text:
I'm not hating or anything but Naruto part 1 was way and way better then Shippuden, the animation is lower then part 1 the events occurring in part 1 were way more entertaining and enjoyable to watch and all the tactic has completely dissapeared after Sasuke vs Deidara and Naruto vs Pein,
It used to be so much strategy to defeat the enemy now it's all about Susano'o >>> every other ninja or Bijuu mode >>> every other ninja, in part 1 you could beat the hardest enemies even if you were weak for example take Naruto vs Kabuto, Kabuto was obviously way stronger then Naruto at that time
( he disabled tsunade's arms and legs and pretty much owned her ) and kabuto just got cocky after he stabbed Naruto with the kunai and that was an opportunity for Naruto to hit him point blank with the rasengan.
And now Naruto has become DBZ, you guys might flame me for this but think about it, the final battle with Sasuke and Naruto will be amaterasu, susano'o spam and bijuu bomb and final bijuu mode spam, we'll be watching giant monsters fight and i'd really rather have the tactical taijutsu battles like before, now it's just < insert OP move > and spam that shit the whole fight, look at Sasuke vs Danzo that was a amaterasu spamfest it's not even funny, the susano'o was cool and all but only when it was a ribcage and you actually had to get close now it's just completely the opposite and i'm pretty sick of it.
I just miss part 1 guys don't you??
we could've ended it right here folks:
Oh yeah for people who don't think it was kirin i found ya a pic it's just to coincidential:
Thanks for reading.


text:
Private Businesses Cautious About Making New Investments: Sageworks
Some private companies are sitting on the fence when it comes to making new investments given the still recovering economy.
According to a new survey from Sageworks, a Raleigh, N.C.-based research firm that collected data from 392 professionals from financial institutions, 57% said their business clients will not increase their capital expenditures due to the current economic situation.
For companies applying for loans, most are seeking to finance equipment, new or upgraded facilities and other working capital, Sageworks said. Nearly 40% of respondents said their business clients applied for loans for various working capital investments, while less than 1% applied for a loan to help fund hiring decisions.
While more than half of the survey's respondents predicted private companies will not be increasing capital expenditures, 24% said their clients are more likely to invest in new capital, Sageworks said.
Ten percent said they were unsure if their clients will increase or decrease their capital expenditures and 8% believed the economic climate will not affect their clients' investment decisions.
Sageworks said it conducted the online survey from March 8 through March 31 from its client database. Because of the way the survey was set up, there's no way to isolate each response and determine which institution it came from, a spokesman told Credit Union Times.
However, while the majority of responses were from banks, credit unions were 100% included in the target pool of people the survey was sent to and likely included their responses, the spokesman said.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
phpMyAdmin is a tool intended to handle the administration of MySQL over the Web. It can create, rename, and drop databases, create/drop/alter tables, delete/edit/add fields, execute any SQL statement, manage keys on fields, create dumps of tables and databases, export/import CSV data, and administrate one single database and multiple MySQL servers.
LimeSurvey (formerly PHPSurveyor) is a Web application that interacts with MySQL, MSSQL, or Postgres to develop surveys, publish surveys, and collect responses to surveys. Once a survey has been created, data can be inserted into the survey either by a "pretty" public screen which presents each question one at a time, or by a quick and nasty data entry screen. It includes the capacity to generate individualized "tokens", so that invitations can be issued to participants. It also has the capacity to set conditions on whether questions will display (branching), numerous question types, and a basic statistics function.
MuseScore lets you notate and compose music easily with your keyboard, your mouse, or a MIDI keyboard. You can print beautifully engraved sheet music or export it as PDF or PNG. You can play your score, transpose it, and save it as audio or MIDI file. MuseScore also supports MusicXML to let you share your composition with other scorewriters. MuseScore is often advertised as a cost effective alternative for Sibelius and Finale.
CK-ERP is an accounting, educational, MRP, ERP, and CRM system that runs on top of multiple middlewares. It comprises 32 modules - Contact Management, Customer Relationship Management, Customer Self Service, Vendor Relationship Management, Material Requirement Planning, Warehouse, Inventory, Service, Accounting Ledger, Bank Reconciliation, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Purchase Order, Sales Order, Quotation, POS for Cashier, POS for Manager, Human Resources, Staff Self Service, Payroll, Administration, Internationalization, Access Control, Data Import, Teacher, Counsellor, Student, Applicant, Family, Registrar, Edu Administration, and Volunteer Management.
XWiki is a WikiWiki clone written in Java that supports many popular features of other Wikis like the Wiki syntax, version control, attachments, security, and searching, but also many advanced features like templates, database and dynamic development using scripting languages (Velocity, Groovy, Ruby, Python, PHP, and more), an extension system and skinability, J2EE scalability, an XML/RPC remote API, statistics, RSS feeds, PDF exporting, WYSIWYG editing, an Office viewer and importer, and a lot more.
Dabo is a three-tier, cross-platform database application development framework, written in Python with the wxPython GUI toolkit. The controls in Dabo's UI are easily bound to data by setting two properties. The business object is designed to afford you complete control over the validation and handling of your data. The cursor classes are abstracted from their backend implementations, allowing for easy support of nearly any backend database. Dabo's design and approach has been inspired by RAD database development tools such as Visual FoxPro, Delphi, and Visual Basic.
Roundcube Webmail is a browser-based, multilingual IMAP client with an application-like user interface. It provides the full functionality you expect from an email client, including MIME support, address book, and folder manipulation. High extensibility is granted by the plugin API and the user interface is fully skinnable using XHTML and CSS 2.
Spacewalk is a Linux and Solaris systems management solution. It allows you to inventory your systems (hardware and software information), install and update software on your systems, collect and distribute your custom software packages into manageable groups, provision (Kickstart) your systems, manage and deploy configuration files to your systems, monitor your systems, provision virtual guests, and start/stop/configure virtual guests.
BleachBit deletes junk to recover disk space and maintain privacy. It rids your system of old junk including cache, Internet history, temporary files, unused locale files (better than localepurge), logs, and cookies. Designed for Linux systems, it wipes clean 50 applications including Adobe Reader, Bash, Firefox, Flash, OpenOffice.org, Opera, Real Player, Skype, and more. It shreds files so that they cannot be recovered, and it wipes free disk space to hide insecurely deleted files. It offers both a simple PyGTK GUI and a command line interface for automation.
A minimalist MessagePack implementation for Java.
A network server gateway solution.


text:
VyStar Rolls Out Concierge Identify Monitoring Service for Members
Monitoring children's social networking activities and more are part of a new identity theft monitoring service being offered to the 428,000 members of the $4.6 billion VyStar Credit Union in Jacksonville, Fla.
The suite of services from Arizona-based IDentity Theft 911 include LifeStages Identity Management Systems, which is at no cost and helps members when they believe there has been an identity theft as well as FraudScout and SocialScout that monitor credit reports for possible identity thefts and carry nominal charges
FraudScout focuses on adult credit bureau reports and credit information while SocialScout focuses on social networks of minor children ages 9-17 and alerts parents when possibly compromising information is captured or shared on these networks as well as other threats.
"Designed for kids age 9-17, SocialScout is a groundbreaking online Parental Intelligence System that helps you monitor and quickly analyze your child's social networking and mobile phone activity–keeping you informed of predators, cyber bullies and reputation-damaging behavior," VyStar wrote in a brochure about the service.
"SocialScout provides comprehensive social network, Smartphone email and text message monitoring for BlackBerry and Android devices. It can even help you translate the text messages they might send or receive. Applications supported include Facebook, Twitter and MySpace," the credit union said.
VyStar is the first credit union to deploy SocialScout, IDentity Theft 911 said.
The LifeStages Identity Management service is both an educational program to keep credit union members aware of when their personal information can be most vulnerable and a concierge-style service that will help members resolve problems should there be a case of identity theft.
"When a member calls into us with the belief that their identity had been compromised, they get our full attention and our staff stays with them through the process until resolution," said Identity Theft 911 co-founder and chairman Adam Levin.
Levin said his staff handles required forms, preparation to letters of explanation to the credit bureaus and other details while members still need to read, sign and post the letters.
"The goal is take a process which is stressful and complicated and make it simpler and more understandable," Levin said.


text: This article is a disambiguation page for Selvaria Bles The following is a list of links to pages that might share the same title. Please follow one of the disambiguation links below or search to find the page you were looking for if it is not listed. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. You may be looking for: The character from Valkyria Chronicles. The character from Valkyria Chronicles 2. The character from Valkyria Chronicles 3. The character from Valkyria Chronicles Duel. Retrieved from "http://valkyria.wikia.com/wiki/Selvaria_Bles?oldid=44939" Ad blocker interference detected! Wikia is a free-to-use site that makes money from advertising. We have a modified experience for viewers using ad blockers Wikia is not accessible if you've made further modifications. Remove the custom ad blocker rule(s) and the page will load as expected. Categories: Disambiguations


text:
previously reported
rough details of the integrated graphics core in the upcoming Intel G965
Express chipset—Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3000. Early roadmaps showed
the graphics core as being Microsoft Windows Vista Premium compatible with
support for Aero Glass. It was also said the graphics core would have Clear
Video Technology to improve video playback.
DailyTech recently had the opportunity to pick apart some of the
specifications for Intel's GMA X3000 architecture, and compare it to some of
the other architectures available today. Perhaps the largest improvement of GMA
X3000 over GMA 950 is the move away from a fixed function pipeline in favor of
a programmable pipeline. NVIDIA and ATI abandoned fixed function
pipelines in 2001.
Intel's latest motherboard
update has more detailed information on the Graphics Media Accelerator X3000.
DirectX 9 features such as Pixel Shader 3 and Vertex Shader 3.0 are supported.
This time around the Vertex Shader 3.0 units are hardware based instead of the
software based shaders found in previous GMA900/950 and Extreme graphics
cores. A hardware transform and lighting engine has also been integrated and a
significant improvement over the previous software T&L engine. High dynamic
range is also supported for great realism in gaming. Lastly the GMA X3000
graphics core will be clocked up to 667 MHz -- quite a bit higher than current budget
ATI and NVIDIA offerings.
Video output capabilities of
the GMA X3000 are limited to a native VGA output. HDMI, DVI, UDI, component,
composite and S-Video can be added through the SVDO port or with an ADD2 expansion
card like the previous GMA900/950 graphics cores. This more or less indicates HDCP
compliance will be left up to the motherboard manufacturer or ADD2 card
manufacturer. GMA X3000 will support resolutions up to 2048x1536 including
720p/1080i/1080p in 16:9, 4:3 and letterbox aspect ratios.
Clear Video Technology will provide algorithms and features to improve
video playback. Clear Video Technology
will have plenty of graphics power to simultaneously playback one high
definition and one standard definition video stream for picture-in-picture. Hardware
acceleration for high definition MPEG2 and VC1 is supported. However, it doesn't look
like Intel will offer hardware acceleration for H.264 at this time. An advanced
de-interlacing algorithm is also integrated for improved video quality of
interlaced sources such as DVD's and cable programming. The built-in advanced
pixel adaptive de-interlacing algorithm supports standard and high definition
video content up to 1080i lines of resolution.
previously had a single integrated graphics core for all of its integrated
core-logic but this time around there are at least two different graphics
cores. While the consumer level G965 Express receives the GMA X3000 graphics
core, Q965 Express chipsets receive the GMA 3000 graphics core. Differences
between the GMA X3000 and GMA 3000 include the lack of Intel Clear Video Technology on the GMA 3000.
This isn't too surprising as the Q965 is part of Intel's Stable Image Platform
Program aimed towards business and corporate users. Aside from the lack of Clear Video Technology the GMA 3000
graphics core retains compatibility with Windows Vista Premium with Aero Glass
interface like the GMA X3000. There's no word if the GMA 3000 graphics core clocked as high as GMA X3000.
G965 Express is expected to launch the last week of July with Core 2 processors while Q965 Express is expected to launch the first week of September with Intel's vPro business platform.


text:
Orioles vs. Yankees 5/18/11 (although it became 5/19/11)
So as I said in yesterday's entry that recapped the last week or so, I've been quite busy and dealing with health stuff and bla bla bla. I went to this game (the first of an 8 game home stand) hoping it would be a quick one. I knew it was the Yankees, but I had an exam the next morning (which I just got back from as I write this) and other things due, so I was hoping for a 3 hour game or less. Y'know, a normal game that goes until 10:00 and then I can get back home by 11. It was Bartolo Colon against Zach Britton, a matchup of two guys who can work pretty quickly (at least it wasn't Arrieta vs. a guy like Josh Beckett or something).
Well. No. The game went on a few ticks past midnight. And here it is:
Tim and Ben were not at the game, as there was rain or something where they live, and Tim (later on) didn't believe me still that there was no batting practice. Well, there was:
By the way, that's Brandon Snyder in the cage. He was called up to take Cesar Izturis' spot on the roster.
A few other regulars were there:
That's Matt in the grey, Ed in the black.
After missing a few balls land a few rows in front of where I was and not risking ever again jumping over rows, Ed and a few other guys snatched those up, but soon after I caught a Mark Reynolds homer on the fly. Following that, I ran over to the seats down the 3B line where Brandon Snyder had hit a ball into the seats, so I found that one before the one guy anywhere near it could. On my way back, I snagged a Jake Fox HR on the fly, followed by running 2 sections towards the foul pole to snag a Brandon Snyder HR that landed in the aisle (barely beating out some guy with a glove but in full formal attire. Odd.). That was it for me.
I went over to try for a Yankee tossup:
But no luck. And nothing else. Like a bajillion teenagers invaded the outfield from some bus trip, and it was just impossible. Matt caught one on the fly during Yankees BP over some people, but that was it. It was rough. No ground rule doubles off the warning track or anything.
And after Tom asked me for a ball to give away to a kid, I took a picture of the 3 remaining:
The Orioles wished Brooks Robinson a happy birthday (p.s. it was Reggie Jackson's birthday as well):
I did a good deed when I went to the box office to get tickets for Saturday; a soldier in full uniform was there buying ticket's to Thursday's (today's) game against the Yankees (prime game ticket prices are so much more than non-prime). Being a season ticket holder, I tapped on his shoulder, asked him if I could intervene, and told the box office employee to put them on my account and gave him my card. In the end, after helping him also pick out seats that he liked best, I had saved him $66. He bought two seats for $32 each that without my card would have been $65 each. So he actually saved a dollar on one ticket and got another free, basically. He thanked me profusely and went on his way. These are the little things a person can do to be kind, and it didn't take all the effort in the world. God bless the soldiers.
And then the game was under way.
And the game kept going.
And going.
And going.
Soon enough, it was 1-1 and the start of extra innings. To make matters worse, Matt and I were in left field and there were no home runs to be seen. But maybe a walk off soon?
The game just kept going.
I had places to be and things to do and an early day ahead of me.
But the game didn't want to end.
Soon enough, it was the 14th inning:
And I went over to the MASN set to talk to my friend Joe Pappa[something]. He's hilarious. If you ever meet Joe at a game (he works for MASN), tell him I say hey. He's the man.
And it kept going:
By the way, the Orioles had the bases loaded twice in extras. They had men in scoring position with less than two outs multiple times. It was just sad.
In the top of the 15th, Mike Gonzalez was brought on to relieve Jeremy Accardo who had left two men on (but credit to Accardo, he had pitched two innings to that point also and was keeping the O's in it). Facing Robinson Cano, it was a lefty-lefty matchup and all and… BAM. Cano doubled. Jones bobbled the ball in the right-center gap, and Cano went to 3rd. Yankees up 3-1.
Oh, by the way, also: Mike Gonzalez was the last pitcher the Orioles had in the bullpen. There was nobody left:
The man sitting there is bullpen coach Rick Adair.
So you would think Gonzalez has to pitch the O's out of this? Well, just in case, the next day's starter, Jeremy Guthrie, came to the bullpen to toss a bit JUST IN CASE:
And what happens next?
Mike Gonzalez hit Yankees scrappy outfielder Chris Dickerson (a fill-in) in the head. Straight shot. Though post-game he said it wasn't intentional, and it doesn't look that way… Gonzalez was thrown out immediately.
Reminder: he was the last pitcher.
If you watch that highlight, you even hear the broadcaster say "They don't have any other pitchers!"
Guthrie took his hoodie off, and here goes:
People didn't know what to do on the field:
Guthrie was doing some long toss from the batter's eye, as he usually does on game day when he STARTS:
And continued that out on the field (you can see him throwing from behind the mound):
Guthrie got Gardner to pop out (though Cano scored on the sacrifice) and then another fly out and ground out. The O's came up and got two men on, Brandon Snyder failed a dodging a Matt Wieters potentially loading up the bases single, and Hardy popped out to end the game.
29 left on base in the game between the two teams. Pathetic.
Here's the box score, if you really want to see the madness. 7 at bats for multiple guys.
Then the Orioles messed up at announcing the next game. Why? Well, it was already past midnight. So, the game was technically "today":
And I got home by 2 or so, studied, got a few hours of shuteye, and here we are.
And I had this waiting on my Facebook wall when I got home from my friend Aaron:
As he says, I can add my own issues. While I have many, they will come across through my writing on Baltimore Sports Report or Orioles-Nation (or both) soon enough when I am back to posting there, so will link and let you all know. But props to Aaron for the thoughts. Agree with them or not, the feeling of frustration in his post is something felt by all O's fans at this point.
Off to nap, then another game tonight. As Adam Jones would tweet: #LEGGO


text:
Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) can be difficult to diagnose because:
- Symptoms are similar to many other diseases
- There is no single test to identify SLE
- Symptoms can vary because SLE can affect different areas of the body in different people or at different times in the same person
SLE may be suspected if at least 4 of the following signs are present with no other apparent reason:
- Butterfly facial rash over the cheeks and bridge of the nose—considered a hallmark sign of SLE
- Presence of discoid lupus erythematosus—chronic rashes, especially on the face and scalp, which can lead to scarring (discoid lupus often leads to SLE)
- Skin photosensitivity (easily burned by the sun)
- Ulcers in the mouth or above the back of it
- Arthritis—swelling, pain, and/or warmth in at least 2 limb joints
- Inflammation of the lining of the heart (pericarditis) or lungs (pleuritis)
- Abnormal kidney tests
- Seizures or psychosis
- Anemia—abnormally low number of blood cells
- Presence of antinuclear antibodies
- Evidence of immune dysfunction
Changes in the blood and kidney may be discovered through:
Blood Tests
SLE can cause a variety of changes in the blood that can be different from person to person. Some factors that will be looked for include:
- Presence of antinuclear antibodies (ANA)—Specific antibodies that attack the contents of your body's cells. These antibodies are believed to be associated with SLE and nearly all people with SLE will test positive.
- Other evidence of inflammation
- Abnormalities on CBC—Measure of all the blood cells.
- Screen for substances normally filtered out through the kidneys, which shows changes to kidney function
Urine Tests
Presence of proteins, blood, or other substances in the urine may indicate changes in kidney function.
Revision Information
- Reviewer: Michael Woods, MD
- Review Date: 05/2016 -
- Update Date: 05/20/2015 -


text:
Well that would accord with the Buddha's grouping of the All...Sylvester, channeling Sue Hamilton wrote:The "transcendental" bit is to account for the other limb of experience, ie the external bases (bāhira āyatana) that make up one-third of contact. These are the sense objects. As these things are never known directly, but only through the mediation of contact, she says they are "transcendental". Not in the sense of supramundane or anything mystical as such, but simply in the sense that nobody (not even the Buddha) could transcend the subject-object duality inherent in contact.
"What is the All? Simply the eye & forms, ear & sounds, nose & aromas, tongue & flavours, body & tactile sensations, intellect & ideas"


text:
Hmmm .... this might add alot of fuel to the already out of control fire.
Source - Click here"If you think about how many times somebody asks you, 'How are you,' that's how many times I was asked, 'Where you going?" said Bosh, who was in Manhattan Wednesday to unveil his Got Milk! advertisement. "So it's like, well, in my case, I'm going to have fun with it. I'm going to play with people's emotions. I'm going to be high and low."
The admission long suspected of the Heat triumvirate (Bosh, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade) would help explain the varying reports about Bosh's destination during the long free agency process. Several had him going to Chicago and Cleveland, and former Nets president Rod Thorn said he felt his team was in the running the evening before Bosh and Wade announced their intentions together on ESPN.
Turns out, Bosh was sending out mixed messages for kicks tweeting every step of the way.
"I wouldn't call it a game because it's serious, but, I mean, it's entertainment at the end of the day. It's the truth," Bosh said. "We're entertaining and everything but at the same time I'm just getting my feelings out there.
"It's entertaining to see people react to your real emotions because if it wasn't fun I wouldn't do it."


text:
I am from Sony Pictures and saw your piece this morning on the attacks Sony has been under. I wanted to point out that the 1 million number you refer to in relation to an attack was announced June 2 by LulzSec, however, the actual number is less than 38,000. There is a notice on our web site:sonypictures.com (click on the red banner)
We recently broke into SonyPictures.com and compromised over 1,000,000 users' personal information, including passwords, email addresses, home addresses, dates of birth, and all Sony opt-in data associated with their accounts. Among other things, we also compromised all admin details of Sony Pictures (including passwords) along with 75,000 "music codes" and 3.5 million "music coupons".
In celebration of little girls getting bigger bones, we're now emailing NHS and informing them of those admin passwords we took months ago.Because if we fucked over those that give health, people would literally die laughing at our antics. Poor lungs = poor lulz, people.
"Sony Says LulzSec Lied About Number of Records Lost" - we didn't say we stole 1 million, we said we compromised 1 million. Silly @Sony :3SonyPictures.com = ~1,000,000 total users split into various tables of ~200,000 (x2) ~300,000 (x1) ~75,000 (x2) and ~125,000 (x1) @Sony tell everyone about how many users are in that SonyPictures database; users we accessed does not equal users YOU didn't protect. :D


text:
I was just wondering why Santa Claus and rodeo clowns are welcome to come down the middle of Main Street but the men and women who have made untold sacrifices for our country and this community have been relegated to the back alleys of our town for their parade. My sincere apologies to you veterans for the slap in the face by our city fathers.
Marvin Graves
Via CortezJournal.com
Editors note: The route along Montezuma Avenue was the first choice of parade organizers, who commend city staff for their support.


text:
Microsoft just announced a big bug that many users of its Windows
Home Server users may wish to take note of. Microsoft warned users not to
edit files stored on their Windows Home Servers. Editing and saving files
on a home computer connected to Windows Home Server can lead to data corruption
within a week it has been discovered.
Microsoft describes the problem, stating, "When you use certain programs
to edit files on a home computer that uses Windows Home Server, the files may
become corrupted when you save them to the home server. Several people have
reported issues after they have used the following programs to save files to
their home servers."
Microsoft details that the following file types are among those affected:
has not yet announced a concrete schedule for the release of a patch to fix the
problem. It blames the current bug on an internal glitch with Windows
Home Servers' shared folders code. Microsoft is currently trying to
reproduce the bug and better understand it.
An anonymous
blog was posted on Microsoft's developers pages stating that
Microsoft's Windows Home Server Team is working full-time through the holidays
to try to fix the problem, so obviously it is a relatively significant issue.
Windows has aggressively tried to market its Home Server products and grow a
business in consumer backup storage. The Windows Home Server software retails for $189.99,
while a number of partners produce
the physical hardware. Among these is the HP 500GB EX470,
which retails for $599.99.
So for a
total of about $790 you can have a working home server set up for backup
operations -- you just probably don't want to back up your pictures, emails, or
torrent files on it for now.


text: PREREQUISITE: A100 or permission of instructor. Course Description: The course is designed for students with no previous knowledge of American Sign Language (ASL). During the course, students will acquire basic ASL skills needed to communicate in a wide variety of situations. Classes are conducted in American Sign Language with minimal use of voice and written communication. Deaf Culture is incorporated throughout the course. Students are asked to wear nametags during class. With few exceptions, the class will be conducted in sign language. If students have something to say to one another, this should be done without using verbal speech. Each class meeting assumes you have studied the appropriate unit and are prepared to participate in the classroom activities. Videotext and Workbook: The Student Workbook is your guide to be used with the Videotext. You should read the instructions in your workbook prior to viewing the Videotext. Workbooks will be checked in class on the date stated on your course syllabus. Workbook assignments will be graded on a scale of 1-10. Workbooks must be completed PRIOR to the beginning of class or the assignment will be considered "late" and the grade lowered. If the assignment is not completed by the following class meeting, the assignment will not be accepted for a grade. It is the student's responsibility to ensure late homework assignments are checked by the Assistant Instructors


text:
Do WORDS coming out of camp impress me? No. As I said, I've heard this sort of thing before. I've heard it about Bargnani and I've heard it about other players, too. LOTS of other players. And most of the time it turns out to be nothing. Or at least temporary.
And how exactly am I "tossing the guy under the bus"? Because I'm not buying into the hype, just yet? You're criticizing me because I'm skeptical about a guy whose defense and rebounding have been flatlining for five years?
And if it's true that he has finally "got it" and that all he really needed to to is work harder to become a decent rebounder and defender, it doesn't trouble you that it has taken him until he was 26 something I figured out when I was a teenager?
If Bargnani WASN'T a Raptor, but played for another team, would any of you be buying into it right now? It seems that, because he's a Raptor, a lot of people here seem to have more faith in him than they would any other player. I remember hearing GREAT things about Charlie Villanueva last year during preseason. How he had been working out all summer and that he was going to focus on defense. And he had pretty much the same season he's always had.
I remember hearing in the preseason before Stephon Marbury's last season in the NBA, that he was at camp in the best shape in years and had a completely new attitude. And that even though people had heard this sort of thing before that this year was different because they were actually seeing the results. By the end of the year he was the NBA
's biggest trainwreck.
And those are just two very different examples.
And you are criticizing me for not automatically buying into it? Are you frigging joking?
Read my blog, The Picket Fence. Guaranteed to make you think or your money back!
Follow me on Twitter.
You want a metric for Bargnani to reach? Sure. How about a wins produced number of 0.150 per game?
I don't care if he gets there by becoming a more efficient shooter, by upping his rebounding or what. I just want him to be a better than average (0.100) contributor, rather than someone who actively detracts from the team by stepping on the court. If he hits 0.200 - the allstar level his supporters think he deserves - or even 0.180, I won't just shut up, I will actively praise him and become a fan.
And yes, WP doesn't measure defense as well as it could, but if he turns around his wins produced he will be putting in so much effort that his defense is bound to be better.
The flip side is if Bargnani continues to be paid a higher than average salary for a lower than average production (less than 0.100 wins produced per game), I would like to see his defenders acknowledge his offensive weaknesses (inefficient shooting) as well as his well publicized defensive and rebounding weaknesses.
Wins produced, love it. A great metric that once and for all proved that the 76ers might have done much better in 2001 if only they would have dropped the mvp from their rotation because he was the 9th best player on the team.
The irony in your statement is that the book was written (if I'm not mistaken), pretty much based on the statement you just made. Everyone applauded Allen Iverson for what he did and called him an MVP, yet his team went very much overlooked. The idea behind WP is looking beyond, and within, scoring.... which history shows us is the most common value people use (and get paid for) to base the 'worth' of a player, while ignoring the multiple other areas players help, or hurt, to 'produce wins' for a team.
How does this apply to the 76ers? Well if someone says, "Yeah but AI is 9th best based on WP" (think Stochastics) and he is benched because of this, then the 76ers don't go to the finals despite the fact he is one of the most dominant players in the league at that time (think classical charting).
It might not be the best example but it popped in to my head regarding this discussion of WP. Basically stats and formulas are great but they need to be looked at in the larger picture.
I remember watching his 50 point games against us and being overjoyed, thinking "oh boy, they just don't get how much he is hurting that otherwise great team. I hope they never take him out; we'll coast to victory. Woohoo!"
I'm not saying that statistics can or do value every possibility or are a perfect representation of all things basketball (or sports for that matter). They only value what 'did' happen within a certain framework. But they are an unbiased representation that can value to the 'best of our ability'. The unknown is always a possibility (whether good or bad), but as long as the numbers are used right they give us our 'best guess' (so to speak), give us evidence of what was or wasn't 'true' and, over time, and can give us an indication of what will be the most likely possibility.
Why look at the body of work when a single game says so much more about a player. Brandon Jennings almost triple doubled in his first game and followed that by a 55 pt performance in his 2nd.... best player ever!
That said, using more science, and less subjectivity, has been greatly helping teams improve, pick players etc. When you look at most of the top teams in the league they are known for making use of advanced metrics. Although I will say I highly doubt teams use WP or PER or WS as their metrics, and I'm sure they each have their own models that aren't free on the internet
To me, if he could get to eight rebounds per game I think that would bring him in acceptable range. I think most of his rebounds are always going to come on defense but he should get more opportunities this season on the offensive glass as well if Casey follows through and runs some plays through Bargnani in the post. If he were grabbing eight per game he would have to be doing the right thing on the glass more times than not.
Btw, I'm not against stats which.you conclude, but wp and similar "stats" are something quite different. They are at least controversial to say it mildly.
Iverson has always been a bit of a stastical outlier. Advanced metrics don't like him because he was such an extreme volume scorer. He played so many minutes and was such a dominant part of his teams in those years, that his teammates (who benefited from playing with him, but who were generally more 'efficient') have over-inflated advanced metrics...at least compared to AI.
TRUE LOVE - Sometimes you know it the instant you see it across the bar.
Last edited by Soft Euro; Sun Dec 18th, 2011 at 02:27 PM.
I don't know if you did watch AI or not, but that's irrelevant. And whilst WS can be a useful stat, mentioning AI wasn't exactly a point in your favor in your argument. And just so you know, I'm not against what you're saying or anything. Actually, I stopped reading the large "debate" you were having with Tim and Arse after the first page, but this is written based off of what you wrote on this last page.
But of course it's normal to twist stats and informations in the favor of your argument, unfortunately you picked something which doesn't really support it.
What you see as a terrible example I see as a perfectly fine one. His scoring and exciting play got him alot of attention. Fans tend to be drawn to that. Yet the year he's getting recognition for (00-01), his team was excellent (best defense in the league that year if I'm not mistaken) which often goes completely overlooked.
Like I said earlier, advanced stats try to look beyond the obvious (ie. a players ability to score) That year Iverson averaged 42 minutes, 25.5 shots a game, shot 42%, while giving up 3.5 turnovers a game on 36% usage.
As for the example, it still doesn't support your point. You are saying that WS shows that AI was over applauded and that the team was a lot better than most remember. But that is quite irrelevant, because WS "shows" that AI was 9th best player on his team and he wasn't, he was the best and most influential player on the team. Take away Allen Iverson and that team doesn't even make the playoffs. Who's going to lead them there? The 9 "better" players? From what I remember that 2001 team had: Ratliff, Mutombo, Eric Snow, McKie? The team was pretty "modest" without Allen Iverson, so it is a pretty bad example to support what you are saying.
I agree with your point to a certain extent, not fully but I do understand why you say it, but this just doesn't support it.
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text:
Photosynthesis is the fundamental energy capture process
which forms the foundation of all life on Earth. On a most basic level,
it involves using sunlight to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen
and then using the hydrogen captured to fuel sugar production. With
hydrogen becoming more popular as a possible alternative fuel source, many
researchers have yearned to duplicate this most basic of natural processes to
allow for cheap,
efficient hydrogen production. They had little success -- until now.
In the past, natural and synthetic dye molecules which tried to split hydrogen
and water were consumed during the reactions and did not provide a
sustained reaction. Worse yet, the chemical reactions were often from a
net perspective endothermic; in other words they required energy instead of
producing it. Part of this is because of the ease with which oxygen and
hydrogen recombine, and the fact that most of these investigated catalysts also
catalyze the recombination, destroying your products.
Thomas Mallouk, a DuPont Professor of Materials Chemistry and Physics, and
W. Justin Youngblood, postdoctoral fellow in chemistry, together with
collaborators at Arizona State University succeeded where others
have failed. The researchers developed a dye/catalyst system that mimics
the oxidative and electron transfer processes of photosynthesis, ultimately
producing hydrogen gas. Their findings were presented at the meeting
of the American Association for the Advancement of Science today in Boston.
Clusters of molecules using iridium oxide molecules as a center catalyst,
surrounded by light absorbing orange-red dye molecules comprise the finished
product. The 2 nm complexes are roughly half dye and half catalyst in
terms of diameter. Orange-red dye was selected due to its extensive
experimental record and its ability to absorb high energy blue wavelength
Water molecules bond to the complex, and when the complex absorbs sunlight, it splits
them into hydrogen and oxygen. Mallouk enthuses upon its near
biological efficiency, stating, "Each surface iridium atom can cycle
through the water oxidation reaction about 50 times per second. That is
about three orders of magnitude faster than the next best synthetic catalysts,
and comparable to the turnover rate of Photosystem II in green plant
The process needs a tiny bit of juice to get started. The voltage
required to split water is 1.23 V, and the system is almost at this power level.
By adding 0.3 V from titanium dioxide anode and platinum cathode
electrodes, the water begins to split. Separating the electrodes
effectively reduces hydrogen/oxygen recombination.
The current process has a positive efficiency of about 0.3 percent. This
sounds pretty measly, but as Mallouk puts it, "Nature is only 1 to 3
percent efficient with photosynthesis. Which is why you cannot expect the
clippings from your lawn to power your house and your car. We would like not to
have to use all the land area that is used for agriculture to get the energy we
need from solar cells."
Mallouk hopes to eventually achieve efficiencies better
than that of natural processes. By changing the molecular geometry,
he plans on upping the efficiency by better allowing light to be absorbed or by
improving the bonding of water molecules to the surface of the complex.
Mallouk states optimistically, "This is a proof-of-concept system that is
very inefficient. But ultimately, catalytic systems with 10 to 15 percent solar
conversion efficiency might be achievable. If this could be realized,
water photolysis would provide a clean source of hydrogen fuel from water and
The fact that the efficiency is anywhere near that of the Photosystem II
protein complex, a marvel of biological design, is impressive in itself.
The fact that this system could be competitive one day with modern solar
technology (currently around 10 percent efficient) and help
to replace fossil fuels is even more impressive.
With hydrogen
fuel looking more and more promising, Mallouk and Youngblood's research is
certainly a significant breakthrough.


text:
CEO Convicted, Banned After Losing Stolen Funds to Investment Scam
The NCUA on Friday issued orders prohibiting two individuals from participating in the affairs of any federally insured financial institution, including one former credit union CEO who had the money she defrauded stolen from her.
Joyce Judy, former president of the $40 million Arkansas Employees FCU of Little Rock, Ark., was convicted of bank fraud and sentenced to 26 months in prison, three years supervised release and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $500,000.
According to Arkansas Business, a Little Rock-based publication, Judy stole $500,000 from a member who wanted to invest it in a certificate at the credit union. She used the money, along with another $500,000 she obtained by borrowing against her home and vehicles, to invest in the building of a race track. However, that investment was a fraud, and the money was wired out of the county without Judy's permission.
Meanwhile, Kimberly Unger, a former loan officer at the $24 million Spencerport FCU of Spencerport, N.Y., consented to the issuance of a prohibition order to avoid the time, cost and expense of administrative litigation.
NCUA enforcement orders are available online and for inspection at NCUA's Alexandria, Va. headquarters.


text:
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text:
$1.00 off ONE 12-pack cans 7UP TEN & TEN Flavors
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text: First off, I understand that this is a fantasy trade proposal forum and people can post whatever trades they want on the forums. That being said, it's getting really annoying people are posting ridiculous trades without thinking the trade through. Some of them don't make any sense to any of the teams (Raptors or trading team). Some of them don't even work because one of the team are way above the salary cap after the trade. I know this is fantasy trade proposal forum where people can pretend that they are BC, but there should be a limit to how ridiculously stupid and unrealistic the trades get. If you're a rookie and it's like your first few times posting on RR, please at least do some research or thinking before posting trades and put down your rational behind the trade for ALL teams involved (not just the reasons why the Raptors would do it). Is it that hard to check the NBA trade machine before posting? Is it that hard to make sure that both sides benefit from the trade before posting? People who don't even put any thought into their trade before posting clearly is not providing anything useful to the trade forums. I'm not trying to be disrespectful but it's getting rather aggravating when a good 80% of the trades on the trade proposal forum (as of late) have been absolutely ridiculous unrealistic! Thoughts?!?


text:
Sport Illustrated's Ian Thomsen responds to a reader's question about the Raptors below - and includes them in his list of 12 teams to watch at the deadline, synopsis here:
Raptors: Ownership threatened to make changes in Toronto, and Raptors president Bryan Colangelo responded by changing the franchise outlook with a trade for Rudy Gay. Colangelo is now talking about another deal for Andrea Bargnani -- not to dump his salary but to improve his own team.
"According to reports, the Raptors are still open for business. What's the end game here? Are they building something that can last or is Bryan Colangelo just rolling the dice in hopes of saving his job this summer?
-- Fallon, Toronto
I like what they're building, Fallon. I know Colangelo has mentioned the possibility of moving Bargnani, but if they were to keep him and Lowry then consider this core:
C Jonas Valanciunas, 20 years old
F Bargnani 27, Amir Johnson 25
F Rudy Gay 26, Landry Fields 24, Linas Kleiza 28
G DeMar DeRozan 23, Terrence Ross 22
G Kyle Lowry 26
This could be a highly promising team so long as they stick with it. I understand the frustrations ownership and fans might experience with Colangelo, but do they really want to start over again with a new team president, who hires a new coach, who then wants to replace the players? In my opinion this franchise should not let go of Casey. After a hard start he has this young team playing respectably, in spite of the latest injury to Bargnani. Casey emphasizes defense and he has been with a championship program in Dallas. Instead of starting anew yet again, the Raptors should maintain their investment in a coach who represents the right values for a young team with so much balance and promise across its roster."
Nice to see some Raptors coverage in the mainstream media that isn't 100% driven by a headline trade. (even if he lists Kleiza as a part of the core).
Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nba...#ixzz2K2zbZ42O


text:
Welcome to the first ever March Madness contest here at RaptorsRepublic.com! Bragging rights are on the line! NCAA March Madness starts in a couple weeks and its time for us to create our brackets. If you wish to join then all you need to do is send me a PM (Private Message) and I will reply with the Group ID and Password. After that then CLICK HERE to join.
There are three rules to this contest:
1.) Please use your Raptors Republic name as your bracket name. For example, my bracket name will be "Apollo". What this does is allow everyone know who everyone else is.
2.) Don't give out the Group ID or Password to other people. I'd like this to be a RR event and I'd like people to come to me or one of the other mods or admins so that we know everyone who is in the league.
3.) Have fun!
Winner receives a pair of tickets courtesy of Raptorman Steve: http://www.raptorman.ca/
If you have any questions at all please feel free to PM if you don't want to post them here.
RaptorsRepublic.com Moderator
UPDATE: Registration is now closed. Please consider joining the Second Chance contest, CLICK HERE.


text:
Criminal Justice Drug Abuse Treatment Studies (CJDATS): Detention to Community (DTC), 2006-2008 [United States] (ICPSR 29062)
Principal Investigator(s): Liddle, Howard A., University of Miami
The Detention to Community (DTC) study addresses several priority areas of the CJDATS collaborative. First, the study will adapt existing science-based interventions in order to develop specialized services that will address drug abuse, delinquency, and sexual risk-taking among juveniles detained in detention facilities. Second, the study proposes to test an innovative, phasic, multiple-systems intervention in which the in-detention work provides a platform for the adolescent's return to the community. This bridge is created by linking the in-detention and outpatient treatment components in ways that reflect the consensus in the literature regarding the need for integrative, comprehensive interventions for criminal justice involved, substance abusing individuals (Cook, 1992; Altschuler and Armstrong, 1999). The interventions meld public health and public safety concerns, and target members in multiple systems influential to a teen's developmental outcomes, including the adolescent's family and school, the judiciary, and treatment providers. Thus, they go beyond the fragmented, sometimes competitive treatment models too often seen in standard criminal justice and drug treatment settings (Belenko, 2000). Third, consistent with recommendations from the literature, NIDA has designated HIV/AIDS prevention in juvenile justice facilities as an urgent public health priority (NIDA, 2002). This study would test a family-based HIV/AIDS prevention intervention in comparison to standard HIV prevention. Finally, the systems-change possibilities and public policy implications of the proposed study are high, because the study would examine processes and outcomes of implementing the intervention in the real world settings in which the findings are meant to apply -- juvenile detention centers and outpatient community-based drug treatment agencies that work with young offenders (Armstrong and Altschuler, 1998).
Series: Criminal Justice Drug Abuse Treatment Studies (CJ-DATS) Series
Access Notes
This study is currently not available. Additional information may be available in Data Collection Notes.
Special Collaborators on this study were the Midwest Research Center in Tampa, FL, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the Florida Research Center in Miami, FL.
This study is currently not available. Please check periodically to see if the status has changed.
Study Description
Liddle, Howard A. Criminal Justice Drug Abuse Treatment Studies (CJDATS): Detention to Community (DTC), 2006-2008 [United States]. ICPSR29062-v1. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2011-01-26. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR29062.v1
Persistent URL: https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR29062.v1
Export Citation:
- RIS (generic format for RefWorks, EndNote, etc.)
- EndNote XML (EndNote X4.0.1 or higher)
This study was funded by:
- United States Department of Health and Human Services. National Institutes of Health. National Institute on Drug Abuse
- United States Department of Health and Human Services. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Center for Substance Abuse Treatment
Scope of Study
Subject Terms: AIDS, correctional facilities (juveniles), drug abuse, HIV, intervention, intervention strategies, juvenile detention, prisoner reentry, recidivism, risk factors, sex education
Geographic Coverage: Florida, Miami, Tampa, United States
- 2006-05--2008-08 (Intake, 3, 6, and 9 months follow-up)
- 2006-05--2008-08 (Intake, 3, 6, and 9 months follow-up)
Unit of Observation: individual
Universe: Juveniles aged 13-17 in detention centers.
Special Collaborators on this study were the Midwest Research Center in Tampa, FL, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the Florida Research Center in Miami, FL.
Study Purpose: The fundamental objective of the proposed study is to test the feasibility and effectiveness and evaluate the relative and net benefit-cost of a cross-context multiple-systems family-based drug and HIV/STD focused intervention (MDFT-CS) with substance abusing juvenile offenders in detention and as they transition into the community upon release.
Study Design: The study randomized consenting subjects into two treatment groups. One group was to receive MDFT-CS (Multidimensional Family Therapy - Cross Systems) and the other was to receive enhanced services as usual (ESAU). Treatment began in the first week of detention and ended four months after release. Assessment of subjects took place at five different points: Entry into detention, release from detention, three months after release, six months after release, and nine months after release. Assessment was conducted in the form of interview by trained assessors.
Sample: Juveniles aged 13-17 were recruited from the Miami Juvenile Detention Center in Miami and the Pinellas County Detention Facility in Tampa. Criteria for participation in the study included informed consent, prior substance abuse, and the presence of at least one parent figure willing to participate in the study. Each site recruited 85 participants for a total sample size of 170.
Mode of Data Collection: face-to-face interview, mixed mode
Presence of Common Scales: A variety of scales are employed at each assessment point in this study, please see Table 4, the Assessment and Instrumentation Table, on page 21 in the study manual for a detailed list.
Extent of Processing: ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:
- Performed consistency checks.
- Created variable labels and/or value labels.
- Standardized missing values.
- Created online analysis version with question text.
- Performed recodes and/or calculated derived variables.
- Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.
Original ICPSR Release: 2011-01-26
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text:
Diabetes is a leading cause of blindness, end-stage kidney failure, and leg amputations. It also increases the risk for blood vessel and heart disease. Diabetes mellitus results from high blood sugar levels because of the body's inability to produce or effectively use insulin, which is a hormone secreted by the pancreas that aids in storing or converting glucose from food into energy. Diabetes is not curable, but it can be managed with lifestyle changes and medications.
There are 2 main types of diabetes. People with type 1 diabetes produce little or no insulin. The main treatment regimen for type 1 diabetes is insulin injections throughout the day, measuring blood sugar levels, watching one's diet, and planning structured meals and activities. People with type 2 diabetes either do not produce enough insulin or their bodies have difficulty putting the available insulin to work. Some people with type 2 diabetes require insulin injections.
One hope for cure of type 1 diabetes lies in transplanting the islet cells that are in the pancreas. Islet cells produce and secret insulin into the bloodstream.
A Possible Treatment
Doctors have attempted to transplant insulin-producing islet cells from donated pancreases into people with severe, unstable diabetes. The results were that these recipients were able to maintain normal blood sugar levels without taking insulin shots. But at this point in time, this doesn't mean that islet-cell transplants could end daily insulin injections for people with diabetes.
One type of islet-cell transplant method follows a procedure called the Edmonton protocol. This includes transplanting cells immediately after removal from a donated pancreas after removing foreign proteins from the cells. Removing foreign proteins from the cells reduces the risk of transplant rejection. In most cases, islet cells from a second donor pancreas are needed to improve blood glucose control. Doctors infuse the cells into the liver during a simple procedure, and the process carries less risk than an organ transplant.
What the Evidence Says
Several small studies have looked at islet-cell transplantation in those with type 1 diabetes. Overall, the studies showed mixed support for transplantation. A study of 36 people who used the Edmonton protocol found that transplantation did restore insulin production in the body, as well as keep blood sugar levels stable. However, the transplant did not make it able for most people to be free from their insulin regimen over time. But another small study using the Edmonton protocol was able to report its people as achieving insulin independence. Overall, the transplanted cells allow people to avoid life-threatening episodes of hypoglycemia. Hypoglycemia is abnormally low blood sugar. People who take insulin are at risk of experiencing these dangerous blood sugar crashes. Over the course of several years, even people achieving insulin independence may still end up taking insulin.
Doctors also note that islet-cell transplant is not the end of all treatment. Even if insulin is not needed after surgery, antirejection medications are required so the body does not reject the new pancreatic cells. There are side effects to antirejection medications which suppress the immune system. Immune suppression increases the risk of cancer and potentially serious infections. People who have the islet transplant need to see their doctors for regular check-ups. They are necessary to monitor for rejection, and any new changes in insulin regimens.
Remaining Hurdles
Lack of donated pancreases will limit the number of people who can receive islet-cell transplants. With limited available organs, scientists are still searching for new sources of islet cells. Some researchers are cultivating human islet cells in the laboratory, while others are developing cell lines that produce insulin. Until these or other new methods prove to be expedient, safe and effective, transplants will rely on donated organs.
- Reviewer: Michael Woods, MD, FAAP
- Review Date: 04/2017 -
- Update Date: 04/21/2015 -


text:
Convenience, Cost and Profitability: CUs Reconsider Small Loans
Despite the apparent financial pain to cover the underwriting costs of small loans under $600, some credit unions still feel there is a segment of their membership that rely on this type of financing.
However, the market for smaller loans may be shrinking if research from a new CUNA Lending Council white paper is any indication.
According to Fighting for Our Turf: Threats to Credit Union Loan Markets, credit unions used to make more unsecured loans for small ticket purchases like furniture, jewelry, and electronic equipment. A large portion of that market has migrated to credit cards, which have become so pervasive that unused credit lines are typically disregarded in underwriting loans.
"The small loan market has become overcrowded and highly competitive. This has contributed to a limping credit union loan portfolio," Jim Jerving, the white paper's author, told Credit Union Times.
Jerving said the research found that most members are unwilling to pay a higher rate on payday loan alternatives offered by credit union when they can get a better rate on a credit card, which might be another reason why small loans are not as prevalent.
"Credit unions are also constrained by membership requirements. They must limit their loans to their field of membership. It is difficult to get the scale needed to be profitable, since only a small segment of members want these loans," Jerving said.
The Great Recession of 2008 also led to consumers wanting to pay down debt and save more.
Proof of that the trend can be found in the number of homeowners tapping into their home equity for cash-out-refinancing, Jerving said. The amount of equity taken out by homeowners increased from $26 billion in 2000 to a high of $321 billion in 2006. During the housing and financial crisis, that number fell, but even with a recovering housing market and still stagnant economy, only $29 billion was recorded in cash-out-refinancing in 2012, he said.
Increased competition and consumers still cautious to borrow have resulted in a credit union industry loan-to-share ratio of 66.3% for the first quarter of 2013, Jerving said citing CUNA data. At the same time, the net interest margin for the same time period dropped to 277 basis points, which is as low as it has ever been, he said.
Despite apparent roadblocks, small loans can continue to be a viable area for credit unions, Jerving found. Some lenders are moving toward a more holistic underwriting approach that takes a closer look at willingness to pay rather than focusing on the credit score.
"There are a number of credit segments that are being avoided. These are people who suffered credit problems, but were victims of job lay-offs and other misfortunes of the Great Recession," Jerving said.
In Montana, credit unions continue to offer small loans to meet the needs of their members and communities, said Karen Smith, executive director of Montana Credit Unions for Community Development in Helena, Mont. A few years ago, the office conducted an awareness campaign focused on educating consumers about small loans available at credit unions across the state. While hard numbers aren't available on usage, Smith said the lending landscape has changed.
"A couple of years ago, the payday lending industry in Montana had the rates capped and we saw the payday lending store fronts close across the state," she said. "However, the online payday lenders continue to target consumers in our state."
Still, she said there is an opportunity for credit unions to build awareness as many consumers and members aren't aware that small dollar loans are an option at their credit union.
Ben Rogers, research director at the Filene Research Institute in Madison, Wis. said he thinks there is still a place for personal loans in the credit union product mix.
"I think they work best as second-chance or starter loans for members who would benefit from personal interaction," he said. "But I think a lot of credit unions have to make strategic tradeoffs and cut or at least underemphasize the less productive parts of their loan portfolios."
Personal loans, which are unsecured and have to be underwritten and disbursed, takes employee time, Rogers said. A $5,000 vacation loan, even one written at 10% or 12%, takes a lot more effort for the member and for the credit union than using a credit card that can get the same job done, he explained.
"It takes a lot of $5,000 vacation loans and $2,000 computer loans to make a dent in any credit union's lending portfolio," Rogers said. "I think a lot of credit unions say to themselves, 'why would I chase 100 personal loans if I could just book one extra mortgage for the same amount?'"
Next Page: Accounting for Consumer Demand
That doesn't even account for consumer demand, Rogers noted. Most members who would qualify for a personal loan already have a credit card anyway and may not want to make the effort to apply for another loan.
Dave Colby, chief economist at CUNA Mutual Group, said the interest rate differential back in 1998 revealed that unsecured loans were priced 51 basis points above credit card rates. Today, the spread has increased to 157 basis points.
The bottom line is credit cards are more convenient and have better terms, he said. During the past 15 years, the credit union share of the credit card market has increased from 3.3% to its current level of 4.9%. And that gain in market share is understated as some credit unions have sold their credit card portfolios, he said.
Additionally, Colby said credit card teasers like 0.00% interest and no payments for a limited term have helped move the product in the same way such teasers have worked for vehicle financing.
As for the use of credit cards as a substitute for small dollar loans, Colby said credit union credit cards balances were up $21.6 billion or 116% over the past 15 years, while unsecured loans were up $4.6 billion or 20% during the same period.
Meanwhile, another area where credit unions may have an opportunity to regain traction with their small loans is through point-of-sale transactions, Jerving said.
"The consumer no longer wants to go to the financial institution for small loans. He wants the loan immediately at the time of purchase," Jerving said. "This is emblematic of the American culture of immediate gratification in all things carrying a price tag."
For credit unions, a market opportunity may exist for installment loans for POS purchases at jewelry stores, home appliance and furniture stores, as well as dental offices and elective surgery centers, to name only a few options, Jerving said. The online capability exists to make POS happen effectively and relatively easy for the consumer, he suggested.
If a small loan comeback is possible, credit unions may see yet another way to help members.
"I do see an opportunity for members stuck with high-interest rate revolving debt," Colby said. "Start a promotion to refinance that debt away to credit union credit cards. Members took the easy loan—financed the purchase on the spot—now improve your finances by getting the best loan at your credit union (as) rates have never been lower."


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4. Biggest disappointment of the first month of the season is : http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/page/...storylines-nba see for yourself. I am actually surprises that the Raps got mentioned in this at all. Does that mean people in the NBA expected more of us? Wow our time to turn some head and it turned out being in the other direction.
Can we catch a break? Guess we are doomed! Kidding, but in all seriousness, we wanted to be talked about so now we are.


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Still, security experts aren't
so hot on Snow Leopard, criticizing the operating system's
default firewall setting of "off", its lack of fully
automatic updates, and weak anti-phishing efforts for Safari.
They also weren't impressed that Apple shipped with a vulnerable
version of Flash, which downgrade users from the
safer current version.
Now one prominent Mac hacker has
pointed out a significant difference that makes Snow Leopard less
secure than the upcoming Microsoft OS, Windows 7.
Miller, of Baltimore-based Independent Security Evaluators, the
co-author of The Mac Hacker's Handbook, and winner of two consecutive
"Pwn2own" hacker contests is about as experienced as OS X
hackers come. He recently criticized
Snow Leopard, stating, "Apple didn't change anything.
It's the exact same ASLR as in Leopard, which means it's not very
ASLR is address space layout randomization, a
security technology that randomly assigns data to memory to make it
tougher for attackers to determine the location of critical operating
system functions. According to Mr. Miller, unlike Windows 7,
which features robust
ASLR, Snow Leopard's ASLR is half-baked. It does not properly
randomize the heap, the stack and the dynamic linker, the part of
Snow Leopard that links multiple shared libraries for an executable.
This means that it's much easier for hackers to attack Snow Leopard
via memory injection than Windows 7.
Still Mr. Miller offered
some praise for Apple. They rewrote QuickTime X, their video
player, largely from scratch fixing many holes and insecurities in
the process -- including an exploit Mr. Miller had been saving.
He states, "Apple rewrote a bunch of QuickTime, which was really
smart, since it's been the source of lots of bugs in the past.
They've shaken out hundreds of bugs in QuickTime over the years, but
it was still really smart of them to rewrite it. [Still] I'd
reduce the number of file formats from 200 or so to 50, and reduce
the attack surface. I don't think anyone would miss them."
also praises Apple's relatively effective implementation of DEP (data
execution prevention), another memory protection scheme that Windows
7 also has. DEP is also present in Windows XP Service Pack 2
(SP2) and Windows Vista. Still without ASLR, DEP is only so
good he says. He states, "Snow Leopard's more secure than
Leopard, but it's not as secure as Vista or Windows 7. When
Apple has both [in place], that's when I'll stop complaining about
Apple's security."
So why aren't Macs being exploited
left and right and why can Apple still air commercials claiming
superior security? Mr. Miller states, "It's harder to
write exploits for Windows than the Mac, but all you see are Windows
exploits. That's because if [the hacker] can hit 90% of the machines
out there, that's all he's gonna do. It's not worth him nearly
doubling his work just to get that last 10%."


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While big
solar plants and high tech solar cells using high-efficiency
or exotic
materials steal all the spotlight, it is shameful to overlook the very real
financial and ecological benefits of private
consumer solar cell adoption. Private adoption lets users cut their
power costs drastically, and cut down on the burning of fossil fuels, which
releases greenhouse
gases, sulfates, nitrates, and toxic phenyl compounds.
It seems hard to argue the logic of such benefits, but there are the inevitable
detractions. First, even with government rebates which are available in
most states, the process needs an upfront investment of anywhere from $7,000 to
as much as $40,000 for very large homes. Further, some areas get less
sunlight then others, so not all of these investments are created equal.
Worse still, the planning process can involve weeks of quotes and uncertainty.
This is where Sungevity, a new company founded by enterprising entrepreneur
Danny Kennedy, comes in. Sungevity looks to take the pain
out of purchasing private solar power. Users simply log onto the site, submit their address and
electrical bill information and within 24 hours they have a detailed
individualized analysis that beats many private quotes taking 10 times as long
to receive or more.
The quote starts with the basic price of installation after local
rebates. It continues with the prospective savings over 25 years (most
cells have a life of around 25-30 years or more) and how much the system will
increase the value of their home (green is considered a selling point, even in
today's troubled economy). The analysis even includes images of how your
house would look with solar panels. Traditional analysis would require
physical examination of the roof and days of inspection, processing, and
numbers crunching.
His new system takes a complicated system and makes it simple says
Kennedy. He states, "We do all that (the calculations for preparing
the estimate) in about 10 to 15 minutes."
Pleased customers can put down a deposit after their quote and schedule an
installation appointment. It's hard to get much more pain free than
that. While the system currently only operates out of its home state,
California, it plans to soon expand to additional states.
A CNET writer, Michael Kanellos, did an analysis on his grandmother's
house as a test of the new system. He found that the system would provide
25 percent of the home's power on average and cost $7,511 after government
rebates. The total savings over 25 years would be an incredible $27,360.
The quote easily beat the 24-hour guarantee, coming back in a mere 2
hours. A deposit could be placed conveniently using Visa, MasterCard, and
American Express, the writer noted.
The new Sungevity system not only helps the customer, but saves money for the
seller as well. The software eliminates the need to pay an inspector to
come out and visit the house to develop an estimate. According to Kennedy,
only 10 percent of such visits end in the sale. The result is the
installation cost, typically half the cost of the panels themselves, is
unnecessarily high.
The system cuts installation costs by around 10 percent, and reduces estimating
costs by as much as 80 percent. The system also includes software that
coordinates installation and delivery, helping to further cut down on labor
The "magic smoke" driving the whole engine is a complex amalgamation
of the Internet's most advanced resources. Sungevity uses Microsoft
Virtual Earth's satellite data to derive its information on the house.
The company gave Microsoft a one up over rival Google, as Microsoft offers
views from different angles, where as Google only offers a top-down view.
From the satellite information Sungevity calculates the pitch of the roof (its
angle), the azimuth (what compass direction it faces), and the amount of free
space for the system. The system also takes into account the user's
electrical use and geographically based average levels of solar radiation.
The company will be showcasing its hard work, mailing free fliers to addresses
in Albany, Calif., with free analysis, showcasing its prowess. While the
estimates need a bit of fine-tuning based on the owner's power bills, the
fliers should contain reasonable estimates and help to show the customer what
their home would look like in images that combine actual pictures of their
house with computer generated images.
To cut costs, Sungevity offers 5 different size systems, rather than going for
custom sizes. These mass produced systems range from 1.4 kilowatts to 5.6
kilowatts and typically cost $7,500 to $38,500 after rebates.
Sungevity is currently working to secure solar installers as subcontractors in
other states or to offer its estimating services to solar contractors in other


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GRASS (the Geographic Resources Analysis Support System) is a software raster- and vector-based GIS (Geographic Information System), image processing system, graphics production system, and spatial modeling system. It contains many modules for raster data manipulation, vector data manipulation, rendering images on the monitor or paper, multispectral image geocoding and processing, point data management and general data management. It also has tools for interfacing with digitizers, scanners, and the PostgreSQL, DBF, and ODBC connected databases. GRASS operates on all common operating systems.
Fimex is a the File Interpolation, Manipulation, and EXtraction library for gridded geospatial data. It converts between different, extensible data formats (currently netcdf, NcML, grib1/2, metgm, wdb, and felt). It enables you to change the projection and interpolation of scalar and vector grids. It makes it possible to subset the gridded data and to extract only parts of the files. For simple usage, Fimex also comes with the command line program fimex.
Madagascar is a software package for multidimensional data analysis and reproducible computational experiments. Its mission is to provide a convenient and powerful environment and a convenient technology transfer tool for researchers working with digital image and data processing in geophysics and related fields. Technology developed using the Madagascar project management system is transferred in the form of recorded processing histories, which become "computational recipes" to be verified, exchanged, and modified by users of the system.
gipfel is a tool to find the names of mountains or points of interest on a picture. It uses a database containing names and GPS data. With the given viewpoint (the point from which the picture was taken) and two known mountains on the picture, it can compute all parameters needed to compute the positions of other mountains on the picture. gipfel can also generate (stitch) panorama images.
gpsd is a daemon that listens to a GPS or Loran receiver and translates the positional data into a simplified format that can be more easily used by other programs, like chart plotters. The package comes with a sample client that plots the location of the currently visible GPS satellites (if available) and a speedometer. It can also use DGPS/ip.
gvSIG is an easy to use Java desktop GIS. It has a friendly interface, and can access some popular formats (e.g. SHP, DGN, DXF, DWG, TIFF, JPEG, ECW, SID, etc). It will integrate in a single view both local vector and raster data, as well as remote data through WMS or WCS. It allows layout design for printing. It is meant for end-users of geographical information, and currently has Spanish, Valencian, English, and 6 more interfaces. It's designed to be easily extended.
A Java SE 6 compliant JVM with AOT compiler and deployment toolkit.
A server configuration enforcement and logging service.


text:
At Onlinetires.com you can shop tires online and choose wheels that will exactly suit your individual needs. We carry almost all the brands available in the market both for tires & wheels. Major tire brands like Goodyear tires, Michelin tires, Cooper tires & Toyo tires are just some of the brands that you can see when you visit and shop from Onlinetires.com We have the ability to provide you with a wide range of options for high performance tires, light truck tires & SUV tires. We have discount tires in stock available for you all the time. You can choose and pick from the large pool of brands of wheels available at Onlinetires.com We offer major brands for wheels including Katana wheels, Dolce wheels & Lenso wheels among others. Custom rims & chrome wheels for cars, trucks, vans, SUVs and imports are available at affordable prices with Onlinetires.com.
OnlineTires.com is committed to providing its customer with the best service. We created the website as user-friendly as it is so you can easily navigate it when you are looking for the tires and rims that you need. You are given two options to do it; one is by entering the model of your car and in a blink of an eye we have already provided you with the right wheels and tires that will fit your car (even if you need custom wheels and tires). Onlinetires.com has available expert tire technicians that can assist you in your question and they can as well give advice as to what you should use for your cars. Shopping tires online with us is very easy.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
See more ratings for OnlineTires.com at Bizrate.com
Hot Stories
Tires are one of the most important purchases a person makes when keeping their car or light truck in safe operating condition during its lifetime. Knowing which tire brands provide the most satisfying tire is critical when deciding which replacement tires to purchase. In its Replacement Tire Buyer Dynamics and Satisfaction Study, AutoPacific surveyed over 15,000 vehicle owners who bought replacement tires over the past twelve months. Twenty-eight replacement tire brands were surveyed. The study was used to determine what is important when choosing a replacement tire and which tire brands provide the most satisfying experience in seven basic categories of tires.
Each tire buyer rated the importance of, and their satisfaction with, fourteen different tire characteristics including: safety, durability, price, wet traction, handling, mileage warranty, brand reputation, ride comfort, dry traction, fuel efficiency, tire noise and appearance, snow traction and off-road capability. Using these data, AutoPacific calculated the overall winner and the top rated brand in each category.
The top satisfying tire brand overall is Michelin, followed by Pirelli.
Replacement tire category winners are:
Ultra-High Performance Tires: Yokohama
Performance Tires: Pirelli
Touring Tires: Hankook
Passenger Car Tires: Michelin
Light Truck/SUV Highway Tires: Michelin
Light Truck/SUV All Terrain Tires: Michelin
Snow/Winter Tires: Firestone


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If you all follow both of my YouTube channels, MakeupByTiffanyD and TiffanyDtv, then you know that during the past few weeks I've been working on a little project in the room I film in. Well, I guess a little project that turned into a big project, that ultimately resulted in a very stressful trip to Ikea. But it was all very worth it! Over the last couple weeks, I've shown you little bits and pieces of the new room, info on the furniture, and shared the progress with you all here and there in random videos.
Now it's (almost) finished and decorated. ...and yes, I actually found something to put inside of all those shelves! :)
In the next day or so, I'll be posting a tour of the new room on one of my YouTube channels.
I've been enjoying the new space SO much. Not only is it beautiful, but it's so practical. I finally have an office space of my own and a TON of extra storage for all of my office-y things.
Here is a little peek of the new room for you all!
Bookshelf: Hemnes storage combination (Ikea)
Desk: Liatorp desk (Ikea)
All mirrored furniture: Hayworth collection: Jewelry Amoire, Lingerie Chest, Vanity table with Mirror and Bench (Pier 1)
The storage in this desk is AMAZING.
Awww at the poor lil' wire-y chair...haha. That's the only thing left to find! The perfect chair.
If you're interested in my pink keyboard cover, I got mine on amazon.com.
In the process of getting a glass topper for the desk. I'm paranoid about ruining it before then.
The new shelf is great for photo storage- From my photo boxes to framed ones to display...
One of my favorite wedding pictures. Brad is not in it though...lol
To-do: Find wedding picture to display in office that actually has husband in it.


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Its easy to be blasé about Durango the best this, the most outstanding that, an Olympian over there, a world champion here. But Monday morning, the mood was electric as the crowd prepared to view the worlds best cyclists riding down our streets and avenues.
The Fort Lewis College Foundation took the opportunity to raise money for the reigning Division I national cycling champions, the FLC Skyhawks, who also made a ride down Main Ave., by setting up bleachers on 12th Street between Guidos Favorite Foods and the Bank of Colorado.
Silver package holders sat in the bleachers and enjoyed a sack breakfast of a ham and cheese sandwich on flatbread, a caprese salad of tomato, basil and mozzarella and orange biscotti.
Gold package holders sat on the piazza at Guidos, toasting the race with mimosas while noshing on focaccia, caprese and upscale ham and cheese sandwiches paninis made with rosemary ham and provolone.
But what all of us enjoyed was some of the best seats in the house for the two lazy laps and the beginning of the road race to Telluride. It didnt matter whether you were a cycling aficionado or a complete ignoramus like yours truly, it was a thing of beauty to watch the peloton, or main pack of cyclists, speed past.
(Thankfully, Im not as much of an ignoramus as I was last week at this time, thanks to my colleagues at the Herald who put together that nifty pullout section about the event.)
While I dont watch a lot of cycling on TV, theres something mesmerizing about watching the breakaways, the sprints and the riders jockeying for position. Although we only got to see a very small part of the race, that was all happening as we watched them speed past on the final, actual race lap. And theres no real way to understand their speed without seeing them live and in motion. Holy cow!
I know so many people who left town or stayed home to avoid the hassle, but they also missed out on all the fun. This kind of event is something we do really well as a community, and our community had a lot vested in making it a success.
Special kudos go to event co-chairwomen Mary Monroe and Sherri Dugdale, who worked more hours than any of us will ever be able to comprehend to make this a success. Im hoping theyre sitting on a beach somewhere sipping a drink with a little umbrella in it.
Thanks to the almost 60 members of the organizing committee, who logged some serious time themselves. Bravos to our friends at Fort Lewis College, who opened their campus to house 850 cyclists and support staff as well as several events, just as school was set to start. Its impossible to list the businesses and organizations that supported the challenge, but every one of them made a difference.
And finally, to the more than 1,200 volunteers who flagged, drove, set up, cleaned up and performed the myriad tasks that made it all work, youre the reason Durango is so great.
Congratulations to all of you for a job beautifully done.
Now, ride, Tom Danielson, ride.
Celebrating the last of the Virgo birthdays are Katie Patton, Bob Newlin, NoelPeterson, Bailey Smith, Cliff Summers, Tom West, Brian Zink, JoaniePetersen-Thomas, Tom Creyer, Judy Resner, Dan Osby, Kathy Pratt and Mickey White.
Celebrity sightings arent unusual here, where people stop through to make movies or attend events. But Louis LAmour didnt just stop through, he made summer in Durango a part of his familys life.
Sitting in Room 222 at the Strater Hotel, he wrote a number of short stories and novels, including many in his famous Sackett series, here. He was inspired, he said, by the music on the honky-tonk piano drifting up from the Diamond Belle Saloon.
The Strater already has designated Room 222 as the Louis LAmour Room, but now it has achieved national recognition as a Literary Landmark by the Association of Library Trustees, Advocates, Friends and Foundations.
The bronze plaque will be dedicated next to the room at 2 p.m. Saturday, and LAmours widow, Kathy, is planning to attend.
Literary Landmarks were founded in 1986, with the first dedication at Slip F18 in Bahia Mar, Fla., the anchorage of the Busted Flush, the houseboat home of Travis McGee. (Mystery lovers will recognize McGee as the protagonist in John D. McDonalds books.)
More than 100 sites have since received the designation, with only one other in Colorado the Thomas Hornsby Ferril House in Denver. (He was Colorados first poet laureate and was highly esteemed by Robert Frost and Carl Sandburg.)
Our own claim to literary fame did more and was recognized more than most of us know. In addition to winning every writing award out there and selling millions upon millions of books, LAmour was awarded both the Congressional Gold Medal and the Medal of Freedom. President Ronald Reagan presented him with both medals in less than one year.
My personal favorite of his books is Education of a Wandering Man, an ode to LAmours passion for learning and reading.
It seems appropriate that a Literary Landmark be part of our historic landmark hotel, and during the hotels 125th anniversary year, no less.
Ill see yall there.
Whether youve already visited the exhibit Quilts; Where History Meets Art at the Animas Museum or have been thinking about it, but havent quite made it, Saturdays your last chance.
The museum, 3065 West Second Ave., is holding a closing reception from 1 to 3 p.m. for the exhibit, which showcases quilts connected to the history of La Plata County. To sweeten the pot, so to speak, two new quilts will be displayed before all the fragile textiles go to protective storage.
One, from 1904, was donated by the Aspaas family just recently. The other, which was a donation a little earlier this summer and joined the exhibit for its last few weeks, was donated by the family of Bessie Finnegan. Rose Lewis, Finnegans mother, made the Court House Steps patterned quilt in the early 1900s. Finnegan worked as a nurse at the Ochsner and Mercy hospitals during World War II. Her diaries are part of the museums permanent collection.
These couples are celebrating their anniversaries as summer fun ends and school begins Peter and Liza Tregillus, Mark and Sue Chiarito, Don and BarbaraBruning and Doug and Kelly Miller.
Heres how to reach me: firstname.lastname@example.com; phone 375-4584; mail items to the Herald; or drop them off at the front desk. Please include contact names and phone numbers for all items.
I am happy to consider photos for Neighbors, but they must be high quality, high resolution photos.


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Every season seems to bring new claims by Cupertino's Apple Corp. of its leaps-and-bounds advances in being more environmentally friendly. And every season brings a scathing report from Greenpeace on how far the company has yet to grow.
Perhaps Steve Jobs and company were tempting fate when Apple announced in a recent series of ads that the MacBooks were "the world's greenest family of notebooks", referencing their power saving use of Intel processors and their halogen and plastic free construction. Unsurprisingly, Greenpeace was there to punch a hole in Apple's dreams as it delivered its environmental report card full of less-than-glowing things to say about Apple's big claims.
While Apple deserves credit for eliminating brominated flame-retardants (BFRs) and other toxic plastics and managing relatively low power consumption, Greenpeace says the company's lack of providing a timeline in phasing out other potentially harmful compounds used in the laptops and their production is one of its key problems. Another significant shortcoming is Apple's failure to create environmental impact reports and tackle the problem of tech trash, it states.
Greenpeace gives Apple a failing rating -- 4.3 out of 10 (PDF). Writes Greenpeace, "[Apple]needs to commit to phasing out additional substances with timelines, improve its policy on chemicals and its reporting on chemicals management."
Apple's spokesperson declined to comment on the criticism, saying merely that customers should check out the "Apple and the Environment" section of the company's website if they want information on the company's environmental policy.