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The decision by an Indian court not to grant a new patent to drug firm Novartis for a modified form of its cancer drug Glivec (known as Gleevec in the U.S.) was a heavy blow to the company. It may be more than that, though, as other pharmaceutical companies had been eagerly awaiting the outcome of the case, because of the bearing it has on their own businesses in India and in other emerging-market countries.
For those companies, the news is not good. The ruling signals higher risk in emerging markets for pharmaceutical companies, according to Fitch Ratings. However, it is not necessarily bad news for international investors, who may want to turn their attention instead to the makers of generic drugs in India. Here's why.
Novartis had been fighting in India for the right to patent the new version of Glivec since 2006. While Novartis holds patents in almost 40 other countries for Glivec, the original drug was not patented in India because it was developed before the country's patent law was passed in 2005. In its decision, what the Indian court did was to strike a blow against "evergreening" or the practice by drug companies of developing a slightly different version of a successful drug and obtaining a patent on that new version.
Evergreening is common practice among pharmaceutical companies, who seek to sustain patents for as long as possible on the drugs they develop because of the high cost of development: it can run more than $1 billion on average, according to Fitch, for a company to develop a drug and bring it to market. This includes the costs of researching failures—drugs that do not survive trials and actually enter the market.
Holding a patent on a highly successful drug, which Glivec is, means substantially higher revenue for the drug company holding the patent. In markets in which Glivec is patented, for instance, it costs patients about $2,600 per month. The generic version costs about $175 in India—which of course makes it accessible to far more patients. HIV drugs have fallen similarly in price with the expiration of patents, from perhaps $10,000 annually to around $150, and some cancer treatments now cost only 3% of their original price, according to figures from Medicins Sans Frontières.
As a result, the Indian court's decision has been greeted with relief by medical professionals who point to the high cost of patented drugs as an obstacle for the poor in countries all over the world. The Indian patent law contains a provision that specifically addresses evergreening, by only granting patents for drugs that are completely new and not simply variants on existing products.
Novartis isn't the only company to feel the sting of the Indian patent law. In September, Bayer failed to prevent its drug Nexavar from going generic in India, with Natco Pharma emerging triumphant as the manufacturer of the generic version. (Natco's stock soared on news of the Glivec decision as well, even as Novartis's stock fell.)
According to Britta Holt, an analyst at Fitch Ratings, patent protection is an important factor in a company's rating and has been a reason for mergers and acquisitions in the past. "Within the patent protection period, revenue generated from drug sales is fairly predictable. The pharmaceutical companies usually need this period to recoup the huge group R&D expenses connected with the development of products. Thus a product portfolio with a lengthy patent protection period is a positive credit factor," she stated in a research report.
In addition, large companies benefit, she said, from diversification and economies of scale for research. Having several different drugs in the pipeline at various stages of development "is important given the high risk coupled with a long research cycle." Smaller companies carry lower ratings typically for their lesser ability to reap such "economies of scale in R&D, marketing and from other cost efficiencies," according to the report.
Still, while large pharmaceutical companies cannot look forward to an indefinite series of patents in India—or, for that matter, in China, where in June of last year intellectual property laws were modified to allow government issuance of compulsory licenses for domestic generic drugmakers to produce products that are still under patent elsewhere, for "reasons of public health"—Fitch expects emerging markets to offer the main opportunity for growth of large pharmaceutical firms in the next few years, driven by both economic and population growth.
European drug makers have suffered recently, according to Holt, from patent expiry in the U.S. and in Europe, as well as from structural problems in the European market that has seen drug companies' prices decline by mid-single digits. This loss in profitability across Europe—with AstraZeneca logging a drop of 19% in European sales at constant exchange rates, Sanofi down 9%, GlaxoSmithKline 7%, Novartis 5%, and Roche 2%—has led pharmaceutical companies to look to emerging markets for growth, even as at least one company, GlaxoSmithKline, looks to reduce its exposure in the European market.
While the "patent cliff"—expiring patents—is less than half as severe for 2013 as it was in 2012, it remains a problem for large companies with patents on the verge. As a result, companies are looking toward opportunities elsewhere. Fitch expects M&A activity in emerging markets, despite lower profit margins, because of the potential for growth. Indeed, Brazilian drug company Ache Laboratorios Farmaceuticos, which reportedly engaged Lazard to look into a potential sale of the company, has been attracting attention from a number of companies. Fitch's expectation is for small-to-medium acquisitions rather than major deals that could imperil a company's credit profile.
Bayer and Sanofi are best positioned among European pharmaceutical companies to take advantage of emerging market growth, since both already have a substantial share of healthcare sales there—33% for Bayer and 32% for Sanofi, according to Fitch. And while the research firm said it expects sales from mature markets to fall from 2011's 66% to around 57% in 2015, data analytics company IMS Health has projected that Brazil, China, India, Mexico, Turkey, South Korea, and Russia will account for 30% of the world market in 2016. As of 2011, their share was 20%.


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You may notice some cosmetic changes to the website happening, as we streamline and update the format and the look. We don't plan to change much as far as the content and style go; that all seems to be working pretty well.
One piece I have been asked to do more frequently, though, is tasting notes and reviews. I guess there are some folks out there who respect my taste and opinions about beer and want to know what I'm drinking when I'm not drinking my own homebrew. So OK, I will try to take notes from time to time and post some reviews of recent interesting commercial beers I've tasted.
One person who has asked for these reviews is my friend Sarah, wife of webmaster Rick. And coincidentally, she dropped off a beer for me the other day that she had found in a store (not ours) while doing some errands. She and Rick shared 5/6 of a six-pack while waiting for me to get around to tasting my one bottle and giving my two cents. I've done one better and actually given them a clone recipe to brew it. Since today would have been Sarah's late step-father Greg's birthday, it seems especially appropriate to raise a glass to him, review the beer and publish a recipe to brew your own at home.
Coal Porter, brewed in Bar Harbor, Maine, by Atlantic Brewing Co.
This is a deep reddish-brown to almost black porter, with a thin but resilient tan head. It pours with the impression of thickness (which it really isn't) and glows in the glass.
The nose reminds me of espresso beans (not necessarily brewed espresso, just the roasted beans), with hints of molasses and burnt sugar. There are some hop notes in the nose (a very English profile, to my senses) but the balance is towards roasted malt and sugars.
The first taste has traces of the same molasses, burnt sugar, perhaps toffee, and roasted malts. I detect a bitterness at the back of the tongue, but not much hop "flavor". As the beer warms a little, there is more molasses and caramel, perhaps even a hint of praline/pecan. I like the balance between the roasted malt and the sweetness, it might well benefit by just a bit more mid-boil hop flavor.
This is not so much an American-style porter (like, say, Great Lakes Brewing's Edmund Fitzgerald or the late-lamented Catamount Porter) but more of a mellow, sweet English-style brew, even approaching the sweetness and roastiness (if not the strength and full body) of the Taddy from Samuel Smith's.
Overall impression: very drinkable sweet porter, not far from an English brown stout in terms of malt profile. If you like hoppy, aggressive American porters, this is probably not going to be your favorite. But if you like a more malt-oriented sweet porter, you will enjoy Coal Porter.
The Recipe:
5 gallons, all-grain
- 8 lbs. 2-row pale malt
- 1/2 lb. 60°L crystal
- 1/4 lb. dark Munich malt
- 1/4 lb. chocolate malt
- 1/4 lb. black malt
- 8 aau's* Target (or Magnum) hop pellets
- 5 aau's Willamette (or Fuggles) hop pellets
- English Ale yeast (Danstar Windsor dry yeast, White Labs London Ale yeast)
- 1 cup amber DME (for priming)
IBU's: 37.5
Mash: 60 minutes in 13 quarts water at 152°F.
Sparge: 13 quarts water at 170°F.
Kettle: 60 minute boil, Target hops for 60, Willamette at knock-out.
Pitch yeast at 70°F.
Primary fermentation: 68 – 70°F for eight to ten days.
Secondary fermentation: cool (45 – 50°F) for three weeks.
Bottle condition cold for months (Atlantic claims to cellar theirs for six months before release).
What's an "aau"? Hops used in a recipe are measure in basically three ways, depending on where you are in the process. The bitterness of a particular batch of hops is indicated as a "percent alpha acid", or %aa. The higher the number, the more bitter the hop. The number of ounces of a hop used multiplied by its aa rating give the "alpha acid units" value, or aau. For example, 1/2 oz. of a 7% aa hop would give 3.5 aau's. 2 oz. of a 4.5% aa hop would give 9 aau's. When the hops are used in the boil, the aau's are multipled by a utilization factor (ranging from .7 for dry-hops or hops added for less than 5 minutes of boiling; to 4.5 for hops in the boil 90 minutes or longer), a table of which can be found in our Seven Barrel Brewery Brewers' Handbook (p. 299). This gives you the approximate IBU (International Bitterness Units) rating. In this recipe, there are 8 aau's for 60 minutes (factor of 4.25, or 34 ibu's) plus 5 aau's at KO (factor of .7, or 3.5 ibu's), thus 37.5 IBU's in total.

subset: commoncrawl


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Service components (BPEL process, business rule, human task, spring, and mediator) are the building blocks that you use to construct a SOA composite application. The Service Infrastructure provides the internal message transport infrastructure capabilities for connecting service components and enabling data flow. Service engines for the components process the message information received from the Service Infrastructure. See SOA Composite Application Architecture for more information about service components.
Oracle Business Activity Monitoring consumes data transported over the Service Infrastructure, providing powerful business insight capabilities.
The following components comprise an Oracle SOA Suite installation:
The following components are included with Oracle SOA Suite, but available as a separate download:
Both the Oracle Service Bus and the Service Infrastructure share common components, including Oracle Adapters, Oracle Metadata Repository, and the UDDI registry. The UDDI registry is available with the Oracle Service Registry, which is a separately licensable component. See Oracle Service Registry for more information.
In addition, several separately licensable products interoperate with Oracle SOA Suite components. See Interoperability with Other Oracle Products for more information.


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OAKLAND, Calif. - Many a bearded major leaguer disapproves of the bushy black mess hanging from Brian Wilson's chin these days.
Yet there's no arguing the beard's potential as the relief pitcher chases a third World Series ring in four years.
"Horrible, but it fits him," said Oakland right fielder Josh Reddick, who trimmed his own beard during a funk earlier this season.
Across baseball, from the Bay Area to Boston and, this year, Southern California, those out-of-control playoff beards are back in a big way this October.
Hands down, the bushiest, most gnarly of them all belongs to Wilson. And he certainly can be considered among the trendsetters considering he grew his for the Giants' run to the World Series title three years ago and has hardly touched it or tamed it since.
With a recent move from San Francisco to the rival Los Angeles Dodgers, Wilson is back in the playoffs. He won a World Series ring in 2010 as the majors' saves leader, then earned another last year despite being sidelined for most of the season recovering from a second Tommy John elbow surgery.
Despite the often sore sight of Wilson's ratty dyed-black 'do, he has earned his share of respect.
"It's impressive, and it's got a World Series ring," A's reliever Sean Doolittle said. "That's what everybody's after, and that's what all beards aspire to, I guess."
Doolittle has a good one himself, unusual with its varying colours featuring a blond tuft in the middle — not chemically enhanced like Wilson's foot-long fuzz.
"It's tough to compete with the multicolored look, how it's got the brown and the red, and the blond in the front," Doolittle said. "It might not be the thickest or anything like that but it gets points for being unique and different."
For many in this superstitious, unshaven fraternity, there's no shaving until season's end. Let those rally beards grow.
The Red Sox added some new bearded stars to their lineup this season, signing Mike Napoli and Shane Victorino as free agents along with Jonny Gomes — who took his beard from out West in Oakland to the Red Sox.
A's catcher Derek Norris offered up some coast-to-coast razzing.
"The one common denominator with the beards, I think Jonny Gomes is probably the one who started that over there," Norris said. "We had initially started some beards, so I'm not sure if Jon is stealing that away or is just wanting to continue it. In here, Doolittle takes it. In spring training, I asked him if he was going to grow it out and he said no. I said, 'Just test it out for a few weeks,' and look where he is now. It's majestic, and it's beautiful and red, and it's great."
Manager Bob Melvin is all for it. Just don't ask the 2012 AL Manager of the Year to go anything but clean shaven.
"Whoever wants to do it," Melvin said. "This organization has been known for its different looks and free spirit, so if that's what they want to do and get some guys in the same direction with that, that's fine. I'm not going to be one of them. They haven't tried."
While Wilson will be the biggest beard on the big stage in the National League playoffs, Cardinals closer Jason Motte and his beard will be bystanders this time around as he recovers from season-ending Tommy John surgery in May.
In Boston, the beards are something to celebrate right along with the club's return to the playoffs under first-year manager John Farrell following a three-year absence. Napoli has taken to a beard-tugging ritual when things go right.
"It's become one of the personality traits of this team," Farrell said. "It's kind of gained in popularity. As much as the helmet-slapping can be commonplace, this is ours. I can only imagine it doesn't feel real good."
The Red Sox marketing department pulled off a home run of its own when Fenway Park hosted "Dollar Beard Night" and had more than 4,000 beards show up — both the artificial and legitimate kind — with many others turned away.
"The beards are part of the camaraderie. It's almost intense," Red Sox owner John Henry said last month. "I, for one, underestimated — potentially have always underestimated — the effect of camaraderie."
Doolittle won't argue that. It has been a hoot in Oakland's low-key clubhouse.
"Absolutely," Doolittle said. "You get guys who are joking about each other's beards and having friendly competitions to grow beards. It helps give the team a little bit of an identity. It's just another fun thing that helps."
AP Sports Writer Jimmy Golen in Boston contributed to this story.


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It's a Mary Poppins Party~
Read more after the break...
So to celebrate - a group of local Utah bloggers are getting together to throw our blog readers a party. Yes, an actual real life party Mary Poppins style!
We are hosting a giveaway for you to enter to win a chance to attend the party! Ten winners will be chosen and each winner will invite a guest of their choice to our AWESOME party. The Mary Poppins party is adult only and will be held on Friday, September 20th 11:30 AM in Alpine, Utah. Lunch and goodies will be served! This party is all about YOU (those who win and their guests). And we even have fabulous party goody bags for you and your guest.
I know that many of you won't be able to attend because of distance. But for those who live in Utah and want to join our celebration, please enter the giveaway for a chance to attend. We are all very excited to meet you and make new friends. Check out all of the bloggers who are participating and will be attending the party....
If you won, who would you invite? Your best friend, mom, sister or a friend who loves anything Mary Poppins?
Prize: 10 winners will each receive an invitation for two to the Mary Poppins Party on Friday September 20th in Alpine, Utah. The winner and their guest who attend the event will each be given a party goody bag.
Eligibility and Rules: This giveaway runs from 1:00 pm MT on August 29, 2013 to 1:00 pm MT on September 5, 2013. This giveaway is open to individuals over the age of 18. This is an adult only party. Winners must be able to provide their own transportation to and from the party located in Alpine, Utah. The winner will be chosen randomly through the Rafflecopter form. It is the sole responsibility of the winner to adhere to all laws , which includes payments to any governing tax body. This giveaway is void in any country where it is prohibited by law.
Claiming Prize: The winners must claim their prize within 48 hours of receiving notice. If you do not claim your prize within this time frame, your entry will be void and another winner will be chosen. To claim your prize please email toni@designdazzle [dot] com.
Disclosure: This giveaway is a blogger-sponsored event that is in no way affiliated with Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram or any other social media channel. If you have questions about the administration of this giveaway, email Toni at Design Dazzle at toni [at] designdazzle [dot] com. It's super easy to enter the giveaway using only your email address! For extra entries leave a comment or follow us on Pinterest! a Rafflecopter giveaway


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Much media work requires changing characteristics of media files, such as bitrate or resolution. Finding a straightforward way to get started can be bewildering and intimidating. In this section, I intend to provide an easy onramp into that world.
You'll find two articles in this section. On this page, I provide some basic instruction in using two common media command-line utilities: Shaka Packager and ffmpeg. Why cover two applications? While both are powerful and useful by themselves, neither does everything needed to prepare media for the web.
The next page is a cheat sheet showing common operations with those applications. Corrections and additions to that part are welcome.
Media file characteristics
One thing you'll do often is look at the characteristics of a video: resolution, bitrate, codecs, and so on. Since this is just about the easiest thing to do in both Shaka Packager and ffmpeg, let's use this to get comfortable with these packages.
When we peek into a media file, we're going to see many file characteristics. For this article, I'm only focusing on characteristics in the cheat sheet.
Let's start with streams. Media files can almost be thought of as multiple files in one. The multiple "files" are called streams. A media file can have any number of streams, of more types than I will go into here. My examples will contain at most two, an audio stream and a video stream. (Among the other types you might encounter are captions and data, both of which are beyond the scope of this article.) There are many instances where audio and video streams are dealt with separately.
There are several characteristics that apply to each stream.
Bitrate is the maximum number of bits used to encode one second of a stream. The more bits used to encode a second of stream, the higher the potential detail and fidelity.
Resolution is the amount of information in a single frame of video, given as the number of logical pixels in each dimension. For example, a resolution of 1920 by 1080 works out to 1080 stacked horizontal lines, each of which is one logical pixel high and 1920 logical pixels wide. This resolution is frequently abbreviated 1080p because technically the width can vary. The numbers I've given produce an aspect ratio of 16:9, which is the ratio of movie screens and modern television sets. By the way this is the resolution defined as full HD.
When you look at the file characteristics using Shaka Packager and ffmpeg, you'll notice that the word 'resolution' doesn't appear. What the two applications output are just the dimensions, the numbers themselves.
Codec, which is short for coder-decoder, is a compression format for video or audio data. This is not the same as a file format. Think of the file format as the container and the codec as a way of arranging what's in the container. Different codecs are used for audio and video streams. Many file formats support multiple codecs for the same stream type. A complete list of available codecs would be a whole website itself. Listed below are the currently preferred codecs for mp4 and webm files.
|vorbis, opus
Shaka Packager
Shaka Packager is a free media packaging SDK for creating DASH/HLS packager applications with common encryption support, Widevine DRM support, live video, and video-on-demand. Despite what it says on the packaging, this utility is for more than C++ developers. It can be used as both a library for building media software and as a command-line utility for preparing media files for playback. It's the later capacity that interests me here. In fact, for web media creators, Shaka Packager is the only way to do some tasks without spending money on expensive commercial applications.
Here's the basic pattern for a Shaka Packager command line.
packager stream_descriptor[ stream_descriptor-2[ stream_descriptor-n]] [flags]
This isn't quite what you get if you type
packager -help. This is how I think
of it, and this reflects the examples in the
Shaka Packager README.
Note the multiple
stream_descriptors. This is useful for manipulating the
video and audio streams of the same file simultaneously.
Compare this basic pattern with something simple like displaying file characteristics. (I've lined up equivalent parts.)
packager stream_descriptor[ stream_descriptor-2[ stream_descriptor-n]] [flags]
packager input=glocken.mp4 --dump_stream_info
The output I am shown:
[0416/140029:INFO:demuxer.cc(88)] Demuxer::Run() on file 'glocken.mp4'.
[0416/140029:INFO:demuxer.cc(158)] Initialize Demuxer for file 'glocken.mp4'.
File "glocken.mp4":
Found 2 stream(s).
Stream [0] type: Video
codec_string: avc1.640028
time_scale: 30000
duration: 3225222 (107.5 seconds)
is_encrypted: false
codec: H264
width: 1920
height: 1080
pixel_aspect_ratio: 1:1
trick_play_rate: 0
nalu_length_size: 4
Stream [1] type: Audio
codec_string: mp4a.40.2
time_scale: 48000
duration: 5161379 (107.5 seconds)
is_encrypted: false
codec: AAC
sample_bits: 16
num_channels: 2
sampling_frequency: 48000
language: eng
Packaging completed successfully.
Look for the characteristics discussed in the last section and notice a few things. The height and width are correct for full HD, and the audio and video codecs are the preferred codecs for their container types, AAC for audio and H264 for video. Notice also that streams are identified with numbers. These are useful for operations that manipulate the audio and video separately.
Notice that it doesn't show the bitrate. Despite what's missing, it's easier to read, which is why I use it whenever I can. When I need information that Shaka Packager can't get, such as the bitrate, I use ffmpeg.
ffmpeg is also a free application for recording, converting, and streaming media files. I won't say its capabilities are better or worse than Shaka Packager's. They're just different.
The basic pattern for an ffmpeg command looks like this:
ffmpeg [GeneralOptions] [InputFileOptions] -i input [OutputFileOptions] output
Like Shaka Packager this application can handle multiple streams. Also, some of the options can be used in multiple locations and have different meanings depending on where they are in the command.
I'll again compare the basic pattern to the example for displaying file characteristics.
ffmpeg [GeneralOptions] [InputFileOptions] -i input [OutputFileOptions] output
ffmpeg -i glocken.mp4
This is technically an incorrect usage of ffmpeg. In addition to the output I care about, I'll see an error message, as shown in the example below.
Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'glocken.mp4':
major_brand : isom
minor_version : 512
compatible_brands: isomiso2avc1mp41
encoder : Lavf57.56.100
Duration: 00:01:47.53, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 10715 kb/s
Stream #0:0(eng): Video: h264 (High) (avc1 / 0x31637661), yuvj420p(pc), 1920x1080, 10579 kb/s, 29.97 fps, 29.97 tbr, 30k tbn, 59.94 tbc (default)
handler_name : VideoHandler
Stream #0:1(eng): Audio: aac (LC) (mp4a / 0x6134706D), 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 128 kb/s (default)
handler_name : SoundHandler
At least one output file must be specified
So those are a few bits about media manipulation software in a nutshell. Now jump next door to the cheat sheet. Check back every few weeks as we continue to add new content about media for the web.


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California has adopted the world's first rules to reduce greenhouse emissions for autos, taking what supporters see as a dramatic step toward cleaning up the environment but also ensuring higher costs for drivers.
LOS ANGELES California has adopted the world's first rules to reduce greenhouse emissions for autos, taking what supporters see as a dramatic step toward cleaning up the environment but also ensuring higher costs for drivers.
The rules may lead to sweeping changes in vehicles nationwide, especially if other states opt to follow California's example. New York has already said it will follow the regulations, and several other states are expected to do the same.
Under the regulations, unanimously approved Friday by the California Air Resources Board, the auto industry must cut exhaust from California's cars and light trucks by 25 percent and from larger trucks and sport utility vehicles by 18 percent.
"In the short term we probably won't see much effect because global warming is a very long-term problem," said Terry Tamminen, secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency (news - web sites). "People won't see immediate benefits from this but they need to understand that their children will."
Auto industry officials argued vehemently against the regulations on three points that the board did not have the authority to adopt the regulations, that they could not be met by current technology and that they unfairly targeted California, which produces less than 1 percent of the world's greenhouse gases.
The board said its research had found that the regulations would result in vehicle price increases that would top out at about $1,000 more per vehicle by 2016. The auto industry has estimated the increase at about $3,000, but the board's staff said that number was exaggerated.
The industry will have until 2009 to begin introducing cleaner technology, and will have until 2016 to meet the new exhaust standards. The proposals would require automakers to reduce emissions by using such technological innovations as better air conditioners, more efficient transmissions and smaller engines.
Board members said there is no dispute greenhouse gases contribute to global warming that can harm California's economy in fields ranging from agriculture to tourism.
They said the emissions can also lead to serious respiratory problems, especially among children, by exacerbating smog. Los Angeles has the worst smog problem in the nation.
But Gloria J. Bergquist, a spokeswoman for the industry trade group Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, said the regulations would only reduce worldwide emissions of greenhouse gases by "one-tenth of 1 percent."
"We see that as no apparent health benefit at a great cost to California consumers," she said.
Bergquist said manufacturers are already working to produce cleaner vehicles but introducing the technology required under the regulations would be "almost as complicated as developing the first automobile."
Asked after the vote if her group planned to sue to block the regulations, she said no decision had been made.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who supports the regulations, has pledged to fight any lawsuits brought by automakers.
California, with an estimated 26 million vehicles on the road, has long been a leader in automotive and environmental trends, and the new standards could have a coast-to-coast effect. Because California represents 10 percent of the national auto market, the auto industry often overhauls all of its cars to meet California's standards.
Because it began regulating pollution before the federal government, California is the only state able to set its own vehicle pollution standards. Other states can adopt either the federal standards or California's.
Under the Clean Air Act, however, the state needs approval for its regulations from the federal Environmental Protection Agency. The agency said last year that carbon dioxide, one of the greenhouse gases, was not a pollutant and that it did not have authority to regulate it.
California and several other states have filed a petition seeking to reverse the decision.
Board spokesman Jerry Martin said the EPA has approved California regulations in the past that were stricter than the federal government's, and may do so again.
Spokespersons for the EPA and the White House, which has authority over the agency, did not return calls for comment Friday.
The rules will also be reviewed by the California Legislature.
Board members said before the vote that they were disappointed automakers did not accept invitations to work with them on the regulations.
"The response, the silence, was deafening," said the board's chairman, Alan Lloyd. "I hope that we still can work together on this tremendously important issue. The stakes could not be higher."
The proposals stem from a law signed by former Gov. Gray Davis in 2002 that required the board to set emission standards for greenhouse gases. The bill's author, Democratic Assemblywoman Fran Pavley, said the fact that the action had the support of Davis, a Democrat, and Schwarzenegger, the Republican who replaced him, "speaks to the unified effort among all Californians" to reduce greenhouse gases.
Pavley said Friday's vote marked the first time in the world regulations have been placed on vehicles for the specific purpose of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
A July poll by the Public Policy Institute of California showed 81 percent of Californians support limiting greenhouse gas emissions.
In a campaign spearheaded by environmental groups, more than 112,000 people wrote cards or letters urging the governor to continue his support for the law.
Source:Associated Press


text: This first-ever ZvR special not only reunites co-creators Chris Ryall & Ashley Wood, but it opens the ZvR world to other creators, too. Creators like novelists Daniel Wilson (Robopocalypse) and Rio Youers, artists Sam Kieth and Andy Kuhn! In "Seasons of War", each creative team looks at a different season of the zombie-robot apocalypse!


text:
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Some of the countries regularly and consistently export our industrial filter, SS cartridges filter, industrial cartridges filter include cities like London,oxford,Newcastle,hull etc


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text:
2014 Latest Oracle 1Z0-863 Exam Demo Free Download!
Which two statements are true about JAXR support for XML registries? (Choose two.)
A. The CapabilityProfile tells a client the capability level of a registry.
B. UDDI registries must support ebXML to be compatible with JAXR.
C. The UnsupportedCapabilityException is processed for errors from non-Java providers.
D. The JAXR API declares methods as level 0 or level 1.
E. JAXR registry clients present an XML schema that defines the infomodel for the provider.
Answer: AD


text:
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If you have rosacea, as you probably know, unfortunately there is no cure, just ways to keep the symptoms under control. Using ZENMED Skin Support System products are a great start to minimize the redness, bumps and irritation that rosacea can bring, but there are a few other environmental and food issues you should be aware of to reduce your flare ups.
What you eat can be a major factor in exacerbating your rosacea symptoms. Alcohol, hot foods and drinks, citrus fruits, dairy, and chocolate can all cause flare ups. These may not all be triggers for you, but it's probably worth keeping a food diary and avoid foods that are triggers for you.
Any harsh weather can trigger your skin to become irritated – heat, cold, wind…. There isn't much you can control about the weather but not staying outside for long periods of time during harsh weather, or keeping your skin covered – by scarves or hats – can go a long way in preventing flare ups.
When your body is under any stress or you have an illness – this may be enough to cause inflammation in your body and lead to a flare up. Keep up with your relaxation techniques to reduce stress and keep your body as healthy as possible by eating right and getting enough sleep to ward off any illness.
Exercise can cause your body to overheat and your skin to flush. You may find that you have to exercise for shorter periods of time so your body doesn't get to hot, and you may need to move your workouts either indoors or outdoors depending on the weather.
The best advice I can give Rosacea sufferers is to keep your eye on your triggers and make some lifestyle changes. This, along with keeping up your skincare routine, will keep your rosacea symptoms under control.


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A step-by-step guide to exorcising the new demons in Microsoft Office 2013
12 enraging Office 2013 flaws -- and how to fix them
While the Office patriots wax poetic over Office 2013's new features -- gosh, I can't think of a better way to invite all my friends to connect on Linkedin -- those of us who have long struggled with Office see a lot of gratuitous change that simply gets in the way.
If you're new to Office, need some prompting about basic features, want to put all of your documents in SkyDrive, and don't mind STARING AT A SCREEN OF GRATUITOUS CAPS, the new Office 2013 should be right up your alley.
But if you've been using Office for a while, relegate files to SkyDrive begrudgingly, use Dropbox, and couldn't care less about touch, there are a few steps you can take to make Office 2013 tolerable.
Stuff the silly Start screens
Problem: All of the Office 2013 applications (except Outlook) show Start screens with a list of recently opened documents -- and vast numbers of rarely used templates -- when you start the app. Unless you keep working on the same docs over and over, invariably your first move is to click at the bottom left to open other documents.
Solution: To get rid of the Start screen in any of the Office apps, click File, Options. On the left, make sure General is selected and, at the bottom, uncheck the box marked Show the Start Screen When This Application Starts. The next time you start that app, you're greeted with a new blank document -- same way Office has worked forever.
Stop saving to SkyDrive as default
Problem: There's some confusion as to which specific kinds of Office 2013 installs lead to SkyDrive being set as the default location for both File Open, and File Save As. If you aren't sure if your specific copy of Office 2013 uses SkyDrive as a default, restart one of the Office apps, create a new, blank document, and click File, Save As. If SkyDrive is highlighted (you may have more than one SkyDrive account accessible), that's your default.
Solution: It's easy to change the default if you know where to look. Click File, Options. On the left, choose Save. Then under the Save heading at the top, check the box marked Save to Computer By Default.
Add Dropbox as an open/save location
Problem: It's click-and-drag easy to add "Favorites" to the Office 2010 Open and Save As dialogs. Dropbox and many other online storage services add an entry as a byproduct of installing the package. But when you click the Add a Place icon in the Open or Save As dialog in Office 2013, the only "places" you're allowed to add are SharePoint locations and additional SkyDrive accounts. Meh.
Solution: Dropbox has a script that you can run which will add a Dropbox location to the list of cloud locations. Although you have to figure out the path to your Dropbox folder (typically c:\Users\\Documents\Dropbox), running the script is easy.
Get rid of the Open/Save Backstage screens
Problem: So why, I hear you ask, do you have to use these cute SkyDrive screens to open/save in the first place? Sure, Microsoft wants to sell you SkyDrive space, but can't you tell Office 2013 to skip the cloud-sucking screens (called "Backstage screens") and cut to the old Open and Save As dialogs we've known for years?
Solution: Yes, you can tell Office to skip the Backstage screens. But I've had trouble getting the setting to work. In theory at least, you can click on File, Options, Save, and under Save Presentations check the box marked Don't Show the Backstage When Opening or Saving Files. Restart all of your Office apps. Does it work for you?
Remove those stupid ALL CAPS TAB TITLES
Problem: I DON'T KNOW WHY MICROSOFT MADE THE OFFICE 2013 TAB TITLES ALL CAPS WHEN WIN8 FILE EXPLORER AND ALL OF THE WIN8 APPS show Initial Caps. Bah. It's condescending to touch customers.
Solution: Fortunately, you don't have to LIVE WITH ALL CAPS. Right-click any tab, choose Customize the Ribbon. On the right, click on the name you want to change, click Rename, and give the tab any name you like. If you want to keep the name that's assigned to the tab by default (for example, "Home") rename with a space at the beginning or end of the name (" Home" or "Home "), or modify it in some other way (e.g., "_Home_"). Alas, you can't rename it FILE.
Turn off Read Mode
Problem: When you double-click on a DOC or DOCX file attached to an email message in Outlook, Word pops up in Read Mode (also called, confusingly, Reading View). As Tristan Davis said on the Office Next blog, it "essentially turns your Word documents into an interactive digital magazine." Pardon my vituperation, but Read Mode is just a pain in the pinky if you don't use touch.
Solution: In Word, click File, Options, and on the left make sure General is showing. Near the bottom, uncheck the box that says Open E-mail Attachments and Other Uneditable Files in Reading View. Restart Word.
Disconnect your Win8 Microsoft Account
Problem: The Office 2013 installer picks up your Microsoft Account info if you use a Microsoft Account to log in to Windows 8. While that makes it easier for you to use SkyDrive, and to carry your settings from one machine to another, it's yet another way for you to transmit your every move to Mother Microsoft. (Note: Some folks report that they can't get Background and Theme changes to take after disconnecting.)
Solution: Click File, Account (or File, Office Account in Outlook). To disconnect an individual SkyDrive account, which you may have added in a moment of delusion, click Remove next to the account. To disconnect your main account, at the top, click Sign Out. Restart Windows.
Use Word as your (slow) default PDF viewer
Problem: If you double-click on a PDF file in Windows 8, you get hurled over to the Metro side and stuck in the full-screen Metro Reader app. It's totally preventable if you have Word 2013. The new Word has a slow but almost always serviceable PDF viewing capability. There's no reason to use Acrobat Reader or Foxit, although you may want to keep one around for the unusual PDF file that doesn't render right in Word 2013, or really big PDFs, which take glacial time to render in Word.
Solution: In Windows Explorer or File Explorer, right-click on a PDF file. Choose Open With, Choose Default Program. Pick Word (desktop). Violà.
Disable inline replies in Outlook
Problem: When you reply to a message in Outlook 2010 or earlier, Outlook creates a new message in a free-floating window. When you hit Reply (or Reply to All) in Outlook 2013, your reply appears "inline," above the original message in the viewing pane on the right. Many of the message options available in Outlook 2010 aren't available in Outlook 2013, and it's easy to lose track of your reply when switching to other apps, unless you click "Pop Out" at the top. "Pop Out" makes Outlook revert to the 2010 behavior.
Solution: Click File, Options, Mail. In the Replies and Forwards section, check the box marked Open Replies and Forwards in a New Window.
Make Outlook search the current folder only
Problem: In Outlook 2010 and earlier, if you type something in the search box, up above the list of mail, Outlook performs the search on the contents of the current folder. Great. But in Outlook 2013, for reasons known only to certain sadists in Redmond, if you're looking at your Inbox, the search extends to all folders in the current mailbox. Which means you may end up accidentally deleting mail from the Deleted Items folder, for example, or replying to something you shouldn't. I'll raise my hand here and share your pain.
Solution: Click File, Options, on the left click Search. Under Results / Include Results Only From, choose the radio button marked Current Folder.
Set all of your favorite power user changes
Problem: Microsoft had a chance to make things easier for power users in 2013, but it didn't. All the training wheels are still there, and you have to hunt and peck to get rid of them. That's why, for example, every time you type an email address, it gets underlined, bolded, discolored, and set up as a link.
Solution: In Word click File, Options. Under General, you can show paragraph marks, tabs, and object anchors -- all crucial to understand formatting. In the Proofing area, click the AutoCorrect Options box and uncheck the settings you don't like. In Excel, click File, Options, and under Proofing, click the button marked AutoCorrect Options. And so on.
Pin your favorite folders
Problem: Pinning folders in the Open/Save As dialogs in Office 2010 is easy -- drag the folder to the left side of the Open dialog. In Office 2013, you can pin a folder that contains a document you've opened recently -- just click on the "pin" to the right of the folder. But if you want to pin any other folder to the Folders list, fuhgeddaboutit. (For example, if you frequently open files in subfolders under the "Invoices" folder, pinning "Invoices" -- not the subfolders -- defies imagination.)
Solution: Create a file in the folder you want to pin (in this example, "Invoices"), open the file, go back into File, Open and pin the folder, then delete the file. Can you find a better way?
The bottom line on Office 2013
Office 2013 isn't significantly different from Office 2010 -- which, except for Outlook, wasn't all that much different from Office 2007. You can learn to live with it, just as you have with its forebears.
To me the most off-putting aspects of Office 2013 are its tacked-on-tactile design and its insistence on thrusting SkyDrive in my face. I don't find the interface particularly well executed for touch -- not even close to Apple's Pages, for example. I prefer to use Dropbox or Google Docs, rather than SkyDrive, for cloud storage. That's zero for two.
If I were on a tablet all the time, I might consider using Office 2013. But on a desktop or notebook? No way; unless it's free.
Women in ICT Awards
ARN Innovation Awards
Emerging Leaders 2020


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LocationIdaho Falls
1523 N 25th E
Idaho Falls, ID 83401
New 2020 Dutchmen RV Aspen Trail 2810BHSWE
Dutchmen Aspen Trail 2810BHSWE travel trailer highlights:
- Dual Entry
- Double-Size Bunks
- U-Shaped Dinette
- Pantry
- Private Bedroom
If sleeping in your own comfortable bed, making meals while looking outside at the scenery, and talking to the kids around the campfire sounds like the life style you want to explore, take a look at this Aspen Trail travel trailer. Just imagine having exterior access to your own full bathroom while having fun outside and the ability to enter through a second entry to grab a snack or relax on the furniture. You also have lots of kitchen amenities, like the three-burner range and pantry to store food and make meals. Traveling to explore, play, or unwind just got a lot easier for the whole family with this Aspen Trail hitched up to your tow vehicle.
With each Aspen Trail travel trailer by Dutchmen RV, you can travel during any season thanks to the heated and enclosed underbelly, and you will find the mega exterior pass-through storage quite handy for your larger items, such as lawn chairs, a hammock, and campfire grilling utensils. The interior luxuries, such as the Everdream mattress, high-output furnace, and 82" ceiling height, are sure to impress, and the two exterior speakers give you the perfect reason to gather outside underneath the awning with friends.
Stock# N200062
Exterior Color: GREY
Interior Color: SANDALWOOD
|32 ft 2 in
|Ext Height
|11 ft 4 in
|Int Height
|6 ft 10 in
|Interior Color
|Exterior Color
|Hitch Weight
|816 lbs
|Dry Weight
|6344 lbs
|Cargo Weight
|3336 lbs
|Fresh Water Capacity
|52 gals
|Grey Water Capacity
|38 gals
|Black Water Capacity
|38 gals
|Number Of Bunks
|Available Beds
|Refrigerator Type
|Refrigerator Size
|6 cu ft
|Cooktop Burners
|Number of Awnings
|LP Tank Capacity
|20 lbs
|Water Heater Capacity
|6 gal
|Water Heater Type
|Gas/Electric DSI
|13500 btu
|Awning Info
|18' Manual
|Axle Count
|Number of LP Tanks
|Shower Type
Dutchmen Manufacturing has a long history of innovations and market leadership that dates back to 1988. They were acquired by Thor Industries in 1991, and are now one of the largest brands of conventional and fifth wheel trailers in the world. Dutchmen Mfg. produces several widely recognized brands of recreational vehicles which include; Aerolite, Aspen Trail, Breckenridge, Coleman, Denali, Dutchmen, Infinity, Kodiak, Komfort, Razorback, Rubicon and Voltage. With any Dutchmen product you will find the latest innovation and quality built recreational vehicles that will make your travel time away from home the most enjoyable. Dutchmen products include travel trailers, ultra lites, fifth wheels, toy haulers, destination trailers and park models.With Thor Industries financial strength and leadership in the Recreational Vehicle industry you can expect that Dutchmen Mfg. will be here providing the best products and service for years to come.


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Who We Are
The UFT Teacher Center, now in its 40th year, is a comprehensive professional development program that promotes educator excellence and academic achievement for all students.
The UFT Teacher Center operates throughout the five boroughs of New York City in some 130 school-based sites and borough-based locations. Learn more.


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We have live fortune tellers on site every night of the week. Tarot cards are our preferred method of prognostication, but divination may also take the form of palm reading, tea leaves, or other such hoodoo and hoohah.
Sunday-Thursday: 6pm-9pm variably (see calendar)
Friday-Saturday: 4pm-1:30am
Check our Facebook page for information about other events.
Rail drinks, Stag draught, and random wild card offerings for $2 all night!
RSVP at Meetup.com!
Tonight, tarot readers of all learning stages get together to practice and share knowledge. Fortune Teller Bar Tarot Reader Krista leads this practice night for the STL Cardslingers. It's very informal and chill, so bring your decks and love for tarot and enjoy the night!
Rail drinks, Stag draught, and random wild card offerings for $2 all night!


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This kid is having one hell of a season for the Wapakoneta Redskins. He won his weight class at the nutter center holiday tourney beating a kid from Graham. Today he won the Celina tourney in his class. He went from football right into wrestling and didnt lose a thing. Congradulations Dallas!
Dallas Ambos
Started by the_beezer, Jan 31 2015 07:57 PM
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Did you go to http://www.sun.com recently? You will land on oracle.com !
But more will come.
The conference JavaOne will be in SanFrancisco with Oracle OpenWorld.
The Sun Developer Network and Bigadmin will be integrated in OTN.
Welcome Sun Developers Ensuring community continuity
MySql and java.sun.com have the Oracle logo.
That was fast! Well, Oracle is quite used to acquisition, only this week they bought AmberPoint and Convergin.
Still MySQL strategy will probably change, I cannot believe Oracle will encourage the users to save millions on Oracle License by migrating to MySQL


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Currently 2.82/512345 Rating: 2.8/5 (Total votes: 34)
Rating: 2.8/5 (Total votes: 34)
Thanks to hardware acceleration in the presence of a sufficiently powerful device, the user can view high-definition video. Also, this application allows you to create playlists from the sheets, which is very convenient. The application supports the following formats: AVI, DivX, FLV, MKV, MOV, MPG, MTS, MP4, M4V, RMVB, WMV, 3GP, MP3.
What's New in This Release:
· added SMB host scan
· audio stream is now remembered when going to sleep
· if pop up video is active device is kept awake
· added support for Opus audio codec
· sleep timer now also works in background playback
· in some cases playback was not paused during incoming call, fixed
· fixed sorting in LAN mode
· some other bug fixes and changes
What's New in 1.8.148:
· new HW decoding mode for Nexus 10
· title for audio files is now properly updated when playing in background
· added exit application gesture
· added option to disable saving screen brightness
What's New in 1.7.146:
· display of meta tags in audio files
· better support for HLS m3u8 files
· VobSub/PGS subtitles are now scaled
· better support for more than one SD card/storage
· fixed seeking issues in files larger than 4GB
· added/updated translations for: French, Czech, German, Hebrew, Hungarian, Dutch, Slovenian, Turkish, Ukrainian languages
· some other bug fixes and improvements
What's New in 1.6.141:
· Android 4.2 Jelly Bean support
· all codecs are now integrated
· fixed seeking in TS files
· fixed double speed bug in some files
· added option to set timeout for LAN operations
· support for embedded VobSub/DVD and PGS subtitles
· added option to set number of recently played items
· fixed garbled audio with some files
· file opening can now be aborted
· added option to set timeout when to hide controls
· some other fixes/improvements
What's New in 1.5.136:
· workaround/fixed bug that was causing ANR (Application Not Responding) in some cases, when streaming from some media servers (Nexus Media Importer, BubbleUPnP...)
· context menu in Library was not always displayed, fixed
· added option to delete Play Queue
· updated YouTube streams format


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Listings in Archiving/Preservation, Taxonomy and Metadata, Content Services and Security in Dallas
Dexik, Inc.
in SharePoint and O365, Security, Multi-channel Capture, Information Governance, Content Services, Records Management, Data Privacy, Analytics Services, Consulting Services, Collaboration, Process Services
Dexik is a leading technology provider for the companies that are looking for BPM, ECM, Workflow and Automation Solutions. From small businesses to large corporations Dexik is committed to provide modern and robust solutions at a fair price.
1400 Preston Rd
Suite 400
Dallas, TX 75093
United States


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Update: TMZ reports that Clash did have a relationship with his accuser—but not while the younger man was underage. In addition, TMZ adds that the "Internet usage" issue involved personal e-mails between Clash and his accuser.
Update 2: Clash's unnamed accuser has now recanted on his initial claims, admitting that the relationship happened when he was an adult, not a minor.
Original story: Elmo, the fuzzy red puppet beloved by millions of Sesame Street-loving children, is an icon of innocence. While Elmo regularly uses a computer and answers e-mails in his Sesame Street segments, the digital world he lives in is a safe one—and Elmo would never break the rules, anyway.
His puppeteer, however, has run afoul of company rules regarding Internet usage. Kevin Clash, the voice of Elmo and the subject of a recent documentary called Being Elmo, has been accused of having some form of "relationship" with a teenage boy, beginning some years ago. Sesame Street Workshop has issued a statement saying that it investigated the complaint and found it to be "unsubstantiated." Clash is taking time off from the show to "protect his reputation" against the "false and defamatory" claims.
But the Workshop did say that the investigation turned up some inappropriate use of the Internet by Clash. "Although this was a personal relationship unrelated to the workplace, our investigation did reveal that Kevin exercised poor judgment and violated company policy regarding Internet usage and he was disciplined," said the statement.
In addition to making all sorts of behaviors that used to be difficult ridiculously simple (and thus making lapses in judgment almost too easy to indulge), the digital revolution also means that those lapses are all logged somewhere—in Web history logs, in e-mail accounts, in computer login records, in "deleted" files. From the director of the CIA to the voice of Elmo, is there anyone that the Internet can't trip up?
For now, though, enjoy my children's favorite Elmo clip:


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Whether it is the matter of sending out a Bartow company's message or advertising its product, the importance of outdoor led signs can't be underestimated when it comes to considering different promotional methods of company's products and services.
Today, we can see these signs on different places, including roads and highways. In the present scenario, some corporate houses use high-definition and detailed led signs, while the usage of simple one-line sign is appreciated amongst the others.
Most of the LED signs are operated by a central computer system. These sorts of signs are quite popular among the masses because they lessen the hassle of altering a sign whenever needed. Outdoor Led signs con do work perfectly with all operating systems. For easy programming purposes, people prefer to use wireless keyboards.


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Arts & Life
Canstar Community News
About Us
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 6/2/2013 (2784 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
OTTAWA -- Employers in Manitoba may have to adjust some shift schedules and working hours to reasonably accommodate the child-care needs of employees after a Federal Court ruling this week.
Federal Court Justice Leonard Mandamin Tuesday upheld a 2010 Canadian Human Rights Tribunal decision that ordered the Canada Border Services Agency to adjust its policies after a border-services officer argued she had been discriminated against based on the fact she had young children.
Stuart Rudner, employment law specialist with Miller Thomson near Toronto, said the decision makes a bold statement about the country's legal landscape.
Disability, gender and religion are no longer the primary basis for human rights complaints, he said, adding family-related issues are bound to gain more prominence in the coming years.
"This is likely the next frontier," Rudner said. "(The ruling) does set the precedent now that confirmed what many of us suspected, which is that employers are susceptible to these complaints."
In the CBSA case in question, Fiona Johnstone, a border-services officer in Toronto, asked to be able to work three specific days a week, 13 hours at a time, because she had not been able to find a child-care arrangement that would accommodate the normal rotating shifts of five days of 8.57 hours of work per day, followed by three days off.
The CBSA said the only way to get fixed shifts was to become part-time and work a maximum of 34 hours a week. That meant Johnstone would be ineligible for benefits, pension, training and advancement opportunities available to full-time employees.
So Johnstone filed a complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Commission in 2004. She argued the employer allowed workers to keep full-time schedules and fixed shifts if it was required for religious or medical reasons but would not accommodate her need for child care.
A witness at the tribunal hearing, accepted as an expert in child care, testified the kind of child care Johnstone needed to accommodate rotating, non-standard and unpredictable hours, including overnight shifts, is not easy to find.
That is certainly the case in Winnipeg, said Ron Blatz, executive director of the Discovery Children's Centre in St. James. He said his centre is one of maybe eight in the city that is open in the evenings and one of three that is open on weekends. One of his parents drives to St. James every morning from East Kildonan to drop off her child because it is the only centre she could find where she could get care in order to make it to work for her 7 a.m. shift.
He thinks this decision will force employers to change how they see their role in the lives of families.
"I don't think employers think much about child care, but now they're going to have to," he said.
How many people this case may affect is up for debate and Blatz said the demand for off-hours care is much lower than the demand for care during standard working hours, Monday to Friday. He has about 65 families that use the extended evening hours. On Saturdays, the centre has never been at full capacity of 35 kids in the 12 years the centre has offered that option.
Victoria Sopik, president of Kids and Company, said she thinks many employers have slowly been coming around to accommodate child-care needs. Her company provides corporate child care to employees of companies who buy memberships in her centres. The centres, including one on Fort Street in Winnipeg, offer all sorts of hours and options for child care, including part-time, off-hours and weekends.
"There was a real switch when companies realized they were the prime beneficiaries, because people would come back to work after maternity leave," said Sopik.
-- with files from The Canadian Press
The Winnipeg Free Press invites you to share your opinion on this story in a letter to the editor. A selection of letters to the editor are published daily.
To submit a letter:
• fill out the form on this page, or
• email email@example.com, or
• mail Letters to the Editor, 1355 Mountain Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R2X 3B6.
Letters must include the writer's full name, address, and a daytime phone number. Letters are edited for length and clarity.


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You can find everything you need under a single roof in the City Galerie in Aschaffenburg, the largest city centre shopping center in Northern Bavaria. In addition to four large department stores, a total of more than 80 shops offer everything that the heart could desire. Let yourself be enchanted by the variety on offer, and enjoy an extended shopping spree in a pleasant atmosphere - in the very heart of Aschaffenburg!
The Brücken-Center in Ansbach is a bridgehead to shopping in the future. The modern, spacious architecture, the wide range of services available from the 60 shops and service providers in an area of 40,000 m², together with the comprehensive range of services turns every purchase into an experience. The focus is thereby always on the customer, who can browse around in peace in a family-friendly, disability accessible and weather-independent atmosphere close to the historic center.
Visitors before security check can enjoy shopping in the Presse&Buch bookstore with its selection of international newspapers and magazines as well as light fiction and travel literature. The Airport Shop offers travel accessories, regional souvenirs, tobacco products and drinks. After security, in the Duty Free & Travel Value Shop, travellers will find products with an emphasis on regional specialities. Take a stroll before departure through further stores with souvenirs, jewellery, stationery and news supplies.
Travellers from all over the world value the high stopover and service quality of Munich Airport. The airport contains a wide variety of shops and eateries. The range experienced by visitors and passengers of Munich Airport is extremely diverse. In the only brewery in the Airport the culinary spread ranges from Bavarian delicacies through Surf & Turf right up to international specialities. In addition, the MAC-Forum events venue lies in between Terminals 1 and 2.
In a vibrant atmosphere characterised by an international flavour, foreign language and trendy brand stores make shopping an adventure. Hamburg Airport's advertising material invites exploration of its numerous shops and culinary alternatives – all open seven days a week from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm. Our suggestion for successful shopping: enjoy a coffee on one of our visitors' terraces, with a view of the apron.
Take off into a new shopping dimension. On a single level the size of a football field awaits a world of the latest trends and choicest treats. Whether designer fashion or classic coffee with a view of the runway: here you will find exclusivity, diversity, variety and bargains, not least because of the unbeatable Duty Free prices. Experience shopping at Frankfurt Airport every day of the year; we offer a tremendous range of brands and products in over 300 shops.
The Boulevard-Tegel in Berlin offers passengers and visitors a truly unique shopping experience. The well-laid-out range of products in the open space of the Boulevard ensures a lively stopover at the airport. With more than 50 shops, eateries and services in the airport, Tegel covers the whole range from bookstores with individual advice through to fine confectionery, from Berliner currywurst to Italian delicacies.
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Δύο χρήσιμοι συνδυασμοί πλήκτρων για μεταβαλλόμενη εστίαση στο πρόγραμμα περιήγησης:
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On Snowpocalypse
It's been a little quiet. There are many reasons for that, but one of them is that the Seattle area just had a big dumping of snow that kept both Brade and I house bound for 3 days. As such, rather than doing things like working on a Hagara guide or finishing one of the dozen blog posts in my draft folder, I spent some of that extra time with Brade. Amongst other things we discovered the glories of Castle and navigated our way through the first season. When he opted to play Star Wars, I spent some quality time curled up with the puppy, drinking tea and reading People. And…I enjoyed it.
Anyhow, we received 12 inches of snow, if the weatherman is to be believed – which is a ton for the Seattle area. We only lost power a few times, and in flickers, so we were fortunate on that front as many people in the area lost power for days (and some still don't have it back). There was so much snow that after we walked the dog, we had to carry her back to the tub and use hot water to get the clumps of snow off of her feet. Here are some pictures of what it looked like at the end of last week.
On How I'm Doing
I've had a few people ask me how I've been – and the honest truth is I don't really know. I've kind of curled up into a little protective shell and I'm just trying to work through how I'm feeling. My life outside of the game has been great – and Brade has been nothing short of wonderful. However, I still feel like I'm trying to pick up my bootstraps and keep moving. A good number of people in the guild have been very supportive, which is encouraging. We've made a few more changes in the guild recently, and I think only time will tell how they work out. I think they have the potential to be very good, but like all things with potential, that potential has to be realized – so we will see how it plays out when all is said and done.
As for me, I've done quite a bit of baking the past couple of week. Which, of course, means I have to sample that baking to make sure it's edible. We wouldn't want to have anyone eat something that isn't tasty would we?! Brade and I are also planning a small holiday at the end of the month, which I think will be very healthy and that I'm looking forward to very much. Just some time away for a few days, where all we have to worry about is what time to get up in the morning and where we should have dinner.
(yes, those are as delicious as they look)
On other random things.
I've still been plugging along with A Dance with Dragons, and I've been enjoying it quite a bit. I'm moving through it slowly, but that's more because I've been doing a little less reading and a little more of other things right now (like having wonderful lunch chats with Keredria and Tikari, both of whom have been absolutely amazing these past couple of weeks, even if Chicago import K was highly amused by Seattle's reaction to Snowpocalypse!). I also have a list of things in my "to read" column right now that I'm looking forward to reading, so I may have to make a few "date nights" with good ol' George here soon.
In the couch potato field, (as I mentioned above) I've discovered Castle and wondered how on earth I missed this show. It's really quite good – and I got some quality snuggle time in with Brade during Snowpocalypse as we were both drawn into the show. I dare say that the dog quite enjoyed this snuggle time as well. Did you know that petting your pets is a known stress reducer?
If some of the changes that we've made with the raid end up working well, I've been thinking about taking some classes. What kind of classes you ask? Well, I wouldn't mind a gym class of some sort. When I was in college I took a PE class every semester just to make sure that I got out and had a scheduled exercise time. I think I'd like to explore something similar again. I'd like to do something with Brade, but I think he'd prefer a yoga type class where I think I'd rather a something a little more…active. Does anyone have anything that they've really enjoyed and would recommend?
I think I might like to take a class or two that keeps my hands busy – like a pottery, photography or cake decorating class. My mom used to do pottery type things with us as kids, and I still have a Dopey piggy bank that she made for me when I was a kid. I always enjoyed it when I got to go with her, so it might be something worth exploring. Something else that I used to do as a kid was cross stitch. I've not done it for, well, let's just say a very long time. But my mother was very adept at it, and I wasn't half bad, so it might be something to think about. One other thing that I've thought about – and you have to promise not to laugh – is picking up a Bob Ross Painting Kit and seeing how I did at making happy little trees. Just something to keep my brain and hands active, I suppose.
I'd love any suggestions people may have! If there is some activity that you love and would recommend, let me know! I have plenty of books, movies and video games – but I think I wouldn't mind exploring outside of those comfort zones a little bit to try something new. I know there's not a lot of "game" updates in this post, but that's because I've been spending a lot of time trying to recover from the past couple of weeks – I hope you all understand. I do have intentions of getting a Hagara video up soon, and doing the guides are something that I really enjoy (and have missed a bit in all of the stress), I've just needed some time to sort out myself and my thoughts. I've truly appreciated everyone's support, insights and suggestions. And I thank you all so much for them.


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Aug 4th: VPK Open House 5:00pm-6:00pm
Aug 10th: First Day of School
Aug 17th: YUM in VPK
BAD WEATHER: Child Care of Southwest Florida follows the Lee County School Board Bad Weather Closing Schedule. Please tune into your local weather station. If school is called off or closes early the center will follow suit. Please be prepared for alternative care in the event of bad weather closures.
VPK is a 540 hour free educational program that is designed to build the foundation for children's educational success. The VPK program offers each child an opportunity to perform better in school and throughout life by offering a developmentally appropriate curriculum with a focus on early literacy skills, accountability and increased teacher credentials. Parents of VPK children should plan on attending the VPK Open House and Orientation on Friday, August 4th from 5:00-6:00PM. You will receive your VPK orientation packet and have an opportunity to meet the teachers.
Thursday, August 10th — First day of class for VPK 2017-2018 school year. We welcome all new students to our center, wishing you all a great school year.
Summer's been great--swimming in the neighborhood pool, playing until dark, going to bed late at night, sleeping in every morning. Now, in a very short time, the routine has to change. What can you do now to make going back to school a pleasure, not a nightmare of nagging and yelling, delaying and dawdling?
Here are some tips for back to school: • Start getting kids in bed early. Begin a week before school gets underway. You can't force them to sleep, but you can see they're snuggled in bed looking at books. Lay out the clothes for the next day and lunch too. • Get yourself up and ready first. If you work outside the home, this step is crucial. All goes more smoothly those first days when you're available to guide your children each step of the way.
Remember your goal: You want your children up and out the door on time, and to move securely through the school day so each can reach his/her academic potential.
"Served as a light, refreshing warm weather snack, or as an accompaniment to brunch, these English muffin, strawberry and pineapple treats are delicious."
2 English muffins, split1 (8 ounce) container pineapple yogurt3/4 cup sliced fresh strawberries3/4 cup drained crushed pineapple
Lightly toast the English muffin halves in a toaster. Spread each half with pineapple yogurt. Top each half with strawberries and pineapple. Serve while English muffins are still warm.
Cheap ideas to try at home with your little ones!
DIY tugging box
Use any old box and poke holes in it. From the inside tie a knot on the ribbon or string and pull it through the box. Tie the other end and enjoy tugging at the strings.
Make a robot out of recyclable loose parts found around your house.
Practicing your fine motor skills with pipe cleaners and a colander.
Florida's sales tax holiday for school supplies is August 4-6th this year. During that weekend, clothes, shoes and bags that cost $60 or less are tax-free, as well as school supplies that cost $15 ore less and computer that cost $750 or less.
"Everything we do improves the lives of children."
Child Care of Southwest Florida 6831 Palisades Park Ct. Suite 6 Fort Myers, Florida 33912 You received this email because your child is enrolled at one of the Child Care Centers of Southwest Florida. Our 6 locations: The Children's Learning Center at FSW | Joseph H. Messina Child Care Center | P.A. Geraci Development Center | The Community Children's Center | Children's Garden of LaBelle | Harlem Academy Update your email preferences to choose the types of emails you receive. Unsubscribe from all future emails


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4-year-old killed himself with dad's gun in N. Houston
Police say child picked up pistol as his father slept on couch nearby
A 4-year-old boy accidentally shot and killed himself with his father's gun in north Houston early Sunday morning.
Jaiden Pratt was spending the weekend with his father, 21-year-old Marquiez Pratt, in the 13500 block of Northborough, just south of West Rankin, when the accident occurred, said Sgt. Brian Harris with the Houston Police Department's homicide department.
Father and son had been sleeping on the couch. The young boy woke up and picked up his father's handgun lying nearby, shooting himself in the stomach, police said. Neighbors heard the shot.
About 8:15 a.m., Houston Police Department patrol officers and an ambulance responded to the call.
The father, wearing just a T-shirt and boxer shorts, ran out of his second-story apartment, holding his son's body, screaming and yelling at neighbors for help. Upon arrival, EMTs took Jaiden from his father's arms and tried to revive the boy. He was declared dead at the scene.
"This is not a case of a responsible homeowner having a weapon for protection," Harris said. The serial number on the fired handgun listed it as stolen. It's not yet clear how the father came to possess it, Harris said.
The weapon was a .40-caliber semi-automatic pistol, which was stolen in a 2011 burglary. Several other weapons and drugs were found in the apartment, but Harris declined to provide any specifics. Harris said the living conditions at the apartment appeared to be adequate and the boy healthy.
"His mother was scheduled to pick him up at noon," Harris said, describing her relationship with the boy's father as amiable. She dropped off Jaiden with his father every Friday.
Drugs discovered
More Information
Jaiden typically called his mother at 6 a.m. when staying with his father, Harris said, and when the boy didn't call Sunday morning his mother began trying to reach other relatives.
"At about 8 in the morning, as all this was happening, she was told to get over to the apartment complex," Harris said.
Pratt faces charges of endangering a child and possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, said Houston Police Department spokesman John Cannon. Officers found marijuana, crack cocaine, scales and other equipment used to sell drugs in the apartment.
Cannon said the District Attorney's Office may eventually charge Pratt with making a firearm accessible to a minor, but under state law such a charge cannot be filed until seven days after the child is buried.
Harris described Pratt as cooperative and remorseful during interviews with police.
"He kept saying, 'I messed up. I messed up,' " Harris said.
Still dressed in boxers and a T-shirt stained with his son's blood, Pratt sat on the lawn outside his apartment as he spoke with detectives before being taken into custody and driven to jail.
'Despite the choices …'
"He's in mourning. He's in pain and feels a lot of self guilt," Harris said. "Despite the choices he made and the lifestyle he was leading, it doesn't take away the love a father has for a son."
As more family members arrived at the apartment Sunday morning, a yelling match broke out that officers had to break up. One woman, trying to cross the crime-scene tape yelled, "I'm gonna kill him! I'm gonna kill him!"
Police were initially told the child was an infant.
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