text:
Bavarian Mint Coffee Mix
1/3 cup powdered non-dairy creamer
1/3 cup of sugar
1/3 cup instant coffee
2 tsp baking cocoa
5 peppermint candies, crushed
Combine all the ingredients together; store in an airtight container. Attach instructions.
Instructions: Use 2 to 2 1/2 teaspoons per cup of boiling water.
All items can be bought in the bulk section. If you don't want to buy peppermint candies you can put some peppermint oil into your sugar before mixing all the ingredients. Or you can just give a candy cane with each gift and they can stir their coffee with the candy cane. Keep an eye out for vintage coffee mugs because this would be perfect in one. Plus save you some money. This was my personal favorite to give all my co workers. Everyone loved it.
Next......Friendship Tea


text:
20% off Airheads 2 in 1 Big Bar Fruit Punch.
20% off
Browse all deals at Amazon
See more in Apparel & Accessories
* This offer may contain time-sensitive information and offers. Please check with Amazon to confirm actual price & availability.
Please enter your name
- Be the first to comment!

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Booking frugal flights can be a balancing act. Here are some tips for getting the best combination of route, connections, and price, so you have a great flight.
Want to fly to France? Zip over to Zambia? Learn how, by taking advantage of this promotion, you can cut the cost of your international airfare.
Living frugally can help us achieve other goals — such as, in one writer's case, providing water and bicycles for people in Uganda.
If you're think you're doing all you can to earn frequent flier miles, get a bit of inspiration from these talented travelers.
It's not enough just to earn mileage awards from credit cards — you need to make the most of the miles you earn. Here's how to do it.
Sick of blackout dates and high mileage requirements? Discover which frequent flier programs are best — and which ones to leave behind when you fly.
Use these tricks to maximize frequent flier miles and use them in creative ways to get the most benefit with the smallest credit.
Become a fan
Follow us
Enter your email address to subscribe:


text:
Considering the name of this dish, I'm definitely a little late with posting this recipe but I just had to include it! Admittedly I did mean to add it earlier (particularly before my Goodbye Summer post) but I had so many recipes to share and to be honest had been hoping that Summer was going to last a little longer than it did! Cest' la vie, but I thought this recipe still had to be included so I'm making it for those of you that are still basking in the sun (especially those of you in the UK enjoying a fantastic Indian Summer!). And for those of us that aren't this is still delicious, regardless of the season!
This isn't really a mid-week meal as it does take a bit of time but I think it makes a fantastic casual meal to have with friends at the weekend. Serve it with a nice big salad, some bread if you fancy and of course a glass or two of wine!


text:
Seven Central Connecticut pitches combined for a five-hitter as the Blue Devils topped Hartford 5-1 on Tuesday afternoon in their final non-conference game of the season. It marks the fourth staight game of allowing zero or one run for the Blue Devils who have allowed just two runs in their last 33 innings. With the win the Blue Devils are now 24-18 overall. Hartford is 29-19.
Central scored first in the third inning on an RBI groundout from senior Josh Ingham. Senior J.P. Sportman walked and went to third on a single from classmate Anthony Turgeon. Ingham's groundout made it 1-0.
The lead reached 2-0 in the fourth inning on an RBI double from sophomore Connor Fitzsimons. Freshman Pat Sirois doubled to lead off the inning and scored on the play.
The Blue Devils scored twice in the seventh inning to make it 4-0. Sportman helped engineer the first run. He singled to third and went to second on a fielding error on the play. He went to third on a throwing error by the catcher as he tried to pick Sportman off of second base. He then scored on a short sacrifice fly from Turgeon to push the lead to three. Later in the inning Ingham walked, went to third on a single and then scored on a wild pitch to push the lead to four.
An RBI fielder's choice from junior Dominic Severino in the ninth inning made it 5-0. Hartford scored their lone run of the game in the bottom of the ninth.
Junior Jesse Frawley pitched the first two innings for the Blue Devils and allowed one hit without allowing a run. He struck out one and walked one. Senior Nick Boyd pitched innings three and four without allowing a run and striking out one. Freshman Austin Salnitis pitched the fifth inning and allowed just one base runner.
Freshman Brett Susi came in to pitch the sixth and after getting a pair of outs and allowing two base runners senior Anthony Mannuccia came in to get out of a jam against his former teammates. He pitched a scoreless seventh and was relieved by freshman Kevin Connolly in the eighth inning.
Sirois finished the game with three hits and a run scored. Central out-hit the Hawks 11-5 on the day. Jennings had two hits and scored once, while Fitzsimons added a pair of hits and an RBI. Turgeon, Ingham and Severino each drove in a run in the victory.
The Blue Devils will finish the regular at home hosting Sacred Heart in a four-game series beginning on Thursday afternoon. The Blue Devils will be the visiting team for the weekend series, which was moved to New Britain after SHU's field became unavailable.


text:
Kings Park, N.Y.
Nov. 18, 1918
My dear friend-
I received your letter Saturday evening and I really cannot express in words how shocked and grieved I was to hear of Joe's death. It seemed to come so suddenly that I can hardly realize it to be true. I feel that there must have been a mistake made and that we will hear that he is still alive. As you say, there is some consolation in knowing that he died a hero and that will help us to bear our sorrows as bravely as he gave his life.
I have always written to Joe regularly and especially since he has been "Over there" and have had a letter, sometimes two or three every week until Sept 14th which was the last I received and in which he enclosed a very pretty little handkerchief.
I sent him a photo of myself Nov. 3rd because he had been asking for one so often and I thought it reach him by Christmas.
If you should learn any details as to Joe's death, I should deeply appreciate hearing from you.
With sincere sympathy, believe me to be
Very sincerely yours,
© Copyright 2011 by Lanny & Patti Brown, All Rights Reserved. No reproduction without permission.


text:
First surprise, after migration, the size of my subversion folder is double the size of my cvs folder. With a bunch of 2Gb disks shared amoung dozens of unix persons, and regular reminders the current usage reached 100%, you will feel the pain of having each developers doublesizing its home directory…
The reason is a .svn/test-base directory containing a duplicate of your local copy.
The benefit there is that it reduces network usage, for instance when diffing with the working version.
Second surprise, not sure if it is a generic issue or related to the one above, a full checkout take ages 🙁 .
svn and cvs command line interfaces almost have the same options, a bit like vi and vim -vi is my favorite- but the "tagging" massively differs. The is no cvs tag command in subversion, you use a different syntax.
cvs :
$ cd /home/lsc/CVS/proj1/source/pkg
$ cvs tag MYTAG helloworld.pkb helloworld.pks
now enjoy the power of subversion! [updated as I found the –parents option]
$ cd /home/lsc/SVN/proj1/source/pkg
$ svn copy --parents helloworld.pkb http://myserver.domain.com/svn/REPOS1/proj1/tags/MYTAG/proj1/source/pkg -m "my first svn tag"
$ svn copy --parents helloworld.pks http://myserver.domain.com/svn/REPOS1/proj1/tags/MYTAG/proj1/source/pkg -m "my first svn tag"
I always loved the cvs rename command
$ cvs rename pkg1.pkb pkg2.pkb
cvs [rename aborted]: Remote server does not support rename
Joke apart, in CVS I used to physically logon to the server and manually move the pkg1.pkb,v to pkg2.pkb,v
Renaming works in subversion :
$ svn move pkg1.pkb pkg2.pkb
A pkg2.pkb
D pkg1.pkb
Update: One more annoyance, you cannot checkout a single file 🙁
subversion faq


text:
Sell My Boat
Seller Login
My Watch List
Toggle navigation
Boats For Sale
Recently Listed Boats
Recent Price Reductions
New Boats For Sale
Used Boats For Sale
Boat Shares
Boat Auctions
Boat Sales - Recent
Boat Searches
Boats Wanted
My Watch List
My Email Alerts
Boat Library
Boat Shares
Sell Your Boat
Sell My Boat - Pricing & Registration
Private Seller Login
Boat Sale FAQ
Tips for a Better Boat Ad
Why Use a Boat Dealer?
Boat Dealers List
Marina Berths
View Berths & Moorings
Berths & Moorings for Rent
View Docks, Boat Lifts, Pontoons
Place Your Ad
Manage Ad / Login
Search Boat Accessories
View Outboards
View Trailers
View Docks, Boat Lifts, Pontoons
View All Boat Accessories
Marine Businesses
Place Your Ad
Manage Ad / Login
Boat Dealers
Boat Dealers List
Boat Dealer Subscription
Business Advertising
Boat Dealer LOGIN
My Info
My Watch List
My Email Alerts
Create Your Boat Ad
Change Boat Ad: LOGIN
More Info
Boat Insurance
Boat Library
Boats Wanted
Boat Reviews
Boating News
Boating News Archive
About Boats Online
Weather & Boat Shows
Boat Buying: Encumbrance Check
Boat Shipping and Transport
Marine Directory
Boat Accessories
Marine Businesses
Marine Properties
Charter Boats For Hire
Boat Terminology
Staying Safe Online
Terms & Conditions
Boat Dealer Subscription
Business Advertising
Private Boat Sellers
Advanced Search
Advanced Search
Seller Login
My Watch List
Private Seller Login
Remember me
Lost Password ?
* Forgot your password?
Change your password here
* Not Registered?
Click here to get started now


text:
Delaware State Ring Recovery
Did you lose a ring in Delaware? Whether you lost a ring, another piece of jewelry or any other metallic item, we are here to help. Browse our list of Delaware State ring recovery members below.
The available recovery members will be listed under each county name. If no names are listed under the desired county then we currently don't have anyone signed up for that area yet. In either case you can always Contact Us and we will do our best to find someone for you.
Be aware that some metal detectorists charge a fee for their services. It is your responsibility to ask anyone you may be in contact with about their rates.
Please come like our Facebook Page.
Delaware State Ring Recovery Members
Kent County
New Castle County
West Jersey Detecting of New Jersey
Sussex County
New Ring & Jewelry Recovery Members:
We are currently accepting new members on our website.
If you metal detect and would like to be added to our site as a ring & jewelry recovery member, please click the following link:
The metal detectorists or recovery members listed on this website are not employed or directly affiliated with New York Metal Detecting. These listings act only as a directory of metal detectorists who have personally and individually requested to be added to this website.


text:
- Home
- Education & Outreach
- What is the ESRF?
Imagine a source that produces X-rays 100 billion times brighter than the X-rays used in hospitals, X-rays that allow us to fathom the structure of matter down to the minutest detail, at the atomic level. Imagine no further! These X-rays, endowed with exceptional properties, really do exist. They are produced at the ESRF – The European Synchrotron Radiation Facility – located in Grenoble, France, in an international and innovative campus.
The ESRF hosts the most intense and brilliant hard X-ray source existing today worldwide. These X-rays are produced by the high-energy electrons that race around the institute's emblematic "storage ring", an accelerator of impressive proportions, with a circumference of 844 metres.
The ESRF functions like a giant microscope, which "films" the position and motion of atoms in condensed and living matter, and reveals the structure of matter in all its beauty and complexity. It provides unrivalled opportunities for scientists in the exploration of materials and living matter in a very wide variety of fields: chemistry, material physics, archaeology and cultural heritage, structural biology and medical applications, environmental sciences, information science and nanotechnologies. It can help to answer questions such as: What is our planet made of? How can we explain the properties of matter? Will we be able one day to develop better targeted drugs for cancer, to produce more efficient renewable materials, to invent new electronic components, to tackle pollution more successfully?
The ESRF is an international cooperation that has steadily grown since its foundation in 1988 when 11 European countries united to draw up the statutes of the company. The ESRF is registered under French law as a "Société Civile".
In 1994, the ESRF opened for user operation and was officially inaugurated with 15 beamlines, or experimental stations. Today, the ESRF is backed by 22 partner nations and has 44 highly specialised beamlines, each equipped with state-of-the-art instrumentation. The institute operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
The ESRF employs 650 people from a wide variety of backgrounds and cultures.
Each year, about 9000 scientists from around the world come to the ESRF to conduct experiments at the beamlines.
A large part of the research carried out at the ESRF is peer-reviewed and the results are published in the public domain with open access.
The ESRF also offers research opportunities for industrial research and development. The experimental techniques available allow for testing in real time and under real operating conditions. Major companies in the fields of pharmaceuticals, chemistry, catalysis, cosmetics, food, batteries, nanotechnologies, medicine and materials use the ESRF's non-destructive techniques to improve their products and processes.
The world of research is highly competitive. The ESRF has been a leader in the field since the beginning and has a track record for breaking records (source brilliance, X-ray beam stability and coherence).
To maintain this leadership, the ESRF launched an extensive modernisation programme in 2009 that saw the creation of 19 new beamlines and many developments in instrumentation.
In 2015, the ESRF launched a second and major step in the modernisation with the ESRF-EBS project.
ESRF-EBS stands for ESRF-Extremely Brilliant Source.
ESRF-EBS, due for completion in 2022, will focus on the construction of a new storage ring with performances multiplied by 100 for the brilliance and coherence of the X-ray beam.
This first-of-a-kind storage ring will provide scientists with highly powerful X-ray tools to take science to a dimension beyond today's possibilities. For example, new experimental set-ups will allow scientists to study materials under the extreme conditions of temperature and pressure that reign in the exoplanets, or visualise in minute detail chemical reactions that take place in the space of several nanoseconds.
In total the ESRF is investing 330 M€ over the period 2009-2022:
|2009-2015 'Upgrade Programme Phase I'


text:
READ about Piers Morgan's long career in journalism here.
Whether you fell asleep early, stayed out too late, or simply want to watch it again, we realize it's not always possible to get your entire "Piers Morgan Live" fix from television. As an answer to this, we offer the below labor of love – "Piers Morgan Live, Rewind" – dedicated and designed to getting you caught up and connected to the conversation.
With the 50th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy less than three weeks away, on Monday evening "Piers Morgan Live" invited Oliver Stone to share his unique insight and perspective as part of a live, primetime interview.
A legendary film director and screenwriter with nine Academy Awards to his credit, Stone directed, wrote, and produced the 1991 political thriller "JFK." His movie unearths the conspiracy theory of the details behind the late president's assassination plot. This controversial movie was nominated for eight different Academy Awards and won two for best film editing and best cinematography.
When Stone sat down with Piers Morgan Monday, the pair delved into the director's convictions behind what he believes to be a massive national cover up, and one which he feels there's evidence to contradict.
"What makes you so convinced that Lee Harvey Oswald did not act alone," Morgan asked.
"Most of the witnesses saw a huge exit wound on the back of his right skull, huge," Stone noted. "They described the cerebellum falling through the skull in the Parkland Hospital."
Stone continued to unveil facts discounting commonly accepted accounts of the 1963 incident:
"Later on, when he gets to Bethesda and the illegal autopsy was done, controlled by the military, the back of the head is re-patched."
Morgan wondered aloud if we will ever know the truth.
"People are digging all the time," said Stone.
Check out Stone's projects: "Untold History of the United States," a 10-episode series which has been newly released on Blu-ray, and his masterpiece film, "JFK," which has been re-released to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy.
Always outspoken and opinionated, with a healthy dose of skepticism towards the government, on Monday night Piers Morgan invited Oliver Stone to offer his thoughts on the NSA's data-mining accusations, as well as a new PSA he appears in which denounces the government's surveillance on its own people.
"If you were president of the United States, how far would you allow the NSA to do their work," asked Morgan. "Where you would draw the line?"
"It's a line you cannot cross, and we've crossed it," said Stone. "You can't sell this idea that we're protecting you against the terrorists ... the terrorists are a small group of people, and we have bugged the whole world."
On Monday, Piers Morgan invited the "impossibly cool" clothing designer and author John Varvatos to talk rock, fashion, and the USA. A native of the city of Detroit, and an astute businessman, Morgan asked Varvatos about America's economic woes and what could be done to stimulate the city's rebirth.
"I think a lot of people are thinking about 'Made in America' today. And it's not just from a political standpoint. It's from the heart," said Varvatos, who himself was involved in helping Chrysler design a limited edition automobile, and who is an advocate for the city. "And so for me, that's a big part of it as well, as being ... involved with the city ... it's an emotional thing," he added.
Turning towards less serious subjects, Varvatos, the designer most associated with rocker-chic and author of a new booked aptly titled "Rock in Fashion," was asked to open up about his fashion roots and musical muses.
"Who was the coolest rock icon it terms of music, fashion," Morgan wanted to know.
For Varvatos, it was Jimi Hendrix:
"First of all, musically, he shattered everything that was out there at the time," said Varvatos. "When he came on, all of the great artists, whether it was the Beatles or Eric Clapton ... they were all afraid of Jimi Hendrix because he was so powerful musically. Nothing sounded sonically like that ever before, and he had the style about himself that was so different than everybody else, and so cool. And I still look at that style and I'm still influenced by him."
Watch the clip, and pick up a copy of "Rock in Fashion" for more on John Varvatos.
For the next edition of "Piers Morgan Live," watch CNN every night at 9.
» Follow "Piers Morgan Live" on Twitter
» Follow "Piers Morgan Live" on Instagram
Did he just call him Archie bunker!!! That is racism I won't watch this show again!!
Oliver Stone is a verified nutcase. No one listens to what he says.
The assassination of JFK, is not only a mysterious case that put on mask a torrent of doubts regarding our System, but also represents the antidote, to avoid the assassination of our actual loving President.
I have recently started a website, the info you provide on this site has helped me greatly. Thank you for all of your time & work. "'Tis our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world." by George Washington.
say thanks to so much for your site it aids a lot.|
Helpful information. Fortunate me I found your website by chance, and I am surprised why this accident didn't happened in advance! I bookmarked it.
order shoes online
online boot sale
*WONDERFUL Post.thanks for share..more wait .. 😉 ?
I actually felt my brain growing when I read your article. You have a lot of knowledge on this topic. Son of a gun! Thanks for posting this cool write up. Your writing style reminds me of my aunt back in California.
The people you love are lucky to have you in their lives. magnificent work, keep it up. You appear to know a lot about this.
My partner and I stumbled over here from a different website and thought I may as well check things out. I like what I see so now i am following you. Look forward to checking out your web page repeatedly.
Super share it is really. My teacher has been waiting for this info.


text:
Air GOP No. 513: Oil and Gas General Operating Permit
NEW GOPs 511, 512, 513, and 514 are being revised and renewed. The public comment period is from April 24, 2020 through May 27, 2020. For additional information and to review the draft renewals, go to the Announcements for Title V Operating Permits webpage.
On October 15, 2015, the TCEQ issued renewed Oil and Gas General Operating Permits (GOPs) Numbers 511, 512, 513, and 514. The renewed GOPs were proposed on March 6, 2015, and the public comment period closed on April 7, 2015. No substantive changes were made to the GOPs as a result of public comment.
Current permit holders are required to submit an application for a new authorization to operate (ATO) no later than January 13, 2016 if any of the emission units, applicability determinations, or the basis for the applicability determinations are affected by the revisions in the renewed GOPs. If the revisions in the GOPs do not affect your site, a new ATO is not required. For information on how to submit an application for an ATO under GOPs 511, 512, 513, and 514, please refer to the GOP Guidance.
The GOPs contain revisions based on recent federal and state rule changes, including updates to the requirements tables; the addition of terms under 30 TAC Chapter 101, Subchapter H, Division 6 for Highly-Reactive Volatile Organic Compound Emissions under the Cap and Trade Program; the addition of 40 CFR Part 63, Subpart CCCCCC terms for area source gasoline dispensing facilities; the addition of 40 CFR Part 60, Subpart OOOO terms for crude oil and natural gas production, transmission, and distribution facilities; revisions to terms for 30 TAC Chapter 111, Subchapter A, Division 1; revisions to terms for 30 TAC Chapter 117, Subchapters B and D; and revisions to 40 CFR Part 63, Subpart HH. This renewal also corrects typographical errors and updates language for administrative preferences.
Any person affected by this action may petition the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to make an objection; petitions must be filed no later than December 14, 2015.
For additional information about these GOPs, please contact the Air Permits Division at (512) 239-1250.
An application to operate (ATO) will be required no later than 90 days after the issuance of the GOP.
Oil and Gas General Operating Permit for Aransas, Bexar, Calhoun, Matagorda, San Patricio, and Travis Counties.
- Cover Letter
- Terms
- Tables
- Compliance Assurance Monitoring (CAM)
- Periodic Monitoring
- Statement of Basis
Title V Forms and Guidance Documents
Questions? We Can Help
If you have questions about this or any other GOP, contact us.


text:
Sheriff releases details of Operation SpiderWeb
Orange County deputies arrested 31 men last week in a major online sex sting.
Officials said the men were all trying to lure children to meet them for sex.
The sheriff's office held a news conference Tuesday to discuss the details of Operation SpiderWeb.
Investigators said for six days they posed as children online and when it was over, the 31 men traveled to a house in the Waterford Lakes area to allegedly have sex with them.
One man brought a kid's meal to the home, while another man rode his scooter and one took a taxi, according to officials.
"If they are willing to get into their car, take a bus, take a cab to come in and have sex with a child then they are also willing walk across the street go down the street to hit the neighbors," said assistant state attorney Deborah Barra.
Authorities said most of the men were from the central Florida area and ranged in age from 18 to 59 years old.
A former media school student, Chad Landry, is accused of writing online that he always wanted to "have fun" with a "hot mom and daughter together." Investigators said Landry thought the daughter was 11 years old.
All of the men were charged with online solicitation and traveling to meet a minor for sex, according to investigators.
Do you have breaking news photos or video? Upload them on u local and we might use them on TV.
See the latest breaking news photos from WESH.com u local members in the slideshow below.


text:
Sometimes, my apartment is the place where tomatoes go to die. I buy them, forget about them, and the slowly grow old, wrinkling away in their clamshell package until I'm utterly baffled about what I can do with them.
And then I had a brainwave (triggered in no small part by a recipe I saw over at 101 Cookbooks and then combined with an article from one issue out of my random collection of Cook's Illustrated): why not roast them and make them into a soup? Then it doesn't matter if they're wrinkled. Or if they are wintry supermarket tomatoes that have virtually no flavour. Roasting will take care of both problems, especially the lack of flavour aspect as their summery, tomato flavour will intensify in the oven. Throw a couple of garlic cloves in with the tomatoes while they roast and add a hint of buttery, roasted garlic flavour to the soup.
The first time I made this, there was a tomato emergency. The collection I had was rapidly going south and was going to have to be tossed soon if I didn't figure out something to do with them. Of course, since I was just playing around in the kitchen, I didn't bother documenting the process.
The soup was full of flavour and velvety smooth. It was definitely a keeper.
The second time I made the soup, it was almost as good, but I'm going to suggest not using as much stock as I did this round. The first soup, which only had about two cups of stock, had a much more intense tomato flavour, which is what made the soup so great. The second one, I used three cups of stock. The tomato flavour was duller and I won't be doing that again.
Roasted Tomato Soup
- Six or seven tomatoes, cut in half or quarters depending on their size
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- one onion, diced
- four cloves garlic, unpeeled
- 1/4 cup brandy, optional
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
- 1/4 cup cream, milk or half-and-half
- Salt and pepper
Preheat the oven to 375. Cut tomatoes in halves or quarters, depending on their size, and lay cut side up in a roasting pan. Throw in unpeeled garlic cloves amongst the tomatoes. Drizzle everything with one tablespoon of olive oil and sprinkle with kosher or sea salt and fresh ground pepper. Roast for 30 to 45 minutes until the tomatoes and garlic have started to caramelize.
Heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil in a saucepan on medium heat, then add the diced onion and saute until transluscent — about four or five minutes. Add brandy, if using, and cook for another minute or two. Add sugar, then stock. Bring to low boil.
Remove paper skins from garlic, then add the tomatoes and garlic into the pot with the stock. Let cook for a few minutes. Pour everything into blender and whiz until velvety smooth. Add cream or milk and whiz for another minute. Taste for seasonings. (Since there is salt on the tomatoes and in the stock, I advise waiting until the end before seasoning because you may not need to add anything.)


text:
Independent broker-dealer First Allied Securities has hired Richard Whitworth as managing director of the firm's Business Consulting Group, the San Diego-based firm announced Monday.
Whitworth, who will report directly to National Sales Manager Matt McGinness, will provide the strategic and tactical framework for the group as it helps First Allied's financial advisors meet their growth and productivity objectives.
Most recently, Whitworth, 36, was responsible for strategy and execution in TD Ameritrade Institutional's practice management unit. He also held positions with LPL Financial in its Advisory Consulting Services and Business Consulting groups, where he worked with independent financial advisors nationwide. His expertise extends to marketing and business development, operations, technology, client service, risk management, succession planning and human capital management.
"With Mr. Whitworth we have recruited a proven, high-energy visionary," said Adam Antoniades, First Allied's president and CEO, in a statement. "He will focus on First Allied's growth by developing a team that provides a simple means of connecting with all that First Allied has to offer with respect to resources to help advisors grow their business, products to help them develop wealth management solutions for clients, and sales support to help them get business done."
Whitworth began his career in New York City performing international equity research at I/B/E/S International (now Thomson Reuters) and conducting asset allocation research with Morgan Stanley's Private Wealth Management group.
"I'm delighted to join such a strong company and impressive management team that have the shared strategic vision to provide independent financial advisors with innovative solutions designed to help them drive sustainable business growth and enhance their client experience," Whitworth said in a statement. "Together with my team, I look forward to creating effective tools and actionable strategies that will empower First Allied's advisors to exceed their clients' expectations as well as build long-term enterprise value."
First Allied was named by Jonathan Henschen, owner of Minnesota-based recruiting firm Henschen & Associates, as one of five independent broker-dealers "that changed the game" in a March 26 AdvisorOne article.
It joined Commonwealth Financial Network, Raymond James Financial Services, Cambridge Investment Research and the Comprehensive Group on Henschen's list by bringing something new to the indie BD channel and expanding its business model.
"By developing a [fee-based] platform consistently centered on a single target market (accredited investors and wealth management), First Allied has brought a focused approach to wealth management which makes them uniquely important," Henschen wrote.
While First Allied's program sales initiative has brought the firm a good deal of success, it also has created some obstacles, Henschen noted, with advisors who participate in the programs but have not followed the game plan or who fail to follow up with qualified prospects or lack the skills to consistently close sales.
"As a result, they have added actionable sales skills training to the wealth management training they provide in partnership with Cannon Financial Institute, both in the baseline Certified Wealth Strategist (CWS) certification training and the advanced Masters training curriculum," Henschen wrote. "The focused approach has worked well for First Allied as they consistently rank in the top five for average production per rep, which currently falls around $375,000. The advisors who engage in their wealth management and development program surpassed the GDC and asset growth of their own advisors who did not by 66% (2008–2011)."
Read 5 IBDs That Changed the Game on AdvisorOne.


text:
No products
Online only
These assembly instructions allow you to assemble a reproduction of the motorized and functional "Loop Fighter"
Warning: Last items in stock!
Availability date:
Downloadable electronic content including:
Caution: You purchase assembly instructions. For this price, Lego parts are obviously not supplied.
Example of assembly instructionsDownload (4.99M)
Part listDownload (4.01M)


text:
Duration: 11:22
Added on: September 14th, 2020
2257 - DMCA - Privacy Policy - Terms and conditions - Contact Us
About us: This site does not store any media files on its server. All contents are provided by non-affiliated third parties. All models were 18 years of age or older at the time of depiction. We always make sure that movies are added and updated on regular basis, and the number of categories is constantly growing, so you can visit our porno videos tube every day and get more and more new impressions of the collected content. Now welcome to the world of sexual adventures and intimate entertainment, and we hope that you will be comfortable using our website and get the pleasure you need.© Copyright 2019 - 2020 Porno789 - All Rights Reserved


text:
|System: X360 (XBLA), PS3 (PSN)
|Review Rating Legend
|Dev: Vicious Cycle
|1.0 - 1.9 = Avoid
|4.0 - 4.4 = Great
|Pub: D3 Publisher
|2.0 - 2.4 = Poor
|4.5 - 4.9 = Must Buy
|Release: Jan.6, 2010
|2.5 - 2.9 = Average
|5.0 = The Best
|Players: 1-2
|3.0 - 3.4 = Fair
|ESRB Rating: Mature
|3.5 - 3.9 = Good
by Steve Haske
Poor Matt Hazard. People never gave him a chance. He was scorned and reviled in last year's Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard, a parody of action games that by most accounts was a miserable and derivative video game experience. D3 just wanted to introduce us to Matt's world, where he had (fictitiously) lived through a rise and fall in popularity and importance marked by his (also fictitious) 25 year career as a video game protagonist. But, people weren't having it. It didn't matter that Eat Lead, Matt's triumphant next-gen comeback (and first actual game appearance) poked fun at gaming's worst clichés, or that hilarious Will Arnett provided his vocals. The game tanked, critically and commercially. Matt, we hardly knew ye.
Now Hazard's back, inexplicably and without a large chunk of the development budget Eat Lead was afforded. Blood Bath and Beyond, unlike Matt's last outing, is a digitally distributed affair, a measure which was only enacted (I suspect) to help keep cost overhead down after the disastrous sales figures from the last game. Frankly, this method of appearance seems to be the way that Matt was always meant to be enjoyed, although had he not had a higher profile release to begin with, Blood Bath and Beyond would probably just end up being that much more obscure.
At any rate, everything about Hazard's new adventure is telling of his newer, more modest financial standing. For starters, the game is now in 2D, and looks a fair bit like Shadow Complex or the PS2 classic Contra: Shattered Soldier at first glance. Matt himself is no longer voiced by Will Arnett, (Boo!) but by a Will Arnett sound-alike (and only for in-game quips and comments), and cutscenes have been replaced with text boxes. Even the character drawings are knock-offish, resembling a second or third-tier imitator of Shinkiro (the immensely talented Japanese artist/character designer of King of Fighters and Bionic Commando Rearmed fame). None of these drop offs in production values are missed by the dev team, and keeping in the spirit of Eat Lead, they prove a frequent source of Blood Bath and Beyond's humor. Story segments between levels are literally a black screen, with Matt talking in text form to an employee of Marathon Megasoft, the fictitious company responsible for all of Matt's old games, while in the company's game server. At the beginning of the game Hazard even comments on the use of text boxes rather than big-name voice actors, to which the Marathon Megasoft employee tells Matt it's because of budget cuts and bad reviews-Blood Bath and Beyond takes place in August 2009, six months after Eat Lead's release.
This time around, Hazard's nemesis is General Neutronov, a stereotypical Russian villain whose humorously broken English only adds to the game's overall comic feel. Neutronov has escaped into the Marathon Megasoft game server and is planning to do away with Matt's original 8-bit incarnation (which vaguely resembles NES Simon Belmont with a gun). Given Eat Lead's penchant for exploiting video game clichés, it should come as no surprise that Blood Bath and Beyond has its fair share of parodies as well, mostly aping on contemporary games' designs and aesthetics.
The first level, "The Hate Boat," is clearly making fun of BioShock, complete with wannabe Big Daddy enemies, and later in the game Matt winds up on the Canadian Marathon Megasoft server, which somehow looks exactly like a 2D Mirror's Edge; among other games that are notably parodied are Portal, Team Fortress 2, Modern Warfare, New Super Mario Bros., and old-school side-scrollers like Ninja Gaiden and Shinobi, to name a few.
About halfway through the game, the code for the various games that these settings are supposed to come out of gets garbled, which results in game splicing like a Western-themed level mixing with modern artillery or fat Resistance-eyed Left 4 Dead-style vomiting penguins (don't ask me) sharing the screen with normal soldiers and, uh, bats that look ripped from Castlevania (though they could just be regular bats). In any case, the aesthetic parody is pretty damn near constant, for whatever it's worth, although the script itself will provide you with the most chuckles.


text: Bradley Cooper: The Serious Evolution of a Leading Man 9:00 AM PDT 9/5/2012 by Stephen Galloway FACEBOOK TWITTER EMAIL ME Bill Phelps Issue 31 Bradley Cooper Cover - P 2012 His wild days behind him, the handsome star who broke huge in "The Hangover" is busy crafting a career out of small, deeply personal projects. This story first appeared in the Sept. 14 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Ask anyone about Bradley Cooper, and the reaction is the same: "There's nobody who's better liked," says his childhood friend Brian Klugman, who co- directed The Words. Robert De Niro has invited Cooper to stay at his house several times; colleagues including The Hangover's Justin Bartha and Cooper's then-girlfriend Renee Zellweger showed up for his Inside the Actors Studio taping; and demanding directors like David O. Russell (The Fighter) are eager to work with him again and again. PHOTOS: Bradley Cooper: A Day in the Life in Pictures All this is heady stuff for a 37-year-old who gained global recognition almost overnight with 2009's Hangover and its 2011 sequel, was dubbed People's Sexiest Man Alive last year and has become the epitome of cool. And yet, like so many of the great stars who preceded him -- the George Clooneys and Brad Pitts -- Cooper is more complicated than he appears. The Georgetown graduate has identified with Joseph Merrick (a deformed 19th century Englishman better known as the Elephant Man) since he was a teenager; wrote his college thesis on Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita and favors such books as Milan Kundera's Immortality; loves films like the French classic Hiroshima Mon Amour; and abandoned Hollywood for Philadelphia when he moved back to his childhood home while his father was sick with cancer. (He died in January 2011.) And now, improbably, this poster boy for frat boys finds himself at the epicenter of Toronto's awards-season rush thanks to two films debuting there: Russell's Silver Linings Playbook, in which Cooper plays a bipolar former teacher who becomes involved with a troubled young woman; and The Place Beyond the Pines, in which he's a cop-turned-politician whose conflict with a criminal (Ryan Gosling) spills over two generations. The budget for Pines was about $10 million -- a bit more than the roughly $6 million for Words and the $1.5 million for Cooper's current release, Hit and Run. Together, they total fractionally more than the $15 million he's receiving for Hangover Part III, which starts shooting in mid-September in Los Angeles. At a point when Cooper has a plethora of offers, he has opted for the challenging and provocative, the small and interesting, risking the laid-back image that propelled him to fame -- an image that amuses Hangover director Todd Phillips. "He is ridiculously different in real life," says Phillips. "People think he is just playing a version of himself, and that couldn't be further from the truth. He is very vulnerable -- insecure is not the right word -- and that character is just straight-up confident. And there's a warmth to him you would never know." Sitting with him this late August evening, it's hard to reconcile this sweet, exceptionally open man with the defensive, insecure person he and his friends say he once was. Over dinner in the garden of New York's Greenwich Hotel, he unburdens himself of something fans never would guess: his struggle with addiction, which ended, ironically, half a decade before Hangover. VIDEO: Behind the Scenes of THR's Bradley Cooper Cover Shoot "I don't drink or do drugs at all anymore," says Cooper, noting he gave them up at 29, when their toll was unbearable. "Being sober helps a great deal." Once, he relates, "I was at a party and deliberately bashed my head on the concrete floor -- like, 'Hey, look how tough I am!' And I came up, and blood dripped down. And then I did it again. I spent the night at St. Vincent's Hospital with a sock of ice, waiting for them to stitch me up." He adds: "I was so concerned what you thought of me, how I was coming across, how I would survive the day. I always felt like an outsider. I just lived in my head. I realized I wasn't going to live up to my potential, and that scared the hell out of me. I thought, 'Wow, I'm actually gonna ruin my life; I'm really gonna ruin it.' " Friends repeatedly cautioned him, yet he didn't listen. "Part of me believed it, and part of me didn't. But the proof was in the pudding: I'd always gotten up at the crack of dawn, and that was out the window. I remember looking at my life, my apartment, my dogs, and I thought, 'What's happening?' " It was then he decided to change, and the effect was transformative. In addition to the Sept. 7 release of Words, in which Cooper stars as a successful novelist who secretly has committed plagiarism, he has been mentioned to co-star with Beyonce Knowles in Clint Eastwood's A Star Is Born (he won't talk about it), has wrapped Susanne Bier's drama Serena and even has started writing his own projects, co-authoring an adaptation of Dan Simmons' Hyperion Cantos sci-fi book series. Once he completes Hangover Part III, he plans to take another break from Hollywood and bring the stage version of Elephant Man to Broadway in the fall, after performing it to acclaim at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts. Then he will reteam with Russell for an untitled movie about the Abscam scandal of the early 1980s, taking the role of Mel Weinberg, a con man hired by the FBI in a sting operation that targeted members of Congress. Through his Warner Bros.-based 22 & Indiana Pictures, Cooper also is developing another movie with Russell, based on American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History, by former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle. And he passionately wants to direct. STORY: Bradley Cooper Returns to 'Elephant Man' Role "I'm always thinking about the story and the shot and the actual doing of the scene," he says. "I don't think like an actor at all." His friend De Niro (who co-stars in Linings) questions this and notes of Cooper's acting: "He is very smart and sincere and can try all sides of the spectrum. He is very good and is going to get better and better." [pagebreak] At first, Cooper wasn't even sure about Linings and was afraid he couldn't play Pat Solitano, the antihero of Matthew Quick's novel who returns home from a mental institution and moves in with his parents before meeting the quirky Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence). But he was keen to work with Russell and had hoped to make Pride and Prejudice and Zombies with him before that project fell through. When Mark Wahlberg pulled out of Linings, Russell asked Cooper to step in. "I watched a bunch of DVDs, including one where this guy made a documentary chronicling his depression," Cooper says. "I realized that I could completely relate to him." Combining forces with Russell thrilled him, he adds: "He will push you to where you don't think you can go, which is what you want as an artist. I watched every single actor come on set and be taken out of their comfort zone immediately." Linings was shot in a breakneck 33 days, on the heels of the grueling 47-day shoot Cooper experienced for Pines. Blue Valentine director Derek Cianfrance had rewritten the Pines part for Cooper after the latter expressed concerns that his character seemed somewhat stock; but by the time the rewrite was finished, Cooper had other commitments. Undeterred, the director drove from Brooklyn to Montreal (where Cooper was shooting Words) for a meeting that lasted until 4 a.m. "We had an epic four-hour dinner where we just talked about this guy and about working together, and he decided there and then to do it," recalls Cianfrance. In preparing for the job, Cooper spent a month with the police, "going into these domestic disturbances, which are about 80 percent of the calls. There was one house with a fish tank that a shoe had been thrown through. Dead fish were everywhere -- and kittens were eating the dead fish as we walked by." VIDEO: Bradley Cooper Writes Drama in First 'The Words' Trailer The experiences with the cops paled beside a hurricane that swept through Schenectady, N.Y., while the movie was filming. Cooper was visiting De Niro when the storm hit and immediately drove back. "Everything was flooded," he says. "They had to go in with rowboats to take film from one place to the next." Even so, he and the crew were right back at work within 24 hours. The film means enough to him that he wears his character's chain with its image of St. Michael, patron saint of the police -- just as he does a chain from Linings, with an art deco face of Christ copied from his grandfather's necklace. ♦♦♦♦♦ Born in 1975, Cooper grew up with one sister outside Philadelphia, the son of a stockbroker father and a homemaker mother. He was Italian through the latter, Irish through the former and Catholic through both. "I'm Catholic in my bones," he notes, and still prays daily. Soon after his birth, his parents discovered he had cholesteatoma, a growth in the middle ear that can cause deafness, which required an operation. "Then I started diving very young, and I punctured it and had four or five operations from 5 to 18 years old," says Cooper. "I have a hole in my eardrum now and can't swim without earplugs." At 15, he knocked over a glass lamp that hit him and "crashed, and blood was squirting out. I couldn't move part of my face for six months. I had to get plastic surgery." The scars from that and other collisions remain all over his face, and he shows them off without vanity. While close to his parents (he even wears his late father's wedding ring), his relationship with his dad was nonetheless "complicated," says a friend. "I was ashamed of so many things," reflects Cooper, without elaborating -- the least being when he moved to a private school. "I didn't want kids to see the house I grew up in, which seems maybe minor now but was a very huge, massive thing." STORY: Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper Featured in First Image for 'Serena' (Photo) Cooper was 12 when he saw David Lynch's 1980 movie version of The Elephant Man on television and was overwhelmed. "The film haunted me," he says. "I could not stop crying. To be moved by anybody to the extent where it causes you to take action [he later would go to London to see Merrick's personal possessions], there must be some sort of identification." After studying at Villanova then Georgetown, he borrowed $70,000 in student loans to join the Actors Studio Drama School at The New School in New York, where Cooper would attempt Elephant Man for his master's thesis. The founding dean of the school, James Lipton, still remembers telling Cooper's parents, "Your son will go all the way." While there, however, he worked ceaselessly for his living, serving as a doorman at the Morgans Hotel, then joining LeAp (Learning Through an Expanded Arts Program), a nonprofit organization that took him to inner-city schools, where some of the kids begged to go home with him. Acting was a revelation. The pain he experienced growing up was channeled into his work, and for the first time, he says, he learned to relax. Beforehand, "I tried to will everything to happen in my life. I tried to control everything. And acting was the beginning of learning to let things go." Cooper found success early and was the first of his group to get an agent, recalls a friend, soon hosting TLC's travel series Globe Trekker, which took him to such places as Peru and Croatia, and appearing on such shows as Sex and the City, Nip/Tuck and, most notably, Alias. He broke out with 2005's Wedding Crashers, playing Rachel McAdams' arrogant boyfriend, and other roles followed in 2006's Failure to Launch and 2008's Yes Man. But Hangover lifted him into a different league. STORY: David O. Russell Wanted to Direct Bradley Cooper in 'Pride and Prejudice and Zombies' "I met Todd six months prior to shooting at the Chateau Marmont," remembers Cooper. "Everybody knew about this movie, and a lot of guys didn't want to go in. They were like: 'It's called The Hangover? What the f-- is that?' " Cooper's character, Phil, initially was named Vic. "He was Vince Vaughn-like and was a used-car salesman," he says. "But Todd said, 'I have this idea that I want him to be a teacher, and here's 50 pages [of the rewrite].' I read it and loved it." So did audiences. The film earned $467 million worldwide, followed by a sequel that grossed $581 million. Overnight, the actor who once had earned $5,000 an episode for Globe Trekker became a household name. ♦♦♦♦♦ Cooper's every action now is scrutinized -- from his four-month marriage to actress Jennifer Esposito in 2006 ("She's a wonderful woman," is all he will say) to whomever he's dating, including his current partner and Words co-star, Zoe Saldana. He won't discuss her or confirm they're together (though he gushes about her work). "It's not for me to say," he notes. Despite the demands of his A-list status, Cooper has retained a loyalty and decency that impress his friends (and he recently started working with the Paul Newman-founded Hole in the Wall Gang Camp). "He is such an honest and straightforward guy; there's not an ounce of duplicitousness in him," says Phillips. STORY: 'Blue Valentine' Director Reveals How It Changed His Life He has gone past the dark days of his youth and is moving toward a bright future, staking his reputation on movies he believes in -- like Words. "He made a lot of calls for this movie," notes childhood pal Klugman, adding it never would have gotten off the ground without him. The director marvels at how the boy who attended his bar mitzvah has remained grounded and true. "He has so much chaos swirling around him. He goes from one movie to the next. It is a very surreal lifestyle. But look at the choices he is making -- these are not the choices of a typical movie star. None of them are just paychecks." FACEBOOK TWITTER EMAIL ME Stephen Galloway firstname.lastname@example.com @thr


text:
Human Trafficking Awareness Day spotlight issue
Human Trafficking Awareness Day puts spotlight on 'modern-day slavery' in North County and beyond
VISTA — Nearly 150 people on Sunday heard speakers in Vista shed light on the shadowy world of human trafficking — often referred to as modern-day slavery.
The sixth annual Human Trafficking Awareness Day Event and Walk, hosted by Soroptimist International of Vista, was held from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Avo Playhouse on Main Street. The event featured speakers from the sheriff's North County Human Trafficking Task Force, North County Lifeline and GenerateHope. A short walk to and from the nearby Wave Waterpark followed the presentations. Attendees were asked to donate $10, which would benefit the Human Trafficking Task Force of Soroptimist International of Vista.
Often, human trafficking is thought of as a problem abroad, said event organizer Kaye Van Nevel. While the criminal enterprise is indeed international, rivaling the illegal arms trade in scope, San Diego and North County, specifically, have a high incident rate of human trafficking, she said. San Diego's proximity to the border, its tourist appeal and its number of military bases are all believed to be contributing factors.
Human trafficking is the recruitment, kidnapping, abduction, transport, harboring, buying or selling of a person using force, fraud, threats or coercion often for the purpose of labor or sexual slavery. Women and children are most often the victims.
Since the North County Human Trafficking Task Force was formed in August 2010, 123 investigations have been conducted, and 264 individuals have been arrested and prosecuted, said Deputy Joe Mata, one of the event's speakers.
On Dec. 3, for example, authorities charged Oceanside couple Inez Martinez Garcia and her husband, Marcial Garcia Hernandez, with 26 counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child in a sex-trafficking case.
Authorities say they smuggled a 12-year-old Mexican girl across the border and used her as a slave for sex and labor more than 10 years ago.
Many investigations and prosecutions are ongoing, Mata said.
"Human-trafficking investigations are the most difficult to conduct because the victim has to testify in court and that can be tough," he said.
And while the statistics can be bleak — criminals conduct $32 billion in business annually, according to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center — progress is being made, Van Nevel said. Perpetrators are receiving longer sentences; profits, if they can be found, are more often being directed to survivors of human trafficking; and more services are available and working together in North County to help rehabilitate trafficked women and children.
"My hope is, in addition to continuing to break the silence, is to leave people with a sense of hope," Van Nevel said of the event. "We are succeeding. We are finding survivors and helping them."
Dottie Pechek, a Soroptimist member, said human trafficking is a devastating reality.
"Events like these … it's a start," the Vista resident said. "Something needs to be done."
Soroptimist is an international volunteer organization dedicated to improving the lives of women and girls around the world. Human trafficking became a group focus almost a decade ago.
Vanessa Kramer, 30, of Vista, heard about the event at her church and decided she wanted more information.
"I just couldn't believe it was happening around Vista," she said of human trafficking. "I couldn't believe it was so close to home. … It's scary."
Advocates are also calling on local congregations to participate in "A Weekend of Prayer" Friday through next Sunday. Congregations are encouraged to participate in events that raise awareness of human trafficking and conclude services with a prayer calling for an end to modern-day slavery.
Staff photographer Bill Wechter contributed to this report. email@example.com


text:
Same Day Drain Backup Repair serving Bloomfield Hills
Plumber Restoration is the leading company in Bloomfield Hills MI for emergency plumbing services. No mess is too great for us!
We're an experienced team of restoration professionals who know the problems associated with plumbing emergencies and repairs. Our team is available 24 hours a day to help connect you with the best plumber for your problem.
Get the Right Plumber for YOU!
Our team prides itself on making sure that you're covered in the event of an emergency. We can get you the right plumber faster than anyone else around. Here are some of the reasons why Plumber Restoration is the smartest way to choose a plumber:
- 24/7 Emergency Service
- Experienced Master Plumbers
- Fast, Same Day Service
- Absolutely No Hidden Fees
- Clean, Courteous Service
- Licensed & Insured
- 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
- Angie's List Super Service Award Winner
Here's how we work:
You have a plumbing emergency, and it can be a hassle. You might not have the time or patience to get in touch with a qualified plumber who can help you the fastest. DryMedic has a vast network and knowledge of licensed & insured master plumbers, and we will get the best plumber who can address and fix your problem. An experienced plumber quickly comes to you to assess and fix your problem, as well as check for and hidden water damage and advise accordingly.
We also can help you find a plumber for general plumbing services,
It doesn't just have to be an emergency - we are able to help you find a plumber for many other repairs. We have a vast network of professional plumbers who can help you with the most basic repairs to something complex. Here are a few of the other plumbing issues we can help you with:
- Septic system problems
- Leaky pipes
- Low pressure
- Clogged drains
- Clogged pipe
- Dripping faucet
- Appliance hookups
- Water heater replacement
- Water heater repair
- Garbage disposal installation
- Water hookups
Keep your home intact!
A toilet backs up and sewage enters your home, an unnoticed leaky pipe drips for a while, your basement floods, a pipe bursts...any plumbing emergency can be devastating. We have our sister company, DryMedic Restoration Services, who offers emergency water and sewage restoration services to stop and lasting damage to your home. Plumbing emergencies can be frightening, but getting help doesn't have to be. Trust Bloomfield Hills's leading emergency plumbing services company and give Plumber Restoration a call today!


text:
Managed to get a full day's worth of riding in on the GSXR1000 K7 this weekend doing approximately 3 hours stints at a time, covering, slow town traffic, filtering, carriageways, motorways, country lanes. On shorter journeys I've done the bike has been nothing but sublime taking everything in its stride but, I held off writing a review until I managed to get several hours and hundreds of miles covered in a day.
The ergonomics of the bike are fabulous with a not too aggressive ridding position. There is not a long reach to the bars, the bars are not too low, the tank shape doesn't force your legs into an uncomfortable position etc. I have no issues with wrist/arm pain/fatigue which I used to get on the ZX6R and very much on the R1. The seat is also reasonable, no real complaints to be honest handling a few hundred miles easily but, for regular long distance work I'd consider an aftermarket comfy option. I didn't experience any issues with the switch gear such as hitting the wrong control by accident (which I do manage to do on some other bikes occasionally). Whilst switch gear is much of a muchness, things just seem to fall at the fingertips easier on this bike. There is some adjustability in the standard foot pegs (up/down – back/forth) out of the crate which, can help a little towards making the bike a touch more ergonomic without resorting to aftermarket adjustable pegs. You can keep your back reasonably straight and when on a faster road, use the wind to help keep your upper body up even more so, again making it great for a painless ride on a sports bike. The long stints I spent on the bike did give me a little cramping in the back of the knee/hamstring area but, I continued regardless. I've never been a fan of the minimalistic fairings found on sports bikes after approximately 2003 onwards but, the Suzuki's body work, whilst it is slim and not too minimalistic, goes in and out in all the right areas and does a fair job at directing the bulk of wind blast off your main body parts.
The weight of bike is very neutral with the only noticeable aspect feeling a little top heavy when you lean it over with a full tank of fuel on very slow and tight city turns. There wasn't any noticeable vibrations despite the mixture of roads and speeds coming in via the handle bars or foot pegs. The dash is very easy to read, with the digital speedometer, easy to read rev counter and a decent sized gear position indicator that is easy to read at glance.
I can clearly see why many real world owners views are highly positive for this model and why BVG used his as a daily commuter and a track bike including touring. It was this level of highly positive reviews, coupled with the bike just feeling right the moment I sat on it when looking at them at dealers that put it above any other superbike on the list for me.
The bike has a seriously effortless character to it, which, in turn really is a testament to how well it has been engineered to be user friendly. The power is instant, strong yet delivered in an uncanny sublime manner thanks to a silky fuel injection system. The GSXR1000 also pulls impressively well from as little as 1,500rpm in any gear which in turn, allows you to ride it almost like a twist 'n' go, seriously reducing the gear changes usually needed on high revving bikes to get the low down drive. The throttle isn't jerky helping to deliver smooth and accurate drive through and out of corners. This is one bike you can ride easily at the permitted speed limits (or easily beyond if you want). Despite me historically going everywhere above 10,000rpm on a 2007 R1, I have not gone beyond 10,000rpm on the GSXR 1000 due to the satisfying torque and I usually ride it between 2,500rpm – 6,000rpm with the latter being motorway speeds and rarely does the bike ever exceed that. The gearbox is quite slick and smooth, giving a subtle but, assertive click as you tap it into the desired gear. I've not experienced a false neutral or a missed gear change to date. There is an optional power selector to vary the power of the engine which, I can only imagine would be required should conditions become very greasy or worse.
Coupled with the ergonomics above, all of this makes the K7 GSXR1000 a surprisingly versatile, sublime sports bike's that takes road riding in it's stride and in capable hands I have no doubt, a serious tool on a track.
I have personally found the bike firm but, highly compliant despite not riding like I used to or having the skill to do so anymore. The bike doesn't pitch/wallow much with any movement being very progressively firmer on the brakes or acceleration. Whilst you do feel drain covers, over banding, white lines, bumps etc. the bike is not easily upset by them. The bike remains surprisingly well planted under hard acceleration, mid corner and driving out. I've never experienced any head shake when historically I've had it on both the ZX6R and R1 under similar conditions on the same roads and part of this must be down to a factory fitted (KYB) steering damper further complementing the suspension. Whilst I no longer ride like a loony, the directional changes that the bike appears to be capable of are effortless, quick but with a certain fluidity in the sense that it will change direction, as quick as you instruct it too but not quicker than you expect it to with very minor rider inputs.
I've never found the brakes overwhelming but that may be down to the lack of the use my bike has had since new. Fluids etc are always kept fresh with MOTUL RBF600 for brake and clutch so it's not degraded fluid to blame. The brakes are strong enough but in a very progressive manner with no sudden bite and a wooden feel. If I rode faster then I would definitely look into braided lines and upgraded pads as a first step.
The only problem I have experienced is a blocked fuel filter gauze thingy which was said to result from a lack of use since the bike was new and mainly kept as a living room ornament causing stale fuel to clog it up. I don' ride it over winter and even after 9 months, with the battery connected, it fires into life instantly without the need of a trickle charger.
Steve Jordan have looked after the bike servicing and MOT'ing it annually. Average service bill is approximately £200 and I always supply my own MOTUL oil. They have also advised that in their experience, around this era of sports bikes, the GSXR1000 is the least troublesome they see with regards to issues/faults. compared to its competition.
I really don't like to say that everything is great but, the Suzuki GSXR 1000 K7 is well designed, delivering ergonomics that would make daily riding in any situation a doddle and relatively ache free. The engine is very flexible with decent low down and mid range torque, allowing you to ride in a more relaxed manner rather than worry about rev ranges or a potential gear change. It will deliver the speed and top end as well for junkies. Despite owning this bike for 3 years, whilst it does not make my heart fizz like a Panigale would, it keeps my heart warm as it really is a total package machine that never puts a foot wrong yet leaves me amazed at how sublime a superbike can actually be every time I ride it.


text:
Five cars in total have been vandalized while they were parked on Bellevue Road and in the McDonald's car park located on the same street. Both are in the Broughton Area.
Hood ornaments are popular prey for vandals all over the world. Edinburgh BMWs and Audis have recently been stripped of their firmly placed logos. Mercedes emblems are loose by comparison and are also popular among thieves.
A police spokesman said:
"We are appealing to anyone who witnessed any of these vandalisms to contact police, and we would also urge anyone else with information that can help us trace whoever is responsible for these vandalisms to get in touch."
Anyone with information regarding this crime should contact Lothian Borders Police on 0131 311 3131 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.


text:
The Chicago Tribune continues its excellent series on patient dumping in Chicago:
Are hospitals passing off their low-profit patients?
Indigent and under-insured patients are turning to Cook County's Stroger Hospital after not getting fully treated at non-profit hospitals, swamping the cash-strapped public facility while fueling the county's sky-high sales tax.Which raises the fair question of whether not-for-profit hospitals have an obligation to actually provide charity care -- and how much? -- in order to qualify for their tax-advantaged status.
Medical Inflation
Slate's Timothy Noah writes:
Even before the bottom fell out of the economy, almost nobody in the United States got a real raise during the Bush years. Between 1999 and 2008, employer-sponsored health insurance premiums increased six times faster than wages. Average employer contributions to family health care plans more than doubled, and so did average worker contributions to those plans. Whatever pay increases the average worker received were wiped out, and then some, by the rapidly growing amounts deducted from his paycheck to cover health insurance.Maggie Mahar points out that Medicare itself has been hit by the increasing cost of healthcare, and differs from most insurers in that there is no cap on the amount beneficiaries have to pay out of pocket:
in just the past seven years, the amount a retired couple can expect to lay out in the form of co-pays, deductibles, out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs, as well has certain services not covered by Medicare has jumped 50 percent, from $160,000 to $240,000.Ezra dissects a study by the nonpartisan McKinsey group to explain why American health care is so much more expensive than everywhere else in the world:
McKinsey estimates that the difference is not sicker Americans. Differences in diseases account for only $25 billion of the variation -- about 5 percent of the total. Nor is it that we use more health care services. McKinsey examined inpatient hospital procedures to get a sense of how treatment volume compares. America averaged 88 procedures per 1,000 residents per year. That's higher than the OECD average of 75, but it's not as high as Germany's 97 treatments per 1,000 residents, or Switzerland's 98 treatments per 1,000 residents, and both countries spend much less on health care than the United States.The Wonk Room recaps both sides of the debate on whether innovations in health IT, organizational quality, and comparative effectiveness research will actually do much, if anything, to constrain the growth in costs. For my part, I hope so, but color me skeptical.
The answer, in the end, is that we're getting a bad deal. You know how when you go shopping you look for sales? America sort of does the opposite of that. We pay more for each unit of care, more for health system operations, and more for health system administration. McKinsey found that "input costs—including doctors' and nurses' salaries, drugs, devices, and other medical supplies, and the profits of private participants in the system—explain the largest portion of high additional spending, accounting for $281 billion of spending above US ESAW. Inefficiencies and complexity in the system's operational processes and structure account for the second largest spend above ESAW of $147 billion. Finally, administration, regulation, and intermediation of the system cost another $98 billion in additional spending."
Insurers behaving badly
The NYT writes about the unanticipated side effect of oral chemotherapies -- Insurance often doesn't cover it:
Chuck Stauffer's insurance covered the surgery to remove his brain tumor. It covered his brain scans. And it would have paid fully for tens of thousands of dollars of intravenous chemotherapy at a doctor's office or hospital. But his insurance covered hardly any of the cost of the cancer pills the doctor prescribed for him to take at home. Mr. Stauffer, a 62-year-old Oregon farmer, had to pay $5,500 for the first 42-day supply of the drug, Temodar, and $1,700 a month after that.
The WSJ Op-ed page argues that white is black, war is peace, and the wasteful administrative costs of private health insurance is "money well spent."
Andrew Sullivan links to a trenchant observation about the role of insurers in our system:
The simple truth is that one of the major reasons we have such a lousy health care system and receive such bad value for our money in the US is that we placed health care financing into the hands of the same folks who helped make our economic system such a disaster: private insurance companies, who are little more than disguised investment banks with the added incentive not to pay back their depositors (the premium payers).The same insurance industry, according to Media Matters, which is employing Newt Gingrich as its stealth lobbyist:
According to the Center for Health Transformation's website, members pay tiered annual membership fees, providing varying degrees of "[a]ccess to Newt Gingrich on your company's strategy," among other benefits. Insurance groups UnitedHealth Group, the parent of UnitedHealthcare, and WellPoint Inc. are listed as "Charter" members.Nothing wrong with that, though when Newt goes on teevee to talk about reform, it somehow never gets mentioned that his bread is buttered by the industry.
Health Reform
Conservative Ramesh Ponnuru argues in a NYT Op-Ed that the quest for Universal Coverage is "Misguided," and offers a conservative alternative plan. To my eye, it looks pretty identical to the one McCain proposed prior to the election; Ezra rebuts that the plan, authored by the conservative Galen Institute, is just covert rationing. (Hmm, where have I heard that phrase before?) The Wonk Room goes further, detailing why free market principles will not work in the distorted and broken market that is health care:
1. Monopoly — occurs if a single buyer or seller can exert significant influence over prices or output: In health care, "insurer and hospital markets are increasingly dominated by large insurers and provider systems." "The increased concentration has made it difficult for the nation to reap the benefits usually associated with competitive markets."Joe Paduda argues, extrapolating from a Commonwealth Fund Study, that
2. Negative Externalities — occur if the market does not take into account the impact of an economic activity on outsiders: In the 'wild west' environment of the individual health market place, companies leave the sickest patients without coverage. Health care costs increase for everyone when patients are forced to forgo early and appropriate care or visit the emergency room once a condition becomes unbearable.
3. Asymmetric Information — occurs when one party has more or better information than the other party: Americans looking for coverage in the individual market have no way of comparing different policies or rarely know what the plans actually cover.
Conservative health proposals double-down on this broken marketplace.
In several areas the US already has longer waiting times and poorer access to care than countries with universal healthcare. If the US adopts universal healthcare as practiced in other countries, the evidence indicates access will go up and waiting times may well go down.Joe also writes a stinging post about the myth that government just can't do anything right:
It would take a good deal of hard work to be more incompetent than some of the health plans out there today.Some resurgence in interest in the little bipartisan reform that could -- Wyden's Healthy Americans Act. Is it too late?
Last week, the Public Plan option was much in the news. The NYT editorial page wrote:
A new public plan is neither the cornerstone of health care reform nor the death knell of private insurance. It should be tried as one element of comprehensive reform. If, over time, a vast majority decides the government plan is superior, so be it.There have been some concerns that it might be dropped as a political token, in order to achieve passage of the rest of the reform package, but Nancy DeParle, Obama's Health Reform Czar, asserted that the administration is still behind the public plan as an element of health reform, and offered some insight to the options under consideration:
A public plan is something that's sponsored by the government, and therefore has very low or almost nonexistent administrative costs, compared to others. It doesn't have the need to have brokers out selling; it wouldn't have the need to have a lot of costs and profits, the way private plans would. So it has that advantage. It could operateAs you can see, there are some rather significant distinctions between the public plans described. Johnathan Cohn at TNR's The Treatment explains:
by the same rules that all the other plans do; it could have payments rates that are very similar. Or it could have payment rates that are the same as Medicare.
One is what you might call the full, or strong, public plan option: Creating a new insurance program that the government would run directly, much as it does Medicare. The idea would be to take advantage of Medicare's efficiencies as well as government's ability to set lower reimbursement prices. Projections suggest that such a program would have the potential to offer substantially lower premiums. [...]As a provider, knowing that Medicare reimbursements are already unsustainably low, I favor the second model. It would compete on a more level playing field with the privates, and would do less to further depress reimbursement rates.
Of course, precisely because a strong public plan has the power to offer lower premiums, the idea is a non-starter with the insurance industry. Since it would achieve a lot of its savings by reducing reimbursement levels, it's not exacty popular with the providers of medical care. And because it is, by definition, "government run," it's anathema to most conservatives.
That's why a second version has emerged, which you might call the partial, or weaker, public plan option: Creating a plan, or set of plans, that realize some of the administrative savings you find in programs like Medicare but explicitly avoid using government bargaining power to set prices. These plans would have potential to achieve some savings, but not nearly as much; and it's not clear whether they'd be as secure, or offer the same protection to the truly sick (who rightly worry whether private carriers will take care of them), as a strong public plan.


text:
Farmingdale State - 3, Buffalo State - 1
Farmingdale, N.Y. - Freshman forward Ashlee Thompson (Ronkonkoma, N.Y.) scored a pair of goals as Farmingdale State defeated Buffalo State, 3-1, in their first game of the season.
Thompson put the Rams (1-0) ahead with her first career goal only 46 seconds into the contest as she was set up off the feed from freshman Shannon Murphy (North Babylon, N.Y.). Senior forward Christina Merrill (Levittown, N.Y.) increased Farmingdale State's lead to 2-0 only 1:19 later as she netted a pass from Thompson.
Buffalo State (0-1) cut the deficit to 2-1 with 41:41 remaining in the first half on a Katie Hennes (Hauppauge, N.Y.) goal as senior forward Melissa Mahoney (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) recorded the assist. Neither team would score though out the remainder of the first half as the Rams took a 2-1 advantage into halftime.
Thompson scored her second goal of the game off a Merrill pass with 16:41 left to play giving the Rams a 3-1 lead. Farmingdale State would hold the Bengals scoreless for the rest of the game and earned a 3-1 season opening victory.
Farmingdale State next will host Salve Regina in the Rams Classic on Saturday, September 1st at 11:30 a.m. Tomorrow the Rams Classic will also feature Salisbury vs. Buffalo State at 1:30 p.m. and Western Connecticut vs. Geneseo at 3:30 p.m.


text:
Dynamo Charities will host its annual year-end celebration, presented by the Halliburton Charitable Foundation, on December 2 at Hotel Zaza. Dynamo Celebration will recognize the club's achievements over the past year, as well as honor organizational, team, and individual achievements on and off the field.
Doors to the event will open at 7:30 p.m., allowing fans the opportunity to mingle with their favorite Dynamo players prior to the show. Guests will also have an opportunity to participate in a silent auction that will include a variety of great packages, including Dynamo and other autographed sports memorabilia, vacation packages and special experience packages. The awards show will be hosted by Glenn Davis and begins at 8 p.m., followed by a post-event party from 9-11 p.m. at Hotel ZaZa's Monarch Bar patio.
Individual awards will be presented, including team M.V.P., Defender of the Year, Newcomer of the Year and MLS W.O.R.K.S. Humanitarian of the Year. The celebration will include highlights of the best moments from the 2013 season.
General seating tickets are $75 for Dynamo season ticket holders and $80 for the general public. Tickets include complimentary beer, wine, and hors d'oeuvres. Click here to purchase tickets.
The 2011 and 2012 editions of Dynamo Celebration sold out. Seating is limited; fans are encouraged to purchase their tickets now. VIP Reserved tables for ten guests are $1,000 and can be purchased by calling (713) 276-7533.


text:
Dubbed the "Wristunder" (geddit? GEDDIT?), the special panties were invented by Chiaki Takahashi, the voice actress who brings life to video characters in The Idolmaster, BlazBlue and many more.
Takahashi is dubbed a "sexy voice actress", and it often seems like she tries really hard. Probably too hard. But, hey, she tries. There's always trying.
For the launch of her new photobook, she showed up dressed as Marilyn Monroe, and presented her invention, which was the result of the desire to create a "sexy item" which helps promote her new pin-up book, while not leaving her male fans out. And voilà, panties men can wrap around their wrists, while they attend Takahashi's events.
While this seems like a publicity stunt (it is!), My Navi reports that Takahashi is currently applying for a patent, should anyone decide to ever try to steal her idea. You know, the one in which people wear underwear on their arms in public.
セクシーすぎる声優・たかはし智秋写真集 [Dime]
セクシー声優 リストバンドになるTバックを開発し特許申請 [My Navi]
Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points from Japan, Korea, China and beyond. Tune in every morning from 4am to 8am.


text:
Rights Contact Login For More Details
More About This Title Organic Spectroscopy Workbook
- English
This workbook:
- Features exercises to help develop the student's understanding of how structures are determined from spectra and to promote the student's own interpretation of different spectra.
- Covers a large range of spectroscopic data, including mass spectrometry, infrared and 1H and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance, typically used in the routine analysis of small-sized organic molecules.
- Presents in full-color, in a workbook-friendly format the spectra for interpretation with explanations and analyses on the facing page.
Related to the workbook the authors have an online resource of the problems featured in the workbook, available at: htttp://spectros.unice.fr/ By using the print edition alongside the online spectra, students will be able to enhance their understanding of the interpretation of multiple spectra.
- English
TOM FORREST, Department of Chemistry, Dalhousie University, Canada
JEAN-PIERRE RABINE,Centre de Développement Informatique Enseignement Chimie, Université de Nice Sophia-Antipolis, France
MICHEL ROUILLARD, Centre de Développement Informatique Enseignement Chimie, Université de Nice Sophia-Antipolis, France
- English
Preface vii
Acknowledgements ix
How to Use this Workbook 1
Preliminary Observations 2
Centres of Unsaturation 8
Exercises 1–100 10
Infrared Data 210
IR Frequencies: Display of Infrared Database by Frequency 210
IR Groups: Display of Infrared Database by Functional Group 216
1H NMR Data 221
General Tables of Functional Groups 221
Comparison of δ of Alkyl Groups Bearing a Substituent in α or β Position 225
Alkyl Groups with an α Substituent 226
Alkyl Groups with a β Substituent 226
Tables of δ for −CH2− Doubly Substituted in α Position 227
Tables of δ for Aromatics 229
Coupling Constants 230
13C NMR Data 233
General Ranges for CH3−, −CH2−, >CH−. . . 233
Chemical Shift Ranges for Functional Groups 234
Chemical Shift Estimations 234
Mass Spectrometry Data 240
Main Fragments Observed 240
Atomic Masses 242
Isotopic Abundances in % 243
Internet Resources 254
Glossary of Terms Used in the Exercises 255
Answers 257
Index 261


text:
The Annual Baseball Extravaganza, Spring Training Edition: Friday Evening, USA vs. Mexico
Finally sitting down to write again while watching the final games of the World Baseball Classic, I tip my hat to Puerto Rico for defeating reigning champion Japan, but I also have to belatedly tip my glass to Team USA. While I wish they could have made it this far and clearly theirs was not as great a finish as we'd hoped — certainly not as great a finish as the players had hoped — it was much better than I expected after catching the USA vs. Mexico game. And, hey, I have the last of the Balvenie RumCask in the glass I am tipping, so I can honestly say that a) this is a quality toast and b) that I may actually shed a tear or two in a moment…though certainly not for Team USA. 😉
Taking the not-particularly-way-back machine to one week ago, I return to the subject of our Annual Baseball Extravaganza, Spring Training Edition. For Seth and I, this was a trip filled with firsts — our first trip to Spring Training and our first World Baseball Classic game. Friday afternoon we left Tempe Diablo stadium when the Arizona sky opened up and poured water and ice, checked into our hotel, wrung as much water as we could from our jeans (serves us right for trying to pack light, I suppose) and headed to Chase Field to watch Team USA and Team Mexico battle to move to the next round in the WBC. Yes, that's a lot of baseball. *Big silly grin* My kind of vacation.
The energy walking into Chase was incredible. Our seats were excellent, in the third row just a section and change behind first base. In my opinion half of the fun of the WBC is seeing our MLB players in different uniforms, playing for their home country or for Team USA. It was an absolute kick to see so many players I adore but don't get to watch nearly as often as my Angels – R.A. Dickey, Giancarlo Stanton, Brandon Phillips, Joe Mauer, Eric Hosmer and the list goes on – playing together in red, white and blue, especially on the same field with Adrian Gonzalez, Sergio Romo and everyone else playing for Mexico. Sadly, the game itself was one sided and ho hum. Mexico hit, ran and hit and ran some more while USA played like…well…like an MLB team in their second or third week of Spring Training. I had the wrong angle to tell if Dickey was having an off night or if Mexico simply has no issues hitting a knuckleball. Not that it mattered, because the outfield couldn't seem to make a play to save their lives, a development I was not expecting given the quality of the players involved. Mind you, I had a blast and am excited we had tickets to see the game but, in the end, my excitement and enjoyment were more because we got to see a WBC game than because the game itself was anything special.
A couple of observations:
The strangest thing about the game: Oddly enough, I scould not get used to the sounds. As I mentioned, it poured in Arizona that Friday so Chase Field wisely took advantage of all modern conveniences and this became the first baseball game I have ever watched under a closed roof. I was plenty grateful for the roof, mind you, especially sitting there still damp from the epic deluge and hail that ended the Angels game that afternoon. But at the same time I was reminded how much the traditional sounds of the game are part of the whole experience for me. Under a roof you still get the crack of the bat, etc., but it's flatter and somewhat muted. It just doesn't sound right…kind of Langoliers-ish for any of you out there who devoured Stephen King to the degree I did as a child. Now, don't get me wrong. Baseball played underneath a retractable roof is decidedly better than a game called for inclement weather, or than sitting in the stands dripping wet, cold and absolutely hating life for that matter. But the game is still best enjoyed outside.
The best thing about the game: As I said, the energy was incredible! You hear a lot about games with a playoff atmosphere. Now, I have yet to afford the privilege of being at an actual playoff game — though that is indeed one for the bucket list — but I have been at several hard contested, end-of-the-season games that folks later describe as having a playoff atmosphere and I can definitely attest to the fact that that kind of energy is wild, intense and wonderful. I also had the luck of being at the Big A for every pitch of Jered Weaver's no hitter (No, I probably won't stop mentioning that for a few seasons yet. Why do you ask? 😉 ) and the energy at that game was positively electric to the point where you could feel it on your skin. The energy at the WBC game was palpable, like that, but less intense. It was a rowdy, fun, the-crowd-is-absolutely-into-it-and-hanging-on-every-pitch kind of energy and, yet, at the same time it was casual. This wasn't a playoff atmosphere, it felt like everything a simple every day game can and should be, and this during a relatively lopsided, uneventful game. If every regular season MLB game could feel like that? Well, I would probably love going to baseball games even more, something I did not think possible.


text:
More than 300,000 visitors and locals are expected to participate in this year's Shrimp Festival which will be held Oct 8th through 11th on the beautiful beaches of Gulf Shores, Alabama. In addition to soaking up the sun, Gulf Shores Shrimp Festival attendees have the opportunity to savor delectable seafood, enjoy live entertainment and view fine arts and crafts from over 200 artists". The Gulf Shores Shrimp Festival also includes a Children's Activity Village where the little ones can create their own "art" and participate in other fun-filled activities. Admission to the festival is FREE.
In support of the Annual Gulf Shores Shrimp Festival, ResortQuest is pleased to offer festival attendees the opportunity to Save up to 20% on eligible accommodations along Alabama's Gulf Coast or Save up to 33% on eligible Perdido Key vacation rentals. This special Gulf Shores Shrimp Festival rate is available for stays between 10/5/09 and 10/14/09
For more details about special lodging rates for the Gulf Shores Shrimp Festival visit ResortQuestAL.com/gulf-shores-shrimp-festival.htm


text:
Ways to place an order
Ordering your nutritional supplements and personal care products from Lifeplus is straightforward yet flexible.
There are two types of order: one-time orders and repeat orders:
One time order
When you place a one-time order, you pay our standard prices and shipping costs as detailed in our catalogue.
Repeat order – Automatic Shipment Advantage Programme (ASAP)
For products you want to order regularly, we have a great solution. ASAP is our customer loyalty programme. You choose your favourite products and we send them to you automatically on your preferred date between the 1st and 25th of each month (subject to national holiday and weekend restrictions).You can save up to 11% off the recommended retail price and get cheaper or free shipping depending on the IP value of the products you order. Click here to learn more about ASAP.
- We offer a 30- day money-back guarantee for all our orders.
- You can place both types of order online or over the phone.
- To place any type of order online you will need to register for an online account.


text:
London said good bye to the Paralympic Games and hello to Christmas goods in the shops (yes really, mince pies and Santa-shaped chocolates). I discovered two really interesting facts:
- Did you know Paralympic sprinter Jerome Singleton has degrees in math, physics and engineering and worked for NASA and CERN?
- To celebrate the Jewish new year, Rosh Hashanah, a symbolic meal of apples and honey is eaten to represent hopes for sweetness in the months to come. So sweet.
1. We all know that hand washing is the easiest and simplest form of defense against infections and cross transmissions. Indeed, Florence Nightingale was talking about it over a hundred years ago. We teach little kids the importance of hand washing. I have chronically dry skin from washing my hands before, during and after every acupuncture treatment with a client. So why is it that I still see people in public bathrooms splash a bit of water about, or even worse, just walk out? And why is it that there are still healthcare professionals, including doctors and nurses, who don't practice regular hand hygiene?
2. Acupuncture isn't a cure-all for every symptom and condition under the sun, but there are certain issues that it is very effective for, pain relief being one of them. Due to the way clinical trials are designed though, it's been somewhat difficult to really find a way to show acupuncture in a scientific setting. While we should be careful when using words like 'proof', a new study with evidence in support of an acupuncture analgesic effect is still interesting.
The study, published in the prestigious Archives of Internal Medicine on September 10th, showed that for each of the four conditions (back and neck pain, osteoarthritis, chronic headache, and shoulder pain) the analgesic effect of true acupuncture was slightly better than that of placebo acupuncture. However, the difference between true acupuncture and usual care alone was found to be much larger and of clinical significance.
3. The same study also appeared in Medpage Today which provides physicians a clinical perspective on the breaking medical news that their patients are reading. It discussed not only the analysis but also the mechanisms of acupuncture. "How acupuncture works" seems to be a defining question for many, a question which medical and technological advances can't provide an answer for just yet. In an invited commentary accompanying the meta-analysis, Andrew L. Avins, MD asks:
"But whether that should mean acupuncture has no value for patients, largely because of uncertainty as to its mechanisms of action, is a crucial concern…. Perhaps a more productive strategy at this point would be to provide whatever benefits we can for our patients, while we continue to explore more carefully all mechanisms of healing."
This is a welcome sensibility. As with the creation of the universe, just because we don't know how it works doesn't mean it doesn't work.
4. It was a busy month for acupuncture. Information released by NICE (National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence) on September 19th reported that overuse of painkillers is one of the most common causes of headaches affecting about one in 50 people. Women are five times more likely to suffer from these.
For tension headaches and migraines, NICE concluded that acupuncture is effective and recommended it as a preventative treatment. Read the full NICE report here.
5. Bacon having a high salt content should be non news by now. But the very first sentence surprised me, bread is the biggest source of salt in the UK diet?
6. This article got the geek in me very excited. One, it's about genetics and two, it uses the word "holistic" to describe the complete picture instead of referring to alternative therapies or lifestyles.
You might also like:
Pointspace's August Round-Up | 5 Most Common Side Effects of Acupuncture


text:
iPhone 4 Diamond Rose Edition sells for $8 million
So you thought the $20,000 White iPhone 4 was a bit on the expensive side? How about one that costs a cool £5 million — about $8 million? (it ain't even white!) Stuart Hughes, a jeweler who's been known to deck out gadgets with gold and diamonds, has crafted what's now considered the world's most expensive cellphone. Besides being encrusted with hundreds of flawless diamonds, this iPhone 4 will come with a "box" that's made from a block of Granite.
The bezel is handmade from rose with approx 500 individual flawless diamonds which total over 100ct.The rear section is formed using rose gold with the added touch of its rose gold Apple logo and 53 diamonds. The main navigation is made from platinum which holds a single cut 7.4ct pink diamond. Also included (not shown in picture) is a rare 8ct single cut Flawless diamond which can replace the pink one. The chest which houses this unique handset is made from a single block of Granite , in Imperial Pink with the inner lined with Nubuck top grain leather , which weight is a massive 7kg.The handset is 32gb and limited edition of only 2 to be ever made.
Personally, I can think of much better uses for $8 million. But that's just me. If you do have that kind of money laying around and would like nothing more than to get your hands on one, you can purchase this lovely iPhone 4 here.
[via Engadget]