text:
read more
Obesity can lead to many feline health problems. If your cat no longer has a proportional figure (it loses its "waist"), check with your veterinarian whether your tabby is too tubby.
Bringing a new cat home can be stressful for both you and your new furry friend. Find out the best ways to bond with your cat so you'll be closer than ever.
Shelter cats make great pets. There are just a few things to know to make your new cat's transition to your home easier for both her and you.
Why is it that so many literary and creative types gravitate toward cats? Here, authors who gain inspiration from their pets.
A feline can't speak those three magic words, but it can certainly show you how much it cares. Here are seven signs that your cat is crazy -- about you.
How would you best describe your relationship with your cat? Is your pet like a member of your family, a best friend, a companion? Or an exotic, furry curiosity?
Seven ways to show your cat that it's a true member of your clan.
When you live with someone, including one or more feline friends, their annoying bad habits can drive you crazy over time. A refresher behaviour course may be in order, with you serving as teacher.
My cat understands basic commands from me, but when a friend recently visited from Europe, my cat would not respond to her at all, even when she said the same words in English.
Most cats enjoy a relaxing rubdown, but some methods will please them more than others. Our feline massage experts teach you the best techniques.
I read about dogs that save their owners' lives by getting help or opening doors. Are there examples of cats that have saved their owners' lives?
New research shows what many of us have long suspected: Cats adore women. But why, and can men enjoy equally strong bonds with felines?
Happy Father's Day! As we look back at famous dads who adored cats, here's what to consider if you're thinking of getting a cat for your Dad or male significant other.
Cats are more than cute and cuddly. Recent studies reveal how cat ownership improves human health -- both physical and mental.
With a touch of creativity, you can satisfy all of the nice, not naughty, cats on your holiday shopping list with affordable, edible gifts they'll actually use.
Want to quickly spot signs of illness in your cat? We've uncovered the key symptoms to look -- and listen -- for.
Relocating to a new home can put a lot of stress on your cat. Make life easier for both you and your cat by following these tips.
While students immerse themselves in books again this month, consider adding these book classics and new favorites to your own cat library.
Want your cat to live a longer, happier life? Consider a roommate. Two or more cats can be optimal under certain circumstances.
If you're finding that your daily routine conflicts with your cat's, you're not alone. It's time to tweak your pet's schedule to fit your needs.
A house without a cat is not a home if you're a feline fancier, so here's what to do if you'd like to adopt a cat for the first time or to add to your preexisting cat crew. The simple process takes just six steps.
While your cat may not mind milk from eight maids, we have better suggestions for twelve days worth of new and innovative products available this holiday season.
What might your kitty want this season? We have the inside scoop on new toys and gadgets that are guaranteed to please.
When you live with someone, including one or more feline friends, their annoying bad habits can drive you crazy over time. A refresher behavior course may be in order, with you serving as teacher.
Whoever said that all cats are loners obviously never spent much time with a needy house kitty. Here's how to handle felines that demand your attention 24-7.
Learn how the pros select the best, most innovative cat toys.
Maybe you can't teach an old dog new tricks. But you can teach cats --even old ones -- to come, stay and even close doors. Here, animal trainer Miriam Fields-Babineau shows you how.
Every living creature's got it -- that certain something (or somethings) that determine why it is the way it is. Here's how to understand it, plus a simple six-step program to help mold and maximize your cat's uniqueness.
When the line crosses between devotion and obsession, how can a cat owner know if he or she is taking the relationship too far?
Set aside 15 minutes out of your day to massage your cat, and experience a new bond with your pet. Here's how.
Here are four easy ways you can keep your cat's mind and body engaged throughout the day.
Photographing your cat can be a snap with these easy instructions. You'll be a pro in no time!
If you're bringing a new kitten home, it's only proper that you should formally introduce this newest "keeper" kitty to the rest of the cats in your multi-cat household.
If you're a newly pregnant woman, should you be worried about your cat?
Thinking of adopting a kitten or cat? Here's what you need to know about pet rescue.
Can cats really experience love? It's a question I'm familiar with -- both personally and professionally.
If you're a newly pregnant woman, should you be worried about your cat?
If you're looking for a new pet to fill your home with love, consider an older cat before settling with a new kitty.
A whimsical look at some of the many superstitions that surround cats - and where these particular beliefs came from.
A short checklist of things to consider when looking for a reliable and trustworthy cat sitter that your pet will love.
Cat games range from basic to complex, but the biggest component is always fun. Find out which games your cat will enjoy.
Is your cat getting in the way of your dating life?
Cat therapy is gaining popularity as scientific research proves what cat owners have known for years: that cats are good for our heath.
If wedding bells are in your future, or that of a friend, make it an affair for the whole family, including the family cat.
Are you a cat fancier? Bury your nose in one of these cat-themed books. These are must-reads for any cat fancier.
Check out five of the most popular Twitter accounts by and for cat aficionados.
They don't call it a "cat nap" for nothing. Cats love to snooze and relax, so why not help your pet be at its most comfortable while doing its favorite activity?
Can you teach a cat to have table manners? Here's my own experience.
With an increasing number of hotels, inns and resorts becoming more pet-friendly over the past few years, it's now possible to bring your cat with you on your travels -- especially if it's a road trip.
If you're afraid to sit down in your home after putting on your black dress pants, try one or more of these creative ways to remove cat hair from almost anything.
Kyla Duffy is most known for her dog projects, but she is certainly no stranger to kitties. We sat down with Duffy to talk about her first cat-related book.
Copyright © 2018 PaliMedia Inc. All rights reserved


text:
Slack Terms & Policies
User Terms of Service
Agreement with a user that joins an existing team.
Privacy Policy
Our policy regarding what information we collect at Slack, how we use it, and what choices you have.
Security Overview
We take security seriously here at Slack, and we are proud to exceed the industry standard when it comes to protecting your organization.
Acceptable Use Policy
A list of acceptable and unacceptable conduct for our Services.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
We'd like to say a huge "Thank You" to all of our donors who made our 4th of July t-shirt campaign such a fantastic success. We've received notes from around the country letting us know how you showed the Troops "I have your back" over the holiday. This letter really caught our attention and we're proud to share one USO supporter's experience.
How did you wear your USO t-shirt on Independence Day? Send us your letters and pictures - we'd love to share more!
Their journey is everyone's responsibility. From the moment they enlist, through their assignments and deployments, and as they transition back to their communities, they can rely on your support.


text:
Debbie Bliss Cotton DK - Silver Birch (83) - 50g - Product Description
Debbie Bliss Cotton DK is a machine washable, non-mercerized, 100% cotton yarn. Despite its name, it is slightly thicker than most double-knit yarns, though still closer to a DK than an Aran! Recommended for use with 4mm (US 6) needles, and supplied in 50g balls.
|40 - Mild
|Do Not Bleach
|Do Not Tumble Dry
|Flat Dry
|Iron - Low / 110
|PCE Dry Clean


text:
BRIAN S. KALATA, wrote the original feature film "Dinner Rush" along with Rick Shaughnessy, available on DVD from New Line Home Entertainment. He has done freelance writing in print, commercial and Internet content development.
Brian has continued to develop projects including an adaptation of the Sherwood Kirraly book, "Big Babies".
He is also currently in production on a documentary project about the Digital Revolution and the Emerging New Media explosion, including the new user generated content phenomenon.
Brian is a member of the Writers Guild of America - East.
He has been a member of the creative team on a number of television and feature film projects including: Californication, Oceans 12, THe Road To Perdition, I Love You Man, The Middle, The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Many More..


text:
Object literalObj = (token.indexOf('.') < 0) ? (new Integer(token)) : (new Double(token));
I simplified it down to this:
Object o = true ? new Integer(0) : new Double(0);
And it still kept returning Double. After telling myself I was not insane and that there had to be an explanation for this, I finally realized that it was unboxing the Integer and promoting it to a double, then boxing into a Double before returning it to me. The JLS 3rd edition 15.25 confirmed it, as did this test:
Object o = true ? new Integer(1) : new Double(2);
Which returned a Double with the value 1.0
Returning the Integer and Double from methods that had an Object as the return value prevented Java from performing the conversion (since both operands were no longer guaranteed to be numbers).
I just wanted to share this since I've been screwing with it for the better part of an hour now, thinking either the compiler or I was insane.
EDIT: This also took care of my problem:
Object o = true ? (Object)new Integer(1) : (Object)new Double(2);


text:
Kelly Layman
Executive Director of Communications
NEWS BRIEF: Florida Board of Governors Seeks Applicants For Appointment to New College Board of Trustees //// Deadline for FAMU Board Applications is this Week
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – April 3, 2012
Editors: Time-sensitive to two separate deadlines. Please note the second graf – thank you for your assistance.
TALLHASSEE, Fla.—The Trustee Nominating Committee of the Florida Board of Governors is seeking candidates for an appointment to the Board of Trustees at New College in Sarasota, while the deadline for applications to fill a vacancy on the Florida A&M University's Board of Trustees was extended to Wednesday.
Applicants do not need to live in the immediate area of an Florida public university to serve in this capacity, and there are sometimes members on university Boards of Trustees from other states.
The deadline for applications with the New College vacancy is April 27 at 5 p.m.
The deadline to apply for the FAMU seat is Wednesday at 5 p.m.
Each one of the 11 public institutions in the State University System has a 13-member Board of Trustees responsible for cost-effective policy, and for implementing and maintaining high-quality education programs consistent with the university's mission. Each university's Board of Trustees also develop processes to meet state policy, budgeting and education standards.
The term of service for the seat on the New College Board of Trustees is through Jan. 6, 2013, and the term of service for the seat on the Florida A&M University Board of Trustees is through Jan. 6, 2015. Both seats will finish the balance of respective five-year terms for seats that were recently vacated.
"The Board of Governors is looking for individuals to serve as university trustees who are interested not just in higher education but in taking our universities to a level of national excellence that elevates both institution and the goals of the State University System," said Morteza "Mori" Hosseini of Daytona Beach, Chair of the Trustee Nominating Committee of the Florida Board of Governors.
Individuals interested in this public service must complete an application. For more information, and the application: www.flbog.edu/aboutsus/ubt.php.
Applications for seats appointed by the Board of Governors should be mailed to the address on the application for Board of Governors, and not sent to a university. The appointments made by the Florida Board of Governors are separate from appointments that are also made to university Boards of Trustees by the Governor of Florida.
For more about the Board of Governors, see www.flbog.edu. For more about New College, see www.ncf.edu. For more info about FAMU, see www.famu.edu
About the State University System of Florida
The State University System of Florida is governed by a 17-member Board of Governors, a constitutional body and led by appointed public servants. The System is comprised of 11 institutions with a total enrollment of nearly 330,000 students, making it the second-largest public university system in the nation in terms of enrollment (some states have more than one university system). The Florida Constitution (Article IX, Section 7) was amended by the state's voters in 2002 to establish a statewide system of governance for all Florida public universities. As a result, the Florida Board of Governors was created in 2003 to oversee the State University System of Florida. Responsibilities include defining the distinctive mission of each institution and ensuring the well-planned coordination and operation of the System. The Board's 17 members include 14 appointed by the Governor, with three serving by virtue of their designations (a faculty member, a Florida Student Association student representative, and the Florida Commissioner of Education). The Board of Governors appoints a Chancellor who serves as the chief executive and administrative officer of the State University System. For more, including the Board's Annual Report that reflects accountability measurements and benchmarks occurring at each institution, see www.flbog.edu.
# # #


text:
Suicide in South Hadley
Six teenagers have been charged with bullying Phoebe Prince. What about the adults who knew it was going on?
See Emily Bazelon's special report on the untold story of Phoebe Prince and her suicide. Read the rest of Bazelon's series on cyberbullying.
The criminal charges filed against six students Monday in connection with the bullying of the 15-year-old high school student Phoebe Prince, who killed herself in January, took the town of South Hadley, Mass., by surprise. * The six teenagers were charged with felonies and saw their names and photos on the evening news. That's a price for bullying that kids almost never pay. These charges will reverberate in this small town for a long time to come. For many people who live here, the charges challenge a fundamental conception of South Hadley as a nice, ordinary, middle-class small town. As such, some residents were willing to work with school administrators to prevent further bullying in the future but were also ready to move on without assigning blame for Phoebe's death. To others, who have criticized the high school's handling of the case, the tough prosecutorial stance toward these bullies is unexpected vindication. They think the town isn't ready to just move on. Now it won't.
I've been reporting in South Hadley in the months since Phoebe's death, because I'm interested in how communities recover from such an event and in how schools tackle the problem of bullying that precipitated it. After Phoebe died, there was an outpouring of grief for her. But from a smaller segment of the community, there was also a groundswell of rage. At public meetings, parents like Luke Gelinas stood up and berated school administrators for not responding to previous episodes of bullying involving their own kids.
In the initial uproar over Phoebe's death, there was also pressure on the high school and the school district from the press: in the Boston Globe, where columnist Kevin Cullen expressed outrage over South Hadley's "mean girls"; in People magazine, which ran an article sympathetic to the Prince family; and on Facebook, where a group called "expel the three girls who caused Phoebe Prince to commit suicide" has 25,841 fans. For a moment, at least, South Hadley was portrayed as the bullying capital of America. To some people in town, that's a monstrous, unrecognizable image. In February, I talked to high school principal Dan Smith before an evening meeting about forming a task force to fight bullying (a meeting that had been planned before Phoebe's death and then postponed for a few weeks in its wake). Some angry parents were calling for his resignation, and that of Superintendent Sayer, the main target of their anger. Smith's inbox was overflowing with e-mails from around the world. There was talk of protestors showing up before that night's meeting. "I've almost seen this like an earthquake, and we've been dealing with the aftershocks," Smith said.
In the midst of those aftershocks, Smith had been trying to figure out where the school had gone wrong. While he and other administrators knew about many day-to-day conflicts, "we'd been looking at bullying, and we were missing types of aggressions, relationship aggression, which we know happens. It can be nasty."
In Phoebe's case, we now know from Northwestern District Attorney Elizabeth Scheibel, who outlined the criminal charges on Monday, "relationship aggression" means that a group of girls turned on Phoebe after she "briefly dated" a 17-year-old named Sean Mulveyhill. Sean is a star on the high school football team, and was the boyfriend of Kayla Narey, 17, one of the girls who was charged yesterday. * Phoebe also became involved (even more briefly, I've been told) with another boy, 18-year-old Austin Renaud, whose 16-year-old girlfriend, Flannery Mullins, was also charged by the DA. Scheibel says that the nine students she charged participated in "a nearly-three-month campaign" of verbal assaults and physical threats against Phoebe. Phoebe's picture was scribbled out of a student-body photo hanging on a classroom wall. The bullies slammed her on Facebook and sent her mean text messages. The attacks culminated on the day of her death in a "torturous day" during which Phoebe was harassed in the library, in the hallways, and walking down the street on her way home. On the afternoon of her death, a few of them reportedly drove by her while she walked home, shouted "Irish slut" and "Irish whore," and threw a soda at her.
Scheibel says that the conduct of the nine students she charged "far exceeded the limits of normal teenage relationship-related quarrels." That interpretation of the student behavior is shared by some, though not all, in the town. Teachers at the school are aghast at how it's being treated in the media. "I wouldn't teach here if the climate truly was as it's being portrayed," one told me.When I talked with a group of South Hadley students earlier this month, the prevailing sentiment was that, yes, Phoebe had been mistreated but not in some unprecedented way. "A lot of it was normal girl drama," one girl told me. "If you want to label it bullying, then I've bullied girls and girls have bullied me. Her history made it affect her more. It wasn't the school being terrible. It was really bad, it was one of the worst things I've heard of some girls doing to another girl. But it wouldn't have hurt most people that much."
This is not, obviously, how Scheibel came to see it. The DA isn't slapping wrists. These kids are facing felony charges that carry hefty penalties. Sean and Austin were each charged with statutory rape, presumably for having sex with Phoebe. She was 15, and they were 17 and 18, respectively, and under Massachusetts' broad statutory rape law, that's apparently all it takes, because a teenager under the age of 16 cannot legally consent.
Five of the teens—Sean, Kayla, Flannery, and two other girls, Ashley Longe and Sharon Chanon Velazquez—were also charged with "violation of civil rights, with bodily injury resulting."* That's another broad statute, with a maximum 10-year sentence. "You have to show force or threat of force in violation of a secured right—here, the right to an education," explains Richard Cole, a former Massachusetts assistant attorney general who consults on school safety and civil rights. While the text of the statute doesn't explicitly limit its reach, Cole said that prosecutors traditionally use it in cases that involve a threat based on a protected status—race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation—or for a First Amendment violation. Here, the tie-in could be the "Irish" part of the epithets shouted at Phoebe. Cole told me about one previous case of school-based harassment in which the charge of violation of civil rights was brought: In 2000, 17-year-old Joseph DeGrazia was prosecuted for beating up Jason Hair, 18, in the school cafeteria after harassing him for months about being gay.
The charges against the South Hadley teenagers raise another question: What about the adults? Scheibel said Monday that the harassment in the library "appears to have been conducted in the presence of a faculty member and several students but went unreported to school administrators until after Phoebe's death." And, more damningly, "The investigation has revealed that certain faculty, staff and administrators of the high school also were alerted to the harassment of Phoebe Prince before her death." Phoebe's mother, Anne Prince, spoke to staff members, the DA said.
To a degree, this matches what Dan Smith told me in February: "There were instances of name-calling, with Phoebe, the week before she died. These were brought to our attention, we dealt with those kids right away. We also talked to her, we had her working with a school counselor, we talked to her mom."
But the timeline doesn't entirely line up: The DA said the bullying campaign went on for three months; school officials said they only learned of it in the last week before Phoebe's death. Nor do the results of the district attorney's investigation jibe with the consequences of school's internal probe. Because of privacy laws, it's not clear which students were disciplined or how seriously. A few left the school, according to Superintendent Sayer. At least one has reportedly transferred to another high school. A couple of others were being homeschooled. But several of the teens whom Scheibel charged had been attending classes at South Hadley this week, I'm told by parents who didn't want to give their names because of anger in the town about talking to the press. How to explain the discrepancy between the criminal charges that came raining down and the back-to-normal feeling at the high school, where the anti-bullying taskforce was dutifully meeting, but with dwindling numbers, and without the guidance of an outside expert, to the frustration of the school's critics?
Recall that taskforce meeting in February. Protesters were expected to call for the superintendent and the principals' resignations. Instead, the school district's supporters came en masse. They handed out "I Support Dan Smith" stickers and gave the principal a standing ovation. Some people sat stony-faced, but the majority clapped. When Smith rose to speak, he choked up. "What's been happening has to stop in our community," he said. "I look around and see a lot of soldiers tonight, which is good. We need you." He described how the anti-bullying taskforce would organize itself going forward, and asked for volunteers. He concluded, "I'm really hopeful for our kids—for their good, which so many of you are here about, and that it's time to move on."
The criminal charges mean that South Hadley won't be moving on. Like it or not, the town will be taking a long, deep look back as its critics have wanted since Phoebe's death. The charges alone, however, won't solve the problem of bullying going forward: Every expert I've talked to says that fighting bullying is never as simple as merely identifying the out-of-control kids. And it's hard to see how only a bunch of teenagers can take the fall for what Scheibel has identified as a broader school failure. She said on Monday that she doesn't think the staff, teachers, or administrators committed a crime. She also said, "nevertheless, the actions, or inactions, of some adults at the school are troublesome."
That's a call for asking a lot more questions about which adults knew what, and when, in South Hadley. Elizabeth Scheibel is herself a product of South Hadley—according to her online bio, "she worked at a local restaurant, sold sweaters in a local clothing store, graduated from South Hadley High School"—and she clearly is in the camp that thinks the town can move forward only when it has held those who bullied Phoebe Prince accountable for their actions. Another bit from her bio that resonates: "A lawyer friend who has known her since kindergarten remembered how she beat up a bully who was picking on her younger brother, commenting, 'Even in her youth she wasn't afraid to hold her position and pursue justice as she saw it.' "
Corrections, June 17, 2010: Because of confusion over delinquency charges filed in juvenile court, this article originally stated that nine teenagers—rather than six—had been charged. (Return to the corrected sentence.) The article also originally misidentified Sean's girlfriend as Ashley Longe. ( Return to the corrected sentence.) Sharon Chanon Velazquez's name was misspelled, and Kayla's and Ashley's names were reversed. ( Return to the corrected sentence.)


text:
Mortenson brings uplifting message
Greg Mortenson's message is simple: Education can change the world for the better.
It's a message in which Mortenson believes fervently and has made his life's work.
It's a message he brought to Mississippi State students, faculty and administrators and the broader community in a public lecture at the Humphrey Coliseum Thursday night.
"If we really we want to help people, we need to empower them. We need to effect change and hope," said Mortenson, a two-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee and author of the best-selling book "Three Cups of Tea," which was chosen for the Maroon Edition freshman reading program at MSU.
The book, which has sold more than 4 million copies in 45 countries, recounts Mortenson's failed 1993 attempt to scale Pakistan's K2 — the world's second highest mountain — in order to place the amber necklace worn by his sister, Christa, at the summit to honor her memory following her 1992 death from epilepsy.
In the wake of his nearly fatal climb, he was nurtured by the residents of the remote mountain village of Korphe, where he observed children doing their school work outdoors, writing their lessons with a stick in the dirt.
From that experience, he vowed to return to build a school. His effort grew into the nonprofit Central Asia Institute, which to date has built or supported more than 140 schools in rural and often volatile regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan, which have been marked by war with Taliban, tribal warlords and radical Islamic sects.
Those regions — marked by a male-dominated society — have the potential for great change because those radical elements fear the power of education, particularly for girls, Mortenson said Thursday.
In 2000 in Afghanistan, only 800,000 children — mostly boys — attended school, according to UNICEF. In 2010, more than 8.5 children attend school, with 2.5 million of them being girls, the statistics show.
"Unless girls are educated, things will never really change," Mortenson said.
"Educated women reduces the population explosion and infant mortality rates. It is very empowering when women can read and understand the news of the world around them."
An educated populace is what groups like the Taliban fear most, because it reduces their grip of fear on the people, Mortenson said.
"Their greatest fear is the pen," Mortenson said.
This lesson is one that has not been lost on the U.S. military forces operating in Afghanistan. "Three Cups of Tea" has become required reading for military commanders and special forces soldiers serving there.
U.S. Army Col. Christopher Kolenda, in an e-mail to Mortenson, addressed the education issue specifically.
"This conflict will not be one with bombs and bullets, but with literacy and ideas...," Kolenda wrote.
Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, invited Mortenson to meet with senior members of his staff. Petraeus relayed three major lessons he gleaned from Mortenson's book:
• Listen more.
"We have to look at situations from their perspective, not with our often myopic vision," Mortenson quoted Petraeus as saying.
• Respect.
"We are there to serve the good people of that country," Mortenson quoted Petraeus as saying.
• Build relationships.
"That's what it's all about," Mortenson said.
Noting that he had informally surveyed MSU students with whom he had met earlier on Thursday on their involvement in community service, Mortenson said he was impressed that all the students he had addressed had been involved in service activity and that a significant amount of them had spent time with their grandparents and elders talking about their experiences in such historical periods as the Great Depression, World War II and the Civil Rights Movement.
Involvement in service is critical to building a better world, Mortenson said.
"It's something you can cherish and be proud of and it's also something that is key to creating global understanding," Mortenson said.


text:
Open topic with navigation
Although export operation specifics may differ, the general process is the same.
In all cases, access the export option by clicking the edit icon in the Manage Elements, Metadata Forms, or Field Types and Masks dialog, as shown below. Click Export to display the Export dialog.
Related Links
You can download PDF versions of the Content Contributor's, Administrator's, and Elements Reference documents from the support section of paperthin.com (requires login).
For technical support:
Open topic with navigation


text:
The South Carolina Stingrays might be the deepest team in the ECHL this season.
The Orlando Solar Bears found that out the hard way Tuesday night.
Scott Campbell had a goal and an assist and Jeff Jakaitis made 22 saves to lead South Carolina past Orlando, 4-2, before a crowd of 1,551 at the North Charleston Coliseum.
The Stingrays, who are unbeaten on the season, improved to 4-0-1 (9 points) and trail Florida by a single point for first place in the South Division. The Solar Bears fell to 2-3-0 (4 points).
South Carolina head coach Spencer Carbery rolled all three of his forward lines in hopes of wearing down the visiting Solar Bears. In the third period, South Carolina's depth finally took its toll as the Stingrays scored twice in the final 20 minutes.
The Stingrays got off to a quick start, outshooting the Solar Bears, 17-7, during the first period and holding a 12-2 advantage after eight minutes, but had little to show for their dominance.
"That was probably the best period we've played all season," Carbery said. "We came out flying, I think we out-chanced them eight-to-two, but you look up at the scoreboard and we don't have a goal."
Chad Painchaud finally broke through with 3:52 left to go in the opening period, but the Solar Bears answered 90 seconds later on Bryce Aneloski's goal with 2:20 left before the first intermission.
"That's probably a period where we should have scored two or three goals," Carbery said. "It was a little frustrating not to be leading going into the locker room."
Zach Harrison's goal gave the Solar Bears a brief 2-1 advantage with seven minutes left in the second period.
The Stingrays responded with Lindsay Sparks' first professional goal with 49 seconds left in the second period. It was the first power play goal the Solar Bears had given up all season. Orlando was 23 of 23 on the penalty kill coming into the game.
"Lindsay hadn't played a game so far this season, and for him to come in and get a goal was huge," Jakaitis said. "That's why we're getting the results we're getting. Guys who are not playing much are chipping in when they get their chance."
After Campbell put Stingrays up 3-2 with a one-timer off of a beautiful pass from Scooter Vaughan, Jakaitis came up with the save of the game.
Orlando came down on an odd man rush with C.J. Severyn and Scott Tanski. Severyn made a pass to a wide-open Tanski on the back post for what appeared to be a sure goal. But Jakaitis slid across his crease and made a pad save to stop the threat.
"I didn't make a good read on the play," Jakaitis said. "I came out to challenge (Severyn) and our defenseman did a good job of forcing him wide. I was a little late getting over there and just got lucky to get a piece of the puck."
Stingrays forward Patrick Gaul added the final goal of the night with 5:47 left in the final period.
Orlando 1 1 0—2
Stingrays 1 1 2—4
First Period: 1. SC, Painchaud 3 (Langkow, Downing), 16:08. 2. Orlando, Aneloski 1 (Severyn, Ullrich), 17:40. Penalties: No penalties.
Second Period: 3. O, Harrison 3 (Severyn, Ullrich), 13:00. 4.SC, Sparks 1 (Boyd, Campbell), 19:11 (PP). Penalties: Lagace, O (boarding), 17:18.
Third Period: 5. SC, Campbell 5 (Vaughan, Gongalsky), 2:55. 6. SC, Gaul 1 (Hagel, Boyd), 14:13. Penalties: Vidmar, SC (interference), 3:42.
Shots on Goal: Stingrays 17-4-7-28; Orlando: 7-8-9-24. Penalties: Stingrays 1-2; Orlando 1-2. Power play: Stingrays 1 for 1; Orlando 0 for 1. Goalies: Stingrays – Jeff Jakaitis (4-0-1) 24 shots, 22 saves. Orlando – John Curry (1-1-0) 28 shots, 24 saves. Att: 1,551.


text:
June 30, 2010
Abnormal levels of lipids -- cholesterol and triglycerides -- and blood sugar as well as unwelcome changes to body shape have occurred in some clinical trials, particularly trials of older anti-HIV drugs. To find out if raltegravir (Isentress) is associated with similar problems, researchers conducted a metabolic study comparing raltegravir-based regimens to ones based on efavirenz (Sustiva and in Atripla). After two years, they found that raltegravir was associated with minimal changes in levels of fats and sugar in the blood. Furthermore, no changes in body shape were detected with either study regimen.
A large randomized, placebo-controlled trial called Startmrk enrolled nearly 600 participants and randomly assigned them to receive regimens based on either raltegravir or efavirenz. All participants in this study received a combination of two other anti-HIV drugs as follows:
A fixed-dose combination of these two drugs is sold as Truvada.
Researchers conducted a metabolic sub-study of Startmrk with participants who received low-dose X-ray scans called DEXA. These are useful when objectively trying to assess changes in the body's composition of bone, muscle, fat and so on. Particular attention was paid to lipid levels in the blood of participants. In the metabolic sub-study, 55 people received raltegravir and 57 received efavirenz. All participants were from North America.
The profile of these participants at the start of the study was as follows:
After two years, on average there were relatively small increases in lipid levels in the blood of raltegravir users. Triglyceride levels even fell during the study.
In contrast, lipid levels rose to a larger degree among efavirenz users. Indeed, the difference in lipid levels between raltegravir and efavirenz users after two years was statistically significant for the following lipids:
Blood sugar levels rose slightly among raltegravir users but increased blood sugar levels were more common among efavirenz users. This difference was also statistically significant.
For the most part, increased lipid levels exceeded critical threshold levels only in the cases of LDL-C and triglycerides among some efavirenz users.
Changes in body fat were small and not significantly different between the two treatments.
Overall, the results from this metabolic sub-study suggest that after two years of treatment, raltegravir, when used with Truvada, had a minimal impact on lipid and sugar levels in the blood as well as on body shape.
No comments have been made.
The content on this page is free of advertiser influence and was produced by our editorial team. See our content and advertising policies.


text:
OAKLAND CITY, Ind. - King College advanced to the semifinals of the 2011 NCCAA Division I Men's Basketball National Tournament behind an 80-74 win over Trinity Christian (Ill.) College Thursday in the quarterfinal round.
King, the event's No. 3 seed, improved to 18-14, and will play No. 2 seed Spring Arbor (Mich.) University at 6 p.m. eastern Friday to determine half of Saturday's national championship contest. Spring Arbor won a 78-54 contest against Southeastern (Fla.) University, the No. 7 seed, to tip off the tournament.
The Tornado got a season-high 28 points from senior Clarence Smith (Nashville, Tenn.) with a strong 12-for-16 effort from the floor. The 12 field goals are the most for Smith in a game this season in his sixth 20-plus point contest of 2010-11. After Thursday's game Smith moved to No. 9 on King's All-Time scoring list with 1,472 so far in his career. He needs 18 more to take the No. 8 spot. Smith also pulled in nine rebounds with a pair of blocks.
Mark Dockery (Nickelsville, Va.) added 21 points with 15 coming from behind the three-point line.
Brian Hewitt (Lexington, Ky.) poured in 14 points as well with four assists.
Jason Seymore (Powell, Tenn.) also pulled in nine rebounds while Brandon Goss (St. Louis, Mo.) dished out four assists.
After the teams battled early, Michael Fortune (Beckley, W.Va.) put King in front with 13:03 left in the opening half with the score 14-12.
A three pointer from Hewitt put King up 36-27 with 3:49 on the clock, the largest lead of the half. Eventually the Tornado took a 37-30 lead to the halftime break.
King built an eight-point lead, 43-35, three minutes into the second half, but Trinity did not go away. The No. 6 seed tied things at 45 with 13:47 on the clock after a tip-in by Josh Flikkema. The Tornado got a jumper from Smith before the game was tied again.
From there a three pointer by Dockery put King in front for good , 50-47, with 11:43 to go. King's next two points were via Dockery on a dunk before Smith added two and Hewitt drained a three to give the 2010 national runner up a 10-point lead.
A 14-point lead, 74-60, was built with 4:24 to go, but the Trolls of Trinity Christian fought back to make it a five-point game, 77-72 with a minute left. The Tornado went 3-for-4 at the line in the final 46 seconds to help secure the win.
Jamie King paced Trinity Christian with 21 points while teammate Matt Buren scored 14 points and grabbed a dozen rebounds. Jonathan Huizinga and Joel Kamp both finished with a dozen points each.
Trinity Christian and Southeastern will play a 2 p.m. consolation bracket semifinal Friday.
For more information on the NCCAA National Tournament, click here.


text:
I. In Focus This Week
Director's Note:
Baby, not bathwater – Don't toss the EAC's Election Day Survey
The future of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) is very much in doubt.
After suffering budget cuts in a recent continuing resolution, the EAC now faces skepticism about its very existence (as my colleague Andreas Westgaard noted last week) from the new U.S. House Elections Subcommittee Chairman, Rep. Gregg Harper (R-Miss.)
Harper has already introduced H.R.672, a bill which would terminate the EAC 60 days after enactment and transfer some of its functions to other agencies. Under the Harper bill, voting machine testing and certification would move from the EAC to the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Similarly, the EAC's mandated reports under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) and the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) would revert to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), as would responsibility for pilot studies of voting technology for military and overseas voters.
While its prospects for enactment are uncertain given the current divided partisan control on Capitol Hill, the Harper bill presents a welcome opportunity for Congress and the larger election community to reassess the costs and benefits of the election administration infrastructure that was enacted as part of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA).
In making that assessment, there will be lots of attention on EAC programs that aren't working well – or at all – and can thus be transferred or jettisoned entirely. Yet it will also be crucial to identify those programs which are working and thus should be retained and even strengthened.
In other words, when it comes to the EAC we need to decide what is bathwater – and what is baby.
One "baby" that must not be overlooked is the Election Administration and Voting Survey (EAVS), or "Election Day Survey" – a biennial collection of state and local election administration data and information, mandated by section 241 of HAVA and conducted by the EAC since 2004.
Like many of the EAC's programs - indeed, like any baby - the Election Day Survey has had its growing pains. First of all, while the EAC is required to conduct the entire Survey, state and local election offices are only required to respond to the NVRA/UOCAVA sections. Second, the decentralized nature of American election administration has created considerable variation in the quality of the data submitted. Third, state and local officials have complained that the EAC has released survey questions too late for them to have the proper data collection procedures in place. Finally, the process of collecting and cleaning the data can delay public release of the results enough to hinder their use by anyone as a policymaking or evaluation tool.
Yet over time, as the EAC and election officials alike have become more familiar with the Survey, its timeliness, response rates and data quality have improved dramatically. This creates new and exciting opportunities to use the data to evaluate the performance of American elections. Indeed, the primary beneficiary of this explosion of quality data is not the federal government (given the EAC's nearly non-existent regulatory authority) but rather the larger community of state and local election officials who – now more than ever – are able to use the data to benchmark and assess themselves against their peers across the nation.
Full disclosure: my colleagues and I at Pew are knee-deep in this process as we work to create a way to use election administration data – much of it drawn directly from the Survey – that would allow states and localities to gauge the accuracy, security, convenience (and even cost) of their election systems in an effort to serve citizens not just as voters but also as taxpayers.
Quite simply, the Election Day Survey is the only source of regular (and increasingly reliable) information about election administration nationwide. Whatever the decision about the EAC's future, it would be a huge step backward for the election community to lose the Survey just as it is finally hitting its stride.
The Great Recession and its accompanying "new normal" have triggered many difficult but necessary conversations about the size, scope and cost of government. Current discussions about the EAC demonstrate that no agency is exempt from the need to justify the investment of scarce taxpayer funds. Yet in all of these debates we need to be sure that we are not blindly eliminating programs whose value exceeds their cost.
There may indeed be, as Chairman Harper suspects, lots of bathwater at the EAC. But the Election Day Survey is a valuable baby (with a bright future) that should not be thrown out.
- Prev
- Next >>


text:
California Bay Watershed Education and Training Program
NOAA Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary
NOAA Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary
Seaberry Nachbar
Ben Sherman
September 4, 2008
NOAA has announced the presentation of 15 education grants totaling $799,000 to San Francisco area schools and non-profit groups. The grants, part of NOAA's Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) program, will support environmental education projects focused on NOAA's Gulf of the Farallones and Cordell Bank national marine sanctuaries, which are located off the north-central California coast.
Funding was awarded to school districts and nonprofit organizations, many benefiting underprivileged students. Programs will take place in San Francisco, Marin, and Alameda counties and focus on two areas: meaningful watershed educational experiences for students, and professional development for educators. Several projects received funding up to $60,000.
Among the 15 grantees are:
"These grants will support learning experiences that will inspire an ocean conservation ethic in our children that is critical to protecting our local national marine sanctuaries and the greater ocean environment," said Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary Superintendent Maria Brown.
The NOAA B-WET Program was established in 2002 to enhance environmental stewardship among students, teachers and communities through education. Recognizing that an educated community is the key to understanding and sustaining the nation's ocean and coastal environments, NOAA has developed B-WET programs across the United States.
NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries seeks to increase the public awareness of America's marine resources and maritime heritage by conducting scientific research, monitoring, exploration and educational programs. Today, the sanctuary program manages 13 national marine sanctuaries and one marine national monument that together encompass more than 150,000 square miles of America's ocean and Great Lakes natural and cultural resources.NOAA understands and predicts changes in the Earth's environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and conserves and manages our coastal and marine resources. Visit http://www.noaa.gov.


text:
The very lack of a recovery period is dramatically holding back our collective ability to be resilient and successful. Research has found that there is a direct correlation between lack of recovery and increased incidence of health and safety problems. And lack of recovery — whether by disrupting sleep with thoughts of work or having continuous cognitive arousal by watching our phones — is costing our companies $62 billion a year (that's billion, not million) in lost productivity.
And just because work stops, it doesn't mean we are recovering. We "stop" work sometimes at 5PM, but then we spend the night wrestling with solutions to work problems, talking about our work over dinner, and falling asleep thinking about how much work we'll do tomorrow. In a study released last month, researchers from Norway found that 7.8% of Norwegians have become workaholics. The scientists cite a definition of "workaholism" as "being overly concerned about work, driven by an uncontrollable work motivation, and investing so much time and effort to work that it impairs other important life areas."
We believe that the number of people who fit that definition includes the majority of American workers, including those who read HBR, which prompted us to begin a study of workaholism in the U.S. Our study will use a large corporate dataset from a major medical company to examine how technology extends our working hours and thus interferes with necessary cognitive recovery, resulting in huge health care costs and turnover costs for employers.
The misconception of resilience is often bred from an early age. Parents trying to teach their children resilience might celebrate a high school student staying up until 3AM to finish a science fair project. What a distortion of resilience! A resilient child is a well-rested one. When an exhausted student goes to school, he risks hurting everyone on the road with his impaired driving; he doesn't have the cognitive resources to do well on his English test; he has lower self-control with his friends; and at home, he is moody with his parents. Overwork and exhaustion are the opposite of resilience. And the bad habits we learn when we're young only magnify when we hit the workforce.
In her excellent book,
Mens Silk Pocket Square Blue Watercolour Spirit by VIDA VIDA Xe4h8za
, Arianna Huffington wrote, "We sacrifice sleep in the name of productivity, but ironically our loss of sleep, despite the extra hours we spend at work, adds up to 11 days of lost productivity per year per worker , or about $2,280."
The key to resilience is trying really hard, then stopping, recovering, and then trying again. This conclusion is based on biology. Homeostasis is a fundamental biological concept describing the ability of the brain to continuously restore and sustain well-being. Positive neuroscientist Brent Furl from Texas AM University coined the term "homeostatic value" to describe the value that certain actions have for creating equilibrium, and thus wellbeing, in the body. When the body is out of alignment from overworking, we waste a vast amount of mental and physical resources trying to return to balance before we can move forward.
Under Secretary for Political Affairs Thomas A. Shannon gave an interview to Kommersant daily newspaper on the occasion of the 30th Anniversary of the INF Treaty. The English original interview is available below:
The fact that according to U.S. press the U.S. side started developing a ground based cruise missile (and the funding for it is included in the new NDAA) is not in violation with the terms of the INF treaty but seems to go against its spirit, don't you think? Why does the U.S. need such a prohibited missile?
The Trump Administration values the INF Treaty as a pillar of international security and stability. It is very important in managing the relationship between the United States and Russia, as well as important to our allies and partners around the world – who value it for the limitations it places upon arms competition and as a symbol of the two foremost nuclear powers' commitments to arms control and strategic stability. By eliminating an entire class of the most destabilizing weapons, the INF Treaty was a key component to building and reinforcing strategic stability after the end of the Cold War. In this time of increased tensions between the United States and Russia, INF and other arms control agreements are essential for ensuring transparency and predictability in our relationship, and for preventing the development of dangerously destabilizing arms race dynamics.
This is why the Trump Administration is making every effort to preserve the INF Treaty in the face of Russian violations. We continue to abide by our Treaty commitments, unilaterally, even while Russia continues to produce and field a missile system that violates the INF Treaty. However, continuation of a situation in which the United States remains in compliance while Russia violates the agreement is unacceptable to us. This is because Russia is illegally seeking a unilateral military advantage while undermining future arms control engagements. We hope and expect Russia to return to full and verifiable compliance with its INF Treaty obligations. We will continue to engage with Russia through diplomatic channels to resolve this problem. Unfortunately, in the years since we declared Russia in violation in July 2014, Russia has refused to engage with the United States in any meaningful way.AMBITIOUS LEADERSHIP
In our rapidly changing world, kids need to learn to think flexibly, creatively, and critically — mastering essential knowledge as well as the skills to apply that knowledge wherever their studies and aspirations take them.
Recognizing that reality, states across the country committed to new college- and career-ready standards. Yet performance on new standards-aligned tests indicates that many schools are struggling to reach this higher bar. Principals are the lynchpins to overcoming this challenge, but they likewise need new knowledge and skills to succeed.
In our new report, we share success stories and strategies gleaned from our study of principals who have led progress in moving students toward college and career readiness. We call the leadership we observed at these schools "ambitious leadership."
Companion materials include practical resources to help principals enact ambitious instructional practices in their schools, and policy guidance that government officials can employ to strengthen school leadership across districts and states.
Six case studies also provide an in-depth look at how ambitious leaders positioned their schools and students for success, covering topics ranging from vision-setting and curriculum selection to coaching and professional development that supported teachers in making the leap to higher standards.
At the schools in our study, a deep understanding around the demands of college- and career-ready standards shaped everything principals did: the process of curriculum selection and refinement, the content and design of their assessments, the way in which they designed and delivered professional development, and the coaching and feedback they provided to teachers.
Through those efforts, ambitious leaders turned their schools into engines of student and adult learning. They developed knowledgeable teacher leaders to increase instructional leadership capacity, and created structures that allowed teachers to deepen their expertise and master concrete instructional changes that moved students toward college and career readiness.
Ambitious leaders implemented a set of six key instructional leadership practices. Principals executed these practices at high levels of intensity and quality, with a sharp focus on alignment to college- and career-ready expectations.
Ambitious leaders drew on three types of critical knowledge. Principals understood: (1) the demands of college- and career-ready standards and assessments; (2) the components of challenging, standards-aligned instruction; and (3) high-impact approaches to instructional leadership.
Ambitious leaders established three critical conditions that allowed them to effectively lead improvements to curriculum and instruction. These were: (1) effective talent management; (2) maximized learning time; and (3) a high-quality professional learning culture.
Ambitious leaders aligned instructional leadership practices to their school's stage of improvement. The schools in our study fell into three distinct stages in their journey to higher standards. The first focused heavily on setting an ambitious vision for challenging, standards-aligned instruction; the second stage focused on establishing or upgrading school-wide systems and structures; and the third stage focused on consistently implementing the school's instructional vision.
This long-term casting partner was found in
Silk Square Scarf House by VIDA VIDA XT6psKxtW2
. ESL then announced a trio of new shows that the duo would host: "The grass is always greener", "Map of the Month" and a continuation of MrBitter's old program "12 weeks with the pros", the last of which never came to fruition. The partnership seemed to do only good things for the casters as the were invited to more tournaments within Europe and even in the US. "BitterdaM", as they were now known, known as casted all of the high profile events in the 2011 season together as well as the European Blizzard Invitational and Lone Star Clash . As their popularity increased and they became a more cohesive duo this lead to concerns, voiced by Carmac, that they would inevitably find a better opportunity for work outside of the ESL. [ Citation needed ]
In March 2012, it was announced that he and MrBitter would be leaving Turtle Entertainment (ESL TV). Shortly after, announced that RotterdaM and MrBitter would be joining the casting crew for NASL Season 3 . Apart from casting the NASL tournaments, RotterdaM hosted a show called "Euro update" in which he continued to cover the recent news from the European StarCraft II scene for overseas viewers.
Leather Statement Clutch SIMPLY FRENCH BLUE VI by VIDA VIDA 8XuQny38
, mentioned that initially RotterdaM was unwilling to leave ESL TV when MrBitter was going to leave for NASL. MrBitter persuaded NASL to put more effort into getting RotterdaM as without him it would not be the big announcement NASL could have had. 2GD mentioned that RotterdaM left ESL TV on good terms.
On May 10, 2012, RotterdaM confirmed that he would participate in the open bracket of the
Cashmere Silk Scarf MISSING // GODDESS by VIDA VIDA kZyTOkk
as a player.
On April 26, 2012, Serious Gaming disbanded its StarCraft II team and RotterdaM was left teamless. On May 18, announced that RotterdaM had joined
Quatre Classique Large 18karat Yellow Rose And White Gold Diamond Ring 53 Boucheron VuFS8nQ6U
, not as a caster, but as a player. With his move from Europe to North America, RotterdaM prioritised his casting career but was looking for a team to quench his competitive nature. RotterdaM sought to be an asset for the team, in particular in the team league region. He also began to regularly stream his practice games.
As a player he has periods in which he played a lot. He is known for always streaming while playing and being very interactive with his chat and fans. He even reached the level of Grandmaster a few times on the NA server as well as Master on the korean server. Confirming that he is a formidable player. He is especially known for his micro and disgusting protoss strategies. Like the 'Rotti-build', which is basically a tempest rush/contain against terran. Some of his fans claim that the 'disgusting' styles are a tribute to his insight in the game, being able to see inbalances, timings and abuse these. This also seen in his pvz where he uses a combo of dark templars and phoenixes. His achilles' heel seems to be late macro games as he tries to avoid these and focuses on timings and (semi) cheeses.


text:
Moss colour jacket with secret
Added Dec 30, 2012
Riga, Latvia
A jacket from Burda Style issue 11/2010, #133.
It was planned as a quick project w/o lining and I picked up some double-sided fabric. Soon I realized that the inner side looks quite messy and there's a need for lining. Then I decided to add some time-consuming decorative hand-stitching. In the end for some fun I embroidered a leaf motif on the back of lining. It's my small secret that nobody sees.
For closure a couple of hooks are used as I wanted a minimalistic look. Unfortunately I can't wear a belt with this garment as the double-sided fabric is quite stiff.
Material Notes
Wool blend, lining – rayon, a couple of hooks for closure.
4 Comments Sign in to add a post
Oct 2, 2013, 10.32 PMby Nikki1016
Looks wonderful on you! Great idea to have hooks to close the front, I might steal your idea!
Jan 2, 2013, 04.39 AMby nancyzl
Looks great on you !
Dec 31, 2012, 02.31 AMby jkaori
Great jacket! I love the embroidery on the lining — so special and beautiful!
Dec 30, 2012, 11.55 PMby Mary Athey
Its fab on you.and.the embroidary.on the.insides a nice touch x
Add to Favorites 8 people added it
This project is based on
11/2010 Plaid jacketMake it


text:
By Eric Johnson and Alina Selyukh
(Reuters) - President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party had their best fundraising month of the campaign cycle in September, raising substantially more than in August and perhaps reaching $150 million or more, according to several major campaign fund-raisers.
The news of a strong fundraising month comes at a time when Obama is trying to shake off criticism of his subdued performance at the first debate against Republican challenger Mitt Romney on Wednesday.
Three people raising thousands of dollars for the campaign said they expected Obama's team to reveal they and the Democratic National Committee had raised substantially more than the $114 million they did in August.
The three sources, who are closely involved in the finance operation, said the campaign has set a goal of duplicating September's total in October - a goal that, if achieved, would set the Democratic allies on track to reaching an unprecedented haul of $1 billion for the 2012 cycle.
"People are fired up for Obama," said Steve Westly, a former California State Controller and major campaign fund-raiser. "Obama has the facts on his side, the economy is improving and our side is larger than their side. Mr. Romney, to a large extent, is going to run out of time."
Helping buoy Obama's fundraising in September was the party convention and a modest lead in the polls over Romney, whose campaign was plagued by his remark that the 47 percent of the population who receive government funds are "victims."
Obama campaign officials did not want to comment on specific numbers but said that last month was a record for September. That would mean it beat the September 2008 result when the campaign itself raised $150.7 million, and together with the DNC it brought in $193 million.
The Obama campaign on its own in the 2008 cycle set a record of $750 million and total fundraising was just under $1 billion when combined with the DNC.
By the end of August, the latest public data available, Obama and the Democratic National Committee had raised a cumulative total of roughly $742 million compared to roughly $630 million raised by Romney and the Republican National Committee, according to federal disclosures and news releases.
Those totals do not include the cash raised by outside "Super PAC" groups that can bring in unlimited funds but cannot coordinate with official campaigns. While Republican Super PACs far outpace Democratic groups, the pro-Obama Super PAC Priorities USA Action has seen its fundraising notably tick up in recent weeks. Through the end of August it reported raising a total of $34.8 million.
In this bitterly fought race for the White House, on track to be the costliest in U.S. history, campaigns must fill their war chests with enough cash to make expensive media buys and wage on-the-ground operations in the nine or so swing states likely to determine the outcome of the November 6 election.
In August, Obama and the DNC raised more than $114 million, narrowly beating Romney's $111 million. That followed three months when Romney far outraised the incumbent.
Originally, Obama's team had a goal of raising a total of $800 million for the 2012 campaign, several fund-raisers said. But when wealthy Republicans such as casino magnate Sheldon Adelson began writing seven-figure checks to Romney's outside Super PAC backers, the campaign told fund-raisers it needed at least $100 million more than its original goal, one donor said.
Romney gained ground against Obama in a Reuters/Ipsos poll released Friday that showed the president's lead at just two percentage points, down from a six point lead before the debate.
Several donors echoed the criticisms Obama has faced in the past two days over the debate, that he did not raise issues such as Romney's opposition to the auto bailout, his jobs record as a private equity executive or his "47 percent" comments.
"Everybody I talked to the morning after the debate was like... what happened?," said one major fund-raiser from Ohio.
Another big fund-raiser, however, said that the debate actually helped him bring in more cash.
"Last night, people thought the president did not find his voice the way he should, and that made them a little worried. So they threw in more money to make sure that that doesn't hurt us," said the fund-raiser who is a lawyer in Washington, D.C.
(Reporting by Eric Johnson in Cincinnati, Ohio and Alina Selyukh in Washington; Editing by Alistair Bell and Claudia Parsons)


text:
Play Road Trip Bingo
Whether you're on a cross-country trip or taking a short jaunt to Gam's, this fun family game will keep the journey jovial!Download All (6)
Download All is only available to Education.com Pro members. Learn More
Click on a worksheet in the set below to see more info or download the PDF.
Play Road Trip Bingo #1Download Worksheet More info
The next time your family hits the open road, why not liven things up with a game of Road Trip Bingo? Kids will enjoy playing this game during the car ride.
Play Road Trip Bingo #2Download Worksheet More info
The backseat gets a little more fun with Road Trip Bingo cards. Your kids can play this fun road trip game the next time your family is going out of town.
Play Road Trip Bingo #3Download Worksheet More info
Play Road Trip Bingo on your next driving adventure. Full of traffic signs, animals, and vehicles, Road Trip Bingo will keep the whole family searching.
Play Road Trip Bingo #4Download Worksheet More info
Road trips can be boring, sure, but they can also be a time for fun car games. Play Road Trip Bingo with the whole family on your next trip out of town.
Play Road Trip Bingo #5Download Worksheet More info
Beat the backseat boredom with these Road Trip Bingo cards. With six variations on it, everyone in the car can play!
Road Trip Bingo #6Download Worksheet More info
What do you get when you have a bike, boat, truck, and pay phone? Bingo! Play Road Trip Bingo with your crew the next time you're out of town.
Want to download this whole set as a single PDF?Download All (6)
Download All is only available to Education.com Pro members. Learn More


text: funnydie Up Next: The Hills with James Franco and Mila Kunis AUTOPLAY Up Next In: 10 The Hills with James Franco and Mila Kunis James Franco: Gucci Commercial Outtakes Happy Birthday Sam Raimi from James Franco Jimmy and the Cop w/ James Franco Follow James Franco's Rejected UCLA Commencement Speech The real reason James Franco didn't give the 2009 UCLA commencement speech. July 07, 2009 1.1m Views Immortal James FrancoFunny Or Die James Franco Actor Funny Or Die Uploader Additional Credits Starring James Franco and Vince JolivetteWritten and Directed by Emmet McDermott and Jared GruszeckiProduced by Vince JolivetteEdited by Zak WojtanowiczSpecial Thanks to Brantley Jones, CarloVito Santangelo & Ian SeltzerPresented by The Harvard Lampoon and Rabbit Bandiniwww.harvardlampoon.com 21,231Funny4,981Die 1,124,110 Views July 07, 2009 Published Category Sketch Parody Tags James Franco Emmet McDermott UCLA funny graduation students celebrity faculty Barack Obama Announcer>Gadoosh!Alright, we all set?Yeah, yeah give me one sec.Okay.But wait, what are you waiting for?For the fuckin' applause asshole!I don't know about that.You don't know if there are scientists that makeIf they do they're not gonna let usWell I wanna fuckin' say that anyway,Woah woah, don't say fuck, you can't say that,"I mean Mr. Franco, you're a fuckin' movie star."Maybe we should try something just aAlright, take it easy man, I'm gettin' there.Ahem.Well actually it is true because I went to collegeI went to college to so..Well, somebody was sleeping in class.Well I didn't even (mutters)Somebody was sleeping in class!Well we know you do!Who fuckin' doesn't fall asleep in class?What, wait a minute.President Barack Obama.Oh Jesus.He fuckin' reminds me of me.It wasn't just because of the movie.Well the movie had a lot to do with it, it really did.Um.What, no.I know, I agree it was great but.Yeah, no, you agree?I agree it was great.Oh you agree?I agree but.Very bold of you that was like fucking amazing.It was.Fuck. Up Next The Best of James Franco 2:43 The Hills with James Franco and Mila Kunis James Franco 4:25 James Franco: Gucci Commercial Outtakes James Franco Advertisement More fromJames Franco 3:58 PUT IT IN YOUR MOUTH! VOTE YES FOR PROP 37 — JAMES FRANCO ADRIEN GRENIER ELIAJH WOOD DANIEL MASTERSON & MORE... James Franco 2:46 Pineapple Express - Red Band Trailer Judd Apatow


text:
Barred Owl
Sabrina Ryan 7/2/2009 6:25:52 PMExcellent find and capture, Lana! Nicely composed with great colors, sharp detail, and beautiful light. #1149284
Anita J. Luellen 7/2/2009 6:42:23 PMThis is a lovely owl portrait. Very nicely composed...really enjoy seeing the owl's environment. #7702301
Sandra K. StJohn 7/2/2009 7:20:57 PMGreat capture - nice composition. #7702354
Cary Rogers 7/2/2009 7:26:19 PMGREAT image composition, BG lighting and DOF, and subject detail, Lana! kudos! #7702367
Summer A. Kozisek 7/2/2009 7:45:12 PMWonderful find and beautiful image Lana!! #7702395
Lionel Remillard 7/2/2009 8:24:39 PMFantastic photo, great environment! #7702454
Liz blahh 7/2/2009 10:11:05 PMWonderful & beautiful image! #7702572
Michelle Alton 7/4/2009 4:27:54 AMI see this as a HUGE winner, Laura. What would I give to have shot this? Brilliant, and Gorgeous! #7702745
Anne M. Young 7/4/2009 5:19:04 AMFantastic! I agree - looks a winner #7702852
Melissa Olsen 7/4/2009 7:03:28 AMWOW...I hope to see this capture again....simply fantastic! #7703193
Rajeev 270293 Kashyap 7/4/2009 12:06:45 PMExcellent details and colors Lana! #7704098
Carrie M. Groseclose 7/5/2009 11:17:44 PMOUTSTANDING capture with beautiful lighting, colors, and detail! LOVE it!! #7708673
Thomas E. Hinds 7/6/2009 2:07:25 PMWonderful image of this Barred Owl! #7711395
Elaine Eastman 7/6/2009 9:56:41 PMWow! I can't imagine ever seeing this wonderful sight, much less getting this beautiful photo! Congrats and thanks for posting! #7712984
Joann carrillo 7/7/2009 2:13:55 AMwhat a great capture! perfect #7713415
Lisa J. Boulden 7/10/2009 8:36:39 PMAbsolutely fabulous, Lana!
Kathleen Rinker 7/17/2009 1:46:13 PMFabulous capture Lana!!! #7750079
Steve M. Harrington 7/28/2009 6:32:23 PMA wonderful image, Lana. It has a great feel to it with its soft tones.
Karen Celella 8/17/2009 5:12:03 PMCongratulations on your wonderful finalist Lana! This is a special image. #7858510
Sabrina Ryan 8/17/2009 7:40:47 PMCONGRATULATIONS on this Awesome Finalist photo, Lana! #7859824
Valentin M. Armianu 8/17/2009 7:52:41 PMCongratulations on this wonderful Finalist!! #7859913
Val Feldman 8/17/2009 8:06:49 PMAn absolutely beautiful capture, Lana - magical!! Congrats on this well-deserved Finalist!!! Val #7860032
Kelly S. Cavanaugh 8/17/2009 8:14:34 PMWonderful capture, Lana! Congratulations! #7860110
Anita Hogue 8/18/2009 5:00:03 AMA gorgeous capture Lana! Congratulations! #7861624
Erica Murphy 8/18/2009 10:19:05 AMOh my, this is so beautiful! I love how the greenery frames the owl and all the different depths. Really gorgeous! Congratulations! #7863235
Bill Houghton 8/18/2009 4:13:59 PMLana, this is just an awesome and magical photo. Congratulations and good luck. Bill #7864483
Leslie McLain 8/18/2009 5:57:31 PMStunning image. Congrats on your finalist. #7864909
Jeff Robinson 8/19/2009 10:41:25 AMCongrats Lana on your wonderful Finalist! Jeff #7868084
Linda A. Braddock 8/19/2009 11:48:14 AMLana, Congratulations on this beautiful finalist! Well Done. #7868253
Courtenay Vanderbilt 8/19/2009 4:05:27 PMCONGRATULATIONS on your well deserved Winner, Lana! #7869092
Nancyj E. Hovey 8/19/2009 4:47:21 PMC O N G R A T U L A T I O N S
Liz blahh 8/19/2009 8:25:24 PMWell deserved, congrats! #7870209
Mary K. Robison 8/20/2009 12:46:05 AMCONGRATULATIONS on your well deserved win, Lana! What a sweet face he has! #7870671
Val Feldman 8/20/2009 7:13:13 PMCongratulations, Lana! This is truly one of the most beautiful owl captures on BP! Well deserved win and huge congratulations to you!!! Val #7873494
Thomas E. Hinds 8/20/2009 7:27:14 PMA beautiful Winner! #7873553
Kathleen Rinker 8/21/2009 2:58:52 AMCongratulations on this beautiful winner Lana!! #7874078
Donna La Mattino Pagakis 8/21/2009 8:33:26 PMCongratulations on your win! Awesome Lana! #7876323
Usman M. Bajwa 8/23/2009 5:52:41 AMCONGRATULATIONS on this beautiful capture and glad to see this getting GOLDEN, Lana.
Karen Walzer 8/27/2009 7:28:40 PMWow! Just beautiful! #7894295
JudyAnn Rector 9/2/2009 2:52:29 PM#7910252
Dianna Murphy 9/20/2009 1:13:50 PMSorry I missed this! Wow it's outstanding. Congrats. #7962097
Bill Houghton 10/1/2009 1:34:05 PMLana, this is an outstanding photo. I like everything about it. Great job. Should have won first place. Have a great weekend, Bill
If you have time, visit my website:
billhoughtonphotography.com #8000948
Dick Jenkins 10/19/2009 5:58:43 PMVery nice photo Lana, congratulations on you award. I'll bet you were excited as you framed this guy in your camera. Were you on a tripod at 1/100? The f/5.6 is just perfect for limiting the depth of field and getting that soothing background.
Again Congratulations #8051259
Dominick M. Dimacale 11/15/2009 5:48:47 AMCongratulations Lana on your Win!!!
Dominick #8132540
Linda A. Braddock 11/7/2013 1:14:13 PMLana, Beautiful Capture! Congratulations on your win! #10893312
Kathy Salerni 5/6/2015 6:56:55 PMYou have beautiful images in your gallery, Lana! I especially liked this one! Well done! #11297928
Photo taken at the Creole Nature Trail near Lake Charles, Louisiana.
Canon 5D, Shutter 100, F 5.6, ISO 200
Exif: F Number: 5.6, Exposure Bias Value: 0.00, ExposureTime: 1/100 seconds, Flash: did not fire, compulsory flash mode, ISO: 200, White balance: Manual white balance, FocalLength: 400.00 mm, Model: Canon EOS 5D
Uploaded on 7/2/2009 6:20:32 PM
Camera: Canon EOS 5D Digital SLR Camera
Copyright for this gallery photo belongs solely to Lana Arcemont. Images may not be copied, downloaded, or used in any way without the expressed, written permission of the photographer.
Contact photographer via gallery.
Log in to follow or message this photographer or report this photo.


text:
Hey, Gorgeous, Here's a Raise!
As for you fatties, we're cutting your salaries.
"I know what wages beauty gives," said the poet William Butler Yeats about a century ago. Modern econometricians know more precisely. In their published research, Professors Daniel Hamermesh and Jeff Biddle estimate that if you're perceived as beautiful, you probably earn about 5 percent more than your ordinary-looking counterparts.
As beauty is rewarded, so ugliness is penalized. Ugly women earn about 5 percent less than other women, and ugly men earn about 10 percent less than other men. That's right; the market punishes men more than women for being unattractive. Moreover, men's looks haunt them at every stage of their careers: Better-looking men get more job offers, higher starting salaries, and better raises. For women, good looks will get you better raises but usually not better job offers or starting salaries. (A note on Hamermesh and Biddle's methodology: Beauty was assessed by panels of people who judged photographs of the study's subjects.)
But while men suffer more for being ugly, women—and specifically white women—suffer more for being fat. In a paper from last year, Professor John Cawley found that an extra 65 pounds typically cost a white woman 7 percent of her wages. To put this another way, if you're a seriously overweight white woman, losing 65 pounds is likely to be as lucrative as an extra year of college or three extra years of work experience. For men and for black women, weight has no effect on wages. (The people in Cawley's study self-reported their weights.)
Since beauty and slenderness are associated with good pay, we can ask which way the causality runs. Do some people look better because they earn more, or do they earn more because they look better?
Surely to some extent money buys beauty. The more you earn, the more you can spend on cosmetics, health care, and plastic surgery. And higher earnings can lead to higher self-esteem, which in turn leads to better eating habits. But Hamermesh, Biddle, and Cawley believe these effects are small, for several reasons. First, there's a limit to how much you can accomplish with cosmetics. Second, the correlation between wages and beauty is strongest among the young, who are the least likely to have benefited from health care and plastic surgery. And finally, Cawley has devised some subtle statistical tests that tend to rule out the "high wages cause self-esteem which causes better eating" theory.
If high wages don't cause beauty, then presumably beauty causes high wages. But why? One guess is that certain high-paying occupations (like "fashion model" or "romantic lead") are closed to all but the most beautiful. But that can't explain why beautiful auto mechanics earn more than plain-looking auto mechanics, beautiful teachers earn more than plain-looking teachers, and so on through a long list of occupations.
Well, then, why do employers pay more for beautiful workers? Is it just because beautiful workers are more fun to look at, or does their beauty make them more productive—say by breeding self-confidence or by attracting customers? (My boon companion Marian Heller points out that self-confidence can pay off in another way—by fostering the courage to seek better jobs and demand better raises.)
Here's some evidence that employers like beauty not for its own sake, but because it's productive: Beautiful people are more likely to be found in occupations where you'd expect beauty to matter—retail sales, waitressing, etc. If the beauty premium were generated strictly by employers' desire to look at pretty people, it would presumably draw beautiful people equally into all occupations.
Now back to the gender gap. Why do ugly men suffer more than ugly women in the labor market? Partly it's because many of the ugliest women opt out of the labor market altogether, so they aren't counted in the statistics. In fact, the ugliest married women (the ones who are rated in the lowest 6 percent lookswise) are 8 percent less likely to look for a job than married women in general. That's a pretty big effect, but Hamermesh and Biddle conclude that it doesn't come close to explaining the gender gap, which remains a bit of a mystery.
They do point out, though, that low wages are not the only penalty for bad looks, and some of the other penalties hit women a lot harder than they hit men. Ugly women tend to attract the lowest quality husbands (as measured by educational achievement or earnings potential). The effect is not symmetric, though: Beautiful women do no better on the marriage market than average women. For men, looks don't seem to affect marriage prospects at all.
Why does beauty rule the wage market? Why does the market punish fat, except when it doesn't? There's a lot we don't understand. If you've got a theory that I haven't explored here, send me e-mail, and I'll discuss the best ideas in an upcoming column.


text:
Beware of consultants and companies that may have a financial stake in the resolution of your power quality problem. Also, make sure their personnel follow recommended investigative techniques/measurement practices.
Many of us in the power quality industry learn a great deal about safety practices and technical issues by reviewing our own successes (or failures) as well as those of others in the field. Unfortunately, when seemingly qualified people in the power quality industry make a mistake, it results in the customer wasting time and money in attempting to solve the problem. The following case study illustrates this point.
Identifying the problem A company was having operational problems with computer workstations fed from partition wiring in a particular area of its office building. In some cases, equipment operators complained that their systems were shutting off and coming back on again. Others noticed an "electrical smell" coming from the partitions themselves.
While inspecting a panelboard that fed the partition wiring, an electrician measured a large amount of AC current on an equipment grounding conductor and noticed part of the conductor's insulation had burned. The electrician also informed the owner that he suspected "electrical noise" or harmonics and suggested the company call a power quality expert.
Conducting the initial testing The owner employed the power quality investigative services of a consulting firm to determine the source of the problem. Their investigative approach included the following steps: * A one-week observation of the workstation tenants to verify the problem. * One week of power line monitoring at the building's 120V/208VAC main service entrance. * An analysis of the grounding system for the branch circuits by testing with three-lamp circuit testers.
The consulting firm then submitted a report with the following conclusion: The equipment grounding system for the office area's partition wiring was inadequate, as was the AC power from the utility.
Consultant's solution The firm recommended the owner install uninterruptible power supply systems (UPSs) at each outlet feeding electronic equipment. In its report, the consulting firm offered a special discount if the owner bought a certain number of units. Suspicious of the recommendation, the owner opted to retain the services of a second consultant.
A more effective analysis. The second consultant made the following tests, measurements, and inspections: * Visual inspection of equipment's surrounding environment. * True rms voltage measurements. * Wiring polarity checks. * Ground and neutral conductor impedance measurements. * Improper neutral-to-ground bonding. * Harmonic current and voltage. * Power line monitoring.
Here's what the above testing uncovered * The presence of high levels of harmonic load currents as well as line-to-neutral voltage waveform distortion at some of the partition outlets. This is one of the many symptoms possibly caused by resultant harmonic currents where non-linear loads are powered via partition wiring. * The neutral and equipment ground conductors were reversed at the outlet box where the cord, or "whip," fed the partition wiring. This reversal accounted for high levels of previously measured AC current on the equipment ground at the panelboard. * High impedance connections along the hot, neutral, and equipment grounding conductor paths. * Satisfactory AC power delivered by the electric utility. However, cyclic three-phase loads fed from the same panelboard as the partition wiring caused the rms voltage to decrease sharply at each of the loads.
The conclusion: The combination of harmonic load current, various loose connections found throughout the partition wiring, and the neutral-to-ground reversal (which caused the load current to rely ona minimum-sized equipment grounding conductor path) contributed to voltage waveform distortion. Ultimately, this caused a decrease in the rms voltage for the equipment.


text:
Joyce estimated that the state could collect $6.5 million in revenues.
While saying he was disappointed that his amendment was ruled out of order Tuesday, Milton Sen. Brian Joyce told his colleagues during debate on substance abuse treatment legislation that he looked forward to Senate budget debate next week when he intends to push a proposal to make medical marijuana subject to the sales tax.
Calling marijuana a "gateway drug," Joyce estimated that the state could collect $6.5 million in revenues in its first year that could help bolster treatment services. He said other states are taxing medical marijuana, but that the Massachusetts Department of Revenue has ruled it may not tax prescriptions.


text:
Ramettes down ECC
JOHNSONBURG – Johnsonburg volleyball won 3-1 (25-21, 25-16, 20-25, 25-15) over Elk County Catholic Tuesday night at Johnsonburg Area High School. "It's a good win for the girls against a good team," Johnsonburg coach Bill Shuey said. "They hustled and they played hard. We seemed to be jelling as a team. We still have some things that we have to fix. All in all, they played hard. We minimized our mistakes.The first set was evenly played between the two county rivals as both teams could not burst out to a big lead. The teams were tied at 17-all and 18-all before the Ramettes added a pair of points on a hitting error and a kill from Kiesha Dornish. After a kill from Taylor Schlimm, the Ramettes scored five of the last seven points to take the opening set 25-21. Johnsonburg scored four of the first five points in the second set before kills from Lexie Meholic and Kirstie Wehler. The teams traded ties at 4-all, 5-all and 6-all before the Crusaders added three out of four points to take a 9-7 lead. Johnsonburg rallied with a 5-1 run with two kills from Dornish to take a 12-10 lead. The Ramettes began to pull away and led 18-13 which prompted a timeout from ECC. Johnsonburg would finish the second set strong with a 7-3 run to take a 2-0 lead after a 25-16 second set win. Elk County Catholic scored three of the first four points before the Ramettes tied the set with a pair of points, capped with a Katie Galsick kill. ECC scored five points in a row to prompt a Johnsonburg timeout. The Ramettes then responded with five straight of their own to tie it up at 8-all. Late in the third set, the two teams were tied at 16-all, 17-all, 18-all and 19-all before the Lady Crusaders would go on a 6-1 run to force a fourth set with their 25-20 win. "ECC got on fire in the third game, they got their rhythm," Shuey said. "Their hitters started putting the ball away. It seemed like the momentum was on their side. Starting out in the fourth game, we needed to get some momentum. I thought our passing wasn't all that great. It was a lot better in the fourth. Sarah Bevacqua, she probably ran 500 miles going after some of those passes, I thought she did a good job. Once the ball got to the net, I thought our hitters did a nice job." Elk County Catholic then had a strong start to the fourth set, sprinting out to a 5-1 lead. A Galsick kill and three service points from Chelsea Benson tied the set at 5-all. The teams then traded the next four points to leave the score at 7-all before Johnsonburg had a kill from Dornish and three points from Ramette hitter Brittany Watts. Watts had two kills and a block in a 4-0 run which separated the Ramettes at 11-7. "Brittany came on, we had some key blocks in the fourth game and some nice hits," Shuey said. At 16-11, Johnsonburg scored seven more points en route to a 25-15 fourth set victory which clinched the match. Johnsonburg is scheduled to host Punxsutawney with junior varsity action slated for 6 p.m. Thursday. Elk County Catholic is slated to play at DuBois next Tuesday with action starting at 6 p.m.


text:
Virginio F. Bettencourt, 81
Virginio "Gene" Figueiredo Bettencourt, 81, of Jamestown, died July 25, 2008.
He was the husband of Laura Rezendes Bettencourt, to whom he was married for 56 years.
Born in Santa Maria, Azores, Portugal on Dec. 6, 1926, he was a son of the late
Vitorino Andrade
and Maria St. Antonio (Figueiredo) Bettencourt. He immigrated to Hartford, Conn., in September of 1952 and settled in West Hartford until he retired.
Prior to his retirement, he was a Master Carpenter from Local Union 43 and as a skilled carpenter, he built his home in Jamestown. He truly enjoyed his retirement years gardening and spending time with his family.
He was a member of Our Lady of Fatima Church, Hartford, and a founding member of the Holy Ghost Portuguese Society, East Hartford.
Besides his wife, he leaves a daughter, Maritana "Tanya" Guadalupe, and her husband, Ventura of Newington, Conn., a son, Jeffrey Bettencourt, and his wife, Cecilia of West Hartford, and four grandchildren, Marissa and Kimberly Guadalupe, Andrew and Lauren Bettencourt. He also leaves a brother, John of Taunton, Mass. and a sister, Helena of Hartford, as well as several other extended family members.
Gene was predeceased by his brothers, Manuel, Jose and Antonio and sisters, Amelia, Isaura, Filomena, and Adelina.
The funeral was Monday from the Sheehan Hilborn Breen Funeral Home in West Hartford. Burial was in Mt. St. Benedict Cemetery, Bloomfield, Conn.


text:
Star Wars Episode 3 : Revenge Of The Sith
Putting all ''The Force is strong with this one'' references aside, Revenge of the Sith, truly is the best of the prequel bunch. But it still can't quite hold a lightsaber to the original trilogy.
The catastrophic battles of the Clone Wars are in their final stages as the crumbling Republic--supported by the ever-vigilant Jedi Knights--fight against the Separatist Alliance, lead by a particularly nasty half-droid, half-alien named General Grievous. Jedi überheroes Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) are sent to kill General Grievous and end the war, but it isn't easy. Meanwhile Yoda, Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson) and the other Jedi Council members fear for the state of the Republic under the guidance of the nebulously sinister Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid). I know what you're thinking, ''Yeah, yeah, just tell us how Anakin goes bad.'' Poor Annie. He still has some serious anger issues, which now revolve around his adoring young wife, Padme (Natalie Portman), and their unborn child (or children, in this case). He thinks he foresees Padme's death and will do anything to keep her safe, including listening to Palpatine malevolently whisper promises of immortality and the power of the Dark Side into his ear. Not the best thing for this volatile fellow. Yes, Darth Vader will soon emerge and the inevitable duel between the good and the Dark Side is at hand. Get your lightsabers ready.
Happily, all the main actors--save for perhaps Natalie Portman as the ineffectual Padme--get a lot more to chew on in this final installment. Christensen is thankfully done being the whining teenager from Attack of the Clones and turns into a brooding, conflicted pre-Vader who can't control his anger. Of course, he overdoes it a bit with the scowling and evil, cold stares, but that's OK. It's what the part requires. The love story between Christensen and Portman, however, is still kind of painful to watch. The two actors look more than a little embarrassed professing their love for one another (''I'm so much in love with you'' ''No, I'm so much in love with YOU!''). And besides bringing back the infamous Leia ''cinnamon bun'' look, Portman isn't given a darn thing to do but fret and pace and rub her pregnant belly, praying Anakin will be all right. You'd think after wielding a gun in The Phantom Menace, she'd get to do more fighting. Oh, well. On the flip side, McGregor, Jackson and even McDiarmid all get to kick some serious butt in Revenge of the Sith, each with their own action-packed fight sequences. Jackson just seems happy to be swinging a lightsaber around. McGregor, with the full beard and biting commentary, does a nice job setting the stage for the elderly Ben Kenobi to come. And McDiarmid, a veteran British stage thesp, finally gets his chance to shine as the malicious Palpatine, as we see his own transformation into the ultimate evil being he becomes.
Oh George, what are you going to do now that it's all over? Of course, Lucas has said he is going to redo all the six Star Wars episodes in 3-D as well as produce a TV series which follows the events after Return of the Jedi. Then there's the fourth Indiana Jones movie to look forward to. But Lucas will probably hole back up at his Skywalker Ranch in northern California and dream up even better ways to generate special effects for the big screen. That's what he does best. He truly is an amazing genius at creating visuals and Revenge of the Sith is no exception. From the battle between General Grievous and Obi-Wan to Yoda's clash with Darth Sidious to Obi-Wan's climactic duel with Anakin, Sith is simply riveting. The only difficulty Lucas has ever had is with the human element. I'll admit I'm one of those die-hard fans of the original trilogy who had a problem with the lack of an emotional core in the prequels. After writing and directing the first Star Wars (or Episode IV, for those counting), Lucas understood then that maybe he wasn't the best choice to write the next two, handing the chores off to screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan. It worked. Big time. Yet, with all three prequels (that's Episodes I-III), Lucas did it all himself, and his obvious shortcomings are evident. But hey, does it really matter how connected you feel to the characters when you've got the Force, Jedi Knights, evil Darths, an ass-kicking little green guy, clone armies, droid armies, Wookiee armies (yeah, that's a lot of fur) and an ultimate turn towards the Dark Side? No. But it helps.
Bottom Line
If you can use Jedi mind tricks to gloss over the trite dialogue and stiff acting, Revenge of the Sith is going to give you the big Star Wars payoff you've been waiting for. And we do mean big.


text:
If it's true that the devil is in the details, a host of demons likely lurk in the fine print of the newly passed Farm Security and Rural Adjustment Act of 2002, better known as "the farm bill."
"The regulatory process may well dictate how this program works," says Blake English, with the Farm Service Agency in Denton County, Texas.
"The bill leaves a lot of leeway for interpretation," says Denton County Extension Agent Rebecca Parker. "The law does represent new policy, with continuation of the market loan concept but an added target price. It provides farmers with very little wiggle room with prices but adds stability, compared to the 1996 Freedom to Farm act."
English and Parker say a significant amount of farmers' security will come from "decoupled payments."
Questions remain, however.
Parker says farmers may be considering adjusting yield levels, a possibility under new regulations. "We hope to get something more realistic than the 'hysterical' yields we've been working with," she says. "Yield levels set 15 years ago are obsolete."
English says payments may be delayed until USDA determines how loan rates will change.
The biggest change in farm policy, he says, is "the addition of counter-cyclical payments, based on target prices for each commodity. Direct payments have been in place since 1996."
He says peanut farmers, especially those in traditional production areas who depended on quota support prices, "will feel like they've been hit by a two by four. The quota system is gone, converted to a market loan, and that will be a hard transition. I think production in Denton County will be off significantly."
He says farmers also wonder, "Who gets payments for the quota, historical producers or landowners? In some cases, producers bought quota, not the landowner. In West Texas, for instance, producers bought a lot of quota over the past five or six years and produced the poundage on leased acreage.
"The person who bought the quota should be the one entitled to compensation from the quota buyout."
"A lot of things seem to change daily with regulations," Parker says. "As USDA identifies inequities, they have an opportunity to correct them. We hope regulations will be complete this fall."
English says farmers who intend to update acreage bases must do so this year. "Otherwise FSA will use the established base and farmers will be stuck with it for the life of the legislation."
Even without a base, farmers will be eligible for loan deficiency payments.
Conservation titles in the new law may provide opportunities to help more farmers than the old provisions did, says David Brown, with the Denton County Natural Resources Conservation Service, NRCS.
"Without being in a priority area, farmers found qualifying for Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) funds extremely difficult," he says. "Now, we may have a chance to get some money in Denton County."
"In the past, we have not been successful in getting EQIP funds," Parker says. "We couldn't compete with the hot spots (areas with more severe erosion problems)."
"I hope we can compete for funds under the new program," Brown says, "but for now, we have no clue what qualification requirements will be."
In 2002, Parker says, $400 million will be available for the EQIP program. That jumps to $1 billion in 2003 and will add up to about $6 billion over the life of the program.
Another adjustment that may help Denton County is the change in ratio between funding for crops and livestock. In previous programs, funds were divided equally, half for crops and half for livestock. "Now, it's 60/40 in favor of livestock," Parker says.
Payment limits also increase to $50,000 per year per contract, up to $450,000 for the entire contract period, 10 years. "That's up from a $10,000 per year limit on a five-year contract," English says.
"This change will help larger operations get help," Parker says.
Qualifying practices may include planting grass, establishing waterways and building terraces.
English hopes improvements in these programs will provide farmers an "incentive to spend the money necessary to initiate conservation practices. Until we can provide mechanisms that encourage farmers to spend money on conservation, a lot of acreage will continue to erode," he says.
"We desperately need water conservation practices in this area (within the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex). Reaching the spots that need conservation the most will be a test."
English says FSA will put up 75 percent of the funds for certain projects and the farmer will contribute 25 percent. "But the practice and potential return must fit into a farmer's economic strategy," he says.
Overall, the three see the new legislation as a positive departure from the 1996 law. "It's a good bill for farmers, and most farmers recognize it's good for them" English says.
"This law addresses some of the issues that caused problems in the FAIR act," Parker says. "It's an improvement. But we still have no supply controls; we've had none in place since the 1980s."
She says with a strong dollar competing against devalued foreign currencies, export issues will remain contentious. "We have so many more players in the game other than our own agricultural legislation."
English says critics of this farm law "don't bother to consider that many of the markets they compete for are the ones the United States established in the 1970s and 1980s. They also don't consider that we created the infrastructures in many developing nations that allowed them to trade. Now they want to take advantage of our efforts and criticize us while doing so."
Trade, as well as payment inequities and quota buyouts represent the kinds of devils that will play important roles in establishing the rules and regulations that will dictate how successful this new farm policy will be.