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Integration Of Management Systems Management Essay
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The purpose of this study was to highlight the similarities of different management system standards and consider the integration of them into a single simpler management system that could be implemented into a small construction company that will be assessed for the purposes of this research.
This section will include a review on the literature related to management systems, the implementation of those management systems such as standardised ISO management systems and the associated benefits of implementation to a company. It will also focus on the similarities and differences, benefits and obstacles of the standards and the best approach to integrate together to devise a single integrated management system for a small construction company to manage their quality, environmental and health and safety requirements.
A practical example of how one procedure can be handled an integrated system is a procedure for welding, where the quality demands for the welding process are described together with the way in which waste produced is handled while also taking into consideration what kind of health and safety rules and equipment the employee has to apply. (Jørgensen et al. 2006)
Quality, environment and health and safety are the content of the three most
often used management systems,(Hines, 2002)
Management Systems
The objective of the implementation of any management system is to improve the performce of the business which is the direct repsonsilbility of the top management. .(Smith 2002)
An integarted amangement system is designed to improve the performance and it must be effective , efficient and should be able to deliver better results to all stakeholders. If it does not do this it has failed its purpose and objective, and is likely to be merely a bureaucratic burdern with fancy badges attached to it. [1] .(Smith 2002)
Every company, whatever size has a management system, however simple, as it is the way in which any business operates in order so that they achieve their objectives. Not all management systems are formalised or even written down. (David Smith, 2001). All companies have aims, objectives and their own means, but until relatively recently many of them were unlikely to have these means formalised into a systematic approach that they could use to control their activities or measure their progress towards achieving their objectives, which is now known as a management system. (Hines, 2002)
Management systems govern many issues that are widely recognised as benefiting from a systematic approach. (Hines, 2002).
As the size of the company increases, the complexity of the management system to achieve their objectives does also. (David Smith, 2001). The system formalises their intentions enabling them to make informed decisions to set out the way in which they can achieve these intentions by documenting the necessary processes and procedures required to be followed. Reviewing of these management systems
Allows the company to assess whether the set procedures being carried out as they should and whether the objectives set are being achieved
(Hines, 2002)
Correctly implemented, a management system will define clear objectives, be able to communicate those objectives to all stakeholders including employees, seek commitment from employees particularity senior management, utilise all employees into the system by incorporating all into maintaining and improving the system, provide training and reviews of progress of the system, and ensure that the system remains responsive to the continuing needs of the company or organisation. (Hines, 2002)
When management systems fail to achieve the objectives it is generally due to common pitfalls of management system implementation. These common failures arise from inadequate resources or a lack of commitment from senior
management, poor training or incorporation of employees and weak communication
channels . (Hines, 2002)
When an organisation fails to fully achieve it's objectives set out in one management system, the systems is not implemented correctly and if a further system is required
it is likely that the other management system will also fail to be correctly developed or implemented. (Hines, 2002)
Management Systems / ISO Background
The International Organization for Standardization, is a voluntary developer of standards that defines specifications that are applicable to all forms of businesses. ISO, derived from the Greek word 'isos', meaning equal was the abbreviation given, so that whatever the country, whatever the language, ISO is always the abbreviation used to globally and therefore is globally recognised, standardised across the world (ISO, 2012)
ISO was founded in 1947 and has since published over 19000 international standards that now cover almost all aspects of technology and business, made up by a network of national standards bodies that represent ISO in each country. The National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) is the national standards body for Ireland and publishes Irish Standards. The Central Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland, coordinates the system and the 164 countries and the 3335 technical bodies. ISO exists to design, develop and promote standardisation to facilitate the trade of goods and services throughout the world, and to develop cooperation in science, technology, academic sector and economic activity. [2] (ISO, 2012)
ISO standards
The specifications defined by ISO, that are applicable to all forms of businesses are formalised into a standard, a published document with the technical specification or criteria designed to be used as a guideline or rule in order to increase reliability and effectiveness of any product, service or activity (British Standard Institution, 2010). The development of standards result from either or a combination of market demands, the interests of producers, consumers, governments, and the scientific community, based on expert global opinion, or other stakeholder consensus, then exploring the formulation of the international standards through the technical committees by gathering consensus between the member countries.
ISO standards serve as technical agreements providing framework for compatible technology and are applicable across the globe. ISO has more than 19000 international standards and related documents that are applicable to various business and service sectors including agriculture, construction, engineering, manufacturing and distribution, transportation, medical and health care, and communication and information (ISO, 2010).
Development of ISO
Over recent years, as world has developed, further standards were therefore required to be developed, whilst also, the older versions of standards required new revisions to be made. The development and advancing of standards in ISO have now created a path towards the compatibility between management standards with the ability to cross-reference and integrate many aspects within different management system with common properties. Jørgensen et al, 2006)
It is
apparent that these systems having been developed more recently are less
prescriptive and formalised, and include flexibility for interpretation to occur.
Management systems should, after all, be moulded to fit a company, not vice
versa.(Hines, 2002)
All three systems have the basic structure of aims, objective and procedures, of
training, monitoring and reviewing the progress the system is making, using
essentially- the plan, do, check, act approach.(Hines, 2002)
now include a similar commitment to training and competence
and to the importance of communications. Given the similarities between these
systems, and the recent revisions of EMAS, ISO14001, ISO 9000 and the
development of BS 8800 and ISO (OHSAS 18000), it is clear that the integrated
approach would seem to offer those businesses wishing to tackle all these issues
(and others) a chance to reduce the burden of proliferation and allow them to
concentrate on the benefits that integration might offer. .(Hines, 2002)
An example of this is the development of the 1994 versions of the 9000 quality management system series, the revisions meant that the paper work is significantly decreased, which was considered one of the most difficult components of the system. (Zeng et al, 2010) The quality mamangment series was updated in 2000 to ISO9000:2000, this was in response to years of criticism by businesses that the original standard was over complicated and inflexible. The update reduced the "paper chase" of documentation burden and procedural overload.(Hines, 2002).The revisions also meant that the standards structure now followed that of other newer standards, such as 14000 and 18000, introducing the concept of system integration. (Zeng et al, 2010)
Today, there is a move towards companies actively implementing standardised management systems "The implementation and certification of quality (ISO 9001), environmental (14001) and occupational health and safety (OHSAS 18001) systems have been an important activity for many organizations and become a widespread practice around the world (Asif et al., 2009; Nakashima et al., 2006; Rocha et al., 2007)."(Zeng et al, 2010
Environmental management systems were developed during the early 1990's following rasied environemtantl issues such as the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 anda lso due to the business demands to introdeuce a sytemcatic approach to manageing their environmental aspects. (Hines, 2002)
The first formailised quality management system standard was developed in the UK by the British Standards Institute, standard BS5750.
This system was the first complete systematic approach to the management of
quality in the industrial process, and was quickly followed by an international
standard based on the BS5750 platform, but developed by the International
Standards Organisation (ISO), this was coded as ISO9000. ISO9000 provided
companies with a complete structure of guided pointers and areas of concern
that could be addressed by the development of procedures within the company.
There were criticisms of ISO9000 especially where the system began to take
over the organisation, rather than the organisation using the system to achieve
its quality objectives (Sheldon and Yoxon, 1999:5).
The first widely introduced management systems were those that were developed to manage quality issues in businesses in order to meeting specified requirements set by the customer. The first formalised quality management system standard was developed in the UK by the British Standards Institute, standard BS5750. This system was the first complete systematic approach to the management of quality in the industrial process, and was quickly followed by an international standard based on this BS5750 standard, but developed by the International
Standards Organisation (ISO), and is known as the ISO 9000 series.
ISO 9001:2000 is based on the following eight quality management principles: (1) customer-focused organizations; (2) leadership; (3) involvement of people; (4) process
approach; (5) system approach to management; (6) continual improvement; (7) factual approach to decision making; and (8) mutually beneficial supplier relationships (Casadesus and Karapetrovic, 2005). Based on these eight guiding principles, ISO 9001:2000 defines five main management requirements: (1) quality management systems, (2) management responsibilities, (3) resources management, (4) product realization, and (5) measurement, analysis, and improvement (Padma et al., 2008). ISO 14000 is a series of standards and guidelines (Zeng et al, 2010)
The first two editions of the ISO 9000 series published in 1987 and revised in 1994 had a system that focused on enabling the enterprises to produce the same quality of products every time by specifying the policy, procedures and instructions in a quality handbook. With the revision in 2000 of ISO 9001, the focus on customers and continuous improvements became stronger. The circles and arrows in ISO 9001:2000 symbolise a dynamic and continuous process (see Fig. 1).
With focus on the customers, their demands and the satisfaction of those demands, the organisation has to be more oriented towards the product chain in which it operates. ISO 9001:2000 has also been aligned with ISO 14001:1996 ''in order to enhance the compatibility of the two standards for the benefit of the user community'' [3]. By the end of 2003, more than half a million ISO
9001 certificates had been issued in 149 countries [4]. (Jørgensen et al.2006)
basic condition for an integrated management
system is a shared understanding of organisations and
how they operate. In textbooks on quality management,
the old versions of ISO 9000 have always been
illustrated as a pyramid e symbolising a stable organisation
with clear policy, procedures and instructions on
the strategic, tactic and operational levels. The bureaucratic
organisation is concerned with producing the
same quality of products every time. Therefore, ISO
9000 was often criticised for being static, resulting in too
much paperwork and having too much focus on the
system. (Jørgensen et al.2006)
however, was demand more from companies in their
commitment to actual quality management, whilst lessening the burden of
documentation and procedural overload. The other major change in the standard
was its inclusion of the term 'continual' as applied to improvement, rather than
'continuous' that appeared in the original standard. The requirements of the
continuous improvement principle was traditionally interpreted as the evaluation
of the opportunity for improvement, where "auditors typically only required an
evaluation of the indicators available, such as corrective and preventive action,
and were looking for areas of improvement" (Beynon, 2002). The new approach
of continual improvement should be expected to demonstrate positive movement
across the entire system, even if it is incremental (ibid.) The new standard has
much greater emphasis on the necessity to measure the effectiveness and
competency of resources, and the need to follow - up actions to ensure progress
is made. (Zeng et al, 2010)
) "Development of movements on quality and environment in the 90's caused appearance of the management quality system (QMS - ISO 9000:2000), environmental management system (ISO 14000), risk management system (ISO 17000) and other being under preparation". [3] (Rajković et al, 2008)
The first environemtal management systens was developed in the UK as BS7750 in 1994, which was then developed further by ISO to be replaced as ISO 14001 in 1997 (Hines,, 2002)
The ISO 14000 series comprise five aspects: (1) environmental management systems, (2) environmental auditing, (3) environmental labelling, (4) environmental performance evaluation, and (5) life cycle assessment (Zeng et al., 2005).
The standards are classified into two main types: guidance notes and specifications. All standards except ISO 14001 belong to the former. They are descriptive documents and not prescriptive requirements. Its adoption is voluntary. As a subset of ISO 14000, the environmental management systems take a systematic approach and provide a tool to enable organizations for controlling impacts of their activities, products, or services on the environment (Low and Tan, 2005). (Zeng et al, 2010)
The ISO 14001 was first published in 1996, and a revised version was published in November 2004. The transition period for adoption of the new version is until
May 2006. An environmental management system is: ''part of an organization's management system used to develop and implement its environmental policy and to manage its environmental aspects'' [5]. ISO 14001 is not necessarily established independently of existing management systems, and in some cases it is possible to comply with ISO 14001 by adapting existing management system elements [6]. By the end of 2003, more than 66,000 ISO 14001 certificates had been issued in 113 countries [4]. ]. (Jørgensen et al.2006)
The changes in ISO 14001:2004 are relatively minor [7]:
_ Improved coherence with ISO 9001:2000;
_ More focus on complying with regulations and other
environmental provisions;
_ Objectives and targets must be measurable (not
qualitative as today);
_ Registrations are moved to a joint paragraph;
_ The management review is described, point-bypoint. ]. (Jørgensen et al.2006)
the ISO 14001 standard, which is
always illustrated as a spiral with a focus on the iterative
process of activities such as policy, planning, implementation,
etc. in order to create continuous improvements. ].( Jørgensen et al.2006)
Systems to manage health and safety are not uncommon in businesses but it wasn't until 2002 that ISO developed OHSAS 18000, the eternally certifiable management sytem standard. OHSAS 18000 was developed based on the previous British Standard, BS8800. (Hines 2002).
The standard on Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series (OHSAS) 18001:1999 aims to create and to maintain a safe working environment, while protecting and maintaining safety and health of workers (Low and Chin, 2003). It is important that organizations should: (1) establish occupational health and safety management systems for minimizing risks to its employees and other affected parties; (2) implement, maintain, and continuously improve occupational health and safety management systems; (3) assure itself of its conformance with its stated occupational health and safety policy; (4) demonstrate these conformances; (5) seek certifications/registrations of its occupational health and safety management systems by an external organization; and (6) make self-determination and declaration of conformance within specifications (Zeng et al., 2008a). (Zeng et al, 2010)
OHSAS 18001 was formulated by international certifying bodies with the basis in BS 8800 and was first published in 1999. OHSAS 18001 can be described as a de facto standard and is used as the basis for certification of occupational health and safety management systems. ISO has voted twice about whether to develop an ISO standard in this field and both times, the proposals have been turned down, and therefore, ISO currently, has no plans to develop such a standard. OHSAS 18001 was developed to be compatible with ISO 9001:1994 and ISO 14001:1996 in order to facilitate the integration of quality, environment as well as occupational health and safety management systems, if organisations wish to do so [8]. With the new quality and environmental management standards, OHSAS 18001 should be revised, in order to remain compatible [9]. ].( Jørgensen et al.2006)
INETGRADTED Management Systems
The concept
The UK Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) define Integrated
Management Systems as
"the integration of matters such as organisational structures, strategic decision
making, resource allocation and the processes of auditing and reviewing
performance" (http://www.iosh.co.uk, accessed 2002)
should place training and other activities designed to reinforce inclusivity as a
high priority, and should ensure a regular training and team based approach to
the solution of problems.(Hines, 2002)
There remains a perception amongst business people (see
below), that integration means little more than a together of putting procedures
(in one manual rather than three). Instead, the fundamental differences between
alignment and integration are what will determine to a large extent the nature of
the system that is developed, the degree to which it can be truly inclusive and the
potential danger than exists for the spreading of problems and duplication of
problems across a multitude of badly stuck together systems, rather than one
fully integrated one.
The differences between alignment and integration are summarised in Figure 3.(Hines,2002)
Full Integration
Single Message
No Confusion
Inclusion of all
employees in all
Individual Approach
Same Language
Same Structure
Focus on Separate Issues
an effective integrated system will be more efficient than nonintegrated
systems in that it is designed to be proactive
provide a more
effective means of identifying problems before they really occur and identifying
correct solutions more easily
employees to
become more confident in their ability
decisions based on their own judgement and understanding of the business,(Hines, 2002)
But although there is increasing interest in implementing an integration of management systems, small and medium sized enterprises are considerably less interested than larger organisations, according to Hines . "In a research project conducted in South Wales in the UK including 12 small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) and seven large enterprises, it was found that the SMEs were less interested in IMS than the large organisations.( [4] Hines,2002 )
Other issues than size such as such organisation structure market competition and regulatory demands have a decisive influence whether an organisation decides whether to integrate or not, as well as the level of actual integration.( Jørgensen et al. 2006)
Although all management systems are designed to address a different set
of issues and concerns with a particular company, the history of the development and the functions they are designed to fulfil mean that, in general, there are many close similarities between many systems.(Hines, 2002)
Interest developed to further integrate manangement systems by the possibility of combining the most commonly used management systems, implemented along side each other in companies, into one integrated system, thus enabling
a company to have a more coherent view of the way in which they carry out the entire business process. .(Hines, 2002)
Most companies certified to a formal standard will have introducted the a qulaity standrd, with the implementation of the systems of the 9000 series to intrdoce qulaity sytandrds. .(Smith 2002) "Many companies have quality management systems certified to international standards" (Hines, 2002). And now, with the growth of environmental system implementation "The past decade has seen the development of Environmental Management /Systems, and there has been a relatively rapid increase in certification to international standards, such as the ISO 14001".(Hines, 2002)' There begins to be an overlap from the implemtation of two management systems alongside each other.(Smith 2002)
As standards developed and simiarities were observed within the standards itself, it was observed that integration could reduce duplication of the similarities, caused by multiple assessments and surveillances which would be avoided. .(Smith 2002) Separately, ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 require all working procedures to be traceable and auditable. This means to be able to meet the ISO satisfactory requirements, each management system creates vast documentation, procedures and control checking. This proves to be a great challenge when multiple standards are in implementation, to meet the requirements of the three separate management systems to ensure compliance. The development of Integrated Management System was to try and amalgamate separate systems into one functioning system. (Zeng et al, 2010)
Companies that perceive the
IMS in terms of alignment rather than integration will fail to understand that the
barriers that they may have encountered in implementing previous management
systems, or any programmes or initiatives for that matter, will occur again and
again unless they tackle the company's management culture and communication
weaknesses.(Hines, 2002)
One of the risks from integration of multiple systems is the possible creation of different levels of priority, more attention could be paid to one of the systems integrated together, attention foccing on quality more than to the environmental or safety issues.
If an company's culture does not embrace the change and understand the bigger picture of what intregration means and requires can cause a barrier. Managers or employees of separate departmemts may be uncivinced of benefits of initegratrion with fear of job loss and extra work to implement. Failures occu when the basic concepts and pronciples are ignored or misunderstood. (Hines, 2002)
Human factors can create huge barriers for integration and are also very difficult to manage. Training and empowerment of staff is required to incorporate everyone in the development of the integrated mamangement system even before implementation can begin. Team work is a huge factor that can contribute to the success of integration, allowing communication across the whole company and addressing issues quickly as they arise in order to allow all aspects to be mamgedin an inclusive way.Otherwise the implantation will be likely to fail as it is not enough to merely align the sytems as the objectives can not be met without understanding the underlaying princples and what the sytems needs to work(Hines, 2002)
On the other hand, the potential is that environment or health and safety can climb higher up on the agenda of organisations, both if combined with an ISO 9001 quality system; and also if the organisation handles the responsibilities in a coordinated way. .( Jørgensen et al. 2006)
Typically, the organisation already has a quality management system and then later it integrates environmental procedures etc as stated above, but if the environmental management system is added to the existing quality system by simply trying to ''cut and paste'' the additional areas to the system, it creates a risk of neglecting or underestimating the environmental issues compared to quality system in place .( Jørgensen et al. 2006)
Although the standards have developed to contain similarities between them, in practice, differences in structure amd even terminolgy create problems in standardising one system. Total integration in the form of a single overall standard instead of indivisual ISO standards for qulaity, evboronemtna and health and safety is not always practical and instead, amanagamation of systems standras should work towards allignemnt of standards. Defintions and vocabulary should be consistant and a common structure followed across the standards. The coomon elements can be then mamanged as an enitty eith the specific rtequirements being clear from each discipline.(Smith 2002)
To start by elmalgamating two discplines without refernce to an overall intergrated system is to invite failure. For the implementation to be succesful the head of the organisation must be seen to be heavily involved. (Smith, 2002)
Due to the differences within the standards, the guide, IDO Guide 72 was publised to assist the creation of management systems to ensure compatibiluty with integration.(Smith 2002)
The use of common terms amd definitions and potential for usuing common numbering system for claues within standrdas could leaed to systems being approx 70% standardised and therefore the framework of consolidating multiple standards into one management system can be achieved to meet the company's goals and requirements efficiently and effectively. (Smith 2002)
In an ideal world management systems would be one simple system that could govern every aspects of a company but in practice most companies keep their management systems separate and therefore add to cost and reduce effectiveness due to the perception to the difficulty in the integration. (David Smith, 2001)
There should be advantages in avoiding parallel requirements both internally in terms of control, audit etc and also externally in respect of multiple assessments and surveillances. In practice, David Smith states that there are difficulties giving a visual description of a difficult jigsaw that just could not fit together in places after first seeming simple to fit together. [5] . (David Smith, 2001)
Benefits of management systems
In smaller companies, there can be reluctantly in adopting management systems and formalising procedures and records to their company which are under the impression is operating fine without them. However, once in operation, they gain greater control and can identify weaknesses and where improvements are required to benefit the company by knowing what is going on in the whole company. (David Smith, 2001)
"So far, these management systems have received major attention within organizations to create competitive advantages and contribute to a sustainable development (Esquer Peralta et al., 2008; Gudonavicius et al., 2009; Jørgensen et al., 2006)" (Zeng et al, 2010)
Why integrate?
To standardize operations, for example to assess safety risks and environmental aspects in a similar format and scored in a similar way with priorities that are fixed in a balanced way; .( McCourt, 2009)
Harmonisation of different systems for control of for non-conformities, assessments,
document control, corrective/preventive actions into one. [6] .( McCourt, 2009)
Resource reduction through the simplification for management. The reduction of the number of reviews , number of audits, the number of procedures, the number of tools to be used through the use of one management system used thereby minimising resources. .( McCourt, 2009)
Competitiveness and positive image of organisations improvement in connection with the positive improvements through integration for all quality, environment, occupational health and safety. The association with a maangment system shows responsibility and concern to stakeholders. ( Jørgensen et al., 2006)
Why Integrate?
Low and Tan (2005) argued that the revised ISO 9001: 2000 serves as an opportune platform for enterprises to consider certification to ISO 14000: 1996 and OHSAS 18001: 1999 through an integration exercise.( Zeng et al, 2010)
Zeng et al, 2010 carried out a studyin China, within certified companies to explores the motivations and benefits in implementing IMS for the Chinese enterprises. They observed that the motivation factor to satisfy customers' requirements" was ranked first in the motications to implement. The motivation factor "To respond to governments appeal" was graded second.
There is a difference of motivation between ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 . ISO 9001 is greatly customer-driven while ISO 14001 is more driven by all stakeholders, the community and regulators, while a focus of the standards on customers and continuous improvements does remains strong (Ubius & Alas, 2009; Urbanskiene et al., 2008).( Zeng et al, 2010)
Zeng et al states that the main benefits for implementation were investigated in Salomone's, 2008 paper and highlighted the main benefits as 1) simplify certification process; 2) save human resources; 3) decrease paperwork; 4) decrease management cost; 5) decrease complexity of internal managmeent; 6) increase cultural compatibility; and 7) facilitate continuous improvement. Zeng et al's paper and
The benefit to simplify certification process was ranked first in Zeng et al's research.
Integration is seen as the possible delivery mechanism for reduced investment in time and effort, optimisation of resources and more effective and strategic
decision making by management to ensure a rapid response to changing
demands on companies.(Hines, 2002)
The reasons for incorporating an integrated management system are to combine the safety, health, environmental performances into one system in order to compy with regulatory requirements and also aid in gaining business and works and from qualification through tendering. The image of the company is enhanced and provides customer trust and satisfaction and over time there will be increased efficiency and therefore increased profits. .( McCourt, 2009)
Zeng et al. (2007) revealed that the major problems for enterprises to operate multiple parallel management systems included: causing complexity of internal management, lowering management efficiency, incurring cultural incompatibility, causing employee hostility, and increasing management costs. (Zeng et al, 2010)
Hines discusses that team-based approaches to the integration of management systems, with problems and solutions being delath with real input of ideas from all employees into the management structure and procedures promotes the functionality of the management system. This suggests that integration is more about the company culture and employees than it is about common system elements and generic processes.( Jørgensen et al.2006)
Integrated management system require continuous change, to build and updating as situations change. A system without the ability to pick up on changes through understanding will not be able to feed back into the system and function as required. A positive system culture will enable these improvements and be able to identify adjustments and change required, however, culture and learning is a blind spot for ISO standards and it dependent on the companies themself to incorporate the system process and responsibilities into the heart of the company's culture. (Jørgensen et al, 2006)
Management commitment, employee motivation and participation, changes in routines and traditions etc. are the challenges in order to have IMS institutionalised throughout the organisation and within its stakeholder relations. ].( Jørgensen et al..2006)
Obstacles of integration
One of the main obstacles towards integration is that currently quality management systems ISO 9001, environmental management systems ISO 14001 and occupational health and safety management systems OHSAS 18001 require to be all certificated separately, causing difficulties to keep separation to meet requirements for certification. ( Zeng et al, 2010)
The way to increase integration will require the need for certification bodies to begin to adopt joint certifications through combined auditing. As the standards of quality, environmental and safety system audits are different, the procedures are similar which cause unnecessary waste of resources managing the systems to accommodate the audits . ( Zeng et al, 2010).
Integrated Management Systems
A prerequisite for integration is an understanding of the generic processes and tasks that occur in each of the management systems. Each system operates around 'the plan, do, check, act' basis and the first step towards intergartation is the potential coordination of these processes.( Jørgensen et al, 2006)
With the revisions and new additions of standards, many of management systems have an increased number of similarities. In 2000, the new edition of ISO 9001 brought about a focus on continuous improvements, a change introduced that is one of the foundations of the environmental as well as the health and safety management systems, while later in 2004, the new edition of ISO 14001 developed further to improve the coherence with ISO 9001. Although an integrated standard is not currently on the agenda for ISO, the revisions have improved the compatibility among the different
Standards. ( Jørgensen, 2006)
Integration of Q,E,H&S
Compatibility, cross-references and internal coordination of the key elements of the management systems are obvious first steps
By study copies of the ISO standards, ISO 9001;2008, ISO 14001;2004 and OHSAS 18001:2007, I was able to cross-references the similarities and formulate a table of compatibilities, illustrated in Fig
With similar management principles, the ISO9001, ISO14001 and OHSAS18001 provide a complete series of standards for establishing an effective documentation system. Each management system consists of similar elements including: (1) policy, (2) aims and objectives, (3) organization, (4) documentation, (5) plans (programmes), (6) procedures, (7) records, (8) audit, and (9) review.
Documentation is intended for communication, operation, traceability, and evaluation. Although quality, environmental and occupational health and safety management systems are characterized by the same common key elements, they operate independently. Under some circumstances, elements for managing activities and processes that affect quality, environmental and occupational health and safety could be integrated by the implementation of IMS (Zeng et al., 2007). The companies implementing IMS can get rid of being trapped in a controlled bureaucracy with limited effectiveness. (Zeng et al, 2010)
This first step can reduce the resources issue of different parallel management systems in one company as stated having different standards to comply with is likely to result in administrative burdens, and unnecessary duplication of paperwork.(Zeng et al, 2010)
From the cross referencing of the standards of ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001, it can been seen that each standard requires companies to formulate specific policies, define roles and responsibilities, and manage the processes. In reality, implementing these standards side by side therefore creates unnecessary duplication and it appears to make clear sense to move towards implementing an integrated management. (Karapetrovic and Casadesus, 2009; Molina-Azorin et al., 2008; Zeng et al., 2007)
The next step is to have aa common understanding of all the processes and the coordination
within a company and all the tasks involved in management. Basing the system on each of the management systems view on: policy,
planning, implementation, corrective action and management
review, otherwise known as the 'plan, do, check act,' systems.( Jørgensen et al.2006)
The basis for the integrated system builds on the generic process elements to incorporate the specific demands required by each of the standards for quality, environment and occupational health and safety..( Jørgensen et al.2006)
It was seen from the cross referencing that the similarities in each management system are:
top management commitment, definition of a policy, planning of objectives and targets, procedures for training of employees, communication procedures, audits, documentation and records control, control of non-compliance, corrective and preventive actions, and management review.( Jørgensen et al.2006)
Obstacles of integration
Although ISO considers there standards as generic as it can be applied to any organisation in any sector, in reality, implementation of the standards, especially in small and medium-sized enterprises faces challenges and smaller companies tend to prefer to introduce simpler management systems and therefore cannot achieve external certification to the ISO standards ( Jørgensen et al..2006)
Benefits of integration
Benefit obtained in implementing an IMS is an important criterion for its sustainable implementation (Holdsworth, 2003). (Zeng et al 2010)
Objectives and targets are established, coordinated
and balanced; Organisation and responsibilities are defined in one
place. (Jørgensen et al. ,2006)
It is revealed that the main motivations for implementing IMS are: to satisfy customers' requirements, to respond to government's appeal and to cope with stress from competitors. The noticeable benefits obtained are: to simplify certification process, decrease management costs and decrease paper work. (Zeng et al, 2010)
The second and third greatest benefit of an integrated management system implementation is the decrease in management costs and the decrease in paper work according to the Zeng et al research.
The benefit in the reduction in human resources. is ranked fourth, That is supported by Salomone (2008). An IMS can reduce human resources needed to manage the three systems (for example, by aggregating management for record keeping, internal audit, board reviews and training). (Zeng et al, 2010)
These management systems can create competitive advantages for firms and contribute to a sustainable development. Implementing these standards in parallel often results in some problems. Hence, IMS are being advocated. It was revealed that the main motivations for implementing IMS were: .To satisfy customers requirements. To respond to government's appeal. and .To cope with stress from competitors.. The significant benefits achieved were: .Simplify certification process., .Decrease management costs. and .Decrease paper work.. (Zeng et al, 2010)
To enable companies, consumers and also ISO itself to establish whether the standard is being implemented adequately, companies undergo conformity assessments which are used to prove that a product, service or system are approved by ISO by meeting specified requirements. ISO itself does not perform the conformity assessments. By showing that a product, service or system does meet the ISO requirements results in the company being accredited to the ISO standard can result in many benefits for the company such as providing clients or consumers with added confidence competency. It gives the company a competitive edge and it also aids regulators ensure that health, safety or environmental conditions are being met. The main forms of conformity assessment are certification, inspection and testing. (ISO, 2012)
Certification according to the three management standards, ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and OHSAS 18001 provide the assurance about the ability of a company to satisfy the quality,
environmental or occupational health & safety requirements that need to be followed in order to gain accreditation.( McCourt, 2009)
Reasons to certify?
"With certification from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), you can bypass many procurement processes, making bidding for contracts quicker, easier and cheaper. Accreditation to ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 automatically prove that you meet certain standards in health and safety and environmental and quality management, removing the need to answer lengthy questionnaires about your business processes or compile reams of paperwork."( Jane Dronsfield, 2010.)
"Furthermore, in working to secure ISO certification, your business itself will improve, becoming more efficient, safe, cost-effective and customer-focused. Every aspect of your management processes will be evaluated on an ongoing basis, with problem identification and solving built into your business processes." (Jane Dronsfield, 2010.)
The most logical step towards ISO accreditation is implementing a suitable Integrated Management System (IMS) that formalises all your business processes in health and safety and environmental and quality management and sets you up for continuous improvement. (Jane Dronsfield, 2010.)
Disadvantages to certification?
Implementing standards across a company can be a complex, time-consuming and a very costly undertaking, especially for the majority of Small or Medium sized Enterprise who do not employ internal experts across the three areas of health and safety, environment, and quality.
There is also not a standardised certification to an integrated standard and therefore in order achieve certification in each area, three sets of certification is required. "However, most small companies do not run an IMS because they cannot afford to employ experts in all of the above areas; and, since most business consultants do not offer an IMS either, you would likely need to employ a separate set of consultants to cover each discipline, which would be very expensive. [7] ( Jane Dronsfield, 2010.)
. Apart from focus on overall system improvement, joint audit systems will result in cost savings, better allocation and use of human, material and information resources, as well as a unified problem solving approach that will increase efficiency and effectiveness of other interlinked systems.(Zeng at al, 2010)
IMS Spain
As discuused, over recent years the standards for management systems have become more compatible, and made integartion possible to create IMS standards.
This lead to Dansk Standard and AENOR, the Danish and Spanish organisations for
standardisation, to develop IMS's. .( Jørgensen et al.2006)
In Denmark, more than 50% of the organisations with a certified environmental management system (ISO 14001 or/and EMAS) also have been certified to a quality management system. and most of these organisations have chosen to integrate quality and environment into one system. Out of approximately 165 organisations certified according to OHSAS 18001 and with the possibility of integrating with ISO 9001 and/or ISO 14001, the estimation is that more than 50% of the organisations have integrated at least parts of the systems.( Jørgensen et al.2006)
''One organisation, one system'' is the slogan for the development of an integrated management standard in Denmark.
( Jørgensen et al.2006)
According to a study about the status of integration in Andalucı´a (a region in the south of Spain) approximately 55% of the organisations with certified quality and environmental management systems have developed an integrated system. . Almost 30% of the organisations have implemented an IMS for quality, environmental and occupational health and safety management system ( Jørgensen et al.2006)
AENOR, the Spanish organisation for standardisation, understands integration as the evolution of the different management systems in an organisation. ( Jørgensen et al.2006)
AENOR has given an answer to the market need by launching the ''Integrated Management Systems Certification.'' This certification can be used for organisations with an integrated mamangeemt system for quality and environment. The certification does not however include for occupational health and safety yet. ( Jørgensen et al.2006)
The guide has the following structure: first it recommends an initial check of the organisation regarding the current situation of the management systems and regulatory requirements as well as of needs and expectations of all stakeholders and identification of existing resources.
Afterwards, the organisation has to analyse the advantages and barriers of implementing IMS and, finally, with these data the organisation can choose the most suitable type of integration Quality, environment and health and safety are the content of the three most
often used management systems,according to its structure.
There are two recommended models of integration in the guide:
Model 1: Partial integration. Integration of some common procedures from the three management
Model 2: Total integration. This model goes beyond common procedures and involves an integration
based on a process approach and continuous improvement like in ISO 9001:2000.
Hines carried out a research project to assess the views company managers in South Wales,UK, felt towards the potential for integrated mamangeemtn sytems. His research uncluded a small number of SME's as well as a small number of large companies. His researched states that the SME's felt under pressure to adopt environemtal and health and safety mamagenet systems from their customers. Most held ISO 9000 alreadya d felt the addition of ISO 14001 was "a waste of money" and were rather rensentful of the customer pressure. The SME's were in favour of integration, a system that combined everything.
The importance of compant culture and understanding of system principles didn't not appear to be fully realised by the SME manaegers.
Their reason to want an integrated system was to save money, to save timeand resources and achieve certification easily.
Relunctance to implement for fear of incurring expense and loosing contrcts to lower bids of companies without certification.
This approach is towards allignemnt rather than integreation
Larger companies views were seen to be different in Hines' research. Many of the larger companies had already implemented ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 with a health and safety management system in place yet were not eager to move towards integration.
There was a greater underdtanding of the concept of integration within the larger companies.
Departmental managers were against integegration of departments with fears of department job losses whereas in senior managers, the move towards integration with the reaslision that the strategic could build the company.
Company culture importance was yet again seen to be an important factor, with the larger companies with positive culture being more likely to succeed in system integration.
It was still an issue that there was confusion between system alignment and actual inegartion.
It considers the issue of true integration as opposed to the alignment of systems whereby processes and procedures are brought into line with each other, but are not truly integrated in their application to the business.(Hines, 2002)
Integration is the solution and depending on the understanding and level of ambition behind an integrate management system, it is a solution to many different problems.
Integration as correspondence between different standards with cross-references and perhaps even a common handbook can give several administrative benefits for organisations such as to save time and resources and to secure an alignment between the demands of the different standards. Correspondence is a solution to the problems related to bureaucracy, duplication of work tasks, and confusion between different standards. ( Jørgensen et al..2006)
Integration as coordination which is based on a common understanding of the generic processes of policy, planning, implementation, checking and corrective action, and management review gives potential benefits such as description of responsibilities, examination of synergies and trade-offs, alignment of policy, objectives and targets etc.
Coordination is a solution to problems related to managing tasks and projects across different functional units and departments. A standard for IMS comprising the different areas of responsibility in the organisations and their stakeholder relations might be the next step for ISO to develop. ( Jørgensen et al..2006)
Management commitment, employee motivation and participation, changes in routines and traditions etc. are the challenges in order to have IMS institutionalised throughout the organisation and within its stakeholder relations. ( Jørgensen et al..2006)
In any case, competitive advantages can be achieved, if the organisations combine the new focus on customers in the quality system with a focus on the products in the environmental management system. This can create a synergy between quality and environment (and health and safety and social aspects) as well as more focus on continuous improvements and product innovations e compared to the traditional focus on the production process. ( Jørgensen et al..2006)


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It might not be Jack White's giant write up, but Odd Future's Earl Sweatshirt was the topic of a decently sized feature published today in the New York Times. In it he reveals some big plans for the future, including a follow up solo album to 2010's EARL, an album with Matt Martians of the Internet, and a collaborative record with Tyler, the Creator under the twosome's EarlWolf moniker.
What's most interesting though is that Sweatshirt announces the creation of his own imprint--to be distributed by Columbia (which is owned by Sony)--called Tan Cressida. He chose to stay near to Sony, the label that distributes Odd Future Records' music via its RED arm, so that he could put the OF logo on his releases--"I want it to look seamless," he told the Times.
Also of note in the feature is Sweatshirt's upcoming lyrical departure from the content of his debut. While at the Coral Reef Academy, the young rapper did community service at a center for victims of sexual abuse. He called it a "pivotal moment" and said he came to the conclusion that he was finished with that kind of subject matter, adding that "there's no defense for like — if you have any ounce of humanity." [P4K]
Yeasayer - Yeasayer Announce Tour Dates | Earl Sweatshirt, Odd Future Earl Sweatshirt Unveiled In NY Times |

subset: commoncrawl


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Subscribe to Newsletters
Retirement Plans Health & Welfare Plans
Date: Friday, September 30, 2011
WASHINGTON, September 30, 2011 - The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) will pay the retirement benefits of more than 580 workers and retirees of Chicago-based Corus Bankshares, Inc., and its subsidiary Corus Bank, which went into FDIC receivership in 2009.
The PBGC, which safeguards the pensions of 44 million Americans, stepped in because Corus is in bankruptcy and its pensions will not continue under its plan of reorganization.
PBGC will pay all pension benefits earned by Corus retirees up to the legal maximum of $54,000 a year for a 65-year-old.
When PBGC takes responsibility for the pension plan it will send notification letters to its members. Until then, the plan will continue under company sponsorship.
Workers and retirees with questions may consult the PBGC Web site, www.pbgc.gov or call toll-free at 1-800-400-7242. For TTY/TDD users, call the federal relay service toll-free at 1-800-877-8339 and ask for 800-400-7242.
Corus retirees who draw a benefit from the PBGC may be eligible for the federal Health Coverage Tax Credit. Further information may be found on the PBGC Web site at http://www.pbgc.gov/wr/benefits/hctc/hctc-faqs.html.
According to PBGC estimates, the Corus pension plan has $19.7 million in assets to cover $32.3 million in benefits. The agency expects to cover virtually all of the $12.6 million shortfall.
About PBGC
The PBGC protects the pension benefits of 44 million Americans in 27,500 private-sector pension plans. The agency is directly responsible for paying the benefits of more than 1.5 million people in failed pension plans. PBGC receives no taxpayer dollars and never has. Its operations are financed by insurance premiums and with assets and recoveries from failed plans. Unless otherwise noted, obligations related to this notice will increase PBGC's previously reported unfunded liabilities.
This is a press release issued by the company named above. BenefitsLink is not the author. Use of any information obtained from this release is voluntary, and reliance on it should only be undertaken after an independent review of its accuracy, completeness, efficacy, and timeliness. Reference to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, service mark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not constitute or imply endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by BenefitsLink.


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Lana Zuyeva Another New Year added on Jan 01, 2015
pics in full gallery
(8 shown here)
pics in full gallery
(8 shown here)
Subscribers enjoy high-resolution pics (1920px)
subscribers enjoy the full
photos in this gallery. Zishy is a unique destination that features incredible girls in beautiful photos. The best part is that something is left to your imagination. You will be surprised how exciting non-explicit imagery can be.
all bare and pregnant... magically beautiful.... Id love to kiss her feet and massage her breasts
barefootboy - 21 days ago
Didn't realize it has been 2 years, until Ratboy posted.
KazakJoe - 3 months ago
2 years later and I'm still looking at this set. Wow!
ratboy - 3 months ago
Simply exotic....
Henchman07 - 4 months ago
Amazing! Pregnant hot woman, and she has a bush!
Alterion - 4 months ago
super sexy. Id put another one in her oven. mmmm
CidBlacke - about 1 year ago
I don't have any problem with putting a returning pregnant model on here. They are still sexy women. It seemed that this set was way to big. No pun intended. There are some models I would love 100 photos of and we get 20 - 30, try a little harder Zach. OK, I know now you generally do bigger sets.
WayneCon - over 1 year ago
is picture 10 a metaphor for what her vagina will look like after the birth ?
muttley - over 1 year ago
Beautiful, Sexy, Sweet,,, Awesome
jimthetruckdriver - over 1 year ago
Awesome!!! What a sweet heart?!!! Love pregnant girls a lot!!! Thank YoU...Please share more, Andy, US
sarduchi - over 1 year ago
"Sharkee"...as a follow up too your question on her nationality (not Russian at all) you can see her having sex with a big dick porn guy known as Voodoo on the Reality Kings porn site where she goes under the name of Kathryn and clearly has no foreign accent, pure America.
rockhopper29 - about 2 years ago
Lana is beautiful, real. and life. Thanks for staying Zish. And I'm apart of the "everyone" group. Was I supposed to be embarrassed? Fortunately I'm no longer stuck watching another anonymous close up of a vagina being pumped by a douche bag penis. Thanks Zach.
axiom49 - about 2 years ago
joeyz69 - about 2 years ago
I enjoy the pregnant girls. I think it's sexy every once in a while.
Humanicus - about 2 years ago
Kathrine Ross. Just do a little investigation. She has several speaking parts albeit small in her sex scenes. But not to make a big deal out of it. I really don't care if her name is whatever. But the pics of her sticking her entire hand inside her pussy is not a turn on to me, but might be to the future father who knows?
rockhopper29 - about 2 years ago
@rockhopper if she isn't Russian how do you explain the trailer found here?: http://refer.ccbill.com/cgi-bin/clicks.cgi?CA=920029-0000&PA=2384334&HTML=http://ftvgirls.com/update/katherine-1207.html
Sharkee - about 2 years ago
This old gal has been around the internet a long time doing porn, even after letting herself get impregnated, she still continues to show off. Her kid will have a lot to learn when they ask the question, mommy what did you do when you were young..................
rockhopper29 - about 2 years ago
Fucking hot
thoughtwreck - about 2 years ago
Happy New Year to everyone. +1 with other supporters to congrat you Zach about this set. Anybody else feel free to share your negative feelings as long as you DO NOT insult the models. Thanks.
TheDude - about 2 years ago
I'm getting sick of all the hairy asshole pictures. There not sexy.
wdeblase - about 2 years ago
Beautiful woman, natural and sexy. I Love these pictures of real women.. Have you ever thought of photographing slightly more curvy women, for example Noelle Easton style... there are so many different women that variety is the best way to enjoy them. Thanks
gieletti - about 2 years ago
Lucky baby going to breast feed on those titties!
Johnny Tees - about 2 years ago
henry88 - about 2 years ago
Interesting shoot.
moopieb - about 2 years ago
the pictures are nice... some of them are remarkable... but I don't enjoy too much of pregnant women... I think the same pictures of a young woman were better...
haposai - about 2 years ago
haha - so much healthy debate! I see preggo lovers presenting a united front. i will just skip this set :)
pale.ale - about 2 years ago
mercu - about 2 years ago
dakeg217....you sir are a complete moron...but due to living in a democracy I respect your right to say what you did. But you couldn't be more wrong about both this model and the site in general. Keep up the great work zishy...you'll always have my subscription :)
yaujta - about 2 years ago
I greatly appreciate this photo shoot along with the site in general! Keep up the great work and have a happy New Year!!
larryirun - about 2 years ago
dakeg217 where's your website where you photograph people in intimate and candid settings and set up your studio lights for each part of the shoot? Oh that's right you don't have one.
arsmoriendi - about 2 years ago
I don't normally like the pregnancy shots but this girl still manages to be hot in these pictures
Diablo7 - about 2 years ago
this is beautiful. keep up the good work!
bswanwick - about 2 years ago
wow, stunning
Ariegrunn - about 2 years ago
Gorgeous start to 2015... thank you!
Rubbl3z - about 2 years ago
Congratulations for this great work. You know put the woman in value, especially pregnant women. They are the culmination of a woman's life their faces are radiant and rassurrant, they wear life in them. You knew after Danica Ensley, enter all his emotions in mothers. Again congratulations for this first set photos of 2015 do we start the year with good news for Lana. Continue this and Happy New Year to you.
smith2 - about 2 years ago
I immensely enjoy your sets Zach and I implore you to keep them coming. Most of the negativity I see on these comment threads are from the same users who are never satisfied no matter what you do. So I say tune them out and carry on.
As for the pregnant women I agree with you in that they are beautiful, incredibly beautiful in my opinion. Anyways..Carry on!
elportonative77 - about 2 years ago
Ignore the haters, I love this site. Keep up the great work Zack. Happy new year to all. :)
Ison13 - about 2 years ago
Subscription canceled. This has become embarrassing for everyone involved. Girls you can see on 100 other sites, sets if 50 broken into 2 parts and sets of 104 all together depending on your mood, the photographic quality and intrigue that drew me in the first place has been replaced by predictability and poor lighting (how many times can you shoot a girl in front of a window? At least bring some lighting besides your on camera flash with you.) Goodbye.
dakeg217 - about 2 years ago
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My adaptation on an old Campbell's recipe


text:
Dictionaryfree' en'terprise1. an economic and political doctrine holding that a capitalist economy can regulate itself in a freely competitive market through the relationship of supply and demand with a minimum of governmental intervention and regulation. 2. the practice of free enterprise in an economy, or the right to practice it. Also called private enterprise. Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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Detroit Michigan
Real Weddings Romantic Wedding Flowers
Desserts Wedding Planners & Designers
Oscar De La Renta
Gray Light Pink Navy Pink
Dahlia Dusty Miller Ranunculus Rose
When you have my job, you just have to deal with the fact that night in and night out, you are going to be dreaming of gorgeous weddings (not that it's a bad thing). The moment I laid eyes on the first image of this soiree from Heather Saunders Photography, I was smitten, and knew I was in for a night or two of dreaming. But then I realized Parsonage Events was behind the absolutely stunning design (um, those flowers? I could die) AND TwoFoot Creative was the planner. Not to mention the beautiful sweets table from Sweet Heather Anne, because that would just be too much pretty. I think we're all in for an afternoon of gallery perusing, and at least three weeks of wedded dreaming!
From the designer … As an event and floral designer, Naseem Ramin was a dream client come true. She came to our first meeting with a a stack of photos showing gorgeous, unconstructed bouquets and centerpieces. Other than her desire for big open blooms and a color palette of silver, raspberry, blush and hints of dark blue, she left the entire design up to Parsonage Events.
Because she was having her wedding and reception at The Whitney, one of Detroit's beautiful and historical landmarks, we felt it appropriate to design with the age and style of the building in mind. The reception space spanned many rooms so we decided to use an eclectic mix of vintage or vintage style vessels. We used milk glass, pressed glass and an abundance of silver and gold mercury glass. Each arrangement was different but when you looked at the design together, it coordinated perfectly.
Parsonage Events used a beautiful mix of flowers including dahlias, garden roses, ranunculus and foliage like dusty miller and geranium leaves. Each of the boutonnieres were made up of a different floral element and the attendant's bouquets were wrapped with different fabrics including grey and white chevron, raw silk and burlap.
Candle light was also very important to Nasseem. Parsonage Events filled every ledge and little nook with different shaped candle holders.
Lastly, Nasseem explained the importance of the pomegranate to her Middle Eastern culture. We incorporated full and sliced pomegranates in the long centerpiece of her beautiful head table.
Photography: Heather Saunders Photography | Floral + Event Design: Parsonage Events | Event Planning: TwoFoot Creative | Venue: The Whitney | Invitations: Bella Figura via Pulp and Ink | Shoes: Kate Spade | Dress: Oscar de la Renta | Sweets Table: Sweet Heather Anne | Envelopes + "Please Seat Me" Sign: Molly Jacques Illustration


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Click the button below to add the Stacy's Pita Chips Simply Naked 18 oz Bag to your wish list.
A GIANT "Party Size - Family Size" 18 oz bag of Stacy's Simply Naked Pita Chips. Great with dips, hummus, and salsas. Discover the "Art of Basic" with these perfectly baked pita chips from Stacy's.
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Posted by Unknown on 1st Jan 2013
These chips are tasty and strong enough to hold heavy dips.


text:
Item #BB100724
Cupcake Pinata Kit
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Product Description
Kids love cupcakes and they make a great alternative to the usual birthday cake, especially since you can serve a variety of cupcakes for all tastes! With that in mind, this Cupcake Pinata Kit makes a great bit of entertainment at any cupcake themed party or birthday! This cupcake pinata kit comes with everything you see including the giant vanilla cupcake shaped pinata, the three pound bag of assorted, individually wrapped candy to fill it, and the blind fold to use for playing the game! The pinata comes with the ribbon pull style that is safer for kids than the usual stick method and allows someone to keep the giant cupcake for decoration even after the candy's gone! Bon appetite!
Additional Information
Product Number: | BB100724 |


text:
Hello all, My wife and I are really considering a shift to a self-sufficient life in which we grow our own food and raise chickens, rabbits and goat (maybe some beef too). We currently live in central Texas on about 2 acres in a residential neighboorhood where we can grow vegetables and have a small number of chickens, but we want to buy about 20 acres where we can really go self-sufficient (maybe even get off the grid totally). I wanted to gather opinions about where in the country would be the best place to look for a 20 acre ranch to be able to homestead most effectively? We need to keep the cost per acre pretty low, and we want to find the best conditions (rainfall, long growing season, good soil, etc.) Any advice is welcome. Thanks!
Saint Albans Maine; Only 15 minutes from the Interstate and no zoning... a building permit is still only $5.00.
Alot of things to consider.....what will your source of income be, you will need income besides the farm? You will need to look at sales tax, state income tax - alot of factors besides the cost of land. Hubby and I picked Ky because there's no state income tax on retirement income. The land was affordable and we lokied the seasonal change..... We paid $42,000 on 46 acres of raw land. No bldgs, no barn, no nothing. In 1996...
Parts of Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri would be my best recommendation. Some of these places are very rural and there's no zoning, no permits, and cheap land. Keep in mind you might live next to a meth lab but homesteading can be cheaper in these areas.
i cant give you a "best state". But I will give you a region to start to look at. I would consider the appalachian mountains. Land can be real cheap its usually great soil and perfect for goats "if you see that in your future". Here in the southern region of the mountains we have really good growing seasons and its easy for your animals to be primarily on a pasture diet. Its something to consider
Personally, I'd suggest the central Great Plains. Generally, only towns will have zoning/permits/fees, rural areas are left to our own devices. Land is pretty cheap if you buy range rather than tilled (we paid $16K for forty acres a couple years ago) and if you put some effort into compost, ALL soil bcan be good. Plus, if you choose one of the sparsely populated "frontier" counties, neighbors are far enough apart they still value one another. The word "neighbor" is both a noun and a verb
My wife and I asked ourselves this same question before we picked up and moved. We did a *mountain* of research and settled on the Carolinas. Here's why we picked South Carolina: - There's two complete growing seasons (Yes! Two!) - Land is cheap and plentiful (dirt is about $1000/acre, price goes up with timber value or location) - The Summer is the wet season (when everything needs water. Brilliant design, eh? :grin - Cost of living is low - The early major settlements were the Carolinas. The land is given to growing just about anything you'll need to garden We're sold on South Carolina, but any of the Southern states would really provide the same things.
The "Eden" you are searching for I believe is unattainable although: Most every place that there is a person "homesteading" has it's good and it's bad points - just ask them...... Its either: to hot and humid in the summer, to cold and snowy in the winter, there's the threat of tornado, hurricane, earthquake, flooding, drought, etc happening, lets not forget taxes, zoning, neighbors, isolation or not, rocks or clay, and more..... But other than that, where they have set down roots is great, ideal, couldn't have found a better place, works for them, etc............. With all this I do hope you find your "Eden" as I found mine in Cent NYS......
I think just about anywhere in the south/southeast works. You usually get 2 crops, although you have the heat, you don't have as much trouble with drought, although Georgia has been in drought lately. Even the southern parts of the midwest, although I don't know how much land is going for there.
I live on 1 acre in Kansas. On this lot I could raise enough vegetables for my family of 5, as well as providing enough feed for a few layers. 4 hens would give 2 dozen eggs a week. If I had another acre I could raise grain as well: corn here yields 150 bushels and acre and wheat perhaps 50???? In other words you can do an aweful lot with your 2 acres, if you did not have a mortgage and utility bills. If you homestead in Texas, WATER would be very important! I think that an income would be the most important thing, as nails are not free. Neither are salt, gasoline, taxes, medical bills, and so forth. Some homesteaders have a very TINY income, but all homesteads must have some.
If I wanted to stay in Texas I would consider NE Texas. Beautiful and lots of water. If I move it will get prime consideration.
So what you want is a slice of perfection for the cost of a slice of non perfection. Hmm...that will be tough. When I lived in MT we had inexpensive land, some water, isolation, not too far from town, no near neighbors, no zoning or building permits, no sales tax free firewood and WINTER THAT LASTED 7 MONTHS A YEAR. Someplace you gotta find "most" of what you are looking for and some that you can just deal with. Good luck to you though.
Keep the weather in mind - it is hot and getting hotter in many parts of the country, and tornadoes are in many places where they weren't before. If I were going to leave upstate NY for warmer weather, I think I would look in Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, someplace where there is warmer weather than here, but not too hot.
Thanks for all of the great input! Right now we are hot on looking at 20 to 40 acres in Southern Missouri, but that might change. The only down side I can see right now with Missouri is the slight possiblity of a tornado, but I need to do much more research. Just to answer the income question, I am about 10 years from retirement from teaching at a large Texas University which will give me about a 65% pension (plenty for two to live on). Any additional suggestions are still very welcome.
The quality of life is where you should look. You already have a great place, you just don't know it. Look at the climate you want. Look at the land and what you want to do for your selves on it. I have a couple of friends that make a living Market farming and only use at the most one acre of 5 acre farm and 7/8 of an acre out of 23 they lease. Living being 20 -75 grand depending on what they grow and how much. Type in Ozark Alternatives and Foundation Farm to verify. Good luck with your dreams. By the way the best homestead in the nation is mine and it is already taken.
Before you buy in Southern MO, look at the soil. Lived there for 10 years and got so tired of dealing with the rocky thin soil. No matter how many rocks I picked up, there were more behind them. Fence posts were near impossible to put down and the rains washed away any amendments we added to the dirt. We did garden but it was extremely hard work and not always a good outcome. Moved from there to southern Texas and I have found my eden. We have 17 acres next to an irrigation canal. In addition, we have a well so we water all we want and keep things growing year round. There are no rocks in the soil and it is good black delta soil (cameron county). I can literally see my garden grow by the day. We have a milk cow that does great on just the bermuda grass here and the horses love it. Cost of living is low and we have no trouble finding cheap farm help when needed. It is hot but I like it hot and never have to deal with cold or snowy winters again. If you have never lived north of Texas, you might want to visit during a cold snap to see if you could even stand it. There are lots of farmers markets around should you decide to sell there. The land cost more than in MO but then you can do way more per acre than we could with our mountain of gravel. The key here is to make sure your land has irrigation of some sort.
Not here. We've got 2 seasons: winter and August. Water is hard to come by and expensive. The area is overrun with people who saved all their life to be able to come here and retire and they are all terrible drivers.


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Hotell.noHotell.no handles more than 70 000 hotels worldwide in their booking system. The project involved integration from various sources of data in one integrated solution. This is a type of project where you would normally not consider a traditional CMS, but Webnodes can handle structured data, and can act as an integration hub before exposing these data on the web.www.hotell.no
Save the Children Foundation NorwaySave the Children is a triple net solution for fundraising and charity projects to help children around the world. Visitors can donate charity funds through the website. The web solution has a two-way integrations with back-end systems like Hummingbird in addition to other back-end/ERP systems etc. It has a single-sign-on for all editors and intranet users.www.reddbarna.no
EconaEcona is the Norwegian association for MBA and others with a master's degree in fields related to management, economics and business administration. Econa has 17.000 members, of whom 3.500 are students at Norwegian and international business schools.
The web solution manages online voting processes for a wide range of positions within the organization, as well as different social media functions. The newsletter module keeps track of all communications with its members, and sends out customized content for selected groups. The CMS is an integration hub for various integrations with CRM and other back-end systems.www.econa.no
Optimera GroupThe Optimera Group has a significant market position in Norway within the sale and distribution of building materials and wood- as well as whole sale business, B2B, property development and manufacture of prefabricated products. Optimera has more than 100 sales outlets, 2,200 employees and a turnover of around 5 billion NOK.
The web solution is a content management portal for the 7 different branches within the group. Each branch has its own domain and site. Synergies between the different branches and reuse of content and resources across all sites has, been important elements for organizing the sites in a one portal solution.www.monter.no
The Accident Investigation Board NorwayThe Accident Investigation Board Norway is a public committee of inquiry. The purpose of AIBN investigations is to clarify the sequence of events and factors which are assumed to be of importance for the prevention of transport accidents. The site is an excellent example of an organization that needs to open up their data and share (in this case; reports) with the public.
Webnodes is the front-end layer that enables AIBN to share and expose their different reports on the web. In addition to advanced search and filtering options to find relevant accidents reports, the system also have a relation based navigation option, where the user can find all related reports to a specific accident, place or date etc..www.aibn.no
Diplom-Is ASDiplom-Is is a wholly owned subsidiary of TINE BA, and is a market leader within the ice cream market in Norway. They have a market share above 50 percent of the Norwegian ice cream market. They manufacture and promote ice cream and frozen desserts within a variety of different brands. The web solution is a triple-net solution with a website and social media functions, an intranet for employees and an extranet for wholesalers that can place their orders.
In addition our partner Oxx Webscape have developed a custom media asset management system using the built-in media capabilities in Webnodes. Using the system they can share their media- and promotion material with their B2B customers.www.diplom-is.no
The Information Office for Color and InteriorThe Information Office for Color and Interior (IFI.no) is a modern website that provides the users with several opportunities and increased user-friendliness. The website allow users to make short memos or list of products that are referred to in the articles. All products listed, can then be purchased for the users own renovation projects later on. The website also allows users to easily find relevant shops in their local area, and to find out where they are located on the map.
The web solution is available on different tablets and mobile devices.www.ifi.no
Tomra ASATomra is a global recycling company with annual sales of 3,5 billion NOK, and with activities in more than 55 countries around the globe. TOMRA's operations are organized into three business segments: Collection Technology; Material Handling; and Industrial Processing Technology.
Their web presence consists of several sites and each site is available in a range of different languages, including Japanese, which Webnodes CMS handles with ease. www.tomra.com
SOS BarnebyerSOS Barnebyer provides the most vulnerable childrena family and a safe home, and help them shape their own future and to take part in the development of their communities.
The web solution has an online fundrasing feature. Visitors can also sponsor a specific community or a specific child.The website has a deep integration with their CRM system. The website also utilizes the newsletter module in Webnodes to provide personalized communication with their sponsors about their specific projects.www.sos-barnebyer.no
Norwegian PropertyNorwegian Property is a pure play property companyfocused on the office sector. The company has in-house competence on both property development and property management. Measured by portfolio value, Norwegian Property is one of the largest listed property companies in the Nordic region. The web solution is mainly used to expose their property portfolio, and capture interest from potential customers.
They also use the web solution as an investor relation platform to communicate with their shareholders according to the rules and regulations provided by the Oslo Stock Exchangewww.npro.no
LUDO MobileLUDO Mobile is an mobile operator that provides mobile services at very affordable prices. They offer customers a wide range range of mobile subscriptions, in which customers should be able to select customized subscription deals based on their real usage. In addition to mobile subscriptions, LUDO also offers a very wide range of additional services and products to their mobile customers.
The web solution enables the LUDO Company to efficiently roll out their business concept in selected markets, re-using content and the web structure in different languages, utilizing the Webnodes CMS software. The web solution has many sites and languages. www.ludo.no
OBOSFrom modest beginnings in 1929, OBOS has become the largest Nordic cooperative building association. Today OBOS is owned by its 300.000 members. OBOS has built more than 100,000 homes, organized into near 400 associated cooperatives. OBOS also offers services, maintenance and renovation. OBOS is manageing more than 2 000 cooperatives and condominiums. The OBOS Group included 18 wholly-owned subsidiaries employing more than 900 people. In 2013 OBOS also opened Internet banking and mobile banking systems to its members. The entire OBOS web solution is running on Webnodes technology.www.obos.no
Slettmeg.noSlettmeg.no ("deleteme.no") is a service from The Norwegian Data Inspectorate. This web service aims to help people who experience privacy violations online. Slettmeg.no offers advice and guidance to people of all ages who find offending material about themselves on the Internet. Offending material might be photos published without permission, fake profiles on different Internet services, incorrect personal information or harassment.
The web solution offers a live chat function so that victims can chat online with consultants at the Inspectorate. Due to the strictly confidential and personal content communicated through this web solution, the CMS was challenged on all kinds of security aspects that had to be approved by the authorities before launching. www.slettmeg.no
National Association of Norwegian ArchitectsNational Association of Norwegian Architects was founded in 19111, and is a membership organization for Norwegian architects. The website promote good architecture and architects shared interests. It is also a community of approx. 4 300 professional architects, as well as some students. NAL has 14 local associations that are managed locally. The central administration consists of 35 employees. NAL holds an Eco-Lighthouse certification from 2008 and became an IA company in April 2010.
The web solution is a large and tightly integrated network of several sites, databases and associated members/users. They organize several courses and conferences, all managed via de CMS administration interface. The web sites source its content from many different sources and databases. As part of their knowledge sharing program, they have chosen to expose and share some of these data (EcoBox project database is exposed as an OData endpoints, a feature built-in to Webnodes CMS.www.arkitektur.no
The National Institute of Occupational HealthThe National Institute of Occupational Health (Stami.no) creates, utilizes and distributes knowledge on work and health. They have a Intranett/internet solution based on Webnodes CMS. The Intranet provides a wizard for researchers. Researchers can submit applications for new research projects to the research leader. The application is converted to PDF format. Researchers can constantly monitor the approval. When a project is approved, it will be published on the official internet site.www.stami.no
Oslo CityOslo City is a large shopping mall of 79 791 square meters in the middle of Oslo. They have approximately 15 million visitors on a yearly basis, and a turnover of approximately 2 billion NOK. The website has won several prices for its creativity and how it promotes all the shops in the mall. One of them being the "Golden Idea of the Year" in the web category arrange by The Nordic Council of Shopping Centers.
The website is a tool to interact with both the visitors and the shops in the mall. Oslo City uses the SMS module in Webnodes as an important part of their marketing. For example they send out SMS to 9000 subscribers regularly with tips on great deals, mini concerts, signings and SMS-hunting competitions where they can win gift-vouchers etc..www.oslocity.no


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All first-time transfer students with 30 or more hours are encouraged to attend University College's Transfer Orientation program. This program will be held on several dates throughout the year in 214 Elkins Hall beginning at 9:00 a.m., with check-in beginning at 8:45 a.m. Presentations will last about an hour and a half and will provide students with important information regarding scheduling and campus services. For more information please call the Transitional Programs office at 985-448-4462.
Transfer Orientation Agenda (Morning Program)
8:45 – 9:00 | Check-in | |
9:00 – 9:15 | Introduction and welcome from the Dean of University College | |
9:15 – 9:45 | Overview of campus services | |
9:45 – 10:15 | Introduction to Banner and Moodle | |
10:15 – 10:30 | Q & A session, registration assistance, closing remarks, and campus tour (optional). |
If you have received a letter of acceptance and you are transferring 30 or more hours use the form below to register for the Transfer Orientation Program. If you are transferring with less than 30 hours you are required to attend Freshman Orientation.
Click here to register for Freshman Orientation.


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7 saves
La Luncheonette
Shelburne Falls
2 saves
Trail TOC Diner
Shelburne Falls
Shelburne Falls Coffee Roasters
Shelburne Falls
Enjoy world class fine organic fresh roasted coffees, sumptuous pastries, savory soups and more in a cozy country setting. Delicious... more
+ 7 saves -
Stubby's Grab-N-Go
Shelburne Falls
Stubby's Grab-N-Go is a road-side drive-in restaurant located on the historic Mohawk Trail in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts. Just seven minutes... more
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West End Pub
Shelburne Falls
Serving classic American pub fare featuring local beef burgers in a quaint historic building on the banks of the Deerfield... more
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TAKSAV has been established in 1993 by scientists, intellectuals, artists, workers, students and others who walk a different path but all believe in a better world.
The main activity of the TAKSAV is to realize the International Ankara Theatre Festival each and every year. The other activities will be available here soon.
Address: Atatürk Bulvarı No: 127 Floor: 10
Bakanlıklar – Ankara
Tel: +90 312 419 83 98
Fax: +90 312 419 35 44


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OpenBSD Packages and Ports Installation and upgrading of packages and ports on OpenBSD. |
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
I have no issues with subtitles, but you often need to create your own .mplayer/config file.
This is something people tend to work out on their own, so I won't post mine, but I believe I've already done so in the past... as have others. Indeed, as others have said, nvidia no longer maintainers their older xf86-video-nv driver which supported user modesetting and 2D/Xv. For newer cards you're stuck with the unaccelerated vesa VBE interface, which is mostly insufficient for watching videos. The reverse engineered "nouveau" driver for Linux requires features that have not yet been ported to *BSD, mainly, KMS or kernel modesetting. nvidia only releases a proprietary driver for Windows, Linux, Solaris and FreeBSD, they do not release programming documentation. People who run OpenBSD on desktops simply avoid nvidia hardware, anyone who was unfortunate to have such a card needs to accept the lack of support, use a different system, or install another OS. |
Tags |
mplayer, nvidia, slow playback, vlc |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Other New better MPlayer, the MPlayer 2, fork of original MPlayer | vermaden | News | 5 | 26th March 2011 03:37 PM |
mplayer do not show subtitle | mfaridi | OpenBSD Packages and Ports | 3 | 12th November 2008 05:41 AM |
mplayer-1.0rc2p2-sdl.tgz and mplayer-1.0rc2p2.tgz | bsdnewbie999 | OpenBSD General | 1 | 21st June 2008 06:34 AM |
mplayer volume cannot increase. | bsdnewbie999 | OpenBSD General | 3 | 19th June 2008 03:16 PM |
MPlayer skins for solaris | whispersGhost | Solaris | 7 | 12th June 2008 11:06 PM |


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Alfred Morris's swing-for-the-fences touchdown celebration is featured in Madden NFL 25, which was released last year. Morris is one of 16 players who could grace the cover of Madden NFL 15 when the latest version of the video game franchise hits the shelves in August.
The first of four rounds of fan voting in the bracket-style tournament to determine the latest Madden cover star began Thursday. Morris is matched against Colts quarterback Andrew Luck, with the winner advancing to face the leading vote-getter between Eagles running back LeSean McCoy and Colts wide receiver T.Y. Hilton.
Luck is a No. 2 seed and Morris is a No. 7 seed, for what that's worth, but @Trey_Deuces may have an advantage in that Luck is the only candidate who isn't on Twitter. You can vote for Morris here. Or, if you believe in the Madden Curse, you might want to consider voting for Luck.
After a one-year hiatus when Calvin Johnson appeared on the cover of Madden NFL 13 and proceeded to lead the league in catches and yards, the Madden Curse struck again, at the NFL draft of all places. Did you see what happened to Madden NFL 25 cover star Barry Sanders last night? Poor guy.
Barry Sanders seems smaller than I remembered pic.twitter.com/3gACSLbz3u
— Ian Oland (@ianoland) May 9, 2014
So yeah. Vote for Alf, or don't. The winner of this year's cover vote will be announced on June 6. The other first-round matchups:
(1) Richard Sherman vs. (8) Alshon Jeffery
(1) Cam Newton vs. (8) Antonio Brown
(2) Colin Kaepernick vs. (7) Nick Foles
(3) Demaryius Thomas vs. (6) Luke Kuechly
(3) LeSean McCoy vs. (6) T.Y. Hilton
(4) Jimmy Graham vs. (5) Eddie Lacy
(4) Jamaal Charles vs. (5) A.J. Green


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Summer 2012 Open House
Drinks reception at the Asia Society Hong Kong Center
The Asia Society Hong Kong Center has now been open for four months, during which period we have presented over 80 programs and have welcomed close to 20,000 visitors. With the unveiling of our new center, we aim to offer regular "open house" events where our members can connect with old friends, meet like-minded people, and celebrate Asian history, heritage and culture. We will provide refreshments and complimentary tours for those who have not yet seen our new home or our inaugural exhibition, Transforming Minds: Buddhism in Art. Come join us for our first Open House at our new premises! Non-members are also welcome!
Online registration only
Event Details
9 Justice Drive, Admiralty, Hong Kong


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Have You Seen My Roots?
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Funeral Card Friday - Richard List
I was given a treasure trove of funeral cards from my mother-in-law. About 200 in all. The artwork on some of them can be truly gorgeous. This card is for Richard List. He was a truck driver and my husband's uncle. He died in a truck crash three years before my husband was born. My husband was named Richard in his honor.
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SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemen's al-Qaida branch says one of its local commanders has died from wounds he suffered during an attack by the Yemeni army and U.S. drones.
A Twitter account associated with al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula issued a message saying Ali bin Likra al-Kazimy died Saturday after a military attack on one of its camps in the town of Mahfad last week.
Mahfad, where al-Kazimy was the leader, is located in a mountainous region in the country's south.
Government officials confirmed al-Kazimy's death.
The Yemeni army, backed by U.S. drone strikes and supported by local tribes, recently launched a campaign to drive al-Qaida out of the southern provinces of Abyan and Shabwa.
The U.S. considers Yemen's al-Qaida branch as the world's most dangerous.


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Dana has not received any gifts yet
Hi Dana, welcome to the Mom bloggers, this is a wonderful place to share you views and traffic to your blog. pls check out http://www.caringwhispers.com and http://www.incrediblediary.com. looking forward to checking out yours too
Hi there and welcome from The Girlz Korner in upstate New York where you'll find light, witty and rather entertaining articles on every topic imaginable from The Little Black Dress to Why Women Love Romance. So if you get a chance to kick back and exhale, if only for a brief moment, we'd love to have you. Hope you enjoy your stay :)
Welcome to MBC! We are glad to have you here. We look forward connecting more with you here. I'm a Super Mama who has a family friendly blog, i also have a weekday blog hop called Exposure 99% . This weekday blog hop helps you get more dedicated readers and blog followers. Hope you link up weekly and i look forward connecting more with you here. If you have any questions about how to link up do not hesitate to let me know.
When it comes to writing blogs, there are a much easier way of doing it, than just to type on the keyboard of your computer. There are many people…
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cModes going away seems like a dumb idea... just like not being able to go back in older LFRs to get the transmog gear. =\\This, I completely agree with
Challenge modes are rough but they're fun!
do you have insta flying or do you have to go buy it?
I would have loved that boost back in Cataclysm when i finally gave in and started playing. I mostly did it to spend time with my best friend and had no idea how much time i had to spend to be able to play with her. It took me more than a month to get to 85 and i wasn't geared for raiding until the last day before MoP came out... BUT! I learned my class the hard way and i am grateful that i didn't just get some boost. I can understand how other people might feel the opposite way. I'm glad they get a scenario to learn their class and i think the 483 gear is a good idea since you won't be able to go directly from level 1 to Siege of Orgrimmar. This will probably bring new life to some of my favorite raids ever such as Mogushan Vaults and Terrace of Endless Spring.


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The 20th Century Fox Television animated television show The Simpsons is currently in its 25th season, and if a recent deal to bring the series to cable network FXX is any indication, the show is more valued than ever.
On Friday, cable network FXX finalized a deal to acquire the rerun rights to over 500 episodes of The Simpsons, marking the first time the popular series will make its way to a cable network. While The Simpsons has long had reruns on local stations, contractual restrictions have prohibited 20th Century Fox Television from selling the show to cable networks. But 20th Century Fox was recently able to negotiate new contracts without the exclusive portion of the agreement, giving the studio the go ahead to pursue deals with cable networks, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Although the financial details of the agreement were not disclosed, onlookers believe it could be one of the largest rerun sales ever. The per-episode price has been estimated to be anywhere from $1.5 million to $750,000 at the very lowest, meaning that the total sale could be anywhere from $800 million to $400 million. The deal between 20th Century Fox Television and FXX's parent company FX — both of which are units of 21st Century Fox (NASDAQ:FOXA) — also includes the rights for online streaming and video-on-demand. The Simpsons will arrive on FXX in August 2014.


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This amp had some impressive reviews. I heard it on Wilson speakers. Big advantages are:
- ultra high end digital resolution, very revealing, excellent macro and micro dynamics, very impressive spacious resolution.
- compact size, containing DAC/preamp / amp system
- will be fitted with WIFI interface this summer, providing the best link possible to your streaming music collection.
- programmable, you can vary the output power (now between 190 -> 240 W) and the required in/output to some degree.
At the moment I play with a Rudistor RPX100 balanced amp with a AKG701 headphone I rewired myself with silver/gold (tube amp) connection wire, now on Furatec XLR plugs. I could easily remove the plugs and connect the wiring directly at the amplifier output, providing some adjustments are made on the amps output power...
Getting enthousiastic on the idea, I checked with the guys from Devialet if this would be possible at all. This was my question to them:
I use often headphones and I'm a kind of headphone enthousiastic. I understand that an analogue line out can be defined so the D-premier would only act as DAC. But would it be possible to configure the power outputs to a very low power (say 3-4 W) so I can use a balanced connection to directly drive my headphone? Guess it would make a fantastic headphone amp….
Their answer:
Yes you can! Digital 1 & 2 can also be Fixed or variable Level Line Out for connecting the headphone amp with selectable maximum voltage level at fullscale input, any value up to 4.0Vrms, with default setting of 2.0Vrms. We are about to launch the 'configurator' in 4 weeks from now. You will download it for free from our website.
It's also possible to directly connect your headphone on the speakers outputs, we can internally limit the output voltage (thus the power) of these outputs. This will indeed convert the D-Premier into probably the best headphone amp ever built. Note that such feature will not be available in the configurator and will require custom configuration.
So this seems to be a real possible option. Only drawback is the price..... (11900 Euro's). However, compared to a top high end headamp + DAC + digital interface/player + cabling, I guess the price will be about the same or even less.
Do you have any thoughts / considerations on this you would like to share on this 'crazy' idea?