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Though experts are warning it will inflame anti-American sentiment in Afghanistan and hurt efforts to start peace talks with the Taliban, a video that appears to show four U.S. Marines urinating on the corpses of three Afghan men will not affect efforts to begin such negotiations, a Taliban spokesman tells Reuters.
"This is not the first time we see such brutality," the spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said.
As we reported Wednesday, the Marine Corps is investigating the video and has strongly condemned what it appears to show.
The video's authenticity and any details about exactly where and when the incident occurred have not yet been verified. It first appeared on YouTube and some newssites yesterday afternoon. The three Afghan men were Taliban fighters, according to information posted with the video by the unknown person who put it on YouTube. During the approximately 40-second long clip, the men who appear to be Marines are also heard joking.
According to The Associated Press, "the case is being referred to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, the Navy's worldwide law enforcement organization, said NCIS spokesman Ed Buice."
Meanwhile, even as the Taliban spokesman was telling Reuters that the video won't affect efforts to start peace talks, The Associated Press was also reporting that "the insurgents will in the meantime continue their armed struggle, the group said Thursday." The AP adds that:
"The militant movement's emailed statement suggests that efforts to bring Afghan factions to the table are gathering momentum, but also highlights some of the roadblocks on the way to any settlement — in particular, the Taliban's insistence that the government of President Hamid Karzai is an illegitimate 'stooge' of the West.
"Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the militants had been fighting for the past 15 years to establish an Islamic government in Afghanistan 'in accordance with the request of its people.' "


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This is one of the most anticipated AT releases of 2011!
First, the history: Citizen Fish formed in Bath, UK in 1989 following the splits of Subhumans and Culture Shock. They have been delivering their unique ska-infused punk rock to eager audiences while touring across the world the past two decades. Dick Lucas' frantic vocal delivery combined with the catchy riffs and driving punk of their unforgettable live performances continues to earn CF legions of new fans and brings working class radical politics to generations of questioning minds. These guys truly are the masters of mixing punk with ska, and they top that off with sharply observed politically charged lyrics that don't preach, but encourage you to question, and to think!
Goods by Citizen Fish
"The only band alive not featuring septuagenarian Jamaicans that can incorporate ska without embarrassing themselves! Dick Lucas' timeless (though 70s-ish) urgent, convincing punk vocals mixed with the ska-party vibe of the instrumentation adds up to that punky reggae party we heard so much about back in the day but never really experienced."- Rocktober
"Eighth album from this British Ska-Punk legend, and it has to be said, this could be the band's best yet. That's not said in haste either as Dick Lucas has been responsible for some of the most thoughtful, intelligent and questioning lyrics I've ever read. From his SUBHUMANS days, through CULTURE SHOCK and onto CITIZEN FISH, he is probably THE lyricist responsible for changing my way of thinking. This album seems somewhat smoother than past CF albums, often recalling the greatness of THE SPECIALS - especially on 'Fearless'. Best track is "Free Speech' with a twisting arrangement, yell-a-long chorus and another set of fantastic, socially-observant and witty lyrics. Elsewhere 'Better' cruises on an addictive brass-lead melody evoking CULTURE SHOCK 'How Far Does It Go?' that addresses some of the macho insecurities and hypocrisies that exist within our Punk scene and 'Marker Pen' that sees Dick trading vocal lines with bassist Jasper to stunning effect. Lyrics are presented in an excellent fold-sleeve, production is bold and, surprisingly for a band eight albums in, you could be looking at Album of the Year." - Scanner Web Zine
"CITIZEN FISH were ska-punk before is was cool, they were ska-punk when it was cool, and 20 years on, they are still dishing out brilliantly crafted political ska-punk. Dick's lyrics have not been this biting and spot-on in fukkn years, and if these tunes don't make you want to dance, then you might want to have your pulse checked. The '80s vibe that was sneaking into 2007's Deadline split is front and center here in songs like "Marker Pen," "Overseas" and "Insane," and the horns take as many leads as the guitars. The happily drunk rock steady swagger of "Fearless" combines with the song's very serious lyrical approach - it's the very essence of what makes this band great: just because the world is fukkd doesn't mean we shouldn't have a party while we are trying to make it better. The CITIZEN FISH discography is excellent, and their sound is totally unique even while staying basically within the confines of ska/punk, but Goods shines even in the context of their previous work. I will be listening to this one a lot." - Maximum Rock and Roll

subset: commoncrawl


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PENSION CRISIS: State's fiscal watchdog calls for municipal consolidation
More than one-third of local government retirement plans in Pennsylvania are financially distressed, according to a new report issued by state Auditor General Jack Wagner.
To combat the problem, Wagner has proposed that the 2,600 municipal plans his office audits — another 600 are county and municipal plans over which it has no jurisdiction — be consolidated into a statewide system for different classes of employees.
For example, all local police pensions would fall into one system. Plans for firefighters and non-uniformed employees would be lumped into other systems, Wagner said.
"Pennsylvania has too many small and underfunded municipal pension plans that could cost taxpayers millions of dollars to maintain," he said.
The report shows that 52, or 2 percent, of the 2,600 plans are seriously underfunded, with less than 50 percent of their liabilities covered.
Plan debts could mean skyrocketing taxes at the local level to cover contributions, which affects businesses and other taxpayers.
Consolidation would yield higher investment return rates for municipal employees, reduce administrative costs and help reduce the need for increased contributions from taxpayers, Wagner said. An alternative would be to maintain the existing system of individual pension plans but consolidate their administration into one entity, such as the Pennsylvania Municipal Retirement System or the State Employees' Retirement System, he said.
Wagner also wants the General Assembly, which has its sights set on state-level pension reforms, to consider amending the formula for the allocation of state municipal pension aid. His office is required to distribute the 2 percent foreign fire and casualty insurance tax funds to municipal pension plans in accordance with Act 205 of 1984.
In 2011, that distribution was $361.6 million.
By the numbers
• Two-thirds: Municipal pension plans audited by the Department of the Auditor General with 10 or fewer members
• 58 percent: The aggregate funding ratio of the 2,600 municipal plans • 52: The number of plans identified as "severely distressed"
• 234: The number of plans identified as "moderately distressed"
• 663: The number of plans identified as "minimally distressed"


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All requests for support should be on the organization's letterhead and sent to:
All requests should be sent at least 45 days in advance of date of event.
No requests will be accepted via e-mail or fax.
For licensing information, please send an e-mail to the following addresses:
MLB Photos is the official stock photo agency for Major League Baseball. Its inventory includes photographs of contemporary and historical players, stadiums, World Series games, All-Star Games and anything related to Major League Baseball. Please contact MLB Photos at firstname.lastname@example.com.
Find out how Major League Baseball is participating in various community programs around the world and read the latest community news from all the teams.
Check out the official MLB umpire roster, with bios and photos of your favorite Major League umpire, as well as our comprehensive umpires section, featuring a step-by-step guide to becoming an umpire.
The Independent Members of the Commissioner's Blue Ribbon Panel on Baseball Economics issued their report recommending broad and sweeping changes to Major League Baseball's economic structure intended to close the gaping disparity between the game's "haves and have-nots."
Special events, federation contact info, development initiatives and more.
MLB has been at the forefront of pro sports in recognizing the importance of diversity, both on the field and off. In 1997, Bud Selig, authorized the Diverse Business Partners program, which is an initiative designed to increase options for women and minorities to play a role in MLB activities.
State of the art locker rooms and training facilities, stunning city backgrounds, and the magnificent sight of green grass and detailed diamonds are ideal for filming commercials, television shows, movies, and music videos. Baseball movies such as Mr. 3000, Major League, Angels in the Outfield, Little Big League, Rookie of the Year, and The Pride of the Yankees have all been filmed in the friendly confines of major league ballparks. Other non-baseball themed movies such as The Breakup, Fever Pitch and Naked Gun have used stadiums for filming as well, just to name a few.
For MLB.com Entertainment coverage: mlb.com/entertainment
Also: If you're a homeowner or small business owner who wants to showcase your property, www.filminglocations.com can connect Hollywood with any type of property.


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The adventure PHP framework (APF) is a utility to implement object oriented and generic PHP Web applications. It allows the developer to create programs in compliance with approved software design patterns, and the code base already has answers to many everyday problems. The framework cannot be described as an application that only has to be configured, but rather as a technical basis and design guide for the design of software. Further, it introduced many concepts and efficiency tools already well known in the Java community.
Task Coach is a simple todo manager to manage personal tasks and todo lists. It grew out of a frustration that well-known task managers, such as those provided with Outlook or Lotus Notes, do not provide facilities for composite tasks. Often, tasks and other things to do consist of several activities. Task Coach is designed to deal with composite tasks.
Ostinato is a network packet and traffic generator and analyzer with a friendly GUI. It aims to be "Wireshark in Reverse" and thus become complementary to Wireshark. It features custom packet crafting with editing of any field for several protocols: Ethernet, 802.3, LLC SNAP, VLAN (with Q-in-Q), ARP, IPv4, IPv6, IP-in-IP a.k.a IP Tunneling, TCP, UDP, ICMPv4, ICMPv6, IGMP, MLD, HTTP, SIP, RTSP, NNTP, etc. It is useful for both functional and performance testing.
Lynis is an security auditing and hardening tool for Unix derivatives like Linux/BSD/Solaris. It performs an in-depth scan on the system to detect software and security issues. Besides information related to security, it will also scan for general system information, installed packages, and possible configuration mistakes. The software is aimed at assisting automated auditing, configuration management, software patch management, vulnerability detection, and malware scanning of Unix-based systems.
Ctpp is the C99-compatible C preprocessor of the Ctalk language, which provides object oriented extensions for C. The preprocessor is compatible with GNU cpp and provides extensions like macro expansion in warning and error messages, saving expanded macros to files, and built-in symbol definition for many command line options. You can download the preprocessor separately while Ctalk is between versions for development.
Fotoxx navigates an image collection using a thumbnail browser to choose images to view or edit. Edit functions include brightness, contrast, color, gamma, white balance, tone mapping, red eyes, sharpen, blur, noise suppression, smart erase, trim (crop), resize, rotate, add text, bend/warp, many art effects, HDR, HDF, stack, and panorama. Edit functions use movable curves and sliders. Feedback is live using the whole image. RAW files can be edited and saved with deep color. Areas or objects can be selected using freehand draw, follow edge, and tone matching. Selections can be edited in place with adjustable blending. They can also be cut and pasted into other images. Any metadata can be edited, reported, and searched (filenames, tags, dates, geotags, comments, captions, ratings, etc.). Collections (arbitrary subsets) can be defined and viewed. Batch functions are available for rename, resize/export, RAW conversion, and more.
Eric is a full featured Python and Ruby editor and IDE, written in Python. It is based on the cross platform Qt GUI toolkit, integrating the highly flexible Scintilla editor control. It is designed to be usable as an everyday quick and dirty editor as well as being usable as a professional project management tool, integrating many advanced features that Python offers the professional coder. Eric includes a plug-in system, which allows easy extension of the IDE functionality with plug-ins downloadable from the net. Current stable versions are Eric4 based on Qt4 and Python 2 and Eric5 based on Python 3 and Qt4.
GNU Ocrad is an OCR (Optical Character Recognition) program and library based on a feature extraction method. It reads images in pbm (bitmap), pgm (greyscale), or ppm (color) formats and produces text in byte (8-bit) or UTF-8 formats. It also includes a layout analyzer that is able to separate the columns or blocks of text normally found on printed pages. Ocrad can be used as a stand-alone console application, or as a backend to other programs.
A collaborative webcomic creator.
A robust and flexible SIP server.


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President Barack Obama delivered his most important national security and jobs speech last week. I think he also mentioned something about climate change.
The headline from Obama's speech was his decision to cut America's carbon emissions by bypassing a dysfunctional Congress and directing the Environmental Protection Agency to implement cleaner air-quality standards. If the rules are enacted -- they will face many legal challenges -- it would hasten our switching from coal to natural gas for electricity generation. Natural gas emits about half the global-warming carbon dioxide of coal, and it is in growing supply in our own country. As a result of market forces alone, coal has already fallen from about one-half to one-third of America's electric power supply.
But I would not get caught up in the anti-carbon pollution details of the president's speech. I'd focus on the larger messages. The first is that we need to reorder our priorities and start talking about the things that are most consequential for our families, communities, nation and world. That starts with how we're going to power the global economy at a time when the planet is on track to grow from 7 billion to 9 billion people in 40 years, and most of them will want to live like Americans, with American-style cars, homes and consumption patterns. If we don't find a cleaner way for them to grow, we're going to smoke up, choke up and burn up this planet so much faster than anyone predicts.
"In reducing coal's historic dominance, the president is formalizing a market trend that was already taking shape," remarked Andy Karsner, who was an assistant secretary of energy in the last Bush administration. His bigger message, though, was "no matter where you find yourself on the political spectrum, it's useful for the nation to discuss, debate and consider a strategy for climate change. The consequences of inaction are potentially greater than all the other noise out there."
Sadly, many Republican "leaders" rejected Obama's initiative, claiming it would cost jobs. Really? Marvin Odum, the president of the Shell Oil Co., told me in an interview that phasing out coal for cleaner natural gas -- and shifting more transport, such as big trucks and ships, to natural gas instead of diesel -- "is a no-brainer, no-lose, net-win that you can't fight with a straight face."
But, remember, natural gas is a fine gift to our country if, and only if, we extract it in a way that does not leak methane into the atmosphere (methane being worse than carbon dioxide when it comes to global warming) and if, and only if, we extract it in ways that don't despoil land, air or water. The Environmental Defense Fund is working with big oil companies, like Shell, to ensure both.
But there is one more huge caveat: We also have to ensure that cheap natural gas displaces coal but doesn't also displace energy efficiency and renewables, like solar or wind, so that natural gas becomes a bridge to a clean energy future, not a ditch. It would be ideal to do this through legislation and not EPA fiat, but Republicans have blocked that route, which is pathetic because the best way to do it is with a Republican idea from the last Bush administration: a national clean energy standard for electricity generation -- an idea the GOP only began to oppose when Obama said he favored it.
Such a standard would say to every utility: "Your power plants can use any fuel and technology you want to generate electricity as long as the total amount of air pollutants and greenhouse gases they emit (in both fuel handling and its electricity conversion) meet steadily increasing standards for cleaner air and fewer greenhouse gases. If you want to meet that standard with natural gas, sequestered coal, biomass, hydro, solar, wind or nuclear, be our guest. Let the most cost-effective clean technology win."
By raising the standard a small amount every year, we'd ensure continuous innovation in clean power technologies -- and jobs that are a lot better than coal mining. You can't make an appliance, power plant, factory or vehicle cleaner without making it smarter - with smarter materials, smarter software or smarter designs. Nothing would do more to ensure America's national security, stimulate more good jobs and global exports - the whole world needs these technologies - than a national clean energy standard. And, of course, the climate would hugely benefit.
Improving our energy system plays to our innovation strength. Clinging to our fossil-fuel past plays to the strengths of Russia and Iran. Why would we do that? Why would the GOP? It's already losing young voters. Question: How many college campuses today have environmental clubs and how many have coal clubs?
"The Germans and the Chinese are already in this clean energy race, and we're still just talking about it," said Hal Harvey, the chief executive of Energy Innovation. "The question is: Do we want to control our energy future, or continue to rent it from other countries?"


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Welcome disc golfer! You can login or create an account.
Questions? Call us: (785) 258-2494
The Innova Champion Super Stingray is a straighter Stingray to handle players with power. For fans of the old Champion Stingray, the Super Stingray is a little more stable out of the box. This disc uses the Ontario mold and has more of a blunt nose than Star or DX versions. The new flight numbers reflect more stability and a straighter flight, making the Super Stingray a great choice for technical shots and finesse lines. 21.7 cm diameter.
It is a great choice for straight shots, technical shots and finesse lines.
Speed 4, Glide 5, Turn -1, Fade 1
About Champion plastic in general - it is more stable than all other plastics. It provides outstanding performance and durability. Champion golf discs retain original flight characteristics much longer and are distinguished by their clear or pearlescent colors.
About Color and Availability - pictured above are some available Champion colors. This model may not be available in all of these colors. Likewise, each weight range may not be available in all colors. Therefore we ask you to list and prioritize your color preferences and to give us guidance if the color or weight range you want happens to not be available. Feel free to contact us if you need more specific info.
|150 Class, 164 - 180 grams
|Champion (Super Stingray)
As a comparison:
The DX Stingray is a large diameter understable disc that has a very predictable turn and excellent glide. It has a shallow rim that makes it easy to grip for smaller hands and allows for a smooth consistent release. These characteristics make it a good choice for beginners. The Stingray is also an excellent disc for throwing controllable mid to long range roller shots. Beginner friendly. 21.7 cm diameter. It is a great choice for right turning shots, wooded courses, turnover shots, beginner disc and as a medium to long range roller. It is Innova's best mid-range disc for right turning shots. Excellent glide and flight pattern help stretch out shots for newer players. It is one of their most popular roller discs. Speed 4, Glide 5, Turn -4, Fade 1


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My descent into hell wasn't quite what I expected this morning. With Diablo III preloaded on my computer waiting for a 3 a.m. EST launch, I began channeling my inner David Carradine (Google him) for my anticipated battle with the demons that had invaded New Tristram.
Unfortunately, Blizzard's servers weren't going to cooperate, so I spent the next hour or so fighting hordes of ERROR 37s and ERROR 3006s before finally breaking through the outer defense perimeter guarding against my access to the game. My monk, named Darkartiste in honor of the rogue I created in a certain Blizzard MMO, finally gained life and proceeded into the bowels of hell.
After an hour in the game, I can honestly say hell is going to be a lot of fun. While thousands of you may have enjoyed playing the beta up to level 13 and the Skeleton King in Act I, I abstained from that joy as I wanted to enjoy the game from the beginning without any memory of a pre-release nirvana. It was worth the wait and immediately conjured up the memories of my play time with Diablo 2 until all hours of the morning.
Blizzard has done an excellent job of crafting the monk I always fantasized about when playing the class in Dungeons & Dragons, especially with the well-developed back story. In-your-face, but with finesse, I was immediately able to wade into a mass of enemies with Fists of Thunder, dispatching the lowly undead. By the time I had reached the town and met up with Deckard Cain's niece Leah in New Tristram, I was already using my secondary Lashing Tail Kick to knock multiple enemies back. With the main and secondary attacks bound to the primary mouse keys, killing is literally just a few clicks away. It wasn't long before the game was complimenting me on my massacre skills with 12 or 16 enemies dispatched in a single encounter.
Gear has been easy to find, including my first few blues, and while the enemies are gradually getting tougher, I have yet to die. I found Deckard Cain in the damaged cathedral and have already been back to sell everything from my swollen packs. I just picked up my first defensive skill in Blinding Flash, but have not had much reason to use it. I'm still finding that smashing barrels, rummaging through dead bodies and splintering tree stumps for hidden loot is just as rewarding as putting the hellspawn in their place.
I will be venturing north into the graveyard a bit later. I know the game will get tougher and I know I will die, but I really don't mind. So far, Blizzard has built a bigger, better sequel that has me welcoming angry hordes of demons, especially now that the frustrating error nasties have been dispatched. More from the front lines later.


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DIY Zoning is a set of tools and instructions for controlling a state-of-the-art HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) system. It covers airflow balancing, temperature control and zoning, energy conservation measures, remote access, 1-wire devices, and home automation.
EncFS is an encrypted pass-through filesystem which runs in userspace on Linux (using the FUSE kernel module). Similar in design to CFS and other pass-through filesystems, all data is encrypted and stored in the underlying filesystem. Unlike loopback filesystems, there is no predetermined or pre-allocated filesystem size.
Pydiction consists of a Vim plugin and a Python script that allows programmers to tab-complete their Python code in Vim by generating a dictionary file of Python modules, and their attributes and methods. It comes with a default dictionary containing the entire Python standard library, keywords, built-ins, and many 3rd-party modules like Numpy, Django, Flask, Requests, Twisted, PyQT4, Pygame, OpenGL, wxPython, PyGTK, MySQLdb, Psycopg2, and more.
cmus is a small, fast, and powerful console music player for Linux and *BSD. It supports almost all common file formats, SHOUTcast/Icecast streaming, and multiple output plugins. cmus features multiple media library views, a playqueue, a directory browser, powerful filters, and vi-style search and keybindings. It also features gapless playback, ReplayGain, Unicode support, and customizable color schemes.
Veusz is a scientific plotting package, designed to create publication-ready Postscript, PDF, or SVG output. It features an easy to use graphical interface as well as a command line interface and can be scripted or embedded in Python scripts. Graphs are constructed in a modular fashion from separate components. Datasets can be interactively modified or created from within the program.
fio is an I/O tool meant to be used both for benchmark and stress/hardware verification. It has support for 19 different types of I/O engines (sync, mmap, libaio, posixaio, SG v3, splice, null, network, syslet, guasi, solarisaio, and more), I/O priorities (for newer Linux kernels), rate I/O, forked or threaded jobs, and much more. It can work on block devices as well as files. fio accepts job descriptions in a simple-to-understand text format. Several example job files are included. fio displays all sorts of I/O performance information, including complete IO latencies and percentiles. Fio is in wide use in many places, for both benchmarking, QA, and verification purposes. It supports Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, OS X, OpenSolaris, AIX, HP-UX, Android, and Windows.
Libzdb is a database library with thread-safe connection pooling. The library can connect transparently to multiple database systems. It has zero runtime configuration and connections are specified via a URL scheme. A modern object-oriented API is provided. Libzdb supports MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, and Oracle.
Multiple vendor client/server UPS monitoring software.
A parallel compressor compatible with lzip.


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• "UNI-LOCK" construction allows snap-fit, 2 piece installation• Heavy Gauge Aluminum Extruded enclosures, 6063 heat treated to T-5 hardness16 Gauge Steel Front with 18 Steel Gauge back• 1/4" pencil proof discharge louvers• Thermal protection by full length linear limits• Multiple heaters, factory wired on same back plate, available in up to 10' lengths• Totally enclosed junction boxes• Custom colors and finishes available (See Chart )• Enclosures available for hydronic heating coils (consult factory for more information )
All Draft Barrier Heaters, unless otherwise noted, are build to order items. Consult factory for lead times. Additional charges may be incurred if changes are made after production has begun - consult factory.