text:
U.S. Chains Eye Canada's Prime Real Estate for Expansion
U.S. luxury retail mall chains Nordstrom Inc. and Saks Fifth Avenue are cornering a piece of Canada's prime real estate for expansion, according to a report on The Financial Post.
According to the report, Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN), America's largest luxury department-store chain, aims to open six stores in Canada by 2017. Saks Fifth Avenue (NYSE: SKS), which was bought by Canadian firm Hudson's Bay Co. in 2013, aims to open seven stores in the said country, two of which are opening next year in Toronto.
Sears Canada recently had vacated prime retail spaces ready for occupancy and Nordstrom was quick to jump in to seize the opportunity. The report said five of Nordstrom's upcoming Canadian stores would be located at Sears Canada.
Noting experts' opinions, the report said the reasons American mall chains are heading over to Canada are the country's growing affluence and soaring property valuations. Canadians were very much levered and have money to spare on upscale brands.
"These top U.S. purveyors of pricey clothing and accessories, while mindful of Target Corp.'s recent stumble expanding north, are noticing wealthy Canadians are increasingly emulating their more profligate American counterparts," the report said.
"The changing consumer habits and sudden availability of prime retail real estate are now spurring Saks and Nordstrom to bring their attentive customer service and gourmet dining halls into a market long dominated by two major homegrown chains: Holt Renfrew and Harry Rosen," it added.
In addition, the Standard & Poor's/Toronto Stock Exchange Composite Index has been on a record run, up by 11 percent this year. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index, on the other hand, posted 3.3 percent gain.
Canadian home prices have been steadily increasing as well, up by 32 percent in the last five years based on the Teranet-National Bank Home Price Index. That translates to a 21 percent gain in the S&P/Case-Shiller Composite-20 Home Price Index, the report said.
The ability to expand to Canada's prime real estate is a probable offshoot of the U.S. retail sales rebound. The U.S. retail sector started to recover in March this year following a winter slump with sales up by 0.3 percent, data from the Commerce Department revealed.
More reserved U.S. mall investors who would like to play it safe and are adamant about investing in Canada can also look for retail spaces locally. One web site that these real estate investors can depend on is RealBiz Media Group, Inc.'s (OTCQB: RBIZ) Nestbuilder.com. The real estate portal, which serves home to 1.6 million video listings and virtual tours, is a great destination for retail investors who are searching for prime retail spaces in the United States.
In addition, agents using the platform are employed by some of the biggest names in real estate today such as Keller Williams, Era Real Estate, Century 21, and Prudential Select Properties. Finding an agent that investors can rely on is possible through Nestbuilder.com.
RealBiz Media also has access to the nation's largest real estate companies with numerous approved vendors and national contracts, both key to its future development programs. When completed, the company is targeting distribution of its digital video network to more than 70 million households and its agent-driven MicroVideo App program. For more information on RealBiz Media's products and services, contact RealBiz Media at 1.888.REAL.BIZ (888.732.5249) or email firstname.lastname@example.com.
The preceding article is from one of our external contributors. It does not represent the opinion of Benzinga and has not been edited.


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MultiCASE will use the NIHPO databases to improve the existing modules and to create the new ones, relevant to the drug safety and public health.
(PRWEB) October 14, 2013
The US Food and Drug Administration ('FDA') regularly releases a list of adverse event reports for drugs and medications sold both in the US and overseas (Adverse Event Reporting System, 'AERS'). NIHPO approached MultiCASE with the theory that by evaluating the chemical compounds of those medications, users of in-silico software could estimate the potential adverse events from new compounds that are chemically-related to the compounds in the reported medications.
MultiCASE licensed the FDA AERS and NLM ChemID datasets from NIHPO. Delivered by NIHPO as files ready to be imported into the user's database system, and updated regularly. "We had tried in the past (unsuccessfully) to process the raw data from both FDA AERS and NLM ChemID on our own. We found it much easier and convenient to subscribe to NIHPO's service and just get the monthly updates instead of spending our time fixing data conversion issues," said Dr. Roustem D. Saiakhov, President of MultiCASE. "We're now in the process of integrating NIHPO's datasets into our data warehouse, supporting both a desktop app (CASE Ultra) as well as a web service (MCWeb). MultiCASE will use the NIHPO databases to improve both the existing modules and to create new ones, relevant to the drug safety and public health. We expect to boost the performance and reliability of our modules. Their release is expected by early 2014," concluded Dr. Saiakhov.
"There are many sources of government and academic data around the world. To use that information users must have the skills, the tools, and the time to regularly download, parse, harmonize, load, and analyze thousands of raw data files (CSV, Excel, XML, etc.).", said Jose C. Lacal, NIHPO's CTO. "NIHPO's focus is to turn government and academic raw data into Actionable Knowledge. We regularly harvest, parse, process, store and license cleaned-up version of data freely available from international, federal, state, and local agencies in the US and overseas," said Jose.
NIHPO's datasets allow clients to analyze massive amounts of government data in the comfort and privacy of their desktop, without IT involvement. Clients can:
- search across all fields of the source file
- get instant responses since all the data is in their local hard disk
- create customized reports and perform detailed analysis based on their specific needs
- integrate this dataset with others client may already have to then conduct searches and analysis against multiple datasets simultaneously
NIHPO offers for license regularly-updated datasets from these sources:
- ClinicalTrials.gov
- FAA (Aircraft Registry; Airmen Certification)
- FDA (Legacy AERS and the new FDA AERS; MAUDE; NDC; SPL)
- HHS (NIH's RePORTER; Medicare's NPI)
- NLM (ChemID, PubChem)
- EudraCT in the EU.
Please visit http://www.nihpo.com/data.html for more details.
About MultiCASE Inc.
MultiCASE develops and licenses computer programs designed to help the user to assess the various properties of chemical entities, including environmental, chemical, safety, potential adverse effects and metabolic properties. MultiCASE also offers consulting services related to these issues as required for REACH submissions. Visit http://www.multicase.com for more details.
About NIHPO, Inc.
Founded in 2007, NIHPO, Inc. is a minority-owned software development and data analytics business based in Miami, Florida (USA). We focus on transforming Open Government raw data from state, federal, and international agencies into Actionable Knowledge. Visit http://www.nihpo.com/data.html for more details.
For NIHPO:
Jose C. Lacal, CTO
+1 (561) 777-2577
For MULTICASE:
Dr. Roustem D. Saiakhov, President
+1 (216) 831-3740

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Furniture Buyers:
We are not only antique furniture buyers we also buy mid century and modern furniture. We're always buying well crafted and well designed furniture from ANY time period.
Nautical Buyers:
Maps, diaries, trip logs, lighting, models, books, related to nautical exploration from ANY time period.
Farm & Industrial Artifacts Buyers:
Millstones, well surrounds, syrup kettles, tractors, work tables, industrial equipment and furniture are just a few examples of things we buy.
Asian Antique Buyers:
Soapstone carvings, bonsai pots, vases, furniture, prints, art, clothing, photographs, weapons, military history are a few example of what we buy.
Advertising & Sign Buyers:
We buy all types of advertising and porcelain signs.
Vintage Toy Buyers:
We buy all types of toys from any era. Action figures, Legos, dolls, lunchboxes, comic books, games, science kits, Seiff toys and much more! We are toy buyers of all handmade toys and manufactured toys that are well-designed and well-crafted toys.
- Latest Updates for Toy Buyers


text:
Pet Insurance Claim of the Week: Broken Leg
Nui Nui the Pomeranian is not the luckiest of dogs. She recently was in the wrong place at the wrong time, getting tangled up in her owner's feet and resulting in a broken leg. Nui Nui went to the veterinarian to receive treatment for her right front leg which had a fracture to the radius and ulna.
Nui Nui received X-rays and was then taken into surgery. We are hoping that everything is going to be just fine.
It is not uncommon for small dogs to experience broken bones because their bones are so tiny and fragile. When I was living with my parents, we had a young Toy Fox Terrier puppy experience the same thing when she was running around the corner and accidentally collided with my mom's shoe.
Total claim amount: $3,839.60
Deductible applied: -$0.00
Exam fees: -$0.00
10% co-insurance: -$383.96
Trupanion repaid: $3,455.64


text:
I've met Emma Collins in person just the once, but exchanged many emails with her as we worked together on an NCT project so when we did manage face-to-face contact I loved her instantly! She is so great at what she does; I'm so sad I won't have her any more as the 'user friendly' face of IT. However my loss is TAMBA's gain, so thanks Emma for another fabulous #myNCTstory.
When I fell pregnant in 2005 one of the first things I was told was that I needed to do an NCT class. Being Australian, and only a few years living in the UK, I had no idea what that meant but looked it up, contacted my local branch and they organised a class for me. I went to the Salvation Army centre in Egham, did an antenatal class with Rebecca Wierenga, and met a group of people who I still see regularly and regard as some of my best friends 11 years later.
We moved house, I got pregnant again, I took a refresher course with Kerry Harris, more so to meet people than anything else, and again, met a group of people that I am still in regular contact with; one of whom is Godmother to my third child.
Back in 2007, pregnant with my second child, in a new house where I didn't know anybody, I received my quarterly newsletter from my local branch and they were advertising for a branch secretary. I rang up about it, saying I'd like to help and asked if I needed to interview. They laughed at me and told me I had the 'job'! I was so nervous when I was picked up for my first committee meeting that I forgot to put any shoes on, and half way there had to ask the lovely woman who had picked me up if she would take me back home so I could change my slippers! That lovely woman was Sharon Pontin. We worked on the committee together for years and she then re-trained as a midwife and now works at the Royal Surrey in Guildford. We are still in contact.
I volunteered on my local committee from 2007, and am still a volunteer today. During that time I have been the branch secretary, membership support, membership coordinator, bumps and babes coordinator, toddler group coordinator, website coordinator and branch coordinator (and probably more). I have also helped at nearly every NNS for the past 9 years and am very adept at picking up sets of rails and fitting them into my car. My rough calculations make me think that I've transported 672 sets of rails over the years! Through my volunteer NCT committee work I have met the most amazing friends, and we have done incredible work in our local area. We have had a lot of press coverage for the great groups we run, and won awards over the years for support in the local community.
I enjoyed the volunteering I did with NCT so much that in 2009 I enrolled on the Bedfordshire program to become a Postnatal Facilitator, with the incredible Linda Doyle as my tutor. It took me longer than planned to finish that course (courtesy of surprise baby #3), but in 2012 started running Early Days courses whilst also running baby massage classes. I had trained privately to teach baby massage as it wasn't a service that NCT offered at that time, and I recently found a draft email I had written to Belinda Phipps back in 2011 to tell her how good it would be to combine Early Days facilitation for new mothers with baby massage for babies. I never sent the email, thinking that it wouldn't get to her and she wouldn't have read it. Little did I know back then that indeed she would have, and how well the massage classes that NCT now run are going!
In 2014, when the opportunity came up to work 2 days a week from home as a Systems Analyst for the charity I had spent so much time supporting I applied for the position. Belinda offered me a position, and I very quickly became involved with the Single Bank Account project, working closely with Debbie Clarke and the Volunteering team and I found myself loving being back doing the kind of work I had done for so many years before the kids came along. When the opportunity arose to increase my hours and start managing the Web Development team in Bristol I grasped the opportunity before quite considering how big a step this was from my original commitment of hours that I could work. But I took the position, giving it my full energy and commitment, considerably increasing the time that I was back working. Whilst I was enjoying the challenges I knew in the back of my head that it was becoming more and more the 'main' part of my life, rather than 'a job on the side', which was highlighted recently by my now 10 year old son saying 'I miss my Mum' to a doctor'.
That comment broke my heart.
And so after a lot of thought and reflection I have made the decision to step back, and become more present with my family, and take a new job with a like-minded charity that is much more 'Surrey-friendly' with its location. I am moving to TAMBA (Twins and Multiple Birth Association), who I know have some connections with NCT, and so I hope to continue to be able to support NCT through other ways.
There has truly not been a day that I have not shed a tear about my decision, nor a day that I haven't questioned that I'm doing the right thing. As I write this I still wonder if I'm doing the right thing! This is an amazing charity that changed my life in the support I received as a new parent. I know that in turn I have changed lives in the support that I have gone on to give new parents both as a volunteer and a practitioner, and I have tried to help improve the systems we have in place to support that frontline work that is so vital to every new parent in every community.
If you are still reading I thank you for allowing me to be so indulgent as to share my story. I leave NCT with a heavy heart, but the knowledge that it will do great things. And I wish you all the very best.
To the IT crew down in Bristol – simply, thank you! I shall really miss you all.


text:
Last Activity: 1st June 2016 11:14 AM
About Me
- About naser6355
- Service provider
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hi friends. this rom is awesome this will work to fix RTL (arabic+persian) support for this rom, it worked great for me!:good:
Can you share more about this kernel? Does work well, there any FC?:) i just got one FC after first reboot on message apps ( com.android.mms ) today i got one FC on Hotmail app too but no other FCs PowerAmp hangs so i was had to take bat...


text:
Featured Post
Little Owl Painting
The Little Owl was created using watercolor pencils over HB pencil outlines. Wet brush was applied over the watercolor pencils which creat...
Little Otter Painting + Sale
Hurry and use the special limited Sale on Society 6 (ends tonight, midgnight)
Free shipping + 5$ off all t-shirts, totes, pouches, mugs and MORE!
My newest painting is called Little Otter. Painted with watercolor pencils and my new Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese watercolor (I will be posting a review on them soon!).
Here are a couple of the stages the Otter went through before the last look.
* see what products are available with this painting here.
* see what products are available with this painting here.
And the finished product!
Mother's Day Sale Ends Tonight
Here is an early, late notice for an awesome Sale from Society6.
Make sure to get your mom the present she deserves! Check out my gallery to get 15% OFF and free shipping. Hurry, the deal ends tonight.
Link to my shop: https://society6.com/rosislawa
Free shipping on all products available only today. No code required.
Link to products: http://goo.gl/Q9EheP
And by the way, here are some art prints with my latest artwork. Hope you like those :)
Spring Queen
I have always loved Mark Ryden's style which is what inspired me to do my own version of his famous Queen Bee painting. I called my creation Spring Queen, as she is the Baba Marta, Ruvan style!
The original I drew her with pencil using a smudger for the shadowing. Later on I decided that I wanted to have a digital version of her. You can see the difference between the pen and paper vs the digital painting. Perhaps not for every taste, however, I find her very special and beautiful in her own way (and that is what matters).
You can also find product with this print such as
Phone Cases (you can select your model in the dropdown menu)
$30 and free worldwide delivery
Iphone cases
Little Kitten
This post is specifically for cat lovers. Dog people, feel free to look quietly.
So,Little kitten was created with watercolor pencils over a black HB pencil. To bring the watercolor feeling in, I went in with a semi wet brush over the pencil strokes. The painting was then photographed and cleaned from it's background in photoshop. Below you can see different product you can purchase with the print.
Depending on the size it can cost between $18 up to $24 for the 18"
$12 for set of 3 Meow Cards
If that is not enough, have a look at this warm and soft Little Kitty blanket.
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text: The use of Cr-steel substrates for the fabrication of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) solar cells is highly desirable and is a topic of considerable research interest. However, solar cells on non-treated steel substrates often exhibit decreased performance compared to their homologues on soda lime glass substrates. This is partly attributed to out-diffusion of steel components (Fe, Cr, Mn, etc.) into the solar cell. To avoid this contamination, thin film barriers can be added on top of the steel surface, but they do not always prevent the diffusion completely. In this paper we study the potential of using Cr and Ti as thin barrier layers. We find that local surface defects on the steel, several micrometers in height, lead to cracks in the back contact as well as in the barrier layers. Advanced transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques reveal that elemental diffusion and chemical reactions occur at these openings during heat treatments in Se atmosphere. TEM-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (TEM-EDX) analysis in combination with calculation of the solid state diffusion coefficient demonstrate that a Cr-barrier sacrificially protects the Cr-steel substrate, blocking most of the Fe out-diffusion, whereas a Ti-barrier is less efficient.


text:
Company Information
Online sources
- BankScope: Contains comprehensive information on 30,000 banks across the globe. You can use it to research individual banks, or to find banks with specific profiles and analyse them. BankScope has up to 16 years of detailed accounts for each bank. User guide to Bankscope.
- Business Source Complete: Full text coverage for more than 1,800 peer-reviewed business and economics journals. In addition, this database offers indexing and abstracts for many more journals, plus 17,000 detailed profiles of the world's largest companies.
- Nexis UK: Provides access to regional, national and global newspapers, worldwide financial and company information, market research data, and country information, including the BBC monitoring service. Tutorials on using Nexis UK.
- Zephyr: Contains information about M&A, IPO, private equity, venture capital deals and business rumours. Zephyr is updated hourly.
Other libraries
- British Library: Wide range of print and online business and economics information, including several company and financial databases. Information about joining the library here.
- City Business Library: Aldermanbury, London EC2V 7HH. Tel: 0207 332 1812. A public reference library for people interested in business. The CBL holds a wide range of company and market information.


text:
It was a great long weekend at sanctuary. The school was closed on Friday. I had driven down the night before and enjoyed an easy day. I got out in the yard and did a bit of weeding then treated myself to a trip to the store for some black-eyed suzies to plant in clumps with the day lilies.
Most of the weekend was about the yard. Saturday found me sitting on that crate up there waging war on the weeds. Its hard to tell, but I pulled 5 large storage tubs of weeds. We turned on the surround sound in the shop and took turns picking CDs. Makes the work time go faster. Randy got down on his hands and knees and trimmed the vinca with his nippers. Looks great doesn't it?
Sunday was spent coming up for the big stuff that I needed to move down. I am officially living out of WalMart "green" bags now. Cool beans. When we got home, I got a surprise!
Mom and Ron brought it... but Randy bought it for me. Do you recognize it? That's all I saw of it for a time. Randy BBQed a couple of Cornish Game Hens and they joined us for supper. By the time they left, it was too late to figure out the mystery box. So we tackled that together Monday afternoon.
Do you have a clue what it is yet?
It had 34 pages of instructions and a bunch of bits and pieces. It took us about two hours to assemble it, reminding me of all the bleary hours spent on Christmas Eve trying to put together toys for my kids.
There it is... my composter! It's the kind that you put stuff in, then turn once a day. In 4 to 12 weeks, you have great compost! Randy is making a little patio for it to stand on out of old bricks. I am very excited to see how well it works.
After the composter was finished, we sat around a bit, then BBQed sword fish again and split a baked potato. At that point it was time for me to hit the road back to Dumb Potter's Hell.
But there are only 4 work days in this week, then I will be back at home for a short 2 day weekend... before I begin my LAST week of work.
Right now "soon" seems to be moving in slow motion, but I have a feeling that the last week will go fast. Here's the count... 9 work days left. Two sanctuary days.
Okay... so any of you compost? If so, can you offer advice or make suggestions?


text:
Contact Us Locations Careers
Following the recent acquisition by parent company SEA Holdings Limited, we are delighted to announce Ikure is now part of Saville Audio Visual.
By combining the specialist skills of the ikure team with our vast industry knowledge and unrivalled resources, clients will benefit from unique access to innovative solutions in the design, manufacture, installation and support of integrated AV/IT systems.
To speak with your ikure contact, please call 01252 893230 or complete our contact form.
As the UK's longest established specialist systems integrator with a rich history that spans over 50 years, we are a leading force in the professional audio visual arena. In addition, we are the only AV/IT solutions provider that offers full national coverage and true global-reach with accredited partners around the world.
Our wide portfolio of solutions and services include collaborative and video conferencing technologies, digital signage and display, professional audio, bespoke AV furniture plus service and maintenance.
All AV service maintenance contracts and repairs are now fulfilled by the award-winning SavilleCare. With a national team of service engineers backed by ISO 9001, you can be assured of the most efficient professional service available.
Tel: 01252 540721
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com.
We are looking forward to building strong relationships with ikure clients and proving the highest-quality service – Partnering for success


text:
For the first time in four years, AHL hockey is alive in Des Moines.
After failed attempts by the Iowa Stars and Chops, so far all signs point toward a successful marriage with the Wild.
Saturday night, the team played the first game of the season against Oklahoma City. More than 10,000 people attended the opening game, the largest hockey crowd ever for an opener in Des Moines.
The Wild wins the game 1-0 over the Barons.


text:
Short Story (read a related story, "Lola," here)
"Lola Wishes"
Lola sat at her desk, reading a novel, doing a project for school, and trying desperately not to think about the one thing that had been bothering her lately: arguing with her boyfriend, Wally. She did not really understand what had happened. She was so in love with him; she'd do absolutely anything for him and loved him with all her heart. Unfortunately, Wally was dealing with issues in his life that Lola couldn't fix, as much as she wished she could. She had tried to think of something she could do for him, but she was still in college, living with her mother, so she had no way of solving his problems at the moment. If there were something she could do, she would, but unfortunately she couldn't find anything. She often wished things were different and that they could spend more time together, but Wally's problems often prevented them from doing so. Lola understood that he was busy dealing with these issues, and she tried to be as understanding as she could. She still missed him when they were not together and she often sent him text messages because she wanted to talk to him somehow, even if they couldn't see each other face to face all the time. She knew sometimes he was busy and couldn't answer her, but whenever a day or so would go by without them speaking, she would be a little distressed. Then sometimes he would write her really sweet things, which made her feel better and remember how nice he was. She had loved him from the moment they met, as crazy as that may sound to some. As time went by, she only loved him more, even when they argued, she couldn't stop loving him and she did not want to.
When they were together they never seemed to fight at all, everything was fine. Recently though, when they were apart, they seemed to find things to argue about over the phone. "Why are we fighting about this, I only wanted to talk to you and see how you were doing, Wally. Does he still love me? Why doesn't he want to talk to me? Why is he being like this? Does he know how much this hurts me? Will I ever have what I want with him? Please God, let us be okay." Lola thought. Lola hated arguing with those she loved, the only people she ever thought were worth arguing with about anything. One problem had started after Wally had asked Lola a question, one she'd always dreamed her true love would ask her. She never imagined it would happen the way it did though. She responded in a way that, although she never meant it to, had hurt Wally. He told her she had hurt him, and it killed her inside. She really did not mean to; she never would want to hurt anyone, especially him. After that she had apologized but they still continued to argue every so often. He said some things to her that she really hoped he hadn't meant and that had hurt her as well. Maybe it was just because he was hurt and frustrated by certain things he was dealing with right now. She had been upset far too often lately and she was tired of crying over this. She wanted so badly to just be happy with him, but life just did not want to let them be.
Wally's personal issues did not improve, unfortunately, and Lola began to fear that he may have to leave again, as he had once before. This thought absolutely devastated her. Lola remembered how sad she had been the first time Wally had left when she thought he would not return. She knew if he left this time it would be worse, for she had grown to love him even more as time went on. She knew it seemed insane, but she really did believe she would be with Wally forever. He was her first and only boyfriend really, and she did not want anyone else. She thought he was everything she had ever wanted, her prince. Maybe this was naïve of her to think, but she didn't care. Maybe she wanted it so badly, she made herself believe it, but she did anyway. Lola couldn't take sitting alone with her thoughts any longer; it was driving her crazy. It was a Saturday afternoon and she was a gorgeous 20, almost 21, year old young woman. "Why the hell am I sitting here being miserable, I'm so tired of this!" she said aloud, though no one heard her. She went to her room and started to get dressed up a little because that always made her feel a little better. She decided she would try to think about something else for a while, so as to retain some of her sanity and happiness. She put on her brightest pink miniskirt, a purple lace top and her favorite black heeled boots. She looked in the mirror and thought "Too bad my boyfriend's not around to tell me how cute I look, all dressed up for myself, I suppose, what else is new!" Lola decided she would go to the mall and perhaps wander the bookstore for a while.
She drove to the mall and walked into the bookstore, the same one where she had met Wally. She probably should have known this was not the best place to try to forget about him for a while. She loved it there though; she had spent countless hours perusing the shelves of all her favorite kinds of books and would not avoid it just because it reminded her of him. She bought an espresso and sat down at a table next to some chatty teenage girls. She looked across the room and could not help but stare at the table where she had first met Wally. Her mind played a collage of fond scenes of his sweet smile, her nervousness on that first day, the things he had told her, watching him leave, and gushing gleefully about him to her sister and nieces after they'd met. Her life had changed that day and she would never forget it. She finished her drink and wandered through the books for a while. She then decided she would walk around the mall and maybe buy herself a new top to make her feel a little better.
As she strolled though the stores, she couldn't help but notice countless couples, some old, some younger than she, holding hands and walking together. This agitated her a lot that day. She was not a violent person at all, but she really wanted to smack someone at that moment…not that she would, but she was annoyed. She wanted nothing more than to have been there with Wally, holding his hand, and walking happily together. She remembered the first time he had held her hand. On their second date, they had watched a movie together. She loved the movie, she did, but somewhere in the middle of it, he had asked if he could hold her hand. She remembered him gently taking her hand and stroking her fingers. She had a little bit of a hard time concentrating entirely on the movie after that, but she didn't mind. At that point, it had been the most magical moment of her life. That was until the night she kissed him for the first time. She had been so nervous, but he made her feel okay about it, and when he kissed her she felt like she could have fainted from pure joy. That night was enchanting as well. She remembered how they had stood arms wrapped around each other, almost dancing, but sort of just rocking back and forth. It was incredibly sweet. She missed that feeling of being happy and feeling like he wanted and loved her. Lately, she had not felt that way at all.
After a few hours had gone by, Lola decided to go back home. She figured she should try to accomplish some more homework before the day was over. As she drove home, a song came on the radio that reminded her of Wally. She had been unsuccessfully trying not to think about him, and this song was not helping. Maybe it was because she truly didn't want to stop thinking about him. As she pulled into her driveway and turned off the car, she gave up. She couldn't take pretending to be happy anymore. She sat in her car and sobbed like a baby for a few minutes before she composed herself again. She missed him so much and just wished for him to hold her and tell her he loved her. She did not want her mother to see her like that because she did not want to explain why. She did not want to really tell anyone like her family and friends that she had been fighting with Wally because she didn't want them to dislike him. She supposed this was because she never gave up hope that things would be okay between them. Lola had to tell her mother something though, otherwise, she would have thought she had been a miserable bitch lately for no reason. She only said that they had been arguing a little though and gave no further detail and did not want to talk about it. "This is what I get for being such a dreamer, maybe I just need to accept the fact that I'll never have my fairytale." Lola thought, but knew she couldn't accept.
Just as she was putting her key in the door she heard footsteps behind her and turned around, startled. "Lola, I'm so sorry!" Wally said. She couldn't believe it; Wally had come to find her and apologize! She smiled and gazed into his eyes, saying "It's okay Wally, I'm sorry too." He took her hands, continued to apologize for hurting her, and said "I love you, Lola. No matter what problems life throws at us, I'll always love you and I'll never leave you again. I couldn't bear to live my life without you, Lola." "Aww, I love you too Wally, I always have, but what about your problems?" she asked. "I'll figure everything out, no matter what I have to do. We'll do it together. As long as we are together, everything will be fine." Wally lovingly told her. "I'm so happy to hear you say that, Wally, you really are my prince, aren't you?" "Yes, and you are my beautiful, kind, sweet and patient princess, with whom I'd love nothing more than to spend the rest of my life." Wally declared. Lola was at a loss for words. She giggled and smiled at him. Looking in her eyes, Wally knew she felt the same way. He pulled her closer to him, smiled at her, and kissed her more passionately than ever before. It was magical; Lola felt like she had finally found everything she had wanted. They were in love and because Lola never gave up, they would really live happily ever after, as she had always dreamed. THE END.


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We are happy to announce the release of two new font families.
One is the award-winning http:// Skolar, by David Březina, a 4 weight family which has been designed specifically for scholarly multilingual publications. Prominent serifs and low-contrast modulation give the typeface a fairly robust character. Its relatively large x-height sets the typeface proportions somewhere between book and newspaper typefaces. The capitals are rather low in comparison to the ascenders to give the typeface even texture and more space for capital diacritical marks. These characteristics were introduced to improve readability in smaller sizes. Additional 2 weights are planned for April 2009.
The other release is the beautifully poetic http:// Alizé by Tom Grace, a three-weight typeface inspired by the chancery italic of the 16th century. It is a high-contrast face, created with syncopations in axes and proportions and subtle irregularities that form a lively and delicate weave, suitable for setting a single word, a special expression, or a short block of prose. The family does not contain a roman, and instead promotes the italic as a primary style, a common printing convention in the 16th and 17th centuries.
For more information visit http://www.type-together.com.


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a plan for your business
✓ Strategy always need to be integral. We think about how every piece of work fits into your overall strategy and your buyer's journey.
✓ We are focused on making a positive impact to your business in the shortest time possible
✓ We will only undertake a piece of work for you if we are confident it will make a positive difference to your business. We will never sign a contract 'just for the money'


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- Details
This beautifully tailored pencil dress is crafted from an exclusive Italian wool stretch fabric. Its decoratively pleated high neck and sculptural shoulder line create a beautiful silhouette, best accentuated with smart heeled courts.
Fabric: Lining, 96% acetate, 4% elastane,main, 3% elastane, 97% wool
Wash Care: Specialist dry clean
Product Code: 16581
Model wears Size 10 and is 5ft 7
- Delivery & Returns
1.Standard Delivery:£0
Free shipping to over 200 countries worldwide and currently offer an International Shipping Service.We'll cover duty and tax costs on all orders.
2.Air express: USPS,EMS,DHL,TNT etc.
They are door to door service.According to different country,we will choose most convenient Air express for you.
3.When you finish your order,we will begin processing your order within 2 hours.It usually takes 3-4 working days to prepare your orders.
4.Time to Delivery: 10 - 15 work days.
Available: Monday to Friday, between 9am and 5pm.
We are not able to give you a specific delivery time.
5.We are not responsible for wrong or undeliverable address.Please make sure your shipping address is correct and deliverable.
6.We will provide the tracking number and track links via email to you.
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Newlyweds Lee Min Jung and Lee Byung Hun pose for Elle
It's no wonder that Lee Byung Hun fell head-over-heels for goddess like actress Lee Min Jung; just look at her flaunting her timeless beauty for Elle Magazine, dressed in a dream-like wedding dress. Through Elle, Lee Min Jung shared exclusive behind-the-scenes stories regarding her wedding with the Hollywood-actor husband.
All this, you can find on the September issue of Elle. And until it hits newstands, we have these photos to hold us over:


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These screenings of CATV's fifth annual Halloween-o-Thon are free and open to the public. Come in costume, walk the red carpet and check out the work of these aspiring filmmakers!
Sun, Oct 29 in the Loew Auditorium
1 pm: Middle School teams
2:30 pm: High School teams
4 pm: College/Adult teams
Starting on October 2, registered teams have three weeks to write, direct and star in their own five-minute horror mini-masterpieces. Dartmouth students will also offer movie-making workshops for youth participants before the kickoff meeting on Oct 2, sharing best practices as well as tricks (and treats) of the trade! On Sun, October 29, we'll roll out the red carpet for the finished films in the Loew Auditorium—distributing awards for everything from best screenplay to best scream.
The film premieres are free, unticketed and open to the public. Patrons will be seated on a first-come, first-served basis.
Part of the Community Venture Initiative
The Hop's Community Venture Initiative (CVI) aims to increase the Upper Valley community's engagement and access to Hop programming. CVI builds on the Hop's commitment, over its 50-year history, to community-oriented programs involving a strong network of local organizational partners, as well as on ideas generated by the Hop's Class Divide Project, a three-year initiative that examined socio-economic class via the arts.
The project is funded by Jane's Trust, as well as support from Jane and Peter McLaughlin, The Jack & Dorothy Byrne Foundation, Neda Nobari Foundation, Nini and Rob Meyer, Jenny and Stan Williams and Norwich Partners.


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Factory Girl Sweeps the 4 Major Awards at the 18th Egyptian National Film Festival
Marking Its 9th Award and Awaits Its Oscar Nomination in the Upcoming Month
Factory Girl Sweeps the 4 Major Awards at the 18th Egyptian National Film Festival
A year has passed since its premiere and Factory Girl continues its successful marches at regional and international film festivals. The film ended 2014 with receiving 4 awards at the 18th Egyptian National Film Festival, which screened the film at the closing ceremony. Mohamed Khans Factory Girl competed within the Feature-length Competition and has stolen the limelight with scooping the First Prize, the Best Direction award, the Best Screenplay award and the Best Actress award. Factory Girl is still awaiting the final announcement for the eligible films for the 87th Academy Awards to represent Egypt in the Best Foreign Language Film category. The results will be revealed on January 15th, 2015.
The awards were announced by Dr. Gaber Asfour, Minister of Culture, and Director Samir Seif, the Festival President. During the ceremony, Producer Mohamed Samir of DayDream Art Production received the First Prize, Director Mohamed Khan was handed the Best Direction award, Scriptwriter Wessam Soliman accepted the Best Screenplay award and actress Yasmin Raeis walked away with the Best Actress award.
Adding these 4 awards to its record, Factory Girl completes a list of 9 received awards in 2014. Factory Girl has recently received the Best Writing Award for Wessam Suleiman at Sala Women Film Festival. It also earned a Special Jury Prize at MEDFilm Festival in Italy. The film had its world premiere at the 10th Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF), on December 8th, 2013, where it won the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) award for Arab Feature Competition, and the film's star Yasmin Raeis received the Best Actress award, in the Muhr Arab Feature Competition. Following her win at DIFF, Raeis earned the Best Actress award from Malmo Arab Film Festival in Sweden.
Starring Yasmin Raeis, Hany Adel, Salwa Khatab, Salwa Mohamed Ali, Ibtihal El Sereti and a diverse array of new promising stars, the film is written by Wessam Suleiman and produced by Mohamed Samir's DayDream Art Production. The film tells the story of Hiyam, a young factory worker, lives in a lower-middle-class neighborhood, along with her co-workers. She is clearly under the spell of Salah, the factory's new supervisor, who has expressed his admiration for her. She believes love can transcend the class differences between them. However, when a pregnancy test is discovered in the factory premises, her immediate family and close friends accuse her of sinning. Hiyam decides not to defend herself and pays an enormous price in a society that fails to accept independent women.
The 18th Egyptian National Film Festival this year boasted 124 films that were produced between 2012 and 2013. The festival is consisted of two competitions and the awards were worth 582,000 EGP. The Feature-length Film Competition was headed by actor Yehia El-Fakharany and featured 24 films in competition.


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Destined to become a heirloom piece. Sterling silver with gorgeous Picture Jasper Gem (gem is a full 1 1/2" tall). Enhanced by 3 CZ gemstones. Sterling and a textured link sterling chain. The clasp is affixed to the gem letting it become part of the design. Picture Jasper is known for the landscapes that appear in the inclusions. Every one is different.
limited edition of ONE.
pendant is 2" tall Sterling link chain is 17" long
Gift wrapped in a deluxe box with Jasper romance card
SIGN UP for ALERTS. get first look at new designs and subscriber-only specials and discounts.


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Assisi sits on a hill. The surrounding landscape is flat ~ and beautiful. Especially in the late afternoon sunlight. Assisi is located in Umbria ~ today. However in ancient times Tuscany ~ Etruscan civilization ~ covered the region all the way to Rome.
This painting is inspired by this landscape. The light. And St. Claire.
She was accepted and championed by St. Francis. She started the Little Sisters of the Poor at the monestary at Assisi. We visited her room and roof top garden in Assisi.
I'd like to think that her spirit is woven into this interpretation of her landscape. I guess the fact that she was a gardener has me feel a strong connection to her.


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A view of the historic rowhouses along P Street in Winter, Georgetown, Washington DC
Photo ID: COLDCGTPSTVW
Print Sizes:
Edition Type: Open edition print
Categories: Victorian Architecture Photos of Georgetown Washington DC Architectural Photography Washington DC Photography
Fine Art Prints: We offer gallery-quality fine art prints on paper and metal. Large-format photographs are available in sizes up to 150 inches wide.
Framing: Framing options include solid wood and metal frames with premium mats, face-mounted acrylic (gallery mounting), and metal float mounts.
Image Licensing: High-resolution images are available for editorial and limited commercial use, please inquire.


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Legal Status
Document Details
Published Document
Department of the Air Force, DoD.
In compliance with Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Office of Admissions announces the proposed reinstatement of a public information collection and seeks public comment on provisions thereof. Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed information collection; (c) ways to enhance the quality, unity, and clarity of the information to be collected; (d) ways to minimize the burden of the information collection on respondents, including the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology.
Consideration will be given to all comments received by October 31, 2003.
Written comments and recommendations on the proposed information collection should be sent to the United States Air Force Academy, Office of Admissions, 2304 Cadet Drive, Suite 236, USAFA, CO 80840.Start Further Info
To request more information on this proposed information collection or to obtain a copy of the proposed and associated collection instruments, please write to above address, or call the United States Air Force Academy, Office of Admissions, (719) 333-7291.
Title, Associated Form, and OMB Number: Air Force Academy Candidate Start Printed Page 51565Personal Data Record, USAFA Form 146, OMB Number 0701-0064.
Needs and Uses: The information collection requirement is necessary to obtain data on candidate's background and aptitude in determining eligibility and selection to the Air Force Academy.
Affected Public: Individuals or households.
Annual Burden Hours: 3,617.
Number of Respondents: 7,233.
Responses per Respondent: 1.
Average Burden per Response: 30 Minutes.
Frequency: 1.End Further Info End Preamble Start Supplemental Information
Summary of Information Collection
The information collected on this form is required by 10 U.S.C. 9346. The respondents are students who are applying for admission to the United States Air Force Academy. Each student's background and aptitude is reviewed to determine eligibility. If the information on this form is not collected, the individual cannot be considered for admittance to the Air Force Academy.Start Signature
Pamela Fitzgerald,
Air Force Federal Register Liaison Officer.
[FR Doc. 03-21846 Filed 8-26-03; 8:45 am]


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Benvenuti in Pace
From the Global Pathways Program to the Aurora Borealis, Dyson student Michael Zini '17 has found his home away from homeland Italy in the Big Apple.
New York has one of the largest international populations in the country and Pace University, home to 1,259 international students representing 100 countries, offers its students various programs to help them transition linguistically, academically, socially, and culturally to American university life.
One of the University's newest programs, the Pace Global Pathways Program started in the summer of 2012 with six students and has grown to 175 students in fall 2013, combining academic coursework with advanced English language training to help international students integrate smoothly and successfully into an undergraduate or graduate program.
Dyson Biochemistry major and Italian transplant Michael Zini '17 was one of the first set of students to benefit from the bridge program and matriculate in 2012.
"It was very helpful. It helps you transition between international high school to American college," he adds, "Everyone was always very helpful and available for any concerns or questions. Thanks to Global Pathways, I know basic and fundamental things that are not taught in college."
Zini was so successful in the program that he's also a top candidate for a future Global Pathways peer mentoring program, where he would pass his knowledge on to other international students.
Currently, Zini is giving back to fellow international students and helping the University, working as a student assistant in the international admissions office, where he responds to queries from international students on the application process.
"I've been through the same process, so I can help them out," he says. "I have interviews with Italian students and I get to explain to them in my native language."
Zini isn't just knowledgeable about Pace and its pride points, but believes in them, selecting the University for its academics and location.
"Pace statistics speak for themselves. Regarding economic or business majors, Pace University is just the top of the class. This is one of the reasons I chose Pace," he says. "Secondly, I have always been in love with NYC...the calm chaos, the tranquility of its parks, all those cool little streets with small but delicious burger bars, the quiet cafes, all the different styles mixed together...You definitely never get bored in this city."
Zini's taking full advantage of his American experience, exploring beyond the bright lights of New York City to the Northern Lights during a trip he took to Alaska, where booked a flight and explored the state…al fresco
"I always wanted to go to Alaska and I figured if I don't do it now, I might not get the chance again," he says. "I got to visit the Arctic Circle signs, I saw bears, and the coolest thing I did was see the Aurora Borealis [the Northern Lights]."
Zini hopes to continue exploring the United States and, ultimately, make a permanent home here.
"America is where I think I belong," he says. "I would like to become a citizen, start a family, and become a real American. Of course, I would love my parents to come over and transfer here once I am settled down. They have always encouraged my dreams and my passions so it would be the least I can do to pay them back somehow, starting from being a good student and a good person."
For more information on Global Pathways, click here.
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The NYPD is helping the Pace Community stay vigilant. We invite you to attend an emergency response training session on Wednesday, August 22, 2018.
NYPD Response Training (NYC)
We're kicking off the academic year right with Convocation 2018 in NYC and PLV. This year's speakers include Lubin Dean Neil Braun and award-winning author Imbolo Mbue.
Convocation 2018
Three Pace students were recently awarded the prestigious 2018 Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship, which will allow them to pursue their dreams overseas.
Setters Circle the World


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Panicked college student calls police over a cockroach
We've all been scared of bugs before, but normally we don't get the authorities involved. That was not the case with a college student in Kaohsiung, Taiwan who recently frantically phoned the police after she discovered that a cockroach was flying around the room.
Taiwan's Eastern Broadcasting Network reported that the 20-year-old college student panicked when she saw the bug, which was four centimeters in length, and called the police. The only audible thing that the police were able to hear her say was, "Hurry, save me!" So naturally the authorities darted to the scene only to discover it was a bug that she was worried about.
The police did the best they could to get rid of the bug, but many netizens believe that the whole thing was a big waste, commenting:
"Why are there suddenly more and more ridiculous news from Taiwan?!"
"Detain her for 5 days and she'll grow up and mature."
"Come on, this is way too ridiculous."
"Cockroaches fly?"
Love outrageous comedy? Watch the hilarious hit Running Man, NEW every Monday!


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Know more about this business than we do? Cool! Please submit any corrections or missing details you may have.Help us make it right
Be the first MassLive.com user to add photos or videos of Emerson's Oil Service
Emersons Oil Serviced Inc was founded in 1982. The company is located in Rowley and incorporated in Massachusetts. Emersons Oil Serviced Inc specializes in Fuel Oil Dealers.
Emersons Oil Service can be found at Haverhill St 295. The following is offered: Natural Gas & Petroleum. The entry is present with us since Sep 8, 2010 and was last updated on Nov 14, 2013. In Rowley there are 4 other Natural Gas & Petroleum. An overview can be found here.


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After much speculation from the gaming community, Cliff Bleszinski, the Gears of War designer, has finally announced his next project code-named Blue Streak. The title will be a free-to-play, sci-fi arena shooter for PC. The release date remains unknown.
Bleszinski is famous for his work with Epic Games, a company that he left in 2012 to pursue other options in his career. Back in April, Bleszinski quietly founded Boss Key Productions in collaboration with Guerilla Games co-founder Arjan Brussee. Now the two have come together to get the wheels spinning on their forthcoming project.
Needless to say, the gaming community is excited and, of course, ready to make the inevitable comparisons to the popular Martin Lawrence film of the same name.
Blue Streak, you say @therealcliffyb @bosskey? #RunTelDat pic.twitter.com/3w2bFIKBG1— N'Gai Croal (@ncroal) July 8, 2014
We have our doubts that Bleszinski's game will share any resemblance with Lawrence's famous cop comedy. The film currently has a 36 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Bleszinski is probably wise enough to choose better source material.
RELATED: Interview: Cliff Bleszinski Talks Prequels, Lil Wayne, And The "Halo" Crossover That Almost Was
RELATED: "Gears of War" Developer Cliff Bleszinski to Give PAX East 2013 'Storytime' Talk


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Kingswood Medical CentreClay Hill RoadBasildonEssex, SS16 5ADTel: 01268 663140
Please be aware that the Surgery has a policy of not accepting prescription requests via the telephone. The Surgery does offer the facility to request prescriptions via written request, in person at reception or via online the online requesting facility. For the first instance you will need to attend the Surgery in person with a form of identification to obtain your login details.
Routine - requests for repeats prescriptions will be dealt with within 48 hours if requested before noon. We do have an online facility for you to do this without having to leave home.
Urgent - requests for urgent prescriptions will be ready to be collected by 18.00 the same day, but please try to request these as early as possible.
Patients on repeat medication will be asked to see a doctor, nurse practitioner or practice nurse at least once a year to review these regular medications and notification should appear on your repeat slip. This is to help identify any medication on your record that you may no longer taking and to also ensure that the medication you are taking is suitable at that time.
Please ensure that you book an appropriate appointment to avoid unnecessary delays to further prescriptions. It is the clinicians legal responsibility to ensure that patients medication is reviewed. Should patients continue to ignore requests by the Practice for medication reviews then shorter duration prescriptions may be enforced.
Extensive exemption and remission arrangements protect those likely to have difficulty in paying charges (NHS prescription and dental charges, optical and hospital travel costs). The NHS prescription charge is a flat-rate amount which successive Governments have thought it reasonable to charge for those who can afford to pay for their medicines. Prescription prepayment certificates (PPCs) offer real savings for people who need extensive medication.
From 1 April 2014, the charges are:
There is further information about prescription exemptions and fees on the NHS website
Copyright 2006 - 2018 My Surgery Website | Privacy & Usage | Edit | Staff Home | Site Map | Accessibility | Site T&C's | Service T&C's


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Babysitter says man admitted beating baby who later died
Babysitter says man admitted beating baby who later died
SALEM, Ind. —
New details tonight about a southern Indiana man accused of killing his girlfriend's 8-month old son.
Jamie Lykins pleaded not guilty to charges in Washington County Wednesday.
According to a newly released probably cause affidavit, a babysitter told investigators that Lykins admitted to her he beat 8-month-old Leelan Crain on Saturday.
Lykins told police the boy fell out of bed.
Lykins and his girlfriend later took the baby to a Salem hospital. He was then flown to Kosair where he died.
A preliminary autopsy determined the boy died from blunt force trauma to the head.
Lykins is set to go on trial in April.


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The attention span of the individuals that are online looking for things and trying to find what they are after is very short. You have about 5 seconds to gain their interest when they get to your website. This means that if you have a site that takes longer than that to load they will probably just leave and never see what you are putting in front of them.Is this right information Web Hosting Service Video? I didn't get the right solution.
please help.
Any help will be appreciated.
Thank you.


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Auckland Half 25 march 2017
*Please note - due to the inclement weather 2 weeks ago the course has now changed
Saturday 25 March 2017 is the date for the 13th Auckland Half event.
For 2017, we are stoked to announce some new event options catering for the new competitor to the seasoned athlete.
The Half Distance race starts at Maraetai with a 2km swim and is followed by a 90km bike that covers much of the old Auckland Ironman bike course. It finishes with a 21km three lap picturesque run around the foreshore of the Hauraki Gulf.
The Aqua Bike, Short Course & Duathlon also start from Maraetai (additional information is available on the relevant info & event pages).


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Ruvuma, Tanzania News
Local news for Ruvuma, Tanzania continually updated from thousands of sources on the web.
Ruvuma, Tanzania news is powered by NewsRank ®
29 Reality Show Feuds That Shocked The Entire Viewing Audience
Then And Now: How Did These 19 Miss America Winners Hold Up?
You'll Never Guess Where These 27 Stars Were Born!
You Won't Believe What These 31 British Stars Look Like Now
18 Hit Songs That Were Rejected By Other Singers
19 Celebrities Who Were Bridesmaids For Their Besties
We Found Them: 19 Actresses Looking Their Best, And Worst, On-screen
22 Liberal Celebs Who Have Spoken Out Against War
21 Impossible To Spell Celebrity Names
How Did These Rock Gods Look In Their Prime Vs. Decades Later?
21 Movies Baby Boomers Love That Are Actually Terrible
Trending Now
Updated: Wed Aug 15, 2018 01:55 am
Copyright © 2018 Topix LLC


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Damien is a Director in Frontier's European energy practice, and heads Frontier's Dublin office. Damien has worked extensively for regulators and market participants in Europe on price control design and implementation, gas and electricity trading arrangements and interconnection, capacity mechanism design and incentive design. Damien also has extensive experience of advising market participants on the impact of changes in European Directives and Network Codes on national market arrangements.
Recently, Damien has led our work advising on changes to the market arrangements needed to facilitate the European Target Model, focussing particularly on the different options for further integration of the Irish and UK markets. In relation to renewables integration, Damien has advised on issues relating to the facilitation of higher levels of renewable penetration on the Irish and UK system. Damien has also carried out work to understand the impact of renewables generated interconnector flow volatility on markets.
Damien has worked across a wide range of policy issues in the UK, advising almost all UK Government Departments and regulators. Damien's work has focused on the innovative use of competition and regulatory techniques in the reform and design of public service provision. This work has covered a broad spectrum of public services and sectors, including legal services, healthcare, public housing, education and environmental standards and labelling.
Damien also regularly advises on issues relating to intellectual property, where he has advised a wide range of clients on valuation of intellectual property, regulatory issues relating to the design and enforcement of IP regimes and approaches to measuring the costs of counterfeiting and piracy to their business.
Damien has advised on a number of aspects of postal regulation. Most recently, he has advised ComReg, the Irish postal and telecommunications regulator on the development of the price control framework for An Post, the Irish postal operator. This is the first time An Post has been subject to price cap regulation. Consequently, Damien advised ComReg on the appropriate design for the control framework including incentive design and the use of benchmarking. Damien has also advised on the design of appropriate methodologies for universal service obligation (USO) net cost and unfair burden assessments.


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"Governments, (...to get us off our addiction to oil) starting at a state level, should use 'feebates' - that is a combination of a fee and a rebate - to broaden the price spread of models with different efficiencies at a given size. So you go to the dealer to buy a vehicle of the size you want and there are more or less efficient models of that size, and [for] the less efficient ones [you] pay a fee. The more efficient ones [offer] a rebate paid for by the fees on the inefficient ones. Fuel taxes are a much weaker way to affect how efficient a car you buy because they are diluted, roughly seven-to-one, by the other costs of owning and running the car, and then they are heavily discounted. So, for a typical buyer, looking at a year or two of fuel savings is about as unimportant as whether to buy floor mats. Fuel taxes encourage you to drive less, but they're a very weak signal to buy an efficient car in the first place."
- Rocky Mountain Institute founder Amory Lovings, interviewed in Newsweek, Aug 6, 07
So, uh, sportbikes would get efficiency-rebates from the taxes on touring bikes (etc...) ? - Mr. Subjective


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FlashForward Recap: F-A-T-E
Wandering around in a daze, tying up plotlines.
Last night's FlashForward whizzed by, with April 29, FlashForward Day, happening tomorrow in the world of the show, and all the actors wandering around in a daze tying up plotlines and wondering if the show will even be picked up for next season. (Hint: According to TV Squad, and early reports from the network upfronts, it won't be.) Nothing really does get tied up, and Bryce and Nicole are completely offstage, but we do get to spend a few seconds in Afghanistan and enjoy more of Gabriel McDow–Rain Man spelling out what fate means to anyone who cares to listen.
"We are in uncharted territory, people."
Agent Wedeck opens the show trying to comfort the FBI's L.A. office about what they're doing to secure the premises in order to keep Mark's flash from coming true. Snipers and armed personnel will guard the place 24-7, theoretically capable of keeping out the bad guys in scary masks. Also, isn't Mark's board set up in the wrong room, anyway?
"I have a huge hippocampus, FYI."
Gabriel McDow (James Callis) is brought in to FBI headquarters and shows Benford his book, where he's sketched out the entire Mosaic investigation board from memory. He immediately begins fucking with it, saying "this isn't right" and rearranging a few items that are out of place from his well-remembered flashes. Benford wishes he wouldn't do this.
Gabriel sees Demetri and gets really worked up about how he's supposed to be dead. Demetri later asks if, in any of his flashes, Gabriel saw Demetri alive. Nope.
Later, Gabriel sees Lloyd and Olivia together, refers to Olivia as Olivia Simcoe, and tells them they are "both part of the equation" and that they both will have to "do the math," presumably to solve the blackout-QED–quantum theory dilemma.
"Give them something big."
Janis remains a very reluctant double agent, and tells Vogel she's done. He tells her she's not done. She says she can't kill Mark. He basically tells her to give the Big Evil Cabal someone else. She meets with Carlene in a laundromat, and after telling her the feds have Gabriel, Carlene makes a pass at Janis and tells her she's "worth every penny." Gross.
Janis, who now feels completely like a victim of this show's writing team, seems very put out by everything, and tells Demetri she really doesn't think he needs to be involved in raising her baby, even though he gave her the hot beef injection necessary to conceive. Demetri, meanwhile, refuses to go to Hawaii on a last-minute cheap fare with Zoey, even though she went to the trouble of going to the airport and buying paper tickets, like this was 1983.
Then Benford gets up in Janis's grill as she's just trying to go home to curl up with a bowl of cereal, and confronts her about being a double agent. She tells him she's been CIA all along, he tells her no one will ever remember anything she ever did except this deception, and she pretty much wants to go swallow some pills with her cereal now. It was all for the greater good, folks.
"They've got Tracy."
We see Aaron in Afghanistan. He's wearing a turban and taking photos for the feds of this Joshua Base that isn't supposed to exist, where Jericho takes and tortures people. He uploads a few photos for Wedeck, via satellite-connected laptops that only the fanciest underground agents in Afghanistan have, and proceeds to go rogue to save his daughter. He swoops in just in time, before Tracy's about to be executed in the desert, and then we cut to him and a badly injured Tracy entering the dimly lit tent where their flashes took place.
Meanwhile, Wedeck sends the photos off to Vice-President Clemente, who's scheduled to bring down the president with them inside of 24 hours.
"I'm done dealing with lower-level functionaries."
Simon finds himself a fedora and a passport and is getting ready to fly the coop when he's drawn in by the feminine wiles of Lita, the very same dark and dangerous lass who recruited Janis to the dark side way back when.
Lita and Simon immediately go to a hotel to have sex, and she does a weird Unbearable Lightness of Being routine with his hat while telling him that Hellinger, a.k.a. the well-dressed Lucas whom we last saw with Alda Hertzog in episode sixteen, is a really nice guy until he's not. As it happens, Hellinger is the very same "big guy" whom Gabriel has a sketch of in his book, and it's been Hellinger all along who's been paying for Simon's schooling, and employing Flosso, Frost, Carlene, Alda, and everyone. He's the big evil dude behind the blackout.
The FBI, now one step ahead of Hellinger thanks to Janis, disguises Mark as Gabriel and sticks him in a van. They get ambushed by Hellinger's men. Mark gets to shoot some bad guys and then press Hellinger's head to the ground, but with a few simple keystrokes he "erases all data" on the computers in the bad-guy lair
But just to back up a sec, Hellinger and Simon have a relatively undramatic and stupid conversation over a glass of gin about who owes who what that ends with Simon petulantly walking out of the room. Because, naturally, he thinks he's got nothing to lose now and this Big Evil Cabal can't kill him because they need him too badly to "calibrate the accelerator" for the next blackout.
So anyway, while he's off doing that, and while Benford interrogates and roughs up Hellinger and waits for the rest of the cabal to arrive in their masks, we'll be mourning the impending death of this lame-duck show, despite the excitement we had mere weeks ago about ever more time travel and questioning of fate. We can't fight destiny, and the cast of this show needs to start gunning for work on V.


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Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Jeff Mangum/Neutral Milk Hotel
Nuetral Milk Hotel is one of those "bands" that seems to get more well known every year, even though they haven't released anything in several years. Great melodies, funky surreal lyrics with more rhymes than Green Eggs and Ham, it's some of the best 'lo-fi' out there. Jeff Mangum, the singer/guitarist/writer is also one of the men behind the Elephant6 Collective, which has put out lots of other cool stuff over the years. If you haven't heard them yet, check out this page, lots of live tracks, including one of my favorites, My Dream Girl Don't Exist.
Check out more of their stuff here: Neutral Milk Hotel on Amazon.com
Posted by John Suitcase at 11:22 AM No comments:
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B Collection Women's Embroidered Canvas Slip On - Blue - Size 7
The B Collection embroidered canvas slip on shoes are the perfect addition to any casual outfit. Boasting a beautiful flourish of embroidered flowers to the outer side, these slip on shoes combine a cute accent to comfort. Wear with jeans in winter or a dress in summer, these shoes will be a go to all year round.
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Shoe TypeSlip On
Brand NameB Collection
Article Number1029601
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Words containing akefull
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text: Nissan's new electronic vehicle, the Leaf, is displayed during an opening ceremony of the company's new headquarters in Yokohama, Japan, Sunday, Aug. 2, 2009. It was the first time the external design was shown of Nissan Motor Co.'s environmentally friendly automobile, set to go on sale in Japan, the U.S. and Europe next year. Nissan has promised that the Leaf, which goes into mass production as a global model in 2012, will be about the same price as a gas-engine car such as the 1.5 million yen ($15,000) Tiida, which sells abroad as the Versa, starting at about $10,000. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)


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Title: Under Pressure
Pairing(s): Yusei x Aki
Rating: M
Warning(s): Sexism, sexual themes, and mild language.
Note(s): This takes place about one month after Now and four before Third Time's the Charm and it's sort of a prequel to Beauty of Womanhood. One reviewer questioned why I stated in Third Time's the Charm that Yusei and Aki had agreed to wait, even though neither were virgins. The obvious and most appropriate response is to write a whole damn fic about it.
"Love is the answer, but while you are waiting for the answer, sex raises some pretty good questions."
-Woody Allen
It was just one of those days- the kind where everything is exhausting, everyone is irritating, and nothing seems to make anything better.
Aki loved her job, but sometimes it was pure hell. It was difficult being only female doctor in the hospital; her opinion was often looked down upon and her expertise was usually dismissed by her fellow male doctors. As a result, she was usually assigned the "less" important cases- fixing up a child's broken arm, assisting the elderly with a particularly bad cold... And while she enjoyed helping these people, she found her situation to be frustrating.
She had shared her complaints with Yusei, who listened with sympathy and provided the best advice he could- to give the other doctors time to adjust to her and, if the problem persisted, to inform the head doctor of her plight. He insisted that as misogynistic her coworkers might seem, perhaps they were just giving her a hard time because she was fresh out of medical school. Aki retorted that he was giving them too much credit.
Aki's shift had just ended, but she was still at the hospital- the nurses had insisted she stay for lunch and Aki had agreed. She found she connected with the nurses quite well since they often had the similar problems with the same male doctors.
"I mean, it just isn't fair Izayoi-sensei!" One nurse, Eri, empathized. "You have your phD, they shouldn't look down on you like that! It's at least understandable with us, we had less schooling..."
"No one deserves to be treated this way, Eri-san," Aki replied nonchalantly, taking a bite of her salad.
"Men," Another, Hanako, bemoaned. "They're all pigs."
"They're not all bad," Aki reminded the younger nurse.
"Oh, right, I forgot," Eri began, a cheeky grin spreading across her face. "Famous scientist Fudo Yusei must be quite the catch- does he treat you well?"
"He's a good man," Aki replied, sounding neutral. Truthfully, she didn't like discussing her relationship with Yusei; what they had between them seemed so private, so special that she felt she was violating their bond whenever she divulged details about it. Aki tuned out of Eri's and Hanako's conversation as they rambled on about how they wished they could find a nice boyfriend and how lucky Aki was to be dating Neo Domino City's local hero. It wasn't until she realized Hanako had asked her a question that she snapped back into reality.
"Sorry, could you say that again?" she asked, embarrassed.
"Have you and Fudo-sama... well, you know?" Hanako repeated. Aki blushed, realizing what she was implying.
"No, no... We- ah..." she stammered, having difficulty articulating her words. "I... I think we're just waiting for the right time." Both girls sighed.
"How romantic," Eri cooed as Hanako nodded in agreement. Then there was a sudden, male laugh and the three ladies directed their attention to the man who had just entered the room and was now standing behind them- Daiki, one of the problem doctors.
"How naïve," he chortled, taking a sip of his latte. "Do you honestly believe that this Fudo Yusei will hang around if you keep him waiting? " Aki's gaze hardened.
"That's none of your concern," she snapped. Daiki ignored her comment, sliding into the seat beside her.
"Sweetheart," he began tauntingly. That got Aki's blood boiling- how dare he refer to her in such a demeaning way! "Men have needs. If a woman isn't willing to fulfill them, he'll simply move on." There were many things Aki wanted to say- nasty things that could risk her job. Instead, she swallowed her insults back and forced a smile.
"Perhaps that's the case for you," she began as calmly as she could. "But Yusei is much more of a gentleman than you, and therefore, you cannot speak for him." With that said, she briskly gathered her things together and threw out her leftover food.
"I'll see you tomorrow," she muttered, excusing herself. Aki left quickly and quietly, her face flushed with both anger and humiliation. The gall of that man! To pry into their conversation like that, to act like he knew anything about her relationship with Yusei! It infuriated her unlike anything had before, made her want to rip out her own hair.
She left the hospital in a tizzy, climbing into her car and turning on the engine. Her first instinct was to head back home, get a cool glass of water to calm her nerves, perhaps settle down with a good book- but on an impulse, she switched lanes while she was driving, heading in an entirely different direction.
It didn't make any sense.
He had been so sure his calculations were accurate. This because several of his colleagues had worked through the same problem and had come to the same conclusion as he did. Yet, whenever he tried to implement the newly-designed program into Fortune, the energy source would shut off completely (much to the inconvenience of Neo Domino- rolling blackouts had been occurring for the past few weeks upon the failure of the new program).
Yusei sighed and rubbed his temples, feeling a headache start to come on. He supposed he'd have to check his math again.
"Fudo-Hakase?" inquired a small voice from behind the worn-out scientist.
"Shiori-san," Yusei regarded, turning to face the female assistant. "What is it?"
"There's a woman downstairs saying she needs to see you right now. I know you're terribly busy, so I tried to send her away but she insists," Shiori replied, standing a little taller.
"Who is she?"
"I believe she said her name was Izayoi Aki."
"You know her?" Shiori looked surprised, even guilty.
"Yes, she's my..." He faltered, realizing most of his fellow colleagues were listening to his conversation. He cleared his throat loudly and they turned their heads away. "... my girlfriend." The word sounded strange coming from him; though they had been together for over a month, he had yet to adjust to fact that he was actually dating Aki Izayoi, a woman he had for so long regarded as a comrade or friend, but never before as a lover.
"Where is she again?" he continued.
"Downstairs," Shiori repeated. Yusei nodded and rose from his seat.
"Right- thank you," he murmured, hurrying off.
It wasn't hard to tell Aki's feathers had been ruffled- she was pacing back and forth in the lobby, mumbling angry, incoherent words to herself. Yusei might have laughed if he wasn't so worried; Aki never visited him at work. Sure, she had called a few times, but to come all the way out to see him? The commute from the hospital to the lab was long and tedious, so something had to be going wrong in order for her to even be here.
"Let me begin by saying that your little secretary is a pain in the ass," said Aki bitterly once Yusei had approached her. "I had to argue with her for like ten minutes before she decided to get you. She obviously didn't believe me when I said we were dating." Yusei chuckled a little and gave her a kiss for her troubles. The sensation was pleasant, but at the same time, very strange- it seemed that there were so many situations beforehand where they were standing at this distance, just talking. Yet now he could be affectionate and neither of them would even question it.
"Shiori-san's just doing her job." His expression suddenly deadpanned. "Aki, what happened?"
"Nothing," she replied innocently. That was obviously a lie.
"Then why are you here?" he pressed. Aki hesitated, suddenly unsure of herself.
"I... I just wanted to tell you that... " She closed her eyes and swallowed, as though she had to force the next few words out. "... That I'm ready."
Yusei stared at her in utter confusion.
"Ready? Ready for what?"
"Right. I forgot you're male, so I have to spell it out for you," Aki said with an exasperated sigh. The woman took a brief moment to suck her breath back in before continuing. "Okay. I came down here just to let you know that I'm going to go to your house tonight at 7:00 P.M. to have sex with you." Yusei blinked. Once. Twice. Three times.
"Okay," he finally said, unsure how to respond to her blunt statement.
"Okay," she repeated, nodding her head quickly. "I'll see you tonight then."
"Yes. I'll... see you tonight," Yusei replied awkwardly. The scientist didn't know why she felt the need to travel halfway across the city to tell him this. In fact, it baffled him. He always figured this type of thing would just... happen on its own. What was the point of telling him? Did she expect him to do something?
It was after she left that the panic started to set in. Yes, he was male and he enjoyed engaging in... well, that. But, he cared a lot about Aki (more than he had cared for any other woman), and he didn't want something as messy and complicated as that to ruin their relationship. Yusei fell onto one of the sofas in the lobby, running his fingers through his hair. He let out a strange noise that sounded like a mix between a laugh and a grunt.
How was he supposed to work when he had something like this hanging over his head?
By the time Aki parked her car in front of Yusei's home later than evening, she felt like she was going to vomit. What the hell did she get herself into? She was no stranger to sex, but, well, it had been a long, long time since she had last been intimate with a man. Aki took a moment to recall her first time; she was 16, desperate to feel loved and willing to do anything to obtain her sense of belonging. That was 10 years ago. Hell.
Yusei greeted her at the door with a chaste kiss and invited her inside.
"I've already showered so you can go ahead and use it, if you'd like," he offered, taking her coat. Aki nodded, forcing a smile.
"Yes, thank you," she said politely. As if he could sense her nervousness, Yusei patted her shoulder lightly and gave her a reassuring smile. This only proceeded to make her feel worse, however. She brushed him off and hurried upstairs, locking herself in the bathroom. She set her purse on the counter and began rummaging through it, pulling out the things she needed: a toothbrush, a comb, perfume, and a couple of condoms (she was confident Yusei probably had his own, but just in case).
She turned on the shower and let the water heat up for a moment before stepping inside.
Aki tried to remember if she was this scared when she was with Divine, but couldn't recall such a memory. In fact, if she remembered correctly, her stance on the matter was quite different; she was actually thrilled each time he took her to bed because, well, it was proof that there was someone who didn't find her repulsive or terrifying. She wondered, why did she feel so differently now? Perhaps it was because she loved Yusei so damn much that she didn't want to screw up and ruin their relationship.
As she contemplated this, she realized with a start that though she was fully aware she loved Yusei, she didn't know if he reciprocated. He had yet to tell her. Feeling a wave of sickness wash over her, she sank to her knees on the slippery tile.
That was an important detail to be missing.
She shook her head; this was why she decided to sleep with him in the first place. Because, she wanted him to love her and if using her body was the only means of attaining his affections, then so be it.
Yusei closed his eyes, inhaling deeply. He wasn't sure if he was ready for this.
He had been waiting for Aki in the bedroom for nearly ten minutes, and the pressure was mounting. He had enjoyed the exquisite pleasure of having the time to worry about this moment all day long, and now, he was felt like he was going to burst. He wanted so desperately to please Aki and make this a memorable experience for the both of them, but he was having trouble getting past the fact that when she walked through that door, he would have to undress her and...
He swallowed.
Aki was his friend- a friend who he had developed stronger feelings for over the past eight years. Dating her was, more or less, an expiriment. He had a hypothesis, and now he was testing it. So far, his theory had proven accurate, still... adding a chemical as dangerous and wonderful as sex would either cause his expiriment to blow up in his face or confirm his hypothesis. In other words, it was risky; and he wasn't wild about taking risks.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.
He sucked in his breath.
"Come in."
Aki slid in, looking more tense than she was that afternoon. Yusei's brow perked up; why was she looking as anxious as he felt? He shook his head; he was probably just making up excuses. She laid beside him wordlessly and he took that as his cue to begin. He kissed her, very lightly, and he climbed on top of her.
Things went very fast from there. Their kisses grew increasingly more heated, and as they did, everything started blurring together. Soon, his shirt was off and tossed to the side, as was her dress. However, Yusei became vaguely aware of how unwelcome he felt when he touched her. She shuddered each time their skin brushed together and he knew this wasn't how it was supposed to be.
His hands stopped at the clasp on her bra, shaking. No, this did not feel right.
"Aki," he began slowly and carefully, the first words he had said to her since she had come to bed with him. "I just want you to know... I don't want you to feel like we have to do anything. I don't want to force you into something you don't want to do." He paused before adding, "I love you too much for that."
"What?" She scuttled out from under him and back up against the frame of the bed. Yusei's felt his stomach harden.
"What happened this morning, Aki?" he asked, sounding a little desperate as he gripped her shoulders. She bit her lip and looked ashamed; he could see water form in the corner of her eyes. He immediately loosened his grip and embraced her, kissing her forehead as he did. This was going to be a long night.
They had redressed and moved downstairs to the living room. The pair kept a respectable distance from one another, sitting on opposite ends of one couch. It took several glasses of wine and some coaxing, but he finally got her to talk. And once she started, he couldn't get her to stop- which was fine with him, really. He just wished she would stop looking so remorseful, like she had done something wrong.
"I knew it was ridiculous to let his words get the best of me," she said, twirling a loose strand of hair with her finger. She had curled up into a ball with her knees tucked into her chin. "... I just... Well, I didn't want to lose you." Yusei shut his eyes and exhaled a hissing sigh; this was a disaster and he should have seen it coming. He reached out a touched her hand, gently. She jumped at the gesture.
"Aki," he began as their fingers entwined. "It doesn't matter. Whether it happens now, or next week, or in six months, or even our wedding night, it doesn't matter."
"Wedding night?"
Yusei flushed and fumbled to cover his mistake.
"My point is, I don't want you to ever think that you have to have sex with me to keep me around." He scooted closer to her as he said this and Aki, finally feeling comfortable with him again, pecked him lightly on the lips. "You're worth much more to me than that." She cracked a smile and nodded, satisfied with his response.
The next day was miserable. She and Yusei had stayed up far too late last night and now she was paying the price. First, she looked positively awful. Her hair was messy and unkempt, her skin was pale and clammy, and she had dark bags under her eyes. Second, her lack of sleep was affecting her performance. She had relied on most of her nurses to get her and her patients through the morning.
During her lunchbreak, she sat by herself in one of the doctors' lounges, sipping on a cup of lukewarm coffee and hoping the caffeine would kick in soon. The male doctors had separated themselves from her, occasionally shooting green jokes her way. She rolled her eyes; maybe she really did need to go speak with the head doctor about this. As she retreated into her own little world, she heard a sudden commotion among the other doctors.
"Sorry, this lounge is only for doctors' and invited guests," Daiki said rudely. Aki looked up and was shocked to Yusei there, his nonchalant demeanor unfazed.
"Oh, but I am a guest. I'm here to see my girlfriend, whom I love very much." Aki lost her breath for a moment, both amused and completely floored. He was putting on a show, and he was doing it just for her.
"Yes, he's with me," she said suddenly, rising to her feet. Yusei smiled her way and approached her, sitting next to where she was. The glaring eyes of Daiki and the other doctors followed.
"What are you doing here?" she asked in a hushed voice, sitting back down. He shrugged.
"I have the day off and I thought you could use some company," he whispered back. He lowered his voice even further, "I also thought it might be nice for you to have a bit of vindication."
She laughed.
Comment(s): I hate writing about sex. Hate it, hate it, hate it. There's a lovely little moral to this story, though: a personal gem of knowledge that I'm sharing with my readers. Can you figure it out?
Little fun fact: the Japanese usually bathe before engaging in sexual activity. Not doing so is considered "gross."


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Miranda Leigh Lambert is an American singer-songwriter who jumped to fame on the 2003 season of "Nashville Star." Though she finished in third place, she signed to Epic Records and her album Kerosene went Platinum. She has since released a total of four albums and is married to country singer Blake Shelton.
Miranda Lambert was raised in Lindale, Texas. She said, "We lived on a farm with a big garden and rabbits and hogs – some were pets and some were for food. It taught me how to live off the land and that small-town life made me who I am."
After seeing a Garth Brooks concert, Miranda got interested in country music. She said it was a "life-changing experience." Her father actually wrote songs and Miranda performed them in talent shows, sometimes singing in local restaurants. She said growing up that she would sit "on the porch listening to my dad play Merle Haggard. I was kind of ingrained that way and I think that has a lot to do with who I am now."
Related: Which Country Has The Hottest Women?
In high school, she made her professional singing debut with the band "The Texas Pride Band." When competing on "Nashville Star," she was hoping not to win. "The winner had to go in right after the contest and make a record in a couple weeks, and I wasn't ready."
In 2012, Miranda Lambert earned nine CMA Award nominations, the most for any female artist in the CMA history (people.com).
She said she hates beach balls and calls them "the enemy." "When I'm singing a ballad on stage and a beach ball comes flying at my head it makes me crazy, so I keep a box cutter on my drum riser for such occasions." As for her career, she said, "It's a little scary, because I'll never know when it's just gonna stop. And I am just afraid it's gonna stop abruptly."
In 2008, Esquire magazine named her "Terrifying Woman of the Year," citing her Crazy Ex-Girlfriend album as a revenge fantasy.
She considers a Southern girl someone who "is sweet and hospitable but also confident and strong. A Southern girl isn't a pushover and will kick your a*& if needed."
Aside from singing, Miranda Lambert made her acting debut on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" in 2012. Miranda said, "I never wanted to act. I still don't. I don't want to become an actress. I just wanted to be on the show mainly so I could be a groupie."
Her marriage to Blake Shelton, however, has become tabloid fodder with rumors of their divorce.