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|HIV and gums
Jun 17, 2010
I am HIV+ been diagnosed for a year now. Over the past 2 years (and before being diagnosed with HIV) I have had all my teeth removed with new crowns. I am on Aptripla. Just recently I have not been able to brush my teeth without gums bleeding. It's every time I brush my teeth. Is this related to HIV? Or non related what so ever and have a gum disorder. I started this tooth reconstruction before I got HIV and have not shared with the dentist, as the procedures were near an end when I was diagnosed. thanks
Response from Dr. Henry
HIV+ persons have an increased rate of gum disorders. You should inform your dentist about your HIV status in order to allow him/her to figure that factor into how to approach your bleeding gums. In some cases may need antibacterial rinses or antibiotics if active gingivitis or localized infections. Also need to check bleeding/bone marrow parameters to make sure you not developed a bleeding problem. KH
throat burning sensations with Aptripla
my doctor asked me to stop my HIV medication.
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- Commentary
By Cody Willard
Here are some of the questions from this week's Live Q&A chat from TradingWithCody.com along with a few emailed questions from Marketwatch The Cody Word readers. Join me next Wednesday at 2pm EST at TradingWithCody.com/chat or send me an email with your question at firstname.lastname@example.com.
Q. Hello Cody, I am a big Apple fan, as well as investor. I have been following your blog for the past few months and I wanted to thank you for the options play for April 2013 (CALL AAPL 660) which resulted in a profit of over 125% in less than 3 weeks. I sold this position yesterday. I am still long AAPL, but unlike you I prefer vertical spreads instead of naked calls or stock. I wanted to ask you how come every time you trim AAPL or start buying, almost immediately the stock price reacts? It is quite curious, since I know you are not big on technical analysis. Maybe you have millions of subscribers that follow your advice? I also own FB on your recommendation and have been patiently waiting for it to go back up (bought at 27). Are the recent positive news on the stock a possibility for it to fall back to the low 20s (contrarian), and if it does go down, should I look for some options?
A. Congrats on the huge homerun on the Apple /quotes/zigman/68270 /quotes/nls/aapl AAPL calls! Those are the types of trades to remember for a lifetime rather than to expect as normal. As for the answer to why AAPL might move down when I trim and up when I buy is probably more to do with having owned it and traded it since $7 a share using a strategy of scaling in on weakness and/or loading up on AAPL when it crashes and then trimming when it feels like it'll never go down again for any reason ever. I do have millions of readers a month on my various outlets, but I don't think my followers' scaling in and out of the stock along with me are probably moving enough shares to truly impact AAPL's near-term movements. I'm sticking with most of my Facebook /quotes/zigman/9962609 /quotes/nls/fb FB position, but as I wrote in Trade Alert – More scaling, but don't be a daredevil, I bought calls when the stock was below $19 a share a couple weeks ago and I trimmed some of those back earlier this week when the stock popped to above $25-26 a share. It certainly could fall back to the low $20s (or lower) and I'd probably again be a buyer of some long-dated calls if it does.
Q. Cody, Any of your sources speaking about Apple sales so far and going into the holidays? Sales looking good?
A. I got no sources that have any scoops on sales trends at Apple these days, not that I've ever had "inside sources" on such trends other than just putting together my own analysis using every thing I touch, see, read and hear. The rule of large numbers makes it harder for people to know how the quarter's numbers are truly trending overall anyway. The biggest hurdle for AAPL to hit its numbers next quarter is probably supply as much as it is demand.
Q. I would like to buy some AAPL options. Can I pull the trigger now?
A. As you know I actually sold some of my AAPL calls yesterday as the stock has run nearly $80 since my last tranche buy of calls. That said, AAPL's still my biggest position because I think it's going higher in coming months and years. To get started if you don't own any AAPL calls (or if you don't feel like you own enough AAPL in general), I'd start with a tranche buy of about 1/5 or so as much capital as you plan on putting into that instrument now and then slowly scale into more over coming weeks. Don't go crazy on options though. Use much more common stock than options in general, ok?
Q. Cody (and friends)… I'm following your lead and trimming 1/10th of my AAPL options. However, I'm confused on the best strategy. I have a range of April 2013 options. My 660s show a 100%+ gain, however my 690s are down 50%. I also have some that are about even. Given the expiration dates are equal, do you typically sell the higher price at a loss or do you lock in profit on the lower price option? I know you can't advise me on what to do, I'm just looking to understand what your playbook would tell you to do in this situation. Thanks.
A. The short answer when considering your gains and losses as part what instruments to sell is that unless there's an absolutely HUGE tax benefit to selling one set or the other, then you should focus 100% on what set of calls have the best risk/reward from here. That is, the only thing that matters is where those options are likely headed, not where they've been over the time that you've owned them. In the scenario you laid out, with several different strike prices with the same expiration, I'd probably look at selling the lowest price strike calls first (in your case, the $660s) because they have more potential downside with the higher value they currently have and the higher priced calls will still give you huge upside if the stock can rally back above their strike prices. Good luck!
Q. Cody, I am a new member. Please help me if I should buy FB stock or options at this point or can I still look at AAPL options? Thanks!
A. This is from my book, Everything You Need to Know About Investing: "Q: How do you get started with your first trade? How much of each stock do I buy when I start building my portfolio? A: You want to try to have your cake and eat it too — start off by putting 1/3 as much money as you want to eventually invest into the top 5 or 6 stocks that you have done your homework on and want to invest in and put some more in after a few weeks in whatever stocks are rated highest at that point and so on. Use scales and don't rush in. Always have plenty of cash and/or income to be able to sleep at night no matter what happens to the markets." You can read the whole book for free by subscribing to TradingWithCody.com. Just be VERY careful with your options trading if you're not very experienced in it. You can always just buy common stock tranches when you see me buy calls.
Q. Why is Google much stronger than Apple last 2 days? Thank you for those timely tips on AAPL calls, and the FB calls worked out great. I sold some Jan 2014 FB calls at 30 bucks for a nice profit as well. Cheers.
A. I always tell people that it's pretty much impossible to rationally pinpoint a reason for one stock to move a certain way over a one or two day period, as hundreds of thousands of people and money managers trade it for their own personal reasons.
Okay folks, that's another wrap. Don't forget to give the audio guys back your microphone and earpiece before leaving the set.
Cody Willard writes Revolution Investing for MarketWatch and posts the trades from his personal account at TradingWithCody.com, which is not affiliated with MarketWatch. At time of publication, Cody was net long Apple, Facebook, Google. Follow Cody on Twitter at twitter.com/codywillard.

subset: commoncrawl


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Covert Video Sunglasses with 4GB Micro SD Card
Night Owl's Covert Video Sunglasses with 4GB Micro SD Card allows you to secretly record video and audio with a hidden camera that built into tinted sunglasses. These sunglasses allow you to hands free record anything from soccer games for your children or grandchildren to fishing or boating trips. It can record up to 2 hours with the included 4GB Micro SD Card. You can also store, protect and clean your sunglasses with the BONUS carrying case and cloth. No one will ever know that they are being watched. Night Owl is one of the only security companies with 24/7 technical phone support. Rest assured that you will able to reach us any time, any day.
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Definition of egotism
n. - The practice of too frequently using the word I; hence, a speaking or writing overmuch of one's self; self-exaltation; self-praise; the act or practice of magnifying one's self or parading one's own doings. The word is also used in the sense of egoism. 2
The word "egotism" uses 7 letters: E G I M O S T.
No direct anagrams for egotism found in this word list.
Words formed by adding one letter before or after egotism (in bold), or to egimost in any order:
b - misbegot n - mitogens r - ergotism s - egotisms
Shorter words found within egotism:
egis ego egoism egoist egos em emit emits ems es et gem gemot gemots gems gest get gets gie gies gismo gist git gits go goes gos got is ism it item items its me meg megs met metis mi mig migs mis mise miso mist mite mites mo mog mogs moist mos most moste mot mote motes mots oe oes om omit omits oms os ose seg sego sei semi set si sim sit site smit smite smog smote so som some somite sot stem stime stogie teg tegs ti tie ties time times tis to toe toes tog togs tom tome tomes toms
List shorter words within egotism, sorted by length
Words formed from any letters in egotism, plus an optional blank or existing letter
List all words starting with egotism, words containing egotism or words ending with egotism
All words formed from egotism by changing one letter
Other words with the same letter pairs: eg go ot ti is sm
Browse words starting with egotism by next letter
Previous word in list: egos
Next word in list: egotisms
Some random words: ebon jealous cinch no ne eking huarache
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Section Navigation
- Computer Labs
- Digital Arts Lab
- Glover Alston Center
- Johnston Wilderness Campus
- Memorial Hall
- Multimedia Development Lab
- Penrose Library
- Reid Campus Center
- Smart Spaces
- Student Residences
- Welty Health Center
- Baker Ferguson Fitness Center and Harvey Pool
- Borleske Stadium
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- Whitman Tennis Courts
To enhance Whitman's learning environment, students have access to exceptional facilities and technological and cultural resources. Penrose Memorial Library, which is open 24 hours a day during the academic year, houses more than 320,000 volumes, 550,000 government documents, and 2,000 subscriptions. Furthermore, the ORBIS network provides access to approximately 3.5 million volumes that can be delivered to Whitman in three or fewer days. Olin Hall of Humanities and Fine Arts features an audiovisual center, foreign language labs, the Donald Sheehan Art Gallery, and the center for the campus-wide fiber-optic network. Maxey Hall, the center for the social sciences, includes a natural history museum, a 350-seat auditorium, and animal demonstration labs. The Hall of Science houses a sophisticated physics lecture hall and laboratory and support facilities for two electron microscopes, a seismograph, and a planetarium, in addition to an observatory maintained off-campus. The Hall of Music houses an acoustically perfect performance hall and more than 25 practice rooms. Other major facilities are Harper Joy Theatre, a 315-seat drama center, and Cordiner Hall, a 1,400-seat auditorium.


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Sac à Puces
Carine de Brab decided to become a comics artist for children early on. She studied at the Institut Saint-Luc in Brussels, while she also cooperated on the animated feature film 'Le Chaînon Manquant' by Picha. After some advertising jobs, she met Yvan Delporte, with whom she did her first comics work. They cooperated on some 'Les Zingari' scripts (art by René Follet), before they created 'Les Puzoletti' in Spirou in 1987, a story that featured De Brab's artwork. She continued to work for Spirou magazine in the following years, creating short stories, game pages and the gag series 'Suzy' (with Salma).
For l'Écureuil, she made the gag series 'Tamia et Piko'. In 1992 she started the children's series 'Margot et Oscar Pluche' with writers Zidrou and Falzar for Casterman. This series was continued in Spirou and in albums by Dupuis under the name 'Sac à Puces' from 1998 to 2009. Also with Zidrou, she made 'Choco' for Casterman in 2000 and 'Zigo le Clown' for Milan in 2011. For the Dupuis collection Puceron she created the series 'La Vavache' (art Vertonghen) and 'Méchant Benjamin' (art by herself).
Méchant Benjamin


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Team Maggie Update Day +14 AM Update
Can you believe it? It's been 2 weeks since Maggie has received the bone marrow from Lucas! When you look back at the updates from Days 7 and 8, they were pretty bleak, but the last 3-4 days have been excellent. That's not to say there can't be a few hiccups along the way, but we seem to be heading in the right direction!
Maggie had a good night. Her white cell count remains where it was yesterday, but today she begins a hormone therapy to encourage white blood cell growth. So while you're sitting at your desks, be a cheerleader, raise the pom poms and start cheering those white cells on, tell them to grow! Maggie's bilirubin (liver) count is a little elevated, but no worries according to Mom.
Most encouraging was that she ate a few bites of poptarts yesterday, and was able to do her oral care and swallow medicine without complaining. All great signs!
Today Wednesday, August 7th, Nelson Jewell, from Q106.5 FM will be broadcasting live from B and D Marine on Wilson Street in Brewer from 11 to 1. Stop by, we'll enter you into a drawing for Kenny Chesney tickets for the concert tomorrow night at the Darling's Waterfront Pavilion, plus you can make a donation to the Rudnicki Family. All money collected will be deposited at People's United Bank in the Team Maggie Account.
Maggie turns 5 on August 19th. She will be in the hospital still on her birthday. If you'd like to send a card or a gift, her address is
BMT Unit Floating 6
Attention: Maggie Rudnicki
750 Washington Street
Boston, MA 02111
I asked Maggie's mom what she likes and this is Lauren's reply
"She loves the Boston bruins, lip gloss and scary things (ghost stories, vampires, goosebumps books etc) those are a few favorites but honestly just well wishes are all she needs!"
Please keep praying. Prayers do work! They've made those little white cells grow, and those white blood cells are what's making Maggie feel so good. The change in 6 days has been nothing short of miraculous! Pray for a peaceful day and week ahead. Pray for those white blood cells to start multiplying! Pray for a sense of calmness for Maggie, Lauren and the entire Rudnicki family. Pray that those white blood cells continue to grow, and grow quickly! Pray for healing, pray for strength!
You can make a donation to help defray the medical and travel costs associated with Maggie's care. Maggie has been down in Boston for 3 weeks. If you want to make a donation, click HERE for the details
We now have over 100 photos of Team Maggie support up on the site. If you want to send your picture, you can upload it HERE or just click HERE to view them all.Please note, if you do upload them, they don't appear instantly, as we are moderating all pictures, just to insure appropriate content. You can also send me your pictures directly at firstname.lastname@example.com.
More tomorrow. Keep the faith Team Maggie!


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Keep me informed as to KENNEDY Family online & offline events
Infant Bodysuit
Drinking Glass
Shot Glass
Toddler T-Shirt
Hooded Sweatshirt
Baby Blanket
Leave a message for KENNEDY family members.
You mention, "A further point is that any connection between the Irish and Scottish Kennedys is purely one of etymology; there is no evidenced genealogical connection."
That is almost true. My people emigrated from Canna Island, Scotland, to Nova Scotia in 1791. I was surprised to discover that my Kennedy DNA is Dal gCais. I'm left with a mystery - why and when did my Kennedy ancestors go to Canna. Here is my blog on my own family history:
My great grandmother was Rose Kennedy, she was born in 1885 and married John McAvoy who was born 1882. IF anyone has any extra information on either of them I would appreciate it.
Click 'Invite' to connect with more members of the KENNEDY tribe.
Why not see what your family crest could look like based on your own family characteristics?


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Macrobiotic Diet
Dear OncoLink "Ask The Experts,"
My father has metastatic colon cancer. I've been researching different types of therapy, including nutritional therapy. What is your opinion regarding macrobiotics? Is this something safe and has there been any scientific study conducted on it?
Katrina Claghorn, MS, RD, registered dietitian at the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania, responds:
The macrobiotic diet is a very restrictive vegetarian diet. As with any diet that limits food choices there is the potential for nutrient deficiencies. Consequently if you follow the diet you should consult a registered dietitian to make sure you are getting all the nutrients you need (protein, vitamins and minerals). If deficiencies exist, adjustments can be made to the diet to ensure it is nutritionally complete. Macrobitics is not limited to just foods, it also a philosophical and lifestyle program that also includes exercise and meditation. Thus, going to a macrobiotic school or instructor is generally suggested.
Making dietary and lifestyle changes is difficult enough for a person who is well, but can be a hardship for a sick person such as your father. Also, a plant-based diet may be hard for a person with a gastrointestinal cancer to tolerate. If your father wishes to try the diet you may be able to adjust the regimen to his needs, however if he is not committed to the diet these issues would only provide more stress and upset.
So far no studies have shown that the macrobiotic diet can cure cancer. However the National Institutes of Health is studying the diet. Certainly plant based diets have been shown to have a role in preventing cancer (as well as other chronic diseases) and a person who works at maintaining their nutrition status after a cancer diagnosis may be better able to deal with cancer treatments and generally feel better.


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Elkanah Watson's Magic Egg
TOMORROW: An earlier version of the same anecdote.
(Click on the portrait above or here for the Princeton University Art Museum's exploration of John Singleton Copley's 1782 portrait of Elkanah Watson.)
About the time we left the hospital, Major Thomas, of the army, arrived at Plymouth, from head-quarters. He had left Washington retreating through New-Jersey. I spent the evening with him, in company with many devoted Whigs. We looked upon the contest as near its close, and considered ourselves a vanquished people. The young men present determined to emigrate, and seek some spot where liberty dwelt, and where the arm of British tyranny could not reach us. Major Thomas animated our desponding spirits by the assurance that Washington was not dismayed, but evinced the same serenity and confidence as ever. Upon him rested all our hopes.Watson's memoir was published in 1856, or nearly eighty years after this reported event.
On the ensuing Sunday morning, as the people were on their way to church, I suddenly witnessed a great commotion in the street, and a general rush to the back door of Mrs. H—'s dwelling. Supposing the house to be on fire, I darted into the crowd, and on entering the house, heard the good woman's voice above the rest, exclaiming, with an egg in her hand—"There, there, see for yourselves." I seized the magic egg, and to my utter astonishment read upon it, in legible characters formed by the shell itself, "Oh, America, America, Howe shall be thy conqueror!"
The agitation and despondency produced, will hardly be appreciated by those unacquainted with the deep excitability of the public mind at that period. We were soon relieved from our gloom and apprehension, by ascertaining from an ingenious painter, who happily came in, that the supernatural intimation was the effect of a simple chemical process. We were convinced it was a device of some Tory to operate on the public feeling.
In the afternoon, an express arrived from Boston; a hand-bill was sent into the pulpit, and at the close of the service our venerable Whig Parson [Chandler] Robins, read from his desk the heart-thrilling news of the capture of the Hessians at Trenton—a happy retort upon the Tories.
TOMORROW: An earlier version of the same anecdote.
(Click on the portrait above or here for the Princeton University Art Museum's exploration of John Singleton Copley's 1782 portrait of Elkanah Watson.)


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Training for Students and Experienced Professionals
TOPS Technologies is one of the largest IT Training and Finishing school in India with Training and Placement offices across India. To know more about our Android Training Programs please visit our Android Training Course Page.
Customized Corporate Training
TOPS Technologies can customize an Android Training Batch at your office or college in Gurgaon.
Online Training
TOPS Technologies offers Online Training in Android using state of the art web conferencing tools and the best trainers who have relevant working experience.
While working on live projects in Android, one can gain the best experience of implementing the actual concepts of the technology which you had earlier learned just theoretically in your learning phase. You will actually learn the way the projects are developed at the companies. The experience of getting to learn about how the concepts you had learned in your Android classes are actually used in project development is itself very interesting. Through live project training Android you will get familiar with the development process adopted at the companies and the knowledge for the real-time project development based on Android.
At TOPS Technologies, we provide training on live projects to final year IT students. If you are a final year student with an ambition to become a mobile apps developer, then opting for our live project training Android can help you gain a competitive advantage for securing the best jobs in the software industry today, the Android jobs where you are sure to get higher salaries and good luxuries while earning.
Why Live Project Training Android?
Android is a mobile operating system using which one can develop applications for mobile devices. There is great demand for Android phones in the global market. There are great employment opportunities waiting for the skilled Android developers today. The study from a recent survey reveal that there has been good percentage increase in Android users internationally which has risen up to be 62% in the recent times. More than 60% of mobile phone users across the world today are Android mobile users. The day by day increasing demand is creating the need of professional Android developers in the market. Hence this indicates the wide scope of opportunities available in the present scenario for an Android developer.
Moreover there are fairly high salaries given to an Android developer even as a fresher. Even a beginner can earn something around INR 3-5 lakh per annum which is possible to get in other software fields only when two to three years of experience has been achieved. The final year project can play an important role in starting phase of an individual when he/she is looking for job with no previous experience of real-time work. In this case if you have done your final year project on Android, there are better chances for you to score a job at a reputed company than any other fresher who has no previous experience in Android development.
Live Project Training Android by TOPS
At TOPS Technologies, learning to work on projects is quite easy with expert project trainers to guide you through out the training period. While working on live projects or live project training Android at TOPS, you will have access to the expert Android developers in our company who have years of expertise in developing the customized applications for the clients. You will work closely with these experts on the real-time client projects. While live project training Android you will definitely get doubts and may have to face various problems due to insufficient knowledge in the beginning phase. But with our trainers doubts and problems will not be an issue at all, as they will guide you at each and every step helping you understand the very best of the things you are deploying or during the project work.
At TOPS we follow the agile development approach for the project and hence we teach the same to our trainees during live project training in Android.
Project Definition & Selection:
Project definition is basically the definition statement of the project stating what actually the project is about. This gives the trainee a basic understanding what actually will the specific project do and hence help them in selection process. For live project training Android initial requirement would be the selection of an appropriate project definition to work on. Hence, we initially provide with the project definition samples or templates of a few real-time projects to our trainees for selection. As we are an outsourcing and a software development company we have number of real-time projects from our clients to provide students to work on. Hence the students will have exposure to real-time projects during their project training rather than the dummy projects which are usually offered to the students in name of cheaper project training courses in the market today. In the case if a trainee does not have sufficient knowledge of what is best for him/her, we can even help them during the project selection.
Drawing Flow Charts
Flow chart is a diagrammatic representation of the process carried during the project work. Flow charts can help a third person easily realize what is going on in the project and thereby help the trainee understand the flaws, bottlenecks, and other less-obvious features within it. Developing or drawing flow charts is what we teach our trainees during live project training. Right from simple to more complex flow charts required for large-scale projects we will train our students for easy and efficient flow chart development process in our live project training Android.
Database and User Interface Design
To essential things for an Android apps development project will be the database for the back end storage and user interface for front-end development. At TOPS, we have expert developers team who can very well teach you the concepts required for development of GUI for Android apps while our database management experts will provide training on development and management of database as a back end storage tool for the requirements of your project.
Once you are ready with project layout or design, the next important step you are required to do will be the coding part which will add the required to functionality to the components in the project. As an Android developer you will be required to have the basic knowledge of Java programming. Hence, at TOPS during the live project training Android we will, give you access to the expert Java developers who can teach you the important concepts in Java development. All you are required to do is to get the maximum knowledge from these Android developers who are proficient in the Android development work.
Testing & Deployment
Testing is an important activity in the software development approach carried out to check the quality and reliability of the product developed. Finally when you are ready with your project you will have to test it for the reliable performance and hence deploy it in a real-time environment. At TOPS we have expert software testing trainers team who can teach you the best methods to deploy for a real-time Android project testing. We will teach you the process of deploying the Android projects in cloud environment and also allow free deployment of your live project on cloud.
Please have a look at few examples of Android project training templates of TOPS Technologies.
In this project Springpad, you will be developing an Android application that allows the users to store anything that they find during internet browsing and want to remember. All kinds of useful information like movie timings, urls for bookings or reservations, directions to reach out to a place in your city, price comparisons etc. can all be saved automatically through this Android application.
Application that is meant for the smart home makers helping them save time and money and be organized at home and efficient at the supermarket. Following are a few things one can easily do through grocery gadget.
VehiCal is a car expense management application that allows recording and management of vehicle mileage and expenses. One can easily track vehicle expenses with customizable lists such as repairs, highway tolls, and parking costs. This Android application provides you with comprehensive information of your vehicle's operational costs and can help you keep your vehicle well maintained. It allows flexible calculations and hence can give the users a controlled view of vehicle's fuel consumption which is increasingly important as fuel costs continue to rise.


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Photo and Video Review of Volkswagen Golf GTI 2002
Let's present a notable Volkswagen Golf GTI 2002. This German manufacturer is a car maker which has the glorious history since 1933. Today Volkswagen occupies the great place. Volkswagen is a global product that received a perfect exterior design and different solutions in its interior. Volkswagen Golf GTI 2002 is technological and safe. Volkswagen is in congruence with the highest standards, becoming the qualitative and available vehicle.
Video review Volkswagen Golf GTI 2002
Originally posted 2017-06-01 08:42:19.


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Epcot World Showcase
Special Event
- , 2019
From spring blooms, holiday merriment and artistic flair, you'll enjoy these festivals that bring together captivating entertainment, culinary masterpieces and hands-on workshops for whatever it is you want to celebrate! Be sure to visit Epcot during the following festivals:
Epcot International Festival of the Holidays
Ring in the spirit of the season with stirring musical performances, a feast of festive delights, joyful celebrations of the holidays with Disney Characters and more!
Epcot International Festival of the Arts
Brush up on a trio of artistic arenas that celebrate Visual Arts, Culinary Arts and Performing Arts with a colorful palate of live performances, interactive workshops and more! Plus, sing along to memorable tunes from Disney musicals as the Disney on Broadway Concert Series brings some of Broadway's brightest stars to the stage.
Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival
See what's blooming at this spectacular festival that's filled with stunning gardens, vibrant floral displays, outdoor kitchens and fauna & flora-themed special events. And when the sun goes down, the place gets rockin' with the Garden Rocks Concert Series!
In case you weren't able to join us for this year's festival—or just want to re-live some magical memories—here are some of the special events that delighted Guests:
When it comes to an evening at the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival, there's simply no better way to get the party started than with pleasing global cuisine and some of the music industry's hottest hits—courtesy of this special event!
Prepare for pure epicurean excellence as our master chefs whip up delicious dishes true to the traditions of these inspirational nations—from France to Japan and beyond. Guests will be guided on a savory sojourn that connects them with the authentic tastes and beverages of each unique culture. Pairing events elevate the amazing flavors even further with complementary wine or craft beer that's been specifically selected by the restaurant's chef or house sommelier. Adventurous foodies will travel the globe bite after bite, sip after sip… without ever leaving the ground.
You'll find apparel, home décor, trading pins, a Festival Cookbook and much more!
Plus, you can make souvenir shopping even easier with a Festival-themed Disney Gift Card and the shopDisney app!
Check back for 2019 themes and collections!


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Overland Park, KS — As health club operators look for ways to cut costs and ride out the economic recession, many are turning to business service providers to streamline their paperwork and free up time to build more solid member relationships. In addition, a reliable member database system can allow club operators to leverage their metrics by analyzing and acting on important data, such as club usage and retention.
"In this economic environment, every club is working harder than they ever have before to make a sale, and the margins are tighter than ever before with regards to profits," says Rich Ekstrom, president and founder of Retention Management, Cornelius, NC. "Clubs are also running leaner than they ever have before. People who work at clubs want to be on the floor talking to people — they don't want to be on the phone or doing paperwork."
Many clubs are focusing on building member relationships to create a sense of community and build solid exercise habits to keep people from canceling memberships when budgets get tight. Tracking these efforts is essential to success, says Sean Kirby, national sales director for ASF International, Highlands Ranch, CO.
"Communication and relationship building with members is crucial," Kirby says. "If you have the tools to attract members, measure and automate, you can focus on training staff and on the relationship with the members."
Some service providers say that by using the right software, a club can keep collections and billing in-house, but others advocate outsourcing these functions.
"It's important now for people who own a health club to establish a relationship with their customers and make more personal connections. We allow them more time for that by doing the leg work for them," says Sabrina Reams, salesperson for Affiliated Acceptance Corp., Sunrise Beach, MO.
Regardless of whether these functions are handled in-house or outsourced, Ekstrom says club owners must reach out to members whose usage is down because they probably haven't adopted a regular exercise routine. He recommends proactively going after those members to let them know the club is interested in their success.
Kirby agrees, saying, "Those clubs that are taking a proactive approach are the ones that are going to survive in this economy. A proactive approach keeps their club healthy by keeping members interested, active and attending the club."
It's also important for service providers to integrate economic trends, says Sid Nelson, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Paramount Acceptance, Holladay, UT. "Make sure your representative is dialed into an economy like this. Be sure your billing and software company can provide the right metrics."
By generating member usage reports, for example, clubs can work with members who are at high-risk of cancelling to avoid increased attrition rates.
"The No. 1 reason members cancel is from lack of use," says David Merrill, chief operating officer for Conexion, Baltimore. Usage reports identify members not using the facility with regularity so the club's staff can contact these members and get them back on track.
"It's all about data and trending," says Scott Burgess, vice president of operations for Fiserv, Webster, TX. "You can predict how many members will cancel based on usage or billing histories."
Member reports also can help a club operator plan programming or budget for ancillary revenue sources. Club reporting software can guide managers on member buying trends, as well as their interest in the facility's profit centers, says Nikki Layke, senior account executive for ABC Financial Services, Sherwood, AR.
This level of insight also can help clubs differentiate themselves in a tough economic environment.
"One of the biggest struggles club operators have, and should look to their software companies to do, is making their club different from the club down the street," says Al Noshirvani, president of MotionSoft Inc., Silver Spring, MD.
One way to stand out is to provide customized e-mail marketing campaigns that allow club owners to reach out to members in targeted and innovative ways. The e-mails can invite members to visit more often or compliment them on the frequency of their visits. Member outreach e-mails can also include wellness tips and new member tips with hints on making exercise part of a routine. These tips also reinforce the club's relationship with a member, Ekstrom says.
Making members feel like they're a part of a health club community is important, Kirby says.
"Once clubs can make a member feel like this is a social environment and that it is a place they can be around other people going through the same times they're going through, it's a value that they don't want to give up," he says. "People need a place to interact with others, and clubs need the tools to help them do that."
Club operators with the right data analysis tools and systems support can focus on building a cohesive member community and increasing retention rates.


text:
With hardware 3D acceleration, three-dimensional rendering uses the graphics processor on your video card instead of taking up valuable CPU resources drawing 3D images. It's also referred to as "hardware acceleration" instead of "software acceleration" because without this 3D acceleration your CPU is forced to draw everything itself using the Mesa software rendering libraries, which takes up quite a bit of processing power. While Xorg typically supports 2D hardware acceleration, it often lacks hardware 3D acceleration. Three-dimensional hardware acceleration is valuable in situations requiring rendering of 3D objects such as games, 3D CAD and modeling.
In many cases, both binary and open-source drivers exist. Open-source drivers
are preferable since we're using Linux and open source is one of its underlying
principles. Sometimes, binary drivers are the only option, like with nVidia's
cards. Binary drivers include
The DRM (Direct Rendering Manager) is an
This guide is for people who can't get direct rendering working with just Xorg. The DRM works for the following drivers:
See the
With suggestions, questions, etc., e-mail
Please read our
Probe for your chipset and enable just that one.
# emerge pciutils; lspci | grep AGP # 00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX AGP bridge (rev 03)
(Your output may not match the above due to different hardware.)
If your chipset is not supported by the kernel you might have some succes by
Most, if not all, kernels should have these options. This was configured using a
# ls -l /usr/src/linux lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 22 2007-02-14 20:12 /usr/src/linux -> linux-2.6.18-gentoo-r4
(Make sure /usr/src/linux links to your current kernel.)# cd /usr/src/linux # make menuconfig
Processor type and features ---> <*> MTRR (Memory Type Range Register) support Device drivers ---> Character devices ---> <M> /dev/agpgart (AGP Support)
(The agpgart option is not present on 64-bit kernels; just choose your chipset support.)<M> Intel 440LX/BX/GX, I8xx and E7x05 support (Enable your chipset instead of the above.)<M> Direct Rendering Manager (XFree86 4.1.0 and higher DRI support)
# make && make modules_install
Don't forget to set up
... Section "Module" Load "dri" Load "glx" ... EndSection ... Section "Device" Driver "radeon"
(Replace radeon with the name of your driver.)... EndSection ... Section "dri" Mode 0666 EndSection
You will need to add the module name that your card uses to
(Change module name as required.)intel-agp
Reboot your computer to your new kernel and login as a normal user. It's time to
see if you have direct rendering and how good it is.
$ startx
(No need to load modules for your driver or agpgart, even if you compiled them as a module.) (They will be loaded automatically.)$ glxinfo | grep rendering direct rendering: Yes (If it says "No", you don't have 3D acceleration.)$ glxgears (Test your frames per second (FPS) at the default size. The number should be significantly higher than before configuring DRM. Do this while the CPU is as idle as possible.)
A few options may increase performance by up to 30 percent (or more) over the
default. Set them in
First, let's see if your video card can support fast writes. We'll do this by
closely inspecting the output from
# lspci -vv 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon Mobility M6 LY (prog-if 00 [VGA]) . . . Capabilities: [58] AGP version 2.0 Status: RQ=48 Iso- ArqSz=0 Cal=0 SBA+ ITACoh- GART64- HTrans- 64bit- FW+ AGP3- Rate=x1,x2,x4
While quite a lot of information is produced, we are looking for FW in the "Status" subsection of the AGP "Capabilities" section. If FW+ is present in the "Status" line, it means the card supports fast writes. We can now check if the motherboard supports fast writes.
Now let's make sure the motherboard supports fast writes as well. This time,
look at the "Host bridge" section of your
# lspci -vv 00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82830 830 Chipset Host Bridge (rev 02) . . . Capabilities: [a0] AGP version 2.0 Status: RQ=32 Iso- ArqSz=0 Cal=0 SBA+ ITACoh- GART64- HTrans- 64bit- FW+ AGP3- Rate=x1,x2,x4
Again, examine the "Status" subsection of your AGP "Capabilities" section. Look for FW. If you see FW+, your motherboard supports fast writes.
Assuming that all has gone well and both your motherboard and video card
support fast writes, let's enable this option in
Section "Device" Option "AGPMode" "4"
(This increased FPS from 609 to 618.)Option "AGPFastWrite" "True" (This had no measurable effect, but it may increase instability of your computer.) (You may also need to set it in your BIOS.)Option "EnablePageFlip" "True" (This improved FPS from 618 to 702. It also is "risky" but few people have reported problems.)... EndSection
If you want to set even more features, check out the
That's because you compiled agpgart into the kernel instead of as a module. Ignore it unless you're having problems.
Check out
Try out the binary drivers. For
Option "ForcePCIMode" "True"


text:
donut46 wrote:id go with the bronze centres lad
Damok wrote:donut46 wrote:id go with the bronze centres lad
No Taste
yamahatezza wrote:can anyone photoshop it with the spokes on the wheeels in bronze? pretty please.
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text:
Nice work! Enjoy the show!
Link Copied!
Amazon moves in deeper on Netflix territory
Opening Sequence
Report: Mueller grappled with Trump obstruction question
'Disturbing evidence' in Mueller report: Rep. Nadler
Trump feared Mueller was 'end' of presidency
Notre-Dame firefighters 'honored' at Elysee Palace
North Korea demands Pompeo's removal from talks
Pinterest, Zoom open strong in public trading
Samsung foldable phones are cracking -reports
World in Pictures
Closing Sequence


text:
Factory Direct Trailers is located in Ontario, NY and has a huge selection of trailers on the premises. Choose from boat trailers, cargo trailers, car haulers, dump trailers, utility trailers, motorcycle trailers, snowmobile trailers and used trailers.
Factory Direct Trailers carry trailers from: Big Tex Trailers, CAM Superline, Currahee Trailers, Quality Steel and Aluminum Products, Venture, Loadrite, American Hauler and Reiser Trailers.
Factory Direct Trailers has an experienced staff to help you with any trailer part needs for nearly any trailer. We also service and repair trailers. We have the knowledge, parts and equipment to service or repair the largest jobs as well as the small ones. Because of our large inventory of trailer parts we have a quick turnaround to get your trailer back on the road. All of our work is guaranteed and we will provide you the customer a quote before we start working on your trailer.
We also carry tires, wheels and hitches for all trailers, trucks and cars!!!


text:
Seventeen years after a group of schoolchildren discovered hundreds of deformed frogs that launched a nationwide scientific mystery, the biologist who led the search for answers was back at Ney Pond.
Eyes spearing the grass and net poised, Judy Helgen of Roseville wanted to see for herself how the frogs were faring.
At first, nothing stirred under the late-summer sun but insects. Then something moved, and her net quickly snared the first leopard frog of the day.
"Ah, good. This guy looks OK," she said. But then 10-year-old Greg Pollack, son of two early frog students, netted a second frog. This one had problems.
It was a similar day in 1995 when 10 seventh- and eighth-graders from a nearby experimental charter school made their startling discovery at Ney Nature Center, 55 miles southwest of the Twin Cities. Soon there were reports from other parts of Minnesota, then other states.
Some had missing or extra legs, misplaced eyes, misshapen jaws, spinal defects, intestinal blockages and other deformities. Most were young.
A research biologist at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), Helgen, now retired, talked to the teacher and was on the scene within days, interviewing students and landowners and running experiments to find out what was causing deformities in unprecedented numbers.
"Was this just some anomaly, or were the frogs warning us that their environment, and ours, was in real peril?" Helgen recalls thinking. "The struggle to find answers changed all of us, researchers and students."
For five years, Helgen and the students were in the thick of the investigation. That search led her to write "Peril in the Ponds," a new book that chronicles her search for answers, and butting heads with her bosses over how far to go.
"It was an exhilarating time, but also very frustrating," she said. "Was it pesticides, or maybe parasites or predators like dragonfly nymphs? Was climate change having an impact, or genetic mutations?" Researchers even looked at ultraviolet light, mosquito sprays and old toxins in the soil.
After their discovery of the deformed frogs, the students conducted experiments, found experts, wrote papers, testified at the Legislature, even adopted a drawing of a deformed frog as the school logo.
But not everyone wanted answers, Helgen found, "particularly if, as we suspected, farm chemicals were at least partly to blame. And my bosses started telling me to pull back, that our agency was there to enforce existing laws, not find new problems."
In search of answers
Teacher Cindy Reinitz was new and not sure what to think that day 17 years ago when student Jeff Fish belly-dived across the grassy track At Ney Nature Center and came up with a frog, claiming it had a weird leg. Weird, or did he accidently break it?
"Then they started finding more, and we all knew something was wrong," said Reinitz, now a high school reading specialist in western Wyoming. "We found 22 frogs that day, and half had deformities. We didn't know what we had, but the kids wanted answers."
Reinitz called the MPCA and talked to Helgen. The students at the year-old Minnesota New Country School, built around student-led projects instead of formal classes, fired up their computers in search of experts.
"Mostly they either ignored us or didn't believe us," said former student Reta Lind, 29, who immediately began posting messages on Internet biological bulletin boards and listservs, a common way then for specialists to communicate.
With federal money from an Environmental Protection Agency grant for a wetlands study, Helgen and colleagues began to look for more deformed frogs.
Some scientists had been warning for two decades that frogs and other amphibians were declining worldwide, perhaps a harbinger of ecological degradation. The new findings heightened those concerns.
Days after the frog find at Ney Pond, the first article splashed across the front of the Star Tribune. Helgen started getting reports from around the country. Reporters from around the world streamed in.
"Oh, so it's the BBC today? The Disney Channel tomorrow? OK, just another day," recalled Nick Pollack, now 29 and head of public works in Henderson. "We weren't experts, but they seemed to think we were."
For a time, he went to the pond at 6 a.m. daily to haul water and sediment to the school for tadpole experiments.
"Our experience really changed me -- changed all of us," said Becky Pollack, Nick's wife and now director of the nature center. "The school and the frog project taught us how to think, how to work together to go after answers, take on big issues, speak and write and think outside the box. It really taught us about life, how to stay engaged even when there aren't nice, tidy answers."
The Legislature put up $700,000 to study the frogs and the MPCA came up with some more. But by the end of the decade, the agency was pressuring Helgen to stop the research, in part to conserve money at a time of tight budgets. By July 2001, agency officials called a halt to the work. Helgen left and was not replaced.
The agency is not apologetic.
"The investigation into potential causes became a nationwide question, which was much bigger than one agency could handle with limited research capabilities," said spokesman Ralph Pribble.
Still, he said, "The agency is proud of the work that Judy and other MPCA staff did with the frogs." He noted that the agency's website frog page is among its most popular, though not updated for 11 years.
'Nobody's collecting data'
"So here's what we think," Helgen said recently, fresh from an international conference where she met with other concerned researchers.
"There are multiple causes of deformation in frogs, and one is farm chemicals -- probably the major cause, because they can cause deformities and also weaken frogs, leaving them susceptible to injury and disease," she said.
There are fewer reports of deformed frogs, but also fewer frogs as wetlands shrink.
"Most deformed frogs die young," Helgen said. "Does that mean for a time, some widespread cause harmed many frogs -- maybe 20 percent or more instead of the usual zero to 2 percent -- and then it ended? We don't really know. Nobody's collecting data."
But there still are some who care.
Greg Pollack, the 10-year-old who caught the second frog, has become a passionate protector of damaged frogs. He has two now, including the one he caught -- impossible to say if it was deformed or injured.
"This guy can't survive on his own," he said. "I'll take care of him."
Warren Wolfe • 612-673-7253


text:
Parent Directory | Revision Log
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@DEPRECATED is not a valid header tag.
Deprecate in favor of -r1.
fix random bugs in eclass documentation, and convert to new @AUTHOR tag
reduce one line of noise
Add support for installing multiple bash-completion files. (bug #356585)
Due to portage's environment filtering, variables that start with BASH_ cannot be used. As such, s/BASH_COMPLETION_NAME/BASHCOMPLETION_NAME/g for bug 312671
Add PDEPEND on app-shells/bash-completion, bug 299051.
Add a test for app-admin/eselect around RDEPEND to avoid circular dependencies. Clarify elog message.
Remove erraneous reference to bash-completion-config man page
opps, removed wrong portion of if/else statement. Thanks to tove for pointing this out
remove useless check in postinst to see if eselct is installed. it has to be installed now is USE=bash-completion is set. also s/einfo/elog/
remove bash-completion-config support from eclass, as discussed on gentoo-dev ml. see related bug 253878
Make eclass ready for eclass-manpages, bug #210645, thank mren for all work.
*** empty log message ***
Updated to depend on bash-completion-config -OR- eselect, preferring the latter if available. Unfortunately, keeping bash-completion-config around is necessary since eselect currently lacks stable keywords.
QA: Apply whitespace checks from repoman to eclasses.
Remove ECLASS= and INHERITED= which haven't been necessary for a long time now
Remove ECLASS= and INHERITED= which haven't been necessary for a long time now
Update pkg_postinst to display eclectic instructions if it's installed.
Use ${PN} if ${BASH_COMPLETION_NAME} is unset.
Comment update.
Added app-shells/bash-completion-config to RDEPEND.
Remove global BASH_COMPLETION_NAME var
Added variable BASH_COMPLETION_NAME instead of assuming $PN ; defaults to $PN - bug #75798
Added (and exported) default pkg_postinst
die if newins fails
Fix RDEPEND.
Fix RDEPEND
Initial commit.
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Express. Home of the Daily and Sunday Express.
AVB confident UEFA will act on racism
Andre Villas-Boas is sure that UEFA will come down hard on any Lazio fans who are found to have racially abused Tottenham's players in the Europa League clash at White Hart Lane.
Loud monkey-chanting was heard to come from the away end on several occasions directed against Jermain Defoe, Aaron Lennon and Andros Townsend in the Group J clash, which ended 0-0 after three Spurs goals were controversially ruled out.
Villas-Boas said he did not hear the chants himself, but he would encourage UEFA, whose head Michel Platini was at the game, to take any action if it is proven that the travelling fans did in fact hurl racist abuse. Villas-Boas said in his post-match press conference: "I think (UEFA will act if the accusations are proven)."
The Portuguese manager added: "UEFA is very active on this kind of situation and our overall objective is to kick racism out of football. I can't point the finger at anyone in any way shape or form because I didn't hear anything. It's for the authorities to follow up in any kind of investigation."
The anti-racism group FARE posted a link on their Twitter feed giving Spurs fans the chance to report any chants they heard from the away end and UEFA have fined clubs in the past for racist incidents.
Tottenham also operate a strict zero-tolerance policy when it comes to racism. Away from the racism furore, Villas-Boas was left to reflect on another disappointing night.
He was happy with his team's performance, but he was far from thrilled with that of referee Ovidiu Alin Hategan. The Romanian ruled out three goals, two of which looked perfectly legal.
In the first half Clint Dempsey's diving header was ruled out for offside even though he looked level and after the interval, Steven Caulker was denied his first Spurs goal for supposedly climbing on Stefano Mauri's back before heading in a cross.
"We managed to put the ball in the net three times but unfortunately because of mistakes from the ref we couldn't get the goals we certainly deserved," said the Portuguese, who also saw a Gareth Bale effort ruled out for offside.
"Mauri is one of the strongest Lazio players in the air and Caulker beat him in the air and scored a legal goal so we don't see anything (wrong). That situation disappoints us."


text:
Why is it that APES is the most important organization in the history of the world? Well, that's a question, and as a question it is best answered in its proper place, the FAQ. So rather than answer the question, I will refer you to the FAQ.
Since this is the first ever post of the APES there is nowhere to find the FAQ, so I will put them here in the post:
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
As with all organizations and things with names, it is best to have a list of Frequently Asked Questions, along with answers to most of them, to help clarify where APES came from and details. And continuing with the standard method for generating a FAQ list, these are questions that nobody has ever actually asked, but that I'm pretending are very common questions.
Q: Where did APES come from?
A: I created the APES shortly after writing a letter to the Economist in response to an article they wrote on religion in U.S. politics, and particularly the lack of organization of atheists. The full text of the letter is as follows:
SIR - You ask what accounts for the failure of atheists to organise or wield influence ( "Believe it or not", December 11th). The answer is easy. Atheism is a religion in the same way that not collecting stamps is a hobby. When you understand why there are no 'aphilatelist' conventions, you will understand why atheists don't congregate.
We don't want power and influence as a group. We don't care if a government member is an atheist any more than we care if they collect stamps. What we do care about is that government officials can separate their personal religious beliefs from their governing duties. A philatelist government that pushes laws favouring stamp collecting at the expense of those who don't collect stamps is a bad government. The same is true of a religious one.
The separation of church and state is a fundamental principle of a free society. Failure to embrace this principle is to the eventual detriment of the church, the state, freedom, and society.
See you at the next non-meeting.
I received some email kudos and a reference in at least one blog, but it seemed to me that perhaps my message was not coming across properly. Well, I think the literal message was very clear, but as with any good writings, nobody should take the meaning that the authour intended. After all, how can anybody know that for sure? Instead, writings are meant to be interpreted to meet one's own agenda. Often writings are meant as parables to demonstrate a principle and aren't meant to be interpreted literally. Once I came to this realization, I re-interpreted my own writings. After all, I know that the authour of the letter personally and he can be quite ambiguous at times. On my first read of my own words, I had thought I meant to suggest that atheists organizing and wielding power didn't make a lot of sense and likewise that religions should not hold any political power. I had written this point in an analogy to stamp collectors versus non-stamp-collectors using that often quoted line about not stamp collecting as a hobby.
Upon re-interpretation, I realized that I probably had meant the analogy the other way. Religious zealots have it right that atheism is a faith and a religion and that religious beliefs should be competed in the political sphere to determine who gets to put their beliefs into laws and education. This competition for belief survival and reproduction will ensure that only the best beliefs will survive and those with less successful beliefs will be weeded out of the belief-pool through oppression and hatred. That's the way to ensure the best society. If it works for building a better mousetrap, why shouldn't it work for beliefs?
This reinterpretation then brings a question about the 'aphilatelist' analogy then. If it's true that atheism is a religion and/or faith, and that religious beliefs should be openly endorsed by governments, then aphilatelism must indeed be a hobby. More importantly, to the point of the original Economist article, aphilatelists need to organize themselves quickly and start weilding some power because the philatelists are already organized with groups and societies and hold some power. For example, just look at the list of philately organizations on Wikipedia. This point is made even more important by the subversive means by which philatelists are infiltrating the government. Unlike religion, which is openly displayed by many politicians running for office, stamp collecting fundamentalists are infiltrating the government covertly and without publicity.
It was this realization from my re-interpretation that made it clear that we aphilatelists need to organize quickly and begin to compete our hobby against that of the philatelists to make sure we get fair representation so that we don't get weeded out of the hobby-pool.
Q: Did you really create the APES that quickly?
A: OK, you caught me. It's not true that I created the APES as quickly as I described. The APES were not created in a single day like I suggested in my opening notes. Rather, the APES evolved over time. The order actually went something like this: First the earth cooled. Then the dinosaurs came. They got to big and fat and then they died and turned into oil. And then the Arabs came, and they all bought Mercedes Benzes. Then Prince Charles started wearing all lady Di's clothing. He took her best dress out of the closet and put it on. I couldn't believe it. Then the movies Airplane and Airplane II were released. Then the Economist wrote the article. Then somebody Dugg the article. Then I wrote the letter. Then somebody in India blogged it. Then I received email kudos. Then I took a break for Christmas. Then I ate a whole box of Turtles. Then the APES came.
If that's too long to follow, just remember that the APES evolved from the Turtles and dinosaurs somewhere in India. It's not exactly right, but if Christians can get away with mangling their own history and biblical writings so horribly, like thinking Jesus came before ancient Greeks and Romans, then you're still doing pretty good.
Q: Don't you know that philately is the study of stamps, not stamp-collecting?
A: Yes. And now I know you're a pretentious douche. But just to beat you at your own game, that is why I named it the Aphilatelists of the Planet Earth Societies and not just the singular Society. This is also why I typically refer to the APES in the plural sense, as in the "APES are" instead of "APES is".
Things are a lot more complicated than face value. I learned very quickly that groups need to super-organize. For example, there are many individual religious denomenations that are groups in themselves, and they have created larger groupings. For example, Evangelicals, Baptists, Unitarians, Presbyterians, Puritans, Lutherans, Mormons, and Jehovah's Witnesses, among many others, are all Protestants, a super-group for them. Then, Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox religions are grouped into the Christian super-group. Then Christians, Muslims, and Jews are grouped into the Abrahamic Religions super-group. Similarly, the singer Lisa Lisa, her backup band Cult Jam, and the band Full Force organized themselves together into the super-group Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam with Full Force . Nobody said the name of the super-group had to have much thought put into it.
Sometimes the different levels of organization are called by names like branches, denominations, sects, and even cults. In order for us to wield the most power I wanted the APES to be as inclusive as possible. I wanted to include those who don't study stamps, those who don't collect stamps, those who don't buy stamps in bulk, and those who never buy stamps at all. Technically speaking, it is only the group who don't study stamps that are true aphilatelists by definition. But the other groups don't have really cool or catchy names and we all have the common goal of competing our various versions of our non-stamp hobby against those who do use, collect, and stamps. It is a fundamental principle of memetics that easy to remember and catchy names and phrases are what sticks and allows memes (ideas) to survive and out-compete other ones. Hence the use of aphilatelist and APES to lump these multiple groups into one catchy name.
There is precedence for this too. As is presented in the original Economist article that sparked the creation of APES (or rather, the eventual evolution of APES following the Economist mutation of the dinosaur-Turtle lineage), there are many groups that get lumped under the name atheism. Often these include true atheists (no belief in a god), agnostics (godly claims are unknown or unknowable), humanists (morality and value can be derived from rationality), secularists (separation of church and state), and even those who profess no specific religious affiliation. Arguably some versions of Hinduism and other Eastern spiritual belief systems are atheistic since they have no theistic belief in a supernatural intelligent being who created and/or oversees our existence.
Q: Don't you have it backwards? Didn't the religious denominations split off from each other rather than join as super-groups?
A: Well, that only appears to be true if you read the history of religion chronologically from the past to the present. If you do that, then it appears that the ideas of one religion get passed down and eventually variations appear, some that get weeded out quickly but others that catch on and spread and survive in the minds and writings of the followers that get passed down from generation to generation until the religions appear quite different even though they had a common origin. This approach fits quite well in the field of memetics, makes perfect sense, and follows the written record chronologically.
There are two problems with this characterization though. First, that description sounds an awful lot like evolution. In fact, it is, except using memes (reproducing information through ideas) in the place of genes (reproducing information through protein structures). To make matters worse, memes and the field of memetics were essentially kicked off by Richard Dawkins in his book The Selfish Gene. Evolution, Dawkins, and religion don't mix well.
Second, the implication is that complex sets of beliefs across different religions developed from simpler beliefs of common ancestor religions. As we all know from common sense, complexity can't evolve from simplicity. Sure, one can argue that micro-evolution has lead to a few small changes in beliefs in already existing religions, but there's no credible evidence for macro-evolution that could lead from one religion to another. That would require some form of "transitory religion" with half a belief of one religion and half a belief of another religion. There's no evidence of the existence of these missing links. Besides, a belief is irreducibly complex. Of what good is half a belief?
Q: Isn't this silly? Doesn't this all imply that everyone who doesn't belong to a certain group -- whether religious belief, hobby, or some other grouping -- should just add the prefix 'a-' to it and consider that part of another group?
A: That's two questions. Can't you do math? I'll answer them separately.
(a) Isn't this silly?
(b) Blah, blah, blah, add 'a-' and call it a group.
Yes, it does imply that. And they'd better get started, otherwise these a-groups are going to be weeded out of existence by the existing groups through competition and lobbying of government officials.
I can understand your confusion though. See, you think that not belonging to a group just means you aren't a member of that group. But that would mean that atheists (in the 'no religious affiliation' use) aren't a group unto themselves simply by not belonging to a specific religion, which can't be. That would mean religious zealots would be wrong.
It's very simple if you understand Set Theory. (Technically, what we've been describing aren't 'groups', they are 'sets' in mathematical nomenclature. 'Groups' are sets combined with a mathematical operation.) Unfortuanately you've already demonstratred that you can't do math, so I'll try to dumb it down for you.
Suppose you have a set P, and P contains the subsets, A, B, and C that may or may not intersect. (That means that members of A might or might not be members of B and/or C also.) Now, there is inherently a fourth set, D, made up of all the members of P that are not members of A, B, or C. In mathematical terms, D is defined as P not intersecting the union of A, B, and C. That is, D is all of the members of P that are "left over". You could call D the "clean-up" set to put all of the "leftovers" in a set.
Let's take a specific example of this proof. All real numbers that can be expressed as a ratio of two integers are known as rational numbers. There are different types (subsets) of rational numbers, such as simplified (or irreducible), but they can all fit under the set name of rational, often given the symbol Q. The remaining real numbers that aren't described as rational are then lumped together as irrational. The only property they have that lumps them together is that they are not rational. Hence the analogy.
Similarly, we can use natural numbers, N, sometimes known as whole numbers. These are counting numbers. All of the numbers that are not natural (or whole) numbers, such as negative numbers or non-integer fractions, can make up a set. Typically these numbers aren't given a name but in mathematics it would be written that such a number does not belong to N. These might be called unnaturals, or using the 'a-' naming convention to negate, perhaps awholes.
Thus, the entire point for aphilatelists existing as a group (or set!) can be blamed on these irrationals, unnaturals, and awholes.
Q: Do APES have any natural enemies?
A: Of course. In today's age of "us vs them" it is important to define yourself through a common enemy. For example, the Western World versus the Terrorists, Christians versus Muslims (and the Terrorists), Republicans versus Democrats (and the Terrorists), Conservatives versus Liberals (and the Terrorists), Shia versus Sunnis, Protestants versus Catholics, and let's not forget Godzilla versus Mothra (who is so evil that he doesn't even have 'God' in his name).
The obvious natural enemy of the APES, and aphilatelists in general, are the philatelists. But to avoid confusion in who this includes, we mean those who study stamps, those who collect stamps, and even those who buy stamps in bulk. The latter group might seem odd because they are a much milder form of stamp ownership and are often used for forces of good, such as sending out self-addressed stamped envelopes for charities. However, they can't be trusted because, even if they are not buying these bulk stamps for the enjoyment collecting or studying them, they are enablers of the philatelists.
We have other enemies as well:
1. Many politicians
As the original Economist letter pointed out, a philatelist government that endorses laws favouring stamp collecting at the expense of those who don't collect stamps is a bad government. It should be no surprise that many elected government officials are corrupt in this area then. Not only do they often cater to the religious lobbies, groups, and voters by expressing their religious beliefs publically during elections, attempt to introduce education reforms to include clearly religious dogma in the science curriculum, and endorse morality laws that are clearly based on religious beliefs, they also often openly buy stamps in bulk. If you don't believe me, have your representative's expenditures audited. I'm sure you'll find that they spend quite a bit under something they will euphemistically refer to as "postage", or something like that. In reality, this usually means stamps. And if you really want to catch them in the act, check their spending on stamps around election time. I bet you find they increase their stamp purchasing. This is typical politicking, putting on a show leading up to election time to demonstrate their adherence to a particular religion or hobby to win votes.
Not all politicians are corrupt in this manner. In the U.S., Ron Paul is excepted from this list because his support has grown from an online grassroots movement, and as we all know 'online' means email, websites, YouTube videos, and blimps, none of which use stamps. On the Demoncrat side, Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel have much of their support generated online as well. Some would say it has to do with online people being more intelligent on average than the general population and therefore learn about the real integrity of individuals instead of the spoon-fed mainstream mass-media. However, we APES know better. It is because these candidates have enough integrity to spread their message through means that reduce their use of stamps.
2. The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
OK, this one might surprise you. You might ask, of all the great religions of the world, why be enemies with the one true one and the greatest of them all? You might point out that the CoFSM spreads its word online mostly, and partly through sales of books and T-shirts. It doesn't mail out letters and there are no self-addressed stamped envelopes. Of all the major religions in existence today, the CoFSM uses the least number of stamps. So why are they the enemy?
If you did want to point out all of the above, you can go stamp yourself. It's not that the CoFSM uses a lot of stamps. It's the ONE stamp. In this case, it's not that the stamps of the many outweigh the stamps of the few, or the one. It's that the ONE stamp outweights all others.
See, I used to be a true FSM believer myself until I did a little research. All other major religions started through some great supernatural methodology. Islam was brought to us through a guy in cave, Christianity from some dudes writing down stories of cool tricks like walking on water and rising from the dead (without the side-effect of desiring to eat brains -- depending on your views on religious brainwashing), Judaism from a really, really, really, really old guy (who must have been super-wise since wisdom increases with age), Buddhism from a fat guy who breathed heavily, and Hinduism through some apparently really good drugs. The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster stands alone as the single major religion that started through a letter -- a letter mailed with A STAMP!!!
All other major religions existed without the need for stamps. It was only the modern corruption of these religions that infested them with stamps as a means of spreading their words. The CoFSM, on the other hand, owes its existence to a stamp. It is fundamental to the origin of that religion. Philosophically, that alone should make it a swore enemy of the APES. But it is the future that brings the biggest threat to aphilatilism. Just look at the effort that has gone into finding and studying religious artifacts in recent history. Now imagine what sorts of artifacts future CoFSM scholars will study and argue about. Is there any doubt that the ONE true stamp won't become the most sought after stamp in the world? Won't there be claims by many, particularly descendents of the Kansas City School Board members, that they have the one true stamp? Won't there be fights for centuries or millenia amongst scholars over which is the one true stamp?
Just as Islam split with the sons of Mohammed, won't FSM also split into the followers of different stamp experts who claim to know the one true stamp? These stamp experts will become all-powerful over the CoFSM followers. The will wield social and political influence and control the direction of our societal order. And what do we call these stampe experts? That's right, philatelists.
There is no single greater danger to our existence as aphilatelists, and to the unification of the human race, than the CoFSM. It will turn philatelists into messiahs of the future CoFSM sects and be the major division of our society. One sect might wear stamps on a chain around the neck. Another will tattoo theirs on their temple or forehead. And once that has happened, the money-lenders will step in to fund stamp wars. Commercialism will mean stamp-placement in movies, on your car bumpers, and what do you think the kids will be getting at Christmas to play with? That's right, stamps.
I hope it's clear from this apocalyptic prediction why the CoFSM must be stopped at all costs, and why they are our enemy. Also, pasta is made from simple carbs instead of complex carbs so isn't really very good for you. Oh, and they have a nicer website than me. I just have this simple blog.
3. Charleton Heston
For that "damn dirty APE" comment.
Q: Do you have any more wise things to say, or are you just going to post this one FAQ as your whole schtik?
A: There you go again with your two questions at once. I'll address them individually.
(a) Do you have any more wise things to say?
I doubt it. Instead I'll steal somebody else's. Alexandre Dumas Pere once said, "All human wisdom is summed up in two words - wait and hope." That pretty much describes what you should do if you want me to say something wise.
(b) Are you just going to post this one FAQ as your whole schtik?
I'll post more things, but I can't guarantee they will be wise. I'm thinking of starting a gallery of stamps that I'm not collecting and if there's enough interest then maybe I'll get some sort of member area going. I should also do up an org chart for the APES.


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Ti'Jean - I Feel Pain [Label Submitted]
"I Feel Pain"
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Download LOVE & REBELLION: THE MIXTAPE Hosted by DJ WHOO KID
at http://TiJeanOnline.com !!!
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Nancyj E. Hovey 10/22/2009 5:27:22 PMC O N G R A T U L A T I O N S
Dianna Murphy 10/22/2009 8:16:07 PMYeah!!! C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S
Melissa G. Meiselman 10/23/2009 3:19:07 AMCongratulations on your fantastic finalist!!!! #8062906
Donna La Mattino Pagakis 10/23/2009 7:58:30 AMAwesome details and colors Debra! A huge congratulations on your finalist! #8064559
Marcel J. Fernandez 10/23/2009 3:43:34 PMCongratulations Donna on your delightful Finalist. #8066434
Erica Murphy 10/25/2009 1:57:43 PMExcellent finalist!! #8071872
Erica Murphy 10/25/2009 1:57:43 PMExcellent finalist!! #8071873
Mitch Spence 12/28/2009 8:38:22 AMLove your selection of detail, color, and comp here, Debra. #8251386
Old fishing boat, Bee, and her dinghy. Taken in Ketchikan, Alaska.
Exif: F Number: 6.3, Exposure Bias Value: 0.67, ExposureTime: 1/125 seconds, Flash: did not fire, compulsory flash mode, ISO: 320, White balance: Auto white balance, FocalLength: 100.00 mm, Model: Canon EOS 40D
Uploaded on 9/30/2009 6:38:31 PM
Camera: Canon EOS 40D Digital SLR
Copyright for this gallery photo belongs solely to Debra P. Chenault. Images may not be copied, downloaded, or used in any way without the expressed, written permission of the photographer.
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Rob Siegel, author of Memoirs of a Hack Mechanic, drops in at R&T to provide a loving look at the mechanical magic that is your ride's carburetor. His piece, Taming the Wild Carburetor, is a great read, supplemented with bonus photos of the carb from Zach Bowman's Scout.
One of the mandatory automotive jokes is that "carburetor" is French for "don't touch." Funny thing—the derivation of "carburetor" is actually French, from the word carburer, meaning "to combine with carbon" or, idiomatically, "to tune." The etymology is informative. Gas needs oxygen to burn or explode. To get a controlled explosion, the lifeblood of internal combustion, you need to combine oxygen and atomized gasoline in the right ratio. These days, this function is performed by computer-controlled fuel-injection systems. But for generations, the carb was the only game in town.
That's how it opens. Now read the whole thing.


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August 9, 2013
Ever heard of a fly that is big enough to be mistaken for a small hummingbird? Don't worry this is not some horror movie featuring an overly large arthropod (think The Fly, Them, or the upcoming Big Ass Spider movie) this is real-life nature! Also, this is rare nature for Los Angeles; these flies are very, very uncommon in our region.
Ever seen this exhibit? Some of you may have heard of the Delhi Sands Flower-loving Fly, Rhaphiomidas terminatus abdominalis, a federally listed endangered species. In fact, this is the only fly on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (USFWS) endangered species list for the continental U.S. (there are a bunch of listed flies from Hawaii). We even have a whole exhibit dedicated to these flies in a somewhat hidden stairwell (close to the ground floor elevators—have I ever mentioned how much I love our hidden exhibits?). However, the fly I'm talking about was thought to be extinct until recently! The coastal dunes in southwestern L.A. used to be home to a population of the El Segundo Flower-loving Flies, Rhaphiomidas terminatus terminatus. It was thought that this subspecies was totally extinct, since there had been no sightings of the fly since 1965. However, research conducted in 2001, by George and Mattoni, found a small colony on the upper Malaga sand dune (on the Palos Verde peninsula). How could we have thought these flies were extinct for 36 years? It is not an easy question to answer. Maybe the entomologists weren't out there looking (funding for research isn't always available), or maybe they were looking in the wrong place, or at the wrong time. The biology of these flies is pretty intriguing. Adult flower-loving flies emerge in the summer for a period of only about two weeks! The rest of their lives are spent underground as eggs and larvae. The only way to find larvae is to a dig a large pit, and sift through lots and lots of soil. As you can imagine, this isn't always feasible, especially in sensitive dune habitats that support other rare species. No wonder these flies went unnoticed for so long. If you are a visual person like I am, you can see how the range of the El Segundo Flower-loving Fly has changed over the last 100 years in our new Nature Lab. Check out our Life on the Edge interactive (directly underneath the taxidermied mountain lion). Here's a teaser:
Guess what happens to the range of this fly when you press the "Today" button? Now that scientists have confirmed this fly is not extinct, I would have thought that it too would be on the USFWS's endangered species list, but it is not. I am not sure why, something to contemplate and look into deeper mmmm...
January 29, 2019
January 8, 2019
January 3, 2019


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David e-mailed the blog to say:"Having lived in WP for over 4 decades I have seen many Central Road shops come and go. I soon forget what was there when a new business opens.
Does anyone have a record of shops in 'days gone by'? I am particuarly interested in the 1970s and early 1980s. It would be great to build up a record of premises and who occupied them for as many shops as possible.
I think I vaguely remember Mac Fisheries (previously a cinema), then it became International supermarket, then Somerfield and now Pizza Express."
So it's over to you, blog readers, to share your memories of shops gone by in Worcester Park....


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We're sorry we've sold out of this item now. You can take a look at the Luggage page to see similar items.
We all bring back more than we take, and the Tranverz flexes its size to fit, plus it stores flat when you get home. Available in a range of sizes to suit your journey, this iconic bag now comes in XS for small trips, and large for the long haul.


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Metro-North admits to maintenance lag
Metro-North officials admit to maintenance backlog in New Haven Line mishap probe
WASHINGTON -- A Metro-North railroad official admitted Wednesday that maintenance on the line is years behind schedule, including in the Bridgeport area, where a passenger train derailed in May, causing a disastrous collision with another train.
At a National Transportation Safety Board hearing on two May accidents on the New Haven Line, Metro-North Chief Engineer Robert Puciloski said a five-year cycle of maintenance had not been conducted in the area of the collision since 2005.
"I cannot give you an answer as to how we got so far behind," he said.
But the board's chairwoman, saying the investigations could result in improved rail safety across the country, praised Metro-North for admitting its shortcomings and taking steps to improve.
"We've had excellent information coming out about the circumstances that led up to this accident," said NTSB Chairwoman Deborah Hersman, speaking of the May 17 collision which injured 73 passengers, two engineers and a conductor. "Metro-North is being very forthcoming about some of the areas where they needed to make (improvements) and in fact, they are making those improvements now."
Eleven days after the collision, on May 28, track foreman Robert Luden was killed by a train in West Haven. Hersman said after that accident, the NTSB issued an urgent recommendation to Metro-North to use shunting equipment as a safety precaution. The railroad said in June it would begin to do so.
"We know that nothing can replace your loved one," Hersman said to Luden's family. "And our thoughts are with those who suffered injuries in the Bridgeport accident. Our goal is that throughout our investigation and our findings and recommendations we can prevent similar tragedies."
A cracked track joint that had recently been worked on near the derailment was the subject of much discussion Wednesday. Before the hearing, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said, "The evidence points overwhelmingly to a failing in the joints that tied together two tracks, causing the derailment."
Puciloski said the line has added a fifth welding crew to repair track joints since the collision. He said both staffing and frequency of inspections have been increased.
"That's good news for the people who ride Metro-North," Hersman said. "Changes are being made."
She added, "This is heavily traveled track ... with a lot of trains, (with) challenges for the inspectors to get out, get track time, (and) do all of the work that needs to be done."
Puciloski added that the railroad is "losing a lot of experience ... the people who know how to weld to this level are retiring."
Such maintenance issues are "a national problem," Blumenthal said. "Metro-North is just the most visible and recent of the evidence that much more substantial investment is needed, but even more than the dollars, there need to be standards and metrics for making sure those dollars are well-spent."
But Blumenthal stressed that there was no substitute for making a "massive" investment in rail infrastructure improvements.
"The public's trust and confidence in our railroads really is at stake," he said. "The cascading series of near-disasters or breakdowns in service is undermining trust."
In the second half of Wednesday's hearing, the focus shifted onto the safety and design of the Kawasaki-built M8 rail cars.
Despite the number of injuries in the collision of the two trains May 17, David Tyrell of the Department of Transportation's Volpe National Transportation Systems Center stated that the cars performed relatively well under the circumstances. Tyrell credited the front car's design for limiting damage.
Tyrell also said while the safety of the car could be improved, it would not be without trade-offs. Further improvements on this model would have required sacrifices such as smaller car interiors that would reduce the number of passengers that could fit on each train.
Yoichiro Araki, a representative of Kawasaki -- which was recently commissioned to build the next generation of Metro-North cars -- said information from this accident would be used in the design process of the next model to improve safety.
"We've got the industry here, we've got the regulator, we've got the manufacturers. ... What we hope to learn in these two days of hearings is really to raise the bar on safety for the entire industry," Hersman said.
She added that Metro-North has "been making these changes since the accidents occurred. That's very important, because the most critical thing is that an organization is willing to learn. ... And Metro-North is clearly demonstrating that, through the information that they are providing today."
The hearing continues Thursday, and is scheduled to focus primarily on the West Haven accident, delving into issues including worker safety, risk management, and the strengthening of organizational safety cultures.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.


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I expect that tonight's presidential debate will draw many fewer viewers than the first two. After all, it must compete with Monday Night Football and Game 7 of the National League Championship Series.
On the other hand, the first two debates (for different reasons) served up compelling television experiences. Female viewers, at least, may by unwilling to resist the encore, sports viewing opportunities notwithstanding.
Foreign policy, tonight's topic, isn't foremost in the minds of most voters. But it does offer mostly new debating ground. And viewers were treated to a tantalizing preview during the Libya portion of the second debate.
I have argued that foreign policy provides a "growth opportunity" for Mitt Romney. Perhaps the best evidence that this is so consists of Team Obama's insistence — evident most starkly in the vice presidential debate — that there is no real difference between the candidates on the big issues like Iran, Syria, and Israel.
In an election where the incumbent is confident that he has an advantage on foreign policy, you would expect the president to draw sharp contrasts between his approach and that of his opponent — see Lyndon Johnson and Ronald Reagan. And you would expect it all the more in an election where the incumbent is viewed unfavorably with respect to his handling of the economy.
But so far, we haven't seen this from the Obama campaign. Instead, the pitch is that the policies of the two candidates are similar, but Obama has more experience and a steadier hand. That might have been a good pitch prior to Benghazi — these days, not so much.
To be sure, Romney hasn't provided much material for Obama to use in drawing sharp policy contrasts that will benefit the president. Romney did say, in 2007, that "it's not worth moving heaven and Earth and spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person," meaning bin Laden. But on the issues that are alive today, Romney has staked out his positions cautiously, so as not to paint himself to a war-weary nation as a war-monger.
Tonight, I expect Obama to tempt Romney into sounding more hawkish than previously. If, as I expect, Romney largely avoids the bait, Obama will then fall back to his "there's no substantive difference" line. He may well bolster this line by accusing Romney of talking tougher than he actually is, something that an experienced Commander-in Chief knows not to do ("Speak softly" and all that.)
If this is the tenor of the debate, it will probably end up a draw — not a bad result for Romney at this juncture. However, as I have argued, Romney can obtain a better result by systematically tying Obama's misguided foreign policy instincts — apologizing for America and favoring our enemies over our friends in the first instance — to the bad outcomes we've witnessed in Libya, Syria, Iran, Egypt, and Russia.
This approach will undercut Obama's narrative and place him on the defensive. And because Obama is rather thin-skinned, it may also bring out a side of the president he'd prefer to keep under wraps.
If Romney takes this approach, I won't regret missing that NLCS Game 7.


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by Joan Kremer on February 17, 2009 · 7 comments
in Adventures,How-to guides,Virtual tools
Tagged as:
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TLE Educational Network,
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{ 7 comments }
by Joan Kremer on February 19, 2009 · 5 comments
in Benefits of SL,How-to guides,Places for writers
Tagged as:
Blue Angel Poets' Dive Bar,
Inkygirl's Haven,
Milk Wood,
Second Life libraries,
Story Mountain Center for Writers,
Storybook Island,
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writers resources,
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{ 5 comments }
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Joan Kremer is a professional business/ nonfiction writer, novelist, short story writer, editor of an online literary journal, and most recently co-owner of the Story Mountain Center for Writers in Second Life® (where I go by the avatar name Alas Zerbino, whose picture appears above).
For even more about me, check out the About Me page of this blog, and/or read this interview by Debbie Ridpath Ohi about my experiences as a writer in SL at her great blog, Inkygirl's Daily Diversions for Writers.
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