text:
"How to get rid of fear of fighting". When i get hit i am scared to get beaten more. I am worried about my nose getting break which costs me to lose. But i love the sport.
To be honest this is a tough question to answer because there is no one right answer or technique for this.
It is healthy to be scared in a match. If you are not scared then you are either highly experienced or somewhat mental.
I think the only way to overcome this (without some hypnotic reprogramming) is experience - which means getting hit. Overcoming pain and fear requires training, it requires that you face the fear and receive the pain and realize that you are still fine and you can carry on.
A smack on the nose can hurt and make you eyes water, ideally you should avoid it (keep your guard up, no be there Daniel-san). It might even break your nose, but after you've had a few of those you learn that it isn't so bad and you can continue.
When you fight you ideally want to be "in the zone", which is a state where you are not consciously thinking about what you are doing and what is happening around you. When in this state you will still feel the hits but won't consciously register the pain from it (this is kind of important especially when your thighs will be getting smashed during the match!) - the only way to achieve this is with ring experience and training.
When I just started learning martial arts (Seido) I was in the same position that you refer to. The solution for me was sparring with black belts or a kyu at least two ranks above mine. They will have the experience to be able to control their strikes so you don't get hurt too much. An added bonus is if you make a mistake while sparring you will know immediately. Also keep practicing the basics eventually you will see their applications in sparring, osu.
Yod Ruerngsa has a section on 'being hit' in Muay Thai - The Art of Fighting.
Here an excerpt:
try some like-sparring drills (like sticky hands from Wing Chun) - those drills will give you lots of confidence without much of a danger.
1) The sticky hands drill presumes a very short distance of "fighting" (the distance is one thing lots of people and uncomfortable about)
2) the drill can be done as hard (aggressive) or soft as needed
3) since the contact is kept all the time, the danger is much less than during "conventional" sparring; I can't post an essay about Wing Chun and it's philosophy, so you would have to believe me or do some research on your own (or just ignore my post alltogether)
I can offer some advice from my experience working with Tony Blauer. In Tony's system we do some drills called Emotional Climate Training (ECT) where the purpose is to think about how an attack or situation makes you "feel" on an emotional level.
How it works, starting with an attack such as haymaker is you stand there while an opponent tosses the haymaker at you in slow motion. What you do is a couple of things. First watch the attack, mental blueprint what a haymaker or whatever attack/situation looks and sounds like. Takes a good bad guy to do this part. Next think about how the attack makes you feel emotionally. Keep doing this attack over and over. Remember you are not making any defense movements, just analyze and think about the attack. This part of the drill can go on for a while. You stop when you start feeling "comfortable" with the attack on an emotional level.
From here we would usually progress to describing the attack. Same as above except now you are verbally describing what you see and hear from the attacker. Again, repeat this drill, maybe 10-20 times or till you feel comfortable with describing the aspects of the attack.
The next part of the drills just keep building upon this same thing. Next would be describing the safe/unsafe parts of the attack (unsafe is when the attacker is making contact, safe is all other times) and then working on defensive responses. Doing this in class can take a couple of hours but it does work in helping with fear management and analyzing attacks.
Good old body conditioning / body beating worked for me. First I got a guy with the same height as me to punch me around. I did not defend.
It mostly consisted of
This hurt for a few days, but after a month my body had got used to it. So I upgraded to a tall bloke (So that I did not get intimidated in an actual fight)
Basically you make yourself subconsciously used to get beaten up. I learned this from Kalari, where I was handed weapons on the first day. It seems daunting at first, the instinct of getting hurt/or hurting others just goes away over time.
I'd like to echo Reno's answer. We do a lot of body conditioning. Basically we let the partner pummel us with kicks and punches, without defending. After a while, your body and mind are used to being hit. It's no big deal, really.
Naturally, we don't go 100% from day one. With beginners it's just light contact, and then the intensity is built up as they become tougher.
When it comes to strikes to the head, it's a bit different ballgame, because you can't conditioning your soft, squishy brain to be hit all the time. However, our method is almost the same. We put some gloves on, and do some light contact boxing. Instead of targeting the fragile parts of the head, like the nose or jaw, we aim for the forehead or side of the head.
Now, conditioning is only part one. Part two is actually building up the courage and try to be a more aggressive fighter when you spar in class. This is easier, the more regularly you do sparring. Pick a good match (one that is more skilled than yourself), and put some pressure on. You might be hit more often, but it's no big deal. You might even be hit less frequently, because you leave your opponent less space to attack!
Part three is taking it completely outside the comfort zone. So far you've only been in a controlled environment (dojo/gym) with people you trust. The next step is to fight at a tournament, but only when you feel reasonably "comfortable" with that. It's never really "comfortable". All fighters are a little bit scared, and that's natural and actually healthy (keeps you focused – it's dangerous to be careless). The hardest and most frightening fight, is your first one. As soon as you've been there a few times, you get used to it.
Sidenote: tournament fighting is not for all. Some people simply don't see the point, and that is fair – however, if this is secretly a dream of yours, you should most definitely pursue it, even if you don't have ambitions to be an elite fighter. Too many martial artists skip tournaments, because they don't believe they are up to it.
However, no matter how courageous and skilled you are, you will one day get hit really hard in the face. It's unavoidable. When that day comes, the important question is how well you handle it. The worst thing you can do is to panic. The best thing you can do (if you are still conscious), is to shrug and settle the score. :)
Be prepared, and good luck!
We're looking for long answers that provide some explanation and context. Don't just give a one-line answer; explain why your answer is right, ideally with citations. Answers that don't include explanations may be removed.


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The Critic's 2 cents
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Local curmudgeon
Join Date
: Jul 2005
: Las Vegas Nevada
: 2,874
Current Game
: Dungeonseige series
Into the Frey
During ANH: Three real odd fellows escape from the Tantive IV
Grammar problems; You here(hear) them to(o) right, and the word is fray (Battle) not Frey (Norse God) also it is console, not counsel.
The piece was light, confusing, and a riot. The end of the first chapter, with the officer not shooting the pod because there was no intelligent life in it was just icing on the cake.
Full Circle
Athena Solaris
KOTOR aboard Star Forge: Only now does she realize her error
The piece is a long rationalization of why the changes for the worse are good. Yet inside the newly risen Revan, there was hope until this moment.
Pick of the Week
KOTOR after the Leviathan revelation: The only one left to accept the truth is Carth
The piece is basically a generic view of Carth accepting who Revan is now rather than who she had been. While some react negatively to the term generic, it means just that it is a workmanlike job without too many frills. It was worth the read.
Behind The Mask
KOTOR aboard Ebon Hawk: Behind the mask there is someone who is seeking love
The piece focuses on just one thing, the burgeoning relationship between Revan and Bastila. The situation is lightened by Mission almost giggling like a school girl about Bastila's condition.
As I commented in my own KOTOR work, it would have been more logical for the Jedi to teach focusing and controlling their emotions rather than denying them completely.
Stargate: Republic Commando Star Wars Version
Republic Commando/Stargate Crossover: Delta Squad finds a strange portal to...Earth?
The piece needs a sight edit. A lot of times a word is truncated, such as the word any being spelled as Ny. Don't sweat that, I sometimes have letters left off because my keyboard sticks a bit. That's why I said sight edit.One thing you did consistently is misspell Separatist.
The real negative I have of this is it violates the 'long ago in a galaxy far, far away' rule. While a Stargate can transport you across space, why would they end up in our world of today? Why not arrive before the Egyptians buried it initially? In fact the arrival of people like Delta squad could have been the catalyst for that action.
To Helen On the Occasion of Her Birth
Lorelei Jane
Post TSL: A pair of proud parents begin a diary for their newborn daughter.
The piece is in two parts; one for each parent, and both have the feel and voice of the characters well established. I liked the nuances of each, Jennet chiding her about the first kiss that won't happen for over a decade, and all the effort she will end up putting into having privacy for that. Balanced by Canderous wanting her to choose a man willing to stand up to her father; not without fear (Or I won't have done my job right) and comparing the birth to a planning and surviving a battle.
Pick of the Week
The One Force Book I
Mr. Dimensional
KOTOR on Taris: The beginning of the saga
I don't know why the author discontinued the work, it was rather good; changing up the beginning to put a Sith trooper in Trask's place, having both her and Carth starting to have emotional feelings earlier than anticipated. I would have liked to see it continue.
Pick of the week
TSL after final fight with Kreia: One last battle before they go on
The piece is well done, and the diatribe at G0T0 about what she will do if he doesn't let her finally destroy Malachor was choice.
Pick of the Week
Rapper's Tale
Star Wars Galaxy: A planet separated from the galaxy for over as century sends out a probe to discover what has happened to the Old Republic
Well written, though confusing for the reasons mentioned below.
First, what basis for comparison does the main character have when determining what is girlfriend is like? Think of comparing someone from the Old Spanish Empire to a modern day Spanish girl, which is close enough in time to use.
Technical note: You confused me with the idea that the planet the character represents has been separated from the Galaxy for 111 years. You see, that means the representative in the Senate has also been separated for the same time. It wasn't until later that I worked out that it was the planet itself trying to contact the Republic again.
For Mandalore
Niobe Asha
No specific period given: A mando'a's thoughts going into battle
The piece is short, but it gives an insight into the thoughts of a warrior going into battle.
Light and Dark
TSL after Malachor V: A new vision leads the Exile to her new quest
The piece was a bit confusing, but by the end I wished there was more.
Pick of the Week
Cloak and Dagger
Kendoka Girl
TSL during Onderon Civil War: As they approach, the Exile wonders who the enemy is below...
The piece is interesting because of a deprture from the basic game, having Atton change sides and set up his erstwhile companions. Very excellent concept.
Pick of the Week
'To argue with those who have renounced the use and authority of reason is as futile as to administer medicine to the dead.' Now who said that?
From the one who brought you;
What we die for...
KOTOR excerpts
Star Wars: The Beginning
Star Wars: Republic Dawn
Return From Exile
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Fans of Barbara Bui's chic, sophisticated fashions toasted the debut of the Paris-based designer's new South Coast Plaza boutique—its third U.S. shop to date. And the opening came just in time for fashionistas like Julia Post, Irene Martino and Elizabeth An to snap up the latest styles. Of course, a celebration such as this wouldn't be the same without Champagne (Moët & Chandon, as a matter of fact) and nibbles from the place where the well-heeled dine (AnQi, naturally). The event drew some 165 Bui aficionados, as well as the design house's CEO and Chairman William Halimi, who traveled from Paris to attend. And because good times are best when shared by friends, the evening of shopping raised about $9,000 for Laguna Beach-based Friendship Shelter—another cause for celebration. Photography by Ann Chatillon


text: Cirias' thread about themes got me thinking about this, and rather than hijack that thread I thought I'd start a new one. So I know how I write, but I'm wondering how others go about it. Take the last flash comp (the dolls one) – I set the topic of dolls with a vague idea I that I could write something ethnic and old English folklore-ish about corn dollies and traditional witchcraft. As you can see from the end product, that didn't go very well at all. Here's why: I go to work and do the usual mundane things for a few days, occasionally thinking "I really ought to get around to writing something for that flash competition" and not doing it. We're about a week into the October flash and I'm sitting at the computer that evening thinking "it's my flash comp, I really ought to enter something to make up the numbers", and I've got absolutely nowhere with corn dollies and old English folklore other than "it'd be really cool if I wrote something about corn dollies." Something about corn dollies is so far completely not getting written. I've had a few beers and I'm listening to an old Marillion album (I know, I know….) while my wife is watching TV in the other room, and I've got as far as writing "The village". Hmmm, it's not going very well so far. The Marillion album plays a track called "Punch and Judy" (which is awesome, by the way, if you're old enough to miss the eighties, and someone like me who things "suburbanshee" is one of the best words ever coined in a song! - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWrwYsSt6OE) and I think – Punch and Judy! Yes! No. They're puppets not dolls. Bugger. Oh well, no one will notice. Two hundred words in and Judy's dead baby becomes a plastic child's doll because that's what I see her carrying when I'm writing it. She was (in my head) supposed to be carrying around this blue rotting dead baby, but she just isn't, she's carrying a plastic toy baby that she thinks is a real dead baby, and why in the world would she think it was a real dead baby not a real live baby unless she was so far off the psycho scale that…. and the rest of it pretty much wrote itself. So anyway, that's usually how my writing writes itself. You?


text:
Having a circle with the centre $(x_c, y_c)$ with the radius $r$ how to know whether a point $(x_p, y_p)$ is inside the circle?
The distance between $\langle x_c,y_c\rangle$ and $\langle x_p,y_p\rangle$ is given by the Pythagorean theorem as $$d=\sqrt{(x_p-x_c)^2+(y_p-y_c)^2}\;.$$ The point $\langle x_p,y_p\rangle$ is inside the circle if $d<r$, on the circle if $d=r$, and outside the circle if $d>r$. You can save yourself a little work by comparing $d^2$ with $r^2$ instead: the point is inside the circle if $d^2<r^2$, on the circle if $d^2=r^2$, and outside the circle if $d^2>r^2$. Thus, you want to compare the number $(x_p-x_c)^2+(y_p-y_c)^2$ with $r^2$.
The point is inside the circle if the distance from it to the center is at most $r$. Symbolically, this is $$\sqrt{|x_p-x_c|^2+|y_p-y_c|^2}< r.$$
Alex and Brian have answered your question already. In case you're trying to implement this algorithm in some programming language, here's my Haskell implementation:
Suppose you have a circle whose radius is $r = 1$ and whose center is the origin $(0,0)$. You would like to know if $(\frac{1}{2},0)$, $(1,0)$, and $(1,1)$ are inside the circle. The following interactive GHCi session answers the question:
If you have the equation of the circle, simply plug in the x and y from your point (x,y). After working out the problem, check to see whether your added values are greater than, less than, or equal to the r^2 value. If it is greater, then the point lies outside of the circle. If it is less than, the point is inside the circle. If it is equal, the point is on the circle.


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P-Hotels Bergen, Bergen - Hordaland (county)
- Free on-the-go breakfast and WiFi
Main amenities
- 114 smoke-free guestrooms
- 24-hour front desk
- Coffee/tea in a common area
- Daily housekeeping
- Lobby fireplace
- Multilingual staff
- Free newspapers in the lobby
- TV in a common area
For families
- Free cribs/infant beds
- Rollaway/extra beds (surcharge)
- Daily housekeeping
- Elevator/lift
What's around
- Heart of Bergen
- Grieg Hall (0.3 mi / 0.5 km)
- Hanseatic Museum (0.5 mi / 0.8 km)
- Floibanen Funicular (0.5 mi / 0.8 km)
- St Mary's Church (0.7 mi / 1.2 km)
- Mt. Floyen (2.4 mi / 3.8 km)
P-Hotels Bergen, Bergen - Hordaland (county)
Hotel Info: 0800-886-061 (New Zealand Toll Free)from NZ$119
- Single Room
- Family Room
- Double or Twin Room
- Double or Twin Room, Shared Bathroom
- Triple Room
Recommended hotels
At a glance
Key facts
Hotel size
- This hotel has 114 rooms
- This hotel is arranged over 5 floors
- Check-in time starts at 3 PM
- Check-out time is noon
Required at check in
- Credit card deposit required
- Government-issued photo ID required
- Minimum check-in age is 18
- Minimum Spring Break check-in age is 18
Travelling with others
- Children (3 years old and younger) stay free when occupying the parent or guardian's room, using existing bedding
- Pets allowed (dogs and cats only) *
- Specific rooms only *
- 2 per room
- Free WiFi in public areas
- Free WiFi in rooms
- No parking
Other information
- Smoke-free property
Nearby Three Star Bergen - Hordaland (county) hotels
In the hotel
- Free on-the-go breakfast
- Coffee/tea in a common area
- 24-hour front desk
- Free newspapers in lobby
- Multilingual staff
- Number of buildings/towers - 3
- Elevator/lift
- Fireplace in lobby
- Television in common areas
In the room
- Turndown service
- Individually furnished
- Desk
- Free newspaper
- Free WiFi
- Daily housekeeping
Top Bergen - Hordaland (county) hotels
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P-Hotels Bergen, Bergen - Hordaland (county)'s small print
Also known as
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- P-Hotels Hotel
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- Bergen p Hotel
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Pet-friendly rooms can be requested by contacting the property at the number on the booking confirmation.
This property's policy is to refuse certain bookings for the purpose of group events or parties, including pre-wedding stag/bachelor and hen/bachelorette parties.
Noise-free guestrooms cannot be guaranteed.
Optional extras
Late check-out can be arranged for an extra charge of NOK 500
Parking is available nearby and costs NOK 100-200 per night
Rollaway beds are available for NOK 400 per night
Pets are allowed for an extra charge of NOK 200 per pet (may vary based on length of stay), plus a one-time cleaning fee of NOK 200
We have included all charges provided to us by this hotel. However, charges can vary, for example, based on length of stay or the room you book.
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text:
21 Jun 2012 11:44 AM #1
Radio#getValue() always returns true?
I've got several Radio buttons where I set the name so they properly act like radio buttons (only one in group can be true) but when I call getValue on radio buttons that clearly are not currently selected they always return true (e.g. they were previously selected but not now).
How can I get the boolean status of if it is currently selected or not?
21 Jun 2012 12:09 PM #2
Thanks for reporting this. I moved this thread to the bugs forum and pushed it to our tracking system. We will look into this.
Do you see this on all browsers or only on a specific one?
21 Jun 2012 1:09 PM #3
I was using Firefox when I saw this, not sure about other browsers.
20 Jul 2012 10:11 AM #4
Ran into this issue, quick fix:
getValue: function() { return (this._value) ? true : null; },
getValue: function() { return (this._value) ? this._value : null; },
16 Aug 2012 6:32 AM #5
When will this be fixed? I need to select a radiobuton based on the value, but there is no way to get the value of a radiobutton if its not selected...
11 Oct 2012 8:56 AM #6
Consider using a ToggleGroup instead.
The Radios we include in GXT have a logical value (that is, in a Java variable). Unfortunately, browsers don't provide any event on input elements to notify us when they have become unchecked, so we have no good way of updating the logical value when the input element becomes unchecked - say, when another radio input element with the same name is checked. This is especially true when mixing GXT Radios and regular radio input elements; it's possible to "steal" checkedness from the GXT Radio.
As a result, we require that you use a construct like a ToggleGroup to ensure that the logical value and the DOM value of the Radio and input element (respectively) are kept in sync. If you add all your radios to a ToggleGroup, you should find this to no longer be an issue.
11 Oct 2012 9:25 AM #7
Here is the practical problem with that solution; there is no way to know/remember that this has to be done. The widget has an API that does not work and then one has to 'know/remember' that they have to apply this workaround. I find this is the case with several GXT widgets/layouts, they have special behavior that isn't knowable given the API and then it doesn't work as expected at runtime.
I don't know what the ideal solution is, if as you say, it can't be fixed. However at a minimum the Javadocs should be noted of what you just explained.
Additionally as a suggestion Sencha might create a FAQ website where workaround examples could be shown and then a link in the Javadocs to the FAQ would be most helpful.


text:
A Call to Outsource California State Parks
California lawmakers should outsource management of some state parks to cope with chronic under funding, advised an influential state commission, which found that the state had expanded its park system without providing adequate income to support it.
The Little Hoover Commission, in a report released Monday, asked Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders to help the state Department of Parks and Recreation restructure the way it manages its 280 parks to avoid the kind of fiscal crisis that led to plans to close 70 parks in 2012 before last-minute maneuvers spared them.
Parks that mostly serve local visitors "should be realigned" to allow local control, while some with broader appeal could be managed differently, said the commission, whose reports are often considered by lawmakers.
The famed Hearst Castle, for example, may be better maintained by an outside operator such as the Getty Museum, the report suggested. The 115-room mansion of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst became state park property in 1958. Like many state park sites, it suffers from deferred maintenance because of decadeslong funding cuts, the report said.
"A great public institution is falling apart," said Virginia Ellis, a Little Hoover commissioner who chaired the report, in a statement. "Without a bold, new course equal to the vision that created the state park system, California risks a replay of closing parks that the state can no longer afford to operate."
Representatives of Gov. Brown and legislative leaders weren't immediately available for comment. A park service spokesman also wasn't immediately available for comment.
Elizabeth Goldstein, president of the California State Parks Foundation, which helped provide funding for some parks last year, praised the report but said time is short to implement a new plan, given that a moratorium on park closures passed by the legislature last year expires in 2014. "The moment to confront these challenges is now," she said in a statement.
Write to Jim Carlton at email@example.com


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text:
How to Shop Wisely for Products
In This Article:
Is shopping around for products worth your time? You bet. And today it's easier than ever because of online reviews and price comparisons. Buying stuff breaks down into the three Rs: Read reviews, research prices, and reevaluate.
How to Buy Products, 1-2-3
Granted, you don't need a three-step process for one-time purchases of less than $50, for example. But for bigger purchases or purchases you make repeatedly, it's well worth it.
A recent search for a Garmin Nuvi GPS navigator turned up a variety of prices. The exact same model could cost anywhere from $345 to $900. That's a heck of a difference. How long did it take me to get that information? Less than 10 seconds on MySimon.com. Is 10 seconds of your time worth a $555 savings?
I'm not saying you should necessarily buy the least-expensive item for $345, especially if it's offered by an unfamiliar retailer with an amateurish Web site that doesn't pass the "smell" test for being legitimate. If one retailer is offering a price far below all the others, there might be something fishy. But after those well-invested 10 seconds, you'll have an excellent idea about the range of prices for that GPS system.
Armed with that knowledge, how likely are you now to visit a retail store and pay $900, knowing the average price is half that? Unlikely.
Granted, that was a fun example using a "want" item, a GPS navigator. But you can use this system on needs too.
More on: Family Finances
From The 1-2-3 Money Plan Copyright © 2009, FT Press. Used by permission of FT Press, and Pearson Education. All rights reserved.
To order this book go to Amazon.


text: This is my first tutorial, so it willl be a little messsed-up. Dendara(excuse my spelling) is a bombing shinobi who joined with the akustika for his skills. He is belived to be the youngest member (16-18yrs) and was forced into the group. He had his arm ripped off by gaara, but it regeneratied. He makes clay bombs, wich detonate with difeeerent jutsus (c4, c3 justu for example.) if you want ot learn more about him, google him or watch naurto shippduen at www.animefreak.com


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ATTENTION 1Ls: Is there "Room for Improvement" in your classroom skills? Then come to the Academic Success lunch on Friday, February 15, at 12:10 p.m.!You've made it through one semester, but you might not be sure whether you are getting the most out of your lectures. Could your case briefs be more effective? How best to take in-class notes? What to do with those notes once you take them? What does "synthesizing the course material" mean anyway? These are the types of questions we will be addressing on Friday and in our second session to be held on March 1.But we also want to know what you think you need to "brush up" on or to get some pointers about. So, when you register, you'll have the opportunity to submit a question that you'd like to have addressed or a topic that you'd like to have covered during the session. Please take advantage of this. It's really important to us that we make these sessions useful for you, so please tell us what's on your mind. And, remember, if you are confused about something, the great likelihood is that many of your colleagues are confused about it as well. To register click here. Lunch will be served. Contact: firstname.lastname@example.com
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(From CNN) -- A military appeals court has removed the judge who had been overseeing accused Fort Hood shooter Maj. Nidal Hasan's court-martial, saying the judge was biased.
The ruling makes Col. Gregory Gross' order for Hasan's beard to be shaved invalid. Hasan has objected to the order with various appeals, citing religious freedom.
"We order the removal of the military judge on the basis of the appearance of bias," the court document states.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces faulted Gross with allowing the proceedings to become a "duel of wills" between him and Hasan rather than focusing on the serious crimes with which Hasan is charged.
Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, has been charged with 13 counts of murder in connection with the November 2009 shooting spree at Fort Hood, the sprawling Army post in central Texas.
The court, however, did not rule on the beard issue directly and left open the possibility that a future judge may order Hasan shaved again.
"Should the next military judge find it necessary to address Appellant's beard, such issues should be addressed and litigated anew," the document states.
Army regulations prevent most soldiers from wearing facial hair while in uniform. Hasan, a practicing Muslim, maintains that he has the right to wear the beard under federal law protecting religious rights.
The high-level appeals court is an independent tribunal with worldwide jurisdiction over active-duty members of the U.S. armed forces and others subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice.


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Since I run XBMC as a program, and not standalone, I would just like it to exit when I click the power button. The default behavior is to show the shutdown menu, and I don't want to accidently shut down my computer.
Remap the Power button on the home screen to quit xbmc instead of showing the shutdown menu:
In this file you need to replace the line (in my case line 1067, see bottom of the post on how to quickly open the file at that position)
Now if you click the power button in XBMC it should just exit, without showing a menu.
Alternatives / Notes
Instead of doing the above (simply quiting, not showing the shutdown menu) you can also edit the shutdown menu instead. The menu itself is in
changing this to
should hide it from the menu. You can do the same trick for suspend, reboot, etc.
This still doesn't prevent shutting down from the webinterface I think,
If only I knew how to set
Extra: Commands to quickly open the file at the right position (1067,33)


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Improving Customer Experience for Segment of One Using Big Data
By Irem Radzik-Oracle on May 31, 2013
Customer experience has been one of the top focus areas for CIOs in recent years. A key requirement for improving customer experience is understanding the customer: their past and current interactions with the company, their preferences, demographic information etc. This capability helps the organization tailor their service or products for different customer segments to maximize their satisfaction. This is not a new concept. However, there have been two parallel changes in how we approach and execute on this strategy.
First one is the big data phenomenon that brought the ability to obtain a much deeper understanding of customers, especially bringing in social data. As this Forbes article "Six Tips for Turning Big Data into Great Customer Experiences" mentions big data especially has transformed online marketing. With the large volume and different types of data we have now available companies can run more sophisticated analysis, in a more granular way. Which leads to the second change: the size of customer segments. It is shrinking down to one, where each individual customer is offered a personalized experience based on their individual needs and preferences. This notion brings more relevance into the day-to-day interactions with customers, and basically takes customers satisfaction and loyalty to a new level that was not possible before.
One of the key technology requirements to improve customer experience at such a granular level is to obtaining a complete and up-to-date view of the customer. And that requires integrating data across disparate systems and in a timely manner. Data integration solution should move and transform large data volumes stored in heterogeneous systems in geographically dispersed locations. Moving data with very low latency to the customer data repository or a data warehouse, enables companies to have a relevant and actionable insight for each customer. Instead of relying on yesterday's data, which may not be pertinent anymore, the solution should analyze latest information and turn them into a deeper understanding of that customer. With that knowledge the company can formulate real opportunities to drive higher customer satisfaction.
Real-time data integration is key enabling technology for real-time analytics. Oracle GoldenGate's real-time data integration technology has been used by many leading organizations to get the most out of their big data and build a closer relationship with customers. One good example in the telecommunications industry is MegaFon. MegaFon is Russia's top provider of mobile internet solutions. The company deployed Oracle GoldenGate 11g to capture billions of monthly transactions from eight regional billing systems. The data was integrated and centralized onto Oracle Database 11g and distributed to business-critical subsystems. The unified and up-to-date view into customers enabled more sophisticated analysis of mobile usage information and facilitated more targeted customer marketing. As a result of the company increased revenue generated from the current customer base. Many other telecommunications industry leaders, including DIRECTV, BT, TataSky, SK Telecom, Ufone, have improved customer experience by leveraging real-time data integration.
Telecommunications is not the only industry where single view of the customer drives more personalized interaction with customers. Woori Bank implemented Oracle Exadata and Oracle GoldenGate. In the past, it had been difficult for them to revise and incorporate changes to marketing campaigns in real time because they were working with the previous day's data. Now, users can immediately access and analyze transactions for specific trends in the data mart access layer and adjust campaigns and strategies accordingly. Woori Bank can also send tailored offers to customers.
This is just one example of how real-time data integration can transform business operations and the way a company interacts with its customers. I would like to invite you to learn more about data integration facilitating improved customer experience by reviewing our free resources here and following us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Linkedin.
Image courtesy of jscreationzs at FreeDigitalPhotos.net


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|Dining Room Before - a sea of Pickwick Pine and Acoustic Tile Ceilings
|Dining Room After - Light and Bright
But probably more dramatic than the dining room is the addition of a foyer. This was originally a porch, but once we knocked down the walls and added some built ins, it's a great addition to the house. And it gives you that open feeling from the minute you walk through the front door!
|Original View Coming Through the Front Door
|A Real Foyer with Closets and a Boot Bench
|View from Living Room - Before
|View from Living Room - After
|Open Floor Plan


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Why do we burn through our video games so fast? Because we play them too fast. Commenter Urfe suggests the key to enjoying video games more is pacing your play in today's Speak Up on Kotaku. Let's prolong some magic!
I realized another aspect of recreating the magic of childhood wonderment in video games. Actually, it may be more than that.
I bought Super Mario 3D Land, and in two days I got to world six without much effort (I think the end of world five gave me more trouble than it should have). However, now I've put all video game playing on the shelf until after my Japanese test (N1 for Japanese learners). Now I feel anticipation, and every day I don't play the game, the game lasts longer.
I think in order to enjoy games, I need to play them very slowly. This means playing less games which is great for my wallet. My test is Dec 4th, and then I'll play Mario again and get Mario Kart as a birthday present from my wife.
These two games, if played in moderation, should well last me until Theatrhythm comes out, or perhaps longer.


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Different ways to view a spreadsheet
There are a number of ways to view your spreadsheets in Google Sheets, including the ability to minimize menus and toolbars.Minimize menus and toolbars
Compact controls
If you want to minimize the amount of space that the menus and toolbar take up at the top of your browser window, you can view your spreadsheet with compact controls.
- Open a spreadsheet.
- Click View > Compact controls.
To exit this view, click View and deselect Compact controls.
Full screen view
If you want to see your spreadsheet without the toolbar or menus in your way, you can do that by viewing your spreadsheet in full screen.
- Open a spreadsheet.
- Click View > Full screen.
To return to a regular view, hit the Esc or Escape key on your keyboard.
In a spreadsheet that uses formulas or functions, you can view the formula text instead of the formula calculations.
- Open a spreadsheet.
- Click View > All formulas.
To return to seeing the formula calculations, click View and deselect All formulas.
Mary is a Docs & Drive expert and author of this help page. Leave her feedback below about the page.


text:
To Stay at Home or Return to Work?
In This Article:
Here's the reality I experience firsthand: friends who bounce babies and checks, as couples try to maneuver a lost or reduced income and/or the heavy costs of diapers, child care, preschool, feeding, clothing, and entertaining their little kids. For reasons scientists don't understand, couples still base economic and "who will work and how much" decisions on the formula in which child-care costs are charged against Mom's salary only. While it's true that a woman's salary is still apt to be less than her husband's, there's no good reason for couples not to approach choices, considering child care a cost to be absorbed by their joint incomes.
Whether by choice, or because they had smaller salaries, lots of moms I know who quit full-time employment started innovative Internet-driven or home-based businesses such as selling Mary Kay cosmetics or Weekenders clothing, but none of them did so to pay the mortgage.
Alternately my friends who shine in their offices, law firms, and on sales staffs become masters of the faked calendar or the forwarded office phone, rarely able to be truly candid with their employers about their needs as mothers.
Many of us approached motherhood the same way we did marriage: to enhance, not complete our lives. We envisioned hoisting Baby in a backpack and going on with the lives we had already established. Little did we know that we would meet our match, when the real needs of babies and little ones exposed the limits of our energy, our marital partnerships, and our forward-thinking companies.
More on: Adjusting to New Motherhood
From What No One Tells the Mom by Marg Stark. Copyright © 2005. Used by arrangement with Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
To order this book, visit Amazon or click on the book cover.


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Why Exercise During Pregnancy?
Your body is under a lot of strain during pregnancy. The bones, muscles, joints, and organs are all struggling to keep up with the demands of your growing baby. Your body could sure use some help. That's where exercise comes in. It gives you all the benefits it gives to any exerciser, and then some because you're pregnant.
We know that exercising during pregnancy offers you the same benefits as exercising at any time, including…
- Improved muscle strength.
- Improved blood circulation.
- Reduced fatigue, more energy.
- Improved mood and emotional well-being.
- Less weight gain.
When you exercise during pregnancy, you get even more, including…
- Increased muscle strength and tone to help you carry the extra weight of your baby.
- Less swelling of legs, feet, hands, face.
- Relief from constipation.
- Less physical discomfort from achy legs and back.
- Increased strength and stamina to get through the demands of labor and delivery (the average labor requires stamina equal to jogging 12 miles!).
- An easier time getting back into physical shape after delivery.
For all these reasons, this is a great time to get off the couch and exercise!
excerpted from:
Excerpted from The Complete Idiot's Guide to Pregnancy and Childbirth © 2004 by Michele Isaac Gliksman, M.D. and Theresa Foy DiGeronimo. 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 Amazon's website or call 1-800-253-6476.


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What happens if you cast a shrink spell on an ogre then lure it to a very narrow tunnel then dispelling first spell and casting enlargement? Does that ogre explode? deforms? just gets stuck? or nothing at all?
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Assuming you're talking about reduce and enlarge person, consider this part of the second spell:
Technically the rules are silent on whether you could crush a creature by removing reduce person, but unless they were already squeezing through a small space, there's no way they'd be crushed anyway.


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Need suggestions on most reliable trucks or SUV
Posted 24 August 2011 - 07:59 PM
Posted 25 August 2011 - 07:41 AM
Posted 25 August 2011 - 07:16 PM
This all depends on what you want to spend, dollar for dollar I will take my jeep, sure those toys are nice but the 258 and the 4.0L are both very good engines and a real 4x4 has a straight axle. I saw the TACO to just bought on that other post and it looks like a great rig but I would not take that where I take my jeep, not that it wouldn't make it but it's a lot of money there to be toying around with.
I'd recommend a 2nd gen Toyota 4Runner (1996-2003) 4x4 or a 1st or 2nd gen Toyota Tacoma Double Cab. Toyota's 4x4 systems are pretty much bomb proof from a reliability perspective and if they do break they are readily repairable at reasonable price levels. The aftermarket supports these trucks as if they were 350 Chevy small blocks - everyone has something for them. Reliability from a driving perspective is top notch. Duh, these vehicles are from the era when Toyota was the undisputed leader in quality and long term durability. That rep has taken a beating in the past 2 years but still they are top rated rigs.These rigs are generally decent on fuel consumption too. V6's average 19 mpg combined and I4's will consistently return a combined 23 mpg; hard to beat for trucks.I returned to the Toyota ranks after a 3 year affair with a used Chevy Silverado 4x4. That truck ultimately cost far more to operate as the 5.3 V8 was thirsty and once it hit 100K miles it gave me a $600 surprise repair bill every 8 weeks.Good luck.
Posted 25 August 2011 - 08:42 PM
Posted 26 August 2011 - 04:24 AM
Posted 27 August 2011 - 05:14 PM
I just traded my 03 Land Rover Discovery in for a 07 F-150 FX4. I feel so much happier in the Ford now. It is rommier, which is one thing I really lacked on my last vehicle. Gas mileage so far is much better as well. I have not had a chance to take it out yet, but from what I hear from everyone, it should perform well. I would for sure recommend you test drive a Ford F150, before you decide on buying anything.
I agree. I have a 2006 F150 SuperCrew 4x4, cuz I need it. I had 5 Toyota trucks over a 20 year period, and I was tired of riding in a wheelbarrow. I'm older now and wanna be comfortable. After driving all the different trucks, I decided on the Ford. I was raised a Chevy guy, but, gotta go with what's right for you. I needed 4x4 (live in the mtns.), don't haul alot, but heck, even a 1/2 ton will haul a decent size trailer, mine's rated at 9800lbs. The selling point for me was the comfort, and after adding the Magnaflow exhaust, K&N intake, and Edge Evolution programmer, I get 23-24 on the freeways in the valley. Up here, about 19. Not bad, considering small trucks are maybe getting 20mpg. My .02 Good luck with your decision.
Posted 01 November 2011 - 07:07 PM
Posted 05 January 2012 - 07:55 AM
Posted 05 January 2012 - 08:25 AM
Posted 05 January 2012 - 08:48 AM
Posted 05 January 2012 - 12:47 PM
Posted 05 January 2012 - 11:29 PM
Posted 06 January 2012 - 07:14 AM
Posted 06 January 2012 - 07:34 AM
Posted 06 January 2012 - 08:57 AM
Posted 06 January 2012 - 09:17 AM
Attached Files
Posted 06 January 2012 - 10:31 AM
My 5'2" wife and 4'8" son would kill me if I bought a jacked-up rig like that... and I'd deserve it. I'm all about a vehicle for the whole family, not a boy's toy.
An Avalanche would be good for the reasons mentioned *IF* one ripped out the sorry independent front suspension in favor of a solid axle. Especially if you're gonna run bigger tires. That top one makes me laugh...
Posted 06 January 2012 - 11:51 AM
We pull 13+mpg easily with a 35' fifth wheel and only one mod (a $500 Bullydog program) in our 2004 Cummins (4 door 3/4 ton), and 22 empty . Plus, no transfer case problems. Like I said, we're a diesel oriented family (work and home), and put a lot of research into it before buying. Heck, even if it only lasted two years, we could afford to buy a new one with the money saved on fuel every year alone
My Mileage flat out sucks (10mpg) but she will tow a house if you put wheels on it.
I was thinking as I read this, man, he must have missed the post where you stated it was going to be a "family" vehicle
My 5'2" wife and 4'8" son would kill me if I bought a jacked-up rig like that... and I'd deserve it. I'm all about a vehicle for the whole family, not a boy's toy.
Posted 11 January 2012 - 05:44 PM
Posted 02 February 2012 - 08:42 AM
Posted 02 February 2012 - 08:50 AM
Posted 02 February 2012 - 11:14 AM
Last week I finally bought a new truck, which is a 2012 Toyota Tundra, double cab, 4x4 TRD, Off Road model. I was looking at their Rock Warrior, but liked this one better. Wheels, chrome bumpers(instead of painted) etc is only difference. AWESOME would be a GROSS understatement.
I've owned them all over the years, some more than once, & all but one were 4x4's; Chevy, Dodge, Ford, Jeep & now Toyota (again actually). IMO, NONE of the others have anything over this truck. Just look at the under carriage and one will see the difference. The ball joints alone belong on a tank (sorta), and rides (almost) like a luxury car.
I also bloodied it two days ago with a coyote I killed. Maybe, or maybe not, there may be a reason why JD Powers rated the Tundra the most reliable... 6 yrs in a row! And Consumer Reports did too, I believe for 2011???
p.s. It got 16.5 mpg on the hwy. 5.7 motor
Posted 11 July 2012 - 08:55 PM
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The cruise ship Carnival Triumph is pushed towards the cruise terminal along the Mobile River in Mobile, Ala., Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013. / AP Photo/Dave Martin
MIAMI (AP) -- A maze of maritime regulations and fragmented oversight of the cruise industry make it tough for consumers to assess the health and safety record of ships they're about to board for vacation.
No one entity or country oversees or regulates the industry. There's no central database for passengers seeking ship information.
The Coast Guard and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offer some ship safety and health information online.
In the case of the Carnival Triumph ship that spent days disabled at sea after an engine fire, vacationers could have gone to those agencies' websites before boarding, but they would have found mostly clean marks and few red flags.
And when something goes wrong, as it did on Triumph, there are limits to how much the Coast Guard can investigate.
MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Mexico's animal health agency says a bird flu outbreak at seven farms in central Mexico has affected as many as 582,000 chickens.
The Agriculture Department says more than a half million birds were exposed, but the number that will have to be slaughtered has yet to be determined.
An outbreak of the H7N3 bird flu virus in western Mexico in 2012 led to the slaughter of more than 22 million hens and caused price increases in chicken and egg products.
But the department said Friday that the current outbreak has not affected the supply of chicken products.
It said tests were continuing to determine the exact strain of virus involved in the outbreak, but said it did not affect humans.
Mexico's nationwide flock amounts to 137 million birds.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Regulators say they have closed a small bank in Chicago, bringing to three the number of U.S. bank failures this year following 51 closures in 2012.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Friday seized Covenant Bank, which had about $58.4 million in assets and $54.2 million in deposits as of Dec. 31.
Liberty Bank and Trust Co., based in New Orleans, agreed to assume all of Covenant Bank's deposits and buy essentially all of the failed lender's assets.
The failure of Covenant Bank, which had a single banking branch, is expected to cost the deposit insurance fund $21.8 million.


text: More than 30 volunteers of all ages participated Beech Bottom's annual Cleanup Day on April 6. The group collected 33 bags of garbage and debris, multiple tires, a swimming pool liner and other miscellaneous items and were fed breakfast and a pizza lunch during the event, which was sponsored by the village's Neighborhood Watch program. The cleanup is one of several measures that earned the village a West Virginia Make It Shine Community Award in 2009, 2010 and 2011 and the honor of Make It Shine Grand Prize Winner, for which it received $500 from the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection for future beautification efforts. -- Contributed


text:
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Home › Scene › Perfectly Taylored ›
Perfectly Taylored
A chance to shop and sip for charity brought an intimate group of well-dressed guests to Rebecca Taylor's posh Fashion Island boutique. Upbeat music set the tone as ladies admired the designer's dresses, shoes and tops. (So many choices!) Champagne and nibbles were served, and partiers stopped browsing—just for a moment—to chat with friends about fashion. They also received styling tips and delighted in chic raffle prizes before whipping out their wallets to make their purchases. A portion of the proceeds benefited Mercy House's efforts to end homelessness, and for causes like that, we'll shop every night. Photography by Reza Allah-Bakhshi


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Details of printing have been talked about, but this is the feature request for a Printer-Friendly Button. The button would print a good-looking version of the question and answers instead of just using the print feature of your browser. It would allow just the Q&A to be printed and not other additional items. There could even be a user setting or some way to print with comments also.
What is meta?
- Any Stack Exchange user can ask a question
- The community provides support, votes on ideas, and reports bugs
- Your voice helps shape the way Stack Exchange operates
There's not really any need for a button, if a style sheet for printing is defined (with
Edit: I was wrong, printer styles are defined. They are in the same stylesheet, using
I don't know if there's a big need to support printing, but in truth, when you want to print something, it should come out of the printer in a way that's better formatted for printed media. The print stylesheet does a decent job by itself, but there are some things I find lacking.
It would be nice to have a "printable view" of a question that does/has the following:
UPDATE: There is now an API-based application called StackPrinter, as Jeff pointed out here -- I haven't tried it myself, but it should solve some of the issues I've mentioned here.
I actually think this is a cool idea. Definitely not a priority, but would be something to "brag about".
That said, I've never heard the idea before and could probably be easily convinced it's a terrible idea.
I like that there are print-styles defined; I'd like to see Stack overflow use media selectors to make the printed result appear like a printed document, rather than a printed website.
The extra time and effort involved would allow me to put some of my most-important answers on my wall, or in a notebook and make the best use of the paper, etc.


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I would like to see special offers for my region
Discover new amazing landscapes by visiting Asia. Our tip: you will enjoy completely new perspectives from the world's highest observation wheel in Singapore.
Exotic food markets, vibrant cities or historic landmarks - its your choice. No service fee apply for online bookings on lufthansa.com!
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text: View site on: Mobile Version | Web VersionYou must use a Citi credit card which displays the Visa, MasterCard or American Express logo or a Citibank Debit Card which displays the MasterCard logo to take advantage of any ticket offer. Tickets are subject to availability and ticket orders may be subject to a service charge. Ticket limit per account and age requirements vary by event. By responding to an offer you will be disclosing all the information requested to a company outside the Citigroup family of companies. Citi is not responsible for products or services offered by other companies. © 2016, Citibank, N.A. Citi, Citi with Arc Design and Private Pass are registered service marks of Citigroup Inc.


text:
I'm trying to run a regression using
Fit on the output of
FinancialData["SPY", "Jan. 1, 2011"]. However, the dates returned from
FinancialData are not in a format that is recognized by
Fit. The function returns dates in the format
{y,m,d}, and I need the dates to be expressed in decimal form. I'm relatively new to Mathematica, but I've got to believe there's an easy way to transform the list provided by
FinancialData into one that has the format of
{<date in decimal>, price}. Any guidance would be most appreciated.
I'm trying to run a regression using
Better (tick labels showing dates)
Or, using


text:
1953 Ford F-100 - Behind The Scenes At The Roadster ShopWritten by on March 12, 2007 Part 5: Subtle And Smooth Body Mods
When it comes to custom metal-work, anyone can drastically alter a truck or car for a dramatic response, and there are plenty of them out there. But do you want a vehicle that's well thought out and proportioned with clean lines, or the opposite, with a bunch of people gawking at the show because it's crazy looking? Granted, this is all a matter of taste, but custom metalwork is often a good place to exercise the "less is more" school of thought. Remember, the idea is to improve on what Detroit did or didn't do; those who find no fault in a truck's factory design tend to restore.
The Roadster Shop has honed in on this over the years and built a reputation on their good ideas and even better craftsmanship. In this installment on Mike Crimaldi's '53 F-100, we're taking a look at some of the changes to Henry's design toward the back half of the truck that might be overlooked or unnoticed if we didn't point them out. Follow along and get your wheel spinning, or call up the Roadster Shop and have them do it for you!
More Photos From This Article View Slideshow
The Roadster Shop decided to widen the rear fenders, but not in the way you might think. A straight line marked on the fender's flat "horizontal" plane shows where it's going to split open like a hot dog in a microwave.After eyeballin' the situation long enough, the Roadster Shop determined that opening the very back of the fender 1 inch would accomplish what they were after.With the new gap well clamped in place, the Roadster Shop held up a strip of sheetmetal on the back side and traced the gap onto it.Once all the trimming was done to ensure that the new piece fits perfectly into the gap, it was tacked in place. A job like this is probably better left to a TIG welder rather than a MIG welder's hard bead. Trying to fit a piece this long can be a tricky job, so cutting it into two or three pieces can make it much easier.The TIG welder leaves a softer weld than a MIG welder, it can be worked like the sheet-metal that surrounds it, and it can be hammer-welded with a body hammer and dolly to minimize warpage.
It's probably more than most people will ever bother doing, but it's neat to see the difference an inch can make! Looking at the fender from the rear......it's more parallel to the rest of the truck, giving it a bit more of an aggressive yet proportioned appearance. Notice the straight stake pocket.With all that's going on with the rest of the truck, you can guess that the new Pro's Pick bed will get the same treatment. The Roadster Shop decided to massage the stock, bulky stake pockets to make them flow a little better, so they first took them off the bedside.After a run-in with the cutoff wheel and the welder, the bottom of the stake pockets had a nice inward angle.At the top, the stake pockets were molded into the bedrail, which was capped off and rounded in the process.Taking a few styling cues from trucks fresh out of Detroit, this tail accent was fabbed and mocked up for a look-see.And if that wasn't enough, a few beads rolled into it looked even better and really dressed up the otherwise flat, plain tailgate.Without using a late-model bed, the Roadster Shop has really brought the F-100's back half into the now with carefully thought out alterations and additions. Having a good idea is one thing, but the proper execution of it is another when it comes to automotive restyling.
The goal is to make the edge of the running board run into and join the wide bead on the fender's lip. First, the top of the running board was split about a foot starting at the fender to make it flush with the bead on the fender. Next, a filler piece was made at the bottom of the fender to mate the two to make the 90-degree bend in the bead.This is perfect. There's even a tiny seam between the fender and the running board so the two can still be taken off if needed and aren't molded together. It's changes like this, where most people won't even know anything was done or what exactly was done, that are the coolest...


text:
I want to study for the JLPT with authentic sentence examples, in-context Japanese. Does anyone know a resource for this? I have searched for a long time, and I haven't found anything.
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closed as off topic by istrasci, Flaw♦, atlantiza, silvermaple, Dono Sep 7 '12 at 2:25
Questions on Japanese Language Stack Exchange are expected to relate to the Japanese language within the scope defined by the community. Consider editing the question or leaving comments for improvement if you believe the question can be reworded to fit within the scope. Read more about reopening questions here.If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.
It might be helpful to define what you mean by "authentic sentence examples". Actual sentences that have appeared on past exams? Study materials oriented towards the JLPT with "in-context" sentence examples? Or, content written for native speakers that would be helpful for JLPT study?
For the new exam format (N1, N2, etc.) I don't believe past papers are being published. You can either see the official samples or get copies of the old format.
In terms of made-for-native materials that might help on the JLPT... newspapers, essays, editorials? In the sense of preparing for a test oriented towards foreigners, native content is probably best for vocabulary acquisition.
I would say that ultimately if your goal is to pass the JLPT then you should be utilizing materials oriented specifically for the JLPT. My favorite is the 完全マスター series. They have editions for grammar, kanji, reading, etc. Light on explanation and heavy with sentences and reading passages. While reading passages have a topic or theme, the one-shot example sentences have no broader context but I still found them useful and easy to study with.
Good luck


text:
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Joseph Ratzinger - The Feast of Faith"In those situations where homosexual unions have been legally recognized or have been given the legal status and rights belonging to marriage, clear and emphatic opposition is a duty. ... If all Catholics are obliged to oppose the legal recognition of homosexual unions, Catholic politicians are obliged to do so in a particular way, in keeping with their responsibility as politicians." CDF 2003
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"Latin is a precise, essential language. It will be abandoned, not because it is unsuitable for the new requirements of progress, but because the new men will not be suitable for it. When the age of demagogues and charlatans begins, a language like Latin will no longer be useful, and any oaf will be able to give a speech in public and talk in such a way that he will not be kicked off the stage. The secret to this will consist in the fact that, by making use of words that are general, elusive, and sound good, he will be able to speak for an hour without saying anything. With Latin, this is impossible."
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"We as Catholics have not properly combated (the culture) because we have not been taught our Catholic Faith, especially in the depth needed to address these grave evils of our time. This is a failure of catechesis both of children and young people that has been going on for fifty years. It is being addressed, but it needs much more radical attention... What has also contributed greatly to the situation is an exaltation of the virtue of tolerance which is falsely seen as the virtue which governs all other virtues. In other words, we should tolerate other people in their immoral actions to the extent that we seem also to accept the moral wrong. Tolerance is a virtue, but it is certainly not the principal virtue; the principal virtue is charity... Charity means speaking the truth. I have encountered it (not speaking the truth) many times myself as a priest and bishop. It is something we simply need to address. There is far too much silence — people do not want to talk about it because the topic is not 'politically correct.' But we cannot be silent any longer."
Raymond Card. Burke
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Grant unto thy Church, we beseech Thee, O merciful God, that She, being gathered together by the Holy Ghost, may be in no wise troubled by attack from her foes. O God, who by sin art offended and by penance pacified, mercifully regard the prayers of Thy people making supplication unto Thee,and turn away the scourges of Thine anger which we deserve for our sins. Almighty and Everlasting God, in whose Hand are the power and the government of every realm: look down upon and help the Christian people that the heathen nations who trust in the fierceness of their own might may be crushed by the power of thine Arm. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. R. Amen.
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"The legalization of the termination of pregnancy is none other than the authorization given to an adult, with the approval of an established law, to take the lives of children yet unborn and thus incapable of defending themselves. It is difficult to imagine a more unjust situation, and it is very difficult to speak of obsession in a matter such as this, where we are dealing with a fundamental imperative of every good conscience — the defense of the right to life of an innocent and defenseless human being."
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"One of the most dangerous errors is that civilization is automatically bound to increase and spread. The lesson of history is the opposite; civilization is a rarity, attained with difficulty and easily lost. The normal state of humanity is barbarism, just as the normal surface of the planet is salt water. Land looms large in our imagination and civilization in history books, only because sea and savagery are to us less interesting."
- C.S. Lewis
More food for thought:
"I expect to die in bed, my successor will die in prison and his successor will die a martyr in the public square. His successor will pick up the shards of a ruined society and slowly help rebuild civilization, as the church has done so often in human history."
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Charles Pierre Péguy Notre Patrie, 1905"If I ought to write the truth, I am of the mind that I ought to flee all meetings of bishops, because I have never seen any happy or satisfactory outcome to any council, nor one that has deterred evils more than it has occasioned their acceptance and growth."
St. Gregory Nazianzus ep. 131 - AD 382"We will conquer your Rome, break your crosses, and enslave your women. If we do not reach that time, then our children and grandchildren will reach it, and they will sell your sons as slaves at the slave market."
Sheikh Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, Chief Spokesman the Islamic State, 2014 Quoted in James Wesley Rawles, Land of Promise (Counter-Caliphate Chronicles Series Book 1) See also HERE
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Tag Archives: St. Edmund Campion Missal and Hymnal
"Father Z Special Discount" on the St. Edmund Campion Missal & Hymnal
I received a note from the publishers of the Campion Missal and Hymnal. I wrote about it HERE. During OCTOBER and NOVEMBER your readers can have a "Fr. Z Special" for a discount for the Campion Missal & Hymnal. In other … Continue reading
REVIEW: St. Edmund Campion Missal & Hymnal for the Traditional Latin Mass – 2nd EDITION
Some time ago I reviewed the St. Edmund Campion Missal & Hymnal for the Traditional Latin Mass. HERE. It came out in 2012. It seems that there is a new edition for 2013. It is no longer from Corpus Christi Watershed. I … Continue reading
Great new resource for your new Gregorian chant schola! Wherein Fr. Z also comments on pace.
Some people on the traditional side of things are demoralized because Pope Francis has a markedly different liturgical style from that of Benedict XVI. Some might wonder if it is worth trying to promote the provisions of Summorum Pontificum and … Continue reading
Gregorian Chant Experiment [ 9:04 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (2544)
REVIEW: St. Edmund Campion Missal & Hymnal for the Traditional Latin Mass – WOW!
One of the fruits of Benedict XVI's pontificate has been the freeing of the older form of Holy Mass. His Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum was like an "emancipation proclamation". Slowly but surely the use of the older Roman forms is … Continue reading


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Columbia BLSA is proud to present the Paul Robeson Conference, Exploring the Role of Student and Lawyer Activism in the Creation of Transformative Policy. This year's Conference will take place on Saturday, March 29, 2014 in JG 103, beginning at 10:00 am. The following panelists are scheduled to participate:
Closing remarks by Professor Olatunde Johnson.
There is no cost to attend the conference and lunch will be provided. Please RSVP by emailing firstname.lastname@example.com.
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For questions or comments, please contact the web administrators.
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I am just starting my first screen writing class and I got an assignment that says: Exposition and Ammunition – back story. I have been searching online but I don't get it. Can someone explain it for me please?
"Turn exposition into ammunition" is shorthand for a writing technique. A quick Google turns up this article: http://michellelipton.wordpress.com/2009/08/17/mckee-on-exposition/
Money quote:
What your assignment means is to take the backstory of your character, break it down into individual items (known as "beats") and use each item in dialogue. Create some kind of conflict between the characters so that the backstory of A is brought up, and use the items either for B to attack A, A to defend against B, the reverse, or both.
For example: B'Elanna's mother is Klingon and her father is human. Her parents fought increasingly during their marriage, to the point where her father gave up on her fractious mother and left. B'Elanna blames her mother's Klingon-ness for driving her father away, so she tries to repress her own Klingon instincts.
Tom loves B'Elanna, Klingon-ness and all, and thinks her Klingon heritage is cool. He can't understand why she won't join him in bat'telh fights or drink bloodwine.
So you open with the two of them having an argument about why B'Elanna will spar with Tom using any other kind of martial arts or weaponry, but not the bat'telh (the curved Klingon sword). She makes lots of excuses, Tom keeps pushing, and eventually she starts shouting at him that if he loves Klingon culture so much he can go be one. He doesn't understand this, he shouts something back, and through the course of the fight he gets her to explain what happened to her parents and why she feels the way she does. The backstory (exposition) of B'Elanna's family is now ammunition for their conflict.
(Source: Star Trek: Voyager's "Lineage")
Audience: snore
Audience: paid for whole seat, only needed edge
EDIT: So, in case I'm not being clear enough, you could explain someone's back story by just telling people what it is but it's better for the back story to come out through action. SF has a real problem with people constantly explaining stuff so the "Exposition/Ammunition" thing is easier to explain with an SF example. It basically means show excitingly instead of explaining dully.
Drama is conflict, while exposition are facts. All stories have facts, but the facts themselves are not the storytelling. Sometimes I use this analogy. If storytelling is motion, facts are the brakes. Hit the brakes too often and the whole thing grinds to a halt. This creates one of the big dilemmas of storytelling. How many facts can safely be provided (or how can they be conveyed) without disrupting the story itself?
The principle of exposition in ammunition (facts in drama), is a strategy for safely providing factual information without disrupting or pausing the storytelling. If two characters are old friends, inform the audience by having the characters argue. If their insults suggest an intimate knowledge of each other, than the audience catches their established relationship without the author explicitly informing them.
The advantage of this approach is to merge fact and storytelling together. This avoids the 5 pages of story. Pause. 2 pages of information. Pause. 7 pages of storytelling... You get the idea.
Not sure what your teacher meant by backstory in this context save that authors often struggle to convey the facts of a character's backstory through exposition - often leading to the dreaded prologue or flashback both of which tend to become story-stopping, data-dumps.
The best answer to backstory I have ever come across I found at http://www.clickok.co.uk/index4.html ; in essence it is to do with the loss of a state of perfection and it is deep and involved. Most stories reference it. Goto the site - it does a much better job of explaining it than I can.
Most exposition is a setup for the rising action or when the protagonist or villain pulls the trigger, and then the action starts. Sometimes, the exposition starts with a trigger or as Robert McKay likes to call it, an inciting incident. This is the ammunition for the resolution of the story - who wins, who loses, who gets get killed, and the dramatic action and complications to follow.


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The contexts of the usage of this phrase is given below.
SAP Business Suite customers can now run the software in production form on Amazon Web Services, the companies announced this week during the Sapphire and Tech Ed conferences in Madrid.
Source: http://www.cio.com/article/721825/SAP_Certifies_Business_Suite_for_Production_Use_on_Amazon_Web_Services
After being displayed as a thinly disguised concept model at this year's Auto China Show in Beijing, the revamped Seat Ibiza Cupra has now been revealed in production form.
Source: http://carscoop.blogspot.com/2012/11/seat-ibiza-cupra-facelift-appears-in.html
How is this phrase different from saying "generally available" or "generally released"?
I appreciate all your intelligent answers.


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Since the late 1880s, when one of the first trees -- a Plains Cottonwood -- was planted near Old Main, the University of Colorado Boulder's tree population has grown to more than 4,100 trees comprising more than 100 species.
Mary Sewall, wife of the university's first president, was responsible for much of the early landscaping. She beautified the barren surroundings with large green lawns and many trees.
Today, Senior Grounds Specialist Alan Nelson credits the stone construction, size and positioning of many campus buildings for helping to create microclimates conducive to a variety of trees that would not typically grow in Colorado.
"We've got some really unique things here on campus," said Nelson. "In many ways it's a tribute to my predecessors, in that they were willing to push the envelope and try things that on paper may not grow here. They were able to have success with some of these exotic things."
For the second year in a row, CU-Boulder is being recognized by the Arbor Day Foundation as a Tree Campus USA for excellence in tree management, as well as student and community involvement.
The Arbor Day Foundation issues the Tree Campus USA designation to campuses that meet five requirements including convening a tree advisory committee, creating a tree care plan, implementing a tree program, holding an Arbor Day observance and offering a service-learning project.
CU-Boulder will be presented the Tree Campus USA designation and will celebrate Arbor Day with a tree-planting demonstration on April 27, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The event is free and open to the public, and will begin at the Norlin Quadrangle, southwest of the Eaton Humanities Building. Invited speakers include campus leaders, as well as state forestry officials and representatives from the city of Boulder. The Arbor Day Foundation is donating 20 trees of varying species to CU-Boulder.
Nelson leads tree walks on campus in conjunction with the CU Museum of Natural History and the CU Heritage Center, educating participants on the history and significance of CU-Boulder's trees.
The next tree walk, which is free and open to the public, will be held on May 2 beginning at 5 p.m. on the west steps outside of Norlin Library. The tour will be followed at 6 p.m. by a reception at the CU Heritage Center in Old Main. At 7 p.m., Kathleen Alexander, city forester, will share her Notable Trees of Colorado presentation in the Old Main Chapel.
In addition, a tree walk will be held on May 22, beginning at 5 p.m. outside of the north doors of the Henderson Building. It is free and open to the public.
Participants do not need to register ahead of time for the tree walks, but should wear comfortable walking shoes.


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(CNN) - President Barack Obama's re-election campaign says they're going up with their second round of Spanish language television and radio commercials.
The re-election team announced Tuesday that the ads will run in Colorado, Nevada and Florida, three battleground states with lots of Spanish speaking voters that both Democrats and Republicans are likely to heavily court ahead of November's presidential election. The first round of Spanish language ads, out last month, also ran in the same three states, which Obama carried three years ago.
According to the campaign, the spots feature "first person accounts from Obama for America organizers and supporters sharing their personal stories of how the President's policies have empowered Latino families and communities."
The second round of ads highlights health care reform.
Last month the campaign launched "Latinos for Obama," which the campaign described as the "largest ever national effort to engage Latino Americans in their communities and involve them in the upcoming election through voter registration, volunteering and voting."
According to exit polls from the 2008 presidential election, Obama won 67% of the Hispanic vote, compared to 31% for Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the then-GOP presidential nominee.
A Pew Research Center poll released last month that while the president held a narrow 49% to 45% advantage over presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney in a November showdown among all Americans, among Hispanic voters Obama held a 30-point lead, 67% to 27%.


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I've recently ordered the QRC-2 quick release clamp, hoping to use it with my Manfrotto 323 plate. However, the plate appears to be too small to fit in the clamp.
Is there a way to get the plate to fit inside the clamp? If not, which Manfrotto plates are supported?


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5 Prejudices That Video Games Can't Seem to Get Over
#2. There Are No Gay Men, Just Lesbians (And Those Chicks Can Be Converted)
As screwed up as heterosexual relationships are in games, the gay ones are even worse ... that is, when they even bother to exist. For example, in Mass Effect 1 and 2, there were no gay options for the male Shepard because the games were about "Shepard as a defined character," so in the designers' own words, they decided to "constrain the choice set somewhat."
The most sexually diverse setting is secretly owning a matching hat and shoes.
Totally fine, right? Except for the fact that literally everything else about the character -- gender, how he or she looks, whether he or she is a genocidal maniac or an idealistic paragon -- are left entirely up to the player. You can even have sex with aliens from other planets, because that's somehow less weird that homosexuality. Oh, and then there's the fact that if you're a female, you can be gay. Even the "progressive" BioWare makes games like teenagers watch porn: Lesbians are fine and kinda hot, but dudes touching other dudes? Gaaaaaaaaay.
Don't say Cracked never did anything for you, creepiest parts of the Internet.
So What's the Deal?
To be fair, sexuality is a really tough topic for anyone to touch, but especially for an industry as young and susceptible to criticism as gaming. Then you have the fact that even the possibility of homosexuality in a video game auto-triggers Fuckhead mode on the Internet. Putting any gay characters in a game makes that title more risky and more susceptible to controversy, much less honest, relatable, realistic ones. Publishers just aren't ready to accept that risk, so until the industry learns to grow up a bit, it's just going to suck to be a gay gamer (no pun intended).
Listen, we know we're picking on BioWare a lot for sex issues, but in a way, their constant, staggering screw-ups are actually commendable. Because they're the only ones even daring to dance around the bush (also no pun intended) in this regard. If any other game franchise is even touching this stuff, it's only with blatant stereotypes, like Gay Tony in GTA IV, or closeted characters still ashamed of their sexuality, like Player 2 from Contra (that guy had some serious issues. You could see it in the pixel that made up his face).
"Don't look at his ass. Don't look at his ass. Don't look at his ass."
#1. The Fundamentals of Game Design Make Racism Easier
Probably the biggest race controversy in recent video game history was about Resident Evil 5, which revolved around a well-muscled white American shooting hordes of mindless diseased Africans. That's actually the least inflammatory way we know how to describe that game.
The scary thing is that he started doing this before learning they were monsters.
It wasn't anything new, though: Look at the most popular video games out there, like Uncharted and the God of War franchise. Both feature rugged, strong-jawed white men slaughtering hordes and hordes of not-white people. Sure, there are white enemies mixed into all of these games, too -- but they're almost always visibly monstrous, differentiated from the player by snake heads or tentacle arms. You can bet if there's just an ordinary-looking guy you have to shoot, stab or knife-whip into oblivion, his skin is going to be a bit more Burnt Sienna than Driven Snow.
How many of you have older relatives who think this is basically any inner city?
So What's the Deal?
It's entirely possible that no one involved with the creation of any of these games is the least bit racist. Turns out that the basic rules of video game design make being a racist jerkhole fundamentally easier than being ... not that. Check out this quote from Level Up!: The Guide to Great Video Game Design:
Within your game, you can create groups of enemies based on shape, color, physical attributes ... they need to look different at a glance. Stereotypes are stereotypes for a reason: They're easy for the viewer to understand. Don't be afraid to use them.
They haven't.
Now, he's not talking about racial stereotypes necessarily -- he could be referring to stereotypical enemies like skeletons or minotaurs -- but this mode of thinking explains why racial stereotypes still show up so much. Back in the 8-bit days, designers were desperate to make items even remotely recognizable with their limited resources. All power-ups were flashing fruit, and enemies were turtles or birds or whatever animal was easiest to communicate with six or eight pixels. Anything too complicated just became a confusing blob, and players wouldn't know whether to collect it or jump on its head until it died. On a basic level, this is how all games have to work: Whether you're playing Super Mario World or Battlefield 3, your thought process is still "see thing/react quickly/get reward," and complicating that process too much makes the game less fun.
Nowadays, with photorealistic graphics, designers have the opposite problem: There are billions of pixels on the screen, but they still need to make the enemies consistent and easily, instantly identifiable. Race just happens to be the laziest way to accomplish that. To see a great example of how this design philosophy leads to accidental racism in modern gaming, just check out this video by the people over at Extra Credits. They explain how the designers of Call of Juarez inadvertently created a system where the game rewards you specifically for killing black people, just because they didn't think their level design through enough. Or, for a significantly more hilarious example of accidental bigotry, you can just read Seanbaby's article about Red Dead Redemption's hate-erection for all womankind.
"Damn it, this is not what women's suffrage means!"
We're not saying that this stuff exists because of some hidden malice or secret industry-wide conspiracy to keep minorities in America down. The much sadder truth is that all this bullshit comes from simple, old-fashioned laziness. There's no good reason video games can't be infinitely smarter, more responsible and better than this -- it's just going to take time, thought, hard work and a bit of empathy.
And shit, who has time for that? Game developers have got to get another Callfield: Dutybattle out the door by Q3 or the EA monster will devour their children.
J.F. Sargent blogs and tweets (about social justice issues, but also fun things) and is the managing editor of the political website PCulpa.com.
For more screwed things about video games, check out The 8 Creepiest Glitches Hidden in Popular Video Games and 12 Great Video Games With Ridiculous Premises.
If you're pressed for time and just looking for a quick fix, then check out The Most Unintentionally Sexist Attempt to Empower Women.
And stop by LinkSTORM to learn why Samus doled us more punishment in our youth than our mothers did.
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This apartment is currently off the market. Go to the building page to see availabilities.
$5,3002 Bedroom, 2 Baths
1017 sqft.
Available immediately
One Year, Market Rate Lease
25 Washington Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
Brooklyn, NY 11201
Available No Fee Apartments at Gair2
|Unit # (click to view)
|Date Available
|Last Updated
|1 Bedroom
|1 Bath
|2 Bedroom
|2 Baths
|2 Bedroom
|2 Baths
Apartment Features
- Terrace
Building Features & Amenities
- Elevator
- Fitness Center
- Rooftop Deck
- Low-rise (1-6 Floors)
- Converted Factory/Warehouse
- Built 2011
- Rental Property
Pet policy: Dogs OK, Cats OK
Located in one of Brooklyn's up-and-coming neighborhoods is the Gair2 situated in DUMBO, right at the foot of Brooklyn Bridge. The neighborhood is a cultural masterpiece that is chock full of art galleries, top restaurants and cafes. Within this mesmerizing locale is one of DUMBO's most recent additions to the city's landscape.
Gair2 is a redesigned version of the building that once stood on the same spot. The former builder, Robert Gair, built a manufacturing building on the location in 1901. The architects from WASA/Studio designed the modified building with the help of the developer, Two Trees Management. This classical brick structure offers gorgeous exposed wood beams and white oak floors throughout the building. An old world ambience pervades the place and mixes with the modern age luxury that the designers brought to the table.
Within each of the 106 units at Gair2, residents can take advantage of large windows that let bright sun light and awe-inspiring views filter though. Custom Italian kitchens and stone countertops are just some of the modern, luxurious finishes at this establishment. Bathrooms are outfitted with chic soaking tubs, lavish stone floors, and Grohe faucets and fixtures.Washer/dryer combos are included within each unit and residents can also enjoy a gym on location.
Gair2 boasts an impressive 2,500 square foot rooftop deck that offers panoramic views of the Manhattan Bridge, Brooklyn Bridge and the Manhattan skyline. Residents can also enjoy easy access to the area's highways and subway lines as well as to all of the great shopping, restaurants and art galleries in the area.
Owner / Manager / Leasing Information for Gair2 › 8H
For more information on this listing, contact:
Property Management:
Two Trees Management Co
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Home > Mazda > Mazda MX 5 Kuro Special Edition 2012
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Mazda MX 5 Kuro Special Edition 2012
One of the bestselling two-seater roadsters recently received yet another special edition in the UK. Dubbed the Mazda MX-5 Kuro Special Edition, the new addition to the already large MX-5 family brings along with it a handful of aesthetical changes both inside and out. The Kuro is available in both soft-top and hard-top flavors and both come with a different price-tag and slightly different features.