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About this event
You must be a member of the New Jersey Motorsports Park Driver's Club to register or a guest of a member. If you are not a member and interested in joining the club, please visit: https://njmp.com/the-drivers-club/
If you are coming as a guest of a member, prior to registering, please provide your driving resume and credentials to Joe Mills email@example.com
All drivers must possess a valid and current Drivers License to participate. At the club's discretion, youth drivers of at least 15 years of age will be permitted to drive provided they possess a current competition license from a recognized organization approved by NJMP. All youth drivers should contact Joe Mills firstname.lastname@example.com prior to registering to confirm their eligibility.Participate in this fun and educational activity when you're not on track! Get your car sideways and learn how to control it safely.
Preliminary Schedule:
Breakfast – 7:00 AM
Registration Tech – 7:30 AM
Drivers Meeting – 8:30 AM
Hot Track – 9:00 AM
Lunch – TBD
Driver Classes:
Green: Novice Drivers with little or no experience will sign up for this group. The Green Group is a beginner group with plenty of classroom instruction and these drivers will be behind the NJMP Pace Car while on track. This is a non-passing group. Easch Green Driver will have one (1) session with right seat instructor.
White: Intermediate Drivers with proof of experience. Passing with a point only in designated areas.
Red: Advanced Drivers with proof of experience. Expanded passing with a point by.
Yellow: Open Wheel and Spec Racer Cars. Expanded passing with a point, if possible with arm restraints.
Event requirements
Driver's License: All Drivers must have a valid Driver's License and be at least 18 years of age to participate. You will be asked to present your Driver's License at the track. Please be sure to bring documentation regarding track experience or any race license you have obtained in order to verify your experience.
Helmet Requirement: A Snell M or SA rated helmet dated 2015 or newer is required for all drivers and passengers on the track. NJMP does provide rentals if requested.
Attire: NJ State Law requires all participants on the track to wear long pants and close toed shoes. No one in shorts will be permitted to enter the race track.
Tech: A tech inspection is required for each car prior to accessing the race course. An NJMP official will tech your car the morning of the event, but please view the tech form prior to then in order to be sure your car is adequately prepared. Download a copy of our tech form here. All cars going on track in a group other then beginner (Green) group will be required to have a number on their vehicle.
Open Top Cars: Must have approved rollover protection. Please contact the track director for additional information and consult chapter 62.
Speed Limits: Speed limit in the paddock is 5 mph. Speed limit on access roads is 25 mph. Do not test vehicles or bed brakes on infield roads. For non-racing events, the pit lane speed limit is 20 mph.
Damage: Participants, including Drivers Club Members and their guests, are responsible for any damage to NJMP property including on track and off track.
Noise: Un-Muffled engines are not permitted to run before 8:30 a.m. or after 8:00 p.m.
Fuel: For the convenience of customers, New Jersey Motorsports Park houses fuel stations at both the Thunderbolt and Lightning Raceways. On most track days the fuel stations are open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The fuel station at Thunderbolt Raceway offers octanes of 93, 95 & 100 (unleaded) and 110 & 112 (leaded), while the station at Lightning Raceway offers 93 & 100 (unleaded) and 110 (leaded). The fuel stations are permitted to fill containers in proper five gallon red fuel cans only, per New Jersey state law. Larger fuel containers of 10 gallons or more (any color) are permitted to be used as long as as they are marked appropriately (stickers or writing on container that reads "FUEL").
Trailer Drops: Trailer drops are typically allowed from 7-10 p.m., but there are occasions when this is not possible due to events taking place at the facility. Please contact NJMP if you would like to drop a trailer the day before your event.
Please keep in mind that NJMP Drivers Club Member Days are not a racing event but rather a Driver Education day. You will learn how to handle and control your vehicle at high speeds as well as explore the capabilities as a driver and those of your vehicle. At no time will you be pushed or encouraged to go any faster than is comfortable for you. All participants are organized into run groups based on experience, skill, and type of vehicle.
Please review chapter 62 for further rules and regulations.
Please be sure to visit www.njmp.com for more information.
- Driver certifies that he/she has studied the NJMP Drivers Club Membership Bylaws and will study any Supplementary Rules for each Event, attend all required Driver meetings, and agrees to abide by all bylaws and rules for each Event.
- Driver will ensure that Driver and all guests of Driver will execute the required NJMP release agreements prior to their admission to or participation in the event.
- Driver agrees that only a member of the NJMP Drivers Club, or a duly authorized guest of a member,is permitted to participate in the Event.
- In consideration for being permitted to participate in the Event,Driver agrees to permit NJMP the use of their name, voice and/or likeness,and images of the Driver and Driver's car(s), for news, publicity, and feature use including radio, television,motion picture film, newspapers, magazines and any and all other media as deemed prudent by NJMP.
- Customer agrees that any track or property damages will be charged to the credit card on file.
New Jersey Motors ports Park, Millville Rescue Squad, and/or any of their entities, partners, or employees are not responsible for any loss of property or property damage that may occur during this event. This includes, but is not limited to, damages that occur on and off the race track.
I, the undersigned, hereby certify that I have no known mental or physical impairments that could jeopardize me or others, and I am applying for admission in the NJMP Drivers Club Event. I agree to abide by the NJMP Drivers Club Bylaws.


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Expert Cancer Care at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center
At UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, we're committed to giving you the knowledge, inspiration, and specialty care you need to boldly face your cancer. Because no diagnosis should stop you from doing the things you love, or from living each day to the fullest.
We are the region's only comprehensive cancer center designated by the National Cancer Institute. And with more than 70 UPMC Hillman Cancer Center locations, you won't have to travel far to receive world-class treatments backed by best practices and leading-edge protocols.
Learn more about who we are and how we can help you.

subset: commoncrawl


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Austrian Economics
Mises Academy at www.mises.org (click on academy tab) is offering a free lecture on microeconomics. Register and attend the free lecture by Peter Klein. You will get a flavor for the courses. I have taken several and have enjoyed the interaction. Go here: http://academy.mises.org/courses/microeconomics/
The book for the course is an excellent primer on Austrian (real world) economic thinking. I suggest you read this book, Foundations of the Market Price System by Milton Shapiro before you tackle Man, Economy and State by Rothbard or Human Action by Mises.
Lecture on the Austrian Theory of the Business Cycle by Dr. Roger Garrison : ttp://youtu.be/jFqtTj7TeO0
Visual Study of the Austrian Trade Cycle ("ABCT"). Read this before seeing the above lecture to gain more insights into booms and busts.Visual Explanation of the Austrian Trade Cycle By Garrison I would never invest in commodity cyclical businesses unless I understood ABCT.
The Case For Quantitative Value Investment
My favorite investing blog has a white paper on active vs. passive investing.
Investing Wisdom for the Ages
The Secret to Losing Weight
American Prisoner Alan Gross after fours years in Castro's Gulag


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Kitchen Remodeling in Aurora
There's no place in your home that's more important than the kitchen. It's the place where you prepare food with love and where friends and family gather. For a room like that, you need Epic Home Improvements Inc.'s help. We're the kitchen remodeling contractors who understand the importance of the space, and our trained and skilled team has everything it takes to handle all your kitchen renovation needs.
Call us today at (303) 667-6027 and keep reading to learn more about what we have to offer.
Get a QuoteBeautiful Kitchen Makeovers by Epic Home Improvements Inc.
When you choose us, you get more than just your everyday contractors–you get professionals who care about their work and stand behind everything they do. Every member of our staff is skilled, hardworking, and most of all, dedicated to providing beautiful results and incredible customer service.
Let us fulfill all your kitchen makeover dreams. Every meal will be all the more amazing.
Comprehensive Kitchen Renovation Assessments
Variety is the spice of life, and that's true for your kitchen too. We know how important it is to have a variety of options, and we proudly offer a broad range of services.
Some of our most in-demand services include:
- Full layout upgrades and changes
- Cabinet restoration and refinishing
- Modernization makeovers
- And much more!
If you want to inquire about any services listed above, give us a call and speak with one of our staff representatives. We'll send over a kitchen contractor to assess your current situation and figure out what's best for you. That's what makes us one of the best kitchen remodeling companies around.
High-Quality Kitchen Remodels
Kitchen renovation is all about quality. We know that when it comes to your kitchen, only the very best will do. That's why we do everything we can to ensure you get absolutely the best quality work. We use only the very best materials, as well as top-notch tools and equipment to get the job done. And of course, we always give it a hundred percent every step of the way. That's how you get the kitchen renovation of your dreams.
Affordable Kitchen Renovation
Today, everybody is looking to save wherever they can, and it's crucial to provide services that are budget-friendly. That's where we come in. We're always happy to offer comprehensive estimates on our kitchen remodels so that you can be sure the project is within your budget. Rest assured, we keep our prices reasonable so that all our clients can afford them.
Call the Top Kitchen Remodeling Contractors in Aurora
When you want to reinvent your old, outdated kitchen, there's only one team to call, and that's us.
Reach out and call us now at (303) 667-6027 to get in touch with one of our representatives. They'll be happy to answer all your questions, give you more information about what we do, and help you make an informed choice.
Experience the high-quality works and outstanding customer care you can only receive from one of Aurora's top kitchen remodeling companies.


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How quickly a year flies by!
So many wonderful moments we shared
with the twin in their first year.
It will be such a joy to see them grow up.
and have a wonderful
1st birthday party!
xxx Opa and Oma
Of course I made a card and
I had so much fun making these box frame
cards for the Club Scrap blog hop,
and so I used it for this card too.
You find the instructions here.
Last Tuestday I made this picture for
the card. This time I used Stampin'Up! papers.
punches and stamps. This is what I used:
owl builder punch,
balloon punch
number thinlits
Balloon Celebrations stamp set
and Number of Years stampset
I also did a bit of doodling on the card.
As the baby anouncement card had owls,
I wanted to do them for their 1st birthday too.
I love my owl punch.
As there are 2 birthday boys, it is twice as happy
to celebrate!
And this is how the card can stand up.
I enter my card to the linky party
on the D.L.ART blog for the
theme is anything goes.
Thank you for looking!


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Torquay Dog Friendly Cottages / St Anns
For more information on this lovely cottage just click on the photo on the left.
Or you can contact us on 07789 006767 (+44 7789 006767 if calling from outside of the UK). Or email firstname.lastname@example.com.
See below for some great reviews from previous guests.
We have stayed in Torquay many times in self catering apartments and bed & breakfast places. There is an abundance of these. However, it was a delight to discover St Anns, which is a detached three bedroom cottage. For a family of 5 people (2 adults and 3 children), there was plenty of room for us. Our new dog was also welcome. The area is great for dog walks too. Just a short walk from the cottage you can walk down to the beach, where dogs are allowed at certain times of year. In the Summer months you can walk around to Babbacombe beach which is pebbled and where dogs are allowed. The weather was very kind during our stay. It didn't rain, although it was a bit on the cold side. The cottage has a good heating system though with a combi boiler so we were nice and snug and warm inside. And hot water was always available for showers and washing up. But there is a dishwasher, which again is a real bonus. Who wants to be washing dishes on holiday? There is also a separate freezer, which was very handy for stocking up, so we didn't have to shop everyday, although all the shops are very close by. We met the gardener who was working on the front section of the garden. Apparently she is going to be working on the back garden in early 2017. So I hope we can re-visit to see the improvement.
Sarah from Yeovil, Somerset


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- Home
- Skateboard Building
- Street Deck Maple 7 Layer Sets
Street Deck Maple 7 Layer Sets
Product Description:
The more you buy, the less the cost per set. You choose exactly how many boards you want to make. For even more customizing, select the thickness of the cross band sheets.
Thinner Cross bands make a slightly lighter and thinner board. Strength is not affected and it may offer more flex. Bending more radical curves may be possible using this thinner cross band.
Our maple is grown in the far north of Canada, where the very long and very cold winters mean the trees grow very slowly. Tight growth rings mean denser wood veneer.
Canadian-grown maple is always the best choice for making strong skateboards. A SFI-certified mill rotary cuts logs for us, and sorts to our exacting specifications.
Street Deck Maple Veneer 7-Layer
- 7-Layers of maple per set: 1 Bottom Face, 1 Top Face (grip side), 2 Cross band and 3 Core sheets
- Face and Core: 9.5 x 34 x 1/16"
- Cross band: 9.5 x 34 x 1/22" (or 1/16")
Design and build your own custom Street Deck using this premium 1/16" thick veneer. This veneer is best used in a Thin Air Press vacuum bag, which applies pressure evenly over the entire board. It eliminates the problem of voids and missed spots, a common problem with some other types of presses.
Using many layers of 1/16" veneer will allow you to create fairly radical curves, which will add strength to your board.
When laying up your board, follow the rule that your cross grain sheets should always be layered closest to the middle of your stack, with one layer of core in between the 2 cross grains. We do not recommend any more than 2 cross grain sheets per board.
Best Vacuum Bag size: 20 x 70" Thin Air Press TPK20
Veneer expands and contracts with moisture. Our veneer is shipped with 7-9% humidity. Keep your veneer stored away from heat sources, and lay it flat.
If your work area is very dry, keep your unused veneer sealed in plastic (a garbage will do) until you are ready to use it.
Until it is laminated together, veneer sheets are prone to splits, especially the cross grain sheets. Handle them with care, but if any sheets do split, they can be repaired with a bead of glue and masking tape.
Q: Why the big deal about Canadian maple?
A: Because the very long and very cold winters mean that the maple trees grown in the north-eastern regions of Canada grow very slowly. Slow growth is visible when looking at the tight growth rings of a cut log. Those growth rings are different than what you would see in a cut log of a maple grown in other parts of northeastern America, including the mid-west basin. Those tight growth rings indicate that the maple is much stronger than other maples.
Q: What species is this maple?
A: Acer Saccharum, or Sugar Maple. Other names are Rock, Hard Rock, and Hard Maple.
Q: How long can I store unused veneer for?
A: Very important to store it laying flat and away from any heat sources. Veneer will absorb and release moisture all the time, so seal the veneer in plastic if the environment is changeable.
Q: What if my veneer splits?
A: Run a bead of glue along the split edges. Use masking tape strips to tightly squeeze the edges together and wait about 2 hours for the glue to dry. Remove the tape before using it.
Q: What is the different between the Face, Core and Cross Band sheets?
A: Face sheets are sorted as the clearest layers for the top and bottom of your board. Core sheets are the internal layers, and will have imperfections such as small knots and holes, splits, sap lines and other color variations. Cross grain sheets (also refered to as xbands, or cross bands) have the grain running in the 90˚ direction to the other long grain layers.
Q: Why do I need cross grain sheets at all?
A: The 2 cross grain sheets spread out the torsional resistance. When riding a board and you lean your weight on the outside edge, the cross grain layers will make the entire board flex, rather than only the edge you have pressure on. Xbands also stop the board from potentially splitting along the length of the long grain.
Q: Is this Maple harvested from sustainable sources?
A: The mill we source our maple and birch from complies to and is certified by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative® Program, a worldwide recognized service.


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Prince Reverse 5x7
Prince Reverse 5x7
The Prince is a reverse applique design. You can use a woven or vinyl as your base material, but need to use a non-fraying material on top. Then cut away the needed areas to reveal the material underneath.
In some areas, an exacto knife comes in handle. Don't press too hard though.
This is a digital item, you must have an embroidery machine to work with these files.
Again, this is not a finished product.
Formats included in the zip file: dst, exp, has, jef, pes, vip, vp3
If a different format is needed, please contact me.
My designs are inspired art and create embroidery designs now. I am solely charging for my time and digitizing service.
To use this design, you must have the required hardware/software to transfer the designs from your computer to your embroidery machine (USB, cable, etc.)
You will receive the design zip file after payment.
Because the items are electronic, I cannot offer refunds.
Designs can be used for personal items and on items you sell, but please do not share, copy or sell my design files.
If the design is resized, converted or edited in any way, I am not responsible for how the design may turn out.


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Recommended Resources
Sales That Work
Recommended Resources
There are a lot of different types of mortgages, and there are a lot of different types of real estate property. Here is a list of the most common types of each. We've added some links to the most popular articles on the subject.
We think getting many viewpoints to a particular question is important because it helps you to make better decisions. It's so important that we have woven the Forum all throughout Winning Agent. We invite you to ask questions, make comments, and be part of the discussion.


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Given that this is a site with an awesome tool for viewing a website (as a search engine would), it seemed only fitting that we should take things a step further. Many in the search optimization world believe they 'get it', but one can't be too sure.
A lot of the time we hear about things like 'links', 'meta tags' 'title' elements. But that's really a limited view of what search engines (like the almighty Googly) are doing when they assess your site. I thought it would be an interesting exercise to take a bit deeper walk through the woods.
Walk with me....
Pages v Websites
One of the first things we need to understand is there is indeed elements that differ between a page and the entire domain. This one is interesting in that many times I get the sense that SEO folks don't always understand that. In fact, most things that a search engine does is actually on a page level, not the domain level.
In fact, outside of links, the only really important areas that tend to be site-wide are Trust elements, classifications (topical etc), internal link ratios and geo-localized ones. By and large, a search engine actually see's your site on a page by page basis. This is the first important distinction to keep in mind.
Site-Level Signals
But what things does Google see on the site level?
Authority/Trust; this is the all-encompassing concept of not only what you do on your site (outbound links, web spam, sneaky redirects, thin content etc) but what is going on off-site (link spam, social spam etc). What level of trust does your website have in the eyes of the search engine? This is something that is incredible hard to build, but easy to lose.
Thin Content (formally known as Panda); while related to the above, it's worth having on it's own. Large amounts of thin content and/or dulpication could end up in dampening of sections or entire sites. We can also consider the GooPLA (Google Page Layout Algorithm) conepts here as well.
Classifications; while this does generally exist more on the page level, there are categorical elements for an entire website. These can also contain more granular elements as well. From an ecommerce site (or subdomain etc) to a given market. This is where strong architecture can become your best friend. Assist the search engine in understanding (and classifying) what your site and it's various parts are about.
Internal link ratios; in simplest terms you want to show a search engine the importance of pages through internal links. Linking to the most important pages the most, the least important the least. This can often lead to page mapping issues (wrong target page ranking).
Localization; another element this is more site-wide in nature is localization. Meaning; if applicable, where does this entity reside? What areas do they service? We can even consider geographic targets for sites not directly geo-location related. Elements here can include the top level domain, language etc.
Entities; an entity is a person, place or thing. One needs to look no further than Google's knowledge graph to see the importance they are seemingly placing on these over the years. If it is brands on the page (ecommerce) or citations in an informational piece, make them prominent. Also, Google seems bullish on authorship of late, so also consider the company entities (people) and how they can be leveraged. Your site can 'be' an entity as well as having sub-entities and associations throughout.
Domain history; Matt Cutts recently talked about how a domain that's REALLY had issues, might even carry penalties after someone else buys it. Given that, we do know to some extent Google can potentially look at the domain history in classifying a website. This of course plays back into the above 'trust' elements.
Page Level Signals
As I mentioned earlier, Google (and most search engines) often look at things on a page by page level, not site-wide. This is an important distinction that often SEO types seem to forget. They crawl PAGES.
What elements might a search engine look at on the page level?
Meta-data; the easiest one here is of course the header data from TITLE to Meta-descriptions (not a ranking factor) and even canonical and other tags. Some of these elements can be ranking factors while others (rel=canonical for example) can tell Google how to treat the page.
Classifications (and Localization); much like the site level elements pages themselves will fall under classifications. It could be content type, (informational, transactional etc), by intent (commercial, knowledge), localization (about a given region) etc. Ensure you communicate the intent and core elements of a given page.
Entities; Again, as with the site-level, entities can also be associated with a given page on the site. In fact, Google potentially now looks at associating query inference (medical symptoms) and an entity (the condition itself).
Authority/trust (external links); beyond the above mentioned authorship elements, trust signals can also bee seen in what you link to (as well as citations). It can be a positive or a negative. Take the opportunity where you can to associate the page with other authoritative web identities.
Temporal signals; on the page level, Google is potentially looking at elements such as; Document inception/age, freshness, (QDF et al), niche trends, content update rates and more. They might even look at historic query and click data.
Semantic signals; web pages have words right? Search engines love words, yea? Then be sure that some form of semantic analysis is going on for the page including categorization of content, related term/phrase ratios, citations and more.
Linguistic indicators (language and nuances); of course as part of the above classification methods, the page can also help through closer demographic identification through the language on the page.
Prominence factors; another area that doesn't get a whole lot of attention but is know to show up over the years in various patents are elements such as; headings (h1-h5), bold, lists (and possibly italics). They don't likely weight heavily, but are indeed worth consideration.
Oh and I do not jest when I say there's more. We're sticking to some of the higher level parts to get the point across. We've likely already lost ½ the readers that started this piece. Thanks for sticking around.
The off-site stuff
While the focus of this offering was more about the on-site bits, Google also see's the off-site activities as part of it's perception. From authority and topicality to demographics and categorizations, it does come into play as far as how Google perceives you as an entity/set of entities.
These can include....
Link related factors;
- PageRank (or relative nodal link valuation)
- Link text (internal and external)
- Link relevance (global and page)
- Also; Temporal, Personalized PageRank and Semantic analysis
- Link velocity
- Link age
- Entity citation frequency
- social visibility
- Citations
- Co-citations
- TrustRank type signals
- Links
- News
- Social
- Video
You get the idea. I don't really want to focus on the off-site elements as much today. We're looking at these as they do fall into 'how Google see's your website'. It's just not the focus...
Moving along...
The Spam Connection
Another loosely related element of how Google perceives the site is of course; adversarial information retrieval. Better known as search and destroy for web spam. While understanding ranking factors is a great idea, it is also good to know things that might get one dampened as well.
Web spam generally breaks into two categories;
- Boosting; tactics used to increase a ranking (link spam for example)
- Hiding; tactics used to mislead or trick the search engine (cloaking for example)
Again, this isn't the core focus, so be sure to read my post on web spam for more. Some common spam fighting elements include;
Content Spam
- Language:
- Domain:
- Words per page:
- Keywords in page TITLE:
- Amount of anchor text:
- Fraction of visible content:
- Compressibility:
- Globally popular words:
- Query spam:
- Host-level spam
- Phrase-based
Link Spam
- TrustRank:
- Link stuffing:
- Nepotistic links:
- Topological spamming (link farms):
- Temporal anomalies:
We're all now fairly familiar with Panda (type) and Penguin devaluations as well as manual actions such as the Unnatural Links messages. But one should also be cognisant of the myriad of other ways Google might be looking at your site, in terms of how spammy it is.
SEO is dead
Right? Ok, maybe not.
Your mission my friends, should you choose to accept it, is to develop an SEO strategy that covers off all the elements within this post. Because that my friend, is what the savvy search optimizer should be doing.
I could sit here and explain to you ways to leverage them all, but this is an article not a book.
My goal here today was to bring light to the complexity of our reality. If you're a website owner, SEO enthusiast or hard core optimizing guru. Never become myopic on how Google really works. See the forest, see the trees and even the leaves.
As you were.....
Images by David Harry


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NEW YORK—A portfolio of six multifamily buildings in Brooklyn's Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood was sold in an all-cash transaction valued at $7.325 million. The buildings, which are all in or nearby the Stuyvesant Heights Historic District, are located at 654 Putnam Avenue, 419-21 Marcus Garvey Boulevard, 319 Malcolm X Boulevard and 804 and 814 Macon Street.
The portfolio includes one nine-unit building, four eight-unit buildings and one six-unit building totaling approximately 37,950 sq. ft.
In total, the portfolio is comprised of 47 apartments, 38 of which have been renovated to include new kitchens and bathrooms.
"At close to $200 PSF, this package of renovated buildings offered the scale required by a new wave of patient investors who were happy to pay a premium to gain exposure to this well positioned neighborhood," said Massey Knakal Director of Sales Michael Amirkhanian who exclusively handled this transaction.
Massey Knakal's Director of Sales Michael Amirkhanian exclusively handled the transaction.


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As U.S. lawmakers weigh whether to support an attack on the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, military planners have expanded the target list for a potential strike.
The Pentagon had been focused on attacking Syria with so-called standoff weapons — cruise missiles, for example. Launched from ships, they can attack Syrian positions without placing American pilots in danger. Cruise missiles are very precise, and perfect for hitting fixed targets, such as command-and-control centers the Syrian military relies on.
Hitting those targets is still the best way to deter the use of chemical weapons and to weaken the Syrian military in general, says Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
"If you take out command-and-control facilities, you weaken every aspect of the operation," Cordesman says.
Adding Assets To List Of Targets
Since that initial target list was drawn up, the Pentagon has broadened it. In part, that's a response to Congress. The language of a measure moving through the Senate now says it is U.S. policy to "change the momentum" on the battlefield in Syria, to create favorable conditions for a negotiated settlement that ends the conflict. As a result, U.S. planners might add the regime's arsenal of missile sites, many on mobile launchers.
That won't be easy: The Syrian military has had plenty of time to move those assets around. Trying to take out those weapons creates two problems, says Jeremy Binney of Jane's Defence Weekly.
"Keeping track of all those can be challenging for an intelligence point of view," he says. "But also if they move them into civilian areas, there's going to be that risk of collateral damage."
But the military also may add targets that, in addition to weakening Assad, will strengthen the rebels. Binney says Pentagon planners may well decide to take out Syria's military helicopter fleet.
"That would really limit their ability to keep resupplying some of these garrisons that are under siege, especially up in the north," Binney says. "Part of the battle has been a Syrian strategy to keep these outposts resupplied."
But in this limited strike, expanding the list of targets probably won't be enough to tip the balance in favor of the rebels, according to Cordesman. He believes the intervention might move to a second phase.
"The follow-up to cruise missile strikes may well be more money, more weapons, different types of weapons to the rebels, with a real focus only on the moderate rebel groups," Cordesman says.
The Precedent In Iraq
The U.S. has been trying to get weapons to the rebels for months, with little success.
Relying on a rebel army is one option the U.S. did not have during the last confrontation over chemical weapons: In 1998, the U.S. launched Operation Desert Fox after Iraqi President Saddam Hussein refused to let the United Nations inspect suspected chemical weapons sites.
The mission was similar: The U.S. used cruise missiles and bombing raids with the aim of deterring and degrading Saddam's ability to use weapons of mass destruction.
Then, as now, it's difficult to define success for that kind of military mission, says Mark Conversino of the Air War College.
"Degrading is a pretty elastic term, and even after a handful of pretty successful sorties, you can say, 'Well, we've degraded that,' " he says.
By many measures, Conversino says, Desert Fox did erode Saddam's military capabilities. Nevertheless, five years later, he was still in power, and the U.S. launched a full-scale invasion to finish the job.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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Those cold snaps helped spawn a spring allergy season so intense that it already has its own headline-ready nickname: the "pollen vortex."
One week ago, I purchased the first asthma inhaler I've owned since the 8th grade. I'd shown up at my doctor's office short of breath, and a lung function test promptly revealed that I was inhaling about one-fifth as much air as a healthy 24-year-old should be. "We're expecting a lot of cases like you," my doctor told me as he wrote my prescription. "It's going to be a hell of a pollen season."
And for that, you can blame the polar vortex—the extreme cold system that repeatedly hovered over much of the United States this year—along with the rest of this winter's brutal weather. Those cold snaps helped spawn a spring allergy season so intense that it already has its own headline-ready nickname: the "pollen vortex."
"The long winter, the particularly cold weather, it all pushed the pollen season back quite a bit," says Estelle Levetin, the chair of the biology department at the University of Tulsa. Individual flowering trees probably aren't producing more pollen, Levetin says—but they're all dumping their pollen at once, making this allergy season particularly difficult for people who are sensitive to more than one type of pollen.
"It's going to be a hell of a pollen season."
The simple reason is that flowers are temperature-sensitive. They don't open up and release pollen when it's cold. "If you look at daily pollen levels, typically, you would see them track the temperature," Levetin says. Trees that normally would have bloomed several weeks ago are just budding now. In Oklahoma, where Levetin lives, the first allergenic trees blossomed "easily a month late."
The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America counts 45 million people in the United States who suffer from nasal allergies, and another 25 million with asthma—both conditions that can be can be aggravated by pollen. Those figures come with sweeping economic consequences. Every year, asthma costs $18 billion in hospital visits and lost workdays, according to the AAFA.
This week may offer some relief, thanks to the relationship between cold weather and pollen counts. People living in the West are already experiencing lower pollen levels due to the cold front moving across the country. When it hits, the cold slows the release of pollen. But unless a region undergoes freezing temperatures for several days, says Levetin, once warm weather returns, so will the pollen deluge.
While no single weather event—the cold snaps that caused this year's pollen vortex, for example—can be directly attributed to global warming, the science community is engaged in a lively debate over whether climate change is making unusual weather events, including severe cold temperatures, more likely. Jennifer Francis, a research professor at Rutgers University, argues that the rapidly warming Arctic has caused the jet stream to slow, which could result in atmospheric events, such as winter storms, staying put for longer.
But even if climate change can't be blamed for this year's pollen vortex, there is substantial evidence that a warming planet spells a more agonizing allergy season. Cold weather may have caused the current pollen backlog, but over the long term, the opposite may be true. Hotter temperatures, an increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide, and greater precipitation levels in some regions of the United States all conspire to create near-ideal conditions for the weedy plants that give off allergenic pollen, according to a 2008 study from the Environmental Protection Agency. "Warmer temperatures and increased precipitation cause some plants to grow faster, bloom earlier, and produce more pollen," the study found. "Temperature changes are expected to alter allergy seasons to begin earlier and last longer and the distribution of allergenic plant varieties to change over time."
The EPA is hardly alone in saying that climate change could make allergy season more hellish. A 2010 report by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences warns, "There is also a possibility that certain aero-allergens may become more allergenic as temperatures and CO2 concentrations increase." (Besides exacerbating the pollen count, climate change is linked in some regions to a rise in ozone, fine particles, and dust—all of which can cause or worsen respiratory diseases, the report found.)
Plant physiologists have observed that the weeds that produce many allergens have adapted the best to an atmosphere that is chock-full of carbon dioxide, Scientific American reported in 2012. Pollen from ragweed, for instance, which peaks in the summer and is one of the most common triggers for allergies, has exploded as the climate has warmed. From 1995 to 2011, according to the EPA, the ragweed allergy season grew up to 24 days longer in regions across the Midwest:
As the map suggests, northern regions of the United States, where warming in more pronounced, will bear the brunt of increases in most types of environmental allergens. Warmer temperatures are already allowing hickory and oak, two highly allergenic tree species, to thrive in new regions. In the United Kingdom, the Health Protection Agency has observed that the hay fever season is growing longer.
The future may offer a reprieve from agonizing allergy seasons. Leonard Bielory, an environmental sciences professor at Rutgers, predicted in Scientific American that a warming planet will eventually cause pollen counts to taper off. "It cannot continue on a linear scale," he said. "If heat goes up to a certain temperature, plants will die. It will hit a breaking point." Of course, at that point, a prolonged allergy season won't be high on the list of problems.
April 16, 2014


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Mysteries about controversial signals coming from a dwarf star considered to be a prime target in the search for extraterrestrial life now have been solved in research led by scientists at Penn State. The scientists have proven, for the first time, that some of the signals, which were suspected to be coming from two planets orbiting the star at a distance where liquid water could potentially exist, actually are coming from events inside the star itself, not from so-called "Goldilocks planets" where conditions are just right for supporting life. The study was published by the journal Science in its online Science Express issue on July 3 and will be in a future print edition of the journal.
"This result is exciting because it explains, for the first time, all the previous and somewhat conflicting observations of the intriguing dwarf star Gliese 581, a faint star with less mass than our sun that is just 20 light years from Earth," said lead author Paul Robertson, a postdoctoral fellow at Penn State who is affiliated with Penn State's Center for Exoplanets and Habitable Worlds. As a result of this research, the planets now confirmed to be orbiting this dwarf star total exactly three.
"We also have proven that some of the other controversial signals are not coming from two additional proposed Goldilocks planets in the star's habitable zone but instead are coming from activity within the star itself," said Suvrath Mahadevan, an assistant professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State and a co-author of the research paper. None of the three remaining planets, whose existence the research confirms, are solidly inside this star system's habitable zone, where liquid water could exist on a rocky planet like Earth.
Astronomers search for exoplanets by measuring shifts in the pattern of a star's spectrum — the different wavelengths of radiation that it emits as light. These "Doppler shifts" can result from subtle changes in the star's velocity caused by the gravitational tugs of orbiting planets. But Doppler shifts of a star's "absorption lines" also can result from magnetic events like sunspots originating within the star itself — giving false clues of a planet that does not actually exist. "In the search for low-mass planets," Mahadevan said, "accounting for the subtle signature of a magnetics events in the star is as important as obtaining the highest possible Doppler precision."
The research team made its discovery by analyzing Doppler shifts in existing spectroscopic observations of the star Gliese 581 obtained with the ESO HARPS and Keck HIRES spectrographs. The Doppler shifts that the scientists focused on were the ones most sensitive to magnetic activity. Using careful analyses and techniques, they boosted the signals of the three innermost planets around the star, but "the signals attributed to the existence of the two controversial planets disappeared, becoming indistinguishable from measurement noise," Mahadevan said. "The disappearance of these two signals after correcting for the star's activity indicates that these signals in the original data must have been produced by the activity and rotation of the star itself, not by the presence of these two suspected planets.
"Our improved detection of the real planets in this system gives us confidence that we are now beginning to sufficiently eliminate Doppler signals from stellar activity to discover new, habitable exoplanets, even when they are hidden beneath stellar noise, said Robertson. "While it is unfortunate to find that two such promising planets do not exist, we feel that the results of this study will ultimately lead to more Earth-like planets."
Older stars such as Gliese 581, an "M dwarf" star in the constellation Libra about one-third the mass of our sun, have until now been considered highly attractive targets in the search for extraterrestrial life because they are generally less active and so are better targets for Doppler observations. "The new result from our research highlights a source of astrophysical noise even with old M dwarfs because the harmonics of the star's rotation can be in the same range as that of its habitable zone, raising the risk of false detections of nonexistent planets," Mahadevan said. "Higher-precision analysis for discovering Earth-like planets using spectrographs will be increasingly more necessary as next-generation spectrographs with the higher Doppler precision needed for detecting important subtle signatures come on line this decade — like the Habitable Zone Planet Finder (HPF) that our team now is developing at Penn State." A description of this research is available on the Habitable-zone Planet Finder blog.
In addition to Mahadevan and Robertson, other coauthors of the research include Penn State graduate student Arpita Roy and McDonald Observatory research scientist Michael Endl at the University of Texas. Penn State co-authors have affiliations with the Center for Exoplanets and Habitable Worlds, and with the Astrobiology Research Consortium, both at Penn State.
Source: Pennsylvania State University
Published on 8th July 2014


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Mac Data Recovery Software
Stellar Phoenix Mac Data Recovery Software
This is a powerful Mac data recovery application that provides a good balance of simplicity and advanced recovery features to suit a broad spectrum of Mac users. Mentioned below are some salient features of the software:
Mac Data Recovery
Stellar Mac Data Recovery brings you plenty of functionality at your fingertips to help safely recover everything you lost on your Mac. You can retrieve irreplaceable files on your hard drive lost due to media formatting, accidental deletion, malicious software attack or other similar issues. The tool's easy-to-use approach coupled with the ability to perform different recovery options (Quick Recovery, Deleted Recovery, Formatted Media & Search Lost Volume) helps you make the most of this data recovery application. The program can also bypass your corrupt directory to find file fragments, add them up to build meaningful data, and recover everything with ease.
Deleted File Recovery
The software makes it exceedingly simple to undelete all your files, folders, documents even after completely emptying the Trash or by hitting 'Command+Shift+Option+Delete'. The software works flawlessly to scan any large Mac volume or drive for deleted files. With advanced deleted Mac file recovery capabilities; this utility can now recover all your recently deleted files with their original names. Stellar Phoenix® is the first in the world to introduce this feature for deleted file recovery. No matter how your data has been compromised, Phoenix Mac Data Recovery is there for you, ready to get you back everything as you want.
Deleted Volume Recovery
Recover lost or deleted volumes on your Mac with minimum fuss using this Mac recovery application. If you no longer see existing volumes on your iMac, Mac Pro, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, or Mac Mini, the software can locate and rebuild those deleted volumes conveniently to help you get your valuable data back. The software can recover your entire volumes deleted from any HFS, HFS+, FAT, NTFS, or ExFAT formatted drive.
Raw Recovery
The application has a built-in fingerprint of every common file type that helps better recognize different types of files stored on your hard drive and conveniently perform data recovery based on file signatures. With advanced Raw Recovery feature, you can recover more than 122 different file types with the software. This feature is very useful when your volume file system is severely corrupt.
Mac Photo Recovery
Recover lost, deleted or formatted photos from any internal or external Mac hard drive, USB drive, digital camera, memory card, SD card, flash card, etc. With improved features of data recovery Mac software, you can even recover all your photos of any specific file type.
System Startup Disc
The tool acts as a data rescuer even when your system fails the boot process. This Data recovery Mac software is available with a Bootable system startup DVD that comes handy in times of boot failure. You can start your Mac system with the help of this Bootable DVD and use Stellar Phoenix® to scan & regain access to all your lost data.
Recover Data from NTFS Partitions on Mac
The ultimate usability of the software is realized with its support for Boot Camp partition recovery. The software supports data recovery from NTFS partitions on Mac and gives you a hassle-free experience when recovering files from Windows Boot Camp partition. Regardless of whether your Mac is setup as a standard Boot Camp dual-partitioned disk, you can have your best shot at recovering lost data from Windows partitions on Mac.
Create Image
Stellar Phoenix® Mac Data Recovery includes a suite of free additional utilities for data safety, one of which is 'Create Image'. When your media develops bad sectors and there are chances of impending drive failure, you can create and keep mountable image of your Mac hard drive, volume, or selected region so that even in case of media failure, you will have a complete backup.
Recovery from FAT and ExFAT Formatted Drives/Volumes
The application can safely claw back your files lost from FAT or ExFAT formatted drives and volumes. The software introduces two levels of scans for FAT and ExFAT volumes - 'Quick Scan' and 'Deep Scan'. 'Quick Scan' runs an extremely fast scan to uncover all your disappeared files in a flash, while 'Deep Scan', though time-intensive, performs a thorough sector-by-sector scan to dig out all the data lost from the drive.
Resume Recovery
'Resume Recovery' is very helpful and important feature to recover data from the image file (.dmg) created at any LATER point of time. This user-friendly software allows you to restore lost or deleted data from any previously created image file of the corresponding Mac media. Under any instance of media failure, with the resume recovery option, you can resume the previously 'Saved Scan Information' or 'Drive Image' to restore your lost or inaccessible data back.
Optical Media Recovery
With this Mac recovery solution, you get the ability to easily grab all your seemingly inaccessible files stored on damaged or improperly burnt optical media (CD, DVD, HD DVD, Blu-ray Disc etc). The software supports recovery from all common file systems of optical media, such as ISO 9660, Joliet, UDF, HFS and RockRidge.
Preview During Scan
While the software scans your media behind the scenes, you can see your images, songs, and videos displayed in the main interface on the fly. If you want, you can hide this on-the-fly preview by deselecting the option from preferences. In addition, after completion of the scanning process, the software allows to right click on any recoverable file and see its preview using Quick Look.
iPod Data Recovery
Recover your lost/deleted music files, videos, photos, pod casts etc. from any Mac supported storage media, including iPods, USB drives etc. With this Mac file recovery software, you can easily recover all your precious data from IPod Classic and Shuffle.
Simple and Interactive GUI
Now the Mac recovery software has simpler and more appealing graphical user interface. Moreover, with detailed instructions for each step of data recovery, the software can be used by any user without needing any further technical assistance.
Selective Recovery
On completion of the scanning process, the software lists all recoverable files and folders in a tree-view, from which you can check mark the required ones to perform selective recovery. Here, the software provides an easy recovery option with which you can simply right click on the selected files or folders and recover them.


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Cornice C13
Cornice C13
Cornices (Coving) are an ornamental plaster moulding that are fitted as a decorative detail where the ceiling meets the walls and seamlessly flow around the room with no visible joints.
Category Cornices
Please note that product photos here show the final product as it will look when installed. The product will be boxed and shipped to you in unfinished form, you or your contractor will need to install the product.
For more information or to view a range of standard samples, please contact Vincent Moore on 087 682 6884 to arrange a consultation.


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Before Red Bull and Monster Drink the victual of health around Davenport was a frothy mug of suds. There weren't national brands in refrigerated trucks endorsed by athletes and scantily-clad models in the first half of the century. Each town had their own local brands, crafted by mustachioed laborers using recipes from the Fatherland.
For the 20 percent of Davenport Germans, it was a beverage steeped in tradition and culture, and one of the few remaining creature comforts they could control. They did so with a flourish as a number of brands sprung up in Davenport, including Mathias Frahm and Son, Koehelr and Lange (also known as the Arsenal Brewery), Littig Brohers, and Zoeller Brothers.
All of this information is featured in the latest exhibit at the German American Heritage Museum as you look at snapshots of the malthouse workers, tavern operators, and ancient conetop cans and vessels.
I found it to be a fascinating little tour and a great excuse to visit the GAHC for the first time, at the low Depression-era price of $2.


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Terms and Conditions of The Kenny Gallery Ltd.
These terms and conditions govern the use of Kennys.ie web sites (referred to as "the sites"), as provided by The Kenny Gallery Ltd (referred to as "we" or "us"), by the user (referred to as "you"). By using the sites, you acknowledge and signify that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by these terms and conditions. If you do not accept and agree to these terms and conditions, you may not use the Kennys.ie web sites.
- Changes to these Terms and Conditions
We may, at our discretion, change, supplement or amend these Terms and Conditions as they relate to your use of the sites for any reason, and without any prior notice or liability to you or any other person, by posting the modified Terms and Conditions on the Kennys.ie web sites. You may not change, supplement, or amend these Terms and Conditions in any manner. Each time you use the Kennys.ie web sites, you acknowledge and signify that you have understood and agreed to be bound by these Terms and Conditions as they then read. - Your account with The Kenny Gallery Ltd.
You may not transfer your account to another person, share it with anyone, or use it to impersonate anyone. You agree that you will provide us with accurate account information (such as your real name, valid e-mail and delivery addresses, and accurate, non-fraudulent payment information). We may terminate your account if we are unable to verify or authenticate the information you provide to us. Accounts may only be created by individuals who are able to enter into legally binding and enforceable contracts. - Permission to use the Kennys.ie web sites.
Users of the sites must comply with all applicable laws. Persons in jurisdictions may not use the sites where access to or use of the sites or any part of them may be illegal or prohibited. If you breach any provision of these Terms and Conditions, you may no longer use the Kennys.ie web sites. We may, at our discretion, refuse permission to access and use of the sites.
The sites are made available to you for your lawful, personal, non-commercial use only. You may access and browse the Kennys.ie web sites only using commercially available, SSL enabled Web browser software. You may print or download the pages of the Kennys.ie web sites for your personal, non-commercial use, provided that you do not modify any of the pages or other content and you do not remove or alter any visible or non-visible identification, marks, notices, or disclaimers. - Returns Policy
The Kenny Gallery Ltd endeavors to ensure that the condition of every book listed on the sites is as described in those listings. If you are dissatisfied for any reason with any item, you may return your purchase within 30 days for a full refund. The Kenny Gallery Ltd reimburses shipping costs for returns only if the condition of the item is not as described on our Web site. By purchasing from The Kenny Gallery Ltd, you agree that a full refund with paid shipping will be your sole and exclusive remedy for any book you receive that is not as described on the kennys.ie site, and you waive all other remedies or actions in such event. This does not affect your statutory rights. - Disclaimer
With the exception for the returns policy described previously, The Kenny Gallery Ltd provides the sites and their contents on an "as is" basis. We make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, with respect to these sites or their operation, contents, or the items sold on the sites. While we make every effort to ensure accuracy of information, The Kenny Gallery Ltd disclaims any and all representations and warranties, including but not limited to any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose to the full extent permitted by applicable law. Furthermore, The Kenny Gallery Ltd does not warrant that information available on this site is accurate, current, or complete.
You are solely responsible for the security of all of the data contained on your computer system prior to accessing or using the Kennys.ie web sites. The Kenny Gallery Ltd will not under any circumstances be liable to you or any other person for any loss of use, loss of production, loss of income or profits (anticipated or otherwise), loss of markets, economic loss, special, indirect or consequential loss or damage or punitive damages, whether in contract, tort or under any other theory of law or equity, arising from, connected with, or relating to the use of the sites by you or any other person. In no event will our total liability to you or any other person for any claims, proceedings, liabilities, obligations, damages, losses, and costs, whether in contract, tort or under any other theory of law or equity, and regardless of any negligence or other fault or wrongdoing by The Kenny Gallery Ltd exceed the amount, if any, you have paid The Kenny Gallery Ltd for products you purchased as a result of the use in question. The exclusion of certain warranties and the exclusion or limitation of certain liabilities is prohibited by law in some jurisdictions. Such limitations may apply to you. The warranty disclaimer and liability exclusion and limitation clauses survive indefinitely after the termination of this Agreement. - Advice
The Kennys.ie web sites are not intended to be a comprehensive or detailed statement concerning the matters addressed; professional or expert advice or recommendations; or an offer or recommendation to sell or buy any book or other item, product or service. You should seek appropriate, qualified professional advice and recommendations before acting or comitting to act based upon any information provided on or through the sites. - Confirmation of Communication with The Kenny Gallery Ltd
Communications sent to The Kenny Gallery Ltd by means of the Kennys.ie web sites or email are not considered delivered or effective unless and until they are actually received and processed by a responsible representative from The Kenny Gallery Ltd. - Copyright Infringement
The Kenny Gallery Ltd make every effort to ensure that all necessary permissions have been obtained for material reproduced on the sites. You may report any claims or concerns (including copyright infringement claims) regarding the sites or their content by sending an email to firstname.lastname@example.com. - Ownership of the Kennys.ie web sites
The Kennys.ie web sites and their content (including all information in text, graphical, video and audio forms, images, icons, software, design, applications and other elements available on or through the Websites) are the property of The Kenny Gallery Ltd, and are protected by international copyright and other laws. Your use of the sites does not transfer to you any ownership or other rights in the Kennys.ie web sites or their content. - Links to other Sites
The sites may include references to, advertisements for, and links to, other web sites or businesses operated by other persons. These sites and businesses are independent from The Kenny Gallery Ltd, and The Kenny Gallery Ltd has no responsibility or liability for or control over these sites or businesses. These links, references and advertisements are provided solely for your convenience. The Kenny Gallery Ltd does not sponsor or endorse any business other than those belonging to The Kenny Gallery Ltd. The use of other sites is at the risk of the user and you shall not make any claim against The Kenny Gallery Ltd arising out of your use of any other sites. - Your Use of the Kennys.ie web sites
You agree that you will not use any robot, spider, other automatic device, or any manual process to monitor, copy, modify, distribute, or publish any web pages within the sites or the content contained thereon without our prior written consent. You also agree that you will not frame any portion of the Kennys.ie web sites without our prior written consent.
The scraping or data mining of the Kennys.ie web sites or any of their content in any form and by any method is strictly prohibited. - Privacy Policy
Kennys.ie web sites collect, use and disclose your personal information in accordance with our Privacy Policy, which may be viewed by clicking the link provided. We may change the Privacy Policy from time to time at our discretion. Each time you use the Website, you consent to our Privacy Policy as it then reads without any further notice or any liability to you or any other person. - Other Matters
These Terms and Conditions and all related matters are governed and interpreted in accordance with Irish law, and you consent to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the Irish courts.
If any provision of these Terms and Conditions is found to be unlawful, void, or for any reason unenforceable, then that provision shall be deemed to be severed from the rest of these Terms and Conditions and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions.
No consent or waiver by either party to or of any breach by the other party of these Terms and Conditions will be deemed or construed to be a consent to or waiver of a continuing breach or any other breach of these Terms and Conditions by that party. No consent or waiver will be effective unless in writing and signed by both parties.
You expressly request and require that these Terms and Conditions be drawn up in the English language.
Any rights not expressly granted in these Terms and Conditions are reserved to The Kenny Gallery Ltd.
These Terms and Conditions are subject to change without notice.
The Kenny Gallery Ltd.


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Apocalypse Meow's main focus is addressing WordPress security issues related to user accounts and logins. This includes things like:
- Brute-force login-in protection;
- Customizable password strength requirements;
- XML-RPC access controls;
- Account access alerts;
- Searchable access logs (including failed login attempts and temporary bans);
- User enumeration prevention;
- Registration SPAM protection;
- Miscellaneous Core and template options to make targeted hacks more difficult;
Security is an admittedly technical subject, but Apocalypse Meow strives to help educate "normal" users about the nature of common web attacks, mitigation techniques, etc. Every option contains detailed explanations and links to external resources with additional information.
Knowledge is power!
Due to the advanced nature of some of the plugin features, there are a few additional server requirements beyond what WordPress itself requires:
- WordPress 4.4+.
- PHP 7.3 or later.
- PHP extensions: (bcmath or gmp), date, filter, json, pcre.
MySQL grants.- Single-site Installs (i.e. Multi-Site is not supported).
Please note: it is not safe to run WordPress atop a version of PHP that has reached its End of Life. Future releases of this plugin might, out of necessity, drop support for old, unmaintained versions of PHP. To ensure you continue to receive plugin updates, bug fixes, and new features, just make sure PHP is kept up-to-date. 🙂
Log Monitoring
Some robots are so dumb they'll continue trying to submit credentials even after the login form is replaced, wasting system resources and clogging up the log-in history table. One way to mitigate this is to use a server-side log-monitoring program like Fail2Ban or OSSEC to ban users via the firewall.
Apocalypse Meow produces a 403 error when a banned user requests the login form. Your log-monitoring rule should therefore look for repeated 403 responses to wp-login.php
. Additionally, some robots are unable to follow redirects; if your login form requires SSL, you should also ban repeated 301/302 responses to catch those fools.
If you have enabled user enumeration protection with the die()
option, requests for ?author=X
will produce a 400 response code which can be similarly tracked.
Privacy Policy
When active, this plugin retains security logs of every sign-in attempt made to the CMS backend. This information — including the end user's public IP address, username, and the status of his or her attempt — is used to help prevent unauthorized system access and maintain Quality of Service for all site visitors.
This information resides fully on the hosting web site and is not shared with any third parties unless the Community Pool feature is enabled, in which case any IP addresses responsible for attacks against your web site are periodically shared with Blobfolio, LLC, the maintainer of the centralized database. If any of those IP addresses are subsequently identified by multiple, independent sources, they will be published to a public blocklist (hosted by Blobfolio).
Data retention is entirely up to the site operator, but by default old records are automatically removed after 90 days.
Please note: Apocalypse Meow DOES NOT integrate with any WordPress GDPR "Personal Data" features. (Selective erasure of audit logs would undermine the security mechanisms provided by this plugin. Haha.)
Nothing fancy! You can use the built-in installer on the Plugins page or extract and upload the apocalypse-meow
folder to your plugins directory via FTP.
To install this plugin as Must-Use, download, extract, and upload the apocalypse-meow
folder to your mu-plugins directory via FTP. See the MU Caveats for more information about getting WordPress to load an MU plugin that is in a subfolder.
Please note: MU Plugins are removed from the usual update-checking process, so you will need to handle future updates manually.
Is this plugin compatible with WPMU?
No, sorry. This plugin may only be installed on single-site WordPress instances.
How does the Community Pool Blocklist Work?
The Community Pool is a new opt-in feature that combines attack data from your site with other sites running in pool mode to produce a global blocklist.
In other words, an attack against one becomes an attack against all!
The blocklist data is conservatively filtered using a tiered and weighted ranking system based on activity shared within the past 24 hours. For an IP address to be eligible for community banning, it must be independently reported from multiple sources and have a significant amount of total failures.
Your site's whitelist is always respected. Failures from whitelisted IPs will never be sent to the pool, and if the pool declares a ban for an IP you have whitelisted, your site will not ban it.
For more information, check out the Community Pool settings page.
How do I unban a user?
The Login Activity page will show any active bans in the top/right corner. You can click the button corresponding to the victim to remove the ban.
If you accidentally banned yourself and cannot access the backend, you have a few options:
- Wait until the defined time has elapsed;
- Login from a different IP address (tip: use your cellphone (via data, not Wifi));
- Ask a friend to login and pardon you;
- Temporarily de-activate the plugin by renaming the
plugin folder via FTP;
Remember: you can (and should) whitelist any IP addresses that you commonly log in from. This is done through the Settings pgae.
Can I see the passwords people tried when logging in?
Of course not! Haha. Apocalypse Meow is here to solve security problems, not create them. Only usernames and IP addresses are stored.
Will the brute-force log-in prevention work if my server is behind a proxy?
As of version 1.5.0, it is now possible to specify an alternative
variable Apocalypse Meow should use to determine the visitor's "true" IP. It is important to note, however, that depending on how that environmental variable is populated, the value might be forgeable. Nonetheless, this should be better than nothing! -
I am seeing "You are running Vue in development mode." in the console?
This informational message appears on Apocalypse Meow admin pages if your site is running in WP_DEBUG mode. This version of Vue.js can provide more useful information for debugging Javascript-related issues.
is set toFALSE
(which should be the case for any production sites), the leaner production version of Vue.js is loaded instead. 🙂 -
Multi-Server Setup
Apocalypse Meow tracks login history in the database. If your WordPress site is spread across multiple load-balanced servers, they must share access to a master database, or else tracking will only occur on a per-node basis.
Wachangiaji & Wasanidi
"Apocalypse Meow" is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.
ContributorsTranslate "Apocalypse Meow" into your language.
Interested in development?
Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.
- [Fix] Add workaround to fix compatibility with (unaffiliated)
plugin. - [Fix] Remove obsolete documentation.
- [Fix] Fix documentation typo.
- [Docs] Update notes for the
- [Fix] Improve PHP 8 compatibility.
- [Fix] Don't trust WP error filters send


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Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, had a book deal ripped up on Thursday, one day after the senator was among a cadre of Republican members of Congress who objected to counting the Electoral College votes in the states of Arizona and Pennsylvania.
The attempt to overturn the results of November's presidential election set off a violent protest in Washington DC, as Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, rioted and disrupted a joint session of Congress for nearly six hours. Dozens were arrested, and four people died amid the riots
Famed publisher Simon & Shuster was set to publish the book "The Tyranny of the Big Tech." The publisher announced Thursday it would no longer print the book.
"We did not come to this decision lightly," Simon & Shuster said in a statement. "As a publisher it will always be our mission to amplify a variety of voices and viewpoints; at the same time we take seriously our larger public responsibility as citizens, and cannot support Senator Hawley after his role in what became a dangerous threat to our democracy and freedom."
The senator responded by alleging that his freedom of speech is being violated. He threatened to file a lawsuit against the publisher.
"This could not be more Orwellian. Simon & Schuster is canceling my contract because I was representing my constituents, leading a debate on the Senate floor on voter integrity, which they have now decided to redefine as sedition," Hawley said. "Let me be clear, this is not just a contract dispute. It's a direct assault on the First Amendment. Only approved speech can now be published. This is the Left looking to cancel everyone they don't approve of. I will fight this cancel culture with everything I have. We'll see you in court."
While the issue of censorship can be debated, Hawley falsely claims that this is a violation of the First Amendment. The First Amendment protects the freedom of speech from government regulations, and not from private companies.


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Rachel A. Maassen, MD, MBA
Welcome to the UI Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. We provide consultation, comprehensive treatment planning, and a broad range of services for patients with normal and high-risk pregnancies and for gynecology, including oncology and reproductive endocrinology.
Our comprehensive medical, surgical, and nursing services span the full spectrum of all obstetric and gynecologic patients at University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics. In addition to patient care the department is noted for its strong educational programs for medical students, residents, fellows, and practicing physicians. Basic and clinical research in reproductive medicine is an important departmental activity. Additional specialty areas include: genetics counseling, infertility, in-vitro fertilization, gynecologic urology, menopause, pelvic pain, prenatal diagnostics, and reproductive care.
We are dedicated to excellence in the education of medical students, residents, and fellows, as reflected by a competency-based curriculum that is designed to provide practitioners with comprehensive knowledge and outstanding skills. The clinical and research efforts of trainees are closely mentored and nurtured. Our graduates move on to successful careers in clinical practice and academic obstetrics and gynecology. We have ACGME accredited fellowship programs in Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery, Gynecologic Oncology, Maternal Fetal Medicine and Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility.


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Updated January 27, 2023 at 5:24 PM ET
Israeli police say a Palestinian gunman killed at least seven people and injured several more at a synagogue in Jerusalem's Neve Yaakov neighborhood, in one of the deadliest attacks on Israelis in years.
Israeli media report Jewish worshipers had finished Friday night Sabbath prayers and were outside the synagogue when the gunman, identified by police as a 21-year-old man from East Jerusalem, opened fire. Police say the gunman drove away and police stopped him, and he opened fire on police officers, who shot and killed him.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the country Friday night and promised Israel would respond, but didn't specify how. He also told Israelis not to act on their own but to let Israel's security forces take action.
U.S. State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel called Friday's shooting in Jerusalem an "absolutely horrific" attack. "Our thoughts, prayers and condolences go out to those killed or injured in this heinous act of violence," he said at a news briefing. "We condemn this apparent terrorist attack in the strongest terms. We are in direct touch with our Israeli partners."
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre promised the U.S. "will extend our full support to the government and people of Israel. Accordingly, the president has directed his national security team to engage immediately with Israeli counterparts to offer all appropriate support in assisting the wounded and bringing the perpetrators of this horrible crime to justice."
Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to travel to the region this weekend and the State Department said there was no change to his schedule.
The attack comes as violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank has intensified. On Thursday, the Israeli military conducted its deadliest raid there in years, leaving at least nine people dead including a 61-year-old woman. Israel said it was raiding the home of a militant in the crowded Jenin refugee camp.
Following that, militants in the Gaza Strip fired rockets toward Israel and Israeli warplanes bombed Hamas sites in Gaza a day after the deadliest Israeli raid in the West Bank in years. There were no injuries reported from the rocket fire or air strikes.
Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesperson for United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, said in a statement condemning Friday's attack, "The Secretary-General is deeply worried about the current escalation of violence in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory. This is the moment to exercise utmost restraint."
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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The Ice Pirates
- -The time is the distant future, where by far the most precious commodity in the galaxy is water. The last surviving water planet was somehow removed to the unreachable centre of the galaxy at the end of the galactic trade wars. The galaxy is ruled by an evil emperor (John Carradine) presiding over a trade oligarchy that controls all mining and sale of ice from asteroids and comets.


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The success at UCF is a critical step in developing "human-on-a-chip" systems. The systems are models that recreate how organs or a series of organs function in the body. Their use could accelerate medical research and drug testing, potentially delivering life-saving breakthroughs much more quickly than the typical 10-year trajectory most drugs take now to get through animal and patient trials.
"These types of systems have to be developed if you ever want to get to a human-on-a-chip that recreates human function," said James Hickman, a UCF bioengineer who led the breakthrough research. "It's taken many trials over a number of years to get this to occur using human derived stem cells."
Hickman's work, funded through the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) at the National Institutes of Health, is described in the December issue of Biomaterials.
Hickman is excited about the future of his research because several federal agencies recently launched an ambitious plan to jump-start research in "human-on-a-chip" models by making available at least $140 million in grant funding.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) are leading the research push.
The goal of the call for action is to produce systems that include various miniature organs connected in realistic ways to simulate human body function. This would make it possible, for instance, to test drugs on human cells well before they could safely and ethically be tested on living humans. The technique could potentially be more effective than testing in mice and other animals currently used to screen promising drug candidates and to develop other medical treatments.
Such conventional animal testing is not only slow and expensive, but often leads to failures that might be overcome with better testing options. The limitations of conventional testing options have dramatically slowed the emergence of new drugs, Hickman said.
The successful UCF technique began with a collaborator, Brown University Professor Emeritus Herman Vandenburgh, who collected muscle stem cells via biopsy from adult volunteers. Stem cells are cells that can, under the right conditions, grow into specific forms. They can be found among normal cells in adults, as well as in developing fetuses.
Nadine Guo, a UCF research professor, conducted a series of experiments and found that numerous conditions had to come together just right to make the muscle and spinal cord cells "happy" enough to join and form working junctions. This meant exploring different concentrations of cells and various timescales, among other parameters, before hitting on the right conditions.
"Right now we rely a lot on animal systems for medical research but this is a pure human system," Guo said. "This work proved that, biologically, this is workable."
Besides being a key requirement for any complete human-on-a-chip model, such nerve-muscle junctions might themselves prove important research tools. These junctions play key roles in Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, in spinal cord injury, and in other debilitating or life threatening conditions. With further development, the team's techniques could be used to test new drugs or other treatments for these conditions even before more expansive chip-based models are developed.


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