text:
In newly minted blueprints, a revitalized downtown Quincy looks like this: A pair of high-rise office buildings soar above city streets bustling with workers, tourists, and residents. There's a farmer's market, 30 new restaurants, and a sweeping public green.
At a cost of $1.6 billion, the project will not be easy to finance and build. But after years of planning, the Quincy Center redevelopment is taking a large step forward - the Beal Cos. is signing on as codeveloper, bringing to Quincy its long experience in building and managing large urban properties in Boston, Cambridge, and other Massachusetts communities.
Most recently Beal built the swanky Clarendon condominium project in the Back Bay. It was an early developer of biotech space in Cambridge, and it has renovated some of Boston's most noteworthy properties, including the Park Square building and the art deco Batterymarch in Boston's Financial District.
Beal executives said the 20-block redevelopment will make Quincy Center a destination for health care companies, higher education institutions, and other quality office tenants, as well as an attractive residential community and shopping district that is just 8 miles from Boston. Construction will unfold over the next several years and involves about 3.5 million square feet of new development.
"We're going to make this into something that's very exciting,'' said Robert Beal, president of the Boston-based developer. "There are wonderful opportunities to work with hospitals and universities, and bring in new retail and residences that will make this a truly 24-hour city.''
That's a far cry from Quincy Center's condition today. Its beat up roads and aging buildings give it a tired look; much of its retail is dated and lacks appeal to shoppers from outside the community. Even its high points - such as the Adams National Historical Park, the historic United First Parish Church, and the presence of a Red Line MBTA station - seem obscured by the drab surroundings and lack of consistent foot traffic.
Beal will partner in the revitalization effort with Street-Works, a White Plains, N.Y., company that specializes in urban redevelopment projects and has spent several years designing a master plan for Quincy Center. The two firms will spend much of the next year trying to get new companies and retailers to move to the area so they can generate financing for the project's first buildings.
In 2013, the developers hope to begin the first of two 20-story office towers as well as a parking garage and large retail building that Beal/Street-Works is building in a separate deal with National Realty & Development Corp. The first phase of work also includes more than 200 loft-style residences and an expansion of Adams Green, which will serve as the centerpiece of the area's redevelopment.
The project has fervent support from Mayor Thomas P. Koch, who helped craft a unique financing model in which the city is borrowing $289 million for road improvements and other infrastructure to support the project. It will then pay off that debt from future tax and parking garage revenues from the private development. The state is also kicking in more than $60 million in funding for the effort.
Koch said he had anticipated great resistance to such a vast transformation of the city's commercial core - especially the 20-story office towers - but little materialized.
"People in the city are ready for this to happen,'' Koch said. "They want to be proud of [Quincy] Center again. We've lost that over the last several decades. It's a great mix of people we have in the city, and this will address the needs of just about every one of them.''
The project includes multiple components, with the developers emphasizing the need to first create a more bustling atmosphere along downtown streets through construction of the expanded green along with wider sidewalks and cobblestone side streets.
One such street will be known as Cottage Row - a food strip with more than 30 restaurants and retail shops. There will also be a market square with room for new retail stores, a farmer's market, and other entertainment.
"You really have to nurture and create a great environment'' along the street, said Ken Narva, managing partner of Street-Works.
The project is expected to create about 7,500 construction jobs over the next several years and more than 11,000 permanent positions.
Casey Ross can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com.


text:
Holy freakin' crap, can you believe it? Today is my second blogaversary. Two years and 334 posts later and I'm still around. Geez... what have I even written about over 334 posts? Now I've had highs and lows in terms of inspiration and posting frequency, but I'm surprised that I've posted at least once a week for two years.
Thinking back to how I started this blog, I don't think much has changed. This blog really is a personal diary of sorts to chronicle my ingame adventures. I think this blog is very much me or my voice, if that makes any sense at all. It's probably why I've kept up with it this long. It continues to amuses me and if it can amuse you, I'm glad... though I'd venture to say you have a very geeky and corny sense of humor, but still, I'm glad.
The relationship between playing WOW and blogging is an interesting one for me. At times I've not really wanted to blog, but did so because I was enjoying the game. Other times I've not really wanted to play the game, but did so because I was really enjoying blogging.
As for the future direction of this blog... Well I am two years old now, otherwise known as the terrible twos? Perhaps this next year of blogging will include a lot of screaming and crying and ranting and throwing tantrums. Oh the possibilities...
Anyways, to my guildies and friends ingame, thanks for all the good times, the inspiration for many posts, and letting me share stuff here on the interwebbies. To my readers, frequent commenters (you know who you are), and fellow blogging buddies, many many thanks!!

subset: commoncrawl


text:
What are green flooring products exactly? Green flooring products are flooring products that are energy and water-efficient, non toxic, and harmless to the environment. We know that preserving the quality of our planet for posterity is incredibly important to our clients, which is why 5 Star Floors is proud to offer a large variety of environmentally friendly "green" flooring products which include cork, bamboo and reclaimed wood that fit to your lifestyle.
Cork and bamboo floors can be made without ever cutting down a single tree. Bamboo is a grass, which continues to grow after it has been harvested - just like the grass on your lawn, but much taller and stronger. This means that it can be harvested over and over again from the same plant, without contributing to deforestation.
Cork is also harvested from a living plant without destroying it. Cork is made by stripping the bark from the cork oak, which can be done once every few years from the age of 25. Since Cork Oak usually lives for upwards of two centuries, a lot of cork can be harvested from a single tree.
5 Star Floors also carries natural fiber carpets such as wool, corn and sisal, all highly renewable and sustainable resources. We even carry carpets made from recycled water bottles, which cuts down on the need for new resoures, as well as the pollution caused by the breakdown of plastic water bottles in landfills.
With any of our green products, you can feel good knowing that you've contributed to the fight against deforestation or pollution.
If you're thinking of going green with your flooring, come to 5 Star Floors in Pearland TX, Humble TX, League City TX and around area eco–friendly flooring store.


text:
"It appears reasonable to assume that the 'Iranian Cyber Army' group has decided to move from simple defacement warnings to actual cybercrime activities," said Seculert, the threat management service that discovered the botnet. In fact, the botnet may have already infected 20 million machines, though Seculent said that number was an estimate.
"What really matters here is what the 'Iranian Cyber Army' can do with such power," said the firm. "For now, what they do is lease part of their botnet to other groups, which then install on these controlled machines different types of malware." That malware includes Zeus, Gozi, and Bredolab. (While Dutch police took down a number of Bredolab servers early this week, TrendMicro noted that at least one command-and-control server, located outside the Netherlands, is still active, and there may be more.)
Seculert has already traced multiple attacks to the Iranian Cyber Attack's botnet, including the September 2010 attack against the TechCrunch Europe blog site. After the attack, the TechCrunch website redirected users to a crimeware website that exploited known vulnerabilities to automatically install malware on the visitor's computer.
"What is interesting in the case of ICA is that they were the ones performing the attack, said Rob Rachweld, director of security strategy at Imperva. "Now they have realized -- why can't they make the extra buck on the side if they already have the infrastructure?"
The exact identities of the Iranian Cyber Army are in some dispute, though news reports suggest that the group was formed by Iranian authorities in the wake of mass protests -- physical and cyber -- following the disputed June 2009 Iranian presidential elections.


text:
HTML::CalendarMonth - Generate and manipulate HTML calendar months
use HTML::CalendarMonth;
# Using regular HTML::Element creation
my $c = HTML::CalendarMonth->new( month => 8, year => 2010 );
print $c->as_HTML;
# Full locale support via DateTime::Locale
my $c2 = HTML::CalendarMonth->new(
month => 8,
year => 2010,
locale => 'zu-ZA'
print $c2->as_HTML;
# HTML-Tree integration
my $tree = HTML::TreeBuilder->parse_file('cal.html');
$tree->find_by_attribute(class => 'hcm-calendar')->replace_with($c);
print $tree->as_HTML;
# clean up if you're not done, HTML::Element structures must be
# manually destroyed
$c->delete; $c2->delete;
HTML::CalendarMonth is a subclass of HTML::ElementTable. See HTML::ElementTable(3) for how that class works, for it affects this module on many levels. Like HTML::ElementTable, HTML::CalendarMonth is an enhanced HTML::Element with methods added to facilitate the manipulation of the calendar table elements as a whole.
The primary interaction with HTML::CalendarMonth is through items rather than cell coordinates like HTML::ElementTable uses. An item is merely a string that represents the content of the cell of interest within the calendar. For instance, the element representing the 14th day of the month would be returned by $c->item(14). Similarly, the element representing the header for Monday would be returned by $c- >item('Mo'). If the year happened to by 2010, then $c- >item(2010) would return the cell representing the year. Since years and particular months change frequently, it is probably more useful to take advantage of the month() and year() methods, which return their respective values. The following is therefore the same as explicitely referencing the year: $c->item($c- >year()).
$c- >item('Mo')
$c- >item(2010)
$c->item($c- >year())
Multiple cells of the calendar can be manipulated as if they were a single element. For instance, $c->item(15)->attr(class => 'fancyday') would alter the class of the cell representing the 15th. By the same token, $c->item(15, 16, 17, 23)->attr(class => 'fancyday') would do the same thing for all cells containing the days passed to the item() method.
$c->item(15)->attr(class => 'fancyday')
$c->item(15, 16, 17, 23)->attr(class => 'fancyday')
Underneath, the calendar is still nothing more than a table structure, the same as provided by the HTML::ElementTable class. In addition to the item based access methods above, calendar cells can still be accessed using row and column grid coordinates using the cell() method provided by the table class. All coordinate-based methods in the table class are accessible to the calendar class.
The module includes support for week-of-the-year numbering, arbitrary 1st day of the week definitions, and locale support.
Dates that are beyond the range of the built-in time functions of perl are handled either by the ncal/cal command, Date::Calc, DateTime, or Date::Manip. The presence of any one of these utilities and modules will suffice for these far flung date calculations. One of these utilities (with the exception of 'cal') is also required if you want to use week-of- year numbering.
Full locale support is offered via DateTime::Locale. For a full list of supported locale id's, look at HTML::CalendarMonth::Locale->locales().
All arguments appearing in [brackets] are optional, and do not represent anonymous array references.
With no arguments, the constructor will return a calendar object representing the current month with a default appearance. The initial configuration of the calendar is controlled by special attributes. Non- calendar related attributes are passed along to HTML::ElementTable. Any non-table related attributes left after that are passed to HTML::Element while constructing the <table> tag. See HTML::ElementTable if you are interested in attributes that can be passed along to that class.
Special Attributes for HTML::CalendarMonth:
1-12, or Jan-Dec. Defaults to current month.
Four digit representation. Defaults to current year.
Specifies whether to display the month header. Default 1.
Specifies whether to display the year header. Default 1.
Specifies whether to display days of the week header. Default 1.
Specifies whether to display the week-of-year numbering. Default 0.
Specifies the id of the locale in which to render the calendar. Default is 'en-US'. By default, this will also control determine which day is considered to be the first day of the week. See HTML::CalendarMonth::Locale for more information. If for some reason you prefer to use different labels than those provided by locale, see the alias attribute below. NOTE: DateTime::Locale versions 0.92 and earlier use underscores rather than dashes, e.g. 'en_US'.
Specifies whether or not to use full day names or their abbreviated names. Default is 0, use abbreviated names. Use -1 for 'narrow' mode, the shortest (not guaranteed to be unique) abbreviations.
Specifies whether or not to use full month names or their abbreviated names. Default is 1, use full names. Use -1 for 'narrow' mode, the shortest (not guaranteed to be unique) abbreviations.
Takes a hash reference mapping labels provided by locale to any custom label you prefer. Lookups, such as day('Sun'), will still use the locale string, but when the calendar is rendered the aliased value will appear.
Specify first day of the week, which can be 1..7, starting with Sunday. In order to specify Monday, set this to 2, and so on. By default, this is determined based on the locale.
Set some handy CSS class attributes on elements, enabled by default. Currently the classes are:
hcm-table Set on the E<lt>tableE<gt> tag of the calendar
hcm-day-head Set on the day-of-week E<lt>trE<gt> or E<lt>tdE<gt> tags
hcm-year-head Set on the E<lt>tdE<gt> tag for the year
hcm-month-head Set on the E<lt>tdE<gt> tag for the month
hcm-week-head Set on the E<lt>tdE<gt> tags for the week-of-year
Sets some additional CSS class attributes on elements, disabled by default. The notion of 'today' is taken either from the system clock (default) or from the 'today' parameter as provided to new(). Currently these classes are:
hcm-today Set on the E<lt>tdE<gt> tag for today, if present
hcm-past Set on the E<lt>tdE<gt> tags for prior days, if present
hcm-future Set on the E<lt>tdE<gt> tags for subsequent days, if present
Specify the value for 'today' if different from the local time as reported by the system clock (the default). If specified as two or less digits, it is assumed to be one of the days of the month in the current calendar. If more than two digits, it is assumed to be a epoch time in seconds. Otherwise it must be given as a string of the form 'YYYY-mm- dd'. Note that the default value as determined by the system clock uses localtime rather than gmtime.
This option is ignored for dates that do not exceed the range of the built- in perl time functions. For dates that do exceed these ranges, this option specifies the default calculation method. When set, if the 'ncal' or 'cal' command is available on your system, that will be used rather than the Date::Calc or Date::Manip modules. This can be an issue since the date modules blindly extrapolate the Gregorian calendar, whereas ncal/cal will revert to the Julian calendar during September 1752. If either ncal or cal are not available on your system, this attribute is meaningless. Defaults to 1.
The following methods return lists of item *symbols* (28, 29, 'Thu', ...) that are related in some way to the provided list of items. The returned symbols may then be used as arguments to the glob methods detailed further below.
Returns all item symbols in rows shared by the provided item symbols.
Returns all item symbols in columns shared by the provided item symbols.
Same as col_items(), but the returned item symbols are limited to those that are not header items (month, year, day-of-week).
Returns the row indices of rows containing the provided item symbols.
Returns the column indices of columns containing the provided item symbols.
Returns the day number (symbol) of the last day of the month.
Returns the column index for the first day of the month.
Returns a list of all days of the month as numbers.
Returns a list of week-of-year numbers for this month.
Returns a list of all day headers (Su..Sa)
Returns a list of all headers (month, year, dayheaders)
Returns a list of all item symbols (day number, header values) in the calendar.
Returns the index of the last column of the calendar (note that this could be the week-of-year column if head_week is enabled).
Returns the index of the last column of the calendar containing days of the month (same as last_col() unless week-of-year is enabled).
Returns the index of the first row of the calendar containing day items (ie, the first week).
Returns the index of the last row of the calendar.
Returns the day of month for 'today', if present in the current calendar.
Returns a list of days prior to 'today'. If 'today' is in a future month, all days are returned. If 'today' is in a past month, no days are returned.
Returns a list of days after 'today'. If 'today' is in a past month, all days are returned. If 'today' is in a future month, no days are returned.
Glob methods return references that are functionally equivalent to an individual calendar cell. Mostly, they provide item based analogues to the glob methods provided in HTML::ElementTable. In methods dealing with rows, columns, and boxes, the globs include empty calendar cells (which would otherwise need to be accessed through native HTML::ElementTable methods). The row and column numbers returned by the item methods above are compatible with the grid based methods in HTML::ElementTable.
For details on how these globs work, check out HTML::ElementTable and HTML::ElementGlob.
Returns all cells containing the provided item symbols.
Returns all cells in all rows occupied by the provided item symbols.
Same as item_row() except excludes week-of-year cells, if present.
Returns all cells in all columns occupied by the provided item symbols.
Same as item_col() except limits the cells to non header cells.
Returns all week-of-year cells, if present.
Returns all cells in the boxes defined by the item pairs provided.
Returns all header cells.
Returns all non header cells, including empty cells.
Returns all cells in the calendar, including empty cells.
The following methods provide ways of translating between various item symbols, coordinates, and other representations.
Returns the row and column coordinates of the provided item symbol, for use with the grid based methods in HTML::ElementTable.
Returns the item symbol of the item at the provided coordinates, for use with the item based methods of HTML::CalendarMonth.
Returns the name (item symbol) of the month number provided, where monthnum can be 1..12.
Returns the number (1..12) of the month name provided. Only a minimal case-insensitive match on the month name is necessary; the proper item symbol for the month will be determined from this match.
Returns the name (item symbol) of the day of week header for a number of a day of the week, where daynum is 1..7.
Returns the number of the day of the week given the symbolic name for that day (Su..Sa).
Returns the number in seconds since the epoch for a given day. The day must be present in the current calendar.
Returns a simple style sheet as a string that can be used in an HTML document in conjunction with the classes assigned to elements when css is enabled.
Date::Calc, DateTime, or Date::Manip (only if you want week-of- year numbering or non-contemporary dates on a system without the cal command)
Matthew P. Sisk, <firstname.lastname@example.com>
Copyright (c) 1998-2015 Matthew P. Sisk. All rights reserved. All wrongs revenged. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.
A useful page of examples can be found at http://www.mojotoad.com/sisk/projects/HTML-CalendarMonth.
For information on iso639 standards for abbreviations for language names, see http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/englangn.html
HTML::ElementTable(3), HTML::Element(3), perl(1)
To install HTML::CalendarMonth, copy and paste the appropriate command in to your terminal.
cpanm HTML::CalendarMonth
CPAN shell
perl -MCPAN -e shell
install HTML::CalendarMonth
For more information on module installation, please visit the detailed CPAN module installation guide.


text:
GTorrentViewer is a GTK2-based viewer and editor for BitTorrent meta
files. It is able to retrieve information from trackers, check files,
show detailed information, and modify .torrent files without having
to start downloading.
The purpose of GTorrentViewer is to give the ability to see and modify
all the possible information from .torrent files without having to start
downloading and the ability to see in real time the current number of
seeds and peers on the torrent, so you will always know the status
before start the download.
Maintained by: Donald Cooley
Keywords: ,torrent,edit,gtk
ChangeLog: gtorrentviewer
Download SlackBuild:
gtorrentviewer.tar.gz.asc (FAQ)
(the SlackBuild does not include the source)
|Individual Files:
| doinst.sh
| gtorrentviewer.SlackBuild
| gtorrentviewer.info
| patches
| slack-desc
© 2006-2023 SlackBuilds.org Project. All rights reserved.
Slackware® is a registered trademark of Patrick Volkerding
Linux® is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds


text:
5 Stocks Billionaire Ken Fisher Dumped
Superinvestor and billionaire Ken Fisher manages a multibillion-dollar hedge fund, and his picks have outperformed the S&P 500 by more than 5% on average annually for the past 15 years. Every quarter, money managers like Fisher must disclose their stock comings and goings. Investors watch their every move to glean nuggets of investing wisdom.
Let's take a closer look at some stocks that Fisher offloaded this past quarter as per Fisher Asset Management's most recent 13-F SEC filing.
P/E Ratio
5-Year Return
Baidu (NAS: BIDU)
Decreased position by 60%
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (NYS: FCX)
Decreased position by 99%
Starbucks (NAS: SBUX)
Decreased position by 98%
Las Vegas Sands (NYS: LVS)
Decreased position by 99%
Wynn Resorts (NAS: WYNN)
Sold out completely
Sources: Whale Wisdom, The Motley Fool, Yahoo! Finance.
Referred to as the "Chinese Google," Baidu is the most visited website in China and the fifth-most-visited website in the world. But risks to Baidu that may have triggered Fisher's decision to sell 60% of his position in the company are numerous. First, a slowdown in the Chinese economy could diminish advertisers' spending. Second, Baidu could fall short of developing free services to retain strong usage numbers. And as search traffic moves to mobile devices, Baidu will need to develop a profitable way to monetize search ads.
Fisher all but completely sold out of hisFreeport-McMoRan Copper & Goldposition in the third quarter.The stock appears undervalued at a P/E ratio of 12 compared with the P/E of the S&P 500, currently near 15. Even though Freeport is an inexpensive producer of copper, it's been hurt by low copper prices and the economic slowdown in China. Freeport has a lot of potential for the patient investor, but clearly Fisher had enough. The stock has retreated 22% during the past five years.
Highly profitable Starbucks boasts tremendous size and brand equity. These competitive advantages will help the company gain market share and grow profits as it integrates recent Teavana, La Boulange Bakery, and Evolution Fresh acquisitions and expands into foreign markets. But Starbucks faces commodity cost inflation and increasing coffee competition from McDonald's, Dunkin' Brands, and others. Also, a weak and prolonged consumer-spending environment could detrimentally affect Starbucks' higher priced products. And Starbucks' frothy valuation can't be ignored. Its P/E ratio is nearly twice that of the overall market. Fisher decreased his position in Starbucks by 98% in the third quarter.
Both Las Vegas Sands and Wynn Resorts doubled down on Macau several years ago, a bet that's paid off tremendously for both companies. But continued slowing growth in China may impede growth from the Macau properties. Las Vegas Sands now looks to expand in Spain, a country with pervasive unemployment and an already established gaming industry. Meanwhile, Wynn Resorts is embroiled in a battle with major shareholder and Japanese billionaire Kazuo Okada that may cost the company millions of dollars and legal damages.
Some big gaming companies are splitting off their real estate assets into real estate investment trusts, or REITs, a move that saves these companies tons of money in real estate taxes annually. Neither company has made this move yet, nor is Fisher waiting around for them to do so. He completely sold out of his position in Wynn Resorts and virtually all of his Las Vegas Sands stock as well. With P/E ratios of 26 and 20, respectively, both stocks traded at rich valuations compared with that of the overall market.
Foolish bottom line
While I agree with Fisher's moves regarding Las Vegas Sands and Wynn Resorts, I disagree with the Baidu and Freeport sells. As a patient and long-term investor, I think these two stocks still hold a great deal of promise. I also feel the same about Starbucks, and I'd hold on to that stock if I owned it (unfortunately, I don't).
But don't take Fisher's (or my) word for it. Do your own homework. Come up with your own investing thesis. You'll be a better investor for it.
Regardless of your short-term view on the Chinese economy, opportunities abound for Baidu. Our brand-new premium report breaks down the dominant Chinese search provider's strengths and weaknesses. Just click here to access it now.
The article 5 Stocks Billionaire Ken Fisher Dumped originally appeared on Fool.com.
Fool contributor Nicole Seghetti has no positions in the stocks mentioned above. The Motley Fool owns shares of Baidu, Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, McDonald's, and Starbucks and has options on Starbucks. Motley Fool newsletter services recommend Baidu, McDonald's, and Starbucks. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Copyright © 1995 - 2012 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.


text:
|» Summary
|» License
|Read and write of CSV files
|New BSD
|» Current Release
|» Bug Summary
1.0.0 (stable) was released on 2011-03-18 by dufuz (Changelog)
Easy Install
Not sure? Get more info.
pear install File_CSV
Pyrus Install
Try PEAR2's installer, Pyrus.
php pyrus.phar install pear/File_CSV
Development Roadmap
Report a new bug to File_CSV
|» Description
|Read and write of CSV files as well as discovering the format the CSV file is in.
Supports headers and is excel compatible, i.e. ="0004" outputs as 0004 (only read wise)
For more information on CSV: http://rfc.net/rfc4180.html
|» Maintainers
|» More Information


text:
SOF Support
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2007
- Messages
- 11,464
- Location
- Land of Swine and Maple Syrup
Pentagon Study Finds Beards Directly Related To Combat Effectiveness
Tampa, FL – Forget new gear, weapons, or sophisticated targeting systems. The newest tool coming to combat troops is low-tech: beards. In a report released yesterday, research think-tank Xegis Solutions noted that beards have a direct correlation to combat effectiveness.
Jonathon Burns was the lead researcher in the study.
"We took 100 soldiers. 25 were Special Forces qualified and had beards, 25 were Special Forces qualified without beards, 25 were regular Army allowed to grow beards for the study, and the last 25 were regular Army without beards. All 100 of these subjects were in direct combat in Afghanistan during the study."
He continued, "Xegis Solutions had several teams of researchers embedded with these troops to make observations on their combat effectiveness. The results were overwhelming, out of the 50 soldiers with beards, zero were wounded or killed and they had a significantly higher accuracy of fire than the soldiers without beards. The soldiers lacking beards had a higher rate of weapons malfunctions and basically, shit went wrong most of the time."
CENTCOM wasted no time establishing a new rule forcing males to grow beards.
Commander Gen. James E. Mattis issued a statement to all troops in combat zones.
"The time has come for the Armed Forces to accept the facts, and the facts are that beards save lives. All this time it was speculated that Green Berets were better because of their superior and intensive training while in fact, most of it had to do with beards."
There's no doubt that many in the Special Forces community will be angered, but General Mattis is convinced.
"It's settled science. In light of this information we will enforce a rule requiring all males to wear at least one inch of facial hair at all times. Furthermore, any females able to grow facial hair are encouraged to do so as well.


text:
JONESBORO, Ga. -- A child in Clayton County calls 911 after a brother and sister are murdered in their home.
Now on Saturday night, police still looking for the killer.
Clayton County police have identified the two killed as 15-year-old Daveon Coates and his 11-year-old sister Tatiyana.
Police said the parents have been cooperative but they weren't home at 5 a.m. when two of their kids were shot and killed.
Instead, it's the other siblings who were home that night who will be giving the most information to investigators.
They'll be describing what happened at the corner house on a suburban street that is now the scene of a deadly double killing.
The victims - a brother and sister - were just 15 and 11.
"It's very troubling and it's why we're working so hard," a police spokesperson said.
Joy Shilengay lives on Libby Lane just feet from the deadly scene.
"It's sad because I have two kids of my own," she said.
She said the family hasn't lived there long but they've made an impression.
"They just moved in a month ago," Shilengay said. "It's always the mom and the dad out with the kids, playing."
Several kids were there overnight - the oldest was 15-year-old Daveon Coates. The youngest was six.
Police said mom and dad were out socializing at 5 a.m. when Daveon and his 11-year-old sister Tatiyana were killed.
"We're working extremely hard to identify a suspect, or suspects," a police spokesperson told 11Alive.
The surviving children, ranging in age from 6 to 13, are trying to give police a description.
But at this point, police said they don't have much to go on.
Investigators said that it doesn't appear anything was stolen from the house.
And now comes the question of what happened.
"At this time, no, we don't have any reason to believe they were targeted," a police official said.
Neighbors said they didn't see or hear anything overnight.
At this time it's not clear if there was one or multiple suspects.


text:
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This Services Agreement (the "Agreement" or "Services Agreement") is made effective as of the date of the last signature below by and between
Idea Trek, a Delaware liability company ("Services Provider"), and the entity executing this Agreement below ("Client") (Services Provider or Client may be referred to as a "Party" and collectively as "Parties")
who agrees to be bound by this bound by this Agreement
WHEREAS Idea Trek LLC offers services described in the Agreement; and WHEREAS, the Client desires to retain the services of Idea Trek LLC to render services with regards to support of client's business growth efforts according to the terms and conditions herein.
NOW, THEREFORE, In consideration of the mutual covenants and promises made by the parties hereto, the Services Provider and the Client (individually, each a "Party" and collectively, the "Parties") covenant and agree as follows:
1. DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES. Beginning on the date of the last signature below Service Provider will provide to Client the services describes in the attached Exhibit A (collectively the "Services").
2. PAYMENT. Payment shall be made upon execution of this Agreement to the Services Provider by the Client.
(the "Services Fee" in Exhibit A).
In addition to any other right or remedy provided by law, if the Client fails to pay for the Services when due, Services Provider has the option to trat such failure to pay as a material breach of this Agreement, and may cancel the Agreement and/or seek legal remedies.
3. TERM. This Agreement will terminate automatically upon completion by the Services Provider of the Services required by this Agreement.
4. WORK PRODUCT OWNERSHIP. Any copyrightable works, ideas, discoveries, inventions, patents, products or other information (collectively the "Work Product") developed in whole or in part by Provider in connection with the Services will be the exclusive property of the Client. Upon request, Services Provider will execute, within a reasonable period of time, all documents necessary to confirm or perfect the exclusive ownership of Client to the Work Product.
5. CONFIDENTIALITY. Service Provider, and its employees, agents, or representatives will not at any time or in any manner either directly or indirectly, user for the personal benefit of Services Provider, or divulge, disclose, or communicate in any manner, any information that is proprietary to Client. Services Provider and its employees, agents, and representatives will protect such information and treat it as strictly confidential. This provision will continue to be effective after the termination of this Agreement. Any oral or written waiver by Client of these confidentiality obligations which allows Services Provider to disclose Client's confidential information to a third party will be limited to a single occurrence tied to the specific information disclosed to the specific third party, and the confidentiality clause will continue to be in effect for all other occurrences.
Upon termination of this Agreement, Services Provider will return to Client all records, notes, documentation and other items that were used, created, or controlled by Services Provider during the term of this Agreement.
6. INDEMNIFICATION. The Client agrees to indemnify, defend, and protect the Services Provider from and against all lawsuits and costs of every kind pertaining to the Client's business including reasonable legal fees due to any act or failure to act by the Services Provider based upon the services provided, except when any lawsuits or costs are a direct result of the Services Provider's own malicious acts.
7. WARRANTY. Services Provider shall provide its services and meet its obligations under this Agreement in a timely and workmanlike manner, using knowledge and recommendations for performing the services which meet generally acceptable standards in Provider's community and region, and will provide a standard of care equal to, or superior to, care used by service providers similar to Services Provider on similar projects.
8. DEFAULT. The occurrence of any of the following shall constitute a material default under this Agreement:
The failure to make a required payment when due.
The insolvency or bankruptcy of either party.
The subjection of any of either party's property to any levy, seizure, general assignment for the benefit of creditors, application or sale for or by any creditor or government agency.
The failure to make available or deliver the Services in the time and manner provided for in this Agreement.
9. ATTORNEY'S FEES AND COLLECTION COSTS. If there is a dispute relating to any provisions in this Agreement, the prevailing party is entitled to, and the non-prevailing party shall pay, the costs and expenses incurred by the prevailing party in the dispute, including but not limited to all out-of-pocket costs of collection, court costs, and reasonable attorney fees and expenses.
10. REMEDIES. In addition to any and all other rights a party may have available according to law, if a party defaults by failing to substantially perform any provision, term or condition of this Agreement (including without limitation the failure to make a monetary payment when due), the other party may terminate the Agreement by providing written notice to the defaulting party. This notice shall describe with sufficient detail the nature of the default. The party receiving such notice shall have 20 days from the effective date of such notice to cure the default(s). Unless waived in writing by a party providing notice, the failure to cure the default(s) within such time period shall result in the automatic termination of this Agreement.
11. FORCE MAJEURE. If performance of this Agreement or any obligation under this Agreement is prevented, restricted, or interfered with by causes beyond either party's reasonable control ("Force Majeure"), and if the party unable to carry out its obligations gives the other party prompt written notice of such event, then the obligations of the party invoking this provision shall be suspended to the extent necessary by such event. The term Force Majeure shall include, without limitation, acts of God, plague, epidemic, pandemic, outbreaks of infectious disease or any other public health crisis, including quarantine or other employee restrictions, fire, explosions, vandalism, storm or other similar occurrence, orders or acts of the military or civil authority, or by national emergency, insurrections, riots, or wars, or strikes, lock-outs, work stoppages or other labor disputes, or supplier failures. The excused party shall use reasonable efforts under the circumstances to avoid or remove such causes of non-performance and shall proceed to perform with reasonable dispatch whenever such causes are removed or ceased. An act or omission shall be deemed within the reasonable control of a party if committed, omitted, or caused by such party, or its employees, officers, agents, or affiliates.
12. DISPUTE RESOLUTION. The parties will attempt to resolve any dispute arising out of or relating to this Agreement through friendly negotiation amongst the parties. If the matter is not resolved by negotiation within 30 days, the parties will resolve the dispute using the below Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) procedure.
Any controversies or disputes arising out of or relating to this Agreement will be resolved by binding arbitration under the rules of the American Arbitration Association. The arbitrator's award will be final, and judgment may be entered upon it by any court having proper jursidiction.
13. ENTIRE AGREEMENT. This Agreement contains the entire agreement of the parties, and there are no other promises or conditions in any other agreement whether oral or written concerning the subject matter of this Agreement. This Agreement supersedes any prior written or oral agreements between the parties.
14. SEVERABILITY. If any provision of this Agreement will be held to be invalid or unenforceable for any reason, the remaining provisions will continue to be valid and enforceable. If a court finds that any provision of this Agreement is invalid or unenforceable, but that by limiting such provision it would become valid and enforceable, then such provision will be deemed to be written, construed, and enforced as so limited.
15. AMENDMENT. This Agreement may be modified or amended in writing by mutual agreement between the parties, if the writing is signed by the party obligated under the amendment.
16. GOVERNING LAW. This Agreement shall be construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Delaware.
17. NOTICE. Any notice or communication required or permitted under this Agreement shall be sufficiently given if delivered in person or by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the address set forth in the signature blocks below or to such other address as one party may have furnished to the other in writing.
18. WAIVER OF CONTRACTUAL RIGHT. The failure of either party to enforce any provision of this Agreement shall not be construed as a waiver of limitation of that party's right to subsequently enforce and compel strict compliance with every provision of this Agreement.
19. ATTORNEY'S FEES TO PREVAILING PARTY. In any action arising hereunder or any separate action pertaining to the validity of this Agreement, the prevailing party shall be awarded reasonable attorney's fees and costs, both in the trial court on appeal.
20. CONSTRUCTION AND INTERPRETATION. The rule requiring construction or interpretation against the drafter is waived. The document shall be deemed as if it were drafted by both parties in a mutual effort.
21. ASSIGNMENT. Neither party may assign or transfer this Agreement without the prior written consent of the non-assigning party, which approval shall not be unreasonably withheld.
22. NO REFUND POLICY. We do not issue refunds. We guarantee our work by committing to solve any technical issues regarding the scope of work.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties hereto have caused this Agreement to be executed by their duly authorized representatives as of the date of the date of the last signature below.
Services Provider:
379 Liberty St. 101N
Rockland, MA 02370
Name: Roger Hunt
Title: President & Accounts Manager
Address: 379 Liberty Street, Suite 101N
Rockland, MA 02370
Riyadh Saudi Arabia
Wed Oct 04 2023


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Keeper Klan's forum RPG
The disgusting happy kingdom ruled by King Lionheart
Northland Iceland
April 17th, 2015, 11:01
There is no place like home!
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Roleplaying for suggestions in an alternative, isolated universe.
Central Test Discussion
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Plaintiff Civil Rights, Employment Law, and Criminal Defense
The Law Offices of Joanie Rae Wimmer helps people harmed by their employer, the government, or representatives of the government, such as police officers and other public officials. Our focus is to uncover the truth by detailed investigation, to support our client's position with all evidence and testimony available, and to convey to the judge and jury the essential human dignity of our clients.
Joanie Rae Wimmer is one of The National Trial Lawyers Top 100 Trial Lawyers in the field of criminal defense.
- Argued and won the class of one Equal Protection case in the U.S. Supreme Court, Village of Willowbrook v. Olech, 528 U.S. 562 (2000)
- Tried in excess of thirty jury trials to verdict
- Named a Super Lawyer in Chicago Magazine in 2005 in the field of civil rights, and in 2006 in the field of constitutional law
- Obtained the first Illinois Human Rights Commission award in a case involving transgender discrimination in Fitzsimmons v. Universal Taxi Dispatch, Inc., ALS No. 09-0661 (2011)
- Named by The National Trial Lawyers to their Top 100 Trial Lawyers, in the category of criminal defense lawyers.
Twenty-Eight Year Ownership
Law Offices of Joanie Rae Wimmer, f/k/a Law Offices of John R. Wimmer,
715 Lake St., Suite 516, Oak Park, Illinois 60301. (630) 810-0005.
Owner, January 1990 to Present
- Plaintiff's Civil Rights
- Employment Law
- Criminal Defense
Prior to 1990, served as a Law Clerk for two different Justices of the Illinois Appellate Court, an Assistant Defender for the Illinois Office of the State Appellate Defender, and an associate for the Law Offices of Richard E. Alexander, Ltd., in Chicago, Illinois, and for the law firm of Botti, Marinaccio, DeSalvo & Pieper in Oak Brook, Illinois.
Juris Doctor: University of Illinois Law School in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois


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Ford Motor Company introduced brand new Ford Edge in 2010. Safety, infotainment system, engine and transmission in the Ford Edge is completely enough for you to enjoy your visit.
Driving slowly or aggressively is for you decide. Characteristics of the Ford Edge will make you feel confident, regardless of the style of driving and significantly reduce the usual fuel consumption.
9 Photos of Ford Edge


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Monday, January 11, 2010
Pulp Fantasy Library: Black Amazon of Mars
Part of Brackett's earlier cycle, "Black Amazon of Mars" is set on the fourth planet of our solar system, as one might expect from its title. In it, Stark is on Mars, traveling in the company of a thief named Camar. Camar is mortally wounded and he asks Stark to take him to his home city before he dies of his injury. The thief also confesses that he has stolen a holy talisman believed to keep the city safe and he begs Stark to see it returned, no matter what happens. A man who keeps his promises, Stark then proceeds on an adventure that takes him to several different locales near the Martian north pole, encountering numerous allies and foes, including the character after whom the short story is named. Along the way, he must deal with not only ordinary obstacles but also mysterious visions of a place to which he's never been and that may hold the key to his quest.
Like all of Brackett's stories of Stark, "Black Amazon of Mars" could be called science fantasy, but that's probably unfair. Certainly its vision of Mars is more in line with that of Burroughs and other early writers than with what we now know about the Red Planet. At the time the Stark stories began, though, it was still possible to imagine an inhabited Mars, even if it was increasingly implausible. In any case, Brackett didn't intend her stories to be read as fantasies and, if one can leave aside the outdated science, they don't read as such. Furthermore, Brackett's solar system is a cosmopolitan place, filled with inhabited worlds to which travelers journey by regular rocket flights. Stark may be an unusual man because of his personality and outlook but he's not unique in being a space traveler. He's no John Carter or Esau Cairn; in short, he's not a sword-and-planet hero. Rather, he's closer to an interplanetary revolutionary, fighting against colonialist oppression in a solar system that treats commerce and competition as the highest virtues -- a hero very much unlike other SF protagonists of his day.
"Black Amazon of Mars" is well written and fast paced. It may not appeal to all tastes, particularly those used to more modern takes on science fiction. Nevertheless, it's a terrific example of SF from its time, filled with memorable characters and occasional insights that set it apart from rank and file space opera. Gary Gygax noted Leigh Brackett as an influence on Dungeons & Dragons without specifying any particular stories he considered most significant. I find it unlikely that he was not referencing the stories of John Eric Stark, which are, above all, superb adventure takes. That they have additional depth beyond that is merely icing on a very sweet cake.
11 comments:
Great review. I've not ever heard of this series.ReplyDelete
This one's got a great cover too!
Worth noting that Fantasy Masterworks have done a large volume of her stories.ReplyDelete
Also, George Lukas lists her as a major influence...
Well, she did write the early drafts of The Empire Strikes Back.ReplyDelete
And Michael Moorcock cites her as one of the godmother's of the New Wave of science fiction.
The early Stark stories are great--there like Tarzan meets Barsoom, as appearing in Black Mask.
Long been by favourite PS cover of all. Never got a copy of it, though.ReplyDelete
Great review, James. The pulp this story originally appeared in was part of my grandfather's collection that was passed on to me. Definitely one of my favorite Planet Stories covers.ReplyDelete
I don't know if it's that farfetched. Mars is essentially in the same orbit. Mars is somewhat the same distance from the Sun, which is very important. We have seen pictures where there are canals, we believe, and water. If there is water, that means there is oxygen. If oxygen, that means we can breathe.ReplyDelete
Wow, that chainmail costume is spectacular. I'll have to save that for later homage.ReplyDelete
Pity about her stance, though....ReplyDelete
I only recently got around to reading Brackett and am still kicking myself for having waited so long.ReplyDelete
Although I think The Secret of Sinharat is the better of the two in that Planet Stories volume, they're both very good.
- AnonymousJanuary 11, 2010 at 8:40 PM
Thanks to everyone who has checked out the Paizo/Planet Stories edition of this book, and thanks especially to James for mentioning it here on Grognardia!ReplyDelete
For those of you who don't have it yet, you can learn a bit more info and order the book here:
--Erik Mona
Paizo Publishing
@Sean -- Just now got the Dan Quayle reference.ReplyDelete


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On-line version ISSN 2223-6279
Print version ISSN 0379-8577
Curationis vol.37 n.2 Pretoria 2014
Building children's nursing for Africa
Sandra Smith
University of Washington, United States
Twenty years into democracy, South Africa's nurses are leading the implementation of healthcare reform. Their work is grounded in human rights, notably child rights, including economic and social rights often ignored in Western societies. African values are the building blocks for protection of these rights: consensus building, mutual respect, reconciliation, hospitality and spirituality (Hungwe & Zwart2014). These values are evident in this Special Issue highlighting nurses' efforts to integrate the evidence on preserving and promoting maternal-child health into nursing education and practice, and so prepare the workforce needed to achieve national health priorities.
Nurses' action research is laying the foundation for South Africa's re-engineered primary healthcare system, which gives effect to children's rights to quality health care and further recognises that children are not simply small adults - they require specialised treatment that includes their mothers, families and communities. Reforming children's health care in the shadow of apartheid means changing organisational cultures and practice in education and in clinical settings, from households to hospitals: a strident challenge.
The initiative to prepare nurses to meet the challenges of healthcare reform in South Africa, and simultaneously build children's nursing for Africa, is spearheaded by faculty, staff and students of the University of Cape Town's Department of Paediatrics and Child Health under the leadership of Associate Professor Minette Coetzee. The Child Nurse Practice Development Initiative includes a collaboration with Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital in Cape Town and with universities and children's hospitals across southern and eastern Africa.
This Special Issue stems from the First Conference on Building Children's Nursing for Africa held April 2013 in Cape Town. The meeting brought together 150 nurse educators, clinicians, administrators and students from South Africa and seven African countries to address the challenges of building a specialty in paediatric nursing to prepare a workforce for fledgling healthcare systems in resource-poor nations characterised by poverty, illiteracy, and a rich diversity of languages and cultures.
Lori Lake articulates South Africa's national vision for universal access to a healthcare system grounded in human rights. She makes the case for positioning child rights at the heart of education, training, professional codes of conduct and standards of care to transform the design and delivery of health services that support children's survival and optimal development. Lake provides context for several reports that demonstrate how nurses are using the child rights' approach to think more holistically about child well-being and the social determinants of health, and to collaborate across departments and disciplines to address complex issues that are at once clinical, social, and practical.
Neil McKerrow, chair of the Ministerial Committee on Morbidity and Mortality in Children Under 5 Years, reviews South Africa's progress toward the Millennium Development Goal of reducing the under-5 mortality rate by two-thirds by 2015. The data are potentially confusing, then encouraging, and also demanding. The statistics vary depending on source and method, but by all counts they show progress worth celebrating. South Africa's Ministry of Health is working toward standardisation; according to its numbers, in 2007 for every 1000 babies born live in South Africa, 62 died before their fifth birthday; by 2011 that number dropped precipitously to 38.5, due in part to initiatives targeting underlying conditions such as malnutrition and HIV and/or AIDS. However, those challenges persist, and the overall progress masks profound inequities. Continued progress, McKerrow argues, requires a nurse workforce better prepared to provide child-appropriate services at all levels of the healthcare system.
Neonatologist Nils Bergman presents the clinical evidence base for fundamental change in hospital policy and culture and nurses' training to support continuous and active participation of mothers in the care of their newborns. Bergman makes a compelling case for a policy of zero separation of mothers and infants in hospital as essential to a human rights approach to delivery of mother and child health services. Such fundamental change would reverberate through multiple government agencies, universities, hospitals and regional and local health systems.
Minette Coetzee describes a colloquium of nurse educators and administrators with representatives of a broad range of stakeholders in paediatric nursing and the transformation of health care. Her description of the colloquium format serves as a replicable model for building consensus and initiating collaborative action amongst leaders of diverse healthcare organisations. Resulting insights and recommendations are now guiding systems change necessary to build a workforce that can effectively address under-5 mortality.
Three reports demonstrate the power of participatory action research to integrate clinical findings and policy change into the culture and everyday practice in nurse education, as well as on the wards of children's hospitals. These studies make it clear that improved training alone is insufficient to effect change. Clinician researchers describe replicable processes through which hospital nurses recognised the role of signage in establishing a family-friendly environment and reducing stress for both nurses and patients' families, as well as the powerful effects of nurses' communication with families and the value of collaborative reflection and action to produce solutions. Nurse educators in Uganda report how they achieved improvement in nurses' documentation of their assessments as a fundamental step in improving quality of care. When changes to training produced no sustained change in documentation, they collaboratively redesigned recruitment policies, staff mix, reporting forms and leadership support to achieve sustained improvement. Another action research team led a four-year process to hone a journal club to align content with revised curricula and overcome barriers to obtaining, critically analysing and applying current research, whilst providing a safe environment in which students for whom English is not their home language could practice using the scientific language of paediatric nursing.
Curationis readers dedicated to rigorous professional education, maternal and child health, effective health services delivery, staff development or healthcare reform in challenging circumstances will want to share this Special Issue widely and keep a reference copy at hand.
Hungwe, A. & Zwart T., 2014, 'Human rights through Chinese and African eyes', New African 538, 4-6. [ Links ]
Email: email@example.com


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Email Bounce Management: Soft Bounces vs. Hard BouncesJesse Sumrak
We're taking it back to the basics to define a term that is super important to email deliverability but still seems to cause some mailers a bit of confusion: email bounces. What's the difference between a hard bounce vs. soft bounce?
At SendGrid, we probably position soft bounces a little differently. We look at soft bounces more as blocks—or short-term issues. These blocks shouldn't be added to a suppression list. But, hard bounces (invalid email addresses and non deliverables) should be. Read on to learn about:
- What is an email bounce
- Hard bounce vs. soft bounce
- Reasons why emails bounce
- How to improve your email bounce rate
What is an email bounce?
An email bounce signifies the non-delivery of your email message. When this happens, the mailer will receive an automatic notification of the delivery failure. This failure originates from the recipient's mail server for a number of reasons (explained below).
Contents of a bounce message
Usually, the bounce message will give you important information to help you identify the reason for the email delivery failure. This includes the following:
- The time and date the message bounced
- The mail server that bounced it
- The RFC code and reason for the bounce (according to the RFC, hard bounces are depicted by a 5XX code and soft bounces by a 4XX code. However, not all ISPs adhere to that code consistently, so there could be exceptions to this rule)
Hard bounce vs. soft bounce
At SendGrid, there are two types of bounces that you can receive—a soft bounce/block or a hard bounce. Think of soft bounces as blocks that are a short-term issue—you don't need to permanently take these addresses off of your list. However, hard bounces are either invalid or non-existent addresses that should be removed immediately.
Soft bounce
A soft bounce means that the email address was valid and the email message reached the recipient's mail server. However, common reasons it bounced back include:
- The mailbox was full (the user is over their quota)
- The server was down
- The message was too large for the recipient's inbox
At SendGrid, we continue to attempt to send these messages for up to 72 hours until the message is delivered. If a message is continuously deferred for 72 hours, we convert these addresses to a block/deferral list. (A deferral list is not a suppression list.)
Hard bounce
A hard bounce occurs when the message has been permanently rejected either because:
- The email address is invalid
- The email addresses doesn't exist
At SendGrid, we add these hard bounced addresses to a suppression list. What this means is that even if you send a message through us for that user, we will not even try to deliver to that address, because we know it's no longer good. Continuing to try to send to a known bad address will harm your reputation with the receiver, so we prevent that.
How to improve your bounce rate
The best way to reduce the number of bounces is by following some key email deliverability best practices. This includes the following:
- Maintain good list hygiene: Purge your list regularly of invalid emails and non-responders. High bounce rates can affect your sender reputation so keeping your lists clean will go a long way to achieving higher email delivery rates. In the SendGrid platform, you can review and manage your bounce lists right from your dashboard. Here, you can purge blocks or hard bounces after a certain number of days and specify whether or not you want these bounce messages forwarded via email.
- Use double opt-in: Send a confirmation email when users subscribe to your list. This way you can ensure that the user's email is not only valid, but that they in fact want to receive your email messages.
- Monitor your email delivery: Track your email delivery rates by paying close attention to your bounce rates as well as your response rates. With regular monitoring, you can catch potential failures before they happen or before they do too much damage.
Achieving high email delivery rates can be a challenge, but not if you know the ropes. For more tips, download our best practices guide: Tips and Tricks to Stay Out of the Spam Folder.
Boost your email delivery rates
Want to lower your email bounces and bump up your deliverability rates? Sign up for a free Twilio SendGrid account and let us help you make it happen. We can empower your email program with email list hygiene tools, double opt-in features, delivery analytics, and more.


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Fear 'The Swedish Model'
Oh no! Not the Swedish model! Look carefully at that terrifying blue and yellow Nordic Cross; it is our generation's hammer and sickle.
What is "the Swedish Model"? That's temporary nationalization of failed banks. See, you seize control of them, clean up the balance sheets, and auction them off. In other words, it's socialism. It's also really the only remaining option, as the current "throw money at them and watch them hoard it because they don't want to reveal that they're insolvent" model just created some zombie banks, like in Japan, and we'd much rather become Sweden than Japan. (Though the food is better in Japan, of course.)
It's a terrifying prospect, this "Swedish model," or at least Mr. Drudge certainly hopes it sounds scary, to claim our great empire will become a lowly Scandinavian constitutional monarchy, ranked number one on The Economist's Democracy Index. Well, either he's hoping to scare us with the prospect of boring Nordic democratic socialism or he's just using the term "Swedish model" to further the old Republican talking point that all the bailout money is going to porn.
What Drudge neglects to mention in his scary headline: Alan Greenspan also moved toward Sweden's sexy, sexy model.
All hail King Gustav! God natt, American Dream!


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Purchase a tote bag featuring the digital art "No251 My DUNE minimal movie poster" by Chungkong Art. Our tote bags are made from soft, durable, poly-poplin fabric and include a 1" black strap for easy carrying on your shoulder. All seams are double-stitched for added durability. Each tote bag is machine-washable in cold water and is printed on both sides using the same image.
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LOVE! minimal movie posters. Started out of curiosity, soon became an addiction. Result: my gallery is now featuring over 300 titles! Take a look and... more
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LOVE! minimal movie posters. Started out of curiosity, soon became an addiction. Result: my gallery is now featuring over 300 titles! Take a look and find your favorite movie. Have fun. More at www.chungkong.nl.
Chungkong is a Netherlands based designer. By day he is just a graphic designer, by night Chungkong transforms into a poster creating mad man. His fun work stands out for a simple and humorous language, demonstrating great ingenuity and imagination. Chungkong strips the subjects down to their bare bones and brings them to life in vibrant and playful designs, covering a variety of subjects from cult movies, geek art, books and sports.
Our return policy is very simple:
If you're not happy with a purchase that you made on FineArtAmerica.com, for any reason, you can return it to us within 30 days of the order date. As soon as it arrives, we'll issue a full refund for the entire purchase price. Please note - Fine Art America does not reimburse the outgoing or return shipping charges unless the return is due to a defect in quality.
Fine Art America sells thousands of pieces of artwork each month - all with a 100% money-back guarantee. We take great pride in the fact that hundreds of thousands of artists have chosen Fine Art America to fulfill their orders, and we look forward to helping you select your next piece!
All tote bags ship from our production facility within 2 - 3 business days of your order.


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Sun Devils quarterback Steven Threet suffered two concussions last season, and he's officially had his brain knocked against his skull five times in four years of college football. Last week, the Michigan transfer announced that, to avoid any long-term damage to his mental health, he will forgo his final year of eligibility and quit football.
Mercifully, both for Threet and for ASU, the senior is on pace to graduate this spring, which saves the university from having to decide whether to renew his scholarship just so he can watch from the sidelines next season. But concussions can't be planned around graduations. And at some point soon, thanks in large part to the bad incentives created by the NCAA's one-year, renewable scholarship, an athletic department somewhere will have to choose between expediency and simple humanity, and an athlete somewhere else will have to choose between his scholarship and his health.
By our count, Threet is the fourth player from a high-profile Division I football program to decide to leave the game in the past year alone. Last April, Southern Methodist cornerback Derrius Bell announced he was done; he was coping with a sleeping condition that doctors thought was related to his multiple concussions. "It's like I'm sleeping... but I can't snap out of it," Bell told the Dallas Observer at the time. "I can hear me telling myself it's time to wake up. I'm fighting to wake up, but I can't. Then all of the sudden I just pop awake and I'm not sure what happened." And last November, both Texas running back Tre' Newton and BYU safety Steven Thomas turned in their jerseys, as well.
The departure hasn't affected the players' scholarship status: Bell, Newton, and Thomas stayed on as player-assistant coaches and the schools pledged to honor their scholarships, and Threet is on pace to graduate in May. There's precedent, then, for upholding a commitment to student-athletes who suffer head injuries on the field and retire early because of it. But that may not be an option for every football program in the country.
There's no official policy on scholarship athletes who want to be responsible to their brains — NCAA spokesman Chris Radford said the decision "would be entirely up to the school" when it conducts its annual scholarships review. "The school has the same options it does for student-athletes who have season-ending injuries," Radford says. One of those options is a waiver known as a "medical non-counter," which allows the school to maintain the financial aid package for an incapacitated athlete without counting against its allotment of athletic scholarships. This requires thorough documentation — something rarely in abundance when it comes to concussions — and the final decision is left to the discretion of the institution, which has the costs of a scholarship to consider.
It's hard to imagine a high-profile program choosing to renege on a player's scholarship because his or her brain has been knocked around too many times doing the very thing the school has asked of them. "Someone would have to argue that the player is quitting," says SI.com's injury guru Will Carroll in an email, "and I don't think that's a PR battle anyone wants."
"It strikes me that universities have an ethical obligation, not legal but ethical, to uphold scholarships [for athletes who were injured while playing for them]," says Michael Oriard, a former NFL player and now an associate dean and English professor at Oregon State. "After all, we should hold ourselves to higher standards than the technical legalities of the land."
But since 1973, when the NCAA instituted the three divisions and mandated that schools could only award one-year, renewable athletic scholarships, that's how the business has been done. Oriard thoroughly documented this development in his book Bowled Over; he argued that this seemingly minor change was as responsible as anything else for killing off the notion that collegiate athletes could be equal parts "student" and "athlete." He called the '73 decision to be "a radical sea change for college football."
"Suddenly the athlete is primarily responsible to his football coach rather than to the university," he tells me. "I think that's had a tremendous impact on the culture." The personal stakes for players are higher, and, for universities with high-profile football programs, so are the commercial stakes. The end of the four-year scholarship was the end of any leverage amateur athletes might've had, and it brought the kind of workplace insecurities found in any hotly competitive industry to the collegiate locker room. A player who can't produce is a player whose scholarship may be in jeopardy.
"The other issue is, what is a scholarship?" Oriard says. "Is it an employment contract? Because if were an employment contract, then workman's compensation could apply. But because it's held to be different, there are no obligations to some of the universities to the athletes. I'd like for universities to hold themselves to higher standards, and unfortunately we don't know how often they do."
Concussions raise the stakes immeasurably. The new question, then, is if cumulative concussions should be treated any differently than a season-ending knee injury in a university's annual scholarship review. Dustin Fink, a certified athletic trainer who also runs The Concussion Blog, says he thinks the NCAA should consider "automatically granting schools the extra scholarship if a player has to stop due to concussions."
"Talk about a message that would be clear," Fink says in an email. "This may also have a secondary impact of giving the players and schools an 'out' in [cases with] multiple concussions."
Oriard, too, said says an athlete's long-term mental health should hold more weight than a pair of healthy knees: "We've known for a long time that old players become increasingly immobile as we age," Oriard says, "but this stuff is an order of magnitude greater. We're talking about losing your self, not your mobility. That has to be an urgent concern."
Part of the issue for athletes, of course, is that it's much easier to hide brain trauma. You stand up from a hard hit, take a few dizzying steps, and get back into the huddle. Because the consequences of multiple concussions might not emerge until a decade or two after a player's final snap, 20-year-olds still retain their "self" after a few hard hits. In this new age of concussion consciousness, that makes the choice to leave the game for fear of long-term mental health issues both admirable and, in all likelihood, rare. There are football players at every level who feel as if the game is, as Bell said last April, "the only thing I'm really good at" — and if it's the only thing paying tuition, there's no incentive to even report the injury in the first place. Bell, Threet, Newton, and Thomas might turn out to be exceptional cases, given the political economy of college sports. Everyone — players and coaches and administrators alike — did the admirable thing in a world whose rules all but demand they behave irresponsibly.


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MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry — the same TV commentator who said Americans need to stop raising kids as if they belong to individual families — had an extraordinary explanation for why the city of Detroit sought to declare bankruptcy last week: not enough government.
"This is what it looks like when government is small enough to drown in your bathtub, and it is not a pretty picture." She says budget-cutting Republicans threaten to transform all of the U.S. into Detroit.
What? Detroit has been a "model city" for big-government! All Detroit's mayors since 1962 were Democrats who were eager to micromanage. And spend. Detroit has the only utility tax in Michigan, and its income tax is the third-highest of any big city in America (only Philadelphia and Louisville take more, and they aren't doing great, either).
Detroit's automakers got billions in federal bailouts.
The Detroit News revealed that Detroit in 2011 had around twice as many municipal employees per capita as cities with comparable populations. The city water and sewer department employed a "horseshoer" even though it keeps no horses.
This is "small enough government"? Harris-Perry must have one heck of a bathtub.
Politicians think they know best, but they can't alter the laws of economics. They can't make mismanaged industries, constant government meddling, welfare and bureaucratic labor union rules (Detroit has 47 unions) into a formula for success.
County Judge Rosemarie Aquilina wants to stop the bankruptcy process on the grounds that state law forbids Detroit to cut government services. But how will Detroit pay for the services? Unsustainable public-sector pensions, a bloated workforce — it's all supposed to continue somehow.
Politicians on Detroit's city council aren't even willing to sell off vacant lots that the city owns, or even a portion of the billions of dollars in art in its government-subsidized museum (including the original "Howdy Doody" puppet).
On my TV show, I confronted the council's second in command about his refusal to let Detroit sell land. He says he voted against it "because the developer wants to grow trees. We don't need any more new trees in our city." The politicians micromanaged themselves into bankruptcy, and they want to keep digging.
A member of the British Parliament writes that Detroit is like the fictional city of Starnesville in Ayn Rand's 1957 novel "Atlas Shrugged" — a car-manufacturing city that became a ghost town after experimenting with socialism. In the novel, Starnesville's demise is the first sign that the entire society is approaching collapse.
Detroit is already there. 911 calls sometimes go unanswered. Two-thirds of the population left town.
As usual, the politicians want to try more of the same. They constantly come up with plans, but the plans are always big, simple-minded ones that run roughshod over the thousands of little plans made by ordinary citizens. Politicians want new stadiums, new transportation schemes, housing projects.
Andrew Rodney, a documentary filmmaker from Detroit, says many bad, big-government ideas that have plagued the U.S. were tried out first in Detroit. "It's the first city to experience a lot of the planning that went into a lot of cities."
Home loan subsidies, public housing, stadium subsidies, a $350 million project called "Renaissance Center" (the city ended up selling it for just $50 million), an automated People Mover system that not many people feel moved to use (it moves people in only one direction), endless favors to unions — if a government idea has failed anywhere in America, there's a good chance it failed in Detroit first.
And if you criticized them for it, politicians like former Mayor Coleman Young called you a racist. "To attack Detroit is to attack black," Young said. That tends to shut critics up.
But the laws of economics apply to us all.
Insulated from serious criticism, insulated from economic reality, Detroit thought somehow it'd muddle through — until now. There is a big lesson, if people elsewhere are willing to learn before it's too late.
John Stossel is host of "Stossel" on the Fox Business Network. He's the author of "No They Can't: Why Government Fails, but Individuals Succeed." To find out more about John Stossel, visit his site at johnstossel.com.
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Strangling Life


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Writing, Grammar, Literature, ACT Prep
Education: M.Ed.,Stanford University
Katie is an enthusiastic teacher who strives to make connections between literature and student's every day lives.
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Writing, Grammar, Literature, ACT Prep
Education: M.Ed.,Stanford University
Katie is an enthusiastic teacher who strives to make connections between literature and student's every day lives.
If you walk into any typical high school cafeteria, you're going to find a table for the jocks, a table for the nerds, a table for the drama kids, or may be the band kids. High school is all about stereotypes. The Great Gatsby has those same stereotypes.
But as most of us learn in high school, if you look just beyond the surface usually you can learn a lot more about a person. Let's take a look at the characters in The Great Gatsby and really think about them closely. Even though they seem like they have it all together on the outside, if we look just a little bit deeper, we can see how F. Scott Fitzgerald uses these characters and their disappointments to communicate his ideas about the death of the American Dream.
As we discuss the characters in The Great Gatsby, one important thing to know about every single one of them, is that they are all disappointed in their dreams at some point. They never get to the free wishing of their dreams. Let's start by taking a look at Tom Buchanan.
Tom Buchanan is from old money. His family is described as "enormously wealthy and even in college his freedom with money was a matter for reproach." We get this picture of Tom, as this man who came from money as a child. He goes off to college on the East Coast and again he spends frivolously, with no real care to what he's doing with it. What you learn as you read thought the book is that Tom also treats people very similarly to the way he treats money. He treats them very frivolously. If you remember back to the scene in his apartment with Myrtle, he slaps Myrtle across the face and bloodys her nose just because she's mentioned Daisy's name.
Again he treats his marriage to Daisy as somewhat of a frivolously affair, as he openly carries on the affair with Myrtle Wilson.
In fact he's one of the most corrupt characters in the book and it's important to note that, because he's one of the only characters in the book that comes from that old money. It really shows that he has no value for people or things, because things have always been given to him. In fact, Nick describes him as very careless. He says he smashed people or things and creatures and then retreated back into his money and his vast carelessness, and whatever it was that kept them together, let other people clean up the mess he had made.
Another character to note is Daisy, Tom's wife. While Daisy isn't quite as awful as Tom in the book, she's taken on some of his characteristics. Daisy is described as having, "Her face was sad and lovely with bright things in it, bright eyes and a bright passionate mouth..." It's really interesting that she's described as both sad and lovely, because it shows that she has a touch of her upbringing. Which is upper middle class, but she's from the mid west. She doesn't grow up with as much money as Tom does. In fact, before she met Tom she fell in love with Jay Gatsby, but he was whisked off to the war. And out of a need to really satisfy her want for a high class lifestyle, she transforms from this lovely character to this sad character.
In fact when Nick comes to dinner, with the Buchanan's for the first time, she's become so kind of vapid that she describes Nick her daughter. And she says the best thing that she can hope for her daughter is that, "the best thing a girl can be in this world is a beautiful little fool." We have her go from this lovely bright-eyed woman, to this kind of sad woman who's in a loveless marriage and only hopes for her daughter to be a fool.
The next character we're going to take a look is Jay Gatsby. He's the character that it's really difficult to dislike, even though there are some rumors of him involving himself in some illegal means. Important things to know about Jay Gatsby, he's of new money. And throughout the book you'll learn several rumors that float about of how he gained this money. He is associated with characters like Mia Wolfsheim, and other disreputable people involved in bootlegging and moon shining. Jay Gatsby is described as, "an elegant young rough-neck, a year or two over thirty, whose elaborate formality of speech just missed being absurd." I think this is really interesting quote, because it shows that Gatsby is really described as somebody who seems to fit the bill of an upper class person. However, he's got little things about him that just don't quite fit.
In this case, that his formality of speech is almost too much. He's trying a little bit too hard. And we learn that the reason he's doing this is because he desperately is seeking Daisy's love again. Remember he's gone off to the war, and when he comes back, he finds Daisy married to Tom Buchanan in a loveless marriage. And his quest through out the entire book becomes to recapture Daisy's love.
What he doesn't know is the tragic truth about it is, that Daisy will never go back to Gatsby. She'll near leave the comfort of the promise of a lifestyle that Tom can offer that Gatsby certainly cannot. It's this kind of undying love and undying hope for the dream that really does lead to Gatsby's demise in the book.
Another character who similarly loses his hope in humanity is Nick Carraway. What's interesting about Nick is, Nick starts off as our narrator. We really trust him, because he admits: "In consequence, I'm inclined to reserve all judgments...reserving judgments is a matter of infinite hope." We see Nick present himself as this mid westerner who has moved out to the East Coast to try his trade at the bonds men profession. But he says, as he starts to describe people, that he strives to just reserve that matter of judgment. He wants to present things in the most objective light possible. And he says the reason he can do it, is because he has this infinite hope inside him, this idea that people are good and that they will always do the right thing.
However, what happens to Nick Carraway as he goes through this book, and as he presents us these images of the characters of Tom and Daisy and Gatsby and Jordan Baker, he starts to lose his hope in humanity. What we see at the end of the book, is Nick really reflecting in his closing lines that, "we are people who be on, both against the current born back ceaselessly into the past." We start with this idea that he has infinite hope. And then we close the book with this idea that he realizes that we are all just people, born to just repeat the past and have no hope of doing anything differently.
Jordan Baker is another character that really represents to us the typical woman of the 1920s. Jordan Baker is described as, "having a pleasing and contemptuous expression or face." Again we see that she is one of those people that's described in two ways much like Daisy was described in two ways. Daisy was sad and lovely. Jordan is pleasing and contemptuous which seems to a little bit, those two words seems a little bit juxtaposed against each other. Jordan is a classic example of a woman of the 1920s who comes from money. Like Tom, she has little regard for what the right thing to do is. In fact through out the book we see that she is a professional golfer and she's quite attractive. Nick Carraway, our narrator becomes quite captivated by her, until he realizes that some of her fame and notoriety in the golf world, has come through some immoral means. In fact we discover that she has rumored to have cheated in some of the tournaments that she's participated in.
It's important to point this out Jordan, because Jordan is really that vehicle that allows Nick to start loosing his faith in humanity. She's that first person he seems to be a little bit in enumerate of in the book, and as he starts to be more captivated buy her he learns more and more about her, and reveals that kind of dark sinister part of her, that doesn't really regard any of the actions of anybody else, or what it means to do the right thing. She's really that vehicle that starts the downfall to Nick's hopefulness.
Finally we've got two characters; George and Myrtle Wilson. These are the two characters that live in the Valley of Ashes. George is described as a, "blonde and spiritless man, anemic and faintly handsome" and Myrtle is described as, "being in her middle thirties, and faintly stout, but she carried her surplus flesh sensuously as some women can."
It's important to not that George Wilson is described as being spiritless. I come to imagine I picture him in my head, and I think about him as this man who is spiritless simply because he spends every single day working as hard as he can, in the Valley of Ashes to earn a living. He owns his own garage even though it's described as being void of things and unprosperous. He really has put his heart and soul into his work and at the same time, his wife Myrtle is desperately wanting to jump out of that working class and into the upper class, and is striving to do so by carrying on an affair with Tom Buchanan. We see these two characters really striving in different ways to make the most of the American Dream. And in the end, what happens is that, Myrtle's want to be in that upper class, really leads to her demise as she chases after Tom Buchanan's car and ends up being run over.
Then George, also being taken advantage off of the actions of all the other characters, as he feels so devastated by his wife's murder, that he ends up killing Jay Gatsby, and then killing himself. Thus sacrificing all this hardwork he's put in. It doesn't matter what he's done because he's really been the victim of every body else's carelessness.
Nick Carraway our narrator closes this book considering what Gatsby must have felt like when he moved to the west arc. He says, "he thought of Gatsby's wonder when he first picked up the green light at the end of Daisy's dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in the vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night." Here we see Nick reflecting on the loss of Gatsby's dream. And in this episode we talked about not only Gatsby, but all the other characters that failed to recognize their dreams as well.
We have Daisy who ends up in a loveless marriage, hoping her daughter to be a fool, after experiencing the love of Jay Gatsby. We see Nick Carraway loses hope in humanity, as he witnesses all of the actions of the other characters here. We see George and Myrtle Wilson in the Valley of Ashes, their lives both ended by the carelessness of the other characters. And we see Tom and Jordan act as kind of vehicles to help these characters actually lose their faith in humanity.
Here we see in this episode, Fitzgerald using these characters as vehicles to communicate his hopelessness about the American Dream and his critic of the 1920s.