Tracy couldn't find the words to speak correctly. "What exactly is 'the Choir'?"
"Oh, y'all wanna know what we do and such, iz that right, lit'tl Mizzy? Well, we began in the 'umble year of 200X an'-"
His speech was interrupted by a flying kick, promptly delivered by Kang. However, as the Choir member was merely in a state of shock, the others ran around him and fled through the door. They recognized this as the food hall. However, there were many members of the Choir, along with regular Dragonists standing in a neat, formed line at the other side of the tables. On a table nearest the Dragonists, was a small, red-adorned girl. She, too, wore a Dragon mask. A look of triumph and glee filled her face, and she began to speak as her black locks swung behind her.
"Well, y'all somehow made it this far, didn'tcha? Well, you lot're in a whole messa trouble. You know how much damage you've cost in money, y'all? About eightee dollars. You see, thas not a lot to most people, but to li'l ol' me, it's a fortune! Plus, y'all were in-soh-lent, and you broke the laws of this commun-eh-tey. Prophets are never 'llowed to leave, o' course. Choir, seize them criminals!"
The men moved in, and it seemed to spell the end for the four. Picky looked on at Tracy in despair and panic, but she seemed to be concentrating on something. And finally, it happened. She procured a psychic wave of some kind, knocking the Choir, the regular Dragonists, and the wicked girl Cazula off their feet.
"W-whut?! What was that?! Was that the power of the Prophets?! They really that strong?!" She yelled in disbelief as she struggled to get to her feet. When she finally regained her footing, she looked around to see that the four insolent children were gone. She looked out of the window, to see them running at top speed out of Starlight Valley, and onto elsewhere, to begin a new adventure and defeat the Dark Dragon cult.


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It was developed by Charles Spearman in early 1900s and as such this test is also called as Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. In statistical analysis situation arises when the data are not available to use in numerical form for correlation analysis, but the information is sufficient to rank the data as first, second, third and so on, in this kind of situations we use quite often the rank correlation method and work out the coefficient of rank correlation. These latest developments are all covered in the Statistic Homework help, Assignment help at transtutors.com
The rank correlation coefficientin fact is a measure of association which is based on the ranks of the observations and not on the numerical values of the data. In performing this, for calculating rank correlation coefficient, at first the actual observation to be replaced by their ranks, the highest value is given rank 1, rank 2 to next highest one and by following this particular order ranks are assigned for all the values. If two or more values seem to be equal, the calculated average of the ranks that should have been assigned to such values had all of them be different, is then taken and the same rank (equal to the calculated average) is given to the concerning values. The next step is to record the difference between ranks for each pair of observations and then square these differences to get a total value of such differences. Then finally the rank correlation coefficient is worked out.
Here n denotes the number of paired observations.
The value of Spearman's rank correlation coefficient will always vary between -1 and +1. Spearman's rank correlation is also known as "grade correlation". Basically it is a non parametric measure of statistical dependence between two variables. This test makes an assessment of how well the relationship between two variables can be described using a monotonic function. All such methods are covered inStatistic Homework help, Assignment help at transtutors.com
Steps involved in Spearman's rank correlation test:
The null hypothesis - "There is no relationship between the two sets of data."
Ranking both sets of data from highest to the lowest position and checking for tied ranks.
Subtract the two sets of ranks to get the difference d and Square the values of d.
Add the squared values of d to get Sigma d2. The next step is to use the formula
$ = 1-(6Sigma d2/n3-n) where n is the number of ranks
there is a perfect negative correlation If the $ value is -1, if falls between -1 and -0.5, there is a strong negative correlation, if falls between -0.5 and 0, there is a weak negative correlation, if it is 0, there is no correlation, if falls between 0 and 0.5, there is a weak positive correlation, if falls between 0.5 and 1, there is a strong positive correlation, if it is 1, there is a perfect positive correlation between the two data sets. The null hypothesisis accepted if $ value is 0, otherwise it is rejected. Whenever the objective is to know if two variables are related to each other, the correlation technique is used.
Our email-based homework help support provides best and intelligent insight and recreation which help make the subject practical and pertinent for any assignment help.
Transtutors.com present timely homework help at logical charges with detailed answers to your Statistic questions so that you get to understand your assignments or homework better apart from having the answers. Our tutors are remarkably qualified and have years of experience providing Spearman Rank Correlation Test homework help or assignment help.
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"We had an earthquake a couple of years ago, and that was pretty scary," said Kate Blom, supervisor of the Rawlings Conservatory in Baltimore. "You know, an earthquake and a glass house."
I could only imagine the potential for devastation. But instead, a miracle happened. The earthquake toppled only a single tree, a 30-foot Chinese fan palm that fell along a walking path in the Palm House conservatory, leaving the glass walls unscathed and the other plants untouched.
I call it divine pruning. To Blom, it was a sign that angels are looking after the place.
Over the years, angels have protected the Rawlings Conservatory from its fair share of natural challenges: wind shears, hurricanes, Snowmageddon and earthquakes, all threatening the hundreds of glass panes in its several greenhouses.
The Rawlings Conservatory, which celebrates its 125th anniversary this year, sits in Baltimore's Druid Hill Park, a 745-acre swath of rolling meadows, walking trails and old-growth forest that's also home to the Maryland Zoo. Originally, the conservatory consisted of just the five-story Palm House — a Victorian iron, wood and glass masterpiece that looks like a gilded bird cage — and the adjacent Orchid Room. Three new greenhouses were added in 2004, featuring Mediterranean, tropical and desert environments.
Giant glass conservatories are a relic of the Victorian era. They became quite the fad after Queen Victoria opened the Crystal Palace for the Great Exhibition in 1851. Soon after, cities across the United States were building ornate conservatories and filling them with exotic plants from around the world. The Palm House, designed by architect George Frederick, was built in 1888, making it the second-oldest remaining public glass conservatory in the country, after the Conservatory of Flowers in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, which was built about 10 years earlier.
When I visited on a recent Sunday afternoon with my wife, Carol, a driving rain beat against the Palm House's hundreds of glass panes. But I was too busy marveling at the variety of palms, some soaring to the glass ceiling, others sheltered beneath their tall neighbors, to be much bothered by the weather. Twin coconut palms, with their graceful curved trunks, contrasted with the bulging, shaggy trunks of Bismarck palms. Croton plants provided a red-tinged groundcover, and brilliant red torch ginger plants shot out on long, slender stalks.
In the Orchid Room, dozens of orchids cascaded from pots arranged on the walls, so that we were surrounded by wonderful hues of yellow, purple and red. The red and yellow flower of the Stanhopea orchid reminded me of snails tumbling over one another. Artists draw inspiration from this room. Paul Dougherty, a frequent visitor from the nearby Mount Vernon neighborhood, told me that his wife is a watercolorist who likes to come to the Orchid Room to paint.
From the Orchid Room, we entered the Mediterranean House, where we were greeted by the lemony aroma of freshly cut scented geraniums. Competing scents came from rosemary, oregano, bougainvillea and oleander. I was surprised to find a palm tree here. The Mediterranean fan palm is the only palm native to that region. Blom pointed out that this house provides a wonderful antidote to the winter blues: Most of its plants are February bloomers.
Details are important here. Carol noted that the small pool in the Mediterranean House is highlighted with blue tiles, reminding us of our travels in Greece and Italy.
One of the conservatory's more bizarre plants can be found in the Desert House. The agave, or century plant, goes through an incredible growth spurt, sending off a shoot that can grow as much as a foot a day. Two agaves, a blue one and a variegated one, exhibited this growth starting in March and April and have grown about 25 to 30 feet. Glass panels have been taken off the roof of the greenhouse to accommodate this extreme growth. Blom said that when the blue agave blooms, it produces a pretty yellow flower; the variegated agave produces a cream-colored one. In the life cycle of an agave plant, it can take as long as a century for this flowering to occur — hence the name "century plant."
The Desert House contains various cacti, several types of euphorbia and a Joshua tree. I was particularly impressed by the Madagascar palm, which isn't a palm at all but a succulent that produces beautiful white blossoms, similar to plumeria and oleander.
My favorite greenhouse was the steamy Tropical House. Here we saw the incredible colors of tropical plants, such as delicate white jasmine blossoms, the scarlet flaming swords and the brilliant orange and blue bird of paradise. Pat Yevics, president of the Baltimore Conservatory Association, half-joked that you could live off the land in this greenhouse. Indeed, we saw papaya, bananas and even coffee growing here. Blom pointed out that this is an opportunity for visiting children to see that food really does grow on trees — and not in grocery stores.
When the rain let up, we spent some time outdoors in the formal Victorian garden, where hydrangeas, antique roses, coneflowers and day lilies were in glorious summer bloom.
The Rawlings Conservatory isn't a large place. In fact, its smallness is one of its great attractions: You can linger here and observe interesting plants without worrying about rushing to the next greenhouse. Nevertheless, the conservatory nearly went under in the mid-1990s because of the expense of heating and maintaining glass houses. Fortunately, the city of Baltimore and the Baltimore Conservatory Association stepped in and committed to keeping the conservatory going. The Palm House was repaired and new greenhouses and pavilions were added. Today, a dedicated group of volunteers keeps the conservatory going.
Since our visit, the blue agave plant has produced a beautiful yellow blossom, and Blom told me that the variegated agave will "pop" soon. What better way to celebrate a 125th anniversary than with a 100-year bloom?
Lee teaches journalism at Bucknell University.


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Where The Sun and Moon Collide
Where The Sun and Moon Collide
Our Fanzine section has 11 issues full of interviews, stories and other content you can't find anywhere else!
AUTOGRAPHED DVDs: Allyce Beasley and Curtis Armstrong signed copies of Season 3 DVDs at Rocket Video in LA. Read our report.
WEB INTERVIEW: Shortly after the Season 3 DVD release, we talked with producer Jay Daniel about participating on the DVD commentaries and more.
Both available in the Fanzine section.
Cybill Shepherd co-stars on the 2012 Jennifer Love Hewitt Lifetime series The Client List. Jennifer plays Riley Parks, a struggling wife and mother. After her husband abandoning the family and the foreclosure of her home fast approaching, she's forced to juggle her new job's responsibilities as a masseuse... with benefits for "the client list" to make ends meet. Cybill plays Riley's mother, Linette Montgomery.
Are you ready for G. I. JOE? Bruce Willis stars in the up coming 2012 Summer Blockbuster flick G.I. Joe 2: Retaliation with Fast Five's Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.
UPDATE: G. I. JOE 2's release date has been pushed back to March 2013. Reason? The enhancement of 3D. Well, it worked for Journey 2.
July 2013: Now that Bruce got Die Hard 5, oh I mean, A Good Day to Die Hard out of his system, he's joining Helen Mirren for another action flick sequel Red 2.
No worries. You can buy the Moonlighting DVDs here!
It's the best way to talk to other fans who love Moonlighting as much as you do.


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Hotels in McIntosh, Alabama
Below we have listed a comprehensive selection of hotels in the McIntosh, Alabama area. We have displayed them by order of proximity to McIntosh and display the phone numbers. If you're looking for another selection of hotels or motels in Alabama, you can select another city from our drop down box on the right. If you're looking to book a hotel online, I suggest using YouGetAround.com. They always seem to have the best travel deals for me.
|Best Western
3218 College Avenue, Jackson, AL
(251) 246-6030
|Econo Lodge
3680 North College Avenue, Jackson, AL
(251) 246-4111
|Hampton Inn Jackson
4150 College Avenue, Jackson, AL
(251) 246-7300
|Timberland Motel
17140 Jordan Street, Chatom, AL
(251) 847-2206
|Citronella Inn
19055 South Main Street, Citronelle, AL
(251) 866-9190
|Downtown Inn
3207 N College Ave, Jackson, AL
(251) 246-5741
|The Battle House Renaissance Mobile Hotel & Spa
26 North Royal Street, Mobile, AL
(251) 338-2000
|La Quinta Inn & Suites North Mobile - Satsuma
6104 Hwy 43, Satsuma, AL
(251) 675-5977
|Colonial Inn Motel
7946 Bud Odom Road, Citronelle, AL
(251) 866-0079
|Microtel Inn And Suites Saraland/North Mobile
1124 Shelton Beach Rd, Saraland, AL
(251) 675-5045
McIntosh, Alabama Hotels Documentation
There are 231 travling employees living in McIntosh Alabama. There are significantly more than 462 traveling occupations available in Washington County. The nearest block of multiple hotels is 1.386 miles away in the town of Wagarville, AL. There are 126 women living in McIntosh, 21.5% have stayed in at least one hotel. Of the 105 men that are working in McIntosh, suprisingly only 47.6% have stayed in a hotel, but 11.5% of the males have travelled with their jobs in McIntosh, which tends to be in the health care industry. The polls from a questionnaire that was sent out to the working class living in McIntosh, Alabama, only 1.1% of the population would ever stay in a motel. The hotel and traveling residency in McIntosh, Alabama spends over $693 in cash daily.
Famous Hotel Chains with high ratings: Travelocity | Expedia | YouGetAround | Hotels | Orbitz


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If you are one of those desperate shoppers who just isn't finding the perfect thought, yet you want to keep it geared toward the happy campers, then have I got an idea for you! Remember...we live in our Fleetwood Bounder full time, on a limited budget, so these are things we would love to get - and though they will take time, they are basically free and come completely from the heart.
Think long and hard about your skills, talents and what not - then create a cute certificate on your computer (you can present it in a dollar tree picture frame or dress it up somehow). Now here are some great ideas that will get you headed in the right direction:
- Offer to spring clean the inside of the rv, top to bottom. RVs are a small space and pretty easy to get tidy, but a few times a year we really need to do a good cleaning on walls, floors, inside cabinets, etc. Would absolutely love this gift.
- Are you a seamstress? Offer to make customized curtains for the bedroom, etc. and have them pick out/buy the fabric from Walmart.
- Are you handy with vehicles in general? Offer to inspect the engine, tires, brakes, fluids or give an oil change or repair a problem they complain of all the time.
- Are you good with pets or a groomer? Offer to groom the rv cat or dog, bathe, clip nails or something of that nature. As long as the rving pet is agreeable. Our rving cat, Spot, has quite the personality and would prefer being left alone most days! (see his photo below)
- Are you a photographer or artist? Offer to take a formal portrait for next year's holiday cards.
You get the idea, I'm sure? You can make the rv gift as big or small as you want to, depending on your skills, time available and relationship to the rver. These types of presents will be remembered forever and so much appreciated, because they truly come from the heart. However, don't just "say it" because they will feel intimidated to hold you to your end of the bargain. Set a timeline, call them if they haven't cashed in on your offer or put an expiration date on your certificate, or an actual weekend in the future.


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Well, so far, so good. Granted it's only the first month of the 2013 Reading Romances challenge, but I'm happy to report I succeeded! That may not sound all that amazing, but my writing schedule is INTENSE (thankfully – I love to be busy!) and some days it's harder than others to squeeze in reading-for-pleasure time.
For January, the theme was Marry me? – Readers were encouraged to find a romance novel that involved a marriage of convenience, an arranged marriage, or a forced marriage that leads to love. In case you don't recall I chose An Offer He Can't Refuse by Theresa Ragan.
I really enjoyed this fun, romantic story, from the opening page when Madison says she's looking for a husband – someone "tall, dark, and temporary". A marriage of convenience isn't always easy to pull off, but Ragan did a nice job and made me root for Madison's success.
Madison and Jackson start with separate agendas and their journey to mutual trust and a happy ever after is ripe with tender emotional moments that will leave you smiling.
Be sure to visit ReadingRomances.com to see what books other readers enjoying and recommending in this month's challenge.
Stay tuned as the February theme is: Foreigners Do It Better and my selection is The Billionaire's Pregnant Mistress by the ever-so-talented Lucy Monroe! I can't wait!
Happy reading and as always,
Live the adventure!


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Discussion in 'Green Room' started by VenomXt, Jan 9, 2006.
Man, while I was checking it out 4 pieces disappeared.
well, that is an interesting way to try to generate advertising money
Reminds me of the Million Dollar Homepage, but much more creative. :laugh:
That's a brilliant idea! I wonder if they'll be able to sell the 1 million dollar space
brilliant idea!
It's not picking up much attention so far.
Indeed. Seems pretty boring at the moment
Call me an idiot, but I couldn't figure it out. The menu links didn't work for me.
I doubt they'll be able to sell most of it. $1,000,000 for an ad on a website is a bit too much.
Were the site to get enough publicity (as the Million Dollar Homepage did... which is where they've stole the idea from) then it may be worth it for a company with $1m to gamble.
There seem to be a lot of copy-cat sites appearing now that the Million Dollar Home Page has made it's target. I remember visiting it when it was nothing but an empty site, heh.
aparently this isnt going well lol.
:laugh: I noticed.
that was kind of retarded if you asked me..........1 Million is too much for ads also............this is sort of like that Million Dollar Page
Work Safe?
lol work safe for now!
Well, if it's still around, there obviously wasn't much to miss That said, if it keeps disappearing over time...by now there probably isn't much left to be worth checking
Like others perhaps, I'll pass giving it another click...
Your "stream of consciousness" posts crack me up. You should change your title to Vague Poster.


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Consolidated Security Systems has been providing security for office buildings, distribution centers, retailers and apartment complexes since 1924. CSS offers physical security ranging from general locksmiths services to electronic access control, camera surveillance and phone entry systems.
We work with a wide variety of manufacturers, so we can offer a range of solutions to best fit your needs. Whether you need one lock rekeyed or an entire office complex, one camera or 100, we have the experience and personnel to complete the project to your satisfaction. We provide free site inspections and estimates.
Access Control
Access control limits entrance to a building or a room, so let us help you know who went in what door at what time.
Having a difficult time keeping an eye on everything at the same time? Call us to get a camera surveillance installed.
We can configure panic hardware and automatic door openers for you and we also can re-key locks for your business.
Contact Us
Call our experienced team for an estimate on all of your security needs. We have the personnel to handle any job, big or small.


text: On Sun, Apr 21, 2002 at 02:19:26PM +0100, Brian Greenfield wrote: > Hi > > I used wget to grab Rapha?l Hertzog's woody iso last weekend > and was going to try it out today, but I see he's released a > new version. > > I've tried to update it using rsync -- I'm an rsync > virgin:), but everything I've tried has failed. These are > the commands I've tried: > > |rsync people.debian.org:~hertzog/debian-cd/woody-isolinux.iso > |rsync people.debian.org:/~hertzog/debian-cd/woody-isolinux.iso > |rsync people.debian.org::~hertzog/debian-cd/woody-isolinux.iso > |rsync rsync://people.debian.org:~hertzog/debian-cd/woody-isolinux.iso > > Is it possible to get the update with rsync? > Are any of the above commands correct? > Anyone got a mirror available? I don't know of Raphael's web server, but you do know that rsync needs to be installed on both machines. -Andy -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to email@example.com with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact firstname.lastname@example.com


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NewSage Press, Inc.
PO Box 607
Troutdale, OR 97060
Phone 503-695-2211
Toll Free 877-695-2211
Although 26,000 babies are stillborn
in the United States every year, stillbirth continues to be a taboo
subject. Life Touches Life shatters the silence that has
hidden a bane as old as humankind.
Lorraine Ash met that silence head-on
when, after a trouble-free pregnancy, her daughter, Victoria, was
declared dead on what was to be her date of delivery, June 2, 1999.
After a C-section, Ash fought a fever that raged at 104 degrees
and almost succumbed to the silent B-strep infection that had robbed
her daughter of life.
by the experience, which was to change her forever, Ash sought solace
and perspective in all the old places and found little relief. In
Life Touches Life she tears down the walls of misunderstanding
that isolated her in her hourindeed yearsof need. Shattering
the silence is essential if mothers are to integrate their loss
into their daily lives, Ash writes. A child who only
existed inside her mother can continue to spiritually exist there
and the two can remain close.
Ash discusses the inner changes she
faced after the stillbirth of her daughter and delves into spiritual
questions that shook her soul: Why did God let this happen? Is there
justice in the world? What does this death mean in terms of what
to believe and how to move forward?
Ash also reveals the erratic social
landscape she encountered and what it felt like to be faced with
people who emotionally misunderstood her loss and gave her little,
if any, time for recovery. A mother facing stillbirth is often urged
to get over it already and have another child. People
offer a grieving mother platitudes that trivialize her pain. Worse,
she can be abandoned by old friends used to her old self, which
died with her baby. Or she is avoided because people see her as
a physical manifestation of their own worst fears of how life can
go wrong.
The mother holding a stillbirth in
her heart must navigate holidays, including Mothers Day and
the anniversary of her babys death. Like a veteran of any
trauma, she can flash back when some small thing once again triggers
the memory of being in that delivery room with its awful silence
and hopelessness.
Its a long road to a new life
that feels good and right again, but Ash reassures her readers that
it is a wondrous road and that recovery is possible. The new
life will be different, she writes. Not like the old.
In many ways, the new life will be richer filled with people
who know how to care for a grieving mother, even as she finds new
ways to empathize, love and meet others in their places of pain.
The new life will include looking at things with eyes stripped of
innocence. Acceptance of fate brings wisdom and uncommonly fierce
and loving bonds with othersbonds that only come from surviving
great loss.
Ash offers a legacy of stillbirth
that can bring a profound relaxation in living. Common losses in
life seem so much smaller. Lose a job, lose a fortunenothing
rivals the loss of a child. When things in life go awry, they pale
in intensity and consequence when framed within the pain of a mother
who has walked through a stillbirth.
Whats more, the fate of a stillbirth
mother gives her a particular presence in the worldone of
value and peace, which Ash discusses in a chapter that explores
how she lives as a stillbirth mother four years after her daughter
The message of Life Touches Life
is this: Hope is ahead. Hope is here. For every hurtful word or
action a stillbirth mother bears, there is something of uncommon
beauty right down the roadsomething she may never have seen
or understood before. Epiphanies emerge from the stuff of everyday
experience. True, old friends still stand with her while new ones
arrive, as if drawn by some cosmic pull.
Soon all these things become a new
emotional landscape for the stillbirth mother as she sets out on
the journey of the rest of her life. Life Touches Life is
for those mothers and everyone who wants to understand their pain
and love them well.
Lorraine Ash
Lorraine Ash has been working as a newspaper journalist
since 1982, currently for the Daily Record in Parsippany,
New Jersey. Her feature articles and series, particularly on health
and womens issues, have won national, state, and regional
awards and have been published nationally.
She continues to explore the themes of stillbirth,
childlessness, midlife, and mortality in published essays. In addition
to her work in journalism and essay writing, Ash is a playwright.
Each of her three plays, published by The History Project in Virginia,
is about a U.S. president, including James Monroe, Andrew Jackson
and John Tyler.
Since earning a masters degree in Communications
from Fordham University, Ash has studied writing at various venues,
including the Wesleyan Writers Conference in Connecticut, the Fine
Arts Work Center in Massachusetts, and the American Society of Journalists
and Authors in New York. She has taught writing on the college level
and is a member of The International Womens Writing Guild.
Ash lives in Allendale, New Jersey, with her trumpeter
husband, Bill Ash. She enjoys yoga, Hindu philosophy, and traveling
the state of Maine. As a peer grief counselor, she works one-on-one
with stillbirth mothers.
The following is an excerpt from Life
Touches Life by Lorraine Ash to be published by NewSage Press Spring
2004. All material copyrighted and may not be used without prior
permission from the publisher.
On our first vacation after Victoria died, Bill
and I walked the beach at Cape Cod every day at sunset. Even the
beach taught me something. Bill walked barefoot, the sand between
his toes, and went off to photograph seals and surfs. I took in
the wind, felt it in my hair, in my lungs, and on my skin as my
mind unraveled. That day the beach taught me how its possible
for Victoria to be here and not be here. The sun sprinkled gold
dust on the sandan imaginary gold that glowed orange-yellow.
The ocean reflected the lavender light in the sky and the waters
surface shimmered with a strange and heavenly patina. Victoria is
the gold, the lavender, the light, the beauty that is breathtaking
but cannot be held or contained.
Reality, I got to thinking months later, also
includes relationships that take a different turn than we expectdifferent
than, perhaps, we would have them take. Relationships dont
all fit into the usual prescribed social guidelines. I thought of
the teachers who taught me how to find whats inside mea
wrangler in Arizona, an ambulance worker in New Jersey. I thought
of a boy in Bangkok with whom I had exchanged no more than a glance.
What names did I have for these relationships?
Who were these people? Would I choose to live without even one of
My Victoria was one of them. I could think of
her as my dead daughter, and the relationship would end, leaving
at least a part of me for the rest of my life in a cold stasis.
Or I could think of her as someone with whom I could continue to
share a spiritual relationship that I had never before fathomed.
I chose the latter. There was more joy in it, more warmth, too.
I chose the latter just as I chose to commit myself to my marriage,
to my friends. I simply made a decision. In the end, thats
what it came down to. The decision brings me peace. It allows me
not only to live life again, but to love it with a kind of hope
that wasnt there before.
One day my cousin Kathy talked to me about Meaghan,
her first daughter who had died of a heart malady after living only
days. There are times, she said, when she feelsno, she knowsthat
her daughter is with her. There are days when the sense she has
an otherworldly guardian is as palpable as running her fingers through
the grass.
Then Kathy, a scientist, told me a ghost story.
Her bravery in sharing this story touched me. Five years after Meaghans
death, shortly after settling into a new home, Kathy awoke in the
middle of the night. In the darkness she saw an apparition of a
curly-haired girl who looked under the bed, into the closet and
then vanished. The girl was about the age her daughter would have
been. She was sure it was Meaghan.
One thought ran through my mind, Kathy
said. I thought, My God, Meaghans been with us
all along. We had moved and she was checking out the new digs.
Did Kathy really see the ghost? I think she did,
yet I dont know. But Ill tell you this: In the middle
of the night, I watch.
Life Touches Life is the most
hauntingly beautiful, honest and inspiring story of loss, grief,
and transformation that Ive ever read. I couldnt put
it down and read it in one sitting. Within these pages, I found
good and powerful medicine for anyone who is in the crucible of
grief, experiencing their hopes and dreams being burned away by
forces they cannot control. It will give you solace. It will give
you hope. It is, ultimately, a celebration of life with all its
pain, poignancy, and mystery.
Christiane Northrup, M.D., Author,
The Wisdom of Menopause
Love unifies us, inseparably, with each other.
Perhaps the most majestic expression of this union is the connection
of mother and child. No one has described this better than Lorraine
Ash in her moving testament of her daughters stillbirth. Life
Touches Life is a tribute to love and life everywhere. Never
have we needed such a vision as now.
Larry Dossey, M.D.
Author, Healing Beyond the Body: Medicine and the Infinite
Reach of the Mind
In my own life, I have been surrounded by women
who have experienced the devastating loss of a child. I have seen
how the excruciating pain can twist a woman's soul. I have also
seen, in the pages of this book, how it can melt the walls of a
Mother's heart, exposing the rarest kind of beauty and grace. Life
Touches Life is an exquisitely beautiful story that carries
the reader through the darkest of hours into the brilliant light
of faith, hope and eternal love.
Lone Jensen
Author, Gifts of Grace
The Mother and Child is perhaps the greatest icon
of tenderness and intimacy that we have. The mother carries the
child under her heart. The womb of the mother is the childs
first world. Lorraine Ash has written a most poignant account of
her daughters life in that first world and the tragedy that
stopped her at the threshold to the outside world. There is immense
pain here, huge loss and a searing loneliness. Yet the beauty of
her account shows how hope, healing and new possibility can be harvested
from the terrain of sorrow. Eventually, the sore of grief becomes
a well of presence.
John ODonohue
Author, Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom
Lorraine Ashs book is important, insightful
and moving. It will touch the heart of anyone who has ever had to
cope with stillbirth, of course, but it will also deeply affect
any reader who has suffered profound loss of any kind.
Adam Pertman
Author, Adoption Nation: How the Adoption Revolution Is Transforming
In Life Touches Life, Lorraine Ash gives
us an intimate glimpse into an aspect of the human experience most
of us might have otherwise never known. And she has done so with
such eloquence, elegance, and grace that I truly couldnt put
it down. The writing is beautiful simple and direct, but
flowing with the warmth and music of great poetry. Lorraines
sharing of one of lifes most devastating and least talked-about
experiences is brilliant. She paints a glorious portrayal of the
opening and flowering of her own soul in response to her grief.
It is a beautiful tale of one womans struggle to come to terms
with an experience which to most of us would seem incomprehensible
and totally unacceptable. Yet she shows us how she turned it into
a path to the deepest realms of her heart and soul. I highly recommend
this superbly written, enlightening and inspirational story to everyone,
no matter what their age, gender, or life circumstance. It is a
deeply touching story of the boundless depth, resilience, love and
wisdom of the human spirit.
John E. Welshons
Author, Awakening from Grief: Finding the Road Back to Joy
This memoir holds particular value for the 1,000,000
American women who suffer unsuccessful pregnancies every year. In
a larger sense, though, this is another real-life instance of the
human spirit put on trial, and that must involve us all. No reader
will walk away having turned the last page without pride in Lorraine
Ash as our champion in this struggle.
Brad Kennedy
Author, Heroes or Something
Life Touches Life is a beautiful book. Told
with gut-level honesty, it is a journey from love to loss and back
into the light. It's simply a must-read memoir.
Pat Carr, Author, If We Must Die
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Here is a design rendering released Wednesday morning of the proposed Saratoga Springs City Center parking garage. The $10.2 million to $10.6 million structure would contain 511 parking spaces and be built on city-owned land off Maple Avenue.
The city center says it needs more parking to accommodate guests. The garage is supported by the downtown business community. The city center would pay for the construction of the facility and try to recoup the cost through charging parking fees. The parking deck would be built just east of the center on an existing 188-spot parking lot. At a recent public meeting, some city residents told city council members they wanted more time to examine what the parking garage would look like and if it would fit into the area around High Rock Park. Our last story from March is here.
The city center will present the details of the project to the city council on Tuesday and ask members to appoint the city center lead agency for SEQRA. Here is a sketch of the High Rock agora:
Flexible Event Space – Looking North – Color.pdf by Adam Phillips


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NFL's #1 Ermines Fan
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: My house
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Your Chance To Participate In A New Football Phenomenon (Sandbox Simulations)
I apologize if the mods think this is soliciting, and I guess it is, but at the same time it's beta testing a new product developed by long-time planeteers, and it's free.
cdcox and I have been developing a new football game for the thoughtful fan, where players build franchises and compete against each other. A description is below.
If you're interested, we're offering the game for free in Year 1 to Chiefsplanet members, with the goal of both giving the system a dry run and also hooking you like Phillip Morris. You can go to www.sandboxsimulations.com to sign up, and use the access code 6Lanier3.
Here's the overview:
Build and manage a full 53-player roster over multiple seasons, as an offseason activity to give you year-round football
Select your personnel to match your offensive and defensive scheme. Every position matters – even your blocking tight end.
Realistic and accurate simulations of league games based on head-to-head matchups against other teams in your league.
This is essentially a new concept in fantasy football that attempts to simulate as closely as possible the management of a real NFL franchise over a multi-year period. Unlike regular fantasy football, every position on the offense and defense contributes to your success or failure. On special teams, the punter, kicker, and kick returners matter.
In Sandbox Football you will build a team – an entire 53-man football team – via an initial draft, and will maintain it year after year in annual rookie drafts, trading periods, and free agency. You compete against teams in your league. In the first year of the game, before the start of the NFL season, you will build your roster by drafting veterans and rookies through separate drafts, and through trades with other teams in the league. Your roster is frozen at the beginning of the NFL season. During the real regular NFL season, you can focus on your traditional fantasy games and perhaps keep on eye on your Sandbox roster as our statistical models build the data on player performances. At the end of the regular NFL season, the Sandbox season begins. There will be 16 games in the season. In real time, the season will run about 8 weeks (2 alternate reality games per week).
Game outcomes will be simulated based on the performance of individual players during the just-completed NFL regular season. The simulations, developed by a PhD statistical expert, estimate how individual players will perform in the context of your alternate reality team competing head-to-head against other teams in the league and with the specific team that you have built. The simulations will consider the offensive and defensive schemes that you select. So you can build your roster to support a power running game or a high-flying passing attack. You can run a 3-4 or 4-3 base defense. You can run nickel formations or four-wide receiver sets. You can rotate your DL to keep them fresh.
The game is more about building a team than playing video games. So this isn't Madden, but you will have the ability to tweak your game plan to take the best advantage of your roster and the weaknesses of your opponent. Injuries are a factor in the game. If a player is unavailable during weeks 3 through 6 in the NFL, he is also unavailable during the same weeks in the alternate reality season. So roster depth matters. The game simulations are based on the most advanced statistics and the latest research regarding what matters in winning an NFL game. But, the outcomes of the games have a random component, just like real NFL games.
The calendar for the alternate reality league year will look something like this:
• Jan to Mid March: Alternate Reality regular season and playoffs.
• Mid-March to the beginning of NFL season: Roster building through trades, veteran draft (first year), free agent drafts (2nd year and beyond), and rookie draft.
• Beginning of NFL season to end of regular NFL season: Alternate reality league is dormant, but the NFL players are generating their performance stats for the up-coming AR league.
• Rinse and repeat.
Copyright Sandbox Simulations, all rights reserved.
We're still finalizing the cost structure, but this won't be an expensive game to play at all. It might range from a few bucks a year to $50 per year, depending on a few factors.
Year 1 will require a couple of days of drafting with rather high intensity, but we've got it set up where you can put your draft list together and do customized and automated drafting if you like.
So...go! Now! Time to get ready for the draft!
Note that we are still in beta testing, so things could change if we find problems in the system.
How Free Agency Works:
Free Agency will begin before the 2012 season after the rookie draft.
Our process is as follows for the 2012 season. In 2013 and beyond there will be minor changes as noted later.
1. We will unveil the list of available free agents so you can check out the talent pool.
2. If you look in "Standings", you will see that you have a salary account value of $1,300. You will use this to sign your veterans to contracts, sign your rookies to contracts, and (in a competitive bidding process) sign free agents to contracts.
The cost of a contract is as follows for players already on your roster (both veterans and rookies).
$0 - 1 season contract
$10 - 2 season contract
$22 - 3 season contract
$37 - 4 season contract
$55 - 5 season contract
$76 - 6 season contract
$100 - 7 season contract
You will sign your existing players to contracts using an interface that we will unveil shortly. If your 53-man roster is set you can spend your $1,300 on your current roster. However, it may be worthwhile to hold some money back so you can compete for free agents.
3. The free agency period begins.
Bidding for free agents will be open and competitive. As players come available, teams will be allowed to sign them if they are the high bidder. The contract length is automatically calculated by rounding down the bid to the chart below.
Contract Length (Seasons) Salary Points Bid
1 0 to 9
2 10 to 21
3 22 to 36
4 37 to 54
5 55 to 75
6 76 to 99
7 100 or more
For example, if you submit the winning bid for a player at a price of 25 salary points, that player becomes yours under a 3-year contract. If you submit a bid for 35 points and win, it's also a 3-year contract. If you submit a bid for 38 points, it's a 4-year contract. If you submit a bid for 120 points, it's a 7-year contract.
For the 2012 free agency period, we will enforce the 53-man rule. You will need to cut down to 53 players before the free agency period starts, and if you sign a player to go above 53, you will need to cut a player to stay within the roster limit. NOTE: DON'T CUT YET UNLESS YOU WANT TO. WE'RE STILL FINALIZING THE SYSTEM AND WANT TO BE SURE THAT THIS RULE WORKS IN 2012.
4. Ending Bidding and Ending Free Agency.
Bids on an individual player will begin once the first player places a bid. For the 2012 season that bid must be $1 or more. Bidding ends when the existing high bid had not been raised for 72 hours. At that point, the high-bid team is awarded the player under the contract terms described in Step 3.
The free agency period in 2012 will end once there have been no bids on any players for 72 hours.
5. Unused Salary Points
If you do not use all of your salary points in a given year, they will roll over from year to year. This is experimental and we'll have to see how it works. If it doesn't work, they'll expire each year, or maybe a portion of the points can roll over. Right now, assume they all roll over.
6. Salary Points and Roster Management
In the Sandbox system, salary points and the salary cap are used only for acquiring players. You will never have to track the number of salary points "on your roster" and you will never have to cut a player for salary cap reasons.
Additionally, you are not obligated to keep a player for the full length of his contract. You can cut him or trade him at any time. However, recognize that it's a waste of salary points to cut or trade a player before the end of his contract. But it doesn't hamstring you going forward - it's just past money that you wasted.
7. Free Agency and Contract Length - Retaining Your Current Players
When a player reaches the end of their contract, they go back into the free agency pool and teams will bid for their services. You are eligible to bid on them to get them back, just like you can bid on any free agents.
There is one exception to the rule of free agents going into the free agency pool, as follows:
• At the end of the bidding process, you have the opportunity to re-sign your own players by outbidding the high bidder. Your bid must be the minimum points to increase their contract period by a year over the high bid. (Example: your player goes to free agency, and another team bids 50 points for him, which equates to a 4-year contract. You can keep the player by paying 55 points for him, which is the minimum amount for a 5-year contract.) If the high bidder offered a contract of 100 points or more (7-years), you can keep the player by bidding 10% more points than the high bid.
8. Free Agency and Trades
If you trade for a player, their contract length is a consideration. Trading for a player with 6 years left on his contract will give you his services for that amount of time (unless you cut him or trade him, or he retires). Trading for a player with 1 year left on his contract means that he'll go back into the free agency pool at the end of the season. (Of course, you can still retain him via Step 7.)
9. Future Years
In future years, the process will be identical to that shown above, with the following exceptions.
a. Because you will have a lot of veteran players under contract, you won't need $1,300. You'll get a new annual allotment of signing dollars. We're still working on the exact amount, but it looks like it'll be between $500 and $600.
b. In the 2012 season, we will introduce all free agents at once to catch up. In the 2013 season and beyond, the free agency period will occur during the actual NFL season. We will sprinkle the free agents in one division at a time over the course of the season. (The divisions may be randomly selected or we may release a calendar. It doesn't matter that much.) This system should be interesting because some free agents will come available early in the season when you don't know their performance for the year - greater risk, greater reward - while other free agents will come available later in the season when you know what their performance will be, but so does everyone else.
c. In the 2013 season and beyond, you will be able to retain more than 53 players through the rookie draft and the main free agency period. You will then have a cutdown period to get to 53 and we will have a final free agency period where you can sign any players who have been cut. In that final period you will have to enforce a 53-man roster, so if you sign a player you have to cut one.
10. When you think about the schedule in 2013 and beyond, it will go like this:
a. Sandbox season goes from February through April.
b. Rookie draft in May. No 53-man limit.
c. Free agency from (likely) September through December, with free agents sprinkled in throughout that period.
d. January. Roster cuts to 53.
e. Late January. Final free agency period to flesh out rosters and sign players cut in Step d.
f. New Sandbox season begins.
Last edited by Rain Man; 05-27-2013 at 09:15 AM..
Posts: 100,151
Join Date: Sep 2011
Casino cash: $5000
Long time lurker, first time poster.
My team is ok. No big weakness, unless Kolb fails. Lots of youth and depth. - Oklahoma Outlaws (L2)
Kevin Kolb
Alex D. Smith
Bruce Gradkowski
Marshawn Lynch
Mark Ingram
Knowshon Moreno
Daniel Thomas
Marcel Reece
Kenny Britt
Mario Manningham
Jordy Nelson
Josh Morgan
Jordan Shipley
Kealoha Pilares
Stefan Logan
Jimmy Graham
Fred Davis
Jacob Tamme
D'Brickashaw Ferguson
Marcus Gilbert
Carl Nicks
Anthony Herrera
Nick Hardwick
Joe Hawley
Marshall Yanda
Doug Legursky
Tyson Clabo
Charles Brown
Jared Allen
James Hall
Kyle Vanden Bosch
Jason D. Jones
Kroy Biermann
Jonathan Babineaux
Fred Robbins
Antonio Dixon
Linval Joseph
Brian Price
Jerod Mayo
Jonas Mouton
Lance Briggs
Jamar Chaney
Keith Rivers
Chris Chamberlain
Keenan Clayton
Antoine Cason
Antoine Winfield
Cedric Griffin
Captain Munnerlyn
Kelly Jennings
Kevin Barnes
Kerry Rhodes
Reggie Nelson
Qinton Carter
Troy Polamalu
Reggie Smith
Alex Henery
Adam Podlesh
Posts: 1
NFL's #1 Ermines Fan
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: My house
Casino cash: $43038VARSITY
That seems like a pretty good team with lots of youth. If most of those players ascend, you'll be in good shape. Other than maybe DT and an OLB position, I don't see a lot of weaknesses. Your key will be whether Kolb shows up.
My ancestors fought giant cave ermines so I could make this post.
Posts: 100,151
Join Date: Apr 2009
Casino cash: $5340
Anchorage Roadkill Rabbits (L1)
QB: Alex Smith, Matt Moore, David Carr
HB: Jonathin Smith
3rd Down Back: Ladanian Tomlinson
Goal Line Back: Willis McGahee
FB: Vonta Leach
LT: Doug Free
LG: Brandon Albert
C: Markice Pouncey
RG: Eric Wood
RT: Trent Williams
Swing Tackle: Bryant McKinnie
Backup Interior Linemen C/G: Shaun Lavalou, Bruce Campbell, Darnell Dockery
Hood Ornaments: Nate Burleson, Deion Branch, Mohammed Massaquoi, Jacoby Jones, Michael Jenkins, Brandon Gibson, Randy Moss (retired?)
TE: Vernon Davis, Kevin Boss, Andrew Quarless
NT: Phil Taylor, Isaac Sopoaga
LE: Marcus Spears, Jared Odrick
RE: Haloti Ngata, Ryan Pickett
LOLB: Von Miller, Connor Barwin
LILB: Jon Beason, Sean Lee
RILB: Lawrence Timmons, Omar Gaither
ROLB: Mario Wiliams, Ahmad Brooks
CB1: Nnamdi Asomoguah
CB2: Champ Bailey
CB3: Stanford Routt
CB4: Derek Cox
CB5: Casseus Vaughn, Devon House
FS: Rahim Moore, Glover Quin
SS: Antoine Bethea, Madieu Williams, Rashad Johnson
PAndy Lee
K: David Akers
KR: Casseus Vaughn, Jacoby Jones
PR: Jacoby Jones, N. Burleson, G. Quin
Beason was the rug that tied the room together, but Lee will be a fine replacement this season.
Posts: 2,038
game manager a filthy animal
Join Date: Nov 2002
Casino cash: $577
Tom Brady and Kenny Britt are going to murderize league 1.
My name is Clay. I am a clueless moron when it comes to evaluating football talent. I thought that Pat Mahomes was unworthy of being drafted in the first round, also, I wanted Geno Smith first overall. I also claimed that tyreek hill was undeserving of even being in the CFL. I am wrong 20x more than I'm right and I will troll this site with my uneducated football takes.
Posts: 193,527
NFL's #1 Ermines Fan
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: My house
Casino cash: $43038VARSITY
Quite the D you've got there, top to bottom. Offense might be an achilles heel for you, though. Who's going to be your starting QB?
My ancestors fought giant cave ermines so I could make this post.
Posts: 100,151
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: lobation
Casino cash: $14580
The 2011-2012 Corona Lights
LT Duane Brown, Eugene Monroe
LG Rob Sims, Andy Levitre
C Jason Brown
RG Wade Smith, Derek Sherrod
RT Bryan Bulaga, Joseph Barksdale
QB Matthew Stafford, Cam Newton
RB Matt Forte, Roy Helu, Jerious Norwood
FB Jacob Hester, Owen Schmitt
TE Rob Gronkowski,Dustin Keller
WR Mike Williams, Brandon Gibson, Devin Aromashodu
WR Plaxico Burress, Brian Robiskie, Greg Salas
LDE Chris Long, Ray McDonald, Derrick Morgan
LDT Ndamukong Suh, Frank Okam
RDT Gerald McCoy, Tyson Alualu
RDE Michael Bennett, Everson Griffen
LLB Connor Barwin, Erin Henderson, Ernie Sims, Sergio Kindle
ILB Patrick Willis, Casey Matthews, Donald Butler
RLB Pat Angerer, Travis LaBoy, Brady Poppinga, Antwan Applewhite
LCB Vontae Davis, Cary Williams, Rashad Carmichael
RCB Leodis McKelvin, Lardarius Webb, Kyle Arrington, (Terrell Thomas,IR)
FS Jarrad Page, Glover Quin
SS Kenny Phillips, Taylor Mays
K Mason Crosby
P Michael Koenen
Posts: 927
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: West Roxbury, MA
Casino cash: $5000
I dig my team, wish it would show stats and be able to do a depth chart.
QB Aaron Rodgers, Jon Beck, Joe Webb
RB Ray Rice, Danny Woodhead, Jacquizz Rodgers, a little weak on depth
FB Mike Sellers
WR Miles Austin, Mike Thomas, James Jones, Patrick Crayton, Jerricho Cotchery, Edmund Gates, Demaryius Thomas
LT Michael Roos, Trent Williams
G Dan Connolly, Chilo Rachal, Logan Mankins, Steve Hutchinson
C Max unger, Kyle Cook
RT Ryan Diem, Langston Walker
TE brent celek, Tony Scheffler
DE Julius Peppers, JJ Watt, Brandon Graham, Mike Devito, Mike Wright,
DT Albert Haynesworth, Dan Williams, Cam Heyward,
MLB David Harris, Karlos Dansby, Chris Carter
OLB Cam Sheffield, Koa Misi, Rey Maualuga, Quincy Black, Stephen Nicholas
CB Charles Woodson, Bryant Mcfadden, Patrick Robinson, Curtis Brown, Zackary Bowman
FS TJ Ward, Tom Zbikowski, Malcom Jenkins
SS Gerald Sebsabaugh, Husain Abdullah
K Ryan Succop
P Pat Mcafee
Posts: 11,478
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Springfield, MO
Casino cash: $8835
League One
High Point Knob Hills
QB Joe Flacco, Chase Daniel, Mark Brunell, Dennis Dixon
RB Peyton Hillis, Thomas Jones, Ryan Torain
FB Earnest Graham
WR Reggie Wayne, Jeremy Maclin, Brad Smith, Jon Baldwin (yes, I have Thomas Jones and Baldwin)
LT Anthony Castonzo, Joe Staley, Donald Penn, James Carpenter
G Mike Iupati, Chris Kemoatu, Mike Gibson, Tyronne Greene
C Mike Pouncey, Geoff Hangartner
RT Tyson Clabo, Jeromey Clary
TE Dallas Clark, Tony Scheffler
DE Will Smith, Randy Stark, Corey Wootton, Vaughn Martin
NT Jay Ratliffe, Jurell Casey
ILB Patrick Willis, DJ Williams, Wesley Woodyard, Gerald Hayes, Akeem Dent
OLB James Anderson, Sean Weatherspoon, Zach Diles, Jason Taylor, Dekoda Watson
CB Asante Samuel, Jerraud Powers, Myron Lewis, Byron Westbrook, Keenan Lewis
FS Malcom Jenkins, Cody Grimm, Jaiquann Jarrett
SS Abram Elam, Sean Jones
K Connor mother****ing Barth
P Tim Masthay
Posts: 11,560
game manager a filthy animal
Join Date: Nov 2002
Casino cash: $577
Holy crap. Torrey Smith had 152 yards and 3 TD today for my team. I wasn't even anticipating him doing anything this year.
My name is Clay. I am a clueless moron when it comes to evaluating football talent. I thought that Pat Mahomes was unworthy of being drafted in the first round, also, I wanted Geno Smith first overall. I also claimed that tyreek hill was undeserving of even being in the CFL. I am wrong 20x more than I'm right and I will troll this site with my uneducated football takes.
Posts: 193,527
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: lobation
Casino cash: $14580
Do we have a trade deadline or roster cut date yet?
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Join Date: Apr 2005
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game manager a filthy animal
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Just wondering if you guys have any updates on how the number crunching might be going.
Excited for this thing to begin.
My name is Clay. I am a clueless moron when it comes to evaluating football talent. I thought that Pat Mahomes was unworthy of being drafted in the first round, also, I wanted Geno Smith first overall. I also claimed that tyreek hill was undeserving of even being in the CFL. I am wrong 20x more than I'm right and I will troll this site with my uneducated football takes.
Posts: 193,527
NFL's #1 Ermines Fan
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: My house
Casino cash: $43038VARSITY
cdcox has the running game coding done and is now working on the passing game coding. There's some other business design stuff going on, too. It'll be a crunch to get it done in time for a Sandbox Season 1, but we're pushing. Thanks for asking.
My ancestors fought giant cave ermines so I could make this post.
Posts: 100,151
game manager a filthy animal
Join Date: Nov 2002
Casino cash: $577
I'm looking for a good corner, defensive tackle, right tackle or 4-3 outside linebacker.
I have the following players for trade:
DE Chris Clemons (12 sacks, 44 QB pressures)
DE Charles Johnson (10 sacks, 32 QB pressures)
DE Andre Carter (11 sacks, 24 QB pressures)
OLB Sam Acho (37 tackles, 6 sacks)
MLB EJ Henderson (102 tackles)
I'll also move other players if you need a backup because you're trading a player at a position where you only have two players. This works both ways, mind you, because I only have 4 defensive ends.
My name is Clay. I am a clueless moron when it comes to evaluating football talent. I thought that Pat Mahomes was unworthy of being drafted in the first round, also, I wanted Geno Smith first overall. I also claimed that tyreek hill was undeserving of even being in the CFL. I am wrong 20x more than I'm right and I will troll this site with my uneducated football takes.
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Lamar University scholarship application
Think about what career is best suited for you, and where you want to study. Request more information now.
Think about what career is best suited for you, and where you want to study. Request more information now.
Think about what career is best suited for you, and where you want to study. Request more information now.
Info concerning Lamar University scholarship application, and registering for elective seminars and discussion sections. As a student, your first stop should be the registrar's office, where you can pick up a free copy of both the academic calendar and course catalog, in order to find available credit classes that you may be interested in taking. Then get a copy of the schedule of classes, so you can plan a workable weekly schedule for yourself. Finally, check with the admissions office for assistance with prerequisites, tuition payment deadlines, and Lamar University financial aid applications information. Please use the form above to request admissions info for Lamar University.
Grants and scholarships are highly sought-after, because they don't have to be repaid. Grants are often need-based, while scholarships are usually merit-based. The US Department of Education offers a variety of federal grants, such as Federal Pell Grants and Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (FSEOG grants). However, there are some cases in which you may have to repay certain grants. For example, if you withdrew early from the program for which the grant was given to you, or if your enrollment status changed in a way that reduced your eligibility for a given grant.
There are thousands of scholarships, from all kinds of organizations, and they're not hard apply for online. You may find that you're eligible for an academic scholarship if you're an outstanding student, or an athletic scholarship if you stand out on the playing field. Digging deeper, there are niche scholarships awarded for a variety or reasons, such as because your parents work for a particular company, or you are a member of a civic organization such as the Rotary Club. Beyond degree requirements such as Lamar University scholarship searches, you may consider University of Jamestown continuing studies for complementary electives to your primary course of study.
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The post election stand-off in Iran has pitted two cousins and long-time rivals against each other in a renewed personal and political battle almost as old as the Islamic Republic itself. But the career trajectories of Mir Hossein Mousavi, the reformist leader, and Ayatollah Ali Husseini Khamenei, the Supreme Leader, have carried them in diametrically opposed directions.
Mousavi, 67, represents the hopes of Iran's reformists, a loose coalition committed to social justice and equality, increased freedom of expression, and rooting out endemic government corruption. During the campaign, Mousavi expressed determination to transform Iran's "alms-based economy" and reverse the country's "extremist" image abroad.
But as prime minister from 1981 to 1989, Mousavi had a reputation as a hardline radical who was close to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the theocratic leader of the 1979 Islamic revolution. In contrast to his present-day support for social renewal and a mixed economy, the "old" Mousavi backed the system of extensive state control favoured by his mentor. According to analyst Ranj Alaaldin, he was complicit in the 1979-81 US embassy hostage crisis, once belonged to Hezbollah's leadership council, and was the man who initiated Iran's nuclear programme.
In his two terms as president from 1981 to 1989, Khamenei, 69, was known as an economic liberal and a proponent of a stronger private sector. He also presided over the decision in July, 1988, to sue for peace with Saddam Hussein's Iraq after eight years of war – a controversial move engineered by the then Majlis (parliament) speaker, Hashemi Rafsanjani, which Mousavi reportedly opposed.
But in his later incarnation as Supreme Leader, a post he took up after Khomeini's death in 1989, Khamenei has emerged as an arch-conservative, a sort of Persian neocon with strong anti-western views. He secured the chairmanship of the powerful Guardian Council for a key ally, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, opposed moves to liberalise press laws and social codes, and ordered a tough crackdown on a previous bout of student unrest in 2003.
Crucially, Khamenei was responsible for the second round presidential election victory in 2005 of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Despite his constitutional obligation to stand above the fray, Khamenei quietly tipped the balance in favour of Ahmadinejad over his old sparring partner, Rafsanjani. His support for the president in this month's election was more overt still. He strongly supports Iran's "nuclear rights" and had been lukewarm in his response to Barack Obama's diplomatic overtures.
As the two leading political players under Khomeini, Mousavi and Khamenei were renowned for their frequent policy clashes on economic management, the conduct of the Iraq war, and the extent to which Iran should open up to western companies when postwar reconstruction began. Mousavi was usually the winner because he had the ear and the support of Khomeini.
After his re-election as president in 1985, Khamenei made it clear that he did not want Mousavi to continue as prime minister but was unable to force him out. In 1988, when yet another row broke out over cabinet appointments, Mousavi seemed to have had enough and tendered his resignation. It was thrown back in his face by Khomeini, who reportedly told him and Khamenei to stop squabbling and get on with the job.
These disagreements generated a degree of personal animosity that has continued to the present day, said Iran expert and author Ali Ansari. "As prime minister Mousavi used to ignore Khamenei a lot and do his own thing. There's definitely a personal element," he said. Khamenei eventually asserted his authority in 1989 when, as newly installed Supreme Leader, he abolished the post of prime minister and pushed Mousavi into the political wilderness.
Mousavi subsequently took up teaching and was an adviser both to Rafsanjani, during his presidency, and to Mohammad Khatami, the reformist president who preceded Ahmadinejad. During this period, lasting almost 20 years, his radical opinions appear to have gradually moderated as he moved to wards the political centre.
"His social and cultural views were really quite grim [when he was prime minister]," Ansari said. "Coming into the campaign he was well aware of that reputation and tried to soften it. He seems to have been influenced by his wife, Zahra Rahnavard. She is fairly liberal." Rahnavard broke with tradition by campaigning beside her husband and holding hands with him in public. Many analysts have attributed Mousavi's popularity among younger voters to his wife's willingness to challenge taboos.
All the same, Mousavi had remained an "establishment man" and was backed by other insider figures such as Rafsanjani, Ansari said. "The idea that he came from nowhere is just plain wrong. He has always been widely respected and he was a very deliberate choice." In fact, earlier this year, former president Khatami, the favourite to run against Ahmadinejad, stood aside for Mousavi in a backroom deal reportedly fixed by Rafsanjani
In the event that the divisive Ahmadinejad were to be dropped and Mousavi became president, his 25-year-long battle with Khamenei can be expected to resume in earnest. That is a strong reason for Khamenei to fight hard to keep him out. But while the warring cousins differ sharply on social issues, there may be more room for an accommodation than many suspect.
On rescuing Iran's mismanaged economy, on the nuclear issue, and on the broader question of relations with the US and the west, it could be that in their joint old age, the views of Mousavi and Khamenei are finally beginning to converge. The result could be some kind of "grand bargain" within the parameters of the exisiting establishment. That prospect hardly amounts to the second revolution for which so many in Iran yearn.