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On Terror's New Front Line, Mistrust Blunts U.S. Strategy
KUMBOTSO, Nigeria—The shooting clattered on for 30 minutes, residents of this dusty town say, and when it ended, four militants holding a German engineer hostage were dead.
So were the engineer, and four innocent bystanders.
In vast West Africa, a new front-line region in the battle against al Qaeda, Nigeria is America's strategic linchpin, its military one the U.S. counts on to help contain the spread of Islamic militancy. Yet Nigeria has rebuffed American attempts to train that military, whose history of shooting freely has U.S. officials concerned that soldiers here fuel the very militancy they are supposed to counter.
It is just one example of the limits to what is now American policy for policing troubled parts of the world: to rely as much as possible on local partners.
The U.S. and Nigerian authorities don't fully trust each other, limiting cooperation against the threat. And U.S. officials say they are wary of sharing highly sensitive intelligence with the Nigerian government and security services for fear it can't be safeguarded. Nigerian officials concede militants have informants within the government and security forces.
For the U.S., though, cooperation with Nigeria is unavoidable. The country is America's largest African trading partner and fifth-largest oil supplier. Some 30,000 Americans work here. Nigeria has by far the biggest army in a region where al Qaeda has kidnapped scores of Westerners, trained local militants to rig car bombs and waged war across an expanse of Mali the size of Texas. Last month, al Qaeda-linked extremists' attack on a natural-gas plant in faraway Algeria left at least 37 foreigners dead.
In Nigeria, a homegrown Islamic extremist group loosely called Boko Haram has for years attacked churches and schools. The name translates as "Western education is sin."
Now, the sect's followers are joining a broader holy war, led by al Qaeda and financed by kidnappings. On Feb. 16, militants in Nigeria's Muslim north abducted seven mostly European construction workers.
Three days later, gunmen crossed into neighboring Cameroon to kidnap a family of French tourists outside an elephant park. The family appeared in a YouTube video posted this week, its four children squirming on camera, as a spokesman read a message for France, which last month attacked al Qaeda fighters in its former West African colony of Mali.
"We say to the president of France, we are the jihadists who people refer to as Boko Haram," the turban-shrouded man said. "We are fighting the war that he has declared on Islam."
French officials said they were analyzing the video and considering the difficulties in either entrusting Nigerian soldiers to rescue their citizens or staging a rescue raid in a foreign land.
Such kidnappings, like the attack in Algeria, show how extremist groups are leapfrogging borders.
Boko Haram has fought alongside the regional al Qaeda affiliate known as al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, according to residents of Mali. Hundreds of self-identified Boko Haram fighters last year learned to fire shoulder-mounted weapons at an AQIM-affiliated training camp in Timbuktu, Mali, said a cook who fed them and neighbors who watched them. Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau spent much of last year in Mali, according to a senior Nigeria security adviser.
In Boko Haram "you have a group that's becoming increasingly efficient and one that al Qaeda, AQIM, can use down the road,'' said John Giacalone, a Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent in New York who oversees counterterrorism work in Africa.
Days after the gas-plant attack in Algeria, French oil company Total SA said it was moving expatriate workers from Nigeria's capital, Abuja, to the south of the country, where kidnappings are more common but less violent.
While the French battle militants in Mali, the Obama administration has limited its role to providing logistical and intelligence support and drone surveillance from a base in nearby Niger, believing others such as France, Nigeria and other African allies have more immediately at stake and should assume most of the risks and costs.
That fits a broader U.S. pattern: After a decade of troop-intensive land wars that have strained American budgets and left the country war-weary, the U.S. is depending increasingly on regional powers.
"It can't just be the United States. It can't just be Europe. It's got to be the African nations as well joining in this effort," departing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said in an interview.
The new national-security team President Barack Obama has chosen is expected to embrace a light-footprint approach that relies on special forces, drones and local partners to combat terrorism, officials say.
Mr. Panetta brushed aside doubts about relying on Nigerian forces. "You can't give up on this thing," he said. "It's really important for the African nations to be able to develop their capabilities. I don't think we should just assume that we can't do that."
John Campbell, a former U.S. ambassador to Nigeria, said Nigeria is the African country of the greatest strategic importance to the U.S., but has sought to keep the American military at arm's length. "The Nigerians regard themselves as the hegemons of West Africa, and they are traditionally suspicious of other powers involving themselves," said Mr. Campbell, now a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Doyin Okupe, senior special assistant to Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, agreed that "Nigeria sees itself as a regional power in Africa. It's the dominant force, really. Nigeria is a very proud nation. We feel that to subjugate our military under another world power would be to really compromise our integrity."
He said Nigeria is willing to let Western nations supply equipment, "but we might not be too predisposed to subjugating our forces to undergo training under another military."
Washington has struggled for years to cement close ties with the Nigerian army. The U.S. military's Africa Command invited the Nigerian military seven years ago to participate in Operation Flintlock, an annual multinational counterterrorism exercise. Nigerian generals balked at sending a large contingent of soldiers. The U.S. later proposed setting up a specialized counterterrorism unit within the Nigerian military, but it foundered, according to U.S. officials.
After a Nigerian recruited by an al Qaeda branch tried to blow up an airliner approaching Detroit on Christmas 2009, the U.S. ramped up its approach. Since the thwarted attack, the U.S. has been working with Nigeria on creating an "intelligence fusion center" for rapid sharing of information collected by various Nigerian security services, say State Department officials.
U.S. military officials see this as an important first step to see whether the Nigerians can handle security threats themselves. After two years of effort, the plan has only inched forward, owing to mistrust among agencies and fighting over funding, officials in both countries say.
Nigerian officials have acknowledged that Boko Haram has a web of informants within the government and security services, inhibiting closer cooperation with the U.S.
"Some of them are in the executive arm of government, some of them are in the parliamentary arm of government, while some of them are even in the judiciary," said Mr. Jonathan, the Nigerian president, after a bomb blast leveled a church in 2011. He added: "Some are also in the armed forces, the police and other security agencies."
U.S. officials, especially at the State Department, worry that the Nigerian security force's free-shooting ways make the security situation worse.
Nigeria Police Force Order 237 allows officers to shoot anyone "who takes to flight in order to avoid arrest" and lets the police decide what constitutes avoiding arrest. The country's National Human Rights Commission estimates the police kill 2,500 Nigerians each year. By comparison, Boko Haram has killed around 2,000 in the four years since the once-obscure group grew into an insurgency, New York's Human Rights Watch estimates.
Amnesty International posted a report on Nov. 1 that accused the Nigerian army of burning houses, cars and shops and of shooting dead "people who were clearly no threat to life—unarmed, lying down…cooperating with security forces." One day later, Amnesty said that in just two days, the Nigerian army had shot at least 30 young men. The local nickname for a branch called the Mobile Police is "Kill and Go."
"Military and police heavy-handedness in the north is core to the story of Boko Haram's emergence," said Michael Woldemariam, a professor of African security studies at Boston University. "You can't discount the effects of the state's brutality in the north."
Nigerian generals reject such criticism and note that they send more peacekeepers to the United Nations than all but four other countries. "We are respected all over the world," said an army spokesman, Brig. Gen. Mobolaji Koleoso. "We are talking about decent men and women who are well-trained and well-schooled…. It's not that we're going outside to go and kill people." He called the Amnesty report "frivolous."
But a growing chorus in the capital is pushing for reform. "There is a recognition here that things are going to have to be done differently," said Fatima Akilu, a psychologist named last year as director of the Nigerian national security office's new hearts and minds campaign. "Nobody can win this situation using force alone," she added.
The hostage case in Kumbotso offered a glimpse of the security forces in action.
Edgar Raupach was among hundreds of German engineers working in Nigeria's booming construction industry, helping pave stretches of road.
In January 2012 he disappeared from the northern city of Kano, and word spread in nearby Kumbotso that some men had brought home a German hostage. Locals said these men were unpopular outsiders who didn't speak the prevailing Hausa language.
If the outsiders weren't popular with the Nigerian villagers, Nigeria's national police and armed forces were even less so. Residents at a town council meeting quarreled over whether to tell the security services, some arguing that doing so might just make matters worse, according to people who attended. The outcome was unclear, a council official saying he sent a letter to the government but got no reply, while other residents doubted a letter was ever sent.
Two months after his kidnapping, the engineer appeared in a video begging his government to meet the demands of men he described as holy warriors from al Qaeda. The group asked for the release of a jailed German woman, Uma Saifullah Al-Ansariya (born Filiz Gelowicz), who had been convicted in Germany of supporting a terrorist group.
As it happened, she was due to be released from a German prison in April. She was freed. Mr. Raupach wasn't.
His Nigerian employer ran an ad in Arabic and English in the region's leading newspaper: "100 DAYS MISSING. Edgar Fitz Raupach," it said. "Your sister Uma Saifullah Al-Ansariya (Filiz Gelowicz) is free since two weeks. When do you release our brother EDGAR?? HIS FRIENDS ARE WAITING FOR HIM."
Eventually, someone slipped word of the hostage's whereabouts to an agent of Nigeria's secret service. The response was swift. As village residents rose from the following morning's prayers, hundreds of Nigerian soldiers stormed into the town. They began to "shoot everywhere," one resident says.
The gunfire lasted about 30 minutes. The army says the soldiers killed all four kidnappers. Residents say the kidnappers actually numbered about 10. They say four Kumbotso bystanders died in the crossfire.
The military unit declined to comment beyond a press statement. It said that the soldiers weren't aware the hostage was there and that his captors stabbed him to death.
Hours later, soldiers returned with a bulldozer and destroyed what remained of the kidnappers' compound, along with any evidence of their identities. Investigators still aren't sure who they were.
—Devlin Barrett and Musa Ibrahim contributed to this article.
Write to Drew Hinshaw at email@example.com and Adam Entous at firstname.lastname@example.com


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Another comment on hands, not related to ballet. I remember reading somewhere (it was either John Mueller or Arlene Croce, can't remember) that Fred Astaire would pull in his middle and ring fingers in an attempt to hide the large size of his hands.
Astaire's self consciousness about his hands was widely noted. I remember Leslie Caron remarking on it in an interview, too.


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Honoring our veterans
Giant flag unfurled at Rentschler (VIDEO)
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GERING, Neb. (February 4, 2013)—A man and a woman wanted on Texas warrants were in custody Monday after a high-speed chase that wound from western Nebraska into Wyoming and back again.
Joshua Carver, 26, and Alexandria Pryor, 21 were held Monday in Scotts Bluff County, Neb., after they were arrested Saturday afternoon in the Nebraska Panhandle's Sioux County.
The chase began when a Mitchell officer tried to stop a car bearing Texas plates.
The chase reached speeds upward of 100 miles per hour was it wound through two Nebraska counties, into eastern Wyoming and back to Nebraska.
Authorities say the two abandoned the car when it developed engine trouble, but were soon captured.
A loaded handgun, a military-style rifle, ammunition and several knives were found in the car.


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THE PARTY The city's creative class turned out in Cady's Alley for Archer's VIP preview of Undiscovered Color: Paintings of Benjamin Abramowitz (1960-1970). THE PEOPLE Guests included James Meyer, associate curator at the National Gallery of Art, and Dr. Dorn McGrath, professor emeritus at George Washington University. BEST IN SHOW It was a family affair, with the artist's daughter Susan Abramowitz Rosenbaum, granddaughter Sheila Bouttier and great-granddaughter Audrey Bouttier all in attendance. Photography by Kyle Samperton


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The Treatment of Hyperadrenocorticism in a Canine using Chinese Herbal Medicine
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An eleven year old female shih tzu, weighing 7.7kg, presented having been diagnosed elsewhere with hyperadrenocorticism (Cushing's disease). Her owners were seeking alternatives to conventional treatment protocols.
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Violence in Chicago has been the subject of national discourse for over a year. The number of homicides in the city in 2012, 508, stunned people across the nation. How could so much tragedy take place in a world-class city? In the home of a sitting president?
Despite the national headlines the increased interest due to the Obama connection and the relatively new 24-hour news cycle, 2012 was not a record year for murders in Chicago. The final count of 508 homicides is a marked increase from 2011, which saw 435 killings. But did you know that there were 513 murders in 2008? 601 murders in 2003? What about the 704 people killed in 1998? How about the 931 victims in 1994? The city's all-time high of 970 killings was in 1974.
I cite those figures not to dismiss the significance the recent spike in murders, but to make it clear that those of us who are from Chicago know this violence all too well. It is tragic, heartbreaking, maddening—but not at all new.
Black death and Black pain are far too familiar to the city of Chicago, a city that should not be viewed through the lens of tragedy. A city founded by a Black man, John Baptiste Point du Sable. A city that has cultivated Black icons and Black excellence, from Lou Rawls to Derrick Rose, Gwendolyn Brooks to Jennifer Hudson. From Harold Washington to Common, Lorraine Hansberry to Michelle Obama. Chairman Fred Hampton, Nat King Cole, Redd Foxx and the list goes on…
In fact, it was in Chicago where a young Arkansas transplant by the name of John H. Johnson became one of the most successful Black men in history with the founding of the Johnson Publishing Company. For EBONY, Chicago is and will always be home.
And for far too long, our home has been in peril.
Just today, a six-month-old baby died as a result of gunshot wounds she sustained when an unknown shooter fired into the car where her father was changing her diaper. What kind of world do we live in where even the youngest of lives are not safe from this sort of attack?
Gun control advocates point to Chicago as evidence that stricter laws are needed to keep guns off the street. Gun rights activists counter that the state of Illinois has very tight possession laws and that most of the firearms used in these crimes have been obtained illegally. Some folks blame the tragedies in Chicago on fatherlessness, while other cite poverty as the greatest catalyst. In reality, this is not a 140-character problem. There are many causes for these tragedies and many challenges facing our people in Chicago. And without understanding them, solutions will remain elusive.
For that reason, we have created ENOUGH: Chicago and the Tragedy of Urban Violence, EBONY.com's latest series. Launching on Wednesday, March 13, ENOUGH will examine the factors contributing to the crisis in Chicago—educational disparities, unemployment, the ever-shifting gang culture, mental health issues, etc. We will talk to survivors and those who have lost loved ones, while also exploring the other violent crimes taking place in our hometown that don't garner the same level of attention as the homicide rate. We'll take a look at just where the violence is taking place and how so many guns make their way on to Chicago's streets. ENOUGH will also highlight the activists who are working to make things better. And yes, we will discuss solutions.
Chicago is not "Chi-raq." We can't own or embrace that. Our city is an epicenter of Black culture and Black life. It is a reflection of our people not just in the Midwest, but across the country. Chicago is home and it is time to say "ENOUGH."
-Jamilah Lemieux, News and Lifestyle Editor, EBONY.com
#ENOUGH Stories to Date (this list will be updated weekly):
- Public Education: The New Civil Rights Struggle
- Black Students Overwhelmingly Affected by Chicago Public Schools' Proposed Closures
- Chicago Students Face Massive School Closures (ED: The number of proposed closures went from 10 to 54 in the days after the previous article was published.)
- Black Star Project Hosts "Educate Or Die" College Fair
- Urban Prep's Tim King Talks Success
- Failing Special Education
- 50 Chicago Public Schools to Close
- Can Great Teachers Save Chicago?
- Father Michael Pfleger on Bringing Jobs, Hope to the 'Hood
- SAFE STREETS: Community Leaders Focus on Collaboratio
- National Emergency Summit on Urban Violence
- 'Think Before You Shoot'
- Why Doesn't America Care About Dead Black Children?
- Chicago's Gang Culture Remixed
- Black Girls: Caught in the Crossfire
- Babies Should Have Birthdays, Not Wakes
- Homegoing for Jonylah Emani Watkins
- Mental Health Disparities Endanger Chicago's Youth
- A Teen Hero Speaks
- 'People Can Stop the Violence if They Want To'
- 'I've Witnessed A Lot'
- 'Blair Holt: Gone But Never Forgotten'


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Once I've heard a teacher saying never to pronounce the letter "T" with the sound "T", start with the sound "D" [in English]. So she said we should say [di], but not [ti].
But when I listen to the books, I've heard the French people start with "T", so I wonder, who is right?
The same as above. Which sound should I start with? Sound "P" or sound "B"?
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But right out of the box, I'd say there is some missing information because T should be pronounced as "Tay", and P as "Pay".
It makes sense from a Chinese teacher. The pinyin t is stronger than the French t.
But the pinyin d is somewhere between the French t and French d. I often hear the Chinese render the French t too softly.
The difference between French t and d is less in the mouth than in the throat. The d sound makes use of the vocal folds, whilst the t sound does not.
Neither of them have a strongly aspirated h like the pinyin t (or even the English t, hence the remark from your teacher I guess).
So it's not as simple as making a one-to-one map with Chinese sounds. What you hear as a Chinese native speaker is something between your pinyin t and d sounds in both cases, and it's hard for you to make the difference. I used to teach Chinese people to make the difference by placing a finger along your throat, and try to pronounce t and d. When you feel the vocal folds vibrating a lot, that's a French d. When you don't, that's a French t.
As a side note, it's better to make a strong difference between your t's and d's in French, because the understanding is less easy when t's and d's all sound like d's. :) I'd advise to make the French t's as a gentle and soft pinyin t (with lower aspiration than usual), and pronounce French d's like a pinyin d while paying attention to make the vocal folds vibrate.
The same distinction applies to the difference between p and b.
To supplement Subtenante's answer, read about voice onset time.
To summarize: Humans can pronounce a wide spectrum of (dental or alveolar stop) consonants, ranging from points with strong voicing (French "di") to points with strong aspiration (English "tea", or perhaps Korean is stronger). Most languages only contrast 2 points on this spectrum, usually called d and t, but the d and t in one language are different than in another.
"Who is right?"
Right now, out of the blue, I fail to see examples of pronouncing T as DT or P as B.
In some cases, often when pronouncing foreign words, we can change sounds from what seems to be natural to a French.


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As cyclists we have a need for speed. We shave ounces off our bikes, we periodize our training, we train for muscular endurance, strength and power in the weight room, and we focus on core stabilization in order to have a strong platform from which to generate power.
Paul Chek, a long time mentor of mine says "you can't shoot a canon from a canoe". The same holds true for cycling - if you want maximum power on the bike you have to have a strong core. Not the outer unit musculature (think six pack abs), but the inner unit musculature: transversus abdominis (TvA), multifidus, pelvic floor and diaphragm.
For many years we asked our clients to perform a "drawing -in maneuver" or activation of the TvA. Then we progressed to teaching abdominal bracing. Both techniques, while useful in a variety of situations, treat core stabilization from the outside in. To maximize core stabilization we have to reverse our thinking, and train from the inside out.
The King (or Queen…) of the "inner unit" is the diaphragm - not a muscle we traditionally consider when training the core. Because of the fascial connections the diaphragm shares with the inner unit musculature, psoas and the quadratus lumborum, if it is dysfunctional we won't have maximal stabilization.
A key component of core stabilization is intra-abdominal pressure. The diaphragm when working well contracts and pushes down into the abdominal cavity, which combined with the resistance created by the pelvic floor, and an eccentric contraction of the entire abdominal wall, increases the pressure in front of the spine. The pressure from the front is counteracted by contraction of the lumbar extensor muscles and the spine is fully stabilized.
One of the best exercises for training the diaphragm to stabilize the spine is the 90/90 hip lift with balloon, developed by Ron Hruska from the Postural Restoration Institute:
- Lie on your back with your feet flat on a wall, and knees and hips bent at a 90/90-degree angle.
- Place a 4-6-inch ball between your knees.
- Place your right arm above your head while holding a balloon in your left hand.
- Inhale through your nose and as you exhale through your mouth, perform a pelvic tilt so your tailbone is raised slightly off the mat. Keep the lower back flat on the mat. Do not press your feet into the wall; instead, pull down with your heels.
- You should feel the back of your thighs and inner thighs engage, keeping pressure on the ball. Maintain this position for the remainder of the exercise.
- Inhale through your nose and slowly blow out into the balloon.
- Pause for 3 seconds with your tongue positioned on the roof of your mouth to prevent airflow out of the balloon.
- Without pinching the neck of the balloon and while keeping your tongue on the roof of your mouth, inhale again through your nose.
- Slowly blow out as you stabilize the balloon with your left hand.
- Do not strain your neck or cheeks as you blow.
- After the fourth breath in, pinch the balloon neck and remove it from your mouth. Let the air out of the balloon.
- Relax; then repeat the sequence four more times.
For more breathing exercises review last week's post: "Take a deep breath…well maybe not to deep!"
Regarding that need for speed - you already have all the gear you need…


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Heard On The Field
Brazil Crushes Spain, Puts World on Notice
How much the Confederations Cup—a dress rehearsal for next year's World Cup in Brazil—means in the grand scheme of international soccer is up for debate. But Sunday night in Rio de Janeiro, as Brazil manhandled Spain, the defending World Cup champion, to win the final 3-0, there was no doubt how much it meant to the home side.
More than 55,000 fans clad in yellow and green packed into the Maracanã Stadium to watch Brazil complete a mission of self-esteem. The side that came into the tournament with a record-low FIFA world ranking of 22 ended it feeling like winning the 2014 World Cup, held on home turf, was now a real possibility.
For Spain, which won back-to-back European Championships with the 2010 World Cup sandwiched in between over the last five years, it was the first defeat in 29 competitive games—a run that lasted three years. But La Roja, heavy-legged and rattled by Brazil's pressing game, looked out of it from the moment Fred bundled home Brazil's ugly opener in the second minute.
As if to make up for it, the Seleçao's second score was a thing of beauty. After a tidy combination with Oscar eliminated four Spanish defenders, Neymar (pictured) hit a left-footed rocket into the roof of the Spanish net from nine yards out just before halftime. Fred scored the third moments after the break.
And as if things couldn't get any more embarrassing for Spain, Sergio Ramos missed a penalty kick and Gerard Piqué was justifiably sent off in the space of 15 minutes in the second half.
Earlier in the day, Italy beat Uruguay on penalty kicks after drawing 2-2 in regulation to take third place.
—Joshua Robinson
Hamilton Tires of F1's Endless Tire Problems
Eight races into the Formula One season, the most sophisticated auto-racing championship in the world, the dominant theme is tires with a tendency to fall apart. Sunday's British Grand Prix at Silverstone, won by Nico Rosberg of Mercedes, merely reinforced that.
Fellow Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton was one of four drivers to suffer blowouts along with Ferrari's Felipe Massa, Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne and McLaren's Sergio Perez. Hamilton became the latest driver to publicly criticize Pirelli, the sport's exclusive tire manufacturer, this year.
"I think it's a waste of time talking to any of them at the moment, if I'm honest," he told the BBC, referring to Pirelli and F1's governing body. "They can see what happened today. If they don't react on it, then that says everything."
Hamilton—the 2008 F1 champion who has yet to win a race this season—had started in pole position before a dramatic puncture sent him to the back of the field. Though an excellent drive brought him back for a fourth-place finish, Hamilton saw an opportunity slip away while Rosberg, his teammate, won the race.
Sebastian Vettel, the three-time defending F1 champion, led with less than a quarter of the race left but retired because of a gearbox problem.
FIA president Jean Todt announced after the race that he had summoned Pirelli to an emergency meeting Wednesday to discuss Sunday's tire issues. Pirelli's motorsport director Paul Hembery said in a statement that he hadn't seen those types of failures before.
"At the moment, we can't really say much more until we have fully investigated and analyzed all of these incidents, which is our top priority," he added.


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7 Random Animals That Decided The Course of History
We've all heard that story of a butterfly that flaps its wings, and through a chain of events triggers a hurricane on the other side of the world. We've always taken that as just some kind of trippy thought experiment for guys to ponder while stoned, but if you look at real history you find entire world events turning on the actions of creatures every bit as insignificant as that butterfly.
Their stories are presented here in precise order of how ridiculous they are.
#7. The Dog that Saved Napoleon
Today "Waterloo" is synonymous with a massive, cataclysmic defeat. It was the last clash of the Napoleonic Wars and a spectacular end to the career of a man who wanted to rule all of Europe. And it wouldn't have happened if not for a random, unnamed dog.
A few years before all that, things started going downhill for Napoleon (something to do with his deciding to invade Russia, with the mindset of a man going to hunt grizzly bears with a bouquet of freshly picked parsley). After he was roughly cornholed in Russia, Bonaparte was exiled to the small island of Elba.
However, in 1815, Napoleon, being Napoleon, had enough of that shit and slipped past the guards and set sail off the island. But legend has it that during a particularly rough storm at sea, the fleeing Napoleon was thrown overboard. The tale of one of the most important figures in history would have ended right there, had not an unnamed Newfoundland dog plunged into the water to save him.
Imagine that little tiger is Napoleon.
It sounds like something from a Disney cartoon, but Newfoundlands are known for this (it's probably why one was on the boat in the first place). And, where in a Disney movie this is when Napoleon and the (talking) dog would strike up a friendship that teaches them both about the value of accepting people different from themselves, in real life Napoleon returned to France and started killing people, setting off his famous Hundred Days, a military campaign to regain power.
The final stage of this campaign was the famous Battle of Waterloo where Napoleon's career as a conqueror came to an end once and for all.
#6. The Pig that Created European Democracy
See if you can follow this domino-like series of events. You have King Philip of France, the eventual successor to the throne and his younger brother Louis, who spent his childhood training for the monastery. After Philip was enthroned as co-king in 1129, he quickly turned into an angsty teenager, often rebelling against his father, which by 12th century standards probably amounted to attending a lot of underground flute concerts.
Philip was out being rebellious one day, tearing ass along the Seine on his 12th century motorcycle (sometimes referred to as a horse)...
More or less this.
...when suddenly a small, black pig darted out of a dung heap and tripped the horse. The resulting wreck killed Philip.
But why do we care about that, almost nine centuries later?
Well, the pig-triggered death opened the throne for Louis VII, up to that point known as Louis the guy who'd spent his entire life preparing to not have sex with anyone in a monastery. His strongly Catholic upbringing caused him to accompany the Pope on a little trip to the holy land known as the Second Crusade.
How did that end? Jerusalem was lost, thousands died on both sides and Muslims regained control of the Holy Land.
"All according to my devious, convoluted plan. Perfect."
Another thing Louis's monastic upbringing didn't prepare him for was boning. His wife Eleanor of Aquitaine famously said "she had thought to marry a King, only to find she'd married a monk." To pour salt on that fresh BURN, she divorced his ass and married Henry II, King of England, and gave birth to five of his sons. One of those sons was King John (yes, comic relief from all those Robin Hood stories).
Not only did this cause an enormous rift between England and France, but King John sucked at being king so much that he would eventually be forced to sign the Magna Carta, which then became the basis for all of democracy in Europe. He wouldn't have existed if not for Eleanor's re-marriage, which wouldn't have happened if not for the Second Crusade, which France likely wouldn't have been in if not for Philip's accident. That'll do, pig.
#5. The Two Monkeys That Caused 250,000 People to Die
So you're probably thinking that dying from a pig accident is the silliest way a king has ever died. And you would be wrong. At least one of them died via monkey attack.
Alexander I was the King of Greece in the early 20th Century. World War I had just ended, and since you don't want to stop warring all at once, Greece decided to walk it off by going to war with the Ottoman Empire (now Turkey).
With the aid of Britain and France, Greece was going through Turkey like it was Thanksgiving. However, in 1920, while he was strolling through the Royal Gardens in Athens with his dog, Alexander was attacked. By monkeys.
Nope, that's "Monkees," although it is equally retarded.
There has been some confusion as to where the monkeys came from, some historians claimed they were his pets and that they were attacking his dog due to some complex intra-pet politics we will not go into here. Others assert they were wild monkeys. We choose to believe they were trained Turkish assassins dressed in adorable people clothes.
Either way, the king was bitten on the hand, the hand got infected and Alexander died of sepsis. It turns out that bite changed history in the region.
After the death of Alexander, his father Constantine returned to the throne. Unfortunately, back in WWI, Constantine technically might have theoretically, in passing, sided with the Germans, so France and Britain were not as eager to help him out in his conquest of the Ottoman Empire.
But hey, if the King of Greece cannot step over a few Turks without the help of a bunch of Frog Eaters and Limeys, then something is very wrong with the world, right? He plunged ahead. Then he got his ass handed to him.
The Greek army was destroyed, a quarter of a million soldiers died, Greece lost all the land that Alexander acquired. Greece was from then on more or less Turkey's bitch and the never ending debate over the origin of kebab began.
#4. The Cat Who Single-Handedly Wiped Out a Species
We tend to think of nature pretty much living in harmony, until evil mankind comes along with bulldozers and pollutants and kills off any species unfortunate enough to be born defenseless and/or delicious. But sometimes, nature commits that kind of genocide all on her own. It just takes a predator badass enough to wipe out every single member of another species.
That predator's name was Tibbles. It was a lighthouse keeper's cat that single-handedly wiped out the Stephens Island Wren.
Stephens Island is the most distant island off the northern tip of New Zealand's South Island and was known to hold a certain number of the wrens, little flightless birds which fed on insects and apparently went down pretty good with a bowl of milk.
It is unknown how these little walking feathered balls even got on the island, since they can't fly and all. But in true slasher flick fashion, the second they decided to camp out on that old isolated piece of land, the lot of them were slaughtered by a local demon beast.
"They call me Mr. Tibbles."
For weeks, Tibbles has been hunting the wrens for sport, until his owner noticed that they looked like no bird he had ever seen. The unique species was then examined, classified... and declared extinct; within the same year. A small corner of Earth's ecosystem was changed forever, due to a lone house cat.


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Leavenworth public school officials are hoping for a repeat.
Leavenworth High School teacher Jeff Baxter was named the 2014 Kansas Teacher of the Year. Now, district officials have announced the educators who will represent Leavenworth in the 2015 Kansas Teacher of the Year competition.
Beth Riccio and Kathryn Schiller learned Thursday they had been selected as Leavenworth teachers of the year.
Riccio, a seventh-grade science teacher at Richard Warren Middle School, was selected as the district's Secondary Teacher of the Year. Schiller, a fourth-grade teacher at Anthony Elementary School, was picked as the district's Elementary Teacher of the Year.
They will advance to the regional level of the Kansas Teacher of the Year competition with a chance to move to the state level contest.
Riccio has been with the Leavenworth school district for 27 years.
She said she decided to become a science teacher because she wanted to help others find something big to do.
"I wanted to pay it forward," she wrote in her application for Teacher of the Year.
She estimates she's had about 3,000 middle school students during her career.
Early in her career, Riccio thought she eventually would move up to the high school level and teach biology.
"I have had the opportunity and invitation to move up a couple of times, but I have come to understand that it is my job to convince the middle students that they like science and that they are good at it," she wrote in her application.
Schiller has been teaching for 28 years, the last 11 in Leavenworth.
Schiller said she has always wanted to be an elementary teacher.
"Even today, after 28 years, I believe that my calling is teaching," she wrote in her application.
She wrote that the ultimate reward for her as a teacher is the success and happiness of her students.
"Every day I have the opportunity to make a difference," she wrote. "I instill hope in children and help them to see the unlimited possibilities they have in front of them."
Riccio and Schiller were selected as Leavenworth teachers of the year after being picked as finalists at their respective schools.
"Each building runs their own selection process," said Jake Potter, director of public relations for the school district.
He said three-member panels selected the two teachers who will represent the district in the Kansas Teacher of the Year program.
The other building level finalists were Andrea Shepard, School of New Beginnings; Jodie Brice, David Brewer Elementary; Kristin Shoemaker, Earl M. Lawson Elementary; Sue Klotz, Henry Leavenworth Elementary; Angela Sculley, West Intermediate; and Susan Williams, Leavenworth High School.
Regional finalists in the 2015 Kansas Teacher of the Year program will be announced in September. The Kansas Teacher of the Year will be named in November.
Page 2 of 2 - Leavenworth teachers have done well the last two years of the Kansas Teacher of the Year program.
Anthony music teacher Laura Moyers was named a regional Teacher of the Year in the 2013 competition. And, Baxter is the reigning Kanas Teacher of the Year.
Location, ST | website.com


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Emotions ran high back east, but several Washington legislators spent the day firing AR-15s, pistols and shotguns in Thurston County.
Disagreements over gun laws didn't stop both Democrats and Republicans from taking part in the longstanding tradition of taking their guns to the range.
When he's not pushing legislation, Sen. Don Benton enjoys pulling triggers.
"It's unfortunate the focus is on the gun rather than the misuse of the gun," Benton said.
The lawmakers lined up at Littlerock's Shooting Range on Thursday for a friendly shooting competition.
Sen Pam Roach brought her own assault rifle and took aim at Connecticut's new gun control laws, which were passed in the wake of the Sandy Hook Massacre.
"I think the important thing is we support the Second Amendment and realize there are a lot of people who have their lives taken because they can't defend themselves," Roach said.
And it wasn't just Republicans taking part in the festivities.
"I am a gun owner. I have a few different guns," said Lt. Gov. Brad Owen, a Democrat.
Since Sandy Hook and Seattle's Caf Racer killings, legislators around the nation have proposed more than 1,300 bills to change state gun laws. Some have looked to restrict sales, while others would ease gun-carrying constraints.
Washington lawmakers have shot down at least six gun bills this session, including legislation introduced by Rep. Jamie Pedersen.
"I think we're in a pretty good place for being able to make some progress on universal background checks next year," Pedersen said.
Only two gun bills are still gaining ground this week in Washington.
The firearms offender database would make felons convicted of crimes with guns register every year for four years. The other law still alive would make it a crime for people who have protection orders against them to own guns.
"We clearly have an important constitutional right that is part of our history and tradition in the state and we're trying to balance that on the other hand with public safety," Pedersen said.
Lawmakers are also considering two mental illness bill that they say could affect gun violence.


text: Hey guys! Welcome back to my step-by-step tutorial. Today I am going to show you "how to draw a Indian warrior, step by step". I know it might seem a little bit complicated, but I assure you, if you follow the steps slowly, it's actually not so bad. I am excited to talk about Native Americans in this tutorial and I wanted to talk a little about how Native Americans are related to Asians like me. Before I had learned anything about the Native Americans, I've always thought they looked kind of "Asian." Apparently, we are related to each other. They belong to a race of people originally from Mongolia, who crossed the Bering Strait into North America several thousand years ago. It's amazing how the human race is so interrelated when you trace back to where we all started. Now who can say that they have the pure blood of a certain race? Globalization has brought us all together nowadays regardless of race. I hope this tutorial will guide you step by step to draw a neat looking native America warrior. And I will be looking forward to see you all in my next tutorial. Until next time, happy drawing, and have fun with this tutorial that will teach you "how to draw a Indian warrior, step by step".


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Report: The voice of Master Chief confirms Halo 2 Anniversary EditionWritten by: / / 2 Comments
Two weeks ago, an anonymous tipster went on a rumour and speculation release rampage spilling a bunch of supposed secrets on Microsoft's future plans for the Halo series, release dates for Xbox One games, and a few morsels on new versions of the Xbox One to come in the future.
Of course, Microsoft has neither confirmed nor denied any of the rumoured news items (most – if not all – of which sound pretty legitimate), but has instead set on a campaign to root out the tipster and take legal action.
As that battle continues, one of the rumours has seemingly been confirmed by Halo and Master Chief voice actor, Steve Downes, who said in an interview with Gamezone that we can expect an anniversary edition of Halo 2 in 2014, but anything called 'Halo 5' is still far off:
"I think you may be ahead of yourself on Halo 5," Downes told Gamezone. "I wouldn't expect anything until 2015. What you can look forward to this year is an anniversary edition of Halo 2."
The rumour goes that Halo 2 Anniversary Edition is currently in development at previous Halo partners Saber Interactive and Certain Affinity, with the game due for release on November 11th, 2014. The Xbox One package will include a higher definition version of the original Xbox game, as well as a beta entry to the next Halo, also on Xbox One.
We've previously been promised that our "next Halo journey WILL begin in 2014," but it was never specified which Halo we would get this year, despite the fact that it was widely believed to be an all-new entry to the series on Xbox One.
Which version of Halo do you think we'll get here in 2014?
Tags: halo, halo2anniversaryedition, microsoft


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I know there's at least one level 4 lock in Detroit in the first section of the game. However, I'm wondering how soon I need to max out my hacking skills if I want to be able to hack absolutely everything.
I would upgrade to level 5 before leaving Detroit for the first time.
The police station has at least a level 4 hack for the armory, as I recall - it might be level 5 - and you will not be able to get in on your second trip to Detroit. So you need level 4 if you want to do all the hacking you can.
However, once you have level 4, you can upgrade to level 5 to break in to an illegal aug shop in the Brooklyn Court apartment building in Detroit. Inside of that aug shop, you can find a Praxis kit. This is accessible later, but since the upgrade pays for itself and will make your future hacking easier, you may as well get it as soon as you can.
Sarif HQ has a few level 5 hacks. For instance, the helipad storage room & Pritchard's computer.


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Cheat Sheet
Wedding Planning For Dummies
Planning a wedding involves hundreds of decisions, from calculating how much liquor to buy to figuring out how much space and how many servers you need for your reception. You also want to be prepared for any kind of emergency that happens on your wedding day. Fortunately, many new websites and smartphone apps can help you with all aspects of your wedding planning, especially your budget.
Bridal Emergency-Kit Checklist
You want to make sure you're prepared for any kind of emergency on your wedding day. Consider packing a satchel or gym bag with some or all of the following items:
Aspirin, antacid, and sedatives
Baby wipes
Ballet slippers for dancing
Blow dryer
Brush, comb, and hair spray
Clear nail polish, nail glue, and emery board
Contact lenses and solution
Earring backs
Extra copies of wedding-day and transportation schedule
Masking tape (for ripped hems) and double-stick tape
Pins (bobby, hair in blonde and black, safety, and straight)
Sewing kit complete with thread in white, black, and bridesmaids' dress colors; have needles threaded and ready to go
Smelling salts
Stick stain remover
Stockings (two pairs)
Straws (for a quick drink without messing up lipstick)
Studs, cuff links, and bow ties
Tampons and sanitary napkins
Toothbrush, toothpaste, dental floss, mouthwash, and breath mints
Tweezers and crochet hook (to get at button hooks and other teeny places)
White chalk (a savior for lipstick on a wedding dress or shirt collar)
How Much Liquor to Buy for a Wedding
If you're hosting your wedding in an off-premise facility or your rehearsal dinner at home, you need to know how much liquor to buy. The following table gives the standard amounts needed for a simple bar.
Note: Amounts are for 100 guests with a four-hour open bar, including cocktail hour. For ice, figure on 1-1/2 pounds per person; 2-1/2 pounds per person if also chilling bottles.
|1 liter
|5 liters
|2 liters
|4 liters
|1 liter
|Vermouth (dry)
|2 750-ml bottles
|Vermouth (sweet)
|2 750-ml bottles
|6 liters
|Whisky (blended)
|1–2 liters
|Beer and Wine
|2 or 3 cases
|Champagne during cocktails
|1-1/2 cases
|Wine (white) during cocktails
|1-1/2 cases
|Wine (red) during cocktails
|6 bottles
|Club soda
|9 liters
|14 liters
|Diet cola
|12 liters
|Ginger ale
|7 liters
|Juices (cranberry, orange, grapefruit)
|8 quarts each
|Lemon-lime soda
|7 liters
|Diet lemon-lime
|7 liters
|1 case
How Much Space Do You Need for Your Wedding?
Figuring out how much space you need for wedding events isn't easy, especially for the reception site, which has to accommodate tables, chairs, bars, open cocktail space, the dance floor, and so on. Here's a quick chart that tells you how many square feet you need for various wedding events.
|Recommended Square Feet per Person
|Cocktails (pre-meal)
|Cocktails with dance floor
|Cocktails with hors d'oeuvres stations
|Seated and served meal with dance floor
|Dance floor
|3 (for a dancing crowd)
Round-Tablecloth Sizes for Your Wedding Reception
Change the look of your entire wedding reception simply by choosing a floor-length tablecloth. But what size tablecloth will cover those nasty, industrial-looking legs of a typically round banquet table? Here's a guide to tablecloth lengths for various-sized round tables.
|Table Diameter
|Floor-Length Cloth
|60 inches
|120 inches
|54 inches
|114 inches
|48 inches
|108 inches
|36 inches
|96 inches
How Many Servers Do You Need at Your Wedding Reception?
The number of servers included in your wedding-reception contract will vary depending on the venue, its service standards, and the event's degree of formality,. This table lists the suitable amounts of staff for different types of wedding receptions:
|Type of Service
|Recommended Number of Servers
|Formal, multi-course meal
|1 to 2 waiters per 10 to 12 guests
|Simple menu or buffet
|1 waiter per 25 guests
|Pre-dinner cocktails
|1 bartender per 50 to 75 guests, combined with wine passed by waiters
Wedding-Planning Websites and Apps
Technology has been a savior in the realm of wedding planning. Several websites and apps can make the wedding-planning process infinitely less painful (although apps can't replace a real, live, hands-on wedding planner, thank goodness!).
iWedding Deluxe: This app has a myriad of helpful facets, but most impressive is its budgeting tools.
Paperless Post: Use this site to send beautiful, electronic save-the-dates and e-invitations.
miWedding: Head to this site to download a great app for getting wedding info and updating your guests.
Social Tables: This site makes creating your seating chart a snap!
MissNowMrs.com: For a reasonable fee, this site makes changing your name on important documents painless.


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If $f(x) = \int^1_0 e^{xy+y^2}dy$, find $f'(0)$.
I understand that this is function defined by an integral, and $e^{y^{2}}$ does not integrate into an elementary function. So, I will need to take $f'(x)$ which yields:
$$\int^1_0 ye^{xy+y^2}dy$$
I am trying to integrate this, but I am failing. I take it I should use integration by parts, but I can't because I still have $e^{y^2}$ term. Any help?


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The 6 Most Bizarre Global Warming Side Effects
#3. No More Baseball Bats
The ash trees that baseball bats are made from are getting their asses kicked by global warming.
White ash has been the tree of choice for baseball bat manufacturers for decades, due to having the specific balance of weight and strength that you can't get without resorting to that aluminum bat bullshit.
Fuck you, kid
Anyway, thanks to changing climates, ash forests are now facing not just a change in temperature which can affect the quality and flexibility of the wood, making them less ideal for bats, but also the ash borer beetle, a little son-of-a-bitch bug that really likes to eat trees.
The beetles are originally for Asia, but some say changing climate has allowed them to adapt nicely to North America, where in five years they managed to destroy 25 million trees, or what scientists refer to as "a fuckton."
Named for 19th century, French botanist, Louis Fuckton
If the trend continues, it's possible ash trees could be killed off completely. This presumably means major league baseball players would be forced to smack the ball out of the air with their firsts, or perhaps use golf clubs or sledgehammers.
If you didn't get attacked by a shark today, you're lucky. Because man, are sharks gunning for you. Seriously, you shouldn't even stress about it because that shit's going to happen no matter what. Sorry.
It's gonna happen.
Shark attacks have been on the rise over the last few years, and people have tossed out a few theories as to why - from simply a great abundance of people in the water to turn into meals, to overfishing limiting their non-human food supply. But global warming is also getting a nod by changing the areas that are most comfortable for sharks to live. Areas where you and your speedo are splashing about.
Like the streets of Boston.
Areas off the coast of Florida, California and Mexico are becoming increasingly dangerous as more sharks seem to show up and that means your chance of not being eaten someday are shrinking rapidly. In fact, we're pretty sure even if you never leave Iowa there's a decent chance a shark is at least going to take your leg in the next few years.
Admittedly, the numbers aren't staggering--there was one shark related fatality in 2007, but by May of 2008 there were already four. According to this site there were 12 in 2009. So that's going up by 300 percent every year. By our math, by the year 2029 every single human on earth will have been eaten to death by a shark, some more than once.
It's gonna happen... again.
#1. You'll Get Kidney Stones
If you've been hoping to never have to painfully blast a small, sharp object out of your wang, we have unfortunate news. The American Urological Association has done some research that indicates global warming is going to lead to an increase in kidney stones. That, in turn, leads to an increase of solid objects in your dick. That's pretty much the one place solid objects are never supposed to be.
Dehydration in warmer climates is a major cause of kidney stones, and global warming is going to make this problem worse as everything starts to warm up. Right now, 40% of the population lives in a risk zone for kidney stones, which we assume is like living in a really shitty neighborhood and being at risk of being shot, only this time it's your kidney's shooting you, and the barrel of the gun is your dong. The prediction is that this will increase to 50% by the year 2050.
Puddle of urine, circa 2050.
The AUA is guessing this will lead to an increase of one to two million cases of kidney stone disease with the cost of treatment rising to one billion dollars. Uh, guys, it's not the cost we're worried about.
Do you have something funny to say about a random topic? You could be on the front page of Cracked.com tomorrow. Go here and find out how to create a Topic Page.
For more environmental shenanigans, check out 5 Ways People Are Trying to Save the World (That Don't Work) and The 7 Most Retarded Ways Celebrities Have Tried to go Green.
And stop by our Top Picks (Updated 1.15.2010) to see Sunday Funday at the office.
And don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter to get dick jokes sent straight to your news feed.


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21 Oct 2012 10:26 AM #1
Unanswered: Sencha Touch 2 Session problem
I am calling the APIs of my web-service to run the Sencha touch application.
When I hit the login API directly from browser, it sets the SESSION variable that I can access later.
But when I call the same API diagrammatically from my Sencha Touch Application it logs me in successfully but it doesn't set the SESSION variables. i.e. I cannot access the session variables in further APIs.
I am not sure if the problem is on Client side or on Server side. Any thoughts?
(Using Coldfusion as server side language)
21 Oct 2012 1:18 PM #2
Fixed !!
In response of Login API I also returned #SESSION.CFID# and #SESSION.CFTOKEN#
Now with every API I am sending these variable: ?CFID=123&CFTOKEN=334455
And finally the Coldfusion can recognize my session
11 Mar 2013 3:35 AM #3
This information might be useful to others.
when making an ajax request to cross domain session state is not maintained.
you need something like this.
Ext.Ajax.request({ url: 'http://myurl/log_user_in.json', params: { username: user, password: pass, app_id: id }, withCredentials: true, useDefaultXhrHeader: false, method: "POST" })


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On Dec. 6, SportsTownChicago.com presented its inaugural High School Volleyball All-Star match in Palos Hills, Ill., featuring 36 of the state's top senior volleyball players. Various sports writers and reporters from within the Chicago metropolitan area selected participants to form the two teams.
Team Pink eventually defeated Team White in five sets, with a number of Division I scouts taking in the event from Moraine Valley Community College and also some through a live stream on SportsTownChicago.com. Kelly Lamberti of Cary Grove High School earned MVP honors with 20 terminations and five aces.
And while the event served as a way for high school athletes to showcase their talent to a wider audience, it also provided spectators the opportunity to contribute to A Silver Lining Foundation—proceeds from ticket sales were directed toward the organization in an effort to spread breast cancer awareness.
"I thoroughly enjoyed the excitement of the event, and especially the high level of game play that these girls brought to the court," Peter Ferreri, Program Director of SportsTownChicago.com said in a press release. "The proceeds of the event were raised for charity, and I wanted that to stay a theme as even the official game balls were pink and white to reflect the event itself donated by Baden.
"Girls from all over the state were chosen and we had players drive in from over three hours away to participate in this event to display their skills one last time."
Originally published in February 2011
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Kubota BX23, 4WD, Clean. Delivery Available. Price: $2500. Text/Call At: (612) 213-4184
Published in The Times-Picayune 7/3. Updated 7/31.
If this ad is visible, the item is still For Sale. I update regularly. $30.00 This little used, Air Palm Nailer drives individual common nails, from 6D to 50D in size, when using the standard tip. Also included is another magnetized tip, for use with nails up to 20D. The Air PalmNailer automatically drives the nails into the work place, without a trigger, and stops at a preset depth. Maintenance is easy, just oil daily, and you're ready to go. It is ideally suited for tight corners and perfect for joist hanger nail installation. Will consider Offers. To quickly and easily *EMAIL* me your interest in purchasing this item, click, More Info (if you haven't already), then Ask Advertiser a Question, in the top -right area, of the new Ad. You simply fill in the data areas, in the pop-up box, and then click, Send! It is so easy to do, and you don't have to open your email! It works great! I will respond quickly, with email and/or voice contact, (if you send me your telephone number) with answers to any questions that you may have. Thanks for Looking, and Please Respond, if you are interested.
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Source: Jets lose key offensive player for season
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Next best working hack for this facebook game created by GlobalGameHack Team
Pockie Ninja 2 Social is a sequel to the popular anime-inspired MMORPG, Pockie Ninja where players step into the roles of those young ninjas, who are chosen to save the world from catastrophic demon counterattack. The game is developed by Ngames, a Hangzhou-based gaming company publishing Pockie Pirates and DDTank in English-speaking regions.
With this hack you can:
Generate Free Ryo
Generate Free Gold
Anti Ban Technology
Auto Update Feature
Work on all language vesion
and much more options in feature !


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text: They said it couldn't be done. They said compiling a list of ten gorgeous Japanese cars currently for sale was a fool's errand. What they didn't know was that in Japan the cars aren't designed to be as purposeful and uncharismatic as many of their American offerings. In fact, half of the cars on the list are not sold in the United States. And while no cars from the land of the rising sun made it onto our Ten Most Beautiful Cars list, it was easier than we thought to find these ten most gorgeous Japanese cars.


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I browsed Dirichlets Werke today and was kind of surprised by two remarks that he made on p. 354 (Über die Bestimmung ...) and p. 372 (Sur l'usage ...). In the second paper, he claims (my translation)
I have applied these principles to a demonstration of the remarkable formula given by Legendre for expressing in an approximate manner how many prime numbers there are below an arbitrary, but very large, limit.
In a handwritten note on the reprint he sent to Gauss he remarked that $\sum 1/\log n$ (this is Gauss's version of the PNT, at least if you replace the sum by an integral) is a better estimate than Legendre's.
I am a little bit puzzled as to why Dirichlet's claim to have proved the prime number theorem is not discussed anywhere in the literature. Or is it?


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Gallery Pages Design Gallery (65 examples)
Product gallery (or category) pages have been called "the hardest working pages on your site" by UI expert Jared Spool. That's because they play a critical role in guiding users to the right product page for their needs. Well designed gallery pages help users choose between products, often through the use of filtering tools to refine the number of choices presented. This prevents 'pogosticking' where the user bounces between the gallery page and different product pages, trying to find what they want.


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Moment of silence planned for victims of police brutality
#NMOS14 vigils happening across the country
People across the U.S. are expected to gather in peaceful protest of what they are calling police brutality.
The groups are gathering for vigils and having a national moment of silence beginning at 7 p.m. ET tonight, and the moment of silence is scheduled for 7:20 p.m.
It all started with a Twitter hashtag, #NMOS14, by New York-based community activist and blogger Feminista Jones.
[People use hashtag to plan] moment of silence to honor victims, address police force http://t.co/pyt4o9RHtu via @usatoday #NMOS14— #NMOS14 (@FeministaJones) August 14, 2014
The moment of silence comes after protests, arrests and riots in Ferguson, Missouri in response to an incident in which a police officer shot and killed 18-year-old Mike Brown Saturday in the St. Louis suburb.
"The goal's to unite in solidarity, to mourn the loss of life to police brutality and show the government and world we will not stand for it anymore," Jones said in an email to Scripps reporters Thursday.
According to the group's Facebook page, people will be gathering at more than 50 locations across the U.S.
Click here or look at the map below to see the locations of the march's scheduled.
Hundreds of people are expected to attend a rally at a fountain in just outside Kansas City, Missouri.
Kansas City Mayor Sly James issued a video statement Thursday morning, asking for people to "keep it cool," and "doing things in the right manner."
Jones is an editor for BlogHer, a women's lifestyle website which reaches 100 million women each month via bloggers and social media leaders, according to it's website.
More from the organizers Facebook page:
"Police Brutality in the United States continues to be a pervasive problem that affects communities across the country. In recent years, we have had news of too many people losing their lives as a result of police brutality. We have also heard too many stories of people being sexually and otherwise physically assaulted by police.
We are gathering together to observe a National Moment of Silence to pay respect to the lives lost and/or forever changed by the brutality of the police state."
Lynn Walsh is a data content producer and investigative reporter on the Scripps National Desk. She may be followed on Twitter through the handle @LWalsh.


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My wife makes popcorn by adding the corn to a pan, then tilt the pan and add oil until the popcorn is just covered. This seems to be a lot of oil. Does anybody know how to make popcorn with less oil?
The way I do it is put 1-2 tbsp of oil in my pot, add 1/3 cup or so of corn, cover, and heat on medium until it starts popping, then turn down a bit and shake the pot occasionally until it is all popped. So, not oil free, but not a whole lot of oil either.
If you use an air popper, you don't need any oil.
I still add a little bit back in (with a pump sprayer), so the salt will stick ... but you could theoretically use none at all.n
The minimum amount of oil to do popcorn is ZERO! here is the trick to make popcorn with less oil!
Edit: The method described by 'the trick' is to add a half cup of corn to a plain brown paper bag. Fold the bag closed, and put it in the microwave for 3 minutes on high. When the corn stops popping (less then two pops per second), take it out of the microwave. Add flavoring to taste.
I remember reading when I bought my whirley pop, to use 2 tablespoons of oil per 1/2 cup of corn. It works out fine for me, although if I'm cooking it with butter as the oil, I usually add 3 tablespoons (because butter isn't entirely fat).


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Federal Law: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (Obamacare)
- Thomas: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, P.L. 111-148
- Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, P.L. 111-152
- Executive Order 13535 - Ensuring Enforcement and Implementation of Abortion Restrictions in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
- Law Library Journal: A Legislative History of the Affordable Care Act
- Galen Institute: Changes to Obamacare by Administrative Action, Congress and the Supreme Court
- Congressional Research Service: Deadlines for the HHS Secretary and Other Federal Entities in the PPACA through March 23, 2013
- Cornell: Key litigation
- Health Care Lawsuits.org


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7 Viral Videos You Didn't Know Were Staged (and How They Did It)
#4. How I Got My Camera
The stereotypical violent redneck makes another appearance (apparently a common villain in staged web video lore). Here we have a pair of them, filming themselves harassing an innocent gentleman in a BMW. The filthy, backward good ol' boys finally corner the man (who is the picture of the young, successful evolved male). But they get a big surprise ...
Aha! The victim has stepped out of the BMW with a handgun! The hunted has become the hunter! And stolen the camera to boot! A couple of million views and about 2,000 comments later, a new internet hero was born.
Sample comments:
"lmfao. stupid redneck hick ass fagets i would have put one in there fuckin knee caps. i fuckin hate redneck fagets. some tried to pull some shit at the bar once and they got there ass's beat down. and if yall didnt notice those hick fags were drivin a toyota, ha"
"Another reason guns should be legal everywhere. Good job, gun toting fella!"
"haha. fuk a gun....i woulda beat there ass2vs 1 even if they had there bat...stupid hicks."
The Evidence:
There's all sorts of circumstantial evidence here, none of which is damning on its own. Sure, there could exist some perfect redneck stereotypes like that, right down to the suspenders. There could be some guys whose speech patterns come off like awkward dialogue. And after all, aren't there some days when things work out just right for the good guys?
Well, the quickest way to detect bullshit in these videos is to pay attention to the behavior of the camera operator. In this case, at the sight of the handgun the cameraman's instinct is to ... zoom in on the gun, get it in frame and then focus so we can see it more clearly?
No, not unless this guy got trained as a combat photographer in Desert Storm, he'd be more likely to lower the camera chest level as the realization dawns that this purty city slicker has done got him a shootin' iron. "Billy Bob, we done 'bout to face the unfathomable void of death! Whoooowee!"
So, with that in mind, we turned the project over to the 30-man Cracked.com video analysis team, who spent six months processing every pixel of the original upload. After enhancing the image to a level of clarity more than 6,000 times that of the original, they reported that there was a prominent watermark for a site called wittkopp.net in the upper right.
When you type that address into your browser, you get nothing but a page of text saying the video was staged, with the "... so stop asking us about it, dipshits" left unsaid. We didn't try to contact them for further details, because what matters is that these rednecks and this yuppie couple were able to collaborate on something peacefully and we think that should be a lesson to us all.
With the disclaimer right there for the world to see, you have to wonder how in the hell this became a viral sensation in the first place. That would be because the helpful submitter who put the video up on Break.com decided to blot out the watermark so viewers couldn't trace it back.
Once more we witness the process by which information is carefully degraded before it's suitable for release onto the internet at large. It's like the opposite of a newsroom's fact-checking department. Unless you're talking about the Fox News newsroom in which case it's exactly the same.
#3. Crazy Teacher Kicks Entire Classroom's Ass
A crazy foreign teacher takes one spitball too many and flips out, beating the shit out of a room full of students:
Chalk up almost two million views and several hundred comments to the Jet Li of the French educational system. We actually included this video in our rundown of the scariest teachers on YouTube a few months ago. The cries of "Fake!" in our very own comments section caused us to take a second look, to see if there had been a failure in our wacky video vetting process and if any staff needed to be let go as a result.
Sample comments:
"I don't care what one student did, this guy's anger was unjustified."
"I wonder why you misinformed people keep saying it is a fake. The sad story is, things like this aren't that uncommon outside the United States, you should open up your provincial minds and learn that United States =/= The Rest of the World."
"its not fake it was on the news the guy he beat up in the corner died"
"that shit is legal in france"
The Evidence:
No matter where you find this video, you find people bitterly divided over its authenticity (even among our staff, in fact). The fact that it's French has made it impossible to track down its origins or to judge things like whether or not a teacher would be wearing those striped track pants on the job.
Who knows, right? He's French. A translation of the voices also offers no help, since there is a great deal of, "Sir! Sir! Stop!" and very little, "Let us continue to stage this video, Pierre!"
Doubters like to point to the ludicrous Jean Claude Van Damme roundhouse kick 17 seconds in, which misses the student's face by two feet yet sends the victim flying backward.
"Not so," say the faithful. "Would one not fling himself back out of the way of even a missed kick? Would not one even fall back over a chair in one's startlement?"
Perhaps the first blow is more telling, where instead of simply flinching and throwing up his hands to protect his face, the victim seems to pre-emptively launch his body to the right.
In fact, the only real, sustained beating takes place where all the blows are hidden in the corner, behind a desk.
And of course we have the behavior of the camera person, who keeps shooting right up to the moment when the teacher presumably unleashes a karate chop that embeds the camera/phone in the student's eye socket. Note that in his fury the teacher neither broke nor confiscated the phone.
But the real nail in the coffin for this one is the fact that there is just no mention of this event anywhere outside of this video. If you read French leet-speak, you know that none of the French commenters on the video had heard of the incident.
Plus, no combination of the French words for "crazy teacher" or "teacher attacks classroom" or "Van Damme Roundhouse Kick" yields any mention of this particular incident in the French news media, even though classroom violence is a big issue there and many lesser incidents involving abusive teachers have gotten coverage. Are we to believe that an incident where four children were beaten, with full Jean Claud Van Damme roundhouse kick video, would go utterly unnoticed? Hardly.
So what's the alternative? Is it a clip from a French sketch comedy show? Or maybe an edited commercial, like the turd softener up there? It's hard to say. The earliest version of the clip we can find is this one uploaded to the French YouTube page. The guy who uploaded it has long abandoned the account, and his only other video is this one of he and his friend riding bicycles.
Wait a second ... look at the pants on his friend.
#2. Leeroy Jeeeenkins!!!
For the gaming crowd, this is simply the mother of all viral videos. The game is World of Warcraft, but you don't have to be familiar with the game to appreciate Leeroy's foolhardy retardocity:
The YouTube copy up there has generated four million views and 10,000 comments, and that's not even the original (this one was uploaded a year after the video became a hit). All told, more people have probably seen this video than have actually played World of Warcraft. It came up in a question on Jeopardy. It was alluded to in that Toyota WoW commercial.
Sample comments:
"Lol, I play WoW and tbh, that's taking the game way to seriously. Bunch of nerds tbh."
"Funny as hell because its NOT fake, he finally got kicked out of their guild >_<"
Ummm... I seriously don't see whats so funny. No group of 60's would ever do something like that, even if the player was an idiot. This is uncreative, boring, and not humorous in any way to me
"WOW what a dirt nig"
The Evidence:
This is an easy one. The one group who is never fooled by this clip is the long-time World of Warcraft veterans, who know the gamer jargon featured early in the video ("Coming up with thirty-two point three three uh, repeating of course, percentage, of survival...") is just random nonsense, obviously meant to build up the illusion that they had carefully planned the event so it's funnier when Leeroy fucks it up.
In fact, when they first released the video on the WoW forums they acknowledged it was staged and only changed the story later when the video took on a life of its own. Fame can do that to a person (here's the actual "Leeroy Jenkins" being interviewed, and still playing it up as real). Again we see the internet's reverse-filter in action, letting the myth continue to thrive while the truth is shunted aside as being too uninteresting to remember.
But, it's just a silly gaming video, it's not like anybody's being harmed. The same cannot be said, however, for our number one...


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2 Pack - Microwaveable Wonder Wraps - Like a Snuggie on Steroids! for $9.99
$4.99 shipping
You will receive TWO per order, each in their own retail packaging!
Great to keep you warm and relaxed while lounging around the house or on the go! The Wonder Wrap is made of high quality fleece, cut generously to fit most body sizes comfortably. A microwaveable grain filled insert fits easily in a hidden pocket around the neck, upper back, and shoulder areas, where most people feel tension. Warm fleece and a long lasting heatable grain insert allow you to relax, cuddle, and snuggle away stress!
Microwave for about 1 minute, then wrap yourself up and feel the natural grain filled insert gently warm and sooth your neck and shoulders!
Features: •Relieve stress, relax faster and stay warmer perfect for outdoor events!
•Machine washable
•Grain insert is microwaveable for quick heating
•Great for people who experience muscle tension, arthritis, join pain, and more
•One size fits most
4 Comments add a comment
I'm in! looks like good gifts for the grandmas! Thanks!!
Nice looking daughter....
Doesn't say how long it stays warm, but my dad is on chemo and ALWAYS cold, I think he will like this!
@dwalline: That's a wonderful idea! I love the blankets they give you in recovery that they have pre-heated. These would probably stay warm longer. I think I'll contact the Cancer Society about donating some of these.


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I have heard opinions varying wildly on the subject and am trying to make sense of them halachically. Is it illegal on Shabbat to push someone in a wheelchair, let's say, from their home to synagogue outside of an eruv? If so, why? A friend of mine informed me that it is definitely permissible to do, since nothing is being carried.
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The English version of Sh'mirath Shabbath K'hilchathah (34:27) says that the disabled person in the wheelchair may propel himself through a rabbinic public domain and only for the purpose of a mitzva. The only person other than himself who would be permitted to push him would be a non-Jew. The allowance for the disabled person himself to do so is not due to the fact that moving the chair is not subject to the laws of carrying. It is. Although on the Torah level, the only way to incur liability for carrying through the public domain involves picking up and placing down the object, rabbinically all other forms of long (-er than 4 amos) range propulsion are prohibited.
More, very relevant details can be found here.
In the words of @msh210, CYLOR.
Yes, its hotza'ah (bringing out, carrying). Carrying does not literally mean in one's hands, easy examples of that are throwing things, and kicking things.


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I normally use MySQL Administrator to backup my database. I want to enable all the backup options for the available backup types in MySQL. I noticed that Binary Logging is not running on my PC. How to enable it? I also want to know what all parameters to include in a command-line mysqldump command to take a perfect guaranteed backup.
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Add the following to my.ini
Then, restart mysql
As for mysqldump, most of the options you need are defaulted already in --opt. Here are my choice parameters:
Here is an explanation for my choices (including default --opt)
You will need --master-data if you want to setup the dump to prepare replication slaves. The master log and position at the time of the dump will be recorded as a comment (using --master-data=2) or as a command (using --master-data=1) on line 22 of the dump file.
If you would like to dump separate databases and separate tables, please follow the instructions at this URL.
Rolando mentioned how to enable binary logging in the log. All you need to do is set the log-bin variable and restart mysql.
You can ensure that binary logging is enabled on a running server with:
I think it's VERY important to note that you're never really guaranteed a perfect backup everytime. As in life, nothing is guaranteed.
You need to set up a backup strategy and test a restore periodically.
Doing this ensures...


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Charlotte, NC – Kamil Khalil won both his singles and doubles matches but the Charlotte 49ers (11-9) lost to Presbyterian (19-9), 4-2, at the Halton-Wagner Tennis Complex.
"Our guys fought hard today, but we never really got going," Charlotte coach Billy Boykin said. "We made a final push at the end of the singles, but Presbyterian wouldn't let us have it. I give them credit for a hard fought win. We will keep working and try to make a few adjustments in our next match against UNC Greensboro. "
Presbyterian won two of the three doubles matches to claim the doubles point. At number one doubles, Charlotte's Jordi Massalle Ferrer and Jack Williams lost to Presbyterian's Grayson Mills and Rafael Berghaus, 8-5. At number two doubles, Charlotte's Alex Calott and Paul Cisti lost to Presbyterian's Andrew Brigham and William O'Connell, 8-4. At number three doubles, Charlotte's Khalil and Krzysztof Kwasniewicz defeated Presbyterian's Danny Bruce and Edward Snead, 8-2 for their 11th win of the season.
Presbyterian won three singles matches to clinch the overall victory. At number one singles, Charlotte's Williams lost to Presbyterian's Mills, 6-3, 6-1. At number two singles, Charlotte's Massalle Ferrer defeated Presbyterian's O'Connell, 7-5, 6-2, for his 24th win of the season. Massalle Ferrer's 24th win ties him with Jerry Howard (1979) for the ninth highest single-season wins total in school history. At number three singles, Charlotte's Khalil defeated Presbyterian's Berghaus, 6-3, 6-4, for his seventh straight win. With the win, Khalil improved to 11-5 on the season. At number five singles, Charlotte's Cisti and Presbyterian's Gonzalo Asis match was not finished since Presbyterian had already clinched the overall victory. The match was tied at one set apiece, 6-3, 5-7, when it was stopped. At number six singles, Charlotte's Kwasniewicz lost to Presbyterian's Brigham, 6-3, 7-6.
Charlotte concludes the regular-season when they play UNC Greensboro at the Halton-Wagner Tennis Complex, Monday, April 15 at 3:30 pm. Prior to the match, the 49ers will honor seniors Kwasniewicz and Hector Linares.


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My city is out of the protection week. I do not have a castle built yet. I was wondering how I should build my towers? What mix makes sense?
It depends on time, your aggregate production allocation, your financial engagement and few other things.
Financial Engagement
This game favours those willing to spend some real money, change the game or be ready to use many extra hours for monotonous activity such as pressing certain keys over cities. Even if you were able to automate the latter action with user-space tools (alert against ToS), notice that the ready tools with ministers are much better. I am not saying that it is not possible with OCR engines and certain window automation tools, but user-space hacks are not built-in and EA is acting violently against such maneuvers, as you may have noticed with LoU Tweak/BoS not-working-parts from userscripts.org and no public API.
You can ask for a friend for a holiday substitution, but notice that it is only for a limited time and with limited functionality (no trading, no attacking). I have talked with many past LoUs -- and guess what -- they have been using ministers during the whole gaming. When you have about 40-50 cities, it becomes increasingly more difficult to advance without real financial engagement. It is still easy when you are not under attacks but during attakcs everything becomes even harder -- without ministers welcome unhealthy 24/7 gaming. Since military is pretty much an exponential cost-curve (or if you have war-minister, you can get income with automatic raiding), you can just imagine how the amount of different factors greatly increases because you need to create more and more resource cities to please standing armies. Playing as poor and playing as rich are very different activities. It will affect greatly your choices over possible defence strategies.
Resource production
Land-locked and harboured cities are very different beasts. If moongates are open, the value of land-locked cities may deteriorate after the invasion of strong enemy units from other continents. If moongates are not open, the value of water-based cities is lower in terms of attacking because you will face 2 types of attacks: water-based and land-based. Luckily, water-based cities provide one of the strongest defensive unit in the game: sloop.
Capacity and Real money
People willing to spend more money can take more risk. They can plan poor cities with low capacities because warehouse cities can suck the resources or a minister will purify things automatically for you. If you have no minister, you should aim to create cities with about 2-4M capacities and implant every city with a farm. The farm is important because it kills one factor: you do not need to worry about sending stuff to your cities the hardness of which exaggerates while under attacks.
It is very hard to say which type of defence to create for a pause. It depends on a number of issues. A key issue is financial engagement which undermines the expertise of this game, those willing to pay a lot have a huge advantage. For a player unwilling to pay a lot, I recommend to balance things (create a balanced mix of traps to resource cities for example), build more capacity and implant a farm to every city. Even if EA tries to give an impression that you can get most things without money, you must understand that the game will never end, it just expand with new continents (and new world) and old player getting killed after inactivity.


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Airport facilities
Money and communications:
Bureaux de change, ATMs and Wireless Internet access are available. A mailbox is located on the Lower Drive sidewalk outside of Baggage Claim door number 16.
Eating and drinking:
Facilities at the airport include coffee shops, bars and a variety of self-service, full-service and fast-food restaurants.
Shopping facilities include bookshops, gift shops and duty-free shops.
Luggage facilities in the terminal building include a baggage and frozen storage service (Ken's Baggage) in the reclaim area. There is a lost property office in the Main Terminal, up on the mezzanine level.
Other facilities:
These include family toilets, massage and shoeshine, a pet relief area and a meditation room. Mobile phone chargers are available.


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Fitness, Friends and Fun!
I don't know about you, but for me as an instructor, many of the Spinning® Profiles and Fitness Classes I design are a result of the time spent with my friends training. Teaching Spinning® is truly a labor of love and one that I personally enjoy. Thomas Edison once said that he had never worked a day in his life. It was all fun! Wouldn't it be great if you could always say that?
Like many of you I am passionate about the fitness. I have performed and competed for over 30 years in dance. I have also completed several marathons, numerous half marathons, 10ks, 5ks and three triathlons. I have used every one of those experiences to enhance my teachings as a coach and instructor. The
best part about all of these experiences is the fun I had in training with my friends.
This weekend, Labor Day Weekend, wasn't any different. I set out to swim, bike and run the course
for a triathlon I will complete next weekend. I have never done it before and my BFF has. So, off we went to get a taste of the course. For starters, it was thundering and lightly raining as we approached the water. Change of plans, ride first. Out on the course, we sort of got lost. We knew where we were but it didn't seem right according to the race instructions one of us had (not me
of course) written down from the race website.
Forty miles later we made it back to the water. Dry skies, we plunged into the water but only after, we managed to squeeze our sweaty bodies into wet
suits like three sausage links, grab some replenishments to provide the energy needed for a swim and oh yeah, find the keys to the car of one of my friends. She misplaced them! Um, they were on the roof of her car where she had racked up her bike; lots of laughs at
that point.
Across the way we reached our destination in the cool water (that God for the wet suits we managed to pinch ourselves into). We set yet one more goal in the water, what the hey…we're already wet, and then decide to head up to the beach to make our fitness regime complete; the run. However, our tired, silly spontaneous selves decided to run in the water. Chasing each other back and forth for about twenty minutes, we laughed, were laughed at and had a blast. Mission accomplished; fitness, friends and fun all in one morning. Now my labor of love this week will incorporate these experiences for yet more fitness, friends and fun in the classes I teach.


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During July, the Friends of the Woodbury Public Library conducted a food drive for Woodbury's Food Bank. Generous members of our community brought in bags of items that will stock the shelves and help our neighbors. Non-perishable food items, pet food, paper goods and personal items were donated.
To show our appreciation, we afforded those thoughtful donors the opportunity to select books from our book cart. The Food Bank helps hundreds of our neighbors by providing an additional source of food. The Friends of the Woodbury Public Library wish to thank all who supported our effort and we hope to see all of you at the Book Cellar again. Please come and browse our great inventory.
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