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"Intelligent design" creationism is not supported by scientific evidence.
Some members of a newer school of creationists have temporarily set aside the question of whether the solar system, the galaxy, and the universe are billions or just thousands of years old. But these creationists unite in contending that the physical universe and living things show evidence of "intelligent design." They argue that certain biological structures are so complex that they could not have evolved through processes of undirected mutation and natural selection, a condition they call "irreducible complexity." Echoing theological arguments that predate the theory of evolution, they contend that biological organisms must be designed in the same way that a mousetrap or a clock is designed - that in order for the device to work properly, all of its components must be available simultaneously. If one component is missing or changed, the device will fail to operate properly. Because even such "simple" biological structures as the flagellum of a bacterium are so complex, proponents of intelligent design creationism argue that the probability of all of their components being produced and simultaneously available through random processes of mutation are infinitesimally small. The appearance of more complex biological structures (such as the vertebrate eye) or functions (such as the immune system) is impossible through natural processes, according to this view, and so must be attributed to a transcendent intelligent designer.
However, the claims of intelligent design creationists are disproven by the findings of modern biology. Biologists have examined each of the molecular systems claimed to be the products of design and have shown how they could have arisen through natural processes. For example, in the case of the bacterial flagellum, there is no single, uniform structure that is found in all flagellar bacteria. There are many types of flagella, some simpler than others, and many species of bacteria do not have flagella to aid in their movement. Thus, other components of bacterial cell membranes are likely the precursors of the proteins found in various flagella. In addition, some bacteria inject toxins into other cells through proteins that are secreted from the bacterium and that are very similar in their molecular structure to the proteins in parts of flagella. This similarity indicates a common evolutionary origin, where small changes in the structure and organization of secretory proteins could serve as the basis for flagellar proteins. Thus, flagellar proteins are not irreducibly complex.
Evolutionary biologists also have demonstrated how complex biochemical mechanisms, such as the clotting of blood or the mammalian immune system, could have evolved from simpler precursor systems. With the clotting of blood, some of the components of the mammalian system were present in earlier organisms, as demonstrated by the organisms living today (such as fish, reptiles, and birds) that are descended from these mammalian precursors. Mammalian clotting systems have built on these earlier components.
Existing systems also can acquire new functions. For example, a particular system might have one task in a cell and then become adapted through evolutionary processes for different use. The Hox genes (described in the box on page 30) are a prime example of evolution finding new uses for existing systems. Molecular biologists have discovered that a particularly important mechanism through which biological systems acquire additional functions is gene duplication. Segments of DNA are frequently duplicated when cells divide, so that a cell has multiple copies of one or more genes. If these multiple copies are passed on to offspring, one copy of a gene can serve the original function in a cell while the other copy is able to accumulate changes that ultimately result in a new function. The biochemical mechanisms responsible for many cellular processes show clear evidence for historical duplications of DNA regions.
In addition to its scientific failings, this and other standard creationist arguments are fallacious in that they are based on a false dichotomy. Even if their negative arguments against evolution were correct, that would not establish the creationists' claims. There may be alternative explanations. For example, it would be incorrect to conclude that because there is no evidence that it is raining outside, it must be sunny. Other explanations also might be possible. Science requires testable evidence for a hypothesis, not just challenges against one's opponent. Intelligent design is not a scientific concept because it cannot be empirically tested.
Creationists sometimes claim that scientists have a vested interest in the concept of biological evolution and are unwilling to consider other possibilities. But this claim, too, misrepresents science. Scientists continually test their ideas against observations and submit their work to their colleagues for critical peer review of ideas, evidence, and conclusions before a scientific paper is published in any respected scientific journal. Unexplained observations are eagerly pursued because they can be signs of important new science or problems with an existing hypothesis or theory. History is replete with scientists challenging accepted theory by offering new evidence and more comprehensive explanations to account for natural phenomena. Also, science has a competitive element as well as a cooperative one. If one scientist clings to particular ideas despite evidence to the contrary, another scientist will attempt to replicate relevant experiments and will not hesitate to publish conflicting evidence. If there were serious problems in evolutionary science, many scientists would be eager to win fame by being the first to provide a better testable alternative. That there are no viable alternatives to evolution in the scientific literature is not because of vested interests or censorship but because evolution has been and continues to be solidly supported by evidence.
The potential utility of science also demands openness to new ideas. If petroleum geologists could find more oil and gas by interpreting the record of sedimentary rocks (where deposits of oil and natural gas are found) as having resulted from a single flood, they would certainly favor the idea of such a flood, but they do not. Instead, petroleum geologists agree with other geologists that sedimentary rocks are the products of billions of years of Earth's history. Indeed, petroleum geologists have been pioneers in the recognition of fossil deposits that were formed over millions of years in such environments as meandering rivers, deltas, sandy barrier beaches, and coral reefs.
The arguments of creationists reverse the scientific process. They begin with an explanation that they are unwilling to alter - that supernatural forces have shaped biological or Earth systems - rejecting the basic requirements of science that hypotheses must be restricted to testable natural explanations. Their beliefs cannot be tested, modified, or rejected by scientific means and thus cannot be a part of the processes of science.
Despite the lack of scientific evidence for creationist positions, some advocates continue to demand that various forms of creationism be taught together with or in place of evolution in science classes. Many teachers are under considerable pressure from policy makers, school administrators, parents, and students to downplay or eliminate the teaching of evolution. As a result, many U.S. students lack access to information and ideas that are both integral to modern science and essential for making informed, evidence-based decisions about their own lives and our collective future.
Regardless of the careers that they ultimately select, to succeed in today's scientifically and technologically sophisticated world, all students need a sound education in science. Many of today's fast-growing and high-paying jobs require a familiarity with the core concepts, applications, and implications of science. To make informed decisions about public policies, people need to know how scientific evidence supports those policies and whether that evidence was gathered using well-established scientific practice and principles. Learning about evolution is an excellent way to help students understand the nature, processes, and limits of science in addition to concepts about this fundamentally important contribution to scientific knowledge.
Given the importance of science in all aspects of modern life, the science curriculum should not be undermined with nonscientific material. Teaching creationist ideas in science classes confuses what constitutes science and what does not. It compromises the objectives of public education and the goal of a high-quality science education.
From Science, Evolution, and Creationism, National Academy of Sciences and Institute of Medicine. © 2008 National Academy of Sciences


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Artist's description:
Hand-painted. Not a print. Painting is signed at the back. Dated.
Contemporary FINE ART Original PAINTING, acrylics and texture on 100% cotton stretched wrapped canvas.
Title: Different vision 2, 2018, Landscape
Size: 59x 23,5"( 150x60cm)
A Floating frame can be added: natural wood, black or white for -70 Euros.
Buyers inside or outside EU: Import duties and taxes are included in shipping costs and will be handled by our courier.
In order to protect your painting, I will pack your painting with great care using quality shipping packing materials designed for art safe delivery. The painting will be shipped within 3-5 business days after receiving your payment.
The transit time will take about 3 to 10 business days to most locations.
You are buying a new painting--100% handmade!
Thank you!
Materials used:
canvas, acrylic,
59x 23,5"( 150x60cm),Different vision 2, horizontal canvas art, xxl neon colors canvas art, home painting, pink, orange,green black and white colorful art (2018)
Acrylic painting by Veronica Vilsan
$442.53 Sold
- Acrylic painting on Canvas
- One of a kind artwork
- Size: 59.06 x 23.62 x 1.18 in (unframed)
- Ready to hang
- Signed certificate of authenticity
- Style: Organic
- Subject: Abstract and non-figurative
This artwork is sold by Veronica Vilsan from Romania

subset: commoncrawl


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(Prime Minister Activities) - Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung pledged to bring inflation down to a decade low as the nation seeks to boost foreign investment and cope with the aftermath of a credit boom that's hobbled the banking industry.
"Inflation in 2012 will be about 7 percent and next year we will have even better control of it, at about 6 percent," Dung, 63, said in an interview in Hanoi on Nov. 28. He said overseas investment will rise "sharply" in the next two years as officials overhaul state enterprises and recapitalize banks.
Slower gains in consumer prices would reduce the risk of labor strikes undermining Vietnam's campaign to position itself as an alternative manufacturing base to China. Concern that growth has peaked after a quarter-century of market opening, and that policy makers are struggling to manage a legacy of non- performing loans, contributed to a 21 percent slide in investment pledges from abroad so far this year.
"It would help Vietnam's image significantly" to contain inflation, said Peter Ryder, the Hanoi-based chief executive of fund manager and property developer Indochina Capital. "Clearly the fact that inflation hit 20-plus percent in two of the last four years has made people question the government's management of the economy."
Dung's administration has made inroads into quelling what was Asia's fastest inflation in 2011, at 18 percent in December from the previous year. Consumer prices rose 7.1 percent in November. The last year costs rose less than 6 percent was in 2003, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Growth Outlook
The nation of 89 million will see economic expansion of 5.5 percent next year, Dung, who has been prime minister since 2006, predicted in the interview at his office building known as the White House. The rate would be little changed from an estimated 5.2 percent in 2012, the weakest performance in 13 years.
Growth has slowed from the 7 percent average pace recorded since the "doi moi" market-opening reforms began in 1986 as Vietnam tightened credit to stem inflation and the rise of bad loans. Government-run banks often have been subject to political pressure to lend to favored state-owned enterprises, according to a January study from the Harvard Kennedy School.
Central bank Governor Nguyen Van Binh told the National Assembly on Nov. 13 the ratio of non-performing loans as of Sept. 30 was seen at 8.82 percent. The monetary authority aims to lower the ratio to below 3 percent by 2015, Binh said last month. Binh also has vowed to crack down on violations by groups with vested interests that manipulate bank operations.
Cleaning Up
"If the government goes about cleaning up the banking system the right way and reining in the state-owned companies, while growth would likely stay slow it's reasonable to think that inflation would also remain under control," said Jonathan Pincus, a Ho Chi Minh City-based economist with the Harvard Kennedy School's Vietnam program.
Vietnam's stocks have underperformed in the past year as its banking crisis deepened. The VN Index of shares is down about 0.6 percent over the period, compared with the MSCI Asia Pacific Index's (MXAP) advance of 9.8 percent.
Dung, a former central bank chief, has faced domestic criticism over his management of the economy, with a rare suggestion in the Communist nation by a National Assembly delegate this month that the prime minister introduce a "culture of resignation."
Preventing 'Collapse'
"Vietnam is determined to restructure its banking system at the lowest cost possible, preventing any systemic collapse," Dung said in a written response that was sent by his office after the interview.
Even amid the financial strains, some overseas lenders have boosted their presence in the country. HSBC Holdings Plc, Standard Chartered Plc, Mizuho Financial Group Inc. and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. are among foreign banks that have bought shares in Vietnamese banks or opened branches in the Southeast Asian country.
Some foreign companies operating in Vietnam have seen their local units or suppliers affected by labor disputes. Yamaha Motor Co. halted production of motorbikes in Hanoi when 4,000 employees downed tools in March last year. They were given a pay raise to return to work. Dung asked officials and unions earlier this year to halve the number of strikes compared with 2011.
The ruling Communist Party has identified restructuring state-owned companies as one of its main areas of focus through 2015. The government has pledged to speed up a share-sale program known as equitization after delays in plans to sell stakes in enterprises such as Vietnam Mobile Telecom Services Co. and Vietnam Airlines Corp.
Stock Listings
"We encourage state companies that have sold stakes to the public to list on stock exchanges domestically and internationally," Dung said.
A more stable economy should contribute to an increase in foreign investment next year and in 2014, the prime minister, who oversaw Vietnam's entry into the World Trade Organization in 2007, said in the interview. "We highly welcome foreign companies to invest in and take part in the process of restructuring state-owned companies, including our banks."
Policy makers are planning new tax policies and land regulations to make Vietnam more attractive to foreign investors, with a focus on finding companies with "value-added projects and high technology," he said.
Intel Corp. (INTC), Samsung Electronics Co. (005930) and Jabil Circuit Inc. (JBL) are among companies that have set up or are expanding in Vietnam, spurring the nation's exports even as foreign investment pledges have dropped this year. Shipments of mobile phones and other electronics rose 91 percent in the first 10 months of the year to $16 billion, making them the biggest source of export revenue.
Foreign Reserves
The export gains have contributed to a buttressing in Vietnam's foreign-exchange reserves, which Dung said are expected to reach the equivalent to about 12 weeks of imports by the end of the year. Such a figure would mark an increase from the 11 weeks of imports Dung estimated in an Oct. 22 address to the National Assembly.
The Southeast Asian nation will probably ship 7.5 million tons of rice this year, Dung said in a written response. Vietnam exported about 7 million tons of the grain last year, when it was the world's biggest rice exporter after Thailand, based on figures from the U.S. Foreign Agricultural Service.
"Foreign companies are doing well in Vietnam with their export turnover rising 30 percent in eleven months through November and accounting for about two-thirds of total exports," the prime minister said in the written responses.
Vietnam is a central player in what's likely to be a migration in international manufacturing from China toward Southeast Asia, according to analysts at Daiwa Capital Markets Hong Kong Ltd.
The nation, along with smaller neighbor Cambodia, is "among the best candidates to replace China as low-cost textile and clothing makers due to their low labor costs," Sun Mingchun, chief economist for greater China at Daiwa in Hong Kong, wrote in a Nov. 27 research note.
— Matthew Winkler, Nguyen Dieu Tu Uyen, Jason Folkmanis. With assistance from K. Oanh Ha in Hanoi. Editors: Chris Anstey, Sunil Jagtiani
To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Nguyen Dieu Tu Uyen in Hanoi at [email protected] Jason Folkmanis in Hanoi at [email protected];
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephanie Phang at [email protected]


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HONOLULU (AP) — Trial has been delayed for a man accused of burglarizing "South Park" co-creator Trey Parker's home on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, after Parker didn't show up for a recent hearing.
Parker was subpoenaed to testify in the first-degree burglary case against former Kauai police officer Joseph Bonachita, who's accused of breaking into Parker's Wailua home in 2009. Bonachita is also accused of threatening Parker and a woman with a knife.
When Parker missed a hearing last week, a warrant was issued. But Kauai Prosecuting Attorney Justin Kollar said Friday that the warrant was never sent to police because Parker contacted the prosecutor's office and explained he had scheduling issues.
"He had been served with a subpoena," Kollar said. "He should have been in court."
The judge delayed the trial until June 3.
Mark Zenger, a Kauai attorney representing Parker, said Friday that Parker wasn't aware he had to appear in person and the trial would have been delayed anyway for other reasons.
"Had he actually flown out here he would have essentially flown out here for no reason," Zenger said. "I guess you could call it no harm, no foul."
Parker will be on the island for a hearing May 29, and depending on how things go at that hearing, the trial will begin June 3, and Parker will be there for that as well, Zenger said.
"He got his wires crossed on this last hearing," Zenger said. "He was apologetic in the extreme to all concerned."
Bonachita's defense attorney, Michael Soong, said in court he's concerned the accommodation may not allow enough time for hearings on motions before the trial, the Garden Island reported.
Bonachita, who wasn't an officer at the time of the break-in, is free on bail. Plea negotiations have been unsuccessful, Kollar said.
Parker continues to live part-time at his Kauai home, Zenger said. An episode of his animated TV series last year poked fun at Kauai's part-time residents.
[iframe http://www.youtube.com/embed/kSY7dj3AD0M 580 476]


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Computer use and moderate exercise reduce odds of memory loss
(CBS News) Need a memory boost? A new study shows that combining moderate exercise with computer use decreases one's odds of memory loss.
Resistance training may stave off dementia symptoms in seniors, research shows
Eating blueberries and strawberries staves off memory decline, study suggests
PICTURES: 7 ways to protect your memory
Previous studies have shown that exercising your body and stimulating your mind help with memory - but the new study shows the benefits of the two when combined.
The study, published in the May 2012 issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, looked at 926 people in Olmsted County, Minn., ages 70 to 93. The participants answered questionnaires about their exercise and computer use within the past year.
Of the participants who did not exercise and did not use a computer, 20.1 percent were cognitively normal and 37.6 percent showed signs of mild cognitive impairment. Of those who exercised and used a computer, 36 percent were cognitively normal and 18.3 percent showed signs of mild cognitive impairment.
"The aging of baby boomers is projected to lead to dramatic increases in the prevalence of dementia," Dr. Yonas Geda, a physician scientist with the Mayo Clinic, said in a written statement. "As frequent computer use has becoming increasingly common among all age groups, it is important to examine how it relates to aging and dementia. Our study further adds to this discussion."
Although the study singled out computer use as a mentally stimulating activity due to its popularity, other activities with similar benefits include reading, playing games, playing music, and artistic activities. Examples of moderate physical exercise are brisk walking, hiking, strength training, swimming, and yoga.
Why do mental and physical exercise work better together? "The mental stimulation may be polishing the communication lines and giving good connections between neurons," Geda told TIME Healthland. "It's like working in a concert. When the two processes come together, it works like a symphony."
A recent study found seniors who incorporate strength training to their exercise routine may stave off symptoms of dementia, HealthPopreported.
Mild cognitive impairment is the stage between normal forgetfulness due to aging and dementia. Symptoms of MCI include difficulty performing more than one task at a time, difficulty solving problems or making decisions, and forgetting recent events or conversations. People with MCI are often aware of their forgetfulness, but their problems with thinking and memory do not interfere with everyday activities. Not everyone with MCI develops dementia.


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Woven Elegance
Cortenaer Wool Carpet
Pattern: Woven Elegance
An elegant carpet.
Room Scene: Wall to Wall Broadloom
Available in these colours.
Choose Colour
*Colour Variation: due to the natural fibre of the product, colour reproduction to sample may vary due to normal dye lot variation.
Pile Fibre: 100% Wool, Product of E.U.
Backing: Woven
Width: 400 cm/13'2"
Vacuum Regularly
Vacuuming often is wool's best friend. This is the most effective and economical way to remove soil and dirt particles before they become embedded into the carpet pile. You cannot over vacuum and vacuuming should begin the day the wall-to-wall carpet, runner or area rug is installed. Use a beater bar brush for best results.
Spot & Stain Removal
- Blot up liquids with paper towels or an absorbent cloth and scoop up any solids.
- Work inward from the edge of the spot to prevent excess spreading. Do not rub, as this may cause the spot to spread.
- Do not saturate with water.
- Blot dry between each step.
Preventative Measures
- Use absorbent mats at every entrance to your home to prevent tracking in dirt.
- Regularly change filters in your heating and air conditioning systems.
Periodic Maintenance
Use a reputable wool carpet professional to do a thorough cleaning periodically to remove the deepest soils. There are several deep cleaning methods you can use to ensure the beauty and life of your wool carpet, rug or stair runner.
Wool Looks Better Longer
Wool not only wears longer, it also keeps its good appearance and stays new looking longer. Each wool fibre is made up of millions of coiled springs that stretch and give so it won't lose its crimp or ability to spring back in traffic areas. With a greater life expectancy, wool will maintain its newness and original appearance longer.
Wool Resists Dirt
Its ability to absorb moisture prevents a build-up of static electricity and therefore wool does not attract lint and dust from the air. Also, the crimp in the wool of the fibre assists in keeping dirt from penetrating the surface and also makes it easier to clean.
Wool is Water Repellent
While wool can absorb moisture, it repels liquids. The scales on the outside of the fibre cause liquid to roll off the surface. If water spills on your area rug, runner or broadloom, it will take quite some time before the water penetrates. Wool fiber effectively responds to changes in humidity, making wool suitable for every climate. Wool can absorb up to one-third of its own weight in vapor depending on relative humidity, synthetic fibres can only absorb 2-3% of moisture before they begin to feel wet.
Wool is Warmer in the Winter and Cooler in the Summer
Tests show the insulating properties of wool can cut heat loss by 13%. It can also help keep you cool by its ability to absorb 30% of its weight in humidity without feeling damp or wet.
Wool Improves Indoor Air Quality
Wool fibre is too long and too coarse to be inhaled. Its natural, non-allergenic fibre does not promote the growth of bacteria or dust mites, which is good news for asthma sufferers and people with allergies. Unlike synthetic fibers, wool absorbs contaminants in the air like formaldehyde, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide.
Wool is Environmentally Friendly
Wool is a completely natural and renewable resource that is biodegradable. Wool readily biodegrades in soil because it breaks down into plant nutrients such as nitrogen, sulfur, carbon dioxide and water.
Wool Is Fire Resistant
Wool is the most naturally flame resistant fibre. It does not have to be specially treated to become non-flammable. It is difficult to ignite and has a low flame spread and heat release properties. This is due to its high moisture and nitrogen content. While it can catch alight, it will not flare up or support a flame. Instead of burning freely, once a flame is removed a cold ash is left which can be brushed away immediately. Wool does not melt or drip and has excellent self-extinguishing properties. As a result, pure new wool complies with many international flammability regulations without the need for additional flame resistant treatments.
Wool Resists Static
Because wool naturally absorbs moisture from the air, the tendency to collect static electricity is reduced. Walking across a wool carpet, you are less likely to receive a shock when you touch a grounded object.
Wool Insulates Against Noise
Wool is a wonderful insulator against noise. Wool absorbs sound and reduces noise level considerably.
Wool is Naturally Elastic
Wool can be twisted, turned and stretched and will return to its natural shape. This is why wrinkles disappear from wool garments and why wool carpets retain their springy pile for many years.
Carpet Definitions
What is Wool?
Wool is the whitest, cleanest and most natural fibre in the world originating from fibre sheered from sheep and twisted into yarn for weaving.
What is Sisal?
Rugs, mats, and matting made from sisal, a natural plant material. Available woven and dyed in various colours, as well as machine and hand painted. Similar flooring is made of jute, coconut, and sea grass.
What is Seagrass?
Seagrass is a grass grown in China in paddies, which are flooded with seawater. The grass is harvested, dried and spun into a strong yarn for weaving. The nature of the grass yarn makes it impermeable, so dying it is difficult. Consequently, sea grass products are a neutral colored product — ranging from a greenish-tan to green-brown, and a light brown. As with most natural products, there are colour inconsistencies, but that adds an interest you don't find in "perfect" products.
What is Jute?
A natural fibre native to India which can be shredded and spun into yarn. Jute yarns are used for backing in woven carpets, or itself woven into sheets and used as secondary backing on tufted carpet. In many applications, jute is being replaced by fiberglass, polypropylene or other synthetic fibres.
What is Coir?
Coir carpet is made from coconut husks to produce a material of great strength. These extremely strong fibres make a tough and slightly course floorcovering that is hard wearing. Fibres are extracted from the shell then crushed, dried in the sun and then woven into floorcovering.
What is Linen?
Linen is one of the first products made by early man coming from cultivated flax plants. When it's used in carpet making, it's blended with other fibres such as wool or cotton. Linen is a strong fibre that doesn't stretch when pulled and as a result, it doesn't readily stand up to traffic.
What is Polypropylene?
Polypropylene (olefin) is a very strong and abrasion resistant fibre. It is considered one of the most stain resistant fibres due to the dye method used called solution dyeing. Solution dyed fibres utilize a process in which the colour is melted into the yarn. Bleaching agents, extreme sunlight, and most household stains have little or no effect on polypropylene fibres.
What is Loop Pile?
A tufted or woven carpet pile surface where the face yarns are comprised of continuous rows of loops that stand upright, producing a wide variety of textures from thick and nubbly to smooth and plain. Loop pile can be level, textured or patterned. Level loop pile carpets wear well because the pile bears the weight of the foot evenly on the surface and tends to hide footprints. Textured or patterned loop is made from two or three varying pile heights.
What is Cut Pile?
Cut Pile carpet has a velvety texture that is very lustrous and beautiful for a formal or semiformal room. It is called Cut Pile because it has loops that are trimmed off so that yarn ends poke upward.
What is Cut-Loop Pile?
Combines loops with cut pile. The cut-loop pile has cut ends that are taller than the loops, creating an informal look.
What is Tufted Carpet?
Tufted carpet is achieved by cutting the tops off the loops so the pile stands upright with an even surface.
What is Woven Carpet?
A tufted or woven carpet pile surface where the face yarns are comprised of uncut loops. Loop pile can be level, textured or patterned.
What is a Serged Edge?
Serging is a method of finishing edges of an area rug. A colour of yarn that closely matches the carpet colour is used and is sewn around the edges in a close, overcast stitch giving a clean finished edge appearance.
Linen and Kaleidoscope Cotton Binding
The binding can be used on an area rug, hall or stair runner. It can be applied showing up to 3" on the face of the rug/runner or stair runner. The binding width does not add to the overall dimension of the rug. Rug and runners are complete with mitered corners and blind stitched
Wool Serged Edge
A wool serged edge looks like a thick fiber that is wrapped around the edge of the carpet continuously resembling a hand-sewn textured look.
Cotton Tape or Cotton Overlay
3/4" Cotton Tape, 1 1/4" Cotton Blind Stitch, 1 1/4" Cotton Top Stitch.
Nylon Machine Binding
Using nylon tape is simplest and least expensive method of finishing a carpet edge


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today -3°
Thick clouds and widespread snowfall throughout the whole day.
tomorrow 3°
The day starts sunny, but will be partly cloudy in the afternoon.
- open lifts 2
- open ski slopes 1
valley (slope) 0 cm
mountain 80 cm
Kaspar Frauenschuh
"One has to do with love if it is to be good"The origins of the Frauenschuh history goes back to Kaspars parents, John and Anna, who owned a tannery in Kitzbuehel. They started with made to measure garments created from the highest quality leather for customers around the world. To date, the work of Kaspar Frauenschuh is strongly influenced by values he learnet, quality awareness, a high standard of materials and workmanship combined with the charm and spirit of the Kitzbuehel lifestyle, to make the female shoe products to what they are today, genuine and authentic.
For 30 years Kaspar Frauenschuh always found the "real brands" - products that are above the trend and determine the modern mode. Woman shoes made with an up-todate-fashion with a fine and discrete belief in his products. He creates even his own wifes shoe collection. The cuts come from a small studio in Paris and the design worked out and perfected in Kitzbuehel with production in Styria and Tyrol. The high-quality leather products come from an exclusive factory in Italy.


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Petone Rugby Football Club Inc
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Topic Page: Leopard
large carnivore of the cat family, Panthera pardus, widely distributed in Africa and Asia. It is commonly yellow, buff, or gray, patterned with black spots and rings. The rings, unlike those of the New World jaguar, never have spots inside them. Black leopards are commonly called panthers, a name sometimes used for all leopards. They are not a distinct species but merely a color variant caused by melanism, or excessive pigmentation. Close inspection reveals the typical spotting, which is obscured by the darkness of the background.
Leopards are somewhat smaller than lions and tigers; the largest males are about 7 ft (2.3 m) long, including the 3-ft (90-cm) tail. Leopards are solitary, largely nocturnal, and good climbers; they hunt both on the ground and in trees. They prey mostly on small animals such as monkeys, rodents, and birds. Leopards are found in much of Africa south of the Sahara and in parts of Asia from Israel to Korea and Indonesia. They are listed as threatened or endangered throughout their range, owing primarily to loss of their natural habitat and to illegal killing for Asian folk medicine.
A related species is the snow leopard, or ounce, Uncia uncia or P. uncia, which replaces ordinary leopards in the high mountains of Central Asia. It has long whitish fur and diffuse spotting. In summer, when the mountain animals on which it preys range to high pastures, the snow leopard may climb to an altitude of 13,000 ft (3,900 m). It usually hunts at dusk or at night. More distantly related are the clouded leopards, Neofelis nebulosa of SE Asia and Neofelis diardi (Sunda clouded leopard) of Borneo and Sumatra; they were considered a single species until the early 21st cent. The coat is more tawny and lighter in the clouded leopard, more gray and darker in the Sunda clouded leopard. Both have coats strikingly marked with black and brown; there are stripes on the face and tail, spots on the limbs, and rosettes on the body. The tail is exceptionally long and heavy and is thickly furred. Forest dwellers, clouded leopards are nocturnal and arboreal in their habits. Unlike the leopard, both the snow and clouded leopards do not roar. The clouded leopard is an endangered species; the snow leopard is considered vulnerable.
Leopards are classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Mammalia, order Carnivora, family Felidae.
Related Articles
Full text Article leopard
(panther) Solitary, big cat found throughout Africa and S Asia, sometimes called a panther. The coat may be yellow and white with dark spots,...
Full text Article leopard
Large wild cat found in Africa and Asia. The background colour of the coat is golden, and the black spots form rosettes that differ according to the
Full text Article Snow Leopard
Superbly equipped for living on steep, rocky mountainsides that are blanketed with snow for much of the year, the snow leopard has evolved to cope


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After five emotionally-wrenching days volunteering in Haiti, Virginia lawyer Ramcess Jean-Louis stood at Port-au-Prince airport awaiting his flight back to the U.S. That plane carried the final surprise of his trip: Actor John Travolta was piloting the aircraft Jean-Louis was about to board.
Before the plane turned for home, Jean-Louis helped Travolta and his wife, actress Kelly Preston, unload cargo.
"He was very hands on," Jean-Louis said of Travolta. "He was unpacking the airplane, really in command of the situation. When he came down with additional supplies and another team of doctors, he made sure the doctors got everything they needed."
Jean-Louis' decision to jump into the relief effort came shortly after the earthquake hit.
Though he was born in Brooklyn, his parents came from Haiti and he has many relatives still living there.
"You just have to deal with a sense of helplessness, and I didn't enjoy that feeling during Katrina and I didn't enjoy it during 9/11," he said.
So Jean-Louis immediately began volunteering at the Haitian Embassy. Professionally, he's the general counsel for a building maintenance company in Alexandria called TK Services. Every night after work, he'd head to the embassy.
A week ago, he received an urgent call.
"They said, 'You have to get on a plane if you want to get down there,'" he said. "It took me by surprise. Actually having the opportunity standing in front of me made me a little apprehensive."
But Jean-Louis raced to Philadelphia, caught a flight to Miami and then joined other volunteers on a flight to Haiti. He spent five days there, starting his work at the hospital, assisting patients and distributing medical supplies and food.
Jean-Louis also was able to locate his relatives. One cousin died, but the rest survived.
Jean-Louis hopes to return to Haiti soon, possibly by next month.
"I'm of the thought that Haitians have to lead the recovery and we have to be in control of our story and how this redevelopment is going to take place," he said. "I'm confident that's going to happen with the help of the international community."


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ECB Unveils Rate Cuts, Lending Package
Negative Deposit Rate a First for So Large a Bank
FRANKFURT—The European Central Bank took extraordinary steps Thursday to stave off the threat of dangerously low inflation in Europe, including cutting a key interest rate below zero for the first time in a bid to get banks to lend more to credit-starved customers.
But the bank stopped short of more drastic measures it has considered, such as the kind of asset purchases deployed in recent years in the U.S. and U.K.—both of which are now doing better than the euro zone. That led some investors to question whether the ECB had...


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Title says it all. Massimo Pigliucci wrote a review of The Moral Landscape in Skeptic Magazine. I wonder if that review has been addressed somewhere, in particular by Sam Harris himself.
Kind regards
Rasmus Faber
He has not responded to the review to my knowledge.
Note: in my opinion, this review is hardly even worth responding to. Pigliucci uses the word, 'seems' over and over which seems that if he indeed read it, he read it poorly, failing to understand the thesis enough to accurately iterate it, and proceeds to waste the readers time with unctuous annotations about harris' regard for metaethics and similar approaches to discourse. As a philosopher in part, pigliucci is apt to be incensed by harris, because part of the aim of the book was to start a conversation concerning the science of morality that the layman could have a shot at participating in not to water it it down, but to allay the unnecessary complications that tend to accompany discourses about moral questions once metaethics and the like are brought into it. And seeing as how pigliucci's kneejerk reaction is to make a weak assumption that harris doesn't give a damn about moral philosophy, it may be just as well, that massimo cuts himself out of the conversation.
Pigliucci fails to make or at least note, the distinction between the sciences, and the first principles of science; curiousity about the natual world, respect for evidence, intellectual honesty, logical consistency and parsimony, tools which in short enable all the other tools we use in our understaning of the universe and the excercising of our reason, whether or not we are neuroscientists or philosophers.
This review was extremely dishonest.
'of course, that's just my opinion i could be wrong.'
I just read the article. I think the abortion is not solvable is valid. Brain scans wont solve that one. It is of bound rationality, too complex for a clear solution. But maybe scanning abortion advocates and opposition we night see he rational areas of the brain are used in the expression of opinion.
On to what moral quandries may be solved: Well it will not solve the issues directly (scans cant calculate for us ) but can help gather objective evidence to be rationally weighed. For instance if flourishing people have x brain states there may be theorems and answers (not of folk psychology but neurology ) to evidential questions about the causes of flourishing. Like it has been found that ecstacy can damage nerve fibres, or too much drink cause brain damage. If we accept the premise they relate to non benign states of consciousness then science has perhaps a set of standard measures to use in debates where relativism might otherwise hold sway. Secondly Perhaps it might help people relate to one another. For instance a pro lifer might show signs of what could be intense grief in a choicer. So it may encourage empathy and connection. Also it could survey violent people and lead to an understanding of the phenomenology of deviant behavior, and its development through time in therapy or prison or life stages etc perhaps the dynamics of rehabilitation can be decoded . Finally on the obvious wrongness of genital mutilation. The author has switched from the abortion dilemma here , from perhaps intracable to a simple. But we might address tribal beliefs causing mutilation and the non rational nature of taboos by leading them from one set of dispositions to other neural areas (for instance demonstrate sexual pain equivalents to them in tales of subjects with other equivalent pain states from other injuries, thus causing empathy with objective standards to demonstrate the validity of the claims. )
Maybe it the future there will be PET profiles employees hand in whit their cv's.


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Wellness experiences in the Hotel Unicornis***!
- Voucher validity in Basic package
3 days / 2 nights
- number of adult guests
2 guests
- reduction for children
available for 1 child(ren): from 0 till 4 years free of charge, Between 4-10 years old: 10.000 HUF/child/2 nights ; above 10 years old: 14.995 HUF/2 nights
- catering in Basic package
full board (breakfast, lunch, dinner)
- Package includes services as follows
non-smoking rooms, air-conditioned rooms, relaxing area / sunbathing / deckchairs, wifi, fitness room
- Other services incl. in the package
* Valid on weekends too for 10.000 HUF/package extra charge!
* Valid on the feast days too for 10.000 HUF/night extra charge!
* Valid in the SUMMER too for 10.000 HUF/package extra charge! (01.05. - 31.09.)
* Free usage of the wellness section: steam cabine, finnish sauna, indoor jacuzzi, water massage jets
* Swedish or chocolate massage for two guests on one occassion (25 minutes long)
* Full board includes: on the day of arrival: lunch and dinner, on the next day: breakfast, lunch, dinner, on the day of departure: breakfast.
The hotel can 21 days befor arrive ask for paying.
- Validity / expiry of voucher
for 1 year after purchase
Additional EXTRA pay-services
Hotel Unicornis ***
Eger, Hungary
Hotel Unicornis *** Eger was open in 2014 in the historic centre of Eger, close to the southern entrance of the Castle. The most important sights, museums, places of entertainment and restaurants of the city can be easily, by foot, approached from the hotel situated at the corner of Dr Hibay K. and Kossuth L. streets. The heart of Eger, Dobó Square, is within a two minutes' walk from here.
Hotel rooms
This modern four-star hotel having 38 rooms with modern equipment (3 single, 30 double, 3 three-bedded rooms and 2 apartments) can accommodate up to 80 guests. 28 rooms are air-conditioned. Every room has a shower/toilet, a telephone, a minibar and a colour television set with satellite programmes.
Room service, a sauna, massage, baby sitting, , organising programmes, a hotel safe and a guarded parking lot.
Meals and entertainment
Unicornis Restaurant: a tastefully furnished, air-conditioned restaurant suitable for organising programmes for up to 120 people, with a terrace that can seat 24 guests. Under the management of a renowned chef our guests are offered a rich menu and buffet, as well as gastronomic and other programmes and also live music, if required. The room accommodating as many as 25 persons, that can be opened into the hotel's restaurant, serves for organising various business and social events. The friendly coffee-shop with a drink bar and the terrace linked to it provide service for as many as 50 guests and not only those staying at the hotel.
Conferences and other programmes
The air-conditioned conference room of Panorama Hotel Eger with its unique architecture is situated on the fourth floor of the building. Its area is 77 sq. metres and at the entrance there is a buffet. Depending on its arrangement, the conference room equipped with all the modern technical facilities can seat a maximum of 80 guests. The hotel organises conferences, advanced education courses, product demonstrations, training courses and other business meetings.
Ask your questions
If you have questions, our colleague helps.
Hotel Unicornis ***, Eger
Wellness experiences in the Hotel Unicornis***!
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How to Determine a Data Structure in R
The first decision you have to make before analyzing your data is how to represent that data inside R. If your data has only one dimension, then you already know that vectors represent this type of data very well. However, if your data has more than one dimension, you have the choice of using matrices, lists, or data frames. So, the question is: When do you use which?
Matrices and higher-dimensional arrays are useful when all your data are of a single class — in other words, all your data are numeric or all your data are characters. If you're a mathematician or statistician, you're familiar with matrices and likely use this type of object very frequently.
But in many practical situations, you'll have data that have many different classes — in other words, you'll have a mixture of numeric and character data. In this case, you need to use either lists or data frames.
If you imagine your data as a single spreadsheet, a data frame is probably a good choice. Remember that a data frame is simply a list of named vectors of the same length, which is conceptually very similar to a spreadsheet with columns and a column heading for each.
If you're familiar with databases, you can think of a data frame as similar to a single table in a database. Data frames are tremendously useful and, in many cases, will be your first choice of objects for storing your data.
If your data consists of a collection of objects but you can't represent that as an array or a data frame, then a list is your ideal choice. Because lists can contain all kinds of other objects, including other lists or data frames, they're tremendously flexible. Consequently, R has a wide variety of tools to process lists.
You may find that a data frame is a very suitable choice for most analysis and data-processing tasks. It's a very convenient way of representing your data, and it's similar to working with database tables. When you read data from a comma-separated value (CSV) file with the function read.csv() or read.table(), R puts the results in a data frame.
|The basic data object in R, consisting of one or more values of
a single type (for example, character, number, or integer).
|Think of this as a single column or row in a spreadsheet, or a
column in a database table.
|matrix or array
|A multidimensional object of a single type (known as
atomic). A matrix is an array of two dimensions.
|When you have to store numbers in many dimensions, use
|Lists can contain objects of any type.
|Lists are very useful for storing collections of data that
belong together. Because lists can contain lists, this type of
object is very useful.
|Data frames are a special kind of named list where all the
elements have the same length.
|Data frames are similar to a single spreadsheet or to a table
in a database.


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Who: Luis Perez, No. 47. Left-handed relief pitcher. 6'0", 210 LBS. 26 years old.
Provenance: Guayubin, Dominican Republic. Signed as an amateur free agent in 2003 by the Blue Jays.
2011 Stats: 5.12 ERA, 1.55 WHIP, 54 strikeouts and 27 walks in 65.0 innings over 37 games with the Blue Jays.
Minor League Stats: At Triple-A (2010-2011), 5.61 ERA in 23 starts, 6.8 K/9, 4.8 BB/9. At Double-A (2009-2010), 3.86 ERA in 41 games (39 starts), 6.1 K/9, 4.0 BB/9.
Looking Back: There was scarcely a word or whisper among the media, blogs or fans about Luis Perez until the date that he was called up in April of last season. Last spring, we were all too fixated on what sort of growth we might see out of David Purcey to even pay much mind to any other depth lefty. But as pitchers were injured early and as Purcey pitched poor enough so as to secure his release from the Jays, Perez was called upon to mop up some early season messes.
Though his initial service with the Jays lasted just three outings, he made enough of an impression to earn himself a return engagement and stuck with the team through most of the rest of the year. We were impressed with Perez from the outset, and probably liked him much more than we should have given his pedestrian numbers at the end of the year.
It wasn't completely unwarranted, either. If you'll indulge us as we play with arbitrary endpoints, Perez posted a 2.96 ERA in the 28 games between his May 23rd recall and his August 27th start against the Tampa Bay Rays. A couple of ugly outings in blowouts and one horrific start against the Red Sox in September overshadow a lot of the good that Perez did throughout the season, but he's pitched well enough to work his way back into consideration for a role in the crowded Blue Jays bullpen.
The apex of Perez's 2011 came in an August 21st start against Oakland, in which he limited the A's to one hit over six innings. After cruising through the first five innings, striking out four while keeping a clean sheet, Perez walked two and gave up a hit to load the bases before getting a 6-4-3 double play ball from Coco Crisp to close off his part of the day. The Jays went on to win 1-0.
Looking Forward: Perez is out of options, and it's hard to imagine that the Jays will let him walk, so he's almost certain to be part of the big club to open the season. John Farrell raved to the press corps about Perez on Wednesday, noting that his slider looked much better, and his approach to getting our right-handed hitters had improved significantly.
It will be interesting to see how a new approach manifests itself in the pitches Perez is asked to deliver. Last year, he threw his fastball 72.5% of the time, which is likely a function of his middle relief role. ("Just go in and throw strikes, kid.") If Perez is given work in higher leverage situations, or if he needs to make starts in a pinch, he may be asked to lean on that slider more often, or work in a changeup more than 6% of the time.
Ultimately, Perez throws fairly hard (92.6 M.P.H. on average with the fastball), and showed a willingness to stay down in the zone. He also improved significantly on his strikeout and walk rates after arriving in Toronto, which might be a comment on the funhouse pitching environment of the Pacific Coast League, or could also be a reflection of his ability to be coached by the major league staff. Being the optimist we are, we'll opt for the latter.
2012 Expectations: Not unlike Joel Carreno or Carlos Villnueva, we believe that Perez has the ability to be a 100-inning reliever for the Jays this year. (Yes, this is a fixation of ours. No, we have no reason to believe that either Alex Anthopoulos or John Farrell share our enthusiasm for this strategy.)
Moreover, with the praise that has been heaped in his direction early in the spring, it also wouldn't surprise us if he were asked to step in to a fifth start spot while certain other pitchers get their stuff together. Either way, we expect Perez to be an important part of a strong bullpen.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
30 Jays in 30 Days - Pounding Down with Luis Perez
1 comment:
- sporkless said...
Alternate title suggestion: HAWKING A LOOGY. Huh? Huh??
I'm not a huge Perez fan yet. I expect his no-options status will compel the club to have him win the last job in the bullpen. But the Jays will have lots of quality AAA relief depth to draw upon if he should end up going the way of Purcey and Jo-Jo.
I also don't believe that you necessarily need two lefties in the pen. Felipe had zero in '94.
- March 15, 2012 at 2:09 PM
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Almost seventy disabled and vulnerable people were left waiting in the cold after Atos staff didn't turn up to do work capability assessments.
The government-commissioned company – which warns claimaints could be stripped of their benefits should they fail to turn up themselves – sent letters calling 70 people to be assessed on Sunday.
But after a security guard phoned in sick, the meetings at the centre on Beetwell Street, Chesterfield were cancelled at the last minute as there was noone to open up.
Gloria Kestle was left waiting with her son, Paul Edwards who suffers from post-traumatic stress and can't work.
"The assessments are so stressful" said Gloria, of Boythorpe. "For them to cancel without any warning is disgusting.
"What's worst is that if he hadn't turned up, they would have stopped his money. Are these staff going to have their money stopped?"
Colin Hampton, from Derbyshire Unemployed Workers Centre called the fiasco 'double standards'.
He said: "They give us one rule poor people and another rule for big businesses. The way they treat people who can't turn up to their assessments – often for very good reasons – is in stark contrast to the way the business itself is treated."
Toby Perkins MP said he will be contacting Atos for an explanation.
He said: "This shows disregard towards people with health disadvantages. Disabled people, many in wheelchairs, had to endure the severe weather on Sunday before realising their appointments would not go ahead".
A spokesperson for Atos Healthcare – who conduct assessments on behalf of the DWP (Department for Work and Pensions, said: "The security guard is employeed by Trillium on behalf of the DWP.
"Our employees were also unable to gain access to the building which is neither owned or managed by Atos. We did all we could to alert people to the building closure before they arrived for their appointment on the day and have subsequently rearranged all appointments."


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The best winter breakfast
True to her Scottish roots, Carol Wilson says porridge is the best way to start the day...are you a fan of the humble oat?
I love my morning porridge. On a chilly winter morning when there's an icy nip in the air, you can't beat a bowl of piping hot oats. I've tried instant oat cereals, but I found them to be too smooth and lacking texture. Nothing like the real thing!
Porridge has been around for hundreds of years, but now it's enjoying a resurgence of popularity as sales are soaring and the once humble breakfast dish can now be found on the menus of the poshest hotels.
It's not hard to see why - a pack of oats is inexpensive and porridge is easy to make in just minutes. And it's one of the healthiest ways to start the day. Oats are a great source of fibre and protein and have been proven to lower cholesterol. Because porridge is digested slowly it releases energy gradually into the bloodstream, so helps to keep you full for longer- and more able to resist sugary mid-morning snacks.
Scotland of course is the ancestral home of porridge and the Scots take their porridge seriously; each year the World Porridge Making Championship awards the world title to the porridge-maker judged to have made the best traditional porridge, using just oatmeal and water. The stirring is done in the time-honoured way with a straight wooden stick called a 'Spurtle' or 'Theevil'.
There's intense debate about how to make authentic porridge. Should the oats be soaked? Is it best to use water, milk or both? Should you add sugar or salt and a knob of butter? How long it should be cooked for is another source of disagreement, ranging from a few minutes or longer, to cooking overnight in the bottom of a very low oven. Personally I stick to the method I've used for years. I use twice the volume of milk and water to oats, a pinch of salt and cook slowly in a pan for 5-6 minutes.
In Scotland hot porridge is traditionally eaten with cold milk and a sprinkling of salt; definitely nothing else! I have a sweet tooth so I'm partial to porridge with a good glug of cream and a liberal sprinkling of brown sugar or a generous drizzle of maple or golden syrup. If I'm feeling in need of something healthier I sweeten it with honey and add a few berries or some dried fruit. A quick poll among friends and family revealed that other added extras include a sprinkling of cinnamon or grated nutmeg, banana, toasted nuts, yoghurt, black treacle, stewed fruit, rosehip syrup and chocolate syrup. My Scottish dad liked to add a dash of whisky to his porridge on frosty mornings 'to keep out the cold'!
How do you like your porridge?


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It was around noon Monday when the Dodgers made it official, issuing a news release announcing Ramirez was going to the White Sox on waivers — meaning the White Sox are responsible for all of the $3.825 million left on his contract, but the Dodgers aren't getting a player in return.
"We had been talking probably since Friday or Saturday," Colletti said. "We offered to take back [responsibility for] $1.5 million for not their best prospect but certainly somebody we thought was a good prospect, and they didn't want to do that. We lowered our [amount] to $1 million for a slightly lower prospect, and they didn't want to go in that direction. So finally, we offered $500,000 for one of their lower-level guys, and they didn't want to do that. We tried to give them a chance to recoup some of the salary they're going to owe him."
August 30, 2010
The Manny Ramirez negotiations
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Christ Priest "The Millennium British Champion of Close-Up Magic" releases for the first time his amazing sponge ball routine for the magic fraternity.
Protons gives your audience a non stop roller coaster ride of amazing magic from start to finish.
This is Chris's favourite routine for performing at weddings, family restaurants, corporate bookings, the routine even works in cabaret.
The routine begins with the performer showing both hands empty, only to pluck a coloured ball from the spectators hand! This fast paced routine jam packed with visual mind boggling magic, grows to an awesome climax which your audience will talk about for a long time to come.
This is another killer routine from Christ Priest, expertly constructed and presented which has been honed too perfection over thousands of performances.
This DVD features live performances of Christ performing the Protons routine for real audiences so you can witness first hand the reactions you will receive when performing this routine. Everything is here, the performance, the presentation, with detailed teaching instructions, its a magical masterpiece you will love performing and will last you a lifetime!!
Running Time Approximately 55min
Do you own this product? Write a review.


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Amid Margin Squeeze, Foxconn Designs Its Own Fate
Assembler of Most iPhones Tries to Fashion Its Own Brands and Services
TAIPEI—Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., the manufacturer that has assembled most of Apple Inc.'s iPhones and iPads, is quietly trying to become a builder of its own brands.
Recently, the $130-billion-a-year in revenue company has ventured into handset accessories under its own brand, and sales and distribution of mobile phones. It also plans to offer telecommunications services in Taiwan.


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Vintage Leather Flask
Vintage Leather Flask
This handsome flask is made of leather and stainless steel. We love its traditional style, and its easy-open screw top that is secured with a hinged keeper. Perfect to give as a gift to any man who would appreciate a flask that is as durable as it is sophisticated.
Add To Cart


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What is Acacia?
Acacia is a men's college fraternity founded on May 12, 1904, at the University of Michigan. With dozens of chapters across North America, over 50,000 men have joined our ranks in pursuit of Virtue, Knowledge & Truth.
Built upon these principles - our members serve their communities, pursue academic and professional success, and enjoy lifelong Acacia brotherhood.
- Eric S. Lauer, Carleton '11
Acacia News
Get the latest fraternity news on the Acacia blog, check out the latest issue of The TRIAD, or read past issues of our email newsletter, The Crest.
Upcoming Events
International, regional, and chapter events are happening year-round. Find an upcoming event happening near you, or get information on Conclave 2020.
Subscribe to receive Acacia NEWS BY EMAIL
Brothers! Receive Acacia's bi-monthly email newsletter, The Crest, and other periodic messages including newsletters from your chapter.
Buy Acacia Gear
Get Acacia apparel, sportswear, gifts, and more: Buy Acacia gear online.


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This is made with two whole pieces of white-wheat bread, the pb&j, strawberry and Annie's organic cheddar bunnies.
Here's how I make my sandwich sushi rolls. Stay tuned, there's a little trick I do to make my rolls. :)
Step 1: gather your ingredients and supplies.
You will need:
-contents for your sandwich rolls (here I'm using sunflower butter and preserves, (though at the last minute my husband found the peanut butter I overlooked in the pantry))
-sharp knife
-rolling pin or extra cutting board
Step 2: take two slices of bread and cut off the crusts.
Step 3: separate your pieces and prepare to smoosh.
Step 4: smoosh gently. Slightly smoosh. This is not the grand squishing moment.
I like to lay a cutting board over the top and press. That usually works really well for me.
See? The bread is smooshed, but not totally flattened. This is important for the secret step coming up next.
(this is the super secret tip part....)
Step 5: overlap the edges of the bread, like so -
Haha, can you see my palm print and finger indentations in the bread? I had to fiddle so much with my camera between steps that the bread started puffing back up. I had to beat it back down into submission.
Step 6: Roll that sucker flat. Or smoosh like heck. Flatten it anyway you want.
ta-dah!! One long piece of bread now!
Step 7: Trim the edges so they are all nice and straight.
Step 8: Add your filling.
Whatever you use, whether pb&j or ham & cheese, leave a little space at the end because the contents tend to squish toward the end as you roll. Now, I could have spread mine a little more than I did here, like maybe half-way to the end more. The thicker your filling is the more it tends to creep to the end.
Step 9: Roll 'em on up. Then, slice with a sharp knife.
Step 10: Admire your cute little sandwich sushi rolls. :)
And finally, pack 'em on in. These went in the tiny Sistema box. This is the same little box I used in the itty bitty snack boxes post
There's no other way a 2-slice-of-bread-sandwich would have fit in this tiny little box!
So there ya go. I spilled my super secret sandwich sushi trick. Enjoy! :)


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Gluten-Free Restaurant Search Results
The results below are from compiled recommendations from those in the community. While steps are taken to ensure the restaurant's safety, as always, it is up to the individual to ensure their own safety every time when dining out. The National Celiac Association is not responsible for these restaurants.
The map below shows only the the results of your search. Therefore if you zoom out on the map, you may not see results in other areas. To view results in other areas either reset your search or click here return to the Gluten-Free Restaurant main page.
6 Elm St Gloucester MA
6 Elm St Gloucester MA Gloucester Massachusetts 01930 US
No description yet
9639 Olive Boulevard, Olivette, MO, USA
1309 5th St NE, Washington, D.C. 20002, USA
We are a 100% gluten-free bakery committed to using local produce and high-quality ingredients. W...
Everything is gluten-free and refined sugar free at this unique place featuring super food smooth...
1120 Main Street Williamstown MA 01267
(833) 354-2436(833) 354-2436
We are making yummy food for gluten-free vegans & more. GluFREEgan™ began as a response to ou...
1925 Fairmount Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19130, USA
GF, keto & low carb bakery We use the highest quality ingredients, including almond flour and...
45 Temple St, Fredonia, NY 14063, USA
dedicated gluten-free bakery that serves meals and baked goods
1944 Ivy Ave E, Saint Paul, MN 55119, United States
vegan and gluten-free bakery
2628 Main Street, Brewster, MA 02631, USA
Karma Foods is a dedicated gluten-free kitchen providing specialty food items designed for health...
418 Cerrillos Road, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87505, USA
Dedicated GF bakery featuring gluten-free and gluten-free and vegan breads made with wholesome, o...
3446 Chestnut Ave, Baltimore, MD 21211, USA
We are Baltimore's Gluten-Free, Vegan Bakery Serving Fresh, Organic Ingredients from Local Farmer...
116 N Talbot St, Saint Michaels, MD, USA
Dedicated gluten-free, dairy-free and vegan bars, cakes, cookies and tarts
8001 Hillsborough Rd, Ellicott City, MD, USA
Our facility is free of: Gluten (Wheat, Rye, Barley), Oats, Soy, Eggs, Fish, Shellfish, Sesame, P...
8218 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 101 Bethesda, MD 20814
Red Bandana Bakery is a totally gluten-free facility
104 S King St, Shepherdstown, WV, USA
100% GF cafe
18 High Street, Front Royal, VA, USA
a 100% GF cafe
2409 18th St NW, Washington, DC, USA
Rise Bakery provides a one-of-a-kind gluten-free experience with an expansive menu of baked goods...
4702 S Le Jeune Rd, Coral Gables, Florida 33146
Dedicated GF spot featuring breads, pizza and sweets.
1056 Center Street Auburn, Maine 04276
Tripp's is a dedicated gluten free facility located in beautiful Auburn Maine. We are a ful...
16a North East Street, Frederick, MD, USA
(240) 415-0592(240) 415-0592
Sanctuary Modern Kitchen is a Certified Gluten Free cafe in Downtown Frederick, Maryland. We are ...
Benton Street, Boone, IA, USA
Gluten Free Bakery. We bake to order. Pick up only.
192 Bleecker Street, New York, NY, USA
Posh Pop Bakeshop is dedicated to providing the gluten free community with the best and freshe...
707 N Pacific Coast Hwy, Redondo Beach, CA, USA
Kirari West is a family owned bake shop whose entire inventory of foods and products is free of g...
9640 West Tropicana Avenue, Las Vegas, NV, USA
Senza is an Italian word meaning "without." Everything we make is without gluten. Some things a...
130 Desiard Street, Floor 1 Monroe, LA 71201
Butter is a 100% Gluten Free bakery. There is no risk of cross-contact even with our coffee as ...
472 Columbus Ave New York, NY 10024
Come on in and enjoy a famous New York City bagel! Baguettes, ciabatta, brioche, we've got ...
5850 South Transit Road, Lockport, NY, USA
We are committed to creating better tasting gluten free baked goods. We are a bake shop with the ...
1532 SW 8th St Boynton Beach, FL 33426
There are no preservatives, no artificial ingredients, no high fructose corn syrup & no hydro...
naples, fl
Forgetaboudit Bakery is your Gluten-Free Baked Goods cottage industry bakery solution for all you...
1514 Immokalee Rd #117 Naples, FL 34110
dedicated GF bakery Come in and enjoy HOT SANDWICHES BREAKFAST & LUNCH PIZZAS QUICHE JUMBO ...
520 Park Street Naples FL 34102
Adelheidi's products are dedicated gluten free and organic. We offer dedicated organic and ...
7426 Brandy Creek Drive, Mechanicsville, VA 23111, USA
First of all, we mix every order to order, in small batches with lots of gluten free love. As a m...
159 Main Street, Cooper's Common, Agawam, MA
A quaint, vintage cafe and dedicated gluten & allergy free bakery in Agawam, MA! Serving ligh...
2906 Maryville Road Maryville, Illinois 62062
The mission of Gluten Free at Last! is to provide customers who need a gluten free lifestyle with...
279 Sunset Park Drive Herndon VA 20170
Specialty Soup Production Kitchen and Specialty market. Our soups are available to take home fro...
155 Railroad, Suite B, Danville, CA 94526
Life is Sweet is a dedicated gluten free bakery and café serving gluten free breakfast, lunch, an...
2 Elm St. Great Barrington, MA 01230
All of our baked goods are gluten free, vegetarian, and colored with natural dyes from vegetables...
39 Greenville Avenue, Johnston, RI 02919, USA
Dedicated GF bakery
2606 Texas Avenue, Bryan, TX 77802, USA
We are a wholesale bakery that is on a mission to create delicious baked goods using only the hig...
1105 S Mays St, Ste 200 Round Rock, TX 78664
We're thrilled to have a private facility that is 100% free of all top 8 allergens. Our ent...
3016 Guadalupe St Ste. 200 Austin, Texas 78705
At Wild Wood Bakehouse and Gluten-Free Restaurant, we strive to make gluten-free baked goods that...
2691 Main Street, Lawrenceville, Lawrence Township, NJ 08648, USA
where everything is gluten-free and delicious!
734 West White Horse Pike, Egg Harbor City, New Jersey 08215, USA
Kizbee's Kitchen is a 100% dedicated gluten-free baking company. Our mission is simple R...
32 South Main Street, New Hope, PA 18938, USA
dedicated gluten-free bakery
20 East Oakland Avenue, Doylestown, PA, USA
100% gluten free bakery
234 Holland Road, Southampton, PA 18966, USA
Allergen free. Safe for anyone. Good for everyone.
224 Sugartown Road, Wayne, PA 19087, USA
1039 West Lancaster Avenue, Bryn Mawr, PA, USA
Not only are our products vegan (dairy-free, casein-free, egg-free) and gluten-free, but we avoid...
1424 South St, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Not only are our products vegan (dairy-free, casein-free, egg-free) and gluten-free, but we avoid...
Waltham, MA, USA
all gluten-free personal chef service in Massachusetts, offers upscale gluten-free, healthy and d...
3110 Frankfort Ave, Louisville, KY 40206, USA
All of our bakery items are gluten, peanut, tree nut, and soy free!
5130 S Dale Mabry Hwy, Tampa, FL 33611, USA
GF, vegan, allergen friendly bakery
228 South 3rd Street, Geneva, IL 60134, USA
Our dedicated gluten free bakery also specializes in Paleo, Keto, sugar free, low carb, vegan, da...
22 Browne Court-Unit 119, Brattleboro, VT 05301
Our store is located next to our factory and you can spot it by the funky mural adorning the buil...
4185 North High Street, Columbus, OH 43214, USA
a gluten free bakery that employs individuals with autism.
14 Dillmont Dr, Columbus, OH 43235, USA
We are your local allergy-friendly bakery with the tastiest ever breads, pizza crust, cakes, and ...
Ankeny, IA, USA
in home GF bakery featuring cupcakes and other tasty treats
Ames, Iowa 50010, USA
home business offering breads, cakes and cookies
107 O'Fallon Plaza, O'Fallon, MO 63366, USA
Our entire menu has been carefully developed to serve our customers original recipe options, as w...
942 Diablo Avenue, Novato, CA 94947, USA
everything is gluten-free, soy-free, egg-free, and nut-free. waffles, sandwiches, salads, muffins...
129 Miller Ave, #300, in the Mill Valley Lumber Yard Mill Valley, CA 94941
We offer a full selection of artisan pastries, fresh breads, custom cakes, and our famous granola...
122 American Alley, Suite B Petaluma, CA 94952
We specialize in decadent gluten-free and vegan sweets, on a mission to provide dessert and break...
13 Boston Post Road Westport, CT 06498
Still Delicious is an allergy friendly bakery providing premium quality gluten-free products with...
106 S Leroy St, Fenton, MI 48430, USA
The Pantry offers a large selection of gluten and dairy free foods, health care products, and env...
10420 Kingston Pike – Suite G Knoxville, TN 37922
Dedicated GF bakery & cafe featuring baked goods, smoothie bar, quiche and salads.
1648 Whitney Avenue, Hamden, CT 06517, USA
Here at Little Rabbit Baking Co. we bake everything from scratch with a focus on gluten free item...
Worthington, OH, USA
All Orders Baked Fresh Thursday & Friday. Baked by order received, most on Friday that week. ...
The Falchi Building 31-00 47th Avenue Long Island City, NY 11101
Sans Bakery is a gluten free bakery located in New York City. We don't believe that gluten free p...
3016 Guadalupe St., Ste. 200 Austin, Texas 78705
GF restaurant
1024 South 9th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147, USA
GF bakery and store
338 East 11th Street, NY, New York 10003, USA
GF cupcakes, muffins and cookies
237 West 200 North, Kaysville, UT 84037, USA
delicious, fresh, gluten-free treats
13 West 1st Street, Hinsdale, IL 60521, USA
Certified gluten-free bakery offering a variety of delectable sweet, savory, and special occasion...
5721 Olde Wadsworth Blvd, Arvada, CO 80002, USA
GF cakes, snacks and pastries
1017 State Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101, USA
dedicated gluten-free
599 A Avenue, Lake Oswego, OR 97034, USA
Everything is 100% gluten-free
410 S Maple Avenue, Unit 110 Falls Church VA 22046
a gluten free patisserie
2307a Mount Vernon Avenue, Alexandria, VA 22301, USA
A gluten free patisserie
140 NE Broadway St, Portland, OR 97232, USA
Gluten Free Gem is an independent, family run bakery located in Portland's Lloyd District. The ba...
19 East Putnam Avenue, Greenwich, CT 06830, USA
By the Way Bakery is an old-fashioned bakery where everything is made by hand, from scratch, in s...
1236 Lexington Avenue, NY, New York 10028, USA
By the Way Bakery is an old-fashioned bakery where everything is made by hand, from scratch, in s...
2442 Broadway, NY, New York 10024, USA
By the Way Bakery is an old-fashioned bakery where everything is made by hand, from scratch, in s...
574 Warburton Ave, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY 10706, USA
By the Way Bakery is an old-fashioned bakery where everything is made by hand, from scratch, in s...
2105 Cliff Road, Eagan, MN 55122, USA
A totally gluten-free bakery specializing in fresh baked goods.
Lake Ave, Manchester, NH, USA
100% GF cakes, cookies, cupcakes, pies, breads and more.
1477 W Balmoral Ave, Chicago, IL 60640, USA
Defloured believes that everyone has a right to dessert, whether you have Celiac disease, or for ...
145 Burt Rd, Lexington, KY 40503, USA
Gluten Free Miracles is Lexington's only "Dedicated" Bakery & Cafe' providing folks with a sa...
25 Soledad Dr, Monterey, California 93940, United States
We use 100% certified gluten free ingredients and suppliers with our creative technique to produc...
9146 Dayton Lebanon Pike, Washington Township, OH,
GF pizza, sandwiches and baked goods
772 Park Avenue, Bloomfield, CT 06002
Gluten-Free Market, Cafe and Bakery
541 S. DREXEL AVE. BEXLEY, OHIO 43209 (Columbus, OH)
Facility free of gluten, nuts, and dyes
2178 Kensington Avenue, Amherst, NY, USA
At Vin-Chet Bakery, we put the "good" back into gluten-free baked goods. We've tried the commerci...
118 Main Street, Gloucester, MA 01930, USA 0.15 mi
No description yet
121 Main Street, Essex, MA 01929, USA 5.91 mi
All of our menu items are GLUTEN FREE except clamcakes, onion rings & sandwiches. Please let ...
Essex, MA, United States 6.33 mi
Owner's family has celiac, most menu items can be made GF
3 TOPSFIELD ROAD, IPSWICH, MA, 01938 10.26 mi
Everything is gluten-free and refined sugar free at this unique place featuring super food smooth...
15 Walnut Road, South Hamilton, MA 01982, USA 10.82 mi
No description yet
45 Enon Street, Beverly, MA 01915, USA 11.55 mi
No description yet
206 Cabot Street, Beverly, MA, United States 11.98 mi
separate fryer available
58 Washington Street, Marblehead, MA 01945, USA 12.07 mi
No description yet
267 Rantoul St Beverly MA 12.13 mi
No description yet
18 Bessom Street, Marblehead, MA 01945, USA 12.76 mi
GF pizza available
18 Washington Square, Salem, MA 01970, USA 13.23 mi
GF items marked on menu, others may be modified
86 Wharf Street, Salem, MA 01970, USA 13.24 mi
No description yet
6 Wharf Street, Salem, MA 01970, USA 13.25 mi
No description yet
189 Washington Street, Salem, MA 01970, USA 13.55 mi
No description yet
281 Essex Street, Salem, MA 01970, USA 13.62 mi
No description yet
Vinnin Street, Salem, MA 01970, USA 15.01 mi
No description yet
73 Holten Street, Danvers, MA 01923, USA 15.03 mi
No description yet
North Shore Mall @ Legal Seafood, Peabody, MA 01923, USA 15.07 mi
GF menu, GF certified
210 Andover Street, Peabody, MA 01960, USA 15.26 mi
No description yet
210 Andover Street, Peabody, MA 01960, USA 15.26 mi
No description yet
210 Andover Street, Peabody, MA 01960, USA 15.26 mi
No description yet
300 Andover Street, Peabody, MA 01960, USA 15.67 mi
No description yet
Newburyport, MA, USA 17.61 mi
No description yet
119 South Main Street, Middleton, MA 01949, USA 17.85 mi
No description yet
220 Market Street, Lynnfield, MA 01940, USA 20.08 mi
No description yet
220 Market Street, Lynnfield, MA 01940, USA 20.08 mi
No description yet
Lynnfield, MA, USA 20.29 mi
GF baked goods available by order or in area stores
Saugus, MA, USA 20.56 mi
GF pizza cooked separtely
5 Ring Street, Amesbury, MA 01913, USA 21.65 mi
GF Menu and fryer
1 Broadway Street, Wakefield, MA 01880, USA 22.29 mi
GF pizza cooked separtely
955 Main Street, Wakefield, MA 01880, USA 22.54 mi
No description yet
164 Green St Melrose MA 22.73 mi
No description yet
Revere, MA, USA 22.81 mi
No description yet
26 Walkers Brook Drive, Reading, MA 01867, USA 23.05 mi
No description yet
226 Main Street, North Reading, MA 01864, USA 23.21 mi
978- 664-3591978- 664-3591
No description yet
70 Woodside Avenue, Winthrop, MA 02152, USA 23.4 mi
No description yet
343 Main St Reading MA 23.44 mi
No description yet
1014 Revere Beach Parkway, Chelsea, MA 02150, USA 23.47 mi
GF pizza available
20 Main Street, Melrose, MA 02176, USA 23.94 mi
No description yet
6 Central Street, Stoneham, MA 02180, USA 24.18 mi
No description yet
356 Lafayette Road, Hampton, NH 03842, USA 24.22 mi
No description yet
407 Main Street, Stoneham, MA 02180, USA 24.23 mi
No description yet
Eaglewood Shops, 145 Turnpike Street, North Andover, MA 01845, USA 24.23 mi
GF menu, GF certified
620 Broadway, Everett, MA 02149, USA 24.24 mi
No description yet
34 Park Street, Andover, MA 01810, USA 24.5 mi
No description yet
410 Main Street, Everett, MA 02149, USA 24.71 mi
No description yet
416 Main Street, Everett, MA 02149, USA 24.71 mi
GF crusts made in GF facility, GF flour used to prepare regular pizzas
300 Lowell St, Wilmington, MA, United States 24.94 mi
No description yet
845 Lafayette Road, Hampton, NH 03842, USA 24.97 mi
No description yet
311 Mishawum Road, Woburn, MA 01801, USA 25.11 mi
No description yet
211 Lowell Street, Wilmington, MA 01887, USA 25.32 mi
No description yet
Harborside Drive, Boston, MA 02128, USA 25.38 mi
No description yet
354 Merrimack Street, Lawrence, MA 01843, USA 25.41 mi
No description yet
162 Lowell Street, Wilmington, MA 01887, USA 25.56 mi
No description yet
19 6th Road, Woburn, MA 01801, USA 25.72 mi
781- 281-2003781- 281-2003
corporate HQ, retail store serving GF pizza and baked goods
19 6th Road, Woburn, MA 01801, USA 25.72 mi
No description yet
50 George Washington Boulevard, Hull, MA 02045, USA 25.78 mi
GF fried options and separate fryer
Mishawum Road, Woburn, MA 01801, USA 25.83 mi
No description yet
The Shops at Station Landing, 501 Fellsway, Medford, MA 02155, USA 25.84 mi
No description yet
69 Lafayette Road, North Hampton, NH 03862, USA 26.36 mi
No description yet
255 Long Wharf, Boston, MA 02110, USA 26.38 mi
No description yet
100 Atlantic Avenue, Boston, MA 02110, USA 26.39 mi
No description yet
30 Cushing Avenue, Haverhill, MA 01830, USA 26.4 mi
No description yet
6 Prince Street, Boston, MA 02113, USA 26.41 mi
No description yet
2 Prince Street, Boston, MA 02113, USA 26.41 mi
No description yet
38 Salem Street, Medford, MA 02155, USA 26.46 mi
Separate GF menu, some items of regular menu can be made to order GF
111 Salem Street, Boston, MA 02113, USA 26.46 mi
No description yet
109 Salem Street, Boston, MA 02113, USA 26.47 mi
No description yet
250 Hanover Street, Boston, MA 02113, USA 26.48 mi
No description yet
98 Salem Street, Boston, MA 02113, USA 26.49 mi
No description yet
93 Salem Street, Boston, MA 02113, USA 26.49 mi
No description yet
111 North Washington Street, Boston, MA 02114, USA 26.51 mi
No description yet
270 Northern Avenue, Boston, MA 02210, USA 26.52 mi
No description yet
255 State Street, Boston, MA 02109, USA 26.53 mi
No description yet
63 Salem Street, Boston, MA 02113, USA 26.53 mi
No description yet
225 Northern Avenue, Boston, MA 02210, USA 26.57 mi
No description yet
55 High Street, Medford, MA 02155, USA 26.59 mi
No description yet
2 Seaport Lane, Boston, MA 02210, USA 26.62 mi
No description yet
100 Hanover Street, Boston, MA, United States 26.63 mi
The bakery is 100% free of gluten, eggs, dairy, and peanuts/ tree nuts.
155 Seaport Boulevard, Boston, MA 02210, USA 26.66 mi
No description yet
528 Main Street, Winchester, MA 01890, USA 26.67 mi
No description yet
93 Ripley Road, Cohasset, MA 02025, USA 26.75 mi
No description yet
1 Post Office Square, Boston, MA 02110, USA 26.78 mi
salads only
Boston, MA, USA 26.79 mi
No description yet
Boston, MA, USA 26.79 mi
No description yet
354 Congress Street, Boston, MA 02210, USA 26.83 mi
No description yet
348 Congress Street, Boston, MA 02210, USA 26.83 mi
No description yet
348 Congress Street, Boston, MA 02210, USA 26.83 mi
No description yet
345 Congress Street, Boston, MA 02210, USA 26.84 mi
No description yet
520 Atlantic Avenue, Boston, MA 02210, USA 26.84 mi
No description yet
The LOOP, 90 Pleasant Valley Street, Methuen, MA 01844, USA 26.84 mi
No description yet
558 Washington Street, Boston, MA 02201, USA 26.88 mi
No description yet
84 Summer Street, Boston, MA 02110, USA 27.04 mi
No description yet
40 Edwin H Land Boulevard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA 27.11 mi
No description yet
241 A Street, Boston, MA 02210, USA 27.12 mi
No description yet
107 South Street, Boston, MA 02111, USA 27.13 mi
No description yet
140 Tremont Street, Boston, MA 02111, USA 27.13 mi
No description yet
215 Charles Street, Boston, MA 02114, USA 27.14 mi
No description yet
91 Summer St. Boston, MA 02110 27.14 mi
Grainmaker is Boston born and began with the simple belief that food can change lives for the bet...


text:
We had a feeling that the fourth quarter was going to be a big one for venture capital investing in Washington state as large rounds of cash rolled into companies such as Zulily, Meteor Entertainment, Qumulo and Smartsheet.
And now the numbers are in — and yes our feelings were verified. Washington state ranked fourth in venture capital investments during the fourth quarter as 34 companies raised $279 million — a significant uptick over the third quarter totals when 24 companies raised $132 million, according to a report out today from CB Insights.
Of course, more than a quarter of the cash flowed to one company — the $85 million blockbuster round for Seattle daily deal site Zulily. It was the biggest Internet deal of the quarter, according to CB Insights.
And speaking of Internet deals, that's where VCs appear to be placing their bets in the Seattle region, with 58 percent of dollars flowing to Internet-oriented companies. That was followed by computer hardware/services (17 percent) and health care (12 percent).
Meanwhile, here's a look at the breakdown of investments by stage. The interesting thing here is the surge in series D financing, and that the so-called series A "crunch" appears to be real in Washington state at least. (Nationally, series A financing rounds actually increased to 22 percent, up from 20 percent in the third quarter).
Nationally, funding levels fell 7.5 percent during 2012, but the number of deals, coming in at 3,267, was a post-recession high. More on the national numbers here.
California remains the king of venture capital activity, followed by Massachusetts and New York. Here's a look at the top 25 states in terms of venture capital investing during the fourth quarter.


text:
Mayor's Office
Mayor Chris Beutler today presented the Mayor's Award of Excellence for February to David Rice, an Arborist with the Parks and Recreation Department's Forestry Division. The monthly award recognizes City employees who consistently provide exemplary service and work that demonstrates personal commitment to the City. The award was presented at today's City Council meeting.
Rice has worked for the City since 1976. Forestry Operations Supervisor Bob Weyhrich nominated him in the categories of loss prevention, productivity, safety and valor for his efforts to remove safety netting during an ice storm. On the afternoon of Christmas Eve, Weyhrich received a call that half of the safety net and poles at the Mahoney Golf Course driving range had collapsed onto Adams Street. The nets were loaded with ice from freezing rain, and high winds were causing the poles to snap off. Rice had the afternoon off, but because of his expertise on the 80-foot bucket truck, Weyhrich asked Rice to respond.
Rice worked for more than three hours in the bucket truck platform in wind-driven snow and below-zero wind chills. When he cut the bolts to release the net, the 60-foot poles would swing violently just inches from him. Weyhrich writes that Rice showed courage and commitment in dangerous conditions. He said Rice's work to clear Adams Street and save the remaining seven poles was a remarkable and impressive accomplishment, and his expertise helped save the City any further loss.
The other category in which employees can be nominated is customer relations. Consideration also may be given to nominations that demonstrate self-initiated accomplishments or those completed outside of the nominee's job description.
All City employees are eligible for the Mayor's Award of Excellence except for elected and appointed officials. Individuals or teams can be nominated by supervisors, peers, subordinates and the general public. Nomination forms are available on the City Web site at lincoln.ne.gov (keyword: personnel) or from department heads, employee bulletin boards or the Personnel Department, which oversees the awards program.
All nominations are reviewed by the Mayor's Award of Excellence Committee, which includes a representative with each union and a non-union representative appointed by the Mayor. Award winners receive a $100 U.S. savings bond, a day off with pay and a plaque. Monthly winners are eligible to receive the annual award, which comes with a $500 U.S. savings bond, two days off with pay and a plaque.


text:
The 2013 Asian Art Biennial Everyday Life (返常) features paintings, photography, video, sculptures and other works that comment on what it's like to live in the Asia-Pacific, says curator Iris Shu-ping Huang (黃舒屏). Some 40 artists were chosen from Taiwan and abroad. Taipei-based painter Chiu Chien-Jen (邱建仁) brings urban scenes with bleak but mild titles — Heading Up as Before and Nothing Happened So Far — inhabited by alien-like people. Richard Bell is here with his Broken English, a film that tries to find out why Australian Aborigines appear to lack a vision for their future. The biennial also includes symposiums and lectures by guest scholars.
■ National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (國立臺灣美術館), 2, Wuquan W Rd Sec 1, Greater Taichung (台中市西區五權西路一段2號) tel: (04) 2372-3552. Open Tuesdays to Fridays from 9am to 5pm, Saturdays and Sundays from 9am to 6pm
■ Until Jan. 5
Lurking Waves (伏噪) is a themed exhibition about Taiwan's noise scene, presented through artifacts collected by founding member Wang Fu-jui (王福瑞). On show are objects dating to the scene's inception in the '90s: Wang's letters with overseas artists, seminal performances, cassette tapes and other low-tech media from Noise, Taiwan's first experimental music label, which Wang founded in 1993.
■ TheCube Project Space (立方計畫空間), 2F, 13, Alley 1, Ln 136, Roosevelt Rd Sec 4, Taipei City (台北市羅斯福路四段136巷1弄13號2樓), tel: (02) 2368-9418. Open Wednesdays to Sundays from 2pm to 8pm
■ Until Dec. 8
At the Museum of Contemporary Art, another Wang Fu-jui (王福瑞) solo exhibition draws attention to the noise native to cities. Hyper Transmission (超傳波) features two installation works. Parallel Waves (平行波) consists of eight ultrasonic speakers that can broadcast pre-recorded sounds of electromagnetic radiation, a reality of city life that affects its denizens intimately, yet its sound normally lies just beyond human hearing range. Another installation, Murmur (呢喃), is a large interactive chip-controlled toy. Users press buttons to recreate the ringing, buzzing and other noises that their technology uses to hail them every day.
■ MOCA Studio, Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei (MOCA, Taipei), 39 Changan W Rd, Taipei City (台北市長安西路39號), tel: (02) 2552-3720. Open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 6pm. Admission: Free.
■ Until Nov. 3
Lee Hui-fan (李惠芳) holds her largest solo exhibition in years, bringing over a hundred oil paintings — some never-before-seen — that were created between 1986 and 2013. Lee, a Taipei-trained painter who made a career in Paris and the US, has been hailed as the Chardin of the East by critic Wang Tze-hsiung (王哲雄). Her works are western-style still life portraits of animals, people and local domestic objects like ancestral alters.
■ Chung Shan National Gallery (中山國家畫廊) at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall (國立國父紀念館), 505, Renai Rd Sec 4, Taipei City (臺北市信義區仁愛路4段505號), tel: (02) 2758-8008 ext. 542. Open daily from noon to 8 pm
■ Until Oct. 27
Ibrahim Miranda imagines a different kind of Cuba with Reminiscence of the Island (孤島之夜), a solo exhibition of scrolls. Miranda, a Cuba native, bases his mixed media works on actual maps, covering them with his own cartography and symbols to evince long-gone Cubas, or Cubas that could have been if the history of the troubled island nation had turned out differently.
■ Chi-Wen Gallery, 3F, 19, Ln 252, Dunhua S Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市敦化南路一段252巷19號3樓), tel: (02) 8771-3372. Open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 11am to 7pm. On the Net: www.chiwengallery.com


text:
ALMAZ is an association of agricultural machine-building companies specializing in the design, production and marketing of tillage equipment and its spare parts under the ALMAZ trademark. The Group of Companies includes: Rubtsovsk Project and Design Technological Institute, Rubtsovsk Spare Parts Plant (RZZ), and Almaz Trading house.
Today, 237 types of spare parts are manufactured under the ALMAZ trademark. Multi-stage quality control and annual resource tests are the most important stages of our products' manufacturing process.
Proper setup and high-quality maintenance are essential prerequisites for a smooth operation of any equipment. A continuous, high-quality and prompt service is an important criterion for evaluating the ALMAZ machinery.
The basis for the development of Almaz Trading house is a creation and strengthening of a strong dealership network. Our partners are organizations that have a good reputation on the agricultural machinery market, can provide aftersales support, and are ready to work with Almaz Trading house on supplying farms with modern machinery.
Contact us via phone
+7 800 700 500 8 or e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com.
Product code: Н.043.01.100.-06
Weight: 2.46 kg
Size: 385х165х432 mm.
Plow share made of share strip
+7 800 700 500 8 ALMAZ Group of Companies


text:
J.J. Watt shared the same defensive front with Jadeveon Clowney. Four quarterbacks alternated throws. Brian Cushing watched from the sideline.
Andre Johnson? Nowhere to be found.
The Texans star wide receiver was absent from the team's first of 10 organized team activities Tuesday at an indoor practice facility near NRG Stadium. Johnson said two weeks ago he planned to miss OTAs and a June mandatory camp. But Tuesday's no-show was final confirmation the longtime Texan and the only team he's ever played for remain at odds.
"We'd love to him here right now but that's up to him," Texans coach Bill O'Brien said. "Again, we're moving forward with the players that are here. These guys that are here are working extremely hard."
Players in uniform had little to say about Johnson, a seven-time Pro Bowler who's grown frustrated with the team's losing ways. While the Texans focused on learning O'Brien's new system and adjusting to up-tempo practices, the fact that the all-time franchise leader in receiving yards was missing drew little public notice.
"I'm just out here working hard and doing my job and trying to be a good teammate," Watt said.
O'Brien has twice addressed Johnson's absence. But the first-year coach took the same stance Tuesday as he did during the team's rookie minicamp, praising Johnson as a player but declining to go into detail about a rift that could last for weeks or months.
Neither Johnson's agent, Kennard McGuire, nor Texans general manager Rick Smith have commented since Johnson voiced his displeasure about the franchise.
"I'll let Andre speak for himself," O'Brien said. "I said last week that he and I have had positive conversations. I have a ton of respect for him."