text:
I looked around and noticed she wasn't there. It was homeroom during the first week of my senior year at Pittsfield High. We weren't great friends, or anything like that, but we had gone through elementary and junior high together, and since our last names both started with S we had shared ho me room class for a couple of years. They placed us alphabetically.
Had the family moved? No, because I saw her younger brother in the hallways during the day.
It took about half the school year before I figured out the girl had become pregnant over the summer and wouldn't be joining us for our final ride on the high school carousel. I never heard her name mentioned in any conversation. She just sort of disappeared.
There was no reason to talk about it. I guess that was the order of the day. If memory serves, the entire thing was swept conveniently under the rug. Why talk to the students about it? It might give them ideas, or worse, they might have questions. But do you know what? I neither had questions nor did I want an explanation from some health teacher offering greater understanding about morals, feelings and how the human body works.
I just wanted to know that she was OK.
But that was then and this is now. And the now means that girls in their teens are allowed to take high school classes in their pregnant state basically until such time when walking up the stairs becomes problematic. Then, after what hopefully is a smooth and safe delivery, they are apt to return to visit the school with their newborns and bask in the adulation of peers and staff, who gush over their tiny bundle of joy.
This kind of positive reinforcement is sometimes enough to validate the entire process and may serve as an inspiration for others to go the same route. It's a beautiful thing.
Yeah, right.
At the request of a couple of Taconic High female students and some advocates, the school committee recently verbally signed off on an agenda to review and perhaps rip apart and rebuild the sex education classes offered to our city students. The THS duo called the current curriculum inadequate and irrelevant. They asked for a class that students would take seriously and one that includes specific information about abortion, contraception devices and Plan B pills, whatever the heck they are, although I think I have an idea.
Can you say fat chance? I give that class about two weeks before the parents of scores of students start knocking down the doors on East Street and Valentine Road looking for answers. This, of course, will occur on the heels of the kids coming home and telling Mom and Dad about everything they learned in sex ed class today.
"So, Mom, there's this abortion clinic in Albany that's really high quality and safe. All the kids go there."
Holy Captain Kangaroo! Are we losing our minds? Some of this stuff, by the way, borders dangerously close to religious philosophies and brings that into play. And we all know religion and public education do not sit in the same section of the upper deck. In this case, they're not even at the same game.
What's being offered to our students are health classes that are broad-based and cover a number of topics over the 10-month school year. They are not necessarily sex ed classes with an emphasis on preventing teen pregnancy. The classes are both adequate and relevant. And while it may not be in-your-face teaching, teen pregnancy is addressed. The classes also cover alcohol and drug abuse and sexually transmitted diseases. If the ninth- and 10th-grade students can't find the inner discipline to take those subjects seriously, then what leads anyone to believe they will do anything but suppress nervous giggles when the subject of sexual relations between teens turns a bit more graphic?
And don't even think about taking a more detailed class into the middle schools. This is not a good idea. In fact, it's a bad idea. Again, any parent worth his or her salt ain't buying into that plan. But, if they are, then maybe it would be wise to first have "the talk" with their own kids. Ditto for the parents of high-schoolers.
Sorry folks, but there is no one-size-fits-all presentation for sex ed at the middle or high school levels. Do you know how many layers of maturity you're looking at between the ages of 13 and 16? Oh, about 1,000, I would guess. No matter what you try you're going to have one tune in and three tune out.
One of the Taconic students told the school committee that, and I paraphrase, it might be something of a shock to come to grips with the idea that this generation of teens is sexually active. But that's the reality, she concluded.
An eyebrow-raiser? Hardly. This generation isn't acting any differently than the one before this, and the one before that, and the one before that, and the one before. We've had cars for 100 years, which means we've had backseats for just as long.
Public school systems do their communities a great service by providing health classes that are both meaningful and informative. If a student feels that he or she needs something more, then try mom or dad, your primary care physician, or contact one of the many agencies in the area that have professionals who can be a bit more up front, literal and discreet.
I'm sorry, kids, but public schools are not the appropriate place to hold the kind of detail-oriented discussions some of you are looking for. Quite frankly, our school committee has better things to do. And so do the students, who would do well to focus on readin', writin', and 'rithmetic. If classes like health (sex ed) and physical education were really that important, then school districts would schedule them five times a week instead of once or twice.
When that changes, let me know. In the meantime, it's safe to say that balancing equations is more important than balancing hormones.
One final thought, and I hope this helps. When in doubt, just say no. You would be surprised at how effective that strategy can be and how quickly the teen birth percentage will drop.
Brian Sullivan can be reached at email@example.com.
If you'd like to leave a comment (or a tip or a question) about this story with the editors, please email us. We also welcome letters to the editor for publication; you can do that by filling out our letters form and submitting it to the newsroom.


text:
As I Lay In Your Arms recently got deleted when they rejected the second chapter, but it's back up now and i'm about to submit the second chapter now it's been sent to a BETA, so it shouldn't be rejected! Yay!
This is my wonderful banner for As I Lay In Your Arms, made by the brilliant hello251025:

subset: commoncrawl


text:
The suspected Santa Fe flasher had a felony warrant in Vermont.
There's orange slime in some Rio Rancho resident's water.
Director David Russell pinky swore with his transgender niece to keep his groping her a secret. She broke the pinky pact.
The psychology of parking.
Meet the French "Dark Vader" burger, complete with black bun.
This NYU student REALLY did not want to do a class-assigned ethnography study of Occupy Wall Street. ....So she sent out a bunch of bent mass emails explaining... a lot of things.
There is now a Hello Kitty restaurant!
Photo of this Colorado high school senior is "too hot" for the yearbook.
New book explains why monogamy doesn't work for men.
APD arrested one of their employees and charged him with embezzlement.
For the past 83 years, the FBI's definition of rape did not allow that men could be raped. They have also changed the definition to include those who do not physically resist.
Washington Post opinion piece on presidential candidate Rick Santorum's extreme views.
Rick Santorum still has a "Google problem." Here's why.
Ed Sanders, poet, author and founding member of seminal '60's New York City beatnik-freak musical maximists the Fugs, has just had his memoir published.
On this day in 1964 Nicolas Kim Coppola, aka Nicolas Cage, was born.
Police clear Occupy camps in Los Angeles and Philadelphia.
It was fun while it lasted Herman Cain.
Archbishop Sheehan says the Archdiocese will oppose Gov. Martinez's effort to repeal the law allowing illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses.
R.I.P. comedian Patrice O'Neal.
Alan Dershowitz solves the Middle East.
Horse meat may soon be coming to a menu near you.
R.I.P. father of RFID technology, Charles Walton.
Watch Felicia Day play with herself, IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK!
Kidnapper sues his former hostages for breach of oral contract.
When did mac and cheese become a black thing?
Guess what happens at the end of this Corvette street racing video.
Amateur astronomer takes picture of a new solar system.
Elderly man returns money he stole from Sears over 60 years ago, with interest. Awwwww.
Ray Bradbury's classic books are finally available as overpriced e-books.
Chris Meloni is in talks to join the cast of True Blood.
Terrible burglars caught on tape in the Northeast Heights.
Elvis Costello tells fans not to buy his expensive box set.
The only known copy of Walt Disney's Hungry Hobos cartoon starring Oswald the Lucky Rabbit goes up for auction next month.
Prepare yourself for the upcoming Voltron renaissance.
NM Secretary of State Dianna Duran ran over someone with her car.
Drive-by on Cerrillos Road Starbucks.
Excellent photos of 1970's America when everything was brown.
A Pakistani woman tried to eat her husband.
Tell these people what drugs you are using. Survey.
Occupy protests run smoother when police stay home.
Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson has joined four former city mayors in support of legalizing marijuana.
'Remember, we speak French. It's good for you.'
Albuquerque Police say a Torrance county jail guard was found in a car full of smoke parked in a no-trespassing zone.
Thanksgiving. Corvettes. Crash.
NYPD riot memo re: Occupy Wall Street.
On this day in 1957 The Price is Right aired for the very first time.
Occupy Santa Fe is no longer divided nor are they being shut down.
PNM is closing the last eight of its pay centers....
November 18th was the 33rd anniversary of the Jonestown Massacre. Sex, Corruption and the Kool Aid Massacre by Paul Krassner.
I hope they make the Jonestown site a tourist destination.
One and only timecube knows everything.
Is the world running out of coffee?
Dali does Alice in Wonderland.
Ten Coca-Cola products you've never heard of.
Hear every Beatles song at the same time, including Paul songs unfortunately.
The secret $850k plan by lobbyists to undermine the Occupy movement.
Gallery of cow, er I mean Fukishima photos.
$300.00 Beats headphones by Dr. Dre.
On this day in 1947, Joe Walsh was born.
Hillary Clinton visits Myanmar.
The Supercommittee is in trouble.
Police reopen the Natalie Wood drowning case.
Protesters occupied Paseo del Norte for more jobs.
Herman Cain is a leader not a reader.
Health care companies payed millions for direct Newt access.
A second experiment at CERN found subatomic particles moving faster than the speed of light.
Worst. Sandwich. Ever.
Sears lost $421 million last quarter.
People are already camping out for Black Friday.
How pizza became a vegetable.
Six reasons to stay away from hippos.
Teen Mom 2 season 2 trailer!
Who are the real job-creators?
Pilot accidently locks himself in the bathroom mid-flight, causing terror scare.
Probably not a good idea to inject the silicon you buy at Lowes to make your butt bigger.
The Morgan Freeman chain of command.
Just how many coffins are being stored in Atlanta for a supposed high casualty event?
Top 10 inappropriate Sesame Street parody sketches.
Would you like a $90-a-slice gold-infused cheese with that?
Election news: Mississippi voters reject the scary Personhood Amendment. While voters in Ohio threw-out the governor's anti-union law and Kentucky's Democratic governor was re-elected.
Letter circulating around Socorro promises mass casualties on Friday.
Herman Cain affiliated PAC calls one of his accusers an ugly bitch.
R.I.P. to the overweight lover Heavy D.
Animal abuse caught on tape at Tingley Beach.
Occupy Denver finally has a leader.
Under pressure, Facebook removes rape-joke pages.
Does job retraining actually work?
Rugby player has a stroke, wakes up gay.
It's the 40th anniversary of Led Zeppelin IV.
Most brutal boxing picture ever.
Thank God for the world's first alcohol-free whiskey, and the world's first beer for dogs.
Local historian in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod fills his house with mummified female corpses.
Irish airline Ryanair to add in-flight porn for passengers.
The eight cheapest houses in America.
Live 1989 Nirvana set unearthed.
Brett Ratner resigns as Academy Awards producer after interview on Howard Stern.
The Fresh Prince pranks a Christian talk show.
I wish space junk, was as sexy as it sounds.
Mars rover Opportunity discovers a discovers the Holy Grail of its mission.
YES! Jean-Claude Van Damme and Chuck Norris join the cast of The Expendables 2.
Thanks for the links E!


text:
Hi there.
I've built a class that contains an array of characters and implements several methods to manage the array.
I want to redefine operator + so an instruction like b = a + 'x' adds the character 'x' to the array contained in a and puts the result in the array contained in b.
This is what I try:
I've also tried to return a reference to the local object instead of the object itself, but it won't work.Code:// This function is supposed to manage this kind of instructions: // b= a+ 'x' , where a and b are instances of SetOfChar. // Of course, a is referred as 'this' inside the function. SetOfChar SetOfChar::operator+(char c){ // 1) Create a new object with same data than this (a) SetOfChar res(*this); // 2) Add the character res.addChar(c); // 3) RETURN THE RESULT AS AN OBJECT (doesn't work!) return res; }
Both the constructor and the addChar method work properly.
How am I supposed to create an object inside a function and then return it as a result?
Thanks in advance.


text:
Thanks for helping us sort this video!
Thanks for helping us associate the correct Pornstars to this video!
Hilf uns: Erscheint dieser Pornostar in diesem Video?
Pornstar Name:
Making such loud noise on purpose is so annoying. It's like listening to someone eat right in your ear,why would anyone like that?
Fucking incredible...
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beautiful girl but horrible way to suck....
Une femme comme ça c le rêve et un enfer j'aurai envie d'elle tout le temps
she's beautiful, but she could be so much more, break out of that shell baby!
I like my wife's' retching so much. She still is repelled by my warm slimy loads though we have been practicing oral sex several hundreds of times. Wriggling with the aftertaste she will have a self made satisfying orgasm almost every time.
Jessica and dave
Huumm Goseei DemAIS
call.me if u want to.sex me im still,vergine and I dnt have. boyfriend..
very nice good job uporn!
The locked collar means she is much more than a girlfriend.
My wife has similar skills, thanks heaven.
Love the collar and corset
Looks like our secretary Katja S. Except the tits. Katjas boobs are smaller. But the face and hands.... similar...
Amazing tits!!, wow!!, I love them, Id love to slide my cock between those.
she makes porn than look after her kids get off the crack pipe jess
especially for young visitors as their sex is not repelling
this girl gives the best blowjobss, i want my girl like that
nice tits
Her name is Jessica.
dude wat the fuck is her name
che donna!
hot babe but no cum shot really ?
Perfect girlfriend treatment. Swallowing is a must of course. She's have to offer that fine ass though for an engagement ring.
oh please suck my dick too
Getting a great handjob from a busty girl is one of the most exciting thing...You can stare at her boobs all the time while she's stroking your hard cock, and this view makes your cock harder and harder...That's why the cock spits loads of cum after this great work!
she sucks like a goddess
jolie decollete belle masturbation
Great couple.... But would love to see her with more guys.
Great dick. I want to suck him too *.*
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I'd like her with my bf in a three way. I'll show her how to suck cock deep.
THis girl is about as interested as a one legged man in an ass kicking contest
If I only new her name... I love pale white girls!
why would any man want to see another man cum
pale but hot
She's very hot whit each outfit she wears! And her glasses... REALLY HOT!
excelent girl
that was a measly attempt at a deepthroat gagging vid, i cud do better....
i love your tits
Perfect tits for titfucking. Sensational.
Love those teacher-style glasses.
Thanks for upload. Good stuff.
i want to see her gangbanged
WTF no cumshot.
I am addicted to this chick. I think she is hotttt!!!! I would love to just be in the room and watch this couple!!!
wow! Goddes of all porn movies...... but ive beeb waiting for cumshot!!!! i nailed this video 3 times..wtf
This girl is hot, but the videos suck. We need to see more of her and her body.
No cum shot.
She has a nice technique.
where's the fucking part...
Finally someone betther than fellucia!!!!
yes now those are some beautiful titties for sure
She is awesome
ARE YOU IN SPAIN? Barcellona?
what is her name?
love the milky white skin on the girl! She looks absolutely amazing. what a gorgeous body and face
muy bonita esa mujer, las gafas se le ven muy sexys, y tiene un cuerpo extraordinario
estoy enamorada de esa verga, se ve tan rica mm
i wanna see her glasses!
Well there's two minutes and twenty six seconds of my life that I'll never get back. NO CUM SHOT. WTF?????? Also, what's the deal with that weird getup she's wearing? How about taking that shit off next time so we can see your fuckin' body????
hahahahah mike. any girl with saggy grandma boobs should cover them up like this girl does in all her videos. i have a feeling she does it in real life too
Why does this girl have huge pancake nipples?
she made me cum with out jacking! amazing and kind of creepy lol jk
i love pale girls, this girl has perfect boobs, i don't think i will ever find someone as perfect as her
lucky man but yeah, my hands would be all over her tits too.
Pale girls without any tattoo or piercing are so sexy.
it might be the tight necklace keeping the dick from going deep-throat, hence causing her to gag.
JESUS my hands would be carresing her tits whilst she was doing this ,hes a bit lame this bloke
This would be 6 stars if there was a cumshot.
love the dog collar, where's the leash?
spettacolo.. a quando il resto di questo video?
Perfect tits
im cuming right now ohh
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text: So I got my 99s and strung it up with pro hurricane tour 16. Went for a hit today and I'm thoroughly impressed. I've don't normally buy rackets without a demo or two but I figured I'd have no problem getting rid of it if I didn't like it. As others have said the launch angle is noticeably different and the topspin is incredible. It's definitely going to take a long time to get used to on serve because it swings much lighter than the club I have been hitting with and as of now it's a little tough to control. I also don't notice much more kick than normal but once I get it dialed in I'm sure I'll be getting some launch off the court. I'm not sure about the hurricane as a string for it I'm thinking 4G might be a great string for this stick even though my initial review of it for the playtest was t necessarily glowing. What are some full poly jobs that people have used with this and how were they?


text:
St. Cloud's new bridge over the Mississippi River will open to traffic on Thursday.
Mayor Dave Kleis announced the opening date for the Granite City Crossing at the bridge's dedication ceremony Monday morning. Kleis says residents have been patient with the construction project, which has taken about 18 months to complete.
"If you think about that how long it usually takes bridges to be constructed and designed, it's a lot longer than that," he said. "So this certainly is a momentous occasion, record speed, almost miraculous."
The new bridge, which will open ahead of schedule, replaces the DeSoto bridge, which was torn down in March 2008 after inspectors found distorted gusset plates. That inspection was part of a statewide effort following the collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis.
"The DeSoto Bridge was similar to I-35W, it had a lot of science in its design and if one element failed then the entire bridge would fail," said Director of Public Services Stephen Gaetz.
In the new design, if one beam begins to deform, the weight is transferred to the other supporting beams, which minimizes the chances for a catastrophic failure, said Gaetz.
The old DeSoto Bridge, which was built in the 1950s, was named after the famous explorer Hernando de Soto, who is credited with discovering the Mississippi River, said John Decker, assistant director of archives for the Stearns History Museum.
According to Decker, the DeSoto Bridge played a major role in connecting the city.
"The decision was made to build the DeSoto Bridge in the late 1950s to divert traffic from downtown and to create a straight shot from the west and east sides of the river," said Decker.
The Granite City Crossing has taken about 18 months to complete, and was paid for by state money from the 2008 transportation bill. More than 31,000 vehicles a day were estimated to have driven over the former DeSoto Bridge.


text:
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eBook Enthusiast
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I've never written a review on Amazon - legitimate or otherwise .
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A little context, if't please.
I said this:
Anyone who isn't invested in being a rectal hook will understand when I say that might and some do not mean will and all. The point is not that opportunistic cliques of the mediocre and worse will fail to form. It's that, in eradicating all said cliques, you also erase the possibility of more informed reviews by professional writers who simply like to talk about what they read. The world is full of whipsmart writers who used to be mainstream and are now without work; who, lacking their old forum, are now drawn to Facebook and user reviews.
Does this mean that all people who market themselves as writers are whipsmart? Obviously not. But it does suggest that to eliminate reviews by all writers is to wrongly assume they're all of equal merit.
I could easily do that with casual user reviews on Amazon, since the majority are teeth-grindingly stupid, but that would be a disservice to people who like to read, do not consider themselves critics and have written superb reviews.
If you're Virginia Woolf and don't want to publish a review under your own name because you have thoughts which you feel aren't worth subjecting to twenty drafts (her sweet spot, I've read), why wouldn't you post it on Amazon instead? And if you're Amazon, why discriminate against all authors by assuming they all have an agenda? By stopping Virginia Woolf from writing an Amazon review, you've deprived the people who read product pages, not delivered the world from a genetic predisposition to a conflict of interests. It's quite easy to cry inherent corruption when you don't belong to the group being targeted, innit?
The point is not that every published writer is inherently better at criticism than every reader. It's that many people who write professionally actually know things which are pertinent to the discussion of the value of books. You might as well tell Virgil Thompson he has no right to publish music criticism because he knows a few conductors a little too well.
The saner approach would be to discipline any reviewers who are shown to follow patterns of mutual praise or bear conspicuous grudges. Both groups -- reflexive praisers and bashers -- are rather large, and each contains a fair number of writers and non-writers. Ban the behavior, not the type of person or line of work. Confusing a person's essence for their job is a bit like mistaking their skin color for their culture.
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(Edit: Just to clarify, I hope it's clear I'm kidding about calling moderators hypocrites -- especially those who, when not donating their free time to resolving everyone else's issues, post occasionally on the boards they happen to moderate.)
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I think they should let the friends and family thing go, as long as it's not like 10+ reviews from people who have never reviewed a book before. a handful to help the book get its footing I think is ok.
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^ The thing is that they are no indication about the quality of the book: of course friends and family will praise you and give you 5 stars, which makes those reviews completely useless in my eyes.
As a potential customer, I'd rather know how readers feel about the book, than how loved the author is by his friends and family.
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Here is the specific comment I responded to:
In fact, there is no distortion, much less hyperbolic distortion at all. I simply disagree with you. I do not believe, categorically, that Amazon will lose "expert" reviewers by barring authors from posting reviews. In my opinion, the reviews posted on Amazon by authors are generally *worse* than reviews posted by non-authors.
Sure, I've read some great book reviews by authors in, say, the NY Review of Books. Reviews that, I'm sure, took a month or more to write.
But you don't see these reviews on Amazon. What you see are a bunch of crappy reviews like the example I posted.
The mayor's brother-in-law is not allowed to bid on a public works project because he is the mayor's brother-in-law and that presents a conflict of interest: the mayor has an incentive to select not the best bid, but his brother-in-law's bid. In preventing this conflict of interest, no one is claiming that the mayor is corrupt, or that the brother-in-law is dishonest. The mere fact that the conflict exists is enough to bar the brother-in-law from bidding, because it is *important* that the bidding process be free of favoritism. Even at the cost of not considering what could be the lowest bid.
To return to the topic at hand - IMO, Amazon loses nothing by prohibiting authors from posting reviews, and gains something from doing so: more unbiased reviews, plus the removal of one incentive for producing biased reviews.
(And, yes, if we could prohibit relatives from contributing to Amazon's reviews, I would be in favor of that, too.)
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My apologies for the tardiness of my response. In a world in which books and stories have yet to be written and edited, I haven't felt terribly enthusiastic about the tedium of replying. The rather testy fisking in the last response to me suggests the next might be no more friendly or perceptive, hence the fruitlessness of this exercise.
Clearly, Andrew's last fisk makes a series of assertions about a post that hasn't been understood and a playful tone that hasn't been heard.
The term "rectal hook" was never applied to Andrew. It was applied to the imaginary respondent who continues to make the case that "might and some do not mean will and all." If Andrew considers himself to be that imaginary respondent, to whom reasoned argument means nothing, then it is he and not I who chooses to place the hook in that delicate position.
Let the record show, Your Honors, that my learnéd colleague's pejorative interpretation of ululation is one that no one else on this thread inferred and which I myself did not intend. Frequently, I refer to my own comments and those of my friends as ululations because the comparison is meant to be humorous and not — again — mean-spirited.
One more thing, Your Highnesses: In all of his responses to me and others on this thread, Andrew has relied rather heavily on charging us with using rhetorical fallacies — specifically, that of the straw man argument. As we shall see, it seems fairly clear that Andrew is using the term so broadly as to suggest he might need to review its usage.
While I realize that "you've misinterpreted me" lacks the sound of punitive authority which straw man seems to hold for Andrew, accusing someone else of misinterpretation is more accurate in most cases (such as this one). Andrew might also wish to consider that misinterpret is less didactic.
Yet I've consistently spoken of only some reviewers. I've even gone so far as to suggest the hypothetical example of Virginia Woolf writing an Amazon review, which winnows the idea of some down to few. My argument is not one which places all or many or some writers on pedestals. It acknowledges that, by banning all authors' reviews, Amazon bars the possibility of preventing readers from benefiting from Virginia Woolf's review. Exceptional reviews by anyone — authors or otherwise — are still worth fighting for.
Note Andrew's use of quotes around the word expert, which could be construed to mean that no such expert authors exist. Andrew could say he was simply quoting my use of the word expert, but he is also in his own words making a statement about what he does not believe "categorically." In the hypothetical realm, why would anyone assert that no expert reviewers actually exist?
Despite these statistical vacillations, I maintain that exceptions are still worth fighting for, whether their numbers are best expressed by "some," "a few" or even very few.
It does seem that Andrew's responding to an argument I didn't make by suggesting our theoretical Woolf wouldn't want to "cast pearls before swine" (and thank you, A.H., for that open-minded characterization of Amazon's customers) — as if I'd made the argument that our disenfranchised theoretical Woolf had better places to publish — but again, I don't think that necessitates anyone's wagging their finger and chanting, "straw man, straw man!" That would be netiquette's equivalent of complaining about his punctuation.
Besides which, the sort of conflict of interest Andrew's talking about is deeply embedded in the publishing and academic industries — it simply occurs at a higher level. That level of conflict is far more difficult to ignore than Amazon's because the rewards are significant, real and pervasive rather than largely theoretical. I don't know anyone who buys self-published ebooks based on badly written raves from author-reviewers on Amazon, and few self-published authors who make any money, but I do know academics and editors who literally publish, promote and assign one another's papers, essays and books. No one seems to call that nepotism or a conflict of interests (though I do), and while the alternative might seem more ethical, the end result would be to take away yet another advantage of being a lowly academic in a corporate post-academic world, penalize teachers yet again, and allot more power to corporate interests that have far greater conflicts of interest (see (early) Reagan's and Goldwater's former education rep., who used to warn that free access to higher education was in danger of creating "an educated proletariat").
For the love of Oscar Levant, it was a joke, Andrew! If your last few posts are any indication, you might want to readjust your frivolity filter!
There is not any ad hominem whatsoever in my calling Andrew's idea unreliable because it eradicates the possibility of excellence in an attempt to prevent a conflict of interests — an attempt which I consider ineffective as well.
To respond ad hominem would suggest I attacked the man as opposed to the argument, and the irony is that the very first lines of Andrew's response to my last post are closer to the definition of ad hominem insofar as they accuse me of posting for reasons I haven't expressed involving motives I don't possess:
Perhaps someday, an Amazon reviewer's name will no longer be anonymous after a fixed number of years following said reviewer's death.
If that ever happens, I think we'll be amazed at the number of famous Amazon reviewers -- especially the occasional and not the prolific.
It seems (anecdotally, at least) more difficult for writers to be recognized and supported than once they were. High-profile writers might be relatively unaffected, but the ones who have published steadily until recently are often in a different situation. Writers who have hated the idea of blogs for all this time, dismissing public journals as self-indulgent or giving too much away that isn't in the books, are now writing them out of desperation. And that is only counting writers who are published and known already. What exactly would a Virginia Woolf growing up in our multimedia-driven briefly attentive culture feel compelled to do? I don't think it's far-fetched to posit her writing a dozen Amazon reviews as she pursues other modes and methods of publishing. I can also see her taking down and wishing to reuse the reviews at a later time if publishing her reviews elsewhere became viable. It's a mistake to see even famous writers as the completed and elevated literary edifices they became postmortem when they were often not seen that way in their own time. No accident that Leonard and Virginia Woolf happened to run their own press.
That good writers who are ignored will sometimes write reviews for Amazon seems evident to me, not only in the ways in which writers are now rejected by publishers, but because the ones who have been published in the past — even for decades — seem unable to find a publisher now.
Mobile Read has a handle on this. They don't prevent authors from reviewing other writers' books, they simply prevent them from promoting their own books dishonestly. And if a pattern of animosity and defamation exists (which is far more harmful than mindlessly effusive reviews), they track that pattern and act where necessary.
The original comment:
We live in a time in which attention is at least as important to people as financial gain, and that is often true on Amazon when it comes to self-publishing.
It is also true on MR and many other internet forums, where people love to insult virtually anything which seems held in high regard. No one would ever suggest that such comments be banned, but they still exhibit a conflict of interest involving the desire for attention as opposed to mere financial gain. Just because conflict of interest cases tend to focus on the financial and professional implications does not mean that other examples of corrupting secondary influences fail to fall under the same definition. Secondary influence is the primary issue in general with Amazon reviews, one which is unanswerable in terms of blanket automated enforcement. The only way to control it fairly is to track individual user trends and to take user reports and complaints seriously, as MR does here.
The issue is with Amazon's systematic and historic avoidance of certain kinds of customer/user interaction. Everyone knows that they've only made direct customer service possible because they were notorious once upon a time for hiding their phone number and contact info — for years, you couldn't find their phone number on site. This is simply another way for Amazon to automate interaction and impose a boolean rule instead of having to hire enough people to monitor human behavior in a human way.
Last edited by Prestidigitweeze; 02-22-2013 at 02:01 PM.
why in?
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Having read this hilarious post in which you obviously revel in the tedium of replying, I am now one hour closer to my death...
But that was part of your joke, wasnt it, Mr Prestident?
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[QUOTE=Prestidigitweeze;2419999]My apologies QUOTE]
OFF TOPIC sorry please is just a little cameo
Dear Prestidigitweeze,
In Italy I was considered kinda intellectual, but I struggle to find in English some good book, like a novel that uses refined expressions. I mean everybody speaks English, so I find everywhere really simple expressions to manifest feelings. Could you recommend me an extensive bibliography where I could draw fully from cherished expressions that embellish that miracle called language?
When I translate litteraly my thougts from italian to English the fake purists( shallow english managers) that I know here say that I am too much latin, could you consider the possibility to push further my knowledge of the English language. So far outside some Stephen Fry book and maybe Joyce , I never found something that fullfil this need to taste the language as I was used with some italian writers, please advice me and sorry for my English mistakes
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I'd suggest reading Dickens. One of the greatest of English authors, in terms of his use of the language, to my mind.
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I strongly assume (and hope for it) that this question will generate an even longer response from our esteemed colleague than his last one.
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Sorry yet again -- may my fecundities of propitiation immerse you in an ecstasy of secondhand shame -- but cringing at conflict had caused me to skirt this dangling kilt of contention until Pynch requested that I return its tug. Suffice to bray I'll make more recommendations than you can stake a shiksa at once I speak to you via PM about your virile interests.
("Ego ergo aegis," intoned the pseudo-classicist's crossfade.)
Last edited by Prestidigitweeze; 02-22-2013 at 02:21 PM.
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text:
Car Buyers' Concierge Takes Surprise Out of Shopping: Print Preview
The Rundown
- Car shopping book gaining popularity among CUs.
- Smart consumers make smart buyers, said CU vice president.
- Member said the process was free of haggling.
When Tracey West learned that her 14-year-old car would need thousands of dollars in repairs, she knew the time had come to part ways.
West turned to the $851 million IBM Southeast Employees Credit Union to start her search for a new vehicle. A member of the cooperative for 10 years, she financed her last car through the Boca Raton, Fla.-based credit union.
"I knew it wasn't going to be a used car. My car didn't give me any problems, but when it finally died, I knew I wanted a new one," said West, who works as a project manager in Atlanta.
Perusing the credit union's website, she came across an e-book titled "10 Mistakes to Avoid When Buying Your Next Car." One of the first tips was to get preapproved, which West said she did.
She was then paired with the book's author, Tywone Thomas, who works with several credit unions as a representative with Auto Advisor Services LLC. The program assists members with the car buying experience.
West said she picked up several helpful tips from the book, such as comparing all options, taking test drives and making sure to get all the desired features upfront. While she had heard many versions on when was the right time of the year to buy, the book suggested going to dealers at the end of the month.
"If they have a certain number of models that they're trying to get rid of, say 200, and you're 198, they might be more eager to give you what you want," West learned.
Another of the book's suggestions is to take the emotion out of car shopping. For West, it was one bit of advice that was hard to contain.
"It was so funny, when I saw the panoramic sunroof in the Hyundai Sonata, I just couldn't hide my emotions," West acknowledged.
From preapproval to driving that 2012 iridescent blue Sonata off the dealership lot, West said the entire process took about three weeks but only because she really wanted to have enough time to compare and test drive.
In the end, she got affordable monthly payments, a 100,000-mile warranty and the envy of some of her friends who bought more expensive, luxury models.
"One thing about working with the credit union is you don't have all the haggling. [The dealerships] don't try to sell you extra stuff you don't need. Once the price is negotiated, everything is smooth."
After 10 years of working with members, Thomas said he was motivated to write the book after hearing from members who had faced all types of car buying challenges. In addition to IBM Southeast, he serves as an auto adviser for Publix Employees Federal Credit Union, Combined Employees Credit Union and CGR Credit Union. He said his role is to help locate vehicles, negotiate deals and audit the transactions for members to make sure that they are being treated fairly.
"A lot of members are afraid to car shop alone and are not sure about the process of buying a car the right way. A lot of times they allow dealers to talk them into financing with them, instead of their credit union," Thomas said.
A download of the book can be made available to credit unions, which is offered to members for free. It includes a question and answer section, an auto shopping worksheet and online resources. Thomas also provides scenarios that can be used in the negotiation stage.
IBM Southeast's philosophy on financial education is that a smart consumer is a smart buyer, said Laura Hetherington, vice president of loans at the credit union. Since the book was posted on three different sections of the cooperative's website in July, more than 130 downloads have occurred. Members are also listening in on an accompanying podcast, she added.
"It's not a salesy book, it's just great information. It's 10 things members can do to get a good deal. That's why we made it available," Hetherington said. "The book encourages people to go to a credit union–not necessarily ours–for financing."
Hetherington said after reading the book she was hopeful members would walk away feeling confident and educated.
"Usually when you sit down for financing, that's when the prices go up and the hidden fees come out," West said. "I didn't have any problems with that."


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Alex Ovechkin's message to owners looking to roll back players' salaries: Beware.
"Why they still sign the guys for 10 years and five years? It looks strange and look stupid and they right now say like, 'We want to cut salary and we want to cut everything.' And I think lots of (players), they're just not coming back if this happen," Ovechkin told DC-area media on Tuesday at the Capitals' practice center, according to The Washington Times.
The league wants to cut the NHLPA's' cut of hockey-related revenue significantly from its current 57-percent threshold. Its first offer was 43 percent and also came with a 24 percent salary rollback. Its counterproposal was a bit more equitable and traded the rollback for an escrow system that, though not a salary reduction, would accomplish some of the same goals.
Negotiations broke off last Friday, and no new talks are on the horizon.
Ovechkin added that he'd "probably" play in Russia if, as expected, the owners lock out the NHLPA on Sept. 15, but that his preference was to start the season on time.
"It's not reasonable to be here. You have to think of the future, you have to think of your family."
Ovechkin, 26, is three seasons into a 13-year deal that pays him an average of $9,538,462—the highest salary cap hit in the NHL. He noted that the owners' stated labor goals didn't stopped them from signing players to megadeals earlier this summer.
"(Sidney) Crosby just signed, (Ryan) Suter, (Shea) Weber just signed huge deals and (owners) wanna cut 24 percent for nothing? I don't think it's fair enough," he said.
The two-time Hart Trophy winner is coming off a 38-goal, 27-assist season; those 65 points were the lowest total of his career, though his goal-scoring made an upward move from the 32 he potted in 2010-11. He had a career-high 65 in 2008-09.


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Discussion in 'Trek Tech' started by CharlieZardoz, Jun 11, 2013.
For some real fun, trying throwing the FASA-original Ambassador into the mix.
God, that's a fugly ship...
It's certainly an oddball, but pretty consistent with FASAbashing. It's pretty heavily armed for a heavy cruiser too, with a ton of torpedo tubes on it.
Haha! Well yes there were many types of Starfleet ships that participated in the dominion war including at least one Ambassador class (The Exeter). Hell, even the "Rutledge" was in the war at some point lol. The fact these many classes described weren't onscreen is simply due to the studio not having any working models CGI or otherwise at the time. It's really amazing we saw as many classes as we did and while the Ambassador class may have been less prevalent in theory I assume there were probably others. The Valdemar was on the edge of Cardassian space so I doubt it took a snooze while 10 fleets are starships were busy battling out possibly the greatest war Starfleet had faced at that point.
Regarding the two (or more) variants being built concurrently while I agree that is definitely true for Miranda's, Nebula's and Excelsior's it's really a question of why the studio decided to change the model in the first place. I can only assume the model makers sat down and said "hey let's make this thing look a bit more up to date to the TNG era and add some details." That would imply an "in universe" explanation for a refit to upgrade the old ships. Or at the very least the ones built later (20,000's) had the upgrades from the start since they were newer/built later on. While I agree with your idea Mark Nguyen that it is similar to having two car variants and I think that explanation sounds most logical, the creators of Star Trek did not always do things that made the most sense.
It's true they used stock footage of the Enterprise-C in one shot, but the footage of the Excalibur actually shot for the episode, namely the wide shot of the fleet, clearly shows her to be of the later variant type.
The Excalibur was definitely a variant. I mean they even changed the decals on the model for it.
While this is all true, I was referring to the actual CGI fleet shots, and why only seven ship classes were represented (plus one Nebula in one shot), with the majority of the number of ships being outdated Miranda and Excelsior classes. I know I sound like a broken record because I've posted this so many times, but I hope that when DS9 gets remastered, the original CGI VFX gets replaced with new scenes with new ships.
Also, I think listing the Norway in the DS9 Tech Manual was a mistake; I think they meant to put the Steamrunner there and got their artwork mixed up.
I have that FASA manual. It was written before the link between the Ambassador class and the Enterprise-C was known, so this wasn't supposed to represent the Ent-C. Which is good, because it's just a bad kitbash of Constitution parts.
Correct. The FASA Ambassador design was included because it was referenced in the dialogue of "Conspiracy," along with the Paine class frigate from the same book. It wasn't until "Yesterday's Enterprise" that we'd know what the Ambassador looked like and that the C was part of the class. That being said, I have an interesting idea on how the FASA description of the C and their Ambassador variant could be integrated with some of the canon materials. Hooray fanwank!
How do I delete messages? <---noob (:
I don't understand what you mean by this? It was likely a question of money, CGI starships aren't free and I think Okuda and co just thought it would be cool to say yeah there are even other designs that are never onscreen, Like Hokule, Rigel, Apollo, etc. There really is no other reason why in my opinion anyway. No other models were made or available at that time with the Ambassador model (supposedly) being bashed up from some earthquake and the connie refit too big and bulky. I do believe however that the fleet scenes had a perfect mix of newer and older starships and it never bothered me that Miranda's and Excelsior's were there in large numbers since it gave the fleet dynamics, plus I love those designs
I think they had a fairly good idea back before the construction of the E-C filming miniature. Andrew Probert already had his concept art put together by the time first season came around, and the gold profile half-model on the wall of the E-D's briefing room with all the other Enterprise's clearly represents Probert's design, and I believe it was already known to be an Ambassador class from the get-go. Granted, the Probert concept and final Ambassador production model differ greatly in many ways (as mentioned in the cited Ex Astris article), but they're a damn-sight closer to each other than the FASA thing. I'm thinking the more plausible explanation was that FASA simply wasn't paying attention...
Here's what I mean: When large fleet scenes were called for in DS9's 6th and 7th seasons, the only way to realistically create them was in CGI. ILM was ordered to give Paramount their First Contact CGI models (the Akira, Saber, Steamrunner, and Miranda classes built for FC; the Norway being lost). They also scanned their Enterprise-D, Defiant, and Excelsior physical filming models into CGI as well. That's why those seven classes were only used in the fleet scenes (with the Nebula class U.S.S. Bonchune from ST:Voyager used for one scene only). This was not any kind of realistic representation of Starfleet as a whole, for the reasons I described above.
My point is that, if the DS9 series ever gets remastered, and those CGI fleet scenes are not up to HD standard, they will need to be completely redone. Since there wouldn't be any time or budget constraints forcing them to have to use those seven designs, or any reason why the fleet scenes would have to be duplicated exactly as they were originally, they could potentially come up with brand-new ship designs (such as those aforementioned conjectural classes Okuda came up with to pad the Encyclopedia), or create CGI models of other ships we rarely saw, such as the Ambassador class, and make these fleet shots look more representative of the many types of ships Starfleet has.
No, FASA had no idea. They listed the Enterprise-C as an "Alaska-class battlecruiser" (although without any accompanying design; I suppose they figured that Probert's design seen on the Enterprise history wall was the "Alaska" class.
^^^ Let me clarify, by "they", I meant the TNG production team. Not FASA. I agree FASA had no clue, although I still can't track how they came up with a completely different "Ambassador" design independently, then, if the name had already been assigned to the Enterprise-C's class. Coincidence, I guess.
As I said, FASA just didn't have the information, or knew the link between the Ambassador Class and the Ent-C. All they knew was that the (unseen) U.S.S. Horatio was Ambassador class, and the half-Excelsior/half-Galaxy wall sculpture was the Ent-C, but with no correlation between the two.
That FASA manual was full of mistakes, from Haven being the Betazoid's home world, to the people of Mordan IV being called Molodor.
Sure; but we're talking about a class of ship which is arguably several decades old by that point, and which would be slated to be supplanted by other explorers such as the Galaxy by the time we saw them. So, as they finished off their final five-year missions (or whatever), assuming Starfleet didn't want to send them out again but wanted to keep them around, they could get assigned the various milk run missions that support all the other stuff happening across the Federation. You could also argue that Excalibur, possibly being in spacedock at the time she was drafted, was between missions, which could also mean Yamaguchi could've been in the midst of refitting at Utopia Planitia when the Borg came knocking. Zhukov, well, may have had irreparable damage from when Barclay was in Engineering and shuttling Vulcan Ambassadors around was all she could muster anymore. :P
We could probably find an explanation for most of those, since it's a pretty small list to begin with. That is, except for those that end up as "troubleshooter" ships like the E-D that always end up wherever things need to be taken care of, which could be what the E-C was doing in sensitive space near the Klingon border in 2344, as that class was supposedly the Galaxy or Constitution of her time.
[Long and awesome list omitted]
That depends on what these ships are meant to do and how many were made as well. Looking at the US Navy registry, the current list of active ship classes with the most examples in that class are pretty small: we have Arleigh Burke-class destroyers (62 ships active), Ticonderoga-class cruisers (22), Perry-class frigates (17), LA-class subs (42), Ohio-class subs (18), and a whopping ten Nimitz-class carriers. There are a good ten-plus additional classes of warships active (~42 active per Wiki), but none with more than ten examples, and not even counting the number of freighters and logistical ships there are to support them. Altogether the six "top" classes account for about 80% of the active warships; the top three alone account for over 50%.
Extending this to Starfleet, there could similarly be five or so classes of ship which account for the vast majority of the fleet we see, while everyone else would literally be lost in the background. This is not a completist answer as we KNOW that no such ships were shown or rendered for the big fleet scenes, but at least there is a real-world context for why all those other ships were just not seen.
It would be really neat if when they remastered DS9 they added more ships to the battle scenes. While I think there is a slight possibility of adding Ambassadors or Constellation or even New Orleans into the mix (very slight), I don't expect them to come up with new designs for Apollo, Hokule'a, Rigel and the like. I can imagine there still must be some budget restraints for the remastering and also it just seems like an unrealistic huge undertaking for a show already long over. It should remain as it was originally envisioned flaws and all. That said there are some beautiful fan renditions of these mysterious ships on the internet.
That said we massively off the original topic of the Horatio! LOL :P
I agree with the latter of what you say Mark. There were obviously some ships in Starfleet that were more common than others with many more Miranda's, Excelsior's etc. vs. New Orleans, Centaur, or Yeager class (ugly thing lol). But why must we assume the Ambassador class was built in few numbers? There were 10 featured in Star Trek! That is a lot of cameo's (on or off screen). There were only about 15 Nebula's featured, maybe about 10-15 Galaxy's, and only a couple dozen Miranda and Excelsior's. I don't feel the Ambassador was a "rare class" at all, just had a bit less "on screen" time.
My view is that Starfleet has their "flagship" designs of a given era, of ships which are their best and newest tech in the most advanced hulls they can muster. These are the ships that everyone wants to see and serve on. Due to the expense of resources to build them, there would never be that many. The TOS Enterprise was one of a dozen like her, and I like to think that the initial batches of Excelsior, Ambassador, Galaxy and Sovereign class ships were treated the same way.
Some like the Excelsior would prove so successful (and easy enough to build in large numbers) that Starfleet would do just that, building dozens or hundreds of them while moving on to the next flagship design. So, we have a TON of Miranda class ships built as the workhorse of the late TOS and early 24th centuries; a large number of Excelsiors would be the next wave, and short of a huge war like the Dominion conflict to thin out those herds, lots of them would still be around to haul their butts back and forth between starbases.
And going back to the Ambassadors, well, in TOS the Enterprise was one of a dozen, but we saw MOST of them over the course of three years! While unlikely, it would be possible for the E-D to meet more than a few of her predecessors in seven years, especially given the more-than-average distances she travels (ref: Starship Mine).
I agree. And I think the notion of the Galaxy class as being an "elusive" design went out the window with DS9. Roddenberry's original concept was that they were so big that Starfleet would have only a handful of them in service and during TNG that was the case. Once DS9 came around it turns out there were in fact lots of them. My feeling is that they had been slated for massive production and would end up becoming the workhorse/backbone of Starfleet as an eventual replacement for the excelsior design. I can imagine that 50 years in the future Starfleet is full of aging galaxy class ships.
Regarding the Ambassador class I think that if the model had survived to CGI we would have seen many more of them in DS9 but its another example of how real life effected star trek history the class remains one that "appeared" to be produced in only limited numbers which is a pity as I do rather like the design.
I seem to recall the Alaska class originated in a set of ship plans that were produced around the same time FASA was working on the OM, but whether it was intended to actually be a FASAverse design or simply fit in with it is up for debate. This set of plans was published by Temporal Graphics in 1988 and identified the ship as being the Enterprise-C, so FASA might have simply borrowed that for convenience and there being no conflicting information available at the time. There were some other oddball ship plans floating around then, like the USS Churchhill and the "Centurian Class" 1701-D.
Separate names with a comma.


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NBA 87th Convention
24 photos Launch gallery
NBA 87th Convention
1. 1. Jeff Johnson is a featured speaker at Top 40 Lawyers Under 40 gala.1 of 24
2. 2. Top 40 Lawyers Under 40 were honored by Impact and the NBA.2 of 24
3. 3. Barbara Arnwine, Director of the Lawyers' Committee, speaks on Voter Empowerment.3 of 24
4. 4. NBA members work hard and play hard. What's a convention without great receptions?4 of 24
5. 5. John Page, Esq. is sworn in as the 70th president of the NBA.5 of 24
6. 6. Attorney Benjamin Crump, Parks & Crump, shares details about the Trayvon Martin case.6 of 24
7. 7. Attorney Chris Chestnut, The Chestnut Firm, listens to audience comments about the FAMU Hazing death case.7 of 24
8. 8. Election protection and voter suppression are big issues at NBA conference.8 of 24
9. 9. Corporate legal leaders from various companies speak at the Corporate Leadership Forum.9 of 24
10. 10. Donna Brazile speaks about the importance of unity for this upcoming election & make sure we get to the polls.10 of 24
11. 11. The NBA Staff takes a moment to capture a team memory of their hard work.11 of 24
12. 12. Judge Mablean Ephriam enjoys a reception with friends and colleagues.12 of 24
13. 13. NBA members singing along with Mint Condition.13 of 24
14. 14. 12 regional winners won trips to compete for nat'l title in Metlife's MLK Drum Major for Justice Advocacy Competition.14 of 24
15. 15. Mint Condition treats NBA members to some of their classic tunes and new music from their new album.15 of 24
16. 16. Mint Condition poses backstage with Keisha Pickett, event publicist.16 of 24
17. 17. The NBA offers a daily Youth Camp for kids and students.17 of 24
18. 18. Juliette Pryor receives her 2012 Pinnacle Award.18 of 24
19. 19. Past President Daryl Parks honors NBA Executive Director Demetris Cheatham.19 of 24
20. 20. Past President Daryl Parks with Barbara Arnwine, Donna Brazile and Gary Flowers after Presidential Showcase Forum.20 of 24
21. 21. Atty. Benjamin Crump is recognized & the family of Trayvon Martin joins him and says a word of thanks to the NBA.21 of 24
22. 22. 6th Annual Louis Finney Youth Day welcomed 70 students for its day-long program at UNLV's Boyd School of Law.22 of 24
23. 23. The Judicial Council attend services at Las Vegas Community Church.23 of 24
24. 24. Chef Nikki Shaw encourages NBA members to eat healthy and to make better decisions.24 of 24
comments – Add Yours


text:
London Calling: Design jobs start for students in China
1 comments post a comment
A lack of suitably experienced IC designers in China has led design house Sondrel to start its recruitment process by training students in Ningbo.
System-to-silicon design consultancy Sondrel Ltd. (Theale, England) has formed a partnership with the University of Nottingham to develop IC design talent in China.
Under the project with an estimated multi-million dollar value Sondrel will train third-year students and recent graduates based at the University of Nottingham's campus in Ningbo China (UNNC) with three months; training in the latest IC design methods. The aim is to increase the availability of IC designers in the region and the first intake of students will begin in June.
Sondrel did not indicate how many electronics students it plans to train or over what period of time.
"One of our business models is to provide experienced engineering teams close to where the customer is located. However, because we are growing so quickly and the demand from other companies is so great, we have been unable to find enough suitably-qualified personnel in China," said Graham Curren, CEO of Sondrel, in a statement.
Students who successfully complete the training will be offered a four-month internship at Sondrel. They will then be able to apply for a job at the company, which has offices in seven countries throughout Europe and the USA as well as Asia where it operates from Shanghai and Xi'an.
"We are convinced that this initiative will be beneficial to the students, our customers and of course, the participating companies and organizations," added Curren. "The IC business is global, and to be competitive, companies must have global resources yet understand local cultures and business practices. That is why we are so excited by this program - which is a first in our industry."
Established in 2002, Sondrel is experienced in digital, mixed-signal, analog, low power and wireless IC design having completed over 200 designs at a range of process geometries down to 20-nm.
Related links and articles:
News articles:
Sondrel readies automation environment
Ningbo Bird to invest $38 million in TD-SCDMA
Bird mulls handset manufacture in India


text:
A Detroit-based company, White Construction Co., has been subcontracted by Stacy and Witbeck to work on the project, M1 Rail said.
The Stacy and Witbeck bid contract reportedly will cover all major construction, such as the tracks, power control, and passenger stations, along the 3.3-mile initial segment.
Future bids will include an estimated $9.5 million for construction of a vehicle storage and maintenance facility, $27 million for six streetcars, and for a private-sector company to operate and maintain the streetcar system.
Private-sector backers of the project include the Kresge Foundation, the Penske Corp., and Quicken Loans, among others.
Last April the Federal Transit Administration gave final environmental approval to the project. Last January M1 Rail secured $25 million in federal funding to help advance the project.


text:
Porte De Garage Basculante Novoferm Frais Novoferm Noviso Novorol Novoside Dhaze Portes De Garage
Porte De Garage Basculante Novoferm Frais Novoferm Noviso Novorol Novoside Dhaze Portes De Garage, picture size 800x600 posted by Burnit at June 8, 2014
37 Luxe Porte De Garage Basculante Novoferm – Garage area doors are a common weak spot when looking at security in a whole-home approach and a fairly easy target for thieves. Brooklyn garage door are not only a weakness, but provide criminals a refuge once inside. To the everyday passerby an wide open garage with a part truck pulled up to it shouldn't look out of place or scream break-in. A brooklyn garage door is a huge door over a garage that opens either manually or by an electrical motor (a garage door opener). Garage doors are frequently adequate to support automobiles and other vehicles. Small garage doors may be made in a single panel that tilts up and back across the garage ceiling.


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Former Air Force captain Reichen Lehmkuhl has choice words about the Obama Administration and DADT, and the editing on his Logo series 'The A List: New York'
ARNOLD WAYNE JONES | Life+Style Editor email@example.com
Dish at the ilume,
4123 Cedar Springs Road.
Nov. 5, 6–8 p.m. Free.
Reichen will also host a
meet-and-greet at Woody's,
4001 Cedar Springs Road,
Nov. 5 at 10 p.m.
If all you know about Reichen Lehmkuhl is what you see in reality shows — he won Season 4 of The Amazing Race, and is currently one of the "gay housewives" on Logo's The A List: New York — then you're missing a lot of what drives him.
Formerly an airman in the U.S. Air Force, Reichen (nobody uses his last name) is an outspoken advocate for gay rights, especially the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell." And on this election week, he has some choice words for the Obama Administration.
"What Obama has done is disappoint all of his voters and really squandered away all of our affection," Reichen says without hesitation, reflecting his displeasure that the president — after claiming a desire to repeal DADT, nevertheless appealed a California court's ruling that the law was unconstitutional. "He made a choice he didn't have to make — one of process over basic values. And he flat-out lied about what his values are. He said he thought all gays and lesbians should be allowed to serve, and when the opportunity was presented to him without any effort at all, he did not support it."
Reichen knows that, especially within the gay community, his harsh words about the country's top Democrat might not be popular. But he has too much invested in this issue to remain silent.
"I'm getting a lot of hate mail," he admits. "I think [some] people are being apologists and are blinded because they are afraid of looking like they don't support [Obama]. But for those of us on the front lines — and I am — it has just been awful. And I just won't be an apologist for the president. I won't do it. You can't apologize for people who swore to do what they say they will and don't."
He was especially confused when, immediately after the Pentagon announced it would accept openly gay military applicants, the Justice Department filed its appeal in the lawsuit, even though the deadline to appeal (if at all!) was more than a month away. Reichen says the decision was basely political before the midterm elections.
"The day the president appealed the decision, I was asked to go on MSNBC the next day, but I was so baffled I didn't know what to say and I didn't want to say something wrong, so I turned down the request."
All this is a far cry from why Reichen will be in town this week: Promoting Shoot the Butte, a gay ski week starting next year in Crested Butte, Colo., for which Reichen is a spokesperson and attendee (he's a huge snowbunny, and in fact a certified ski instructor). But the ski event is actually in conjunction with the Matthew Shepard Foundation, for which he is a strong supporter.
And even talk of Judy Shepard steers him back to politics. As a former servicemember, Reichen firmly believes that people have lost sight of the easiest way to advance gay rights: Just let the discharges stop.
"If you stop the discharges and let people come out and say, 'I am a professional and you can't assume I am not because I am gay' … once that happened for 30, 60 days, it would be impossible to reverse the decision," he says. "Just [this week], the administration ordered that DADT is back in effect so the discharges are continuing."
He sighs. You can tell it's something he internalizes and takes very personally.
"I'm really worried about what the president did to the support of so many gay people. He really just slapped us all in the face. He is political and doesn't believe in equality for LGBT people. If this had been a race issue, would he have put politics before values? No, he wouldn't. It shows how low he thinks of us as a community."
You might not expect such political passion from someone best known for playing himself on TV, especially in light of the persona he projects on The A List. But even there, Reichen has his criticisms. When I say he comes off as a jerk on the show, he immediately says, "I hope you put that in your article."
"I've tried to explain that even to the producers," he says. "What you're seeing is what they wanna show. They say I'm not gonna come off as a jerk as the later episodes air [but we'll see]. You see me hit on a guy in a club, but what you don't see is this guy is a friend of mine for 13 years. And the editing with Austin makes it look like we had some big, long relationship — we spent one day together [in Palm Springs]! I kept in touch with him by text, but that's it. He says I have a small cock and am a bad cocksucker. The guy's never seen my cock and I've never been near between his legs!"
The show also makes it look like his relationship with boyfriend Rodiney is doomed. He's contractually forbidden from saying where they stand, although he does reveal, "I saw him this morning. And we love each other very much — I can say that much." (Not so for Austin, whom he says he ignores now.)
What he does say is not wrong about the editing on the show is what we learned this past week: Reichen looks hot in a dress.
"This is a big secret, but I love to do drag!" he says. "I totally get why drag queens do what they do. I have so much fun, though I look better when I do my own makeup. I have complete anonymity [when I go out in drag] and people are scared of me."
Scared of him? Sounds like that could be an advantage against an enemy in battle. And maybe one more reason Reichen can list to bring down "don't ask, don't tell."
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition November 5, 2010.


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Dr. Stan Monteith looks at the surprising and disturbing population control agendas behind such groups as Planned Parenthood, Lucis Trust, and yes, the United Nations!
Dr. Stan Monteith examines the subtle and pervasive population control agenda behind many U.S. and United Nations programs.
Christian Media Critic Ted Baehr examines the pervasive influence that television and mass media have on our children, our families, and our society.
Dr. Stan Monteith, author of -AIDS: The Unnecessary Epidemic-, describes the incredible death toll AIDS has taken on Africa & Asia, as well as America - the only plague in history left so grossly unchecked.
World Affairs commentator John Loeffler examines the gradual erosion of our rights in this nation, and our loss of freedoms as Christians under the banner of 'tolerance'. Don't believe it can't happen here, because it already does.
Chuck Missler examines the amazing and disturbing parallels between the chaotic times of the prophet Hosea, and our own country today.
Dr. James Hirsen reviews the official documentation from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the danger of stripping parents of their rights and handing them to the State.
Chuck Missler explains that great empires have risen up from bondage, only to become complacent and fall through social, cultural, and moral decay. Where does American stand in this cycle?
Traditional American values have been ridiculed in the public arena over the past half century. How is the Left shouting down what used to be mainstream conservative positions?
How is our right to privacy being steadily eroded as the government makes use of the newest technologies? From our social security numbers to the linking of national databases, Big Brother is becoming increasingly more invasive.
Terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, anthrax - fear has overwhelmed many during these uncertain days. As Christians, however, we must remember there is nothing we need to fear.
Freedom has long been under by those in the West who have sought to erode the foundations of Western thought, culture and law, and replace them with a global, socialistic paradigm.
Though known for its gruesome history, a visit to the Louisiana State Penitentiary shows a system led by the power of Christ and changing the lives of hundreds of prisoners.
David Barton, founder and president of WallBuilders, explains the difference between a Democracy and a Republic, using the words of the Founding Fathers themeselves.
As we enter the New Year we also enter a profoundly changed administration, perhaps reflecting a profoundly changed population " even more changed than most people can imagine.
Chuck examines the chilling comparisons between Y2K and our current situation
The danger of an EMP event is an all-too plausible possibility.
Tying the looming economic crisis to the true motives behind the recent invasion of Iraq, pointing to the ever-increasing possiblity of a single world currency.
An Inspiring article from David Barton of WallBuilders honoring the Declaration of Independence.
A quick look at some interesting statistics.
Dr. William Welty explores the reason Thomas Jefferson had an interest in Islam.
Frank Salvato writes about Understanding the Worth of our Nation.
Chuck Missler comments on the signing of the National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive of May 9th, 2007.
Chuck Missler reviews how events over the past few years have caused many informed observers to be concerned over the increased precariousness of our strategic horizon.
Chuck Missler discusses how to protect our financial resources.
Chuck Missler give his forecast for 2008.
Chuck Missler talks about rising food prices.
Chuck Missler continues his talk on the Vortex Strategy.
Chuck Missler discusses the end of America as we know it.
Chuck Missler discusses the decline of the U.S.
Tony Nassif, Jr., Cedars Cultural and Educational Foundation discusses the consequences of greed .
Mary Miller, Director of Research discusses the International Criminal Police Organization.
Mary Miller discusses U.N.American Education.
Mary Miller, Director of Research writes aboutborder insecurity: The Deceit of Audacity.
Mary Miller, Director of Research write about what we didn't learn from history.
Mary Miller, Director of Issachar Studies and IDB writes aboout the question Has Judgment Come to America?
Mary Miller writes about ideas from the book Rescuing a Broken America: Why America is Deeply Divided and How to Heal it Constitutionally by Dr. Coffman
Mary Miller writes about Rescuing a Broken America.
Mary Miller writes about Normalcy Bias and the U.S. Dollar
Steve Elwart, IDB Folio Specialist writes about the Gulen movement Islam being taught in charter schools.
Mary Miller writes about Sound Money.
Mary Miller writes about the contion of the states.
Mary Miller write about "black swans".
Steve Elwart writes about The Kings of South Asia.
Mary Gehl writes about The National Defense Authorization Act/
Steve Elwart writes about a cure of the economic depression.
Mary Gehl writes about financial terrorism.
There is no doubt that gun violence in the United States is a problem, but so is the progressive loss of freedoms. The Second Amendment is very short because when it was drafted, no explanation was needed. How you interpret the text depends on your w
We are fast approaching a time when each of us will have to make some decisions—decisions about our life, our relationships, and our worldview.
As America systematically removes God from society, Germany can be seen as a bellwether nation when it comes to predicting the future of America.
The world is moving into a new phase of labor. It could be termed "Jobs 3.0." We'll have one group of people who will be working in higher skilled jobs that, as yet, have not been automated and a permanent underclass living off gove
What is Common Core curriculum, and why is it effective in uniting parents, professionals and politicians in such a protest?
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Jane's GBS Video Diary as of March 2013
Posted on March 29, 2013 by Laura Posted in Media | Leave a comment
March Newsletter: Forsaken
Posted on March 1, 2013 by Laura Posted in Newsletters | Leave a comment
Last month I wrote about Jesus teaching us to pray like this: 'My Father, who is in Heaven…' and the significance of personalizing and confidently coming before Him. This month I'll take a different road about relating to God. A wonderful thing about our Faith is that it's championed by a loving God and an obedient Savior who wished to hide nothing that can be revealed for our heart's benefit. He reveals all with Truth, even those things that make no 'mythical god sense', things that a made up god would never use to communicate with the lowly human creature. Things like, well, our hero seemingly losing it at the very pinnacle of the Gospel story.
It's been a couple years ago that I first wrote about the phrase: 'My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?' The word forsaken there most commonly means to 'leave someone behind.' That's the only place in all of scripture that Jesus called out to God, rather than calling on the Father. Here, it was not the personal, intimate calling but a call to the Creator (Elohim). At that moment, Jesus' humanity was paying a price for us. As a man, not as the Son of Man, he was crying out to the Creator of the universe. As a man experiencing all that could be experienced for us, every thought of loneliness, despair, hopelessness and isolation fell upon Jesus. Today, there seems to be a great awareness among us, many having those same feelings in this world. No wonder we're a bit gun-shy. Our enemies surround us and our own leaders can't seem to find a way to share a positive vision or purpose. (There surely must be a college course somewhere where they teach our politicians to fib but do so with great 'compassion for the folks.') We live in a time, because of the rejection of the Love of God in the earth, that many of us feel all alone, more isolated and less hopeful. Those kinds of feelings are not uncommon and are not to be ashamed of; those feelings, as we have seen, were evident at the cross in Jesus.
I suppose we really can't imagine the intensity of the hopelessness of Jesus at that moment. Some would say, that because of who he was, the cross was 'no step for a stepper', passing off the agony of Jesus as though it were a drama to be acted out on a world stage, not a pressure cooker of despair. There should be no mistake: the immense burden of the Cross was not less because Jesus was more. Picture it like this, that the most sensitive being to the Spirit of God, the loveliest, the most related to God, the most true, the one most touched, was the one most deeply swallowed up by an undesired isolation and abandonment! Imagine that that moment was tenfold our life experience. It was the most unjust, the most undeserved, of all divine interaction. Never before had Jesus not been able to know that God was with him, his Father was part of him. This loneliness was as deep and as full as was possible for any human to experience. The earlier temptations came with a feeling, a knowing, his Father's presence. The Cross came with antagonism, physical pain and a deep loneliness. Those other times had come with an easy ability to raise his eyes to Heaven and say 'My Father' and find comfort. This time was not like any other time; never before had there been a challenge like this. This was a time when nothing else meant anything to him. Jesus' humanity was consumed in real pain and disappointment; this was not a drama but real blood, bruises, cursings, and piercing death. The humanity of Jesus had become like us in every way, being tempted in all things as we are, all things that are common to each of us, and probably more intensely so.
Forsaken? No, God does not leave us behind, but simply stands to the side being a companion. He does so, so that we can act from ourselves, choosing or abandoning His Will, embracing or rejecting ours. Each day He leads us, pushes us, and hopes that we will choose Him and so become more and more His children. That space in between us and Him is permitted, created, as an opportunity to bind us further to Him. Freedom comes not from being independent from God, but rather from becoming more and more captured by His Love. In His creation, with the opportunity to choose Him as Lord, comes His striving to make us free.
(Pressure brings pain but also always brings a choice. Will we run toward Him or away? Adam and Eve hid themselves. Moses' confrontation with Pharaoh placed a choice before the ruler to draw near or to separate further from God, hardening his own heart toward God. The love of God always calluses our hearts or it softens. He comes over and over with the offer of relationship and love. How we receive that offer molds our futures. What was created to send us into His arms very often, and more times than I wish, ends up identifying our independence, or more harshly, our rebellion.)
Jesus, at the moment he uttered the word 'forsaken', felt (in his humanity) just like we feel sometimes, but even more so. He and we feel we've been abandoned by family, friends and even the God we believe in.
In times like we find ourselves in today, we could use some assurance in our own hearts that He is there with us. Scripture is our tutor to finding the nature of a never changing God. From Psalm 22, we know that Jesus was 'thinking' abandonment; however, that same scripture teaches us and we know that God was with him, in him. Jesus felt like a worthless worm, the reproach of all men, despised by all, the wicked surrounded him. And, just as then, now we have that same assurance that God is a constant companion, even being purposely called Emmanuel (God with us) so that we might remember His promise. Jesus felt forsaken, but more importantly his statement was a question. Jesus was asking for affirmation of something he believed. In that moment humanity had crashed in upon him with a weight most unbearable; Jesus actually did feel like God had left him behind. His response was from the most perfect believer of us all! However, the next word from Christ was 'yet not my will but Thy Will be done', a word of Trust. God hears us in the desperate situations, is with us then, is always present even in the times we feel abandoned the most. As I mentioned in the earlier letter, we should always remember that after the disturbing description of the crucifixion found in the 22nd Psalm, David wrote what most people consider the most comforting Psalm of all, the 23rd. Now we have circled back to last month's letter: 'My Father who is in Heaven…


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1993 Toyota Pickup - 2008 SEMA Project "PayBack" Update
12 Days and Counting
Go-Ez/Dragger's Inc. and friends (714-630-0600, 1330 N. Blue Gum Ste. A, Anaheim, CA 92806) have the grueling task of completing Events Producer Eddy Cebreco's 1993 Toyota Pickup. Torn to pieces, brought to bare metal, and gutted completely, these guys are faced with the tremendous task of getting this truck back together, painted, and delivered to the SEMA Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, in under 12 days. These pictures, snapped during lunch and only hours old, portray exactly where the truck stands.
On the bright side, it is a completely sick build, as you can already see from the framework and bodywork. Through energy drinks, motivation, and sleepless nights, this truck will look completely different in two weeks. There is still tons of work to be done on this wicked 'Yota, but in the end, it will all come together; isn't that what deadlines are for, after all? In fact, this frantic buildup process witnessed today seems to be the common plight for many SEMA vehicles, as the show always sneaks up on everyone.
In closing, I have one hint - do not bug anyone involved in the "SEMA crunch" right now, as they are understandably super stressed out! Keep up the good work!
The amazing transformation of Eddy's truck did take place during those short twelve days, and we have the pictures to prove it! Tucked nicely into the Air-Zenith booth at the SEMA Show, notice how the crazy framework and exterior bodywork compliment the custom, clean, and classy looking right-hand drive interior. True to mini-trucker fashion, this 'Yota also lays out hard over big rims.


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ABC News/Washington Post Poll, April 2007 (ICPSR 24586)
Principal Investigator(s): ABC News; The Washington Post
This poll, conducted April 12-15, 2007, is part of a continuing series of monthly polls that solicit public opinion on the presidency and on a range of other political and social issues. Respondents were asked whether they approved of the way George W. Bush was handling his job as president, whether they approved of the way Congress and their own representative in the United States House of Representatives were handling their jobs, and to compare how President Bush and the Democrats in Congress were handling issues such as the economy and the United States campaign against terrorism. Opinions were solicited on Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Majority leader of the Senate Harry Reid, the 2008 potential presidential candidates, and how much progress Congress had made in the three months prior to the poll. Respondents were asked how closely they were following the 2008 presidential race, for whom they would vote if the 2008 Democratic and Republican primaries were being held that day and how strongly they supported that candidate, which candidate they thought would win their party's nomination, and how much respondents knew about their candidate's position on specific issues. Several questions asked about the war in Iraq, including whether the war in Iraq was worth fighting, whether the United States was winning the war in Iraq, whether the United States should keep military forces in Iraq until civil order is restored, whether Bush's decision to send additional military forces to Iraq was supported, and whether the United States should set a deadline for withdrawing its forces from Iraq. Respondents were also asked a few questions about Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, including whether they would be more likely to vote for John Edwards because his wife, Elizabeth, has cancer, and whether John Edwards should suspend his campaign due to his wife's illness. Additional topics included United States Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' handling of the firing of eight chief federal prosecutors, embryonic stem cell research, illegal immigrants, the condition of the nation's economy, gas price increases, and the firing of radio personality Don Imus due to making racially insensitive remarks during his radio show. This poll surveyed an oversample of African American respondents. Demographic information includes voter registration status and participation history, sex, age, race, income, marital status, religious preference, education level, type of residential area (e.g., urban or rural), political philosophy, political party affiliation, whether the respondent or anyone in the home was a military veteran, and whether the respondent or anyone in the household was a member of a labor union.
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Study Description
ABC News, and The Washington Post. ABC News/Washington Post Poll, April 2007. ICPSR24586-v1. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2009-05-26. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR24586.v1
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Subject Terms: Bush Administration (George W., 2001-2009), Bush, George W., Clinton, Hillary, Democratic Party (USA), Edwards, John, gasoline prices, Gingrich, Newt, Giuliani, Rudolph, Gore, Al, government ethics, immigrants, Iraq war, McCain, John, national economy, Obama, Barack, Pelosi, Nancy, presidential candidates, presidential elections, primary elections, public opinion, racial attitudes, Reid, Harry, Republican Party (USA), Romney, Mitt, social issues, stem cell research, terrorism, Thompson, Fred, United States Congress, voting preference
Geographic Coverage: United States
- 2007-04
- 2007-04-12--2007-04-15
Unit of Observation: individual
Universe: Persons aged 18 and over living in households with telephones in the contiguous 48 United States.
ICPSR created a unique sequential record identifier variable named CASEID for use with online analysis.
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Variables FIPS and ZIP were recoded and variable SMSKEY was removed to protect respondent confidentiality.
The data collection was produced by Taylor Nelson Sofres of Horsham, PA. Original reports using these data may be found via the ABC News Polling Unit Web site and via the Washington Post Opinion Surveys and Polls Web site.
System missing values were recoded to -1.
Sample: Households were selected by random-digit dialing. Within households, the respondent selected was the adult living in the household who last had a birthday and who was home at the time of the interview. This poll surveyed an oversample of African American respondents.
Weight: The data contain a weight variable (WEIGHT) that should be used in analyzing the data. The data were weighted using demographic information from the Census to adjust for sampling and nonsampling deviations from population values. Respondents customarily were classified into one of 48 cells based on age, race, sex, and education. Weights were assigned so the proportion in each of these 48 cells matched the actual population proportion according to the Census Bureau's most recent Current Population Survey.
Mode of Data Collection: telephone interview
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Original ICPSR Release: 2009-05-26
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Whitney Hales
July 24, 2013
Location: Belize
Village Capital Partner: Maya Mountain Cacao
Whitney is originally from bayou country Louisiana. She completed her bachelor's degree at Lake Forest College, a small liberal arts school north of Chicago, where she studied environmental studies and politics. She just recently completed a year of social service in Miami, FL working in the mathematics department of an 'at-risk' high school as an AmeriCorps volunteer. Here at MIIS she is thrilled to be studying business administration and environmental policy!


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Washington D.C.,
August 2, 2013
"Last week, the President pivoted, yet again, to a message about the economy and jobs. Small businesses need more than a message change; they need a pivot away from the encroaching regulatory state. The numbers tell the story. In the past four years, major rules alone have added nearly $70 billion in new regulatory costs. By comparison, ten years ago, there were six major rules in Fiscal Year 2003, for annual costs that were about $2 billion. In Fiscal Year 2012, 14 new major rules imposed an additional $14.8 to $19.5 billion in annual costs, according to the Office of Management and Budget, making 2012 the costliest year on record for federal regulation. Today's disappointing unemployment announcement showed that our rate of job growth is not excelling enough to close the jobs gap left by the recession. That's why we need common sense legislation like the REINS Act and the Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act to slow the barrage of unnecessary regulations coming from this Administration. If we accept policies like these to restrain our government, the economy will be better off, and small businesses will have more room to both grow and create jobs."
The bipartisan Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act of 2013 (HR 2542) was introduced June 28th by Graves and Judiciary Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law Chairman Spencer Bachus (R-AL).
Earlier this year, Graves launched a new Committee initiative, called "Small Biz Reg Watch," to help small businesses participate in the development of federal regulations. This online resource on the Committee's website regularly highlights proposed regulations that could impact small companies and instructs business owners on how they can make comments to the federal agency developing the proposed regulation.