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Customer Reviews
All reviews are from people who have redeemed deals with this merchant.
October 17, 2014
· June 29, 2017
· March 29, 2017
What You'll Get
Choose from Two Options
- $14.99 for one 100-page glossy softcover book ($43.90 value)
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My Social Book automatically converts all posts, status updates, photos, and comments from Facebook and Instagram into a keepsake book. Thanks to their automated creation system, which collects Facebook posts made since 2007, users can create their books with just a few simple clicks. Click here for additional information.
The Fine Print
Promotional value expires 90 days after purchase. Amount paid never expires. Limit 1 per person. Valid only for option purchased. Online only. Must have a Facebook account. Shipping included. Merchant is solely responsible to purchasers for the care and quality of the advertised goods and services.
About My Social Book
My Social Book pulls all of your content from Facebook—photos, comments, status updates, and messages posted on your wall—and consolidates it into a single, easy-to-read book. In just a few clicks, you can create a personalized book and have it delivered directly to your door. With space for anywhere from 25 to 500 pages, every book includes a fully customizable hard or soft cover, a first-page mosaic of friends, and a double-page spread of the most-liked picture. Plus, the book is simple to follow: chapters are divided by month and year, and a two-column magazine layout ensures the content isn't mashed together. A completed book makes it easy to share experiences and memories with families and friends, especially if you keep it on the coffee table or cram it into your wallet where the pictures go.


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We see them often, but how often do we appreciate their beauty?
A word from the man himself
Kevin's Battle with CML & a Bone Marrow Transplant
Cancer chemotherapy and life
Don't ever change yourself to impress someone, cause they should be impressed that you don't change to please others -- When you are going through something hard and wonder where God is, always remember that the teacher is always quiet during a test --- Unknown
Discovering the Gift
A blog full of humorous and poignant observations.
Searching for a God who's playing hard to get.
Reports from my somewhat unusual life
The story of a completed walk for charity around a desert island in the Coral Sea
A Hong Kong blog that does a lot more than blog
I ignored the warning signs. A Heart Attack at 42. So what next?
Photography & Entrepreneur Daily Tips
An artist with an irresistible urge to create!
The thoughts in my head.
Science - Simplified
by Thomas Cochran, Known Moron
Posing questions, attempting answers.
Health Is From Heaven

subset: commoncrawl


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Your browser does not support iframes.
In my mind, I could already hear the waves and feel the breeze.
Despite gasoline rationing, no new tires in sight, and a shortage of hot dogs and hamburgers on Meatless Tuesday, we still traveled down to Myrtle Beach.
I was excited on the ride down and Mama was tryin' her best to temper my mood.
"Son, things are going to be different down there this time," she said. "With the war, there will be beach patrols watching for Nazi submarines instead of swimmers who go out too far."
from Springs Memorial Hospital
A hospital is more than a place where people go to heal; it is a part of the community that fosters health and represents hope.
From providing treatment and comfort to the sick, to welcoming new life into the world, hospitals are central to a healthy and optimistic community.
That's the message Springs Memorial Hospital hopes to convey through its celebration of National Hospital Week 2013.
Mother's Day is today, May 12, a holiday recognized nationally, thanks to a joint resolution signed by President Woodrow Wilson on May 8, 1914. That resolution designated the second Sunday in May as a day to celebrate mothers and their tireless dedication to their children and families. For one Lancaster mom, this Mother's Day will probably have much more meaning than it used to.
Patty Penegar has two children, Wylie Penegar Jr., 20, and Brooke Penegar, 16. Wylie Jr. helps her run Extreme Automotive on Lynwood Drive. Brooke is an junior at Lancaster High School.
Nancy Parsons
Landmark News Service
GREAT FALLS – Two years ago, a piece of history was uncovered in Great Falls.
"Stoney Lonesome," the old town jail, was unearthed. But now the brick building sits abandoned with weeds and bushes growing up around it.
Great Falls Mayor Don Camp says he has not abandoned the historical project. He said the weather has prevented plans to spruce up the area and make the piece of history a place people would want to visit.
Susan Singleton admits to tearing up whenever she goes to the grocery store.
Instead of lean proteins like fish or chicken, she goes for the meat that's about to expire because it's what she can afford.
Instead of brand-name products, she fills her cart with knock-off items or whatever she has coupons for. The mother of three from Columbia worries about what she is feeding her family.
"When I go to the store, I cannot buy healthy. I buy cheap," Singleton said.
With a touch of spring in the air, the shrubs, trees, and bulbs locally and across our state remind us of their beauty as they awaken from a long winter's rest. To enjoy the beauty of season as well as learn a little more about the history of our state, you don't have to travel far.
The Garden Clubs of South Carolina (GCSC) will host the third annual Follow the Blooms Tour on Saturday, April 13.
There are many events that can be categorized as milestones in life – turning 16 or 21, getting married, having a baby or reaching a 50th wedding anniversary. But turning 100 years old is a milestone that warrants a large party, a party that draws hundreds of people.
That's exactly what happened at Morningside of Lancaster on March 16. Around 300 guests showed up to celebrate Ted Robinson's 100th birthday at a party held in the parking lot on the Morningside campus.
Today, March 24
There was a time in my military life when some assignments were better than others. That's just how it works with Uncle Sam.
Just about everybody knows the government sends a GI to some awful places. It's a given there are some duty stations where the likelihood of getting shot ain't nearly as bad as others. But soldiers don't set policy, they follow orders. You go where you are sent.
It had been almost four years since my last overseas assignment.
With the not-so-happy outcomes of many modern marriages, it's welcoming news to hear of a marriage that has stood the tests of time.
George and Lola Kirkley met each other in 1937 in Jefferson when she was 16 and he was 17.
Lola, who lived in the Angelus community, was greeted by George in front of Long Branch Baptist Church in Jefferson before revival services.
Copyright © 2018
The Lancaster News is your source for local news, sports, events, and information in Lancaster County and Lancaster, South Carolina, and the surrounding area..


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Preschool Storytime
Date:Tuesday, March 27, 2018, 11:30 AM—12:00 PM
Location:Dunwoody Library
Event Type:Storytimes
Age Group:Preschool (3 to 5 years)
Stories, rhymes, fingerplays, songs, and more. Please sign in upon arrival.
Groups of 5 or more, please call branch for appointment. Open to first 25 pairs. Funding provided by the Friends of the Dunwoody Library.


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Update: The Coca-Cola Company is NOT in Discussions to Acquire Monster Beverage
This morning, The Wall Street Journal said that The Coca-Cola Company was in talks to acquire the Monster Beverage Company in what would be the company's largest acquisition to date (Monster has a market cap of over $11 billion). However, at 4PM Eastern, Coke issued a statement denying that there are any acquisition talks and simply chalked it up to standard communication that the two parties have over their existing distribution relationship. Sorry folks, no deal today…
And, as a side note, shares of Monster Beverage (MNST) traded as up to as high as $83.96 a share before finally closing at $65 (down $0.53 for the day).
Here's the full text of the release:
The Coca-Cola Company Issues Statement Regarding Media Reports Related to Monster Beverage Corporation
ATLANTA–(BUSINESS WIRE)– The Coca-Cola Company today issued the following statement regarding media reports related to Monster Beverage Corporation.
"Coca-Cola has a distribution relationship with Monster in many markets, including the United States. Therefore, we are always in contact with Monster to maximize the value of our commercial arrangements. At this time, we are not in discussions to acquire the Monster Beverage Corporation. We continue to review the best ways to maximize the value of our relationship."
The Coca-Cola Company
The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO – News) is the world's largest beverage company, refreshing consumers with more than 500 sparkling and still brands. Led by Coca-Cola, the world's most valuable brand, our Company's portfolio features 15 billion dollar brands including Diet Coke, Fanta, Sprite, Coca-Cola Zero, vitaminwater, Powerade, Minute Maid, Simply, Georgia and Del Valle. Globally, we are the No. 1 provider of sparkling beverages, ready-to-drink coffees, and juices and juice drinks. Through the world's largest beverage distribution system, consumers in more than 200 countries enjoy our beverages at a rate of 1.8 billion servings a day. With an enduring commitment to building sustainable communities, our Company is focused on initiatives that reduce our environmental footprint, support active, healthy living, create a safe, inclusive work environment for our associates, and enhance the economic development of the communities where we operate. Together with our bottling partners, we rank among the world's top 10 private employers with more than 700,000 system employees. For more information, please visit www.thecoca-colacompany.com or follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/CocaColaCo.


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- August 19: Cadillac SRX Headlight Lawsuit Fails Nationwide Class-Action Bid news | 2 days ago
- August 13: GM Air Conditioning Class-Action Lawsuit Claims Systems Fail news | 8 days ago
- July 30: Cadillac SRX Headlight Assembly Not Defective, Says GM news | 22 days ago
- July 25: General Motors Takata Airbag Recall Needed: Safety Group news | 27 days ago
- July 24: Cadillac CT6 Cars Recalled For Child Seat Restraint Issues recalls | 28 days ago
2013 Cadillac CTS
Engine Problems
2013 Cadillac CTS Engine Problems
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Thursday, June 09, 2005
Social Security and the metaphysics of ownership
We issue all future Social Security beneficiaries a certificate entitling them to a chunk of money determined according to the formula for calculating Social Security benefits each month after they pass age 65. We don't have to actually give these certificates to people -- we can just keep them all in a vault somewhere in the names of their owners. The owners will be restricted from selling them to others and pocketing the money, to make sure everybody has the stuff they need for their retirement. Now rejoice, for they have ownership of the assets that provide for them in advanced age!
Keep in mind here that it's perfectly reasonable to call someone the owner of a thing she's never seen that just sits in a bank vault, which entitles her to a stream of funds from a third party, and which she can't trade to others for spendable money. If you use your private account under the Bush plan to buy shares in an income-oriented mutual fund, that's what you own. (Actually, I don't know if there's even a paper document that realizes the property of being a mutual fund share. For stocks there are stock certificates, but mutual fund ownership might just live in a computer somewhere.)
I'd hope to build ownership-person support for a system functionally identical to the status quo with this post, but since there are no ownership people, I just wasted a half hour.
5 comments:
- Mary said...
Neil, you are my hero. This is my new life strategy..."give people the metaphysical comforts that they want...while not actually changing anything." Actually, that might be my old life strategy. Hmmm.
- Friday, June 10, 2005 2:33:00 pm
Actually, I'm pretty sure that's how it works right now. Do you remember Bush's publicity stunt where he went down to the office that held paper copies of the social security guarantee certificates, and faux-lamented that even in the 21st century all the Social Security guarantees amounted to were a bunch of pieces of paper in a filing cabinet?
- Baxil, www.tomorrowlands.org
- Friday, June 10, 2005 3:04:00 pm
- Neil Sinhababu said...
Basil, those were bonds owned by the Social Security Administration. They weren't property owned by individuals. Under the current system, I don't think any of us owns anything until the government mails us a check.
- Sunday, June 12, 2005 6:40:00 pm
- Neil Sinhababu said...
Oops sorry Baxil not Basil.
- Sunday, June 12, 2005 6:41:00 pm
- Baxil said...
Ah, thanks for the clarification.
- Saturday, June 18, 2005 1:08:00 am


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NYU Jazz Interview Series: Bill Charlap
I became a fan of Bill's piano playing when I first heard him perform with sax legend Phil Woods. As a follower of Woods' bands since the late 70s, I was familiar with many of his recordings with Hal Galper and Jim McNeely on piano. Both pianists made the group sound different, as did Bill when he took over the piano chair. Read more


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A bitch that pretends to like a dude so that she is able to go on dates. Usually this girl is pretty hot and able to trick the guy into spending money on her. When the guy begins to wonder if he is being used or if she truely likes her, she will then tell the guy that they are just friends and move on to the next mark.
Man that hot ass Tiffany bitch didn't want a dirty sandman, dirty seagull or to fuck she was just being a date whore.
by Yerby October 18, 2006
A person who must be dating someone at all times. Often moves quickly from person to person even after saying that they are the one.
by Theman10155 August 29, 2016


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You are here
Branching Out Lake Charles: Martín Espada on Pablo Neruda
The Redemption of Pablo Neruda
Date and Time:
March 25, 2006 - 3:00PM
Event Location:
Calcasieu Parish Public Library 301 W Claude Street Lake Charles, LA
At each stage of his tumultuous life, Neruda wrote poems as chronicles, explaining his poetry and politics. He also wrote poems about the mysterious power of poetry itself, a power fully embraced in Chilean culture. In his talk Martín Espada will focus on the evolution of Neruda as a political poet, his struggle and exile at the hands of his own government, his triumphant return, his death in the wake of the military coup, and his redemption after democracy returned to Chile.
Event Sponsored By:
Poets House: A joint initiative with the Poetry Society of America, Branching Out: Poetry for the 21st Century is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Event Type:
Readings and Conversations
Branching Out


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When a person as a problem with their skin, they can go about doing one of three things. The first thing that many people choose to do is to ignore it in the hopes that the skin problem will eventually go away. Then, there are those who try to cover up the skin problem with makeup or over the counter products. Or, there are those who seek out various cosmetic options through various dermatological procedures.
For this last category of people, it is important that they seek out the services of a cosmetic dermatologist. This is a certain branch of dermatology that focuses on treating various skin conditions that are more of a cosmetic nuisance than actually being anything serious.
There are many ways that a person can go about finding a cosmetic dermatologist. However, before they start the actual search, it is important that they have an understanding as to the various kinds of cosmetic procedures that are available for what it is that they want to treat.
Something that many people (not just teenagers) have to deal with is acne. While stress that affects hormones is one of the main causes of acne, it can also just be a genetic predisposition that some people have. To this end, laser therapy is something that a prospective patient would seek out a cosmetic dermatologist for. Basically, the goal of laser therapy is, through the heat of the laser light, to kill the infection that causes acne in the first place, and to stimulate flood flow to rebuild the damaged skin tissue.
Another thing that people really want corrected is irregular pigmentation that is caused by sun damage. While laying out in the sun and getting a tan might have seemed like a good idea at the time to these sun bathers, premature age spots and wrinkling was definitely not a good idea. So, for this kind of skin problem, procedures such as a facial chemical peel or Fraxel treatment are good choices.
Once the prospective patient has a general idea of the kind of procedure that they want, it is now time for the search of a cosmetic dermatologist to begin. Sometimes, the person's primary care physician is able to refer the person to this kind of dermatologist. However, since advertising is an important part of any dermatologist's profession, it is important to start there in the search.
For example, sometimes dermatologists like to advertise on local radio and television stations. This is often a good place to choose a specific kind of dermatologist from. If a dermatologist has enough money to be able to advertise in these kinds of venues, then that is often and indication that his or her practice is going very well, which is a testimonial to their proficiency in their chosen area.
Another way that many people today search in online. Directoires like this one work with cosmetic dermatologists and skin care specalists across the nation to help consumers find local specalists.
The most definitive way to choose this kind of dermatologist is to schedule a consultation with them. This is basically a meeting, wherein the doctor examines the prospective skin patient's skin problem, and answers additional questions.


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Welcome to EC&M's monthly forum where Mark McGranaghan, vice president of Electrotek Concepts, and Mike Lowenstein, president of Harmonics Limited, address your PQ problems and concerns.
Q. The figures in the article "Harmonic Current and Voltage Distortion," on page 32 in the November 2002 issue listed 1st, 5th, 7th, and 11th harmonic categories, along with respective current and voltage measurements at various points noted. What happened to the 3rd harmonic? Isn't this the one that gives us the most grief and distortion due to our switching power supplies?
Lowenstein's answer: The third harmonic does cause the most grief for single-phase (phase-to-neutral connected) switching power supplies. I discuss this issue in the "Ask the Experts" column of this same issue (page 44). However, the article you are questioning is about 3-phase loads, for which there is no 3rd harmonic current formation. If you look closely at Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 from that article (reprinted at right for reference), you'll see the load is labeled "3-phase, nonlinear." Everything noted in that article about voltage distortion, current distortion, and energy is true, no matter what the electrical system or load connection. I elected to use a 3-phase example for the article.Q. My harmonic analyzer gives two values for power factor, PF and DPF. What is the difference between the two, and which one does my utility use in determining power factor penalties? Lowenstein's answer: Power factor (PF) is defined as real power (the power that does work) divided by apparent power (the power that must be delivered in order to get the work done). Real power is measured in kilowatts (kW), and apparent power is measured in kilovolt amperes (kVA). Values of PF range from 1, where all the power delivered does useful work, to 0, where no useful work is done for the power delivered.
Put another way, PF is a measure of the efficiency of utilization of a power distribution system. The closer the PF is to 1, also referred to as unity, the more of the electrical system capacity is being used to do useful work. With linear loads, the PF depends on the phase relationship between the current and voltage sine waves. When these two waves are in phase, the PF is unity and no system capacity is wasted.
Linear loads, such as resistance heaters and incandescent lights, are 100% efficient in converting real power to heat and therefore have a PF of unity. Induction motors require real power and reactive power, which is measured in kilovolt amperes reactive (kVAR). The reactive current that flows in the system creates a magnetic field that enables the motor to operate, but doesn't contribute to the work done by the motor. Reactive current also causes the current wave to lag the voltage wave, a process called displacement.
The apparent power for a motor can be calculated using the equation,
Since the apparent power for a motor is larger than the active power, the PF is less than unity. The PF for a system powering only linear loads is called the displacement power factor — the DPF on your meter. Unless the loads are pure resistance, this PF will be less than unity.
Nonlinear loads draw harmonic currents, which are similar to reactive currents in that they use up system capacity but don't do real work. The harmonic currents can be represented by a term called harmonic reactive power (kVAH). The apparent power for a nonlinear load can be calculated using the equation,
The presence of harmonics increases the apparent power that must be delivered to do a certain amount of work, therefore lowering the PF. The PF term that describes a system with both linear and nonlinear loads is called the true power factor.
If harmonic currents are introduced into a system, the true PF will always be lower than the DPF. For example, the DPF for a computer is close to unity — usually about 0.95 — whereas the true PF, which includes harmonics, is around 0.7. For both linear and nonlinear loads, the result of extra current that does no real work — whether reactive current or harmonic current — is a reduced capability for the system to support useful loads. In effect, much of the transformer, wiring, and circuit breaker capacity is wasted carrying reactive or harmonic currents.
Many utilities make the customer pay for wasted system capacity by charging a power factor penalty. This penalty is based on the numerical PF, and the further it deviates from unity, and in turn the more system capacity being wasted, the larger the penalty. In the past, most utilities measured only the DPF in determining power factor charges. As a result, customers who had large numbers of nonlinear loads weren't paying the cost of the extra capacity necessary to deliver harmonic currents. However, with the advent of effective electronic utility meters that can measure true PF, some utilities are now charging customers penalties based on this value.
If your utility is measuring true PF and charging you accordingly, you could benefit from investigating harmonic mitigation techniques to increase your PF.


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GAIAM Yoga Beginners Kit
New to yoga? No problem. Whether you're seeking increased flexibility or a workout that challenges your whole body, this is a great way to get started. The alignment yoga mat features guides to correctly position your body during poses. Modify difficult poses, feel supported, and increase your flexibility with the yoga block. The yoga strap invites you to increase your range of motion and deepen your stretches, and the Yoga Beginner's Experience DVD features two yoga workouts and a meditation preparation.
- Mat printed with a guide to perfect your hand and feet placement
- Block modifies difficult poses by offering support and balance
- Strap increases flexibility and range of motion
- DVD features two 20-minute practices and prop training
Yoga Mat:
Measurements: 68"L x 24"W x 3mm.
Materials: PVC. Latex free. Free of DEHP, DBP, BBP, DINP, DIDP, and DNOP phthalates.
Yoga Block:
Measurements: 9"L x 6"W x 3"H.
Materials: Foam.
Yoga Strap:
Measurements: 6' long.
Materials: Cotton.
Yoga Beginners Experience DVD:
Total Run Time: 60 minutes.


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Extreme Tux Racer is a downhill racing game featuring Tux, the Linux penguin. Your goal is to slide down on snowy and icy hill as fast as you can, and also collect some herrings on the way to try to get a place in the highscore list. There are different terrain types: You will slide faster on ice and slower on mud, you also have to avoid some obstacles like trees and bushes.
There are also two simple cups where you have to beat the clock and collect herrings. As of version 0.7.2, the game features 46 tracks and 5 characters (including Tux).
It is free software.


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OLD GREENWICH, CONNECTICUT -- As a consumer from your state, I felt it was my responsibility to bring to your attention the following incident. I'm not sure if you can help me but hopefully you can or at least point me in the right direction. I live in Connecticut but I work in New York City.
I bought term life insurance with Lincoln Benefit Life Insurance (through Allstate in CT) approximately 4 years ago which was to be converted to a whole life policy at the end of a year. The reason for the switch from term to whole was because that I wasn't going to get any insurance due to the cost (I didn't want to spend $1200 for the term) but my agent said if I switched to a whole life policy after a year the $1200 I paid with the term would be put toward my whole life policy which costs $5000 (per year). She explained that with the whole life I would be able to keep all of my money and it would grow at a rate of bet. 4-5% per year.
I have since paid a total of $15000 and only found out recently when I called to question 'costs' and 'expenses' on my policy (totaling $1600 per year) that I actually don't have a whole life policy but a 'flexible adjustable' policy and that I have to stay in this policy for 20 years or forfeit $14400. As a result, I in reality have nothing in my account that I can call my own. They tell me I'm not even entitled to borrow against any of this money and if I pull out I will actually owe them money since my account is down to $12000 due to all of the fees. My agent failed to tell me any of this.
Lincoln Benefit did an investigation and found the agent to be 100% correct in her dealings with me so I appear to be stuck. I received by fax yesterday from Lincoln Benefit and I had a chance to review a letter ** (my sales agent) sent to ** (the investigator regarding my complaint) regarding my accusation that Ms. ** sold me a different life insurance policy than the one she told me I was buying. Ms. ** says in her letter dated February 16th to Mr. ** that she 'explained a portion of the premium goes to the cost of insurance and a portion to cash value or savings' - that is a flat out lie.
She goes on to say that she pointed 'out in the early years of the policy the cost of running the policy is higher thus there is very little cash in the savings portion of the policy' - another flat out lie. She sold me a 'whole life' policy - that was the term she used. I wasn't even going to join up for the term insurance because I didn't want to spend $1200. She then explained if I switched to a 'whole life' policy I could KEEP EVERYTHING and the money would only grow. She NEVER told me there is a $14,400 fee if I leave the policy before 20 years.
I could not keep up these payments for 20 years to begin with - my bonuses are not guaranteed and I could lose my job at any time. I would never risk having signed up for something with a 20 year commitment and I was too cheap to join the term for even one year. There is NO WAY she explained any of this to me. She faxed over pages she had me sign (on a rush basis) that apparently had charts showing exactly what I should have at each year.
I showed these pages to two lawyers at my firm (I work as a legal secretary) and both of them said to me that they couldn't even make out exactly what they were showing - How was I supposed to be able to understand them? I depended on everything Ms. ** said (and didn't say to me). This is not the policy she explained to me. I'm now out $15000 which was all I had in case something happened to me and my family (I am the sole supporter) and I needed money fast - I'm out everything and this is killing me. Ms. ** is flat out lying when she says she told me about the 'costs' and 'expenses' which apparently total almost $1600 a year.
I was too cheap to pay $1200 - why would I ever agree to $1600? None of this makes sense and I work as a secretary working overtime with no guaranteed extra income - I can't afford the risk of being able to afford this policy for 20 years! I desperately need help. Anything you can do for me would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
As a resolution, I would like the following:
OLD GREENWICH, CONNECTICUT -- Lincoln Benefit Life verbally sold me one policy and signed me up for an entirely different policy. As a result they have stolen $10,000 of my hard-earned money. I am planning on suing them to get it back. DON'T USE LINCOLN BENEFIT FOR ANYTHING! DON'T BELIEVE A WORD THEIR SALESPEOPLE TELL YOU. I am going to post this review to every consumer site I can find!


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[1:04:12] -
Dealing with feelings of shame around singleness, plus Shaunti Feldhahn on communication barriers between the sexes, and a question about looking for a godly wife. Featured musical artist: Remedy Drive
[29:30] -
A listener question prompted this week's roundtable. She struggles with shame around her singleness, brought on not only by the lies she tells herself, but by the comments she receives from her friends and family. It got our panel to thinking about how a struggle with the "shame" of singleness has affected us. Join us for a heartfelt (and hard!) discussion about finding joy in a sometimes dark place.
[22:49] -
We've received a lot of feedback on this week's article titled "Men-Who Needs Them?" The struggle to be appreciated and understood as a man or woman will likely continue until the return of Christ. But while we're still here, there's hope for doing life with each other better than what we've settled for. Shaunti Feldhahn is no stranger to the gender wars. As a former Wall Street power player, journalist and now researcher on the differences between men and women, Shaunti offers her perspective on men and women in the workplace, how she'd answer the "independent woman" debate, and what it means to cultivate a heart of understanding that goes beyond pink and blue.
[9:09] -
"What do I look for in a godly wife?" If we've heard this question once, we've heard it a thousand times. But this guy's plea was so earnest that we let John Thomas take a stab at setting him on the right path. It's a good reminder with helpful particulars that can benefit us all.
Helping young adults mature in Christ and prepare for marriage and family. Learn more
© Focus on the Family 1998-2018


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Featured News - Current News - Archived News - News Categories
4th annual event is a Halloween alternative for children ages 12 and under
"Vampires and witches and ghosts, oh my!" It's time for Old Falls Street's fourth annual "Monster Mash Breakfast," a Halloween-themed event for costumed children ages 12 and under, on Saturday, Oct. 26, from 8:30 a.m. to noon.
The breakfast, sponsored by the Culinary Institute Niagara Falls, will be held outside on Old Falls Street's middle block under heated tents with activities held inside inside the Culinary Institute, on the same block.
Over the past few years, the "Monster Mash Breakfast" has attracted hundreds of guests to Old Falls Street, USA. This year's activities include:
"Old Falls Street's 'Monster Mash Breakfast' is a fan favorite and continues to grow each year," said Global Spectrum's Ryan Coate, general manager of Old Falls Street, USA, and The Conference & Event Center Niagara Falls. "By teaming up with the Culinary Institute this year, we are able to add additional children's activities, while showcasing our two great venues."
Tickets are $6 for children ages 12 and under, $9 for adults, and $8 for seniors ages 65 and over. Advance tickets are now on sale and can be purchased by visiting the main office at The Conference & Event Center Niagara Falls (located inside the entrance off Third Street) between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. or by calling 716-278-2100. Tickets will also be available at the door the morning of the event.
For more information or to view photos from previous years, visit www.FallsStreet.com or Old Falls Street's official Facebook page at www.facebook.com/oldfallsstreet.


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The Internal Revenue Service estimates employee furloughs of between five and seven days beginning this summer because of sequestration, according to the agency's acting commissioner.
Salaries are "by far" the agency's greatest expense, making furloughs necessary if the automatic spending cuts occur and remain in effect, said Acting Commissioner Steven T. Miller on Thursday. "Let me be clear: We know that asking you to take even one furlough day is difficult," said Miller in a Feb. 28 email to employees. "That's why we've spent so much time and energy trying to minimize the impact on our employees as much as possible while carrying out our mission."
Miller anticipates that employees will take no more than one furlough day per period, beginning in the summer, after tax filing season ends, and possibly lasting through the end of fiscal 2013 "for a total of between five to seven furlough days." Employees will receive notices 30 days in advance of their scheduled furloughs.
The IRS hopes that by scheduling furloughs to begin in the summer that it will head off a disruption in work flow during the agency's busiest season. "We recognize how distracting and difficult this news may be, but we know that you and your colleagues are dedicated public servants who will continue to deliver for the nation's taxpayers," Miller told employees in the email.
IRS, like many other agencies, is scouring its budget for savings to comply with the sequester, which begins Friday. IRS will continue its current hiring freeze, reduce funding for grants and other expenditures, cut costs in areas including travel, training, facilities and supplies, and review contract spending "to ensure only the most critical and mandatory requirements are fully funded," Miller's email stated.
The acting commissioner also told employees the agency will work with the National Employees Treasury Union "to ensure that any necessary furloughs are applied in a fair and appropriate manner and consistent with our collective bargaining agreements." NTEU President Colleen Kelley said the union has talked informally with the IRS, and will begin bargaining discussions when the agency officially provides notice that it intends to furlough workers. Agencies are required to meet with unions before they send out furlough notices to employees.
"IRS employees are middle class workers who have had their pay frozen for over two year," Kelley said. "Those furloughs will hurt their ability to pay their bills and serve the public." IRS employees from across the country spoke earlier this week during NTEU's legislative conference in Washington about how sequestration and possible furloughs could affect them and their agency. Kelley said the IRS is operating with 5,000 fewer employees during this tax filing season than two years ago. The sequester and resulting employee furloughs could delay the processing of tax returns and refunds.
Kelley said the potential need to issue furloughs because of the sequester and the threat of a government shutdown at the end of March is "incredibly unfair" to federal workers and the public. The current continuing resolution keeping the government open expires on March 27. It's possible Congress will deal with sequestration in whatever agreement they make on extending the CR during the next few weeks.


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North Carolina's Fight for Marriage Equality Continues
Last week, North Carolinians passed Amendment One, a constitutional amendment declaring that "marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this State." Undeterred, the Campaign for Southern Equality the next day moved forward in their fight for same-sex marriage rights.
On May 9, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender couples began visiting eight counties across the state to request—and be denied—marriage licenses. The WE DO Campaign is calling for full equality under federal law and resisting unjust state laws that prohibit marriage for some citizens.
"LGBT people and families live all across North Carolina and the South, yet do so as second-class citizens," says Rev. Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, executive director of the Campaign for Southern Equality. "The people taking part in the WE DO Campaign are standing up to say, we are equal and discriminatory laws must change on the federal level."
Over the last week, couples have applied for marriage licenses courthouses in Wilson, Durham, Winston-Salem, Bakersville, Marshall, Asheville, Asheboro, and Charlotte. As their friends, relatives, and clergy watched, couple after couple was denied their requests for licenses.
For more information about the campaign, watch the video below:
Heather Purser set out to win gay marriage rights within the Suquamish Tribe and found herself on a personal journey toward self-acceptance.
Video: The 19-year-old son of two women testifies eloquently against Iowa's effort to ban same-sex marriage.


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Pi Mu Epsilon, Inc (PME), is the Honorary National Mathematics Society. It was founded on May 25, 1914 at Syracuse University and currently has over 300 chapters at colleges and universities throughout the United States. The purpose of PME is the promotion of scholarly activity in mathematics among the students in academic institutions. An initiation ceremony is slated twice a year.
For more information see Pi Mu Epsilon Honorary Society.
Each first Saturday of December, the MAA holds the Putnam Mathematical Competition for regularly enrolled undergraduates in colleges and universities of the United States and Canada. There are two ways for Marquette undergraduates to register.
One way: Before the end of September, prospective students contact the Math office at Cudahy Hall room 340 to find out which faculty member is the designated Marquette Putnam Representative. Then contact this MPR for final registration information.
Other way: Register for fall 1-credit course MATH 3977.
For past performances by Marquette students, see the Putnam file.
ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, is an international scientific and educational organization dedicated to advancing the arts, sciences, and applications of information technology. Marquette's Chapter of the Student Association for Computing Machinery was re-founded in the fall 2008 semester by merging two other computer oriented student organizations: Marquette University Linux Users Group (MULUG) and Computer Science Club. This merger allows for more frequent events, a greater diversity of topics, and a strong membership base.
The ongoing student activities include:
Every year, the ACM hosts the International Collegiate Programming Contest with teams from across the world attempting to solve 8-10 programming problems in 5 hours. The MSCS department organizes teams from Marquette to compete in the ICPC. For more information, see ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest.
There is a special interest group for CUDA and GPGPU technologies (hence SIGGPU). For more information, contact Heather Bort.
Upsilon Pi Epsilon (UPE) was first organized at Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, in 1967. The international organization now consists of chapters in various colleges and universities in North America and overseas. The mission of UPE is to recognize academic excellence at both the undergraduate and graduate levels in the Computing and Information Disciplines. UPE has received endorsements from the two largest professional computing organizations in the world, the Association for Computing Machinery(ACM) and the IEEE Computer Society (IEEE-CS).
The Marquette chapter of UPE was chartered in 2001, and inducts qualified students from the computer science and computer engineering majors.
For details about the Marquette chapter of UPE go to Marquette's Upsilon Pi Epsilon website and about UPE go to main Upsilon Pi Epsilon website.


text: Here you will find a number of ICCs to participate in, and build your story with others on the site. There are plenty of places to hide away with a special someone, or hang out with the crowd and share a few laughs. Remember that all chats are IN CHARACTER ONLY. If you have questions, comments, or are thinking of joining the site, please use our GUEST FRIENDLY box located in the tab menu above, marked with a .


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LORAIN -- The parent company of Mercy Regional Medical Center is acquiring Kaiser Permanente Ohio's existing health plan and doctors' offices in northeast Ohio.
Catholic Health Partners, the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Ohio and the Ohio Permanente Medical Group Inc. made the joint announcement yesterday.
The groups have an initial agreement for CHP to acquire Kaiser Permanente Ohio to create an integrated healthcare organization that would provide care for more than 80,000 current Kaiser Permanente Ohio members.
"CHP is committed to delivering high-quality, compassionate care that improves the daily lives of those we serve," said Michael D. Connelly, president and chief executive officer of Catholic Health Partners. "This opportunity interests us because it preserves a values-based, patient-centered care model that we can expand throughout the region. Additionally, it enables us to focus on enhancing quality, improving access to health care and effectively managing costs."
The agreement is in place, but negotiations still are in early phases and it could take months for the deal to be done, said Liz Vogel, spokeswoman for Catholic Health Partners.
Meanwhile, the negotiations should have no effect on Mercy patients visiting their doctors or going to the hospital in Lorain, Vogel said.
"We want it to be a very smooth transition and one that maintains existing physician relationships and the high quality care that they are accustomed to," Vogel said.
Catholic Health Partners is the largest health system in Ohio with 24 hospitals and more than 250 locations around Ohio and Kentucky. It includes Mercy hospital in Lorain and Mercy Allen Hospital in Oberlin.
Kaiser Permanente Ohio will get a new name but would keep the current doctors, healthcare staff, operations and administrative personnel. The new organization also would continue to operate the existing medical offices in northeast Ohio.
"Our goal is to preserve the care model that Kaiser patients are familiar with and to protect and preserve the existing infrastructure," Vogel said.
Kaiser Permanente has 5,096 members in Lorain County and 10 workers at its Avon Medical Offices, 36711 American Way at the Avon Pointe Professional Campus, according to figures from the company. The Avon office has specialties in internal medicine and pediatrics with an international travel clinic, laboratory and pharmacy, according to its website.
Kaiser Permanente Ohio is choosing to pursue transition of its health plan and healthcare operations to CHP after careful consideration of patient needs and the state's changing health care environment, according to the company.
"In the Northeast Ohio market, Kaiser Permanente Ohio has determined the best course of action for its members, customers, physicians, and employees is this proposed agreement with CHP, a well-resourced, statewide health care organization that shares its commitment to through a range of community benefit efforts," said a statement from the organization.
"Catholic Health Partners' mission is closely aligned with ours, as they, too, are dedicated to delivering high-quality, affordable care for their patients while providing tangible benefits to the communities they serve," said Patricia D. Kennedy-Scott, regional president of the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Ohio.


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Hooked on Themes
Dining hall themed events provide opportunities for staff's creativity to shine.
Some of the department's creative touches to the space included crowns for all students, a paper guillotine where students could take pictures, and the seating and serving area was decorated to look like a castle.
"We also encouraged students to eat like they would in Medieval times—without silverware," Yee says. "Silverware was available upon request."


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CHICAGO (Aug. 4, 2014) – The 2014 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final Draw will be held today during the Men in Blazers Live Show from the Pioneer Courthouse Square in Portland, the host location of the 2014 Major League Soccer All-Star Game.
Hosted by Roger Bennett and Michael Davies, the Men in Blazers program begins at 9 p.m. PT and will be live on mlssoccer.com. The Open Cup draw, which will be a coin flip, will take place toward the end of the show. The draw will determine the potential site of the 2014 U.S. Open Cup championship match, which will be broadcast live on GolTV.
The four U.S. Open Cup semifinalists (all from MLS) include four-time U.S. Open Cup champion Chicago Fire, three-time winner Seattle Sounders FC, the Philadelphia Union and FC Dallas. Each team will have a representative at the coin toss, and all four clubs have applied to host the Final.
Pending the draw and the semifinal results, the date of the U.S. Open Cup Final could be on Sept. 16, Sept. 17 or Oct. 1.
U.S. Soccer will broadcast the U.S. Open Cup semifinal match between Chicago and Seattle as its "Game of the Round" coverage resumes on ussoccer.com. The game kicks off at 7 p.m. PT on Wednesday, Aug. 13, at the Starfire Soccer Complex in Tukwila, Washington. Philadelphia and FC Dallas meet in their semifinal match at 8 p.m. CT on Tuesday, Aug. 12, at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas.
Semifinal Round Schedule
Aug. 12
Philadelphia Union at FC Dallas
8 p.m. CT
Toyota Stadium; Frisco, Texas
Aug. 13
Chicago Fire at Seattle Sounders FC
7 p.m. PT
Starfire Soccer Complex; Tukwila, Wash.
The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, recognized as U.S. Soccer's National Club Championship, is an annual competition open to all amateur and professional soccer teams affiliated with U.S. Soccer. The tournament has crowned a champion for 100 consecutive years dating back to 1914. This year's winner will earn $250,000, a berth in the 2015-16 CONCACAF Champions' League and have its name engraved on the historic Dewar Challenge Trophy, one of the oldest nationally contested trophies in American team sports. The runner-up will take home $60,000. In 1999, the competition was renamed to honor American soccer pioneer Lamar Hunt.
The Men in Blazers show is part of festivities leading up to the MLS All-Star match against Bayern Munich (Wednesday, Aug. 6, at 6:30 p.m. PT; ESPN2, UniMas).


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His program mired in its longest losing streak since 1982, Virginia football coach Al Groh spent part of Saturday searching for life rafts.
Lo and behold, he found two that just might float.
First, the three teams that have beaten the Cavaliers this season continued to impress. Second, alleged heavyweights stumbled while bantamweights stood tall.
Does this mean Virginia, idle last week and headed to North Carolina this week, will pull a 180? Might we see the perpetually maligned Groh locking arms with his critics at season's end for a chorus of "The Good Old Song"?
Let's not get carried away, but let's also inspect these rafts.
The Cavaliers' 2009 conquerors - William and Mary, Texas Christian and Southern Mississippi - are a combined 10-1, the lone defeat Southern Miss' at No. 18 Kansas. TCU won at Clemson on Saturday, while W&M; handled visiting Delaware.
Not to excuse Virginia's opening face-plant against the Tribe. Bowl Subdivision programs should not lose to their more-enlightened, lesser-financed playoff brethren - last year's Cavaliers shut out eventual national champion Richmond, you'll recall.
But Virginia, at least on offense, was much-improved in the 37-34 loss at Southern Miss as Groh and staff shelved the trendy spread alignment for more conventional formations.
(Quick diversion: Imagine yourself a Cavaliers fan Saturday before last. As your guys are dusting Southern Miss midway through the third quarter, the enemy to the southwest is sucking wind against Nebraska. Party time on Rugby Road, right? Not quite. Two crazy comebacks later, the day was doomed.)
Intentionally or not, Groh foreshadowed the Cavaliers' early struggles. During preseason gabfests with his media pals, he said TCU of the Mountain West Conference - the Horned Frogs are ranked 11th this week - was every bit as good as the ACC's upper crust, and that Southern Miss wasn't far behind.
Prescient or CYA, Groh's evaluations appear spot-on.
"We have had to go up against that type of competition, and we can ... look at the positive side of it," Groh said Monday, "and hope that the lessons are what level (our) team has to perform to go against those kind of teams."
Similar opponents loom the next two weeks. North Carolina opened solidly at 3-0 before falling at Georgia Tech on Saturday, while Indiana, also 3-1, showed surprising resolve in a 36-33 defeat at No. 22 Michigan.
Hardly the ideal tonic for Virginia. Dating to last season, the Cavaliers have lost seven consecutive games, the longest current streak among the 65 teams belonging to the Bowl Championship Series' major conferences.
The last time Virginia endured this prolonged a drought was the final three games of 1981 and the first five of '82.
But as Groh's television gazing last week showed, September is far too early for conclusions. Previously undefeated and acclaimed Miami and California were not only beaten Saturday but also humbled, the Hurricanes 31-7 at Virginia Tech, the Golden Bears 42-3 at Oregon.
Two nights earlier, fourth-ranked and Southeastern Conference flavor du jour Mississippi lost at South Carolina 16-10. Rebels quarterback Jevan Snead, heralded as a cross between Mannings Archie and Eli, completed 7 of 21 passes.
"It certainly revealed that there's probably far too many teams and players that are anointed way too early in the season," Groh said, "and far too many teams and players that are condemned too early in the season."
Groh continued: "It also looks like there are an awful lot of teams this year that are essentially the same teams, an awful lot, certainly more than a Top 25 poll would be able to encompass; and that there are a few teams that are clearly superior, and that outside of that, it's a pretty good battle every week to see who comes out with it."
Indeed, after Florida, Alabama and perhaps Texas, college football's landscape is as abstract as Jackson Pollock.
Southern California falls at Washington, which then loses at Stanford? Florida State routs No. 7 Brigham Young on the road and then flops at home against unranked South Florida?
Washington, by the way, was 0-12 last season, and South Florida was playing a backup quarterback.
It's enough to make you think Virginia has a shot Saturday.
David Teel can be reached at 247-4636 or by e-mail at firstname.lastname@example.com. For more from Teel, read his blog at dailypress.com/teeltime
WHO: Virginia (0-3, 0-0 ACC) at North Carolina (3-1, 0-1).
WHEN: Noon Saturday.
TV: Raycom 27 35.


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All the fun of Magformers in new colors
Magformers Inspire Set brings the fun of other Magformers but in bright bold colors! Shades of pink, purple, and aqua will inspire kids to create new designs and to think outside the box. The "intelligent" magnets always connect and never repel, making building a snap! For ages 3 years and up.
Magformers Inspire Set Includes: 12 triangle pieces and 18 square pieces
Magformers Inspire Set Dimensions: 11.5" x 2" x 9.5"
WARNING: This product contains small magnets. Swallowed magnets can cause complications leading to serious infections and death. seek immediate medical attention if magnets are swallowed or inhaled.


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BA in Sport Psychology
The Bachelor of Arts degree in Sport Psychology at Adams State combines Human Performance & Physical Education with Psychology.
The degree offers students the opportunity to learn more about psychological concepts and apply these to a sport context as well as develop an understanding of sport and exercise psychology.
Our program increases student understanding of:
- sports participants, environments, and group processes
- performance enhancing techniques such as goal setting, imagery, and self-talk
Get prepared for graduate study or careers that involve understanding the psychological and physiological influences on sport performance:
Sport Psychologists work in
- Clinical arenas – Individuals trained in clinical or counseling psychology are interested in the athlete and his or her experiences.
- Educational settings – Practitioners teach principles of sport and exercise psychology to athletes and coaches and help athletes develop skills for optimal performance.
- Research – Scientist/ scholars look for better techniques that can be applied to today's athletes.
Most jobs in Sport Psychology require graduate degrees.
We will prepare you for advanced studies in sport psychology, sport and exercise physiology and/or counseling.


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The Ducati 1199 Panigale is perhaps the pinnacle of technology for sport bikes from Bologna, Italy. With 195 horses of fury, and a positively anorexic dry weight of 367 lbs, the spec-sheet racing for the Panigale is intriguing, if getting around a race track the absolutely fastest way possible is your primary goal.
But what if you enjoy the finer things in your Ducati life as well? In that case, the brains at Moto Puro might have just the thing for your Desmo addiction: the Ducati Elite II.
To build the Elite II, the Dutch builders of Moto Puro took a Ducati 1199 Panigale S, and stripped the machine down to its Superquadro engine and electrical components. From there, those crazy Dutchmen built a café racer style motorcycle, complete with tubeless wire-laced wheels on single-sided swingarm.


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Dance is a very physical activity which can put stress on bones and joints. Most dance footwear does not provide any cushioning or support, so the shock of landing can put pressure on a dancer's ankles, knees, hips, and back. The best way to prevent potential injury is by choosing a studio with a professional "floating floor". A floating floor is a dance floor that rests on a system of high-density resilient material. The floor, rather than the dancer's body, absorbs the shock.
All of our dance rooms feature floating floors constructed of a double layer of resilient material over a foam rubber base. Our special floors help reduce the risk of injury and allow the students to dance longer without fatigue.


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Siderastrea glynni
|Scope: Global
Language: English
|Scientific Name:
|Siderastrea glynni Budd & Guzman, 1994
|Red List Category & Criteria:
|Critically Endangered B2ab(iii,iv,v) ver 3.1
|Year Published:
|Date Assessed:
|Guzmán, H. & Edgar, G.
|Livingstone, S., Polidoro, B. & Smith, J. (Global Marine Species Assessment)
This species has an area of occupancy of less than 10 km², is severely fragmented, and is known from only one location. After extensive but not exhaustive surveys, this species is known from only one place in the wild, and currently exists only in a captive cultivated state. This species is Critically Endangered, rather than extinct in the wild, as there is a possibility that it exists elsewhere in the wild and is yet undiscovered. In addition, there are current plans to reintroduce captive individuals into the wild.
|Range Description:
|Siderastrea glynni is an endemic species of Panama; only known from a single locality, Uraba Island, Panama Bay, near the Pacific opening of the Panama Canal (Budd and Guzmán 1994, Forsman et al. 2005). S. glynni was discovered in September 1992 (Budd and Guzmán 1994).
|Countries occurrence:
Possibly extinct:Panama
|FAO Marine Fishing Areas:
Possibly extinct:
Pacific – eastern central
|Additional data:
|Range Map:
|Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.
|Siderastrea glynni is an extremely rare endemic species in Panama; only five individual colonies have ever been discovered, and only four currently survive (Budd and Guzmán 1994, Maté 2003, Forsman et al. 2005). Following the discovery of this species (i.e., September 1992), extensive surveys in presumably suitable habitats have failed to reveal additional populations (Glynn 2001). Additionally, since the four living colonies were moved to the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) aquaria due to a bleached and unhealthy state of the corals, no living colonies are presently known in the wild (Maté 2003, Fenner 2001, Glynn 2001).
After the removal of S. glynni from the wild, signs of bleaching stopped with temperature control; moreover the colonies are now in good health (Guzmán pers. comm.). Attempts made by H. Guzmán to propagate this corals in the STRI aquaria have produced 11 propagules (Guzmán pers. comm., Fenner 2001).
|Current Population Trend:
|Additional data:
|Habitat and Ecology:
|The known colonies of S. glynni were reported to be unattached and occur along the upper sand-coral rubble reef slope at a depth of 7 to 8.5 m (Budd and Guzmán 1994). Its current habitat is restricted to the aquarium of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (Fenner 2001, Glynn 2001, Maté 2003).
The genus Siderastrea contains only five extant species (Van-Oppen et al. 2006). Budd and Guzmán (1994) hypothesized that S. glynni originated from a rare dispersal event from the central Pacific. However, new studies conducted by Forsman et al. (2005) have revealed that it is more likely that S. glynni originated by a breach of the Panama Isthmus, or by a contemporary introduction by ship.
Glynn (1997) suggested that S. glynni could be an ENSO immigrant, and that colonies perhaps settled and started growing sometime between 1982 and 1985. Glynn (1994) agued that this could be possible if there is a source population located in the Gulf of Panama or elsewhere in the equatorial eastern Pacific (Glynn 1997).
|Major Threat(s):
During the 1997-98 El Niño event, the four S. glynni colonies started to deteriorate, displaying bleaching and tissue loss (Fenner 2001, Glynn 2001). Due to the unhealthy state of the corals, the four colonies were moved to the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute aquaria (Maté 2003). However, the original rareness of this species has been related to unknown causes, and not to the ENSO event (Glynn 1997). Nevertheless, such small populations typically display low genetic variability, thus lowering their capacity to survive environmental perturbations (Glynn 1997).
Other threats to this species include coastal development and oil production and transport in the Gulf of Panama (Guzmán pers comm.).
In general, the major threat to corals is global climate change, in particular, temperature extremes leading to bleaching and increased susceptibility to disease, increased severity of ENSO events and storms, and ocean acidification. In addition to global climate change, corals are also threatened by disease and a number of localized threats. The severity of these combined threats to the global population of each individual species is not known.
Coral disease has emerged as a serious threat to coral reefs worldwide and is a major cause of reef deterioration (Weil et al. 2006). The numbers of diseases and coral species affected, as well as the distribution of diseases have all increased dramatically within the last decade (Porter et al. 2001, Green and Bruckner 2000, Sutherland et al. 2004, Weil 2004). Coral disease epizootics have resulted in significant losses of coral cover and were implicated in the dramatic decline of acroporids in the Florida Keys (Aronson and Precht 2001, Porter et al. 2001, Patterson et al. 2002). In the Indo-Pacific, disease is also on the rise with disease outbreaks recently reported from the Great Barrier Reef (Willis et al. 2004), Marshall Islands (Jacobson 2006) and the northwestern Hawaiian Islands (Aeby 2006). Increased coral disease levels on the Great Barrier Reef were correlated with increased ocean temperatures (Willis et al. 2007) supporting the prediction that disease levels will be increasing with higher sea surface temperatures. Escalating anthropogenic stressors combined with the threats associated with global climate change of increases in coral disease, frequency and duration of coral bleaching and ocean acidification place coral reefs in the Indo-Pacific at high risk of collapse.
Localized threats to corals include fisheries, human development (industry, settlement, tourism, and transportation), changes in native species dynamics (competitors, predators, pathogens and parasites), invasive species (competitors, predators, pathogens and parasites), dynamite fishing, chemical fishing, pollution from agriculture and industry, domestic pollution, sedimentation, and human recreation and tourism activities.
|Conservation Actions:
All corals are listed on CITES Appendix II.
Recommended measures for conserving this species include research in taxonomy, population, abundance and trends, ecology and habitat status, threats and resilience to threats, restoration action; identification, establishment and management of new protected areas; expansion of protected areas; recovery management; and disease, pathogen and parasite management. Artificial propagation and techniques such as cryo-preservation of gametes may become important for conserving coral biodiversity.
|Guzmán, H. & Edgar, G. 2008. Siderastrea glynni. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2008: e.T133121A3580319. . Downloaded on 14 August 2018.
|To make use of this information, please check the <Terms of Use>.
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Timeless style and a clean design come together for the ultimate, everyday shoe: The Toddler Reebok Classic Leather Casual Shoes. Your growing toddler can wear these casual shoes with everything they own, from their favorite jeans to comfy sweats.
Made with a supple leather upper that offers unbeatable comfort and durability, these sneaks also feature a solid rubber outsole that gives active tykes plenty of traction where they need it most. No more slipping and sliding here! Little ones will also like the retro meets modern style of this classic shoe.


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Deep in the Underworld -step by step-
Skill Level: Advanced / Views: 3900 / System Requirements: Photoshop CS2 / Wacom tablet
This is a step by step of my artwork "Deep in the Underworld", to show how I usually make my pictures.
This tutorial shows how I did my picture Deep in the Underworld, featuring the greek myth of Hades and Persephone.
I always begin working with sketchs, that helps me to see the picture as a whole. Sometimes I do a pencil sketch and scan it, sometimes I do the sketch in photoshop, and sometimes I work directly with color blocks. In this case I knew exactly what I wanted in the picture, so I did the sketch in photoshop.
Firstly I choose the base colors, that will be reds and browns. For the sketch I selected a bright tone so I can see the dark lines of the draw.
The sketch doesn't need to be very detailed, just rough lines to have a vision of the whole picture. The lines will be only for reference, they will not appear in the final work. I usually use hard round brushes for sketch.
This tutorial shows how I did my picture Deep in the Underworld, featuring the greek myth of Hades and Persephone.
Tutorial Comments
FS 4:14AM Fri, 10 April 2009
Stunning!!!!Thank you very much for this fantastic presentation.
ElusiveAngel 8:28AM Sat, 04 April 2009
I am speechless. I wish I had even a grain of your talent. Very well done and very interesting to see how it is done.
DimitriElevit 8:59PM Mon, 30 March 2009
this is very interesting =)
kalyan335511 7:05AM Mon, 09 March 2009
Amazing and fantastic work and presentation too
giareg 11:58AM Sun, 01 March 2009
Really fantastic!!
Roboman28 6:59AM Sun, 01 March 2009
Very good picture and tutorial.
UteBigSmile 4:52AM Sun, 01 March 2009
I would also have been born with succh a great talent - LOL. But I also love my renders too, they all have been done without any tutorials, but anyway thanks you so much for sharing! Hug's from Ute
Nancy_C. 2:06PM Sat, 28 February 2009
That I should have been born with such talent...I can only wish! Thank you, so much for sharing!
Jaml 3:28AM Sat, 28 February 2009
Fantastic tutorial!!!.
fire_starr 9:54AM Fri, 27 February 2009
Your work is amazing,Hoping to reach the level of your art work is one day,TY for all you have showed us and share with us on this site,We appreciate all the Talent here on this site.TY fire_starr.
Bobbie25 6:58AM Fri, 27 February 2009
This is so lovely really it is hats off to you hun
novelist999 5:43PM Thu, 26 February 2009
Wow! This is incredible! I'll have to give it a try as I've been wanting to learn more about digital painting. BTW, the dress on the character is gorgeous! I'd love to have a real life version. LOL!
ossi06 7:21AM Thu, 26 February 2009
Very great, very good eye for lighting! I'm deeply impressed, thank you for this performance.
Chaosphoto 8:07PM Wed, 25 February 2009
This is so far past my abilities that it is actually kind of frustrating. But it has shown me how you more amazing artists get there, one bite at a time :). Thanks for posting
ARADTech 6:47PM Wed, 25 February 2009
Awesomeness , thank you very much for sharing your amazing talent with us :))
totoche 1:23PM Wed, 25 February 2009
That was just beautiful! How wonderful to see a true artist at work. Your mastery of the medium and anatomy is truly inspirational.
kira 11:43AM Wed, 25 February 2009
Amazing work! Thanks for sharing your talent
Lazart 10:52AM Wed, 25 February 2009
Absolutely top of the line! What talent you have!
oakland_raider 10:04AM Wed, 25 February 2009
The subtleties in your work is simply amazing! Thanks for creating such a detailed and well-written document outlining step-by-step the process used in creating your works of art. It is inspiring and very informative!
JappMe 6:03AM Wed, 25 February 2009
Amazing and wonderful how the image comes alive. Great work. :)
mystikel 5:49AM Wed, 25 February 2009
I absolutely adore your creations and even more so now that I've seen how it all comes together. Thanx :D
dorkati 5:48AM Wed, 25 February 2009
Incredible details! It was fantastic to see how evolved this image from some lines. I wish I would have so great sense of draw and paint as you! Fantastic work, thanks for sharing with us!
drakmanover 5:44AM Wed, 25 February 2009
To witness creativity and talent such as yours is bad for my health. I'm now totally breathless!
nefertiabet 4:14AM Wed, 25 February 2009
Wow, einfach genial. Eine große künstlerische Leistung. Ein riesen Kompliment von mir.
Morgana61 3:22AM Wed, 25 February 2009
Assolutamente meraviglioso!!! Stunning!
Eganko 2:48AM Wed, 25 February 2009
totally awesome. Thanks so much for this look into your work.
beatoangelico 5:04PM Tue, 24 February 2009
Marvelous Art fine very compliment....!!!!!!
Polyanthus 3:46PM Tue, 24 February 2009
Just fabulous...what talent!!!! What a feast for the eyes.
julesart 1:54PM Tue, 24 February 2009
I wish I could paint half as well as that! superb talent. Your figures are well proportioned and well balanced. Your shadows and lighting is perfect. I am in awe.
Hone117 7:48AM Tue, 24 February 2009
You truly are amazing. I admire your eye and talent.
AlexandersGrandma 12:37AM Tue, 24 February 2009
bcrathburn 6:09PM Mon, 23 February 2009
i really like the way u explained step by step, but i have diabets and sometmes i can't read to well i wish we had an option to hear u tell step by step.i really love this render. and i thank you for sharing you're steps.
magickmedbh 4:40PM Mon, 23 February 2009
Amazing work! Thanks for sharing your talent!
Kyms_Cave 4:29PM Mon, 23 February 2009
Thank you so much for showing us how it is done..It is wonderful to be able to see how such a tellented person like you does their creations..
Star4mation 4:28PM Mon, 23 February 2009
So that's how you did it! You truly are a very talented artist :)
rbowen 2:45PM Mon, 23 February 2009
You are blessed with great talent! Beautiful work! Thank you for the tutorial.
scabrat 12:43PM Mon, 23 February 2009
I read this this afternoon and would have commented earlier, except I was so blown away I was lost for words. Truly Awsome piece of work. Being a complete novice with zero experience, it was great to see how a true artist develops such a lovely piece of work.
MikeAparicio 11:59AM Mon, 23 February 2009
Whe I saw the first image, the sketch, I said "Wow! I can't beleive this was done in Photoshop"! As I went down every image, my mouth was opening wider and wider, until I got to the final picture... And I fell from my chair!... Unthinkably marvelous!!!!! Mike
PhilW 11:59AM Mon, 23 February 2009
A terrific image and great to see how you developed it - great talent and thanks for sharing!
calum5 11:44AM Mon, 23 February 2009
Incredible,just to add my thanks and admiration!Really enjoyed reading your tutorial and seeing the image come alive.I always look forward to everything you do..best wishes and thanks again cal
deviney 10:50AM Mon, 23 February 2009
Beautiful work,very inspiring.....real big fan by the way!
donnena 7:33AM Mon, 23 February 2009
AMAZING!!! thanks so much!!1


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Results 1 to 11 of 11
01-13-2013, 01:34 AM #1Hyperbolic curmudgeometer
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Harbaugh just jinxed the Ravens--AGAIN!
Does anyone else remember what happened after the win at San Diego? After Harbaugh decided to shoot his mouth off about how "faith is a big part of who we are"? And rubbed it in the face of "a lot of people [who] don't like to hear that"?
They lost the next three games. And for awhile many (if not most) of us were wondering if they were ever going to win another game this season.
I'm not a believer, but I did recall this passage from Matthew 6:5--5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
(Of course, as a non-believer, I was thinking more along the lines of karma's a bitch...)
You would think that that interlude of torment right after going public with the faith thing might have prompted him to be just a tad more circumspect in his public pronouncements. Silly me.
I'm just curious to see what sort of exquisite torture karma (or the Guy Upstairs, take your pick) will come up with to deny this team a trip to the Big One this year. Because it's odds on to happen, now that Harbaugh's shot his fat godbothering mouth off again at the podium.
01-13-2013, 01:41 AM #2Legendary RSR Poster
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Harbs displays his faith, something he does at almost all of his pressers, and its now a jinx?
Am I really reading this thread that way?
01-13-2013, 01:43 AM #3Regular 1st Stringer
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Re: Harbaugh just jinxed the Ravens--AGAIN!
NFL Jesus@NFLJesus
May the Mighty Ray-Ray smite thy Broncos of Judas Elway.
NFL Jesus@NFLJesus
Flacco my skinny son it is time.
NFL Jesus@NFLJesus
Baltimore, I am with thee. Dad too.
NFL Jesus@NFLJesus
And so it was written, and so it shall be: Baltimore Victory. *mic drop*
I think we are fine on the jesus department.
Re: Harbaugh just jinxed the Ravens--AGAIN!
Really? The Ravens just made it to the final four again and this is what you want to talk about?
Sorry. I know it's a message board and you can discuss whatever you want. Too much beer at the Turtle I guess. I'll just ignore. Carry on.....
There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the universe is for and why it is here it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarrely inexplicable
There is another theory which states that this - has - already - happened
"We don't have a town drunk...we all take turns..."
Re: Harbaugh just jinxed the Ravens--AGAIN!
Re: Harbaugh just jinxed the Ravens--AGAIN!
Also, let me understand this. It's ok for Ray Lewis to do nothing but preach everytime he says something, and started off every interview with how wonderful G-d is. But Harbaugh is shooting his "his fat g-dbothering mouth off again"?
I'll take any 1 of 3 posts to legitimately prove to me this thread shouldn't get moved to the trash heap.
And go:
01-13-2013, 01:54 AM #7Regular 1st Stringer
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Re: Harbaugh just jinxed the Ravens--AGAIN!
For the record, that was not a prayer.
God loves you and so do I.
Oh hell, I mentioned God!
Oh no. Now I used hell and God in the same sentence. I hope Karma doesn't get me.
Is Karma God's big sister or something?
01-13-2013, 01:58 AM #9Talk's cheap - lets go play. - #19, Johnny Unitas
Follow me on Twitter @ravenssalarycap
01-13-2013, 02:00 AM #10Talk's cheap - lets go play. - #19, Johnny Unitas
Follow me on Twitter @ravenssalarycap
Re: Harbaugh just jinxed the Ravens--AGAIN!
Really? "Jinx"? Really?


text:
And why rear-wheel drive is coming back.
Friday, April 11, 2003
Car/sex metaphors are unavoidable, so let's get right to today's: Front-wheel drive cars are like bad sex. Rear-wheel drive cars are like good sex.
Let me explain!
Sometime in the early 1980s, I asked my friend Paul why he drove a crass Chevy Camaro. He said he liked the "balance" of a rear-wheel drive car. I nodded but secretly sneered at him. Everyone knew that front-wheel drive cars were the efficient, sophisticated wave of the future. Audis were front-wheel drive. Saabs were front-drive. GM, Ford, and Chrysler were about to embark on a massive shift to front-drive, resulting in the current Detroit product lineup, in which even the venerable Caddy DeVille is a front-drive car.
The advantages of front-wheel drive (FWD) seem self evident: By avoiding the need for a driveshaft connecting the engine in front with the rear wheels, front-drive cars save space. The entire drivetrain can be packed into a neat compartment in the front, leaving the rest of the car's volume for passengers and cargo. Plus, front-drive cars have better traction in slippery conditions (in part because the weight of the engine is on top of the wheels that are providing the power).
I should have realized the grim truth decades ago when I borrowed a friend's Audi 100 –- the first front-drive car I'd ever driven -- and took it out on Sunset Boulevard. In one of the curves leaving Beverly Hills, near the pink house that used to be owned by Jayne Mansfield, I mashed the throttle, expecting the satisfying "lock in" effect I got in my old rear-drive Volvo – the nose turning in, the car seeming to stop slipping, tightening its grip on the road even as it went around the corner faster. But that's not what happened. What happened is the front tires went all gooey and the car started to head for the living room of a nearby mansion. Only panicked braking calmed things down.
Naturally, my brain did what the human brain tends to do with a bit of aberrant data: I ignored it. All during the '80s and '90s the car magazines assured me, seemingly continually, that in sophisticated front-drive designs you couldn't even tell which set of tires was providing the power. Weren't front-drive Hondas the hippest cars around? Wasn't even Volvo switching, belatedly, to front drive? I also blamed the victim! I must just be a lousy or unsophisticated driver, I figured.
Then, a bit over a year ago, I conducted an abortive test drive of five convertibles. The idea was to sample cars that had at least a semblance of a rear seat. The entrants were Ford Mustang, Chevy Camaro, VW Cabriolet, Chrysler Sebring, and Toyota Solara. And that was the order of finishing (though the test was interrupted by 9/11 before I could drive a final production version of the Toyota). None of the cars was very good – you give up a lot in chassis stability when you chop off the roof, I discovered. But the old, junky, rear-drive Ford and Chevy pony cars were by far the most enjoyable – they rattled and guzzled, but at least they were a blast to drive around corners. The other three cars, all front-drive, were simply pleasant forms of transportation.
Why are rear-drive cars more fun? Every enthusiast may know the answer, but I didn't. So I called up a helpful GM suspension expert, Vehicle Chief Engineer Ed Zellner. There are, I learned, five basic reasons:
1) "Balance": The car rides on four patches of rubber, each about as big as your hand. An ideal car would distribute its weight evenly, so each tire had to bear the same load, and none would give way earlier than all the others. The ideal weight distribution, then, would be split about 50/50 between front and rear (actually, 48/52 to help with forward pitch during braking). "A rear-drive car can typically approach that," says Zellner. Engineers can move the front wheels forward, so that the engine – which doesn't have to be connected to those wheels -- sits behind the front axle. Meanwhile, the driveshaft and rear differential (necessary to send power to the rear tires) add weight in the rear. Front-drive cars, which must connect the engine and transmission to the front axle, typically have their engines mounted way forward and can't do much better than a 60/40 front/rear weight distribution.
2) Center of Gravity: This is the point the car wants to "rotate around" in a turn. On a rear-drive car, it's "about where the driver sits," says Zellner. In a turn, in other words, the car seems to be rotating around you – you're at the center. It's a natural pleasant effect, suggesting you're in control, the way you're in control when you're walking or running around a corner and your weight is centered inside you. (Analogy No. 2: It's like wearing stereo headphones and having the sound centered between your ears!) A front-drive car, in contrast, with its massive front weight bias, wants to rotate around a point in front of the driver. So in a corner, the driver isn't just rotating around his spine. He's moving sideways, as if he were a tether ball on the end of a rope, or Linus being dragged when Snoopy gets hold of his blanket. Not such a pleasant feeling, or a feeling that gives you a sense of natural control.
3) "Torque Steer": One of the most annoying habits of many powerful front-drive cars is that they don't go straight when you step on the accelerator! Instead, they pull to one side, requiring you to steer in the other direction to compensate, like on a damn boat. This "torque steer" usually happens because the drive shafts that connect the engine to the front wheels aren't the same length. Under power, the shafts wind up like springs. The longer shaft -- typically on the right -- winds up a bit more, while the shorter left shaft winds up less and transmits its power to the ground more quickly, which has the effect of pulling the car to the left. (This winding-up phenomenon occurs the moment you step on the pedal. After that, the wind-up relaxes, but "torque steer" can still be produced by the angles of the joints in the drive axles as the whole drivetrain twists on its rubber mounts.)
Engineers try various strategies to control this veering tendency, but even designing shafts of equal length (as in all Cadillacs) doesn't completely solve the problem because the engine still twists a bit in its mounts and alters the angles of the drive shafts. True, some manufacturers -- Audi, for example -- are said to do a particularly good job of repressing torque steer . But even a top-rank company such as Nissan has problems -- its otherwise appealing new front-drive Maxima is said to be plagued by big-time, uninhibited torque steer. Rear-drive cars, meanwhile, don't really have a torque-steer problem that needs repressing. Their power goes to the rear through one driveshaft to a center differential that can a) have equal-length shafts coming out from it and b) be more firmly mounted.
4) Weight Shift: Suppose you just want to go in a straight line. What's the best way to get traction? Answer: Have as much weight over the driving wheels as possible. Front-drive cars start with an advantage -- but when any car accelerates, the front end tips up, and the rear end squats down. This transfers weight to the rear wheels -- away from the driving wheels in a FWD car but toward the driving wheels in a rear-drive car, where it adds to available traction. In effect, the laws of physics conspire to give RWD cars a bit more grip where they need it when they need it. (This salutary effect is more than canceled out in slippery, wet conditions, where you aren't going to stomp on the accelerator. Then, FWD cars have the edge, in part, because they start out with so much more of their weight over both the driving and the turning wheels. Also, it's simply more stable to pull a heavy wheeled object than to push it -- as any hotel bellhop steering a loaded luggage cart knows. In snow, FWD cars have a third advantage in that they pull the car through the path the front tires create, instead of turning the front tires into mini-snowplows.)
5) "Oversteer" and the Semi-Orgasmic Lock-In Effect: In a rear-drive car, there's a division of labor -- the front tires basically steer the car, and the rear tires push the car down the road. In a FWD car, the front tires do all the work – both steering and applying the power to the road – while the rears are largely along for the ride. That, it turns out, is asking a lot of the front tires. Since the driving wheels tend to lose traction first, the front tires of front-drive cars invariably start slipping in a corner before the lightly loaded rear tires do -- a phenomenon known as "understeer." If you go too fast into a curve -- I mean really too fast -- the car will plow off the road front end first. In rear-drive cars, the rear wheels tend to lose traction first, and the rear of the car threatens to swing around and pass the front end -- "oversteer." If you go too fast into a corner in an oversteering car, the car will tend to spin and fly off the road rear end first.
What's the best way to fly off the road? Safety types prefer frontwards -- understeer. Why? To control an oversteering skid, where the rear wheels are heading for the weeds, you have to both slow down and counterintuitively turn the wheel in the opposite of the direction you're turning. In a front-drive car, with the front wheels slipping, you slow down and keep turning the way you'd been turning to get around the corner in the first place -- a more natural maneuver, since you're pointing the car in the direction you want to go. This is why, for safety reasons, even rear-drive cars sold to average consumers tend to have their springs and other suspension bits set up to make them understeer -- to make the front tires slip first, despite the car's innate oversteering tendency. Only by applying lots of power in a corner can you actually break the rear end of a bread-and-butter rear-drive car like the Mustang loose -- a maneuver favored by sports car freaks, but one you try at your own peril.
Big American manufacturers (all heavily invested in front drive) like to say that for 99 percent of drivers, driving at normal speeds, FWD's inherent understeer and better traction in the wet makes it preferable -- both safer and easier to drive quickly. It's only the 1 percent of speed freaks who enjoy breaking the rear end loose and then catching it with a bit of "reverse lock." Here's where I emphatically dissent.
It's pretty clear to me, after driving hundreds of different vehicles over several decades, that rear drive offers a big aesthetic advantage to ordinary drivers at ordinary speeds in ordinary conditions. Why? The lock-in effect I mentioned earlier. Suppose you go into a corner in a rear-drive car at a reasonable, safe, legal speed. Nothing's about to skid. But you can still feel the front end starting to plow wide a bit. What to do? Step on the gas! Don't stomp on it -- but add a bit of power, and a miraculous thing happens. The front end swings back in, the car tightens its line. Cornering traction seems to increase. And the car feels locked into a groove, balanced between the motive power from the rear and the turning power in the front.
You don't have to be a race driver to feel this. You can be a defensive driver and feel it. You can be driving a 1973 Ford Maverick with leaking shocks and you'll feel it. Accountants feel it on the way to the office and housewives feel it on the way to the Safeway. Even Ralph Nader probably feels it. It's a good part of what makes driving a car a sensual act. (What's happening, technically? None of the tires is at its limit of adhesion. But the added speed is making the front tires --which [since they are undriven] have plenty of surplus traction -- apply more force to the road surface to change direction. Meanwhile, the rear of the car is shifting outward, ever so slightly -- not a Bullitt-style power slide, but a subtle attitude adjustment that cancels the plowing effect. The power "helps you through the corner," as Zellner puts it.)
This doesn't happen in a front-drive car. The best an ordinary driver can hope for in a FWD car is that it "corners as if on rails" -- no slippage at all. No plowing -- but also no semi-orgasmic "lock in." More typically, if you hit the accelerator in a fast corner, things get mushy up front (as they did that evening near Jayne Mansfield's house). The lesson the FWD car seems to be teaching is: Try to go faster, and you're punished. Front-drive cars are Puritans! In a rear-drive car, you hit the accelerator and things get better! Rear-drive cars are hedonists. (This is assuming you don't hit the accelerator too hard.)
I'm not saying there aren't sophisticated techniques that allow FWD cars to do better. A recent issue of Grassroots Motorsports tested a humble FWD Acura RSX against a classy rear-drive BMW. The Acura actually turned laps a bit more quickly. How'd that happen? The Grassroots people realized that by stepping on the brake hard enough on entering a turn, the rear of the Acura could be made to swing wide, canceling out its inherent understeer. (This is the same effect you get by stepping on the gas in a rear-drive car.) But normal drivers aren't going to mash the brakes and go sliding through turns like a rally champion. Nor does braking to achieve "lock-in" seem as satisfying as accelerating to achieve lock in. I suppose I shouldn't knock it until I've tried it -- but I'm not going to try it! That's the point. Housewives heading to the Safeway aren't going to try it either. The joys of rear-drive are accessible to them -- it's the joys of FWD that are reserved for the skilled Grassroots Motorsport elite.
Explaining SUVs: Now that the goo-goo bien pensant scales have fallen from my eyes, and I recognize the front-drive-for-the-masses movement as the Carter-era energy crisis con it is, several previously inexplicable things become explicable. Why did truck-based SUVs suddenly become popular just as Detroit shifted to front-wheel drive for its passenger cars? Was it (as anti-SUV activists claim) because the SUVs were exempt from various safety and economy standards -- or because the SUVs still had rear-wheel drive, with all its subtle satisfactions? Why do all BMWs (and virtually all Mercedes-Benzes) persist in using rear-wheel drive? Why do my friends, who aren't fast drivers, say that BMWs just feel better?
It's also now clear to me why Acura is in trouble (it only offers FWD sedans), why GM is busy working on a new "Tubular" rear-drive chassis, why the Infiniti G-35 and Lexus IS-300 (both rear drive) are so popular, and why the RWD Cadillac CTS and Lincoln LS are so refreshing to drive.
I'm not saying that any rear-wheel-drive car is better than any front-wheel-drive car, the way, say, any car with plain black tires looks better than any car with whitewalls. But it's close! Front-drive cars can be fun. Even bad sex is fun. But why choose it? 3:39 A.M.
More relief for the rich: BMW design chief Chris Bangle may have surrendered in his campaign to make BMWs live up to some hothouse avant-garde art text. Autoweek reports that Bangle's team has been desperately restyling the expensive new 7-series sedan, removing forced eccentricities like the weird "eyebrows" molded into the headlights. ... Gee, it seems like only a few months ago that Bangle was boasting in the NYT that this very sedan was "the first car of the century ... miles apart from anything that came before." ... And the 7-series isn't even the ugly one! That would be the disastrously "flame surfaced" Z4 sports car. It's the one that's "as big a jump in terms of aesthetic value systems as there was between an Eve before the fall... and an Eve after the fall," according to Bangle. ... [Wasn't this item also in kausfiles?-ed. Yes. Time-Warner/AOL wishes it had this kind of synergy.] ... 12:57 A.M.