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HIRAM, Ohio - The Wittenberg Tigers continued their dominant play against North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) opponents with a 49-9 victory over host Hiram.
It was Wittenberg's third straight lop-sided win against a league opponent. In improving to 3-1 overall and 3-0 in the NCAC, the Tigers have outscored DePauw, Oberlin and Hiram the last three games by a combined total of 153-9.
The Terriers, who have never beaten Wittenberg in 14 all-time meetings, fell to 2-3 overall and 1-3 in the league.
After setting a school record with 716 yards of total offense a week earlier in the home-opening win over Oberlin, Wittenberg barely compiled half that number against Hiram. The Tigers repeatedly took advantage of short fields created by turnovers and short punts in a sloppy game played in a steady rain.
Just one of Wittenberg's seven scoring drives covered more than 53 yards. Three of them ended in touchdown receptions for senior wideout Desi Kirkman (Lima, Ohio/Central Catholic), who led both teams with six catches for 140 yards.
The other scoring reception was made by senior Brendon Cunningham (Kettering, Ohio/Fairmont), who was limited to season-lows of three catches for 11 yards. Senior quarterback Reed Florence (South Charleston, Ohio/Southeastern) was efficient as usual, completing 15-of-23 passes for 237 yards and four touchdowns.
On the ground, Wittenberg finished with 30 carries for 157 yards, but 50 of those came on the day's final attempt. Sophomore quarterback Zack Jenkins (Frostproof, Fla./Frostproof) scored the game's last touchdown in the fourth quarter on a 50-yard scoring run. Sophomore tailback Sean Gary (Indianapolis, Ind./Decatur Central) and Florence had the other two scoring runs in the game.
Defensively, a string of 10 straight scoreless quarters came to an end for Wittenberg in the third quarter but the Tigers still turned in another solid performance on that side of the ball. On the strength of seven sacks, Wittenberg held Hiram to -22 yards rushing and just 204 yards of total offense in the game.
The defensive star was unquestionably freshman defensive lineman Brady Vanover (Maineville, Ohio/Kings). He finished tied for the team lead with 11 tackles, including a whopping 4.5 for loss. He forced a fumble and recovered it as well on one of his two sacks.
Senior linebacker Spencer Leno (Massillon, Ohio/Washington) also contributed 11 tackles, including two for loss, and he was credited with a pass broken up. Senior linebacker Evan Killilea (Columbus, Ohio/DeSales) added 10 stops, including 3.5 for loss, an interception and 1.5 sacks.
Wittenberg returns to action Saturday, Oct. 12, with a Homecoming game against another NCAC rival, Denison. First kick is scheduled for 1 p.m. at historic Edwards-Maurer Field.


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45 Pocket Adjustable Steel Mail Sorter (36" Wide) with Legal Depth Shelves and Lower Leg Risers - HP765
Product Code: HP765
Availability: Ships Approx. in 2-3 Business Days
Availability: Ships Approx. in 2-3 Business Days
Wholesale Price: $1,166.50
Volume Discount Pricing:
For quantity of 3 or more - Request Quote or Call 800-676-5161
For quantity of 3 or more - Request Quote or Call 800-676-5161
Mail sorters and office organizers from National Mailboxes offer you roomy adjustable height pockets for use by personnel or departments who receive an abundance of mail or document deliveries. Each pocket is adjustable in height by 1/2" increments and is made out of heavy duty steel construction for years of use. Shelves have a 3/8" lip for easy pocket identification. Use different combinations of our mail sorters and mail room tables for an effective mail center.
Number Of Pockets: 45
Unit Size: 36"W x 15-3/4"D x 58-3/4" to 63-3/4"H (Adjustable)
Pocket Size: 11-1/2"W x 15-1/4"D x 2-1/2"H
Leg Risers: 11-1/2" to 16-1/2"H (Adjustable)
Product Features:
- Shelves included
- Perfect depth for legal sized documents
- Sorter shell is welded construction with removable back
- Top and bottom are 20 gauge steel and double formed for extra strength
- Bottom shelf has welded hat channels to keep shelf rigid
- Top has welded internal shelf bracket for strength
- Each shelf is 20 gauge steel with rounded corners for easier adjusting
- Individual sorter shelves have 3/8" lips for shelf identification and extra strength
- Front of each sorting shelf has large cut-out for easier mail retrieval
- Chip and corrosion resistant powder-coat finish for added durability
- Made in the USA
Colors: Putty, and Grey
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subset: commoncrawl


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The Soup Remarks on Charlie Sheen, the New DWTS cast and Snooki's Rolling Stone Cover
This week on The Soup: a stoner-moment on 90210, Brad Womack struggles on The Bachelor, an all-feline rock band, Dancing With the Stars, and Charlie Sheen revives the news media. As Joel put it, "Merry Christmas, Entertainment Media!"
Additionally, I can't tell how how much I loved the very meta-moment when Joel reported on Josh Holloway (otherwise known as Sawyer from Lost) and his deal to star in the season finale of Community.
[There was a video here]


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List of all themes available for Windows 8. These themes can be used only on Windows 8 and are not compatible with Windows 7. You can search for a theme or browse the themes using the category. Themes are available for download in zip format. To install a theme, unzip the file and then double click the extracted file.
Important Note: Please do not directly link to the download file, instead link to the theme page.
[download_page show_uncategorized=0 pop_count=6]
Liked our themes? Give us a like on our Facebook page!


text:
Posts Tagged 'pinot noir'
Dinner With Taraji Henson: Her Sip, Chat, Chow
Category : All Reviews, Celeb Sightings, Celebs, Updates
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Taraji not only knows how to bring her ferocious and dynamic energy to the big and small screen, but also to the restaurant scene. She's a gal who really enjoys good eats!
Currently, Taraji can be seen starring in the CBS hit show "Person of Interest" and in the upcoming movie "Think Like A Man" based on Steve Harvey's book "Act Like A Lady, Think Like A Man" in theaters on March 9th.
Check out Taraji Henson's Sip, Chat, Chow:


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Lace knitting advice for you!
Summer is a great time for lace knitting (and wearing)! It's light on the needles, so you can knit it in hot weather, and the finished product is airy and drapey, so it's a great fabric to wear on a breezy summer evening. Plus, it's gorgeous and really fun to knit!
Andrea Jurgrau's book New Heights in Lace Knitting is full of beautiful patterns inspired by her travels around the world. Andrea also offers a ton of lace knitting tutorials and advice, and I thought I'd share some with you.
General Rules for Following Charts
• Review the key before you begin to make sure you understand the meaning of each symbol.
• Read charts from the bottom to the top. Each row on the chart represents one row or round of knitting; each cell in the chart indicates one stitch.
• When working back and forth in rows, right-side (RS) rows, which are numbered, are read from right to left; wrong-side (WS) rows are read from left to right.
• When working in rounds, all chart rows are considered right-side (RS) rows, and all are read from right to left.
• Many charts include "no stitch" symbols—gray cells instead of designated stitch symbols. These "no stitch" symbols are used as placeholders in the chart so that increases, decreases, and yarnovers align in the chart as they will in your knitting. When you come to a "no stitch" symbol, simply skip over it and continue with the next "real" stitch on the chart.
• Bold red and blue outlines indicate stitches and rows that are repeated. For example, when working a right-side row or round, work to the right edge of the repeat outline, then repeat the stitches within the outline the necessary number of times, then finish by working the stitches from the left of the outline to the edge of the chart.
Placing Beads
Gild the lily and add some beads to your lace knits! This method allows precise placement of the bead in an individual stitch and is the method used for most of the projects in this book. Although it's easier to put the bead on the stitch before it is worked, doing so can compromise the tension on that stitch.
Work to the stitch designated for bead placement, work the stitch as specified in the instructions, slip a bead onto the shaft of a crochet hook, remove the knitted stitch from the knitting needle by lifting the stitch just worked with the hook
(Figure 1). Slide the bead onto the stitch just worked, return that stitch to the left needle, adjust the tension, then slip that stitch onto the right knitting needle (Figure 2).
Working with Hand-Dyed Yarns
Because each skein of a hand-dyed yarn is unique, any project that uses more than one skein runs the risk of having a visible line where you change skeins. This is not a defect in the yarn, but simply the nature of hand-dyed yarns. You can simply accept that and embrace the color change. That works sometimes for a piece worked in the round, such
as a square or a circle.
But if you want to avoid a visible color shift, you can simply "feather" the second skein in, by alternating rows from the first skein and then the second. I only do this for 5–10 rows when I switch skeins (more if the two skeins are less alike). You can alternate for the entire project, but that never appeals to me.
Lace Bind-Off
This smooth and stretchy method is ideal for edges that will be stretched during blocking. Be sure to work loosely but evenly; use a needle one or two sizes larger than you knit with if desired.
Slip 1 stitch, knit 1 stitch, *insert the left needle tip into the front of both of these stitches and knit them together through the back legs (Figure 1), return resulting stitch to the left needle tip; repeat from * until all stitches have been worked and one stitch remains on right needle. Cut yarn leaving a 5″ (12.5 cm) tail, bring tail through remaining stitch and pull tight to secure.
—Andrea Jurgrau, New Heights in Lace Knitting
You'll find much more advice in New Heights in Lace Knitting, along with stunning lace patterns, of course. Get your copy today and cast on something beautiful.
P.S. Do you have a lace knitting tip to share? Leave it below in the comments!


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Soul Sacrifice Details Emerge, Set Within a Demonic Book, Screens Inside
If you've been itching for more Soul Sacrifice details ever since the mysterious teaser trailer hit the web, we got just the thing, as a bit of new info has just surfaced.
According to a report form Gematsu, in the game you play as the slave of an evil sorcerer who has decided to offer you up as a sacrifice. However, before your are destroyed, a demonic book presents itself to you, allowing you to enter its pages and uncover the horrifying past of the sorcerer.
Oh yeah, and there's lots of monsters to fight too.
The foes of the game are actually humans who have been turned into terrible creatures by misused magic. As an added twist, the player too can lose their human for if they overuse magic.
Soul Sacrifice is currently about halfway complete and is set to launch in Japan this winter. There's also a good chance that the game will see localization, as composer Wataru Hokoyama is in charge of overseas recording.
There's still a lot we don't know about the game, so be sure to stay tuned to PlayStation LifeStyle for future updates. In the meantime, enjoy this bevy of screens and game art.


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Top Fashionistas
Welcome to the Shopcade Hall of Fame AKA 'The hot list'. Follow your fave fashionistas to keep up to date with their likes, looks and more!
Want to make the wall? Then get active! The more you engage the more chance you will have, so keep your profile looking awesome, upload your coolest looks and get commenting. We're out to find the coolest Shopcaders each week and it could be YOU...
Stay Stylish ;)


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A Black night photo of Perth City, And the Old Swan Brewery building.
The Brewery was originally built in 1879, and was redeveloped and restored to it's current condition between during the late 1980's and early 1990's after the company relocated to a more advanced and modern facility in the late 1970's. There is also a building across the road from the Brewery which use to be the old horse stables, but the original building was destroyed by fire in 1988, but was rebuilt during the restoration, and now serves as a carpark facility for visitors to the Brewery.
The current building now contains a Café, restaurant and function centre as well as a microbrewery. There is also a display of historic photographs and artefacts on display.
Canon EOS 7D And 15-85 IS.
Featured in:
All Things Photographic, Black & White NIGHT Photography, Cosmic Nights, THE WORLD, That One Great Shot.
1x Laminated Print.
1x Extra Large Photographic Print.


text: Let me start by congratulating the project developers for the"open source" banner. Linux Forever The story... for the past year I started giving free hosting to some friends and their small companies. Since I'm a linux LPI I have the servers (apache2, mysql, bind9, zimbra, etc. and the network) tweaked to perfection and that outputs astounding hosting speeds. Now I'm facing 3 issues: 1. Starting to be hard to manage the backend and all the servers. Well, not hard, just the modules or servers are not interconnected. Everything needs to be done manually, individually. 2. Friends complain about when they ask me for a change, takes time... because of point 1 and my "personal / professional" life. Their usual question is, why can I do it? 3. All this is starting to be expensive. So, I have been lurking around google, checking out hosting panels like ispCP Omega, cpanel, ispconfig, directadmin and a bunch more. CPanel seems to be n.1, unfortunately cpanel and all the other "payed" panels are out of the question. As I said in n.3, hosting for free is starting to affect my finances and therefore can not afford it. Being a linux guy, already knew about ispconfig. Decided to create a vdi to test 22.214.171.124. No issues during install and setup, followed one of the how-tos, just changed the squirelmail part of the how-to and installed roundcube (because of the GUI... more eye candy). Kinda like the prospects, but it's a huge learning curve, and honestly haven't checked all functions to see if everything works as publicized and expected. Have a few questions to the ispconfig masters about the best professional hardware deployment. Read a few posts regarding this and do like one of the setup's, separates functions per machine, better load spread and web requests: 1 panel machine 1 ns1 machine 1 ns2 machine 1 web machine 1 database machine 1 email machine Taking the above as example I was planning one of the following setup's Setup 1 1 main panel machine with mail and NS2 1 web + database machine (prefer web databases in the same machine, speed and security) 1 NS1 machine total 3 machines, splits different internet load per machine Web / mail / NS Setup 2 1 host machine with 3 different virtual guest machines vdi's running ubuntu server 64x - vdi machine for main control panel (2 cores / 4gb ram) - vdi machine for NS1 (2 cores / 2gb ram) - vdi machine for NS2 (1 cores / 2gb ram) 1 dedicated web + database machine 1 dedicated mail machine total 3 machines Setup 3 1 main control panel machine + mail 1 web + database 1 NS1 (have an old computer that cannot use for other functions but should work fine for dns) 2 cores 3 gb ram 1 NS2 (have an even older computer that cannot use for other functions but should work fine for dns2) 1 core 2 gb ram total 4 mchines (2 are old and dedicated to NS)


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|2010-01-23, 11:18
|Link #12901
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: world of devilman lady
|2010-01-24, 02:22
|Link #12904
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Poland
Age: 32
On another topic, since we have been discussing the relationship web in R+V not so long ago ... I found another evidence that discount the harem ending. I mean during the arc with the Ririsu mirror, Inner Moka under the influence of the mirror has said that she doesn't need Tsukune anymore and that the mirror will replace him from now on , despite that Tsukune was still worried about Moka and seeing that the rest of the girls tried to cheer him by offering themselves as a replacement for Moka ... the statement in the manga was why don't you pick one of us to replace Moka. We will definitely treat you well Tsukune. Despite that Tsukune remained firm and didn't lose to the temptation ... he went and helped Moka when she was in a pinch despite what she said to him earlier.
It's kind of similar to the situation in chapter 23 of Season II where the girls (besides Moka) tried to have a polygamy with Tsukune. Now I know that a lot of time has passed between those two events, but I don't think it changed so dramatically and Tsukune still prioritizes Moka above the other girls. So to me it is another example that a harem end won't happen.
Last edited by Chris38; 2010-01-24 at 05:55.
|2010-01-24, 12:30
|Link #12906
Chicken or Beef?
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Seattle
Age: 36
Tsukune is the same with all the girls, he'll emo / zerk / whatever for any of them. As he said, I'm sure multiple times, that all of them are irreplaceable to him.
Until we get a situation that he has to choose one's sake over the other, in terms of livelihood and safety of the girls, he holds them all in equal importance. It's why he's the protagonists, it's what make him Tsukune.
He's most "romantically" involved emotionally with Moka, but his overall situation is extremely delicate right now. To make any final opinion about anything is too haphazard. It's prudent to wait.
|2010-01-24, 13:45
|Link #12907
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Poland
Age: 32
Well I kind of see that Tsukune is considering the girls as irreplaceable friends to him. I mean I don't remember it being mentioned anywhere that he has romantic affections for any of the girls in his harem besides Moka. That doesn't say he couldn't fall for them later, but why there haven't been any signs of that happening (I mean to make a relationship appear realistically you would have to make them appear earlier, since feelings need time to develop - and Tsukune has been almost a year with all the girls already, so if the author wanted to go down that road he could make it appear as if Tsukune started to change his feelings for the other girls.)
I admit HayashiTakara that the relationship situation in R+V is a little complicated and delicate but sooner or later it is going to need some kind of solution, because I don't think the situation which is present in the manga right now, can be kept forever ... I mean you don't want the relationships to end in the way they are now do you HayashiTakara, I mean for me it would be a little disappointing if things where left as they are (without a definite conclusion).
|2010-01-24, 15:06
|Link #12908
Pajama Party!
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Nowhere
I had the chapters wrong. It was the end of 23 that had the cute Moka hiding her jealousy. "Know your place, harem." Too cute, too cute.
When comparing the two seasons, the most striking thing is that it's obviously in a different magazine. Though it's infrequent, I was actually incredibly shocked the first time I saw one of the girls naked. I'm glad that doesn't happen a lot. I don't think that's quite what you meant though.
It seems that the arcs in the second season are more pronounced. They stand out more and overall seem to be more important. That's probably because they're all part of the bigger picture which is slowly being revealed. The story has definitely gotten more intricate from the first season. I also like that the final outcome of the relationships are being explored.
I really hadn't given it any thought while reading through the chapters, but once it was mentioned that there could be a harem end, and after seeing most of the girls okay with, I started hoping that's how it would end. Inner Moka is against it, but that could change as she gets more attached to the harem. We don't know what Outer Moka thinks, but I have a feeling she wouldn't mind. Her opinion means less than Inner Moka's, as I feel that at the end we'll only be left with Inner Moka, but I think that it will definitely help sway Inner Moka to being more accepting to a harem end. As long as she's the only wife and everyone else takes the role of mistress, concubine, slave, sex toy and the like, she'll probably be okay with it.
Looking at Tsukune, he really doesn't seem to have any romantic feelings towards any of the girls besides Moka. He's obviously not gunning for a harem end, but if and when it comes down to it, I really don't see him turning it down. As long as Moka acknowledges his feelings, he'll be happy even if he has to keep the harem around as well.
Overall, I don't want to say that two is better than one. Two has just taken a different approach to telling the story. I want to say it's taken a more mature stance. It feels that way to me. That's not necessarily better or worse. It's just different. This started as an excellent manga and continues to deliver.
|2010-01-24, 15:12
|Link #12909
Chicken or Beef?
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Seattle
Age: 36
Aye, indeed. This series is taking a more mature approach to the Harem situation, and the whole "choice" is being explored since the end of S1. I enjoy that aspect. And it's getting more serious as it goes.
Hopefully this season has made you a Mizore fan as well? XD
|2010-01-24, 15:41
|Link #12910
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Poland
Age: 32
Actually I think it could be said the same about all of the girls,since they all experienced some kind of developments compared to how they where at the end of Season I. Actually the girl who got the least development out of all the girls was Inner Moka (I mean how long ago was a chapter centered around her, before chapter 23 (the beginning of the current arc in my opinion, since even the latest chapter is kind of related to chapter 23)), well it could kind of explain why the current arc is so far centered on her (since Moka hasn't got any development before the start of it) and unfortunately the Wong siblings.
|2010-01-24, 15:44
|Link #12911
Pajama Party!
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Nowhere
I've liked Mizora since she first appeared. If you're asking about my favorite though, it's probably Kurumu. A big tittied, idiot succubus with a pure love? Yea, I can't resist. Next up would be Ruby, the masochist and exhibitionist.
|2010-01-24, 22:26
|Link #12912
Grumpy Senior
Join Date: Dec 2003
|2010-01-24, 23:57
|Link #12914
Senior Member
But those aren't depicted realistically, where as R+V at least tries to conform to real forms of the human body. For Kurumu, a 92 cm bust isn't as large as one would think it is. Compared to us westerners, that's just a modest, if not a slightly above average bust for us. Where as the Japanese it's quite large because of their small frames.
In Kurumu's case, she's actually got a smaller than usual frame for her body overall, and only Yukari and Kokoa would be considered smaller, both because of their age. So that makes her breasts LOOK bigger. It's like putting b-cup breasts on a 10 year old loli, they'd just look bigger than they actually are.
In Sekirei, I'm willing to bet that almost all of the female cast member's (with exception of the lolis) breast sizes START at 95 centimeters and just go up from there if you try to put it in realistic numbers.
If someone want to confirm or deny this, please step forward.
Which I shall do now:
Spoiler for Sekirei body measurements:
And I'm disappointed, though the numbers are realistic, the depictions being of very large, jiggly, well shaped breasts that I'd love to bury my face into, don't quite match the numbers. I'd say add 10 or 15 cm to each of them(except Kusano), maybe even 20, and well be closer to how they're depicted, right?
Last edited by GrrDraxin; 2010-01-25 at 00:14.
|2010-01-25, 01:24
|Link #12916
Beef Fried Rice
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Chicago
Sekirei definitely doesn't try to make their girls look normal. Although, I would have to say that Miya (at times) and Homura are drawn pretty close to what their numbers indicate (Kusano not included). Monstrous boobs like the ones in Sekirei are overkill, IMO. The more natural-looking proportions in R+V are much more appealing to my eyes.
EDIT: Just noticed this, what's Shiina doing in there? He's a he. Homura, I can understand.
Anything more than a handful is a waste
Last edited by FriedRice84; 2010-01-25 at 01:42.
|2010-01-25, 01:45
|Link #12917
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Poland
Age: 32
Now the problem I have with Sekirei is that in it every girl has huge boobs compared to the rest of their bodies, (I mean it almost seems like the author of Sekirei has some kind of big boob fetish ) which makes them seem a little to unrealistic in my opinion.
So that's probably why I like R+V more then Sekirei, I mean there ... wait why are we even discussing boobs of all things, don't we have more interesting things to talk about
|2010-01-25, 04:35
|Link #12920
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Indonesia
Age: 33
Anyways, chapter 27 RAW should be release this week, no?
|action, comedy, ecchi, harem, monogamy, romance, shounen, supernatural, tsumoka romance, vampire
|Thread Tools


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Perched sensitively between whale-sized granite boulders on South Carolina's dramatic Blue Ridge escarpment, the home of Nancy and Chip Orum is a study in working with the landscape to create maximum effect with limited impact.
Perched sensitively between whale-sized granite boulders on South Carolina's dramatic Blue Ridge escarpment, the home of Nancy and Chip Orum is a study in working with the landscape to create maximum effect with limited impact.
With sweeping views of the Upstate, including Paris Mountain, the Orum residence takes advantage of a natural granite outcrop on what the Cherokee called the Blue Wall.
"The whole idea is to bring the outside in," says Dean Trakas, the home's architect. "It's not just about the view, it's the transition."
Informed by Frank Lloyd Wright's style of organic architecture, the home aims to blend the landscape with the home, flowing with the natural surroundings through careful design.
"The site is the architecture," says Trakas, partner in the Tryon-based firm Brady Trakas Architects. "The rock is almost the scale of the house itself."
Completed 10 years ago in the original Cliffs development at Glassy Mountain in Landrum, the 3,800-square-foot home is essentially a series of "pods" or "modules" arranged between the existing rock features of the site.
Admittedly a design and construction challenge, it is nestled into a narrow level spot located within a steeper slope that's scattered with all sizes of boulders.
"We fell in love with the lot because of the big boulders," says Chip Orum, who retired in 2001 as CFO of Land's End. "We wanted to make sure we took advantage of that."
Having spent 10 years in Madison, Wis., before moving to the mountains, the Orums say that while living in the Midwest, they became more familiar with Wright's aesthetic.
During the five-month design process with Trakas, Chip Orum played with model-scale boxes and with sketching possible configurations to figure out how the home could be situated without removing large existing trees and boulders.
The resulting modules, with their pyramidal-shaped rooflines, are connected informally with each other at varyingly askew angles.
Trakas jokes that the layout of the home's main three modules are in a similar juxtaposition to the pyramids at Giza.
A fourth module houses the garage, which is connected to the kitchen by a covered walkway surrounded on one side by herbs growing in a rock garden.
In the design process, Trakas was conscious of sightlines, beginning with the initial graceful sweep of the drive to the home's main entry.
Glass double doors allow an uninterrupted view to the trees and environment beyond the entry, which forms a connector to the living area and bedroom areas.
The earth tones of the stone and painted wood exterior add to the sense of "camouflage" in the forest.
"We like the treehouse effect," says Chip Orum.
Nancy Orum agrees, but is somehow apologetic about the lack of window treatments on any of the home's large windows.
"It's a very comfortable home, very casual," she says. "Outside, there is only the occasional bear or hang glider."
The home often serves as headquarters for extended family gatherings, and the couple's three grandchildren are honored with plaques on three of the home site's boulders.
A series of arched doorways extend on an axis perpendicular to the view off the mountain, connecting the kitchen at one end with the entry hall and master suite.
Between these two areas, the living room takes full advantage of afternoon sunshine pouring in through leafy trees.
In fall and winter, sunset views from the room are spectacular, Nancy Orum says.
A cathedral ceiling and niches along the entry wall for art and collectibles add to the room's dramatic yet cozy feel.
Art collected both locally and from farther afield adorn the entire home, including a swan depicted in stained glass made by Nancy Orum's father.
An irregularly shaped slab of Pennsylvania bluestone functions as a mantel for the living room's wood-burning fireplace.
"Dean planned this to look as if continuing out to the landscape," Nancy Orum says of the stone chimney surrounded by windows.
Seven-foot-high molding extends horizontally from the white window frames in a nod to arts and crafts style architecture, but without any added detail.
"This is more modern and stylized than other houses here," Nancy Orum says.
The Orums' taste for clean lines extends to the stairs to the lower level in the entryway.
The staircase is composed of free-floating smooth-grain maple planks that seem to cascade to the home's ground level.
"It really does seem to float," Trakas says of the staircase, which is anchored at the center by a beam.
Poured concrete was used partially in the wall construction of the lower level, which is below grade, but the view side continues the window-studded theme of the upstairs rooms.
An office and a wine "closet" are flanked by two bedrooms, one of which has a screened porch.
A deck hugs one of the boulders below the porch, where there's a hot tub the Orums use in cold weather — when the "twinkly lights" of the urban Upstate can be seen through winter trees.
Two whale-tail towel hooks protrude from a tree near the hot tub — a sly reference to the thought that the massive boulders not only are whale-sized, they actually look like whales.
Nancy Orum points out fissures in the granite that could delineate a whale's mouth and lichen spots where eyes would be.
"It's part of what intrigued us about the rocks," she says of the boulders off the kitchen. "They look like two whales."
It was the Orums' hope that the living rock could be incorporated in a deck off the kitchen and dining areas, but the site forced the design of the home to be a foot and a half higher than originally planned.
"We had such a limited shelf because of the steep drive in front," Trakas says. "We were limited not only by the rock but by the terrain."
One of the modules had to be made smaller because of the rock, and the deck ended up having a gate that opened onto the top of the boulder because of the shift in floor level.
Now enclosed, the deck still has a view over the rounded granite.
"A friend calls this 'Moby Deck'," Chip Orum says with a laugh.
Most nights, the Orums eat on the enclosed deck, which has a built-in grill, tremendous views, and fresh air breezing through windows on multiple sides.
"It's so low-key and welcoming, and it blends in so well," Trakas says of the new patio living area.
A love of entertaining prompted the inclusion of a dedicated dining room in the home plans.
The room is a visually stunning — crafted with an arched niche specially-designed for the Orums' buffet table, and a recessed ceiling painted a deep, luxurious eggplant color.
The adjacent kitchen reflects the Orums' passion for wine and cooking, with the range as a focal point, the hood of which is surrounded by a large arched window.
A handmade wine rack and display of glasses add a bit of whimsy to one side of the earth-toned room.
"This is the most creative kitchen I've worked on," Trakas says of the design process with the Orums. "They were very savvy and ahead of their time in their ideas ... it was a beautiful marriage of designing in harmony."
Trakas sees the Orums' vision reflecting not only Wright's desire to blend with landscape but a good dose of Japanese influence as well, especially in the home's form and its clean lines.
"They were not going to sacrifice beauty to add upper cabinets," Trakas says of the views from the kitchen.
Outside the windows around the range, the large canopy of a mature oak growing from the hillside is visible.
Trakas is heartened that the tree is still there, as oaks of that size are unusual so far up the slope, he says.
The upward angled view of the oak from the kitchen window is a great example of the "continuation of the exterior landscape" in the home.
The house is really best seen from the side, where the slope is visible, Trakas adds.
Lacking upper cabinets, a large pantry was added to the kitchen plans, which has a reclaimed restaurant door sheathed in stainless steel, echoing the Sub-Zero next to it.
The Orums keep everything from small appliances and their icemaker to canned goods in the pantry, which helps limit clutter in the kitchen.
A mudroom off the kitchen has a stand-up desk, for sorting mail and other tasks.
"Many of these ideas we've seen in other places or had in the houses we've lived in," Nancy Orum says.
One feature that's worked for them in other houses is situating the laundry room directly off the master bedroom closet.
Ease and efficiency is repeated in their choice to replace bedroom furniture with a large shelving area behind mirrored doors within their closet for clothes that would normally be stowed in a dresser.
"They were far ahead of the curve on that," Trakas says. "No one wants furniture in the master bedroom these days."
A curved glass block wall sparkling with sunlight dominates the master bath, clearly delineating a large shower area that has views into the trees outside.
Trakas adds, "This house has such life to it, a real dynamic that is a reflection of the people who live here."


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It's time for Round 2 of One Crafty Contest!
Here are this week's entries, listed in the order they were submitted, all made with the help of a little {or a lot of} MOD PODGE! Take a look at each entry and then vote for up to five of your favorites using the link tool at the bottom of the post.
***PLEASE pay attention to where the "vote" is located, ABOVE each project. Also, be sure you click on "vote." Clicking on the photo or the name of the project does NOT register your vote.***
Enjoy these fabulous ideas…I know I am!
When Amy revealed the main ingredient for this challenge I knew right away I wanted to make over a pair of shoes! It's something I've never done before and I thought this was the perfect opportunity to branch out of my comfort zone and try something new. I've had this pair of Steve Madden wedges for close to seven years and even though I haven't worn them for the last three, I haven't been able to part with them because they are seriously one of the most comfortable shoes I have ever worn. Which makes them the perfect candidate for this makeover. I found the gray linen fabric in my craft supply and paired it with a contrasting floral print (Tempo Mambo to be exact). I used Fabric Mod Podge to adhere the fabric to the shoes, then adorned them with a fabric flower and thumb tack studs to give them a little an edgy look. The makeover was a success and I can't wait to wear my favorite shoes again!
ENTRY C: "Timeless Memories" Clock
It could be the location of your first date, your wedding, your honeymoon or where your child was born, let those memories remain 'timeless' forever. Grab a map and a clock. Replace the clock front with your map and seal it with Mod Podge. Take it a step further and add a bead {yes, I am referencing beads again, does that get me extra credit} or a pin to the exact location you want to remain timeless. Put your clock back together and enjoy. No matter how much time has passed, cherish all your memories.
ENTRY D: Photo Coat Rack
There are so many possibilities that you can do with Mod Podge, but one of my all-time favorite projects is working with glass tiles. As many ideas as I had, I wanted to make a project that was really "me", and I kept coming back to my tiles. But with as small as glass tiles are… I knew I needed to go bigger for this challenge.
88 times bigger, to be precise. 🙂
ENTRY G: Family Circle Kitchen Table
It was my first time getting to really use Mod Podge for a craft purpose rather than using it for glue. It was so much fun. I came across a frame online that had a floral pattern to it and I knew I wanted to make something just like it. I decided on a chalkboard for my office last minute. I just went and bought a cheap plastic frame that was poster board size and removed everything besides the frame and took my fabric that I found at JoAnn's and cut it into strips and Mod Podge it to the plastic frame. And then took the frame backing and painted some chalkboard paint over it then sanded it. It turned out better than I had expected and I have another way of using this technique for another Anthropologie Knock off! What can I say? I love Mod Podge!


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1. Perfection Is Required!
You're not perfect, so something's wrong with you, right? Most teenage girls long to be perfect, when perfection is really the absence of reality. Advertisements yell silently – yet so violently, "Get the perfect hair you've always wanted!" or "Fit into these perfect jeans!" If we are spending every penny trying to be perfect, then when will we have the time to actually be perfect? We need to live our lives knowing perfection is impossible, but that being who we are is real. When we are ourselves, our thoughts will consist more about others, rather than focusing selfishly on trying to reach personal perfection – which is completely impossible. God made you with a freckle on your right arm because it was His way of saying "You're different" and "You're incredible!"


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myVermont.gov Account
Not Logged In
March 06, 2013
Trout Unlimited's MadDog Chapter announces year three of their fly fishing camp for Vermont teens ages 13 to 16. Teens interested in either learning the art of fly-fishing or improving their basic skill level along side some of Vermont's most accomplished fly anglers, are invited to apply. The 2013 camp is scheduled for Sunday June 23th through Thursday June 27th at Quimby Country Lodge & Cottages, in Averill, Vermont.
Vermont Fish & Wildlife Commissioner Pat Berry supports TU's educational efforts. "TU's Fly Fishing Camp for Teens is an incredible opportunity for twelve young anglers and is dedicated to educating our next generation of fly fishermen and women to help ensure that our precious cold water fisheries here in Vermont will be taken care of well into the future."
Participants in the 5 day/4 night comprehensive program will learn and practice casting, basic fly tying, knot craft, insect identification and imitation (entomology), fish identification and behavior (ichthyology) safe wading techniques, angling ethics and coldwater conservation. Campers will hone their skills on local lakes, ponds and streams, including the Connecticut River.
Our host, Quimby Country, (www.quimbycountry.com) is Vermont's oldest sporting lodge and has been in continuous operation since 1894. Located in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom on Forest Lake and Great Averill Pond, Quimby's is a short 15-minute drive from the Connecticut River.
Prospective campers are encouraged to apply no later than April 15 to secure a spot for this year's program. The cost for the 5-day camp is $425. Scholarships may be available on an "as-needed" basis.
Trout Unlimited is a non-profit organization that has dedicated over 50 years to the conservation, protection and restoration of North America's cold-water fisheries and watersheds.
For information about the TU Fly Fishing Camp and a video of the camp, go to www.vermonttroutcamp.com or e-mail Ray Daigle, camp director, at firstname.lastname@example.com, or call Ray at 802-793-2819. You can also catch us on the Vermont Outdoor Journal on Vermont Public Television on April 16.
Source: Department of Fish and Wildlife
Last Updated at: March 06, 2013 08:25:53


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Visiting a BNI meeting is the best way to find out what we're all about.
Please enter your address, town or postcode in the box below and click on the "Find" button to see the BNI groups nearest to you. Then simply click on the BNI icons and towns shown on the local map to reveal the contact details for you to arrange your visit.
Need help finding your nearest BNI meeting?
Please email: email@example.com
Established BNI Group
Pre-Launch BNI Group
Potential BNI Group (Waiting List)
BNI Regions in the UK


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Event: Actress and classical dancer Hema Malini is clicked performing spectacularly at the day 2 of 'Jaya Smriti 2012'.
Guest List: Hema Malini
Bollywood celeb Aamir Khan along with wife Kiran Rao were spotted at PVR.
Bollywood producers-directors Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Krishan Kumar, Ravi Bahl, Divya Khosla Kumar, Sajid Nadiadwala, Wardha Nadiadwala celebrate diwali with Bhushan Kumar
Bollywood celebs Kareena Kapoor Khan, Malaika Arora, Sonali Bendre, Nimrat Kaur among others were snapped by paparazzi.Bebo looked super cool in a casual look. She wore a white t-shirt with yoga pants...
Bollywood actress Shama Sikander celebrated Diwali festival at her residence.
Bollywood celebs Aamir Khan, Zaira Wasim, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Sanya Malhotra, Anil Kapoor, Nitesh Tiwari, Aparshakti Khurrana, Bhushan Kumar, Javed Akhtar, Shabana Azmi, Sachin Tendulkar, Rajkumar Hir...


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You wouldn't guess it by looking at the 2013 season, but Browns vs. Jaguars may be the most fascinating rivalry of either team's expansion era.
This is where football goes pfffft, when networks televise games because courts enforce contracts.
Two hanging chads in the 2013 campaign, 4-7 vs. 2-9.
No winning seasons between them since Grady Sizemore was a rising baseball star.
Zero appearances in any Super Bowl.
Two of the four most recent expansion teams, adrift.
One can make the case that Jacksonville at Cleveland is a nothing game. Tune in, just in case.
This series has been something. Behold some of the games they have played.
• Oct. 22, 1995, in Ohio. Less than three months after Jacksonville debuted in Canton as a first-year expansion team, the Jaguars beat a Browns team coming off a playoff season. The Browns fell to 3-5. The bloom was off the Belichick.
• Dec. 24, 1995, in Florida. A matter of days after the game just mentioned, the awful news broke: The Browns were being hijacked to Baltimore. The Christmas Eve game at Jacksonville was the last one played by the original Browns. It was a grim-as-could-be 24-21 loss to the Jags.
• Dec. 19, 1999, in Ohio. Tom Coughlin's Jaguars were all grown up, on their way to a 14-2 finish. The Browns were back, with Coughlin's former offensive coordinator, Chris Palmer, as their head coach.
Cleveland came in with a 2-12 record but put up a good fight, even after a Tony Brackens sack left No. 1 overall draft pick Tim Couch with a broken leg in the closing moments of the first half.
Shortly before Couch went down, the Browns had the ball, driving away from the Dawg Pound, when referee Jeff Triplette caught guard Jeff Bundren in a false start. Triplette put too much mustard on the flag as he threw it ... into the eye of Orlando Brown.
The 350-pound right tackle became furious, staggering around in a rage, eventually pushing Triplette to the ground. The crowd was going ballistic even before more penalty flags flew toward Brown.
A serious eye injury knocked Brown out of football, and he did not play again until 2003. Brown, known as "Zeus," died in 2011.
The Browns lost the game 24-14.
• Dec. 3, 2000, in Florida. It doesn't take much to get Tom Brady to sarcastically recall that in the 2000 draft he was drafted after the Browns spent a Round 6 pick on quarterback Spergon Wynn.
Wynn's career as an NFL starter included exactly one start, in this game.
His first series was promising. He handed off to Travis Prentice for a 17-yard gain. Then he scrambled up the middle for 27 yards.
It was downhill from there. He passed for 17 yards in a 48-0 defeat that sealed Palmer's fate.
• Dec. 16, 2001, in Ohio. The game was a sellout, and there were no empty seats. The Browns were in a dogfight against Jacksonville with a chance to improve to 7-6.
That record would have been great in 2013, but in 2001 it was the cusp of playoff elimination. The mood grew desperate when Mike Hollis kicked a field goal to give Jacksonville a 15-10 lead with three minutes left.
But wait. There went Couch, passing the Browns to a fourth-and-2 at the Jacksonville 12 with a minute left.
Couch seemed to complete a pass to Quincy Morgan for a first down. A euphoric roar turned angry when Morgan was ruled to have lost control.
Debris began to fly from the Dawg Pound. Soon it rained from all quadrants as the officiating crew sprinted the length to the exit tunnels, bobbing and weaving.
Jacksonville's tainted 15-10 victory is remembered as "Bottlegate."
• Dec. 8, 2002, in Florida. The Browns were on the verge of falling to 6-7 — playoff death.
Jacksonville led 17-14 with 90 seconds left and the Browns pinned in a second-and-22 on their own 31. It was hopeless when Couch threw an interception, leading to a field goal.
Coach Coughlin feared Browns return man André Davis and ordered Danny Boyd to squib kick. The decision was one reason Coughlin was fired a several weeks later.
Couch had only 47 seconds, good field position, and no timeouts. Time was almost gone when, from the 50, Couch heaved up a prayer that landed in Quincy Morgan's hands with triple- zeroes on the clock.
The 21-20 victory led to a playoff spot.
From 1999-2001, the Browns and Jaguars faced each other twice a year, as fellow members of the AFC Central. Realignment in 2002 ended the regular rivalry, but the teams are crossing paths for the sixth time in the last nine seasons.
The more recent games usually have meant something, albeit not always anything conventional.
• In 2008, winning 23-17 at Jacksonville had Romeo Crennel on a 3-1 hot streak, offsetting an 0-3 start. There was hope the previous year's 10-6 finish wasn't a fluke. It was soon gone, and so was Crennel.
• On Jan. 3, 2009, beating the Jags 23-17 gave Eric Mangini a fourth straight win to finish the season. A loss would have given him a 4-12 record, and maybe new president Mike Holmgren would have fired him.
• On Nov. 21, 2010, Peyton Hillis caught six passes for 95 yards to help build a lead, but Colt McCoy kept playing on a sprained ankle and the game got away. So did Mangini's job, partly because this loss wrecked any playoff hopes.
• On Nov. 20, 2011, the Browns stalled quarterback Blaine Gabbert just short of the goal line in the final seconds. A 14-10 win put Pat Shurmur at 4-6, which, looking back, is where he peaked.
The Jaguars are back in town. A win puts the Browns at 5-7, for what that's worth.
The entertainment value in this series usually has been worth ... something.


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Hey there guys
I am running Windows Xp. Just would like to know if there is a program that can tell me exactly what is eating my bandwidth. SO I can stop it immediatlly.
Thanks guys
ethereal will do it. It is a packet captuing program that will show you all incomming/out going packets in real time. Just start it up, and dont do anything on the internet and see if traffic is flowing. you can also do a netstat -a to see what ports are open. Chances are its some type of malware if it just a bandwidth problem. or just a slow connection.
alwyas remember, the speed your ISP gives you is the MAX POSSIBLE not neccessarily what you will be getting all the time. and if you are judging your bandwidth becasue you can download fast off p2p programs then remeber that it will only download as fast as the other can upload it.
Everyone is going to die, I am just as good of a reason as any.
Hi Cider,
This has a free trial...it's probably more than you need but it should tell you what applications are eating your bandwidth...
Application-wise Bandwidth Distribution
These reports show you bandwidth usage per application, giving instant visibility into which applications are using up maximum bandwidth.
Bandwidth Monitoring with NetFlow Analyzer
Too much ?
A bit of a strange way to figure out what is eating your bandwith.
But kerio gives a full report on both the in out and relative connections on your system. Including what they are connecting too how much data they already collected and all that good stuff.
But if you already have a firewall its a bit useless
Since the beginning of time, Man has searched for the answers to the big questions: \'How did we get here?\' \'Is there life after death?\' \'Are we alone?\' But today, in this very theatre, you will be asked to answer the biggest question of them all...WHO LIVES IN A PINEAPPLE UNDER THE SEA?
There are a couple of ways to go about it. It depends on your setup. If you are just using one computer connected to a broadband or dial up account... the utilities mentioned above should work fine.
If you are troubleshooting a larger network... then
You can place a linux box between your internet connection and your hosts. Route all traffic through the linux box and run the "iptraf", etherape and ehthereal utilities. That'll give you all the info you could ever want about your traffic flow.
etherape: visual representation about what type of traffic, and which hosts create the most.
iptraf: ip traffic statistics
ethereal: very flexible packet capture program
I'd use iptraf and ethereape to get a visualization on which hosts are generating the traffic. Then I'd look at the packet capture from that host. Then I can start tracing backwards on the host itself... netstat, fport, task manager.
Egaladeist: Looks like a pretty nifty utility... however... its rather expensive. They do have a 30day trial... which is nice.... but if you get hooked... you'll have to start some 419 scams to pay the bill.
Quitmzilla is a firefox extension that gives you stats on how long you have quit smoking, how much money you\'ve saved, how much you haven\'t smoked and recent milestones. Very helpful for people who quit smoking and used to smoke at their computers... Helps out with the urges.
Thanks guys
Im going to try Egaladeist post however i will try all. i do have Kerio so I will also try that.
thanks you very much for your time and effort. Its a pleasure to be on with you guys.
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Greetings and love to all!
We are excited to announce our first release for 2014, "Love Is Stronger",a new tune from the legendary Viceroys.
A1 - The Viceroys - Love Is Stronger Than Hate
B1 - Zvuloon Dub System – Dub Is Stronger
1x 7" vinyl 45 RPM
Audio samples available here:
https://soundcloud.com/zds1/sets/love-i ... e-viceroys
The legendary Viceroys return with a new single, "Love Is Stronger Than Hate". The new 7" will be released on the "Med.Tone Records" label in January 25, 2014.
It is Israeli/Jamaican collaboration with lyrics written by Wesley Tinglin from the Viceroys over an original riddim by "Zvuloon Dub System". The song was produced by Asaf and Ilan Smilan and backed by Israeli roots reggae band "Zvuloon Dub System".
On the flip side you'll find a heavy dub version from Zvuloon Dub System, mixed live on desk by the Smilan brothers.
Record store owners / record distributors,
We'll pressing the new Viceroys 7" next week.
Please contact us now for sound samples, info and prices.
Med.Tone Records


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k-means (also known as Lloyd's algorithm) is probably the most well known clustering algorithm, and as such, deserves some discussion of its own. We've already seen that it's part of the "I don't like you" family of clustering formulations. How does the method work ?
We start with a set of points in R^d. The algorithm is really simple: Fix a collection of k centers. Now perform the following alternating optimization till you reach a steady state: (1) assign each point to its nearest center (2) for each group of points assigned to the same center, compute a new center by taking the centroid of the points.
More importantly, what problem does this algorithm solve ? The quick answer is: none ! Yes, that's right: k-means gives no answer with any provable guarantee for a generic set of points for any cost measure. Pretty dismal, isn't it ? And yet, it's a really popular algorithm, a state of affairs that generally drives theoreticians to tears. So what's the deal ? The answer, as always, lies in the details, and is a good story of how theoretical work has managed to make some sense of an algorithm that was notoriously hard to analyze properly.
The underlying problem that k-means attempts to solve is the one I mentioned in the last post: let a cluster cost be the sum of squared distances to the cluster center, and minimize the sum of cluster costs over all k-clusterings. Now here are some of the bad things that we CAN say about k-means:
Next up: hierarchical methods...
Running Time:
So what about the quality of the results produced ? One unspecified aspect of the k-means algorithm is how the initial set of k centers is created. Two recent works have indicated that the key to extracting good performance from k-means is by being very careful with this initial choice.The idea is very neat, and really should be getting more play in the experimental community than I think it does.
Recall the Gonzalez algorithm for the k-center problem: pick a point, and then its furthest neighbor, and then the point whose closest neighbor in this set is as far as possible, and so on. Consider the following randomized variant:
- It might take exponential time to converge, even in the plane
- It can get stuck in a local minimum that has an arbitrarily bad cost.
Running Time:
Let's first consider the problem of guaranteeing running time. Although k-means can take exponential time to converge, a smoothed complexity result says that w.h.p, a perturbed input will converge in polynomial time (for those not familiar with the concept, the smoothed complexity of a problem is its (expected) running time after the inputs have been perturbed randomly by a small amount). The smoothed complexity results suggest one reason why k-means converges quickly "in practice". The kinds of careful constructions (high dimensional, and low dimensional) needed to force super polynomial convergence times are very artificial.
A crucial initialization:
So what about the quality of the results produced ? One unspecified aspect of the k-means algorithm is how the initial set of k centers is created. Two recent works have indicated that the key to extracting good performance from k-means is by being very careful with this initial choice.The idea is very neat, and really should be getting more play in the experimental community than I think it does.
Recall the Gonzalez algorithm for the k-center problem: pick a point, and then its furthest neighbor, and then the point whose closest neighbor in this set is as far as possible, and so on. Consider the following randomized variant:
Pick the next candidate center with probability proportional to its minimum distance squared from the current set of clusters.Papers by Arthur and Vassilvitski, and by Ostrovksy, Rabani, Swamy and Schulman both show that this simple seeding strategy allows for provable guarantees on the quality of the solution returned by k-means. The actual results are slightly different, and give two different views of the behaviour of the algorithm:
- The Ostrovsky et al paper starts with the assumption that the point set is epsilon-separated: the intuition behind this definition is that the cost of a k-clustering is significantly better than the cost of a (k-1)-clustering (controlled by a parameter epsilon). Under these conditions, they show that the initial seeding gives a PTAS for the clustering problem.
I'm eliding a number of details about their algorithm. One interesting feature of their algorithm is what they do after the initial seeding: rather than run Lloyd's iterative step, they fix a radius around each center (different for each center) and compute the centroid of the portion of the set within this ball. They also use a more complicated procedure to convert this into a PTAS, and in my mind that makes their approach a lot less practical.
- The Arthur/Vassilvitski paper starts with the same initialization procedure, but they assume no epsilon-separation result. Their algorithm is simply: run the initialization, and then run regular k-means. The guarantee they get is weaker (a log k approximation ratio), but they also provide empirical results showing the superiority of their approach compared to standard k-means. I think it'd be interesting to compare their approach with the 'ball k-means' approach by Ostrovsky et al to see which work better on benchmark data sets.
Another pleasing property of the k-means algorithm is its relationship to mixture modelling and the EM algorithm. I'll have more to say about EM later on, but the gist of the matter is this: The twin steps of finding new centroids and assigning points to nearest neighbours have direct analogs in the world of maximum likelihood concepts and distribution-generated data. There is a general procedure that takes a given exponential family (Gaussian, Poisson and the like), and generates a distance function d such that the density described by the distribution can be expressed as exp(-d(x, mu)), where mu is the mean of the distribution, and x is the point whose probability we're evaluating. ML folks will recognize the Bregman distances here, and the punchline is that for Gaussian distributions, the corresponding distance function is squared Euclidean distance (the exact function used in the k-means evaluation).
What does this all mean ? It means that the k-means process has a semantic meaning in the context of clustering data drawn from a mixture of Gaussians: what's even neater is that a k-means-like algorithm works for data drawn from other distributions, as long as you replace squared Euclidean distance by the appropriate (Bregman) distance function.
Apart from the simplicity of the algorithm, there are some aspects that make it attractive, regardless of lack of guaranteed bounds. From a heuristic-design standpoint, k-means is a particularly atractive example of a technique that's often called alternating optimization.
- I was asked if there were standard data sets for benchmarking clustering algorithms. I don't often see papers doing this in a systematic manner, but a good source of data sets for experimentation is the UCI Machine Learning Repository: there aren't too many clustering data sets, but they can be found here (look for clustering under the default task).


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Asus Xonar Xense Premium Gaming Audio Set Review
It's actually quite astonishing when you consider all the product lines that Asus offers: laptops, netbooks, slim media PCs, desktops, servers, monitors, graphics cards, sound cards, routers, computer cases... the list literally goes on. What gives me a slight expression of disbelief is the range of target markets, from hard core overclockers, to young school children, average 'noobs' and families, business elite, and science 'boffins' pushing the boundaries of research. The proliferation of Asus' products throughout households and businesses around the world proves this is no "jack of all trades, master of none" company. It's among the top five computer manufacturers in the world.
The same world that has gone Hi-Def crazy, with consumers tripping over each other for the latest TV technology; I still find it strange that most people either have a very poor or mediocre sound system or simply use the TV's built-in speakers. People can hear the difference between a cheap sound setup and high-end system, but it's as though people have forgotten about sound quality.
Well, I'll tell you who hasn't forgotten: Asus, with its solid line of high-end sound cards which perform spectacularly for listening to music and as part of a computer-based home cinema. The Xonar Xense One builds on the success of the Xonar Essence STX, featuring the same headphone amplifier, but this time a modified Sennheiser PC 350 headset is included as part of the package. As I have previously reviewed the Xonar Essence STX, I have high hopes and expectations for the Xonar Xense One, but wonder what changes Asus have made to tailor this sound card for gaming. I am also intrigued to find out how Sennheiser PC 350 performs alongside it, and how it compares to other headphones and headsets.
Closer Look:
You might have wondered what a "Premium Gaming Audio Set" consists of. Well, you can immediately see on the front of the box a picture of the Asus Xonar Xense One sound card, and the Sennheiser PC 350 headset through the transparent plastic side section of the box. Some of the key features are stated or shown as a logo here as well as on the back of the box. For example: precision acoustics for FPS games, 118 dB SNR, ergonomic headset, Dolby Headphone, and Dolby Digital Live, amongst others.
The left side of the box list some of the technical specifications of the sound card and headset. It's quite nice to see that Asus have even included information on DACs used on the sound card and the distortion of the headset. I like audio gear, and usually, I'd have to look this information up myself. If you don't know or care about these specs, it's basically very reassuring that they are worth printing on the box. The whole right side of the box is the clear plastic inner packaging.
The top and bottom of the box don't reveal any more product information, aside from the serial and part numbers.
The front of the box has a flap that opens upwards to reveal detailed explanations of the key features and sound card connectivity. The lower part has a windowed section, where you can see the sound card EMI shield, along with lists of the contents and system requirements. Sliding off the outer cardboard box presents you with the sound card and headset inside the transparent plastic packaging.
So here's what you get: the Xonar Xense One sound card, Sennheiser PC 350 headset, Quick Start Guide, a driver/manual CD, 7.1 audio breakout cable, 1/4" to 3.5mm stereo jack adapter, and a TOSLINK digital audio adapter.
The breakout cable uses a DVI type connector to separate the analogue audio outputs (front left/right, rear left/right, center/sub, side left/right), as there isn't really room on the sound card to fit all the 3.5mm stereo sockets. I actually cringed when I saw the DVI connector, as non-standardly using a DVI connector for audio will inevitably cause consumer confusion at some point, but having a breakout cable like this allows you to use high-end audio interconnect cables with chunky-bodied 3.5mm jacks. The 1/4" to 3.5mm jack adaptor lets you use audio cables, microphones, and headphones/headsets with 3.5mm jacks. Finally, the TOSLINK adaptor allows you to connect a standard optical S/PDIF cable to the optical digital audio output of the sound card.


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CLAAS forage harvesting | Dual-purpose wagons CARGOS 8500-8300
- Powerful carrier vehicle with stable chassis concept and tapered design
- High-performance metering roller module; can be removed quickly and conveniently
- LED work lights
- A choice of 22.5" or 26.5" tyres is available
- Slimline drawbar with a wide pickup for maximum manoeuvrability and stability
- Convenient operation via CLAAS OPERATOR or COMMUNICATOR II
- Load weight indicator
- Modular axle bracket design
- Knife carriers with robust double-bladed knives
- Removable loading and cutting assembly
Highly efficient.
Three rotor segments are attached to the rotor casing and bolted together – that means if damage occurs, only the damaged segment needs to be replaced.
Ample space.
Blade holders swing out hydraulically and the scraper floor swivels 90° downwards for convenient knife changing.
Permanently razor-sharp.
Because the grinding angle is always correct, the scallop pattern is maintained, thereby extending the service life of the knives. This means you can keep cutting for longer than with conventionally ground knives.
Using the AQUA NON STOP COMFORT wet grinding technique, you can sharpen all standard knives very efficiently, while giving them a longer edge life as well.
|Loading volume (DIN)
|With medium compression
|41.5 m3
|82 m3
|35.5 m3
|71 m3
|30 m3
|60 m3
- High-quality spare and remanufactured parts and a select range of accessories are available for each and every CLAAS machine.Service + Parts
- The user-friendly and intuitive portal from FIRST CLAAS USED offers you a wide choice of attractive, used machines.FIRST CLAAS USED
- Tractor rangeWith intelligent technology that gets the most out of the engine, not the tank.Further information


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Bringing 24/7 Home Security to New York!
With around-the-clock video surveillance, seeing is believing
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Kim O'Hara wrote:In support of this position: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.htmlreflection wrote:... following the dhamma already makes the current life better, not only potential next lifes. I for example prefer meditation over money, rebirth or no rebirth. A lot of people think and experience this way.
Nice, I forgot about that one.
Let me quote it here:
With regard to this, a wise person considers thus: 'If there is the next world, then this venerable person — on the break-up of the body, after death — will reappear in the good destination, the heavenly world. Even if we didn't speak of the next world, and there weren't the true statement of those venerable brahmans & contemplatives, this venerable person is still praised in the here-&-now by the wise as a person of good habits & right view: one who holds to a doctrine of existence. If there really is a next world, then this venerable person has made a good throw twice, in that he is praised by the wise here-&-now; and in that — with the break-up of the body, after death — he will reappear in the good destination, the heavenly world. Thus this safe-bet teaching, when well grasped & adopted by him, covers both sides, and leaves behind the possibility of the unskillful.


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EDMONTON, Canada — With a daughter to feed, no job and $200 in the bank, Detroit pipe fitter Scott Zarembski boarded a plane on a one-way ticket to this industrial capital city.
He'd heard there was work in western Canada. Turns out he'd heard right. Within days he was wearing a hard hat at a Shell oil refinery 15 miles away in Fort Saskatchewan. Within six months he had earned almost $50,000. That was 2009. And he's still there.
"If you want to work, you can work," said Zarembski, 45. "And it's just getting started."
U.S. workers, Canada wants you.
Here in the western province of Alberta, energy companies are racing to tap the region's vast deposits of oil sands. Canada is looking to double production by the end of the decade. To do so it will have to lure more workers — tens of thousands of them — to this cold and sparsely populated place. The weak U.S. recovery is giving them a big assist.
Canadian employers are swarming U.S. job fairs, advertising on radio and YouTube and using headhunters to lure out-of-work Americans north. California, with its 10.2% unemployment rate, has become a prime target. Canadian recruiters are headed to a job fair in the Coachella Valley next month to woo construction workers idled by the housing meltdown.


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Reliable Chevy TV
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Springfield Chevy Dealer
Welcome to Reliable Chevrolet
Reliable Chevrolet was purchased in the fall of 1967, back when bell bottoms and long sideburns were all the rage. Many things have changed since our start, from fashion to car design, but one thing remains the same: Our Chevy dealership in Springfield, Missouri, is still considered one of the best in the area! Visit today to check out the 2017 Camaro, Equinox, Impala, Sonic, Silverado and other new Chevy cars, trucks and SUVs!About Reliable Chevrolet
Find a New or Used Car at Reliable Chevy
When we say we will not be undersold, it is not just some marketing slogan - it's a fact. Our sheer size gives us the ability to house a large selection of cars, and having a high volume of inventory means we can often deliver deals that our competitors can't. When shopping for new Chevy cars in Springfield, or near Marshfield and Branson, come to us first and you won't be disappointed with the broad selection of vehicles we offer.
Our Springfield Chevy dealership is home to award-winning models like the ever popular 2018 Silverado and Colorado - perfect options for truck shoppers who want dependable, hard-working pickups that can handle nearly any job with ease. In addition, cars like the Spark and Sonic are popular with the green crowd and others who desire fuel-efficient performance in a stylish package, while muscle car shoppers will be thrilled by the enviable Camaro and Corvette!
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Because purchasing a new or new-to-you vehicle is an investment that shouldn't be taken lightly, we've made it our mission to properly educate customers on their finance and lease options. When combined with Reliable's dealership discounts, you could have the car you've been longing for without taking a financial hit. In fact, we dare you to compare our selection and prices to any other Chevy dealer in Springfield - we're that confident in what we have to offer! Our finance department is here to help you get a new car, truck or SUV with payments that fit your budget and ensure your financial security. You can even start the credit process using a confidential online application.
Visit our Chevy dealership in Springfield soon to take advantage of current purchasing offers or to get your next oil change! Whatever your automotive needs are, Reliable's team of friendly, knowledgeable and skilled professionals can assist you. Our dedication to go above and beyond to exceed customer expectations is unmatched and it's why so many locals have made us their premier Springfield Chevy dealer. At Reliable Chevy, we are proud to offer a wide selection of new Chevy cars, trucks and SUVs. We also have plenty of used cars for sale too, so make sure you check them out as well. Find a Chevy dealer near me here.
Reliable Chevrolet
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Directions Springfield, MO 65807
- Phone: 844-868-3132
- Monday 8:00 am - 8:00 pm
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Posted by jessica on
Warm Up Your Winter at Our Staff's Favorite Hideaways
Winter in Northern California means cool, bright days and crisp, chilly evenings. It also means always having a great excuse to duck into someplace cozy for a pick-me-up. From fire-lit bars, to brick-oven-warmed bakeries, to restaurants chock-full of cozy ambiance, we asked the staff at our seven Norcal hostels for their favorite local spots to warm up. Read on for their picks, and get ready to settle in for the winter.


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Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice "brings gravitas" and would be a "qualified" vice presidential candidate, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said Wednesday on CNBC.
"She is a good friend. I'm a big fan of Condi Rice. She brings a lot of gravitas to whatever situation she can," he said in an appearance on "The Kudlow Report."
Pressed to say whether he was endorsing the former Bush administration official for the spot, Cantor demurred.
"I think — I think there are a lot of people that are qualified," he said. "Certainly she'd be qualified."
Rice, for her part, has said she would not take the job.
"I know what I'm not cut out to do," she said, according to a story on NBC Bay Area.
A recent CNN poll found that Rice topped the list of possible names to run alongside presumed Republican nominee Mitt Romney, with 26 percent of poll respondents making her their top pick. Former Sen. Rick Santorum followed, with 21 percent.
Cantor previously expressed support for Gov. Bob McDonnell, a fellow Virginian.
Asked by host Larry Kudlow whether Romney should pick a running mate well in advance, Cantor said it was the former Massachusetts governor's choice.


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Please complete the following form to be added to the waitlist for the U.S. Amateur Match Play: Interlocken. Any spots that become available will be given to players in the order they are received. You must be on-site at check-in time to claim your spot. If a spot becomes available before the day of the tournament, you will be notified by the tournament director via email.
NOTE: Please be sure to use a valid email address and phone number. If the TD cannot get a hold of you, you will NOT get your spot!


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Chris Brewer, Super Duty Chief Nameplate Engineer
Click here to download related images.
Customers for years have turned to the Ford F-Series Super Duty as the right work truck for the most demanding work. In short, it's the right tool for the job.
Like the new 2011 F-Series Super Duty, Chris Brewer is the right choice as the vehicle's chief engineer. His background includes degrees in engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and business from The Wharton School (University of Pennsylvania), plus he's a native of Texas – the epicenter of tough trucks.
"Yeah, yeah, I sound like a Super Duty commercial," Brewer said with a laugh. "But I really enjoy being part of the Super Duty team. No other Ford vehicle has such a diverse set of customers – retail, 'fleet-tail,' fleet and commercial accounts – who buy a wide range of trucks from work trucks to chassis cabs to high-end Lariat and King Ranch® pickups."
Serving all those customers in a challenging economic environment isn't easy, but Brewer draws on his acumen in engineering and business to help deliver the best Super Duty possible. He started his career at Ford on the business side, working as a product planning analyst between his first and second years in business school.
"I found that I really enjoyed working on what's easily the world's most complex consumer product, and came back to Ford full-time after business school," Brewer said.
Super Duty attributes mirror engineer's talents
Brewer stays busy away from Ford watching and coaching his kids' soccer games, going to a park or pool with his family or heading out to a baseball game. He has been to more than 30 Major League parks (past and present) and hopes to get to all of them someday.
In his spare time, Brewer also plays duplicate bridge, a form of bridge where skill, rather than luck of the draw, determines success: just like the new Super Duty.
"Super Duty customers are diverse and demanding," Brewer said. "They absolutely depend
on them for their livelihood – in many cases it's literally their office. The 2011 Super Duty has more capability than ever before and is ready to exceed the expectations of our customers."
on them for their livelihood – in many cases it's literally their office. The 2011 Super Duty has more capability than ever before and is ready to exceed the expectations of our customers."
Brewer lives in Ann Arbor, Mich., with his wife and four children – three girls and a boy ranging in age from 8 to 3. He describes himself as low-key but intense, and someone who likes to have fun while getting the job done.
Sound like any trucks we know?
# # #
About Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn, Mich., manufactures or distributes automobiles across six continents. With about 198,000 employees and about 90 plants worldwide, the company's automotive brands include Ford, Lincoln, Mercury and Volvo. The company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company. For more information regarding Ford's products, please visit www.ford.com.
Feb. 25, 2010


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Google Drive components
The Google Drive service is made up of several components, including:
Google Drive on the web, an online interface to view your Google Drive contents.
Google Drive sync applications, which let you sync files between your Mac or Windows computer and Google Drive on the web.
Google Drive mobile apps, to access your Drive on your mobile device, at any time and any place.
- Google Drive storage plans, which provide 15 GB, 30 GB, or unlimited free storage for Google Drive, Gmail, and Google Photos. You can also purchase additional storage at very competitive rates.
Google Drive is a great place to access and create Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. These are web-based editors to create, edit, and share Google documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. There are also editors for drawings and forms. The suite of Google's web-based editors is referred to as Google Docs editors. To learn more about these editors, see Docs, Sheets, and Slides.
Google Drive and Google Docs editors are tightly integrated, but they are different apps that can be used separately, too. Although they are separate apps, as an administrator, you manage both Google Drive and Google Docs editors on the Admin console under the Drive and Docs service.


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VOTE — Western New York's Cutest Baby, Group 26 [POLL]
Joy FM is searching for Western New York's Cutest Baby! Take a look at this group's photos, then vote for your favorite in the poll at the bottom of this page. (You must be a Joy FM VIP to vote; if you're not one yet, sign up now!)
We'll be collecting votes until noon on Friday, May 10 – then we'll narrow the voting pool to the top 50 vote-getters. You can vote once per hour, so make sure to come back and help your favorite baby move on to the next round!


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| WMU News
KALAMAZOO--A select group of Western Michigan University students is participating in a newly established boot camp, preparing them for the globally recognized Cisco Certified Network Associate certification that will significantly enhance their computer networking credentials and put them on the fast track for entry-level and advanced positions in their field.
One student has completed all courses offered in WMU's new Cisco Networking Academy, passed the certification exam and received his CCNA certification. Three more students are expected to attain the same level of achievement by the end of the spring semester. They are the first to finish all courses offered by the new academy, which opened in fall 2010. Another 10 are completing the first set of classes.
"This is the certification that they can take anywhere in the world," says Dr. Pairin Katerattanakul, WMU associate professor of business information systems and the co-director of the Telecommunications and Information Management Program. "It is the worldwide standard. You can show it to anyone anywhere in the world and be a computer network administrator anywhere in the world."
Katerattanakul says anyone involved in computer networking knows about Cisco certification.
Cisco Systems Inc. is an American, multinational corporation specializing in consumer electronics, networking and communications technology and services. Its Cisco Networking Academy is a global education program that teaches students how to design, build, troubleshoot, and secure computer networks for increased access to career and economic opportunities.
Since 1997, the Cisco Networking Academy has grown from a small-scale program designed to help schools get the most out of their networking equipment to Cisco's largest corporate social responsibility program, with courses taught at more than 9,000 academies in 165 countries. More than 900,000 students develop information and communications technology skills through the program each year.
"We give students not only the knowledge about computer networking, but also show students how to use good analytical skills," Katerattanakul says. "It's not about memorizing. If a problem happens, we show them how to solve it. You have to have the analytical skills."
The test for Cisco certification is a daunting one and demonstrates a student's dedication to the field of information and communications technology. Students must attend the lab sessions on top of their normal classes. The sessions are tough, students say.
"WMU's Cisco Networking Academy classes rank among the hardest and most time-consuming and yet are the best classes I've taken at Western, which is why I've taken four of them," says Nikolette Huang Rivera, a senior majoring in electronic business design, who is taking the CCNA curriculum. She offers the following advice for those interested in the program: "Be prepared to study a lot and learn a ton of information, because graduating with a Cisco certification will open up a lot of opportunities and is worth all of the hard work."
Katerattanakul set up WMU's Cisco Networking Academy with the help of the Office of Information Technology, which donated Cisco switches and found a company to partner with for additional Cisco equipment. The company, Grand Rapids-based NETech Corp., provided Cisco routers.
The collaboration resulted in a 16-station Cisco information and communications networking laboratory in the lower level of Schneider Hall, home of the Haworth College of Business. The equipment was installed in summer 2010 and the academy opened its doors to students that fall.
The goal for students is to acquire CCNA certification. Students get together at least once a week to troubleshoot problems and prepare for the test.
"By including CCNA curriculum in our computer networking classes, our students learn computer networking concepts and then practice these concepts by using both real Cisco networking devices and Cisco simulation software," Katerattanakul says. "These hands-on experiences greatly benefit and help our students pass the CCNA exam and earn certification."
The certification is a definite plus on students' resumes, Katerattanakul says.
"For those companies focused on this type of technology, and especially Cisco partners, they want Cisco certification," he says. "They don't want to hire a student out of college and provide training. They want students who can already demonstrate the knowledge to do the work. The certification is the evidence students can provide to employers."


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Central Heat & Power Plant, Eielson Afb, Alaska 99702
Total inspections: 1
Last inspection: Aug. 12, 2005
Classification: Electric Services
Last enforcement: Unknown
Formal enforcement: 0
Informal enforcement: 0
This facility has not been out of compliance in the past 12 quarters.
*E.P.A. data reports reporting/monitoring violations, but do not indicate any actual discharge of pollutants. In most cases, required reports were not filed, which results in automatic violations.
View detailed information from the Environmental Protection Agency. Note: There are no mandated limits for power plant discharges into waterways for many common chemicals such as arsenic, lead and mercury. However some facilities are monitored for these pollutants by state regulators and report the findings to the E.P.A.


text:
28 U.S. Code Chapter 125 - PENDING ACTIONS AND JUDGMENTS
1996—Pub. L. 104–317, title II, § 203(b), Oct. 19, 1996, 110 Stat. 3850, substituted "for enforcement in other districts" for "of the district courts and the Court of International Trade" in item 1963.
1988—Pub. L. 100–702, title X, § 1002(b)(3), Nov. 19, 1988, 102 Stat. 4664, substituted "Registration of judgments of the district courts and the Court of International Trade" for "Registration in other districts" in item 1963 and repealed item 1963A "Registration of judgments of the Court of International Trade".
1980—Pub. L. 96–417, title V, § 511(b), Oct. 10, 1980, 94 Stat. 1743, added item 1963A.
1958—Pub. L. 85–689, § 1(b), (c), Aug. 20, 1958, 72 Stat. 683, substituted "CHAPTER 125—PENDING ACTIONS AND JUDGMENTS" for "CHAPTER 125—JUDGMENTS" in chapter heading and added item 1964.
LII has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references LII.


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|2012-12-14, 21:34
|Link #2541
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2011
|2012-12-14, 21:45
|Link #2542
The slacking one
Join Date: Apr 2012
So you're suggesting this is only one part of what Awai can do? I hpe so, because it feels pretty underwhleming right now, but then again, I'm no mahjong expert.
|2012-12-14, 22:01
|Link #2543
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2011
|2012-12-15, 05:50
|Link #2544
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: UK
In a normal mahjong game I'm sure Awai's ability would be pretty overwhelming and extremely annoying for the other players, but compared to the ridiculous powers we've seen in this manga it does seem rather weak. Can she really be Teru's successor with such a power?
|2012-12-15, 06:49
|Link #2545
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Dollars
Doubtful. It seems that she didn't mind the yakuman or other high score that Shindouji will be getting... if her strategy is to keep her enemy from scoring using 6-7 shanten, I don't think she would like her enemy to get high score at all.
|2012-12-15, 15:23
|Link #2547
The slacking one
Join Date: Apr 2012
I'd rather wait to see what the mahjong experts have to say, though it could be that Awai is just really good normally besides her "everyone gets bad hands" power.
Also, apparently Awai did mean the "you're so hot" part, and here I was thinking it was another case of translators overblowing things. No wonder their bond is stronger than any chain, everyone wants to NTR those two.
|2012-12-15, 16:51
|Link #2548
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Awai is probably a rather skilled player on her own, and with her power giving everyone else bad hands from the start it's the equivalent of giving her a several turn head start on completing her hand making it even easier. Yet we've only see the opening salvos, I'm fairly sure there's more to her than this. Next chapter is going to be Himeko strutting her stuff and Ryukka showing her resolve for Toki's sake.
Then likely comes Awai's true rape mode followed by the monkey making her move.
|2012-12-16, 11:49
|Link #2550
The slacking one
Join Date: Apr 2012
|2012-12-16, 12:41
|Link #2551
Critical fanboy
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Anywhere with anime and anime discussion is fine
Hmm. Shizu and Awai have more in common than I thought.
It's a showdown of 100 years ability vs 100 times speed.
Another news, it appears TokixRyuuka is similar to how a person needs daily supply of food, water, and oxygen i.e. it 100 times beyond what normal couple would ever want from each other.
Last edited by teja208; 2012-12-16 at 13:15.
|2012-12-16, 15:41
|Link #2553
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Earth
We must also remember that normally Shiraitodai should have a massive lead on everyone due to Teru. At that situation, a 5-6 shanten starting hand on the captain round would be disastrous for Awai's opponents. As her opponent would need large hands which are usually slow as hell but due to Awai's ability the only way they can squeeze a win is to go for the speedier but smaller hands. Beside that, a 5-6 shanten hand starting hand is damaging psychologically. In real life mahjong if I have that as a starting hand I'll probably lose hope in my hand and just bail defensively.
Now let's see how it would stack given Awai's opponents:
vs. Himeko
It is already shown that Mairu and Himeko's ability can circumvent Awai's ability. Of course, Himeko and Mairu's ability itself has a lot of loopholes and is a bit predictable.
vs. Ryuuka
I don't know yet. But, Ryuuka looks intense in this match. And yeah, Ryuuka and Toki really need to get married already.
vs. Shizu
You know I have a funny feeling that Awai's ability is probably one of the few abilities that Shizu can actually do good about. Awai's ability is essentially giving someone very bad starting hands. And what do we know about Shizu?
Ako said it best when she described one of Shizu's best qualities as baseless optimism. Shizu is exactly the type of person that won't quit and will push her hand through even if it is bad. Shizu won't be getting deux ex machina skill, right now it is actually possible that Shizu can score some hands by being bullheaded and not giving up. That said, I do believe that 4 out of 5, Awai will complete her hand before Shizu does - Awai does have a considerable headstart. But, the important thing is the 1 out of 5 wherein Shizu will actually have a chance. And this could be done because Shizu doesn't know when to give up.
Addendum: Of course, this will also work for any player the refuses to give up and it looks like no one in the captain match is going to lose hope anytime soon. And it would require the player to have good draws to compensate for the bad starting hand but hey some chance is better than no chance at all.
And now the match-up we are probably waiting for. How does Awai ability stack with our resident demon overlord that is waiting for her in the finals?
vs. Saki
To be honest I'm a bit disappointed in Awai's ability vs. Saki. In paper, it would be quite easy for Saki to make mincemeat of Awai's ability.
Awai has an absolute safe zone wherein due to her ability it is impossible for players to be able to build a hand within 6 turns except for Himeko and Mairu's ability which seems to circumvent it. This is frankly a bad match-up for Saki who likes to abuse the dead wall for extra turns meaning it is highly possible for Saki to make a hand within Awai's absolute safe zone. Beside that, Saki also has insanely good draws that getting to tenpai would no problem even if she has a bad starting hand.... sigh... you get the idea...
I sincerely hope that Awai has some extra abilities or the finals are not going to be exciting as I hope to be. I'm really looking forward to Shiraitodai as the final boss... Hmm... perhaps since Awai has the star theme going on for her maybe she needs to have a meteor shower or a cloudless night to show her true power or something which will coincidentally happen at the day of the finals...
If not I'm sure Ritz-sensei can arrange a minor mental breakdown for Saki again. God knows, Saki has a lot of established issues for Ritz-sensei to choose from to do her plot related nerfing. Its not like it would be out of place either, Saki having a BSOD happens at almost every match that at this point I'll be pleasantly surprised at any match wherein Saki will not have any psychological issues. Heck, with the Teru situation in the finals, I am almost expecting it.
Last edited by night_sentinel; 2012-12-16 at 16:44.
|2012-12-16, 17:18
|Link #2554
Good-Natured Asshole.
Join Date: May 2007
Age: 29
I don't think Shiraitodai will be the final boss. I don't particularly want that to happen. In fact I think the way Ritz is developing the series franchise is trying to pit the Side-A/B/C protagonists up against Saki, and Saki is due for a major BSOD upon finding out that her quest to talk with Teru on the playing board has vanished. Her real psychological issue, then, would be what she's even playing mahjong for, and whether she'll start playing even more ruthlessly than Teru as a form of revenge.
|2012-12-16, 19:12
|Link #2555
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2012
I believe Awai has another ability than this, I mean even Saki kan is actually combination of:
1) Knowing where the tile needed to get kan
2) Knowing what tile is in dead wall (is it the correct term?)
Or for closer comparison, Koromo has 3 ability:
1) Knowing how much another player hand's worth
2) Ishaten Hell (Is it the correct name?) leading to Haitei Raiouyuei (I hope I don't screwed this one)
3) Moon Power-Up
Especially because Awai is the last dealer, isn't she? So it will be much like the Vanguard match but with Awai instead of Teru...
And while people believe the Yakuman would be the tool to up the tension for Shizu, for me it is the moment Awai will shatter the dream of Shindouji (as she will interupt the Yakuman somehow), thus lead to Shizu victory (Second Position though)...
What I find worrisome is Ryuuka, does she has the will to fight? Yes she shown to have that threatening aura, but the that FunaQ worried if Ryuuka is up to it or not make me wonder...
Although if next chapter isn't the end, I can see her run to Toki after finishing East Round badly then got scold by Toki (another possible aaaangst yuri moment or heartwarming one) before returning in south round with true will to win...
Also, last night I have a very weird dream about Shizu and Awai battle...
With shizu said that she has 100 speed, my dream foresee that Shizu will use the speed to change her hand fast (as has been mentioned by someone somewhere that in her match at semifinal, Shizu ability to change from one big hand to the other one is the key to her victory)...
Now with Ako's uniform (Hey, I consider this as power-up) I bet she has an even faster speed and/or able to get an even better hand each time she change hers'...
This isn't special ability though, but pure skill...
|2012-12-16, 21:25
|Link #2556
Moderate Haruhiist
I'm thinking that people are jumping the gun in stating that Awai's ability was overhyped. People tend to forget that, from what we've seen from monster-level players so far, they don't have a single ability. In fact, a table-wide passive effect seems par for course (see Koromo and Saki, as well as Teru's phenomenal ability to bend causality to favor her).
So no, I expect our little alien has something else in her arsenal of tricks.
|mahjong, nopan, seinen, sport, yuri
|Thread Tools


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JMU shining a light on light pollution
The disappearing nighttime sky has long been an astronomers' problem. According to some studies, more than 98 percent of the population of the United States will never see the Milky Way again.
Beyond robbing us of unimpeded views of the stars and planets, however, light pollution — humans' overuse and misuse of artificial light at night — wastes energy, disrupts our circadian rhythms, threatens ecosystems and even affects our health.
Shanil Virani, assistant professor of physics and astronomy and director of the John C. Wells Planetarium at James Madison University, and Dr. Paul Bogard, author of "The End of Night: Searching for Natural Darkness in an Age of Artificial Light" (2013) and an assistant professor of English at JMU, are leading a series of events on campus and in the Harrisonburg community March 24-29 to raise awareness of light pollution and to discuss solutions.
Published: Friday, March 21, 2014
Last Updated: Wednesday, April 18, 2018