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Fusion breakthrough a magic bullet for energy crisis ?
Posted by Big Gav in fusion
The NZ Herald has an enthusiastic article on a form of "fusion (known as Aneutronic fusion) - Fusion breakthrough a magic bullet for energy crisis ?.
A Florida based research team, however, may have found a solution to the world's energy woes that could provide a clean and near limitless supply of energy in as little as a decade.
Global energy production and consumption is a complex beast and many nations remain heavily reliant on a lethal mix of oil and coal, both of which are finite, and have huge impacts on the environment.
While there is much conjecture on just how long oil and coal reserves will last, the stark reality is that they will both eventually run out.
In the 1950s, many thought atomic energy would allow humanity to dodge the energy crisis, with newly nuclear fission reactors providing an affordable and near limitless supply of energy.
More recently however, incidents such as the Chernobyl meltdown, the growing pile of incredibly toxic nuclear waste and the spectre of rogue nations manufacturing weapons- grade plutonium have taken the shine off nuclear fission.
With the energy requirements of developed nations continuing to grow, and developing nations gaining a serious appetite for energy consumption, demand will soon outstrip supply, and many predict that massive economic and social impacts are probable.
Thankfully, a new type of nuclear fusion energy generation technology holds the potential to provide a cheap and clean source of energy without toxic radioactive waste or the environmental impacts of oil or coal.
Unlike nuclear fission, where the nucleus of an atom is split to release energy, nuclear fusion uses the same process as our sun and works by fusing atoms together to release of large amounts of energy.
Nuclear fusion generates energy leaving little to nothing in the way of by-products, and uses fuels that are plentiful but far less dangerous than the uranium used with conventional nuclear fission reactors.
Whilst physicists have generated nuclear fusion reactions, doing has involved creating the earthbound equivalent of a small star, which in turn has required ultra-strong magnetic fields to contain superheated gases many times hotter than the surface of the sun.
Unfortunately, doing so has tended to consume almost as much energy as was being generated by the fusion reaction. Creating a nuclear fusion reactor that is commercially viable and able to output surplus energy beyond sustaining its own reaction was thought to be at least 20-30 years away.
Thanks to work being done by a group of physicists at the University of Florida, all things fusion related could however be set to change in as little as a decade.
Where conventional fission reactors use uranium which can be refined to make nuclear weapons, the University of Florida's concept uses hydrogen and an isotope of boron called Boron 11, both of which are abundant on earth and can't be used to make atomic weapons.
When fusion reactions occur in the heart of a star such as our sun, atoms are subject to intense heat and pressure which stops the atoms from repelling each other, allowing them to fuse.
To date, experimental fusion projects have largely been focused on generating intense heat so they can fuse, and containing the super hot gases from this reaction consumes most if not all of the energy being produced by the fusion reaction.
The University of Florida have taken a different tack, by putting hydrogen and boron fuel into an accelerator that fires them towards each other at incredibly high velocities. When the hydrogen and boron 11 atoms smash into each other, they fuse, producing fast moving helium nuclei whose motion is converted into electricity.
This new process is clean, highly efficient and most important of all, simple. The output of the new reactor is electricity with its by-product being the same helium gas used to make voices squeaky and party balloons float, so there's no toxic radioactive waste to dispose of.
Initial calculations also show that this new type of fusion generation could produce clean electricity at similar levels but far more cheaply than oil or coal.
I recently watched a BBC documentary on the state of play in fusion research called "How to build a star on Earth ", which was reasonably interesting.
In the US, a different approach known as inertial fusion is being perused at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) in California and the Z-Machine in New Mexico. If Iter is like a conventional power station burning fuel for days or weeks at a time, the inertial projects share more in common with the combustion engine.
NIF blasts tiny pellets of deuterium-tritium fuel with a single 500-trillion-watt laser beam. This is a big number; about 1,000 times the power consumption of the United States.
This gargantuan short-lived laser pulse causes the fuel pellet to collapse and detonate, producing a mini-star for a fraction of a second.
The Z-machine takes a different approach, channelling half a trillion watts through a spider's web of hair-thin wires surrounding the fuel pellet. The result is much the same: a big crunch known as a Z-pinch and the birth of a star.
If a steady stream of mini-stars can be created, then a power station could be constructed. The Z-machine has already achieved fusion in a test run, and NIF hopes to follow in its footsteps in 2010. The challenge will then be to smooth the rough edges of the technology in order to mass-produce economically viable, reliable power stations.
This is no mean feat, but there seems to be no fundamental reason to doubt that it is possible.
When fusion is mentioned, a common reaction in some circles is to say, "It's always 30 years away, so let's not invest too heavily".
In fact, the fusion engineers of 2009 are speaking of building the final generation of experimental reactors now.
If they succeed, Iter and her sisters should be capable of putting electricity on to the grid some time in the early 2030s. This long-term and final solution to the energy crisis depends of course on sustained public investment at current or preferably significantly increased levels.
This is a challenge that I believe we must confront now, and not tomorrow. At some point in the future, we will generate our power by nuclear fusion; there is simply no other way to deliver the trillions of watts needed to make life comfortable for all the citizens of our planet.
To this statement nobody objects. The question is therefore not "if" but "when", and it is my view that the "30 years away" argument simply doesn't wash.
John F Kennedy used to tell a story about a French general who asked his gardener to plant a tree. "What's the rush?" replied the gardener. "It will take 30 years to grow."
The general looked him in the eye, and said in an urgent tone: "Thirty years? Then you had better plant it immediately."


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The Narrow and the Broad
by Dr. Dan Sharp, Minister of Worship
Having grown up on the farm, and driving tractors as a young boy, we learned very quickly the importance of determining the width of a gate – ahead of time! You did not want to get a disk caught in the fence because you weren't paying attention in driving through a gate that turned out to be to narrow! The broad gates were a piece of cake, since you didn't need to pay attention as much.
We are admonished in Scripture to enter by the narrow gate. We need to pay attention to which gate we enter. The broad ones take little thought and many pass through without thinking as they flow along with the crowd. After all, "everyone thinks this way, everyone is doing it." The end result is "the disk is caught in the fence!"
Only a few find the narrow gate and the narrow way – Drive dead center through that narrow gate and you'll be fine.

subset: commoncrawl


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Home > SCAS > Vol. 98 (1999) > Iss. 1
Volume 98, Issue 1 (1999)
.pdf download information
1. In the Download/About this book drop down menu, select "Select Pages to Download." 2. Enter the email address to which you want the PDF sent, and the title of the article. 3. Select the pages you want to download, and click Done. 4. After approximately 2 minutes, you will receive an email providing you with a link to the PDF.
A Hemphillian (Late Miocene) Mammalian Fauna from the Desert Mountains, West Central Nevada
Thomas S. Kelly and Thomas P. Lugaski
Fossil Wood from the Middle Miocene Conejo Volcanics, Santa Monica Mountains, California
Carol J. Stadum and Peter W. Weigand
First Record of Isocyamus kogiae Sedlak-Weinstein, 1992 (Crustacea, Amphipoda, Cyamidae) from the Eastern Pacific, with Comments on Morphological Characters, a Key to the Genera of the Cyamidae, and a Checklist of Cyamids and their Hosts
Joel W. Martin and John E. Heyning
Helminths of the Western Toad, Bufo boreas (Bufonidae) from Southern California
Stephen R. Goldberg, Charles R. Bursey, and Sonia Hernandez


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Back in 1950, Eiji Toyoda visited a Ford plant to learn how Americans made cars. The visit by a member of Japan's foremost manufacturing family changed the way Toyota Motor Corp. produced cars, altering the global auto industry.
Toyoda, who is credited with developing the car company's efficient, low-defect manufacturing processes and who helped spearhead Toyota's aggressive push into the U.S. auto market, died Tuesday. He was 100.
"Clearly Eiji was the person that laid the groundwork for what Toyota is today," said David Cole, former chairman of the nonprofit Center for Automotive Research. "He was a real visionary and inspirational leader who understood what it would take to make Toyota a successful company."
Toyoda, a cousin of the Japanese automaker's founder Kiichiro Toyoda, died of heart failure at Toyota Memorial Hospital in Toyota city, central Japan. The family used the Toyota name for the business because they believed it sounded better and because it was the winning entry in a 1936 logo competition.
"This is the Japanese equivalent of Henry Ford passing," said Leslie Kendall, curator of the Petersen Automotive Museum.
Toyoda "helped blaze a new trail in the way auto companies are run, how they can minimize waste and how they treat their personnel," Kendall said. "He took a very holistic approach."
Born Sept. 12, 1913, in Nagoya City, Toyoda graduated from the University of Tokyo with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1936. He joined Toyoda Automatic Loom Works Ltd. that same year. About a year later he moved to the company's newly established automotive subsidiary.
He quickly became enamored with the process of manufacturing automobiles, diving into factory operations and supervising activities on the shop floor.
Having grown up at the textile mill built by his father, Heichachi Toyoda, and uncle Sakichi Toyoda, Eiji Toyoda loved machines.
"So from my childhood, machines and business were always there right in front of me," he said in a Time magazine interview in 1999. "I probably developed an understanding of both."
He rose in the executive ranks, becoming a Toyota director by 1945. However, that wasn't much of a promotion because most of the company's operations had been put on hold by World War II, picking back up again by 1950.
That was the year he toured the Ford factory in Dearborn, Mich., an experience that was the root of the ideas he employed to retool Toyota's manufacturing.
"We were producing 40 cars a day," he said in the Time interview. "Ford was making 8,000 units, a 200-times difference. The gap was enormous."
Toyoda, with the advice of production specialist Taiichi Ohno, changed Toyota's manufacturing approach. They focused on making cars in small batches, receiving just enough parts at the factory to complete a production run efficiently.
This reduced the need to stockpile supplies at the factory and was the start of the "kanban" or "just in time" delivery concept, which has become the standard production method in the global auto industry.
"The Toyota folks have credit for that work," said James Rubenstein, an auto industry analyst and geography professor at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
Today, Toyota is the world's biggest car builder and still has half of the Japanese market in Japan.
"It is like GM was in the old days," Rubenstein said.
Toyoda became vice president of Toyota in 1960 and president in 1967. He also was responsible for Toyota setting up a sales and marketing arm that was separate from the company's manufacturing operations.
Among other accomplishments, he directed the development of the Corolla, which became one of the world's best-selling cars.
He bucked skeptics who believed that a Japanese automaker couldn't create a luxury brand by pushing Toyota into the bigger, more expensive vehicles that became the Lexus line in 1989. He wanted to sell a car that could rival the big German luxury sedans produced by Mercedes-Benz and BMW.
He also crafted Toyota's partnership with General Motors Co. to open the joint New United Motor Manufacturing factory in Fremont, Calif., in 1984. It closed in 2010, a result of GM's bankruptcy and the restructuring of the U.S. auto industry, and is now operated by Tesla Motors.
Toyota entered the American market after an executive, Shotaro Kamiya, visited the U.S. in the mid-1950s and noted sales of the Volkswagen Beetle, the most popular import car at the time. Kamiya went back to Japan and with Toyoda developed the plan to crack the U.S. market, importing the first cars in August 1957.
At first, Toyota pinned its U.S. strategy to a sluggish, dull, four-door sedan called the Toyopet Crown, a car Toyoda had developed. But it wasn't very good. The first Toyotas sold in the U.S. handled poorly when driven over 60 mph and tended to overheat in mountains or deserts. Toyota's U.S. sales in its first year were a meager 288 vehicles.
Toyoda told his sales force to focus on the Jeep-like Land Cruiser until the company could launch its Corona sedan in 1965. Although still a small car, the Corona addressed the problems that were evident in the Toyopet and became the automaker's first big seller in the U.S.
Another Toyoda project, the Corolla, came out in the late 1960s and quickly built a U.S. reputation for reliability, low cost and fuel efficiency.
By 1972, Toyota passed Volkswagen to become the top import brand in America. The automaker sold more than 1.5 million Toyota, Lexus and Scion vehicles here through the first eight months of this year and controls more than 14% of the market.
The 1973 OPEC oil crisis cemented demand for Toyota's economy cars and left Detroit's automakers scrambling to compete to make fuel-efficient models. It was a gap that lasted nearly three decades and is only closing now, with Detroit's latest generation of vehicles such as the Ford Focus, Chevrolet Cruze and Dodge Dart.
Toyoda, who retired in 1994 but remained involved with the company, is survived by three sons, Kanshiro, Tetsuro and Shuhei; all three work at Toyota affiliates.


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from Arsenal Pulp Press:
Sad news in the publishing world today; Soft Skull Press, once one of the preeminent indie presses in the US, is basically no more.
Soft Skull Press, the indie publisher that was rescued from financial ruin when it was acquired by the Berkeley-based publisher Counterpoint in 2007, became a West Coast outfit on Friday after 17 years in New York with the closing of its office in the Flatiron District. Both of its full-time staffers, editorial director Denise Oswald and associate editor Anne Horowitz, were laid off, and titles that were already in the pipeline have been reassigned to editors at Counterpoint.
According to Counterpoint CEO Charlie Winton, Soft Skull will live on from California, though there will not be any one there dedicated to running it. Mr. Winton's conception of that brand is broad. "We see the role of Soft Skull as introducing new writers," he said, when asked to define the imprint's sensibility. "In general, those writers are probably going to be a little younger and maybe a little edgier."
The press achieved legendary status for having published Fortunate Son, the unauthorized biography of George W. Bush, after original publisher St. Martin's withdrew its first edition from the market due to threats from Bush's lawyers; the book became a huge bestseller. However, its author, J.H. Hatfield, continued to suffer from the efforts of those who doggedly and successfully smeared his name; he committed suicide only a month after Soft Skull's second edition was published. (The drama was captured in the amazing documentary Horns and Halos.)
In later years, publisher Richard Nash steered Soft Skull to greater heights, but it remained a defiantly marginal operation; I recall the time we visited Richard and his associate at Soft Skull's Brooklyn office — a former bookstore that was so cramped, we had to meet on the sidewalk outside. In 2007, due to financial problems resulting from his distributor, Richard sold the press to Counterpoint, where it became an imprint of a larger firm; Richard remained Soft Skull's publisher but left about a year later. (He's now renowned as a public speaker in the publishing industry on the subject of books and technology, and is now the brains behind Cursor, a digital publishing concern.)
Which brings us to today's news: Counterpoint has laid off Soft Skull's existing staff and will re-locate the "name" to the west coast, albeit with no staff attached to it. I guess it's not surprising; whenever an independent press has been forced to sell to a larger outfit, more often than not it eventually gets wholly absorbed into the parent company until its name and reputation are "disappeared." It's a shame.


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UPDATE: READ THE FULL REVIEW HERE! – – – – – – – – The biggest surprise hit from Hong Kong so far is NOT a Wong Jing movie (really? how come?), but reportedly an indie kung fu comedy called GALLANTS. For Hong Kong movie lovers this one is a welcome change from the super-commercial films of the first months of the year. GALLANTS features lots of old-school HK movie style; essentially, GALLANTS is an homage to Hong Kong action films and stars of the past.
Hong Kong has always been able to produce surprising indie films seemingly coming out of nowhere, so we are happy to see that this is still possible Anno 2010. One of the producers is Andy Lau by the way; maybe he should concentrate on producing and not acting as his appearance in junk like FUTURE X-COPS is a waste of time (unless he uses the money he earned with it for producing films like GALLANTS, of course). The other producer is Gordon Lam. Directed by Derek Kwok and Clement Cheng. Starring are Chen Kuan-Tai, Leung Siu-Lung, Teddy Robin Kwan, Wong yau-Nam, JJ Jia, Siu Yam-Yam, Jin Au-Yeung, Chan Wai-Man, Li Hai-Tao, Law Wing-Cheong, Lo Meng and Goo Goon-Chung.
Tags: Andy Lau, Andy Lau Movie, Chan Wai-Man, Chen Kuan-Tai, Clement Cheng, DA LEI TAI, Derek Kwok, GALLANTS Hong Kong Movie 2010, GALLANTS Movie 2010, GALLANTS Movie Info, GALLANTS Movie Pics, GALLANTS Movie Poster, GALLANTS Movie Review, GALLANTS Movie Trailer, GALLANTS Movie website, Goo Goon-Chung, Gordon Lam, Gordon Lam movie, Jin Au-Yeung, JJ Jia, Law Wing-Cheong, Leung Siu-Lung, Li Hai-Tao, Lo Meng, Siu Yam-Yam, Teddy Robin Kwan, Wong yau-Nam, 打擂台


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The Reverend Canon Sarah Chapman, Chaplain at The Living Well, writes:
I was born in Nairobi, Kenya in 1955. I came to a living faith in Jesus Christ at my confirmation in 1969. I am married to Giles, a recently retired solicitor who specialised in social housing. We have two children, Mark who is married with two young sons and Ruth who is married and was ordained Priest in June 2014. I qualified as an Occupational Therapist in 1977 specialising in Mental Health. I was licensed as a Reader in 1983 whilst living in a small village in the Chichester Diocese. I trained for ordained ministry through SDMTS and was ordained Deacon in Chichester in 1989 and licensed as a Curate in a village benefice. Subsequently I was ordained Priest in the Chichester Diocese in1994, and was appointed Curate at Easebourne, which included the Chaplaincy at King Edward VII Hospital at Midhurst. During this period I was the first woman to celebrate Communion in Chichester Cathedral. I was appointed Vicar of Sheet in the Portsmouth Diocese in 1996 and moved to Bitterne Park, Southampton in 2002, where I was a training Incumbent and a Bishop's Examining Chaplain. I served on General Synod for the Diocese of Winchester from 2003 to 2010.
I enjoy being part of the team here at The Living Well where our mission is to promote Healing and Wholeness through offering hospitality, prayers for healing and time and space to listen to the heartbeat of God.
Reverend Lorraine Apps-Huggins was born in Broadstairs and came to know Jesus Christ through the ministry of a welcoming urban church who believed in the transformative work of Christ in the lives of individuals. Her decision to follow Christ came during an Alpha Course in 1995 and her development as a disciple was encouraged by personal experience of the healing and restorative grace that is found in Christ through prayer, God's word, worship and the action of the Holy Spirit. Discovering God the Father's consistent and eternal deep love for each one of us was both revelatory and releasing.
Lorraine, ordained in 2010, has a passion to see others helped by the reconciling and healing presence of Christ with prayerful, pastoral care as a bedrock for this ministry. She was previously employed in a rural parish ministry as her husband also prepared for ministry. They have been married for 14 years and have an amalgamated family of four and are grateful to have known God's love, provision and guidance throughout the years. Lorraine enjoys art, music, family, friends, the great outdoors and time spent with God.
Mrs Hilary Hills is an Assistant Chaplain of The Living Well. She was born in London and moved to Kent aged 11. It was at her local parish church that she met Jesus and was confirmed in 1971. She also met her husband there and they were married in 1980. They have three lovely children who are all married and four grandchildren all of whom are such a joy and blessing to them.
Hilary has always been involved in her local church and through this was led by God to pursue some leadership in prayer, pastoral care and healing and wholeness. She loves people and thrives on serving others! Her professional working life has been spent in education where it has been a thrill to work with other professionals, parents and carers to nurture and develop the innate potential of every child that she has come into contact with. She says that it has been, and continues to be, a real privilege.
Hilary has been involved at The Living Well since it began and is thrilled to be able to devote some more time to this now, in response to God's leading and guiding.
Mr Ron Seggie is an Assistant Chaplain of The Living Well. He was born in London and lived there until he married Jan in 1972 and moved to Ashford. They have two daughters and two grandsons. Ron retired in 2012 following a career in maintenance engineering.
In 2000 Ron started to attend St Mary's Church in Great Chart and Singleton and it filled a space in his life that he had not realised needed filling. By 2008 he felt called to work within the Healing Ministry. He continues to offer personal prayer at his church and throughout the past few years has been closely involved with The Living Well offering prayer ministry at a variety of events. Ron says that this work has shown him the power of the Trinity in healing. He is looking forward, with excitement, to working with the team here.
The Trustees of the Living Well are:
The Reverend Canon Sarah Chapman
Mr David Harries
The Reverend Stephen Hardy
The Reverend Canon Dr Steve Lillicrap
Sir Donald Martin
Mrs Angela Warr


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FORTUNE — I haven't had so much fun reading legal documents since the Watergate trials.
I loved U.S. v. Apple et al. for the juicy details: the 56 phone calls, the clandestine meetings in swank Manhattan eateries, the secret e-mails "double erased" to ensure they couldn't be traced.
But what makes Apple's (AAPL) response, filed Tuesday, such a great read is the clarity and precision with which it cuts the government's case to shreds.
At least as it applies to Apple.
In the space of six paragraphs the document characterizes the Justice Department's assertions as "absurd" and "fundamentally flawed," accuses the government of "ignoring inconvenient facts" and of siding with monopoly rather than competition.
The key paragraph:
Apple's filing doesn't try to defend the five publishers the DOJ has accused of colluding to fix prices. In fact, it basically throws them under the bus, pointing out that if there was a price-fixing conspiracy among its co-defendants — as alleged — they kept it secret from Apple.
Meanwhile, the government's lawyers are going to have a hard time proving that Apple violated antitrust laws because the company's market share in the e-book business before the launch of the iPad was essentially zero.
They can't make a case against Apple for collusion because whatever the publishers may have said to one another, there's no evidence that Apple conspired with its competitors.
They can't even use as evidence the blunt quotes taken from the Steve Jobs biography because they are hearsay.
The one element of the government's case that seemed to give Apple's lawyers a hard time was the charge that the most-favored-nation provision Steve Jobs added at the last minute was "designed to protect Apple from having to compete on price at all, while still maintaining Apple's 30% margin."
In its response, Apple's legal team can't even bring itself to name the provision, referring to it repeatedly as MFN. But they manage to shoot some holes in the government's argument, pointing out, among other things, that the 30% cut Apple takes is hardly pure profit margin. It costs money to run the iBookstore, and while Apple doesn't claim to lose money on e-book sales, that's not where it gets the big bucks.
You can get the gist of Apple's filing in those first six introductory paragraphs. The rest is an item-by-item refutation of the government's case and a summary of Apple defenses, should it come to that.
The full document is available as a pdf here.


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When the game launches, once the bullet is going up.
What I want is the bullet should only be fired when the keys.up is pressed.(fighter rectangle also moves when the keys are pressed)
In the paint method, how can the bulletImage be drawn only when the fire method is called?
If someone can please help me correct my code.
private void fire() { bulletRectangle.Y += bulletDirection; bulletRectangle.Y += bulletSpeed; bulletDirection = -1; bulletSpeed = -5; } if(keyArgs != null) { switch (keyArgs.KeyCode) { case Keys.Up: fighterRectangle.Y -= ySpeed; fire(); break; case Keys.Down: fighterRectangle.Y += ySpeed; break; case Keys.Right: fighterRectangle.X += xSpeed; break; case Keys.Left: fighterRectangle.X -= xSpeed; break; default: return; } } private void Form1_Paint(object sender, PaintEventArgs e) { g.DrawImage(bulletImage, bulletRectangle.X, bulletRectangle.Y); }
This post has been edited by ho-ho: 04 May 2009 - 06:25 AM


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The legal world is ever changing and so are the firms that it encompasses. Over the years as the market has evolved, different areas of law have been extremely in demand. With technological advances and the recent legislature in the healthcare and real estate world, more firms are scrambling to add these practice groups to ride the wave of profitability. In addition, many have found themselves made redundant, or may be seeking to negotiate the change focus of the law firm they work for. Through JBA Legal Solutions vast legal network, we are able to identify specific practice groups that would be able to immediately place you at the top of the market in these hot practice areas.


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Johnston confirms interest inOriel lease
DUNDALK FC General Manager Paul Johnston has confirmed that there has been a proposal put to the club's board following the decision to invite expressions of interest in the long term lease for Oriel Park.
The club advertised the sale of the lease, along with the Youth Development Centre and Hiney Park following current owner Gerry Matthews' assertion that he would not be seeking a renewal of the club's Premier Division license in 2013.
Speaking prior to Friday night's 1-1 draw with Shamrock Rovers at Oriel Park, Johnston said that there has been interest shown in the club but he refused to say whether the unnamed party had expressed a desire to take on just the lease or the whole package on offer.
"We've had one official expression of interest. It has been put in writing so I would consider it serious. The offer is privy to the people involved and we have said that any expression would be treated with confidentiality."
The DFC Community Trust signaled their intent when they met with Johnston and Matthews at the end of June and the supporters group have requested a statement of affairs from the current owner.
"We are in the process of doing that now", said Johnston. "There are significant financial figures in regards to this football club so they will be going out to all the people who have sent an expression of interest."
The club have set a deadline of July 31 for potential buyers to come forward. Asked what would happen if no suitable parties were found, Johnston admitted it was something the board had not planned for.
"At the moment we wouldn't have something there if the deadline goes. Collectively as a board we would have to sit and look at that and see what happens. We would cross that bridge if we come to it"
Johnston was also asked why the club had put the lease for Oriel Park up for sale. In the past, previous changes of ownership at the club saw the lease transferred to the new regime.
"I wasn't here in 2006 when Gerry Matthews came in but my understanding is that Gerry bought the lease of Oriel Park. It is a long term lease and that is what he has in regards to running the football club."
Speaking about finances, Johnston said that the club were living from "week to week" and said that the club had "been on the edge".
"We have been able to pay this weeks wages. That has been down to the initiatives put forward by the club and by the response we've had from the fans. People have come in and donated money to the club and that has given us enthusiasm. The Save Our Club group had a great meeting this week and they will implement their many ideas this week."
Speaking on the vacant manager's position, Johnston said that the club's board would discuss the matter collectively but he admitted that whoever gets the job would have to cut the playing budget.
"Cutting the budget is certainly something we have to do. We have a cut an awful lot around the club in the past couple of months and unfortunately we are in a situation where we have to continue to do that. For everybody involved, the club and the players, it is only fair of that is done as soon as possible. It will give players the opportunity if they are not going to be part of this club to talk to other clubs".
Follow us on Twitter :: @McLaughlinGavin


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Pow Wow
June 24th
Some of this is from our previous Pow Wow
Every exercise is an assessment if you know what you are looking for
Push up ( Gluts first arms second. Create shoulder torque, A foam roll or blue mat in between legs helps activate pelvic floor getting ride of energy leaks)
Split squat ( Coaching cues, Front screw back squeeze) You are looking for instability and if knee is strait.
Breathing ( It should be primarily be belly breathing.)
Corrective breathing ( stand behind person and cue person to push their elbows into your hands)
What are the principles you are looking for? Which are global, specific and both?
How do you communicate this?
- Target based coaching
- Analogies
- Show
- Touch
- Sandwich ( good, bad, Good)
- Reverse engineer ( Start with the end position )
- Eye gaze ( where your guys go, your posture goes)
Bring a buddy week
Have everyone sign waiver and fill out email card
We went over all members
Very quick asking of any injuries and training history
Have them do the same exact workout as friend with modifications
Coaching stuff (Semi-private)
Always get on top of the wave. There are many layers of waves and they come in flows.
Start viewing people as flows or mini waves. One of many ways to decrease traffic jams is to switch the order of the flows/waves.
For example, 5 people
P1- Start on regular order
P2- Start them on light strength warming up
P3- Start them on power
P4- Have them do 1-2 less or more rounds of the wave they are riding
P5- Play around with giving just A and B exercise to buy your self another 30 or so seconds, then give them exercise C.
Always give previews to people of the sequal coming up. Also making sure they inform you when they are on their last round.
All member check in status ( pdf of our notes)
Boot camp Coaching Stuff
If ____________ then ____________ are you ___________
If you don't feel this in your core then you need to _____________. Are you doing it?
Having music that amps up the energy of the room
Business structure
- Ending strictly boot camp membership
- Ending trial memberships
- First month money back guarantee
- Qualifying dream clients better
We will soon enter a test balloon model of no longer offering trial memberships. Minimum 6 Month commitment with First month money back. We will draft what we MUST provide them.
All our dream A list clients mostly signed up without a trial. The end goal is to spend all our time on A and B clients and stop wasting time on C clients who are not our dream clients . It frustrates all parties involved with C clients.
Very possible, I will do away with strictly boot camp memberships and it will be just Semi-private price points with the existing boot camps added as part of the membership.
80 % of business is from semi-private


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The global waterborne coating additives market size was estimated to be 125.0 kilo tons in 2014. Growing infrastructure spending in industrial and residential sectors, particularly in South East Asia and the Middle East & Africa, is expected to drive product demand in architectural and industrial wood segments. VOC emissions in construction and manufacturing industry have steered revisions in regulatory standards.
Recent advances in waterborne technology can be attributed to stringent regulatory restrictions and consumer expectations. Construction and manufacturing industries in mature economies of U.S. and Europe have witnessed growing consumer preference towards eco-friendly products. Regulatory bodies in Europe have made several revisions to industry standards to incorporate low VOC level as a mandatory step for paints and coatings industry.
Stringent REACH and EPA regulations regarding VOC and toxic content in solvent based additives have led to commercialization of water-soluble alternatives with improved performance. Associative thickeners such as HEUR, HMPE, HASE, and HMHEC have gained significant share over last few years owing to improved stability and longevity as compared to conventional modifiers including bentonite, and pyrogenic silica.
Additives play a significant role as the major component for waterborne coating. They chemically enhance the formulation to provide stability and color retention over the long term. This is expected to impact positively global industry growth in next seven years.
Despite moderate overall growth in EU, after market of construction and automotive industries is expected to remain key driver sustaining economic growth in these regions. Demand for high-quality coatings in home interior and automotive components can be attributed to growing consumer awareness about social lifestyle trends. Growing marine activities in the North Sea and Mediterranean are expected to steer demand for durable and protective coatings in regions such as UK and Norway.
Growing high quality finished products with enhanced durability coupled with REACH compliance norms are expected to urge manufacturers to focus on waterborne coatings that suffice above criteria. Increasing requirement for high performance products in construction and automotive is expected to drive requirement of additives for enhancing the product characteristics. Diverse application scope including cars, ships, architectural and packaging is further expected to steer industry expansion over the forecast period.
Rheology modifiers were the largest product segment and accounted for over 38% of volume share in 2014 and are expected to grow at a CAGR of over 6% from 2015 to 2022. This segment is expected to witness significant growth owing to their formulation characteristics that attribute to increased stability and thickening of the coating. Rheology modifiers primarily constitute of hydroxyl ethyl cellulose (HEC), hydrophobically modified HEC, ethyl HEC, hydrophobically modified polyacetal polyether (HMPAPE), and modified ethoxylate urethane (HEUR).
HEC accounted for over 25% of global rheology modifier demand in 2014 and is expected to gain significant share in near future. HMHEC and HEUR are expected to witness high growth, owing to their versatile formulation characteristics that can be applied to wide surface textures. Recent advancements in rheology modifiers are expected to impart positive growth for cellulosic-based products, owing to their low cost, and high efficiency.
Wetting and dispersing agents tend to stabilize the solid particles upon surface application. Rising requirement for preventing reflocculation of the dispersed particles in coatings is expected to drive demand over the forecast period. Increasing product demand in architectural, wood and furniture coatings is anticipated to drive the segment expansion over the next seven years.
Europe dominated the global demand and accounted for over 40% of total volume share in 2014. The emergence of green building norms is expected to remain a key driver of market growth in this region. Stringent government legislations and REACH regulations to lower VOC content are expected to drive waterborne coatings to demand over the forecast period. Early commercialization along with growing preference towards organically derived associative thickeners may be attributed to high demand in the region.
Asia Pacific, waterborne coating additives market, is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 7% from 2015 to 2022. Growing demand for high performance and eco-friendly coating systems in automobiles and industrial wood sectors are expected to drive product demand over the forecast period. Increasing construction spending, particularly in economies including China, India, Thailand and Indonesia, is expected to drive growth over the next seven years.
Stringent regulations in EU-27 are expected to play a major role in steering demand for environment-friendly products in this region. This affects the various companies in the supply chain, including both manufacturers and resellers. The majority of manufacturers in Asia and the U.S. have shifted their focus towards developing low-VOC and sustainable products.
Global waterborne coating additives market is highly fragmented in nature. The presence of local manufacturers, particularly in China and India, have facilitated in minimizing procurement costs as compared to the imported brands from Europe, and the U.S. This has facilitated industry participants to invest into R&D initiatives for new product development to enhance their market presence globally.
Various companies have adopted differnent strategies for minimizing overall production cost. Companies such as AkzoNobel, Evonik, and BASF have integrated their additive and coating production and have established effective distribution network globally. Other operating in the industry include Byk, Harmony Additive, Dow Coating Belami Fine Chemical, Allnex, Huber Engineered Materials, Falcon Technologies, Shah Patil and Co., Troy Corp, KaMin LLC, Lubrizol Advanced Materials, and Taminco.
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Aircraft Finance
Aviation Capital Limited is a New Zealand incorporated and domiciled aircraft financing company.
Aviation Capital provides aircraft finance to smaller utility aircraft using companies. Most of our financing is done on a lease to buy basis. Most of Aviation Capital's target aircraft are smaller fixed wing, including turbo prop and corporate jets, or helicopters. Aviation Capital is a financier and will fund up to 100% of the value of the aircraft that suit its criteria.
Feel free to contact Aviation Capital to discuss the possible financing of your aircraft by emailing firstname.lastname@example.com
Click here to see one of Aviation Capital's XSTOL - P750's in action in Papua New Guinea with our client Central Aviation.


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Welcome to Mini Capsule Theme Month! At the CSC we love the idea of sewing your own capsule wardrobe. For those of you who aren't familiar with the term, a capsule wardrobe is a set collection of interchangeable wardrobe pieces, which you can use to create and remix many different looks. A mini capsule is a very small version of that idea. For #cscminicapsule theme month we decided our capsules should be between four to nine wardrobe pieces, not including accessories. We've got so many great posts planned for you this month!
You can expect:
- Is a curvy sewn capsule wardrobe right for you?
- Many different approaches to planning and executing your capsule wardrobe.
- Reviews of sewing patterns that contributors are including in their capsules.
- Pattern throwdowns.
- Contributor mini capsule reveals.
- A pattern giveaway for one lucky reader to sew their own curvy mini capsule!
Want to join in on the fun? Hashtag your facebook and Instagram posts #cscminicapsule to be included in a photo roundup at the end of the month! You can also grab a button for your blog, and spread the Curvy Mini Capsule Love!


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GETTYSBURG, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - Thousands of spectators gathered on Tuesday to mark the 150th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, considered one of the greatest speeches in American history for saying so much in so few words.
Lincoln delivered the 272-word speech in 1863 only months after the Battle of Gettysburg.
The battle is considered a turning point in the U.S. Civil War, but the future of the United States as one nation was by no means secured when Lincoln made his call for the nation to dedicate itself to democracy and liberty, said historian James McPherson, a keynote speaker at the commemorative event.
"Without Lincoln's leadership to make that victory possible, there might be today in North America, two or several United States," McPherson said.
"What kind of world would have emerged from two world wars in the 20th century without the existence of a strong United States? The answer is anybody's guess, but we can be assured it would not be the world we live in," he said.
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett said Lincoln's words helped the deeply divided nation to heal.
"Lincoln wrote his words on paper, but he also inscribed them in our hearts," he said.
To help mark the historic event, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia swore in 16 new U.S. citizens.
The son of Italian immigrants, he said growing up in America, he knew he could become whoever he wished to be.
In an aside, he noted that his grandmother "expected me to become president."
Some 3,500 Union soldiers are buried at Gettysburg.
Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Gunna Dickson


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So who doesn't love some paranormal romance? This book is filled with vampires, warlocks and evil curses. What could be better? Well at least for me there could be some better plot and not a rushed through ending. The book had a great premise with a good headstart on a heroine and hero. She was willowy and virginal and he was stuck in a painting, vampy and smexy. No vampire can resist a virgin!
The hero, Jason Rourke, had been cursed to stay in a painting since he had seduced a warlocks virginal daughter. Of course the virginal daughter wanted it and she too had been locked in a painting when daddy found out. This really intrigued me, I love a warlock who will just throw everyone in a painting for pissing him off.
The heroine, Karinna Adams, becomes entranced with the moving figure in the painting and wishes he was real after certain messages appear on the painting for her. Thus begins their love affair. Karinna is intrigued by Jason but turned off by the fact that he is a vampire and has to live on blood. They do have an adventure together when they travel to Romania to save the Warlock's daughter Ana Luisa, whom Jason feels responsible for.
This is where I feel the author could have done so much more, Ana is in love with Jason and is upset for only a chapter that Jason is falling for Karinna since she finds another vampire and falls for him in a night. Within another few chapters she is a vampire and going to spend eternity with this other vampire. Where as Karinna is still disgusted by the fact that Jason is a vampire. They barely touch on how this affects Jason or the fact that Karinna won't sleep with him and constantly pulls away from him because of what he is.
Ok if you don't want spoilers about the ending of the novel then stop reading now! I am sorry.
The main bad guy is only part of the novel for the last 10 chapters or so and he kind of dies like a punk between the three vampires. Of course this is after he has trapped Karinna in a painting. Killing him doesn't break the spell and Karinna is still trapped. Jason is able to use his abilities to reach her and speak with her. He offers to turn her in the hopes that it will set her free. She adamantly refuses and tells him to destroy the painting. He makes her anyway.
The part that frustrated me so much was that she forgives him so easily because he loved her. I mean I wanted them together but there is just never the depth of emotion or intimacy in this novel that I would have liked.
So in all, a vaguely amusing read but not great nor meaningful.


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Is there any way to turn off the dropping of empty DIV elements? I have CSS styles applied to empty DIV elements such that they do provide a purpose. CharlieReceived on Friday, 13 December 2002 08:49:46 UTC
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.3.1 : Tuesday, 6 January 2015 21:38:52 UTC


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I've been having a tough time finding a handmade BOY Valentine that my kiddo wanted to hand out. On a whim I hit the party aisle at Target, bought some sticky frogs (a pack of 12 for a few bucks), and made this for Kai's class. I just couldn't imagine him giving a "You make my heart hop" to anyone--so these were what we came up with.
He wanted to keep one for himself, so I guess that means it is a winner:)


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Interdependence between agents in multi agent systems
Access Status
Open access
Mr Terence Tan Peng Lian
Assoc. Prof. Dr Ashutosh Kumar Singh
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Interdependence relationships have defined the foundation of cooperation between agents but limited by existing protocols. As a consequence, the idle agents are not able to join and benefit through it. First, the inter-relationship has been studied and certified for the purpose of securing mutual gains. Next, the join coalition mechanism is proposed to help idle agents to join existing macroscopic and microscopic coalitions which are based on the goals compatibilities, budget and trust
Department of Computing
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Hussain, Farookh; Chang, Elizabeth; Dillon, Tharam S. (2006)The purpose of the Trustworthiness Measure is to (a) to determine the quality of the Trusted Agents and (b) once the trusting agent has determined and recorded the trustworthiness of the trusted agent or the quality of ...


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The flash of anger Christian bale
Actor Christian bale, who played the title role in "terminator 4", was forced to apologize for 37-word tirade addressed to the illuminator of the film.The flash of anger actor, which, incidentally, photographed, and then placed the video on the Internet, became a sensation. In his tirade bale threatened to leave if the illuminator will not fire.Everyone was waiting for the comments of the actor, and they finally came in an interview with "GQ Magazine".Bale apologized. But... at the same time stated that he was misunderstood and that the tirade was not his "collisions" on the illuminator, and the text of the excerpt from the film. That is, according to bale, were the words of his character, John Connor is the leader of the rebellion against the machines-robots that captured the world ."I insist that the guy who yelled at the illuminator was partly John Connor," said bale in an interview with GQ. This wouldn't have happened if we hadn't filmed that scene".Illuminator prevented bale just at the moment when there was a shooting the most intense scenes of the film, which according to the authors will be the beginning of a new trilogy, the effect of which will unfold in the post-apocalyptic future.For bale is truly second starring role after role as Batman in the blockbuster Christopher Nolan.But it seems that he needs to learn to control myself as both his stellar character. Source: anger Christian bale.


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Web design and development
Applying out-of-the-box ideas and creativity to design the most impressive web developments using best tools and technologies
Websites are the communication medium between the business and customers. The websites give a new dimension for the business such that it reaches millions of people across the internet. It creates the first impression about the company which has the power to convert the visitors into customers. Colorful design with clarity information can only convey the message to the website visitors.
Creativity is the common goal for our team of designers who exhibit excellence. Our designers choose the apt tool to achieve the end results that can make your site attractive. The whole layout and site components are well-planned and designed accordingly to custom website design norms. We also ensure such that loading time is quicker while the pages are unique. We provide custom website design and development.
We do website designing like UI design, Flash design, Open source themes, Mobile website design, and website re-engineering.We design and develop your website to express your business to the world. Contact us to develop a site with all its completeness.
We mix technical expertise along with creativity to render innovative services including content management systems.
The designing and development of the website goes hand-in-hand such that every stage can be monitoblue. We are involved in development of different types of websites including commercial websites, social networking site, corporate sites, ecommerce sites, educational websites, job portals, shopping carts, and more. We satisfy our customers with custom website design and development.
We use the best CMS like Drupal, Wordpress, and Joomla to build your websites with precision. Our developers have good knowledge in Magento, Opencart, Oscommerce, X-cart and Virtumart to handle your shopping cart projects. Our developers are skilled in PHP, MySql, JavaScript, CSS, XHTML,ASP, and other technologies needed for website development. We continuously update with latest technologies and tools for developing the sites or shopping carts to deliver quality products meeting the standards of the industry.
We provide end-to-end ecommerce solutions including shopping carts, daily deals websites, auction websites and much more. Our ecommerce solutions are robust with secublue payment gateway. The simple user interface of the solution makes it user-friendly for the users to browse the application. We customize the ecommerce solution by providing facilities like multiple language support, multiple currency support, multiple payment gateways, and more.
Maintenance of website is more important than development since it can only fetch loyal customers into the business. We provide the best support to the customers employing the tools like email, live chat, Skype, telephone, and more. We mark our presence among the customers such that they find us when they need. We value the significance of website maintenance and equally provide services for site re-engineering. We provide services at affordable cost.
More than building a website, it is essential to increase the value of the site. Our search engine marketing services can bring in more visitors into the site increasing business probability. All the websites that we design and develop are integrated with SEO friendly features such that your site enlist with good page ranking and fetch more business.


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Posts tagged "advanced biofuels"
Meltdown At Gevo
I am currently reading the book The Frackers: The Outrageous Inside Story of the New Billionaire Wildcatters. The excess and greed of a few of those profiled is mind-boggling. Of particular note, the late Aubrey McClendon nearly ruined Chesapeake with his excessive spending. But after presiding over a huge decline in Chesapeake shares he got margin calls and his personal shares were sold out from under him. So he turned around and did some self-dealing with Chesapeake that benefited himself enormously financially, at the expense of shareholders.
The greed was excessive, but in his defense he and Chesapeake co-founder Tom Ward (whose self-dealing was also highlighted in the book) did create a multi-billion dollar company from scratch that became one of the leading energy producers in North America. It doesn't excuse the fact that he did things out of self-interest that weren't in the best interest of shareholders, but the company itself did provide a lot of energy to consumers.
The same can't be said of advanced biofuel company Gevo, one of three advanced biofuel companies that went public in 2010-11 with the backing of billionaire venture capitalist Vinod Khosla. CONTINUE»
KiOR in Default on Loan
Update Sunday 9:30 PM PST: KiOR announced Chapter 11 bankruptcy this evening. The press release says that the company has "accepted a bid for substantially all of its assets from certain affiliates of Vinod Khosla" and that they have entered an agreement with one of Vinod Khosla's organizations for debtor-in-possession ("DIP") financing. The press release also notes "Common stock investors should note that effective November 6, 2014, the Company has been delisted from trading on the NASDAQ stock exchange and that other creditors have priority over shareholders under the provisions of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. The Company does not anticipate any recovery for existing KiOR common shareholders as part of these proceedings." KiOR's bankruptcy this year was Prediction 5 on my my 2014 Energy Predictions made in January.
Update Friday 4:30 PM PST: This afternoon KiOR filed a Form 8-K with the SEC. This form is used to notify investors of important material events. In the report, KiOR indicated that they had received a Notice of Default and Acceleration from the Mississippi Development Authority (MDA) notifying KiOR that all obligations are now due and payable within three (3) business days from November 3, 2014. This default accelerates KiOR's other loan obligations. In addition to the $78.6 million now payable to the MDA, KiOR says this default "accelerates the Company's obligations under the following debt agreements:"
- Loan and Security Agreement, dated January 26, 2012, among the Company and each of 1538731 Alberta Ltd. as agent and lender, 1538716 Alberta Ltd. and KFT Trust, as amended on March 17, 2013, October 21, 2013 and March 31, 2014. As of November 3, 2014, an aggregate amount of approximately $127.8 million is immediately due and payable. As a result of the MDA Notice, the loan accrues an additional four percent (4%) per annum default interest rate.
- Senior Secured Convertible Promissory Note Purchase Agreement, dated October 18, 2013, among the Company, KiOR Columbus, KV III, KFT Trust and VNK Management, LLC and KV III in its capacity as agent, as amended on October 20, 2013 and on March 31, 2014. As of November 3, 2014, an aggregate amount of approximately $95.7 million is immediately due and payable.
- Senior Secured Convertible Promissory Note Purchase Agreement, dated March 31, 2014, as amended on July 3, 2014, among the Company, KiOR Columbus and KFT Trust and KFT Trust in its capacity as agent. As of November 3, 2014, an aggregate amount of approximately $10.4 million is immediately due and payable.
So KiOR now owes, immediately due and payable, over $312 million. On the plus side, the 8-K notes "KFT Trust made a Protective Advance to KiOR in the aggregate principal amount of $1,102,691." That is such a specific amount that I wonder if that might be the bill from the investment bank that has been shopping KiOR during the forbearance period.
My guess is that this now triggers a bankruptcy declaration next week. CONTINUE»
The Bell Tolls for KiOR
A Lesson Learned
If there's one thing billionaire venture capitalist Vinod Khosla has learned over the past decade, it's that the oil companies aren't as stupid as he thought. In 2004, Khosla was telling anyone who would listen to him that the only things standing in the way of running the entire country on biofuels were the oil companies, and a lack of funding. He set out to change both of those things, vilifying the oil industry at every turn, and convincing Congress to shell out tax dollars so he could show the dinosaurs in the oil industry how Silicon Valley rolls.
The result has been a debacle, with billions of investor dollars and tax dollars flushed down the toilet. What Khosla didn't appreciate is that he isn't smarter than the people in the oil industry. It's just that the computing and information technology industries were still relatively new, and a great deal of innovation was still taking place in a young field with lots of room for innovation. The oil industry is 150 years old, and while the fracking boom shows that innovation still takes place in the oil industry, it is a very mature industry. Thus change tends to be incremental, not exponential. Almost everything that appears novel to an outsider like Khosla has almost certainly been investigated by multiple companies.
But Khosla convinced a lot of influential people that the energy industry just needed a visionary like himself to shake things up. He gave lots of talks and testified before Congress. He created ludicrous projections for how quickly cellulosic ethanol could scale up. (See my article "Vinod Khosla Debunked.") Investors (including taxpayers via Congress) couldn't give him money fast enough, and he proceeded to blow through it as he learned some hard lessons in the energy business, sometimes "inventing" things that had been around for a long time. CONTINUE»
KiOR: The Fat Lady Warms Up Her Voice
In January of this year, as I do each year, I made several predictions for 2014. One was that natural gas prices would be higher. That prediction is looking pretty solid, with natural gas inventories this week dropping below 1 trillion cubic feet for the first time since 2003 — 49% below the level of one year ago. As I have argued in recent articles, this is likely to mean a year of higher natural gas prices than what we have become accustomed to over the past couple of years.
Among the other predictions I made for 2014 was "KiOR will declare bankruptcy in 2014." While it is still a bit early to write KiOR's (NASDAQ: KIOR) obituary, the patient is looking pretty unhealthy. I have been getting a lot of emails asking for comment on their recently released annual report, and I would have had something posted already, but I was traveling during the first half of the week. So let's dissect what has happened. CONTINUE»
Government Mandated Spending: A Lesson in Wasted Tax Dollars
Deja Vu All Over Again
A couple of weeks ago the US Department of Energy's (DOE's) Office of Inspector General released an audit report on how well taxpayer money has been utilized in the pursuit of commercializing integrated biorefineries:
Follow-up Audit of the Department of Energy's Financial Assistance for Integrated Biorefinery Projects
The results are not pretty. In the opening section, the report notes:
"In our prior audit, Financial Assistance for Biomass-to-Ethanol Projects (DOE/IG-0513, July 2001), we reported that the Department had not met its goal to build a full-scale commercial biomass production facility by the year 2000, and provided recommendations for improving Program performance."
Turns out that a dozen years later, it's deja vu all over again. CONTINUE»
What Happened to Advanced Biofuels? Let Me Explain
Ask and Ye Shall Receive
Last week, The Economist posed the following question: "What happened to biofuels?" The biofuels in question are so-called second generation biofuels that are produced from trees, grasses, algae, — in general, feedstocks that don't also have a use as food. The appeal is obvious to anyone concerned about the world's dependence on petroleum, and further worried that a major shift to biofuels will cause food prices to rise. So let's address that question.
Entrepreneurs Revive a Century-Old Idea
About a decade ago, a number of entrepreneurs began to use their political influence to convince the US government that the only things keeping the US from running our cars on advanced biofuels was lack of government support, and interference from oil companies. These advocates eventually won over enough political support that state and federal governments began to funnel large amounts of taxpayer dollars into advanced biofuel ventures. President Bush spoke of running cars on switchgrass in his 2006 State of the Union address.
The federal government sought to deal with supposed oil company intransigence with a mandate requiring gasoline blends to contain growing volumes of corn ethanol initially, but starting in 2010 advanced biofuels as well. The federal government mandated that by the year 2022 the fuel supply had to use 36 billion gallons of biofuels, with 21 billion gallons coming from advanced biofuels. CONTINUE»
Who Loses from Rising Natural Gas Prices?
Chemicals and Fertilizer Industries
In last week's post Who Wins from Rising Natural Gas Prices?, I discussed the sectors that would benefit from rising natural gas prices. This week, let's talk about the potential losers.
Natural gas is an important feedstock for the chemicals and fertilizer industries, so higher prices could pressure those sectors. Oil companies with significant chemical operations could also see this business segment take a hit, but based on ExxonMobil's (NYSE: XOM) advocacy of liquified natural gas (LNG) exports, it clearly believes the net effect of rising natural gas prices on the company would be positive.
Dow Chemical (NYSE: DOW), on the other hand, has come out strongly against LNG exports because of the potential cost to its own business and that of other heavy users of natural gas. Ironically, last week the Department of Energy granted a permit to a facility called Freeport LNG — in which Dow owns a 15% stake. Dow's answer to that is that they invested in the facility when it was supposed to be an LNG import facility.
Biofuels Sector
But the risks to the chemicals and fertilizer industries are well-known. What isn't as well-known is the risk from higher natural gas prices to the biofuels sector. This may be counterintuitive, since renewables like wind and solar power become more competitive as natural gas prices increase. CONTINUE»
Investor Interest in U.S. Biofuel Production Set to Soar
I just finished writing the 4th chapter in my book tonight. This chapter was a primer on renewable energy, covering biomass, hydropower, wind, solar, geothermal, and ocean energy technologies. Interesting tidbit from this chapter: The world's largest producer of geothermal power is the U.S. oil company Chevron. How many people would have guessed that? The chapter kept me busy this week, but fortunately I have a timely guest post available. The following guest post from OilPrice.com addresses last week's announcement of a potential half billion dollar investment by several government agencies to develop advanced biofuels. ————————– On 16 August President Obama announced that the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Energy and Navy will invest up to $510 million by 2014 in… Continue»


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- Turkey's post-coup actions raise questions about its commitment to NATO
- Erdogan has undermined the military, breaking the bond between army and state
- Ankara's foreign policy will continue to be guided by domestic politics
- Internal instability will increase, while long-standing foreign alliances will fray
The failed coup in Turkey this July and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's reaction to it have drastically changed the country's geopolitical outlook. There are a new set of domestic and international factors driving this change. The military has lost many of its most experienced leaders and sectarian tensions are set to rise. President Erdogan will continue his opportunistic foreign policy, pulling Turkey closer to Russia and further straining relations with the United States. Stresses on domestic stability are set to grow, while Turkey's ties with NATO will weaken.


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Blog Archives
I just published "Chapter 7" of my story "KiniGeist (Hiatus)". http://my.w.tt/UiNb/rpoBo95STu
I think you'd like this story: "KiniGeist" by NiktheN on Wattpad http://my.w.tt/UiNb/ZhFkdnQhru.
The Psychic Cycle
You should read "The Psychic Cycle" on Wattpad. http://w.tt/1OLruCs
The story follows an African American boy who was adopted by a russian Family. His pevious family was murdered and his sister left with the Nikitins. As he stays with the family, he learns of heritage that contained many Psionic and mediums.
His main task is shutting down a Psychic User, known as a Pawn Psi, plans to awaken seven epitaphs that will bring the Machine Sleeping King that was shut down.
Ganglan, first Draft
Frankie pulled his hood over his head tightly. The breeze was cold and even as a fire user he couldn't risk using his Psi for long periods of time. He looked out to the sea and saw the famous Ningen, a Japanese Cryptic, it was an amazing sight. The Ningen patrolled the waters, often helping fishermen to land when they become lost at sea. It was a harmless beast despite it's dark eyes, white body and large hands.
Stefan put a hand on Frankie's shoulder. "You have your ID?", he demanded. "They won't let us go past the border without it"
He patted his coat down one last time to find out. Feeling the card in his in pocket he nodded. "This isn't going to be like New York City, is it?", he stated. Stefan chuckled slightly. "Nope".
Stefan had brown skin like him, upturned eyes, and was a little pudgy. He kept his hair in five long individual cornrows. "Why did we have to come to the Ganglands?", asked Frankie. Stefan sighed, he felt as if he was explaining these basic things to a five year old. "Because Psionics are crazy"
"I'm not crazy", Frankie bit his lip. "Is it because of that MAD outbreak?"
"Probably, seven hundred died that year. We were either born or not born yet", he drew out a stick of weed from his pocket. "Light me up?"
Frankie pinched the tip of the blunt, lighting it on fire. "Thanks"
"Where's Aja?"
"Being a little fatty, apparently the restaurant food is good. Fried chicken, sushi, bacon omelette, cherry pie and some soul food"
"Real Soul Food? Or 'take-my-soul' kind of food"
Stefan laughed again. "Let's check it out. I'm sort of hungry and tired. My head hurts…"
"That's bad, you think your having a seizure?"
Psionics were highly prone to having seizures. It made Frankie concerned about his friend slash enemy as Stefan had a tendency to be an ass. The two headed to the restaurant to check out the food. The area was crowded, people were pressed against the wall. Frankie saw others trying to find a second taste, but even people blocked the buffet. Stefan caught his girlfriend Aja sitting alone and gnawing on a chicken wing, he walked over to her, kissed her forehead and tried to get a seat but she stopped him. "Remember that Boondocks episode, where everybody got sick off of KFC?", she questioned as she gripped Stefan's sleeve. "You ok baby?"
"F no", she answered. "Carry me to my room. I feel horrible…"
Stefan took her back to the room bridal style. She coughed and beads of sweat formed on her brow. Stefan made it to the room, he put Aja to bed. He ordered Frankie to shut the door. While Frankie sat by the bed to watch Aja. Stefan went into the bathroom to fetch a wet towel, he wiped her forehead and noticed his girlfriend had a blank look about her. "Aja, can you hear me? Baby, look at me"
Aja didn't look at him and proceeded to stare blankly. It was Frankie that saw her arm tremble. "Steffy", his voice worried and quiet. "She's starting to have a seizure"
"She didn't say nothing about tingling!"
"Maybe this is different"
Aja's arm shook, then her left leg. Stefan puts his hand against her face. "We're on a damn boat though. Frankie go find someone. Exactly as the words left his mouth, Aja's body went through convulsions. Her body swayed, eyes fluttered, and spit formed at her lips. Stefan wiped her lips with the towel, then held his phone to time it.. '30 seconds to a minute. That's the measure, any longer and she's going to die'
Psionics were psychics, and as the paranormal psychics they were. They saw a world of problems. Seizures was a common thing but happened when a Psi user over extended their powers or saw flashing lights. Stefan timed the seizure, counting down in his mind. He gripped Aja's hand tight and kissed her palm. He looked at the clock on his phone, it read 31 seconds. "Come on Aja, don't leave me baby…", his voice was stressed. It was difficult to watch his girlfriend go through this, when he had his moments; it hurt him more to have her witness it because his were violent. He check the timer again, it read 36 seconds. He wiped her lips again with the towel and held her hand close. When she stopped it had been 40 seconds, Stefan picked her up and got in the bed. He set her in his lap while she gasped and wheezed. He lay his cheek against her head, rubbing his thumb against her hand. He looked at the flower pot in the recess of the room. He heard a thump coming from outside, his braids flicked with electricity. He laid Aja on the bed as he got to see what the noise was. As he walked out the door and look to the left, he was stunned. "Frankie!", he yelled as he rushed to his side. Spit coated his lips, he wiped it away with his sleeve before picking him up and carrying him to the room.
Aja was sitting straight up with tears in her eyes. "Where did you go!", she cried. "You know better then to think I'm going to leave you", Stefan placed Frankie on the bed. "Frankie…", Aja crawled to his position. "You okay?"
"Where is your sister?", Stefan asked Aja. "Who gives a damn about the leak! Frankie, speak to me. Oh my God, how long was he out there?"
"I don't know, I was focused on you. Where's Tammy?"
"Tam-Tam went to her room after we went to the buffet", she said. "She said she didn't feel right"
"Aw Shit! I'll be right back, watch him!"
Frankie had sweat gleaming on his brow. "Frankie?"
"Stroke", he muttered. "My chest hurts…"
"How long were you out there?"
He managed to take in a breath,"I just walked out the room, but possibly a minute", he a wiped the lather from his forehead. "That bar had a smell, did you notice?"
She shook her head slowly. "It was awful… You didn't smell anything?"
"To be fully truthful, I've been having a snotty nose since we departed New York"
Stefan came back carrying Tammy but she was fighting him and scratching. The situation was peculiar and alarming. Seizures weren't the greatest concern for certain Psionics, but it was scary that 2 out of four were having them. Stefan threw Tammy to the ground, she attempted to get back up and attack him, but Aja pulled her away with the plant vines from the flower pot.. Tammy had drool from her lip. Her eyes were wild, she hissed and spat as she was against the wall.
"Frankie, yo girl got rabies", announced Stefan. Frankie grimaced, "this is why they shipped us away…", he sighed.
Chapter one: Sickness
Stefan sat on the couch with Aja resting in his lap. He read the newspaper to himself:
Three days ago sixty people on Black Maco experienced sickness similar to the known Psionic diseases MADNESS and WAPPAMA, Wrath Apparition Madness. Though not lethal, a group of Psionic were kept in quarantine. Where or what made this outbreak is unknown. Out of the sixty people that saw this disease one died from the soldiers on the ship. His name was Ken Valda, it was said Ken was a Bioterrorist and may have poisoned the buffet which led to the various victims.
Stefan turned his nose up at the last sentence, "They don't ever want to tell the truth", he hissed. He flung the newspaper on the table, he put his feet up and turned on the TV; turning the channel to the show Empire. They were showing reruns, but it didn't trouble him. Stefan poked Aja's cheek, she opened her eyes to look at him. "You hungry?"
"I don't want chicken, fix a salad for me", she moaned. "A fruit salad, I want to feed on the blood of pineapples", she smacked her lips. Stefan laughed and got up, "Goofy", he said before leading into the kitchen"This an old episode of Empire?", she yelled. "Yes. Lucious got out of jail this episode"
"… oh. Ya know, Terrance Howard isn't a bad looking man", she stated. "Kind of sexy, don't you think Steffy?"
He sighed as he cut and peeled the apples. "So…"
"You know he is", she teased. The bell rang, Aja sprung up to answer it. She mumbled under her breath 'please don't let it be my sister', she opened the door and saw the box on the porch. She opened it, it was a brain with a note. 'I THINK you forgot something :)'.
"Stefan, baby, we got brains!", she yelled. Stefan teleported to her side with a bowl of fruit salad. He switched the fruit bowl with the note in her hand. Aja went to enjoy her salad while he stood at the door. He turned the note over, he shrugged his shoulders.
They lived in a comfortable home that had two stories. The back of the note had a message, but he thought to himself, Aja wouldn't give a damn so why tell her?
Aja was browned skinned with green neon hair, and she had a condition. She wasn't emotionally unresponsive or anything, just angry, devil angry as he described, however this news would make her happy or happier. How do you tell someone that their sister's brain was delivered? To Stefan, he had this 'I'm cool with this' aura even when he was completely stressed which led to several seizures. If it wasn't stress than it was his awful separation anxiety that crawled up his spine ever so often


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Alistair and Kaylar's Stamford Plaza Brisbane Wedding was celebrated on what you would call a perfect summer's day.
With almost no clouds in the sky, along with an awesome atmosphere of friends & family – it certainly was an amazing day!
But most of all, the sunset between the Brisbane city buildings was absolutely amazing.
With so much greenery, and sun flickering through the trees, it created an unforgettable afternoon.
Alistair and Kaylar celebrated their ceremony at Shafston Weddings located at Kangaroo Point. This old and historical venue had so much character, dating all the way back to 1852.
Overall, it was an absolute pleasure to spend the day with Kaylar & Alistair, and we wish them the best with their future as husband and wife!
Andre & PIM Team
Alistair + Kaylar | Kangaroo Point Wedding Video


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I took the tram to Roosevelt Island and fell a little bit in love with an island that reminded me of Europe, that kept me thinking about l'Ile St. Louis in Paris with younger architecture. I walked along the promenade and met a Russian woman and spent 20 minutes talking about the island and its inhabitants. Then I wandered some more and wondered how I could move there.
Got home, bubbled over with excitement about knowing a new place and Chris found a listing for a R.I. apartment online; tomorrow he's going to come with me to see it. I can't take it, even if I wanted to; my lease isn't up until the fall. But shit, this is the fun stuff to do with someone. Go see an apartment on a dream island and pretend it's a possibility.
Thanks to the 5-goal-per-day strategy, this week was productive as hell. Each morning I wrote down 5 things I'd love to have done by 7pm or so. Each day I got them done and more. It's almost as if focusing on less rather than more gave me more energy to go beyond the goals... try it sometime. Maybe it'll work for you too.
I think I'll leave this strategy for the weekend, though. I'm really spent from trying so hard all week and looking forward to some sleeping in and dining out.
I think I'll leave this strategy for the weekend, though. I'm really spent from trying so hard all week and looking forward to some sleeping in and dining out.
I had a bunch of bad dreams this week. At one point the other night, I woke up from a nightmare around 3am and was too afraid to run to the bathroom to pee until I remembered that Oscar would come with me. He's such a little guard cat (or perhaps constantly tempted by my proximity to food when I head to the old Water Closet). When I realized that he'd walk along with me, regardless of the depth of his sleep, I felt so comforted. This is why people get pets; because the companionship is unrivaled.
Today we bought our tickets for Wisconsin. Three days of Chris' friends and family and cheddar cheese. I've never met a cheddar I didn't like and I'm hopeful that sentiment will translate over to the new people I meet as well. It's been a while since I took a plane with someone I know and I think it will be strange to even have the option of leaning my head on the person next to me. You know it's good when you and your seatmate have accepted potential drool for the duration of the flight.
I'm a lucky girl these days, I really am.
I'm a lucky girl these days, I really am.


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Falling walls in a garden of sun flowers, this is her self-portrait in words and images. She never gave in, but she wasn't trying to live forever. Hips and words, never falling to her knees. She was living forever through her photographs and words, hand-crafted immortality.
She looked out the window into the night, she was fearless.


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Saturday, May 5, 2012
Photo Shoot
On Easter I told the kids that I needed to get some new photos of them. Of course I enjoy having photos of them to cherish forever. But I also needed some new material to scrap! No, no, I'm definitely not "caught up" on scrapping. I've got photos from special events and everyday life over the years that I still hope to scrap. I just wanted some "new" ones.
Their initial reaction was one lacking in enthusiasm. To say the least. But I managed to get them outside and we found an interesting spot to take some photos. I wasn't getting too many smiles. Until I really encouraged them to just have fun!
They did some 3 Stooges mimicking. Patrick did his best Barney "suit up" pose (from the TV show How I Met Your Mother). And the fun and the smiles just kept rolling!! And the laughter was non-stop!!!
This little photo shoot went from what they thought was going to be a "chore" to a day of memories that we will talk about, and laugh about for years to come!
Posted by Scrappycath at 3:32 PM
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I'd have to say this Trevan fellow at least shows some interest in helping to build up this brand-new kingdom of his, more so than most of my fellow Shifterai have shown an interest in building up the City at the heart of our own land. In that much, he and I are more alike than the men who pursued me in the past. We both dream of making things better, of reclaiming the potential of our homes.
But where he gets the idea I'll just fall into his claims of Prophecy and Destiny… I don't fall for just anyone, and he's not even a real shapeshifter. He'd have to prove himself twice as worthy as the next-best candidate back home, just for that alone!
Her fingers had grown idle with the depth of her thoughts. Nudging them back into stroking his fur, Trevan wished she wasn't quite so introspective. Or rather, he wished she weren't so quietly introspective.
It was widespread knowledge among mages that the Gods had banned spells that could read another person's thoughts, for that was the last possible bastion of privacy in the world. There were potions that could drug a person's mind into suggestible compliance, and spells to control their body, but nothing that could permit a mage to read someone's mind. All he could do was wait and see if she deigned to speak again.
"I wish you could talk," she stated abruptly, startling him. He'd been thinking the exact same thing. Her fingers raked the wrong way through his fur, fluffing it pleasurably before she smoothed it back down again. "I'd ask you all about this silly idea of some Prophecy controlling my life. I'd demand all the details, so I
could analyze them minutely. I've gone through all of it in my head, what little I know about your human…well, I don't know if he's your human, but I'll bet you know more about him than I do. Even if you're just a cat."
She's thinking about me, Trevan realized with a blink. Yesssss! He purred and nuzzled her firmly in encouragement. Think some more about me! Think positively! Think that I'm a wonderful man whom you'd love to get to know, and think about staying here happily on the Isle with me!
Amara chuckled as the cat, being given more direct attention from her once more, went into a purring, pacing, writhing ecstasy against her fingers. He even licked her hand several times, his rough-raspy tongue tickling her skin. She scritched her fingers through his ruff, rubbed at his ears, and stroked him from scalp to tail-tip. From the kneading of his paws, the purring of his throat, and the narrowing of his eyes, he was in feline heaven under her hand.


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This is the previous version of our website. It is not being maintained. Go to current site
Shakeyrah I. Elmore graduated from high school and college at the same time, thanks to the Post-Secondary Enrollment Options program. Here, she tells her story in her own words.
I graduated from Whitehall-Yearling High School on May 22. Then, almost 3 weeks later on June 10, I graduated from Columbus State Community College with an Associate of Arts degree.
I began taking classes at Columbus State through the PSEO program, which covered my tuition, fees, and books. PSEO is a great opportunity to ease the transition from high school to college by exposing high school students to more advanced academic education. In the beginning I wasn't sure what to expect, but the small class sizes, the great faculty, the kind students and great services made the transition easy for me.
Though balancing my high school course work and extracurricular activities and my classes at Columbus State was not trouble-free, I'm glad I took on the challenge. I can remember days when I would have to rush from basketball practice to go to the Testing Center to meet a deadline for a test.
Columbus State gave me the opportunity to be involved in activities not offered at my high school. For example we don't have a mascot that dresses up, and I was excited to meet Clawdette, the school's mascot. She's full of school spirit.
Columbus State helped me to mature; it helped me become more self-sufficient, and I'm glad to say I am a Columbus State Community College alumna. I have acquired many lessons that I can use for the rest of my life.
I plan to transfer the credits I earned at Columbus State to the University of Cincinnati to finish a bachelor's degree there. Columbus State was a great place to start. Now I'm two years ahead of the rest of my class, and that not only makes me proud but also my family, especially my mother who believed in me the whole way through.


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Three hours of the latest hip-hop and beat-oriented music go round and round on the turntable with your host, Noah Zark.
Visit Coffee Break on Facebook (Visit homepage.)
<-- Previous playlist | Back to Coffee Break For Heroes & Villains with Noah playlists | Next playlist -->
December 27, 2006: JB Star Time: Tribute To The Godfather of Soul - Mr. James Brown
Listen to this show:
|Vivki Anderson
|Think feat. James Brown
|Hank Ballard & The Midnight Lidnighters
|From The Love Side
|The JB's
|Pass The Peas
|Marva Whitney
|It's My Thing PT 1
|Viki Anderson
|The Message From The Soul Sisters (Parts 1 & 2)
|James Brown
|Hair Commercial
|James Brown
|Please Please Please
|Bobby Byrd
|I Know You Got Soul
|James Brown
|Night Train (Live)
|James Brown
|Hot Pants
|Gettin' Down To It
|Verve Records
|This was taken from James' "Jazz" record
|James Brown
|Talkin' Loud & Saying Nothin' (Original Rock Version)
|DJ BrownBum
|James BrownBum MIx
|Black Caesar FIlm Commercial
|Lord Finesse & DJ Mike Smooth
|Baby, You Nasty (New Version)
|Funky Technician
|Wild Pitch Records
|James Brown
|Blind Man Can See It
|Black Caesar Soundtrack
|DJ BrownBum
|DJ BrownBum Star Time For Ebony & Andrea Mix
|James Brown
|The Payback
|The Payback
|James Brown
|King Heron
|James Brown
|It's A Man's Man's Man's World (Slow Chad Version)
|Eric B & Rakim
|I Know You Got Soul
|De La Soul
|Change In Speak
|SOn Of Bazerk
|One Time For The Rebel
|Lyn Collins
|Do Your Thing
|Big Daddy Kane
|Bobby Byrd
|Hot Pants...I'm Coming, Coming, I'm Coming
|Afrika Bambaataa & James Brown
|Unity Part 1 (The Third Coming)
|The Daktaris
|Give It Up Turnit Loos
|Aretha Franklin
|Money Won't Change You
|Lady Soul
|Atlantic Recordings
|Mongo Santamaria
|Cold Sweat
|Out Of Sight
|Jungle Brothers
|J. Beez Comin' Through
|Done By The Forces Of Nature
|Warner Brothers
|Ultramagnetic MC's
|Give The Drummer Some
|Fred Wesley & The JB's
|Blow Your Head
|Fred Wesley & The JB's
|If You Don't Get It The First Time, Back Up And Try It Again, Party
|Lyn Collins
|Rock Me Again & Again & Again & Again & Again & Again
|James Brown
|Your Cheatin' Heart
|Soul On Top
|Verve Records
|The Believers
|Mr. Hot Pants
RSS feeds for Coffee Break For Heroes & Villains with Noah: Playlists feed | MP3 archives feed| E-mail Noah | Other WFMU Playlists | All artists played by Coffee Break For Heroes & Villains with Noah |


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Moms like you are among the most admired and inspiring people in our community. Your unconditional devotion to family and community is only the beginning of all the things you do to make our lives more rewarding. Which is why we recognize and celebrate your contributions with our Moms First® Program – a very special program packed with special perks and lots of ways to make banking so much easier. Moms enjoy a variety of distinctive benefits.
Unique Benefits – Just Because You're A Mom!
- Weekly "On The Better Side Of Life" blog featuring financial management tools and quick tips, previews of upcoming First Reliance products and services, and stories of other moms in the program
- Monthly drawings for "Me Time" or family activities such as dinner out, free pedicure/manicure, photo sessions, cleaning service, and more
- "Mom of the Month" feature on our social media channels
- Birthday Cards
- Video Contests
Checking AccountReliance On-the-GoAccount ProtectionAdditional Products


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Being Your Own Partner
FEBRUARY: THE MONTH OF LOVE "Anger will never disappear so long as thoughts of resentment are cherished in the mind. Anger will disappear just as soon as thoughts of resentment are forgotten." —Buddha The month of February may bring up many emotions for people. After all, it is the month that contains that either beloved…
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