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Yvonne Rossman
Family and KIDZ Connection Coordinator/Foster Care Liaison
Laurie Ramos
Parent Educator Resource Room
Dilean Coward
CEHI Teacher
Judi Tillison
Teen Parent Clerk/Parent Educator
Family Resource Center
You can check out books, videos, toys, games puzzles and manipulatives.
Make & Take It Center
Work on projects, posters,file-folders, games, or create something fun with die cuts and other art materials -- we furnish all the materials and they are FREE!
Computer Lab
Use computer for checking grades, research, typing reports practicing skills or just for fun! You can even print your papers.
Toddler Time
Weekly Programs where parents and toddlers learn together having fun with stories, repetitive songfs, and activities to encourage early learning.
Pregnancy Related Services
Services for pregnant and parenting students.
Teen Parent Connection Center Daycare
The Liberty Campus daycare enables student parents to complete their educational goals by providing a safe, nurturing and supportive environment for the both parents and child.


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Join Jolie Miller for an in-depth discussion in this video Exploring our project for this course, part of Instructional Design: Working with SMEs.
- It's not any fun to walk through working with SMEs…without taking a look at a real SME idea relationship…and the resulting piece of content.…For the purposes of this course,…we're going to follow the example…of building a short online customer service course…with customer service expert Jeff Toister…of Toister Solutions.…Jeff has written a book called Service Failure:…The Real Reasons Employees Struggle With Customer Service…And What You Can Do About It.…He's also published two customer service courses…here on lynda.com that I highly recommend you check out.…
He's a prolific blogger in the customer service industry.…And we're going to go on a journey with him…to spec out what he wants to offer to the public…and how he wants it to look.…Let's get started.…
The course also shows you how to set up project schedules, overcome common obstacles, and use a variety of approaches to ensure that the content you build together will be stronger than the content either of you would build alone. The lessons are framed by a fictional ID/SME relationship that models how the two partners work together to create a customer-service training session.
- What is an SME?
- Understanding how designers and SMEs interact
- Getting to know the SME
- Building a schedule
- Outlining the content
- Managing deliverables
- Retaining the SME's voice
- Incorporating feedback
- Launching the content

subset: commoncrawl


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The Serial Comma in Interpreting Criminal Statutes
By Kele Onyejekwe – March 23, 2015
A serial comma is the last comma in a list before the conjunction and or or. It eliminates ambiguity or guesswork as to the legislator's intent. Look at this sentence: "This article is dedicated to my readers, judges and legislators." Is the article dedicated to two groups (judges and legislators) or to three (readers, judges, and legislators)? A serial comma easily removes the ambiguity. "This article is dedicated to my readers, judges, and legislators." Now, there are clearly three groups. Here is another example: "The chapters in the code are: constitution, crime, environment, property and tax, securities, and evidence." The comma after 'securities' indicates that it is a separate chapter from 'evidence' unlike 'property and tax', which is one chapter. When there is no serial comma, the legislator intends the final entries in the series to be joined as one.
Aristophanes of Byzantium, a librarian in Alexandria, Egypt, invented the comma as a system of speech-pauses, in 200 B.C. Its current form descended from the Italian printer Aldus Manutius in the 1400s. Comma's Greek name, meaning "a piece cut off," was acquired by the 1500s. It is the most commonly used punctuation mark. Correctly used, it separates ideas, elements, and items in a series within a sentence.
The comma appears 376 times in the U.S. Constitution. It is integral to the meaning of the document. In colonial England, legislation passed parliament without punctuation, which was subsequently inserted by staff. The founding fathers of our Constitution chose instead to include punctuations in drafts to be debated. In a criminal statute, the placement of a comma can be critical. Ambiguous statutes are resolved in favor of the accused because criminal statutes are strictly construed. See, e.g., Rewis v. United States, 401 U.S. 808, 812 (1971); Ward v. People, 58 V.I. 277, 287 (V.I. 2013). Ambiguities created by the absence of the serial comma benefit the accused. Recently, challenging a conviction under Virgin Islands' felony murder statute, I was amazed at the overwhelming extent to which courts, legislatures, and legal writers favor the serial comma.
The Felony Murder Statute and the Serial Comma
The felony murder statute, title 14, section 922(a)(2), of the Virgin Islands Code provides:
§ 922. First and second degree murder defined
(a) All murder which—
(2) is committed in the perpetration or attempt to perpetrate arson, burglary, kidnapping, rape, robbery or mayhem, assault in the first degree, assault in the second degree, assault in the third degree and larceny; . . . is murder in the first degree.
My client was convicted after the government proved only assault in the third degree but not larceny. In the statute, assault in the third degree and larceny are not separated by a comma. Nobody can tell without guesswork if the government must prove either or both assault in the third degree and larceny. This conviction deprived the defendant of his Fourteenth Amendment due-process rights. It dispensed of his Sixth Amendment rights to a speedy and public trial before an impartial jury. He had no "jury determination that he is guilty of every element of the crime [i.e., larceny] with which he is charged, beyond a reasonable doubt." United States v. Gaudin, 515 U.S. 506, 510 (1995).
There are five major reasons why section 922(a)(2) requires proof of both assault in the third degree and larceny. First, the statute is plain on its face; second, the history shows that the legislature joins the last two items as one in this provision; third, the Virgin Islands Code requires common usage of English as its rule of construction; fourth, the Virgin Islands Supreme Court requires the serial comma; fifth, applying the serial-comma rule does not conflict with the legislative intent and does not make superfluous any other item on the list.
Applying the Serial Comma to the Felony Murder Statute
First, simply and on its face, assault in the third degree and larceny are joined. Second, the provision's history demonstrates a legislative practice that classes as one items in a series not separated by a comma. Prior to 2001, section 922(a)(2)'s predicate offenses were "arson, burglary, kidnapping, rape, robbery or mayhem." In 2001, the legislature amended the statute to provide "arson, burglary, kidnapping, rape, robbery or mayhem, assault in the first degree, assault in the second degree, assault in the third degree and larceny." Robbery or mayhem remains one item, although they are no longer final entries. It follows that "assault in the third degree and larceny," section 922(a)(2)'s final entries, constitute one item.
Third, English usage is the basis for statutory construction. V.I. Code tit. 1, § 42 ("Words and phrases shall be read with their context and shall be construed according to the common and approved usage of the English language."). Further, "[t]echnical words and phrases, and such others as may have acquired a peculiar and appropriate meaning in the law," the code commands, "shall be construed and understood according to their peculiar and appropriate meaning." No matter what happens to the serial comma in journalism, it has acquired a peculiar and appropriate mandatory meaning in the law. Fourth, the Virgin Islands Supreme Court itself requires the serial comma. "Grammar, editorial, and punctuation issues," commands the Court, "should be resolved in a manner consistent with standard American usage, for which the Chicago Manual of Style (15th ed. 2003) is an excellent modern synthesis, and The Redbook: A Manual on Legal Style (3d ed. 2013) is also helpful as a grammar and style guide specifically for legal writing." V.I. S. Ct. I.O.P. app. at A-1. Both books require the serial comma.
Fifth, the plain reading of section 922(a)(2) does not contravene the legislature's intent to require proof of the elements of a crime. It does not contravene the federal, state, or territorial interests for the government to discharge its burden of proof in a criminal case. In addition, the legislative history supports the serial-comma rule by joining third-degree assault and larceny as one item. The question arises whether "robbery" subsumes "assault in the third degree and larceny." But this is not the case here. "Robbery is the unlawful taking of personal property in the possession of another, from his person or immediate presence and against his will, by means of force or fear." V.I. Code tit. 14, § 1861. Even if a dangerous weapon is displayed, where the initial taking was not by means of force or fear, robbery in any degree is not implicated. See V.I. Code tit. 14, § 1862. Assault of another, not the victim, after perpetrating larceny, is not robbery.
The Widespread Support for the Serial Comma
The following authorities require the use of the serial comma: courts (including the U.S. Supreme Court and the Virgin Islands Supreme Court), congressional manuals, state legislative manuals, Bryan A. Garner, legal-drafting teachers, and general style guides.
Courts. The plain meaning of a statute is determined by the placement of a comma and the conjunction within the statute. United States v. Ron Pair Enters., Inc., 489 U.S. 235, 241 (1989) ("This reading is also mandated by the grammatical structure of the statute."). The plain meaning is conclusive, unless a literal application of a statute will be at odds with the intentions of its drafters.
A New York court construed New York Agriculture and Markets Law section 353, which punishes anyone who "deprives any animal of necessary sustenance, food or drink." The defendant provided food and drink, but did not otherwise take the animal to the veterinarian. The court applied the serial-comma rule and concluded that "necessary sustenance" means food or drink. 19 Misc. 3d 1105(A), 2008 WL 724724 (N.Y. City Crim. Ct.). It pointed to an author's dedication "to my parents, the Pope and Mother Theresa." For the court, "the absence of a comma between 'Pope' and 'and' indicates that the author's parents are the Pope and Mother Theresa and not that a separate dedication was being made to each of the three." Although one might view the dedication as ambiguous, the court's interpretation illustrates the strict construction that a criminal statute demands, and it is consistent with other courts' rulings.
For the Texas Court of Appeals, the serial comma is necessary to eliminate ambiguity. In re Readyone Indus., 394 S.W.3d 680, 686 (Tex. App. El Paso 2012). The court, quoting the 2002 edition of the Oxford Style Manual at page 122, concludes that "the use of a serial comma serves to resolve ambiguity, particularly when any of the items are compound terms joined by a conjunction."
The growing importance of legislative manuals in statutory interpretation is even more surprising in the rise of the serial-comma use.
Congressional manuals. Both the Senate and the House of Representatives require the serial comma. The House's legislative manual states: "The last 2 elements of a series should be separated by a comma before the conjunction. This prevents any misreading that the last item is part of the preceding one." House Legislative Counsel's Manual on Drafting Style, No. HLC 104-1, § 351 at 58 (1995). The Senate's legislative manual employs the same language verbatim. Senate Office of the Legislative Counsel, Senate Legislative Drafting Manual § 321(c) 79 (1997). These manuals reflect "widely accepted modern legislative drafting convention[s]." Carr v. United States, 560 U.S. 438, 463 (2010) (Alito, J., dissenting). Legislative drafting manuals give meaning to statutes. See, e.g., BJ Ard, Comment, "Interpreting by the Book: Legislative Drafting Manuals and Statutory Interpretation," 120 Yale L.J. 185, 200 (2010) ("Drafting manuals provide the shared stylistic framework that OLC and Hill staffers employ to draft a bill, making the manuals particularly credible for establishing the context in which a statute should be read."); Brian Christopher Jones, "Drafting Proper Short Bill Titles: Do States Have the Answer?," 23 Stan. L. & Pol'y Rev. 455, 463 (2012)(FISA Amendments Act of 2008 follows the House drafting manual.). Congress follows its legislative manuals. Koons Buick Pontiac GMC, Inc. v. Nigh, 543 U.S. 50, 61 (2004).
State legislative manuals. Like the U.S. Congress, most state legislatures use drafting manuals to eliminate ambiguity and promote uniformity. The Uniform Law Commission, of the Uniform Commercial Code and other model acts, recommends the serial comma. "Use a comma followed by "and" [or "or"] to separate the last of a conjunctive series of three or more words, phrases, or clauses in a sentence," writes the Uniform Law Commission in Rule 107(c) of its Drafting Rules (2012). In addition, a majority of state legislative manuals recommend use of the serial comma or allow its use to be optional. See, e.g., Legislative Reference Bureau, Illinois Bill Drafting Manual 232 (2012).
The National Conference of State Legislatures maintains links to current versions of more than 36 states' legislative drafting manuals. The Wisconsin Supreme Court explains that the serial comma will be assumed when it is used in other parts of the section. Wisconsin v. Jensen, 782 N.W.2d 415, 421 (Wis. 2010). Since Jensen, Wisconsin's legislative drafting manual requires the serial comma.
Several state legislative manuals disallow the serial comma to be omitted in a series. Arizona, Idaho, Maine, New Mexico, Oregon, South Dakota, and West Virginia are examples of such states. But courts look beyond them in search of clarity. For example, contrary to its legislative drafting manual, Arizona's supreme court reasons that clarity requires items not separated by a comma to be joined as one item. Estate of Braden v. State, 266 P.3d 349, 352 (Ariz. 2011).
Bryan A. Garner. Legal-writing experts are almost unanimous that clarity requires the serial comma. I start with Bryan A. Garner, "a word man without peer, and [whose] usage and grammar rules are gospel." Carl S. Kaplan, "Ten Items or Less: A Reflection on the Third Edition of Bryan Garner's The Winning Brief," 15 J. App. Prac. & Process 139, 141 (2014). The following are a few examples.
- The Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Style 70 (2000) (without a serial comma before the conjunction, the final entries are "joined" or "read as one category").
- The Redbook: A Manual on Legal Style 3 (2002) ("include a comma before the conjunction").
- The Winning Brief 294 (2004) ("[W]hen a colleague tries to tell you that a comma shouldn't precede the and or or introducing the last item in a list, ask for authority on the point. Your colleague probably can't cite one.").
- Book Review,"Don't Know Much About Punctuation: Notes on a Stickler Wannabe: Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero[-]Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. By Lynne Truss," 83 Texas L. Rev. 1443, 1449 (2005) (listing some of the "vast multitude of authorities, who favor it").
- The Chicago Manual of Style ¶ 6.18 ("When a conjunction joins the last two elements in a series of three or more, a comma—known as the serial comma or the Oxford comma—should appear before the conjunction. Chicago strongly recommends this widely practiced usage, blessed by Fowler and other authorities, since it prevents ambiguity. If the last element consists of a pair joined by and, the pair should still be preceded by a serial comma and the first and.").
Law-drafting teachers. Legal-drafting teachers hail the serial comma."In the drafting classroom, the serial comma reinforces the fundamental principle of avoiding ambiguity," writes Professor Amy Langenfeld in "Capitol Drafting: Legislative Drafting Manuals in the Law School Classroom," 22 Persp. Teaching & Writing 141, 143 (2014). "Legal writing guides," writes Professor Susan Hankin, "often recognize that the serial comma may be considered optional in other contexts, [but] they advise that its use be mandatory in legal writing." Susan J. Hankin, "Statutory Interpretation in the Age of Grammatical Permissiveness: An Object Lesson for Teaching Why Grammar Matters," 18 Persp. Teaching & Writing 105 (2010).
General style guides. A majority of style manuals recommend the serial comma. Proponents include William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White, Elements of Style (2005), the United States Government Printing Office Style Manual; American Psychological Association, The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (2009); and Modern Language Association, The MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing. Interestingly, some of the authorities often cited being opposed to the serial comma, in fact, require its use when the list is not simple. True, Ronald Ridout and Clifford Witting write that "in such lists 'and' is not preceded by a comma." The Facts of English 79 (1973). "But there are occasions when it [the serial comma] is necessary," they conclude. Likewise, the AP Stylebook dispenses with the serial comma only in a simple series, such as "Tom, Dick or Harry." Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law 305 (Darrell Christian et al. eds., 2013). Otherwise, the stylebook commands the use of the serial comma. Under it, assault in the third degree and larceny would be joined as an integral element in section 922(a)(2)'s series.
Ambiguous statutes are resolved in favor of the accused because criminal statutes are strictly construed. Without the serial comma, ambiguities arise. Assault in the third degree and larceny must be proved in a felony murder statute predicated on arson, burglary, kidnapping, rape, robbery or mayhem, assault in the first degree, assault in the second degree, assault in the third degree and larceny. The rules of courts, legislatures, and legal-writing authorities support proof of both items joined as one category.
Keywords: criminal litigation, serial comma, felony murder, statutes, legal drafting
Kele Onyejekwe is an appellate public defender at the Office of the Territorial Public Defender in St. Thomas, United States Virgin Islands. He is also a co-editor-in-chief of the Criminal Litigation newsletter.


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Course Information
Statistical Tools for Data Analysis:
Special Topics
- Computers and Computational Statistics with Applications
- Questionnaire Design and Surveys Sampling
- Time Series Analysis and Forecasting Techniques
- Topics in Statistical Data Analysis
- Companion site I: A Collection of JavaScript E-labs Learning Objects
- Companion site II: Excel For Introductory Statistical Analysis
Students may visit Professor Hossein Arsham at his office located at Business Center 479. You can contact him by phone 410-837-5268, fax 837-5722, or by Email at firstname.lastname@example.com.
To find out more information about Dr. Hossein Arsham, visit his Home Page at http://home.ubalt.edu/ntsbarsh/index.html.
Students must seek tutorial help from the Academic Resource Center at 410-837-5385, E-mail, located at AC 111.
Visit also Business Statistics.
- Welcome Message
- Course Description, and Required Textbooks
- Learning Objectives
- The Main Web Sites I Recommend
Dear StudentWelcome to:
Statistical Data Analysis
I am looking forward to working with you and hope that you will find the course both enjoyable and informative.
Managers need to understand variation for two key reasons. First, so that they can lead others to apply statistical thinking in day to day activities and secondly, to apply the concept for the purpose of continuous improvement. This course will provide you with hands-on experience to promote the use of statistical thinking and techniques to apply them to make educated decisions whenever there is variation in business data. Therefore, it is a course in statistical thinking via a data-oriented approach.
Know that data are only crude information and not knowledge by themselves. The sequence from data to knowledge is: from Data to Information, from Information to Facts, and finally, from Facts to Knowledge. Data becomes information when it becomes relevant to your decision problem. Information becomes fact when the data can support it. Fact becomes knowledge when it is used in the successful completion of decision process. The following figure illustrates the statistical thinking process based on data in constructing statistical models for decision making under uncertainties.
That's why we need statistical data analysis. Statistics arose from the need to place knowledge on a systematic evidence base. This required a study of the laws of probability, the development of measures of data properties and relationships, and so on.
Knowledge is more than knowing something technical. Knowledge needs wisdom, and wisdom comes with age and experience. Wisdom is about knowing how something technical can be best used to meet the needs of the decision-maker. Wisdom, for example, creates statistical software that is useful, rather than technically brilliant.
We will apply the basic concepts and methods of statistics you've already learned in the previous statistics course to the real world problems. The course is tailored to meet your needs in the statistical business-data analysis using widely available commercial statistical computer packages such as SAS and SPSS. By doing this, you will inevitably find yourself asking questions about the data and the method proposed, and you will have the means at your disposal to settle these questions to your own satisfaction. Accordingly, all the applications problems are borrowed from business and economics. By the end of this course you'll be able to think statistically while performing data analysis.
Learning Objects: Unfortunately, most classroom courses are not learning systems. The way the instructors attempt to help their students acquire skills and knowledge has absolutely nothing to do with the way students actually learn. Many instructors rely on lectures and tests, and memorization. All too often, they rely on "telling." No one remembers much that's taught by telling, and what's told doesn't translate into usable skills. Certainly, we learn by doing, failing, and practicing until we do it right. The computer assisted learning serves this purpose.
There are two general views of teaching/learning statistics: Greater and Lesser Statistics. Greater statistics is everything related to learning from data, from the first planning or collection, to the last presentation or report. Lesser statistics is the body of statistical methodology. This is a Greater Statistics course.
There are basically two kinds of "statistics" courses. The real kind shows you how to make sense out of data. These courses would include all the recent developments and all share a deep respect for data and truth. The imitation kind involves plugging numbers into statistics formulas. The emphasis is on doing the arithmetic correctly. These courses generally have no interest in data or truth, and the problems are generally arithmetic exercises. If a certain assumption is needed to justify a procedure, they will simply tell you to "assume the ... are normally distributed" -- no matter how unlikely that might be. It seems like you all are suffering from an overdose of the latter. This course will bring out the joy of statistics in you.
It is already an accepted fact that "Statistical thinking will one day be as necessary for efficient citizenship as the ability to read and write." So, let us be ahead of our time.
Feel free to contact me via phone, fax, or email. There is a lot of material to cover, so let's start now!
Course Description, and Required TextbooksCourse Description: For the course description, please read the Introductory Section of the topic that you are interested in taking:
- Computers and Computational Statistics with Applications
- Questionnaire Design and Surveys Sampling
- Topics in Statistical Data Analysis
- Time Series Analysis and Forecasting Techniques
Required Textbooks:
A Data-Based Approach to Statistics, by Iman R., Duxbury Press, 1994.
A Guide to Econometrics, by Kennedy P., MIT Press, 1998.
Statistical Data Analysis Handbook, by Wall F., McGraw-Hill, New York, 1986.
Business Forecasting, by Hanke J., and G. Reitsch, Prentice Hall, 2001.
Learning ObjectivesWhen you completes this course they should be able to:
- Understand the role that statistical data analysis plays in managerial decision making under risk.
- Recognize the important characteristics, assumptions, terms and concepts of statistical data analysis.
- Understand the principles of inference and experimental statistical design.
- Perform various statistical data analyzes using professional computer software (e.g. SPSS, SAS), use the results to make inferences and predictions for business applications.
- Understand the important characteristics of forecasting and develop basic forecasting models. Remember "Some people can predict the future. You compute it."
- To enable students to understand the integrated processes of designing and conducting quantitative survey research projects.
- To give students experience of grappling with problems in the design of survey samples, the construction of data collection instruments and the management of survey projects.
- To make student aware of main sources of error in the survey process and ways of detecting, controlling and minimising such error.
- The quantitative survey process from project formulation, statistical design and sampling, through instrument design and question formulation, to data processing.
- Basic principles and practice of probability sample design for field surveys.
- How to operationalise concepts, word questions and design, develop and test survey instruments, taking account of intended uses of the data collected.
- Principles of manual coding and editing of survey data, computer editing and preparing data for analysis.
- Sources of error in survey data, ways of assessing them and ways of minimising error.
- Planning and management of large scale surveys, piloting and pre testing, relations with stakeholders in the sponsored survey process, issues in survey ethics.
- Create and manipulate necessary data files to perform appropriate statistical analysis.
- Prepare technical and non-technical reports for management to communicate orally and in writing an analysis of computer solutions for statistical models.
- Work as a team member to analyze, solve and prepare recommendations for moderately complex decision problems.
- Learn "how can I optimally explain or describe variation in my data set?"
The Main Web Sites I Recommend
The following main statistical web sites together with your textbook contain all the materials you need to learn statistics. Make sure to visit these sites at least once a week to learn more on the related topics covered in this course.
Some other useful and specialized web sites are linked to your Weekly Topics pages.
General main statistical Web sites:
The following main statistical web sites and the lecture notes, together with your textbook contain all the materials you need to learn statistics. Make sure to visit these sites at least once a week to learn more on the related topics covered in this course.
Some other useful and specialized web sites are linked to your Weekly Topics pages.
General main statistical Web sites:
- Animated Statistical Demonstrations
- Bulletin Board Libraries
- Business Problem Solving
- Epidemiology and Biostatistics
- Financial and Economic Links
- How to Study Statistics
- Intro. to Stat.
- Java Applets
- Java Applets for Visualization of Statistical Concepts
- Lecture summaries
- Merlot
- Maths & Stats Links
- Online Lecture Outlines
- Online statistical computation
- Online Statists Texts and Courses
- Probability
- Probability & Statistics
- Statistical Demos and Calculations
- Statistical Education Resource Kit
- Statistical Programs
- Statistical Training on the Web
- Statistics Education-I
- Statistics Education-II
- Statistics on the Web
- Statistics, Statistical Computing, and Mathematics
- st@tserv
- SurfStat
- Using Excel
- Virtual Library
- WebEc
- World Lecture Hall
- Yahoo:Statistics
Web sites containing statistical keywords & phrases:
The following Web site collection provide a wide range of keywords & phrases. Visit these sites weekly to learn the language of statisticians.
Statistical Computation and Tables:
The following Web sites provide statistical computations and tables such ad critical values useful in statistical testing and construction of confidence intervals. The results are identical to those given in your textbook. However, in most cases they are more extensive (therefore more accurate).
- Web Pages that Perform Statistical Calculations
- Normal Probability Calculation
- Calculate Mean, Standard Deviation
- Creating a Histogram
- Probability Calculator
- StatCalc
- Statstical Calculators
- SurfStat statistical tables
Back to
Topics in Statistical Data Analysis


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John Green is an American author and video-blogger extraordinaire. He has written the best-selling novels including Looking For Alaska, Paper Towns and the recent, my favorite, The Fault in our Stars. ^^
June 14, 2013
Make Gifts for People
by Aemy Nadira at 10:28 PM
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Yep…you can't deny it now! Since the local stores have decided to start putting out Christmas Decorations in SEPTEMBER now and 'Black Friday' is actually ANY day on the first week of November…we've decided that it's OK for us to weigh in! (A significant decision considering that 'back in the day' we were closed up this time of year!)
As a kid I can CLEARLY remember going to the Strip Mall or wherever to see Santa arrive for the Holidays, typically in a Fire Truck, but if we were really lucky it would be by helicopter! Well..we don't have a helicopter (yet)…BUT we DO have our 'BBQ Battlewagon' which is a pretty, red, Mack (PA Made…like US) Fire Truck and a PERFECT way to have Santa arrive in STYLE to your business or home!
For businesses in and around Central PA, we are offering the opportunity to have Santa stop by for 30 minutes, arriving with lights and bells to let everyone know he's there and then interacting with your guests or employees. We'll provide a jovial Santa Clause and Candy Canes to hand out to all your guests and if you'd like, we can hand out special gifts, employee bonuses or whatever you'd like to make it even more personal! All of this starting at $250 per visit depending on location and duration of visit!
If that's a bit pricey for you and you'd STILL like to have Santa arrive at your home or gathering on a Fire Truck and hand out Candy Canes…we have several options for you and the best way to get the right one is to call or e-mail us! 717-254-1937 or firstname.lastname@example.com


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We are excited to announce we will be adding tree fruits, asparagus, strawberries and eggs over the next couple of years, in addition to our produce sales.
Over the next year we will be installing a 30' x 96' steel frame greenhouse (which will propel us into a 10 month harvest program, offering fresh produce from March - Jan!), we'll be upgrading the Farm Centre (the great big building in the centre of our field) to include an indoor wash station and storage facilities, as well as preparing the land (cover crops and mulches) for the installation of the orchard and asparagus in early 2015.
We'll be managing a small vegetable program this year (growing a wide variety of crops), aiming to start sales in late August. Which will give us plenty of time to finish moving our farm from the Fraser Valley (it's no small feat to move a farm!), and finish installing the necessary utilities and infrastructure for operations here.
We are so very excited about this project, and cant wait to meet all the farm folk & supporters out here in the area. We do, however, miss all of our friends and contacts in the Fraser Valley, and wish you all a productive and profitable 2014 season! We also want to thank you, because without your support, we wouldn't be where we are now - successful up-and-coming young farmers!
We'll be blogging the highlights of the project, complete with lots of pictures, to keep you posted on how our adventure is progressing. You can also check out our website for info about how we grow, our organic certification, about us, our CSA Harvest Box program, as well as lots of colourful farm photos: www.thefarmacy.info.
Thanks again, for all your support!
|This is a preview of the steel frame greenhouse that we will be installing over the next few weeks. So excited!
|My mom, putting the last of the trays in our custom made propagation table. Onions, Leeks and Shallots Oh My!
|Our cozy new home, perched on a hill overlooking the farm and stream.
|Beautiful Bessette Creek, which borders the property.
|Nevin working the field with our new Foton Tractor (star trek anyone?), aka Big Red.
|Our sleepy, quiet farm under a cozy blanket of snow. We sure did miss this kind of winter :)
|The Farm Centre (a 6000sq ft building nestled in the middle of one of our fields)


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6 Eagle (Tzikin or Men): Meaning of the Mayan Nahual
Eagle's key meanings are to fly high, to ascend both spiritually and materially. It is a day for aggressive action, a good day for business and finances. Because the eagle flies high and has excellent vision, it is a good day to look at the big picture when making plans or taking action.
Meaning of the Number
The coefficient 6 is one step before the middle of the 13-day trecena. It is well balanced and strong. However, some Kaqchikel and Ki'che' Maya disagree on the esoteric meanings.
The Kaqchikel consider 6 days as bringing life experiences or challenges that lead, hopefully, to learning, while the Ki'che' offer more positive meanings to the number.
Researched and written in Guatemala, The Mayan Calendar User's Guide reveals astrological techniques and secrets never before published in the English language.
Order The Mayan Calendar User's Guide. (Ebook for PC, Mac, Kindle, I-Phone, smart phones)


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Heritage Open Days celebrate England's architecture and culture by allowing visitors free access to interesting properties that are either not usually open, or would normally charge an entrance fee. Each year dozens of free events take place over a weekend in September. There are building openings, exhibitions, guided walks, tours and talks. Often theres also art, craft and music, and displays of traditional skills.
Tunbridge Wells Heritage Open Days 2018 are from Thursday 6th September to Sunday 9th September and Thursday 13th September to Sunday 16th September 2018
You can view the 2018 programme on the national website for Heritage Open Days. To look at our own local programme of 45 places and events across the Borough click on the link below and then select "Tunbridge Wells" from the list of Local Council Areas:
Copies of our local programme leaflet "Heritage Open Days in and around Tunbridge Wells" are being delivered to many homes across the Borough with the August issue of Index magazine. You can also pick up a copy of the leaflet from the Gateway in Grosvenor Road, and Tunbridge Wells Library in Mount Pleasant.
You can view and download the leaflet detailing all the places and events with their dates and times of opening by clicking on the link below:
Tunbridge Wells Heritage Open Days Leaflet 2018
Additional Programme Notes and Amendments to the Printed Leaflet:
Mabledon House
Please note that Mabledon is only open on Saturday 8th September 2018 between 10am and 5pm. It is the booking period that is from 20th August - 4th September.
St Barnabas School
Saturday 8th September 9.30am to 3.30pm
School Archives and old photos will be on display
This is in addition to the exhibition about Belgian Refugees
All welcome - Refreshments available
Contact: Dave Prodrick 07966190428 or 01892522958
email firstname.lastname@example.com
The Writing on the Wall Walk
Please click below for the downloadable information and activity sheet for children:
Discovering Tunbridge Wells
Woodbury Park Cemetery Tour
Please note that the Woodbury Park Cemetery Tour is on Saturday 8th September 2018 at 10.30am.
This website is copyright The Royal Tunbridge Wells Civic Society 2018 - Registered Charity No. 276545


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This email was sent on April 9, 2015. Please note the offer may no longer be valid.
Don't miss out on this opportunity to find an extra 1/4 ounce nugget. This deal won't be around forever! And don't forget to like us on Facebook, facebook.com/eurekajoes.
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Can you believe it's fall and September is almost over? We honestly haven't had a weekend of "nothing" until this past weekend, and it felt good to finally work around the house and not rush here and there. Well, it wasn't a full weekend of nothing – the husband and I had a friend's birthday celebration on Saturday night, but we didn't have to rush the kids around. That said, let's get into what's been happening in my world this month.
Listening….to David Gray. We're actually going to see him (and Alison Krauss) this weekend! I used to listen to David Gray so much and I've never seen him live. I'm pretty excited that we got tickets for the show. It's been a while since I've seen a larger show!
Celebrating…13 years since our first date. I woke yesterday morning realizing that we met exactly 13 years ago. Time flies, y'all.
Sleeping…not much. We're in the middle of sleep training our sweet girl who cannot seem to sleep through the night consistently any more. (WHERE did my good sleeper go? I really thought we had lucked out with this one.)
Watching…Fuller House is back! I watched 3 episodes over the weekend. Total guilty pleasure and I'm not ashamed of it. I'm also trying to get caught up on This Is Us and The Voice started this week. ALSO, Grey's Anatomy is BACK! Add in Will & Grace, and ohmyword, when will I sleep?
Training…for the Thomas Wolfe 8k! I'm so excited to run this race after a couple of years hiatus (pregnancy and life will do that to a runner.)
Cutting back…on eating. :-/ I'm actually using the Noom app and so far, so good! (If you want to try it out yourself, you can save 20%. Also, this is an affiliate link. I think I might get an Amazon gift card if you use my link.)
Reading…A lot of Real Simple magazines, and I'm gearing up for fall reading. A lot of my favorite authors are releasing books in the next month.
Clearing out…all the things. I may have found more than $125 in gift cards and cash from last Christmas. It was all stacked on my nightstand. It was a nice surprise, but HELLO. Why didn't I clear that space sooner?
How's your month turning out?


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Debate team practices are every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 3:00-4:20 in the Zion Lab. Practices are mandatory --you must attend a minimum of two practices to participate in competition.
Here is a link to our website
No tryouts--just a $40 participation fee by November 2 to join. Students must have a cumulative 2.0 GPA and no more than one F the quarter prior to compete. For more information email Coach Cody Christensen at email@example.com or visit Cedar High Debate website at https://sites.google.com/a/ironmail.org/cedar-high-debate/
There will be a parent meeting for those interested in the CHS Debate Team, Tuesday, October 25th at 6:00 p.m. in the lecture hall. This is a mandatory meeting! The debate team will be meeting every Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday after school in the Zion Lab from 3:00-4:30 p.m.
Debate team for placing 5th overall at State
3rd Place: Sam and Chris (Public Forum)
3rd Place: Kaleigh and Cassidy (Policy)
4th Place: David(Impromtu)
2nd Place: Cairo(Impromptu)
If you see these students, please congratulate them!
Debate team for placing 4th overall at Region.
4th Place: David
4th Place: Larissa
3rd Place: Scot and Austin
2nd Place: Christopher
2nd Place: Sam
1st Place: Abby
If you see these students congratulate them on their hard work and wish them luck at state.
Cedar High took first out of 11 Schools.
Elizabeth was a finalist in Impormptu.
Larissa was a finalist in Oratory
Sam and Scott were both finalists in Extemp.
Sarah was a finalist in Spar.
Cairo took 3rd in impromptu.
Annie took 3rd in Dramatic Interp.
Kaleigh took 2nd in Extemp.
Sam and Chris took 2nd in Public Forum.
The teams of Kaleigh and Cassidy , and Scott and Angelica tied for 1st in Policy.
Kaleigh also received Most Valuable Beaver award for competing in 3 separate events and earning team points in each of them.


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If a catalyst was needed to create a 'No Fly' list of unruly air passengers in India, Thursday's incident involving a VIP flyer hitting an airline staffer should provide enough impetus for it. According to a complaint filed by R Sukumar, Duty Manager of Air India, Shiv Sena MP Ravinder Gaikwad refused to get off a flight which had landed at Delhi from Pune at around 09:40 on Thursday morning. Sukumar said that when he asked the MP to disembark from the plane, since the flight had to leave for Goa and 115 passengers were waiting to get on to it, the MP became abusive. Gaikwad allegedly also had a problem with Sukumar speaking in English. Then the MP (by his own admission) started beating the Duty Manager. Sukumar has ended his complaint by stating "God save our country if this is the culture and behaviour of our MPs."
Speaking to TV channels, Gaikwad did not once deny that he had assaulted an employee of Air India. He was also seen bragging about how he had hit the airline staffer 25 times. Gaikwad was also heard saying that he will file a complaint with the Civil Aviation Minister A Gajapathi Raju as well as the Speaker of the Lok Sabha.
Neither Gaikwad nor Air India is a stranger to controversy involving flights and MPs. An airline veteran says there are quite a few instances of MPs delaying flights, demanding special treatment. But anyone physically assaulting an airline employee is still not a common occurrence. Perhaps Gaikwad has bitten off more than he can chew this time?
On its part, Air India first did what comes naturally to any 'sarkari' company in our country – it sought a report.
The report submitted by Deputy GM (Commercial), Harendra Singh, says that the MP demanded Air India's CMD or another director level officer to come on board the aircraft and sort out his issue. This implies that he didn't want mere airport in-charges to address his grievances, he wanted topmost officer running Air India. Would the MP have made the same demands if he were travelling by a private airline, one wonders. But what exactly caused the MP to fly into a rage? The report by Harendra Singh says that the MP wanted to know why he was asked to fly economy class when he held a ticket for business class.
An Air India spokesperson says an FIR has been lodged in this incident, and added that Air India is "examining the creation of a no-fly list of unruly passengers." Sources tell Firstpost that a second FIR has also been lodged by the airline, accusing the MP of delaying the flight. If a no-fly list is created after this unprecedented and boorish behaviour by an elected representative of the people, perhaps we will have to thank Gaikwad. Such a list would not only create some apprehension in the minds of people about what is and isn't acceptable behaviour in the skies, it would also arm airlines to better deal with nuisances.
Air India should not brush this incident under the carpet, as it usually does with other incidents involving MPs. True, the government is the sole owner of this ailing airline and MPs usually treat it as their jagir (property), delaying flights at will and demanding other concessions. But there has to be a limit to which the airline will tolerate 'boorish' behaviour. MPs should learn to keep the welfare of common passengers in mind.
Ravindra Gaikwad is no stranger to controversy. Media reports had earlier alleged that Gaikwad was one of the 11 MPs who, in 2014, had tried to force-feed a Muslim worker of the Maharashtra Sadan in Delhi during Ramzan, for not being served Maharashtrian food at the Sadan.
Members of the Indian Parliament are already a privileged lot as is obvious from this written reply by Civil Aviation Minister in in the Lok Sabha. Here's a list of facilities extended for the travel of MPs by Air India:
• Facility of ticket issuance on credit through exchange order.
• Priority in confirmation of seats.
• All care taken to ensure that VIPs/Government Delegation travelling on flights are not offloaded.
• Liasion with personal: staff of MPs to ensure satisfactory arrangements for arrival/departure made in consultation with the various Government Agencies/Airport authorities/embassies.
• Seats of their choice allotted to them subject to availability.
• Baggage is handled on priority.
• Facility of AI lounges is offered, where available. Liasion is made with AAI/other authorities to provide lounges, where available.
• Assistance is provided in boarding/disembarkation.
• A choice of pre-booked meals is provided on board.
• In case of delays to flights/rescheduling, information is provided about the extent of delay, revised departure time. Alternate arrangements are made, if required.
The question really should be: Should MPs get all of these privileges and then, should they still remain unaccountable for errant behavior?
As we have been saying often enough, MPs and privileges on the government airline are all relics of the past and need to go. Although Civil Aviation Minister is not keen that they do. In 2015, he made it clear that MPs and their privileges shall not part.
The question to ponder over is this: Would the Shiv Sena MP have behaved in this manner with the crew of a private airline? The government has no business being in the business of flying and it needs to loosen its control on Air India. If the pile of losses and a vast debt burden are not enough reasons for the Modi government to think of privatising Air India, perhaps the prospect of better behaved MPs would push it towards privatisation?
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Updated Date: Mar 23, 2017 19:49:35 IST


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Something has happened here: An empire has gone to seed, an entire country goes on strike, people begin eating dirt and flowers, and a couple lives on a riverboat to avoid the ground. In Mine, Tung-Hui Hu makes myths out of the personal. He speaks of desire and awkwardness and the earth that contains both. Resonant, blunt, and sharply intelligent, this is writing that excavates.
As history unfolds over and over the same geography, these poems become, as Hu has written, "practice for the living." The book grows out of the poet's interest in how the histories we extract from the land become interlaced with our identity. The book asks, Where do we come from? But also, How do we make amends?
Eisner Prize
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"This fresh and unexpected poet extends the lyric into the social space without losing any of song's intensity or mystery, so that these casually elegant, affecting poems feel as interior as they are worldly."—Mark Doty
"Pound said that poetry should be as well written as prose. [Mine,] composed of translucent and sinewy sentences set in loosely cascading lines, shows a range of subject matter (history, empire, mythic epilogues) unavailable to more lyrical poets. These poems explore life outside the self. Many take up a narrative 'he' or 'she,' or a choral, colonial 'we.' When the lyric 'I' does appear, couched in stories composed from reading as from experience, it too seems to be merely another persona. The result is something other than fiction or history or myth. It is a poetry composed of figments of reality."—Citation for the Eisner Prize
"Tung-Hui Hu's second book of poetry, Mine, is a confident, artful collection—sophisticated and persuasive, memorable and tight…Hu strings images together and builds, in poem after poem, to thoughtful, nimble, resonant conclusions that have an enormous amount of authority…While each piece works wonderfully alone, and together they show an impressive virtuosity, ranging energetically in topic and form (from California earthquakes to 18th century vignettes to Odysseus, and from the prose poem to the extended meditation to the spare and airy lyric), as a collection, all the poems have in common is a refusal to be pinned down to a consistent persona or agenda (beyond their vaguely post-colonial skepticism of such consistency). At the same time, Mine also has a syntactical poise and a purity of thought that belie its instability; the poet is seductively quite sure of his unsureness, and it is the strength of these two forces—his certainty and his skepticism, his polish and his constant movement—that keep the poems, at their best, taut and emphatic…The combination of such an investigative, open minded approach and Hu's jewel-like control of imagery and structure make Mine, indeed, a truly innovative and impressive collection. It is not explained easily, and after many readings, its inherent energy has not at all diminished. It is often stunning and always memorable. Hu is clearly a poet of enormous talent."—Rain Taxi Review of Books


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Yeah I know I didn't write something in the past two weeks but I wasn't in the mood to do it.
Today will be a short post just to get you updated.
I had my first Portuguese-German dream about 1 week ago. It was crazy and I not realized it until the afternoon.
Since then I had some more bilingual dreams.
I started to go tho the gym yesterday and I like it.
But today I didn't had time to go there because of the test in the afternoon.
I got my first top grade - in English.
But it's really easy to get it because English isn't difficult here. Even I'm a bid proud.
And I got some more good grades in physics and maths 2 (geometry).
I slept the first time in school.
In Germany I wouldn't have done this but here it's possible and the teacher didn't say nothing even he saw it (I'm sure!) :D
My German is getting worst every day and feels very crazy because I didn't think this could happen.
Last week I spoke German with a woman (my contact person) and I've to say it was funny after speaking Portuguese with here the whole time before that.
I had my "survival orientation" with my contact person, another woman from AFS and the other four Italian exchange students in my comitee.
We talked a lots abou the things we already learned on our preparation weekends in Germany, but it's always good to talk about it again.
In the afternoon we went to Elói Mendes (city next to Varginha) and there's a statue simalary like the one in Rio de Janeiro.
Last weekend my host family and I went to the house of my grandpa and his wife.
There we were also some uncles, aunts and cousins.
I really love the time with my family, they're crazy and funny :D
I think that's all that happend in the last time - nothing really special.
I'll again next week or when something special happens.
Até logo, Sandra
P.S: I wanted to show you this pic of my arrival so long, now I got it:


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The Challenge…
RPM are a creative independent creative communications agency, based in London, who specialise in shopper and field marketing, working with such clients as Barclays, Marks and Spencer, E.ON and our long standing client BSkyB. With a relatively new team and first time Managers, Take Effect's challenge was to equip their first line Managers with the skills to coach their teams effectively and to hit their client's targets, by supporting RPM in attaining their client's objectives.
The Solution Provided By Us
- Collaborated with key decision makers in the creation and design of the Management training programme to ensure maximum impact.
- Designed and executed a learner centre and brain friendly training solution.
- Incorporated and facilitated real play business simulation techniques to aid in the transference of new skills from the learning environment into the workplace.
- Developed a one on one coaching programme to support the Managers in the transference of their new skills.
How Did We Take Effect?
The learning solution focused on increasing the Managers knowledge and skills in four key areas:
- Coaching techniques, including GROW system.
- Tapping into motivation, through advanced feedback techniques.
- Winning communication skills.
- Effective delegation skills.
Management Skills – One on one coaching aided in embedding new skills set and ensured a smooth transition to the workplace. The review sessions ran by Take Effect provided the Managers with essential feedback on their own personal development in relation to their own coaching, communication and delegation skills.
Sales Skills – Delivered courses on the art of selling techniques for RPM's promotional staff.
Our Results
RPM Managers successfully coached their new teams to enable them to provide first class customer service. This resulted in a satisfied client for RPM and a management team equipped for the future.
"Great interaction, great amount of knowledge, personable and made everything relevant" – Alex McDonnell Bond, Retail Management, RPM
"Take Effect were truly engaging and drove the training, there were no low points!"– Richard Tolley, Retail Management, RPM