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The strike, which will affect delivery of aviation and motor fuel from the 210,000 bpd refinery, is being taken in order to defend pension rights ahead of a transfer of their employment contracts from BP to DHL. BP said in a statement that its priority remains the safe delivery of fuel products.
By BEN WINKLEY
LONDON -- Tanker drivers at Scotland's only oil refinery, Grangemouth, will begin
three days of strike action Friday, according to the Unite
labor union.
The strike, which will affect delivery of aviation and motor
fuel from the 210,000 bpd refinery, is being taken in order to
defend pension rights ahead of a transfer of their employment
contracts from BP to DHL, Unite said.
Strike action will begin at 0400 GMT on Feb. 22 and continue
until 0800 GMT on Monday Feb. 25, when a continuous ban on
overtime will begin.
BP said in a statement that its priority remains the safe
delivery of fuel products.
"We have been working to and continue to work to minimize
any potential disruption that the industrial action...could
cause," BP said.
Grangemouth, situated on the Forth River on the east coast
of Scotland, is owned by Ineos. An Ineos spokesman wasn't
immediately available for comment.
Dow Jones Newswires
All comments are subject to editorial review.
All fields are compulsory.
It's tough to gauge what's going on in Egypt but regardless of the dioectirn it's heading, it's all to obvious the US/UK dirt is under the toenails somewhere.Mubarak was a plant for the US/UK/Israel for the longest time. They now have different plans for Egypt and that part of the world so it's time for Mubarak to go. This is the Shah of Iran's theatrics all over again 30 years later. I suspect the Middle Eastern countries want to give the US/UK the finger (and rightly so) by dropping petrodollars. They want to move to Euros .as are the Chinese.Iraq and Saddam Hussein did that and the entire country AND culture of Iraq has now been destroyed so as to continue feeding out pathetic consumption habits. So sad.Iran has been wanting to switch to petrodollars for a while and Iraq's invasion served a secondary purpose as far as deterring such a move by Iran. A switch to Euros from petrodollars would bring the house of cards called the US down faster than an episode of 2 and Half Men.Mubarak has been around long enough to know when to leave. He's staying just long enough to make a bit of a chaos so the transition to another puppet regime bears some resemblance of a genuine replacement.This entire Middle East fiasco has been a manipulated affair. But it's tough to know which side the US/UK are playing on. My gut tells me that the fact that they are TELLING Mubarak to leave is an indication that they want a new regime in power that kisses their asses for another 50 years.When you think about it, it's amazing isn't it .the US IS TELLING another country what they can and cannot do yet they go around the world preaching their bullshit about democracy and freedom.And we wonder why people have no respect for us.
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Engineers and designers are highly skilled individuals. Forcing them to enter design changes using tables, forms and spreadsheets is unproductive and uneconomical, and it increases the likelihood of human error—this is the way that most instrumentation software systems currently work. For too long, software vendors have denied engineers and designers the simple practicality of a graphical visual engineering interface with "drag and drop" capability and inbuilt intelligence, ensuring changes are automatically replicated into all the associated data and databases.
Is 2016 the peak for US gasoline demand?
Too soon to tell
July 2016


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Here is my last one for today. I hope I got nailed.
Thank you!
That looks fine, if not actually perfect. You should waste no more time and start taking some real panoramas. Any stitching errors that you get will not be due to the setup of your panohead.
Adamo, there is no offset for nadir Adaptor on NN5.
Offset on NN3 is 6mm, not 3.
to me, as for john, it looks quite good for lower rail setting. What is your URS you used?
There is always the need to place some manual CP to the "outer circles of the fisheye lenses" and to set them along the verticals and horizontals. When you have got a very good result, save this as a template. This will reduce the amount of placing CP manually. But when I remember right you normally are working with Autopano?
I will reload my pics of D300s Samyang 8mm with orange laser placed dots in horizontal and vertical to set up a template.
There is no need to get rid of the "hexagon outline", the reference for the LRS is the round circle of the panohead. Or do I misunderstand you?
My LRS is 59.5-60 and URS is 97.
I thought, looking at Smooth method pictures that there should not be any hexagon outline, so I wanted to move back URS to 98-99 and eliminate this hexagon. Also, looking closely the very bottom of tripod legs are kind of mangled out of shape.
I want to see your laser method to find NPP. Please, post it so I can downloaded it.
Have to say that I'm learning a lot from you and John.
Thank you!
Do you feel better?
From the stitch of your 6 images, the upper rail setting looks to be good, in so far as there is no parallax shift visible between shots. However, there is nothing really close to the camera in any of the overlaps to properly assess this. You should take some shots specifically to check for parallax in order to validate the URS (or maybe check with live view).
To get some close objects I tried grid method. The result is not bad, but not perfect. I can see some misalignment next to center button to the left of it.
Also, I uploaded images from the grid method. I wonder, if this misalignment can be fixed in PTGui. Would you be kind to send me PTS and your stitch, if you decide to try it.
I can't thank you enough for all your help. Now my panoramas start to look as they should.
Here is the link to images:
I also stitched it in Autopano with better result. I think. Here:
Now, if you can point me where I can learn to do nadir stitch correctly.
Thank you!
To judge the alignment of images, it is best to output the stitched image as a psd layered file. You can then readily see misalignments over whole of an overlap region between two image layers in Photoshop by switching the upper image off and on. The line where the seam will be placed by the blender is the main region of interest, as that is where any misalignments are most likely to be visible. This is generally half way across the overlap.
In taking shots for checking parallax, you should shoot with the same angular increments that will be used for your actual panorama shoots. In your case you are taking 6 shots around, incrementing yaw by 60 degrees. So take your shots of the grid at 60 degree increments, not 30 degrees as you have done. Obviously, you can omit the central image of three so that you then have two taken at the required 60 degrees.
Your setup looks to be adequate for most purposes, so I suggest you try taking some real panoramas.
Thank you for your insightfull reply, as always.
I just followed instruction doing drid method. Don't know any better yet.
You didn't mention where can I get some info how to shoot and stitch nadir.
Thank you!
In low light conditions and when shooting bracketed shots for HDR processing, shooting with a hand held camera is not very practical, because of camera shake and alignment problems. Methods of dealing with these are described at:
http://tinyurl.com/2we8hwq (Nodal Ninja nadir adapter)
Stitching a nadir shot presents problems because it's difficult to maintain the position of the entrance pupil exactly when shooting, so you get parallax problems and changes of perspective. PTGui can cope with this very well when the nadir area is a flat floor by using the viewpoint correction feature in the Pro version. There's a tutorial describing this process on the PTGui web site, and I have one at:
Otherwise, you can manually align and blend in a nadir shot by extracting a rectilinear view of the nadir area from the stitched equirectangular panorama image, patching over the nadir hole, and then returning the edited nadir view to the equirecangular image. There are many ways of doing this, e.g:
Convert the equirectangular image to 6 cubic tiles (e.g. with Pano2VR, Pano2QTVR, PTGui), edit the nadir tile, rebuild the equirectangular image.
Use the patch facility in Pano2VR
PTEditor from the Panorama Tools package
Super Cubic plugin by Rune Spaans: http://www.superrune.com/technical/s...eretocubic.php
PanoTools Wiki tutorials: http://wiki.panotools.org/Zenith_and...iting_overview
When using the cubic tiles methods, you need a defished nadir shot to patch in manually. You can use PTGui to do the defishing by including the nadir shot in the full panorama project. Align it as best you can with the optimizer (with all the image and lens parameters unchecked for the other images). Then output two equirectangular stitches: one containing only the nadir shot and one containing all the other images. You can then convert these to cubic tiles and merge the corresponding nadir tiles.
Thank you!
I'll review all referenced material you kindly provided.
Do you think that nadir adapter is something I should consider?
BTW, I prefer shooting panoramas that can be printed vs. VR format At least for now.
Since NN5 is discontinued I may not be able to buy it later.
Where can I see tutorial about CP placement for good stitch?

subset: commoncrawl


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As much as I hate to admit this I am not very knowledgeable about the technical part of hacking. Could anyone guide me to a guide for a complete beginner?
Hacking for a complete newb...
Me niether can you tell me if anybody respondes plz?
Ill help, see hacking is all about binary, and code sertain code when put into a zipper file or a sort of file that can activate it (Preferable zip) will turn that code into more then just random symbals many hacks can be zipped up n sent to email, or other avenues, hacking is a term used to obtain data we as virus( a totaly different type of coding) is used to corrupt data its kinda of either "i want what you have" or "if i cant have it no one can" sort of deal anymore question or somethjng you need taken care of email me email@example.com (thats a


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Trend to Try: Midi Rings
See how to style this must-have accessory
Midi Rings "Midi" is the new maxi. Midi skirts, midi dresses, midi rings -- the new fashion trend has done away with extremes and found its stylish place at a super chic happy medium. These rings are placed (you guessed it) mid-finger, either between or directly on top of the knuckle. Worn stacked or alone, these rings are the now accessory on runways and red carpets.
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Cycle Motion Ruched Ballet
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Our cute and functional Cycle Motion Ruched Ballet will have you skipping between city engagements with our shock absorbing ADIPRENE® by adidas soles. And when you're done, they're machine washable, so you can simply throw them in and they'll be ready to skip another day.
- ADIPRENE® by adidas shock-absorbent cushioning protects the heel at impact
- ADIPRENE+® by adidas resilient forefront cushioning helps provide a responsive, dynamic push-off
- EVA cushioning helps provide lightweight shock absorption to reduce foot and leg fatigue
- Rubber pods on outsole provide a durable grip on a variety of surfaces
- Machine washable
Highly shock-absorbent cushioning protects the heel at impact
Engineered construction with stain-resistant, machine-washable leather
Resilient forefoot cushioning provides a responsive, dynamic push-off
Cycle Motion Ruched Ballet is rated out of 5 by 8.
Rated 4 out of 5 by Lynlight from Comfortable shoe just alittle short. Really loved the shoe but it was a little too short. (Which is rare, when I try on shoes) I am a size 10 so there is no 101/2 hence when I got the 11 it was too big. Had to return.
Date published: 2013-08-07
Rated 5 out of 5 by Ferg from This is a very comfortable, attractive shoe. I love these shoes. They were very comfortable from the first moment I put them on, no breaking in required. My toes were not cramped and they were very comfortable for walking.
Date published: 2013-04-19
Rated 5 out of 5 by Niloli from Very comfortable I am wearing this brand for a while because I have painful feet and they are very comfortable. Feels goo.
Date published: 2014-05-13
Rated 4 out of 5 by Jams1867 from So comfortable What I like about these shoes: cute, very comfortable, washable, goes with almost anything I wear. I normally wear size 8, but ordered these in size 8.5 and even in size 8.5, my toes touch the tip or the shoe. If I ordered a size 9, I think they would fall off my feet. Even with that, I love the shoes, and they are comfortable (which is why I like Rockport)
Date published: 2013-12-05
Rated 5 out of 5 by Lynnie from Comfort Plus! I love these shoes! They are lightweight and one of the most comfortable pair of shoes I own. I just bought two more pairs in other colors. They wear well, and I've even put them in the washing machine. Keep making these shoes, Rockport! You have a winner here!
Date published: 2013-04-20
Rated 5 out of 5 by bjmore from Great Look, Great Comfort I bought a similar pair of Rockport shoes several years ago and wore them all of the time. When they finally wore out I was so pleased to find I could get a shoe that was so close in style. The fit and support are perfect. I love them.
Date published: 2013-08-07
Rated 5 out of 5 by JRM343 from Happy to fined out that these shoes where washable These shoes where very comfy to wear! Have worn them a lot, but they haven't gotten dirty enough to wash yet.
Date published: 2013-07-31
Rated 1 out of 5 by Seal from Not comfortable Not what I expected--stiff and short on the toe--returned immediately.
Date published: 2013-05-13


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Panamarenko's experimental flying machines modeled on the motion of birds, insects, and human craft have been greeted with wonder and acclaim since the 1960s. In his exploration of the potentially fertile relationships linking technology and nature, Panamarenko considers issues of imagination as well as function. Dia Center for the Arts will introduce Panamarenko's work to audiences this fall in his first major exhibition in the United States.
Opening on November 29, 2000, Dia's presentation at 545 West 22nd Street will pair the Belgian artist's key work, Aeromodeller, built from 1969-71, with a new piece created this year. Mixing the scientific with the artistic, the monumental Aeromodeller solidified Panamarenko's thinking and established his significant reputation. Powered by four engines, this large-scale hybrid of a cocoon and a blimp is composed of a transparent inflatable sac and a gondola for passengers. Dia's installation also includes Raven's Variable Matrix (2000), which looks to the aerodynamics of insects for the basis of its engineering.
While creating readymades, collages, and performances in the mid-1960s, Panamarenko worked alongside other object-oriented conceptual artists Joseph Beuys, Marcel Broodthaers, also associated with the Wide White Space Gallery in Antwerp. Such momentous events of the 1960s as the first manned space flight by Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gargarin in 1962, the joint French-British development of the Concorde starting in 1962 and culminating in the first flight in 1969, and American Neil Armstrong's first step on the moon in 1969, cast Panamarenko's intense life-long study of the natural sciences in a new light. Since the mid-1960s, he has invented flying machines that combine primitive forms with technologically sophisticated materials in his search to resolve practical mechanical problems as well as to probe metaphysical dilemmas. In addition to building and testing speculative models, Panamarenko has developed singular theories on the nature of closed systems, electromagnetism, and the relationship between inertia and mass.
Panamarenko was born in Antwerp where he attended the Royal Academy of Fine Arts from 1955 to 1960. His work has been shown widely in Europe and Japan including solo exhibitions at Kunstverein Hanover (1991); The National Museum of Art, Osaka (1992); Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, Paris (1998); and also at the Third Biennial of Sydney (1979), the Sao Paulo Biennale (1983), and the opening last year of SMAK in Ghent, Belgium.
Dia Center for the Arts is a tax-exempt charitable organization. Established in 1974, the organization has become one of the largest in the United States dedicated to contemporary art and culture. In fulfilling this commitment, Dia sustains diverse programming in visual arts, poetry, education, and critical discourse and debate. Exhibition hours during the 2000-2001 season are Wednesday - Sunday, 12 noon to 6 pm, through June 17, 2001. Admission is $6 ($3 for students and seniors and free to members).
* * *
For additional information or materials contact:
Press Department, Dia Art Foundation, email@example.com or 212 293 5518


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Can causally disconnected regions join up again? For example the universe is expanding faster than light creating cosmological horizon, but what if something causes the expansion to slow down and reverse, will everything just join up again or are things beyond the horizon forever disconnected no matter what?
That happened during slow roll inflation, but then it ended. What we see in cosmic microwave background radiation coming from different directions used to come from temporarily causally disconnected regions during inflation.
The important point here is that in general relativity, causal (dis)connection has only a global meaning, that is, over all of spacetime. It isn't something defined for a given instant in time, but over the whole history. Likewise, a horizon doesn't exist at a given moment; events that are on opposite sides of a hoizon were always, and will always be, disconnected causally. If the expansion slows down and reverses, bringing currently spatially distant points back together, then they were never causally disconnected in the first place.


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MCGREGOR (September 27, 2012)—SpaceX's Grasshopper vertical takeoff and landing test vehicle has taken its first test flight at the company's rocket testing facility in McGregor.
The short hop of about 6 feet on Sept. 21 is a major milestone in the company's effort to develop a reusable first stage for the proven SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
The Grasshopper consists of a Falcon 9 first stage, a Merlin-1D engine, four steel landing legs and a steel support structure.
"SpaceX is working to develop vehicles that are fully and rapidly reusable, a key element to radically reducing cost and increasing the efficiency of spaceflight," the company said in a press release.
The goal of the next test in several months is for the Grasshopper to hover at a height of about 100 feet.


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The 42 Most Insane (But Convincing) Fan Theories Ever Found
We admit it; we have an addiction. Actually, a lot of addictions, but the only relevant one here is our addiction to mind-blowing fan theories about famous bits of pop culture. For years, we've collected crazy (and compelling) theories about our favorite movies, TV shows, and video games, and now we present our "greatest hits." Whether you're new to the site or you just missed these the first time around, the following pages have enough mindflippery to obliterate hours of productivity. Enjoy!
#42. RoboCop Is a Stand-In for Jesus
What You Think You're Watching:
A fun sci-fi romp through a near-future dystopian Detroit. Peter Weller plays a good cop who is murdered in the line of duty and is therefore the perfect candidate for inaugurating the RoboCop program. As the first RoboCop, RoboCop does many robocoppy things, including single-handedly robocopping the city's crime element, and robocopping corruption within the corporation that robocopped him.
Also, whatever you call this.
The Subtext:
RoboCop is actually RoboJesus.
Paul Verhoeven's RoboCop, much like The Matrix, The Day the Earth Stood Still, and other movies all strangely connected to Keanu Reeves, uses its hero as a metaphor for Jesus Christ. Let's start with the obvious: The story of Christ is that Jesus is alive, then he's wrongfully killed, then he's resurrected. The story of RoboCop is that good cop is alive:
Then he's wrongfully killed:
Then he's resurrected as RoboCop:
OK, now let's get into the iconic scene, in which Detroit policeman and RoboCop-to-be Alex Murphy is tortured and killed by a gang of bad guys. First, his arm is spread out in a cruciform position. Next, the gang leader blows off his right hand with a shotgun -- a modern, gore-amplified version of being nailed to a cross. Finally, he receives a deadly gunshot wound to the head (the crown of thorns, durrrr).
Not convinced? Near the end of the movie, in his final showdown with the crime gang that killed him, RoboCop is shown moving across ankle-deep water, almost as if he's walking on top of it.
"Ask and it will be given to you -- in bullets!"
Oh, and if you're still not convinced, director Verhoeven actually confirmed the whole theory in a 2010 interview, saying that he fully intended to portray Murphy as a Jesuslike figure.
"It is about a guy who gets crucified in the first 50 minutes, and then is resurrected in the next 50 minutes, and then is like the supercop of the world."
Verhoeven also pointed out that the character's somewhat un-Christlike violence was deliberate, since RoboCop was meant to be an American Jesus.
And we're sure Verhoeven will tell us what the fuck Basic Instinct was about one of these days.
#41. Donald Duck Is Atlas Shrugged for Children
Aside from being an uncredited creator of Inception, Donald Duck is one of the most beloved cartoon characters in the world. But Ariel Dorfman (an Argentine-Chilean novelist/activist) and Armand Mattelart (a Belgian sociologist) have this crazy theory that the comic book adventures of a violent, pantsless sailor might actually be inappropriate for children.
Walt Disney
Like a hysterical news story, we present this out-of-context screenshot as evidence.
According to the authors, Donald Duck cartoons might as well be the talking-duck version of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. In their book How to Read Donald Duck (Para leer al Pato Donald), the Dynamic Deconstruction Duo claim that Donald and friends teach kids that a person's value is dependent entirely on how much money he or she has, and that in the pursuit of money, there is no room for things like family or love, only for blind self-interest.
Walt Disney
"He knew no weapons but to pay for what he wanted. While pantsless."
Why It's Not That Crazy:
Have you ever noticed that there aren't any parents in Donald Duck cartoons and comics? Scrooge, for example, is Donald's uncle, who in turn is an uncle to Huey, Dewey, and Louie, a first cousin to Gladstone Gander and a boyfriend (but never husband) to Daisy, who herself has three nieces, April, May, and June (because fuck it, picking out baby names is hard). That means that the world these characters live in is essentially devoid of any real families and populated solely by orphans. Without parents and nepotism, each duck is left alone to constantly compete against the others for wealth and status. That's basically an ideal stage for, yes, really sad nightmares, but also capitalism: If you start with what you believe to be a completely level playing field (in this case, a world without parents where everyone starts out with the same chances in an orphanage), those who are strongest and smartest, and work the hardest, have the best chance of succeeding (where "succeeding" here means "making all of the money in the world").
Walt Disney
"And while you're at it, see if you can't bump up the Mouse's copyright a few years."
The anti-capitalist characters in Atlas Shrugged are portrayed as spineless, worthless moochers. Likewise, Donald is depicted as an eternal loser because he can't hold a steady job and is always in debt to his uncle. Scrooge, on the other hand, is the richest duck in the world, happily spending all of his free time becoming even richer. In DuckTales, every single episode is basically about Scrooge and the nephews hunting for treasure or protecting Scrooge's money or diving into giant swimming pools of coins (something that almost certainly would have happened in Shrugged had it not been cut to make room for 25,000 words about the tensile strength of railroad tracks).
The comics aren't any better: In Dorfman and Mattelart's analysis, the entire plot of 75 percent of the comics centered around the ducks looking for money and gold. The other 25 percent were about "competing for fortune," which is apparently considered different.
Walt Disney
"Maybe start by handing over that crown."
In Atlas Shrugged, extraordinary people demonstrate their extraordinariness by making all of the money in the world and sharing it with no one. The conclusion reached by the end of the novel is that anyone who isn't a superman should either worship the supermen or stay out of their way, and if the unfortunately average people die in the process, oh well.
This must be where Scrooge differs from Shrugged, right? It's not like Scrooge would ever be that heartless, right? What's that? Scrooge acquired his wealth by conducting genocide in Africa? Oh.
Walt Disney
"Of course my culture is worth squat! How did you know?"
#40. Zion Is Part of the Matrix
Do you remember The Matrix: Revolutions? No? It was, like, the final film in the trilogy? Still no? Hey, we haven't watched it since 2003 either. Wait, you don't even remember it coming out? Dear reader, we think you might have a case of PTSD: Post-Trilogy Stress Disorder. Don't worry; you're not alone in your suffering -- it affects Star Wars fans too.
Would it reaffirm your faith in the Wachowskis, dear Matrix fan, if we told you the mindfuck from the first movie was just one mindfuck inside one huge matryoshka doll of mindfucks?
Like this.
The Theory:
In Revolutions, Neo's powers from the Matrix have seemingly transferred into the material world. For instance, he can "see" (despite having charbroiled his eyeballs) and also manifests the power to blow up machines with his mind. This has been a pet peeve with fans who note that this makes absolutely zero sense in the context of the Matrix universe.
But one theory posits that Neo's sudden, convenient-to-the-plot superpowers were possible since he never left the Matrix at all.
These fans figure "Zion" and the whole world Morpheus and the other "free" humans lived in was a separate Matrix unto itself, a second layer of the computer program to let some people think they had escaped. Thus it makes perfect sense that Neo would have magical powers in what he thought was the "physical" world.
Why Does It Make the Film Better?
The theory keeps the sci-fi film sci-fi and not heavy-handed messianic fantasy. Neo's new powers are never explained in Revolutions (hand-waved away by The Oracle in one sentence) and therefore seem like a cheap cop-out tacked on simply to end the damn movie. This explanation also prevents the now-tarnished Wachowskis from looking like a bunch of lazy jack-offs who are still cruising on the first Matrix film.
"From the team who brought you Speed Racer and Ninja Assassin!"
The theory gives a somewhat credible explanation instead of a deus ex machina plot device. Interestingly enough, deus ex machina literally means "god from the machine." Double whoa, brah.
#39. Mario Is a Jealous Ex-Boyfriend Who Can't Let Go
Mario's the most recognizable family-friendly hero this side of Mickey Mouse, yet he's fighting to defend his home against a villain who is better at that as well. Bowser has a bigger family than Catholic sumo wrestlers, while the most famous hero in gaming is a 40-something bachelor, presumably still living knee-deep in mushroom pizza boxes, since we know he doesn't own more than one set of clothes. There are college students more mature than him -- at least they don't have to gather coins on their way to meet their girlfriends.
And all those gold stars take up an obnoxious amount of shelf space.
We know Bowser's home life has to be good, because even in the most annoying embodiments of the "rebellious teenager phase" possible, Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings still hang out with their father, learning the family trade. We never see his wife, probably for the same reason that Tony never brought Carmela along when he was staging a gangland takeover. Bowser keeps the woman he loves safe from harm and out of the games.
"My husband is a garbageman!"
The closest thing that Mario has to a stable relationship is the perpetually kidnapped Peach. While the game presents her prolonged disappearances as something between a shell game and a hostage situation, she's never as thankful as you'd hope when you rescue her.
Meanwhile, she's perfectly happy to race Go-Karts against Bowser. Their continual kidnapping/getting rescued game of cat-and-mouse seems more flirtatious than anything. In the real world, after the third time a woman disappears with the same man, either common sense or the police usually tell you to stop filing missing-person reports, let alone smash up his place trying to get her back.
So Bowser's got Mario's girl and a Mrs. Bowser somewhere tending a beautiful three-bedroom castle.


text: Every November, the staff at Bookbyte breaks into groups to compete in a food drive. Each team gets a giant metal barrel and gets a short amount of time to decorate it according to a theme. Then we stuff the decorated barrels with as much food as we can scrounge up and donate it to the Marion-Polk Food Share, a charity that feeds the needy in our community of central Oregon.


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I want to travel from Helsinki to Saint Petersburg, I want to take a train. Please suggest the cheapest train options, and as a secondary consideration, the fastest.
I know you want to travel by train, but if price is a concern, you really should know that minibuses are much cheaper: €15-25 vs €65+ for the train. Details for schedules, boarding points etc on Wikivoyage.
And if you're willing to compromise, you could try taking a bus to Vyborg (Viipuri) just across the border, and then a cheap domestic Russian train (182 rubles, c. €4) the rest of the way. The international expresses to St. Pete also stop off in Vyborg, so you could change trains there, but this won't save you much.
The booking of tickets is rather strange. If you book from Helsinki you will need to do this via Finnish Railways, if you're doing this from Russia you will need to do this via RZD. And depending on date, time and class tickets fluctuate between 65 Euro to 165 Euro.
Allegro Train (SPb Finlyandskiy) would be the fastest option.
Lev Tolstoi (SPb Ladozhskiy) train will be the cheapest one.
As @Karlson answered the question using information for current times, I want to add the information for futher trains. Technically this is not a direct trains from Helsinki to Saint-Petersburg, but there are plans of RZD to develop some general non-highspeed trains on regular basis.
And another one:
So I think that from 2015 year you can add some extreme part and travel by regular trains, and not in high-speed Allegros.


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Help Remedies
Category: Design / Branding/Identity, Design / Packaging, Web / Design,
Posted by: TheaLoving the new site for Help Remedies. It's got you covered from simple troubles like having a blister, to more quirky concerns such as never being kissed before, being stuck in a rut, and having writer's block. Nice design and cool back-end stuff happening here. ...
Posted: Sep 25th 2013
No. of comments: 0
Posted: Sep 25th 2013
No. of comments: 0


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Updated: Remember that lawsuit a while back about how the Honda Civic hybrid doesn't get the mileage... read more
Is Toyota's days as reigning champion in hybrid fuel economy? Well, Ford's giving it a shot. ... read more
Most car sites focus on the vehicles and their various traits. Service,
though, is also an importan... read more
The full-sized sedan is back.... read more
Though the electric car vehicle segment continues to charge up with car buyers, there have been a fe... read more


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Getting enough folic acid can drastically reduce the risk for babies developing neural tube defects such as spina bifida. So fill up on the green leafy veggies and get prenatal vitamin that supplies folic acid.
When embarking on the road to motherly bliss, some women glow and others, shall I say, turn green. I was one of the unlucky green women. Although agonizing and uncomfortable (to put it mildly), these lousy side effects, including constipation, nausea, water retention, and heartburn, are merely normal pregnancy occurrences and most certainly worth the beautiful end product.
Most pregnant women experience the constipation blues at one time or another during the nine-month haul. Why does food tend to stop dead in its tracks before reaching its final destination anyway? Unfortunately, there are a bunch of explanations:
Yes, it's true that the first three circumstances are completely uncontrollable, but let's focus on the last three: fiber, fluid, and exercise, which are quite controllable and can dramatically decrease your plumbing problems.
First, increase your dietary fiber by eating more fresh fruit, veggies, and whole-grain foods. Better yet, Read How Much Fiber Do You Need in Your Diet?for tips for boosting your daily intake of fiber. Next, drink a ton of fluids.
Commonly known as "morning sickness," the awful nausea and vomiting can occur at any time of the day, so don't be misled. One bit of reassuring news: although horridly unpleasant, it's normal and thought to simply be a side effect from the hormonal changes that take place during pregnancy. If you're on a first-name basis with your toilet, hang in there; the nausea usually disappears by week 14.
Here are some tips to help reduce the nausea:
Contact your doctor immediately if you have persistent vomiting, are losing weight, or are too nauseated to take in fluids.
Edema is the uncomfortable swelling, or retention of water, that occurs primarily in your feet, ankles, and hands during pregnancy. As long as there's no increase in blood pressure or protein in the urine, edema is normal and unfortunately tends to get worse in the last trimester. However, there is no need to panic; most of this bothersome fluid will be lost during and shortly after your baby's delivery.
Get some relief from the effects of edema:
Contrary to the name, heartburn is actually a burning sensation in your lower esophagus that is usually accompanied by a sour taste. Although this dreadful feeling can happen at any time during your pregnancy, it's most common toward the last few months, when your baby is rapidly growing and exerting pressure on your stomach and uterus. What's more, during pregnancy, the valve between your stomach and esophagus can become relaxed, making it easy for the food to occasionally reverse directions.
Some simple remedies to ease heartburn:
Excerpted from The Complete Idiot's Guide to Total Nutrition © 2005 by Joy Bauer. All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. Used by arrangement with Alpha Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
To order this book visit the Idiot's Guide web site or call 1-800-253-6476.
© 2000-2016 Sandbox Networks, Inc. All Rights Reserved.


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King Abdullah chairs Cabinet session
May 16, 2011
The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz began the Cabinet session at Al-Yamamah Palace in Riyadh today with a briefing on his most recent consultations with foreign officials, including telephone calls with U.S. President Barack Obama and Jordanian King Abdullah II, messages received from Moroccan King Mohammed VI and Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, and meetings with Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Secretary General Abdullatif Al-Zayani.
Furthermore, King Abdullah recounted the talks he held with the leaders and heads of delegations of GCC member states, who attended the 13th GCC Consultative Meeting in Riyadh last week. The King expressed his appreciation for the efforts of the GCC leaders to enhance multilateral cooperation and their commitment to joining ranks against any threat to the security and stability of any GCC member state.
After listening to a number of reports on the latest developments in the Islamic and Arab world, the Cabinet reiterated the Kingdom's firm stance against all forms of terrorism and called upon the international community to work together to fight this global scourge. In this regard, the Cabinet strongly condemned the killing of a staff member of the Saudi Consulate General in Karachi on Monday morning, as well as the terrorist attack against the Consulate last Wednesday. The Cabinet demanded the tightening of security around both the Karachi Consulate and the Saudi Embassy in Islamabad and expressed full confidence in the ability of the Pakistani authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice.
On the domestic front, the Cabinet lauded the efforts of King Abdullah to develop higher education, as reflected in the opening of the City of Princess Nora bint Abdulrahman University.
Turning to its weekly agenda, the Cabinet approved an agreement on the avoidance of double taxation and income tax evasion with Japan and approved the restructuring of the Health Services Council. It also approved the appointments of Maj. Gen. Abdullah Al-Marzouqi and Dr. Ghazi bin Mahfouz Filimban to the Board of Directors of the Public Pension Agency for a term of three years, as of 21/09/1432 H.


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Throughout my various workplaces and through my university life I always wrote code which I thought "this would be really useful in generic situations". Indeed, I intentionally write code, even if it takes me a while to write, which I know will help me in the future (e.g. custom
SubString() functions). Hence the reason for 'Helper' classes.
These functions I'm sure can probably be found elsewhere online but the point is, I wrote them, and I will use them again later in other jobs or for personal projects. Currently I don't maintain a personal code library as I never have time to sit there and copy code from my work place / projects to another personal location.
Question is, is it wrong to take code you have produced at work and re-use it (a) for personal projects, and (b) in other jobs?


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PHP eCommerce platform
Mobile ready
Responsive design is optimal for any screen resolution
Since 2001Global eCommerce software pioneer, on the market for more than 15 years
GMV$2,300,000,000 +Gross Merchandise Volume of X‑Cart merchants in 2015
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Why choose X‑Cart?
Easy to use, easy to maintain, easy to modify
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X‑Cart is the only PCI DSS compliant software you can run on your own server. It works on any hosting, even a shared one, while featuring industry leading security — naturally!
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There's a very active community of many developers and e-commerce industry professionals. They address and solve loads of questions daily based on the real-world experience of actual online business.
Open source PHP code
Open source means full control over everything for you. Add extra features now or in a year or two as your online business grows — no problem!
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For you, it means smart and hassle-free performance. For your developer, it translates to faster work, easier maintenance and scalability plus helpful documentation — all of which are easier on your pocket!
Access hundreds of add-ons via the Marketplace which is built right into your store admin area. Any developer can publish work there, and you can install it with one click — right from your website!
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I think that the software has allowed for our products to be displayed really beautifully. Our customers can see the products clearly and the shopping experience is seamless. It is easy to work with X-Cart and it allows my business the flexibility to grow in any direction we would like.


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the word nash actually means everything..it can be substituted in for any word in the english language
I'm gonna go home and nash off.
I'm gonna get nashty
I had some nashed potatoes last night
You're a nashole!
You have a nice mustnash.
I'm gonna get nashty
I had some nashed potatoes last night
You're a nashole!
You have a nice mustnash.
by eric_is_cool February 05, 2008
Trending Now
Top Definition
A person with a enormous penis
That tall blond kid was a total nash
by nash Hightower January 08, 2008
A word used to describe someone who is very clever.
Aye man he's a pure Nash by the way.
by Two Irons June 10, 2005
someone with swagger(style) that is emotional(of a high level)
Thats Nash right there.
by Staration March 14, 2008
running very fast away from the police
oh shit its the pigs, do a nash!
by ben yates March 15, 2004
plain simple person who lives for anything in life.
Enjoyer of Life.
Enjoyer of Life.
Let's go Nash style.
by Nash Umarella February 17, 2004
to have a "crush" on someone, something or some animal.
damnn, i have a nash on robert nash.
by Dancingbiyz September 19, 2009


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Home > Food > Recipes > Crispy Duck Char Sui
Crispy Duck Char Sui
Categories: Entertaining, On the Grill
Type: Main Dishes
Type: Main Dishes
Everyone will love the crispy, sweet taste of this duck dish.
Prep Time: 15M
Cooking Time: 45M
Serves: Serves 4
- 4 duck thighs and legs, scored all over
- 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 3 tbsp light soy sauce
- 3 tbsp rice wine
- 1 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 2 tbsp honey
- 2 tsp five-spice powder
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
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- Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Put everything in a large bowl, and season with sea salt and black pepper. Mix together so that the duck is well coated. Wrap the coated duck pieces in foil, and roast in the oven for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the barbecue or charcoal grill until hot. Unwrap the duck, and place it on the hot barbecue skin-side down. Grill over high heat, turning frequently, for 10-15 minutes, until golden and crisp. Transfer to a plate, and leave to rest for 10 minutes.
- Cut the duck into slices, and serve with a crisp green salad.
excerpted from:
Excerpted from The Illustrated Quick Cook.
Copyright © 2009 Dorling Kindersley Limited.
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WEIRTON - The Weir High School Class of 1960 met for dinner at Undo's at the Holiday Inn - Weirton.
Carol Village welcomed members and read a Valentine poem. Paula Francis Brown gave the benediction and remembered recently deceased member Howard Graham.
Tables were decorated for Valentine's Day with candles, rose petals, candies and photos of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
After dinner, the group played a "famous couples" quiz, and Brown won the prize of a Bobby Darin CD. Classmates reminisced about how they met their spouses and their first dates.
Harry Brown, Jim Rhoades and Patti Gracie Rhoades, Katherine Martous Maher, Judy Harris Billcheck, Skip Mortimer, Kay Wright Mortimer, Gary Virtue, Dottie Wright Virtue, Roger Evans, Patty Evans, Ed Kirk, Margaret Balint Kirk and Ken Maze, who came in from New Jersey, attended.
The next dinner will be in April.


text:
Top Definition
hot person of the opposite sex on your arm; could be same sex
Look at the arm charm that guy has!
מאת mia swallows 24 ביולי, 2006
Trending Now
A person whose greatest value is their ability to appear attractive while on the arm of a companion.
מאת Laura Hadfield 17 באפריל, 2003
A person you wouldn't fuck, but looks good standing beside you or walking with you.
I don't think Blake would be the right person to have a long term relationship with, but he makes a good arm charm.
מאת wcat0213 28 בדצמבר, 2009


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El33t's Question of the Day: Have early beta access offers ever persuaded you to buy a game?Written by: / / 10 Comments
Welcome to the latest Question of the Day!
If you have a Question of the Day that you would like to put to the community, mail it to oliver[@]el33tonline.com and we'll send it out, with credit of course!
Over the years, there have been a few notable examples of games being sold with the promise of accessing the beta test or extended demo of another game further down the line, with the two most recent Medal of Honor games providing access to Battlefield online betas, and Crackdown giving owners access to the Halo 3 beta, to name just a few.
This practice of selling games with the chance to get a taste of another game dates back to the original PlayStation (and perhaps even further) with Konami and Square Enix leading the charge in offering demos for upcoming Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy games if you chose to buy one of the publishers' lesser-known titles, like (at the time) Zone of the Enders or Parasite Eve.
More recently, Bethesda Softworks has offered beta access to the next DOOM game from id Software if you pre-order Wolfenstein: The New Order before it's out in May.
Have these kinds of offers ever persuaded you to buy a game that you wouldn't necessarily have considered picking up before? Do you think these offers are a sign that publishers aren't confident in the sales performance of the host game?
Which other pre-order and demo offers have you seen over the years?


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Meet and Communicate with Fun Singles Near You on BlackSingles.com
Register now to search thousands of members and post your FREE profile!
See who's on BlackSingles.com:
Like to help others, play golf, motocycles, love job, sell cars, bikes trucks and pawn business.
carrswholesale is a 65yr-old single man in Shawnee MSN, KansasView Profile


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What are the key requirements, in terms of both ingredients and techniques, for baking chocolate brownies with a fudgy centre?
Every time I make brownies, I always get compliments on how fudgy they are. There may be some variations based on the recipe you use, but the three things I've found to be most important in my experience are:
There's another element to changing the consistency, too: cooking time. Most brownie recipes I've seen say to bake for 35-45 minutes; I almost never bake them for more than 30 because I find that the edges start to get really dried out. Undercooking slightly will keep the brownies moist and fudgy.
The ingredients from the old "Grandmother's Brownies" King Arthur Flour recipe: 4 ounces (squares) unsweetened chocolate [can substitute 1-ounce square = 3 tbs cocoa powder + 1 tbs butter); ½ cup (1 stick) butter; 2 cups sugar and/or brown sugar; 2 to 4 eggs; ½ teaspoon salt; 2 teaspoons vanilla; 1 cup flour
Shirley O. Corriher's Bakewise discusses fudgy vs. cakey brownies. The key is the proportion of fat and chocolate to flour.
Fudgy brownies will have less flour than normal; this will give the brownie less structure via gluten, and gooey middle. Cakey brownies will have more flour.
Shirley's fudgy brownie recipe can be found here: http://www.projectfoodie.com/spotlights/cookbooks/shirley-o.-corriher---bakewise-the-hows-and-whys-of-successful-baking.html. She has thoughtfully measurements in ounces and grams in addition to volumetric measurements.
Add an egg or one more, if the recipe already calls for eggs.


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Sustainable clothing line has Manchester ties
|Zahner's Clothiers owner Scott Zahner, left, discusses the fall 2013 line of clothes from Ramblers Way with owners Tom Chappell and Kate Cheney-Chappell during a visit to the Vernon store. Jared Ramsdell / Journal Inquirer
Cotton, he says, he would never wear three days in a row without washing.
"This is Rambouillet wool. The nice thing about Rambouillet is that it's odor resistant. You don't have to do anything to it," he said. "Some of the polypropylene undergarments people wear for working out will hold an odor. This doesn't have that issue."
The shirt is one of the earlier offerings from the Ramblers Way sustainable apparel line founded three years ago by Tom and Kate Chappell of Kennebunk, Maine, the entrepreneurs who also founded Tom's of Maine natural personal care products. In 2006, Colgate-Palmolive bought Tom's of Maine, and Tom and Kate applied the lessons they'd learned, and the capital they'd earned, to the apparel industry.
"This is not a business for people without capital," Tom says.
The business is significantly more costly when its founders have made it their mission to deliver products that are 100 percent American-made.
Ramblers Way wool comes from Rambouillet sheep raised on ranches out West. The wool is cleaned and spun in a fourth-generation spinning operation in Pickens, S.C., and the yarn is then either knit in Lumberton, N.C., or woven in Grafton, Mass. Final garments are cut and sewn in Fall River, Mass., and dyes are applied in Maine in the company's own commercial dye house, where only vegetable dyes are used.
"It's part of that whole idea of sustainable clothing, that there is a way to make clothing that's more sustainable because you're sourcing it locally," explains Kate Chappell, an accomplished artist whose professional name, Kate Cheney Chappell, incorporates her maiden name and reveals her family's textile background.
In 1838, the entrepreneurial Cheney Brothers built the Manchester silk mills, which would later become the largest silk manufacturer in the country. More textile mills, including the velvet mill, were soon added, and by the early 1920s the mills employed almost a quarter of the town's population.
"The mills were still operational when I was young. The velvet mill I think didn't go out of business until the '70s," Kate says. "My mother used to take me to the remnant room, which was in Cheney Hall, so all the velvets and the silks and the broquets — they had bolts and bolts of them. I remember the smell of that room."
When describing the women's Rambouillet collection designed by their daughter Eliza Chappell — a graduate of Parson's The New School for Design — and the men's collection designed by New York men's wear designer Todd Thompson, Tom points out the mother-of-pearl buttons and then adds, smiling, "And silk thread in the tradition of the Cheney family."
They also use silk because they want to make the highest quality garment possible.
The wool undershirt Zahner wears is one he's been carrying in his store since he was first approached in 2010 by the Chappells, who at the time were promoting their fledgling clothing company.
"The minute I saw it, I knew it had potential," says Zahner, who adds that he was one of the Chappells' first New England customers. "I have always enjoyed wool, anyway, and the fact that it was machine wash and machine dry and it's so nice and light."
Not only is the wool light, but it's wrinkle resistant and cotton soft. However, unlike cotton and synthetic fibers that lack an insulating quality, wool is a hollow insulating fiber, Tom says. It wicks away moisture and holds in body heat while keeping the cold out.
"Even when it's wet, it keeps you warm," Kate says.
Zahner, who carries approximately 20 percent of the available Ramblers Way styles with various colors of each item available for order, is just one of 378 independent clothing stores carrying the line nationwide.
While some of their original wool underwear — which they call "comfortwear" — is still carried in such high-end department stores as Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman, Tom says he would rather work with independent businesses.
"I prefer the independent world to the corporate world," Tom said. "We're a family owned business that involves a second generation. My job as an entrepreneur is just to show what's possible, and to show the commercial viability of a vision."
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text:
The following marriage applications were filed in Jefferson County:
Michael Everett Rood and Amanda Leigh Haspel, both of Wintersville.
Mark Joseph Schreck of Steubenville and Maria Rose Beigel of Wintersville.
James Monroe Wilt and Jessica Lynn Ash, both of Steubenville.
David Dean Powell and Brittany Nicole Henderson, both of Rayland.
David Charles Moore and Iesha Latoya Abbott, both of Steubenville.
Jeremy Michael Bell and Nicole Marie Headmond, both of Steubenville.
Michael Rene Espinoza of Irondale and Keisha Bickerstaff of Toronto.
John Howard Harris and Lori Anne Peach, both of Steubenville.
Shamus Nicholas Nixon and Kasey Merie Anthony, both of Tiltonsville.
Alan J. Gorby of Steubenville and Grace Jane McGowan of Richmond.
Jeffery S. Anderson and Sarah M. Anderson, both of Steubenville


text:
Hi folks,
Quick question -- I post a lot of WordPress-related programming questions on SO (Not just simply WP-related questions), but are these better to ask on the WP-specific SO site?
Ultimately, I'm asking: do the benefits of a programmer-specific audience outweigh the benefits of a WordPress-specific audience when asking WordPress programming questions?
Same goes for Drupal programming questions on SO and the Drupal-specific site nearing beta stage on Area51 -- another issue is whether you dilute the community of people following a tag on SO when you create a CMS-specific community. Basically, are programming questions at all inappropriate on the CMS-specific sites, or CMS-specific questions inappropriate on SO (when a CMS-specific SE site already exists)?
I really just want to post questions where they'll a. Help grow the appropriate community b. Be seen by the most relevant audience.


text:
Planning Commission
City Council Chambers
333 South Meridian, Puyallup
November 13, 2013
The complete Planning Commission meeting packets, including attachments, are available for review on the City's website at: http://www.cityofpuyallup.org/agendas/agenda_publish.cfm#ReturnTo0
AgendaQuick©2005 - 2016 Destiny Software Inc., All Rights Reserved
© 2005-2009 City of Puyallup. All rights reserved. Site Design & Development by SiteCrafting Inc.
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text:
Maintaining IT infrastructures with iPhone.
When you manage the IT needs of Fortune 500 companies, mobility, flexibility, and reliability are key. That's why the IT pros at World Wide Technology rely on iPhone to communicate, coordinate, and maintain network infrastructures in the field.
The St. Louis, Missouri–based company was founded in 1990 and has since grown to become one of the largest IT providers. Today it has offices around the world, managing IT and supply chain solutions for businesses of all types. And nearly all of its 1200-plus employees use iPhone.
"The iPhone is a rock-solid business productivity tool," says WWT's president and cofounder Jim Kavanaugh. "It's always on, it always works, it's always there. It's phenomenal for collaborative operations and lets us administer IT services without a computer."
Mobile IT with iPhone
The iPhone is a crucial part of daily operations at WWT. "I depend on the iPhone to do almost everything," says Jason Campanga, Virtualization Practice Director with WWT. "I can log in to my desktop in the office, launch an application to demonstrate something to a customer, send email, take conference calls, even troubleshoot and repair network equipment."
And with iPhone, WWT techs are able to monitor and maintain network infrastructures on the go. "With the high-resolution screen on the iPhone 4, you can view a full desktop," says Campanga. "We use iPhone to log in and launch an infrastructure management client. I can screen share with senior architects and lead them through the challenges they're facing. Being able to do that anywhere — without a computer — is a major benefit to us. We can respond to customer needs much faster and solve problems on the go."
Troubleshooting with FaceTime
Remote login and desktop sharing can solve many problems, but sometimes you need face-to- face interaction to set things straight. WWT techs use FaceTime on the iPhone to collaborate with users and resolve IT issues. "Many of our customers have the iPhone, and with the FaceTime app they have video conferencing functionality right in their hands," says Andrew Denny, IT End User Computing Administrator with WWT. "Many have used FaceTime while building hardware systems to show our support people what they're doing."
The WWT sales force also uses digital conferencing tools like Cisco WebEx to attend meetings and view presentations. "The iPhone's capability for collaboration is revolutionary," says Denny. "It's changed the way we do our jobs on a daily basis."
Seamless integration
Bringing new mobile devices online can often be troublesome for IT staffers. With the iPhone, device setup time at World Wide Technology has been drastically slashed. "We use the iPhone Configuration Utility to build profiles that give our end users all the settings they need to connect to email, Wi-Fi, and VPN," says Denny. "When an iPhone arrives, users can start it up and use it within minutes. That's saved us a tremendous amount of time."
Built-in Microsoft Exchange support also makes incorporating iPhone into a diverse IT environment a snap. "The integration with our current Exchange system is seamless," says Denny. "The out-of-the-box functionality negates the need for any kind of third-party management console. The iPhone just works with Exchange."
Of course, iPhone can do more in a business environment. "With the iPhone, users get basic functions like email, contacts, calendars, web access," says Denny. "But it goes above and beyond that — there are apps for the iPhone that replace long-standing applications they've used on their PCs.
The new standard
"World Wide Technology is at the epicenter of technology in the enterprise business world," says Denny. "It's our job to understand how devices are going to answer our customers' needs. We believe the iPhone is the industry leader in mobile handheld devices."
"There are so many things our people are able to do with iPhone that they simply weren't able to do before," says Kavanaugh. "iPhone is changing the way we do business, the speed with which we do business. It's a key part of our infrastructure, an indispensable part of our toolkit."
Company Snapshot
- Global IT provider for Fortune 500 companies and government organizations
- More than $3 billion in annual revenue
- Based in St. Louis, MO
- www.wwt.com
"iPhone is changing the way we do business, the speed with which we do business. It's a key part of our infrastructure, an indispensable part of our toolkit."
Jim Kavanaugh, President and Cofounder, World Wide Technology
"The iPhone meets all of World Wide Technology's security concerns, including the ability to remote wipe the device. On-device encryption and a lot of our VPN requirements are just the standard out-of-the-box functionality."
Andrew Denny, IT End User Computing Administrator, World Wide Technology


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My job means I have to sit at my computer all day, 7 hours a day, 5 days a week, 46 weeks a year. That's 1610 hours a year and 1/3 of my whole day (given that I also sleep about 8 hours so am not conscious I'm in my chair A LOT).
I work from home which is great as it means I can get up and do back stretches every hour or so and not get strange looks when I start rolling around on the floor. Working from home also gives me some freedom in terms of what my workstation looks like and up until now I've taken the traditional route of office desk and standard office chair. However my chair broke recently and so now I need to replace it, I currently have a few ideas on what my replacement might be...
- Standard chair - This is the 'safe' choice, it's "just a chair", I'm not suggesting that particular chair, but just something like it. The chair I am replacing is similar to this one and I'm pretty sure that sitting in it for as long as I do has given me the occasional lower back pain and stiff shoulder that I get. I have seen an osteopath a few times and he also said he thought the chair was to blame.
- Fancy chair - I quite like the look of a non-standard chair, something that supports me and allows me to move properly. The trouble here is that these kind of chairs cost more than the standard. I know that paying for an osteopath to fix problems after they've happened rather than spending the money to get a better chair that meant I wouldn't need to see the osteopath is daft... but a decent ergonomic chair is hundreds and I just don't have that lying around spare.
- Ball Chair - If I went this route I could use the 35 hours a week as exercise time and strengthen my core muscles. It would make it hard to slouch or chill out in the chair while reading documentation though and I'm not sure I could easily transition to something as radical as this. I have talked to people who use these and they've said that a few hours at a time is fine, but not a full day. So if I were to get up every hour and move around this is still maybe an option.
- Poang - This would be unusual and I would need to get a new desk to keep things at the right level. But it would be a comfy chair, all my joints would be 'open', greater than 90 degrees. Plus I already have a spare Poang. Given that I work from home why not make myself comfy and sitting upright all day is not how I'd spend a day if I wasn't working. Getting rid of my desk and going a bit minimalist might be good.
My employer has said they would pay £100 for a chair but I cannot top that up with my own money as it blurs the question of ownership and complicates things for tax. Sadly £100 doesn't go very far, I can just about get a 'standard' chair for that money, the Ball chair is also within budget. I own a spare Poang... so really it the comes down to the question of whether I want to spend £150 - £600 of my own money on a chair that I'll use for work.
Looking into quality chairs I quickly ran into the Herman Miller chairs, these have been highlighted in Investing in a Quality Programming Chair and in The Real Pain of Software Development \part 2\ Phil Haack says that he likes the Neutral Posture chair – again not cheap options.
Of course most of this assumes the traditional desk and chair what about Wild Workstations for Telecommuters? With my Poang I'm getting close to the SurfChair, it's not quite as luxurious as a La-Z Boy but it looks very comfy and like my posture is being considered which, long term, is very important.
Does anyone have any long term experience in working in an unusual workstation setup? I've been using the Poang for a few days and it feels nice, but will I be setting myself up for problems later down the line? My back has been an issue and the standard chairs do little for me - but would the SurfChair be a step too far?
I've been using the Poang for a while now and my lower back is painful. Last weekend I bent down to pick up a child's jacket from the floor and... owch! I'm still not recovered from that and I wonder whether the unusual seating is the major culprit. I'm pretty active, do yoga and taichi regularly - but 7+ hours a day in a bad chair is clearly not doing me any favours.


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Seeking a Tiny Version of Cowboys Scoreboard
Florida Gulf Coast continues its Cinderella run in the NCAA tournament Friday night in Cowboys Stadium, where the Eagles will invade the personal space of a $40 million, high-definition video board that measures 72 feet by 160 feet and weighs 600 tons.
Meanwhile, back near the beaches, Florida Gulf Coast's athletic department is raising money for something not quite as steep. The school's proposal for a facilities upgrade, which was commissioned before their Sweet 16 appearance, includes the installation of spiffy shot clocks, an LED-display scorer's table and, yes, a new video scoreboard. Total price tag: $1.1 million. The athletic department identified the need to replace Alico Arena's amenities so that when college basketball's big boys came to Florida Gulf Coast, they wouldn't "feel like they're playing at a large high-school gym," said Florida Gulf Coast booster club chair Brian Rasnick.
—Ben Cohen
Derby Preps Get Serious
For Kentucky Derby contenders, the focus will be on three prep races this Saturday—the Florida Derby, the Louisiana Derby, and the UAE Derby in Dubai—each worth a whopping 100 points to the winner, enough to secure a run for the roses on May 4. Entry in the Kentucky Derby is based on points accrued in prep races; the top 20 point earners will make up the Derby field.
That makes the Florida Derby nearly a must-win for the 2-1 favorite Itsmyluckyday (currently 20th in the standings with 10 points.) He'll have to contend with 2012 Breeders' Cup Juvenile champ Shanghai Bobby (24 points) and the upset winner of the Fountain of Youth stakes Orb (50).
In the Louisiana Derby, trainer Todd Pletcher has two major contenders: 3-1 favorite Revolutionary (10) and 5-1 Palice Malice (10). The Bob Baffert-trained Code West (20) is a threat in the race at 9-2.
The UAE Derby winner has yet to have an impact in the Kentucky Derby, but a victory by He's Had Enough (6) could guarantee a return for trainer Doug O'Neill and jockey Mario Gutierrez, the winning connections of 2012 Derby winner I'll Have Another.
—Pia Catton


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With TOU, pre-cool your home or business, then turn up the thermostat and save. » MORE
Your dishwasher uses the same amount of hot water regardless, so wash full loads when possible. » MORE
Our Norman customers are one of the largest Smart Grid customers in the world. » MORE
Same light, but they last longer and use 75% less electricity. » MORE
Our Norman customers are one of the first complete smart grid communities in the nation. See the smart grid page for more... » MORE
A faucet leaking one drip per second can waste 400 gallons of water a year. » MORE
Our Smart Study Program helps Normanites alter energy usage to fit their lifestyle, to use energy wisely and reduce bills... » MORE
Most in the appliance industry agree cold water washes as effectively as warm. » MORE
Smart Meters will replace existing electric meters to display electricity pricing changes, so you make informed choices... » MORE
far less than air conditioners. » MORE
In the event of a power outage, new smart meters will continuously report updates for even faster restoration times... » MORE
so insulate, caulk and weatherstrip your home. » MORE
Smart Grid benefits reduce the need to send OG&E trucks, cutting costs and keeping your rates among the country's lowest... » MORE
Adding a heater blanket can cut costs another 10%. » MORE
Other future options include ''pay as you go'' services, or making plug-in hybrid vehicles back-up power for homes... » MORE
Plant trees near the house for cooling shade in the summer and warming sunlight in the winter. » MORE
Smart Grid technology can empower customers to make wise energy choices that fit their lifestyles and save money... » MORE
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It's you, your neighbors and OG&E.
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We supply the power, but it's how you apply it that makes all the difference.
So with all your power, what will you do?


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Guest column/National coverage of case confuses who real villains are
December 29, 2012
Since I was sportscaster at WTOV-TV in the early 1990s, in my career as a commentator and documentary filmmaker I have specialized in stories where the facts indicate that the news media got it wrong....
Why even use the word villain? There was bad judgement on the students part, poor parenting on the adult part, lack of moral fiber with most of the people making all the noise, and an inability of the school board to even begin on how to deal with the issue. FIRST AND FOREMOST, everybody has given their opinion in one way or another, BUT tell me, HOW MANY HAVE STOPPED AND PRAYED FOR THIS YOUNG GIRL AND HER FAMILY? I continue to say that ALL the area schools should be shut down for a day while PROFESSIONALS come in to conduct SEXUAL HARASSMENT, APPROPRIATE CONDUCT (INCLUDING TEACHER/STUDENT INTERACTION), ETHICS, ETC. This is how you start to deal with what happen while JUSTICE is handling the other. Time for people to grow up and be christians about it and practice what they claim they are..
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Reno Saccoccia's and the school's response was substandard. Here is an example of how a school, with a championship team, should react to student who do not assist a victim assaulted by their teammates:
"Hamline University men's basketball coach Nelson Whitmore has been indefinitely suspended and 14 players face discipline in connection with an player-on-woman assault that allegedly took place in a Spokane, Washington hotel room on New Year's Eve."
One player punched a woman fracturing her face in 3 places and 14 players either saw her attack or saw her unconscious or refused to help her. I am sure these students learned their lesson and will be stronger adults in the future. We can't say the same for our boys in Steubenville.
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"Confuses" who the real villains are??? Are you serious?
You know this summer, when we heard various Repulicans make strange remarks concerning rape, I just thought it was odd and out of touch. But in reading over your entire column, there is not a single word of sympathy, empathy, outrage, or compassion about the girl who was so violently raped physically, then further debased by these guys rejoicing and laughing and reveling in what they had done to her and posting it online -- excited by the belief that they had KILLED her!! And you think the New York Times, or the hackers are villians?
I'm afraid that women have become too complacent, thinking that our society had advanced or that we are somehow more civilized than the middle east. Your entire concern is for the rapists and their accomplices...that is very frightening to me. Bless Anonymous -- which is a movement -- not a club with a membership list -- for bringing this to light.
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Your reporting is less than true journalism. What if these bastards were discussing a female that you cared about? This is going national and you should be on the right side of justice. *******jezebel****/5972553/anonymous-leaks-horrifying-video-of-stuebenville-high-schoolers-joking-about-raping-a-teenager-deader-than-trayvon-martin?utm_campaign=socialflow_jezebel_facebook&utm_source=jezebel_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow
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JOINS FIRM: Steubenville native Joseph J. Pasquarella has joined the Canton-based Krugliak, Wilkins, Griffiths & Dougherty Co. L.P.A. as part of the law firm's oil, gas and mineral law practice group.
Pasquarella will be focusing in the area of oil and gas litigation. He received his bachelor of arts in justice studies from Kent State University. While there, he was an intern for the Secret Service. He also received his juris doctorate from Capital University Law School, where he was a student bar association class representative. While in law school, he was a legal extern with the Ohio State Troopers Association and a law clerk at Colley Shroyer & Abraham Co., LPA in Columbus.
"KWGD has been instrumental in our region's growth of the Utica shale play and we are excited to be expanding our practice section to 11 oil and gas attorneys so we may continue to be responsive to our client's needs along with the pace of industry growth," said William G. Williams, the firm's oil and gas practice group leader.
SELECTED: Radio talk show host and station owner Howard Monroe has been selected as director of broadcasting at West Liberty University. This will be in addition to his radio responsibilities.
As broadcasting director, Monroe will oversee the direction of WLU-TV, focusing on programming, promotions and the business aspects of the station.
Theresa Gretchen will continue in her role as executive director of WLU-TV.
Monroe also will work to facilitate cooperation between WLU-TV, the university's radio station WGLZ and academic departments that incorporate broadcasting into curriculum, according to officials. He will report to the office of Institutional Advancement.
Monroe is a veteran of more than 40 years in the broadcasting business, starting in high school as host of a teen talk show through, most recently, 13 years of radio station ownership.
He had been a DJ, reporter, newscaster, radio/TV news manager, program director and station manager before buying WVLY-AM in 2000. As a talk host, he hosts Howard Monroe and the Morning Show on both WVLY and WKKX-AM. His show is the longest running daily show in Ohio Valley radio and he will continue to host this show in addition to his new duties, officials said.
A graduate of the former Triadelphia High School and West Virginia University, he and his wife Nancy have three adult sons and live in Wheeling. He is a ruling elder at Vance Presbyterian Church and also serves as chairman of the Wheeling Planning Commission.
GROWING: Enrollment is still on the rise for the Ohio Cyber Academy, a kindergarten through 12th-grade online school available to students throughout Ohio, according to school officials.
The nonprofit educational organization based in Steubenville has gained more than 6,000 full- and part-time students in the OCA and Virtual Learning Academy since enrollment began in August, officials said. The program is offered through the Jefferson County Educational Service Center, which works with school districts in Jefferson and Harrison counties.
Director Charles M. Kokiko said OCA was created with the mission of providing students and their families with an educational choice utilizing a curriculum that meets state and national academic content standards.
OCA provides a tuition-free education to students, and families may qualify for a free computer, as well as Internet reimbursement. A new gaming curriculum will begin in January as part of a program through Carnegie Mellon University. It was developed by educators at the university's Entertainment Technology Center to give high school students experience with problem solving and creative thinking skills that are necessary to earn jobs in the digital world.
Students can enroll in OCA at any point during the school year. For information, go to www.ohiocyber.com or call (614) 438-7173 or (740) 381-0732.


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Greatest Catholic shool on Long Island. And it has chicks.
Hey there is a great articel in "The Tarmac" about how the Firebirds whupped on the panys Flyers today. Boy i sure am ashamed to be a sissy Chaminade boy. Do me a favor - pass me a straw - my beer is getting warm and my bubble bath is getting cold.
by Dalybone May 17, 2004
Trending Now
Top Definition
An Orwellian, mind-controlling cult which operates under the guise of a Catholic School.
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross." -Sinclair Lewis predicting Kellenberg
by Kampfenberg1942 May 18, 2008
Really big school in Uniondale. Just like Chaminade only with girls. Has many clubs and sports. Academically very strong. In many people's opinions, it's a great school.
Kellenberg is really big!
by blue tuesday March 18, 2011
hell on earth;patrolled by a little troll. a diverse group of kids ranging from lax bros, wannabes and kiss asses. girls ranging from annoying cheerleaders, bitches and the chillest girls on long island. kids are down to drink or smoke at any point of the day.
One time i attended a kellenberg party, it was girls screaming and guys starting fights. never again.
"yo bro i attend kellenberg" Girl: "dont call me bro u fucking loser"
"yo bro i attend kellenberg" Girl: "dont call me bro u fucking loser"
by oneheartonemind October 24, 2011
jealous people (see example)
kellenberg guys make fun of chaminade guys cuz one: they can't get any and two: they are jealous cuz one day they will be working for those same chaminade guys.
by jeosaphet May 11, 2003


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'Disaster Bonds' Miss Their Mark
In December, an Iowa state agency issued $1.2 billion in municipal bonds for an Egyptian company to build a fertilizer factory. The bonds qualified for tax-exempt status under a U.S. program to aid Midwestern states flooded in 2008.
The "disaster bonds" got another boost from a loophole that was perfectly legal: In 2010, state officials ruled, based on guidance from the Internal Revenue Service, that companies could use such bonds even if they weren't hurt by the devastating floods or located in the hardest-hit parts of Iowa.
State officials said the wiggle room was needed to get the most impact from disaster bonds. Since 2002, Congress has authorized local and state agencies to borrow as much as $37.5 billion in the municipal-bond market on behalf of private companies to spur recovery efforts after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Hurricane Katrina and the 2008 floods. State agencies issue the disaster bonds, but the private companies are responsible for paying back the debt.
"We didn't want to leave this federal resource untapped," said Lori Beary, the Iowa Finance Authority's community-development director. Iowa softened its disaster-bond requirements as initial demand was lackluster because many companies were wary of sinking into debt.
But others have said such flexibility means disaster-bond programs haven't always helped communities that were battered the most. "The funds need to be targeted geographically to help the neediest places," said Robert Puentes, a Brookings Institution senior fellow.
The disagreement is likely to intensify now that officials in the Northeast are pressing lawmakers to allow cities and towns in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut to sell as much as $20 billion in disaster bonds to jump-start rebuilding following superstorm Sandy last October.
Last week, the House approved a $50.5 billion recovery-aid package, and the Senate was expected to take up the measure as soon as Thursday evening. That would clear the way for debate over a broader tax-incentive package that likely would include Sandy-related disaster bonds. Reps. Bill Pascrell (D., N.J.) and Charles Rangel (D., N.Y.) support Sandy bonds, though it was a slog to get previous Sandy aid bills through Congress.
A review by The Wall Street Journal of tax-exempt bonds issued after earlier disasters shows that companies often weren't required to prove they needed the bond-sale proceeds to help them recover. Little of the money was spent in communities that bore the brunt of the calamity. For example, Butler County was Iowa's third-worst-hit county in 2008, but no bond dollars were spent within its borders.
Congress approved the most recent disaster-bond program, which would likely serve as a blueprint for Sandy bonds, after the floods that devastated the Midwest in 2008.
Iowa was among the biggest issuers of "Midwestern Disaster Area Bonds." Its counties and state authorities sold $2.6 billion of the securities from 2009 through December 2012. The state was ravaged in the summer of 2008 by torrential rains that flooded nine rivers in the state, forcing tens of thousands of residents to flee their homes and destroying billions of dollars of property.
Seventy-eight of Iowa's 99 counties qualified to tap the program. Lee County ranked 20th in terms of worst-hit Iowa counties, according to an analysis of Federal Emergency Management Agency data, and received $9.3 million in federal aid, or 0.7% of the total funds. But the county, home to about 35,600 residents, ranked first in bond dollars spent on projects within its borders, with 46% of the total. That is thanks to $1.2 billion of bonds sold by a state authority on Dec. 19 on behalf of the Iowa Fertilizer Co. The firm is owned by Cairo-based Orascom Construction Industries SAE, which is one of the world's largest fertilizer makers.
When the state agency, the Iowa Finance Authority, first began issuing Midwestern Disaster Areas Bonds for firms in 2009, a company had to prove it suffered a loss in business or damage because of the floods, or was replacing a business that was hurt. Projects in the counties that were hardest hit by the flood were given priority. In 2010, the authority loosened those requirements following guidance from the IRS that a state's governor could determine whether a proposed project was replacing a damaged business.
Indiana took a similar approach. A project was awarded bond funding as long as it was within a county that had been declared a disaster area in 2008.
"There have been $2.1 billion of investments made in the state of Indiana over the last three years, and a very large portion of that would likely not have been made" without disaster bonds, said Jim McGoff, general counsel of the Indiana Finance Authority.
Midwest Fertilizer Corp. officials estimate they shaved off up to two percentage points, to about 5% from about 7%, borrowing through the disaster-bond program compared with typical commercial financing.
Ausaf Qureshi, the company's secretary, said in an email that the ability to raise $1.3 billion from the municipal-bond market "played a major role in our decision to go with Indiana." The plant is set to be finished in 2016, Mr. Qureshi said. Midwest Fertilizer is a unit of the Fatima Fertilizer Co. and Fazal Cloth Mills Ltd., described in bond documents as "part of one of the largest conglomerates in Pakistan."
The plant is being built in Posey County, which ranked 33rd in terms of worst-hit Indiana counties but was first in bond dollars spent on projects within the state, with 58% of the total.
Write to Jeannette Neumann at firstname.lastname@example.com


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Saudi Arabia and its banking supervisor have a long history of vigorous action against criminal activity involving the monetary system. As a result, it does not have an appreciable illicit drug problem and is not a significant drug transit country. However, the country has been affected by terrorist attacks, notably in May 2003 and in November 2003, and as a result, Saudi authorities have focused heavily on systems and measures to counter terrorism and the financing of terrorism. This has involved the creation of new legislation, new systems and new organizations to detect and prosecute those involved in terrorist financing, along with action to increase the requirements for financial institutions on customer due diligence, the establishment of systems for tracing and freezing terrorist assets, and an increase in the regulation and transparency of charitable organizations. This legislation implemented the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an inter-governmental body which develops and promotes policies, at both national and international levels, to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. In particular, FATF produces a set of recommendations which define best international practice as regards procedures to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. These procedures are known as the FATF 40 + 8 Recommendations.
Once these processes were in place, Saudi Arabia invited a team of assessors from FATF member countries to conduct an evaluation of the country's procedures against money laundering and terrorist financing. An evaluation of this kind involves the member country being examined by the FATF on the basis of an on-site visit conducted by a team of three or four selected experts in the legal, financial and law enforcement fields from other member governments. The purpose of the visit is to draw up a report assessing the extent to which the evaluated country has moved forward in implementing an effective system to counter money laundering and to highlight areas in which further progress may still be required.
In preparing the detailed assessment, assessors reviewed relevant anti-money- laundering and counter-terrorist financing laws and regulations, supervisory and regulatory systems in place to deter money laundering and terrorist financing, and criminal law enforcement systems. The evaluation team visited Riyadh in September 2003, and had meetings with senior officials from all of the major government departments. In addition the team met with the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA), which is the Kingdom's central bank, and with representatives from the commercial banking, insurance and money exchange and remittance sectors.
The evaluation team produced a report which was submitted to, and accepted by, the FATF plenary session on February 27, 2004. The report concluded that the systems and legislation in place in Saudi Arabia met the general obligations of the FATF 40 + 8 Recommendations.
The report summarized the steps which Saudi Arabia has taken to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. Its content and conclusions can be summarized as follows:
(a) Legal System
The evaluation concluded that the laws of Saudi Arabia met the FATF standards. The country has, and has had for some time, comprehensive rules covering anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorist financing requirements for the banking sector. Until the implementing regulations to the Anti Money Laundering Law (2003) are issued, the 2003 SAMA AML/CFT Rules for banks are the only rules that apply to the insurance sector regarding customer identification. The Insurance Law (2003) will allow, for the first time, the incorporation of new insurance companies within the Kingdom, and the Capital Markets Law (2003) will create a new securities sector with an independent and specialized supervisor separate from SAMA. These laws require the establishment of independent regulatory systems, which must ensure that appropriate money-laundering procedures are required of firms seeking to establish themselves under these new laws. Separate rules exist for the money exchange business.
The evaluation team conducted their evaluation as of the date of their visit. The visit occurred shortly before the coming into force of the Implementation Rules made under the 2003 AML Law. These rules completed the legal structure of Saudi Arabia's anti-money-laundering legal system, and addressed the issues raised by the evaluators. In particular, the regulations make clear that terrorist financing using lawfully acquired funds is contrary to the Anti Money Laundering law (see Recommendations below).
The legal system of Saudi Arabia is based on Shari'ah. Money laundering and terrorist financing are offenses under Shari'ah law, and successful prosecutions have been brought for both money laundering and terrorist financing in the Shari'ah courts based on violations of Shari'ah law.
The Saudi courts will also assist the courts of other jurisdictions in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing. The Anti Money Laundering Law requires Saudi courts to recognize a property
confiscation order issued by a foreign authority, providing that the property would be subject to a confiscation order under Saudi Law. The country also has mechanisms for coordinating the execution and freezing of assets required by relevant UN Security Council Resolutions, and SAMA has issued a series of circulars to all commercial banks and exchange houses to inform them of their freezing obligations under UN Security Council Resolution 1267 (1999). Both the Anti Money Laundering Law and the Implementation Rules for the Vienna Convention provide a basis for the receiving and executing of foreign requests to confiscate, freeze and seize or trace criminal assets. Should a foreign request require an investigation that requires access to bank account information, the relevant information would be obtained from the commercial bank by SAMA.
b) Investigation and Enforcement Procedures
The investigation team found that the country's investigation and enforcement mechanisms were substantive and effective. Law enforcement agencies operate under the responsibility of the Ministry of Interior, which sets policy through the Permanent Committee for Combating Terrorist Financing (PCCTF) and the Mutual Legal Assistance Committee (MLAC). The Bureau of Investigation and Prosecution is operationally autonomous from the Ministry of the Interior and since 2001 has responsibility for conducting criminal investigations and prosecuting cases on matters under its jurisdiction. These include the investigation of money laundering and terrorist financing. Article 11 of the AML Law (2003) mandated the creation of the Saudi Anti Financial Crime Unit (SAFCU) as the central intelligence gathering body for the country. SAFCU has 27 permanent employees from a range of legal, financial and investigative backgrounds who work with a number of specialists who are to be seconded to the unit. There are plans to establish sub-branches of SAFCU in each of the 13 provinces of Saudi Arabia.
There has been a requirement to report suspicious transactions directly to the police since 1975. Prior to the creation of SACFU, financial institutions reported suspicious transactions to the local offices of the Directorate for Combating Drugs (DCD).
(c) International Cooperation
The evaluation team found that Saudi Arabia's legal structures regarding international cooperation were sound. Saudi Arabia is a signatory to a range of conventions, treaties and bilateral agreements that provide for general international cooperation particularly within the Middle East and Gulf Cooperation Council regions. The MLAC acts as a central point for the receipt of, and response to, foreign requests for legal cooperation on ML inquiries. In instances where it may be unclear what type of assistance can be provided the Board of Grievances has the overall authority for resolving any requests to enforce foreign judgements.
d) Charities
The assessors found that the Saudi system of regulation of charities was more thorough and more effective than anything they had otherwise encountered, and should be a model for other jurisdictions. From 2003 charities have been required to operate only one main consolidated account for each organization, to hold the account in Saudi Riyals, not to transfer money outside Saudi Arabia, not to make cash disbursements and not to carry out transactions through ATM or credit cards. The effect of this is that all transactions with or through charities are identifiable both as to donors and as to recipients, and information as to such transactions is promptly available to SAMA and to the FIU.
(e) Non-Bank Financial Institutions
Non-Bank Financial Institutions (NBFIs) are subject to strict registration requirements: accountants, from the Saudi Society for Certified and Public Accountants; solicitors and notaries, from the Ministry of Justice; precious metals dealers, from the Ministry of Commerce; domestic charities by the Ministry of Labour and international charities by the Ministry of Islamic Affairs.
(f) Cash transactions
SAMA has been engaged for many years in a project to move the Saudi economy to a fully bank-payment-based model. Significant steps have been taken to discourage large cash transactions and to encourage the use of bank transfers in order, inter alia, to improve the ability of the law enforcement authorities to monitor cash transactions. Saudi Arabia also monitors the physical movement of cross-border transportation of cash. The import or export of currency in excess of SR 10,000 must be declared at the border, or point of entry, and a record is maintained of declarations and investigations carried out if there are doubts as to the source of the money. Saudi Arabia applies strict controls on the movement of Saudi currency. Saudi banks are encouraged to buy any excess Saudi riyals that they may have accumulated in other countries, and persons leaving Saudi Arabia with large amounts of cash are encouraged to deposit the funds in a bank (and thus transfer the funds by wire or convert them to another currency) before departure. Consequently there is very little cross-border transportation of currency.
(g) Recommendations
The mutual evaluation team found that Saudi Arabia was not fully compliant with the FATF recommendations in only two of the areas surveyed.
First, the team was not satisfied that the drafting of the definition of terrorist financing in the criminal law which proscribes it was sufficiently clear. Although there is no doubt that engaging in terrorist financing is contrary to the law and is a criminal offense, the team suggested improvements in the definition of terrorist financing which would bring the drafting into line with established international practice. The implementing regulations of the money-laundering and terrorist-financing laws adopted by Saudi Arabia have removed any ambiguities in this respect.
Second, there is an issue as to transmission of originator information on wire transfers between banks, which appears to be common to many FATF member countries. Saudi Arabia is ready to proceed in this area in conjunction with global international payment systems (SWIFT). This is expected to occur in the near term once SWIFT is ready for Saudi Arabia.
The report also commented that requests for information addressed to Saudi Banks must be routed through SAMA, and that this added an extra step to, and could therefore delay, the process of providing effective legal assistance in AML/CFT inquiries or prosecutions. However this view is not accepted by Saudi Arabia. As the central bank and bank regulator, SAMA has great legal and moral authority over regulated banks, and its involvement in the process has always ensured that requests for information or cooperation are dealt with expeditiously.
Aside from these issues, the measures put in place by the country were found to be in line with best international practice.