text:
For Something
today the Olympics had their opening day ceremony. I forgot to watch
it. If I had wanted to watch it, I would need to find another country's
website because one needs to be subscribed to cable service or something
so you can watch the NBC live stream on the Internet.
China, the U.K., and other countries with a team or athlete
participating in the games, have got their websites streaming the events
live for free on the Internet. So, I must cheer on the USA while
watching the Olympics in Chinese, or French.
Who am I kidding?
I could go down to the community room and watch the Olympics on the
Treehouse cable channel TV if I wanted to hear it in English. For some
reason, I don't like to spend a lot of time watching TV. I have too many
other things I'd rather do with my time.
Like today,
I worked up a couple of new songs for the band I'm in with John
Harrison. I also took a whole bunch of pictures, did some research about
iPads, took Mark Relly to the convention center to pick up food, read
some of the book about Glock, (the Austrian gun manufacturer), and
participated in a few other engaging activities.
I guess there are a lot of fun things that I would not be doing if I was sitting around watching TV, (things like writing this blog).
I suppose
that my having internet access to every movie, every television show, every
newscast, every event in the world at any time I'd like to watch them, I
kind of get a little picky about what I watch, and how much of it I
want to watch at a time. It's not like I'll miss anything, because all
the shows are always there anytime I want to see them.
I stopped
in John's violin shop today and he put new strings on my guitar.
Thursday night when we were playing at Lulu's, I noticed that my strings
were dead. I was having trouble getting any good sounds out of them. He
does a much better job of stringing up guitars, (or violins), than I
do, so I am glad he offers to change the strings on my wonderful, 30+
year old Takamine.
While I was
there I tried some experiments using various angles and light sources
with the camera trying to get the natural colors of the instruments. I
think I got the color of the viola, (pictured above), just about the
color spectrum it really is. Pretty, isn't it?
once again, is that flower that I'm following each day. You can see the
hole in it where the ants have excavated and established a little
village inside the core of the flower.
And finally,
I like to show you how the blooms on the roses along the driveway can
sometimes look better as they fade and wilt. When the light is just
right, the ragged edges that were brown, now are purple.
Today's Sweet Video;


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July and August have been awesomely filled with friends and family visiting us here in Portland. We have been very blessed with having so many people be able to come enjoy our new city with us and it has been filled with tons of fun outings. We are so thankful so many people could come out to see our new home so soon after getting settled in here.
Here are a few pictures and recaps of some of the memories!
One of my best friends from San Diego, Tiffany Sepp, came to visit in early July and we had a blast. It was a quick 24 hour trip but we crammed lots of great girl time in. I got to show her the city, we did some wine tasting in beautiful wine country (Argyle Winery & Erath Winery), had an amazing lunch at Dundee Bistro, and got great girl hang out time at our house that night.
Just about three weeks later my parents stopped by for a few nights with their close friends, Don and Patty Simons. They were doing their summer road trip in the motorhome and stopped off in Portland to spend a few days with us. They parked their motor home right out on the street and played like the "Clampets!" We really had a great time with them and did lots during the three days they were here. We went wine tasting at Willakenzie Estate, which is our favorite. (It's also the one I met my friend Mary at previously. Talked about it in previous BLOG) Then we went to Rex Hill Winery and loved that too.
Then we took a ride on the Portland Spirit Boat Cruise (same one Derek and I did when we first moved here) and they all loved it.
Derek was finally able to meet up with us for happy hour & appetizers at Departure, the restaurant on top of the Nine's Hotel. It had a beautiful view (15th floor) but it wasn't quite our scene. We still had a lovely time regardless. We then went to El Gaucho for dinner afterwards which was awfully hilarious seeing that we were all in shorts, tank tops, sandals, and had obviously been on a boat earlier. Everyone in the restaurant had tuxedos on. We were going to leave but they insisted we stay...so we decided to eat dinner off their happy hour menu in the bar area. After awhile we got over the fact that compared to our server we looked like a bunch of bums. When we left the hostess gave us a $25 gift certificate (since we were new to the area) to come back and have dinner in the restaurant. That was pretty awesome!
We also played a little Boche Ball on the lawn up the street from us in front of the new townhomes they are building. We brought the dogs and Bear had a blast running after the balls and moving them. It sure made the game more interesting!
Four days later the Clarks arrived! They stayed for a bit longer so we had time to do a few more things. There is so much to do here though, that we still didn't get to do even half of what we would love to show everyone. It really is an amazing city filled with tons of places to see and things to do.
The first night they were here we went to a cute little restaurant down the street from our house called Hall Street Grill. We had an amazing dinner followed by some amazing desserts that were all locally grown and handmade. Delicious!! The following day we met up with Derek and did a tour of the hospital and then had lunch with him in a cafe there. That night we had a spectacular dinner at Portland City Grill (30th floor!) and the view was absolutely stunning.
We also took them to encounter Voodoo donuts since Jane is such a donut lover. She was very pleased with the outcome. We even acted more like locals and ordered a dozen individually instead of having them pick the donuts out for us. We also found a wall outside of Voodoo that describes the theme of Portland very well!
I also took Jane and Jim on the Portland Spirit since it is now one of our staples to take people on. The water, the piano player, the ambiance - it's just really awesome.
We had dinner at our new favorite place called The Raccoon Lodge. They have a picnic area outside where we can bring the dogs with us AND they have sour beers. Our new love!
We also went to the Bite of Oregon Festival. There are tons of restaurants there with all the food and drinks to sample you could want. It was great fun!
We had such a great time with all of our visitors and look forward to many returning trips as well as new visitors!! We feel so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends and also to be able to share such an amazing city with them that we can finally call home.

subset: commoncrawl


text: Pom33 is an integral membrane protein of the yeast nuclear pore complex (NPC), required for proper NPC distribution and assembly. To characterize Pom33 NPC-targeting determinants, we performed immunoprecipitation experiments followed by mass spectrometry analyses. This identified a novel Pom33 partner, the nuclear import factor Kap123. In vitro experiments revealed a direct interaction between Pom33 C-terminal domain (CTD) and Kap123. In silico analysis predicted the presence of two amphipathic α-helices within Pom33-CTD. Circular dichroism and liposome co-flotation assays showed that this domain is able to fold into α-helices in the presence of liposomes and preferentially binds to highly curved lipid membranes. When expressed in yeast, under conditions abolishing Pom33-CTD membrane association, this domain behaves as a Kap123-dependent nuclear localization signal (NLS). While deletion of Pom33 C-terminal domain (Pom33ΔCTD-GFP) impairs Pom33 stability and NPC targeting, mutants affecting either Kap123 binding or the amphipathic properties of the α-helices do not display any detectable defect. However, combined impairment of lipid and Kap123 binding affects Pom33 targeting to NPCs. These data highlight the requirement of multiple determinants and mechanisms for proper NPC localization of Pom33.


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Wiz Khalifa's Rolling Papers 2 just dropped a few days ago so you know that Wiz was going to go hard in support of his latest baby.
Linking up with Problem for the clip to "Gin & Drugs," Wiz sets up in front of a green screen which allows all kinds of crazy CGI action without ever leaving the soundstage.
Speaking of crazy CGI, Macklemore follows suit for his trippy visuals to the King Draino assisted clip to "How To Play The Flute" (pause) where he goes from a deity on a heavenly throne to Bob Ross with the paint brush.
Check out the rest of today's drops including work from Brockhampton, Valee, and more.


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2) Lucas is the bouncer at this club.
5)tractors are super cool, especially when it's too hot to go anyplace outside. (and even though Home Depot mysteriously begins playing a "keep your children safe" announcement over the intercom…)
7) Show me again how you blow bubbles!
8) an early morning at the springs bathhouse.
9) naked babies are too cute for words.
10) dimple! I see my niece Elise in this photo, she makes this face too!
11) My little man mastering the stairs on his own
12) impromptu pretending to sleep happens everywhere, even at the playground.
13) he's just looking so grown up.
21) pretending to sleep, and looking super sweet.


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Harriet Harman announces new standards authority for MPs and peers
May 20, 2009 at 7:16 pm 1 comment
By Tony Grew
The Leader of the House of Commons has given MPs more detail about the proposed Parliamentary Standards Authority (PSA).
Harriet Harman said Parliament will have to legislate to delegate specific responsibilities to the new authority, which will revise and update the codes of practice for MPs, investigate complaints and implement the recommendations of the Committee on Standards in Public Life on allowances.
The PSA will take responsibility for authorising MPs' expenses claims under the new allowance system.
It will have the power to force MPs to pay back wrongful claims and impose "financial penalties."
The authority will perform similar functions for the House of Lords.
Ms Harman said it would also ensure "high standards of propriety and financial conduct," in the Upper House, investigate alleged abuses of the system and recommend sanctions against peers.
"It is clear that extensive work and consultation will be necessary to ensure the agreement of the House of Lords to the effective transfer of responsibilities to the new body," she said.
"The new authority would also maintain the register of Members' financial interests in this House and deal with the disclosure of second incomes.
"Discipline issues that might require sanctions such as suspension from the House, which would have a bearing on Members' ability to perform their work, would remain a matter for the whole House through the Standards and Privileges Committee.
"Only the electorate, or those who are themselves democratically elected, should be able to prevent a Member from doing their work in this House," she said
At a meeting of the Members Estimate Committee yesterday with the party leaders it was agreed that there will be an examination of MPs' claims over the past four years to "identify those claims that should not have been made and should not have been paid out because they were outwith the rules."
"We also agreed to make arrangements for repayment," Ms Harman said.
"The public are entitled to see a process of reparation and Members are entitled to know that this will be orderly and fair."
She also announced that there is an "immediate ban" on claims for furniture, a cap on interest payments for accommodation at the equivalent per year of £1,250 per month and a restriction on any changes to designation of main and second homes.
MPs who are married or living together as partners should be prevented from claiming more than one second home allowance.
"We have set in place the actions for reparation and reassurance," Ms Harman said.
"Although I know that it is hard to get a hearing on this subject now, as Leader of the House I will continue to argue, both inside and outside the House, that most honourable Members are precisely that: they are people who come into Parliament as a matter of public service, and are hard-working, decent and honest.
"However, we must recognise that, even before the allowance revelations, there was a problem of public disengagement and public cynicism, and a public sense of distance from Parliament.
"We must now seize the opportunity to promote a debate that will see proposals to change and strengthen our democracy move from the margins to centre stage."
The changes came after more than ten days of negative news stories about the expenses claims of some MPs.
Shadow Leader of the House Alan Duncan said the proposals, agreed by all party leaders in the Commons, "go a long way to addressing the issues that were crying out for attention."
He asked when revised rules will come into force.
"In the meantime, Sir Christopher Kelly and his committee are working on recommendations for a long-term solution to the pay and conditions of MPs," he said.
"In the middle of what can only be described as the most serious and revolutionary shift in popular opinion and in the reputation of Parliament in our lifetime, his committee is required to stand back from the fray and set out how a modern Parliament should look, and how it and its Members should be resourced.
"This is no easy task, and whatever people think of Parliament, I hope they will fully respect the integrity of his committee's efforts and show proper respect for his conclusions. May I ask, therefore, when the Leader of the House thinks the committee will eventually report?"
Ms Harman said Sir Christopher and the Committee on Standards in Public Life will report "later this year."
She said the "transitional measures" need to be up and running "straight away, as soon as the detailed rules can be put together, which will not take long at all."
Labour MP Don Touhig said he hoped the staff at the Fees Office, which currently oversees expenses claims from MPs, will be consulted about the new authority.
Ms Harman replied: "I am sure that we will need to engage with the invaluable experience and information that the Fees Office has accumulated over years of work on those issues, and that its contribution to the consultation will be very important indeed."
For the Lib Dems, David Heath said that self-regulation for MPs has "collapsed" and the House of Commons "has forfeited the right to self-regulation."
He broadly welcomed the interim proposals.
"I am worried that we may have inadvertently introduced a perverse incentive against Members renting accommodation and in favour of them entering into mortgage arrangements," he said.
"That cannot be what the House intends or what the general public want."
Mr Heath added:
"The matter now goes well beyond expenses. It is about the reform of Parliament and the political system, making the House work in a way that it has not done over recent years."
Veteran Labour MP Dennis Skinner said that ending the practice of MPs voting to increase their allowances "is a better day for Parliament."
Tony Wright, Labour MP for Cannock Chase, asked which bodies will be abolished as the new one is established and how the members of the new parliamentary standards authority will be appointed.
"The responsibility of some existing bodies will change, and the responsibility of some others will be subsumed within the new authority," Ms Harman said.
"All these issues are a matter for consultation, which, as I said, will be led by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Justice (Jack Straw)."
Tory MP Eleanor Laing was upset at suggestions in the press that MP "live in barracks in London" to avoid controversy about claims for second homes.
"I ask the House to take into consideration where we will put our children and when we will have time to see them," she said.
"If we want to have a legislature that really reflects the people, it must reflect families. The financial arrangements must therefore reflect the need for some of us to undertake family duties as well as parliamentary and constituency duties."
Ms Harman said the "insight" of MPs with caring responsibities "helps to shape public policy and helps us understand the lives of people in this country."
"I would definitely adopt the principle that she has put forward," she said.
Earlier today the Speaker announced immediate changes to what MPs can claim on expenses.
Entry filed under: Commons. Tags: Alan Duncan, Christopher Kelly, Committee on Standards and Privileges, Committee on Standards in Public Life, David Heath, Dennis Skinner, Eleanor Laing, Fees Office, Harriet Harman, Jack Straw, Leader of the House, Ministry for Justice, MP expenses, Parliamentary Standards Authority, Speaker.
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Thursday, May 29, 2008
It's A Peach of Cake
7 comments:
- Alice
I am so impressed! It almost make me want to create some sort of frosting masterpiece. Almost :)
- June 1, 2008 at 6:53 PM
- Ashley
You are amazing! I would not even know where to start. I wished you lived by me so you could make Jellybean her 1st Birthday cake!
- June 8, 2008 at 11:12 PM
- Robin
Hey, you inspired me to give it a try for Ella's birthday. I have some pictures on my blog. I love your ideas for your cakes and may have to steal some in the future (sneaky, sneaky)!
- June 19, 2008 at 3:52 PM
- Lindy
Love the idea, girl - I was thinking of doing a cake blog, but I hardly have time to post on my main blog. Maybe someday....
Way to go - all the cakes are so cute!
- June 22, 2008 at 9:15 PM
- Alice
Ok my dear, where are you? May 29th? really?
- July 15, 2008 at 10:28 PM
- Tiffany Hewlett
Wow your cakes are awesome! I love the word search one-so creative! Your kids are adorable, and are getting so big!
- July 19, 2008 at 9:13 PM
- Joel and Kristie
ok Time to UPDATE LADY!!!!
- July 27, 2008 at 4:13 PM


text: Sonam Kapoor In Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla January 31, 2016 On Republic Day we saw Sonam Kapoor wearing a saree by designer Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla where she was styled by Rhea Kapoor. With open hair and jhumki earrings the actress looked great. Do you like what you see? Like or Not? Share This Story Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Pin this Post Tags: Abu Jani, ABU JANI SANDEEP KHOSLA, ABU SANDEEP, beauty blogs in india, Bollywood Blogs, Bollywood Fashion Blogs, Celeb Fashion, Fashion, Fashion Blogger in India, Indian Beauty Blogger, Sonam Kapoor Newer Post Older Post You Might Also Like 0 comments


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Monday, November 9, 2009
Each day has in fact gotten better. In the beginning, he would wake in tears, searching for his foster mother. He would come to us for the comfort he needed, but than refuse it, and cry inconsolably. Slowly he'd accept us, and come to us, allowing us to hold him and calm him. He cries giant tears that stream down his face. They are the biggest tears I've ever seen on a baby. They break my heart.
He does laugh and smile. Maybe not as much as he did, or soon will again, but he does and when those dimples appear they warm my heart. Today he laughed and smiled significantly more. Imants and I both commented about our time with him, and how his happy laughter lasted longer than it has since we returned home. He is blossoming. I know it will be on his terms and in his own perfect time. I am not scared that it won't happen. I saw it in Korea. I see it in the photographs from his foster mother. He's quietly observing, learning and rebuilding his trust. We can't rush him. We can only love unconditionally and with great patience.
I know why the adoption process is long and hard, filled with so many emotions and so much struggle. It was preparing us for this time with our son. We've learned that GREAT things come with great patience and struggle. We've learned that everything we've been through is worth it times 10. We've learned that these while these days can be tough, they will soon be a distant memory. The struggle is a drop in the bucket compared the the wonderful things that lie ahead for our family. The dishes might not get done, and maybe I won't take a shower (again) today, but I'll sit and hold my boy and remind him every chance I get, that we are here to stay, because we are his forever family.
12 comments:
Beautiful sentiments. May every day be better than the last for all of you.
- November 10, 2009 at 8:17 AM
Wow Marcie, that was a beautiful post. Kalvis is the luckiest boy to have found such a wonderful forever family.
- November 10, 2009 at 9:15 AM
- Slytherpuff said...
I hadn't even thought about the grief that Kalvis must be going through. He is a lucky guy to have you and Imants as his parents.
- November 10, 2009 at 11:22 AM
Such a thoughtful, beautiful post for Kalvis to read one day. It must be hard to see your boy cry. I'm so happy he is finally home at last! You are doing such an amazing job.
- November 10, 2009 at 11:26 AM
Sveiki Marcie and Imants,
Livija and Kalvis,
I think of you often and have been waiting for the blog postings.
How Livija been coping with Kalvis unhappiness? I'm sure she must be picking up on it as well. Time, patience and love in over abundance!
I hope you all grow together with every breath of every day!
Love, Ilze in Riga
- November 10, 2009 at 3:42 PM
Just like the confusing and heart-wrenching path that you traveled for so many years, your son will make his final journey home to you...just like you found yours to him. Thank you for sharing this, Marcie. I love you guys so much! Sorry for being cheesy but I'm balling! xoxo
- November 10, 2009 at 6:40 PM
- Rachel said...
So, so true. We too learned about grieving and expected it, but when Matthew came home and cried for his Omma, I thought my heart was going to break for him. So glad you shared this - I can totally relate to your feelings and am going through the same process.
- November 10, 2009 at 7:28 PM
- The Woodgetts said...
What an amazing post. Kalvis will appreciate reading this some day. Hugs to you all.
- November 11, 2009 at 9:47 AM
- Susan said...
Marcie, truly beautiful post! You have already done so much good for Kalvis, but just taking the time to understand what he is going through and to know what he needs most now - your love and trust. No doubt that you and Imants will bring back the smiles, the trust and the joy in his heart!
- November 11, 2009 at 10:01 AM
- Jill said...
Hang in there. Our daughter Lucy was adopted at the age of 16 months. The first 3 days she SCREAMED like there was no tomorrow. Is she wasn't sleeping (out of pure exhaustion) she was screaming. After 3 days she became quiet..more complacent. I thought this was good. She was quiet for a few months. Looking back now, I see she was shutting down. I had read all the attacthment stuff, but we were in serious survival mode, so it didn't click with me. Today she is a sweet, loving 3 yr old, who although has "some" attatchment issues, is doing AWESOME! We wouldn't trade her for the world! I will be thinking and praying for you guys. Let me know if you need anything.
- November 11, 2009 at 8:00 PM
Wonderfully couched, Marcie! You put tears in my eyes. May Kalvis soon learn to trust that you are his forever family and that the warmth of your hearts will always be there for him. You are all lucky to have found each other, and you, Marcie, are an amazing person. Thank you for this beautiful post!
- November 12, 2009 at 1:52 PM
- BARRY/AMY said...
Reading your story, crying and relating to everything you are posting. My son had a very hard time and even though you try to prepare, nothing prepares you for what they are going through. Thank you for the post. Many happy thoughts to your family as his trust in you continues to grow each and every day.
- November 15, 2009 at 8:32 AM
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Here is a breakdown, by zip code, of current single-family homes listed for sale in Gilbert. Data is extracted from the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service. It is generally considered reliable, but is by no means guaranteed. It's only as accurate as the agents entering the data make it (for example, I did exclude the home in Zip Code 85234 that was showing a square footage of 85,234"¦) A handy-dandy Gilbert Zip Code map is also included. (click for larger table) [tags]Gilbert … [Read more...]
How Many East Valley Real Estate Listings are Short Sales?
Was talking to a soon-to-be client this morning about short sales, particularly regarding the quantity of short sales in the Phoenix East Valley area. So I waded through logging on to the MLS (past the double-password entry process designed to thwart agents from giving out their MLS login ID and passwords) and set up a custom search to extract listings based on the "Lender/Corporate Approval Required" field. Now before we take a peek at the numbers, a few things must be noted: 1) MLS … [Read more...]
Phoenix & East Valley Real Estate Stats: June 2007
Here are the Phoenix and East Valley real estate listings and sales stats for June…Data extracted from ARMLS - Arizona Regional Multiple Listing ServiceThe stats for May are available here for comparison. In short, listings are up (though less than we've seen in the past), Days on Market (DOM) are up, and sales are slightly lower for the metro area, but some East Valley cities showed a slight increase in sales over May.[tags]Phoenix real estate, listings and sales stats[/tags] … [Read more...]
Ask The Agents: Where are the Good Schools?
From an actual email:. . . Do you have any information on which schools and which school districts are the best in Chandler or Gilbert or any other nearby areas? . . .On the surface, this sounds like an easy question to answer. But if you kick back and ponder it a moment, it's really not a simple answer.First, a licensed real estate agent has to be extremely careful to avoid steering, which can be defined as:The illegal practice of directing home seekers to particular areas either to … [Read more...]


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Drug addiction; I know these words are not new to all of us because almost anywhere in the world, there are people who use prohibited drugs. Drugs that instead help you, they kill you little by little. "But it really feels good man. It's like you're in heaven dude and you'll forget about all your problems", that's what they always say; to get free from all the problems in life. Well, that's wrong. It's even the other way around. Its can destroy your life and you can loose everything including your friends and your family. Trust me, that's how it always works. I know a lot of people who experience the same things. Others already killed themselves because they can't stand it any longer. So for those who are thinking, well think again. If you don't want to die early then don't.
If you're reading this and you know inside you're an addict, dude I'm not lying to you. Everything I said is true. But it's still not the end for you. You can get back your life. But you can't do that alone. You need help. Drug rehabilitation will aid you in getting your life back. Most rehab centers use "drugs" to treat "drug addiction". But I believe in the natural course if you want to be cured for the rest of your life and not just for a few years. There is a drug rehab center I saw that uses the latter practice. It gives you a better chance to stop addiction.
You can visit


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Though several generations have grown to adulthood since the outbreak of World War II 50 years ago today, the painfully-learned lessons of what was the greatest conflict in history still hold currency in a world perpetually poised on the brink of nuclear war.
An event that forever redesigned the political balance of the world, WW II also bestrode two epochs of military evolution. The six-year war began with horse-mounted Polish cavalry futilely counterattacking German Panzer thrusts and concluded in the Atomic Age.
The political roots of the conflict that ushered in the Cold War were firmly embedded in World War I and the mistakes committed thereafter. Bent on retribution and punishment, the victors of the 1914-18 war imposed Draconian reparations demands upon a Germany already bled white by its war effort.
As a further degradation to an already devastated people, the Versailles ``Diktat,`` as the peace treaty was later known in the Reich, placed the burden of war guilt directly on German shoulders. The fledgling democratic German government, forced to sign this odious instrument, was scorned and reviled by its own people. Stripped of its credibility and mandate, it found itself powerless to control the social and political upheaval and the hyperinflation that followed.
Into the midst of this festering stew of shortages, self-recrimination, uncertainty and resentment plunged a diabolical catalyst -- Adolf Hitler. In a more politically and economically stable Germany, he might have been dismissed as just another spittle-spraying extremist. Instead, Hitler was hailed as a Teutonic Messiah who would restore honor to the German race and deliver it from its oppressors.
As Hitler found fertile ground for his supremacist, paranoid doctrines, his hungry people willingly followed him as he sated his twisted appetite for power. The Rhineland remilitarization, the Austrian annexation, the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia; each successful bluff reinforced Hitler`s illusion of invincibility.


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Today was much more mellow than yesterday. Although I had a full day of interviews, and then an awesome dinner with the group, I feel fully settled here in Reykjavík already, and it has become my home away from home.
I woke up around 8 a.m. after a night of minimal sleep, and I thought I was in a dream. Nothing really felt real, and I forgot where I was. Also, my room was freezing, so I really did not want to get out of bed. However, the free breakfast buffet was calling my name, so I gathered all of my strength and rolled out of bed.
I had a total of five interviews at the University of Iceland to talk about my two cultural stories, Post-Secondary Education and Parental Leave in Iceland. One of the people I talked to was Steinunn Gestsdóttir, who is a Professor of Psychology, and who recently took parental leave. She told me a lot about why she thinks parental leave is so important for not only mothers and children, but also for fathers.
After my interviews on my walk back to the hotel, I stopped by the pond and got to watch a little girl happily feed the geese and ducks, and it was the sweetest thing.
To end the day on a high note, we got to grab dinner at Tapas barinn, a tapas restaurant in downtown Reykjavík. Tapas are basically just appetizer-sized plates that you order for the table so everyone can try a little bit of everything. We started out simple with bread, hummus, and tapenade. The tapenade mixed with the hummus was amazing, and we hadn't even started dinner yet, so I was super excited about the rest of the meal. We were then surprised by a round of shots called Black Death, which is an Icelandic liquor made from cumin and potatoes. This alcohol was so strong and it tasted so gross, but at least I can say I have now officially tried Icelandic booze. Our first course was puffin. That's right, I ate an endangered animal and I felt like crap about it (but it was still pretty good). The next course was a piece of Arctic Char (a type of fish) on potatoes and salsa, which was easily my second favorite course. The next course was a lamb kebob with a sweet, dark sauce, followed by cod with a creamy, garlic-y, potato sauce and lobster on top. The cod was by far my favorite course, mostly because I have a weakness for garlic. Then we had buttered lobster tails; whale with a sweet potato puree and to top it off, a slice of skýr with passion fruit sorbet.
The food was absolutely amazing, and I think that trying a different country's cuisine is by far one of the best and easiest ways to really submerge yourself in the culture.


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They are finally here!
As some of you know the new Fall/Winter 2008 catalog is available to order from starting today! You can look at it online here at Stampin' Up! or you can get your own copy from me for a low cost of $5 (reg. $10). This is an amazing 210 pages of supplies, information, and ideas to start your creative juices flowing for a very low cost. Come and look at it with me on August 22, at Girl's Night Out! and see some of the new products that are available. If you would like one for yourself please let me know so that I can set one aside for you.
Monday, August 11, 2008
New Catalog!!!
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Copyright Info
Text, images, concepts, and designs © Allison Whiting; All rights reserved. Nothing may be copied or changed without requesting permission from myself alone. My original artwork is for personal inspiration only and may not be copied for publication or contest submissions. Most products used are Stampin' Up!® 1990-2008, unless otherwise specified.


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Floating point assists also known as FP_ASSISTS. These are caused by primarily two reasons: denormals and underflow numbers which are performance concern on most of the architectures.
Assists usually involve the microcode sequencer that helps handle the assist. Typically when MS assistance is needed, many micro-ops are provided out of MS which can be a perf issue as machine wil be executing all these extra uops. All of these uops will show as retiring, so it is essential to track when we have high uop retiring rate that assists are not involved in here. Determining the number of cycles where microcode is generated from the microcode sequencer is often a good methodology to determine the cost of the assist.
Estimating the cost of assists using microcode sequencer cycles: (From IA32/64 optimization guide – Ahmad Yasin and Mike Chynoweth)
As shown in the optimization guide, the cost is percentage of the ratio between IDQ.MS_CYCLES and CPU_CLK_UNHALTED.THREAD events
Floating point assists:
From the Sandy Bridge microarchitecture has fewer cases of assists than previous architectures. However there are still cases which require an FP assist. For example, denormal inputs for X87 instructions require an FP assist, potentially costing hundreds of cycles.
Cost of FP assist is calculated by percent ratio of FP_ASSISTS.ANY divided by INST_RETIRTED.ANY events
For gaining performance out of apps facing with such issues, it is critical to identify and fix these.
How to fix:
Use the SSE and SSE2 instructions to set Flush-to-Zero and Denormals-Are-Zero modes within the hardware to enable highest performance for floating-point applications.
For more information see:


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As of February 28, due to lack of funds, Golden Gate Community Health is closing 5 abortion clinics in the Bay Area. On March 1, GGCH posted an official press release on its website citing finances as the reason for closing its doors. Last August, Planned Parenthood removed their name as well as their funding from this affiliate claiming gross financial mismanagement that consisted of 7 clinics in San Francisco, Sonoma, Marin, Alameda and San Mateo counties. Golden Gate Community Health leaves behind a legacy of tragedy and poor 'choices'. In 2003, Eighteen year old Holly Paterson died due to complications a prescription of RU-486 from a Planned Parenthood Golden Gate Facility. In 2005, Planned Parenthood Golden Gate produced an animated cartoon, 'Super hero for Choice' which depicted an African-American woman as a super hero who shoots pro-lifers with a gun filled with condoms. Once the pro-lifers are covered with a life-size condom, they are disintegrated bringing great joy to the 'Super Hero for Choice'. The video also portrayed a man teaching abstinence to a group of teenagers as a demeaning, ignorant, outdated, superstitious cartoon villain who is then verbally insulted and thrown in a garbage can by the super hero. There are many other violent acts against those who disagree with the super hero of "choice".
In 2007, PPGG also produced "Safe is Sexy" TV ads which were too inappropriate to post on this blog and just a few months later attempted to remove pro-life radio ads that promoted scientific facts of human development. When GGCH lost its affiliation and funding in 2010, it was inevitable that the five remaining clinics would eventually close its doors.
Prayer – "Lord, comfort the hearts of the workers who are without jobs, encounter their hearts with Your love for them! It is by Your kindness are we lead to repentance. Turn the Sauls into Pauls! Dreams and visions of You! Let these workers be trumpets for the unborn! Those who will give themselves for a culture of LIFE! Miraculously meet every emotional, physical and financial need of these workers! Comfort every heart that has been affected by abortion in these clinics! Speak Your truth of forgiveness and grace to ever mother and father who choose to abort! Root and ground them in Your love! In Your amazing love!"
Declaration – "Christ-centered, well-equipped pregnancy clinics will rise up in place of these abortion clinics! LIFE for babies, mothers and fathers will be declared in these pregnancy clinics! Encounters with the One true living God will occur in these clinics because ground has been taken for Your Kingdom! The blood of Jesus is enough to wash away the blood that has been shed in these clinics! Your precious blood is enough!"
September 2003 – Eighteen year old, Holly Patterson, dies of septic poisoning as a result of being prescribed RU-486 (the abortion pill) from a Planned Parenthood Golden Gate facility.
August 2005 – PPGG produced a video, Super Hero For Choice – LifeSite News reported on the Super Hero video.
April 2007 – Planned Parenthood Golden Gate releases a 'Safe is Sexy' TV condom ad mocking religion as well as other 'Safe is Sexy' TV ads (too inappropriate to show).
January 2008 – Planned Parenthood Golden Gate attempts to remove Pro-life radio ads.
August 2010 – Planned Parenthood Golden Gate loses its affiliation with Planned Parenthood, renamed Golden Gate Community Health. They close two of the clinics which left 5 clinics open.
February 2011 – Golden Gate Community Health closes remaining 5 clinics.
In Christ's love,


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Villanova head coach Mark Ferrante…
Opening statement: Well, another typical hard-fought CAA conference game. We took the opening drive down the field, scored a touchdown and used a good bit of the clock, and then Zach went down and we had to put in Jack Schetelich, our redshirt freshman quarterback had to take the rest of the game. That's the way the CAA is. You're going to take a lot of punches and you're going to hopefully give a lot of punches. Our defense really stepped up. They got some great turnovers for us and gave us some short fields in the second half. Jack and the offense were able to punch a couple late scores in and come away with the victory. This is the first CAA win for this team this year, so we are real excited about that. We are looking to hopefully build on this and continue to get better each week.
On injuries to Zach Bednarczyk and Trey Johnson: Zach got rolled on. The pocket kind of collapsed on him as he delivered the ball. I don't know who it was. To be honest with you I don't know if it was the defender or maybe one of our guys being tripped up and pushed back into him, but he felt a little pressure on the outside of his knee and that's what made him go down. They pulled [Trey] out. He wanted to go back in. They gave him the concussion protocol and they held him out. We'll go through concussion protocol with Trey and hopefully we'll have him back for next week depending on how he's feeling.
On the long opening series: We had a penalty on one of those plays and then we did a great job converting and overcoming that. That's kind of what happened to us last week against Albany to be honest with you. They were keeping us off the field. I'm not saying that was our game plan going in, but whenever you can take almost half the quarter off the clock, take the opening drive and finish with a touchdown, that's huge. Zach mad some good throws and we made some good runs, and we obviously got some really good third down conversions to keep that drive alive. When you're able to do that hopefully that can be the end result.
On the play of the defense given the team's injuries: The injury bug, we seem to be a little snake-bit there right now and it seems to be coming more on the offensive side, not that we don't have a couple of defensive guys. The one to my right, Ed [Shockley], he's playing, he's feeling good, but he gets banged up a lot the way he plays so physical. We're not 100 percent over there, but these guys find a way to stay on the field and obviously tonight they found a way to get [Towson's] offense off the field. I feel bad in a way that we're putting them in so many dire positions where we're reliant on them. Obviously tonight, our defense, it didn't seem to bother them at all. They just took the field each time and came up with big stop after big stop, and toward the end there turnover after turnover. That's what sealed the game for us and, as I mentioned, they gave us those short fields at the end.
On being 1-for-11 on third down: You never want to go 1-for-11. Our goal is to go 45 percent on third down and we've been pretty good with that the majority of the year to be honest with you. Tonight for whatever reason we got ourselves in some third and abnormally long situations. Those are hard to convert. I would like to have a few of those 3rd-and-1's like Towson seemed to have for themselves and run a quarterback sneak here and there to pick up the first down, but it's always something. There's always something to work on and hopefully there's not many things to work on. So if this week it's third down conversion then we'll work on third down conversions. Last week [at Albany] we had a chance for 28 points with four trips in the end zone and only came up with 10 in regulation, so last week maybe was a little more emphasis on red zone offense. We're going to do what we do. We're going to have a third down period during the week, we're going to have a red zone period during the week, we're going to have a short yardage goal line period during the week, and hopefully with all the practice that accumulated week after week after week you can continue to improve in all the areas mentioned above.
On the play of Jack Schetelich: He threw a pass and completed the first touchdown there, and then in the second half he ran in for two scores. Jack did a great job coming in for Zach. He's a competitor. It's hard when you get put in that situation because Zach, your No. 1 guy, gets the majority of the team reps in practice so it's hard to come in with very minimal team reps in practice during the course of a whole week and then go out there and be thrust into it at game speed. Depending on Zach's situation, Jack will get the reps so hopefully he will be a little more comfortable, but the way he ran the ball tonight, I think our opposing defenses that we're going to face in the future realize that we have a guy who can be a dual threat kind of guy.
On the play of the team's young defensive line and rush defense: The turnovers that we had also allowed Towson to have some short fields which I think led to maybe their one touchdown that they had, and then they drove the field pretty well in one of their drives. In the first half I think time of possession, we were leading, and it totally flipped in the second half. As I said we kept throwing our defense back out there and fortunately they responded each time. We've been real stout right now, knock on wood, against the run. You see the rushing stats there and this is the fifth game in a row, all five games this year, we've held our opponents to under 100 yards rushing.
We lost a lot of guys in the defensive line through graduation and we had another guy who is out due to injury, so we thought we were going to be kind of young and maybe not so stout up front against the run, and it seems like these young guys are playing really well for us. You know you have a really experienced second level with Ed and Jeff Steeb and them at the linebacker level, and then an experienced secondary. I'm really pleased with the play of our d-line to be so stout and tough against the running game. If we can keep building off that then our defense can be something that, hey you have those years, sometimes you offense is carrying the load and sometimes your defense is carrying the load. To be honest with you, when you look at teams that have the most success over time, it's usually not the high-scoring guys, it's usually the guys that can play some defense so I'm real proud of the way these guys stepped out there today and responded even though we were putting them at times in bad situations.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Jack Schetelich…
On his turnovers: My teammates were completely behind me and that's the reason why I finished the game. Every time I would come off they would be like 'you're good, let's get it again.' They never let me get down and that was great.
On whether he was nervous when he went into the game: The first drive I was a little antsy but once we got that touchdown then I settled down. That was our opener, so that's what I've been looking at, and then when we were doing more of our play calling I kind of got a little sidetracked with the beginning of the second quarter, but the second half we were running it so I was feeling good then.
On his comfort level with the offense: Most of my practices are mental reps, so throughout the week with the team I would get a lot of being in the background looking at it, but I would get reps on 7-on-7 and inside runs. That's why I could read the run really well this week.
Senior linebacker Ed Shockley…
On stopping the run: I just think that's who we are. We try to be stingy against the run. If you stop the run you force them to pass and teams are going to have a hard time passing on us, or winning games passing on us. We have a very talented secondary, but with the loss of Rob Rolle who is a tremendous player, we have guys like Malik Reaves, Trey Johnson and Rasaan Stewart. We have very talented guys back there. Stopping the run is always our first goal, our first thing, so we just want to be stingy.
Towson head coach Rob Ambrose…
Opening statement: Extremely disappointing. I thought we were good enough to win. I think Villanova did a better job at managing their injuries than we did and that's on me. Good thing we have a bye week, we can get some guys back healthy and get some things squared away. I was out there on the field with JP, he was out there talking and moving his hands and feet. It was scary, but he should be okay.
On the running game: It is something we have worked on meticulously over the last two weeks. Again we have faced nine guys in the box. So we are going to have to open it up and get them out of the box for those two freshmen to be successful.
On Villanova converting on 3rd-and-19 on the game's first series: Early in the game, not happy about it, but early in the game. I think defensively no one freaked out, but I think once we got statistics defensively we proved that we can get out of it. I'll take 1 for 11 on [third down] defense.
Redshirt junior defensive back Monty Fenner…
On his two interceptions: There was a new guy out there so I figured they were going to go to the guy they usually run their route for. The first interception the ball was up high, so we have been practicing catching the ball at the highest point. The second one I just jumped the ball and the quarterback was getting a lot of pressure up front. I am pretty sure he didn't want to take the sack so I just took my opportunity to catch the ball.


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Let's not forget Miss Priss. She has spent her share of time on the baseball field this spring as well. In fact- when it's all said and done I think she'll play one more game than her brother.
She has grown leaps and bounds since the fall. She has created herself a nice little baseball swing and actually pays attention while in the field. Although- it seems our little Riley likes to strike up conversations with the coaches while playing in the outfield. Not a surprise.
We are super proud of her. I hope she continues playing sports- we shall see.
Until next time...


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Our firm specialises in representing tech vendors and licensors; assisting entrepreneurs; and guiding digital start-ups on privacy policies for mobile apps and website projects. However privacy is not the same thing as data protection. Privacy is the right to be left alone. The right not to have unwarranted or unreasonable interference with ones personal life. Although related, this is not the same thing as a persons right to control over how data from which they can be identified is used by others, which is a data protection matter.
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This was a cut I did over the weekend. To everyone who's ever asked me how I learned how to cut hair:
If you remember me telling you the story about the boy who lived in the same apt building when I was a little kid.. this is him, Alberto. He was the first person to let me cut his hair and yeah I messed him up the first time and left patches everywhere, but he let me cut his hair again and again... and eventually, I got a lot better at it. Thanks Berto. lol


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Congrats to Vern whose fast food fiction will be used by, uh, Warren Ellis.
Well, at least that's one other friend aside from El and Tobie who gets to be published by famous comic people (from abroad).
I'm a genius. The world just doesn't know it... yet.
posted by Charles at 5:56 PM
Charles Tan is the editor of Lauriat: A Filipino-Chinese Speculative Fiction Anthology, the Philippine Speculative Fiction Sampler, and Best of Philippine Speculative Fiction 2009. His fiction has appeared in publications such as The Digest of Philippine Genre Stories, Philippine Speculative Fiction and the anthology The Dragon and the Stars (ed. by Derwin Mak and Eric Choi). He has contributed nonfiction to websites such as The Shirley Jackson Awards, Fantasy Magazine, The World SF Blog, and SF Signal. In 2009, he won the Last Drink Bird Head Award for International Activism. He is also a 2011 and 2012 World Fantasy nominee for the Special Award, Non-Professional category. You can visit his blog, Bibliophile Stalker (http://charles-tan.blogspot.com/).


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Definition of Hateable
1. Adjective. (alternative form of hatable) ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Definition of Hateable
1. meriting hatred [adj]
Hateable Pictures
Click the following link to bring up a new window with an automated collection of images related to the term: Hateable Images
Lexicographical Neighbors of Hateable
Literary usage of Hateable
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. A Dictionary of the English Language by Samuel Johnson, John Walker, Robert S. Jameson (1828)
"hateable, (hate'-a-bt) a. Detestable. HATEFUL, (hate'-ful) a. Deserving or causing abhorrence ; odious ; abhorrent ; detesting ; malignant. ..."
2. Democracy and the Party System in the United States: A Study in Extra by Moisei Ostrogorski (1910)
"The man who does not wish for anything, who does not ask for anything, is the most painful puzzle to the Machine; it considers him almost as a hateable ..."
3. Alps and Sanctuaries of Piedmont and the Canton Ticino (op.6) by Samuel Butler (1913)
"There has been no one to touch Handel as an observer of all that was observable, a lover of all that was loveable, a hater of all that was hateable, and, ..."


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Research carried out on behalf of HMRC, by TNS-BMRB, shows that approximately 20% of large British businesses have considered relocating abroad for tax reasons and that 64% of large companies feel that the red-tape burden had increased over the past 12 months.
The Telegraph reports that UHY Hacker Young have analysed the research, and concluded that businesses thought HMRC was becoming less transparent in its decision-making.
Roy Maugham, tax partner at UHY Hacker Young, is quoted:
"UK companies feel that they are the goose that has been well and truly plucked by HMRC and the Treasury."
He went on to say:
"However, these results show businesses are increasingly dissatisfied with the way the tax system and HMRC is working."
It is not just large businesses who are "dissatisfied" with the way HMRC is working, it is also SMEs, individual taxpayers and the staff of HMRC.
Tax does have to be taxing.
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Title: Grey (The Romany Outcasts Series, Book 1)
Author: Christi J. Whitney
Publisher: HarperCollins/HarperVoyager
Pages: 400
Genre: Young Adult (Urban Fantasy)
Format: Paperback/Kindle
Sebastian Grey always thought he was a fairly normal teenager – good friends, decent grades, and a pretty sweet job in his foster brother's tattoo shop.
But when strangers arrive in town, Sebastian soon realizes that his world is nothing at all what it seemed. Secretive gypsies surround him, shadowy figures stalk him, and the girl he's been dreaming about turns up at school.
Now Sebastian must protect this girl at all costs, even if it means he will never be normal again.
For More Information
- Get it for your Nook at Barnes & Noble.
- Discuss this book at PUYB Virtual Book Club at Goodreads.
- Watch the book trailer here.
- Read Chapter One here.
Christi J. Whitney is a former high school theatre director with a love for the arts. She lives just outside Atlanta with her husband and two sons. When not spending time with them or taking a ridiculous number of trips to Disney World, she can be found directing plays, making costumes for sci-fi/fantasy conventions, obsessing over Doctor Who, watching superhero movies, or pretending she's just a tad bit British.
Her latest book is the young adult urban fantasy novel, Grey (The Romany Outcasts Series, Book 1).
For More Information
- Visit Christi J. Whitney's website.
- Find out more about Christi at Goodreads.
- Visit Christi's blog.
- Contact Christi.


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Originally established for my 2006 Birthday Bash this has evolved into a spot to save my Vegas related experiences and comments, all in a "small potatoes" tone. Posts with TR Snippet in the title report experiences on a trip to Vegas. The link collection at the top right is also an excellent resource to learn about Vegas. Comments welcome.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Vegas in april/may
April 24-25-26 Golden Gate
April 27-28 Eastside Cannery
April 29-30- Laughlin's Tropicana Express
May 1-2- 3-4 - Laughlin's Edgewater
Bill Neuman will share the Laughlin portion of the trip with me. I expect to have a car this time. This is unusual for me but I'll be using it right up through the trip to Denver-Albuquerque- and back to Vegas for a couple days to celebrate Elizabeth's birthday.
Friday, February 06, 2009
Ann shares her reading and her cousin
--- On Fri, 2/6/09, Ann wrote:
From: Ann
Subject: Myths of Gambling
To: "Hill.dewey" <email@example.com>
Date: Friday, February 6, 2009, 9:08 AM
From Bottom Line Secrets. Think that you have things figured out? Think again! --- Ann
Thanks, Ann. I do read this guy quite often as I receive his newsletters. I just quoted him in a note on a discussion board today as I liked the way he presented the case that there are rude players at the blackjack table. I used his words to set straight a guy who was saying poker was too rude for him.
Still Sclobete is very simplistic and in this piece is deceptively so.
I may not have it all figured out yet, but I have it figured out better than he does in this article.
Maybe because he is most often writing to a poorly read audience of gamblers, he slants things at times and often (including here) stops short of telling the whole story. What he calls "reality: here is sometimes merely half truth, SO I have added the rest of the story to some of his realities.
n casinos, the odds are always against the gambler, but the odds grow even more dim when gamblers hold erroneous beliefs about the games they play. Seven of the most common -- and costliest -- gambling myths...
Myth 1: Higher-limit slot machines offer better odds, so they're a smarter play. In major casinos, the quarter slots typically return about 91% of the money bet... the dollar slots, 94% to 95%... and the $5 slots, upwards of 95%. But in this case, the better odds are not your best bet. The 91% average return on the quarter slots means that over time, you'll lose an average of 2.25 cents per play, assuming that you risk just one coin at a time. The 94% to 95% return on the dollar slots translates into an average loss of five to six cents every time you insert a coin, so you'll lose your money more than twice as fast. And with $5 slots, you'll lose an average of at least 25 cents per play -- more than 10 times as fast as with the quarter machines.
Reality: It's true that, statistically, you stand to win most at the highest-limit machines, but unless you have lots of money that you can afford to lose, the only time it's wise to move up to the dollar slots is if you have been playing the quarter slots three quarters at a time. At an average loss of between six and seven cents per pull, you would be better off switching to the dollar machines -- assuming that you restrict yourself to a single dollar coin per play.
Warning: The worst slot odds are on "progressive" or "linked" machines that offer escalating jackpots, up to six figures or higher. These machines typically return only 85% of the money bet.
Myth 1 - re: "Warning: The worst slot odds are on "progressive" or "linked" machines that offer escalating jackpots, up to six figures or higher. These machines typically return only 85% of the money bet."
The rest of the story: In video poker a player can mathematically figure when a progressive is a good bet or not. My favorite Double Bonus Progressive at the 4 Queens is always a great bet and always better than any Double Bonus anywhere else because the pay table is the best it gets in Double Bonus, paying over 100% for perfect play, and the progressive is added on the top of that. Adding a few of these prime playing places to his myth breaking might give
Scoblete readers a more balanced view of his "secrets," He might counter that he is just writing about slots here, but he might also have said this "secret" does not apply to video poker at all. It is true that it can be hard to find good video poker at above the dollar level. However, anyone can know what high paying machines are by studying and learning pay tables. At least at real VP like Foxwoods and Vegas. NY fake VP is another story.
Myth 2: This slot machine is due. Some slot players continue to pour money into slot machines that haven't been winning on the theory that the machines are "due" to hit. Conversely, players who have won money on a machine sometimes continue to play, thinking that the machine is "hot." Still others believe that when all the symbols for a big jackpot appear in view, but not in line, the machine is close to a major payout.
Reality: What a slot machine has done on past spins has absolutely no bearing on what it does on future spins. Each spin is independent and random.
Myth 3: Single-deck blackjack gives gamblers a fighting chance against the casino. At a typical casino blackjack table, six or eight decks of cards are shuffled together. But now many casinos also offer single-deck blackjack, where only one deck is in play at any given time. With just 52 cards to account for, it seems easier for gamblers to calculate their best strategies.
Reality: The casino has structured the single-deck game so that it's harder than ever to beat the house. At a normal blackjack table, the casino pays three to two when you get blackjack -- $15 on a $10 bet. At single-deck tables, the payout is only six to five, or $12 on a $10 bet. That lower payout means that over time, even if you are able to win a few more hands because you have kept track of the cards that have been played, you can expect to lose your money nearly three times as fast as you would at a multi-deck table.
re: Myth 3 - single deck blackjack in spite of Sclobete's blanket statement, still pays 3/2 in many venues, including in Vegas at the El Cortez, and Scoblete needs to spend more time saying that and pointing out where it happens, than trying to argue that the advantage of single deck blackjack is a myth. Unless this one rule is changed, single deck is the best game and he knows it. He is just pointing out that the movement from 3/2 blackjack to 6/5. Well, duhhhh! that is old, old news. No intelligent BJ player plays at tables that offer 6/5.
Myth 4: Play the trend at the blackjack table. Gamblers like to search for trends, even where none exist. They'll bet more at the craps table when the dice are running "hot" or bet a number that has hit a few times on the roulette wheel, though a modern wheel in a major casino is extremely unlikely to be biased.
In general, betting the trend in the casino is no worse than any other bet, but blackjack is an "antitrend" game. Example: When a lot of small cards have been dealt, there are fewer small cards left to be played, making it smarter to assume that the trend will reverse.
Reality: At the blackjack table, betting the trend is a costly mistake.
Myth 5: If I can win in poker games with my friends, I can win in the casino or online. In casinos and at online gambling sites, you're not just playing against the other players at the table -- you're also playing against the "rake," the house's cut of anywhere from 2% to 20% of winning pots. And unlike in home games, you're not playing against people you know, so you can't expect to read your opponents. Online, you might even be up against pro gamblers using computer programs and teamwork to up their odds.
Reality: The best way to survive is to play tighter than you would at a friendly home game, folding most hands and risking your money only when your opportunities are greatest.
re: Myth 5 home poker games
The rest of the story: We all know that playing at Greg's is different than playing in the casino. There is no rake, players' styles are not already memorized, and usually we only have five players rather than ten.
That being said, it is wrong of Scoblete to issue a broad statement and try to diminish the value of home games in preparation for casino games as if he is myth breaking.
I won my last visit to Tampa Hard Rock by twice playing like Greg has taught me to play. I think of him every time I play in the casino and he has greatly increased my winnnings.
When I come out a winner any day at the casino, I usually say to myself that I did it from things I learned from playing against Greg. None of it could he have explained to me over lunch even if he would be willing to share his strategy.
My $2000 run at Foxwoods over 14 trips was all based on using a greg strategy along with my own.
Also, every week Greg and I both practice changing up our patterns of strategy to offset what we have learned about each other the week before. Even Bruce has started to do that. This is the highest level of poker play, figuring out what your opponent thinks of your patterns and altering them at the right time to fool him. It is best practiced at games where the player's repeat week after week. In the casino you never play against the same group twice. Peter is learning it quickly now too and it has made it possible for him to play in a casino.
Finally, "betting into perceived weakness" is the single greatest poker lesson Greg (or anyone) has ever taught me.
Maybe Scoblete should join Greg and fellow author Blowers at our games some week. He might learn a bit.
Down here in Florida, every spring, baseball players come for spring training for the same reason.
Myth 6: Fast play is good play. At table games, experienced gamblers typically make quick decisions and become frustrated with novice players who move slowly and drag down the pace of play.
Reality: It's in a gambler's best interests to move slowly. Not only does slower play give you more time to think, it reduces the number of hands that you'll play on a given night. Because the odds are in the house's favor on every hand, fewer hands played means greater odds that you'll walk away a winner -- or at least that you'll lose less. The only downside to taking a little time is the dirty looks you'll receive from the dealer and your fellow gamblers. If you're at a casino with friends, play at the same table, so you won't feel outnumbered and bullied into fast play.
the rest of the story re: Myth 6 - fast play - In poker fast play can be an excellent strategy. I lost money my last game because the fast play of my opponent shortened my own time to think. He suckered me into that pace on purpose and so he got raises when he should have got calls. Greg uses it in head to head games at the end of the afternoon. I have to fight to slow down my own response to his fast play. So it depends on what you are using the fast play for.
All professional VP players work to develop fast play. It is the only way they can make any money. Since they have the mathematical advantage, they work to keep their strategy perfect while making there hourly expected winnings greater by playing more hands per hour.
I don't.
I am content to break even at VP, and use my comps for free rooms and drink my share of rum. I don't make a living at it and I don't enjoy speed much in any game now which is why I prefer Scrabble to Boggle.
But fast play in video poker is the rule for serious gamblers.
In the literature of video poker there is a lot of debate about how fast to play. Some even develop simpler, but not as advantageous strategies ( still over 100%) so as to increase speed and average hourly earnings.
Myth 7: Comps are a way to "win" at the casino. After you sign up for a rewards card at a casino, you might earn complimentary meals, show tickets -- even hotel rooms. Many gamblers view these comps as a way to recoup their losses at the gambling tables. Casinos view them as a way to keep gamblers happy as they lose money.
Reality: When you receive great comps, it means that based on how you're betting, the casino expects you to lose a large amount of money.
the rest of the story re: Myth 7 comps -The rest of the story: It does not take a mathematical genius to know that you can't play highly negative expectation games over a long period and expect to be paid back over the amount the casino wins; however, all gambling writers agree that comps are what make the difference in winning once you have become an advantaged player.
Either live poker or full pay video poker with no errors will push comps into the positive place for educated gamblers.
Here in Florida I sure miss my comps. Elizabeth and I were playing poker in Ocala and got charged for coffee. Can you believe that!! At Foxwoods on my bus trips I usually drink at least 4 Myers Rum. That adds substantially to the overall value of the day. In fact, I often argue with folks on the gambling boards that when they rent a car in Vegas, they need to add to the cost the value of the liquor they did not drink because they then have to stay sober. So they may get the car on the cheap, but they may also give up $50 in free alcohol. Expensive car rental.
Comps from poker play don't come with an automatic, mathematically grind out casino advantage as in slot play.
Comps from over 100% payback video poker make up the real winnings. That is the point of Jean Scott's books on Frugal Gambling. She argues that because the games at best offer a near break-even opportunity, that contrary to what Sclobete offers as a myth, comps and coupons are the only way to win at the casino. She figured that gambling paid off because, with good study and discipline, a VP player could just about break even on the gambling while getting shows, food, and a free vacation for her and her friends.
Of course, she found a better way to make money at gambling. Like Sclobete she found that writing books paid better than any other risk.
I wish I had kept track of my comps over the course of my gambling, but even my rough estimates tell me that over my lifetime, my comps have overcome by two to three times my total gambling losses.
Smart gamblers like Jean Scott, Bob Dancer, etc. depend on this.
By the way, where Bill Neuman and I will play poker in Laughlin in May gives us free rooms for poker play. It is the only place in the world I know that does that. That is one really good comp.
Now to give the guy a break, Scoblete knows next to nothing about live poker. His game is craps. He has an entire system worked out for craps which he says will overcome the mathematics of the game. It has managed to sell many books and get him his position as a gambling author. If he had to live on what he knows about poker, he'd be broke. So he should stick to what he knows when he writes and not talk about other games as if he had secrets.
Of course, that means he writes the same thing over and over again. I suppose he worries it will get to be old information.
Nothing he said here has been a "secret" and it certainly is not "bottom line"
-- On Fri, 2/6/09, Ann Parillo
From: Ann Parillo
Subject: from my cousin
To: "Hill.dewey"
Cc: "Gregg"
Date: Friday, February 6, 2009, 7:05 PM
I have played casino blackjack for 39 years .I have read many different theories. From my combination of the theory and empirical knowledge , I must say the author was correct on single deck black jack,and your friend is wrong . Every time I have played single deck then 6/5 scenario exists . Furthermore some other options are removed .Additionally , the dealer buries a card and the hole cards are not revealed until after the dealing is done ,and the deck is reshuffled after every hand makes it very difficult for card counting See : tre: Myth 3 - single deck blackjack in spite of Sclobete's blanket statement, still pays 3/2 in many Vegas venues, including the El Cortez, and Sclobete needs to spend more time saying that and pointing out where it happens, than trying to argue that the advantage of single deck blackjack is a myth. Unless this one rule is changed, single deck is the best game and he knows it. He is just pointing out that the movement from 3/2 blackjack to 6/5. Well, duhhhh! that is old, old news. No intelligent Bj player plays at tables that offer 6/5..\
I have concluded there are three components to BJ , namely , skill, money management , and luck . Without the luck, the other two don't count. I am certain about these things, Don't play too long because the law of averages favors the house . Extended play favors the house . Don't play when you are tired, have to go to the men's' room or drinking alcohol . Always set a stop win goal as well as a stop loss goal . Almost everyone has a comfort zone as to how much they can lose, however, it takes great discipline to stop when you are ahead . My finest hour (literally ) was at Caesars Palace when I started with $60 and walked away with $5800. I had won my last hand, quit ,and the checked out of the hotel even though I had 2 more days on my hotel reservation. I realized that if I continued to play , I would have lost it back ton the casino. Quit when you are ahead ( a bird in hand ) . Currently, I go to a local casino where I walk away with small victories . That is. when I am ahead $200. I go home. It is much easier to do that when you can go home easily as opposed to being a guest at a Vegas casino.
Dewey's adds another rest of the story
Hey,just what I need to entertain me with this head cold. A good gambling discussion.
re: many theories
Nothing I said in my response or that I add here has anything to do with gambling theory. Those are longer arguments.
What I developed was the mathematics that Sclobete presented and the full math that exists as well as the way he warped his realities by ignoring part of what is real.
I also don't write much about luck. Luck is very short term and merely controls the spaces in the bell curve, but not the ultimate advantage. In life, luck has great power over our final outcome, but in gambling luck is confined to very narrow, predetermined boundaries rules and made irrelevant by the rule of large numbers and the drift to the mean that all long term gamblers are going to experience.
"The smarter I play, the luckier I get,"
- Luck, bad if not good, will always be with us. But it has a way of favoring the intelligent and showing its back to the stupid.
- John Dewey
US educator, Pragmatist philosopher, & psychologist (1859 - 1952)
Jean Scott
Stanford Wong's green chip pay site gives the best up to date BJ information but I don't play enough to make the investment in the site cost effective.
Naturally, it won't be on the strip in places like Caesar's. There is very little good gambling on the strip of any sort. They have to pay for all those fake roman statues and fountains and such.
Full pay video poker is rare there. Hardly worth chasing to find, as the games disappear if they do surface.
Caesar's even stopped serving decent alcohol in the live poker room. So there goes my Myers Rum argument, where comps add to the value of the play. I can't drink the slop they call rum. It adds no value to my play. I can get it one right after the other at the El Cortez and a good amount too.
Poker buddy Slink plays BJ at the El Cortez every time he goes to Vegas. here is a note from their site:
And here are some other Nevada casinos that deal good games all 3/2:
reported by Mike Shackleford on his Wizard of odds site.
Best in Nevada: Both the Fitzgeralds in Reno and the Alamo in Sparks have a single-deck game, that allows surrender, double any first two cards, and six-card charlies. The basic strategy house edge is 0.10%.
Best in California: The Barona has a hit-soft-17, single-deck game, that allows double after a split, double any first two cards, and late surrender. I'm told the shuffling policy is to deal two rounds with 3 to 5 players, and down to 18 cards with 1 or 2 players. Due to the cut card effect, that makes the house edge 0.12% with 1 or 2 players, and 0.01% with 3-5 players. When I played there on a Friday night, the table was usually full.
I think if you search for them energetically, those games are around other places as well.
Some of the other rule variations can be balanced mathematically. But playing 6/5 is just the worst rule change I have ever seen, which is why the casinos made that change just a a few years ago. Here is the math affecting the power of various rule changes.
Doing a bit of comparative math shows you that you could give up a lot of player advantageous rules and still not overcome the 6/5 disadvantage.
Scoblete might have included in his article a chart like this if he wanted to talk about reality
Mike Shackleford over at Wizard of Odds (click this link) goes into great mathematical detail on many, many games. He is a much better source of gambling information than Sclobete, and considered to be the best source by most well read gamblers. Again this is not theory he discusses, but straight mathematics. If he suggests a strategy, it is based on the math and not on subjective preference.
Rule Variations
|Blackjacks pay 2 to 1
|Five card Charlie 1
|Suited blackjacks pay 2 to 1
|Player 21-points is automatic winner
Early surrender against ace
Early surrender against ten
|5-card (or more) 21 automatically pays 2 to 1
|Player may double on any number of cards
|Ace and 10 after splitting aces is a blackjack
Player may draw to split aces
Six card Charlie1
|Double Down Rescue
Player may resplit aces
Late surrender against ten
|777 pays 3 to 1 automatically
|777 pays 2 to 1 automatically
Seven card Charlie1
|Late surrender against ace
|Dealer must stop with six cards
Late surrender after splitting
Split to only 2 hands
|No-peek: ace showing2
|Player and dealer cards dealt from separate shoes5
Player may double on 9-11 only
No-peek: ten showing6
Player may not resplit
|European no hole card7
Player may not double after splitting
Player may double on 10,11 only
|Player may not split aces
Dealer hits on soft 17
|Blackkjack pays 7-5
Blackjack pays 6-5
Player loses 17 ties
|Blackjacks pay 1 to 1
Player loses 17,18 ties
Player loses 17-19 ties
Player loses 17-20 ties
|Player loses 17-21 ties
|Dealer bust on 22 is a push
As well, as single deck games, there are good double deck games that pay 3/2. The last time I was there, Binions was dealing one.
Sclobete completely ignored the mathematics of adding more decks. He makes no difference between 2 decks and 8 decks. . The reality is that the fewer decks (given all the other rules the same) the better the game and generally adding decks adds a good bit of disadvantage to the player. He knows that this is the case. He just overgeneralizes, pretending he is myth busting. Telling any intelligent gambler who has anything figured out that 6/5 is a bad game is like telling people not to eat shit. Sure some people will still do that, but I wouldn't write a column debunking food myths and put in it, "Oh, hey, by the way, don't eat shit."
Sclobete also says nothing about counting and the problem of measuring when casinos shuffle up. Your cousin mentions this. Certainly the rate of shuffle up is a problem for the counter. This could have been mentioned by Sclobete.
And I am not suggesting that finding good games is as easy as it was when your cousin first started playing. This 6/5 is a relatively new BJ disease to a guy who has played for 39 years. Maybe it is a decade old.
Plenty of blackjack players have abandoned the game because of this move toward less dealer friendly games, and also the heat applied to counters. To count and make money a player has to spread his bankroll in a way that makes him very visible. Good counters work on disguises as well as strategy, so they are not barred from the casino. Casino technology and sharing of good counter's faces between casinos have made it hard to be a professional Bj player and make a living. They can no longer get barred from one place and be invisible in the next.
That is one reason so many smart gamblers are drifting to live poker which is not a house advantage game and where you can know all the math you want and no casino cares.
I agree with the common sense of brother Frank's wisdom of money management, but it has nothing to do with odds or mathematics, only with comfort level. I thought it was interesting that a guy who says he has played blackjack for 39 years advises us not to play too long. When exactly does he intend to quit?
But I know what he means. He means that in any given session he can leave feeling better if he does not let the casino grind him down too much or grind back his winnings. That may be okay from a purely subjective, short term, comfort level perspective, but if we are going to gamble all our lives, we should keep track of wins and losses and manage our money over the long term.
We would not think of going to the bank with such a money management system. We would never forget from time to time how much we deposited in one visit or withdrew in another. We keep a record and balance the checkbook.
Money management is like deciding just how much in a given week we intend to spend on groceries. We have to stay within a bankroll, but that says nothing about the quality of the meat we are buying.
I often see money management systems like cousin Frank's debunked as gambling myths.
Once you get the bankroll issue out of the way, in player advantage games like good VP or live poker, you should play whether you are winning or losing as long as you are playing well and keep the right advantage.
Winning or losing, you should quit when you detect that you have lost the advantage because the players have changed or you are too tired to play well. I often quit a poker session because I suffered a bad beat and don't trust my emotions or because new players have joined the table who are better than I am, or just because I don't feel like giving them all the time and energy it takes to determine whether they are better.
As for house advantage games, the best money management is just not to play them except for a bit of fun between serious gambling.
No money management overcomes a house advantage; it just hides it for a while until we forget our last experience.
That means for me I only play blackjack when I have a matchplay to give me the advantage. Once I knew that I was not a very good counter and did not want the hassle of spreading my bets and worrying about heat, I abandoned the game to more advantageous games.
If we are going to let yourself be ground down by house advantage, then perhaps we can arrange for the comps to offset that mathematical advantage of the house.
This was my point when I mentioned Jean Scott.
As advantage VP dries up, she recommends that players at least look for promotions that add enough value to the gambling that the freebie overcomes the house advantage.This math is a lot harder to compute.
Knowing how long to play for a freebie is a tough skill to learn.
I do that often. That is why I concentrate my VP play in one casino and don't visit it again once I have left my free rooms. I also avoid playing a little money many times during a trip, and play all of it in one day (different casinos define different 24 hour days). That way my daily average looks high when they compute my next free room mailing, free play, free food, etc.
Jean Scott also argues in favor using matchplays and coupons. If you gamble with matchplays, and just move from place to place, you can have a huge player advantage. I did this in Foxwoods on the craps table using a $25 matchplay everytime I went there over one winter. It was wonderful to have a huge advantage on each of those bets, and it netted me hundreds of dollars over the course of my couponing. They have since eliminated the coupon from the ACG book.
Also, you can choose games with the best rules, and in blackjack that means fewer decks and all the things in the chart.
There was a site that I used to have that charted the house advantage on all Vegas BJ games and posted the results, changing data as the games changed, but I guess it is down.
With a little work you can get a good computation on this calculator, plugging in all the rule changes and the number of decks.
Okay, I got to get some sleep. Tomorrow is poker day at the Tampa Downs.
Well, I suppose Cousin Frank along with Greg has stopped reading now too, but here is information I encountered in my last two days of reading that
adds more breaking news to the rest of the blackjack story.
You might pass it on to your cousin if he hasn't already worn out his reading glasses with all I shared last time.
Listening to Steve Bourie of American Casino Guide give a pod cast overview of Tunica (where I am headed next,) I learned that all of Tunica offers the single deck 3/2 blackjack game the two Frank's tell us does not exist. Cousin Frank perhaps has not played there, but Scoblete should know those exist and tip us off. But then it might make his piece on myth building something more than a tabloid half truth generality.
Cousin Frank might like mixing up his 39 years in Vegas with a bit of Mississippi. It is supposed to be a great venue for us older folks, good old fashioned gambling, good service, and good prices. Comps are so incredible that no one on the boards knows any of the prices of the rooms. Once you pay the first time, they tell me, you just keep getting free rooms for future trips. There are even some free junkets including airfare for gamblers out of my league bu perhaps not out of cousin't Franks.
Here is the menu of American Casino Guide podcasts; skim for Tunica:
While there take a listen to the Linda Boyd interview on video poker. She is a board friend of mine who has written a great book on video poker with a fine, player friendly strategy. She gave me free rooms in Laughlin the last time I went ( comps certainly pay off ) and moderates this board:
She can also educate on player advantage games that free us up from playing against the house advantage grind and leave us victim only to our own errors of play.
Currently Low minimum black jack players are watching the newly renovated Gold Spike in downtown Vegas which has gone from the pits to become upscale boutique. They will deal a low minimum 3/2 blackjack, but no word yet on the number of decks.
Check out the new Gold Spike upgrade here:


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A friend of mine posted something recently about being humble, about not succumbing to ego. And that started me thinking more about the whole topic of ego. Ego is a liar. But ego is not just a liar, but also a thief. Ego not only has the potential to rob great men (and women!) of what it was that actually gave them greatness, but it robs each of us of becoming all we can be.
Just such a short time ago, I lived in a shell in a hole in a tunnel under dark clouds. Why did I live there? Because I was afraid. I knew – with certainty – that I was not good enough. That I was not deserving of being out of that hole. Of standing out in a night sky under millions of stars, and being seen by each of them. Of standing in the sunlight, and letting each ray touch each pore of my skin (not being naked, although perhaps why not?), being okay with letting every facet of who I am be exposed to the world.
I was not good enough to be a writer – though that is what I've always been compelled to do. I would – will – never be Rowling, or Shakespeare, or Thoreau. But finally it dawned on me – I'm not supposed to be. I'm supposed to be Williams. Even the sound of my name has a commonness to it. An "every man" quality. But that is who I am. I am not Rowling, I am not Shakespeare, I am not Thoreau. I am Jean. The raw, real, reality of who Jean is. But finally I realized that EGO was keeping me from being spectacularly and gloriously Jean.
Perhaps a Jean is not a spectacular thing. Perhaps I will never find the business savvy of my dreams and own a huge company known for being the best place to work in the world. Perhaps I will never amass a huge fortune only so I can give it away MY way, and help people the ways I wish I could help them. Perhaps even, I will never be brave enough to be accepted to volunteer the places and ways I have wished to – the places I have actually been turned away from, because they did not even want me as a volunteer. Perhaps my writing will never touch millions of people, will never change the world. Perhaps all of that is true. But still ego was robbing me of being what I actually am. Of doing those things that me, in my me-ness can actually do. Of being the spectacularly imperfect, modest, plain-Jean person that God (the universe) intended me to be. So perhaps I am "just me" – but ego is as much a robber of "just me"s as it is of those intended for greatness, who lose it all by letting ego overcome them.
I will no longer apologize for not being great. I will no longer allow my thoughts of mediocrity to keep me from finding out all of what I really am. There is a place for me in this world. Whether it be a small place, or a large place, it is still an important place. It is a place that would have only a hole without me. I would rather fill every corner of the space given me with all of what I have to give it – than to leave that hole, and let the world down with a lack of me. This is not ego. This is sending ego packing. Realizing that I not only CAN be me – but that I have an obligation to be me, to the best of my ability. That there are things in this world that only I can do – that only I will do, that will not be done without me to do them. Ego, take a hike. I am ME. And all of what I am, good, bad, and silly around the edges – is EXACTLY what I want to be.


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As in the very first Knight Rider, the player will play K.I.T.T. and should use all the unique features that this renowned auto was capable of in order to successfully comprehensive missions. Whether its driving in ski-mode in narrow alleys, utilizing night vision to see exactly where others can not, chasing the negative guys with outstanding speed by activating the Turbo Boost or scanning buildings to analyse a predicament, Knight Rider 2 will still supply all the thrilling attributes related with the original K.I.T.T. automobile of the Tv series.
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Mother's Day and More
Yesterday we had a relaxed barbecue celebration of Mother's day. Sue and her mom were there along with Pam Downs. Ken came later. I made steaks. We broke in our new Weber and had a very pleasant day.
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I was nervous at first and Helen put me at ease she was a great sitter sent me updates and put my mind to rest I felt comfortable leaving Brooklyn with her and I would request her again my dog came home like her normal self
I am so grateful for Helen! It was very hot this week and Helen texted me in advance of the walk to let me know she thought the pavement might be a bit hot for my pup, and would it be ok to play and hang with her in the yard. I SO appreciate that thoughtfulness of my pup's safety and it makes me feel like Sasha is in excellent hands. Helen is the best!
Helen's been great with our dog and she loves going over to her place!
About Helen
Dog-Loving Grad Student
I've grown up with dogs my entire life and now that I'm living (dogless) in New Haven for grad school, there's an empty space in my life. I don't have the time or money to have a dog of my own and give it the life it deserves but I have a little extra time to devote to doggies who are in need of a little extra love while their owners are busy. I enjoy ...


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As you can see in this first pic the customer was asking about charging. It's a pretty simple question and explanation from me. Anyone who knows anything about USB power knows that a regular USB port charges at .5 amps. This could take literally days to charge up a tablet depending on if the LCD is on or any programs are running. This is actually a common issue, but something I have to answer and not Liz. Please note that the reply is on the 26th of April. The very first e-mail that was sent to me and also the day before the weekend. At least in America.
This next picture is Liz telling the customer that I will get back with him/her. I have no clue what they are talking about with the screen. The C93 has a TN screen and you have to look at it dead on to see it good. Anyone who knows anything about tablets/phone screens know that IPS & Super Amoled are the best screens. We carry not only IPS but Retina IPS screens for people who want full viewing angles. Brightness can be adjusted of course but I figure people are smart enough to figure it out since there is a button in the drop down menu on the home screen.
As you can see here I'm trying to offer up more diagnosis and I also say and I quote "….send it back and I'll take a look at it". Something you would never get from China. They will delay you for weeks. Even months to not return an item and or extend it out so far that your credit company/Paypal will deny a claim. Something we have never done ever. I still fix T01's, C91's, A90's and all the popular tablets from last year to this day. We are the most reputable China tablet dealer in the world. And I would like someone to prove otherwise. You can't though so don't waste your time.
Here is the kicker and the final straw in patience for negatives on E-Bay that I can't defend properly. As you can see this person sent the message at 5:40 PDT, which is 8:40EST (Where I live), after I have already replied to him at least 4 times they claim it has been almost a week and they're signing on to give me a bad report. What constitutes almost a week? 4 days? Of which 2 were a weekend? Please can someone comment on this? During the week we answer questions almost on a 24 hour basis. Are we allowed to get some rest and relaxation?
Liz had replied to this knowing we already had the negative posted on E-bay and asked the person what they wanted to do. Please can anyone tell me what Liz said wrong here? Because I can't find anything other than her trying to help this person and figure out what they want to do with their tablet. How has anyone been rude to this person? I am now by putting them on front street, but aren't I allowed to defend my honor? My company?
Please note that all the sudden this person is also a CyanogenMod expert and he is telling me that we put a cellphone ROM on a tablet. This is what ticks me off till no end. Ignorance. I'll rest my case because the evidence is extremely clear.
Hopefully someone reading this can see that a lot of these negatives just aren't true, or the people wouldn't let us help them understand their product better. If we sell something, we know it inside and out. It is what we based our business on is knowing our products. Something nobody does anymore. Which is why you see these big companies constantly going out of business. So consider that before you hit the buy button.