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Today, the leadership of your organization knows your Brand is much more than your logo, your technology, a collection of buildings and your people. Your Brand is a creation of a whole that is greater than the simple sum of its parts. It's your passion and your compassion. The feeling that everyone touched by your Brand experiences has become your trademark. Your Brand is quite simply your Promise backed by your Performance.
BRAND = PROMISE + Performance
The Brand Summit
Our Brand Discovery process is designed to differentiate your Brand by "Turning the Telescope." This is where we look inside together, and explore your history, your people and your culture. In other words, we explore and discover the essence of your Brand. What makes you unique. Once clarified, we can then develop a truly unique Brand identity. We focus on four key components of your Brand Accountability:
who you are today
what you do differently
why you do what you do
what you are capable of becoming
It all starts with an off-site meeting with your Leadership Team. The typical six-to-seven hour session is a process of distilling information. Facts – lots of them. Facts about your organization, processes and people. After that, we eliminate those that are not possibly unique. And ultimately find those that are absolutely unique to you.
For you, preparation for the session is minimal—it's a very casual day. And for good reason. We want interaction. We want great stories of the past—the real uplifting stories and the stories that made things more difficult. We want everyone to be comfortable giving personal accounts and opinions. Remember, we're looking for the essence of your Brand and much of it is hidden in the personalities gathered in the room. Some consultants will tell you to base your Brand exploration largely on the consumer's point-of-view. Leaving them to determine what should drive your Brand. Sure, consumers' opinions are important, but they can't drive your Brand. It all starts with you.
Ours is an efficient, effective and truthful method that gets to the soul of your organization; it discovers who you are today, what you do differently, why you do what you do and what you are capable of becoming. It is an ongoing process that aligns your Business Strategy with your Brand Strategy and your People Strategy.
Momentum Groups
The outcomes of our Brand Summit will drive the internal adoption of your Brand through our Momentum Group Internal Brand adoption process. This is where we work with a group of your middle-managers over the course of a 12-month engagement. We create functional Brand Pillars and explore every touchpoint within your organization.
Deliverables include:
- Your Brand Essence Statement that summarizes your Unique Value Propositions and WHY you do what you do.
- Positioning Strategies that will be the public view of your Brand identity and claim of distinction. Here, we will provide specific options such as positioning statements, icons or other means of differentiation via positioning.
- Your Brand Franchise Statement that becomes your corporate battle cry.
- Internal Adoption Strategies which will be the delivery mechanisms for all internal Brand touchpoints. This is where we create the internal adoption plan.
- External Adoption Strategies that will serve as our guide to a well-executed delivery of all marketing communications Brand touch points to externalize your Brand.
Internal Brand Insight Assessment®
When it comes to Brand Discovery across your organization, we have a proprietary tool to accurately assess your Brand from every angle. Our Brand Insight Assessment® (BIA) is our online research tool that measures the strength and alignment of your Brand among key internal audiences. While other methodologies evaluate the Brand from the "outside in" by measuring consumer attitudes, the Brand Insight Assessment examines the Brand from the "inside out" by measuring the knowledge and attitudes of three of the Brand's most important constituencies.
The BIA is based on the philosophy that a strong Brand cannot be built on effective marketing alone, but must also have an effective corporate and management structure, strong internal communication and training and other factors too numerous to discuss here.
Conventional marketing research tools can provide information about consumer awareness, attitudes and preferences toward a Brand. But often a Brand fails to achieve success, because it isn't understood or supported by the organization itself.
The BIA helps us with these key factors:
- Determines how well an organization's business strategy, vision and Brand are aligned.
- Uncovers underlying business or marketing issues that may be undermining the success of the Brand.
- Determines how well an organization understands its Brand.
- Shows the alignment of perceptions and attitudes of leadership and staff.
- Identifies perceptual gaps among internal audiences on key aspects of the Brand.
- Recommends specific areas in which business and marketing communications practices need to be improved in order for the Brand to reach its potential.
We will often incorporate some mix of internal discussion groups, based on a cross-section of your staff. These groups allow us to assess closely held beliefs of your staff and provide your staff the opportunity to relay organizational efficiencies and distinctions that sometimes are only known at the deepest internal levels.
External Brand Consumer Audit
Depending on your market situation, we sometimes recommend an external audit to assess consumer opinions. To that end, focus groups are an industry-accepted method for gathering in-depth information from consumers. In the focus group environment, consumers with a variety of opinions and experiences can be brought together in a controlled environment to have a discussion guided by a moderator skilled in facilitating groups of this nature. Focus groups take place among a panel of 6-10 individuals; the groups generally last approximately an hour and a half to two hours.
Quite often in healthcare for example, it is our recommendation that the groups be blindly recruited, without the potential respondent knowing whom the sponsor of the group might be. This allows us to better understand both individuals and families that have had experience with your organization and those who have had experiences with your competitors. At the completion of the focus group study, it may be desirable to quantify various issues that emerge from the process through a quantitative study. We will make any such recommendations upon completion of the study.


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The Canadian Horticultural Council (CHC) provides information on upcoming and past industry events, both those that are open to the public, as well as those that are members-only.
Upcoming events
A chronological listing of upcoming industry events that are open to the public.
Annual General Meeting
Yearly meeting where CHC members vote on resolutions and elect CHC's Board of Directors.
Fall Harvest
Yearly advocacy event on Parliament Hill for members of CHC and CPMA.
HortShorts newsletter
Keep up to the date with the latest news from CHC and Canadian horticulture in our monthly e-newsletter. Sign up today!
Fresh Thinking magazine
Our free semi-annual bilingual print publication features high-level industry perspectives and useful tips for growers. Subscribe today!
Become a member
We are the national representative for over 20,000 fruit and vegetable producers. Take a seat at the table where our industry's future is being decided. Become a member today.

subset: commoncrawl


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The always-on landscape of new media doesn't often lead to the familiar or the comfortable. But it will always bring you back to human beings.
Now, more than ever, in order to earn relationships and transactions, brands must focus on the stories that animate the lives of the people with whom they do business. With more than two decades of storytelling under our belt, we're comfortable developing the narrative of your business to fit the story of their lives.
We bring focus, curiosity and stability to the new digital marketplace — with an old-school devotion to the wellbeing of our clients.
Our team members have a record of achievement with Fortune 500 consumer and technology brands, and we've spent more than 23 years serving leaders in our region whose customers span the globe. We know how to reach real people in ways that make our clients impossible to ignore and impossible to catch.
And we know how to make it fun.
Brand Strategy and Architecture, Message Set Development, Communications Planning
Creative and Visual Strategy, Identity Design, Naming
Digital, Traditional and Guerilla Media Planning and Placement
Advertising, Design, Copywriting, Content Development, Environmental Graphics, Packaging, Swag
Digital, Film and Video, Photography, Animation and Motion Graphics, Radio, Live Events, Trade Show Media and Support
Fully-equipped shooting and recording space with a large infinite cyc, sound reinforcement, and ceiling-mounted tungsten lights.


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Cable network Syfy is looking into a possible continuation of one of history's most famous flops, the Kevin Costner-led "Waterworld," as part of their proposed Syfy Films division.
Syfy President Dave Howe calls it an underexploited piece of intellectual property, one that attracts a surprisingly large viewership (around 400,000 viewers watched the last airing).
A sequel isn't in the cards, but Howe says a series inspired by the film is something that has been "talked about endlessly" and remains a possibility, he says.
Source: Forbes


text:
Expert Recommendations
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RegCure Fixes DLL Errors
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Why do I have DLL errors?
When a program crashes, Windows is often able to trace the cause of the crash back to a faulty DLL and tell you which DLL caused the error. DLL errors are often caused by missing, corrupted, or out-of-date DLLs that interact with the programs that use them in unexpected ways. Certain DLLs that are shared between several programs can have critical errors if your registry is corrupted.
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Related content:
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- Winsock Errors


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The small piece of blue tape is almost lost in the pattern of the carpet in the darkened hotel room.
There is no furniture, no lights, just a bit of illumination coming from the adjacent, connected room.
I shift my weight from left to right foot and inch a bit closer to the blue tape.
"You don't have to be right on it."
Read more at The Verge


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Sen. Troy Jackson
Augusta ME
Term: December 2015 – December 2018 (1)
Troy Dale Jackson is a Democratic member of the Maine State Senate, representing District 1 since 2016. Jackson currently serves as state Senate minority leader.
Jackson previously served in the Maine State Senate, representing District 35 from 2008 to 2014. From July 2013 to the end of his tenure, Jackson served as majority leader, a position he was appointed to following the resignation of Seth Goodall (D). He served in the Maine House of Representatives from 2002 to 2008.
Jackson's professional experience includes working as a self-employed logger. Jackson attended Allagash Consolidated Community High School before obtaining an A.A. in business from the University of Maine at Fort Kent. He lives in Allagash, Maine. He is married to Lana Pelletier; they have two adult children.


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About TICAU
TICA U was founded by The International Cat Association (TICA) the world's largest genetic registry of pedigreed cats. Our organization has members and clubs in Latin America, North America, Asia, Europe and Africa and continues to grow all around the world.
TICA recognizes 71 breeds of cats for championship competition - from the regal Siamese, exotic Bengal and exquisite Persian, to newer breeds including the Savannah, Kurilian Bobtail and Thai.
TICA also is the world's largest registry of household pet cats and kittens. Household pet cats and kittens adopted from shelters or rescued off the street, compete for titles and international and regional awards, just like pedigreed cats.
TICA feels that cat shows should be fun for exhibitors and spectators alike. Our motto is "Fabulous felines...fun...friendships". To learn what this means, explore our website or visit a local TICA cat show. You will find TICA filled with cat lovers just like you. We come from all professions. We are women, men, and kids. We are cat breeders and animal rescuers. We are tireless champions for the welfare of cats. We may speak different languages and enjoy different customs. But we have one thing in common - we love cats!
Enjoy cats...make friends...and have fun!
Learn More About TICA's World of Cats Click Here
Wherever you are, you're in TICA's world!


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The Tsunami RDA has earned a lot of praise, an now there's another version to spice things up. First there was the original 22mm, then a 24mm version – and now the Geekvape Tsunami 24 RDA with Glass Window. It incorporates all the same qualities as the previous versions (large velocity-style build deck, direct quad airflow, bottom adjustable airflow, squonk compatibility and single or dual coil options), but the Glass Window version has glass viewing windows to see the coil and monitor juice levels.
Virtually identical to the Geekvape Tsunami 24 RDA, but with transparent glass windows, the only other similar option is the Vaporesso Nalu RDA. You can get the glass window Tsunami RDA 24 at Chinese supplier Gear Best for only $21.29, or try US vendor Vapor Beast for $30.14 with coupon "YEAHBABY" →
* Expiration of coupon codes is unknown. Good while supplies last.
Tsunami 24mm (Glass Window) features:
- Quality stainless steel construction
- Huge space to accommodate large coils and more cotton
- Glass windows to check coil and view liquid levels
- Features two post, velocity-style deck with dual 3mm x 2.1mm terminal holes
- Adjustable Kennedy style air flow, available for single or dual coil
- Large 7mm deep juice well
- Extra hollow positive pin for squonk-style mods
- PEEK insulator
- Includes three competition-style drip tips and 510 adapter
- Gold-plated 510 connection
- 24mm diameter
Geekvape Tsunami 24 (Glass) Video Review:
Coming soon…


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Thursday, 6 December 2012
A Touch of Pink....
5 comments:
Both these cards are absolutely stunning Emma. I love the wintry deer card - that moon you have created is just gorgeous. Love Michele xxReplyDelete
Gorgeous cards, love the touch of pink on the first card and the embossing is lovely. The scene on the second card is stunning, beautiful inking. Tracy xReplyDelete
More special cards again. The ideas you conceive and then create are phenomenal - I continue to be in awe. Well done Emma.ReplyDelete
Morning Emma. I have just been having a lovely time admiring all your Clarity samples, they are just stunning and show the stamps off beautifully. Barbara is very lucky to have you on her DT.ReplyDelete
Hope you get your boiler sorted very soon, they are saying it's going to be very cold next week too.
I had to smile at the sight of your beautiful Xmas tree. Christmas has arrived at Chez Williams. We are a bit slow here and are putting it off for another week. I can't get into my cupboard under the stairs once it's up and always forget to get something important out and end up having a tussle with the tree to get it.
Have a wonderful weekend and don't work too hard.
Hugs Lisax
- Anonymous8 December 2012 at 12:38
Two absolutely stunning cards Emma!ReplyDelete
Thank you for all your comments and messages, they are all appreciated and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon...
Emma ~xx


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I have just come across this critique on Bloom's Taxonomy. Brenda commented:
The categories or "levels" of Bloom's taxonomy (Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, Evaluation) are not supported by any research on learning. The only distinction that is supported by research is the distinction between declarative/conceptual knowledge (which enables recall, comprehension or understanding), and procedural knowledge (which enables application or task performance).
Bloom's Taxonomy, is a classification of learning objectives within education proposed in 1956 by a committee of educators chaired by Benjamin Bloom.
Photo: wikipedia
Based on wikipedia, Bloom's Taxonomy divides educational objectives into three "domains": Cognitive, Affective, and Psychomotor (sometimes loosely described as knowing/head, feeling/heart and doing/hands respectively). Within the domains, learning at the higher levels is dependent on having attained prerequisite knowledge and skills at lower levels.
- Knowledge
- Exhibit memory of previously-learned materials by recalling facts, terms, basic concepts and answers
- Knowledge of specifics – terminology, specific facts
- Knowledge of ways and means of dealing with specifics – conventions, trends and sequences, classifications and categories, criteria, methodology
- Knowledge of the universals and abstractions in a field – principles and generalizations, theories and structures
Questions like: What are the health benefits of eating apples?
Here is an attempt to apply Bloom's Taxonomy in education.
How about the concept of knowledge? If knowledge is defined here, involves the recall of specifics and universals, the recall of methods and processes, or the recall of a pattern, structure, or setting. (Bloom et al. 1956 p 201), then surely knowledge COULD BE DEFINED by recalls.
This new taxonomy provides a comprehensive classification about learning based on a constructivist approach. I am however, interested in knowing how it was developed.
In times of information abundance, how should high-order knowledge – such as thinking and reflection be re-defined?
The revised Taxonomy (refer to Rote versus meaningful learning) here is based on a broader vision of learning that includes not only acquiring knowledge but also being able to use knowledge in a variety of new situations.
In our digital era of learning, is this classification good enough to classify the educational objectives in such ways?
I have once shared that learning in a digital world involves individuals networking with others, including cooperation and collaboration in groups or networks, and so there are certain areas which require both individual, collective and collaborative efforts in order to achieve the learning goals. Would we need to extend this learning theories and Taxonomy and Blogging and Blooms to ensure that complexity is considered in education and learning?
My interests focus on creation of artifacts – where create involves putting elements together to form a coherent or functional whole; reorganizing elements into a new pattern or structure.
For example, to create an artifact like blog post would require one to go through a whole cycle of collecting and aggregating information (via iGoogle, RSS, email, Google +, FB, Twitter, OL Daily, delicious.com etc.), curating them (via some of the above tools, or with Scoopit, Pearltrees, paper.li, Netvibes). This would then provide the sources of information for the writing of blog posts, or the re-posting or feed-forwarding of posts or artifacts aggregated or curated.
As a blogger, I would then peruse the content, analyse, and evaluate each part of the artifact or resources in terms of its relevance and values to a subject, and how each part of it would be useful for the inclusion of my blog post, by remixing, repurposing and re-creating or re-writing parts of the posts that resonate with my experience or could add to my knowledge.
Finally, I would then post the created blog post as artifacts (videos, pictures, links) onto appropriate social media of my choice – FB, Twitter, Google +, Delicious, or any other new media that I found useful. Also, I would comment on others' blog posts, or those posts on FB, Moodle Forum, or Retweet on Twitter, based on an analysis, evaluation and sharing of my ideas/posts in a similar way to the blogging – experience, thinking, reflection and action process.
In reflection, the above blogging and commenting "routine" would quite likely involve the application of knowledge, and an indepth thinking and reflection throughout the process.
I reckon blogging would satisfy the educational objectives set along the three "domains": Cognitive, Affective, and Psychomotor.
I think we need a new taxonomy which could cover the complex learning and digital literacy more comprehensively.
Postscript: This paper on Learning together in community: collaboration online sounds useful.


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With all due respect to my blogging sister Jenna over at High Gloss and Sauce, someone should be policing prom fashion because clearly some parents have fallen down on the job.
And if that someone happens to be a principal, dance chaperone or other duly appointed adult it doesn't make them skeezy; it makes them responsible.
The fact that a principal has to measure----let's let that sink in----actually measure the hemline on a prom dress because the parent(s) either don't have enough common sense (or decency) to cover their daughter is now a sad fact of our modern culture.
How do I know?
I know because I've seen the dresses that are being sewn at my neighborhood seamstress.
And when I say dresses, I mean material that sewn together to make modern day fig leaves.
I was in her shop last week saw a dress on a mannequin and stopped in my tracks. After giving the dress the once over, I asked her where the rest of the dress was. She replied that the young woman's mother saw the design and signed off on it's construction.
I don't blame the seamstress. She's a talented business woman and prom season is a huge revenue stream. She doesn't dictate the taste of her patrons.
Yet when I asked her if she thought the dresses that she sews were appropriate for high school aged girls, she just smiled.
She once again mentioned that the parent(s) not only sign off on the designs but pay her fee.
She also mentioned that in some instances a few mothers indicated that bodices weren't plunging enough or slits weren't high enough.
Seeing that some parents have missed the boat on the prom dress front, it seems up to the school to enforce a standard.
Just because your parent(s) okays a dress doesn't mean that it will get you inside of the dance.
Help the kids understand it by looking at the scores of adults that are being taken to task by their employers because of their social media usage.
Yes, everyone has a first amendment right to free speech but your employers don't have to keep you as an employee if your views are in sharp contrast to theirs or causes embarrassment/public backlash to the company. If young ladies (or in some cases gentlemen) don't like the rules enacted by their individual school or school district, they don't have to attend the prom.
If time, circumstance & finances allow perhaps they, their parents and other like minded individuals should get together and have their own formal event. That way they can dress as questionable or inappropriate as they want without worrying about those pesky school rules.
This isn't about being prudish or puritanical---it's about learning life lessons early. You can't always do (or wear) what you want. You can't always offer your opinion without some consequences.
It's about learning the difference between the things you can do and the things you should do.
I think some Secret Service agents are learning that life lesson right now.
Asking for a young woman's dress to actually have a skirt, bodice and back isn't wrong.
Trust me, you'll have the rest of your life to dress is short skirts & barely there dresses.
Just don't do it at prom.
Filed under: Facebook, Parenting, Prom, Twitter, Uncategorized
Tags: Accountability, Are You Kidding Me?, Musings, Parenting, Personal, Prom, Really?


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Z Supply
Regular price
A timeless baseball tee reworked with a varsity upgrade. Defined by double arm varsity stripes and contrast sleeves, this sporty long-sleeve top is crafted from our Signature Burnout fabric for a super soft, lived-in feel.
60% Cotton 40% Polyester
Our Signature Burnout garments are specially treated for perfectly imperfect variations in color that will evolve with wear and washing. To care, hand wash or machine wash cold, gentle cycle, and lay flat to dry, as a heated dryer will accelerate the aging process. Wash before wearing.
Relaxed Fit. Model is wearing Size S
Bust: 35" Length: 26" Sleeve Length: 27.25"


text: NY Pump & Motor provides pump repair services for a variety of top-quality pump brands. Our trained pump service technicians have the pump repair experience and knowledge to get your operation back on track in no time. No matter what type of pump service you need, we assure that you receive the professional quality you deserve with our pump repair services.


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October 31, 2006
I have had a blog in one form or another for ages. In fact, if your definition of a blog is a place to say what I am up to and for others to leave comments about it, enabling a basic conversation, I have had a blog since I was living on 3rd and A in NYC over 10 years ago. The problem has always been that it was somewhat difficult to figure out who visited the site. Sure, there were always the logs but they were often tough to parse.
Then a few years ago, the guys behind Movable Type came up with an idea call TrackBacks. Implemented correctly, trackbacks were supposed to automatically show up like comments with a blurb about who is linking to your page and what they said. The problem was that while it was available to you if you used something like MT, it wasn't braindead easy to implement in a custom blogging engine like mine.
The engine I used was something I wrote from scratch. For a long time it was a LAMP-based solution. When I became an SE for NetObjects, a public web software company with a 49-51% interest owned by IBM, I made it a Websphere solution. Thankfully that mistake was fixed when I went to work for Microsoft a few months later. The site became a C#/ASP.Net learning project, and I am sure if I had spent a few minutes with the crap info available on trackbacks, I could have gotten it going. But I had a real job and tried to focus on that more.
Eventually I started using Community Server because it made my job as blogger far easier while not sacrificing some of my perceived requirements. Community Server supported trackbacks, but at some point they stopped working on my site. Before that I suffered from trackback spam that was painful, just another form of the referral spam i worked through in my own software.
Fast forward to this past week. I noticed I was a victim of comment spam. It wasn't on the blog itself, but on a photo in the gallery section. One image had over 1000 comments. Looking at this site, even the newest user can see its not exactly a popular read, with most articles getting up to one or two comments. So for a single photo to have more than 2 comments was wierd, 1000 comments was Twin Peaks final backwards episode bizarre. About a month ago, I saw a blog posting about the comment spam filter tools in CS2 on Justin Pierce's site, BlogFish. I did just what it suggested, pissed off that I hadn't enabled that before. So far so good.
Either that same day or a day later I upgraded to CS 2.1 and I noticed that TrackBacks were working. I noticed this because I got a trackback from the CS Daily News site after getting help on my installation issue with CS. But what I am most excited about is that the spam filtering appears to be blocking the bad guys out, letting the good guys through, letting me know about both, and deleting the blocked stuff after a few days. I have a great single dashboard that shows me the number of comments in my blog and galleries and can quickly go through to review them all. When reviewing comments, the trackbacks can be reviewed in the same listing. Unfortunately I have to review blog comments separately from gallery comments, and each gallery has its own separate listing. I would prefer to have a single comment/trackback review for all comments and trackbacks on my server, but now I am just getting greedy.
So is any of this really new? No, not really, but that's not the important part. Some of it worked before, but not all at the same time. The important part is that it is all coming together and just works….well, tweaks are required, but it is almost there. Its amazing how much just works out of the box and the problem I encountered was really a limitation of my connectivity to my hosting provider or a crappy ftp client. I am still the administrator of the site, I still own everything about it, but I have a day job and I can have this fairly cool site that I can play with and things just mostly work as I hoped. Now I can think about what I want to do to make it better rather than keep thinking of the work required to get the site back up to a minimally working state. Thats why I have another reason to love CS 2.1.


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Razer Game Booster Support
|How do I get Gamebooster FPS, video recording, and screenshot features to work in my game?
|From the Gamebooster main window, click on the Screencast tab and the Screenshot sub-tab, then change Screenshot to 'On'. You can also take this opportunity to set the hotkeys for screenshots right below the on/off button. Next, switch to the Video Capture sub-tab and repeat the process.
For the in-game FPS display, click on the Utilities tab and the FPS sub-tab and toggle the Enable FPS button to 'On.' You can also set the hotkey to toggle the FPS display on and off.
|I have the in-game features enabled, but my frame-rate counter, screenshots, and video recording are not working.
|If you still do not see the FPS display in-game and your hotkeys for screenshots and video captures are not working, please ensure you are running your game in 32-bit mode. Gamebooster currently does not support in-game features for games running in 64-bit mode.
|Does Razer Gamebooster have a temperature monitor?
|Razer Gamebooster currently does not monitor system temperatures. Temperature monitoring requires considerable resources in order to be accurate and real-time, and so it was counter-intuitive to Gamebooster's core purpose, which is to increase the performance of your gaming PC.
|I downloaded Razer Gamebooster and made an account, but I can't log in.
|Please activate your account by clicking on the link in the confirmation e-mail that was sent to your e-mail address. You will be able to log in after your e-mail address is verified. If you still cannot log in, please contact our support team at http://www.razersupport.com/contact-us
|Does gaming mode affect any of the processes?
|Razer Game Booster temporarily shuts down extraneous processes in gaming mode but restores all functions and applications upon exiting the game.
|Does Razer Game Booster require internet connection to function?
|To start using Game Booster, you will need to create a Razer account over the internet. Any subsequent usage of Game Booster does not require an internet connection.
|How much does Razer Game Booster cost?
|Absolutely nothing! We are providing this software as an added value to all our Razer fans/community for their continued support and dedication to Razer.
|I am a Game Booster user, how can I provide feedback?
|Beta testers can access the feedback by using the feedback mechanism at the top of the UI of the Razer Game Booster application.
|I am unable to boost a certain game with Razer Game Booster. Help?
|We are still improving compatibility with all games, but a quick solution would be to use the manual boost button. All games within the launcher will remain boosted.
|What languages does Razer Game Booster support?
|At the moment, English, Russian, French, Spanish, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, German, Korean and Japanese.


text:
Continuent Tungsten offers real-time replication from MySQL to a variety of DBMS types including Vertica. In this Tungsten University webcast we will show you the details of setting up MySQL-to-Vertica replication, including the following topics:
- Introduction to Continuent Tungsten features for data warehouse loading
- Installation for MySQL to Vertica replication
- Best practices for applications: charsets, schema design, time zones, etc.
- Techniques for filtering and transforming data
- Performance tuning and trouble shooting
- Adapting batch loading for new use cases
The webinar includes technical information and a live demo to help you get your own data warehouse loading application up and running quickly.


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Adding Value to Businesses
You face challenges on a daily basis. Some of them are easy to navigate. Others leave you perplexed. Whether you need help finding a solution to a problem or improving what you currently do, you need someone you can turn to for advice and guidance.
There are a number of ways we can work with you to help you run a better business. As accountants we understand your compliance requirements, but we are also business advisors who work with thousands of businesses and individuals to help them reach their goals. We are able to harness the knowledge gained in all of these experiences to provide you with solid financial and operational advice. We'll help you see beyond the numbers, too.
We can help you with the following advisory services:
- Transaction advisory services
- Business valuation
- Activity Based Costing (ABC)
- Profit improvement
- Women-owned businesses
- Fraud and forensic accounting
- Litigation support
When facing a business obstacle, turn to us for help. Contact us to see how we can add value to your business so you can be more successful.


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Song of triumph
Sing Yahweh a new song,
let the congregation of the faithful sing His praise!
Let Israel rejoice in his Maker,
and Zion's children exult in their King;
let them dance in praise of His name,
playing to Him on strings and drums!
For Yahweh has been kind to His people,
conferring victory on us who are weak;
the faithful exult in triumph,
prostrate before God they acclaim Him
with panegyrics on their lips,
and a two-edged sword in their hands
to exact vengeance on the pagans,
to inflict punishment on the heathen,
to shackle their kings with chains
and their nobles with fetters,
to execute the preordained sentence.
Thus gloriously are the faithful rewarded!
Next… Psalm 150


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- Erratum
- Open Access
Erratum to: Bioactive terpenoids and flavonoids from Daucus littoralis Smith subsp. hyrcanicus Rech.f, an endemic species of Iran
© Yousefbeyk et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2014
- Received: 11 March 2014
- Accepted: 14 March 2014
- Published: 2 April 2014
The original article was published in DARU Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences 2014 22:12
After publication of this work [1] all authors noted they had failed to include Dr. Mohsen Amin in the authors' list upon his contribution in antimicrobial assay and major editing and revising the manuscript. Author's email, Author's detail and Authors' contribution is as following:
Author's email
- 5
Department of Molecular Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, 1 king's college circle, Medical Sciences Building, Toronto, Ont. M5S 1A8, Canada
This investigation granted by research chancellor of Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Also we acknowledge Mr Amir Yousefbeyk for his assistance in collecting plants.
Authors' Affiliations
- Yousefbeyk F, Gohari AR, Hashemighahderijani Z, Ostad SN, Sourmaghi MHS, Amini M, Golfakhrabadi F, Jamalifar H, Amin G: Bioactive terpenoids and flavonoids from Daucus littoralis Smith subsp. hyrcanicus Rech.f, an endemic species of Iran. DARU J Pharma Sci. 2014, 22: 12-10.1186/2008-2231-22-12.View ArticleGoogle Scholar
This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.


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East Antrim MLA Alastair Ross has welcomed a drop in the number of people claiming unemployment benefit.
Newly released figures show that the number of claimants fell by 700 in November, meaning there has been a decrease of 8,800 in the unemployment claimant figures over the last 12 months. The total number of employee jobs in Northern Ireland was estimated at 720,290 for September 2014, representing an increase of 6,450 (0.9 per cent) over the quarter, and an increase of 14,200 (two per cent) over the year. This is now the tenth consecutive quarterly increase in employee jobs.
DUP representative Mr Ross said: "These figures show that the economy in Northern Ireland continues to grow stronger, with unemployment down and the number of employee jobs rising.
"Despite this, it is important that we continue to do all that we can to make Northern Ireland an attractive and easy place to do business, encourage employers to expand and take on more staff and support people who wish to upskill.
"The news that Corporation Tax powers are within our grasp should be an encouragement to all of those who wish to see Northern Ireland rebalance the economy and attract even more FDI from across the world."


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Tonight I released the final version 0.1 build. I added a couple nice-to-have's to this build, including:
- Full support for the LWT portion of MQTT protocol. (this is all configurable on the <mqtt:config /> tag).
- Change to get rid of the MuleMqttMessage object, and instead return the byte[] payload of a message, with relative information stored in the INBOUND property scope. I also modified the publish method to appropriately set the OUTBOUND scope accordingly.
- Fixes to a couple bugs, mainly with Mule application reloading, so that clients appropriately disconnect/reconnect with the MQTT broker.
You'll notice I stripped out my functional test cases, and this was due to improper coding of them on my part. I'm going to re-introduce proper test cases in my upcoming version, 0.2, hopefully.


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Charging your controllers is a simple enough task, but if you had the chance, wouldn't you want to do it in style? With the Power Pyramid Supreme, from Konnet, now you can.
If you only have one console, either a PlayStation3 or an Xbox 360, storing and charging controllers isn't too much of a hassle, but if you're lucky enough to own both, you need something like the Konnet Power Pyramid Supreme. This awesome gadget acts as a charger and holder for your controllers, when you're not busy mashing their buttons.


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Episode 9 of the Fightbait Anime Club and Episode 9 of Onii-Koto! If you're wondering what this is, please see this post. Guess what guys, this show still sucks!
Get the podcast
[RSS] Subscribe to the podcast with other podcatchers
[MP3] Download the MP3 directly (Right click > Save target as)


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We are a family owned professional pest control company that understand you need help with your pest problem fast. We aim to solve problems quickly and also look at solutions to historical issues. Our technicians take the time to study the building so that we are able to identify the cause of the pest problem.
For estimates regarding pest control in Fleet , please call us at your convenience on 01252 763 344. We look forward to meeting you soon to help with your rats, mice or wasps nests removal in Fleet
Ancells Business Park, Ancells Rd, Fleet GU51 2UJ
Monday - Saturday: 8AM–6:30PM
Sunday: 8AM–12PM
Copyright © 2013 Fleet Pest Control - All Rights Reserved.


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Brothers Gonna Work It Out
Ghetto Brothers - You Say That You're My Friend
Ghetto Brothers - Ghetto Brothers Power
Forget gangsta rap – this is the real thing. I first came across the Ghetto Brothers when reading Jeff Chang's incredible history of hip-hop, 'Can't Stop Won't Stop'. They were a New York gang based in the Bronx and became active during the late 1960s. They were heavily involved in Puerto Rican nationalism, and had a reputation as one of the more politically minded and less vengeful gangs, during a period when gang colours transformed the bombed-out city grid into a spiralling matrix of disputes. "If you went through someone's neighbourhood, you were a target," explained Carlos 'Karate Charlie' Suarez, the president of the Ghetto Brothers. "If you got caught, they beat the hell out of you." At one point it was estimated that there were a hundred different gangs claiming 11,000 members, and that 70% were Puerto Rican, the rest black. Other gangs included the Black Spades, Savage Skulls, the Roman Kings, and the Savage Nomads.
The vice-president of the Ghetto Brothers was Benjamin Melendez, a 19-year-old who had founded the gang. According to Chang, Melendez was, "…a teenage diplomat turned young revolutionary – a gifted orator and organiser." 'Yellow Benjy' was a fighter, but his real passion was music. As children, he and his brothers had won a talent contest singing Beatles songs. Melendez formed a Latin-rock band under the Ghetto Brothers name, featuring his brother and fellow songwriter Victor on bass, another brother Robert on rhythm guitar, and assorted players making up the rest of the band. All three were also members of the gang, but saw the band and their music as a way of the communicating their message to a wider audience.
Melendez was instrumental in organising a moderately successful truce between all warring factions in 1971 after one of the Ghetto Brothers, Cornell 'Black Benjy' Benjamin, was killed trying to prevent a fight between rival gangs. Instead of seeking revenge on those responsible for his death, Melendez and Suarez used the situation to bring all the gangs together to sign a momentous peace treaty. Change swept through the Bronx.
But for Melendez and his brothers, it was still the music that was their main focus. The sleeve notes for their one and only album 'Power-Fuerza' present the group's ideologies and hopes for their music –
"This album contains a message; a message to the world, from the Ghetto Brothers. The Ghetto Brothers, a community organization dedicated to bridging the ever-increasing gap that exists between society and minority groups, believe music to be the common language of the world. Through music, they are able to inform society of the plight of the 'little people' in their quest for recognition. Therefore, the music of the Ghetto Brothers serves as a way of communication. If the Ghetto Brothers' dream comes true, the world will learn that the 'little people' wish to be acknowledged; wish to be properly educated in order for them to pass on their knowledge to their children and proudly inform them about their heritage and culture, and be a functioning part of the growth of America. If the Ghetto Brothers' dream comes true, the 'little people' will be 'little people' no more, and make their own mark in this world. Listen to the Ghetto Brothers… and take heed."
Moving away from the politics and the admirable sentiments carried within the band's message, the music itself was influenced by the brothers' love of the Beach Boys, the Beatles and doo-wop. They started out covering Grand Funk Railroad songs, but soon developed their own style, which was closer to the teen-themed Latin pop of California, with sweet, harmonised melody underpinned by a funky as fuck Latino backbeat. Check out 'You Say That You're My Friend' and try telling me that you don't just want to break out into a joyous boogie! It's like the Beatles have had a massive funk injection. The guitars really remind of the Los Hombres' hit 'Let It All Hang Out'. Some of the song construction is a bit naive – check the clumsy attempt at a Lennon/McCartney style middle-eight about a minute into the song - but according to Chang, 'Power-Fuerza' was recorded in one take, hence the raw, under-produced sound, which actually accentuates the enthusiasm and energy you can hear bursting from the record. The key themes are love and betrayal, as demonstrated by the slower 'There Is Something In My Heart', which is still infected with some pure bongo funk and a sweet bassline. 'Mastica, Chupa Y Jala' was another dance number, with Santana-inspired guitar heroics from David Silva. Only 'Viva Puerto Rico Libre' hinted at the band's political stance, while the album closed with 'Ghetto Brother Power', a live favourite from the time the band played Bronx block parties, plugging their amps into lampposts and inviting all the other gangs along. Chang writes, "…(during) the band's signature song 'Ghetto Brothers Power'… they launched into a kind of blazing drum-and-conga breakdown that drove the Bronx kids crazy. The song climaxed with a promise: 'We are gonna take you higher with Ghetto Brother power!'"
At the time (it is believed to have been recorded in 1972) the band signed a low-key deal for $500 with a small Latin label called Salsa International/Mary Lou Records. It didn't shift many copies and failed to move that far from the Bronx, but it is a hugely important record in terms of how it reflects a move away from gangs and guns, to a celebration of being young and free. The Ghetto Brothers were instrumental in putting this back on the agenda, and their music deserves far more recognition. I was amazed at how easily I was able to track down a copy of 'Power-Fuerza'. It just seemed so obscure, despite its obvious historical importance, but good ol' Google and a passionate UK-based online world music distributor called, erm, Passion Music made it surprisingly accessible. I highly recommend any of you interested in the band to do the same – it's a brilliant album.
I have hugely simplified the fascinating story of the Ghetto Brothers (and pinched all my facts from Chang), so if you have any interest in learning more, please buy Jeff Chang's 'Can't Stop Won't Stop' as he devotes a large portion of the book to the gang and the band. You can buy a copy from Amazon.
Buy Ghetto Brothers 'Power-Fuerza' from Passion Music
Interviews with Benjamin Melendez and Carlos Suarez, both taken from the 'Can't Stop Won't Stop' website
Ghetto Brothers clip featuring Carlos 'Karate Charlie' Suarez, who is referred to as 'Charlie Melendez' by the narrator -


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I'm sure by now you have noticed that I haven't updated today's "days since YM's last purchase." Yea, well thats because I am now back to 1. 1 sad day. Although I ended up breaking a pretty amazing streak, this break was well worth it. Go big or go home they say, right?
Ok, so all winter long I have been lusting after a leather motorcycle jacket. LUSTING. Yesterday, on Gilt I found what my life has been missing. Enter the Tory Burch sale. This jacket retailed for 795 dollars. It was on sale for 308. I had quite a bit of gilt "credits" so it ended up being practically free. Well not free, but at least 80% off.
Put it this way, if I was a leather jacket I would be this leather jacket. I woke up today with no remorse. In fact, the only emotion I felt was absolute confidence that I made the right choice. What's a girl to do when they are practically giving this stuff away?
Guess I'm back to working those twelve steps again. Ahhhhh but it was so worth it!


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Letter Formatting
Your cover letter should be written in business format and addressed to a particular individual. It should be clear, concise, brief (one page), and flawless! This represents you at your best, after all.
Parts of a cover letter
- Your name, address, phone number and e-mail address. Can be formatted in standard business letter format or as it appears on your resume.
- Date.
- Contact & address. Use an individual's name, whenever possible.
- Salutation. Dear Mrs., Ms., or Mr.
- First paragraph. State the reason you are writing, explain the type of work you are interested in, or the specific position you are applying for, and indicate how you learned about the employer and/or the opening.
- Body paragraph(s). Be specific about why you are interested in the position and show your enthusiasm. Briefly summarize some of your strongest qualifications to do the work. Consider this from an employer's point of view by linking your skills to specific requirements in the job description. Show what you have to off er the employer; don't just daydream about what the employer can off er you.
- Closing paragraph. Refer the reader to the resume (or application form) you are enclosing. Declare your interest in an interview and off er to provide further documentation upon request.
- Signature.
- Your name (typed).
- Enclosure


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Waterfowl Hunters dream property on 7 acres. Bordered by the Tule Lake Wildlife Refuge, and it includes hunting rights to an additional 84 acres! Hunters cabin with 3+ bedrooms, 1 bath, built-in wood burning insert with brick surround, and a full kitchen. Outbuildings to store your extra gear. The property includes the awesome Cushman all terrain vehicle, recently refurbished, with rubber treads to handle the sometimes marshy terrain. Canadian honkers, snow geese, & more. Mallards, pintails, teal & more. Owned by one happy group for many years, now it's your turn to live your dream! Price Reduced!
All 11 Photos


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For the first time, the IMACS Seminar on Monte Carlo Methods will take place in North America. The Florida State University in Tallahassee will host the conference from May 16 to May 20 of 2005, and welcomes participants from across the globe.
Information about earlier IMACS Conferences can be found here:
- 2003: http://www.wias-berlin.de/main/events/workshops/xMCM2003/
- 2001: http://mcm2001.sbg.ac.at/anno3.html
Information about FSU and Tallahassee can be found here:


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A lot of personal injury firms act tough but don't have the proof to back it up. At Davis, Kessler & Davis, we're not your typical personal injury firm. Founded by a retired judge with over four decades of experience, we are well-equipped to fight for every last penny you need following an accident.
When you call our firm, you speak directly to an attorney who tailors our services to meet your needs. Our focus is on personal injury, but we can help with so much more. Reach out today to discuss your needs and get started right away.


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Children's Literature Resources
The School (S)-Collection in the Social Sciences, Health, and Education Library (SSHEL) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign consists of over 165,000 cataloged volumes of children's and young adult literature. The collection was created in 1941 with an initial collection of approximately 3,000 titles. In 1993, the S-Collection acquired an uncatalogued collection of 58,000 children's books from the Center for Research Libraries, which were subsequently added to the collection. With this addition, it became one of the most comprehensive collections of children's literature in the nation, second only to the Library of Congress.
Originally created as a working collection for students in education or library and information science, the collection now supports doctoral and historical research as well.
- Find Children's Books
- Research Children's Literature
Bibliographies and guides for finding books by topic, age group, or genre.
Resources for researching the history, development, analysis, and review of children's and young adult literature.
- Additional Resources
General information about the S-Collection, answers to FAQs, maps of SSHEL, links to public libraries, and S-Collection site map.
Children's Literature Blog
Check out our Children's Literature Blog for helpful guides, children's literature news, and tips on using the S-Collection!


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Geelong Homes has undertaken a pledge to raise much-needed funds for Geelong-based Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) charity, River's Gift. In February 2016, Geelong Homes constructed a contemporary four-bedroom home in Ocean Grove, featuring a generous master bedroom, open plan living, north facing alfresco area and fully landscaped gardens. The proceeds from the home auction raised over $130,000, with all profits being donated to River's Gift to support the local charity and contribute to world-leading SIDS research.
The Pledge fundraising initiative was conceived when two old friends, Karl Waddell (Director – River's Gift) and Andrew Carroll (GM – Geelong Homes) were reacquainted at the River's Gift run group training session in Geelong. Karl and Andrew quickly realised that their organisation's mutual passions for family and the Greater Geelong region, meant that a fundraising partnership could go a long way towards building a better future for our children.
We ask you to join us in raising SIDS awareness and much needed funds to help find a preventable cure.
For more information visit River's Gift.


text: Bermuda Bay for Halloween? Seriously, can you think of anything that doesn't go with Bermuda Bay? This color is just fabulous by itself or with just about any other color! Here it is paired with Crushed Curry, Tangerine Tango, and ….drumroll please…….Blackberry Bliss. Only the fabulous Bermuda Bay could pull […] Read more »


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Decred Integrates Exodus for Secure Transfer of Blockchain Assets, Launches Cryptographic Challenge
Decred (DCR), the community run and funded cryptocurrency designed Bitcoin developers, has announced that it is supported by Exodus, the desktop multi-asset wallet app which allows users to secure, manage, and exchange blockchain assets. With this partnership, Decred participants can retain complete control of their currency and enjoy full privacy on all transactions, thanks to Exodus' built-in integration with ShapeShift.
Jake Yocom-Piatt, Project Lead at Decred, remarked: "We are excited to offer this extension of the DCR network. Exodus gives our users a virtual wallet that is both user-friendly and secure. Empowering users to manage blockchain assets in a simple, one-click manner is the practical, down-to-earth use-case that is essential for the long-term growth of this industry. We couldn't be happier with this deployment."
Exodus Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Daniel Castagnoli explained: "Written into the Decred project ethos are principles dedicated to free and open-source software, multi-stakeholder inclusivity, and incremental improvement of privacy and security. With a dev team that has been involved in this industry since its inception, Decred is one of the most innovative digital currencies available today. Making our platform compatible with their offering is key to reaching the broadest community of users who believe in taking control of their financial future—without banks, brokers, or institutional oversight."
The news of this integration follows Decred's launch of decentralized voting for the blockchain. It also comes as Exodus has implemented confirmation tracking and other new features to make its wallet more user-friendly and secure to the broadest range of users.
As a bonus, the two projects have collaborated to launch a cryptographic challenge with USD $5K prize in $DCR. Decred has a history of creating cryptographic challenges with bountiful prizes, and this event has already been launched. The Exodus and Decred software are available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.


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94 N. Main Street, Jasper, GA - (706) 253-2457
The cast of The Taming of the Shrew. The play continues for two more weeks and makes a perfect date night with witty dialogue on relationships.
Nan Nawrocki / Photo
That's the one word that stuck in my mind after leaving Friday evening's performance of The Tater Patch Player's The Taming of the Shrew.
From actors who memorized hundreds of lines of Shakespeare's dialogue to perform one of his most famous comedies to the absolutely stunning costumes that Audrey Kirsten and company stitched together from beautiful material that wouldn't be out of place at The Globe Theatre in London, Tater Patch's current production is not to miss.
Jacob Clark plays Petruchio - a fortune seeker who enters into a marriage with a strong-willed woman named Kate and then proceeds to "tame" her temperamental spirit. For the performance Clark learned almost 600 lines of Shakespeare's script. Clark said he approached the part by learning the longer monologues first.
The banter was easy as you had the other actors prompting you but, Clark said they needed a real understanding of what was happening in the play in case the banter got off.
His love interest, on and off the stage, Buffy Bezdek, plays Kate a.k.a the shrew, and was a real driving force in this play. She has long loved Elizabeth Taylor in the movie version of Taming of the Shrew and that was a big inspiration for her.
Don't miss this performance of Shakespeare - it's neither difficult nor dull. It's comedy and romance, perfect for date night. While modern audiences may find it hard to follow every word, it's not difficult to follow the general story and it's fun to hear language from Shakespeare's time spoken - although perhaps not every day.
Tater Patchers asks audiences to consider the irony of a play about a very domineering man, written in the reign of a never-dominated queen. Queen Elizabeth I is rumored to have loved the play, and the actors and director think you will to. Underlying the play is a genuine love story and a "battle of wits and wills for the ages. And there is a fine array of comic characters, masters and servants trading places, love and laughter."
The Taming of the Shrew will be performed March 10, 11, 12, 17, 18 and 19. Friday and Saturday performances at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday performances are at 2 p.m. at Tater Patch Theatre.
Tater Patch will perform Inherit the Wind in May.


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CPAN Ratings: IO-BufferedSelect reviews http://cpanratings.perl.org/dist/IO-BufferedSelect CPAN Ratings: IO-BufferedSelect reviews en-us 2000-08-23T07:00+00:00 email@example.com email@example.com Perl 1901-01-01T00:00+00:00 1 daily johnvk http://cpanratings.perl.org/dist/IO-BufferedSelect#8558
Rating: 5 stars

the basic problem is that readline or <FH> is line buffered, but with no timeout, and select() with sysread() has a timeout but is not line buffered. This module makes that easier.

except there was a bug in the module. I patched it and submitted it to rt.cpan.org/Public/Bug/Display.html?i...
 johnvk 2011-05-16T14:17:10


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Coding Champion Danielle Competes in Programming Contests!
Danielle is in 5th grade and lives in Talladega, Alabama. She's 11 years old and told us she loves to draw, play video games like Road Block and Undertale, but most of all, code. She's created some incredible projects, so we chatted with her to find out how she started coding and why she loves it.
What do you want to be when you grow up? A game developer.
How did you get introduced to coding? It sparked when I was in 4th grade. My gifted teacher Ms. Harris told us that we would be participating in the technology fair and that's when I started coding like crazy. I didn't understand one bit of it until I started looking at videos on Youtube. I participate in two competitions, and I won second place in both for computer programming. I've been using Tynker since August 19th, since this school year started.
Do you look at the Tynker community projects? Yes. I saw this one game called Facemaker Two, and I was like, "I wanna see if I can do this again." I did recreate it, using less blocks than the original game.
What do you do with a project when you're done with it? I would post it on Tynker. Then I would go to school and show my classmates, my gifted teacher, my teachers, my librarian, and my principal. Today I went to Channel 47 for an interview. My interviewer said that there were many other star students, but my interview in particular was one of the best and most interesting. I was excited to be on TV. Butterflies were rustling in my stomach!
You can see Danielle's TV appearance on WOIL TV47 here!
What is your favorite thing you've made? My Kawaii maker game.
What are you planning to make next? Something related to my old game. It was called Penguin Worm and that's what I entered to win those fairs, actually. I've also been seeing quite a few very well made games that look like some of Roblox's games. Some of the games even look 3D, so that's what I want to try to replicate on Tynker.
Why do you like to code? Because I get to give fun to the world.
Do you think other kids should try coding? Yes! On Tuesday next week my class is going to go code and my teacher actually asked me to help her for Martin Luther King day.
What advice would you give for kids starting out with Tynker? Try to look up some videos to see if they could find more inspiration.
Erica, Danielle's mother, thinks Danielle's coding skills are amazing, and is very proud of all she's accomplished. She loves coding because it's an enjoyable hobby for Danielle that can also be turned into a career in the future. Erica believes "coding opens kids' minds," and told us, "it's fantastic that kids have the ability to interact with software like Tynker so they can become problem solvers."
Thanks for your time, Erica and Danielle! We're inspired by your projects and are so happy to have a rising coding star using Tynker. Good luck with future competitions!


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So it's almost December and as expected, I've totally out-Christmas-ed myself already. It may be only two weeks since I was claiming to love all Christmas songs (with the sole exception of O Come All Ye Faithful) but all that's a distant, mulled wine-soaked memory. I've come to realise there are LOADS festive tunes that I completely loathe. So much so I've decided to write a whole blog post about it (not a very original idea, I know, but the whole thing's been going round my head for so long it's become necessary for the sake of catharsis).
So here is my Christmas Top Ten Of Hate (honestly, Chris de Burgh, I just don't know where I'd be without you).
10. Is This Christmas? – The Wombats
As far as I know, neither The Kinks nor Pulp ever produced a song which wittily dissects the typical British Christmas. This is a shame, since instead all we get is this, which is truly dire. Listening to this song is like sitting in a student union bar with a group of techy lads who consider themselves to be sharp and cynical (they would have gone into observational comedy but believed their A-levels to be too good). Nothing they say about Christmas is funny – stuff like "why is Back To The Future on all the time?" and "Isn't it mad how overdrawn we get?" – yet you have to laugh, otherwise they'll just assume you're too stupid to understand their hilarious yet bitter take on life. It is awful.
9. Once in Royal David's City – trad. / not arsed to look it up
The main issue I have with this one comes with the lines "Christian children all must be / mild, obedient, good as he". As a child – and, as I considered myself back then, a Christian child – I found this deeply unfair. I'll try to be good, sure, but I'm seriously expected to be as good as Jesus? Isn't that, you know, sort of pushing it? What's more, if it really was such a perfectly normal expectation, why was it that everyone thought Jesus was so ace? If the average Christian child – not similarly blessed with son-of-God, supernatural powers – could be just as mild, obedient and good, wasn't he or she in some way better? For me, this song always touches on that ongoing sense of injustice you have as a child (you know, the one that's based on the fact that deep down you know adults are a bit shit). As an adult, and a parent, I now find this request that children sodding well behave themselves, slipped into a song that's supposed to be about the birth of Christ, especially manipulative. Hell, even I don't tend to go that far with my kids.
Also, this "and he leads his children on / to the place where he is gone" – what's that all about? It always sounded deeply sinister to me, in a Pied Piper sort of way, but on reflection it's probably just lazy rhyming (you seem to get a lot of that in carols. That, and messing about with syntax in order to make things sound better, on the assumption that no one will notice it's grammatically incorrect because it's all meant to sound "old" anyhow).
8. I wish it could be Christmas every day – Wizzard
I suspect that deep down, everyone wonders why this song exists given that we already have Slade's Merry Christmas Everybody. To be fair, the two songs were released at the same time (1973), but each band must have know what the other was doing. They could have come to some sort of special festive glam rock arrangement, but no. So we've ended up with both of them. Slade's song is better because it feels – sort of – sincere, at least during the shouty "It's Chriiiiist-maaas!" bit. The same isn't true for the Wizzard song. If you watch the video it's clear that Roy Wood hated those children (and possibly also himself). The children seem to know it – they look scared out of their minds, miming desperately on those instruments as though their lives depend on it. It's like It's A Small World does the frozen part of Dante's Inferno. Horrifying, with or without the sound switched on.
7. Step into Christmas – Elton John
"Welcome to my Christmas song" sings Elton right at the start of this cold, miserable invitation to "step into Christmas" (don't worry, folks, "the admission's free"! Except it isn't). Perhaps I've missed the clever-clever, Laurence Sterne-inspired self-reflexivity of the piece, but to essentially introduce a new offering as your "Christmas song" seems to me a bit much. Be cynical, sure, but making it that obvious is surely verging on rude.
6. Do they know it's Christmas? – Band Aid 20
I probably shouldn't include this because it's for charity. To be fair, I'm not including the first Band Aid because it was well-meaning and they wouldn't have had two decades in which to get worldwide feedback on the lyrics. I'm not including the second one, either, because no one really remembers that anyhow (or perhaps, like me, they sort of do, but decide that since it featured Big Fun and Sonia, it can't be all that important). But twenty years on surely everyone knew how patronizing, colonialist and culturally and geographically ignorant the whole thing was. This is a song that persuaded me and millions of other kids growing up in the 1980s that the whole of Africa did not have snow or rivers during localized famines, and that "they" didn't know something they either did know or which was irrelevant to their cultural background anyhow. Perhaps the ends justify the means, I don't know. But Band Aid 20 made it even w0orse. I don't know how much money you make for people by being filmed looking suitably sad as they watch their children die. I can't help thinking there are better ways to achieve similar ends.
5. Last Christmas – Wham!
I consider myself to be a pretty naive person. Even so, back when this song was released – in 1984, when I was nine – I thought it was a cynical, money-grabbing ruse and not a particularly good song, either (although for some reason, I didn't think this about other Wham! songs). And yet it has become something of a classic, this ridiculous tale of someone who, last Christmas, gave his heart to someone who, one assumes, he knew not to be "special" (given that that's his new means of self-protection – "I'll give it to someone special". Why on earth didn't he think of that earlier? Or if he did, doesn't it cross his mind that if you can mistakenly find someone special once, you can do it again with someone else?).
I actually remember the precise point at which I thought "this is just cynical bollocks". It was in the changing rooms after PE, the day after the video had been shown on Top Of The Pops, and one of the girls had just been told off for pretending to be Shirlie Holliman in the Christmas chalet rather than getting dressed. That's when I reached a judgement on Wham!'s Last Christmas which has stayed with me to this day. And the fact that I remember utter rubbish like this rather than things that genuinely matter is the reason why … Well, I forget.
4. Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer – Elmo and Patsy
"Grandma got run over by a reindeer / Walking home from our house Christmas Eve / You can say there's no such thing as Santa / But as for me and grandpa, we believe". This is my dad's favourite Christmas song ever. Just writing down those lyrics made me smile because he can't listen to them without ending up in hysterics. Funnily enough, his mum – my grandma – hates it, which then makes my dad like it all the more. He's like a naughty kid (he even owns a cuddly reindeer which sings the opening lyrics when you press on its hoof).
To be honest, I do find this song vaguely amusing, too, yet also really bloody disturbing. It's all pretty graphic – drunk grandma walking out in the snow to meet her doom, only to be discovered the next morning with "incriminating Claus marks on her back". On one level it's a misogynist's festive fantasy. Grandma is portrayed as a miserable killjoy whose death enables poor Grandpa to do liberated, suitably blokey activities – "drinking beer and playing cards with cousin Mel". I can't for the life of me imagine a song in which the sexes are reversed – Grandpa Got Run Over By A Reindeer just doesn't sound as funny, and that in itself is worrying. But yeah, it makes my dad laugh. I suppose that's something.
3. The Virgin Mary Had A Baby Boy – trad./whatever
"Knabon naskis virgulino / Knabon naskis virgulino / Knabon naskis virgulino / Kaj si nomis lin Jesuo. Li venis al la gloro / Li venis al la glora lando / Li venis al la gloro / Li venis al la glora land. Ho jes credanto! Ho jes credanto! / Li venis al la gloro / Li venis al la glora lando."
That, off the top of my head (and probably with plenty of misspellings), is the Esperanto version of The Virgin Mary Had A Baby Boy. I have a GCSE in Esperanto. It is not very useful. Even if more people spoke Esperanto it would not be very useful because the only thing I can remember – the only thing! – is that bloody song. I couldn't ask a fellow Esperanto-speaker (should one exist) what his or her name was or where the toilets were. But I could sing them this. I don't know why my mind works in this way, but it does.**
2. Wonderful Christmastime – Wings / Happy Christmas (War is over) – John Lennon
I am not a Beatles fan (embarrassingly enough, I seriously prefer listening to The Monkees). But if I was – and if I was also a misogynist, and the kind of person who believes that male genius can be ruined by the pernicious influence of attractive yet creatively mediocre women – I'd use these songs as evidence. Thankfully I'm none of these things, so I just don't like these songs because they're annoying.
1. Santa Baby – Kylie, Sugababes, Eartha Kitt, Pussycat Dolls, Mae West, basically any grown woman who is deigning to sing this awful, awful excuse for a song.
It is a long time since I listened to this in full. It is on Now That's What I Call Christmas (Kylie's version), but I skip over it (I also run, screaming, from shops if it ever starts playing). From what I remember it's sung in a cutesy baby voice by an adult who nevertheless describes herself as having "been an awful good girl" (shudder). Said lickle girl-woman expects Santa to bring her lots of expensive, status symbol gifts as a reward for her not having shagged anyone all year ("think of all the fun I've missed" blah blah blah). From what I remember Santa isn't literally offered a blow-job in return for all these yachts and sables, but I feel it is implied. And I wouldn't object – I've done worse for less – but it seems deeply inappropriate if at the same time you're trying to sound as though you are a five-year-old flicking through the Hamley's catalogue.
Chris Moyles does not like Santa Baby. This is a song which, briefly, put me on the same wavelength as Chris sodding Moyles.
Now of course I am interested in what annoys everyone else. Unless it is A Spaceman Came Travelling, still the Best Christmas Song Ever (if that is on your list, you just don't "get" Christmas).
* By "banned", I don't literally mean banned. "Universally disapproved of" didn't work as well for a blog title.
** I also remember all of the words to the dodgy spoken bit of the Johnny Mathis song When A Child Is Born ("And all of this happens because the world is waiting, waiting for one child, black? white? yellow? no one knows, but a child who will grow up to …" etc. etc. ). Again, no idea why.


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In lieu of a November beauty favorites post, I've decided to tackle a subject I'm becoming a little irritated by, and it happens to involve makeup and skin care.
My favorite militant feminist organization, Breast Cancer Action, has lightened up on the mammogram debate for the time being, and is now focusing on the dangers of makeup and skin care products. Do some makeup and skin care items have harmful ingredients in them? Yes. Does there need to be more regulation on the part of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to keep us safe from dangerous products? Maybe. At this point, waking up every morning puts you at risk for something. I'm not sure we should be all that concerned that our moisturizer or lip balm might be killing us.
Continue reading Is Makeup Going to Kill Us?


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Friday, June 17, 2011 | 5:07 p.m.
When last we checked in on the men of "Pawn Stars" at their Las Vegas Boulevard headquarters, it was March 2010, and the show had just erupted across cable television.
Related story
Audio Clip
- Pawn Stars, Reva Rice
At that time, Rick Harrison was just becoming accustomed to the sometimes-unnerving trappings of fame, especially being recognized in public and dealing with interlopers who found their way into the business through its back alley entrance. But more importantly, the Harrisons were focused on a long-overdue expansion of the old building on Las Vegas Boulevard, just north of Charleston Boulevard.
The renovation cost about a half a million dollars and has just recently been completed. The new fortress allows for a new top floor at the building, which was built in 1934, with the first addition finished two years later. The higher digs give the business's proprietors some rare and needed privacy in the maze-like, multi-room expanse adorned with vintage movie posters.
"This is where the brain trust is," Rick Harrison said at the top of the latest episode of "Kats With the Dish," for which Harrison and his son, Corey "Big Hoss" Harrison, and the esteemed Austin "Chumlee" Russell were interviewed for the show that aired Friday on KUNV 91.5-FM (catch the show and accompanying video linked in this column).
"You don't want to go in the back room," added Chumlee, not specifying just where that back room is, but we can impart that he has become a pretty good artist with acrylic spray paint (at some point we will suggest a gallery show, maybe at the Arts Factory, titled, "The Art of Chumlee"). And, for a sample of what you'll find as you walk into the entrance of the pawn shop, click this story.
The "Pawn Stars" are riding high, happily busy and still piloting one of the cable universe's great success stories. The show debuted in July 2009 and earlier this month was signed to a new agreement with The History Channel calling for 80 new episodes (a story originally reported by my colleague Robin Leach). That breaks down to four more seasons, guaranteed, for the show that airs in back-to-back, 30-minute installments at 10 p.m. Mondays.
Also, Rick Harrison has just released his autobiography, "License to Pawn: Deals, Steals and My Life at the Gold & Silver" with the help of the fine sports writer Tim Keown of ESPN.com. The book debuted at No. 22 on The New York Times Bestseller List. Harrison is pushing for it to be No. 1 (it's a good Father's Day present for you late shoppers), and to promote both the show and the book -- and heck, even the pawn shop itself -- the guys are making five public appearances across the country between this weekend and the end of July. On Saturday, they are at Swinomish Casino in Anacortes, Wash.
As "Big Hoss" says, "We can't actually do a tour of personal appearances. We'll go to Tulsa, Okla., then back to the pawn shop for a week, and then to Fresno, and it's just out-out-out."
What else we learned, or were reminded of, from the always-entertaining cable superstars (not present was the media-averse Richard "Old Man" Harrison):
For Chumlee, fame is a double-edged sword -- and not one pawned at the store: "The obvious (change) has been, I can't go out in public without taking 40 pictures every 10 minutes," he says. "But I've been able to buy nice things. … I bought a Maserati for myself." When McCrone asked about his lovely diamond earrings, Chumlee said, "Oh, I had these before the show. I work at a pawn shop. I get this stuff cheap."
The show's shooting schedule is not getting any lighter: "Generally, it's 11 to 12 hours a day, five days a week, 40 days a year," Rick Harrison says. "On the weekends, we go out of town on personal appearances. We never get a day off."
The rope line out in front of the store has become a Gold & Silver hallmark: "That was definitely put up because of the show," Rick Harrison said. "About a year and a half ago, we actually had to put those up out there and get a doorman because the place was getting too packed and the Fire Department was getting upset with us for going over capacity. During the day, from 11 in the morning to 2 or 3 in the afternoon, there are lines." Chumlee, ever jocular, added, "We have a dress code now. You need to be in proper attire."
Locals can hop the rope line: Seriously, if you have a valid Nevada ID, you are given preferential treatment at Gold & Silver. "We do a lot of pawn business, and just so locals know, if you're local, all you have to do is show your ID and you can walk straight to the front door," Rick Harrison said. Chumlee did warn, "But don't try to bring 15 relatives with you." A further explanation from Big Hoss, "We started getting complaints from our real customers in town who want to do business but won't come in because of the line and go to the place down the street that doesn't have a line."
For a TV star, Rick Harrison has an unexpected opinion of television: "I hate to say this about television, since I have a television show, but it's just mind-numbing to me. … Don't ask me a question about pop culture." But when I asked what is the top show on cable TV, he said swiftly, "Pawn Stars."
One quick opinion of the show most often compared to "Pawn Stars," PBS's "Antiques Roadshow": "I've seen it a few times," Rick Harrison said. "To me, the prices are kind of astronomical."
Rick Harrison's affection for reading is still impressive to his son: "I've actually called him on the phone and he'll be at UNLV's bookstore buying textbooks to read -- for fun. Chemistry books, he'll buy, just to read."
Big Hoss has held jobs other than managing Gold & Silver Pawn: "I was an electrician for a while, I was a construction worker for a while," he said. "I actually worked in a sawmill for a while, but this has always been home. I would come in here at 9 years old and sweep the floor and polish jewelry, and it just always felt right to work here."
Chumlee's first job with the family was not actually at the Pawn Shop: As Big Hoss recalled, "Actually, we owned a Quizno's for a while, and Chumlee was brought over to help with the Quizno's." Chumlee finished the sentence with, "Slash, run it into the ground."
The transactions played out on the show are staged, to a large degree, but the Pawn Stars say they are genuine: "One of the guys up front will say, 'Hey, Rick, do you want to put this on the show?' I go, 'Yeah,' and grab a production manager, and we'll schedule it for the next day," Rick Harrison said. "What generally takes five minutes takes an hour to film. It's all authentic, but the director will have me walk down the counter, then he'll want another angle for me walking down the counter." As Chumlee notes, "Sometimes Rick will go, right away, 'How much do you want?' and the director will go, 'No! No! No! Not yet! Tell me where you got it from! I want to go into the history more!' "
Most customers try to play the show's success against the business in negotiations: "Most people want a lot more from us than stuff is worth," Rick Harrison said, "because they think we're extremely wealthy or something." Or, adds Chumlee, "They think their stuff is going to be worth a million dollars if it gets on the show."
Rick's favorite celebrity meeting has been, oddly enough, Ronnie Montrose: Montrose is guitarist and founder of the band Montrose, which featured a young Sammy Hagar on vocals. As Rick said, "Meeting Ronnie Montrose, that was pretty cool. But ninety-nine percent of people have no idea who Ronnie Montrose is."
The best way to fix that would be to get Ronnie on the show, have him part with a Gibson or two, maybe.
Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at twitter.com/JohnnyKats. Also, follow "Kats With the Dish" at twitter.com/KatsWithTheDish.


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Electric Furance
"The electric furnace is a device by which a very high temperature is obtained by using a large arc between carbon terminals. The arc consists of carbon vapor, which conducts the current over the gap between the carbons and the resistance is so great that much heat is developed." -Brownlee 1907
Brownlee, Raymond B., Fuller, Robert W., Hancock, William J., Sohon, Michael D., Whitsit, Jesee E. First Principles of Chemistry (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1907)


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Elegy for a Maverick
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Once upon a time, John McCain promised to be a different kind of politician and a different kind of Republican. He was about straight talk, reform and nonpartisanship, a resolute foe of the slashing politics of the slaughterhouse.
McCain tried to get voters to remember that man in his acceptance speech last night, the one who "worked with members of both parties to fix the problems that need to be fixed." But that man has disappeared.
The stage in the middle of the cavernous Xcel Energy Center was rearranged so McCain could conjure the feel of the town hall meetings he loves as he laced into "partisan rancor" and "the Washington crowd." Yet a set change could not disguise the fact that this convention -- including the big speech Wednesday by his running mate, Sarah Palin -- dripped with divisive ridicule as speaker after speaker worked to aggravate the country's cultural schisms and replay worn-out harangues against weak liberals.
The Republican crowd here has gleefully played into the worst stereotypes of their party as a privileged class resistant to change.
When Rudy Giuliani referred to Barack Obama's past as a "community organizer" Wednesday, the crowd broke into ugly, patronizing laughter. These, presumably, are people who never needed a neighborhood advocate. Imagine if Democrats ever reacted that way to someone who worked as an entrepreneur or a church leader.
And it's unlikely that even a convention of the American Petroleum Institute would erupt into raucous chants of "drill, baby, drill!"
McCain could not change his party, so he changed himself. McCain has pandered to a Republican right wing he once disdained on issue after issue, from oil drilling to immigration to tax cuts for the wealthy.
Just as important, he decided that his last chance for the presidency rests on a systematic effort to make the old politics of demonization work one more time. If McCain's convention is a prelude to the fall campaign, he will leave behind a legacy of bitterness that will turn his promise of a new day into ashes.
His single most cynical act was choosing Palin as his running mate, "cynical" being the word used by former adviser and friend Mike Murphy, the Republican consultant caught by an open microphone.
McCain knows that the first requirement in a running mate is preparation to succeed to the presidency. The choices he preferred, by all accounts, included Joe Lieberman and Tom Ridge, both plausible presidents.
But when it became clear that their support for abortion rights rendered both men politically toxic, McCain veered toward the last-minute pick of Palin. McCain barely knew her, and his campaign misled reporters about the extent to which she had been vetted. It was a political choice: Palin, McCain hopes, will help him win over women and rally social conservatives.
Palin's address here got boffo reviews from many of the very "reporters and commentators" whose good opinion the Alaska governor dismissed, but her speech was as cynical as the decision to put her on the ticket.


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Purpose and Goals
The basic purpose of each USA Dance Inc. chapter is to promote the growth of ballroom dancing as both a lifetime recreational activity and as a sport. Chapters serve as the leader and focal point of ballroom dancing in their community and strive to educate the public regarding the physical, mental and social benefits of ballroom dancing.
The basic goal is for everyone to ballroom dance. In support of that goal, chapters provide affordable opportunities for all ages to participate in ballroom dancing. They welcome beginner dancers and help them get started as ballroom dancers. Talented dancers are encouraged to become DanceSport Athletes. Chapters seek to bring the joy and benefits of ballroom dancing to as many people as possible, including students in colleges and K-12 schools.
Social Dance Program
Affordable social dance programs are the cornerstone of each Chapter's activities. These programs include frequent social dances (usually monthly) supported by the full use of available media coverage to bring new dancers of all ages and skill levels to Chapter events. Admission charges are lower for members than for non-members. The social dance programs of Chapters usually include exhibitions by amateurs and/or professionals, and also include mixers and line dances. Singles are welcome at all Chapter dances.
Fund Raisers
Each year Chapters are encouraged to dedicate at least one monthly dance to raising funds to support their youth and college outreach programs. Some Chapters also sponsor fundraisers for charities, i.e. "Affair of the Heart" Balls for the American Heart Association, Alzheimers, Wounded Warriors and others. It provides a good opportunity to stress the mental and physical benefits of dance.
All chapters are asked to make full use of USA DANCE's Grant Handbook. The guidelines in that Handbook will show chapters how to obtain grants and sponsors to help finance chapter activities. Special efforts should be made to obtain financial grants to support the chapter's Performance Team and programs for youth.
Dance Lessons
Chapters usually present a one-hour group dance lesson at the beginning of each social dance. Beginners are especially welcome and chapters will help them get started as ballroom dancers. Chapters also often schedule additional beginner lesson programs on a regular basis separate from their social dances. All members are encouraged to take some formal dance lessons as well to increase their skills and confidence on the dance floor. Chapters arrange other special low-cost group dance lesson programs, workshops, and seminars as well.
Chapter Newsletters
Each Chapter is expected and encouraged to publish a newsletter that has value for both the social and competitive members. In addition to news items on ballroom dancing and DanceSport, newsletters usually include:
- a calendar of events regarding dancing,
- a list of local dance studios and independent dance instructors,
- a list of other dance related businesses in the local area
- a directory of places in the area to dance ballroom,
- and dance related classified ads at no cost to members when possible.
Chapters directly support USA DANCE's national programs to increase the numbers of members–youth, adult, seniors, social, and DanceSport athletes by providing programs that appeal to each category of members.
Black Tie Affair
Chapters are encouraged to sponsor at least one elegant, formal dance event each year.
DanceSport Competitions
Chapters sponsor competitions if member interest warrents and encourage members with competitive aspirations to participate in USA Dance events. Chapter members are also encouraged to attend those competitive events as spectators to show support for our athletes.
Performance Teams
Chapter Performance Teams give demonstrations of ballroom dancing at public events. Examples are: Festivals, fairs, expositions and other civic events; shopping malls; clubs; social events; schools; cotillions; nursing homes and any event or location that will attract significant numbers of people. It is suggested that the teams include both adult and youth couples.
Collegiate Programs
All Chapters are asked to start and then help support ballroom dance programs in local colleges. This may include fundraising events and seeking donations by businesses and college alumnus. College DanceSport Teams participate in competitions between colleges and in USA DANCE DanceSport events. They may also give demonstrations in other colleges, high schools and at public events. Colleges that have dance programs are asked to help start similar programs in nearby colleges that do not have dance programs. Chapters should also encourage college students to attend their regular social dance events.
K-12 Youth Programs
Chapters are encouraged to develop, with the assistance of professional dance instructors, a program of free or very low-cost ballroom dance lessons for students in grades K-12. This may be accomplished by adding ballroom dance to the school curriculum, by forming extra-curricular clubs, or by conducting independent programs for youth, including home schoolers. These young dancers give dance demonstrations in local schools and civic events, and participate in DanceSport competitions.
The goals are to help our youth acquire needed social skills in ballroom dance, and to encourage the most talented to become DanceSport Athletes in support of the Olympic movement.


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