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Welcome to Pamplin.org, a resource for people interested in the Pamplin family of companies and projects. Because our businesses are so diverse and our programs so varied, we thought it would be useful to create a central source of information and links that could be accessed easily over the Internet. Please let us know if you have any questions about what we do. We'll get back to you with the answers just as soon as we are able.
Thanks for visiting,
Dr. Robert B. Pamplin, Jr.,
Chairman, President and CEO R.B. Pamplin Corporation


text:
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
Now, since Ree is married to a real live cowboy, and does in fact live on a cattle ranch, I tried to find some Wrecks to make her and her readers feel right at home here.
What, a dead cow is too creepy? Nooo problem.
Dude, you are soo not a horse. [backing away] Oh, but hey, don't mind me. You can hang here with the horsies just as long as you like, uh, sir. Please don't gore me.
Well, my dear Wreckies, we have reached the end of today's post...
Thanks to Wreckporters Regina B., K.P., Amanda L., Luci, Livia B., & Kara H.!
- Related Wreckage: FHOTD, This One's For You


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MTV says "Jersey Shore" stars Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi and Jenni "JWOWW" Farley and comedian Jeff Dye will host the network's live New Year's Eve special from Times Square.
"MTV's Club NYE 2013" will also feature performances from Ke$ha, Ne-Yo, Sean Kingston, Rita Ora and others. Ke$ha described the final night of the year as a time when people come together to celebrate "in a sweaty, drunken, dance-fueled orgy of bliss."
Polizzi said she is hoping to use "a leopard bedazzled microphone" for her hosting duties.
The special is set to air at 11 p.m. Eastern on Dec. 31.


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rubygems-update 2.6.4
RubyGems is a package management framework for Ruby. This gem is an update for the RubyGems software. You must have an installation of RubyGems before this update can be applied. See Gem for information on RubyGems (or `ri Gem`) To upgrade to the latest RubyGems, run: $ gem update --system # you might need to be an administrator or root See UPGRADING.rdoc for more details and alternative instructions. ----- If you don't have RubyGems installed, you can still do it manually: * Download from: https://rubygems.org/pages/download, unpack, and cd there * OR clone this repository and cd there * Install with: ruby setup.rb # you may need admin/root privilege For more details and other options, see: ruby setup.rb --help


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k. sudheer,
college road, srikakulam,
andhra pradesh
View Contact Info
Interactive Map
Claim to Edit Your Profile
If you are the doctor listed please register to claim this profile and edit/update it.
We will allow you access once we verify your details.
Medindia Constantly updates the database. However, despite our best efforts sometimes the data displayed may not be accurate.
If you are calling from another city check the STD Code before dialing.
If you are calling from abroad add 0091 - ISD Code
Here is a list of verified General Medicine Doctors / Internal Medicine Doctors from India who have a virtual clinic on Medindia and provide online video consultation for patients.
Speciality : Acupuncture, General Medicine / Internal Medicine
Speciality : Pediatrics, General Medicine / Internal Medicine
Speciality : General Medicine / Internal Medicine, Family Medicine
Speciality : Obstetrics & Gynecology, General Medicine / Internal Medicine
Location :
Sai clinic - Near Rustomjee international School, Mumbai


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I know, it's been over a month since I last updated this blog - my mind seems to be in one large and dark cloud regarding the things I want to share; each day seems to arrive with a few words I'll jot down but just never seem to get posted. But it's time to get my thoughts all out there, and there are lots of them, so it looks like another rambling Jill-style long post. You lucky ducks! First, I have to say a HUGE thank-you for all the amazingly warm comments about the Chicago Marathon; I was deeply touched to hear from so many of you. Thank you, thank you, thank you! When I started my blog almost 4 years ago, I never even knew what a blog was, let alone over time one could find other folks with similar interests. When I started this gig I just wanted to create a blog that felt like a journal where I could talk about running and its significance to me on every level, so that one day, when I am long gone, my kids could read more about my running and how it was an important part of my life (as if they don't already know ;)). This is still my primary purpose behind this thing, but along the way I've found some truly wonderful people for which I feel so incredibly blessed to have "met". I have neglected my blog (and yours) strictly because life has gotten in the way, but there isn't a day that goes by where I don't think about this blog and all the goodness it has provided me. And I miss it a
So what's been going on since Chi-town....
The short version, I'm taking a giant step backwards and starting with a fresh, clean, and entirely different slate.
In the long,
I could go into lengthy details about all the whys of this whole year, but I'll spare you the endless chatter (you're welcome :)). Really though, there isn't just ONE thing to finger point this mess at. Aside from the severe sprained inner ankle and torn foot ligaments mid-summer, which stripped Chicago training, there weren't any injuries (though this did sideline me for a few months...happy to say it's about 92% healed). I basically just allowed lot of personal issues to control me, instead of me them, and I quickly lost sight of the runner I once was...and my wild love affair for running vanished.
I have pondered for months just what it is I want from running and if my body was trying to tell me it was time to accept whatever inferior training or racing I wanted to produce for that day. Lots of people go out there and "just run" happily (don't they ?), so maybe this was my destination? I've also questioned whether or not my body is just DONE with the rigorous training and it was telling me now was the time to hang that part of my life up! I'll be 50 next year. I've been running hard (for the most part) for 35 years. There are days I am just flipping... dead....tired! I've questioned everything about running in the past few months. Everything!
Because just one obnoxious saying isn't enough in a blog, here's another! |
So Jill, get to the point for heaven's sake - what's the plan to turn this madness around.....
The Coach: Sometimes taking my own advice is hard – I know what to do, but lately I can't seem to accept my own good judgment. I've said the same exact words to others, but listening to my own words has been a huge battle for me. So, I'm turning the reins over to someone else for awhile and letting them take charge of me. This initially wasn't easy for me; at first I felt like I was a complete failure ... but now I feel a major sense of relief - let someone else figure this madness out for awhile, I'm tired of trying and have no desire right now to do it! The decision, and who, was something I searched for many months, watching and learning, until I chose whose experience most ideally matched the type of racing goals I have (silently) set for myself next year. The coach and I started off a little shaky after the first couple weeks as we adjusted to each others' vastly different personalities (when I was swimming with Tara the other day and told her about my new coach plan, she looked at me - laughed - and said this is going to kill me :)) - but I think we worked out the character kinks and I truly believe the coaching thing is the right decision for me at this juncture in my life. But, I'm going to keep my mouth shut for awhile - and trust - so I hopefully don't get my ass fired before year's end! :)
The Maffetone Training: I was first introduced to this this training a couple years ago when I was emailing the sock doc frequently about my foot PF and AT. He is a firm advocate for heart rate based training and thought a lot of my issues with my foot were stress-related due to, among other things, running too much in an anaerobic state. He suggested I do the Maffetone training (or "MAF training" as some may know it) when my foot healed. It's a slow and extremely tedious and patience-ridden low heart rate training program that makes one just want to poke your eyeballs out for someone who has no patience (ahem). When my foot last year allowed me to finally get back to training, I went back to my basic old ways because, well, I was impatient! But the impatient plan didn't work out so well .... so guess who has now been placed on the patient MAF training plan from the coach?! The basic idea with the very low HR training is to get the body to use fat for fuel so you become more efficient in an aerobic state. My HR gets to remain in a really low range for awhile. A very long while probably. I'm not even going to tell you what pace that currently is because it makes me cry just a little :)! But I have to focus at the end result and trust the man. I am feeling really good running right now (for once!) and am very excited to see how my progress increase over time. In the meantime, I am seriously going to remove all sharp objects from my house and pretend that walking a brisk pace is really, really fun.
The Diet/Weight: This is something I have seriously neglected since the whole foot fiasco last year - and it shows. It's not that I constantly ate crap; but rather I got into a I really don't care mentality because of a self-deprecating pity party when I couldn't run, and worse - when I couldn't return back to running well. But something clicked when I got back from Chicago....I think it was the fact that my head felt so incredibly amazing there and I knew if Chicago felt good on no effort, then just imagine how another marathon will feel if I actually put in some effort. So, I'm making some changes by eating cleaner by trying to eliminate processed carbs and eating just less overall! I'm down about 10 lbs since Chicago. I still have a long way to go (yes, I got THAT far from racing weight) but I definitely feel stronger in my choices (well, you know, minus the entire pumpkin pie I consumed on Thanksgiving!) and no longer feel that food needs to be a used to comfort me. I'm injury-free. I'm running well. I don't need to sulk with my friend, sugar! This isn't going to be an overnight process for me - I still struggle with some personal demons that food just makes feel better some days, but as the coachy guy told me when I had a particularly bad day eating crap at work: Just be disciplined and don't eat it. Oversimplified and hard but as an athlete truly dedicated to improving this is the harsh reality. No different than walking out the door to do a run when ti's 10 degrees and blowing snow. It sucks but you just do it because it's the right thing to do. Obviously his world is a little more black and white than mine, but these words are now permanently embedded in my thick head.... because it's the right thing to do...because it's the right thing to do....because it's the right thing to do!!!
Weight Training: I'm not a weight lifter nor do I ever expect to be :), but it's common sense that to run well, you need a lean body (ESPECIALLY A STRONG CORE!!). And to have a lean body, you need to have less body fat. Easy peasy basics! But when the body is hording an excessive mass of it (ahem), weight training is a really good thing to help rid that body fat! Not heavy weights, but enough to work the running muscles and to build running strength. I have been doing weights throughout the year, but nothing consistent, and nothing specific. So for about 3 months now, I've been going to an hour-long Body Pump class at the gym 2-3x/week - because something structured is just better than me wandering aimlessly around the gym doing whatever (Hum....sounds eerily similar for the coach need!). Just recently BP class was revamped and is now a 30 minute weight lifting class followed by 30 minutes of pure core (CXWORX) work - PERFECTO!! I'm actually starting to finally notice some muscle tone!
So that's it, basically. Some simple things that should have been implemented a very, very long time ago....but when you lose all confidence in yourself, it's tough to figure out what exactly you need to do and it takes a lot of soul searching and your head landing in the right place to find it. This wont be easy, and I'm certain it'll be pretty tedious for awhile, but whenever you take time off training for an extended period of time, you lose fitness and I have lost almost all of it. The longer the break, the worse it is and I can't say I have honestly trained hard in about 3 years. Three! But it's not the end of the world - it's just a new beginning. I do, after all, love a really tough challenge. Not just the result at the end, but the drudgery in the middle, the hard work, the sweat, the mess of transformation. I love the process of getting there, especially when "there" isn't a fixed point, but the constant renaming as each finish line morphs into another start line. I am not one of those genetically gifted
But I'm already noticing some changes, both physically and mentally... my confidence is slowly making it's way back....
..... and I am so excited for this journey!!!
Quick Ryan update:
Finished up his cross county season last weekend by attending the Nike SW Regional Championships in Tempe, AZ. He had a 2 second PR there of 17:04 (that's a 5:30 pace - crazy!!). He was pretty disappointed he didn't go sub-17 - I think he peaked a bit too early this year - but he knocked off over a minute off his best 5k time from last season, so I think next year he'll get it. Here's a little glip from his coach at the season end awards banquet....it chokes me up every time I hear it...
Run Strong,


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Konya Airport Transfer
Name: Konya Airport, KYA, Turkey
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Providing hassle-free Konya Airport transfer services seven days a week, konyadailytour.com is the worlds premier website for booking airport transfers. We specialise in transfers to and from airports around the world and work with the best group of drivers and cars. Book your next Konya Airport transfer and save time as well as money during your next trip with konyadailytour.com. Our taxi and airport shuttle partners offer a wide range of vehicles, from sedans and limousines for business and leisure travellers to minibuses and bus for larger groups. Whether you are travelling on business or holidays, we provide a convenient and affordable airport transfer from Konya Airport to get your trip started right. You can also book a taxi to Konya Airport when travelling home or to your next destination.
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Problem-Solving Skills for University Success
Offered By
About this Course
In this course, you will learn how to develop your Problem Solving and Creativity Skills to help you achieve success in your university studies. After completing this course, you will be able to:
1. Recognise the importance and function of problem solving and creative thought within academic study and the role of critical thought in creative ideation.
2. Develop a toolkit to be able to identify real problems and goals within ill-defined problems
3. Recognize and apply analytical problem solving techniques
4. Recognise and apply creative problem solving techniques
5. Identify the use of creativity within and types of problems most common to your field
6. Apply learnt problem solving and creative ideation skills to a real-life context and reflect on personal learning processes


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Anatomy of V4L-DVB devices
Anatomy of a V4L device
Anatomy of a DVB device
Digital Video Broadcast receivers exist in many different flavours. This page lists some of the common receiver types, in order to give you an idea of what all is supported by the linuxtv dvb drivers and why some things within the linuxtv driver code look quite complicated.
Minimal Configuration
A minimal device for DVB reception at the PC consists of a frontend and some FIFO Memory. This FIFO samples the MPEG-2 Transport Stream delivered by the frontend and makes it accessible (e.g. by a port-interface, memory-mapped or a bus-interface like USB or IEEE1394) to the host processor.
All modern peripheral DVB devices follow this approach: common PCI cards, nearly all USB adapters and IEEE1394 DVB devices. Only they are supported directly by Microsoft's BDA architecture.
PCI Cards with onboard MPEG-2 Decoder
Here the frontend is connected to the AV711x hardware MPEG-2 Decoder. This decoder shares a dualported RAM with the PCI bridge where the MPEG-2 Decoder has its Video Framebuffer. (1)
The Onboard Decoder makes these cards somewhat expensive.
(1) With more detail:
The AV711x have his own framebufers on the onboard SDRAM, for MPEG I and P
frames, whose contents are sent to the OSD unit for overlay windows; the OSD unit output is then
encoded on PAL or NTSC display formats and output in CVBS (Composite+Video+Blanking+Synchronism)
or Y/C (Luminance+Chrominance) or RGB (Red+Green+Blue) modes; the OSD unit output is also sent
in digital format to the PCI bridge, which after optional transformations (scaling, cliping,
colour space conversion, etc), is sent by PCI Bus Mastering to the Video Framebuffer, normaly on
a VGA card or in main memory for a V4L application. The dualported RAM (DPRAM), which is
connected to the AV711x and to the PCI bridge, is used for all the communications between the
DVB drivers and the AV711x: To send the firmware and commands, to send MPEG-2 DVR streams (to be
decoded and show as video/audio), to receive MPEG-2 TS packets, PES data or sections
(demultiplexed from the stream), etc.
Standalone STB
In a SetTopBox the Frontend directly feeds the built-in hostprocessor (usually with onchip MPEG Decoder). These processors are mostly based on embedded ARM-, MIPS-, PowerPC-Cores with additional peripheral units like i2c-, IDE-, network-, Smartcardcontrollers, Demultiplexers, Decoders, Audio- and Videointerface.
Modern STB processor chipsets move more and more decoder tasks into Firmware or software, this allows implementation of new codecs like DivX, MPEG-4, WMV and even late updates of products in the field. We expect that this evolution continues.
STBs with interface to the PC
Have an integrated embedded processor with MPEG-2 Decoder and are able to work standalone. You can connect your PC, e.g. using the USB or FireWire port to record and play back DVB transmissions on your TV.
- Technotrend/Hauppauge DEC2000-T USB
- Technotrend/Hauppauge DEC2540-T USB
- Technotrend/Hauppauge DEC3000-S USB


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The ride, while short, was enough to reinvigorate and inspire my humiliated scranus. Here's another picture of the bicycle from a slightly different angle because why the fuck not?
So here in New York City we're about to totally abandon our bicycle infrastructure, whereas London is putting theirs theirs on EPO. Just check out the specs on this town!
--It's a real city, unlike Portland, which is a large woodland village for people who can't hack it in cities;
--It's committed to cycling;
--You can take a train to Paris and stuff;
--There's free health care, and even though that probably comes with a high tax rate I don't care because I don't plan to work;
--They speak a dialect of English that in certain circumstances and in certain wind directions I can understand.
So what's the catch? Well, OK, there's occasional rioting. Also, they still think fixies are cool. Worst of all, some of the people who live there are English. Still, it's a small price to pay.
By the way, I enjoyed the spirited Cat 6 race in the video:
I'm sure someone will complain that Boris Johnson is not wearing a helmnent, but it's fine because as you can see he's being escorted by an ambulance. In fact, as I understand it, as per the plan every London cyclist gets a personal ambulance escort, which will of course provide free medical attention when you get wheel-chopped by some fop on a Brompton.
And now, I'm pleased to present you with a quiz. As always, study the item, think, and click on your answer. If you're right you'll be thrilled, and if you're wrong you'll see a recumbent wheelsucker.
Thanks very much for reading, ride safe, and drink responsively.
--Wildcat Rock Machine
1) According to an article forwarded by a reader, the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation "opposes restrictions on high-capacity ammunition magazines, a ban on military-style AR-15 rifles and the imprinting of bullets with traceable serial numbers to help solve crimes."
Which company is a "Diamond"-level partner?
--Smith & Wesson
--Winchester Ammunition
--The National Rifle Association
2) This homemade e-bike once belonged to Fabian Cancellara.
3) Volvo's new alert-and-brake system is great news for cyclists because it will:
--Make cyclists safer
--Make drivers more attentive
--Make collisions a thing of the past
--Allow cyclists to exact revenge on arrogant Volvo drivers by swerving in front of their cars intentionally and forcing the brakes to deploy
4) The storied "glass lined tanks of Old Latrobe" are actually in:
--Old Latrobe, PA
--New Latrobe, PA
--South Latrobe, PA
--Newark, NJ
5) Late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's bicycle passed the "peel a banana at speed" test with flying colors.
--The opposite of false, which is true
--The opposite of true, which is false
6) Bicycle-powered honey production and bee-themed community outreach meeting? Must be:
--Portland, OR
--Minneapolis, MN
--Portland, ME
--Old Latrobe, PA
7) That's no dummy! That's:
--The Lone Wolf
--Wikipedia Nonplussed Bib Shorts Guy
Last summer on the Hudson River Greenway - m4w - 36 (Chelsea)
12th Ave. at W. 24th St.
This is a real shot in the dark, but I saw you last summer in June or July, near Pier 64 (I think) on the Hudson River Greenway. I was sitting on a park bench next to my bike (a black single-speed with green tires), as you strolled by with yours. Possibly you recall my haircut--_________________________________. You parked just a bit down from me and gave me some very warm smiles.
I was dating someone at the time, so I couldn't make good on your alluring glances. But my relationship unexpectedly came to an end shortly after that, and now I'd like to cross paths with you again.
What kind of haircut did he have?
--A "crooked mohawk-sprout kind of thing"
--"The kind that you might give a dog"
--A "truly magnificent combover blown wild in the summer wind coming off the Hudson"
--"Heavily moussed with frosted tips, a sentimental nod to my Jersey roots"


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text:
Obama asserts Mandela's values are Africa's future
Published 12:00 am Monday, July 1, 2013
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Challenging African youth to seize a "moment of great promise," President Barack Obama declared Sunday that the future of the young and growing continent still rests in ailing South African leader Nelson Mandela's vision for equality and opportunity. Seeking to carve out his own piece of that legacy, Obama unveiled an ambitious initiative to double electricity access in sub-Saharan Africa, vowing to bring "light where there is darkness."
The president's address at the University of Cape Town capped an emotionally charged day in this picturesque coastal city, including a solemn visit to the Robben Island prison where Mandela was confined for 18 of his 27 years in captivity. Obama stood stoically with his family in Mandela's cramped cell and peered across the lime quarry where Mandela toiled each day, causing the damage to his lungs that led to his latest hospital stint.
"Nelson Mandela showed us that one man's courage can move the world," Obama said during his evening speech at the university. He was flanked by a diverse array of students, underscoring Mandela's vision for a unified "rainbow nation" for the country once led by a white racist government.
In the flagship address of his weeklong trip to Africa, Obama outlined a U.S. policy toward the continent that focuses on increasing the region's ability to support itself economically, politically and militarily. Harkening back to a prominent theme from his 2009 speech in Ghana — Obama's only other trip to Africa as president — he said Africans must take much of the responsibility for achieving that goal, although he pledged American assistance.
"Ultimately I believe Africans should make up their own minds about what serves African interests," he said. "We trust your judgment, the judgment of ordinary people. We believe that when you control your destiny, if you got a handle on your governments, then governments will promote freedom and opportunity, because that will serve you."
Obama's address came nearly 50 years after Robert F. Kennedy delivered his famous speech at the same university. Kennedy's speech, delivered soon after Mandela was sentenced to life in prison, called on young people to launch a fight against injustice, creating ripples of hope that would "build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."
Much has changed in South Africa since Kennedy addressed the nation. The apartheid regime crumbled under intense internal and external pressure. Mandela was elected as his country's first black president following his release from prison. And South Africa has rapidly become continent's economic and political powerhouse.
But Obama said that progress, in South Africa and elsewhere on the continent, rests on a "fragile foundation." In order to solidify the gains, Obama called on Africans to focus on three priorities: expanding opportunity, promoting democracy and supporting peace.
A cornerstone of Obama's efforts to expand opportunity is the new "Power Africa" initiative unveiled ahead of his speech. The venture is supported by $7 billion in U.S. investment and $9 billion from the private sector, and will seek to bring electricity to at least 20 million new households and commercial entities in an initial set of six countries: Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria and Tanzania.
The White House did not set a specific deadline for achieving that goal, but Obama advisers said it could happen within a decade. However, the first round of contributions still fall well short of the $300 billion the International Energy Agency says would be required to achieve universal electricity access in sub-Saharan Africa by 2030.
Obama opened his speech with deeply personal remarks about Mandela, tracing the anti-apartheid icon's influence on his own political activism to his young daughters. He said that standing in Mandela's cell alongside Malia and Sasha made the experience all the more poignant, reflecting on the distinction he shares with Mandela in being his country's first black president.
"Seeing them stand within the walls that once surrounded Nelson Mandela, I knew this was an experience they would never forget," he said. "I knew they now appreciated a little bit more that Madiba and other had made for freedom," Obama added, referring to Mandela by his clan name.
Obama arrived in Cape Town Sunday from Johannesburg, where he met privately with members of Mandela's family and spoke with the former president's wife. In keeping with the family's wishes, Obama did not visit Mandela in the hospital.
On a sunny winter day in the Southern Hemisphere, Obama and his family flew by helicopter to Robben Island, the prison that epitomized the struggle of Mandela and his contemporaries against apartheid rule. The Obamas were led through the island by Ahmed Kathrada, an 83-year-old former prisoner who was held alongside Mandela and had also given Obama a tour of the jail when he visited as a U.S. senator in 2006.
The Obamas solemnly peered across the bright white lime quarry where Mandela worked each day. They spent 20 minutes inside the tiny cell where Mandela spent nearly two decades of his life, all the while inspiring the anti-apartheid movement on mainland South Africa.
Before closing their visit, Obama and wife Michelle stoically entered a prison courtyard, the president's hand on the small of the first lady's back, to sign a guestbook.
"On behalf of our family we're deeply humbled to stand where men of such courage faced down injustice and refused to yield," Obama wrote. "The world is grateful for the heroes of Robben Island, who remind us that no shackles or cells can match the strength of the human spirit."
The president also stopped Sunday at a health center overseen by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a visit aimed at highlighting the impact of a U.S.-funded program to stop the spread of HIV and AIDS. The President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, was started by George W. Bush and continued by Obama.
Obama praised Tutu's work in an emotional meeting in which Tutu said Africans are praying that Obama will be a success and a leader for peace, particularly in the Middle East. Many of their aides were brought to tears as the two men embraced in a hug.
The White House said the U.S. will spend about $4.2 billion on PEPFAR funding this year, money that has been used to increase the number of people receiving life-saving anti-retroviral drugs and to prevent mother-to-child transmission of the virus.
Bush, who has stayed active on Africa issues since leaving office, was scheduled to be in Tanzania Monday, the same day Obama arrives in the East African nation. The White House did not rule out the possibility of a meeting between the two presidents.
Associated Press writer Nedra Pickler contributed to this report.
Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC


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Ottawa woman in flip flops, not wearing helmet – Photo by Chris Traynor / ratemyvelo.com
A couple weeks back I came across an angry rant about Critical Mass which featured a photo of scores of cyclists being plowed by an automobile with the caption "When is something like this going to happen in Chicago thanks to Critical Mass?".
Angry rants against cyclists are common in the North American media, but normally they are written by motorists, not cyclists.
In this case, a man named Scott Rowan who dubs himself "The Urban Cyclist" wrote the angry rant against the Critical Mass ride which take place in cities all over the world just after rush hour on the last Friday of each month.
I won't waste time going into any details about the asinine article which was clearly meant to promote the blogger's book called "The Urban Cyclist's Survival Guide" which sells on Amazon for $10.21.
Normally I wouldn't bring any attention to a book written by someone who wilfully creates animosity towards people who use bicycles, but this is a unique case because of some bizarre language in the introduction of the book (the introduction is available for free).
In the introduction, Scott Rowan writes the following:
"At Clark and LaSalle I'm forced to stop my bike for the first time in more than three miles. As I catch my breath, three more cyclists pull up next to me. One guy has flip-flops on, audio ear buds in his ears, and no helmet. I instantly hope that natural selection will weed him out today, but say nothing. There are two other cyclists coagulating behind me – neither wearing a helmet; one has on headphones."
At the end of his introduction, Rowan says that his book is written for cyclists who wear flip flops and ear buds:
But what about Mr. Flip-Flops or Miss Ear Buds? Their actions are not just irresponsible for their own safety. By breaking nearly all the rules of the road, they simply make things worse for other safe cyclists because they have made other motorists angry at cyclists for very good reasons. If I ride next to a motorist who has had a bad experience with a cyclist lately, the motorist is going to take it out on me, not the memory he has.
So this book is written for Mr. Flip Flops and Miss Ear Buds.
I find it so odd that someone would publish a book and wish death upon their target market.
But I shouldn't be surprised. The Critical Mass article was full of contradictions. For one, he says Critical Mass has been going on for years with police escorts on the last Friday of each month, but then he says Critical Mass is "unannounced". He further perpetuates the myth that drivers pay for the roads by claiming Critical Mass is "thumb-nosing to hard-working taxpayers forced to sit behind a group of lawbreakers who feel it's their right to be able to ride helmet-less en masse"
Even the guy's blogger profile is contradicting. In the profile he claims he "doesn't "do centuries" or weekend races and you won't find one expensive piece of cycling-specific clothing in his closet". Meanwhile, his blogger photo he is wearing cycling jersey, with a race bib.
The guy is so bizarre and absurd that I am oddly fascinated and intrigued by him. It's like watching a train wreck.
As you can see in his profile, he has been riding since 2004. In those 6 years of riding, he has been "hit by every kind of vehicle and nonvehicle there is". He also says he has been levelled by a bike messenger, a jogger, a dog, and doored by a teenager.
Why would anyone pay money for a book to learn safe riding from someone who has had so many collisions? Not to mention the cover of the book shows a cyclist crashing into a car.
Here are a few excerpts from the book to spare you the agony of reading any more than you need to (though this is probably already too much):
"When the light goes green, I blast past the novices to establish position on the other side of the intersection where wide trucks driving past parked cars can leave too narrow an alley to ride through if you aren't aggressive enough to establish position first. I hear honking behind me directed at one of the cyclists in my wake. I glance back to see the cyclist weaving back and forth as he tries to control the handlebars while starting from a stop, and I think how I can't blame the traffic for honking the way it is. At the very least, this cyclist isn't even strong enough to control his handlebars and acceleration, much less making himself a danger by wearing ear buds while riding."
"I squeeze off the three cyclists at the next intersection. Normally I can relax at this point, coasting through the Gold Coast. However, I remember the bike messenger who levelled me a couple years ago when he was riding through here, and I tense up. He came out of nowhere, going the wrong way on a one-way street and plowed into me like a black rhino sending me ass over ears, flipping my bike."
"That accident taught me as much as face-planting on the trunk of a taxi cab or the 5'4" female jogger who caused permanent scars on my hands and shoulder or a dog who cracked my helmet or the teenager who doored me with her Honda or… well, you get the idea. There's something to learn from every accident, which means I've had plenty of opportunities to learn."
"Without pausing, I crank my pedaling into a high gear going from 15mph to 25mph in a 50' span. "
The cycling world deserves better representation than for people to wish death upon people who wears flip flops and no helmets.
James D. Schwartz is a Transportation Pragmatist and the Editor of The Urban Country. You can contact James at firstname.lastname@example.com or follow him on Twitter.
Related Articles:
- Hating Cyclists On Facebook (Jan 2010)
- Critical Mass Carnage (GRAPHIC VIDEOS) (Feb 2011)
- Wear a Helmet And Get a Cycling Utopia (June 2010)
- Sympathizing Road Rage (March 2011)


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The retractable leash is the bane of my existence. Between the bulky handles, the painfully long, skinny cords and the tedious winding mechanism, the retractable leash is an accident waiting to happen.
The concept behind the retractable leash is its greatest flaw. It allows your dog freedom, which could mean trouble when on a walk.
Picture this: Youre strolling together in your neighborhood. The retractable leash is unlocked, and your dog is happily sniffing his usual spots. Youre deep in thought, but before you know it, a large dog rounds the corner and barks at the sight of you and your pup. Your little Napoleon darts after the larger dog before you can lock the mechanism. As such, youre left 20 feet away from your dog, unable to protect him and completely powerless as he feverishly pulls away.
As you work to reel your pup back in, your shoulder screams from the emphatic yank and the awkward rotation you hope will bring your dog back by your side. A few minutes later, youve finally managed to contain your pet and bring him closer to you. Thankfully, the larger dog is no longer in sight.
What a relief! Thank goodness nothing happened, right? Youd think you had learned your lesson, but instead, you cross the street and unlock the winding mechanism all over again.
Maybe next time your dog will pull away from you and into oncoming traffic. Maybe your dog will find something delicious in his path and decide to take a bite, and youll be too far back to pull him out of yucks way. Or maybe you will get there just in time to remove a decaying animal, half-eaten chicken bone or stinky poop from your dogs mouth. It could be worse, though; you could get there just in time to watch your dog swallow the mysterious object and get sick.
Setting the possible dangers aside, lets consider the simple inconvenience of the retractable leash. Your dog walks away from you to go potty. You see him in position, lock the retractable leash and walk toward him with bag in hand. You get there and cant for the life of you find your dogs business. You walk around in circles, looking down and searching for the poop while your dog pulls you, annoyed that youre taking so long. Now youre feeling like a fool, and your neighbors are wondering if you need professional help.
The greatest gluttons for punishment are those of you who use retractable leashes for multiple dogs. You juggle the bulky handles as your dogs cross each other and get all tangled up. You stop repeatedly to lift paws and correct the leash that has found its way under your dogs belly, only to realize your other dog has managed to do the same thing. And you struggle to balance yourself when picking up after one dog while the other pulls you in the opposite direction.
Listen stubborn humans: The dog walk is your chance to establish yourself as your dogs leader. Seize the opportunity by using a standard 6-foot leash and giving your dogs approximately 3 to 4 feet of slack. Using a standard leash instead of a retractable leash will allow you to teach your dog to heel, keep your pet out of harms way and maintain your sanity.
Life is tough enough as it is, people. Stop torturing yourselves with a tool that is inconvenient, uncomfortable and potentially dangerous.


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If you are a fan of buffalo chicken wings and you like cauliflower then you just have to try this buffalo roasted cauliflower! Roasted cauliflower has to be one of the most addictive healthy snacks around and it only gets better when coated in buffalo hot sauce! This spicy treat would be a perfect option for a lighter and healthier snack for your party for the big game! Not only does it taste great but it is as easy to make as roasting the cauliflower and tossing it in the buffalo hot sauce so you can be licking your fingers clean in as little as 30 minutes! Just like buffalo chicken wing, this buffalo roasted cauliflower goes great with a tangy blue cheese sauce for dipping and some crunchy celery sticks to help tame the heat!
Serve with toothpicks to avoid messy fingers.
Finger licking good!
Buffalo Roasted Cauliflower
Roasted cauliflower done buffalo wing style in a spicy hot sauce!
- 1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
- 1 tablespoon oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/4 cup hot sauce (such as franks red hot)
- blue cheese or ranch dressing for dipping (optional)
- Toss the cauliflower florets in the oil, salt and pepper, arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet and roast in a preheated 400F/200C oven until lightly golden brown, about 20-30 minutes.
- Toss cauliflower in the hot sauce and enjoy warm with blue cheese or ranch dressing for dipping and celery sticks on the side.
Roasted Cauliflower Satay with Spicy Peanut Dipping Sauce
Crispy Parmesan Cauliflower Bites
More Buffalo Chicken Recipes:
Cheesy Buffalo Mushroom Poppers
Crispy Parmesan Roast Potatoes
Crispy Parmesan Roast Cauliflower
Maple Sriracha Roasted Cauliflower
Roast Broccoli
Skillet Butter and Garlic Mushrooms and Cauliflower


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The British (and English people, more specifically) are often stereotyped as being very indirect in their style--that is, implying their meanings rather than saying exactly what they mean. (The stereotypical British use of irony is a classic example of this--saying the opposite of what one means in order to implicate one's true meaning.) Americans, on the other hand, are often stereotyped as being very direct--brash or bossy, even.
So, what happens when people from these cultures make suggestions? For her study, Flöck defines suggestions as follows:
A speech act is understood as a suggestion when the following conditions apply:Flöck looked for suggestions in two corpora of spoken English: the Santa Barbara Corpus of Spoken American English and the British component of the International Corpus of English. Skipping to the end, she found that:
- The speaker (S) wants the hearer (H) to consider the action proposed.
- S and H know that H is not obliged to carry out the action proposed by S.
- S believes that the suggestion is in the interest of H.
- S may or may not include herself in the proposed action (Flöck 2011: 69)
Apart from modest preferences for one or the other head act or modification strategy, no major differences between the two varieties could be observed. Unlike other speech acts, suggestions might therefore not have a strong potential for intercultural misunderstanding. (Flöck 2011: 79; emphasis added)That is, on the whole, the British and Americans do not differ in whether they prefer direct or indirect strategies for suggestions. What Flöck did find were some differences in how the indirect strategies are phrased, with the British modifying their requests more (using 'upgraders' and 'downtoners') and Americans relying more on the 'head' of the suggestion--the unadorned sentence and its verb phrase in particular.
Now, I do not want to claim that I am not bossy. I'm a first-born. I'm a teacher. Of course I'm bossy. But at the same time, I do not perceive myself as being anywhere near as bossy as a certain Englishman thinks I am. And I suspect that this might be because of some of the different preferences for phrasing Flöck noticed. One difference was in the modal verbs used in suggestions. British speakers used more modals of obligation (should, shall), while Americans tended toward(s) can, but Americans also used more Why don't you...? (Note: the fact that you say either is not counterevidence to this! Both cultures use all these strategies--but at different rates in the corpora.)
The British-preferred modals of obligation are considered by Flöck to be more direct. That is, they're communicating the directive meaning: 'I think you should do this'. Can on the other hand, is (arguably--depending on how you like your modal verb analysis) ambiguous between a weak obligatory meaning and a capability meaning: i.e. 'you are able to do this and therefore you have the option to do it'. My question is: might should-preferers perceive can as too ambiguous for use in this context, or find its option-giving meaning to be insincere? Or am I basing too much of my hypothesi{z/s}ing on the fact that my husband thinks I'm bossy?
I can also see that Why don't you... might be perceived as bossy. It has no modal at all. It sounds like it's implying that the other person should have already thought of doing the suggested thing.
And I think (but these kinds of self-reportings are notoriously [BrE] dodgy) that I use can (e.g. Can you do it this way? You can try this.*) a bit and that I use Why don't you a lot more than BH would. And when he either automatically does the suggested thing or takes issue with me being bossy, I sometimes say: Wait a minute! It was just a question/suggestion!
The British indirectness tends to come from the use of modifiers, such as with understaters like a bit, to begin with, for the moment and downgraders like just, perhaps, at least, maybe, probably. With these markers missing, no wonder British people (for it's probably more than just BH) find me bossy.
Because I'm away from my books and because it's hard to google research on US/UK interactions,** I haven't anything more hard-evidency to offer you about mutual stereotypes of bossiness or about suggestion styles. My suspicion is that Americans are more likely to expect negotiation to follow suggestions, whereas the British are more likely to expect compliance (possibly with a bit of griping about it afterwards--this fits with the British complaint culture: see this or this, for example).
Flöck's paper here at IPrA compares her corpus results to what people do in the classic pragmatics research tool: the Discourse Completion Task (essentially, a written role-play). And I'll just say, it looks like the DCT doesn't do very well. Go Corpus Linguistics!
Before I leave, to the long-suffering Better Half: Happy Anniversary!
* Could is not in Flöck's modal comparison chart. I'm assuming that when she says can, she means can and not can/could, but I might be wrong about that. For me, could is much more natural in suggestions than can, and it's a bit more indirect).
** Because one gets everything on American-Chinese interactions that happen to cite something from the British Journal of Psychology and so on and so forth.
Flöck, Ilka (2011) "Suggestions in British and American English. A corpus-linguistic study." Paper presented at the 33rd annual meeting of the German Linguistic Society 2011 [Deutsche Gesellschaft für Sprachwissenschaft, DGfS], Göttingen, February 2011.
Flöck, Ilka (2011) "'Don't tell a great man what to do': Directive speech acts in American and British English conversations." Poster presented at the 12th International Pragmatics Conference, Manchester, July 2011.


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With the days becoming increasingly grayer, colder, and wetter (edit: and windy-er! You're so right Pea, how can I forget, we did have that windstorm tonight!), it's the perfect excuse to stay inside and bake. There's really nothing like curling up on the biggest, comfiest chair in the house with a fleece blanket and a good book as the smell of freshly baked goods fills the house and gives everyone a warm cinnamony hug. The autumnal combination of cranberries, maple syrup, and warm spices in these carrot cupcakes is a perfect example of why maybe this season isn't so bad after all.
This recipe uses a technique I read in the Cook's Illustrated carrot cake recipe and differs from most other recipes because the oil is emulsified with the sugar and egg, much like making a mayonnaise. This technique is pure genius and and creates the perfect texture, a lighter, not too dense or soggy, just overall excellent carrot cake. Next time, I will play around with the spices and try adding 1 teaspoon of orange zest to the mix. I love dried cranberries but you can substitute raisins or other chopped dried fruit or omit them entirely. You can also add nuts to the batter but I think nuts lose too much of their crunch when they are baked in batter so I prefer to add them on top as a garnish. This recipe makes 12 cupcakes but it can be doubled for a 9 x 13 sheet cake or 2 to 3 round cakes for a layer cake. Bake at the same temperature but for a longer time, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
The maple cream cheese frosting is the same one I like to use on my cinnamon buns. It's just cream cheese and a generous amount of maple syrup; no additional sugar and butter. This way it lets the tang of the cream cheese and maple flavor really shine without being too rich or cloyingly sweet. And if you frost with a spoon, it's the perfect cook's treat for all your efforts.
Carrot Cupcake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
With inspiration from Cook's Illustrated
1 C flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 C granulated sugar
1/3 C packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 C vegetable or canola oil
1 1/2 C lightly packed finely shredded carrots (I used 2 carrots)
1/3 C dried cranberries (or raisins or omit)
(Next time: 1 tsp of orange zest)
Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
1/2 bar of cream cheese (4oz)
1/4 C maple syrup
Optional topping: finely chopped toasted pecans
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with paper liners or grease them.
Shred your carrots on a box grater (be careful, mind your knuckles) or in a food processor with a shredding disc, set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt together.
In a food processor or blender, blend the granulated and brown sugar with the eggs until throughly combined. With the machine running, slowly pour in the oil and continue to mix until the mixture has lightened in color and is somewhat thicker, about 30 seconds. Pour it into the dry ingredients and add the shredded carrots and dried cranberries and mix until no streaks of flour remain.
Divide the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for about 17 to 23 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a cupcake in the center of the pan comes out clean. Rotate the pan halfway into baking time. Remove the cupcakes from the pan and cool on a rack to room temperature.
As the cakes are cooling, take out half a bar of cream cheese and let it soften a little. To make the frosting, simply whisk the cream cheese with the maple syrup until smooth. Frost the cupcakes when they have cooled and top with chopped pecans if preferred.
Makes 12 cupcakes


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By Ali Younes
For those who have been following the bloody events in Syria in the past two years, it is clear that there is no doubt that the regime of Bashaar al-Assad is responsible for killing tens of thousands of Syrian citizens and destroying much of the country's infrastructure. But to say that is to say only part of the story.
The different militant groups of the Syrian opposition, ranging from the Free Syrian Army, which is supported by the US and other western countries, to the Islamic Jihadists and Salafist groups that seek to establish an Islamic state in Syria, share significant responsibility for committing atrocities in the Syrian countryside, according to news reports and eyewitness accounts reported by several international media outlets.
The conflict in Syria where the government troops are fighting a losing battle against rebel groups has destroyed large parts of the modern Syrian state plunging Syrian citizens into a state of destruction and homelessness at home and in neighboring countries.
Casting some blame on the rebel groups, however, has very little traction in the pro-rebels Arabic media outlets which often report on the death and destruction caused by the regime war machine and army troops.
An Arab journalist and analyst based in Washington D.C who declined to use his name in this column, argued to me that the rebel groups that are currently fighting a war of attrition against the regime and particularly those with Jihadist bent represent a worst alternative to Assad's regime.
Although he is not supportive of Assad's regime and blames it for its total dependence on foreign diplomatic and military assistance in order to stay in power, he equally, however, blames the militants for their dependence on foreign military and financial assistance.
"Both parties are destroying Syria," he said.
While the Syrian regime is mainly supported by Iran, China and Russia, the rebels are supported by the Europeans, the US and its Arab allies.
The conflict and later the war in Syria has, in reality, been transformed from peaceful protests for political and economic reform into a proxy war between regional and international powers at the expense of the Syrian people and their country.
Although different Syrian rebel groups claim to have control over large swaths of the country, especially in the countryside, there is little evidence, however, that shows stability or a sense of normalcy in the areas under their control. Life is not going back to normal in those areas according to several Arab and western news reports. Syrian opposition leaders, in addition, have yet to move back to those areas and set up their own government, a clear sign of instability in those areas.
Meanwhile, Zakariya Al Sayed a Syrian opposition activist whom I reached on the phone in Amman Jordan, told me that there is no such thing as "liberated areas" in Syria so-to-speak. This is because, he argued, the regime still maintains its ability to strike against those areas from the air. The situation in those areas is unlike the Kurdish region in northern Iraq during the US invasion of that country or in Benghazi where US and NATO provided no fly zones and air cover.
It is obvious, moreover, that the Syrian regime is still in control of the major urban cities like Damascus, Aleppo, Homs, Hama and Derra where the residents, according to the Arab journalist, worry about what would happen to them should the Jihadists take control of their areas, thus choosing in the meantime Assad's regime over the rebel groups. This is not to say that Assad or his regime are popular in the cities — he is not, but many prefer it over the possibility of being ruled by radical and jihadist groups and with them the probability of chaos and civil war afterward.
Adding fuel to the fire is the presence of extremist groups like Al Nusra Front, which the United States designated it as a terrorist organization. Al Nusra, which is reportedly an Al Qaida affiliate, might be the best weapon the regime has, not only to scare its citizens of the alternative to its demise but also the West, which is eager not to repeat its mistakes in Iraq or Libya.
It is this quandary that makes the war in Syria very difficult to end without direct foreign military intervention on the side to the rebels, which is highly unlikely at this point, or in the absence of a rebels' military operation that decapitates the regime without destroying the remaining infrastructure.
Meanwhile, the prevailing public opinion in the Arab World accuses the West and Israel of keeping the Syrian conflict burning this long because, as the opinion goes, keeping Syria weak and unstable will only serve those powers. As for the Syrian people who chose to brave the killing and destruction and stay or those who are living in refugee camps across the borders the future is unpredictable and bleak even when the regime eventually collapses.
– Ali Younes is a writer and analyst based in Washington D.C. He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com. Contact him at: firstname.lastname@example.com and on Twitter at @clearali.


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Edward Snowden, the former NSA contract worker who leaked documents detailing America's secret and broad surveillance activities, is on the short list of nominees for Europe's Sakharov Prize, which recognizes those who fight for human rights.
Other finalists include Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl who survived being shot in the head; and three political prisoners in Belarus.
Awarded by the European Parliament, the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought honors "exceptional individuals who combat intolerance, fanaticism and oppression," according to the parliament's website.
"The surveillance of whole populations, rather than individuals, threatens to be the greatest human rights challenge of our time," Snowden said in a statement that was read aloud in the Parliament on Monday, The New York Times reports.
Snowden's nomination came from Europe's Green Party and the leftist GUE/NGL group. His name was then chosen as a finalist by two committees. After a final vote, the prize's winner will be announced on Oct. 10. The front-runner is widely seen as Yousafzai, who was nominated by six different parties.
The award is named for Andrei Sakharov, the Russian scientist who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975 for his efforts to support human rights and curb the spread of nuclear weapons.
Snowden is currently living in Russia, where he has been granted temporary asylum. U.S. authorities say he is a fugitive, having charged him with espionage.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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A "not guilty" verdict has been handed down in a case that has been front-page news for months in Great Britain:
John Terry, former captain of England's national soccer team and captain of the English Premier League's Chelsea Football Club, "has been cleared of racially abusing fellow footballer Anton Ferdinand," the BBC writes.
The Guardian has a long piece that goes into considerable detail about what Terry was accused of having said during a game against Ferdinand's Queens Park Rangers last October. Warning: it includes many words we can't publish. Ferdinand, by the way, didn't register a complaint. He apparently didn't hear what Terry said. The original complaint came from an off-duty police officer who was watching on TV, the Guardian says.
Today, according to the BBC:
"Chief Magistrate Howard Riddle said he had heard a great deal of evidence to show Mr. Terry was not a racist. In his written judgement, he said that after weighing the evidence it was 'highly unlikely' that Mr Terry abused Mr Ferdinand in the manner he was accused of.
"Mr Riddle went on: 'The prosecution evidence as to what was said by Mr Ferdinand at this point is not strong. ... It is therefore possible that what he [Mr Terry] said was not intended as an insult, but rather as a challenge to what he believed had been said to him. In those circumstances, there being a doubt, the only verdict the court can record is one of not guilty.' "
But as columnist Steven Baxter writes for the New Statesman, the not guilty verdict "doesn't mean that racism is never, was never, and will never be a problem" in English football. And, he writes:
"Don't hide behind fandom and club loyalty to protect '"your' players when they behave appallingly — if you do, you are just as guilty as they are. Everyone has to work together to stop racism from blighting our showpiece sport, and it starts with the fans. If some will continue to believe that 'their' players have done nothing wrong, and line up to defend those who have done indefensible things, we will get nowhere."
Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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A treatment that fits into any busy schedule, revitalize your body, mind, and soul.
You'll leave feeling revived, rejuvenated and completely centered.
Enjoy Relaxing Massage,Soft Touch with Music.


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text:
Available in 3 sizes:
- 12" x 17-1/2"
- 18" x 24-1/2"
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0091- Barn and White Blossoms
Truly one of a kind art for your home or office. Due to the variance of wood grain that shows through the image, no two prints will ever be the same. Printed directly onto 1/2"x3.5" or 1/2"x5.5" (large size only) pine slats, fully assembled and ready to hang on your wall.


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"It's all business in there for me no matter who I fight. I never have to hate my opponent and I'm never looking to go in and hurt anybody." - Dan Miller
Editor's Note - after press time, it was revealed that Dan Miller will now be replacing Yoshihiro Akiyama in a UFC 128 main card bout against Nate Marquardt.
Middleweight Dan Miller (13-4, 1 NC) is used to punching his friends in the face. He trains daily with his younger brother, lightweight contender Jim Miller, and while most big brothers beat up their siblings just for the fun of it, for Dan, it's his job.
That's why when he steps into the Octagon on March 19 at the Prudential Center in his home state of New Jersey against friend and former training partner Nick Catone (8-2), Dan won't have any problem trying to knock his New Jersey neighbor out.
"It's all business in there for me no matter who I fight," says Miller. "I never have to hate my opponent and I'm never looking to go in and hurt anybody. This is a sport and I'm in it for the competition. I've known Nick for a long, long time, but we're both professionals and we'll be friends after the fight, but I'm going out to win."
Miller is riding a two fight win streak – with his last victory coming against the always tough Canadian Joe Doerksen at UFC 124 in Montreal. The fight went the distance, and Miller took the better end of a split decision.
"I'm never happy with a decision victory," says Miller. "That's why I'm going to be looking to finish Catone with a submission or knockout. I always put pressure on myself to win in the most decisive way possible, and I'm not going to be happy with another judges' decision."
If preparing for his own fight weren't enough to worry about, his brother Jim will be fighting on the main card against undefeated WEC import Kamal Shalorus, who is making his UFC debut.
"I'll be cornering Jim as long as the fights stay in the order they're in now, and it's always nerve wracking when Jim's on the same card as me, but we've done it plenty of times before and we lean on each for support," he said. "But I think Jim feeds off of me. He works and gets amped up when I fight, so I think it's good for Jim when he fights after me."
But having Jim in his corner has some unforeseen advantages, like providing some much needed comic relief when Dan least expects it.
During an interview on HDNet's "Fighting Words" a few weeks ago, Jim said that once while putting Vaseline on Dan's face cageside before a fight, the Lionel Richie video for the 1980's ballad "Hello" popped into his head, leading to a moment of levity that had both brothers in hysterics right before a fight.
"I was putting the Vaseline on his face and I felt like the blind chick who sculpted Lionel Richie's face in the video," said Jim. "So as I'm sculpting the grease on his face I start singing, 'Hello, is it me you're looking for,' and we both cracked up and we were laughing our asses off."
The two brothers have enough stories about their fighting lives to fill a book, like the time they were both about to fight in championship bouts for the local promotion Cage Fury in Atlantic City, NJ – and were working for their father's contracting company the day before weigh-ins.
"We were closing this roof," says Dan, "And we were both cutting weight and we were feeling really tepid, to say the least, but we had to close this roof because it was going to rain, so my father is down on the ground yelling at us to finish the job before it rained, and we were up there for like 12 hours. This is two days before championship bouts. We were NOT happy. (Laughs)"
Despite the roof, the Miller brothers both won, which is what they're expecting come Saturday night.
"Nick's a great fighter. He poses a lot of threats to me. I definitely have the advantage because of those fights and he's going to be rusty," says Miller. "He's got a lot more credentials in wrestling than me. He's got a big double leg takedown, so I'm going to work to avoid his shots by punching him in the face, and if he takes me down I think I have a better ground game and I'll look for the submission. I love submitting people but I'd love to get a knockout too."
Training at AMA under Mike Constantino, Dan has the advantage of wrestling with his brother Jim and with welterweight up and comer Charlie Brenneman, an accomplished wrestler in his own right, but being from Jersey does have its advantages in the wrestling department.
"We always have very high level wrestlers from local colleges come in to train with us so I've been getting a lot of good mat time in," says Miller.
Catone has nursed a shoulder and back injury over the past year and half and hasn't fought since taking a split decision victory against Jesse Forbes in January 2010, while at the same time, Miller has faced some of the stiffest competition in the middleweight division, in the form of Michael Bisping, Demian Maia, John Salter and Doerksen.
Miller says he spoke with Bisping after he dropped a unanimous decision to him at UFC 114 and has no problems with The Count, but thinks he may have gone a little too far with his antics after his fight with Jorge Rivera at UFC 127.
"He'll definitely have to pay in some form for what he did and what he said," said Miller. "But I have no issues with Bisping. I'm good with him."
And while both Catone and Miller being from New Jersey will nullify any home field advantage they both usually enjoy when fighting at The Rock, Miller says he'll still feel pretty good about fighting close to home.
"There's no traveling, no time change, I get to be home, sleep in my bed and go in and fight and it is always a little more relaxing when I fight here," he said.
As long as little brother Jim keeps pulling out the 1980's Lionel Richie love tunes, Dan should be pretty calm, cool and collected at fight time. Or maybe Jim will step it up with a little All Night Long.
"Party, liming, siesta, forever."


text:
Friday, February 20, 2009
Passive Aggressive Cakes
Friday, February 20, 2009
Well, unless it's one of these.
Hah! Wait, you are joking, right? Uh, yeah, I think maybe I'll pass - thanks, though. Really.
No, seriously; now you just seem too eager. Keep your stinkin' cake, alright?
Well, I should think so! You're supposed to be sweet little confections, not all threatening and...
...eek! Uh, no problem, mister Cake, sir - not a word from me, nuh-uh!
Kelly, Moxie, Michele H., Ashley C., and Nikki P., I've been trying to cut down on sugar lately, and I think it's getting to me. If you'll excuse me, I'm just going to go lay down for a spell...
95 comments | Post a Comment
This opens up so many possibilities! Love the death cake...
- February 20, 2009 at 9:30 AM
- Oats said...
Bone and hair cake reminds me of the Pizza in the dorm fridge at college... only they posted the warning a week later "The pizza in blue wrap may contain (and probably does) hair, nail clippings, and other things we found on the bathroom floor"
- February 20, 2009 at 9:35 AM
Passive aggressiveness + sugar = a speechless me. Wow!
Word verification: repturs, what may happen to you if you actually eat some of these cakes (especially the ones with the bone fragments) - February 20, 2009 at 9:38 AM
- Unknown said...
Well, at least in these cases, the wreckiness is due to what the customer requested (at least, I'm pretty sure it is). The handwriting on these is nice, fairly well centered (except for number 2, maybe). I do like the choice to have all that pink icing on the last one, with the word "KILL" in red. Nice touch.
- February 20, 2009 at 9:39 AM
I'm just going to pleasantly and innocently assume there is a downright HILARIOUS inside joke to go with each of those cakes. There has to be - otherwise, bakeries really need to start doing more thorough background checks during the hiring process.
- February 20, 2009 at 9:40 AM
- Unknown said...
Sorry for all those things WE said??? Wow- that's a real apology if I have ever seen one!
- February 20, 2009 at 9:40 AM
- joyce said...
Wow. Mafia cakes. Run for you lives!
- February 20, 2009 at 9:43 AM
- Colleen said...
I gotta say the writing on the first cake is beautiful but I wonder what that warning came from????
I think my fave is the "suck it" cake...I have a serious weakness for oreos...
~Colleen (cyberrblue.wordpress.com) - February 20, 2009 at 9:49 AM
You know, as hilarious as I find the "Death is closer than ever" cake, I think I would cry if someone gets me that for my next birthday (especially since it's one of those "milestone" birthdays).
- February 20, 2009 at 9:59 AM
- kerry said...
that last one made me laugh out loud for real.
- February 20, 2009 at 9:59 AM
- Miranda said...
WAT. OK, all I can say is..."INAPPROPRIATE"!!!!!
Cripes. Why deface (supposedly) perfectly good cake like that?
*walks away shaking head and muttering* - February 20, 2009 at 10:00 AM
Here, let us present our death threats with pretty flowers and finely-done script....
This is one of my favorite topics so far!!!! - February 20, 2009 at 10:02 AM
- Doublebanker said...
Silence...I'll Kill You.
Check out my Daily Gif Blog...just started my first giveaway.
DB - February 20, 2009 at 10:06 AM
- Kara said...
The "sorry" cake is actually quite pretty, besides the fact that it's really bizarre.
- February 20, 2009 at 10:06 AM
But you have to really love how these threatening messages are accompanied by sweet little roses and rosettes!
- February 20, 2009 at 10:07 AM
- HorribleLicensePlates said...
I love these!
- February 20, 2009 at 10:10 AM
- Etiquette Bitch said...
am i weird for thinking the "suck it" cake looks delicious?
- February 20, 2009 at 10:12 AM
I wonder where are "dead horse head" cakes...
- February 20, 2009 at 10:14 AM
I shouldn't be, but I am actually disturbed by these. (except the suck it one)
- February 20, 2009 at 10:16 AM
- Bailey's Leaf said...
Are you going to hate me if I tell you that my college prof taught me that "alright" is two words and not one? Eeek! Sorry.
- February 20, 2009 at 10:18 AM
The "Suck It" cake was awesome. And I'm very tempted to do the "Death is closer than ever" cake for a friend's upcoming bday.
- February 20, 2009 at 10:19 AM
Surprisingly they were all decorated quite nicely!
- February 20, 2009 at 10:20 AM
- Sharon said...
That last cake reminds me of this: http://www.passiveaggressivenotes.com/2008/09/12/i-dont-need-a-birthday-cake-i-said/
Warning: the language on the cake is more colorful than the cake - February 20, 2009 at 10:24 AM
- Malibu Niki said...
I agree with Sister Raven, the handwriting on each of the cakes is nice (my favorite is the first one). And nothing appears to be spelled incorrectly... ;)
- February 20, 2009 at 10:27 AM
- Alyssa said...
Haha, I love the "Suck It!" cake.. that totally just made my day. :] Love you, Cake Wrecks!
- February 20, 2009 at 10:28 AM
- Viewtiful_Justin said...
These cakes are amazing. Wow. The last one is the most amazing cake I've ever seen.
- February 20, 2009 at 10:38 AM
These cakes all seem straight-up aggressive to me...not a passive one in the bunch!
- February 20, 2009 at 10:41 AM
WOW, all I can say is WOW and hope my friends are nicer.
- February 20, 2009 at 10:42 AM
- LaurenH said...
Suck it!
ha ha ha! I really did almost laugh out loud at one...right in the middle of the office
"Death is closer than you think"...is that along the same vein as the ones before it? Death is closer than you think...because this cake is poison! - February 20, 2009 at 10:57 AM
- Glue and Glitter said...
These are fantastic! I can't decide on a favorite! Maybe "Sorry About Those Things We Said," because it's so open ended.
- February 20, 2009 at 10:58 AM
Okay, I may be weird, but I LOVE the cake that says, "If you tell anyone about this we will KILL you!" It's just the sort of cake my brothers would give me after doing something super-nice for me. Like buy me a cake.
- February 20, 2009 at 11:09 AM
New to commenting here, i have lurked for weeks now....but would you not LOVE to hear the story behind some of these....they would be GREAT i'm sure!
- February 20, 2009 at 11:16 AM
- Kelli W said...
I love the last one!!! Somehow the flowers seem to make the threat of death a little less ominous!!
- February 20, 2009 at 11:18 AM
I'd sure love to hear the story behind each of THOSE. Yikes! Can you imagine filling those orders?!?
- February 20, 2009 at 11:21 AM
I think I need a standing order for one of those "Sorry for all those things we [I] said" cakes...I have a lot of people I could give that to on a regular basis. :)
- February 20, 2009 at 11:33 AM
Gotta say, that first cake is beautifully decorated. The border is neat and even, the flowers are tiny and tasteful, the lettering is both fancy and legible and not an off-putting colour. Other than the "Danger!" part I'd totally eat it.
- February 20, 2009 at 11:33 AM
- Kami said...
Oh, I loved these cakes. The other cakes make me giggle, smile, or chuckle, but I had to read these out loud and laugh really hard.
Woohoo, I'm well on my way to getting my 20 minutes of laughter or whatever today, and it's not even 10!! I love you! - February 20, 2009 at 11:39 AM
I am quite impressed that "than" is spelled correctly on the "Death is closer..." cake. The last cake freaked me out, though.
- February 20, 2009 at 11:40 AM
Is it a coincidence that passiveaggressivenotes.com has a cake-titled post today and cake wrecks has a passive-aggressive titled post, is it a mutual respect thing or do i simply read too many blogs, making it statistically probably that sooner or later such a thing is bound to occur?
either way. keep up the great work? - February 20, 2009 at 11:46 AM
- Cath said...
Those are generally quite pretty, if strange. Maybe I'm macabre, but I really like the "death is closer" cake. As I (and StrongSad) like to say, each day we die a little more!
- February 20, 2009 at 11:47 AM
- jupiternwndrlnd said...
I'm seriously crying here...hilarious!
can I get about a dozen 'Suck It' cakes? *snort* - February 20, 2009 at 11:49 AM
I love the 'non-posionous' cake. Seriously, I just might bring that cake to my next pot luck or party where cake would be appropriate... - February 20, 2009 at 11:49 AM
- Marie said...
Geeze, what kind of readers does this blog attract? They're loving this stuff! (I didn't know there were so many others like me.)
- February 20, 2009 at 12:06 PM
- Irish Girl said...
I LOVE the "Don't tell anyone..." cake. That's awesome!!
- February 20, 2009 at 12:07 PM
Seems to me like some fabulous ideas for maximizing cake leftovers from your party! If no one else will eat it, more for ME! Very smart.
- February 20, 2009 at 12:13 PM
- Unknown said...
Okay, Jenn~
New category for your cakes: "Anger Management Issues". LOL
Amy B. - February 20, 2009 at 12:19 PM
- Sihaya said...
I love how all of these are so beautifully written and centered - skilled decorators got roped into wrecks by request. I hope they all got a chuckle.
- February 20, 2009 at 12:59 PM
i have never seen cake i didn't want to eat, or actaully make me lose my appetite, until that first one.
- February 20, 2009 at 1:03 PM
- Annie said...
"Sorry for all the things YOU said" would have been a nice cake to return to the sender.
- February 20, 2009 at 1:28 PM
- Kixie said...
This one so belongs here: http://s3.amazonaws.com/media.photobasement.com/alwaysfing.jpg
- February 20, 2009 at 1:44 PM
Hair and bone fragments...sounds like a cake that went to our office Christmas party. :-D
I wish I knew the story behind these. My roomie and I were honestly talking about giving our third roommate a cake that said, "Pack your junk and get out" (long and very passive aggressive story) All these years later I must say I regret it because I could have sent it to you. - February 20, 2009 at 1:45 PM
- FreedomFirst said...
- February 20, 2009 at 2:03 PM
- WM said...
I just keep imagining the decorators scratching their collective heads and asking "Are you sure this is what they wanted?"
These have got to have great back-up stories...so glad I had swallowed my coffee first. - February 20, 2009 at 2:05 PM
- MsDarkstar said...
I SO want a "death is closer than ever" cake for my birthday. Seriously, that would make my day!
(keep in mind, I brought my friend in the psych ward a cake that said "Get Sane Soon!" on it - which he loved but the nurses were APPALLED by!) - February 20, 2009 at 2:10 PM
- Scritzy said...
I think the first case is celebrating someone's cyst. Cysts can contain hair and bone fragments.
Not that it makes it any less palatable, you understand. - February 20, 2009 at 2:45 PM
I just found your blog and it is HYSTERICAL! I love it!!! Thank you so much for all the awesome cake pics. I don't even know which is my favorite - I'm blinded by all the funny! :o))
- February 20, 2009 at 2:56 PM
- Bedlam said...
I like those cakes, the last one is great !
- February 20, 2009 at 2:58 PM
Is Dwight Shrute making cakes now?
--Samantha - February 20, 2009 at 3:11 PM
- cakeburnette said...
so I googled "translate peligro" and came up with: hazard or nastiness. That definitely fits with the rest of the text on cake #1...
- February 20, 2009 at 3:21 PM
- Erin said...
O.M.G. why on EARTH would anyone make cakes that say such things?!?! I can imagine away some of Jen's more odd additions, but these leave me completely bewildered. Death is closer than ever?!?! perhaps to the wreckerator!
- February 20, 2009 at 3:28 PM
Wow...I've never seen a death cake before!
- February 20, 2009 at 3:32 PM
- February 20, 2009 at 4:10 PM
- shine said...
Where oh where is the "I'm not speaking to you" cake?
- February 20, 2009 at 4:29 PM
- David Hawkins said...
Hilarious as always, Jen. And as an added bonus, I'm now reading and loving The Plug. Another real gem, this one. Thanks!
- February 20, 2009 at 4:33 PM
These cakes make me wish that my coffin cake pan was still functional. Wouldn't that "Death is closer than you think" inscription look just marvelous on a coffin cake? Yes, the obvious "overkill" joke has already occurred to me.
- February 20, 2009 at 4:48 PM
- Julie said...
So this might be super random, but do you have some sort of thing going with passiveaggressivenotes.com? Because on Feb. 19th their post had "cake," in the title, and on Feb. 20th your post had "passive aggressive" in the title...Coincidence?
- February 20, 2009 at 6:03 PM
- Denise said...
Nothing says I'm sorry for saying all of those things than a cake that REMINDS you with every tasty bite of all the things that were said.
- February 20, 2009 at 6:05 PM
I think most of those cakes are just regular old aggressive.
- February 20, 2009 at 6:57 PM
- Donna M. said...
that last one could have come from Achmed the Dead Terrorist (Jeff Dunham---love him!)
- February 20, 2009 at 7:24 PM
- Unknown said...
love the site... here's ones that are not such a wreck!
http://www.toxel.com/inspiration/2009/02/11/27-beautiful-and-creative-cake-designs/ - February 20, 2009 at 8:17 PM
- Rhiana said...
LOL, maybe I should order up one of these cakes for some of my co-workers... hehhehe
- February 20, 2009 at 8:42 PM
- Witkowski Family said...
these are fantastic ;)
- February 20, 2009 at 9:15 PM
Don't you think the "kill you" cake should have posies on it instead of roses?? LOL!!
- February 20, 2009 at 9:17 PM
- Nonna said...
If someone ever gave me a cake like those ones, it would be all over !
Horrid, gross and funny all at the same time...there sure are a lot of warped people out there... - February 20, 2009 at 9:37 PM
- Narumi said...
The ingredient cake reminds me of the game Portal. The list of ingredients for the cake are dreadful.
"The cake is a lie." - February 20, 2009 at 9:54 PM
- luvcharlie said...
I love it!
- February 20, 2009 at 10:33 PM
Your on this weeks Web Zen blog!
- February 20, 2009 at 10:56 PM
I am SO glad that I wait until the end of the day to read Cakewrecks!! Everyday I find that I'm laughing just as hard at the comments as at the original posts... it's a perfect way to chase away the cares of the day... and get some abdominal exercise from the belly laughs!
- February 20, 2009 at 11:51 PM
Ok. I absolutely loved the Suck It cake. Hilarious!
-Amy - February 21, 2009 at 5:15 AM
anne, i'd cry too if someone gave me the "death is closer than ever" cake, but they'd be tears of LAUGHTER! i'm ROFLMAO over the fact this was actually posted on my birthday. i'll consider that close enough to receiving it, since i don't like cake all that much anyway :D
word V: hystor i think these cakes are hystor-ical! - February 21, 2009 at 5:15 AM
- Casey said...
speaking of weird things written on cake, I'm reminded of a birthday cake my best friend got me one year that read, "Pillage and Plunder all the way." There was a story behind it which made sense to me, but I bet the decorator was so confused.
- February 21, 2009 at 6:57 AM
- Wolverine Girl said...
"Death is closer than ever" would be a great cake for any member of my choir on our birthdays. We, and other university choirs round Australia, sing a funny but grim version of Happy Birthday that contains references to impending death, as well as plundering and pillaging. All to the tune of the Volga Boatmen. I'm just wondering if Casey knows that song too :)
Word verification: salatedi - a toy bear made mostly out of lettuce, with a few random bits of tomato. - February 21, 2009 at 8:56 AM
- Unknown said...
Those cakes are making me giggle.
Especially the "If you tell anyone we'll KILL you cake."
*snicker* - February 21, 2009 at 12:12 PM
hahahaha OMG i love the suck it cake.
I am a long time lurker of this blog first time commenter but dang this had to be said.. the suck it cake rocks! lol
oh and im so glad you are on twitter! I am following ya :D - February 21, 2009 at 5:42 PM
I heard about a cake that was special-ordered this weekend, and I can only hope somebody thinks to take a picture and send it to this site. The decorator said it was the best message she'd been given to write this year, and charged them for only half of the letters.
The message?
"Sorry I pissed on your stuff, man." - February 21, 2009 at 5:53 PM
In the spirit of constructive criticism which abounds here, if you're going to say "passive-aggressive", you need to include the hyphen. Otherwise, you need to say "passively aggressive". Yes, I know, I'm a major pain in the neck!
- February 22, 2009 at 2:06 AM
A shout out to Cake Wrecks from Passiveaggressivenotes!!
My two favorite blogs collide!! - February 22, 2009 at 8:34 AM
cake wrecks got an honorable mention! check it out! - February 22, 2009 at 10:06 AM
- Michelle said...
The "Suck it!" cake speaks to me. I can think of so many people to send that to...
- February 22, 2009 at 1:01 PM
- TriNi said...
I actually like the one that says suck it. haha.. my weird personality traits lol.
cool blog! i love all of them.. except that pregnant one off course lol.
keep up the great work.
now i'm hungry :/ - February 24, 2009 at 4:00 AM
I'm almost certain "Please enjoy this free and non-poisonous cake" is from the game Portal. If not, I'd bet it was inspired by it.
-girl with the lime - March 3, 2009 at 3:20 PM
- Unknown said...
I think I made the cake with the "tell anyone...kill you" on it! To whoever took that picture, where was it taken?
- March 5, 2009 at 1:55 PM
- A Work In Progress said...
I swear, I was at the party were the Kill You cake was served! If not, one just like it. (And, for the record, in context the whole cake makes perfect sense. I could tell you why, but then I'd have to kill you.)
- May 28, 2009 at 1:49 PM
The first one made me think of Sweeney Todd. Since those meat pies went over so well...
The "suck it" cake.. How do YOU eat YOUR oreos? Sucking on them wouldn't be my first choice but hey..
And the last one made me wonder, just what was it that must not be told to anyone? And I like the idea of threatening someone by sending them a very frilly, non-intimidating-looking cake. Clever. I'll have to try that sometime. - July 6, 2009 at 3:41 PM
- Cupcakes Lady said...
That last message is funny. its as if they know...its a terrible cake. Nice one. :) xx
- October 13, 2010 at 9:57 AM
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I have inherited the standard panel control to create a panel having custom border color. The problem is, while the panel is on a form and any other form is moved across it, it paints hapazard lines of the same color as the panel custom border color, all throughout background of the panel. I tried to Refresh or Invalidate the panel in its paint event but of no avail. The same is happening while designing in the design editor too. See attached image. Why is this happening and how to get rid of it?
My code follows:
Namespace CustomPanelControl
Public Class CustomPanel
Inherits Panel
Public Sub New()
End Sub
Protected Overrides Sub OnPaint(ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.PaintEventArgs)
'Set the backcolor of the panel according to the focus on it.
If Me.ContainsFocus Then
Me.BackColor = Color.Yellow
Me.BackColor = Color.White
End If
'Draw the border of the panel.
If Me.BorderStyle = BorderStyle.None Then
Dim borderWidth As Integer = 1
Dim BorderColor As Color = Color.Blue
ControlPaint.DrawBorder(e.Graphics, e.ClipRectangle, BorderColor, borderWidth, ButtonBorderStyle.Solid, BorderColor, borderWidth, ButtonBorderStyle.Solid, BorderColor, _
borderWidth, ButtonBorderStyle.Solid, BorderColor, borderWidth, ButtonBorderStyle.Solid)
End If
End Sub
End Class
End Namespace