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World champion Asbel Kiprop's relentless pace proved too much for his rivals, including Mo Farah, as the Kenyan clocked the fastest 1,500 metres time since 2004 at the Monaco Diamond League meeting on Friday.
With the world championships in Moscow just over three weeks away, world leads and minor records were set with seeming abandon on a still, warm evening in the Stade Louis II.
Kiprop pulled ahead of the field shortly before the bell and raced away to win in three minutes 27.72 seconds to make him the fourth fastest man of all time over the distance.
Britain's Olympic 5,000 and 10,000 metres champion Farah said before the event that he was dropping down to the shorter distance to work on his speed and the move paid off as he was dragged round in a European record of 3:28.81.
"I'm definitely pleased, training has been going pretty well," the 30-year-old, who goes sixth on the all-time list, told the BBC.
"The aim was to come out here and work on my speed. It would have been nice to get closer to Asbel but he's got another gear and he kept stretching away," added Farah who plans to move up to the marathon next year.
Controversial sprinter Justin Gatlin won the men's 100 metres, which was run against the backdrop of last weekend's revelations that leading sprinters Tyson Gayand Asafa Powell had failed dope tests.
American Gatlin, who served a four-year doping ban from 2006, got a great start and won in 9.94 seconds, in a race missing world-record holder Usain Bolt, to show he is likely to be the Jamaican's main contender in Moscow.
Murielle Ahoure of the Ivory Coast put herself in the mix for the world 200 title after blasting out of the blocks and holding off American Tiffany Townsend and Olympic 100 metres champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce for victory in a national record of 22.24.
Farah would have watched the 5,000 metres, for which he is world champion, with interest as Kenyan Edwin Soi ran the fastest time of the year, 12:51.34, to beat the Briton's meeting record set in 2011. Former Kenyan Albert Rop, now competing for Bahrain, was second in an arena record of 12:51.96.
Time is running out for world and Olympic 100 hurdles champion Sally Pearson, who is still a way off her best after returning from a hamstring injury last month.
The Australian faded badly over the last three hurdles to finish fifth behind American Queen Harrison who won in 12.64.
Olympic silver medallist Brigetta Barrett treated the crowd to a dance routine after clearing 2.01 first time in the high jump which was enough for victory.
Renaud Lavillenie of France dominated the pole vault competition, securing victory with a Diamond League record and world-leading 5.96 metres, 18 centimetres higher than American Brad Walker in second.


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Since my return I have been preoccupied with working with other citizens to defeat the state of oppression that has been placed upon us. Writing a Blog did not seem an adequate enough response to the changed world we suddenly find around us.
I began this Blog over thirty months ago with the sole aim of trying to convince people that the Musharraf regime was morally bankrupt and that its intentions were self-seeking and oppressive. Today it would be difficult to find any member of Pakistan's civic society who would disagree with me. In other words The Glasshouse is now largely redundant.
Here is my list of modern Pakistani heroes:
Our Lawyers.
What a valiant and principled lot they have turned out to be. Bless them!An admiring US lawyer commented: 'They may be beaten and gassed, but they are representing the last line of defense against a dictatorial regime bent on suppressing the law.'
In my personal roll of honour the following three lawyers have to be mentioned by name:
Aitzaz Ahsan
Muneer A Malik
Ali Ahmed Kurd
Members of the Press
Apart from the usual unmentionable rats that are found in every profession, most members of the press have resisted all attempts to become PR spokesmen for the regime. My personal favourites being:
Talat Hussain
Mushtaq Minhas
Nusrat Javed
The Judiciary
All judges of the senior judiciary who refused to take oath under the PCO are worthy of praise. They have ended a 50 year hiatus of subservience.
Imran Khan
Betrayed by a gang of student thugs bribed by the regime, he held his head high throughout. He once again proved to us what courage and leadership are all about.
We should all be proud of these people. There are others, of course, whom I have forgotten to mention. So, Readers, I would now encourage you to add to the list of our heroes in the comment's column. Let them get the praise they deserve for fighting for our rights in face of lathis, tear gas, imprisonment and physical brutality.
(And, yes, you are also welcome to compile a list of your favourite villains as well.)
There are currently tens of millions of Pakistanis who are currently unable to access news of ongoing events in Pakistan. To them I suggest a traditional alternative - BBC Urdu Service.
In view of the blanket media ban in Pakistan BBC has increased the time and frequency of its Urdu broadcasts. The live broadcasts are available at the following times:
6:30 am to 7:30 am (PST) on medium wave at 1413 kHz
12:30 to 1:00 pm (PST) on 6065, 7180, 11750 and 15510 kHz
3:00 to 4:00 pm (PST) on 5965, 7205, 9510 and 15160 kHz
5:30 to 6:00 pm (PST) on 6060, 7205, 9605 and 11690
8:00 pm to 9:00 am (PST) on medium wave at 1413 kHz
10:30 pm to 10:30 am (PST) on medium wave at 1413 kHz
And internet users can listen to all these broadcasts on http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/
Readers, many thanks for your concern.
As you can see Onlooker is alive and well. Unfortunately, due to the abounding political chaos he has been too busy these past few days even to check on the blog. (Only today did I finally manage to read my readers' responses. Please accept my sincere apologies).
With the technology available to intercept Al Qaeda's electronic communications, your Blogger is pretty sure that the authorities might have some clue to his identity, but then perhaps, lucky for him, they are simply to busy countering the latest terrorist threat – our lawyers!
Anyhow Onlooker is off again this coming week to attend a meeting in the capital where it is anticipated there will the usual welcoming lathi and a charming dose of tear gas thrown in for good measure. The important thing is that the people of Pakistan seem to be winning the battle. Good luck to us all!

subset: commoncrawl


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Can't make it to the dealer for my 600 mile service before my scheduled trip. I'll do my own service
Has anything changed from 2008 RT as far as the final drive quantity and specs for the oil ?
I'm using 180ml of 75-90 GL5 synthetic
Can't make it to the dealer for my 600 mile service before my scheduled trip. I'll do my own service
Has anything changed from 2008 RT as far as the final drive quantity and specs for the oil ?
I'm using 180ml of 75-90 GL5 synthetic
Anthony S.
The specifications remain the same. The tutorial on this site quite good. Be sure and inspect the orings close unless you happen to have new ones aleady. I found a large animal syringe and a short piece of tubing to be the ticket for putting in the 180 ml fluid into the drive with no spillage. Bad spot for a spill. Syringe also allows accurate fluid measurement.
Will Stagg Central Coast of Commiefornia
Yamaha TW200 adventure bikes (multiple offender)
Just a heads up.. my local friendly BMW dealer now has in stock the actual original spec oil (which was a Castrol XO 75W-90) as "Final drive gear oil" C-SAF-XO) SAE 75W-90 GL5.
BMW PN: 07 51 2 293 972. Retail price was $23.49/liter. For those of us who are somewhat anal about using what BMW spec'd in the service manuals - this IS the stuff, formerly almost unobtainable in the US (there are rumors Land Rover dealers carry it.. but I haven't checked that.)
BTW - Anthony, document your service carefully. BMW has been known to squabble over warranty on bikes where the initial service wasn't done (or it couldn't be proved it was done.)
Don Eilenberger http://www.eilenberger.net
Spring Lk Heights NJ NJ Shore BMW Riders
'12 R1200R - I love this bike!
My '12 RT didn't require a final drive fluid change at the break-in service. I will not do the first fluid change in the FD and trans until 6k.
Apparently the specifications for the initial service is somewhat fluid and can change on a whim.
Good luck.
I think getting any crud left over from manufacturing out of the final drive sooner rather than later is a very good idea. If I ever skipped a FD service it wouldn't be the 600 mile initial service.
Paul Glaves - "Big Bend", Texas U.S.A
"The greatest challenge to any thinker is stating the problem in a way that will allow a solution." - Bertrand Russell
There are no equivalents to Castrol SAF-XO either from Castrol or anybody else.
Remember it's designed as a "lifetime fill" oil and no others are.
Even if you're going to periodically renew it, it still remains the fluid around which the unit was designed.
Despite what a dealer may tell you, BMW has not changed the specification.
Speaking of "anal," I was a bit disappointed that the SAF-XO Don mentions is not the red color that the original factory fill was. Think I'll get a bottle from Land Rover to see if it is.
Kent Christensen
That's what I needed to know . I can keep doing the same on the GS as my RT for the final drive.
I'm waiting on my repair DVD so I don't have the info on hand. But it appears the fill hole is on the right at about 2 o'clock vs the RT that's on the left
Anthony S.
I haven't opened the bottle of C-SAF-XO from BMW yet, so can't say what color it is..
Don Eilenberger http://www.eilenberger.net
Spring Lk Heights NJ NJ Shore BMW Riders
'12 R1200R - I love this bike!
I believe after my service I do recall others here indicating the same experience for their 600 service as well.
Either way, I will service in about 1k miles. Since the dealer performed and documented the first service, not changing the tranny or FD fluid I feel okay with where I stand.
R1200GS LC Rallye
Jack Hawley MOA and RA #224, KE9UW ("Chuck")
spoke with the service manager/mechanic at the dealer . He said one of the things they do at the 600 mile service is re-torque the steering head. Probably a good idea
Anthony S.
My understanding is that the heads have to be torqued during the first service. Something that wasn't in my work order either. Just oil and filter. Most expensive oil change ever.


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Secure Your Place at the Music Festival
So you're ready to start planning your fantastic trip?
Great! First, we need to get some information from you so we can begin coordinating your trip, and, most importantly, secure your spot in the competition.
Slots fill up fast so if you're even considering attending the All American Music Festival, we suggest you reserve your spot as soon as possible by filling out the form below. Schools book their trips as much as a year in advance to secure the best performance time slots and maximize your play time in the parks.
Have a question and want to talk to an All American Music Festival trip coordinator right away? We're just a phone call away. Call us at 800.243.4365!
Anyone can compete in this fun, fast, and furious test of speed! Click here to see an amazing example!


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|There is 1 section of this class.
|Web Registration Dates:
Resident: 09/11/2019 @ 12:00A - 12/11/2019 @ 12:00A
Non-Resident: 09/11/2019 @ 8:30A - 12/11/2019 @ 12:00A
|This is a Co-ed activity.
|Open to These Ages:
|18 years and Up
|Open to These Grades:
|Dates that class will NOT meet:
|Notes for this activity:
|City of Aventura Adult Softball League will provide the opportunity for adults to stay active and social in an organized athletic setting. Adult Softball League will utlize Amateur Softball of America (ASA) rules.
Ages: 18 and over
Please arrive at Aventura Founders Park at the scheduled game time. Games are played on Sunday mornings.
Refunds are only considered in the case of a medical emergency when supporting documentation has been submitted in writing. No refunds will be considered after a program had concluded.
Players are required to wear their team shirts.
No metal cleats are allowed.
All players are required to sign a waiver prior to the start of the season. No player will be allowed to take the field without a completed waiver.
Games are held on Sundays.


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I am using sencha cmd on windows 7 for sencha touch. I can create app command sencha generate app ... fine, but my problem starts when I go to directory of application and if I try execute command "sencha" nothing happens. If I remove folder called ".sencha" from my application folder command works but it can not do anything because can not find file sencha.cfg. Because of this I can't build app with sencha cmd or generate files, which are nice options.
Have anyone idea how can I fix this? Thanks in advance.


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I'm using the following script in beamer to locate our logo at the right-most corner of all pages in the presentation,
\begin{textblock}{5}(10.0, \dimexpr 0.5\headheight - 7.5pt )
The placement of the textblock in the page is fine, however there is an undesired equal sign (see added image) in the page. It's the first time I use
\dimexpr, do I make a mistake?
I think this undesired equal sign comes from
\dimexpr 0.5\headheight - 7.5pt this part of script. Because when I replace it with, for example,
1, the equal sign goes.
I just tried to do something
\dimexpr 15pt - 7.5pt it still gives an undesired equal sign.


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Calgary law firm banned from representing survivors
A B.C. Supreme Court judge has ruled a Calgary law firm can no longer represent Indian residential school survivors under Canada's process to compensate them for past sexual and physical abuse, suggesting the firm was in it for the money. Blott and Company, a small firm that had 20 lawyers working only on Indian residential school cases, stood to make millions of dollars from the federal government and had more than 5,600 clients seeking redress through the Independent Assessment Process (IAP).


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7% off any order.
Enter this code during checkout to save at PetFenceUSA.
Code copied! Now enter this code at PetFenceUSA to save!
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Browse all deals at PetFenceUSA
See more in Coupons & Rebates, Pets & Animals
* This offer may contain time-sensitive information and offers. Please check with PetFenceUSA to confirm actual price & availability.
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CD DJ Packages
Get to grips with your CD album tracks with the fanstastic range of CD DJ packages and bring back the classics from the heydays of Compact Discs! Here at DJ Tech Direct, we love combining new technology with traditions, and our top-of-the-range CD DJ kits are ideal for combining CD decks and a DJ mixer all in one.
The CD DJ packages we stock give you all the tools to get mixing. CD Decks have controls to alter pitch, loop and skip between your tracks, the mixer enables you to blend two or more tracks together, apply EQ and effects while the headphones enable you to cue your tracks.
Pioneer XDJ-RX2 2 Channel Standalone USB DJ Controller
£1,529.00Available to order
Whether you opt for a package which comes with integrated sampler, built-in FX, adjustable X-fader, vinyl scratch functionality, audio interface and SD card input or not - it's up to you. But whatever you choose, all DJ equipment comes with a manufacturer's warranty so quality is guaranteed. Plus, many CD DJ packages come with FREE flightcase and headphones as well as FREE UK delivery when you spend over £50!
If you haven't found exactly the right package, why not contact us or visit us at our Birmingham DJ Superstore and we can create you a custom made DJ package exactly to your needs, at the UKs most competitive price.


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Twist the Prism (Prismentwist)
Twist the Prism (Prismentwist) Warning! The instructions and packaging are in German. Twist the prism is a 3-D puzzle made from recycled plastic by Ingo Uhl. It consists of 12 different stones. These stones are made up of prisms. A rock consists of two prisms, two stones consist of three prisms and nine stones consist of 4 prisms. Eight of these stones are three dimensional and four are two-dimensional. The game also has a base platform. This has 38 triangular fields and is designed so that very many different symmetric three-dimensional structures can be created. Rough calculations have shown that 10 to the power 19 different buildings can be made. There is a record sheet for games that you have designed so that newly invented building can be recorded. Twist the prism is mainly played as a single person game, but can also be played in a group. Included in package 1 base platform 12 plastic pieces Instructions with 100 different ways to put the pieces together as well as a place to record the ones you make up.
Are you a person who loves a good mystery? Me too, I also love jigsaw puzzles and you should know the two are now combined to make a mystery lovers life more challenging. These unique puzzles aptly name mystery jigsaw puzzles use the book to spin the tale but to get to the bottom of who dun it the answer lies within the puzzle itself, you cannot solve the mystery without it. There is just one more bit of sleuthing to do the puzzle doesn't match the jigsaw picture on the box!


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SPRINGFIELD [Illinois] —— Two lobbyists with no prior teaching experience were allowed to count their years as union employees toward a state teacher pension once they served a single day of subbing in 2007, a Tribune/WGN-TV investigation has found.
Steven Preckwinkle, the political director for the Illinois Federation of Teachers, and fellow union lobbyist David Piccioli were the only people who took advantage of a small window opened by lawmakers a few months earlier. ...
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
The intersection of unions and politics
2 comments:
- James Nicholas said...
This is absolutely outrageous. There are plenty of substitute teachers around, Ilion. These guys inserted themselves into the schools to tap the pension plan.
"Over the course of their lifetimes, both men stand to receive more than a million dollars each from a state pension fund that has less than half of the assets it needs to cover promises made to tens of thousands of public school teachers."
I love it when the university professor complains that the teacher's retirement plan was set up for teachers, and that it already is underfunded vs its obligations. Don't like the company you're keeping professor?
The union reps stress that the two union lobbyists didn't break any laws. So what? The laws themselves were the result of corrupt insider manipulations, and as such were immoral. These two acted immorally, to the approval of the Illinois legislature, the school teachers, and the union that represents them. It more than disgusts me.
- October 29, 2011 at 4:25 PM
- Ilíon said...
No matter what the specific sphere of interest, this sort of corruption is the inevitable result of allowing "the government" to pick the winners and losers. And, in fact, such corruption isn't really so much the result of having "the government" to pick the winners and losers, as it is the other side of the coin.
- November 1, 2011 at 11:15 PM


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If you have some vision but you struggle to read regular print, large or giant print may be for you.
The size of a font is described in point size. Large print is generally 16 to 18 point size. Giant print is anything larger than this. Regular print is usually 10 or 12 point.
Your local library is probably the best place to have a look at large print books and check they are right for you. Some high street book shops also sell large print books that you can browse through.
eBooks can offer many people a solution to reading larger print as many eBook readers offer the ability to enlarge the print size. Try them in a high street store to see how the text size may be of use to you or read our guide to eBooks and digital.
You can buy large and giant print books and magazines from several places.
If you don't want to buy online, you can call us on 0303 123 9999.
You can also try going to a search engine (like Google) and searching for 'large print books' or 'giant print books' - or whatever it is you want.
Many eBook readers let you enlarge the typeface to a size that suits you, offering access to a huge range of book, newspaper and magazine titles.
It's not just about books, newspapers and magazines. You can change the text size and the colours of websites, meaning that everything you read online can be altered to suit you. The BBC's My Web My Way website explains how to do it.
You can borrow things to read in large print from your local library and our National Library Service stocks giant print books.
You can borrow giant print books from the RNIB Library. These books are in 24 point type allowing you to make the most of any sight you have.
RNIB National Library Service is the only provider in the UK offering giant print books for loan, with a wide choice of titles for adults and children. We also offer a children's library service
You can borrow large print books from your local library. If they haven't got the title you want, ask if they can borrow it from another library for you.
eBooks are also available to borrow from some local library services, where the text can be enlarged to suit you.


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LXer Weekly Roundup for 14-Dec-2008
Hello everyone, It seems that in the search to bring the infections under control, the USB drive ban I told you about last week has been expanded to the entire military now. AbiWord 2.6.5 just hit the streets and it boasts better compatibility with Word 2007 and OpenOffice Writer and Amarok 2.0 with a host of cool new stuff was released earlier in the week as well.
A former programmer for Microsoft and recent convert to Linux has written a book entitled "The Software Wars" proving that Microsoft Developers can embrace the Dark Side and survive to tell the tale. I would expect a review of it from me in the near future. ;-) Symbian has announced that their open-source operating system should come out sometime in 2010.
On Monday an article came out that asked "What Are The Issues With Open Source Linux?" and to say that it was a little short on facts is being extremely kind. One of our readers wrote a response to it that takes on every point and pretty much takes it apart piece by inaccurate piece.
In something that is of interest to online only publications like LXer, The Pulitzer Prize Board announced that it will consider entries from online-only publications in addition to print outlets for the 14 journalism categories for the first time ever. Up until this year the Board had refused to consider online only entries. In the face of becoming irrelevant due to the growth of online media they decided finally give "us" the same recognition that traditional media has always enjoyed.
In some big news for web applications Google unveiled Native Client, their answer to Java and Flash. And they also announced that Chrome is already out of Beta. Already out of Beta, a Google product? What about my Gmail? I have been using it for years now and its still in beta but Chrome gets out in a couple of months? How can it be out of beta already with no Linux or Mac versions even in the works?
To wrap things up we have a review by Hans Kwint entitled "A Gentoo User Gives Debian a Go Around" where Hans tells us of the fun he had in configuring Debian for the first time in years and HP has finally seen the forest for the trees and offered Linux pre-installed for the first time on some of their computers. Have a great week!
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If your business discharges any liquid waste to a sewer (other than domestic sewerage) then you require a trade waste approval from council.
Trade waste approval is required for a wide range of business activities. Examples of business activities that require trade waste approval are:
A trade waste approval will specify council's conditions for discharging trade waste into its sewerage system. The purpose of the approval is to manage the potentially adverse effects of waste, which can cause blockages or corrosion, undermine the sewerage treatment process or be harmful to people.
A licence defines the need to obtain recognition / certification and registration to undertake a certain business activity.
Council determines the length of this approval. If you plan to alter any of the processes involved in generating trade waste, you will need approval.
Water Supply (Safety and Reliability) Act 2008 Queensland
(Opens in new window)
Contact council for more information on the current application process and relevant form.
You cannot transfer this approval. If you change property ownership or lease a business establishment, you will have to reapply for a new approval.
Central Highlands Regional Council
Contact Email, Phone and Address Details for this service in simple two column table format, header then data.
Central Highlands Regional Council


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In Case You Don't Realize How Fast Apple's iPad Business Has Gone Down The Tubes...
On October 22nd, Apple is finally launching new iPads.
This launch can't come soon enough.
It wasn't long ago that Apple fans were slapping each other on the back and crowing about how, one day, Apple would be known as "the iPad company."
The theory was that iPads were such a mega-hit new product category that iPad sales would continue to grow at astronomical rates until, eventually, they might even eclipse sales of the iPhone.
You don't hear that theory much anymore.
Why not?
Because, despite the launch of a cheaper iPad last year--the iPad Mini--the growth of Apple's iPad sales has hit a wall.
In the June quarter, Apple's iPad sales dropped a startling 14% year over year, to only 15 million units.
Even after adjusting for channel inventory, iPad sales to consumers dropped 3% year over year.
This in a tablet market that is projected to grow about 50% this year. This for a super-ballyhooed new product category that is supposed to drive the company's growth for years.
So, what's going on?
Well, part of the issue was a tough comparison with last year: The iPad with a retina screen launched in the June quarter last year, and this triggered a nice jump in iPad sales in that quarter--to 17 million units from 12 million in the prior quarter. That set a high bar for this year's June quarter.
But that's not the whole problem.
The larger problem, arguably, is that Apple is trying to maintain premium pricing in a market in which competitors are increasingly selling high-quality iPad alternatives for significantly lower prices.
The June quarter's lousy sales, it is important to note, came only a couple of quarters after Apple launched its iPad Mini--the smaller, cheaper tablet that was designed to allow Apple to compete with similar tablets from Google, Amazon, and others. We had not even anniversaried the launch of the Mini and iPad sales were still down.
This "premium pricing" strategy is a departure from the strategy Apple has used for the iPhone and early iPads. (Those products were priced at or below the rest of the market). This is also a strategy that helped bury Apple in the earlier PC era — when it was charging premium prices for the Mac.
The iPad Mini and Apple's larger iPads are still arguably the best tablets of their kind on the market. But they're also some of the most expensive. Apple, which generates its profit from device sales, is trying to protect its profit margin by maintaining relatively high price points for its iPads. Amazon, Google, and other tablet manufacturers, meanwhile, are selling their tablets at lower price points, in part because they generate their profits from app and media sales rather than device sales.
Apple says it wants to sell the "best" products, not the "most" products, so this pricing strategy is in keeping with that philosophy.
The trouble is that Apple is also trying to ensure that its mobile operating system, iOS, remains the dominant global mobile platform. And in platform markets--markets in which third-parties build apps and sell services on top of a platform--market share is crucial.
By trying to maintain its premium pricing and high profit margin, Apple is likely losing sales that would otherwise help the company capture more of the mobile platform market. That tradeoff helps produce higher profits for Apple today, but it also likely weakens the long-term value of the iOS platform. If, instead of focusing on maximizing near-term profits, Apple were focused on trying to make iOS the dominant global mobile platform, it would likely reduce prices on its iPads and iPhones. This would hurt the company's profits today, but it would also likely lead to a stronger market position--and higher profits--several years from now.
In other words, Apple is stuck with what can only be described as a high-quality problem.
The company's profit margin is so high, and this is producing so much profit, that investors have made it one of the most valuable tech companies in the world. If Apple sacrifices its profit margin and profit to increase its mobile platform market share, investors will probably scream. (It is a slowdown in sales and drop in profits, after all, that has clobbered the stock over the past year.) If, on the other hand, Apple maximizes its current profit at the expense of market share, as it appears to be doing, this will likely weaken the company's market position long-term.
Unless Apple believes that iOS can remain a dominant and sustainable mobile platform even with only niche market share, in which case market share losses don't matter, there's a right answer here.
The right answer is for Apple to reinvest more of its gigantic profits by reducing the prices of its iPads and iPhones.
Apple is so phenomenally profitable that it could reduce its iPad and iPhone prices significantly and still coin money. And, in doing so, it could also accelerate its unit growth and increase its global market share.
Doing this, of course, would further reduce Apple's current profit and trigger additional declines in the stock price. But that doesn't mean it's the wrong decision for the long term.
What Apple will not likely be able to do is have it both ways.
The company will not likely be able to continue to own the dominant global mobile operating system while also trying to maintain its premium device pricing and profit margin. Gradually, as hardware competitors get better and operating systems like Android become more ubiquitous, iOS will become more of a niche player. Ultimately, if it becomes too much of a niche player, it will lose its value to developers and distributors. And if that happens, Apple is finished. If there's no clear reason for consumers and developers to pay up to be in "the iOS ecosystem," there will be no reason for consumers to pay up to buy Apple gadgets. The vicious cycle will feed on itself, and, ultimately, both Apple's profits and market share will collapse.
So Apple investors (I'm one) and fans shouldn't just brush off last quarter's lousy iPad sales. And they should hope that the company will now offer a tablet that is very price-competitive.
Tablets are still a rapidly growing market, and Apple still has arguably the best products in the category. But Apple appears to be losing market share fast. And that is likely a direct result of its decision to try to maintain its premium prices and profit margin in a world in which talented competitors are producing high quality products and being ever more aggressive on price.
Regardless, the new iPad product launch is important...
SEE ALSO: And Now The Chinese Knockoffs Are Coming To Clobber Apple...
Join the conversation about this story »


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Do you wonder why lawyers are the target of such scorn in this country? This story of about a class-action suit is sure to anger some of you.
Several years ago, two Californians were unhappy with the gas mileage they got from their new Honda Civic Hybrids. John True of Ontario and Gonzalo Delgado of Chino Hills claimed their Civics got around 30 miles per gallon, significantly less than what Honda promised in its advertisements.
In the fall of 2007, they sued the automaker. Their class action lawsuit claimed Honda used "false and deceptive" advertising to sell and lease its 2003 to 2008 Civic Hybrids in the U.S.
In its ads, Honda used the EPA mileage estimates of 49 city/51 highway. The lawsuit didn't challenge those EPA fuel economy ratings. Instead, it said Honda knew or should have known the figures were unrealistic and should have said so.
The suit claimed the inflated mileage numbers convinced True, Delgado and about 158,000 other people to pay a premium of as much as $7,000 for a Civic Hybrid. In reality, the Hybrid delivers only slightly better mileage than a Civic with a standard gasoline engine.
Honda tried to have the suit dismissed, arguing that it used EPA mileage estimates and did not violate any advertising regulations. But a U.S. District Court judge in California felt the case had enough merit to proceed.
In March of last year, the suit ended with an out-of-court settlement. Honda did not admit doing anything wrong, but agreed to pay $12,500 to John True and $10,000 to Gonazlo Delgado.
Everyone else who bought a 2003 to 2008 Civic Hybrid would get much less. Honda agreed to give them:
A DVD that demonstrates how to operate and maintain their car to get maximum fuel economy. Critics point out this information is already available in the owner's manual and on Honda's Web site. A rebate — $1,000 if they sell or trade in their Civic Hybrid, $500 if they keep the car — and buy a new qualifying Honda or Acura. The coupons cannot be used to buy Honda's most economical and fuel-efficient models: Fit, Insight, Civic Hybrid or CRZ (a new hybrid that comes out in 2011). $100 cash to anyone who made a documented complaint before March 2, 2009 regarding the Civic Hybrid's fuel economy.
Oh, and the lawyers? They'd get nearly $3 million.
Attorney Jonathan Cuneo, one of the lead lawyers for the plaintiffs, tells me it's "a fine settlement" that has "real value to each and every class member." And, he insists, his firm earned the $2.95 million dollar fee.
Consumer groups: No fair
Public Citizen, the Center for Auto Safety, and the attorneys general in 26 states have asked the court to reject the proposed settlement.
In its legal papers Public Citizen writes: "The settlement's primary relief consists of marketing gimmicks that will benefit Honda more than the class."
Public Citizen claims the rebate program has little or no value. "We know from experience that coupon settlements for big ticket items have an extremely low redemption rate," says Michael Kirkpatrick, an attorney for Public Citizen. "So we expect the redemption rate to be no higher than 2 percent. That means 98 percent of the class is getting nothing."
In their filing with the court, the attorneys general point out that it would be "economically irrational" for someone to spend $20,000 or more to buy "an unneeded car" to receive a $1,000 or $500 rebate.
They also believe the lawyers are getting "a tremendous amount of money" compared to the relief obtained for class members.
Cuneo dismisses the objections. He says more than 170,000 people were notified of the settlement and only ten objected.
"In terms of our fee, we are under water," he says, "We are not nearly going to recoup the value of the time that we put into this case."
The bigger picture
Class action lawsuits serve an important purpose. If successful, they can punish a company that's cheated or injured a lot of people by forcing it to compensate the victims.
Unfortunately, some settlements do very little to help the class members or penalize the wrong-doer.
Martin Redish, Northwestern University law professor and author of the book "Wholesale Justice,"calls these "faux" class action lawsuits.
"Everybody knows right from the beginning there is no realistic way a court can provide a remedy to those actually hurt," he says. "So they come up with an alternative means to try to look like they're giving compensation."
One way to do that, he says, is to offer the class members a rebate coupon, good for a discount if they make another purchase from the company being sued.
Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, has been involved in many auto-related class action suits. He says all too often these coupon settlements "enrich the coffers of the lawyers and leave the consumer holding an empty purse with no relief."
What happens next in this Honda case? A hearing on the objections to the proposed settlement is scheduled to take place on February 22 in U.S. District Court in Riverside, Calif.
© 2013 msnbc.com. Reprints


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Just when you thought he was out ...
The Mob Doctor's pilot episode ended with a literal bang when mob boss Paul Moretti (Michael Rapaport) was gunned down by former mob leader Constantine Alexander (William Forsythe) right in front of Grace (Jordana Spiro). But the end of last week's episode revealed that Moretti didn't actually die.
"I think Moretti being alive changes things drastically for Constantine and what he's trying to do," Rapaport says in the exclusive video below. "Moretti wants power, Moretti wants money. ... He wants the throne."
"Everybody's in for a big surprise," Rapaport promises. "It's like a ghost coming to life."
Keck's Exclusives First Look: The Mob Doctor's horse play
As viewers saw last week, Moretti has enlisted the help of Constantine's own right-hand man (and Grace's ex), Franco (James Carpinello), to take his successor down. In Monday's episode, Moretti enlists Franco to help him find a woman named Peggy, whom Moretti calls "my ticket back to Chicago." But who's side is Franco really on?
"Franco looks out for Franco and Franco looks out for Grace," Carpinello hints.
Watch the full video teaser below, and catch a new episode of The Mob Doctor tonight at 9/8c on Fox.


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Events Tagged With "belphegor"
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POSSESSED (USA) + BELPHEGOR + ABSU & special guests "Evil Over Europe Tour 2016"
Fri, Dec 16th 2016, 6:00pm - 11:00pm
Mihe - Am Westpark, 85057 Ingolstadt, Deutschland
Possessed, Belphegor, Absu + special guests
Fri, Dec 16th 2016, 6:00pm - 11:30pm
Caragor - Am Westpark 6, 85057 Ingolstadt, Deutschland


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Categories: Family Law Children's Law Estate Planning/Elder Law
Instructor(s) Viney, Gretchen
Lawyering Skills: Guardian ad Litem Practice in Wisconsin. A guardian ad litem in Wisconsin is an attorney appointed by the court to represent the best interests of an individual in court proceedings. Guardians ad litem typically are involved on behalf of children in protective services proceedings or in custody and placement disputes, and on behalf of adults in guardianship and protective placement proceedings. This is a practice-oriented skills class in which students learn the skills and techniques necessary for competent service as
guardians ad litem in Wisconsin. The course provides a brief overview of the role of the guardian ad litem in the Wisconsin court system and the requirements for serving as a guardian ad litem, but the emphasis is on preparing students for hands-on guardian ad litem practice. The course meets the requirements of Wisconsin Supreme Court Rule 35 (Eligibility
for Appointment as Guardian ad Litem for a Minor) and Wisconsin Supreme Court Rule 36 (Eligibility for Appointment as Guardian ad Litem for an Adult). Students who successfully complete the course will be eligible, upon admission to the Bar, to accept court appointments as guardians ad litem for children and adults in Wisconsin.


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On this Halloween, I am sorry to have to share the scary news that it seems even most progressive muslims are not ready to start a conversation about certain issues within the faith.
My letter to Ben Affleck has stirred up quite a reaction. Most importantly though, sadly, it has given reason for people within my community to send hateful messages, attack me as a 'race-betrayer' and as a self-loathing 'racist'. I have been tagged in several conversations where people expect me to listen quietly to such abuse, engage and/or apologize for writing so openly about what I consider to be issues within the religion I was raised in.
In several thousand interactions on the internet over the past week (most of them very kind, supportive and encouraging), I have heard from about 3 practising muslims, tops (and they are the people I have my hopes riding on). Who have acknowledged that my experience is real and my concerns are valid. To others, I am a liar, an exaggerator and publicity seeker.
I am sorry that the threats I receive about drawing get in the way of your denying that there are any issues. I apologize that I'm not silently enduring this stuff for the purposes of face-saving. But who are we kidding here, intolerance in Islam is not a very well hidden secret at all.
You can tell me over and over again that women and men are 100% equal in Islam, or that there is no punishment for blasphemy or apostasy, but you are not convincing me - or anyone else with a rational mind. We can go back and forth for hours, I can quote you stuff from the texts, you can come up with your usual excuses... this is never going anywhere.
I wrote what I thought was a very gentle letter, a very soft critique. But if even such a small nudge towards discussion leads to online bullying, hateful attacks by so-called 'progressives', then you my dear muslim brothers and sisters are only helping to prove my point.
You may not agree with my perspective, and that is fine. But to deny that my experience is real? To tell *me* who actually receives threats and is called an enemy of god...that this doesn't happen in Islam?
I have a term for that, #Musplained .
To those upset that I am speaking to 'white men' - I have tried speaking to you, plenty of times my dearest muslim brother and sisters. I have received nothing but hatred and threats in return. You are shutting me down by telling me my experiences aren't real and that I am a racist. How then, can I speak to you? I have tried for years. I am still open to it, lets start by you acknowledging that my experience is real?
|My apologies that you now have to hear critique.
Some fundamental flaws can be seen from outer space,
u do not need to know the hadith and Quran in order to identify them.
And you don't need to be of a certain race to see these flaws, FYI
|I am so very sorry that my "oppressed voice" has inconvenienced you. I really am.
I will try to be less oppressed from now on so that you don't have to hear any inconvenient truths.
Wonderful, I thought. And then I asked her something along the lines of "Would you take a public stand by tweeting with the hashtag #Muslims4Apostates" (I have since deleted that conversation because I don't want people hate-tweeting her)
Suddenly she remembered she was really busy and had to go.
So yeah. This is the level of 'outrage'.
Progressive Muslims, you have surprised and saddened me the most. I didn't expect hateful messages to come from you. But I guess we are in this deeper than I imagined. If you were open to seeing some very real flaws, we could have been on the same side of this and navigated towards a more modern Islam. But without accepting the problem, we won't be able to move forward.
Crazies and actual muslim haters, I am not on your side. So please stop hijacking my words and posting them as if we have the same stance.
Also, my letter was not meant to be taken so literally - for the record, I do leave the house without my brother/father/husband. ;)
Much love to everyone,


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As I'm sure you've heard by now, Clarence Clemons died Saturday night.
Which is a sentence that I hoped never to have to write. And to be honest, if there was anyone out there who could defeat death, I'd argue that Clarence would have been that guy.
My younger readers are scratching their heads trying to figure that out right now.
Well kids, gather 'round. It's story time.
Yes, Clarence Clemons was that guy who played on the new Lady Gaga album.
But if that's all you know him for, Gaga herself would be ashamed of you. Because she didn't pick him randomly to play on her album. She picked him because he was the best of the best. The Big Man. The King of the World. Master of the Universe.
And when the Boss himself introduces you that way, it means it's true.
I spent Saturday night in a state of shock, listening to old Bruce albums on vinyl and trying (unsuccessfully for the most part) not to cry at the sax solos.
And there are a lot of really great eulogies out there online already, most of which made me cry as well. But I'm not here to make you cry today. That wasn't Clarence's goal on stage. He wanted to make us smile, as he said in numerous interviews. So in that vein, I'd like to talk about why Clarence was just so awesome.
I've blogged before about how I got into listening to Springsteen and how I started kind of late. But I think I always had a vague awareness even before I chose to listen to the music that Bruce's saxophone player was called "the Big Man," both because my father called him that and because that was how Bruce referenced him in so many of the live versions of songs that provided the background soundtrack of my childhood.
My first real recognition of Clarence's importance to the music however, came when I had just started listening to Bruce in college. My boyfriend at the time had told me that he'd heard a Bruce song on the radio and thought of me. I was skeptical. While I liked the guy (the boyfriend, I mean—I already LOVED Bruce), his musical awareness was…um…lacking. Which I learned when we were in the car one day and a song came on the radio and my boyfriend exclaimed, "Change the channel! I REALLY hate the Eagles!"
The song was "Sultans of Swing," by Dire Straits.
So when he told me that he'd heard a Bruce song, I wasn't sure he was right, and I asked which song it was. He didn't remember. I asked how he knew it was Bruce then. And he told me that he would "know that saxophone anywhere."
I later figured out that the song he'd heard was the Detroit Medley, which Bruce didn't write. But he was right. Clarence's sax on that was unmistakable.
Clarence didn't become the stuff of legends to me, however, until I raided my father's and uncle's bootleg collections about a year later. I absolutely devoured those old cassette tapes, playing them in the car, one after another, and I would often drive extra laps around the block once I'd reached my destination just to finish whatever song or story was playing.
But while the music was what hooked me, what I loved most about those tapes were the stories. And the very best of the stories always involved Clarence. So rather than me butchering them, I'm going to let Bruce tell them himself here. It was hard to narrow down, but these are my three very favorite Bruce/Clarence stories.
Yet to truly appreciate the magnificence that was Clarence Clemons, I think you had to see the band live. Granted, I didn't start going to shows until 2003, but I feel blessed that I got to see Clarence perform in a full twenty E Street Band shows. And while I honestly don't think there is a way to explain the magic that was a Clarence solo if you didn't get to experience it live, one of my most special concert memories is of one of those solos.
At the end of the Magic tour, I went to two shows back-to-back nights, Richmond and then Hershey Park. I skipped the first day back at school for teachers to do so, claiming that I was *cough cough* sick (which, as anyone who knows me well knows, means that Bruce is playing somewhere on the east coast). My dad went with me to the second of the two shows and on the drive up, we asked each other, as we always did before a show, what song we most wanted to hear that night. We'd had some pretty awesome luck with that game before, as my dad had said "For You" the night of our first show, which we heard, I'd said "Santa Ana"—with the caveat that I knew it would NEVER happen—the night that he DID first play it in Philadelphia on the Devils and Dust tour, along with a few other winners.
But that night, my dad said "Jungleland." It was my twentieth Bruce show overall and my fourteenth E Street Band show, yet somehow I had never heard "Jungleland" live. And I remember nodding when my dad suggested that particular song and saying, "Me too."
So I remember the overwhelming emotion I felt when I heard the opening notes to "Jungleland" that night. That year, 2008, had been incredibly rough for my entire family and finally hearing that song, that one song that my dad and I had hoped to hear for the five years that we had been going to shows together, provided this incredible catharsis. I cried through most of the song and my dad just put his arm around me. And I remember thinking, as Clarence began his solo, that things really were going to be okay. It was the first time all year that I actually believed that was true.
I know I said I wasn't going to get all sad there (sorry… I failed), so to close out, here are some videos of how I'd like to remember Clarence.
"Born to Run"
"10th Avenue Freeze Out"
Thank you, Clarence, for all that you've given me and the world.
We'll miss you. But none of us who have seen you play or who have really heard your music will ever forget you or the influence you've had on music ever since that change was made up town and the Big Man joined the band.


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In Zero Knowledge auth schemes the public DH factor of each peer is encrypted with a potentially weak pre-shared secret and the resulting ciphertexts are exchanged over an insecure channel. Why is no attack on the weak secret possible?
I mean the messages can be sniffed and with an offline dictionary attack or simply bruteforce it should be possible to reveal the secret.


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Ricin: A potent protein toxin made from the waste left over from processing castor beans. The castor plant, which is called Ricinus communis, is found throughout the world. Ricin is fairly easy to extract. Worldwide a million tons of castor beans are processed annually in the production of castor oil. The waste mash from this process is 5% ricin by weight.
The toxin (ricin) can be in the form of a powder, mist, pellet, or it can be dissolved in water or weak acid. Ricin is quite stable and is not affected much by extreme conditions such as very hot or very cold temperatures.
Ricin is extremely toxic by several routes of exposure. When inhaled as a small particle aerosol, this toxin can produce pathologic changes within 8 hours and severe respiratory symptoms followed by acute hypoxic (low oxygen) respiratory failure within 36-72 hours. When ingested, ricin causes severe gastrointestinal symptoms followed by vascular collapse and death.
Signs and symptoms of ricin inhalation include the acute onset of fever, chest tightness, cough, dyspnea, nausea, and arthralgia (joint pain) occurs 4 to 8 hours after inhalational exposure. Airway necrosis and pulmonary capillary leak resulting in pulmonary edema are likely to occur within 18-24 hours, followed by severe respiratory distress and death from hypoxemia in 36-72 hours.
Diagnosis is by antigen detection (ELISA) in blood serum and respiratory secretions. Acute and convalescent sera provide confirmation.
Treatment is supportive. Gastric lavage and cathartics are indicated for ingestion. Charcoal is of little value for large molecules such as ricin.
There is no vaccine or prophylactic antitoxin. Use of a protective mask is currently the best protection against inhalation. Ricin is not volatile. Decontamination should be done with soap and water. Hypochlorite solutions also can inactivate ricin.
Ricin's significance as a potential biological warfare toxin relates in part to its wide availability. Ricin was apparently used in the assassination of Bulgarian exile Georgi Markov in London in 1978. Markov was attacked with a specially engineered weapon disguised as an umbrella, which implanted a ricin-containing pellet into his body. This technique was used in at least six other assassination attempts in the late 1970's and early 1980's. In 1994 and 1995, four men from a tax-protest group known as the "Minnesota Patriots Council," were convicted of possessing ricin and conspiring to use it (by mixing it with the solvent DMSO) to murder law enforcement officials. In 1995, a Kansas City oncologist, Deborah Green, attempted to murder her husband by contaminating his food with ricin. In 1997, a Wisconsin resident, Thomas Leahy, was arrested and charged with possession with intent to use ricin as a weapon.
Ricin is feared to have a high terrorist potential due to its ready availability, relative ease of extraction, and notoriety via the media. Some reports have indicated that ricin may have been used in the Iran-Iraq war during the 1980s and that quantities of ricin were found in Al Qaeda caves in Afghanistan. On February 2, 2004 a suspicious substance was found in the mail room of the US Senate office of the majority leader, Sen. Bill Frist, and repeated tests reportedly indicated the presence of the poison ricin.


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Linux Mint Debian Update Pack 4 is out
The latest update of Linux Mint Debian has been rolled out today. Update pack 4 is applicable for all LMDE users and includes the following updates: Gnome 2 has been upgraded to Gnome Shell, kernel is now 3.2 version, Cinamon and Mate desktops are now available out of the box. In order to upgrade just use Update Manager that comes with Linux Mint Debian by default, you will see an […]Read more →


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Activist investors have been, well, active so far in 2013 and have already given us a few priceless moments. The Icahn-Ackman debate will go down as one of the best bits in the history of business television. David Einhorn has gone after Apple (AAPL) and he appears to be winning so far. Activists have been buying up underperforming and cash-laden companies to force an increase of shareholder value. I haven't checked in on activist activity in a while, and given recent events, today is the perfect time to see where we might ride activist coattails for profit.
Nearest and dearest to my heart is Tuesday's activist filing in CommonWealth REIT (CWH). I have long maintained that these shares have been severely undervalued, and two activists have decided that the stock is cheap and the company badly mismanaged. The real estate investment trust announced an offering of notes and equity Monday, and Tuesday morning Related Fund Management and Corvex Management pounced on the company's management while announcing an almost 10% stake. The activists have said that if the board attempts to go forward with its equity and debt offerings, they will remove the board and replace them with new trustees.
In their letter to management, the two firms said that the company's asset value was $40 a share and the value could be increased to $50 a share in just two years by following their proposals. They were also sharply critical of management's high fee collections while the market capitalization continues to drop. They are proposing a new management structure and approach to capital allocation that will cause the stock price to more closely reflect the underlying value of the property portfolio. The announcement caused Commonwealth shares to shoot up by more than 50% Tuesday, but if the activists are successful, the shares have the potential to double over the next two years. I would wait for a pullback, but these shares still trade at less than 60% of book value.
We are seeing activist activity in the small bank space, especially from PL Capital, which recently announced a 5.5% position in BankFinancial (BFIN) and disclosed activist intent. The Illinois-based bank has been trying to clean up its balance sheet via asset sales and loan restructurings. The firm sees the bank's shares as undervalued and said they will exercise shareholder rights to suggest a new course of action for the bank. In a recent article in Crain's Chicago Business, one of the firm's principles, John Palmer, was clear that he thinks the bank should be sold, telling the magazine, "We see it as a good strategic fit for someone down the road." The stock trades at 90% of tangible book value and is cheap enough to buy in a Trade of the Decade small-bank portfolio.
Ader Group has launched an activist assault and proxy contest against the management of casino supplier International Game Technology (IGT). The firm says that management has taken its eye off their core competency and wasted time and effort on non-core activities. At least one of the new potential board members has the recommendation of one the gambling world's true heavyweights, Steve Wynn. Ader further says that management once had deep ties and connection to the gaming business, but the current board has no real casino insiders in house. They believe IGT is losing market share and needs to return to their original key focus on gaming machines. They pointed out that the stock was more than 60% below the all-time highs and had outperformed key competitors WMS Industries (WMS) and Bally Technologies (BYI). It's going to be interesting to watch this play out, and Ader's "Rescue IGT" website is a lesson in the activist and proxy fight process.
Over the years, I have done very well by tracking activist investors. I have done even better when getting in ahead of the activists by buying stocks like CommonWealth and Tecumseh Products (TECUA) that eventually attract an activist that unlocks shareholder value. Tracking the "what" and "why" of leading activists can make us better investors and pad our P&Ls over time.


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How to make a "green" tote~
Here's how to make a great "green" tote out of an old wool sweater. (you can left click on the very ugly photo above - I took it when it was getting dark and I realized I didn't have a "before" photo to share - to enlarge it if you want to be able to read what I typed in the boxes. )
EDITED TO ADD: I've had a couple of readers that mentioned they think the article was from Country Living.
1. First find yourself a wool sweater. I haven't worn the sweater that I used for my tote in probably 10 years, but I still liked it and always knew I'd find something to do with it.
2. Wash the sweater in hot water and then dry on a high heat setting. This will cause the sweater to shrink and will felt the wool.
3. Then cut the sweater as shown on the photo above.
4. Fold the sweater so the side seams are now in the front and back. (The felting will cause the seams to be much less obvious)
5. Turn the cut sweater inside out and sew the bottom closed.
6. Fold the cut edges over and hem.


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Grand Theft Auto Double Pack (Playstation 2) (Brand New)
$ 29.99
This item is Brand New in Original Packaging. From the dark and seedy streets of Liberty City's underworld to the glamorous hedonism of Vice City of the 1980s, the Grand Theft Auto double-pack takes you through the huge worlds of Grand Theft Auto III and it's sequel Vice City. The highly controversial Grand Theft Auto III gives you the freedom to go anywhere and jack anyone, putting the dark, intriguing and ruthless world of crime at your fingertips. Vice City is an entirely new game set in the '80s, preserving and adding to the free-roaming gameplay, cinematic graphics and immersive audio experience that made the Grand Theft Auto III so popular.


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Apache Traffic Server Gets Top-Level Project Status
The Apache Software Foundation runs its open source projects on a hierarchy of principally three levels, top-level projects (TLPs), sub-projects and incubated projects. Achieving the TLP status is a major milestone for an open source effort and this week Apache announced that six projects were being graduated to TLP status. This Yahoo-led effort powers more than 400 TB of traffic per day, joining six other projects that have now been elevated to the top level of the Apache open source software project hierarchy.
Among the six new TLPs, is the Apache Traffic Server, a project that was originally an incubated effort by Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) in 2009. The Traffic Server is also being updated to version 2.0 this week as the technology continues to grow under the direction of the Apache model.
"It's the fundamental goal of being in incubation that you succeed and graduate," Leif Hedstrom, Chairperson of the Apache Traffic Server project, told InternetNews.com. "It signifies that our community and software have been well-governed under the ASF's meritocratic, consensus-driven process and principles."
In addition to the Traffic Server, five former sub-projects of existing TLPs have now moved up. Three of the new TLPs were formerly sub-projects of Apache Lucene. They include the Apache Mahout machine learning algorithms effort and Apache Tika which is a toolkit for content detection and analysis. The Apache Nutch Web search engine is also moving up to TLP status. Rounding out the list of new TLPs are a pair of Apache Hadoop sub-projects including the Avro data serialization project and the HBase distributed database.
Apache Traffic Server
The Apache Traffic Server is already heavily used by Yahoo to deliver 400 terabytes of traffic per day. The Traffic Server is a caching proxy server that can speed up the delivery of Web server content.
"Traffic Server is built for scalability on SMP hardware," Hedstrom said. "It can take advantage of multiple CPUs very well."
Extensibility is also a key attribute of the Traffic Server. Hedstrom said the Traffic Server has a very feature rich plug-in API, similar to how people write mods for the Apache HTTPD Web Server. From a competitive point of view, Hedstrom said the Squid project is among the popular open source caching servers that are alternatives to Traffic Server. Commercial proxy caches also exist and many match Apache's Traffic Server's features, though Hedstrom said that Traffic Server offers better price/performance.
Benefitting From Apache
By being part of the Apache Software Foundation, Hedstrom noted that the Traffic Server project has grown beyond what Yahoo on its own was able to provide. New developers have joined the project which has helped the technology to improve.
"We've directly seen a large number of changes that has improved the features, quality and performance of the software," Hedstrom said. "A few examples include 64-bit support, IPv6 support, and performance in some benchmarks have more than doubled than what we had starting incubation."
The Apache Traffic Server is currently at its 2.0.0 release which came out this week. Hedstrom noted that release's main new feature is that it's 64-bit compatible, but only supported on Linux.
Moving forward, Hedstrom said that there is a developer version 2.1.0 release which should be out in the next few weeks and a version 2.2.0 public release which has loosely been scheduled for the summer.
"The v2.1.0 Traffic Server has a number of features, including significant performance improvements, much better RAM cache efficiency, support for most common Unix platforms, including numerous Linux distros, Mac OSX, Solaris and FreeBSD," Hedstrom said. "All these ports to non-Linux platforms is a direct result of us being part of the Open Source Apache community."
Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at InternetNews.com, the news service of Internet.com, the network for technology professionals.


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Immediate Family
About Brian Corey Falls
HIM Crowned Prince Corey Falls Desposyni of the Lake Family U.E heir of the Lake Princely Branch of Wales and descent of Lancelot du Lac of France/Brittany/Celtica and Elaine of Corbenic (St. Jude descendants)
One God, One King, One Heart.
Desposyni ("belonging to the Master")
Crowned (anointed by Jesus, Chrism, Holy anointing and Chakra/Palms activation and visited God's Temple w/witnesses, 1st met and spoke with God at age 10, met him in person by the age of 25)
U.E. suffix, Unity of Empire given to descendants of UEL's (proven United Empire Loyalist's) Family members that remained in the USA became K.G. suffix Knights of the Garter.
The House of Water/Alpin on Father's side, House of Alpin/MacGregor/ MacPherson/Chattan/Hanlon/Niell on Mother's side (Children of the mist).
On Facebook under the name Prince Corey, feel free to friend.
King Henry VIII, the tyrant, said, " Kill all Plantagenet heirs, they are like a seed, once planted, it branches" then he went on to "be with" as many of the fairest as he could. Well, this Plantagenet family became planted in North America and it is now a Mighty Oak. Hat's off and cheers to all my cousins alive today and to John Lake who defied authority on Earth for Fear of God and to all the Anabaptist martyrs that paved the way for the Dutch in New Amsterdam. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mennonite The "Spirit" of NY is alive and well in me today and I plan to keep it that way. The Powerful Spirit which etches itself into land the way a printing press etching plate works. Like the one those people of Gravesend New Amsterdam did, now Brookland Kings County NY. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEBvFaGN8I0 A new World, a new beginning, Freedom to express my religion.
We retain our Heraldic Visitations Rights as Empire Loyalists under King George III.
His Divine Highness. The one true Messiah of the House of Judah Arimathea. Emperor line, High King, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, High Priest. , I am the senior branch (heir of the rod) of the Royal family of David. Prince of Judah and Israel. I, (as well as 2 other friends) have had our Chakras opened and have met Jesus and God personally. (Spoke with God at 10yrs old) Praise God. I believe in the Divine Rights of Kings and that no man can be Crowned unless by the Hand of God personally. I am the keeper of the Grail. My mother is the Princess of the McGregor's (Senior branch of McAlpin) and names were changed to White, Farmer, McPherson, Hanlon, and Clarke, the maiden names of the women married to avoid persecution, so her maiden name is McGregor, Gregor or Alpin. I live near the South Pillar of Throne of God in Zion. the New Jerusalem and Temple Hill,Ontario, where the waters of life flow in four directions. I have also harnessed the Ethers to slice the webbed sky and to meet God halfway and initiate the final days (April 5th,2010) as per instruction from the vision of prophecy I received at 10. The time is short, purification is upon us, floods and famine will result. I plan to have one big family reunion, I hope to see you there. I am single and have no children in order to be legit for the position of King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Our Father, who art in Heaven, Hallowed be thy name, Thy Kingdom come, thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven, give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation and deliver us from evil. Amen. Praise God.
Carolingian cadet branches continued to rule in Vermandois and Lower Lorraine after the last king died in 987, but they never sought thrones of principalities and made peace with the new ruling families. It is with the coronation of Robert II of France as junior co-ruler with his father, Hugh Capet, the first of the Capetian dynasty, that one chronicler of Sens dates the end of Carolingian rule.
House of Vermandois, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermandois
House of Lorraine http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Lorraine
Holy Roman Emperor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salian
in Jer. 33:20 that if His covenant with day and night could cease, then and only then will His covenant be broken with the Levites His priests, to attend to Him by attending to the affairs of Israel. Within the promise of physical multiplicity to both houses, there is a special promise of physical multiplicity to the House of David, (David's direct lineage) and the House of Levi. http://www.yourarmstoisrael.org/Articles_new/restoration/16.php
Current Canadian Protectorate of the Defender of the Faith, Queen of Canada Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor II


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Has anyone heard of this place? It's owned by Per Wickstrom, who also owns 'A Forever Recovery'. I just left this cultish "rehab" two days ago. I had no clue what I was getting into. I wanted to go into drug treatment and made some calls. I stumbled across BDR. On the phone the recruiter told me there were many different programs to choose from and never mentioned anything about Scientology or Narconon. I went to Battle Creek for detox, which was this old rundown house with inadequate staff. I didn't see a doctor for days and when I finally got to see him he gave me attention for about 12 seconds then sent me on my way. This detox was called "Tranquility Detox". About half the people in there were going to A Forever Recovery and the rest of us were going to Best Drug Rehabilitation. The staff would not tell us ANYTHING about the places we were going to. After 10 days at detox I was taken to Manistee, Michigan, which is where BDR is located. It was a rundown building that smelled awful and looked like it hadn't been cleaned in ages. I was immediately in shock. It was nothing like they made it out to be. My first day I began doing "TRs" which are absolutely RIDICULOUS. EVERY SINGLE BOOK IN THAT PLACE WAS BASED ON SCIENTOLOGY. None of it had anything to do with drugs! The food was terrible. The staff members were selling drugs and alcohol to clients. They did everything they could to suck money out of your bank account. I feel like when I tell people about the courses they just don't understand. None of it had anything to do with my addiction, it was just Scientology 101. Per Wickstrom would show up whenever someone threatened to sue and his presence alone sent chills up my spine. Staff blackmailed people into staying, if you did something wrong they'd try to scare you and take you to a homeless shelter but not let you actually get out of the van. There's no way to get kicked out. They just put you on "ethics", which is pretty much work detail. The cleanliness of the building is all up to the clients. And addicts aren't the cleanest people. I stayed for 60 days and then I left. I would have left earlier if I had the means to. The place is getting more crowded every week. When I arrived there were maybe 60 people and when I left there were over a hundred. I feel completely traumatized by the experience. I feel sorry for anyone who was tricked into a Narconon program. I haven't found anything on this site about this particular rehab center because it's relatively new but it reeks of Scientology. The only positive thing about it is when I think about using I just remember being in that place and my urges go completely away.
The only positive thing about it is when I think about using I just remember being in that place and my urges go completely away.
Best Drug Rehabilitation Treatment GoalsGoal 1: Medically Supervised Withdrawal and DetoxificationDetox treatment goal The First goal of the Best Drug Rehabilitation program is medically supervised withdrawal and detoxification in the Tranquility Detox Clinic. A client meets with the Medical Director to determine if there is a need for medically supervised wean down and each wean down is customized according to the client's needs. Tranquility Detox Clinic has 24-hr supervision with trained withdraw staff and nurses present 24 hours, 7 days a week. A combination of vitamins, exercise and nutritional therapies help alleviate the clients' withdrawal symptoms. Drug Withdrawal Formula is administered along with a liquid blend of Calcium Magnesium to aid to this process. Massage Therapy, Acupuncture, Chiropractic Care, Assist and exercises are also used to bring a person into a better awareness of their body. When a client is no longer under the influence of any mood-altering substance, no longer in immediate medical danger as a result of their drug use and withdrawal and no longer suffering from any major withdrawal symptoms of their drug of choice, they are then cleared by the Medical Director to begin Goal Two of the Best Drug Rehabilitation Program.Goal 2: Orientation to the ProgramThe Second goal of the program begins with the client being introduced to one of our Intake Assessment Staff members. An assessment is done to determine what the client is receptive to and the client is informed of their role in the program while at the facility. Best Drug Rehabilitation's couselors help keep discipline, responsibility and accountability enforced at all times. Counselors are responsible for ensuring adherence to the Client Rules of Conduct. The client is oriented to the Rules of Conduct governing the program, assigned a room, and given a tour of the building. The client is then seen by the Senior Case Manger and the Case Management Team. Here, the client will be assigned an individual counselor whom they will meet with for an individual one-on-one counseling and then continue to see on a weekly basis during their stay at the facility.Goal 3: Training Series (Communication Classes): Communicate, Confront and ControlFirst, Best Drug Rehabilitation works with clients on the basics of good communication skills. If an addict can learn to communicate well, he or she can deal with tough issues. Otherwise, there will be a tendency to introvert and never handle the situation.Next, Best Drug Rehabilitation teaches clients how to confront their issues. Best Drug Rehabilitation believes that an addict must learn to confront everyday problems, issues, relationships, finances and any other roadblocks that are detouring them. Confronting an issue does not make it a problem. On the contrary, once an issue is confronted, a solution can be adapted and it is no longer a problem.The Best Drug Rehabilitation client completes exercises over and over again, until he or she is proficient at confronting any situation at any given time. Best Drug Rehabilitation clients learn to be more comfortable around others and find that the pull to revert to addictive behaviors becomes less powerful. The recovering addict learns how to confront and handle old friends, situations, people and places by applying new skills learned in the Best Drug Rehabilitation training.Best Drug Rehabilitation GoalsFinally, Best Drug Rehabilitation teaches individuals how to regain personal control of their lives. Individuals work with a partner in a college-like classroom setting, assisted by a Best Drug Rehabilitation supervisor. They learn to handle difficult situations without using physical force and how to become fully responsible in a social and drug-free setting. Best Drug Rehabilitation supervisors drill with the clients in "live" situations that are set up to be much tougher than normal life situations.Successfully completing these steps demonstrates to Best Drug Rehabilitation staff, the willingness and ability to handle the rest of the program. Confront, Communicate and Control all situations and issues. It sounds simple, because it is.Goal 4: Life Improvement CoursesA core component of Best Drug Rehabilitation is the emphasis on self-improvement and learning new patterns of thinking and behavior. Best Drug Rehabilitation utilizes a variety of courses to assist in this process.1. Learning Improvement Course enables students to advance their reading and comprehension skills. Once this course is completed, the person is able to grasp and apply fully all the steps of study and application that follows. One of the biggest stumbling blocks for substance abusers in early recovery from addiction, is incorrectly processing information that could be vital towards their long-term recovery. In Learning Improvement, students learn the proper techniques of study to more fully understand the material, recognize the stumbling blocks or barriers to study, and learn techniques to apply the material so that it is relevant to their own life. Once students gain these skills, proper understanding of their addictions and the process of recovery becomes more real for them.2. Personal Values and Integrity Course: In this course, the student learns about their ethics, morals, responsibility, and how integrity is lost and exactly how it can be restored. Part of the healing process is for the student to shed his misdeeds of the past and gain relief from guilt of those misdeeds. The student, who no longer feels guilty about his past, is able to improve choices in life by applying the basic concept of ethics and morals, moving them forward into a positive future. Students also learn to make better choices regarding, not only their survival, but also the survival of their families, work groups, and mankind. This helps to remove the student from the often self-centered focus that addiction causes and better able to become a contributing member of the family and society. In this course, students will learn to take accountability for their actions, decrease the chances of repeating the same behaviors, and become free from their past.3. Way to Happiness Course enlightens the student on 21 guidelines that cover moral and ethical codes that will give them subjective reality on where they have gone and exactly how to do better in the future. This will result in a better way of living and a happier, more productive person.4. Electives are offered to allow students an opportunity to individualize the program and focus on problems and issues that affect their lives due to their substance abuse history. There are over 20 elective courses offered, such as Marriage, Parenting, Self-Confidence, Knowing Who You Can Trust, Relationships, Organize for Success, How to Get Motivated, Effective Time Management, and many more.Goal 5: Additional Betterment ActivitiesThe Fifth goal of the Best Drug Rehabilitation Program is the five separate activities that are offered at the facility. Listed below are the separate activities and what is offered by each.1. Self-Help Enhancement allows the client, who is either a believer or has interest in self-help support groups, fellowships, and other recovery communities, to work on self-motivated recovery. Clients on this track will attend Narcotics Anonymous meetings, Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, attend lectures by recovering addicts and enjoy guided sessions.2. Indigenous allows the client to focus on the culturally relevant recovery materials and methods that have been developed by White Bison, Inc. for the Native American Wellbriety movement. In the Indigenous track our clients learn not only how to heal from their addiction, but also how to heal themselves physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.3. Faith-Based is for the client who is a believer or has an interest in the teachings of Jesus Christ or has other religious or spiritual beliefs. Clients on this activity will attend Church services, Christian 12-step meetings, and/or sermons and lectures by ordained ministers and priests. Clients will also participate in pastoral counseling and guided Bible study and scripture.4. Holistic allows a client to participate in yoga, Aikido and other martial art training, guided imagery sessions and healing techniques and also acupuncture. Clients on this track believe that empowerment over addiction comes from within one's self.5. One on One Therapy uses counselors who have graduated many different modalities of treatment and found that walking with an addict through one-one-one counseling makes all the difference in whether or not a former addict walks out with their head held high aware of their environment and surroundings and at peace with those they care about.
Tranquility detox is just a run down old building with no signs or anything on the outside. It looks like an old boarding house, but it includes a sauna and a hot tub. A girl died while in there due to them taking everyone off their medications cold turkey. The authorities didn't even know Tranquility detox existed. They couldn't find it.
Narconon Stone Hawk is now known as "A Forever Recovery" from my understanding. They just operate it a bit differently. A Forever Recovery is right down the block from Tranquility Detox. It seems like all of Stone Hawks methodology and possibly employees were moved to Best Drug Rehabilitation where I ended up.
I felt like I was at the David Koresh compound(with a Scientology twist) with a lot of other drug addicts. It's an experience I wouldn't want to repeat, but I'm glad I went. Now I know how kooky and money hungry The Church of Scientology really is.EDIT: I'm pretty sure Tranquility Detox is Scientology run also. They just don't FORCE you into the saunas but they highly encourage it. And they feed you massive amounts of vitamins and take you off all psyche meds completely.
Searched for: TRANQUILITY DETOXID Num: 03912M Assumed NamesEntity Name: TRANQUILITY DETOX, INC.Type of Entity: Domestic Profit CorporationResident Agent: STEVE ANDERSONRegistered Office Address: 10486 WILDWOOD DR RICHLAND MI 49083Mailing Address: MI Formed Under Act Number(s): 284-1972 Incorporation/Qualification Date: 5-9-2011Jurisdiction of Origin: MICHIGANNumber of Shares: 60,000Year of Most Recent Annual Report:Year of Most Recent Annual Report With Officers & Directors:Status: (CONTACT OUR OFFICE AT 517-241-6470 TO OBTAIN DOCUMENT OR EXPLANATION) Date: 7-26-2011
This place you describe sounds very similar to the freedom center in Albion Mi I am glad you got out and didn't end up working there as so many do and hope you are doing well
I would be interested in the same information about Best Drug Rehab in Michigan. I would love any advice at all, honestly.
In our desperation to find help for my brother, we got sucked into the Best Drug Rehab in Manistee, MI. He detoxed Saturday through yesterday, and then last night made it to the actual rehab center. He was supposed to call last night and hasn't, and now his intake counselers cell phone has been disconnected. We were up all night scouring the Internet and are beside ourselves. We are on our way (14 hour drive) to Manistee to pick him up now, but would love any advice or feedback on what to do or say when we get there. Will they let him go without a fight? I'm so overwhelmed. Please help!Sarah
Thank you so much for the replies. Do you really think its necessary to involve the police? That's an honest question, I just don't know what to expect!Thanks again for the help.
Thank you so much for the replies. We haven't actually paid the remainder of the bill yet, only the $3,500 to "get him in the door." Are we legally obligated to pay the rest? Mary, I will sit down with my brother tonight or tomorrow on the ride home and have him fill out that questionnaire. Than you for that. Do you really think its necessary to involve the police? That's an honest question, I just don't know what to expect!Thanks again for the help.
Whether you are obligated to pay the remainder depends on what you may have signed. Check your papers for anything about a refund. Personally, I would refuse to pay any more. I don't believe if you're picking him up that Narconon, oops, Best Drug Rehabilitation will insist.


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Goldberg's Bagel Company & Deli
3003 N. Druid Hills Rd. NE (LaVista Rd.) Send to Phone
404-329-5000 | Make Restaurant Reservations
OpenBreakfast & Lunch daily, Brunch Sun.
- Parking lot
- Dress code: Casual
- Kid-friendly
- Wheelchair accessible
* Click here for rating key
: South African expatriates Wayne Saxe and Howard Aaron bought this Atlanta institution more than 20 years ago, and have grown it into a substantial enterprise. The house makes the cream cheeses, baked salmon spread, egg salad, chopped chicken liver, and specialty items from knishes to pierogi. Bialy breads, salt sticks and bagels as well as sauerkraut, whitefish salad and even pickles pour forth from the kitchen. Deli sandwiches (try the Reuben), some of which come in two sizes, and kosher hot dogs on good buns are reliably first-rate. Goldberg's does breakfast all day. We like the corned beef hash with poached eggs and a hit of hollandaise, and whopper omelets are three-egg affairs. Pick up a casserole for dinner on busy "no cook" nights. Don't miss the cross-cultural specials, such as Reuben-stuffed egg rolls. Biltong (South African jerky) is also found here. Other locations.
Find the best bottles for Rosh Hashanah and other celebrations with GAYOT's Top Kosher Wines.
Wine of the Week Review by GAYOT


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Happy Tuesday and welcome to Simply Delicious here at The Slow Roasted Italian. This week we are actually sharing Munchkin's Elmo Themed 2nd Birthday Party with you, you can see all the yummy treats, activities and decorations by clicking here. I hope you will check back each day for more exciting party tidbits.
Today I am sharing the Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Pops with you. The idea behind the dessert table was to have several delicious and easy to make treats, as we did the party ourselves including the cake, time was sensitive and these impressive and simple desserts were just the perfect match.
These Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Pops really reminded me of Pinwheels that my dad used to buy when I was a kid (minus the cookie bottom). The chocolate seals in the marshmallow so they can be done ahead of time and they will keep perfectly, as a matter of fact we have half a dozen of these left still and the party was 3 weeks ago. Chad and Munchkin ate some today and I was told they taste as good as the first day. We kept them in an air tight container lined with parchment paper.
Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Pops
1/2 brick of Almond Bark White Chocolate or Wilton Candy Melts
1/2 brick of Almond Bark Chocolate
1 bag strawberry marshmallows
1 bag marshmallows
Sanding sugars or other decorations (to match your party theme)
On 2 cookie sheets lined with parchment, empty half a bag of each marshmallow variety and stand on end. (If you have any that won't stand up, you can eat those or save them for Rice Krispies Treats). Set aside.
Place sanding sugars in small bowls, set aside.
In a large tall and thin bowls (2 cup measuring cup is perfect) melt chocolate almond bark, 30 seconds at a time in the microwave until fluid, stirring after each 30 seconds. Dip a 6" lollipop stick about 1/2" into melted chocolate. Push the chocolate covered end of the stick through marshmallow on tray. Repeat this until all the marshmallows on one tray have chocolate covered sticks in them.
Repeat with the white chocolate, until both trays have lollipop sticks in them. Allow to sit for 5-10 minutes to dry.


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December 17, 2018
Bringing Warmth And Good Cheer For The Holidays
Posted in Collections and drives by Marilou Ubungen
The winter holiday season is one of our favorites! It is also a busy time of the year for Windermere offices, as many are working with local non-profits to support families who need a little extra help during the holidays. From running clothing drives to hosting free photo events with Santa, our agents and offices are out in their communities helping those in need have a warm and merry holiday.
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December 03, 2018
A Lifetime of Making a Difference - Joan Tate Allen
Posted in News from the Foundation by Marilou Ubungen
Tis the season when we look back upon the year and give thanks for all that we have and count our blessings. At Windermere, we are thankful for all who generously donate to the Windermere Foundation, and we are grateful to have franchise owners and agents who go above and beyond to make a difference in the communities where they live and work.
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Ever since Disney bought "Star Wars", they've made a marketing plan regarding the future of the franchise: after each Star Wars "Episode Film" (like Episode 7: The Force Awakens), a spinoff film will be made covering a different time, place or character in the vast Star Wars universe. For the first spinoff film in the franchise's history, director Gareth Edwards (Godzilla, Monsters) chose a very interesting section of the Star Wars lore to focus on: the acquiring of the Death Star plans mentioned in the beginning of "A New Hope." What sounded like casual exposition in the first Star Wars film has spiraled into an epic, heart pounding and thrilling adventure film that easily made this the most unique Star Wars film ever made.
A rebel soldier/criminal by the name of Jayne Erso (Felicity Jones) has been captured and forced by the Rebellion to do the impossible: acquire the plans for the Empire's latest and deadliest threat yet, the Death Star. With her father (Mads Mikkelson) being the master engineer, Rebel leader Cassian (Diego Luna) uses Jyn's background ties and connections to radical Saw Gurrera (Forest Whitaker) to orchestrate a plan to break into the Empire and steal the plans in order to stop the Empire's weapon before it's fully operational. Who would have ever guessed a side story about something that seemed uninteresting, like acquiring plans for a top secret weapon, could be turned into one of the most compelling and intense dramas of this year?
"Rogue One" expands the Star Wars universe in ways never been done before, treating us to real, gritty, non-Jedi characters; devoid of the Force or lightsabers and struggling to survive a suicide mission against an unstoppable Empire. It's like a "Mission Impossible" movie set in the worlds of Star War's galaxy, but taken 100% seriously and engaging its audience in a way no one thought possible.
Through the brilliant use of advanced special effects, famous characters from the past films are re-integrated into the story that makes their involvement seamless and disturbingly authentic. "Rogue One" delivers a perfectly sculpted picture to a saga we didn't know we needed, but now after seeing it, I realize we've wanted AND needed this story to be told and exactly in this way.
The cast is full of semi-familiar faces, hardly top billing celebrity superstars but they're all top of their game and round out a sensationally diverse cast. We get unique performances from the likes of Forest Whitaker, Mads Mikkelson, Felicity Jones and a scene stealing, smart mouthed android (no not C-3PO) in the form of Alan Tudyk's motion capture performance of K-2SO. Gareth Edwards has always had trouble showcasing his story's true focus in his past films; this is first crack at focusing on people rather than people side kicking next to giant CG monsters. Frankly, he needs to stick to human characters and less on CG beasts more often because he's created a flawless cinematic jigsaw puzzle piece that fits perfectly into the central Star Wars storyline in "A New Hope."
The music, the scenery, the effects, the drama, the writing, everything here is lightyears better than any film fan or Star Wars fan could have hoped for. The last half of the film escalates the tension and conflict into a finale that force chokes you by the throat and never lets you breath until the final credits roll. Iconic Star Wars figurehead villain Darth Vader even returns for another unforgettable appearance.
His time on screen is brief, but the impact of his weight in these two scene reminds us how truly terrifying and intimidating he was when he first appeared. I enjoyed this film immeasurably from start to pulse stopping finish. Nothing felt weak or underdeveloped, every character and area was explored, executed exceedingly well and there's even a number of clever cameos and Easter Eggs for Star Wars fans to enjoy.
Overall, "Rogue One" feels more worthy of connecting to the Star Wars saga than even the Prequels do. It's an innovative, nonstop thrill ride that captures you with the highest quality characters, drama and storytelling that this galaxy has seen in a long, long time. This is easily one of the best films of 2016. I don't know what those other spin offs are going to be about after Episode 8 comes out, but if they have even a fraction of the phenomenal talent that "Rogue One" has, the best is truly yet to come.
I give "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" 4 stars out of 4 stars.


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ActiveState has announced that it is adding three new packages to ActivePython, its open source Python distribution:
- NumPy, a library for scientific and financial computing with Python. It contains a powerful N-dimensional array object, advanced array slicing methods, convenient array reshaping methods and libraries with numerical routines for basic linear algebra functions, basic Fourier transforms and sophisticated random number capabilities.
- SciPy, a suite of scientific tools for Python. It leverages the NumPy library, and it gathers a variety of high-level science and engineering modules together as a single package.
- matplotlib, a Python numerical plotting library that provides production quality 2-D numerical plotting functionality in a variety of hardcopy formats and interactive environments across platforms.
"Python's extensibility and interoperability with other programming languages and numerical libraries makes it an increasingly popular choice, in both the financial and scientific computing communities," says ActiveState's Diane Mueller.
NumPy, SciPy and matplotlib are available for Windows, Linux and Mac OSX.


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The National Invitation Combine (NIC), better known as the NFL Combine, starts this Wednesday (2/23) and runs through the following Tuesday (3/1). 330 NFL prospects eligible to be drafted (276 seniors and 54 underclassmen) will be interviewed, measured, poked, prodded and workout in Indianapolis. North Carolina will be the represented the most, with 12 players receiving invites. The full official list of invitees can be found here. Media are not allowed in the actual workout sessions, so you can see exactly the same coverage they will be writing about on the NFL Network. The complete schedule of the network's coverage can be found here.
Workouts to Watch
Here are some of the players whose overall workouts, or at least a specific event, will be must-see TV for draftniks.
Dontay Moch, OLB/DE, Nevada – perhaps no event at the Combine, for purely entertainment purposes, is more highly anticipated than Moch's 40-yard dash. The BLESTO and National report from last spring (for an explanation of those two scouting services, draftdaddy.com has an excellent summary in this article) had the undersized DE (built more like a big RB at just under 6'2" and 230 pounds) with a 4.25 time. The lore already building is that he initially ran a 4.18 and was asked to run again, because no one believed it could be accurate when he posted the "verified" time. However, Nevada is considered a "fast track", so there is some belief he and their other players are unlikely to live up to some of the high expectations for speed.
Stephen Paea, DT, Oregon – a torn right lateral meniscus at the Senior Bowl should prevent us from seeing his full range of amazing athletic ability, but if he can still bench, that will be another sideshow people are looking forward to. With a personal best of 44 reps of 225 pounds, he is regarded as the best threat to the Combine record of 51.
Noel Devine, RB, West Virginia – after a disappointing season, the outlook isn't good for the smallest and lightest player in the draft, but he is one of the favorites to turn in the top overall 40-yard dash time.
Patrick Peterson, CB, LSU – one of the top overall athletes in the draft has a father who is a professional speed coach; think he'll be prepared?
Allen Bailey, DL, Miami – his chiseled body impressed at the Senior Bowl weigh-in, but he continued to fail to standout on the field. He reportedly power cleans 400 pounds, squats 570 pounds and bench presses 405 with a 39-inch vertical and a 4.65 40-yard dash. When UM strength coach Andreu Swasey calls someone the most freakish athlete he's seen in his decade on a team that has produced more than a few of them, that is quite a statement.
Nate Solder, OT, Colorado – standing over a verified 6'8", the converted TE is a man-mountain who is expected to be this year's Bruce Campbell when he workouts. While still a project, he is rated significantly higher than Campbell (who ended up a fourth-round pick) heading in to the Combine.
Virgil Green, TE, Nevada – Tony Pauline of TFY Draft Insiders and Sports Illustrated reports here that Green could come close to turning in the same kind of amazing performance by a TE that Vernon Davis did in 2006.
Tyron Smith, OT, USC – the biggest mistake on most mock drafts I see is no offensive tackle being projected in the first half of the draft. The position is too important. There is a good collection of solid prospects that look like late first through second round picks, and while I agree it is hard to differentiate them now, one or two will inevitably emerge out of the Combine. As an underclassman who hasn't gotten an opportunity yet for more exposure in the senior all-star games, Smith could be one of the risers. He reportedly is up over 300 pounds (he played at around 285, which was a concern) and supposedly hasn't lost any athleticism. If true, he'll gain some separation from the pack coming out of the Combine.
Torrey Smith, WR, Maryland – lost among some of the big names in the draft, the underclassmen is expected to impress with his speed, like former teammate Darrius Heyward-Bey. Unlike DHB, Smith can catch and is looking to sneak in to the late first round for a team looking for a deep threat.
The Quarterbacks – despite the race being wide open to be the first QB selected, it sounds like, as usual, most of the top prospects won't be throwing (although Jake Locker reportedly will). That's a bit disappointing, but the good news there is an unusually high number of great all-around athletes in this QB class. Locker, Cam Newton, Blaine Gabbert, Colin Kaepernick, Tyrod Taylor, Christian Ponder, and Josh Portis could all log some explosion, speed, and agility numbers in tests that look more like they belong to running backs than quarterbacks. Portis is a guy I'm especially interested in. A cousin of Clinton Portis, he was Urban Meyer's first recruit at Florida, then transferred to Maryland, but was ineligible and ended up at DII California (PA). He didn't show much in the NFLPA All-Star Game, but he has the size and is supposedly is an excellent runner with a live arm.
Small School Guys – there are always a few small school guys who breakthrough with impressive workouts at the Combine and end up mid-round picks. Nobody follows them like Josh Buchanan, so I'll just direct you to the article on his website about who to watch out for at the Combine.