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FASB Issues Accounting Standards Update on Proposed Clarification to Fair Value Disclosure Exemption Affecting Private Companies and Not-for-Profit OrganizationsNorwalk, CT, February 7, 2013—The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) today issued Accounting Standards Update No. 2013-03, Financial Instruments (Topic 825): Clarifying the Scope and Applicability of a Particular Disclosure to Nonpublic Entities, which clarifies the scope and applicability of a disclosure exemption that is specific to private companies and not-for-profit organizations that resulted from the issuance of Accounting Standards Update No. 2011-04, Fair Value Measurement (Topic 820): Amendments to Achieve Common Fair Value Measurement and Disclosure Requirements in U.S. GAAP and IFRSs.
The Update clarifies that the requirement to disclose "the level of the fair value hierarchy within which the fair value measurements are categorized in their entirety (Level 1, 2, or 3)" does not apply to private companies and nonpublic not-for-profit organizations for items that are not measured at fair value in the statement of financial position, but for which fair value is disclosed.
The amendments will be effective upon issuance. The Accounting Standards Update is available at the FASB website.
About the Financial Accounting Standards Board
Since 1973, the Financial Accounting Standards Board has been the designated organization in the private sector for establishing standards of financial accounting and reporting. Those standards govern the preparation of financial reports and are officially recognized as authoritative by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Such standards are essential to the efficient functioning of the economy because investors, creditors, auditors, and others rely on credible, transparent, and comparable financial information. For more information about the FASB, visit our website at www.fasb.org.


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Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Wordless Wednesday: Dinner Time!
49 comments:
You're making me hungry -looks like a great meal! WOOF WOOF WOOF!ReplyDelete
Oh what a lovely girl!ReplyDelete
We voted and she is gorgeous :) xx00xxxReplyDelete
Mollie and Alfie
We too voted and we agree she is lovely. Have a wonderful Wednesday.ReplyDelete
Best wishes Molly
Voted and shared on FB :) Good Luck!ReplyDelete
Honey Delight is adorable! Thanks for the reminder to vote again!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousMay 29, 2013 at 6:11 AM
I voted - good luck!!!...ahmmm.. what's with the leftovers?ReplyDelete
Cute pictures!ReplyDelete
Honeyb Delite sure is a beauty! Voted for ya! Good luck!ReplyDelete
So cute and LOVE the name Honey Delite. Happy BlogPaws WW. Golden Woofs!ReplyDelete
Shiner says vote for me, please...ReplyDelete
what a great name! Happy Wednesday!ReplyDelete
She sure is a real beauty!ReplyDelete
Honey Delite looks so sweet!ReplyDelete
Oops I didn't realise I could vote more once, will head over there now!ReplyDelete
Voted for shiner (good luck!) and so good to see Honey!ReplyDelete
Honey Delight is a great name :)ReplyDelete
That food is making me hungry!ReplyDelete
My mum just voted for Shiner :)
- AnonymousMay 29, 2013 at 11:16 AM
I'm very glad Honey Delight is all settled in :) It sounds like she is really living up these days!ReplyDelete
And we voted for Shiner! Yay for zoomies!!
So nice to see Honey Delight! We'll go and vote for Shiner now. :)ReplyDelete
nice ta meet ewe up close N purrson null HD !!!! stay safe out ther N feel free ta stop by TT any time...we ALL WAYS haz foodz on de grill...just dont ask for burd :)ReplyDelete
So sweet! I love that little face!ReplyDelete
She is AdorableReplyDelete
What a pretty kitty, Miss Ann! I'm glad you posted a photo of Miss Honey Delite!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousMay 29, 2013 at 3:02 PM
Honey Delight is very cute. I love the name :)ReplyDelete
Sweet baby! And thanks for the voting reminders!ReplyDelete
Aw, Honey sounds like she's doing well...all grown up and wanting her own space! ;-) Hehehe! Going over to vote for Shiner now!! :-DReplyDelete
What a sweetheart. Since she has chosen to stay outside, we are really glad she has a place that she likes for shelter when she needs it. Purrs and hugs from the kitties at the cat on my head.com, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth and Calista JosetteReplyDelete
Hi Honey Delite. It's nice to see you. We send you lots of purrs.ReplyDelete
We voted! Good Luck!ReplyDelete
Honey is a Delite! :)ReplyDelete
Honey Delite is looking really good. She's a cutie.ReplyDelete
I will go and vote right now.ReplyDelete
Loveys Sasha
Oh, my...Honey D is precious. Sounds like she might not be friendly in person though :)ReplyDelete

subset: commoncrawl


text: Today's businesses generate more data than ever before. Not coincidentally, IT has never been more critical to the success of a small business. Luckily, the per-gigabyte cost of hard disk drives and associated storage technologies has never been lower, while the advent of technology such as cloud storage offers even greater opportunities to do more with less.For many small businesses, though, their backup and storage strategy hasn't caught up with their more pervasive use of computers. This could be due to confusion about the various storage options, or a failure to understand that the old paradigm of the occasional batch backup is no longer adequate.A storage vendor representative will have you believe that it offers the perfect backup hardware for your business. However, backup is more than hardware, since storage needs for individual organizations invariably differ. This means a one-size-fits-all mentality is doomed to offer a mediocre fit in terms of either budget or functionality.Rather than outline a fixed strategy, this article highlights the most common storage capabilities and shows how they can be combined to craft the right storage strategy for your small business.6 Common Data Storage SolutionsRather than go into every single storage technology that's available today, it's better to evaluate the various categories of storage options.1. Direct attached storage: DAS denotes storage devices that are connected directly to a PC or server, typically using a USB 2.0 or USB 3.0 peripheral port. One weakness of DAS is that you need to do ad-hoc or batch backups to copy data, which means they could contain out-of-date versions of files.2. Network attached storage: A NAS appliance is a storage device that connects directly to the network. It features the attendant capabilities of a file server and accepts multiple storage drives. Redundancy is offered in the form of RAID capabilities, as NAS supports various file protocols to work directly desktops and laptops. Some NAS models offer the capability to synchronize selected folders or volumes with a second, remote NAS that supports the capability.3. Disaster protected storage: As its name suggests, disaster protected storage \u2014 which can come in the form of DAS or NAS \u2014 is hardened against the type of disasters that would have easily destroyed unprotected data. For example, ioSafe says its disaster protected storage appliances can withstand fire for up to 30 minutes and total immersion in water for days.4. Online storage: While it may seem intuitive to lump all online storage into the same category, there are actually two distinct types of offerings. Some, such as Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3), serve as the cloud version of storage devices for the Amazon Elastic Cloud Compute platform. Then there's the online storage designed to help consumers and businesses store or back up data in the cloud. For the purposes of this article, that's what we mean by online storage.\n[ Feature: 10 Cloud Storage and Backup Services for Your Small Business ]\n[ How-to: Find the Cloud-Storage Service That's Right for You ]Some of these services, such as MozyPro and SpiderOak, are designed specifically to serve businesses for data backup. Cloud storage can work very well if backing up data incrementally, and requires no up-front capital investments. The downside, though, is that data retrieval may take an unacceptably long time should you require full data recovery.5. Private Cloud: Not comfortable with placing their data in the hands of third-party public cloud vendors, some enterprises have taken to building privates version of cloud services to gain some of the inherent benefits of electricity and flexibility. Though this was once out of the reach of small business, innovations mean that small businesses may yet be able to tap into private cloud storage.[ Commentary: What the CIA Private Cloud Really Says About Amazon Web Services ]The Transporter, for example, is a network appliance that connects to a storage drive to share and synchronize its content. This can be done with client desktops or laptops, and with other Transporter devices. Meanwhile, BitTorrent Sync, currently in beta, lets computers with the correct secret key synchronize directly with one another over the Internet.6. Offline media: This is commonly understood to be tape drives, but optical media such as DVD and Blu-Ray discs are occasionally used for the purpose of offline data backup. This "technology" may seem outdated, but don't dismiss it yet: Tape backups have saved Google in at least one Gmail outage, and Facebook is experimenting with Blu-Ray discs for data backup (albeit with a robotic picker handling 10,000 discs in a storage system the size of an entire server rack).2 + 1 = Data Backup Best PracticeFor critical data, businesses should make two full copies, maintained on separate physical devices. In addition, a third copy should be kept offline, preferably stashed at another location.Having two complete copies offers some measure of business continuity, allowing organizations to continue with their business as usual even with the complete loss of one set of data. After all, even RAID volumes may be degraded for a substantial amount of time until the array is completely rebuilt. These two copies of data can be kept synchronized by a variety of means: The cloud, a third-party sync application or the sync capabilities of an increasing number of NAS.\n[ How-to: Implement Next-Generation Storage Infrastructure for Big Data ]\n[ Analysis: Backup Starts to Scale Out Along with Storage, Data Growth ]The offline copy, meanwhile, serves as an important hedge against inadvertent mistakes and outright malice. Real-time or near-real-time data synchronization can eliminate data sprawl, which may see multiple copies of the same data. However, it can also rapidly replicate errors or overwrite good files in a way that stymies file recovery software. As noted, even Google and its multiple data centers' worth of data storage still uses tape storage technology.While no business likes to think it would hire someone with destructive tendencies, former employees have been known to turn vindictive. This can be especially deadly for smaller businesses, where a small team often means everyone have access to almost every facet of the IT systems. That's why it's best to keep that "plus one" copy offline, at a separate geographical region and out of their reach. Having the copy in a separate physical location also protects a business from fires, floods and other localized natural disasters.Data Storage Strategy Depends on Budget, Data VolumeUltimately, the combination of storage you need will depend on your volume of data and available budget. Startups with modest data needs and a low budget, for example, could benefit from the Transporter and its minimal equipment costs. Data could be backed up onto a DAS that's taken offline on a periodic basis.A business with more substantial storage needs, though, may want to deploy two NAS appliances in separate offices. These could be set to sync with each other over the Internet or VPN. The same arrangement could be made for businesses with only one office, though the second NAS could be a disaster protected one. Data in both cases could be incrementally backed up from one NAS to a cloud storage provider.Whatever they deploy, businesses generating large volumes of data may find that backing up to the cloud may not be tenable. Such businesses will likely need to invest in a tape drive, with data backed up on tape cartridges kept at an off-site location.Paul Mah is a freelance writer and blogger who lives in Singapore. He has worked in various capacities within the IT industry and enjoys tinkering with tech gadgets, smartphones and networking devices. You can reach Paul at email@example.com and follow him on Twitter at @paulmah.Follow everything from CIO.com on Twitter @CIOonline, Facebook, Google + and LinkedIn.


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Although the Earth's crust averages a mere 0.004 grams of gold per ton, commercial concentrations of gold are found in areas distributed widely over the globe. Gold occurs in association with ores of copper and lead, in quartz veins, in the gravel of stream beds, and with pyrites (iron sulfide). Seawater contains astonishing quantities of gold, but the process of recovery is not economical. The ancients found quantities of gold in Ophir, Sheba, Uphaz, Parvaim, Arabia, India, and Spain. By the time of Christ, written reports were made of deposits in Thrace, Italy, and Anatolia. Gold is also found in Wales, in Hungary, in the Ural Mountains of Russia, and, in large quantities, in Australia. The greatest early surge in gold recovery followed the first voyage of Columbus. From 1492 to 1600, Central and South America, Mexico, and the islands of the Caribbean Sea contributed significant quantities of gold to world commerce. Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Panama, and Hispaniola contributed 61% of the world's newfound gold during the 17th century. In the 18th century they supplied 80%. Following the discovery (1848) of gold in California, North America became the world's major supplier of the metal. From 1850 to 1875 more gold was discovered than in the previous 350 years. By 1890 the gold fields of Alaska and the Yukon edged out those in the western United States, and soon the African Transvaal exceeded even these. Today the world's unmined reserves are estimated at 1 billion troy oz (31 billion grams), about half in the Witwatersrand area of the Republic of South Africa.
The distribution of gold seems to validate the theory that gold was carried toward the Earth's surface from great depths by geologic activity, perhaps with other metals as a solid solution within molten rock. After this solid solution cooled, its gold content was spread through such a great volume of rock that large fragments were unusual; this theory explains why much of the world's gold is in small, often microscopic particles. The theory also explains why small amounts of gold are widespread in all igneous rocks; they are rarely chemically combined and seldom in quantities rich enough to be called an ore. Because of its poor chemical reactivity, gold was one of the first two or three metals (along with copper and silver) used by humans in these metals' elemental states. Because it is relatively unreactive, it was found uncombined and required no previously developed knowledge of refining. Gold was probably used in decorative arts before 9000 BC. Even civilizations that developed little or no use of other metals prized gold for its beauty.Elemental gold has a melting point of 1,063 deg C and a boiling point of 2,966 deg C.
In addition to its softness, it is both the most malleable and most ductile of all elements. This means that it can be hammered into extremely thin sheets (approaching a small number of atoms) and can be drawn into extremely fine wire. Gold in the form of very thin sheets, called gold leaf, has many decorative uses. Elemental gold is an excellent conductor of electricity and heat, surpassed only by the other members of group 1B, copper and silver. Gold usually forms compounds (and complexes) by giving up either one of three of its valence electrons. It is commonly alloyed with other metals, as in jewelry, in proportions that yield desired hardiness and colors, (see metal section). An alloy of gold, silver, and copper, in which the amounts of silver predominates, is called "green gold." An alloy of the same three elements in which copper predominates is called "red gold." An alloy of gold and nickel is called "white gold." The purity of alloyed gold is expressed by the karat system, where the percent of gold by weight is given as a fraction of 24. Therefore, pure gold is 24 karat, whereas 18 karat gold is 18/24, or 75%, gold by weight. Gold dissolves in very few solvents, among them aqua regia and the various solutions of cyanide that are used in ore extraction. When gold does dissolve, it is generally by forming complexes. Gold also forms amalgams with mercury and as such is used in dentistry.
Gold is obtained by two principal mining methods; placer and vein mining, and also as a by product of the mining of other metals. Placer mining is used when the metal is found in unconsolidated deposits of sand and gravel from which gold can be easily separated due to its high density. The sand and gravel are suspended in moving water; the much heavier metal sinks to the bottom and is separated by hand. The simplest method, called panning, is to swirl the mixture in a pan rapidly enough to carry the water and most of the gravel and sand over the edge while the gold remains on the bottom. Panning is the classic method used by the forty niners and is immortalized in story, art, and song. Much more efficient is a sluice box, a U shaped trough with a gentle slope and transverse bars firmly attached to the trough bottom. The bars, which extend from side to side, catch the heaviest particles and prevent their being washed downslope. Sand and gravel are placed in the high end, the gate to a water supply is opened, and the lighter material is washed through the sluice box and out the lower end. The materials caught behind the bars are gleaned to recover the gold. A similar arrangement catches the metal on wool, and may have been the origin of the legend of Jason's search for the golden fleece. Another variation of the placer method is called hydraulic mining. A very strong stream of water is directed at natural sand and gravel banks, causing them to be washed away. The suspended materials are treated much as if they were in a giant sluice box. Today's most important placer technique is dredging. In this method a shovel of several cubic meters capacity lifts the unconsolidated sand and gravel from its resting place and starts the placer process. Vein, or lode mining, is the most important of all gold recovery methods.
Although each ounce of gold recovered requires the processing of about 100,000 ounces of ore, there is so much gold deposited in rock veins that this method accounts for more than half of the world's total gold production today. The gold in the veins may be of microscopic particle size, in nuggets or sheets, or in gold compounds. Regardless of how it is found, the ore requires extensive extraction and refining. One third of all gold is produced as a by product of copper, lead, and zinc production. Copper, for example, must be electrolytically refined to raise its purity from 99% to more than 99.99% as required for many industrial purposes. In the refining process an anode of impure copper is electrolyzed in a bath in which the cathode is a very thin sheet of highly refined copper. As the process continues, copper ions leave the impure anode and are deposited as atoms on the cathode. Because impurities are not transported through the bath, as the anode is consumed, the impurities fall to the bottom as a sludge. This anode sludge contains gold in quantities sufficient to make recovery profitable. One third of all gold is obtained from such by products. Silver and platinum are also recovered from the copper anode sludge in quantities large enough to more than pay for the total refining process. In obtaining gold from vein ore, the ore is first crushed in rod or ball mills. This process reduces the ore to a powdery substance from which the gold can be extracted by amalgamation with mercury or by placer procedures. About 70% is recovered at this point. The remainder is dissolved in dilute solutions of sodium cyanide or calcium cyanide. The addition of metallic zinc to these solutions causes metallic gold to precipitate. This precipitate is refined by smelting. The purification is completed by electrolysis and the sludge produced will contain commercial quantities of silver, platinum, osmium, and other rare earth metals.
One of the principal uses of gold today is as a currency reserve. Gold was for centuries used directly as currency along with silver. During the 19th century it assumed a role as the sole basis of the currencies of most nations; paper money was directly convertible into gold. World War I disrupted this system. The original gold standard was gradually abandoned (the United States stopped minting gold coinage in 1934), and the dollar eventually emerged as the principal unit of international monetary transactions . Since the 1970s gold has been bought and sold on the market, with widely fluctuating prices, and gold reserves maintain only a very indirect relationship with the values of currencies. There is a large and rapidly growing demand for gold in industrial processes. Its relatively high electrical conductivity and extremely high resistance to corrosion make the metal critically important in microelectrical circuits. Minute quantities dissolved in glass or plastic sheets prevent the passage of infrared radiation and make an efficient heat shield. Because of its chemical stability, gold is in demand for bearing used in corrosive atmospheres. It is also plated on surfaces exposed to corrosive fluids or vapors. Its lack of toxicity and its compatibility with living systems make it indispensable in dentistry and medicine, and its beauty has made it outstanding in the arts and crafts since ancient times.


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WITHROW, WILLIAM JAMES, engineer, civil servant, militiaman, and officer; b. 28 Oct. 1868 in Hamilton, Ont., one of the two sons of William Henry Withrow* and Sarah Anne Smith; nephew of John Jacob Withrow*; m. first 7 Sept. 1896 Edith Mary Burns in Toronto, and they had one son; m. secondly 16 June 1908 Margaret Eleanor Guinevere MacCarthy in Ottawa, and they had two daughters; d. 4 May 1917 in Mont-Saint-Eloi, France.
Little is known about William James Withrow's childhood. He attended the Model Grammar School and Collegiate Institute in Toronto and graduated with a ba in engineering from the University of Toronto in 1890. By 1893 he had become a draftsman for Fetherstonhaugh and Company, patent lawyers and engineers, while continuing to live with his parents on Jarvis Street. Not unusually for a member of the middle class, Withrow had found time to serve in the ranks of the 2nd Battalion of Rifles (Queen's Own Rifles of Canada), one of Toronto's most fashionable militia units, for three years following 1887. He worked with Fetherstonhaugh until 1895 or later; at the time of his first marriage he was a patent solicitor in Montreal. By 1899 he was back in Toronto, as an engineer/designer for the Luxfer Prism Company Limited.
Sometime after 1901, when his wife died, Withrow and his young son moved to Ottawa, and by the outbreak of World War I he was a patent examiner in the Department of Agriculture. In 1914 he joined the 3rd (Ottawa) Field Engineer Company, a militia unit that did not go overseas; once again, it seems, he served in the ranks. On 4 Dec. 1915 Withrow was taken on strength, with the rank of lieutenant, by the 2nd Pioneer Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. By this time he had remarried and was the father of three children; his son Wilfrid Forbes, who served in France with the 21st Battalion, would be wounded and receive the Military Medal just before his father's death.
The pioneer battalions were a recent innovation forced upon the high command by the demands of trench warfare. The extensive defensive positions that ran from Switzerland to the English Channel required thousands of soldiers to maintain them and thousands more were needed if further defences were to be dug in. Pioneers, basically a cross between engineers and infantry, would take responsibility for maintenance and new constructions and accepted only skilled tradesmen. After embarking for France on 12 March 1916, Withrow in time became the battalion's Lewis machine-gun officer, perhaps because he had undergone a course in musketry in Canada. As one of three officers in the specialty section (the others being responsible for scouting and bombing respectively), he was to ensure that the Lewis gunners were properly trained and provided with the necessary weapons and equipment. The activities of Withrow and his section at the front are unclear, but most likely they occupied defensive positions while the rest of the battalion and its accompanying infantry work parties dug and wired trenches. During the battle for the craters at Saint-Eloi (Sint-Elooi), Belgium, in April, the 2nd Pioneer Battalion prepared captured German trenches for use by Canadian troops.
On 9 Jan. 1917 Withrow went to Corps headquarters, taking command of the Topographical Section. There he oversaw the production of large-scale speciality maps, such as plans of redoubts, batteries, and other defensive positions or units. Reproduction equipment was rudimentary and many maps would have been issued in manuscript form. He continued in command through the battle of Vimy Ridge in April and was thus responsible for many of the specialized sketches and drawings produced for that operation.
In early May Withrow was appointed quartermaster of the 2nd Pioneer Battalion, but while watching a baseball game on the 4th, he fell from his horse and died. An autopsy concluded that he had succumbed to "Acute Dilatation due to overexertion and excessive heat," or heart failure. Though Withrow had been considered physically fit at the age of 48, the post-mortem revealed much fatty tissue in the right ventricle; however, the link had not yet been made between a fatty diet and heart disease.
William James Withrow never reached the upper echelons of the public service or the militia. His significance is not in his rank but in what he exemplifies: those who had entered the professions at the end of the 19th century and whose lives took an entirely different course as a result of World War I.
AO, RG 80-5-0-241, no.15438; RG 80-5-0-374, no.5907; RG 80-8-0-249, no.1303. NA, RG 9, III, 4454, folder 6, file 6; 4709, folder 10, file 5; 5010; RG 150, Acc. 1992–93/166. Ottawa Citizen, 11 May 1917. Can., Dept. of Militia and Defence, Canadian Expeditionary Force: nominal rolls (13v., Ottawa, 1915–18), 13, 2nd Pioneer Battalion. Directory, Toronto, 1892–1903. J. S. Murray, "British-Canadian military cartography on the Western Front, 1914–1918," Archivaria (Ottawa), no.26 (summer 1988): 52–65. Univ. of Toronto, University of Toronto roll of service, 1914–1918 (Toronto, 1921).
Bibliography for the revised version:
FamilySearch, "Canada, Ontario marriages, 1869–1927," Wilfred Forbes Withrow and Evelyn Gertrude Withrow, 12 March 1924: familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FMFZ-D2Y (consulted 3 May 2023). Library and Arch. Can., "Census of Canada, 1901," Ont., dist. York East (129), subdist. East Toronto (Village) (A): 15: www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/census/1901/Pages/about-census.aspx (consulted 3 May 2023); "Personnel records of the First World War," Wilfred Forbes Withrow: central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=pffww&id=319784&lang=eng (consulted 3 May 2023). Ottawa Citizen, 12 May 1917.
© 1998–2023 University of Toronto/Université Laval
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William Rawling, "WITHROW, WILLIAM JAMES," in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 14, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed September 24, 2023, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/withrow_william_james_14E.html.
The citation above shows the format for footnotes and endnotes according to the Chicago manual of style (16th edition). Information to be used in other citation formats:
|Author of Article:
|William Rawling
|Title of Article:
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|Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 14
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|Access Date:
|September 24, 2023


text: The media they're recorded on should not effect the quality of the sound. The quality is determined by the quality of the DAC in your equipment whether that be in your car or Sony player. I have found that keeping my music files on my SSD and on various flash drives to be the best solution. At the resolution that I render my CD's to MP3's I have found that I can cram about 360 songs onto a 1 gig flash drive. Get yourself a 32 gig Flash drive and you can listen for days and days without hearing the same song. I also like flash drives because I can add or remove albums/songs as my mood hits me.


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This past weekend saw the 26th annual International Pinot Noir Celebration in McMinnville, Oregon. The event brings together winemakers from around the world along with consumers, trade, and media to celebrate and discuss this much heralded grape. Today, a few of my favorite quotes from last weekend's event.
"There is a truth in Pinot Noir that you can't find in any other wine with the possible exception of Riesling."
— Allen Meadows of Burghound on why there is such intense interest in the grape
"Pinot Noir is the messenger but not the message."
— Allen Meadows, Burghound
"It's hard not to be moved when you find beauty in the glass."
— Allen Meadows, Burghound
"Wine and food bring people together."
— Bill Stoller of Stoller Vineyards on what makes wine so special
"I couldn't stand prosperity."
— Allen Meadows of Burghound on why he chose life as a wine writer
"Terroir is everywhere. I have terroir in my backyard but it doesn't have anything to say."
— Allen Meadows, Burghound
"You can't buy time. Time is what the Burgundians have."
— Allen Meadows of Burghound on the long history of grape growing in Burgundy
"We're midwifing 86 acres of grapes, and we've got to be ready. We get one shot a year to do it right."
— Alex Sokol Blosser of Sokol Blosser on wine growing
"We spend eleven months out of the year farming our one ingredient for wine."
— Josh Bergström of Bergström Wines
"Picking time is everything."
— Peter Rosback, Sineann on the importance of picking decisions during harvest
"It's what establishes style."
— Josh Bergström of Bergström Wines on the importance of picking date during harvest
"If the year is bad for the human spirit, it's great for Pinot Noir."
— Josh Bergström of Bergström Wines
"Oregon shotgun sales went through the roof in 2010."
— Josh Bergström of Bergström Wines on wine growers trying to scare away the birds that descended during harvest
"It was the lock and load vintage."
— Alex Sokol Blosser of Sokol Blosser on the 2010 vintage in Oregon
"The goal with birds is you want to convince them to go to your neighbor's vineyard."
— Alex Sokol Blosser of Sokol Blosser on dealing with migratory birds
"I don't want to underestimate how important that beer buying decision is at harvest time to keep the harvest team in good spirits."
— Alex Sokol Blosser of Sokol Blosser discussing important steps at harvest
"Who wouldn't want to be a flying winemaker?"
— Michael Davies of Rex Hill Vineyards on making wine in multiple places around the globe
"The glamour of flying winemaking wears off pretty quickly."
— Ray Walsh of Capitello Wines
"It is an incredibly, incredibly humbling process to make Pinot Noir."
— Courtney Kingston of Kingston Family Vineyards
"I became a winemaker with a capital W before I knew what my style was."
— Thomas Bachelder of Bachelder
"There's a technical term for that kind of vintage. It's 'slutty.'"
— David Adelsheim of Adelsheim Vineyard on the warm 1994 vintage in Oregon
"(Pinot Noir) captures the soul of Mother earth."
— Allen Meadows, Burghound


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At the main hall of Team Plasma's underground castle, N holds his hands out, and takes another step forward. Towering over him, the black lightning dragon, Zekrom, watches N's every move, and suddenly lets out a roar when he gets a little too close. Bolts of blue electricity shoot out from its body to zap the young man, charring his clothes as well as his skin.
On the balcony lookout above, the other Team Plasma authorities watch on with worried faces. Anthea and Concordia gasp at their King's suffering, but Ghetsis tells everyone not to interfere or interrupt, because this is an essential process for their King to behind friends with Zekrom. Only when their lord befriends the legendary dragon will he become a hero.
Giallo of the Seven Sages remarks that an ordinary trainer will simply tell a Pokemon to become its servant, and yet, their lord is doing it the humble way, which shows that he truly wishes to liberate Pokemon. The other Sages agree, and Gorm even starts to tear up thinking how noble their King is.
N recovers from his injuries, and approaches Zekrom again. He wonders if Zekrom would like to see a world where all trainers will liberate their Pokemon and allow humans and Pokemon to become truly equal; a world where Pokemon will no longer be forced to lead certain lives, no longer suffer, no longer grieve. He believes that Zekrom will not have to seal itself into a stone if it can live in such an ideal world.
The young man tells the black dragon that he would like to see such a world and build such a future, and to fulfill this desire, he must become someone invincible, someone who surpasses the Champion. He spreads his arms open, and invites Zekrom to be his friend. Behind him, the Pokemon he has brought along all gesture towards Zekrom with happy faces, which include an Archen, a Darmanitan, a Zorua, a Gurdurr, a Tympole, as well as Gigi. They try to show how harmonious their situation is to the legendary dragon, and persuade it to become their companion.
Zekrom takes a serious look at N, who makes another step forward, and the young man states that they could change the world together, just like how the hero in the past led the world. Feeling intrigued, the deep black Pokemon roars again, and gives off a storm of electric bolts to zap N, clearly in a much different manner this time.
Back at the Icirrus Gym, Black skates across the slippery ice paths, and lands on another patch of clear ground shaped like an arrow. The boy sees that the next curved wall will bring him to where Brycen is, and feels glad that he has cleared the maze. Watching from a snow-covered ledge nearby, Iris stands next to Doctor Logan and cheers for Black. She comments that he seems impatient to start the battle, but Black says while is also true, he actually has something which he would like to hear from Brycen.
Leaving Iris with a confused look, Black steps onto the platform where the Icirrus Gymleader is waiting, and chooses the three team members he plans to use: Bo, Musha and Costa. Brycen welcomes his challenger, and Iris commences the fight, announcing that it is a 3 VS 3 switch-in battle.
Black sends Bo out as his pioneer, and Brycen responds by calling Cryogonal forward. The snowflake-shaped Pokemon wastes no time in using its signature strategy, and dissipates into thin air by turning itself into water vapor. Fortunately, Bo is already familiar with this trick, and stays alert to its surroundings. As soon as it catches a glimpse of the ice chain out of the corner of its eye, it swings its powerful arms towards that direction and smashes it into pieces.
Iris is bewildered that the EmBo managed to dodge the attack even with Cryogonal invisible, and Doctor Logan believes that it can already read the ice chains' pattern of movement accurately. Bo continues to focus with its senses, and suddenly picks up a faint stir to his right. Grabbing the chance, it throws a punch in that space and hits Cryogonal directly in its face, turning it visible again and it faints to the ground.
Iris finds it amazing that Bo also guessed Cryogonal's position correctly, and Doctor Logan says it is the result of habituation, which some refer to as battle sense. Thanks to the combination of four quests, EmBo has now awakened its intuition as a fighting warrior. Logan points out that Brycen only has Beartic and Vanillish left, Black's three Pokemon all remain unharmed, which puts the boy at an advantage. However, Iris notices the contemplating look on Black's face, and wonders what it is that he wishes to hear from Bryce.
The Icirrus Gymleader tosses out a Great Ball to send Vanillish onto the field, and the ice-cream-cone like Pokemon instantly pumps cold air out from the swirl on its head to create snow clouds in the room. A shower of tiny ice particles starts to fall on Bo, and Black gasps that it is the move Hail. Vanillish gradually blends itself into its surroundings, concealing itself, and Black flips out his Pokedex to read that the icy snow Pokemon is adept in hiding itself by generating small ice particles as camouflage.
Black rationalizes that this is not very different from Cryogonal's tricks, and orders a Head Smash. Bo charges forward based on its intuition, and successfully makes contact with Vanillish, knocking it backwards. Doctor Logan can see that the EmBo has really mastered its ability in sensing its surroundings, detecting even the invisible, and feels grateful that it has grown ideally.
The word 'ideally' gets Black's attention, and the boy states that it was the term that Drayden mentioned on the Tubeline Bridge. The man said he looked forward to Black becoming the 'Truth' to counter 'Ideals', and that statement really baffled him. Brycen wonders if this is what Black hopes to hear from him, and Black admits that it is something that has bothered him since he stepped off the Tubeline Bridge. He wants to know what Drayden expects of him, and what it exactly means to counter 'Ideals' with 'Truth'.
Before Brycen could say another word, Iris notices that Vanillish has regained its stance, and cries out to alert Black about it. Doctor Logan tells Iris that outsiders are not allowed to interfere with a proper Gym challenge, but the girl really wants to know how the icy snow Pokemon managed to survive Bo's attack. Logan explains that the move Hail serves three purposes here. First, it chips away the health of the opponent. Second, it allows Vanillish to conceal itself. Third, it serves to restore health. The Doctor points out that Vanillish has the Ice Body ability, and in Hail, its health points will get replenished.
Brycen remarks that he usually doesn't state the obvious, but it seems that Black's EmBo wasted its efforts in using Head Smash. Not only does it fail to cause lasting damage to Vanillish, but EmBo itself suffered from the recoil, and the consequence of coming into contact with Vanillish. Black jumps in surprise at Brycen's words, and in that instant notices that Bo has been frozen. The giant Bo collapses to the ground, fainting, and Iris moans that Black has just lost his one Pokemon with the fire and fighting combo, which are both super-effective against ice types.
Black picks his next Pokemon, Musha, and sends to forward to face Vanillish. Brycen responds to Black's concern, and says doesn't seem appropriate that Black is asking him the meaning of something which Drayden said. Black admits the flawed logic, but believes that what Drayden said implies that something has been planned on him on a personal level, something which he has no idea about. He finds it unacceptable that others would make personal decisions for him without him knowing it, and demands to know the truth.
With that rage, Black orders a Psychic, and Musha hits Vanillish right in the face with the radiating pulse. Black points towards the sleeve of Brycen, and says there is something inside that is drawing his attention and keeping himself distracted from the battle. The Icirrus Gymleader widens his eyes in surprise at the remark, and Black goes on to say that whatever is inside gives off a similar aura to the Dark Stone which he saw at the Nacrene Museum's underground chamber.
Doctor Logan wonders if it is time to tell Black, but Brycen remains unsure. The Doctor remarks that it is something Black will need to know sooner or later, and says there really isn't any reason to hide anymore now that Black has sensed it himself.
Brycen pauses for a moment of thought, and decides that Logan is right. He turns to Black, and reveals that what Drayden said about 'Ideals' and 'Truth' actually refer to the legendary dragons of Unova. Currently, the Dark Stone that has fallen into the hands of the enemy is the sealed form of the black dragon Zekrom, which is the 'Ideals' of Unova. Its counterpart, the 'Truth' of Unova, is the white dragon Reshiram, who has also sealed itself into the Light Stone.
The Icirrus Gymleader takes out the ancient artifact hidden in his sleeve to show Black, and the boy bolts with shock when everything suddenly makes sense and falls into place. He realizes that all the special training he has gone through was to prepare him for restoring Reshiram from the stone, and when Brycen said he has to equip himself with a force that could counter Team Plasma, it was this legendary dragon that Bryce was referring to.
Brycen remarks that it is roughly the idea, and at that moment, Musha gets knocked out. However, Black seems glad that he finally understands what is going on, and calls forward Costa to continue the battle. The Tirtouga fires a powerful jet of water on Vanillish, and manages to faint it. Iris is astonished by the one-hit-knock-out, and Doctor Logan explains that it is Scald, which is an attack that utilizes boiling water.
Brycen sends out his last Pokemon, Beartic, and Costa immediately unleashes a Stone Edge. Shards of rock spin towards Beartic's hands, and Brycen could see that Black is targeting the polar bear's claws, which are its main weapons. Black grins that it is exactly his plan, and states that what Brycen just told him has empowered both him and his Pokemon. Although he doesn't want to sound corny, he feels a newfound motivation coming from the bottom of his heart, giving him determination to win this battle. In that instant, Beartic blows out cold air towards his claws, and markedly extends them by coating them in ice.
At the mean time, at Opelucid City, the press has gathered outside the Gym, which exterior is designed to have a black dragon head on the left, and a white one on the right. The reporters wonder why Drayden the mayor has suddenly called for an urgent meeting with the media, and start to get impatient that the man still hasn't appeared.
Suddenly, Druddigon appears on the balcony stage above them, and startles everyone with a roar. Drayden then steps out to join his Pokemon, and thanks the press for arriving at such a short notice. He states that he has a major announcement about the Pokemon League to make, which is related to its commencement date.
All the reporters listen intently, and the Opelucid mayor and Gymleader reveals that in light of several recent incidents, after discussion with the Pokemon Association, they have decided to advance the League's commencement date from three months later to one week later…Thanks To Coronis For Writing this for us
504: VS Vanillish
Volume 49


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