text:
Rescue Profile: Kiri and Dad
Case #: 8393
Not every girl can claim to be daddy's tough biker. But every girl is not Kirsten, affectionately known as Kiri. Her father, John, takes pride in referring to her as one of the toughest bikers he has ever seen.
This daughter/father duo enjoys the outdoors as much as they enjoy each other's company. This past Labor Day, they were doing just that when the day took an unexpected turn for the worse. In the mountain trails of Ashland, Oregon, Kiri took a jump on her bike that resulted in her body being thrown against the rocky terrain.
John remembered the fright that filled him as he approached the scene and saw his daughter helplessly lying on the ground. When his tough "little girl" somehow managed to get out the words, "Dad, I'm hurt," John knew it was serious.
Rescue Profile: Aage, Kory and Randall
Case #: 9294
Aage, Kory and Randall had gone on many adventures together. Four-wheeler riding, RVing, international travel and exploring the North American outback were all on their activity list.
Their love of adventure is what brought them together for a snowmobiling ride in the mountains of Northern Utah on January 10, 2013. The men had no reason to believe this trip would be any different than the many others they had been on before. The area they planned to visit was one where Aage had previously been, and they looked forward to being home in plenty enough time to tell their loved ones good night. Although the group had no reason to suspect any danger, Randall decided to re-activate his SPOT device before leaving. After sending a test message, the trio headed out, not knowing that Randall's small action would soon have a significant effect on their lives.
The friends started off with only the occasional upset of getting stuck in the snow. Before they knew it, a massive snow storm descended upon them, covering their tracks, hindering their vision and preventing them from making it to a camp site. Although the snowmobilers had a general idea of the direction they needed to go, 10 feet of snow had fallen and their GPS devices had failed them.
Rescue Profile: Colin
Case #: 9176
Colin, an avid motorcyclist, purchased a SPOT Satellite GPS Messenger™ during a motorcycle tour in South America to let the folks back home keep up with his progress. He also liked the idea of having a 911 button in the event of a critical emergency in an area without cellular coverage. Having just purchased his SPOT device in July 2012, Colin probably was not expecting to use the S.O.S. feature so soon.
A few months later, Colin was looking forward to enjoying a beautiful Australian summer day biking on the scenic trails. He checked his bike, packed up his gear, which included his new SPOT device, and headed off into the Victorian High Country with one of his mates. The friends were enjoying the scenery when Colin lost his balance and fell downhill. The fall resulted in the breaking of his collar bone.


text:
Make June A Healthy Month
Just because we've entered June Gloom does not mean that you have to feel gloomy. Keep yourself happy and healthy with the Swagbucks Health Advantage Program. For those of you who may not be aware of this great opportunity, the Swagbucks Health Advantage Program is 100% free, you don't need prior health coverage, and there is no paperwork involved. Simply visit the Swagbucks Health Advantage Program page, read the information, and click the button that says "Print Your Health Advantage Card Now." Once the PDF file opens, print it out, and cut it down to card size. Keep it in your wallet and show it at your local pharmacy to save on all of your prescription medicines. What's awesome about this program is that you don't even have to be a Swagbucks member to use the card! Also, the card is not limited to one person – so feel free to use it for the whole family, share the page with your friends and them print out their own – no obligation. These cards have been supplied to us by our friends at ParamountRx.
Have you used the Swagbucks Health Advantage Card yet?
Happy Health!

subset: commoncrawl


text:
JavaScript coding conventions
- 1 Google Coding Conventions
- 2 Object Oriented Programming in JS
- 3 Building and Checking JS Code
- 4 The PKP JavaScript Handler Model
- 5 Standard Widget Controller Library
- 6 Additional Resources
Google Coding Conventions
We use Google's JavaScript style guide as a starting point for our own style guide.
Only deviations from the Google style guide will be documented here.
JsDoc Comments
We use class/member-level JsDoc comments as outlined in the Google style guide but we replace the file-level annotations by our usual annotations (@file, @brief, etc.).
Generally we encourage inline comments. These help readers of your code to understand the logic without having to understand every line of code. It's also a good practice to write inline comments before you write code so that you first think about the logic and semantics you want to implement and then about the syntax.
For the moment being we do not use curly braces ({}) around the object declared with
@extends. This is for better tool support. The build script will introduce the braces for compilation.
We generally use whitespace exactly as outlined in Google's JavaScript style guide except for indentation which we do with tabs rather than spaces.
Object Oriented Programming in JS
There are many ways to implement inheritance in JavaScript. We chose our approach for flexibility, simplicity and memory/execution performance.
We are using a (pseudo-)classical approach of inheritance rather than the purely prototypical or mixin approach:
// Define parent constructor. Parent = function() { ... }; // Implement parent object. Parent.prototype.xyz = ...; // Define child constructor. Child = function() { ... }; // Let Child inherit from Parent - memory efficient version avoiding constructor side effects. Temp = function() {}; Temp.prototype = Parent.prototype; Child.prototype = new Temp(); // + a bit of sugar to fix the constructor property and allow access to the parent prototype... // Implement child object. Child.prototype.xyz = ...;
Compared with the 'purely' prototypical approach (
parent = {...}; F = function() {}; F.prototype = parent; child = new F;):
- It's easier to put in an intermediate object above the parent when we use constructors from the beginning.
- It's easy to insert initialization code in the parent object if required at a later stage because we won't have to insert
neweverywhere in the code.
- There's minimal overhead in using functions as parents if we make sure to not call the constructor (thereby avoiding potential side effects of the constructor and making a potentially big object) when letting a child inherit from the parent, see use of 'Temp' above.
Compared with the pure "mixin" approach (used in jQuery and jQueryUI):
- Easy access to superclass method implementations via our custom
_parentstatic variable.
- Using
newis usually faster than manually copying mixins to new objects in a loop.
- You cannot use the
instanceofoperator with Mixins.
- Mixins are less memory efficient than inheritance via prototypes.
Cross-Cutting Concerns
There are certain features that are really cross-cutting concerns or that should be shared between objects independent of their inheritance hierarchy. JavaScript fortunately has very powerful mechanisms to deal with such situations.
While we do not use "mixins" to implement vertical code re-use (see inheritance above), we use them throughout to implement horizontal code re-use. Objects "declare" the aspects they implement similarly to how they declare inheritance - via a method that actually implements the mixin.
We implement cross-cutting aspects in separate objects and then introduce them into classes. We have got two mechanisms for that:
- interface weaving
- interceptors
There is no syntactical correspondence for interfaces in JavaScript but we implement them conceptually as objects and enforce them with Google's Closure compiler. We have an "abstract" base object that declares the methods that go into an interface without implementing them. Then we let implementations of the interface inherit from these "abstract" objects. Please use the
@interface and
@implements annotations to declare interfaces.
Interfaces that share the same implementation across objects can be weaved into objects as aspects via the $.Helper.injectMixin() method which relies on our object factory to identify the right implementation of an interface and then introduces it into the target object via the mixin mechanism provided by jQuery's $.extend() function. This allows us to exchange interface implementations on runtime (e.g. for automated testing or different deployment environments) without having to change the object declarations, see the explanation of the object factory below.
If the interface implementation differs on a per-object basis so that we cannot use shared mixins then objects implement interface methods themselves.
Method Interception
We can implement method interception via the proxy that we attach to every object on instantiation. The proxy can either implement methods itself or delegate to other objects for actual interception. We'll further detail that design approach when we actually need it.
Object Factory
The object factory introduces an additional indirection between client code and the objects it instantiates. Without an object factory, client code would have to be closely coupled to specific implementations of certain interfaces on object instantiation. The object factory allows us to work with logical "object names" rather than "class names". We then can control in one central place how these object names will be resolved to actual objects. The performance overhead for such an approach is minimal in JavaScript as, due to the dynamic nature of JavaScript, we can use very powerful native JavaScript functionality.
Potential use cases of such an approach are: - dynamic dependency injection (IoC) - run-time weaving of interfaces and method interceptors (AOP) - a central place to enforce restrictions and application policies on object level
This indirectly introduces more flexible possibilities for logging, security/consistency checks, dynamic patching of objects, central configuration, improved testability, working with stub implementations, etc.
All our object members are techically public.
We use the
@protected and
@private markers that Google's JavaScript compiler understands and enforces.
We also put underscores in front of object members that are intended to be private.
Advantages over the 'closure + privileged method approach' (see e.g. Douglas Crockford, "JavaScript: The good parts") for private object members:
- Reduced complexity for novice programmers who are not so familiar with the closure concept.
- Approach is similar to our PHP4 compatible nomenclature for private methods in PHP.
- Less probability to create memory leaks with closures, see http://code.google.com/speed/articles/optimizing-javascript.html
- Better tool support (e.g. Eclipse JSDT)
Object vs. 'Class' members
There is no such thing as classes (or static methods) in JavaScript. We implement class members that do not need to be copied into each object instance (=static members) within the constructor object:
SomeConstructor = function() { ... }; SomeConstructor.staticMethod = function() { ... };
Thereby we make sure that on instantiation of that constructor with the
new keyword,
staticMethod will not be copied into the new object instance.
JavaScript doesn't have self:: or parent:: constructs. We emulate these constructs with methods automatically added to all objects retrieved from the object factory:
- If you want to access a static class member you can use the following syntax:
// For a static property: var myProperty = this.self('someStaticProperty'); // This is like self::$someStaticProperty in PHP.
// For a static method call. var result = this.self('someStaticMethod', arg1, arg2, ...); // This is like self::someStaticMethod(arg1, arg2, ...) in PHP.
- If you want to access the parent implementation of an overridden method you can use the following:
// Call overridden constructor from within the child constructor: var result = this.parent(arg1, arg2, ...); // This corresponds to parent::_constructor(arg1, arg2, ...) or parent::SuperClass(arg1, arg2, ...) in PHP.
// Call overridden implementation of an instance method: var result = this.parent('someOverriddenMethod', arg1, arg2, ...); // This is like parent::someOverriddenMethod(arg1, arg2, ...) in PHP.
Some background and credits: Several techniques have been developed to emulate parent method implementation access. We use a method combining the performance and tool support of Google Closure's goog.base() with the terse grammar of John Resig's inheritance approach (see "additional resources" below). Our object factory / object proxy allows us to do away with both, the awkwardness of the goog.base() method calls and the performance trouble, unnecessary complexity and bad tool support of John's approach. The self() method is unique to our library and allows for 'inheritance' of static methods.
Object member ordering
We group object members by visibility and singleton ('static') vs. instance membership in the following order in our object definitions:
- constructor (use
- private static properties (end with underscore, use
- private instance properties (end with underscore, use
- protected instance properties (discouraged, better use private variables with protected accessors/mutators, use
- no public static/instance properties - use public accessors/mutators instead!
- public static methods
- public methods
- protected static methods (use
- protected methods (use
- private static methods (end with underscore, use
- private methods (end with underscore, use
Sections are divided with a three line
// style comment indicating the class member category.
You are obviously not supposed to use a member outside its scope even if the visibility is not enforced by closure. Please run
lib/pkp/tools/buildjs.sh on your code to make sure that you have not overlooked anything. This is also true for protected object members. While they are named like public methods they must not be used outside of the inheritance hierarchy of the current class.
Building and Checking JS Code
Build Script
We have developed a build script that serves several purposes:
- Run checkers over the code that make sure that we implement a safe subset of JavaScript. We use JSLint and the Google Linter for that purpose. The checking process will also enforce most of our coding style rules, including some additional annotation-based type checking that is not implemented in JavaScript itself.
- Join, compile and minify the source. This is necessary to reduce the number of files to be loaded on a web page as well as the overall size of the JavaScript files. It has an important performance impact on page load.
The build script is in
lib/pkp/tools/buildjs.sh. It can be run whenever changes have been made in the code to check whether these are compatible with our coding style guide. The script also makes sure that the differences from the Google coding style guide will not come in the way. Please look at the source code for further information. The script has extensive inline documentation.
NB: Currently only files in the js/classes folder will be checked against our coding style rules. External files in lib and legacy files in functions contain too many deviations from the expected coding style for such a check being useful there. We should, however, make sure that we include at least the files in functions sooner or later.
Switch Between Minified and Original Code
We now have a new parameter in
config.inc.php that is used to switch between the minified version and the full version of the code. The parameter is called enable_minified.
For production environments this parameter should always be set to "On". You can only set it to on after executing the build script.
For development environments the parameter can be switched "Off" for easier in-browser debugging, e.g. via FireBug. This allows you to step through the original source code rather than having to decipher the minified code.
Adding New Scripts Files
Whenever you create a new JavaScript source file you must add it to the
templates/common/minifiedScripts.tpl file. This file has two purposes:
- It will be included as a whole into the header template when
enable_minifiedis switched to "Off".
- It will be parsed by the build script to discover files to be minified and/or checked.
Code Release
The build script must be run before we release code so that an up-to-date minified source file will be included in the released tar archive. We also should make sure that we release code with the
enable_minified parameter already switched to "On" in
The PKP JavaScript Handler Model
Model-View-Controller (MVC) Design
We implement an MVC pattern on the client side.
The guiding principles are similar to what exists in Smalltalk, Adobe Flex and other, JavaScript-based client side frameworks: The interface is made up of GUI widgets and each active widget has its own controller attached. GUI widgets can be nested. Widgets emit events when the end user interacts with them or when some other part of the system triggers them (e.g. a timeout or another widget). Events will be received and handled by the controller. The controller can access client- or server-side data and will then update the GUI in response to the end user's actions.
Note: Event-based MVC is quite different from request-based MVC (but somehow similar to AJAX MVC). In any case: please do not assume that all you know about server side MVC is necessarily transferable to the client side.
GUI widgets are HTML elements. Not all HTML elements need a handler attached but no HTML element can have more than exactly one handler attached.
Controllers are JavaScript objects that inherit from $.pkp.classes.Handler.
Strict Encapsulation of Widgets
JavaScript is a very powerful language - too powerful if it's not used with care. The same is true for the jQuery library and the DOM. That's why we establish a framework that purposefully limits us to a small subset of JavaScript, DOM and jQuery features. Everything outside this subset is strongly discouraged. The framework itself makes full use of the JavaScript, DOM and jQuery power but it structures and channels how client code has access to these features to avoid some common pitfalls that come with poor code design.
Most client-side limitations result from the MVC model together with strict encapsulation of GUI widgets. This avoids undocumented dependencies between widgets which can make code maintenance a nightmare:
- The handler of a GUI widget will handle all events emitted by the corresponding HTML DOM element or it's sub-elements.
- No handler will handle any events that are not emitted by the GUI widget it is attached to.
- We do not allow bubbling of any events outside of the GUI widget unless the event was first handled by the responsible handler and semantically re-wrapped into an event understood by the parent widget's handler!
- We also don't allow that one handler updates the GUI of another handler. If one handler wants another handler to update its GUI it has to do so by triggering an event on that handler which will then be handled there.
- We do not allow jQuery.live() or jQuery.delegate() event bindings! Whenever a widget is replaced by another widget its original event bindings will be completely released and the new widget will have to bind its own events.
Event Management
The $.pkp.classes.Handler class implements an event dispatcher that will centrally handle and route all events emitted by its corresponding GUI widget. No events may ever be bound directly to a GUI widget!
This is necessary because we want to have a central checkpoint for events and we want to be able to garbage collect our event bindings centrally when we remove the handler. We also want to manage the context of an event handler call. The 'this' variable will always be set to the handler and not to the GUI widget that emitted the event (as is default in jQuery).
The $.pkp.classes.Handler class implements a bind() method. It binds events to the root HTML element of the GUI widget.
Whenever possible you should prefer events over callbacks! You often have a choice with jQueryUI for example. Use jQueryUI events rather than callbacks.
If you implement your own custom events then always prefix event names with 'pkp', i.e. 'pkpRemoveHandler'.
If for some reason you really have to implement a callback rather than an event then $.pkp.classes.Handler also provides a callbackWrapper() method that can be used to correctly wrap callbacks so that they are called in the handler context rather than in the context of the calling object.
This approach should be used with care because the callbackWrapper() method creates a closure that points back to the handler. If you bind a callback returned by the callbackWrapper() method then you always have to make sure that the reference to the callback is deleted when you remove the handler from the GUI element. If you stick to the encapsulation rules, this should not be too difficult. But watch out!
Data Items
If you need to keep data then please keep it in handler properties and do not use jQuery's data() cache. This will keep the data() namespace clean. The handler framework will make sure that the handler object including your data will be properly garbage collected when you remove the handler. Keep in mind that adding data to the DOM element is like defining global variables which is not encouraged.
Binding Handlers to HTML elements
We implement our own jQuery plug-in to bind PKP widget handlers to HTML elements.
The binding is done via usual jQuery selectors:
$('some selector').pkpHandler('$.some.handler.Name', {...handler options...});
This is the only bit of JavaScript we allow in Smarty templates at all! If you feel the need to add anything more than this to your templates then you probably have a design error somewhere.
Standard Widget Controller Library
Please see our dedicated JavaScript library wiki page that documents all widget controllers.
Additional Resources
Recommended Books
- Ross Harmes and Dustin Diaz, "Pro JavaScript Design Patterns"
- Douglas Crockford, "JavaScript: The Good Parts"
Recommended Articles
- Constructors considered mildly confusing, an in-depth explanation of the
newoperator together with the prototypical inheritance approach
- JavaScript Closures, an in-depth explanation of closures
- Object Oriented Programming in JavaScript, a good overview over different inheritance approaches in JavaScript - not as good as the above books, though.
- Google JavaScript Style Guide, especially the parts on closures, code formatting, JavaScript types and comments (for correct JsDoc) and tips and tricks.
- Simple JavaScript Inheritance, an all-but-simple and IMO not-so-elegant idea to implement inheritance by John Resig, jQuery creator - just to test your knowledge. ;-)


text:
Explode tree
Collapse tree
Ingredients: Ginger, Bighead Atractylodes Rhizome, Dangshen, Licorice Root, Prepared Aconite Root
Direction: 8 pills a time, 3 times a day as a herbal supplement
Caution: Do not use if pregnant
* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
Content Copyright Mount Spring International


text:
Media July–September 2006
|News Release: July 20, 2006
|View Printable PDF Version
|Docket Nos. RM06-4-000; EL06-54-000 & EL06-50-000
Final rule promoting transmission investment adopted; rate incentives for two transmission proposals accepted
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has finalized rules to bolster investment in the nation's aging transmission infrastructure, and to promote electric power reliability and lower costs for consumers, by reducing transmission congestion. The final rule identifies specific incentives the Commission would allow based on a case-by-case analysis of individual transmission proposals.
"Today's final rule provides increased regulatory certainty and procedural flexibility to encourage much-needed investment in all areas of the country," Commission Chairman Joseph T. Kelliher said. "There has been a sustained period of underinvestment in the transmission system. Notwithstanding, use of the nation's grid has more than doubled in recent years. It is clear that we need to strengthen the system to meet consumer demand and today's rule takes a significant turn in that direction. Underinvestment in the grid is a national problem. Today, we offer a solution."
The Energy Policy Act of 2005 directed the Commission to develop incentive-based rate treatments for transmission of electric energy in interstate commerce, adding a new section 219 to the Federal Power Act. The final rule implements this new statutory directive.
For the most part, the final rule adopts the proposals put forth in the Commission's November 2005 proposed rulemaking. Key provisions of the rule include:
- Incentive rates of return on equity for new investment by public utilities (both traditional utilities and stand-alone transmission companies, or transcos);
- Full recovery of prudently incurred construction work in progress;
- Full recovery of prudently incurred pre-operations costs;
- Full recovery of prudently incurred costs of abandoned facilities;
- Use of hypothetical capital structures;
- Accumulated deferred income taxes for transcos;
- Adjustments to book value for transco sales/purchases;
- Accelerated depreciation;
- Deferred cost recovery for utilities with retail rate freezes; and
- A higher rate of return on equity for utilities that join and/or continue to be members of transmission organizations, such as (but not limited to) regional transmission organizations and independent system operators.
All rates approved under the rules would be subject to Federal Power Act rate filing standards, the Commission noted. The rule does not grant utilities all of the listed incentives, but rather allows utilities on a case-by-case basis to select and justify the package of incentives needed to support new investment. Additionally, the rule provides expedited procedures for the approval of incentives to provide utilities greater regulatory certainty and facilitate the financing of projects.
The Commission is adopting an annual reporting requirement, FERC Form 730, which will be required from utilities that have received incentive rate treatment for specific transmission projects. The annual reporting requirement would include projections and related information that detail the level of transmission investment.
In separate actions today, the Commission granted transmission investment incentive rate requests to two companies. Approved were incentive rate requests filed by American Electric Power (AEP) Service Corp. and by Allegheny Energy Inc. and its affiliated utility companies. Both requests were for transmission projects proposed for the Mid-Atlantic regional power grid operated by PJM Interconnection.
In the AEP proceeding, the Commission conditionally approved proposed incentive rates for a new 765-kilovolt, 550-mile transmission line that would extend from West Virginia to New Jersey. The approved incentives include: (1) an ROE set at the high end of the zone of reasonableness; (2) the option to timely recover the cost of capital associated with construction work in progress (CWIP); and (3) the ability to expense and recover the costs AEP incurs during the pre-construction and pre-operating period.
In the Allegheny proceeding, the Commission granted the four incentives requested by the company and its subsidiaries, Monongahela Power Co., Potomac Edison Co. and West Penn Power Co. Allegheny proposes to construct a 500-kilovolt transmission line within the PJM region. The proposed line would extend from southwestern Pennsylvania to Virginia. As in the AEP proposal, the approved incentives would include an ROE on the high end of the zone of reasonableness, recovery of CWIP and the ability to expense and recover pre-construction and pre-operating costs.
In addition, Allegheny may recover all prudently incurred development and construction costs if the project is abandoned as a result of factors beyond its control.
Both proposals would still need appropriate transmission siting approvals. Further, the companies must file rate tariffs with the Commission.
The final rule, "Promoting Transmission Investment through Pricing Reform," takes effect 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.
|View Printable PDF Version


text:
Office cleaning services Monticello MN 55365
No matter your facility size, we provide hands-on, personal service. We customize janitorial services to meet the needs of property management firms, facility managers, and commercial, institutional,
and industrial building owners.
Our expertise in specialized facilities make your transition easy, and our proven processes and well-trained employees keep operations running smoothly.
Need help with your Commercial cleaning?
- Deep expertise, self-performed service
- Full range of cleaning services
- Innovative & sustainable programs
- More efficient cleaning approaches
- Stringent hiring & selection process
- Powerful technology enablement tools
Our Services in Monticello MN 55365, we include but not limited to:
- Complete all high dusting not reached in the above-mentioned cleaning.
- Top Scrub or machine scrub, rinse, and apply finish to composition floor covering in those areas that show excessive wear.
- Remove fingerprints and marks from around light switches and door frames.
- Vacuum all upholstered furniture.
- Damp wipe telephones using a disinfectant.
- Empty all trash receptacles, replace liners, as needed, and remove trash to a collection point. (Client to furnish liners)
- Vacuum carpeting. we will not be responsible for removal of staples from carpets.
- Clean and polish drinking fountain/water cooler.
- Thoroughly dust all horizontal surfaces, including desktops, files, windowsills, chairs, tables, pictures and all manner of furnishings.
- Damp wipe all horizontal surfaces to remove coffee rings and spillage, as needed.
- Dust telephones.
- Dust mop hard surface floors with a treated dust mop.
- Damp mop hard surface floors to remove any spillage from soiled areas.
- Damp wipe entryway and clean fingerprints from entrance glass.
- Spot clean partition glass.
- Inspect and pick up, as needed, building entrance area.
Commercial Cleaning Services Monticello MN 55365Janitors have access to virtually all areas of a building, including your office, when no one else is around. Your office is the center of your firm's brand, image and reputation in the community. Your office may be home to the firm's intellectual property, trade secrets, or proprietary information such as customer lists and price sheets. You may also keep the names, addresses, phone numbers, social security numbers and dates of birth of your clients and employees in your office. Is this information safe? What do you know about your office cleaner? Has your janitor been convicted of a crime of violence? Is your janitor an illegal or undocumented worker, a violent felon, a drug addict, a corporate spy, or an identity thief?A single case of identity theft could cost your firm thousands of dollars, thousands of hours of labor to fix, and cause enormous damage to your firm's brand, image and reputation among your customers and employees. Identity theft statistics are staggering. The Javelin Strategy and Research Center recently reported:• There were 10 million victims of identity theft in 2008 in the United States, a 22% increase over 2007 • 1 in every 10 U.S. consumers has been victimized by identity theft • Up to 55% of victims take 4-12 months to correct the damage from identity theft • In 2008, existing account fraud in the U.S. totaled $31 billion • The average victim loses between $851 and $1,378 out-of-pocket trying to resolve identity theft • 47% of victims have problems qualifying for a new loan • 70% of victims encounter problems removing negative information from their credit reports • Businesses across the globe lose $221 billion a year due to identity theft • Stolen documents and wallets account for almost half of all identity theft (43%).Evidence developed during the past few years points to an unmistakable and irrefutable connection between illegal or undocumented workers employed as janitors, and identity theft and other crimes. The crime of identity theft is generally committed for two reasons; personal benefit or document fraud. There have been a number of stories in the media about janitors committing identity theft.In Seattle, 2 janitors were accused of stealing the identities of 181 people and running up thousands of dollars in charges. The janitors said they stole the information by rummaging through company files, including personnel files. In Florida, a janitor was charged with stealing the identity of an attorney whose office he cleaned, selling shares of stock owned by the attorney, and running up $20,000 in credit card charges. The U.S. Attorney for the western district of Washington reported that 2 janitors, while employed at a janitorial company working at night in a U.S. Bank branch, stole information on more than 200 bank customers. Using that information, the janitors opened credit accounts in the customers' names, and signed up for on line banking. Using the credit card accounts, they purchased expensive items such as laptop computers, flat screen televisions and airline tickets. Using on line banking they paid their own bills and transferred funds to checking accounts that they then drained. They also submitted change of address requests on line so that the customers did not get their bank statements alerting them to the problem. The indictment charged the janitors with more than $200,000 in fraud.While a significant portion of identity theft is committed for financial gain, identity theft is also perpetrated for the purpose collecting personal data to sell to document forgers or organized identify theft rings. In New York, a janitor at public radio station WNYC was charged with stealing a list of the station's donors and selling it to an identity theft ring.The sad truth is that many cleaning contractors hire persons that they know, or should know, are illegal aliens. Many cleaning companies simply choose to accept identification documents presented by employment candidates at face value even when there is an obvious discrepancy. Failing to verify that employees are who they say they are and eligible for employment in the U.S. unnecessarily subjects building owners, managers and tenants to unacceptable risk of harm and potential legal liability. The seriousness of this risk is demonstrated by two recent cases.In November, 2009, more than 1,200 janitors employed by a janitorial services contractor were fired in Minnesota when they were unable to provide the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement with proof of their legal status in the United States. The vast majority of the 1,200 fired workers turned out to be "undocumented." These illegal aliens may have committed several felonies: document fraud, perjury on an I-9 form, and identity theft if the social security number or other personally identifying information used by the illegal alien belonged to another person. By failing to verify that these persons were eligible for work in the United States, this cleaning contractor exposed its customers, including building owners, managers and tenants, to significant criminal and financial liability under the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, 8 U.S.C 1324a(1), specifically prohibits the hiring of an alien not authorized to legally work in the United States. A much lesser-known section of this law, 8 U.S.C 1324a(4), provides that an entity that uses a contract or subcontract to obtain the labor of an alien knowing that the alien is an unauthorized alien with respect to performing such labor, shall be considered to have hired the alien for employment in violation of law. WalMart Stores, Inc. was reminded of this law the hard way. While avoiding criminal charges, WalMart agreed to pay a record $11 million in fines to the federal government to resolve charges alleging the employment of illegal aliens by the independent contractors WalMart retained to provide janitorial services. The investigation resulted in the arrests of over 350 allegedly illegal aliens. The cleaning contractors that hired the undocumented aliens and placed them in WalMart stores plead guilty to criminal immigration charges and agreed to pay a further total of $4 million in fines.While no one action, or series of actions, can ever provide 100% protection against identity theft or other crimes committed by a janitor, there are several actions that must be taken to mitigate risk in connection with signing a contract for janitorial services.Due diligence. Investigate whether the cleaning contractor has ever been associated with hiring illegal aliens. The internet is a valuable tool in this regard. Search the internet under the name of the company and check the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement website. If a company has a history of hiring illegal immigrants, you would be well-advised to hire a different contractor.Criminal Background Check. Make sure the cleaning contractor conducts an extensive criminal background check on all employees. Insist that appropriate language covering this point be included in your contract. E-Verify. A criminal background check, without more, may be insufficient to detect persons with criminal records. Here's why. Some U.S. citizens, in order to hide extensive criminal histories, will provide a cleaning contractor with a fake name and false proof of identity. If a criminal background check is run using this fraudulent information, the results may come back showing no criminal history when in fact that person has an extensive criminal record. The Department of Homeland Security's E-Verify System confirms the identity of each employee by comparing information from the employee's I-9 form against 444 million records in the Social Security Administration database and 60 million records in the Department of Homeland Security's immigration databases. E-Verify allows the contractor to determine whether that person is who he says he is and confirms the reliability of the identifying information that will be submitted for the background check. In addition, E-Verify determines the eligibility of each employee to work in the United States. Research indicates that illegal immigrants generally are not "undocumented." They commonly possess bogus documents such as counterfeit social security cards, forged drivers licenses, fake "green cards," and phony birth certificates. Experts believe that approximately 75 percent of illegal aliens use counterfeit social security cards to obtain employment. The E-Verify System helps detect this fraud. Before signing any contract for cleaning services, make sure appropriate language requiring the use of E-Verify is included in the contract.By following these simple suggestions, a building owner, manager or tenant can:(1) significantly reduce the risk that a janitor employed by a cleaning service will engage in identity theft, corporate espionage, or other serious crimes against persons or property in facilities under their control, (2) prevent cleaning service outages arising from having their cleaning contractor shut down, imprisoned or fined by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and (3) avoid potential criminal liability and large civil fines arising from your cleaning contractor's illegal conduct.Copyright 2010, James Cleaning Service, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Tips For Hiring Office Cleaning CompaniesWho doesn't love Halloween? More than 68% Americans are planning to celebrate the holiday this year, spending, on average, $94 per person. Did you know that 'Samhainophobia' is a word, describing a morbid fear of Halloween? The holiday is thought to have originated around 4000 B.C. and is the second highest grossing commercial holiday after Christmas. What about you? Will you celebrate Halloween? If the answer is yes, you should be prepared for the horrifying carpet stains brought by the holiday. The kids leave candy and chocolate all over the house and the fake blood is literally everywhere. The morning after the Halloween party has to be the biggest cleaning day of the year, but have no fear the cleaning tricks are here! Most of the stains can be removed easily using the products you already have in your home as long as you follow these steps. 1. Chocolate First you should scrape off as much as possible without grinding the chocolate or pumpkin deeper into the fabric. Apply a mixture of two cups cool water and one tablespoon dishwashing liquid and wash. If necessary, apply the solution again until the area is clean. 2. Candy Apply a solution of one tablespoon neutral detergent and one cup warm water. Using the mixture, sponge the stain from the carpet with a clean white cloth. If the candy is melted use a mixture of 1/3 vinegar and 2/3 water. 3. Candle Wax After scraping off as much of the candle wax as possible use a damp brown paper bag to cover the stained area and put a wet white towel on top of it. Use an iron on top for 15 seconds. That's how the wax will transfer to the paper bag without damaging the carpet. Check out if the wax is removed, if not repeat the steps. Be careful not to use the iron for longer than 15 seconds, because some carpets are made with man-made fabrics and could melt even at low temperatures. 4. Pumpkin One of the easiest stains to clean. You just have to remove any bits of pumpkin on the carpet and put some cool water. Then, pre-treat the stain with laundry detergent or dish soap and leave it for five minutes. Wipe off with a clean cloth. 5. Oil-based Halloween Makeup and Lipstick Using a dry white washcloth, dampen the stain with alcohol until there are no traces of any makeup or lipstick on the cloth. Apply a small amount of rubbing alcohol or makeup remover on a clean cloth and rub the stain, wash with warm water. Repeat, if necessary. If you haven't already seen your stain above, you can try these steps. Step 1. Try removing as much of the material as possible from the carpet. Gently scrape it with a dull knife or spoon. Step 2. Apply rubbing alcohol on a clean cloth or paper towel and treat softly the stain then rinse with warm water and blot dry with another clean cloth or towel. Step 3. Spray a mixture of one tablespoon dish soap and two cups of hot water to the stained area. Again, gently rub the stained area with a clean cloth or paper towel. Step 4. Rinse the affected area with hot water and dry with a clean cloth. You have to keep in mind that some stains could be very persistent and you will have to repeat steps 2, 3 and 4 again. Step 5. If nothing helps and the stain remains you may consider hiring licensed carpet cleaners who will be able to easily find the right cleaning methods to treat the stain. Have a nice and scary Halloween!
Office Cleaning - Money in the Bank!Monticello MN 55365
Another service that adds value for a customer is conducting inspections after the janitorial services are provided. This takes cleaning accountability to a whole new level. The job of inspecting a building for cleanliness is very important. It can make the difference in keeping or losing an account.
We personally conduct all inspections and are thorough, fair and honest. After all, we would rather catch a problem before the customer does!
Office Cleaning Companies - Counting The Cost Of Office Cleaning In This Economic ClimateWhen it comes to office cleaning organization is the most important part. When there is no where to put papers then there ends up being a giant mess more often than not. Get a filing cabinet and start putting these papers in a perfect order. Whether it is alphabetical or numerical order, it is best to have them together and organized. If this is an issue, you could even start organizing all of your papers on your computer to reduce clutter.The next thing you need to do when it comes to office cleaning is throw out the junk that is around. Take a weekend to go through all of the papers and clutter. Yes, it can be hard to try and let go of all of the things that you have but there are many papers that simply are not necessary to keep along with random things. As you go along you can file your documents and prevent the messes. Making organization a habit will help prevent the messes, too. If this is an outside of the home office you can always hire a cleaning service. Even if you do have a home office sometimes you just need help. Hire a cleaning service to get yourself started with organization. Please keep in mind that you should ask as many questions as you can. You can't trust everyone, so please make sure to get the most honest cleaners so you don't end up with missing equipment.Office cleaning can be easy to do on your own if you have the time, too. De cluttering is important, upkeep is even more important. It is also important to get waste baskets and recycling bins too. Make sure to buy a paper shredder, too. This will help get rid of sensitive information. Make sure that your office cleaning is done often. At least once a week if it is a home office. Also consider all of the aspects of cleaning such as vacuuming and dusting. Office workers can get sick very easily as dust accumulates. It tends to get so busy that cleaning can be overlooked, but with a little effort office cleaning can cut back on call outs and sickness due to various things such as allergies or spread bugs amongst one another. Now let's think about all of the electronics in an office. If you keep your computer clean with canned air and wiping the screen it will help keep the computer working. Dust and dirt causes a lot of computer deaths and they can absolutely be avoided.Other tips to make cleaning a faster adventure is keeping trash can liners at the bottom of the trash can for when you are emptying the bags. Using disinfectant on all materials and shared phones will also prevent the spread of viruses. Another trick is to get those plug in air fresheners so smells do not spread around the office. It is easy to stink up an office simply with some Chinese food for lunch so you would need this to get rid of it.


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Top Shows, Feb. 14-20
Julie Rehder & Jack Krupicka Feb 14 @ Cameron Art Museum In association with the Cape Fear Jazz Society, Wilmington's Julie Rehder and Jack Krupicka will perform romantic jazz music for the evening on Valentine's Day. Accompanied by Jim Mcfadyen, Jack Pindell and buy cialis online without prescription Mike Waddell, the show will feature songs whose lyrics come from the heart by musicians like Bonnie Raitt and Randy Newman. Details: 6:30 p.m. – 8 p.m., Thursday, 3201 South 17th Street,… Read More »


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Illustration Board No. 172
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Fine hot press, (smooth), high rag content surface. For lettering, fine line pen and ink and airbrush. Good production board. Single thick. White only.
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(The Root) — Beyoncé recently posted a photo of herself on Instagram wearing a sweatshirt emblazoned with the question, "Can I live?" Can you blame her? The backlash against her after it was revealed that she lip-synched the national anthem at President Barack Obama's inauguration last week has been swift and brutal. And it seems to be neverending.
The Root's political correspondent, Keli Goff, argued in a recent blog post titled "The Real Reason Critics Target Beyoncé" is that Beyoncé is known more for her skills as an entertainer than for her singing, and that her use of the prerecorded track should come as no surprise. Beyoncé is really getting all the flack, Goff writes, because she was not an appropriate choice for an inauguration singer because of her "hypersexualized persona" and her Pepsi endorsement deal. Goff's not alone — the Internet has been dotted with similar criticism, ranging from knocks on Beyoncé's vocal talent to suggestions that she was never the right choice to grace the inaugural stage.
Let's get these misconceptions straight once and for all.
When I read arguments that Beyoncé's talent is confined within the limits of her onstage shimmy, I often question whether those stressing that fallacy are arguing it from 2003 — before she formally shoved Destiny's Child to the side to launch her solo career.
Fair enough if songs such as "Love on Top" — at the end of which she breezes through four key changes — and "Speechless" never made it to your iPod, but the perception that Beyoncé isn't celebrated as one of the premiere vocalists of her generation is one that only exists to those who haven't been paying attention. A cheap nonstory about Beyoncé singing over a track of her own voice doesn't alter that fact. And make no mistake — if she does it again this weekend for her halftime performance at the Super Bowl, the fact will remain that her vocal ability is just as celebrated as her value as an entertainer.
The premier vocalists of the generation before her — Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey — have each praised Beyoncé as a singer. The same can be said of other legends, such as Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, Prince and Bette Midler, and of her contemporaries, such as Alicia Keys, Emeli Sandé, Monica, Justin Timberlake and Leona Lewis. You can add Madonna, Lauryn Hill, Martha McBride, Björk, Plácido Domingo and White Rabbits, too. Throw in American Idol judge Randy Jackson, The X Factor judge Simon Cowell and celebrated songwriter Diane Warren.
If anyone is that curious to find out how Beyoncé sounds live, she has provided plenty of examples. There's the American Idol rehearsal that her husband recorded on his phone, her 2003 Billboard Awards performance, Glastonbury 2011, her tribute to Barbra Streisand at the Kennedy Center Honors, the tribute she gave to Michael Jackson while on tour, that really great rendition of "Fever" from The Jay Leno Show eons ago and her three performances at the Academy Awards.
Plus, you know, countless tour DVDs in which she's standing there belting out ballads after an hour or so of twerking.
I'll be happy to provide a shovel to those who very much need to bury the lie that Beyoncé isn't known much for her singing already. It's a critique of Beyoncé that's bothersome because it reeks of a certain bias against entertainers in general, and worse, a linear opinion of women who dare to take charge of their sexuality.
Beyoncé is not, as Goff wrote, considered "in terms of actual talent and global image" [to be more] "on par with Madonna" than someone like "Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin." Regardless of whether or not one finds Beyoncé's recent GQ spread to be tasteful, those photos don't automatically make her Madonna. Besides, if there were any singer out now who shares Madonna's embrace of sexually charged imagery, it would be Rihanna.
But my biggest gripe isn't the false equivalency but the sentiment behind it — because of the GQ spread, Goff writes, no one will ever look at Beyoncé and "think 'classy inauguration songbird.' "
Well, plenty of people will, as long as they don't think a sexy pictorial, costume or gyrating onstage makes you the whore of Babylon.
But by this narrow-minded view of how a woman ought to conduct herself in order to be perceived as "classy," Aretha Franklin, who had a baby at 14, wouldn't exactly fit the bill as a "classy inauguration songbird" no matter what she decided to wear, would she?
Beyoncé being sexy doesn't mean she can't exhibit class or be the kind of role model to young women that both the Obamas find her appropriate enough to be.
Similarly, accepting an endorsement deal from Pepsi doesn't automatically negate her work with Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" campaign. Soda companies should be criticized for their direct marketing to minorities and young people, but even our french fry-loving first lady acknowledged the campaign is about balance and exercise, not restriction.
Beyoncé might be my lord and gyrator, yet I don't consider her to be above criticism. There are reasons to critique her, but the only clue I'll give you is that the aforementioned aren't it.
Michael Arceneaux is a Houston-bred, Howard-educated writer and blogger. You can read more of his work on his site, The Cynical Ones. Follow him on Twitter.
Michael Arceneaux hails from Houston, lives in Harlem and praises Beyoncé's name wherever he goes. Follow him on Twitter.


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|Heber and Susan Jarvis. From GAPJ.
Sunday 30. Weather stormy. I have not been to meeting was bad last night
Father went to meeting. Josey & I spent the day reading ^evening^ Brig was ^here^
Josey studying her lessons. Anne sent me a piece of Pork [^indecipherable^]
[Written beneath the date, so perhaps on the 30th, perhaps on the 31st] Received a letter from Heber to night
Monday 31. Weather ^cold^ raining as usual. sent the cow in the herd.
Spent the day working writing to Heber ^ect^. Brig paid me one dollar spent the evening played checkers with me.
Heber — Son Heber Jarvis in Arizona, married to Susan Smith.
"was bad last night" — Ann Jarvis was in poor health for much of her life. I don't know what condition or conditions she suffered from, but they were serious and disabling and undoubtedly treatable if she had had access to modern medical technology.


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The importance of modern man's orientation towards documents has shaped much of the evolution of computers. For decades, the principal role of computers in business was data processing, which consisted almost entirely of summarizing large amounts of data onto paper documents. The advent of word processing, in which printed text documents could be created as such, gave rise in part to the mini-computer revolution of the 1980s, in which all businesses began to adopt computers in house. Today, word processing remains one of the principal defining activity of PCs. The word processor is second only to the browser as the most used software on most PCs. (The browser itself, of course, is a page-oriented device.)
But as the nature of computing has changed in the last decade — from PCs to devices with smaller form factors — the shape of documents has begun to change in concert. And this evolution has important, long-term implications for developers.
For most of the last century, documents enjoyed a stable form factor. The DIN system used in most of the world outside the US was devised almost 100 years ago and adopted relatively quickly. The DIN A4 sheet, roughly equivalent to the US "letter" size, is one of the most universal of formats, both in its dimensions (210mm x 297mm) and its orientation (portrait). In the US and Mexico, the so-called letter size predates DIN and has been in continuous use for probably centuries.
The stability of the form factor and the archival, historical quality of hard-copy documents derives from a quest for a certain kind of defined immutable format. This belief in the need for immutability is in part what attracts us to PDF documents: If all fonts are embedded, the PDF will look the same on all systems that can render the format. (This is almost completely true — true enough that it provides the experience we expect.) The PDF/A format — an extension to PDF — specifies a basic set of features that Adobe hopes will allow PDF documents to be read decades, even centuries, from now.
Hardware technology, however, is moving in a different direction. This divergence is eminently clear in eReaders today. Unless you're a hidebound traditionalist with no technophile friends, you've surely held an eReader in your hands and watched the page size change as font size is increased. Actually, page size stays the same, but the number of words per page changes. On some readers, such as the iPad, the actual page number changes on the screen with each change in font size. Such that, the concept of, say, starting to read at page 145 is now insufficient. It's page 145 at font size x. This fluidity of form is even more pronounced on readers that run on smartphones.
The orientation of documents has changed, too. For example, the monthly PDF version of Dr. Dobb's Journal (you do subscribe, don't you?) now ships in landscape, rather than portrait orientation. This satisfies the two principal reading devices we anticipate: landscape-oriented screens sitting on desktops, and the iPad.
Comments I've received on this design, which we began three months ago, have been almost exclusively favorable.
This PDF version of Dr. Dobb's, however, will probably give way to eBook formats in a few years. I expect that within the decade, completely reformattable documents will become the norm, rather than the sole province of leisure reading as it is today.
In a literal sense, this evolution can be accurately termed the disintermediation of the document. Because content can be so radically separated from the vehicle by which it is borne, the vehicle has become an interchangeable artifact. I have no difficulty imagining a world in which our children will look at PDF documents with the same admiration and sense of an earlier, simpler time that we feel today when gazing at handwritten letters and records.
For developers, this fluid form creates several problems. The fewer assumptions about presentation constraints, the better. Users forced to read documents in a way that does not accommodate their preferred viewer will accurately consider the limitation a serious design flaw. You can already experience this frustration today trying to read PDF documents on a Kindle. Without a reflow capability, the experience becomes tedious quickly. This is a problem we've already covered once (see "Displaying Tabular Data on iPhones") and whose ramifications we will surely cover many times more in the near future.
— Andrew Binstock, Dr. Dobb's Executive Editor
[email protected]


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Editor's note: As the NBA embarks this week on a new season, Miami Heat superstar LeBron James stands as the league's most iconic figure. In today's final installment in our three-part series on James and his place in the league, we weigh in on where James stands in the greatest-of-all-time argument.
In Part One, we looked at the people who have helped shape James into an international marketing force and a difference-maker for at-risk kids in his hometown of Akron, Ohio. And in Part Two, we examined how James' on-court game has changed since he burst onto the scene straight out of high school in 2003, and how his early failures shaped the player he is today.
VIDEO: The LeBron Series — G.O.A.T?
Perhaps it would all be different if LeBron James had not come to our doorstep prepackaged and hermetically sealed, all but tied up with a pretty ribbon and bow.
The Chosen One.
We generally like to pick our own heroes and villains, so as the media hype machine began to serve him up when he was still a teenager too young to drive to school at St. Vincent-St. Mary's in Akron, Ohio, it was only natural that some would instinctively turn up their noses as if he were a heaping serving of broccoli.
Wilt Chamberlain was an overwhelming, almost indescribable giant. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was towering, majestic and aloof. Oscar Robertson was angry and unshakable. Magic Johnson wore an endearing, embracing smile that could light up a thousand nights. Larry Bird was a good ol' boy caricature come to life. Michael Jordan was transcendent as a competitor and a cultural icon.
Yet now, almost despite all that hype, the argument — joining so many others that seem to constantly swirl around him — can be made that James is indeed on track to go down as the best of them all.
Just the mere suggestion that he could one day soon lay claim to the label of Greatest of All Time — G.O.A.T., as it's known in the vernacular — will bring baas of protest from the anti-LeBron crowd. They'll call him a preener, a whiner, a shrinker, a choker, a deserter, a pretender, a poseur.
And yet the resume James has compiled in his first decade in the NBA has not only lived up to the advance billing, it's exceeded it.
Consider that if he were to fulfill the expectations of most of the experts and be voted the league's Most Valuable Player again in 2013-14, James would join Chamberlain, Bill Russell and Bird on the short list of three-in-a-row MVP winners. If the Heat play for the championship again next June and he is named MVP of The Finals, he would equal a feat only achieved before by Jordan (twice) and Shaquille O'Neal.
And if James were to claim his third straight regular season MVP, third straight championship and third straight Finals MVP, it would be a first in NBA history.
"He has four MVPs already, before he's 30," said long-time foe and close friend Jermaine O'Neal. "He has a lot of confidence and I think the sky's still the limit as long as that same drive is still there. And I think it will be. I don't see why it wouldn't be. Sometimes, after the first MVP or whatever the achievements are, people tend to cut the motor down a little bit. But I was talking to people and they said he's better than he was last year. Pretty difficult to be."
A desire to get better
VIDEO: LeBron goes global with visit to China
That drive, to constantly put down every outside challenge and thrive on the fires from within, forged Jordan's reputation as the ultimate big game warrior, practice scrapper, teammate-fighter and I'll-gamble-on-anything competitor. Jordan would let rivals see the perspiration on that gleaming shaved head, but he'd never shed a drop of sweat from worry or doubt.
James is different. He'll sit in front of his locker or behind a post-game microphone and admit that he fell short and pledge to do better.
Jordan entered the league as a tongue-wagging, gravity-defying, splay-legged phenom that played with the frisky abandon of a colt that leapt the corral fence. He gave us Air Jordan and taught us to fly while he played basketball in the movies with Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. He sold sneakers, burgers and sports drinks. Everybody wanted to be like Mike.
James' arrival was more of an orchestrated corporate sales pitch, pushing a man-child built like a locomotive that barreled down the tracks on the strength of a $100-million endorsement deal with Nike. It seemed a boardroom-drawn image. His game, early on, seemed more manufactured muscle than magic. No one could be King James.
Yet LeBronmania delivered in both form and function. Immediately. He became only the third rookie in NBA history — behind Robertson and Jordan — to average more than 20 points, five rebounds and five assists.
"I thought he'd be OK. I thought he'd have a little bit of a learning curve," said former NBA forward and current Chicago Bulls assistant coach Ed Pinckney. "But I don't think I've ever seen anyone come in with that much hoopla and perform the way he did.
"Magic and Bird, similar. But they were older. Not a high school kid. He came in and hit the ground running.
"I asked Earl Monroe pretty much the same question. And he said, 'There was a time when a high school kid coming into the NBA, physically, could just not play. Maybe he'd have a good game or two, but not sustain it.' Where was the rookie wall [for James], all of that? He just busted right through it.' This was Earl Monroe saying it.
"For an 18- or 19-year-old kid coming in to the league and performing the way he did, on a nightly basis with all the pressure of handling a team, I think he handled it great and he continues to."
James' offensive repertoire keeps expanding, and his four MVP awards in the past five seasons are matched only by Russell (1961-65). Another championship this season would give him three by the age of 29. Jordan won his third at 30.
Tuning out the noise
James has been delivering at such a high level, under such intense scrutiny so consistently and for so long, that many are expecting a fall. Surely, The Decision to jump from Cleveland to Miami and all that came with it still resonate for many who will never let go of the grudge. He is reminded of it every day in a social media world of instant and constant criticism, where every missed shot and misplay is bitterly dissected. That did not exist for Jordan.
Another debate may still rage — mostly out of Los Angeles — but the truth is, James has clearly surpassed Kobe Bryant as the best player in the game today.
"Nobody with a brain would even begin to argue that," said one league executive.
James' Player Efficiency Rating (PER) of 31.6 last season was more than three whole points better than runner-up Kevin Durant (28.3) and was the second-highest single season ever behind 31.7 by Jordan in 1987-88.
In the annual NBA.com poll of the league's general managers, James was an 89.7 percent choice as the single player they would sign for their team and a 66.7 percent pick as the player that forces opposing coaches to make the most adjustments. He was voted most athletic and most dangerous in the open floor.
Still, James' game has its flaws, at least according to some. In an ESPN the Magazine poll of 26 anonymous players, Jordan was named by 88 percent as the man they'd want taking the final shot with the game on the line. Bryant received 12 percent. James didn't receive a single vote.
James, though, is universally regarded as more of a natural playmaker than those two, more able to draw defenses to him and more willing to make the pass to a teammate for a better shot. Former coach Jeff Van Gundy told ESPN:
"When I think of a closer, it's a guy who can beat you with the pass or the shot. I'd take LeBron James to close it for me."
New Orleans Saints tight end Jimmy Graham recently told Dan Patrick in a radio interview: "If there's any player in the NBA who could come and be a complete superstar in the NFL, it's LeBron. He would be the man."
Jordan vs. James
If Jordan is considered the G.O.A.T. now, James can't be far behind. The career stat lines of Jordan and James are strikingly similar. And James is only 28, perhaps just entering the meat of his career.
James has averaged 27.6 points, 7.3 rebounds, 6.9 assists, shot 49 percent from the field and 40.6 percent on 3-pointers for his career. Jordan's numbers were 28.3 points, 5.9 rebounds, 4.9 assists, 49.7 from the field and 32.7 on 3s. Jordan was a lockdown perimeter defender in his day and James is an elite defender at four positions. James is bigger, stronger, much more of a brute force than Jordan, but still can soar with a jaw-dropping 40-inch vertical leap. Jordan was the long, rangy, sinewy embodiment of the ultimate basketball player. James is an athletic anomaly, a virtual tank with the speed of a motorcycle.
As much as the anti-LeBron crowd will protest, it is probably already down to just a three-man debate. And, if you set aside Chamberlain's gargantuan feats in terms of sheer numbers and records set from a long ago era as too far off the charts to even compare, it comes down to James and Jordan.
Jordan clearly has the edge in the ability to simply pile up points, get buckets when they're needed. But the analytics crowd will tell you that today's game is about being able to do more than score. James is the better passer, rebounder, has deeper range and can defend more places on the court.
Jordan dragged his teammates along to championships with the sheer force of his talent and his will. James plays a style that actually makes his teammates better.
On the all-time list of PER, Jordan sits at No. 1 with a career 27.91 rating. James is second at 27.65 and closing.
Want more numbers? How about the Cavaliers winning three out of every four games (61-21) with James in 2009-10 and then losing three of every four (19-63) the next year without him. That's having an impact.
For all the credit he gets raising his performance for the Heat in back-to-back title drives over the past two seasons, it may have been James lifting an otherwise anemic Cavs roster onto his shoulders and carrying them to the 2007 NBA Finals that was most Herculean.
"Jordan was never able to do anything like that with those Bulls teams before [Scottie] Pippen arrived," said an NBA general manager.
"I would have to say Bryant and Jordan had that same ability to defend from the perimeter spots, score and make plays from that position, but they never put up the assist numbers that he has," said Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle. "He's more of a hybrid-type guy and you don't normally think of all-time great players as being hybrid-type players. The truth is he's Magic Johnson, but much faster and much more dynamic athletically. Really all that's left to be determined is how many championships he's going to win. That's an honest assessment."
VIDEO: Would LeBron James have been a star in the NBA of the 1990s?
The measure of the G.O.A.T.
If it's the counting of the rings that matters, then James still trails Jordan's six and Bryant's five. But again, he is only 28. At that age Jordan had just one.
And, really, should that be the measure anyway?
"When anybody says you measure guys by rings, that's a crock of [bleep]," said Robert Horry, who won seven with the Rockets, Lakers and Spurs. "That's like saying I'm better than Karl Malone, I'm better than Charles Barkley or Patrick Ewing. We all know that ain't true. You can't go by that. You can't measure guys by their rings. It's just ignorant. Having said that, I don't exactly think LeBron's done collecting them yet."
After settling in comfortably in Miami over the past two years, embracing more of the role of alpha dog and learning to enjoy the responsibility and reap the rewards, it is not hard to envision a more relaxed, more confident James climbing higher.
"The story is how far LeBron has come in the last two years on every level," said TNT analyst and former Jordan teammate Steve Kerr. "Where he was three years ago with The Decision, his play in the Finals against Dallas, the way he handled the post-game interview after Game 6 and the comments he made? He was really at a low point.
"What he has done the last two years is remarkable. He handles himself with grace and class. He's elevated his game. He is now a champion, he carries himself like one. I think it's fantastic to see the resilience, particularly in modern society with what he faces. I love what LeBron has done and I have a ton of respect for him. He's on his way."
Perhaps closer already to the top than so many think, or will admit.
VIDEO: LeBron James' top 10 plays from 2012-13


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Massachusetts State Lottery Keno
Ed Stannard, Associated Press ·
AGAWAM, Mass. (AP) – After his daily nine-hole golf game, Joe Barbato spends most of the day hanging out at the Dairy Store on Suffield Street.
Sure, you can buy milk, snacks and cigarettes there, but the Dairy Store isn't really like a Cumberland Farms. It's actually a keno parlor.
Long, low counters are lined up behind each other, so keno players can sit, fill out their betting slips and watch the monitor above them on the wall. Since there's a new game every four minutes, guys like Barbato don't get bored.
"I do excellent . I do have a system, " Barbato says. "I probably bet over 100-something dollars a day without a doubt."
Keno parlors aren't likely in Connecticut, at least at first, but the game, which the General Assembly legalized in this year's session, may pop up at bars and restaurants so, as in Massachusetts, people can play as they eat dinner or socialize at the bar.
The attention-grabbing monitor used for keno displays 80 numbers. In each game, 20 are randomly selected as winners.
Bettors pick as many as 12 numbers, but usually choose fewer. You can bet $1 on one number; if it's a match with one of the 20 winning numbers, you win $2.50. Oddly, if you bet $1 on 12 numbers and don't match any, you still win $4.
But the most common bet is a "five-spot game, " because matching all five of your numbers brings you $450 for a $1 bet. Anything less than $600 and you get paid on the spot – and the tax man won't be the wiser. Otherwise, you have to go to Massachusetts Lottery headquarters to collect your winnings.
Barbato, who also travels regularly to Atlantic City, N.J., said "everything's got an addiction. You've got to know when to stop." Barbato says he's not addicted: "I don't bet what I don't have and I don't borrow to bet and you don't lend." He also never complains about losing, he said, which he calls the mark of an addict.
Another man sitting at a counter watching the monitor, Pete Towle of West Springfield, said he plays 10 or 15 games two or three times a week and has been coming to the Dairy Store for 15 years. "It's sort of like 'Cheers'; everybody knows your name, " he said. There's even an outdoor patio in the back.
Besides the large number of potential winning numbers, keno differs from other games, like Pick 5 or Powerball, in the number of games a day – 300 – and in the kinds of places that have the game prominently displayed: bars and restaurants. There's also a "Keno to-go" option, in which you can make a bet at a gas station. But there's no monitor so you have to check the winning numbers on your computer or come back to have your ticket scanned.
Keno is "what we call a social game and offered in bars, taverns, " said Beth Bresnahan, spokeswoman for the Massachusetts State Lottery. "There's more interaction. It's more of an entertainment option, while having a couple of drinks, going out to dinner."
Keno is expected to come to Connecticut sometime in 2014. It was included in the budget deal passed at the end of this year's General Assembly session. House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero, R-Norwalk, has objected to the way it was pushed through to balance the budget, without a public hearing.
Ware Man Cashes In $390000 Lottery Ticket Hours Before It Expires — CBS Local
But that changed when Cote drove to Massachusetts Lottery headquarters in Braintree with his winning ticket, claiming a one-time cash payment of $390,000 before taxes.


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Few ski resorts can match Heavenly's scenic beauty and expansive network of lifts, terrain, trails and snowmaking. Located on the south shore of Lake Tahoe, Heavenly is the region's largest ski area, featuring the highest elevation and longest vertical drop. The views of Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Nevada mountain range are magnificent.
The mountain averages 360 inches of annual snowfall covering 4,800 skiable acres and a 3,500-foot vertical drop. Sitting on the border of California and Nevada that you can actually ski across, it's easy to find a variety of entertainment and nightlife after a day on the slopes at Heavenly. The resort offers options for après ski, from its Tamarack Lodge to the surrounding south Lake Tahoe area. Heavenly's top-notch terrain combined with world-class luxury make it a skier and snowboarder favorite.
- 10067ftSummit
- 3500ftVertical Drop
- 7170ftBase
- 2
- 0
- 2
- 7
- 1
- 5
- 3
- 8
- 28Total
Beginner Runs
Intermediate Runs
Advanced Runs
Expert Runs
Terrain Parks
Longest Run
5.5 mi
Skiable Terrain
4800 ac
Snow Making
3379 ac
More Info
Powder Day
There are two ways to attack the mountain that depend on the weather and from which side (California or Nevada) you start skiing. Mild temperatures at lake level can necessitate heading for the top where snow is lighter, but if temps are cold down low, then options are bountiful. Setting out from California Lodge, take Gunbarrel lift and bag a quick lap through the well-spaced trees of East Bowl Woods. Ride Gunbarrel lift back up and board the mid-mountain Powderbowl Express, disembarking to the right for Powder Bowl Woods—an often-overlooked tree stash at mid-mountain. When Powder Bowl Woods are worked, ride Canyon Express to the top and descend beneath the lift to the trees of Ridge Bowl. Take Sky Express back up and drop down the fall line into the trees to skier's right of Liz's run. If starting from Heavenly Village, take the gondola to mid-mountain and board Tamarack Express, heading skier's right to access Airies Woods, which drop you out at Dipper Express lift. Ride Dipper to the terminus and ski toward Dipper Woods and Milky Way. By this time, patrol will hopefully have opened the gates to some of Heavenly's sickest terrain—Mott Canyon, where skilled skiers can find steep chutes and rock drops. While waiting for Mott to open, hit the Dipper Knob area to skier's right of Meteor trail. Adjacent to Mott is the equally ferocious Killebrew Canyon, typically the last terrain to open, so be prepared to pounce when it does.
Groomers & Family
No Tahoe resort has a bigger grooming fleet than Heavenly, which means an abundance of options for beginners and intermediates. From the gondola terminus, take Tamarack Express and do a warm-up lap on California Trail or Sam's Dream. Go back up Tamarack and drop into Orion and the East Peak area, served by the Dipper and Comet lifts. Cruise the Comet trail and take the lift back up, this time skiing down Crossover to the Olympic Express lift, which offers a run through the wide-open glades of The Pines. If starting on the California side, head to the top of Liz's run off the Sky Express lift, making sure to look over your shoulder at Lake Tahoe. Take Sky back up and descend Ridge Run, which offers some of the mountain's most amazing lake views. Stop off to the side and grab a photo. Beginners can head for Maggie's run served by the Powderbowl Express lift. Maggie's meanders down to the "Snow Beach" area, where a small food shack offers hot chocolate and snacks, and beach chairs provide a relaxed setting for families to meet up while doing laps on different lifts. Newbies who want beginner trails only should stick to the Boulder Lodge area, a little-trafficked ski area within the resort that features a gentle, wide-open bowl for working on pizza turns and skiing with the kids.
Heavenly has multiple parks designed to serve everyone from beginners to go-big huckers. For first-timers and rookies, the progression park near the gondola terminus offers low boxes and rails that are almost flush with the snow to eliminate the fear factor. Groove Park is the most popular, offering smaller features for beginners and intermediates—though experienced boarders and jibbers often start here with some warm-up runs or to practice moves. Groove is set up like a skate park, with a lot of features packed into a small area. Player's Park (off Ridge Run) and Ante Up Park (beneath Tamarack Express) are classified as medium in terms of their features. Player's has a line of triple jumps and progressive jibs. Ante Up's claim to fame is a jib line featuring old water pipes and recycled scrap items that provide a unique vibe. High Roller is where the fearless go to play, with expert-level hits and gaps that provide a show for people riding the Sky chair. High Roller has a 55-foot and a 65-foot jump, as well as playful touches, such as tire stacks for clearing or tapping on the way by.
Lap the Powderbowl Express lift, hitting the bumps of Waterfall run, then take Sky Chair to the summit and swoosh down the fast groomers of Ellie's and High Five. Now it's time for a short hike. Traverse Sky Line trail (due to its width, Heavenly requires some traversing to get from California to Nevada and back) to the bottom of Milky Way Bowl. Unclick just past the sign on Sky Line Trail and follow the boot pack up to the summit of Monument Peak, which at 10,067 feet is Tahoe's highest in-bounds terrain. Drop straight down the middle of Milky Way Bowl or work to skier's right toward Mott and Killebrew canyons. If you want to avoid the agro conditions in Mott and Killebrew but need some off-piste fun, check out the tree runs and pillow drops through Nevada Woods and The Burn—where charred trees from a fire provide a stark beauty and powder stashes await those willing to explore. Wrap up with a finishing run down The Face or a tree run through East Bowl Woods back to the California lodge.
Located right out of the California base, The Face is a double-black mogul run unforgiving in its steepness. It drops 1,700 vertical feet into the equally challenging Gunbarrel and East Bowl moguls. These are the bump runs made famous by former hot-dogger Glen Plake, who holds the annual Gunbarrel 25 event here that challenges skiers to complete 25 thigh-burning laps.
Conveniently located in Heavenly Village, Seattle's Best Coffee shop is the quickest option for early risers who want to grab a coffee and muffin and beeline it for the gondola.
Red Hut is a Tahoe breakfast institution with three locations including the original shop opened in 1959 and the more conveniently located new café on the corner of Ski Run and Lake Tahoe boulevards. The omelets are great, but waffles—including bacon waffles with the crispy strips cooked right in—are the house favorite.
Tamarack Lodge
Featuring a towering wall of windows, massive wooden beams and a modern-mountain design, the new Tamarack Lodge atop the gondola is a model for energy efficiency and pleasing aesthetics. Choose from a selection of meats smoked on site, artisan pizzas, salads, burgers, Asian bowls and chili, with indoor and outdoor seating. Named for the legendary youth ski team that produced Glen Plake and other past greats, Blue Angel Cafe is a short drive from the California base and is a favorite local's spot due to its innovative menu and affordable prices. Try the curry of the day or the daily True Blue Plate Special for $6, and don't skip the sweet potato fries with homemade aioli
1132 Ski Run Blvd
With a spacious and modern décor, the Edgewood Tahoe Restaurant provides unimpeded views of Lake Tahoe from every table and is located at the South Shore's finest golf course. House favorites include the seared elk steak with sun-dried cherry relish and spaetzle, or the marinated bavette steak.
100 Lake Parkway
Stateline, NV 89449
Riva Grill
Located near the marina and several art galleries for after-dinner browsing, Riva Grill is a local's favorite with décor inspired by Tahoe's summertime wooden boating culture. Cocktails include the famous Wet Woody, and the menu features upscale burgers and fish tacos as well as the signature chimichurri pork tenderloin.
900 Ski Run Blvd
4000 Lake Tahoe Blvd
Snowfall History
Important Dates
- Projected OpeningProjected Closing11/16/201905/27/2019
- Days Open Last Year
- Projected Days Open
- Years Open
- Average Snowfall
Best Heavenly Mountain Resort Hotels
Latest News
18/19 Ski Season Closing Dates & Who's Still Open
Scroll through this list of ski resorts in North America that are still open to operations schedules and closing dates for the 18/19 s...
Gallery: Heavenly Mountain Resort
View Map & Directions
Heavenly Mountain Resort Reviews
Contact Info
Heavenly Mountain Resort
PO Box 2180
96150 Stateline
United States
Phone: (800) HEAVENLY


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$6.99 Shipping | To Order 1-800-747-3488
$6.99 Shipping
| To Order 1-800-747-3488
Crêpe Headrest Paper Rolls, 8.5"W x 125'L
Scrip Paper is available in various sizes and styles for both Chiropractic and General Exam needs. Our Chiropractic Headrest paper is available in rolls or squares, and provides comfort for patients while providing strong single use hygienic protection for equipment. head rest paper, table paper, headrest paper
These rolls of headreasts are great! They are strong but not stiff.
Great quality and price. Will buy it again.
I switched to this product after buying Crepe rolls from another vendor for years.
This paper is much thinner and has glue sticking the last 8 feet or so together. Also, it has a ton of imperfections/spots on the rolls, which leads to waste. I hate to have a patient put their face into it, wondering if it's dirty.
Thank you Script and specifically Keith for going above and beyond with helping me with my large order.
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Dr Johnathan G. Cavallo
New Holland, Pa
We love this paper because it is not as "shiny" and "paper-like" like some of the others and therefored doesn't stick to your face. We also like it because it tears off of the roll easily.
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text:
Chasis 3D plástico Ferrari 360 GTC - NINCO
Ref: SP600015 EVO
ABS flexible plastic - approx. weight 10,4 gr - for use with Slot.it motor mounts - bag with 1 unit
All Sloting Plus 3D chassis are made of ABS flexible plastic and incorporate all the advances and improvements that we are continuously developed thanks to the multiple tests that are ralize.
All the Sloting Plus 3D chassis has the hole of the support guide of 3.70 mm and can only be equipped guides with similar support measure.
The appropriate and recomended guides are; SP101001, SP101002, SP101003 and SP101004 of Sloting Plus.
To avoid possible manipulations which could damage the support of the guide only recommend using guides with screw ans the same measure. We discourage use the typical "clip" guides.


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Khris and Valerie's 'Old Seattle' Character
Like this entry? Favorite it below!
- Name:
- Khris and Valerie
- Location:
- Seattle, WA
- Square Feet:
- 565
- Division:
- Tiny
- What I Love About My Small Home:
- There is a lot of natural "Old Seattle" character in our building, with its rugged brick walls and 1920s details. The small size of the apartment suits us. Since we can see the TV from the living room AND the bedroom, we start each morning by taking our coffee and phones back to bed to watch the a.m. news, read emails, and hang out together before getting ready for work. We like to think of our apartment as a rustic cozy squirrel den, and it's romantic to share a small space.
- Biggest Challenge of Living in a Small Space:
- A lack of storage is always an issue. We're constantly moving things around to keep the space functional. It's all about finding creative opportunities for storing things. The antique chamber pots and crocks are attractive hiding places for craft supplies, and simple white boxes on a high shelf in the bedroom conceal books and papers and other inevitable 'stuff'. The low closet by the front door is our secret mini-brewery containing 2 glass fermenting carboys full of home brewed beer. There's no need to compromise our hobbies just because of a lack of square footage!
- If I am the Grand Prize winner of Small Cool, the item(s) or project(s) from my home design wishlist that I'd like to spend my winnings on are::
- A vintage Formica kitchen table would be a great addition to our place, and there was this chair at an antique store that is still calling our names. We would definitely make good use of the prize money should it come our way!


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Medical marijuana's first product, jobs
By Ken Dixon
Published 10:32 pm, Saturday, May 31, 2014 | PDF
Months before any cannabis-based products will reach patients, Connecticut's new medical-marijuana industry has already created hundreds of jobs — in construction.
Former factories are being reconfigured into secure pharmaceutical facilities for the growing, harvesting, curing and preparation of various strains of marijuana that should be delivered to the state's dispensaries by early fall.
Since the state awarded four marijuana producer licenses in January, an estimated $20 million has been committed to the West Haven, Watertown, Portland and Simsbury buildings that in a few weeks will begin growing thousands of pounds of pot.
"As far as we know, folks are busy building out facilities, getting ready to produce product," Department of Consumer Protection Commissioner William M. Rubenstein said in a recent interview. "They have six months to become operational."
In a West Haven industrial zone parallel to Interstate 95, David Lipton, managing partner of the Fairfield-based Advanced Grow Labs, is supervising the conversion of 26,000 square feet of space that will house sterile laboratories, heavily lighted grow areas and budding rooms that will promote marijuana flowers, the part of the plant with the highest concentration of active ingredients.
During a tour of the sprawling, noisy one-story building last week, more than a dozen electricians, sheet-rock experts and other subcontractors worked to transform the space. The biggest construction surprise came, Lipton said, when his structural engineer announced the roof wasn't strong enough to support the heavy-duty HVAC equipment needed to create an optimal growing climate, as well as the planned ceilings and rows of grow lights.
Steel roof beams have since been reinforced to handle the anticipated load and special, moisture-resistant sheetrock will line the walls.
Advanced Grow Labs is one of a series of new projects that are bringing economic growth, said Joseph A. Riccio Jr., commissioner of development for West Haven.
Last year, city building permits brought in $800,000 to the city, but in the first five months of this year, the total has already topped $1 million.
He said the medical marijuana industry is obviously fostering jobs while the region still recovers from the recession.
"This is a good boost for tradesmen," he said during a phone interview last week. "Every job is a good job."
Growing taxes
Lipton estimates his company has invested about $2.5 million in construction and equipment, employing dozens of workers at a time, from structural and mechanical engineers, to steel fabricators to sheetrock installers, tapers, masons, electricians and plumbers. Those workers are generating Worker's Compensation and payroll taxes for the state.
"There's definitely a positive effect on the economy," he said, adding various building and work permits from West Haven generated revenue for the city and that once up and running, the company will also pay personal property taxes.
It was on Advanced Grow Labs' cold, then-empty manufacturing floor, that Rubenstein and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy introduced the four producers who had been selected from 16 applicants.
"In early April we got our full building permit and then the construction began and in about seven weeks we've completed an incredible amount of work here," Lipton said. "Hopefully, within the next few weeks we will complete some more and by early July, mid-July we will be done with construction."
From there it will be about 90 days to harvest.
"We know we're doing the right thing here," said Lipton, adding that it may be a long time before his multi-million-dollar investment is recouped. "We'll do our best to make the best product. This is a long-term business. I mean, how often do you see a start-up pharmaceutical company threaten Big Pharma?"
High-end kitchen
Lipton's grower, Klaus Polttila, standing near what will be employee locker rooms, looked around at the building renovations and thought of the future.
"Growing is the easy part," Polttila said. "Once the construction is done, we'll ramp up very quickly."
Other rooms will be used for drying and curing marijuana. The front entrance near Frontage Road features bullet-proof glass and a security nerve center. Toward the back of the building, in a room with a large walk-in safe, will be the kitchen, where the medical-grade cannabis will be ground up in a process unique to the nation. An outside laboratory will be contracted to test batches to assure they contain the percentage of active ingredients allowed in state regulations.
The marijuana will be packaged for secure delivery to the six designated dispensaries. While traditional dried marijuana will be ready to be smoked, Lipton is planning a variety of other products. Extracting machines in the kitchen will remove chemically active oils from marijuana for use in smokeless vaporizers, baked goods and topical salves.
Thirty-two miles to the north, in a hilltop Watertown industrial park near Route 8, Ethan Ruby, CEO of Theraplant, is supervising a similar conversion to a 63,000-square-foot building, about half of which will be renovated for initial production. The operation will have a 900-square-foot safe for storing market-ready material.
Ruby, who heads the state growers' association, said his company has invested about $8 million, nearly half of the estimated $20 million the four producers have spent for the initial phases of operations.
On a recent day, Ruby counted 73 workers on-site, including landscapers, sheetrock installers and electricians.
"It's going well," Ruby said in a phone interview. "Our team that we put together has been incredibly diligent. The construction company has been on time and on budget during every single phase. And we couldn't be happier with local building inspectors, fire, police. Couldn't be happier. Patients should have product by the end of the summer."
Laboratory science
Theraplant will not have a kitchen to create baked goods, but does have plans for extracting the THC and other cannabinoids that are the plants' active ingredients. About 2,000 patients have registered so far, with ailments including cancer, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, HIV/AIDs, Crohn's disease and epilepsy.
Ruby has contacted laboratories that will be required to test batches of harvested plant material, but it's too soon to sign agreements, he said.
It's too soon to determine what marijuana will cost patients, but Lipton and Ruby both said they will seek to make it competitive, or cheaper than the underground market. The website priceofweed.com rates Connecticut's market at $300 to $400 per ounce. Participants in the medical marijuana program will be able to purchase up to two-and-a-half ounces per month.
Vaporization of the drug will likely become the preferred delivery method, Ruby said, allowing patients to inhale the chemical compounds without actually smoking the material.
"The more health-conscious will be gravitating toward this," Ruby said. "And doctors and pharmacists will be better able to control prescribed amounts."
He feels good about the producers, including CT Pharmaceutical Solutions in Portland and Curaleaf in Simsbury, and their ability to meet market demands.
"Each cares about getting medicine to the patients in a controlled way," he said. "As a producer, I'm not trying to grow a better strain than David Lipton. We're in competition with people who don't believe this is going to work."
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