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Our Cowboy | Cowirl | Western | Rodeo Decals are available in many color and size options. Please select your choices from drop down menus. Decals/ Stickers are Die Cut from High Quality Exterior Vinyl. All of our Vinyl Decals are weatherproof and car wash safe. Our Cowboy | Cowirl | Western | Rodeo Stickers come ready to apply to any smooth surface like windows, automobiles, laptops, walls, cabinets, mirrors, boats, horse trailers, and much more. Orders are shipped the next business day. Decals are easy to apply and installation instructions are included with every order.
- Item #: COW80


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November 1, 2009
Iran is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. But what of the over three million Iranians outside Iran?
Tags: Alexander of Macedon, Alhazen, Bah├ĪŌĆÖ├Ł faith, brain drain, Cyrus the Great, diaspora, Esther and Modechai, Global Brief, Iran, Iran-Iraq war, Iranian brain drain, Iranian business, Iranian civilization, Iranian democracy, Iranian diaspora, Iranian history, Iranian immigration, Iranian Jews, Iranian migration, Iranian refugees, Iranian revolution, Islamic Republic, Mongol invasions, Pahlavi Dynasty, Parsis, people's diplomacy, Persepolis, Persian, Sam Sasan Shoamanesh, Tehran, Zarathustra, Zoroastrianism

subset: commoncrawl


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Disclaimer: This description is for a river that is NOT Otter Creek. It's not even in Addison County, or the Champlain Basin, for that matter. It's on the other side of the mountains. However, its source is only about 15 miles from Otter Creek, and no matter how close Woodstock is to Massachusetts, it's still Vermont.
The Ottauqueechee (known in ancient times as the "Water Queechee"), is a relatively low-gradient stream, flowing 40 miles from Killington to the Connecticut River through shallow cobble beds punctuated by a series of dams. For the most part, it's a pleasant float in a canoe.
But, in the town of Queechee, the river plunges into Vermont's deepest gorge. At 165 feet, it's a mere nick by standards of the American West. But, we're not in the west, and hundreds of people with out-of-state plates stop every day to peer into its depths.
From the bridge, the river is difficult to judge. It looks very narrow, constricted even. Sections of it are completely white, with no discernable water features. Despite this intimidating first glimpse, daredevils were running the Queechee Gorge for fun by the 1970's.
And, once you get into the gorge, the rapids are straightforward. There is only one difficult drop, called Well Enough, directly below the Route 4 Bridge. This is a 6 foot drop where the entire volume of the river (around 1000 cfs when we were there) funnels through a 4 foot crack, folding off the left wall before dropping into a large breaking wave.
My friend Ben ran the entire gorge (leaving Well Enough alone) in a 11 ft canoe while wearing canvas and flannel. He also carried said canoe the entire length of the run. If you think you're hard core, talk to Ben.
And if you think you're hard core enough to paddle the gorge, here are the salient details. The run is .7 miles long, and you have to walk the entire thing. Park on the west side of the Route 4 Bridge and walk the trail up to Dewey Mills Dam (some friends from Dartmouth ran this drop last spring). Scramble down the angled rocks on river right and put in.
Nick Gottlieb on Dewey Mills
(photo: Brian Seitz)
There are several class II-III rapids leading up to Well Enough, which is immediately downstream of the bridge. Portage on the right across the flat rocks. If the river is high enough to cover these rocks and you're not a confident boater, paddle somewhere else. A couple more easy rapids (with at least one good surf wave) lead out to a sharp left turn, where you take out.
From the takeout on river left, you walk back up to your car, nodding cordially to the amazed tourists.
Irene really did a number on the gorge. Everything is covered in mud sixty feet up the gorge walls. According to the park ranger at the top, this mud is "caustic." A gigantic fin of rock that used to sit in the middle of Dewey Mills is gone, and there are landslides down the whole length of the run. I'm looking forward to getting back there with a camera. Here's a teaser pic of high water in the gorge:
Dewey Mills after Irene. Believe it or not, this is the same drop as the photo above
(photo: Nick Gottlieb)


text: Tax Reform: Before and After Full Size Version Share | Have A Question About This Topic? Address Thank you! Oops! Related Contents The Facts About Income Tax Millions faithfully file their 1040 forms each April. But some things about federal income taxes may surprise you. Red Flags for Tax Auditors Here are six flags that may make your tax return prime for an IRS audit. Tax Management Strategies Learn more about taxes, tax-favored investing, and tax strategies.


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HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS — The centennial edition of The Hang Time Podcast was bound to be our biggest and best effort to date.
It had to be, given the star-studded guest list headlined by TNT's Emmy Award-winning crew from The Inside set, masters Shaquille O'Neal, Kenny Smith and the Hall of Famer, Charles Barkley. With an opening assist from the great Ernie Johnson and a visit from the longtime radio voice of the Atlanta Hawks, Steve Holman, who was celebrating his 2,000 consecutive broadcast, we made sure to celebrate 100 right here at headquarters.
Dozens of current and former NBA players, current stars and living legends, have made appearances on the show in the first 100 episodes. We've talked to a little bit of everybody, from comedian extraordinaire Charlie Murphy to NBA Commissioner David Stern, Hollywood up-and-comer Genesis Rodriguez to comedic wiz Chelsea Peretti.
About the only guys we hadn't spoken to yet were Shaq, Kenny and Charles … until now!
Listen in on Episode 100 of the Hang Time Podcast and party with us while we keep it 100!
(Big ups to Vince Thomas of The Shadow League, our former super producer Micah Hart for hatching the podcast with me from the start and the NBA TV and NBA Digital brain trust of Rusty Mintz, Tony Lamb, Steve "The Boss Man" Quintana, John Donovan, Kevin McCormack, Beau Estes our former intern Tori Carmen for helping nurse the show from its infancy into the full-blown ball of hoops chaos that we've grown into.)
As always, we welcome your feedback. You can follow the entire crew, including the Hang Time Podcast, co-hosts Sekou Smith of NBA.com, Lang Whitaker of SLAM Magazine and Rick Fox of NBA TV, as well as our new super producer Gregg (just like Popovich) Waigand and the best engineer in the business, Jarell "I Heart Peyton Manning" Wall.
– To download the podcast, click here. To subscribe via iTunes, click here, or get the xml feed if you want to subscribe some other, less iTunes-y way.


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"It was the Yuletide, that men call Christmas though they know in their hearts it is older than Bethlehem and Babylon, older than Memphis and mankind. It was the Yuletide, and I had come at last to the ancient sea town where my people had dwelt and kept festival in the elder time when festival was forbidden; where also they had commanded their sons to keep festival once every century, that the memory of primal secrets might not be forgotten."
– H.P. Lovecraft (The Festival)
The Wild Hunt is at its peak and Yuletide is upon us in the wake of the Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year (for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere) and a time celebrated with sensual abandon as Saturnalia by the ancient Romans. Whatever name it may be called by, the season of Yule is of rebirth and new beginnings, as a new year begins and the days gradually begin to grow longer. And so to everyone I wish a blessed "Ghoultide season" and a very merry XXX'mas!


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As undergraduates, Commencement speaker Dr. Steven D. Hoogerwerf noted, the members of Hope College's Class of 2008 had been asked questions. Their diplomas, he said, show that they're ready to ask and answer the questions on their own.
As undergraduates, Commencement speaker Dr. Steven D. Hoogerwerf noted, the members of Hope College's Class of 2008 had been asked questions. Their diplomas, he said, show that they're ready to ask and answer the questions on their own.
"I think my colleagues would agree with me that education is not really about what WE think," he said. "It's about gaining the information, the tools, and the experiences that you need to learn to think for yourselves."
Hoogerwerf, an associate professor of religion, presented his address, titled "Living with Questions (...but are you going to tell us what you really think?)," during the college's 143rd Commencement exercises, held on Sunday, May 4, at Holland Municipal Stadium.
More than 660 graduating seniors participated in the ceremony. The class consisted of students from throughout the United States as well as nations including Brazil, China, Denmark, France, Japan, Kenya, Kuwait, Nepal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, and the United Kingdom.
With the graduates' Hope education nearly complete, Hoogerwerf posed one final set of questions for them to consider in the years ahead. "Education... is it about asking questions... or is it about learning the answers? Or is it about learning which questions are worth struggling to answer?," he asked. "I believe it's important to ask big questions, the kind that get inside you and make you squirm and wonder; the kind that challenge our ways of thinking and interrogate our ways of living in the world."
The process, he noted, isn't easy, since answers can be long in coming.
"While I was thinking about what to say today, I read these words in a student's paper: 'I find that this class does not actually help me find many answers but rather helps me ask more questions. At times this frustrates me, because I want the world to be less complex than it really is... But I suppose it is better to ask the questions than to live in ignorance.'"
Hoogerwerf noted that much of his teaching has focused on four questions in particular: "What really matters?"; "In a world plagued by atrocities, why is religion sometimes a causal factor?"; "What does it mean to be called by God to live out my vocation in the world?"; and "If love is central to the Christian life, what does love really look like in all the contexts of our lives?" He suggested tactics for approaching each.
To sort out priorities, he suggested making a list as a guide. "It could be your last assignment... just a list of the five or 10 things that really matter to you," he said. "What do you want to devote your life to, spend your time on, nurture and care for?"
In confronting atrocities, he encouraged the graduates to focus on their personal response by asking themselves "'In a world where God's goodness and human tragedy are all mixed up in ways that don't make much sense, how can I respond in a way that is somehow true to the way things are supposed to be?'" He noted, "That question does not ask for an explanation, but for an active response that we can live."
As they consider their vocational calling, Hoogerwerf asked the graduates to reflect on how they might use the privileges that they have enjoyed - such as their education - to help others. "If we love God and neighbor and honor God in all we do, we are answering God's call," he said. "If we discern how our privileges can be shaped into a life of service and meaning and purpose, then we are answering the call that binds our deep joy to the world's deep need."
Love, he said, is the answer to brokenness in relationships and the key to building community, even when the magnitude of pain and conflicts can seem overwhelming. "I believe that even though we make ourselves vulnerable and risk deep hurt when we love anything or anyone, it's worth living our lives as if love always wins," he said. "Perhaps it's easier to say that if you believe that in Jesus, love redeems the world, even though it doesn't always look that way."
"It's a confession of faith," he said. "And sometimes, when questions are really hard, that's the only way to approach them: to live hopefully, as if it's true, even if we cannot always see how."
Earlier in the day, Dr. Dennis Voskuil and Betty Voskuil presented the college's Baccalaureate sermon, "Signs of Hope." Dennis Voskuil, a former member of the Hope religion faculty, is retiring this year as president of Western Theological Seminary, and Betty Voskuil is a long-time Reformed Church in America staff member and volunteer leader locally and internationally. They also received honorary degrees from the college during the 9:30 a.m. service.
They discussed finding through faith reason to be hopeful about the future even during times marked by conflict and uncertainty, and challenged the graduates to be agents of change for the better. They based their text on Psalm 146:5: "Happy are those whose help is in the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God."
"In this world of endless violence, frightening terrorism, economic crisis, social divisions and cultural conflicts, we would have to be utterly naïve not to be anxious about the future," Dennis Voskuil said. "And yet, and yet, in the face of all of this, we are not people of despair. We are people of hope."
"We are people of hope, because we are a people of God," he said. "And there are signs of hope wherever we recognize the activity of God in the world."
Betty Voskuil shared examples of people of faith working to make a difference. "I have had the privilege of witnessing some encouraging signs of hope during my work as director of Reformed Church World Service," she said.
When flooding killed the goats on which the pastoralist Orma people of Kenya depended, thousands of people across a decade donated money to provide new livestock. A family in Nicaragua was grateful for the home volunteers built for them after Hurricane Mitch had left them homeless in 1998. Projects designed by Church World Service have helped people in war-torn Afghanistan rebuild their lives.
As they live the future for which Hope helped prepare them, Dennis Voskuil asked the graduates to find their own way to make a difference.
"There are signs of hope all around us. There are signs of hope wherever you recognize the activity of God," he said. "Do not succumb to a culture of despair. Be a person of hope - a person of audacious hope. Indeed, be an ambassador of hope as you participate in the grand plan of restoration and redemption in our world."


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A modestly scaled bed with rich, sophisticated detail, this headboard made from ribbon-stripe mahogany lends relaxed glamour to any home or apartment. Subtly scalloped edges are capped in burnished brass for an effortlessly upscale look. The dark, Brentwood wood finish evokes traditional style without the heavy, excess ornamentation that accompanies traditional decor. Matching footboard with brass accents also available. Headboard available in queen, king, and california king sizes.
The Kensington Place Queen Bennington Headboard with Burnished Brass Accents by Lexington at Howell Furniture in the Beaumont, Port Arthur, Lake Charles, Texas, Louisiana area. Product availability may vary. Contact us for the most current availability on this product.
The impeccable transitional design style is a perfect reflection of today's modern world. A cultivated blend of traditional influences and modern sensibilities, Kensington Place embodies a lifestyle of both elegance and ease. This mature style incorporates classic touches like saber legs and burnished brass ferrules to evoke the refinement of traditional design without the pretentiousness of reproduction antiques. A modern ideal of beauty and fashion. The Kensington Place collection includes furniture for the whole home including dining sets, living room accent furniture, bedroom pieces, and transitional sofas and chairs for a soft yet elegant touch. Wood pieces are crafted from rich, ribbon-stripe mahogany in a Brentwood finish, and feature sophisticated detailing like burnished brass bail pull hardware and brass ferrules. Adding extra glamour to this look are accent pieces with antiqued mirrored panels, bringing light and drama to your room. Other collection highlights include an upholstered bed with brass nailheads, an extendable mahogany dining table, and media storage pieces incorporating the best in fashionable and functional design.
The Kensington Place collection is a great option if you are looking for Transitional furniture in the Beaumont, Port Arthur, Lake Charles, Texas, Louisiana area.
These images are representative of this group as a whole and may differ from this item.
Browse other items in the Kensington Place collection from Howell Furniture in the Beaumont, Port Arthur, Lake Charles, Texas, Louisiana area.
This item has been tagged as: Bed, Bedroom Furniture, Twin Size Bed, Full Size Bed, Queen Size Bed, King Size Bed, California King Size Bed, Bookcase Bed, Book Case Bed, Canopy Bed, Bed with Canopy, Captain's Bed, Daybed, Headboard and Footboard Bed, Headboard, Footboard, Headboard & Footboard, Pier Bed, Poster Bed, Sleigh Bed, Upholstered Bed, Wall Unit Bed, Double Bed, Day Bed, Storage Bed, Home Furnishings, Furniture, Bed frame, Furnishing For Bedroom, Bedroom Furniture Set
Nothing on this page may be copied or reproduced without explicit permission.


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This DWZ Series 2.4 GHz digital wireless guitar set provides the convenience of untethered use with a wired level of audio performance. The receiver includes 3 simultaneous audio outputs (1 x balanced XLR and 2 x unbalanced 1/4" phone). The receiver supports flexible powering options with AC adapter, 9V battery or use of a distributed 9V power system.
Features:Superb Digital Sound QualityHigh-quality 24-bit linear PCM digital transmission offers a pristine audio experience, and a wide frequency range of 10 Hz to 22 kHz. The audio performance degradation that's typical of conventional analog wireless systems can be avoided, because DWZ is designed without the need for audio companding.
Stable TransmissionInteruptions in reception (signal drop-out) can be a problem with wireless microphone transmission systems. With the DWZ series; however, this can be reduced to a minimum. Utilizing a space diversity reception system, the DWZ series achieves stable transmission by using dual-antenna inputs/reception circuits. These receive signal over two different paths and automatically select the stronger RF signal for output.
Flexible Audio OutputsEach DWZ series system receiver includes an XLR balanced output and two 1/4" unbalanced outputs that can be used to output audio to three destnations simultaneous
Specifications:Compatibility- For use with DWZ Series digital wireless
Frequency Range- 2402.0 - 2478.5 MHz
Occupied RF Bandwidth- 2.4GHz ISM Band (Industrial, Scientific and Mediical Band)
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text: FIRST ISSUE: With the recent release of Ubuntu 12.04LTS, I decided to clean off my system and redo my server. I followed the HOWTO: Perfect Server for Ubuntu 11.10 with Nginx, and everything was good, even with 12.04LTS. I then went and got a SSL Cert from StartSSL, following the HOWTO: Securing Your ISPConfig 3 Installation With A Free Class1 SSL Certificate From StartSSL I only have one host, mine, so I'm thinking that the SSL should work for allowing HTTPS requests to my server. Unfortunately, it does not. Looking through the /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/vhost files, it appears that the only thing that is secured via SSL is ISPConfig ... which is what the second howto does. Since I'm only hosting one domain, is there a way I can use the same SSL certificate for securing both ISPConfig along with my site? ---------- SECOND ISSUE: Ok, after going through the two above HOWTO's ... I'm now having issues with connecting to the server with Thunderbird. I can receive emails with IMAPS, my settings are - Connection security: SSL/TLS with a normal password on Port 993 (which is the default per Thunderbird). On the outgoing (where I'm having issues), I think I've tried every combination available for SSL/TLS, STARTTLS. At this point, my guess is the port isn't open. Per Thunderbird, the default port for SSL/TLS is 465, and STARTTLS is 587. Normal SMTP is 25. The error message that I'm getting when I use SSL/TLS with default port of 465 is: This would make it appear that the ports are messed up. When I use STARTTLS, I get the same message. Any ideas?


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Diversified Health, Fort Lauderdale, FL, is taking a calculated risk that eventually could bring it accolades and status as one of the largest franchisors of express and women-only clubs in the country or could sink the remaining struggling franchises that it has been acquiring during the first year of its existence.
Created in July 2007, Diversified Health first offered two brands of its own: Rejuvenate Fitness Center and Spa for Women and The Zoo Health Club for men and women. However, as the company saw franchise sales of express clubs slowing, it began making bids on existing systems, says Andrew Barnett, Diversified Health's executive vice president of corporate development. That soon led to the company bringing into its fold Liberty Fitness, Liberty Weight Loss, Fit for Her, Sedona Fitness for Women and ShapeXpress and promising two more major acquisitions in the next few months. Keeping each company's brand intact, Diversified Health has said that it will give these struggling franchisees the type of support and structure that their previous corporate ownership did not give them.
Whether or not Diversified Health is viewed as a savior or is simply a company strategically trying to enhance its portfolio remains to be seen. Its owner is Roger Wittenberns, who used to own Lady of America club brands, including Ladies Workout Express. Several Ladies Workout Express franchisees failed under Wittenberns' watch. Will the brands under the Diversified Health umbrella do the same?
By the end of the year, Diversified Health plans to have 250 locations in the United States and 30 more internationally, says Barnett. Diversified Health also plans to go public.
"By the end of two years, I believe we will own every brand out there other than Curves, Lady of America and Contours," Barnett says.
Building a Portfolio
Diversified Health is acquiring the company name, trademark, logo, Web site, and specific franchise and developer contracts of these brands. The company seeks distressed franchised clubs, Barnett says, and plans to turn them around by offering increased corporate support.
A lot of franchisees got into the fitness industry, Barnett adds, with the idea of making a quick buck or two, despite the fact that they had little or no fitness experience.
"We've built an infrastructure to make sure that we can help these people," Barnett says. "We're not miracle workers, but we're certainly able to give them the opportunity to properly run a fitness facility. Even though we can't save everyone, and even though most of these franchisees are on the verge of going out of business, we at least give them the best opportunity of any chance of survival by actually giving them some real corporate support. Most of the systems that they are in, those systems have either run out of money or the people that own them don't have any interest in putting any more money into the system."
Not all of the individual franchised clubs acquired by Diversified Health are troubled and distressed, Barnett says, citing one ShapeXpress franchisee who has been drafting between $40,000 and $50,000 a month. That's an exception and not the rule, however. A former ShapeXpress franchisee who has followed the company closely estimates that 300 ShapeXpress licenses were sold from 2002 to 2008. Only 100 of those clubs opened and about 70 closed, leaving about 30 clubs. Diversified Health says it purchased 38 ShapeXpress clubs in the acquisition this year.
"This move will allow our brands to grow exponentially," Linden Wood, CEO of ShapeXpress, said in a statement in April regarding the asset purchase. "We are excited to watch Diversified's expert team of industry professionals take this company and its franchise partners to new heights."
At the time of its acquisitions, Diversified Health listed 26 Liberty Fitness clubs, 17 Fit for Her clubs and six Sedona Fitness for Women clubs. Like Sedona, most of the Fit for Her locations are in Oklahoma, where ShapeXpress was headquartered. Wood is no longer involved in the day-to-day operations of ShapeXpress.
Last month, Diversified Health acquired Citrus Gym, a chain in Brazil that was formerly owned by John Kersh, the former director of international development for the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association. Kersh recently became the director of international development for Anytime Fitness, Hastings, MN.
An industry observer says Diversified Health's purchase of these contracts gives the company an instant revenue stream. Diversified is not yet selling franchises for the brands it has acquired, says Barnett, who adds that the company will wait until it stabilizes the franchise systems and makes sure franchisees are satisfied before selling franchises.
Felicia Sanders, vice president of operations for Diversified Health, says the company holds conference calls with franchisees every other week and offers role-playing exercises and Webinars for them. Sanders and her team have hit the road, visiting with franchisees face to face. The company not only is looking to offer relief to existing franchisees, but it also is developing relationships with the clubs' landlords, Sanders says. If a club is about to close, Diversified Health wants to find a new owner to keep the club in business, she adds.
"For us, it's more about educating ourselves on the brands," Sanders says. "We're not a company that's going to go in and mandate and dictate. We're not going to test a program with these franchisees. We want to go in with tried and true promotions. Our goal is to get at least two or three franchisees from each brand, ask them to at least keep the door cracked for us. If we can win a few of these franchisees and we instill these marketing programs in place, the word will start, and it will start to trickle down.
"Do I feel like the mood of [franchisees] has changed a little bit with support? Yes. Are there some that we're going to be able to save? Absolutely."
To Witt
Roger Wittenberns says he's a self-made man who earned his vast fortune in the health club industry. In his house, Wittenberns keeps a photo from 1984 of himself holding a dime in his outstretched hand showing the last 10 cents he had to his name at the time, he says.
Wittenberns' Web site, www.rogerwittenberns.com, shows that he has accumulated a lot more dimes since that photo was taken. The Web site features photos of Wittenberns' mansion, his race boat and his 1999 Lamborghini Diablo. Wittenberns doesn't hide what his personal wealth means to him.
In another example of his extravagance, Wittenberns paid $27,900 in a 2002 online auction for a 1999 Ford Mustang convertible that was previously owned by rapper Eminem. Wittenberns purchased the car for his then-12-year-old daughter, with $10,000 of the proceeds going to an adult literacy program.
"You don't have to become a surgeon to be able to live the American dream of owning a nice house and enjoying nice cars and some of the finer things in life," Wittenberns says.
Wittenberns is proud to say he has 35 years of experience in the health club industry, beginning with his time as a lifeguard at Jack LaLanne's Health Spas. He later became a manager for European Health Spas.
Wittenberns purchased his first club in the 1980s. In 1989, he began franchising Lady of America clubs and grew the company into one of the largest women-only club companies in America, with more than 1,000 clubs. In 2002, Lady of America acquired Ladies Workout Express, an Atlanta-based chain of 88 clubs, for $1 million.
Wittenberns is not without his critics. One industry insider says that while Wittenberns headed the company many of its Ladies Workout Express franchisees faced financial ruin. Owners who purchased a five-pack of Ladies Workout Express clubs and whose first club was not profitable were told they had to open the remaining four clubs before they could sell them, the insider says.
Actually, Ladies Workout Express offered a single franchise for $12,500 and a four-pack for $25,000, Wittenberns says.
"Nobody made them buy a four-pack," Wittenberns says, adding that many Ladies Workout Express franchisees wanted to open multiple locations. "A four-pack gave a person the opportunity to capture a little market. What you would like to do is eventually grow your marketing hold on the trade area so that you'd have four of the best communities wrapped up operating under your brand."
Some Ladies Workout Express owners also complained they did not receive enough training, marketing and support from the corporate office.
Posts from former Lady of America franchisees on the Web site RipoffReport.com list some of the same complaints that other express club franchisees have offered about their franchisors: lack of support, misleading start-up costs and lack of communication.
One franchisee on the Web site said she and her husband were "fooled by Lady of America" and added that their attempt to get financing through a company executive was a "nightmarish" four-month ordeal. Another franchisee began a post with the sentence, "Lady of America is an elaborate scam." The franchisee also compared Wittenberns to a used-car salesman who sells cars that don't work.
Wittenberns responded to the posts on RipoffReport.com. In one response, he wrote that Lady of America had resolved its differences with the aforementioned couple. In another response, he wrote that he assisted one franchisee in re-selling his facility and recouping nearly all of his investment.
Wittenberns stops short of saying that some of his franchisees were not successful. He says that in his position with Diversified Health, he hopes to correct the mistakes he's made in the past.
"Were there bumps along the way? Sure," Wittenberns says. "You can only work 14 hours a day, seven days a week. You can't get through to everybody, but you can certainly try. When you have one location, it's certainly easy to provide support. When you have 50, 100, 200, it's still pretty easy to provide support. When you start breaking 500, 800, 1,000 locations, you need to have a tremendous amount of corporate support."
Wittenberns says that not every franchisee will be a success even if they all get the same support.
"From the heart, for 35 years, I never intended everybody to be as successful as my top franchisee," Wittenberns says. "When you have close to 1,000 (clubs), you're going to have No. 1,000, and you're going to have No. 1. That's just the natural order of mathematics. Our goal is to offer everybody the same support and tools, and different people use them in different ways."
Barnett, Wittenberns' longtime friend and colleague, adds, "Doesn't everyone learn from a previous experience? One thing about Roger: He's stayed in the industry."
In 2005, Wittenberns sold his controlling interest to Trivest Partners, a Miami-based investment firm.
"When I sold the company, we had very few closures, and everything was great," Wittenberns said. "Under my operations, it was nothing but hard work and dedication from my position and our corporate support staff."
After he sold Lady of America, Wittenberns spent the next two years out of the industry before he decided to return with Diversified Health.
He returned to the business with the intention of being successful, he says.
"It hasn't all been a stairway to heaven climb, but it's certainly been a lifetime experience, and I've enjoyed the industry so much, especially sharing it with people that also have the same vision of building a health and fitness center."
Liberty for All
The founder of one of Diversified Health's acquisitions, Liberty Harper-Simonsen, started Liberty Fitness in 2002, and then sold the 60 locations she built to Concentric Equity Partners, Chicago, in 2004. It changed hands again in 2005, before Diversified Health acquired it last year.
Although she was no longer president, Harper-Simonsen remained with the company as a director of franchise services until she resigned last year. She says she sold the company in 2004 because running the business "just wasn't for me anymore."
Harper-Simonsen, who now runs her own franchise coaching company in the San Francisco Bay Area, says she still hears from former franchisees who are still running Liberty Fitness clubs. Those franchisees are concerned about the future of their clubs and about Diversified Health's involvement, she says.
"They definitely are worried that Diversified might not be the right company, but maybe they just need to give it more of a chance," Harper-Simonsen says.
Harper-Simonsen says she likes the direction that Diversified Health is going and hopes the company and its franchisees are successful.
"I think the plan sounds fantastic," Harper-Simonsen says, "although I just hope that their focus truly is to continue to help those existing franchisees. Is their primary focus really to help women, or is it to make money? Unless they can truly say helping women is their first focus, they won't be successful. They have to make sure that that's where their heart is."
The question for Diversified Health may not lie in where its heart is but on the foundation of its business acumen. As Wittenberns knows, with every business move, risk is involved. Diversified Health's move into the express club market may seem risky to some, but not to Wittenberns.
"I've never really evaluated the risk aspect," he says. "To us, we see it only as an opportunity to take existing brands, consolidate them all and build another great company. We're certainly not in this to fail. I wouldn't be making an effort to fail."
"Lights Out," http://fitnessbusinesspro.com/forprofits/lights_welko_mastrov_golob/
"Time's Up," http://fitnessbusinesspro.com/mag/fitness_times/
"New CEO Joins Liberty Fitness, Gets in Shape," http://fitnessbusinesspro.com/mag/fitness_new_ceo_joins/index.html
"New Owner of Lady of America to Invest in Support," http://fitnessbusinesspro.com/mag/fitness_new_owner_lady/index.html
"Lady of America Launches Co-Ed Clubs," http://fitnessbusinesspro.com/forprofits/fitness_lady_america_launches/index.html
"Ladies Clubs Join Forces," http://fitnessbusinesspro.com/forprofits/fitness_ladies_clubs_join/index.html


text: On Thu, 3 Apr 2008, Kyle Spaans wrote: > On Thu, Apr 3, 2008 at 4:13 PM, Scott Atchley <atchley at myri.com> wrote: >> On Apr 3, 2008, at 3:52 PM, Kyle Spaans wrote: >>> Forgive me perhaps for being naive, but why can't a knowledgeable >>> teenager / college student be paid ~$10/hour plus on-call time to do a >>> setup like this? Presuming they only need to hire someone to do >>> setup/administration/support (and not the actual programming itself). >>> >> >> What if your data is sensitive or has HIPPA requirements? Do you want a >> part-timer having admin control of that data (regardless if it is Linux, >> Windows, or MacOSX)? > > Isn't that what NDAs are for? No, not for HIPAA. Nor in any environment where liability is an issue or the data has overt value. If your "amateur" sysadmin steals your IP and ships it off to friends in India or Bulgaria, no NDA will protect you. An NDA only works with individuals with assets to lose (think about it, you SUE them, not put them in jail). Again, for SOME risk-tolerant environments what you describe can work, has worked, is working. For others, especially professional environments with a high cost in downtime, strong security requirement, and so on, its a penny-wise, pound foolish solution. This is really pretty obvious if you think about it. It's not that it isn't >>a<< workable solution, just that it is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Besides, I train those college students and teenagers. There is a vast well of ignorance there when they start out. In fact, they simply cannot do what you want them to do for you (with very rare, and expensive, exceptions) WITHOUT much more highly skilled and hence paid support. Unixoid operating systems are expert-friendly and extremely complex. Windows at the professional level is no better -- it is actually even worse once you have to work past the level supported by its GUI in addition to be awesomely cumbersome and tedious to manage within the confines of the GUI tools. You can't expect to pay even a part-time college student ditch-digging wages for even an incomplete and still-developing mastery of this complex system, with rare exceptions where the student gets some other benefit e.g. mentorship and training in addition to the money. rgb > _______________________________________________ > Beowulf mailing list, Beowulf at beowulf.org > To change your subscription (digest mode or unsubscribe) visit http://www.beowulf.org/mailman/listinfo/beowulf > -- Robert G. Brown Phone(cell): 1-919-280-8443 Duke University Physics Dept, Box 90305 Durham, N.C. 27708-0305 Web: http://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb Book of Lilith Website: http://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb/Lilith/Lilith.php Lulu Bookstore: http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=877977


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You don't need to be super athletic or competitive. All you need is a pair of walking shoes and maybe a pink bra.
The American Cancer Society and Tanger Outlets on Summerlin Road in Fort Myers will host the 2012 Making Strides Against Breast Cancer of Lee County event on Saturday, Oct. 20.
Registration begins at 7 a.m., with the walk beginning at 8.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and nationwide thousands of events are held to bring awareness to the disease and raise funds so that one day a cure can be found.
Darla Betzer, executive director of the American Cancer Society in Lee County, said this is a way to get the community together for one walk, but with a small twist.
"This year we have a walk and survivor component. Breast cancer survivors will lead the walk and we'll hold a breakfast for them to celebrate them and their caregivers," Betzer said.
Even more than a week before the event, the walk has reached its sponsorship goal of $55,000 and is looking to reach its fundraising goal of $203,000, which Betzer said should be met.
And for those who have been actively campaigning, for every $100 raised online until Oct. 20, those names will be entered into a drawing to win a new iPad.
Also, for every $500 raised, that team will be put in a drawing to receive a $500 gift certificate to the Diamond District, with no limit on how many times you can be entered.
Betzer said that Cape Coral has done its share to help the fight against breast cancer by having the ACS at several recent events.
"We're at the Sunset Celebration, did the Baubles and Bling event and made $5,000. About $40,000 to $50,000 will come from Cape Coral," Betzer said. "Considering the event isn't in Cape Coral, they're passionate about the fight. More people continue to make the hike to the Tanger Outlets."
The "Bangles, Bubbles & Bling for 'The Girls'" was held in Cape Coral on Sept. 29.
Betzer said some of the key sponsors have been Premiere Oncology, 21st Century and Lee Memorial Health System, Iberia Bank and LCEC. Among the Cape Coral businesses have been the Ice Cream Club, Gulf Middle School, and Del Tura of North Fort Myers.
The theme this year is "Put on your pink bra," which has allowed the ACS to reach a new generation of men and women, Betzer said.
"We've been holding bling parties to raise awareness. It brings younger folks to the mix to identify the importance of this campaign," Betzer said.
According to the ACS, in Lee County last year, it provided more than 4,500 individual services, such as rides to clinics and free lodging.
Among those it has helped is Judith Crago of Cape Coral, who has twice battled breast cancer and will be at the Oct. 20 walk as a volunteer.
She said ACS gave her a better attitude about herself after the chemotherapy made her lose her hair by providing wigs and make-up.
"The Look Good, Feel Better program makes a difference. It takes a lot to get through six months of chemotherapy," Crago said. "It gives you an attitude adjustment. I could never have done this myself."
Making Strides Against Breast Cancer is the American Cancer Society's signature walk dedicated to eliminating cancer and raising awareness about the programs and services it provides. The event will have 3,000 walkers on site and there are more than 135 teams that have already signed up, Betzer said.
The Lee County walk started in 1998 and in the last five years, participation has increased around 10 percent and fundraising has improved almost 60 percent. Natinally, 8 million walkers have taken part in 270 communities, raising nearly $460 million, according to statistics provided by the ACS.


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The distinction of the most expensive city for foreigners doesn't belong to Hong Kong, where billionaires pay over $10,000 per square foot for real estate, or Doha, the capital of Qatar, which has the highest per capita GDP.
No, it belongs to Luanda, the capital of Angola, which was ravaged by a decades-long civil war and has some of the highest infant mortality and lowest life expectancy rates in the world.
Click here to see how expensive Luanda is for foreigners >
Luanda has the highest living costs of any city in the world for expatriates, according to Mercer's 2011 cost of living survey.
The city of 4.8 million also ranked seventh on ECA International's newest list of the world's most expensive cities, which looks at a different set of living costs.
Despite its vast wealth—Angola is the second-largest oil producer in sub-Saharan Africa and the seventh-largest supplier to the U.S.—68% of its citizens live below the poverty line, according to USAID.
Nonetheless, the country has one of the world's fastest-growing economies, and Luanda is ripe for foreign investment opportunities in infrastructure and the oil and diamond industries.
But be forewarned: here's how foreigners in Luanda can expect to live.
Note: We compared the cost of living in Luanda to the cost of living in New York, the most expensive city in the U.S. and 32nd most expensive city for foreigners, according to Mercer.


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Just Delivered Exclusive: PNY XLR8 Liquid Cooled GTX 580 Combo
Subject: Editorial, Graphics Cards | July 29, 2011 - 02:27 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: water cooling, pny, liquid cooler, GTX 580, geforce
Just Delivered is a section of PC Perspective where we share some of the goodies that pass through our labs that may or may not see a review, but are pretty cool none the less.
Today is a good day to be working at PC Perspective - the goods just keep hitting the door! After taking a quick look at a new MSI motherboard we also have the world's first look at the upcoming PNY XLR8 Liquid Cooled GTX 580 + CPU cooler combo!
You know how self-contained water cooling for processors is all the rage these days? (And why not, we love it!) Well NVIDIA and PNY teamed up to create a liquid cooled GPU, the GTX 580 of course, and also have two options for it: one with the GPU only and the other that includes an inline CPU water block as well.
We literally have the first two production units from PNY in-house and are going through the installation process for them as I type this. The GTX 580s support SLI (if you want to go that route) and look much like a reference GTX 580 in terms of their external design. The insides are quite different though:
Asetek provides a GPU water block that is mounted on the PCB while the fan runs at a much lower speed than normal as it is basically only used for keeping the memory temperatures under control.
Our units include the CPU water block portion as well which DOES add to the complexity of the installation as well as packaging but I think we are going to find this to be a very efficient (and quiet) way to cool almost your entire rig.
Did I mention we are going to be giving BOTH OF THEM AWAY at our Hardware Workshop next weekend at Quakecon 2011? Well now I did. These are valued at $650 each! Just another reason why you need to be in attendance, don't you think?
Video News
Very Cool!!
I have a liquid cooled processor now,,, where the heck would you put that radiator? Let a lone two of them if your SLI? I have a huge rig myself but wouldn't know where to put those lol. Probably require a full sized case?
Hey. This radiator fits in a standard 120MM fan location making SLI possible in a handful of MID-ATX that have 2 such locations and ideal in larger cases that have 3 bays. (Only need 2 but the larger cases have more room for better airflow and easier installation) Naturally, you would be able to utilize the GPU only version for the second card in SLI. Check it out in action here.
This does look cool but i worry about the amount head needed to force the water through the system. There is at least 8 in of head plus whatever headloss is the radiator and only 2 small pumps to push it along. Also, it should be noted that according to the pictures the warm water from one block is sent to another. This means that whoever is second in line cant have as low a incoming water temp.
That being said wouldn't it just be easier to tell the GPU makers to put say LGA 1155 bolt hole patterns on their boards? I mean really, this is getting a bit silly having to buy a "PNY 580". What if I like Asus? What if I like EVGA? On that note, if we just standardized bolt patterns we could ghetto liquid cool the two GPUs on 590 and 6990.
Full review anytime soon?


text:
Hi, I'm Geoff and I'm here to help you develop a fantastic singing voice.
If you're anything like me, you've found learning to sing to be a challenge at times. But equally, you know how rewarding it will be to perform in front of friends and family... watching the impressed, even amazed looks on their faces.
... or onstage with the audience staring in wide eyed admiration as you blow them away with your dynamite performance!
No matter where you are right now, you absolutely can develop a wonderful, unique voice. I am proof of this.
I went from sounding like a "wounded animal" to having a strong, powerful voice with rich tone quality and over three octaves of vocal range. And on this website you'll discover step-by-step how I made this transformation.
Always remember, while having talent is useful, it's not the biggest factor (Many big stars couldn't hit a note in the beginning!).
So what is the biggest factor?
If you develop correct vocal technique you will develop a large vocal range, crisp professional tone quality, and complete vocal freedom.
And how do you develop solid technique?
The correct training of course!
Practice the right exercises and the end result is your voice will flourish.
Let me give you the three step formula that I used to go from being untalented and sounding terrible, to a voice that I'm proud to show off.
Above all, enjoy the journey!
(Click the image above to view the free report)
Use vocal tonality exercises to sweeten your tone
Valuable Tips to discover your "best" voice (What is your best voice?)
How to develop an outstanding vibrato


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text:
"I hope you are not dreading being alone with me," Darcy said in a casual manner. But Elizabeth could sense the tremble in his hands and understood the insecurity behind his words. She arched her eyebrows and replied in equally light hearted tone, "Why should I fear you?"
He shrugged his shoulders. "Why indeed?"
Slightly annoyed by him, she retorted, "I challenge you to spending some times with me every night before we retire."
His eyes widened at her demand. "Alone? In your chamber?"
Press here to continue reading Darcy's Chilling Proposal.
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Mary J. Blige - Stronger
The official music video for Mary J. Blige's new single "Stronger", from the album of the same name, which is also the lead single from the soundtrack to the basketball documentary "More Than a Game". The album "Stronger" is due out in stores November 24th, 2009.
Please click the "Report" button below if the video on this page is not working properly.
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text:
Is fried chicken setting back development in the Caribbean?
We've all been there... it's lunch time, we're hungry, we don't have much time to wait, don't want to spend too much money, but want to make healthy choices. So, what are our options? Well, on a recent mission in the Caribbean the choices were fried chicken or stew with fried chicken, not many other choices.
We felt guilty because we were the health team on mission in the Caribbean conducting studies on the impact of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and we are extremely conscious that fried chicken contains a lot of saturated fat --a contributing factor in obesity, heart disease and diabetes, which top the list of NCDs.
We ended up swallowing our guilt and snacking on the crispy morsels of chicken anyway.


text:
Christmas isn't for seven months, but Christmas tree growers have already discovered coal in their stockings.
"I'm pretty frustrated with the White House," said Betty Malone of Sunrise Tree Farm in Philomath, Oregon. Malone has been in the business for 40 years, but she said tree sales are falling even as the population grows. "There are challenges to our industry from outside of the U.S., from plastic trees coming from China."
A Harris poll conducted for the National Christmas Tree Association revealed a 20 percent drop in the numbers of live Christmas trees bought between 2011 and 2012. When Americans were asked if they displayed a tree during the holidays, 56 percent said they put up a fake tree, while only 17 percent said they bought a live one.


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OMEN Nanowire Demonstration: Nanowire Simulation and Analysis
11 Jun 2009 | | Contributor(s):: Gerhard Klimeck, Benjamin P Haley
This video shows the simulation and analysis of a nanowire using OMEN Nanowire. Several powerful analytic features of this tool are demonstrated.


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Education >> Browse Articles >> Education Information and News
Is Another Degree Your Ticket to Management?
By Linda Wiener | Monster Contributing Writer
I received my BS (1980) and MS (1982) in education and health sciences and worked in medical research until the mid-1980s. Since moving from the East Coast to California, I have changed careers and worked in computer support (three years) and mortgage banking (10 years). While these jobs paid the bills, I haven't been able to progress to a management position. I enjoy working in finance and business entrepreneurship. Would getting an MBA or JD at 46 be worthwhile?
WHAT THE EXPERT SAYS: Perhaps you have more vocational options to consider than whether an advanced degree will give you the greatest market advantage. You already have a wonderfully diverse educational and work history, and generalists are highly prized in some arenas.
Instead of jumping right to the either/or question about graduate school, consider doing more in-depth self-assessment as well as some preliminary market research. One key question to ask yourself is whether your desire to return to school is motivated solely by career application, or in part by a desire for more personal satisfaction.
California's community colleges and universities are known for their excellent career centers. A good next step would be to make an appointment at a school near you. An experienced vocational counselor can be an invaluable partner in helping you develop a strong foundation on which to base your ultimate decisions.
After figuring out who you are and what you really want to do at this stage in your life, you're ready to begin your research. This will help you decide if you are still on target for advanced studies. In addition to job requirements, study company Web sites for other pertinent information about industries you've targeted.
You will probably also want to go on some informational interviews with folks currently doing the type of work in which you're most interested. These are not job-seeking interviews, but rather informal opportunities for you to gather additional data to help clarify your goals. You'd surely get solid insider information about new-to-you fields. Informational interviewing will help you develop your network of professional contacts and may yield leads or referrals.
All Education Articles
Read All Education Articles, Including...
Certification Benefits for Admins
How to Score a Loan for College
and more...
Finally, have you considered revisiting your degree in education? Teaching is one of the 21st century's growth fields. Shortages in some states are so severe that school boards are trying a variety of creative techniques to recruit and certify new teachers; some are even offering signing bonuses. Not surprisingly, in many areas, more than a few mid-career (and midlife) refugees from other industries have made this career change.
Take your time, and do your homework before making a decision.
This article originally appeared on Monster.com.


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INDIANAPOLIS -- Minnesota Vikings general manager Rick Spielman on Thursday once again shot down the notion that the team is planning to shop disgruntled wide receiver Percy Harvin.
"As I stated earlier, we have no intent to trade (him)," Spielman told reporters at the NFL Scouting Combine. "Anything related to his contract or any discussions will all be kept internally. I think everybody understands what type of player Percy Harvin is. He's a dynamic playmaker, not only on offense (and) the things that he can do with different positions, but also what he brings us as a kickoff returner."
With that question out of the way, Spielman wondered aloud if there was anything else to discuss.
"That's it? Thank you," Spielman joked, ready to bolt.That wasn't it. Spielman was quizzed repeatedly about Harvin, and he stated -- repeatedy -- the Vikings will not move their Mr. Everything. Fair enough, but that doesn't mean teams won't come calling. They will, and -- bank on it -- Spielman and his people will listen.
Follow Marc Sessler on Twitter @MarcSesslerNFL.


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Counting on census controversyMonday, January 4th, 2010
From a proposal to ask about citizenship on 2010 Census to a collaboration between Latino groups and evangelical churches to promote the census, we've seen a fair amount of controversy, well before census forms are distributed in March.
Audrey Singer, a senior fellow in the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution examines some of the controversies surrounding the upcoming census in an op-ed for CNN.com.
Much of the debate will center on meaning of "home," she writes:
This coming census — the largest count of the U.S. population with more immigrants and minorities than ever — will be complicated further by the economic downturn and foreclosure crisis because many people are "doubling up" or otherwise living in temporary quarters.
The census questionnaire asks for a count of all people who live and sleep in the household "most of the time," as of April 1, but not those who are living away at college or in the military or those who are living in a nursing home or who are in a jail, prison or detention facility. (They are counted separately from households.)
"Home" may have changed recently for those whose hardship leaves them little choice but to live with relatives or friends, however temporary that may be. "Home" for displaced residents of the Gulf Coast may be miles away from where they lived before the devastation that Hurricanes Katrina and Rita wrought in their communities.
"Home" for some immigrants is in U.S. communities even though they are not legally residing in the United States. And "home" may be in a prison or detention center in a state far away from the inmate's hometown residence.
In the comments, let us know what you see as the most controversial parts of the 2010 Census.


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Thomasville, NC - Pfeiffer University tops the 2004-2005 preseason poll as voted on by the conference coaches.
The Falcons are coming off of a dream season in which they swept the CVAC regular season, conference tournament championship, and NCAA East Regional Championships before losing to the eventual national champion in the NCAA Elite Eight game. With their 31-3 (18-2 CVAC) record, they dominated the preseason poll taking 9 of 11 first place votes. Current Coach of the Year Dave Davis will rely on returning All-CVAC first team senior Rico Grier to control the team reigns. Grier was recently selected to the Street & Smith's Preseason All-American Honorable Mention Team for the upcoming year.
Mount Olive moves near the top of the survey with a #2 position in the preseason coach's poll. The Trojans return three full or part-time starters from last year's squad, which set a school-record for most wins in a season with a 23-8 (15-5 CVAC) record. Last year's team achieved its first-ever national ranking and reached the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament for the first time in school history. Fifteen year veteran Head Coach Bill Clingan adds, "We should be a deeper and more athletic team this season. The loss of last year's seniors might hurt us early, but we feel very upbeat about the team chemistry we've seen during preseason workouts."
Belmont Abbey College finishes third in the preseason balloting for the second consecutive year as they finished the year with a 19-9 (12-8 CVAC) mark. New Head Coach Dale Kuhl will look for his two returning All-CVAC standouts, senior Rafael Moreira & junior Damien Humphrey, to build from last years experience and provide some leadership for new goals in the upcoming season.
Rounding out the men's poll 4-11 was: Queens, Anderson, Barton, Erskine, Limestone, Lees-McRae, Coker and St. Andrews respectively.
CVAC Men's Basketball Preseason Poll (# of First place votes in parenthesis)
1. Pfeiffer University (9) 97
2. Mt. Olive College (2) 88
3. Belmont Abbey College 78
4. Queens University of Charlotte 73
5. Anderson College 59
6. Barton College 52
7. Erskine College 44
8. Limestone College 43
9. Lees-McRae College 31
10. Coker College 21
11. St. Andrews Presbyterian College 19


text:
Today's scrapbook studios post mostly consists of ways to organize your supplies. Ribbon storage, stamp storage, punch storage and more. Lots of great ideas out there. If you have an idea to share, please email it to us at scrapscene @gmail.com (no space).
Shelley Haganman shares a great idea for storing mini clear stamps. One photo is shown below and you can see lots more photos on the Maya Road blog post here.
In case you missed it, Ali Edwards had post up a little while ago about how she stores and organizes her scrapbook albums. You can read it here.
Sheila, of Cheeky Magpie, shows her idea for storing ribbon. There is also a template download that you can use to try it yourself. See one photo of the completed system below.
I love this idea from Craftzine to make WIP (work in progress) trays. See one photo below.
Kara Ward has some photos showing how she stores her ribbons in a post here.
Gail Lindner shows lots of photos of her scrapbook room here on the Simply Renee blog. She also describes her many idea for organizing supplies. Below is how she stores her punches.
Here's another ribbon storage idea from Giver's Log. This idea uses thrifted candlesticks to make a ribbon holder. One photo is shown below. Found via Craftzine.


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Gun Background Checks Drop by 10 Percent in Jan.
WASHINGTON - The number of federal background checks for firearm sales declined unexpectedly last month following a surge toward the end of the year as Washington considered new gun control measures.
An Associated Press analysis of new FBI data published early Tuesday shows the National Instant Criminal Background Check system processed more than 2.78 million checks in December. That was a 12-month peak following an upward trend through last fall. The number fell to 2.48 million in January, still greater than any other month last year.
The 10 percent drop between December and January comes amid a fierce national debate on gun control after the horrific school shooting in Newtown, Conn.
Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi saw the largest declines in background checks from December to January, by about one-third.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


text: On Wed, 19 Apr 2006, Konstantin Kudin wrote: > Hi all, > > Is there any good solution to find out which user is loading the NFS > the most in a cluster configuration? > > Basically, a bunch of nodes are hooked up to an NFS server, and when > somebody forgets to use the local scratch space for a job, the system > slows down to a crawl. > > So figuring out who is doing that would be extremely helpful. > > Thanks! > Konstantin If you install e.g. xmlsysd/wulfstat/wulflogger (the former on the nodes, the latter on a monitor machine) you can probably find out by monitoring a mix of job and network traffic per node, especially if the nodes are typically used for grid-like applications that don't generate a lot of network traffic. The easiest way to get an idea of what/who to look for is to run "lsof -N" on the nodes to see what NSF based files are open on the node. Note that you'll likely need to do more -- monitor likely looking files directly for being modified in association with active process and burst of network traffic -- to really run this down. rgb > > > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around > http://mail.yahoo.com > _______________________________________________ > Beowulf mailing list, Beowulf at beowulf.org > To change your subscription (digest mode or unsubscribe) visit http://www.beowulf.org/mailman/listinfo/beowulf > -- Robert G. Brown http://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb/ Duke University Dept. of Physics, Box 90305 Durham, N.C. 27708-0305 Phone: 1-919-660-2567 Fax: 919-660-2525 email:rgb at phy.duke.edu


text:
ReleasesBack to
Jimmy Smith
On March 22, 1960, Jimmy Smith, his trio (with guitarist Quentin Warren and drummer Donald Bailey), and three notable guests (tenor saxophonist Ike Quebec, altoist Jackie McLean, and trumpeter Blue Mitchell) recorded enough material for two LPs which were released as Open House and Plain Talk. This single CD reissues the complete contents of the marathon session. Four songs feature the full group while the remaining four ballads are showcases for Quebec ("Old Folks" and "Time After Time"), McLean ("Embraceable You"), and Mitchell ("My One and Only Love"). Although not essential, this well-rounded set has plenty of variety and strong moments, making it recommended to fans of the jazz organ and straight-ahead swinging. ~ Scott Yanow


text: On Sat, 4 Jan 2003, Mark Hahn wrote: > there simply is no coming breakthrough that will make all networking > fast, low-latency, cheap, ubiquitous and low-power. and grid > (in the grand sense) really does require *all* those properties. I'm not quite sure. The only hard limit on latency is relativistic (in vacuum, 1 ns = 0.3 m; 10 ns = 3 m, 100 ns = 30 m; 1 us = 3 km; 10 us = 30 km, 100 us = 300 km). Right now, commercial networks based on GBit fiber Ethernet backbones exist, delivering sub-ms latency to end consumers. 10 GBit fiber Ethernet will be starting to displace GBit Ethernet in that niche. At 10 GBps fiber acts as a FIFO, containing ~50 bit/m (50 kBit/km) of fiber allowing (admittedly, there is no impetus for developing cut-through WAN transmission technology) almost purely photonically switched networks where routing latency is negligible in regards to relativistic latency. That assumes that the fiber(s) is unloaded, of course, as store-and forward will suddenly result in lousy latency. This can't happen on a true crossbar-switched LAN. This clearly can't compete with dedicated ultralocal interconnects like Myrinet & Co, but it indicates GBit based clusters need not to be located physically close.


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Cameron Diaz Pictures in Harper's Bazaar UK
Cameron Diaz Talks Loving Gwyneth and the Many Charms of British Men
Cameron Diaz strikes a sexy pose for the June 2012 cover of Harper's Bazaar UK. The full feature appears in the June issue of Harper's Bazaar UK, which is on sale Thursday, May 3. Her next movie, What to Expect When You're Expecting, will be out in the US next month. In the picture, Cameron plays a mother-to-be. She spoke about having kids in real life with the magazine and also touched on how she's happy with her life at the present. Cameron also spoke about her connection with pal Gwyneth Paltrow and even dished on the charms of British men. Click through to see more Cameron in the magazine, and here are highlights from Cameron Diaz in Harper's Bazaar UK:
- On why she loves British men: "I love their sense of humour and the sense of chivalry and charm. It's something that is innately a part of the culture — we don't have that over here, it's not the same in America."
- On her friendship with Gwyneth: "We became very close after my dad's death. She reached out and it was very sweet. We bonded on that . . . They (Martin/Paltrow) are exceptional people. We have known each other because we have been in the business for the same amount of time."
- On being happy with the present: "I'm not sitting there going 'Oh my god, when am I going to get married? When am I going to have a baby?' I would be remiss if I was living my life wishing I had something other than what I have. If one day, I am blessed with the experience of having a child, I would be overjoyed, but I am not sitting here feeling empty because I haven't yet, or that I may not."
- On her friends and family: "I'm a nurturer to all my friends. I don't feel alone in the world. I have so many friends, more friends who are like me (without children) than not. I also have girlfriends who have kids, and I have strong relationships with their children and my nieces and nephews. My happiest moments are when I'm with my friends — and I consider them to be my greatest wealth. They are my crown jewels."
Photos courtesy Tom Munro for Harper's Bazaar UK


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Interest rates are at historically low numbers, so there is no better time to purchase or refinance. We have a number of financing options, including low fixed and variable rate loan programs.
The interest on qualified loans can be tax deductible depending on your financial situation. Contact your tax advisor to calculate if the interest is tax deductible.
Contact one of our offices to obtain the most current interest rates.


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It's just a couple of bros, a lot of snow and a Subaru with an Audi. Drifting happens. Warning: some NSFW language
This is what it's like to go out driving with your buddies. People start acting like dicks, they get a little reckless, but they do pull off some impressive drifts. The WRX from 1:35 to 1:50 stands out.


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Zynga's chief executive Mark Pincus purchased a lovely San Francisco home on the Gold Coast for $16 million, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The 11,500-square-foot house was originally on the market for $16.5 million.
The house has seven bedrooms, six full baths, and four half-baths.
Before purchasing this home, Pincus sold two of his San Francisco homes for $1.9 million and $8.2 million, respectively.


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To expedite repairs to Civil Defense warning sirens that didn't function properly during November's monthly siren test, State Civil Defense technicians flew to the Big Island Friday to inspect and repair four sirens on the west side of the island (Puakō, Kamehameha Park, Kahaluʻu Beach Park and Nāpoʻopoʻo).
Meanwhile, personnel from Hawaiʻi County Civil Defense and the Hawaiʻi Police Department's Radio Shop worked through the weekend to oversee and inspect seven sirens on the east side of the island. Of those, two functioned properly (Kawailani and Paʻauilo), three were repaired over the weekend (Pāpaʻikou, ʻOʻōkala and Paradise Park and) and one (Honokaʻa) was completed Monday (November 5) by a private contractor.
State Civil Defense technicians returned to the Big Island on Monday and repaired the siren at Laupāhoehoe Point.
The two remaining sirens that are not functioning, one at Hakalau, which was knocked over in a car crash, and one at Waiaka, which has a frozen motor, require new parts and extensive work by private contractors. State Civil Defense hopes to have the Hakalau siren in operation in time for the December monthly test. A time line has not been established for the Waiaka siren.
Hawaiʻi County Civil Defense Administrator Ben Fuata said he appreciates the assistance of the Police Department and State Civil Defense for working "tirelessly" through the weekend along with his staff. "We've made a substantial dent in improving the efficiency and enhancing the readiness of our emergency siren alerting system," Fuata said. "For that I am grateful and indebted to them for their service."
Police Chief Harry S. Kubojiri added that the collaboration of the three agencies and private contractors is an example of the Police Department's partnership with the community. "The public's safety is our number one concern," Kubojiri said. "That cannot be compromised."
Filed under: aloha, Announcements, Big Island, Community, Earthquakes, Environment, Hawaii, Health, Legal, Rumors, Security, State Affairs, Technology Tagged: | Ben Fuata, Big Island of Hawaii, Civil Defense, Civil Defense Sirens, State Civil Defense, Tsunami Sirens


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Amstrad Compilation - Sinclair Spectrum +3 Disk (originally shipped with the +3)
Comprises, Gift From The Gods, Mailstrom, N.O.M.A.D., Supertest 1 & 2, and Cosmic Wartoad.
Disk only, no box or instructions - ideal if you have a faulty or missing disk from your full boxed version.Please note - although these disk only games have been test loaded, there may be the requirement to enter security codes, or words from the original instructions before some games will run fully. By buying the disk only, you do run the risk that the game may not be fully playable.
Tested on an Issue 1 and Issue 2 Spectrum +3.
Multiple purchases will be combined to give the best possible shipping costs. The website engine will try to calculate this, but often, because of the way both size and weight and number of units purchased can effect the cost, the price given may be too high. We always review the final package and can often get a better cost on the day.If this is the case we will send a PayPal refund after dispatch.
© DataServe 2006 - 2019


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epgmoto needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 81 designs submitted by 25 freelance designers.
EPGMOTO is a retailer of aftermarket motorcycle parts. We sell via internet and locally. Our local following is very good. We are looking to expand within the next year and would like to start using a logo which is catchy and memorable.
Our audience is males from 18 to 40 that have an interest in sport bikes. They are weekend tuners or amateur racers that are constantly customizing or upgrading their motorcycle with aftermarket parts. This target audience is interested in speed and styling.
I was thinking of a logo with a symbol or picture and the name EPGMOTO or http://WWW.EPGMOTO.COM. The colors I thought of using, were royal blue, black, white or grey. Not all colors have to be used.
Im pretty much open to any design. It could be a design with a picture or symbol. Or just a pretty font. I just want it to be catchy and cool.
This logo will go on my business cards, letterhead, website and tshirts (for customers).
Check out my site for ideas. http://WWW.EPGMOTO.COM
(Eventually it will be redone.)
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


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TeamPages.com needed a new web page design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 151 designs submitted by 33 freelance designers.
We are looking for a new design of our homepage that is clean, simplistic and clearly communicates our brand attributes.
We are very excited about this 99design contest and will be providing lots of ongoing feedback throughout the entire week. We will also offer a $250 bonus for the CSS.
TeamPages.com is a new online sports team and leaguemanagement tool that makes managing a youth sports team or league really,really easy. We are looking for a newdesign of our homepage that has a quick call to action (i.e. create a free teamwebsite) while also clearly communicating:
- What we do (make it easy to create sports team websites)
- Our brand attributes (easy and intuitive, kid-friendly and safe, sporty and fun)
- Benefits of using TeamPages (setup in less than 4 minutes, saves time with no html needed)For more information on the company, please visit the website http://www.teampages.com, while our logos can be found here: http://www.teampages.com/docs/tp-logo.zip.
Some sites we like (not looking for a knock-off, just hoping this might provide some inspiration) include:
- blogger.com - benefits and action steps called out clearly
- apple.com - simplistic
- blurb.com - how to get started is clearThe successful design will be chosen within 12 hours of thecontest closing, with payment following immediately. The successful candidate will also have theopportunity to redesign each of our subsequent pages (tour, pricing, testimonialsand sign up) for a negotiable bonus.
Please let us know whether you are able to code your entry.
Here are some wireframes to work from: For above the fold: http://screencast.com/t/vxthyZywuFor below the fold: http://screencast.com/t/3iOUCmpvJd- Sections to include links for are: tour, pricing, buzz, blog and sign up
- we also need a very visible log in box
- a clearly stated positioning statement - something like "team and league websites made easy"
- the use of icons to illustrate benefits and features (see teampages.com)
- an area that displays either screen shots, a video, photos or other graphical images that convey our product and brand. The direction of this will be left up to the discretion of the designer and their overall concept
- a "how it works" or "how to get started" area that includes:
1 - sign up for a TeamPage
2 - schedule your first event
3 - invite your roster
- our toll-free customer support line (1-800-500-7203)
- CSS preferred, $250 extra to winner for code
- flash
- stock templates


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Celebrating illustration, design, cartoon and comic art of the mid-20th century.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Bob Foster: "...happy, energetic and extremely generous..."
Bob Foster would bring in examples of the latest illustrations from the popular women's magazines like McCall's, Ladies Home Journal, Cosmopolitan, Redbook, Good Housekeeping and others. He would point out the avant-garde compositions of Coby Whitmore...
Joe De Mers...
... and Joe Bowler, cropping into figures like Degas did over 60 years before,
... or Al Parker, designing and incorporating the story title into his illustrations as a single flowing unit.
He was intrigued by Bob Peak's unusual color combinations and sense of high fashion, that was rapidly coming into vogue.
He would point out the sensitive and expressive fluid line of Austin Briggs...
... whom he thought was one of the top draftsmen of the day. He also admired Robert Fawcett's skilled stylized draftsmanship, his theatrical lighting and staging, and his dramatic compositions...
... particularly for the Sherlock Holmes series. While thumbing through the magazines, he would come across perhaps a new Al Parker illustration that would particularly inspired him, and he would get a twinkle in his eyes, and a big smile, remarking to the class, 'this guy always comes up with something unique, look at that design.. just great.'
His enthusiasm in the new creative directions of editorial illustration captured our attention and left us hungry for the next batch of magazines to hit the news stands each month. It was like waiting for the grand opening to an epic Hollywood movie.
In those days teachers dressed as if they were interviewing for a job... matching suit or sports jacket, slacks and tie. The average illustrator was fashion conscious, and took pride in having good taste in their appearance and choice of clothing, as they would in their illustrations.. and Bob Foster was no different in that respect. He usually wore a dark matching three piece suit that was carefully tailored, and his shoes were always polished. He conveyed credibility, success and respect as an instructor and a professional. He worked out with weights regularly, and kept himself in good physical shape.
I never saw Bob angry, irritable or grumpy. He always seemed happy, energetic and extremely generous in sharing his vast skill and knowledge with his students. His natural ability to inspire and motivate his students in a "down to earth" manner was one of his major assets as an instructor.
As part of the process of developing an illustration, Bob would set up a photo shoot in the studio using a few selected students as his models to avoid outside model expenses. Most of us were cash poor and art supplies took most of our extra money. He asked me if I would be willing to be one of his regular models, and I jumped at the opportunity. Not only would I learn the procedure of developing an illustration, I would experience it as an actor experiences the character he plays.
While modeling, he would maneuver us in various positions, as though we were in a stage play, and when everything was just right he would click the shutter. He would take numerous variations of the same scene for students to choose from, sometimes with only subtle changes and sometimes obvious changes. I recall some of the poses were somewhat uncomfortable and felt unnatural, Bob assured us that what seemed to 'feel' natural often didn't translate well in an illustration, and a pose that was awkward and uncomfortable, often looked natural in an illustration.
He emphasized that it was the job of the illustrator to convey the right attitude of the figure, for each situation. The photo only gave the information we could not possibly store in our head. Usually the props were photographed separately from the figures, especially when the props were not conveniently available.The scenes usually consisted of two figures, a male and a female.
In one scene, which emulated a cigarette ad, I posed as though I were lighting a beautiful woman's cigarette. Since it was to be a beach scene, I was bare from the waste up, with a towel around my neck, and she wore a swim suit top, and a thin transparent blouse that was unbuttoned and flowing in the breeze. In this case, we would have to research and create a beach background from our clip files, etc. We used a fan to create a sea breeze effect. Bob preferred overlapping figure shapes, which created strong design units.
In another scene I posed as if in deep thought, dressed in Victorian period clothing and a very attractive female student model sat in the foreground in front of me in a white wicker chair. She was wearing Victorian undergarments that indicated perhaps a bedroom scene.
Above is a copy of the original photo of that scene.
Continued tomorrow.
* Tom Watson is a retired West Coast illustrator, art director and educator. He has been a frequent contributor to Today's Inspiration and his storyboard work for film was a subject of a post on my other blog, Storyboard Central.
* Many thanks to Kyle Katz for allowing me to use the Bob Foster paperback cover scans above. The original art scan is courtesy of Heritage Auctions.
9 comments:
Wonderful, wonderful work. His work fits so well with his contemporaries of the day, Al Parker, Joe Bowler, Coby Whitmore. I love that period of illustration.ReplyDelete
love, Love LOVE your blog. The name is perfect -- Inspiration! Thank you sooo much for these treasures. I remember being inspired by these illustrations when I was a kid -- the facile lines, the casual play of light and dark, the fluidity of the paint strokes, the intriguing layout and the impecible anatomy. Just wonderul.ReplyDelete
Thank you.
- Anonymous1:42 AM
Big fan of your blog --- the spanish illustrator Segrelles might make a nice entry , or Morgan Kane - Kane has a nice site and interesting life - president of a hypnotist org.ReplyDelete
Thank you all for your encouraging words! I'm delighted that you're finding inspiration in the art and stories presented here at TI. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to people like Tom Watson and David Roach and the many others who have so generously shared the knowledge, experience, recollections and passion for the art and artists of the mid-century period. Many thanks to you all!ReplyDelete
Anonymous; you just blew my mind -- Morgan Kane has a website?! I've been meaning to do a week on him for years now. I'll certainly investigate further - thanks for the heads-up.ReplyDelete
- Charlie Allen4:18 PM
TOM.....Late to the party here....busy times. Thanks for the Bob Foster blog. After checking out TI now for some two years, I'm still amazed how much I didn't know about the profession I was in. Don't know why I, and my illustrator friends, weren't aware of Foster. He obviously didn't compete in the S.F. area. There were others as well. Some very good illustrators came and went, and few knew them. I suppose we were very busy and stuck to our 'grooves'. As the 70's came along, there were dozens of new eastern cats, excellent illustrators, who were impressive. Same thing happened out here....and by the 80's, the biz was 95% over with. Thanks to Leif and the other contributers, we're all learning a lot.ReplyDelete
Fantastic work, best of the best. Give me Robert Fawcett any time, or any of these other guys for that matter.ReplyDelete
Great post as usual.
Btw, the magazine 'Trinca' as such (Spain early 70's) and its artists (V de la Fuente, A H Palacios, etc)could make a nice entry, maybe you would like to take a quick look...ReplyDelete
Great job pulling this together Leif. And Charlie, you are always welcome to the party. ;-) Bob Foster did some ad illos while he was teaching in the late 50's, but most of his time was spent teaching full time. It was a way to have an income, and work on a portfolio to take to N.Y. That was his overwhelming desire from the day I met him. Charlie, with the workload you seemed to have maintained through your career, I'm surprised you were able to take a vacation, let alone socialize with all the illustrators that came and went. As I remember San Francisco was pretty darn competitive, and everyone was working hard to break into the market, or stay in the market. I was told that there was more commercial artists looking for work in S.F. than was work available.ReplyDelete
I believe it!
Tom Watson


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Kodiak Wildlife Refuge
Kodiak is composed of mountains, forests, bays, inlets and wetlands. The refuge comprises about two-thirds of Kodiak Island. In addition, the refuge encompasses a portion of Afognak Island (50,000 acres) north of Kodiak Island. Kodiak Island has an irregular coastline of bays, insets, and rugged mountains covered with alpine vegetation.
Spruce forests dominate the northern part of Kodiak Island and all of the Afognak Island portion of the refuge. The interior of the refuge is covered with lush, dense vegetation. Southwestern Kodiak is covered with hummocks (knolls) of grass. No place on the 100 X 40 mile island is more than 15 miles from the sea.
Kodiak NWR was established in 1941 to protect the habitat of the brown bear. Beside the brown bear there are at least five other native land mammals on Kodiak: red fox, river otter, short-tailed weasle, little brown bat, and tundra vole. Black-tailed deer, beaver and several other species of mammals have been successfully introduced to the island. Bald eagles reside year-round on the refuge in such numbers that they are in view continuously. An estimated two million seabirds inhabit the bays, inlets, and shores.
Visitor Use
Kodiak is known worldwide for brown bear hunting. Fishing is excellent for all five species of Pacific Salmon. Wildlife observation, photography, rafting, and camping are popular activities. The island is served by commercial flights and the Alaska Ferry system. A limited number of cabins are available.
For information contact:
Refuge Manager - (907)487-2600


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7 Excellent Linux Apps You May Not Know About
GLabels, Kile, recordMyDesktop, K3b
Everyone is writing "Foo Best" lists all full of good Linux apps, so here are my own 7 Best Excellent Linux Apps You May Not Have Been Introduced To Yet. They are presented in no particular order or categorization, they're just good applications I've been using and enjoying. They are all 100% genuine Free/Open Source software and not crusted with proprietary baggage, and available via the usual distribution package managers.
GLabels, Label, Business Card, and Postcard PrinterOpenOffice Writer has a pretty nice labels template, but Glabels is faster and easier. You can make file labels, name badges, CD and jewel case labels, business cards, address and shipping labels-- you name it, if it's an Avery label Glabels supports it. Avery labels are pretty much the de-facto standard, and it has a nice wizard for creating custom templates. The only label type it doesn't support are the little specialized roll label printers, like Brother label printers.
Kile, Integrated Graphical LaTex EnvironmentI've been using Kile to write my latest book (Build A Computer Sound Studio With Audacity! No Starch Press! Coming Soon!) and it is a joy to use. I'm happy to have a publisher that doesn't require dumb icky Microsoft Word docs, and LaTex isn't hard to use when someone else writes the stylesheets; all you need to learn is the markup. Kile has syntax highlighting and lots and lots of handy pointy-clicky functions. It also permits as much manual markup and futzing as you want.
recordMyDesktop, Desktop Video RecorderIf you've been watching Linux desktop video howtos and wondering how they were created, it may be that they used recordMyDesktop. recordMyDesktop captures everything you do on your Linux desktop. It has a simplified graphical interface, and if you want to fine-tune and tweak it also has a comprehensive set of command-line switches. It can also capture audio, and for the best results I recommend getting acquainted with JACK (the Jack Audio Connection Kit), because this gives you the most control and flexibility. JACK lets you route any audio output to any input, so on most Linux systems it's the only way to capture system sounds.
You could also try audio routing with PulseAudio, which is finding its way into more distributions, but for me it's been unreliable. If your system already has it, try it first.
K3b, CD/DVD Writer and RipperOK, so K3b (KDE burn, baby, burn) is well-known, but it still deserves as many praises as it can get. It is a beautiful graphical front-end to the giant host of commands that are needed for CD and DVD writing and ripping. It even queries CDDB (Compact Disc Database) to fetch song titles, disc, and artist names automatically. It supports CD Text, which is an extension to the universal Red Book CD Audio standard that displays titles and names, and it supports the newfangled mixed-media CDs that combine audio and video tracks. Like all KDE and Gnome applications, it works in any desktop environment.
Special mention: K9Copy copies DVDs and compresses them to fit on a standard 4.7 GB blank, so you don't need to spend wads of money on expensive 8.5 GB double-layer blank DVDs.
- Skip Ahead
- 1. GLabels, Kile, recordMyDesktop, K3b
- 2. GLabels, Kile, recordMyDesktop, K3b


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Discover the secret to beautiful and functional spaces with one our dazzling exterior lighting systems!
This is just a note to commend you for your very excellent service. We hired Apollo Pavers to... read more
Phillip T. Reinheimer
We wanted to thank you for the great work you did with our back-yard renovation this summer. From... read more
Steven and Rebecca Gilbert
I heard about Apollo Pavers through a friend who highly recommended them. My concrete driveway... read more
Robert C.


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Friday, July 16, 2010
Panzanella Salad
As the summer is in full swing, we've been enjoying more and more light meals using fresh produce, olive oil and a lot of lemon. This salad is a great Italian classic, featuring a whole lot of veggies and some crusty bread. These crusty cubes of bread are tossed with tomatoes, cucumbers and red onions and then drizzled with a citrusy vinaigrette. The bread soaks up all the flavors of the salad and makes for a hearty dish that can be used as a main meal.
When I made my way to the farmer's market a few days ago, I was looking for those beautiful heirloom tomatoes that are so succulent during the summer months. The more uneven the shape, unstructured the edges and different variations in color make for the best tomatoes, in my book. Supermarkets make us think that fruit and vegetables should be shiny, symmetrical and perfectly round but that is definitely not the way nature intended it. Getting my hands on a batch of yellow, orange, red and crimson tomatoes always makes my heart swing. To tell you the truth, I often just end up having them thinly sliced with extra virgin olive, cracked black pepper and fleur de sel - but this salad really took these to the next level.
We have moved to Toronto for most of the summer, and found this incredible little bakery in our neighborhood. I got their signature sourdough walnut bread - which worked wonders in this salad. What meals have you been enjoying in this scorching heat?
Panzanella Salad
Serves 2
2 large slices of sourdough bread
1/2 garlic clove
4 heirloom tomatoes, seeded and quartered
1/2 cucumber, diced
1/4 large red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup of greek olives
1/3 cup of cubed good quality feta
3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Drizzle the bread slices with a little olive oil and set in a warm oven until crusty. Peel the garlic clove and cut in half. Rub the garlic on the warm bread. Cut the bread into cubes (the same size as the vegetables) and set aside.
In your serving bowl, add the tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, olives and feta. Toss in the bread cubes. In a small bowl, add the olive oil, lemon juice and red wine vinegar. Add a good pinch of salt and pepper and lightly whisk. Drizzle over the salad and serve. Enjoy!
13 comments:
- Junglefrog said...
Ah yes, as little cooking as possible in the current heat is definitely the thing to do! I love this panzanella...!
- July 16, 2010 at 5:42 PM
- olivia rae said...
i saw a version of this in vegetarian mag and have been dying to try it. looks beautiful and refreshing! xox
- July 17, 2010 at 8:52 PM
- My Carolina Kitchen said...
What a beautiful photo of your panzanella salad. Wow and double wow. Cookbook worthy.
I love panzanella, only trouble is, when no one is looking, I pick out the bread and only eat it. Shame on me.
- July 18, 2010 at 7:34 AM
Breathtaking photography as always :) We're having insane unprecedented weather here in singapore; with humidity one moment, and thunderstorms the next. I just keep things simple with snack cakes to keep the spirits high!
- July 19, 2010 at 10:45 AM
- Evan @swEEts said...
I just made Panzanella salad to accompany steak for dinner the other night.. such a wonderful summer salad! It's almost a meal all by itself!
- July 20, 2010 at 5:21 PM
- Kate Morgan Jackson said...
I just made this for dinner too! I guess with all the tomatoes all over the place, we are all thinking along the same lines. :) Great picture, as always!
- July 21, 2010 at 7:21 AM
- vanillasugar said...
i LOVE this as a meal. Gorgeous photo!
using sourdough bread is the best, especially when it soaks up all those flavors.
- July 21, 2010 at 11:05 AM
- Morgan said...
I've always wanted to try panzanella, I don't know what is stopping me. Your photo makes it look incredibly delicious!
- July 21, 2010 at 9:00 PM
- Lynne @ CookandBeMerry said...
I love panzanella salad, and yours looks just perfect. And I agree about the heirloom tomatoes. Can't wait to try your recipe.
- July 22, 2010 at 1:05 AM
- Adriana said...
my dad would say you like 'real' tomatoes... that is, they don't have to be pretty to be tasty, at all.
that salad is perfect for this terrible heat wave in boston... turning on the oven is even scary...
- July 22, 2010 at 9:45 AM
- Patricia Scarpin said...
You won't believe me, Jen, but I have never tried a panzanella salad - this is beautiful!
- July 28, 2010 at 10:05 AM
- Chocolate Shavings said...
Patricia Scarpin: You should definitely give it a try if you can - it's really a great salad for the warm summer months!
- July 28, 2010 at 9:51 PM
- Petra {zoom yummy) said...
Mmm, what a lovely, delicious salad. You've also made wonderful pictures. Love it! :) Petra
- August 3, 2010 at 10:11 AM


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Burn wrote:Absolute Zero wrote:Here's another 100% for you. Dice showed me how it's done
Beat me to it.
So even though we never really kicked the contest off, that's two 100% strafes for me, and I don't think Anshin's taken out the Squirrel once. (I could be wrong on that though)
Still don't know why Dice churns them out so easily though.
I haven't gotten any since the reboot. I got close with a 99%, but for the most part I've been hovering around 60% Ah well. I've still got something to shoot for. I might never put up as many as you, but I'd like to put out a couple before the next wipe. lol Still, Dice does an amazing job, and congrats again.