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Compatible with Festool 5-inch (125mm) round pad sanders.
Festool's Rubin abrasive incorporates a special closed-coated aluminum oxide that sheds wood fibers, making it an excellent choice for natural wood, wood composites and veneers. Where rapid material removal is the goal, use grits ranging from P24 to P60 for rough surface finishes or to prep for higher grits. For more intermediate sanding, use grits P80 to P120 to quickly and efficiently reach a good surface finish. Use Rubin P150 to P180 for finish sanding on softer woods. All Festool abrasives are engineered and manufactured to strict FEPA standards, guaranteeing uniform abrasive positioning and consistent sanding results.
Festool offers a fully integrated sanding solution for all your applications, from aggressive stock removal to superfine, finish sanding. With a complete line of abrasives in a wide assortment of different types and grits ranging from 24 to 4,000, Festool has the perfect paper to meet your specific application needs. Festool abrasives, with their high tech coatings, provide maximum resistance to clogging and smearing, which means longer lasting abrasives and less rework. Save money by reducing costs and achieve consistent, high-quality results.
- Finish Faster - Rubin 2 is designed to quickly shed wood fibers, eliminating clogging so the abrasive stays sharp, leading to a 30% faster removal rate
- Save Money - Since Rubin 2 is designed to prevent clogging due to the buildup of pitch and wood fibers, you'll get up to 30% longer life out of every sheet
- Your Best Finish - Designed for rapid grit progression, you'll spend less time getting from 80 to 220, achieving the best possible finished surface in the least amount of time


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When you have a new multi-use games area facility installed, we always recommend that you have a MUGA colour spraying in Ilminster TA19 0 application included as this can dramatically enhance your sports facility!
This can be done in a variety of colour choices so you are able to select a design that suits your sports surfaces.
Our professional installers often apply anti-slip paint to sports surfaces at schools, leisure centres and domestic facilities.
Surfacing specifications which have anti-slip coatings applied include macadam and polymeric surfaces.
Depending on the type of sports surface you have in your games area, either acrylic or polyurethane paint will be used.
We also offer minor repair services with emerald stone and polyurethane binder when we clean & paint your sports facility!
We create the specification for multi use games area anti slip colour coating by mixing the chosen paints with an aggregate of sand and aluminium oxide.
The mixture can be changed to accommodate slip resistance and safety requirements for each of your chosen activities. For example, if you were looking to use the multi use games area mostly for netball, a higher slip resistance rating can be achieved by adding more aggregate.
The specially designed colour coating also helps your sports surfaces to maintain its porous qualities as water can pass through it easily.
Our team will be happy to offer your some advice about the costs to apply MUGA anti-slip colour coating, colour spraying and line markings to existing sports surfaces nearby. Please get in touch today through the quick enquiry form on this page and we'll be in touch with you as soon as possible.
We offer a versatile service for a variety of sports court paint coating applications, allowing each customer to have a unique appearance on their surfaces.
A choice of vibrant colours is available for multi use games area surface painting including blue, red, green, purple and orange.
You could opt for a single colour on the whole area or choose a two-toned design with different colours for the main playing surface and the perimeter runoff.
The costs for applying these specialist paints to your sports surface will vary depending on your location, the size of your area, slip resistance required and numerous other factors, so we advise deciding on a budget first.
Before we renovate a sports pitch, tennis court, MUGA etc. It is vital to ensure that the area is completely clean. This is to make sure that the paint sticks directly onto the sports court instead of any dirt or leaves that are stuck to the surfacing.
We will carry out a cleaning process with a pressure washer and specialist solution to lift up debris from the flooring and clear the area before the paints are applied.
Once the polymeric or Macadam surfaces have had a thorough clean, we will spray the sports pitch colour coating over the whole area in your choice of design.
Finally, coloured line markings will be put down for the sports you have chosen to play https://www.muga.org.uk/line-marking/somerset/ilminster these could be for netball, basketball, tennis and many other activities.
Make sure you contact us today if you would like to have a look at how multi-sport colour spraying and line markings are done in your surrounding areas for sports pitches.
We will send you some videos and case studies of work we have previously completed, as well as a quote for the costs to apply anti-slip sports paint and line markings.
Anti-slip paint is a colour coating which can be used for a number of sports courts including ones with macadam and polymeric surfaces.
The paints can either be acrylic or polyurethane and are used to enhance the overall playing qualities, appearance of the flooring and to improve the slip-resistant qualities of sports courts.
We can carry out MUGA colour spraying in Ilminster TA19 0 to enhance the look and play of your surfacing and make the surfacing much safer for players.
We have a variety of different colours for you to choose from with our anti-slip coating and we are able to alter our designs to meet your needs; this means that you can design your own multi-use games areas by choosing the colours which you want.
Our specialist painters recommend having your sports surface cleaned by a professional prior to the painting to ensure that the paints do not come away with any dirt already on the surface.
Anti-slip paint not only improves the appearance and playing properties of an area, but it also helps to strengthen the surfacing.
If you are thinking about having your multi use games areas sprayed with anti-slip coatings, please do not hesitate to contact one of our team members for a free quote!
To achieve the best results when painting your sports court, it is best to hire a professional to complete the works. The steps which we follow when painting a court are as follows:
Apply a chemical treatment to prevent moss and algae growth on the sports courts
Repair any minor cracks in the surface using emerald stone mixed with polyurethane binder if necessary
Clean the surface thoroughly to remove dirt
Install binder coat if required to strengthen the existing surface and improve longevity of the MUGA
Paint the surfacing with coloured anti-slip coating and specialist equipment
Apply desired line markings to the MUGA
Once you have completed the painting of the court you will need to wait for it to dry before playing on the surface. Our anti-slip paint dries quickly, which means you can use the MUGA soon after.
The non-slip paint application can help to improve both the appearance and playing properties of the area, not to mention improving the slip resistance, which gives players a better playing experience.
This is great for professional sports clubs which have a large number of people using the facility regularly.
In order to get the most out of sports courts it is important to carry out regular maintenance.
Our local experts recommend cleaning the surface annually and having the surface repainted every 3-5 years to get the most out of the facility.
The reapplication of coloured anti-slip coating and line markings generally depends on weather and how often the court is used; if you use the facility regularly you may be looking to get it painted every 3 years rather than 5 in order to maintain slip resistance.
MUGA Surfacing in Ilminster - https://www.muga.org.uk/surfacing/somerset/ilminster
MUGA Construction in Ilminster - https://www.muga.org.uk/construction/somerset/ilminster
MUGA Contractors in Ilminster - https://www.muga.org.uk/contractors/somerset/ilminster
MUGA Line Markings in Ilminster - https://www.muga.org.uk/line-marking/somerset/ilminster
MUGA Maintenance in Ilminster - https://www.muga.org.uk/maintenance/somerset/ilminster
MUGA Sports Court Repairs in Ilminster - https://www.muga.org.uk/repairs/somerset/ilminster
If you have a macadam or polymeric surface and would like more expert advice on the closest, most cost-effective MUGA colour spraying in Ilminster TA19 0 and the costs to carry out these services, please complete our enquiry form and we will get back to you as soon as possible with more information on painting of these areas along with a free quote!
As well as this service, we also offer maintenance repair https://www.muga.org.uk/repairs/somerset/ilminster have a look at it by look at that page. Thank you for reading this information, we appreciate it.
We cover Ilminster (Somerset)

subset: commoncrawl


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We offer a Free quote and UK design service, get in touch today.
Thank you for visiting our website. As playground line-marking specialists in Cumbria CA7 4, we offer various products and services.
Many schools and clubs have coloured lines applied to their outdoor surfaces for many sports and activities.
We can do this using either anti-slip paint or thermoplastics, each of which is available in a choice of bright colours and designs to suit your facility.
We usually do this to macadam surfacing. However, we can apply painted lines to other sports flooring types.
If you are interested in having painted or heat-applied designs for your play area or sports facility, please contact us today.
Depending on your budget and requirements, we'll provide you with an affordable quote for your playground line marking project.
Though the concept of school playground design may appear basic, it has a wide range of spectacular and sometimes difficult benefits for students.
Playground markings that are carefully designed can increase physical activity, reinforce learning goals, and promote more positive social interaction while staying inclusive and motivating for students of all interests and skill levels.
If you are interested in having playground line markings installed, one of our playground consultants will come to your location.
They can inspect the area and discuss the many types of playground equipment we have available as well as the methods of installation.
After that, the playground advisor will meet with our design team to put together a detailed proposal that includes a 3D design, product specifications, and a quote for you.
Our local team closest to you can carry out an array of distinct coloured paint lining services that the client can select from due to our experience with playground lining.
To help make certain the kids have a good time. We provide many different playgrounds marking graphics that are not only informative but also exciting for the children.
These are available as either paint or thermoplastic graphics. It depends on the qualities you need.
The customer can consider several unique kinds of recreational floor patterns - suiting different age groups.
We can install things like:
If you have a specific design and budget in mind, our professional line painting experts may create a perfect specification for you.
The costs of our services will vary depending on the grounds size and the number of materials we need to use.
However, we could work with your school, nursery club or surrounding areas to provide the perfect playground marking designs.
For competitive sports court line marking, our specialists can apply the following lines:
For more information about tennis playground markings, click here https://www.playgroundlinemarkings.co.uk/activity/tennis/cumbria/
These playground line marking games areas allow primary schools near me to take advantage of the all-weather floor you can use the facility can be used regularly for sports lessons.
The coloured paint coatings and graphics are durable and long-lasting enough to be used daily for loads of different activities.
If you currently have thermoplastics and become worn out and diminished through time, our experts will come to your location and strengthen old lines, boosting the playground aesthetically.
we have the top prices
GET YOUR QUOTEPlayground markings are the right solution if you're searching for a cost-effective strategy to encourage youngsters to participate in physical activities during their recesses and lunchtimes.
Sports marking can give your students the motivation they need to play football, netball, basketball, and a variety of other sports. Other fun and games activities, both traditional and modern, are also marked.
The playground lines can be made from either plastic or coloured paint, depending on the specifications you need.
A play area graphics specification is applied onto a macadam area by applying heat to the thermoplastic playground markings and sticking them to the play area.
For painted lines, we may spray the whole area in a chosen colour and then apply the lines in contrasting colours for the different activities.
The client can choose from a wide range of distinctive colourings, styles and specs for your playground markings.
For schools, hopscotches are very popular https://www.playgroundlinemarkings.co.uk/designs/hopscotch/cumbria/
If needed, we can colour the tarmacadam area just before our installers apply the playground markings, which helps to make the playground seem completely new because it will be a lot more bright.
It's common for primary schools and daycare centres to have play area thermoplastics installed.
You'll be able to pick from many different designs, including:
The community might be strengthened by these different types of playground markings, whilst also inviting children to generally be far more physically active.
Our specialists could also work with the students' nationwide work course to develop ideas for what shapes will be used.
Using this method, you can increase your school's Ofsted record and scores because children can learn much better.
Schools frequently consider ways to improve students' playtime. However, with so many options available on the market, deciding which resources to use might be challenging.
Many schools, for example, contemplate purchasing new playground equipment, even though this may not be the best option in terms of maximizing expenditures and ensuring that all age groups are represented.
Each age group and ability level can be accommodated with school playground markings.
Taking advantage of available space and establishing imaginative playground markings is both cost-effective and assists schools in meeting their goal of increasing student break periods.
Thermoplastic playground designs in Cumbria CA7 4 are long-lasting and sturdy; they can also be applied fairly quickly with no need of creating a large amount of interference to the flooring.
Any current playground line markings in the nearby area may be restored or washed by the professional team to make sure they're looking wonderful.
We can also do away with outdated designs when they have got worn out and upgrade these for an entirely different installation. Find out more about relining here.
We could also boost current designs by relining the playground markings, enhancing the appearance of the facility.
We have carried out a range of playground line marking over the years, and we are certainly able to help you too.
If you'd like to speak with one of our playground line-markings specialists in Cumbria CA7 4 please complete the contact form on this page.
We can discuss the playground marking prices and help you decide on a design which is perfect for your facility.


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Beets are a vegetable that I enjoy, especially roasted, but I do not seem to have them nearly often enough. Because of this I am always looking for new ways to use them and recently I cam by this recipe for roasted beets with caramelized onions and feta on Our Life in The Kitchen that sounded really good. Roasted beets are pretty sweet and they go really well with strong cheeses like blue cheeses, goat cheese or in this case feta. Not only do we have the roasted beets and feta but we keep piling on the goodies with caramelized onions. I would not have thought of using mustard in this dish but after I heard it I jumped right onto the idea, though I did replace the dijon mustard with a grainy mustard which I have been into lately. This roasted beet dish turned out just as fabulous as it sounded! The sweet roasted beet and salty feta flavour combo was fantastic with the tangy mustard adding the perfect bite and the caramelized onions just took it over the edge. It is always nice to find another way to enjoy beets.
Roasted Beets with Caramelized Onions and Feta
- 1 pound beets
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 pound onions (sliced)
- 1/2 cup feta (crumbled)
- 1 tablespoon grainy mustard
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Wrap the beets in aluminum foil.
- Bake the beets in a preheated 375F/190C oven until soft, about 1 to 1.5 hours.
- Let the Beets cool then peel them and cut them into bite sized pieces.
- Meanwhile heat the oil in a pan.
- Add the onions and caramelize, about 20-30 minutes.
- Mix the feta, mustard, vinegar and oil in a bowl.
- Toss the beets in the dressing.


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For Summers, the problem is that there is so much that is "distracting, confusing, and problem-denying in…the first year course in most PhD programs." As a result, even though "economics knows a fair amount," it "has forgotten a fair amount that is relevant, and it has been distracted by an enormous amount."...
The fact is that we need fewer efficient-markets theorists and more people who work on microstructure, limits to arbitrage, and cognitive biases. We need fewer equilibrium business-cycle theorists and more old-fashioned Keynesians and monetarists. We need more monetary historians and historians of economic thought and fewer model-builders. We need more Eichengreens, Shillers, Akerlofs, Reinharts, and Rogoffs – not to mention a Kindleberger, Minsky, or Bagehot.
Yet that is not what economics departments are saying nowadays.
*Update: I now recall that we also learned the Consumption Capital Asset Pricing Model (CCAPM). So that was about finance too.
Update 2: In my second year I took a macro field sequence, which taught me all about demand-based models, frictions, heterogeneity, and other interesting stuff. I don't want to make it sound like graduate school taught me nothing about how to understand the recession...it taught me plenty. It just all came in the field course...
Update 3: I've decided to remove the professor's name from this post. Although I tried to make it clear (and it should be obvious anyway) that one teacher is in no way responsible for the problems in the field of macroeconomics, I am still worried that some readers might interpret the post to reflect negatively on him, which is the last thing I want.
Update 4: I added a sequel to this post, describing what I learned in my second year.


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If you're searching for work in this new year, the Labor Department's final jobs report for 2012 suggests: The trend is your friend in 2013.
The jobs outlook is actually "pretty positive," said John Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, an employment consulting firm.
Challenger said that, after 34 straight months of job growth, the positive trend is well established and likely to continue. The Labor Department said Friday that in December, employers added 155,000 jobs, in line with economists' forecasts. Though the pace is less than robust, its steadiness is reassuring, especially given recent events, he said.
As 2012 wound down, the economy had to absorb the impact of both Hurricane Sandy and the fiscal-cliff uncertainty in Washington. And yet economists don't see much evidence that either the winds from the Atlantic Ocean or the hot air from Capitol Hill were strong enough to blow out the recovery.
"When we look back over the last 12 months, we see it's not much different from 2011," said Nigel Gault, chief U.S. economist with IHS Global Insight, a forecasting firm. That steadiness represents "moderate improvement" in the U.S. economy, he said.
"It's disappointing compared with previous recoveries" when jobs snapped back more quickly, Gault noted. But the pace has been good enough to suggest that in 2013, many job seekers will land paychecks, he said.
Challenger agreed, and spotted another good sign: "Layoffs have been really light lately."
"Companies did a lot of heavy cutting in the recession, but now they are holding onto their people," Challenger said. "If you are in a job today, you are relatively safe."
In the year ahead, many of those current job holders will retire as large numbers of baby boomers age out of the workforce, he said. "The outlook is better than people give it credit for because the boomers are retiring," he said.
Both Challenger and Gault agreed that in the new year, the health-care sector will continue its role as the top job generator. The Labor Department said that in December, employers added 45,000 medical-related jobs.
"Health care, as usual, was one good place to be in 2012," Gault said.
The leisure and hospitality industries also have been growing, with restaurants and drinking places adding 38,000 workers last month.
"These aren't high-paying jobs," Gault said. "But they do reflect the economic recovery. People felt they could afford to spend a little more money" on eating out and taking vacations, he said.
Challenger said that besides health-care workers and waiters, the people with good prospects in 2013 include people with "core" skills, like accountants and engineers, and blue-collar workers who have been trained as welders, pipe fitters and truck drivers.
The Labor Department report showed that over both 2011 and 2012, monthly job increases averaged 153,000. In December, the unemployment rate held steady at 7.8 percent — the same as the November rate, following a tenth-of-a-point upward revision.
The pace of improvement may feel painfully slow for the more than 12 million people still seeking work in the aftermath of the Great Recession. But it's been fast enough to whittle down the jobless rate from its October 2009 peak of 10 percent.
Challenger urges job seekers to stay optimistic. "This was a deep and difficult recession, so it's taking a long time to pull out of it," he said. "But we're plodding along."
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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Millions Chase Record $425 Million Powerball Jackpot
CHICAGO (Associated Press) — Eight months after a trio of ticket buyers split a $656 million Mega Millions jackpot to set a world lottery record, Powerball is offering up a prize that would be the second highest.
The $425 million jackpot, the largest in Powerball's history, represents a potential life-changing fortune. But before shelling out $2 for a ticket, here are some things to consider:
It's the gambler's mantra: Somebody's gotta win, so why not me?
The first part is true; somebody will win the Powerball jackpot.
Chuck Strutt, executive director of Multi-State Lottery Association, predicts there's about a 60 percent chance it'll happen Wednesday — maybe better if there's a flurry of last-minute ticket purchasers picking unique numbers.
The jackpot already has defied long odds by rolling over 16 consecutive times without anyone hitting the big prize, which now stands at $425 million ($278.3 million cash value). Strutt puts the odds at around 5 percent there would be no winner in the entire run, including Wednesday.
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As the drought increases, so too will the chances of it ending on the next draw, because ticket sales spike with a growing jackpot.
Someone will win. Eventually.
It's true to say that you have a better chance of being struck by lightning than winning the Powerball. But that woefully understates the danger of lightning.
Tim Norfolk, a University of Akron mathematics professor who teaches a course on gambling, puts the odds of a lightning strike in a person's lifetime at 1 in 5,000. The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot: 1 in 175 million.
While weather is the go-to analogy for such astronomical odds, Norfolk suggests there are better ones.
For example, you'd have a slightly better chance of randomly picking the name of one specific female in the United States: 1 in 157 million, according to the latest census.
Should you win the jackpot, there's a good chance you'll have to share — and not just with family, friends and Uncle Sam.
The odds of someone winning increase as the ticket sales do. So, too, do the odds of duplicate tickets, especially for people who choose their own numbers rather than letting the computers pick.
Prefer the lucky numbers of 7 or 11? You're not alone. How about a loved one's birthday? It's 31 or lower — digits more frequently duplicated than 32 and up. (There are 59 white balls and 35 red balls in the draw).
Norfolk predicts that if there is a winner, there will be multiple ones because mathematical theory shows that numbers have a way of clustering, even at much smaller sample sizes.
If you take 23 random people, there's about a 50-50 chance that at least two will have the same birthday, Norfolk said. Throw choice into the equation — about 20 percent of players typically select their own numbers — and the clusters could be even more defined.
That played out in March, when three tickets from Kansas, Maryland and Illinois split the world-record $656 million Mega Millions jackpot.
A single ticket holds Powerball's current record of $365 million in 2006, shared by several ConAgra Foods Workers in Lincoln, Neb.
Gambling experts say a majority of Americans will play some lottery game at least once in a given year.
Clyde Barrow, director of the Center for Policy Analysis at UMass-Dartmouth, says addicted gamblers are less likely to turn to massive jackpot ticket games like Powerball than scratch-off games.
"Scratch-off players are looking for instant gratification and an instant win," Barrow said. "A lot of those people don't like playing lotto because you have to wait. You have to sit on it for a few days."
While it may seem counterintuitive, Barrow says gambling activity often increases as the economy gets worse and people have less disposable income. However, his research — which focused mainly on New England — found the trend reversed in the latest downturn.
"The Great Recession has been so deep and so long, it's suppressed any kind of discretionary spending across the board," said Barrow, who added about the same percentage of people are playing the lottery — they're just buying fewer tickets.
Strutt, Powerball's executive director, said sales largely stayed flat during the peak of the recession in 2008 and 2009, but picked up since.
"Our biggest factor is gas prices," he said. "If people go to a gas station and put 80 bucks of gas in their car, they're not feeling happy to buy a lottery ticket."
It's conceivable you could win Wednesday night's drawing, just not the right one.
In addition to the official one televised nationally from Tallahassee, Fla., there are four practice runs.
The reason, Strutt says, is to make sure the machines are running properly and the numbers are being distributed properly. The balls used in the game are regularly measured, weighed and X-rayed. Then they're locked up in a room that's under 24/7 surveillance. Only the organizers and their auditors have a key.
You already know the answer to that. Yet people play anyway.
Strutt is estimating that there will be $214 million in sales for Wednesday's drawing (up from $140 million from Saturday's drawing).
Half the proceeds go to the prize pool — about a third of that to the big jackpot, with the rest to lower ones, including a new $1 million second prize. The other half goes to the lottery operations in the 42 states plus Washington, D.C., and the Virgin Islands where Powerball is played. This funds charitable efforts such as education, in addition to paying for overhead and compensating winning stores.
Barrow says it's no secret that it's not a prudent investment to regularly buy lottery tickets, but contends it's a little more defensible as the amount skyrockets.
If the jackpot amount approached $600 million, and if you had the means to buy enough tickets until you won, AND if you could guarantee you wouldn't have to share with anyone, then it might be a wise investment.
That's a lot of ifs, Barrow says. But he'll likely join the throngs of ticket buyers.
"For 2 bucks, it's worth a chance," he said. "What else am I going to do with that $2? I'll just waste it on something else."


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Surviving Cyberbullying
Jade was in eighth grade when the mean messages started. The emails, texts, and posts got worse. It was so bad that she eventually changed schools.
Jade says she has come through the experience more self-aware and compassionate toward others. It was a terrible time, she says, but with some counseling and support from adults and friends, she was able to make sense of what happened to her.
Most people know about cyberbullying. Here are some suggestions on what to do if you, or someone you know, is involved.
What Counts as Cyberbullying?
Cyberbullying is the use of technology to harass, threaten, embarrass, or target another person. Online threats and mean, aggressive, or rude texts, tweets, posts, or messages all count. So does posting personal information, pictures, or videos designed to hurt or embarrass someone else.
Cyberbullying also includes photos, messages, or pages that don't get taken down, even after the person has been asked to do so. In other words, it's anything that gets posted online and is deliberately intended to hurt, harass, or upset someone else.
In some situations, cyberbullying is considered harassment. Intimidation or mean comments that focus on things like a person's gender, religion, sexual orientation, race, or physical differences fall into this category. Whether it's done in person or online, this counts as discrimination and is against the law in many states. That means the police could get involved, and bullies may face serious penalties.
Some schools or other organizations might make a distinction between bullying and harassment. That's because of legal differences and definitions. But to the person being harassed or bullied, there's no real difference — it's painful to go through, no matter what you call it.
Online bullying can be particularly damaging and upsetting because it's usually anonymous or hard to trace. It's also hard to control, and the person being victimized has no idea how many people (or hundreds of people) have seen the messages or posts. People can be tormented on a 24/7 basis — every time they check their cellphone or computer. Sometimes, they might not know what's being said behind their backs or where the meanness is coming from.
Online bullying and harassment can be easier to commit than other acts of bullying because the bully doesn't have to confront his or her target in person.
Virtual Acts, Real Consequences
Because of the role technology plays in our lives, there is often no place to hide from bullies. Online bullying can happen at home, school, or anywhere else people go online.
Sometimes, online bullying, like other kinds of bullying, can lead to serious long-lasting problems. The stress of being in a constant state of upset or fear can lead to problems with mood, energy level, sleep, and appetite. It also can make someone feel jumpy, anxious, or sad. If someone is already depressed or anxious, cyberbullying can make things much worse.
It's not just the person being bullied who gets hurt. The punishment for cyberbullies can be serious. More and more schools and after-school programs are creating systems to respond to cyberbullying. Schools may dismiss bullies from sports teams or suspend them from school. Some types of cyberbullying may violate school codes or even break anti-discrimination or sexual harassment laws, so a bully may face serious legal trouble.
Why Do People Do It?
Why would someone be a cyberbully? There are probably as many reasons as there are bullies themselves.
Sometimes, what seems like online harassment may be accidental. The impersonal nature of text messages, posts, and other ways of communicating online means it can be hard to figure out if someone is joking or not.
Most people know when they're being bullied, though, because bullying involves repeated insults or threats. The people doing the bullying know they've crossed a line, too. It's not a one-off joke or insult — it's constant harassment and threats that go beyond typical fun teasing or a nasty comment made in anger.
What to Do
Sometimes, those being bullied are afraid or not sure if they're being bullied or not, so they don't do anything about it but feel worse and worse on the inside. If you're being bullied, harassed, or teased in a hurtful way — or know someone who is — there is no reason to suffer in silence. In fact, you absolutely should report any upsetting texts, messages, posts, or emails.
Tell someone. Most experts agree: The first thing to do is tell an adult you trust. This is often easier said than done. People who are cyberbullied may feel embarrassed or reluctant to report a bully. Some may hesitate because they're not 100% sure who is doing the bullying. But bullying can escalate, so speak up until you find someone to help. Sometimes the police can track down an anonymous online bully, so it's often worthwhile to report it.
Most parents are so concerned about protecting their kids that sometimes they focus on taking major steps to stop the bullying. If you're being bullied and worry about losing your phone or computer privileges, explain your fears to your parents. Let them know how important it is to stay connected, and work with them to figure out a solution that doesn't leave you feeling punished as well as picked on. You may have to do some negotiating on safe phone or computer use — the most important thing is to first get the bullying under control.
You also can talk to your school counselor or a trusted teacher or family member. If the bullying feels like it's really getting you down (like if it's affecting your sleep or concentration), therapy can help. If you're not ready for that, you can still benefit from the support of a trusted adult.
Walk away. What you've heard about walking away from a real-life bully works in the virtual world too. Ignoring bullies is the best way to take away their power, but it isn't always easy to do — in the real world or online.
If you see something upsetting, try to step away from the computer or turn off your phone for a while. Don't respond, and never forward the message to someone else. Find something to distract yourself from what's going on. Do something you love that doesn't give you time to think about what's happening, like playing the guitar, going for a run, or immersing yourself in a book or movie. You can also just chat with a parent or sibling or play with a pet.
Taking a break like this allows you to keep things in perspective and focus on the good things in your life. It also gives you time to figure out how you want to handle things.
Resist the urge to retaliate or respond. Walking away or taking a break when you're faced with online bullying gives you some space so you won't be tempted to fire back a response or engage with the bully or bullies. Responding when we're upset can make things worse. (Standing up to a bully can be effective sometimes, but it's more likely to provoke the person and escalate the situation.) Taking a break gives the power back to you!
Although it's not a good idea to respond to a bully, it is a good idea to save evidence of the bullying if you can. It can help you prove your case, if needed. You don't have to keep mean emails, texts, or other communications where you see them all the time — you can ask a parent to make a copy, or save them to a flash drive.
Report bullying to your service provider. Sites like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube take it seriously when people use their sites to post cruel or mean stuff or set up fake accounts. If users report abuse, the site administrator may block the bully from using the site in the future. If you're being harassed by someone sending you mean texts or emails, you can report it to phone service or email providers (such as Comcast, Google, Verizon, and Yahoo).
Block the bully. Most devices have settings that allow you to electronically block the bully or bullies from sending notes. If you don't know how to do this, ask a friend or adult who does.
Be safe online. Password protect your cellphone and your online sites, and change your passwords often. Be sure to share your passwords only with your parent or guardian. It's also wise to think twice before sharing personal information or photos/videos that you don't want the world to see. Once you've posted a photo or message, it can be difficult or impossible to delete. So remind yourself to be cautious when posting photos or responding to someone's upsetting message.
If a Friend Is a Bully
If you know of a friend who is acting as a cyberbully, take him or her aside and talk about it. Without putting your friend down, stand up for your own principles: Let the bully know it's not OK.
Explain to your friend that bullying can have very serious consequences: for the bully, for the person (or people) being bullied, and even for bystanders like you and your friends. Meanness is like pollution — it can spread to bystanders who may get stressed out or upset about what's going on. Do what you can to build a bully-free environment!


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- Sign-in
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Spending time on your patio or in your garden is a great way to relax. Many people enjoy hosting parties and get-togethers in their backyards. Kmart carries a great selection of outdoor living furniture and patio sets. Host your next BBQ in style. Have a relaxing breakfast outside on a pleasant morning. With beautiful outdoor furniture, your options are truly unlimited.
No matter your personal tastes, there are patio sets to meet your needs. If you enjoy having friends and family over for cookouts, consider purchasing full dining sets. These striking sets come with tables and chairs. You may want to add an over-table umbrella to provide shade on particularly sunny days. Casual seating sets offer a comfortable place to sit down for a glass of iced tea. Try La-Z-Boy sets for that touch of comfort. The Jaclyn Smith collection offers attractive, great-value patio furniture. Such sets are perfect for everyday use.
Perhaps you want to create an intimate atmosphere in your backyard. Consider classy small space sets to bring Parisian ambiance to your patio. Jaclyn Smith and Grand Harbor make great sets that are both elegant and comfortable. New Kmart Patio Styles are designed to fit every taste. Traditional sets are sturdy and reminiscent of the backyard parties of yesteryear. If you like the idea of the farm lifestyle, country pieces will complement your patio perfectly. Shop the Grand Harbor collections to find the perfect piece. Individuals with an edgier sense of style may enjoy eclectic and modern pieces. Jaclyn Smith Today Dominic sets and the La-Z-Boy Sophia patio set appeal to classic sensibilities but have a modern twist. They are perfect for individuals who want to throw fun, elegant parties on a regular basis.
If you're planning on hosting outdoor parties, consider purchasing from a great selection of grills. From classics like Char-Broil to cutting edge Kenmore and Masterbuilt Grills, there is something to fit the needs of every outdoor cook. Don't forget to buy grilling accessories too. Tongs and spatulas designed for outdoor use are grilling must-haves. Maybe you're shopping for a gift for that special someone.
So if you're shopping for outdoor living furniture, keep Kmart in mind. Kmart carries a wide variety of dining sets and small space set furniture. You can count on great brands like Grand Harbor to provide comfortable, sturdy seating for years to come. For something a bit more relaxed, try casual seating sets or La-Z-Boy designs. These pieces are perfect for everyday use. Put them poolside to catch some rays. Of course, those individuals with more classic sensibilities almost always appreciate pieces from the Jaclyn Smith collection.
Great patio furniture can improve the quality of any party or get-together. Shop an amazing selection of outdoor living furniture at Kmart today.


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CŪNIQUE BOX AND PACKET 500px – MY
CŪNIQUE PRODUCT PACKET 500px – MY
CŪNIQUE PRODUCT PACKET 500px- MY
Jeunesse strives to comply with the advertising regulations in all countries. We expect the same of all distributors. Please see section 5 of the Policies and Procedures and any relevant amendments in Appendix A. A copy for your country can be found in Members Only of your Joffice.


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I went for the first time ever on Saturday...
as Liz says in EAT PRAY LOVE (EPL) meaning
'Let's cross over'
I'm always bla-bla-blaing about the Eiffel Tower so I thought it was time... Get ready to land PBers! Thar she is! YAHOO
Naturallement we check the map before taking a step further


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The launch of Intel's Ivy Bridge processors has been pushed back until June, according to the Financial Times. Intel China chairman Sean Maloney told the FT that the processors were originally due in April, but have been delayed due to the new manufacturing process the chips use.
The Ivy Bridge processors are the first to use Intel's new 22nm process with 3D transistors. The new process allows for substantially reduced power consumption or increased clockspeeds, with Intel describing the performance gains in low-power chips as "unprecedented."
Maloney's statements corroborate previous rumors that volume shipment of Ivy Bridge was delayed until June. These rumored delays were attributed to the company having large stockpiles of unsold Sandy Bridge inventory.
The delays are sure to come as a blow to all those wanting to buy—or sell—an Ultrabook laptop. On top of its lower power consumption, Ivy Bridge will also sport a considerably faster integrated GPU, with benchmarks of leaked parts showing the new GPU to be about 60-70 percent faster than the current Sandy Bridge version.


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[ UPDATE: It's now being reported that the New York Jets have acquired Tim Tebow. More chatter about that will undoubtedly follow.]
The story of Tim Tebow and Peyton Manning is, in part, about picking between two reasonable causes for nervousness: a young quarterback whose tendency to come back in the fourth quarter made it easy to ignore his tendency to get behind in the fourth quarter in the first place, or a 36-year-old veteran coming off a missed season and a bunch of neck surgeries.
The Denver Broncos, who spent most of last season watching Tebow turn into a charismatic celebrity, decided to go with Manning after he was dropped by the Colts. Manning himself acknowledges that this decision is about the short term, not the long term: "This is a now situation," he said at a news conference.
Because Tebow's faith — or, more precisely, the way he expresses it — hasn't always sat well with everyone, there are those who see him as a victim of unfair treatment. Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times writes today: "I don't want to face the truth that a quarterback can engineer four consecutive game-winning drives in the fourth quarter or overtime and still get canned because he wasn't pretty enough. I don't want to believe that if this same quarterback makes religious gestures and references afterward, everyone forgets his victories and focuses on his beliefs." Plaschke laments the response of the NFL, not to Tebow's faith, but to the idea that perhaps faith is how he wins games, saying that "most NFL personnel people don't believe that games can be won with the sort of higher powers that Tebow's presence seemed to summon."
But in fact, Tebow's personal appeal, both because he's handsome and likable and because his faith strikes a chord with a large chunk of the fandom of the NFL, may be as great an asset as his dramatic comeback victories as he goes on to his next assignment, which he will.
While there have always been football players who were entertainment-style celebrities, particularly in the case of quarterbacks — think of the Joes Namath and Montana, for instance — the NFL needs them now more than it ever has. Its players excel on Dancing With The Stars (the Packers' Donald Driver performed a sweet cha-cha in this week's season premiere), they make adorable commercials, and they generally work to cultivate a deep sense of personal loyalty. This was evident when Brett Favre left the Packers, and a certain number of his fans essentially swore to abandon their loyalty to the team to follow him wherever he went. Other Packer fans, of course, felt somewhat differently.
That personal loyalty is an important tool for the NFL in an environment marked by circumstances like those depicted in America's Parking Lot, a documentary that screened last week at the South By Southwest film festival. The film, from director Jonny Mars, follows the super-tailgaters who had established a community in the parking lot at the old Texas Stadium, only to find themselves displaced — in more ways than one — when the team moves to the glitzy, pricey new Cowboys Stadium. Just keeping a single season ticket, they explain, will require them to buy a Personal Seat License (PSL) for many thousands of dollars, and that doesn't even buy any tickets. That just buys the right to buy the tickets, and the film explains that to keep your seat, you must buy season tickets, often at upwards of $300 per game, at eight home games and two preseason games every year for the next 30 years. If you don't keep buying your season tickets every year, your PSL reverts to the team and you lose all your money. (You can also sell your PSL, subject to various restrictions set by the team.)
So for one seat — not in a box, just a regular seat in the stadium — you pay potentially tens of thousands of dollars (some of the guys in the film have longstanding season tickets that would require a $50,000 PSL to duplicate), plus a commitment of between three and four thousand dollars a year for the next 30 years. For a good seat, it's essentially like buying a small second home, except that you don't own anything, and you can only sit in it for about 40 hours a year, and instead of a house, it's a chair.
At the same time, these longtime tailgaters were booted from their spots in the parking lot and exiled to a whole new layout where their ability to find places to set up their parties was subject to the new security rules at a much fancier, much more formal, much more rich-person-friendly stadium. One Packer fan in the film (captured during a road trip) points out that huge super-stadiums with sky-high ticket prices even affect people watching at home, since if the team starts to stink, they can't fill the stadium and the game gets blacked out.
It's sad to watch the shifting relationship the tailgaters, who are such Cowboys superfans that one of them named his daughter Meredith Landry after having her labor induced early so he wouldn't miss a game, have with their team. They're still Cowboys die-hards, but they seem to feel cast aside in favor of people with more money; they enjoy the games less, and they speak of quitting the games as something they can't do, almost like people would talk about being stuck in a bad relationship. The film presents the relationship between NFL teams and their fans as both a dysfunctional romance and a story of economic inequality fracturing social bonds.
In that environment, players fans can love as human beings become all the more important. If you feel disenchanted with your team as an entity because you're being treated shabbily in favor of zillionaires who don't even really care about the game, it helps to at least have individual guys you admire for some reason. And if you have made that kind of investment in a seat — if you've practically taken out a second mortgage — the team had better give you something to feel good about, even if it's not the win-loss record. A Tim Tebow, with his potential appeal to fans who admire his bearing in general and his public displays of his faith in particular — or substitute Drew Brees, or Aaron Rodgers, or obviously Peyton Manning — may become a better draw than even the team itself. Being a Cowboys fan (for example) is complicated when it feels like being a fan of a large, wealthy company that's trying to take you for every dollar you have. Being a Tim Tebow fan or a Peyton Manning fan is easy if you believe the worst thing the guy is going to do is play badly.
Far from being a handicap, Tebow's star power — which is considerable even if, like most very famous people, it comes with a certain amount of derision in opposition — makes him even more important for whatever team happens to end up with him. Regarding the eternal question of whether it's better for leaders to be loved or feared, a team might reasonably prefer that you be loved by fans rather than feared by opponents.
Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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For the first time since 1999, the two teams with the best record in baseball will meet in the World Series. The Boston Red Sox host the St. Louis Cardinals at Fenway Park tonight.
Enough said, let's bring in NPR's Mike Pesca. Hey, Mike.
MIKE PESCA, BYLINE: Hi.
GREENE: You're going to be at the game.
PESCA: Yes.
GREENE: So we have the two teams with the two best records. That has to tell us something about his World Series. Or maybe in this crazy world of sports it tells us nothing.
PESCA: Or in the crazy sport of baseball, actually you're right, it kind of doesn't. I mean you mentioned 1999, that was a stinker of a World Series. The Yankees swept the Braves. The Braves had a much better record even than the Yankees did. And then you go back to some recent series were teams that were wildcards and, quote-unquote, "snuck in" like in 2002. The Angel/Giants that went seven - that was a great World Series. So yes, there's not a whole lot of correlation.
In general the correlation between the regular season and the postseason often becomes tenuous. We see things like great players through the regular season slump. We see nobodies delivering the clutch. And that's because the baseball season is so long, it gives us a false sense of how good or bad anyone could be on a given day.
I mean if a guy is a 300 hitter that says what? Oh, that guy can hit. But if you take any seven-game snapshot may be he's a 180 hitter over that snapshot. You know, it's more likely he'll be a 320 hitter or a 300 hitter but there's far from a guarantee in the sport of baseball.
GREENE: So we'll watch to see who the heroes that will emerge.
PESCA: I'm being paid to, yes.
GREENE: Well, let's start with the St. Louis Cardinals. I mean a franchise that just a stays right towards the top. What makes them so good?
PESCA: That's it, steady efficiency. I mean they have a great farm system. They have so many good pitchers that they have Shelby Miller, a young 15-game-winner. He's like the sixth guy on their staff. They're very good from top to bottom. They have few weaknesses. They have the Cardinal Way which has been derided a little bit for its arrogance. I don't know if the players themselves buy into it, as much some of the very proud fans do.
But they do have an ethic of success and culture in getting things done. And they are a model organization in this sport.
GREENE: Well, besides the beards that the Boston Red Sox players have grown to bond together, what gives them the chance to come on top of the Cardinals?
PESCA: I think looseness. I think, you know, sheer talent from top to bottom. I think their strategy of hitting crucial game-winning grand slams in the last series, if they could light upon that strategy again...
GREENE: That would work, two of them and the American League championships series.
PESCA: Yes. And it has this great study in contrasts because you know Boston, which is this real loose team which is a team with a lot of characters who embraces them. And you have the Cardinals, a team that, you know, Adam Wainwright - starter in Game 1 - set up one of his last opponents, Adrian Gonzalez, was behaving in a Mickey Mouse fashion by being too enthusiastic. Some Cardinals players also criticized the Yasiel Puig for perhaps over-celebrating, and not knowing how the game should be played.
So, you know, you have this contrast between those who criticize others for being Mickey Mouse, and the Red Sox who are just plain goofy.
GREENE: Goofy and slow, right? I mean one thing we know about this we know about this World Series with the Red Sox involved, we're going to have some long games.
PESCA: They are pretty fast on the bases but, man, do they take their time. Clay Buchholtz, even with no one on base, their pitcher takes between like 18 and 26 seconds to deliver a pitch, one-nothing games going almost four hours. The Red Sox do take up a lot of your patience. But then, I guess, they deliver the big dramatic hits when it counts. Still, could we do that here in three and a half hours, guys? Is that too much to ask?
GREENE: The journalists who are going to be at Fenway tonight, you guys grow beards or something to bond over this whole thing?
PESCA: I can't help it. I got a five o'clock shadow at two.
GREENE: Nice, can't wait to see it. NPR's Mike Pesca, who will be at tonight's game at Fenway Park Game 1 of the World Series. Mike, thanks.
PESCA: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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Chart Week: Renewable Energy, Oil and the Mideast
Here is "the story" about the current state of renewable energy, oil and the relative importance of the Mideast supplies of oil. I think these charts are self-explanatory:
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Gadget Watch: Pen makes old monitors touch-ready
Many people who have tried Microsoft's new Windows 8 operating system without a touch screen have hated it because of the inability to use touch and swipe commands to get things going.
Many people who have tried Microsoft's new Windows 8 operating system without a touch screen have hated it because of the inability to use touch and swipe commands to get things going. Now, a company has made a digital pen to allow people to use Windows 8 on their old monitors for less than the cost of buying a new touch-enabled computer.
The device was unveiled this week at the International CES, an annual showcase in Las Vegas for the latest smartphones, tablet computers and other consumer-electronic devices.
What it is: E Fun, a West Covina, Calif.-based company, has come out with the Apen Touch8, a cordless pen that works in tandem with an attachment that plugs into the Windows computer's USB port.
How it works: The attachment, which is really an infrared and ultrasonic receiver, clips magnetically to the side of the screen, which can be as large as 17 inches diagonally. The pen emits an infrared beam out of its tip. The receiver attachment sends the pen's signals to the computer, which interprets its precise location.
Pushing down on the pen results in a separate ultrasonic signal, which is equivalent to a touch screen sensing when you are touching it. Just like that, you can swipe and tap your way through Windows 8. The pen runs on a watch battery, which should last about 500 hours and is replaceable.
Why it's hot: Windows 8, Microsoft Corp.'s effort to make desktop and laptop computers work more like tablet computers, was released in October to mixed reviews. A major problem is the fact that many of the features require a touch-screen monitor to work, making the experience unpleasant for those with older machines. Apen Touch8 offers a way for those with older computers to experience the newer touch-based functions.
Availability: The pen is to go on sale in North America by the end of March for $80.
Catch all the Latest Tech News, Mobile News, Laptop News, Gaming news, Wearables News , How To News, also keep up with us on Whatsapp channel,Twitter, Facebook, Google News, and Instagram. For our latest videos, subscribe to our YouTube channel.


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For most of his 30 years as Pennsylvania's longest-serving U.S. senator and prominent moderate in Congress, Arlen Specter was a Republican, though often at odds with the GOP leadership.
He helped end the Supreme Court hopes of former federal appeals Judge Robert H. Bork, who was nominated by President Ronald Reagan. Decades later, he was one of only three Republicans in Congress to vote for President Barack Obama's economic stimulus.
His breaks with his party were hardly a surprise: He had begun his political career as a Democrat and ended it as one, too.
In between, he was at the heart of several major American political events. He rose to prominence in the 1960s as an assistant counsel to the Warren Commission, developing the single-bullet theory in President John F. Kennedy's assassination. He came to the Senate in the Reagan landslide of 1980 and was a key voice in the Supreme Court confirmation hearings of both Bork and Clarence Thomas.
Specter died Sunday died at his home in Philadelphia from complications of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, said his son Shanin. He was 82. Over the years, Specter had fought two previous bouts with Hodgkin lymphoma, overcome a brain tumor and survived cardiac arrest following bypass surgery.
Intellectual and stubborn, Specter took the lead on a wide spectrum of issues and was no stranger to controversy.
In one of his last major political acts, Specter startled fellow senators in April 2009 when he announced he was joining the Democrats. He said he was "increasingly at odds with the Republican philosophy," though he said the Democrats could not count on him to be "an automatic 60th vote" that would give them a filibuster-proof majority.
He had also concluded that he was unlikely to win a sixth term as a Republican, and his frankness about why he returned to the Democratic Party was packaged in a powerful TV ad by his primary opponent, then-U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, who hammered away at the incumbent as a political opportunist.
"My change in party will enable me to be re-elected," Specter says in TV news footage used in the ad.
The announcer ends the ad saying, "Arlen Specter changed parties to save one job — his, not yours."
Democrats picked Sestak, a retired Navy vice admiral, over Specter in the 2010 primary, ending his decades of service. Sestak lost Specter's seat to conservative Republican Rep. Pat Toomey in the general election by 2 percentage points.
Specter rose to prominence in the 1960s as an aggressive Philadelphia prosecutor and during his time on the Warren Commission.
In 1987, Specter helped thwart Bork's nomination to the Supreme Court, earning him conservative enemies who still bitterly refer to such denials as being "borked." But four years later, Specter was criticized by liberals for his tough questioning of Anita Hill at Thomas' Supreme Court nomination hearings and for accusing her of committing "flat-out perjury." The interrogation, televised nationally, incensed women's groups and nearly cost him his seat in 1992.
Specter took credit for helping to defeat President Bill Clinton's national health care plan — the complexities of which he highlighted in a gigantic chart that hung on his office wall for years afterward — and helped lead the investigation into Gulf War syndrome, the name given to a collection of symptoms experienced by veterans of the war that include fatigue, memory loss, pain and difficulty sleeping. And following the Iran-Contra scandal, Specter pushed legislation that created the inspectors general of the CIA, which later exposed Aldrich Ames as a Soviet spy.
But he was not afraid to buck his fellow Republicans.
As a senior member of the powerful Appropriations Committee, Specter pushed for increased funding for stem-cell research, breast cancer and Alzheimer's disease, and supported several labor-backed initiatives in a GOP-led Congress. He also doggedly sought federal funds for local projects in his home state.
In 1995, he launched a presidential bid, denouncing religious conservatives as the "fringe" that plays too large a role in setting the party's agenda. Specter, who was Jewish, bowed out before the first primary because of lackluster fundraising.
Specter's irascible independence caught up with him in 2004. He barely survived a GOP primary challenge from Toomey by 17,000 votes of more than 1.4 million cast. He went on to easily win the general election with the help of organized labor, a traditionally Democratic constituency.
Specter was diagnosed in 2005 with stage IV Hodgkin lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic system. Announcing the diagnosis with his trademark doggedness, Specter said: "I have beaten a brain tumor, bypass heart surgery and many tough political opponents and I'm going to beat this, too."
"Arlen Specter was always a fighter," Obama said in a statement Sunday. "From his days stamping out corruption as a prosecutor in Philadelphia to his three decades of service in the Senate, Arlen was fiercely independent — never putting party or ideology ahead of the people he was chosen to serve. He brought that same toughness and determination to his personal struggles."
Specter wrote of his illness in a 2008 book, "Never Give In: Battling Cancer in the Senate," saying he wanted to let others facing similar crises "ought to know they are not alone."
Cancer handed him "a stark look at mortality" and an "added sense of humility," Specter told The Associated Press.
Born in Wichita, Kan., on Feb. 12, 1930, Specter spent summers toiling in his father's junkyard in Russell, Kan., where he knew another future senator — Bob Dole. The junkyard thrived during World War II, allowing Specter's father to send his four children to college.
Specter left Kansas for college in 1947 because the University of Kansas, where his best friends were headed, did not have Jewish fraternities. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1951 and Yale law school in 1956. He served in the Air Force from 1951 to 1953.
Friends say his childhood circumstances made him determined, tough and independent-minded. Specter considered his father's triumphs the embodiment of the American dream, a fulfillment that friends say drove him to a career in public life.
He entered politics as a Democrat in Philadelphia in the early 1960s, when he was an assistant district attorney who sent six Teamsters officials to jail for union corruption.
Working on the Warren Commission in 1964, Specter was the chief author of the theory that a single bullet had hit both Kennedy and Texas Gov. John Connally, an assumption critical to the conclusion that presidential assassin Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. The theory remains controversial and was the subject of ridicule in Oliver Stone's 1991 movie "JFK."
After working on the Warren Commission, he returned to Philadelphia and challenged his boss, James Crumlish, for district attorney in 1965. Specter ran as a Republican and was derided by Crumlish as "Benedict Arlen." But Crumlish lost to his protege by 36,000 votes.
Specter lost re-election as district attorney in 1973 and went into private practice. Among his most notorious clients as a private attorney was Ira Einhorn, a Philadelphia counterculture celebrity who killed his girlfriend in 1977.
Finally, in 1980, Specter won the Senate seat vacated by retiring Republican Richard Schweiker, defeating former Pittsburgh Mayor Pete Flaherty.
After leaving the Senate in January 2011, the University of Pennsylvania Law School said Specter would teach a course about Congress' relationship with the Supreme Court, and Maryland Public Television launched a political-affairs show hosted by the former senator.
He also occasionally performed standup comedy at clubs in Philadelphia and New York. He played squash nearly every day into his mid-70s and liked to unwind with a martini or two at night.
A funeral was scheduled for Tuesday in Penn Valley, Pa., and will be open to the public, followed by burial in Huntingdon Valley, Pa.
Specter is survived by his wife, Joan, and two sons, Shanin and Steve, and four granddaughters.
Associated Press writers Ron Todt in Philadelphia and Lara Jakes contributed to this report.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.


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T-Mobile G1 showcases some of the most advanced capabilities of Android, by including a touchscreen, QWERTY keyboard, accelerated 3D graphics, Wi-Fi and 3G support, GPS and accelerometer. The device won't have an impressive design and it won't be as easy to use as an iPhone, but it will certainly be able to run a lot of interesting applications.
Android's marketplace will accept any applications without a preliminary review, so that users decide whether they're useful. That means Angelo DiNardi's MailWrangler application won't be rejected because it duplicates the functionality from a built-in application. "Developers will be able to make their content available on an open service hosted by Google that features a feedback and rating system similar to YouTube. (...) Content can debut in the marketplace after only three simple steps: register as a merchant, upload and describe your content and publish it," explains Android's blog.
Even if the first device fails to impress, it will still be a success because Android pushes the boundaries further. "Consumers will see cheaper and more innovative mobile devices and services, which will inevitably feature more engaging, easier-to-use interfaces - as well as a rich portfolio of applications," envisions Open Handset Alliance's FAQ.
We will find more at 10:30 a.m. EDT, when T-Mobile and Google will announce the device in a press conference webcasted live.
Update. HTC has more information about the device:
Processor: Qualcomm MSM7201A, 528 MHz
Size: 117.7 mm x 55.7 mm x 17.1 mm (4.60 in x 2.16 in x 0.62 in)
Weight: 158 grams (5.57 ounces)
Display: 3.2-inch TFT-LCD flat touch-sensitive screen with 320 x 480 (HVGA) resolution
Camera: 3.2 megapixel color camera with fixed focus
Battery: Rechargeable Lithium-ion battery, 1150 mAh
Talk Time: 406 minutes
Standby Time: 319 hours
Memory: microSD memory card, 1 GB included
Special features: Digital Compass, Motion Sensor
Update 2: CrunchGear informs that Amazon's MP3 music store will be preloaded on the device. "T-Mobile G1 users can search, download, buy and play music from Amazon MP3, which offers over 6 million DRM-free MP3 songs. (...) Downloading music from Amazon MP3 using the T-Mobile G1 requires a Wi-Fi connection but searching, browsing, listening to samples and buying MP3s can be done wherever customers are connected to the T-Mobile network."
Update 3. More details from T-Mobile's press release: three color options (white, brown and black); music player that supports MP3, M4A (iTunes AAC, DRM-free), AMR, WMA, MIDI, WAV, OGG Vorbis; pre-installed 1 GB Micro SD memory card; built-in instant messaging client with support for Google Talk, AOL, Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger.
Update 4: The phone costs from $179.99 to $399.99, it's locked in the T-Mobile network and it requires a 2-year subscription and a data plan that costs $25 or $35, depending on the number of messages included. T-Mobile customers from the US can pre-order the phone starting from today, but the phone will be available in stores from October 22. T-Mobile promises to launch G1 in the UK one month later and in the first quarter of 2009, for the rest of Europe.
Update 5: The entire press conference showed a surprising lack of enthusiasm until Larry Page and Sergey Brin came on stage. There were very few interesting questions about the device: we found that G1 is targeted to consumers, it doesn't support Exchange and there's no way to buy it unlocked.
Update 6. T-Mobile G1 tour (the most exciting phone in the history of phones?):
Update 7. An overview of Google's services connected to G1: search, Google Maps, Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Talk, Contacts, YouTube. There's too much Google integration: the phone even has a Google logo on the back.
Update 8: android.com is now live and it shows an interesting video about running multiple applications in Android:
This playlist highlights some cool G1 features, including the not-yet-available-in-iPhone copy & paste.
{ T-Mobile G1 image courtesy of Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins. }


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USE: Must be placed directly on the skin and worn 24/7.
CONSTRUCTION: Made with nylon-coated steel wire, 100% natural hazelwood, plastic beads, and zinc clasp (lobster style opening). Bracelets on elastic. Slight variations in the diameter and color of the hazelwood beads. These are handmade, size is within 1/2 inch. Lead-free.


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I placed her on a saucer and quickly mixed up some cold water and caster sugar, making a liquid syrup she could drink and dolloped it on her plate. She was so dopey and weak I had to carefully steer her to the puddles, but once she realised what it was, she began drinking.
As her feet were slipping I popped a leaf under her. After about five minutes she seemed to have drunk her fill and was anxiously crawling about, already a little stronger.
I took her back into the garden and settled her on a pot where she collected her wits, had a little wash and eventually - well, see for yourselves! (There is some lovely birdsong in the background too).
Bees are having a dreadful time of it, with the combined efforts of mankind and diseases; although we can't keep a hive, I am going to make more of an effort to look after the weary ones, especially now I know how easy - and effective - it is. When the bees die out, we are not far behind.


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The Shell oil drilling rig that ran aground off Alaska last week is now anchored in a quiet harbor so divers can assess the damage. Wildlife officials say they have seen no evidence of a spill from the vessel, which was carrying tanks of diesel fuel. But the accident does raise questions about Shell's plans to drill for oil in the remote and fragile ecosystem of the Arctic.
NPR's Richard Harris reports.
RICHARD HARRIS, BYLINE: When towboats lost control of this massive drilling rig during a big storm, it seemed possible that the story would end in calamity. Shell had spent $300 million outfitting this rig to work in the icy Arctic, and as it sat on the rocks, pounded by punishing waves, the worst-case scenario for Shell looked pretty bad. But yesterday, after officials decided it was still seaworthy, a tugboat managed to pluck it off the rocks with relative ease.
RICHARD BURKE: Sometimes you get lucky.
HARRIS: Richard Burke is a former marine-salvage operator, now at the SUNY Maritime College. He says the rig's thick hull - built for ice - apparently helped it stand up to a week of winds and swells that could have destroyed a weaker vessel. And through it all, the Kulluk's hull apparently remained intact - a big plus for its recovery.
BURKE: Usually, it's harder. But I'm sure the salvage master is very happy with this outcome.
HARRIS: Shell also breathed a big sigh of relief, though the story is far from over. The Kulluk was on its way to Seattle for maintenance. And once it ran aground, large waves damaged parts of the vessel's superstructure. Seawater also found its way into the rig's diesel generators, apparently through open hatches. Burke says if there is damage to the steal hull, that's often not too difficult to fix, as long as the vessel can get to a dry dock.
BURKE: The real problem is going to be machinery and electrical damage, because those components can be difficult to replace. They're expensive, and they're - and sometimes there's a long lead time to get them.
HARRIS: If repairs take more than a few months, Shell may not be able to resume its exploratory drilling in the Arctic next summer. And hardware damage isn't the only problem Shell faces. There's also damage to its reputation. Environmental activists and some members of Congress are asking the Obama administration to investigate and re-think letting oil companies operate in the fragile Arctic.
Eleanor Huffines, with the Pew Environment Group in Anchorage, says Shell was fortunate that this rig ran aground near Kodiak Island, Alaska, where there is a major Coast Guard base. If the accident had occurred in the distant Arctic Ocean, the response would have been far slower and less robust, she says.
ELEANOR HUFFINES: It's a thousand miles from the drilling sites, at a minimum. And so the Coast Guard has made - take some small steps forward to put seasonal equipment up in the Arctic. But we have a lot more to do to be spill-response ready.
HARRIS: Pew and other groups are hoping to navigate the delicate politics of Washington, D.C. to press for tighter regulations on Arctic drilling.
HUFFINES: While there may be support for drilling, the expectations are that we should be leaders. We should demonstrate that we can do this safely and protect the communities and the ecosystem at the same time.
HARRIS: A spokesman for Shell says it's too early to say whether the incident will, in fact, affect the company's plans to keep exploring for oil in the Arctic Ocean.
Curtis Smith is at Shell Alaska.
CURTIS SMITH: We have a long history of working offshore Alaska, and we are proud of that. But when something like this happens, you have to own it. You have to learn from it, and we certainly will.
HARRIS: There are always things you can do to improve operations. But Richard Burke, at the SUNY Maritime College, says some things you just can't fix.
BURKE: This is a very, very adverse environment. It's one of the worst pieces of water in the world. It's not uncommon for tows to break loose from towing vessels under such conditions.
HARRIS: That will be on everyone's minds when it's time to hook up another tow line to the Kulluk so it can continue its journey south to Seattle.
Richard Harris, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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Dodgers start Chad Billingsley, RHP (10-4, 3.30) vs. Jonathan Sanchez, LHP (1-3, 5.27).
Dodgers: 74-66 (3rd place NL West, 3.5 GB; 2nd place WC, 2.5 GB; W1)
Giants: 63-77 (5th/last place NL West, 14.5 GB, W1)
Current postseason odds for the Dodgers, from Baseball Prospectus: 33.3%
From Dodgers.com, the scouting report on the starters:
Dodgers: Billingsley stepped up with a clutch win over the Padres. He threw seven scoreless innings, matching his career-high nine strikeouts. He scattered four hits, walked none and allowed no runner past second base. The victory allowed the Dodgers to avoid being swept by the Padres. It was Billingsley's third consecutive victory.Giants: In his first start of the season, Sanchez made a strong bid to be included in the team's September rotation. He allowed three runs in 5 1/3 innings, displaying impressive command on his changeup. The former reliever threw 98 pitches before being removed by manager Bruce Bochy, and has the benefit of an extra day of rest before his next outing.
From Inside the Dodgers:
Furcal, SS
Pierre, CF
Kemp, RF
Kent, 2B
Nomar, 3B
Martin, C
Loney, 1B
Ethier, LF
Billingsley, P
The return of Nomar. Will he last the entire game?


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Guys... stupid, super-conscientious me!! We were taking a flight to Bhuvaneshwar at the crack of dawn on the 27th. And there I was keying in this column at close to midnight on the 26th.. Today is Holi - not my favourite festival - I refer to it as ''legitimised leching." Yesterday, We were in a totally different zone, reliving the enchantment of looking at a jumbo sized full moon rising above the magnificent Jagannath Temple at Puri. Just a few hours earlier, I had addressed 10,000 tribal children in a school a few kilometres away from the city centre at B'War. It is the only such school in Asia, and is run by an extraordinary individual called Dr. Achyuta Samanta. These children from the poorest of poor areas of Orissa will never be the same again - their lives have been transformed forever. Would you believe it, thanks to the intervention of an enthusiastic rugby coach from England who came to B'War to teach the game to these kids , they now play rugby across the world - and hold your breath, have won the under-14 world championship! I met the respective captains of the Boys' and Girls' teams. Their body language said it all! Confident, upright, ready to take on the world. These kids live on a fantastic campus and the entire funding for their education is taken care of by Dr. Samanta's incredible revenue model. If you want to find out more about the Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS), you can log onto www.kissorissa.orgn
I desperately want Dr. Samanta's highly inspirational story ( from penury to creating two outstanding institutions KISS and the impressive KIIT University) to be made into a film by someone like Vidhu Vinod Chopra. I had sent all the material on him to Vidhu's wife Anu, a few weeks ago. But this is when divine signs kick in - last night at Anil and Tina Ambani's glittering function to announce BIG Films ( studded with BIG stars - Mr. B with his parivar, SRK, Rekha, Sridevi .....)I ran into Vidhu and Anu again. I spoke to them about what I had seen and experienced at KISS first hand the previous day. They looked impressed... and interested. The rest is in Lord Jagannath's hands.
Pranabda – Superstar!
Amazing how rapidly perceptions change about people in power. People like Pranabda who is the reigning Superstar of the Financial Box Office right now. India was going gaga over just two individuals last week – Sachin and Pranab – in that order. Sachin created cricket history, while Pranab knocked the socks off corporate India with a Budget that was universally ( if one can overlook that unnecessary walkout by the Opposition) dubbed progressive and pro-growth. The India story is suddenly looking pretty good, thanks to these two men. In a strange way, both their respective achievements are very much for the 'aam janata' and their constituencies are the same . Brand Sachin has no equal. It is extraordinary how fine- tuned that brand is. Unlike others striving to get into the elite list of top brand ambassadors, Sachin has picked his ads meticulously, even brilliantly. Not a single endorsement is out of sync with what he stands for in the minds of a billion plus Indians. I cannot think of anybody who would dare challenge Sachin's supremacy in his chosen field. As a sports' star he has no equal.Ditto for his private life. With his squeaky clean reputation, all he now needs is a halo.
In Sachin, one can see the perfect balance between tradition and modernity. This was on my mind as I had participated in a lively debate on the subject in Bangalore, and shared views with Karan Johar, along with other eminent people. Take Karan. Another wonderful example of someone who has managed to marry tradition and modernity in his films and life. He has taken several startling and bold decisions, when he could have stuck to a safe and lucrative trajectory, making mushy romances his loyal audiences adored. But something within him changed all of that and he put his money where his heart is by making films like MNIK and KANK. I was fascinated with the narrative, since we took the same flight back to Mumbai, and managed to cover a lot of ground, most of it about the perplexing but entirely enticing world of movies. During the panel discussion, Karan had candidly and transparently admitted that his earlier films embarrassed him as they were rather 'silly' and 'illogical'. It takes confidence and guts to say so in public. He also said he took criticism in his stride, which is one hell of a bonus in an industry filled with thin skinned people, suffering from delusions of grandeur. I watched as he willingly signed autographs at the airport and posed with complete strangers who gushed and cooed about how much they admired him and how they'd adored MINK. At one point, he turned to me and grinned , " See….. this is why we make movies." If he is aware of his considerable star value, he doesn't show it.Significantly, he remains on great terms with practically everybody in Bollywood, with not a harsh thing to say about anyone. His insights into people, especially Bollywood's leading ladies (I'm not telling!) are sharp and incisive, but never malicious. This is a fine art and Karan has mastered it instinctively. He confessed he was nervous about his latest avatar – Karan has just turned into a B.T. columnist ( welcome to the club, honey!) . Nervous and Karan?? I half-believed him! When Karan takes on something, you bet he has thought it through. I told him he'd be great at it, given that he is essentially a writer – a bloody good one, at that. But he was wondering about an entirely different problem - would he be able to keep it up, week after week after week?? Sustain a column and hold his readers' interest, the way he does his viewers'? Aaaah – now there's a challenge for you KJO. Tell me about it five years down the line. Then we'll talk!