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The corn market lead the way on Wednesday as March corn settled the session 9 ¼ higher at $6.42 ½. March Chicago wheat was also higher finishing the day 6 ½ higher at $6.51. The soybean market was sharply lower to open the day before settling 1 ½ lower at $11.98 ¼.
For the second consecutive day corn, wheat, and soybeans all settled above their respective 50 day moving averages. It seems as though most of the trade is focused on continued discussion of hot and dry weather throughout Argentina. This afternoon's mid-day run called for continued dryness in Argentina for the next week or so. Brazil is forecasted to receive scattered showers starting this weekend into early next week. The long term weather models have been conflicting. In our opinion it is difficult to predict weather much past a week so we will certainly be monitoring daily changes that occur. As is the case with any weather market, quick swings can be taken advantage of for producers that are looking to catch up on sales.
The outside markets were very weak throughout the entire grain session as the Dow was down over 120 points and crude oil was trading almost $2.00 lower. It feels like a lot of the trade is winding down as we head into the end of the year and the thin volume should only get thinner as we wrap up the rest of the week. Weekly export sales are delayed until Friday due to the Christmas holiday on Monday. I will release the export sales estimates in tomorrow's afternoon commentary. This Friday is the last trading day for December live cattle and also the first notice day January grain futures. Please contact your broker to re-position any hedges involving these contracts.
The next major USDA report will be released January 12th at 7:30am. This report will give involve grain stock, supply/demand and production, and also winter wheat seedings. We will be releasing our estimates for this report in the next week or so. Our major suggestion is that everyone gets in touch with their broker to go over our current recommendations and also be sure that AMMO is updated so that we are well positioned for this critical report.
Please feel free to call an EHedger risk management specialist if you would like a second opinion on your marketing strategy and how we may be able to help. You may also sign up for a free trial of our research using the link below:
Best Regards,
Trading commodity futures and options involves substantial risk of loss and may not be suitable for all investors. You should carefully consider whether trading is suitable for you in light of your circumstances, knowledge and financial resources. The market information contained in this message has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but is not guaranteed as to its accuracy or completeness. Market information may not be consistent with current or future market positions of EHedger LLC, its affiliates, officers, directors, employees or agents.


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CallMeQuirky has not received any gifts yet
Welcome aboard! =) Hope you're doing well today...
Welcome, CallMeQuirky! Glad you could join us. :D
Please consider joining a group to meet people and talk about anything that's on your mind, Hang With Friends. You might also like Former Christians
, Women Atheists, Female Atheists, and possibly Feminist Atheists.
I also recommend Eco-Logical and Climate Concerns, since the climate is changing so drastically.
After you've searched for topics of interest in "Groups" above and in the "Forums", don't forget to look at recent activity which hides along the right margin of the page all the way at the bottom.
hope you'll be in chat more often :)
Hi CallMeQuirky
Welcome to this world of rationality, truth and peace, where common sense and science lead to open and freethinking wisdom.
We invite you to join the busy group "ORIGINS: Universe, Astronomy, Life, Earth, Humans, Religion, Gods, Atheism, Evolution, Darwin..." with 700 discussion topics and 3600 members.
Welcome, CMQ. You have come to the right place for both community and answers. I live in the bible belt so most people around me are theists. It does get a little lonely at times.
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UMBC will compete in its tenth America East Conference Tournament and opens play on Sat., March 9 as the sixth-seeded Retrievers take on the third-seeded Hartford Hawks at SEFCU Arena. Tip-off time will be 30 minutes after the noon tilt between No. 2 Vermont and No. 7 UNH. Paul Mittermeier and Dan Levin have all the play-by-play action on Q1370/www.q1370.com. The game can be seen on ESPN3 and via the WatchESPN app on smartphones and tablets.
RETRIEVER UPDATE: UMBC (5-11, 7-22) concluded the regular season with a 59-49 victory over Binghamton, securing the No. 6 seed in the tournament. The win snapped a six-game slide for the Retrievers. A pair of seniors led the way on "Senior Day" as guards Ryan Cook (team-high 15.0 ppg) and Brian Neller (AEC leader in 3-point fg) combined for 41 of UMBC's 59 points.
HAWK UPDATE: Hartford (10-6, 17-12) closed the season with three consecutive victories and secured the No. 3 seed by virtue of a 61-58 victory at Vermont on the final day of the regular season. SO F Nate SIkma hit the game-winning trey in the final seconds in the victory. Hartford swept Boston U. and had victories over Vermont and Stony Brook in 2013. SO F Mark Nwakamma leads the Hawks at 14.7 points per game.
WHO'S UP NEXT: UMBC would meet the winner of the game between No. 2 Vermont v. No. 7 New Hampshire in the first (5:00 p.m.) semifinal contest on Sunday, March 10.


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Activist James O'Keefe has agreed to pay $100,000 and express regrets to a former National City ACORN worker who was secretly videotaped in a conservative sting operation in 2009.
The worker, Juan Carlos Vera, sued O'Keefe and cohort Hannah Giles for their visit to the ACORN office pretending to be a pimp and prostitute. Giles settled the claim filed against her last summer.
The video became a national sensation, purporting to show the ACORN worker discussing with the couple the use of federal housing money to set up a prostitution ring.
The video was posted on the Internet and used as an example of government waste. ACORN later disbanded as a result of negative publicity, and Vera lost his job.
An attorney general's report found that the video was selectively edited. For instance, video showing O'Keefe and Giles dressed as a pimp and hooker was later edited into the video, when they were not dressed that way when speaking to Vera.
The lawsuit centered on a prohibition against videotaping without the consent of those shown.
An eight-page settlement agreement was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court. San Diego attorney Eugene Iredale, who represented Vera, declined to discuss the settlement Thursday, saying he was planning a press conference Friday morning.
According to the agreement, O'Keefe has agreed to pay $100,000 to Vera and issue a statement indicating he "regrets any pain suffered by Mr. Vera or his family."
O'Keefe also acknowledges that at the time the video was publicized, he was unaware of Vera's claims that he contacted the authorities after the unusual visit by the couple.


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SAN ANTONIO -- A Good Samaritan was shot dead in a busy parking lot after he tried to help a woman. The woman that the victim was trying to help is believed to be a victim of domestic abuse.
On Black Friday, the hustle and bustle of the busy shopping day was interrupted by gun shots at a local Walmart.
"He pulled out a gun and started firing rounds," San Antonio Police Department Chief William McManus said.
Three people were hurt and one was killed.
Police say that the Good Samaritan was in the parking lot when he saw a stranger, a woman he did not know, being pulled by the hair by a different man. According to police, that's when the Good Samaritan approached them and said "let her go," and the abuser shot the Good Samaritan in the neck.
A woman in the car with the Good Samaritan was also hurt and taken to the hospital. A third person, a woman who was not involved, was struck by a bullet. She is at the hospital in critical condition.
Police say that there could have been more injuries or deaths and they understand why the Good Samaritan tried to help.
"It's just pretty tragic that somebody would go out of their way to try to help somebody else and risk their own lives and that's exactly what happened," witness Valerie Barboza said. "He risked his own life."
The abuser fled the Walmart and a police helicopter followed him. He was arrested without incident near Castroville and Cupples.


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A wise observer wrote a week ago, with respect to immigration: "I'll believe Republican sanity when I see it." Oh, that was me! And guess what?
Now today comes along John Boehner to say that he's not so wild about this path to citizenship business. Politico:
"I think this is a very difficult part [for] any of these bills, and I want to just encourage members on both sides of the Capitol and both parties to continue to try to come to some resolution," Boehner said at a Tuesday news conference.
The pathway to legal status is a key component of the Senate's compromise proposal, which has been endorsed by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). The House is moving through its own immigration process -- the House Judiciary Committee has a hearing today on the subject.
Of course, it's unlikely that Boehner himself has passionate feelings on this one way or the other. What he is saying is that his caucus isn't going to go for it. And if his caucus isn't going to go for it, immigration reform is dead.
Greg Sargent says not so fast:
There are two ways of looking at this. One is that this could end up killing reform. The two critical pillars of reform are enforcement and a path to citizenship. Without both, the whole thing collapses. So by stopping short of accepting citizenship, House Republicans are putting immigration reform in jeopardy, right?
Yes, but all is not lost. The other way of looking at this is that House Republicans have not ruled out supporting a path to citizenship. Republicans have spent the past few years describing any kind of legal status as unacceptable "amnesty." So hopeful Dems are noting that the fact that the door is now open to legal status is itself a sign of just how much the ground has shifted in the immigration debate.
I don't know, Greg. You and I have heard many times from those "hopeful Dems" over these last four years. Remember when Republicans were going to come to the table on health care because passage was inevitable and they wanted to have some input on the bill? Or when there was no way the Republicans were going to push us to the brink in summer 2011 and hurt our credit rating?
It's not my position that there's no chance of big immigration reform passing. Rather, it is my position that the Beltway consensus on this is about 60-40 (cautiously optimistic), whereas I'm about 20-80, on good days 30-70. Like I said, I'll believe it when I see it.
I was just on Geraldo's radio show with Ann Coulter about an hour ago. As we were talking about this issue, she kept discussing it in terms of "gifts"--Democrats' gifts to cheaters in order to turn them into Democratic voters.
I could never persuade Coulter of this and don't care to, but really, it isn't a question of gifts. It's a question of making policy. We have 12 million people in this country illegally. There are only three things to do: 1, nothing; 2, round them up and throw them out; 3, acknowledge that 2 is impossible and try to make the best of it by converting them into taxpayers and full-fledged Americans. That's it. The only possibilities.
It is completely obvious that only choice 3 makes any sense at all. Unless you think of citizenship not as a policy solution but as a "gift." Then you have to be against it. And that's where Coulter's one third of the country is. And it's where most House Republicans are.
Changing their view means changing an important, even foundational, aspect of how they see the world; they need to get over the emotional hurdle of being against rewarding the undeserving (as they see it). It's not impossible that it could happen, but it's not likely, which is why I say what I say: There's a 20 to 30 percent chance that enough House Republicans will jump that emotional hurdle. But no more than that.


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Brahms Mount keeps rolls of woven fabric on our shelves. An in stock product may not yet be finished and ready to ship. For this reason, all orders should be expected to ship within two weeks.


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Why not make resisting arrest (& all that other crap you might get shot for) legal while they're at it? :skep:Ferguson police are testing new methods of incapacitating suspects — six months after a highly controversial police shooting involving one of their officers.
This week, five instructors for the Missouri city's police department are training to use a "less lethal" device, called the Alternative, which has enough force to knock a suspect to the ground but not kill him or her.
The Alternative is a small orange device that attaches to the top of a normal handgun and extends a Ping-Pong-ball-sized projectile in front of the muzzle.
After traveling through the barrel, the bullet embeds itself inside the alloy projectile, and the docking unit immediately detaches from the weapon, according to the manufacturer.
This process decreases the bullet's velocity and dampens its impact. The bullet, then, should not pierce a human's skin and cause the type of internal damage that would kill the person. However, it retains enough blunt force to knock someone over and deliver severe, debilitating pain
I feel sorry for the police.


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AMERICUS - The Georgia Southwestern men's basketball team dropped its season opener to Fort Valley State, 78-75 in overtime, on Friday evening in the Storm Dome.
In what turned out to be a tale of two halves, it was the Hurricanes who grabbed the early advantage. After a tight opening five minutes, GSW utilized an 8-2 run to open its largest lead of the night, 18-10, with 11:41 to play in the first half.
FVSU fought back, grabbed the momentum and eventually evened the contest at 30-30 with six minutes left until the break.
The Hurricanes proceeded to regain the lead and went into halftime ahead by three points, 41-38. Both teams shot extremely well over the opening 20 minutes as FVSU connected on 13 of 23 (56.5 percent) shots and the Hurricanes were right behind with a 14 of 26 (53.8 percent) showing. The glaring difference was points off turnovers, where GSW held a 14-2 advantage.
The sides reversed roles in the second half and the Wildcats opened their largest lead of the night, 63-55, with 8:13 remaining in regulation after a back-and-forth start to the period.
GSW answered this time with an 11-2 run capped by a Daryl Davis 3-point play.
Once again the teams went back-and-forth until the closing minute. Jamon Hawkins slashed through the lane for a layup with 1:11 remaining to tie the game at 73-73. After FVSU was unable to score on its trip down the floor, the Hurricanes had an opportunity to take the final shot in regulation. Austin Kelly was unable to connect on a 3-pointer as time expired.
The points off turnovers differential in the second half favored FVSU as the Wildcats outscored GSW, 12-5.
In overtime it came down to free throws as neither team scored a field goal in the extra session.
Despite connecting on 22 of 30 attempts in the game, GSW made 2 of 6 down the stretch, including 2 of 4 in overtime.
FVSU made 5 of 8 from the charity stripe in the extra period and 20 of 31 overall.
The teams combined for 47 fouls.
Turnovers were GSW's achilles heel on Friday as the Hurricanes committed 20 in the contest. FVSU turned the ball over 12 times.
GSW outrebounded the Wildcats (37-26), finished with a higher field goal percentage (47.2-43.4) and held a commanding points in the paint advantage (40-20).
Jeremy Sledge led FVSU with 18 points. Corey Hunter added 15. The Wildcats shot a sizzling 50 percent (12 of 24) from beyond the arc.
Southwestern had four players score in double figures, led by Davis with 14 points. Hawkins added 13. Kelly scored 12 and Michael Tankersley chipped in 11.
Davis matched FVSU's Kyle Cooper with a game-high six rebounds.
The Hurricanes return to the hardwood on Saturday for a 2 p.m. matchup with Brevard College in the Storm Dome on the final day of GSW's Tip-Off Classic.


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Ford Racing's all-aluminum 5.0L Mustang crate engine is a modern 5.0L 32-valve DOHC V-8 that uses advanced features like Twin Independent Variable Camshaft Timing (Ti-VCT) to deliver 420 horsepower @ 6500 rpm and 390 ft.-lb.+ of torque @ 4250 rpm (with premium fuel). The lightweight aluminum cylinder block features cross-bolted main bearing caps and thick main bearing bulkheads for bottom-end strength. Optimized oil drainback and windage control improve high-rpm performance
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5.0 Mustang and Super Fords Magazine did a technical deep dive into the new 5.0L engine. To review the article from the March 2010 issue, visit the site here.
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Low art tiles were made by the J. and J. G. Low Art Tile Works of Chelsea, Massachusetts, from 1877 to 1902. Father and son John and John Gardner Low, who patented a "natural" process during which grasses and leaves were impressed on the tiles, started the company. A variety of art and other tiles were made. Some of the tiles were made by a process called "natural," some were hand modeled, and some were made mechanically.
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LinkedIn announced last week that they'd reached a milestone of 300 million users, which is pretty impressive, considering that means that their online population pretty much parallels that of the United States.
This comes about 5 quarters after reaching 200 million users in January 2013, impressive growth considering that LinkedIn, founded in 2003, only celebrated its 100 millionth user in March 2011.
That means that in 14 months, the site managed to drive as many sign-ups as the previous 8 years combined.
Those numbers are objectively impressive, but LinkedIn's growth is in fact underwhelming when compared against other public companies in the social network space - although granted, 100 miilion new registered users in 14 months is beyond the realm of comprehension for most websites, particularly those targeted primarily around a specialized vertical like recruiting.
Facebook registered 100 million in August 2008, despite being launched after LinkedIn and at that point, having only been open to the general public for about 8 months after years restricting users to verified .edu e-mails.
In April 2009, they hit 200 million, or about twice as quickly as LinkedIn registered their second 100 million. Only 5 months later, Facebook reached 300 million users in September 2009. Consider that this benchmark was hit well before the "mobile explosion" credited by LinkedIn for accelerating its recent growth in members.
Similarly, Twitter, founded in March 2006 as an exclusively mobile platform (hence the 140 character conforming to SMS standards. The utility of such conventions as # and @ stem largely from the fact that these were available as on the default keyboard of almost all mobile phones at the time of its launch, which preceded the release of the first iPhone by a full year and the mobile revolution by several more.
With that genesis and the LinkedIn thesis that mobile is a significant driver of future growth within the social space – which is why they seem so openly optimistic about their future , than Twitter should swoop (pun unintended) into the lead and run away with the title.
Consider that while up to 50% of LinkedIn's traffic is mobile in markets as developed as the UK, according to its recent release, that pales in comparison to Twitter's 80% mobile driven traffic as of February 2014. Twitter, however, logged their 300 millionth registered user way back in May 2011 and now has 883 million active users. LinkedIn also credits China with much of its growth potential, touting their growth in this market in which, famously, Twitter and Google are banned.
This is likely because LinkedIn, who's been opaque at best, malicious at worst with issues on user and data privacy, has a similar mindset as the totalitarian state, and same approach to monitoring and limiting dissidents (think LinkedIn jail, random API restrictions, branding experience that's fully employer controlled). There was plenty of fuss when, in their 2013 IPO filing, Twitter disclosed that as few as 46.2% of those accounts were actually active users who had registered but never actually tweeted.
LinkedIn, according to a company spokesman, "will not disclose their active user numbers," making this comparison impossible, but instead pointing out that between the site and Slideshare, LinkedIn properties averaged 187 million unique visitors in Q4 2013 (corrected statistic; earlier versions reported this number as 147 million in error).
That means that, assuming every LinkedIn visitor accounted for only one of these hits, than just over half of all users would have been active on these sites. Facebook, on the other hand, averages around 84 page views/user a month, and Twitter around 19, according to Comscore.
CORRECTION: Joseph Roualdes, Senior Manager of Communications for LinkedIn Talent Solutions, reached out after this story was filed to point out (correctly), that overall, LinkedIn generates 41% of its traffic from mobile, that this number is not included in the Comscore figure of 187 million average unique visitors in Q4 2013, meaning that the previous claim of active user to unique visitor ratio is inaccurate or misleading. Recruiting Daily regrets the error.
LinkedIn, when mobile users are removed from the equation (and are, since app activity is not tracked nor aggregated in Alexa or Comscore numbers) still ranks less than one page view per registered user, whereas their competition enjoys a significant multiple when looking at registered users vs. traffic (which is a crappy benchmark, but the only one available).
And while Twitter is abysmal at conversion at 1.17% of all traffic referred online, compared to Facebook's 14% share. Both sites, however, absolutely wallop LinkedIn, who accounted for a measly .07% of traffic in Q4 2013. While LinkedIn users did have a slightly lower bounce rate at 29.9% to Twitter's 33%, and the average Twitter user generated only 5.6 daily page views per visitor, well less than the 7.8 pageviews logged daily by LinkedIn members. It should be noted that Facebook wins this category, too, boasting a bounce rate of 21% and 15.63 daily page views per visitor, respectively.
Those statistics, of course, neglect mobile or app-based traffic, which, as mentioned earlier, LinkedIn lags far behind either of its competitors in terms of percentage of mobile visitors overall, and LinkedIn lags far behind these competitors in terms of mobile traffic. This means that as LinkedIn, which will likely close the mobile gap in the coming months, will be increasingly reliant on mobile for continued growth, but might not be able to move into mobile quickly enough to satisfy shareholders.
These shareholders have already punished LinkedIn's share price, which has been adversely affected by estimates that, quantity metrics aside, the quality of their member - that is, their value to potential advertisers and clients - is pegged at substantially less than that of Facebook or Twitter. With the average LinkedIn user valued at just $84, compared to $128 per Facebook user and $118 per Twitter user, these statistics should be of significant concern to LinkedIn's continued viability against competition increasingly moving into the talent solutions space (for example, Facebook recently rolled out the ability to target advertising by member's current company, job title & industry, among other professional filters).
As George Anders noted in Forbes, "Those valuations aren't just a way of seeing how investors are playing favorites right now. They also provide a way of thinking about where social media stocks should trade, at a time when money keeps moving back and forth without any attention to traditional metrics such as price-earnings ratios."
In other words, LinkedIn might not be worth its nearly $22 billion in market value, after all - at the time of publication, LinkedIn's P/E is around 920 times profits to earnings at the time of this post's publication, a rate that more than doubles the normal valuation of most blue chip public companies - although this valuation may be coming back to reality, as evidenced by their stock price slide in Q1 2014.
Of course, this entire post might be specious because of the fact that LinkedIn, as we know, is a job board, and it's unfair to compare it to a social network, or their growth rates to peers like Facebook or Twitter, even if they are identified as the competition in their SEC filings. Monster.com, of course, generated around 40 million unique views,according to Alexa, in Q4 2013, so that's significantly lower than LinkedIn's 148, and Monster is the #162 ranked site in the US, whereas LinkedIn is #8. Indeed, the top job site, is #63.
But LinkedIn, built to drive engagement, has a bounce rate of 29.9%, which is only about 5% lower than Indeed's 33% (identical to Twitter's, and the entire model of indeed is to create bounced traffic, from scraped description to online application. That's troubling, but not as much as the average visitor who actually went to these sites looked at only around 7.8 pages on LinkedIn, compared to 6.7 on Indeed – again, a site built entirely around SEO, referral traffic and acting as an intermediary in the online recruiting process instead of a destination. The average Indeed user spent only about half the time on site as the average LinkedIn user, but that's still a margin that Mountain View can't feel too great about.
Long story short, LinkedIn's recent hoopla can't hide the fact that their combined unique monthly visitors, which is the only available public benchmark (app and mobile activity, conversely, is proprietary) doesn't stack up to the lofty benchmark 300 million sign ups may seem. 400 million might be quick in coming, but chances are, they won't come back after completing their registration, and if they do, they won't stay long.
Which makes sense, since the average LinkedIn user is too probably too busy looking for places which actually have open jobs posted to spend much time building a "professional network." At least, that's what I'm guessing - but without the disclosure of active user figures, that's the best anyone can really do.
Read more at Recruiting Daily
Views: 593
Thanks, Mighty Matt. This explains a great deal to me. I've mentioned a number of times that only a small fraction of those who indicate they're open to "career opportunities" actually are, because that preference-choice (and perhaps other choices as well) are opt-out. I've advocated that to be be less misleading, this and other preference-choices be on a "must opt-in every 30 days"-type basis, If they did that though, their actual "active" numbers would be much smaller, and their stock prices might not continue to rise as rapidly.
@Keith Since they don't actually release active user numbers, I should caveat that the above information is more or less really well researched heresay.
No worries, MC. "Well researched hearsay" is a lot better than what some self-proclaimed Recruiting Thought Leaders put out there as "facts".
Does LinkedIn EVER plan on cleaning up its files? There are literally multiple profiles for me and only one I run. I have no way of deleting them as the password was not set by me. Personally i think that the numbers are inflated worse than Obomanocares numbers are.
Yo D2, my 'cruitah!
Goat rapists at LI: like as not to charge you a** to do it, RESTRICT you a*** if ya don't.
Either way: tender rectums for goats, Homes. Know what I'm sayin'?
PLEASE NOTE: I was trying to be vulgar and crude, but not racist. If I came off as the latter, my apologies.
-kh speechless...
@Keith - Most likely I checked all of the boxes when I joined and never bothered to opt out. In a way, it's intentional as it looks less intentional to show all of them than it does to pick none or only one preference.
@Derd - how do you have multiple accounts that you don't have the password for?
Every now and then I'll get an invite from someone that I'm already connected to or "people you may know" shows me another account for someone I'm already connected to. When searching by names, I've also come across countless people that have 2-5 profiles.
It seems very suspicious that LI doesn't have (or use) methods to cross reference and flag duplicates so whoever they belong to can eliminate extras w/ or w/out a password.
It would be quite interesting to see how many of the 300M fall into these duplicate or spammer categories. I've disconnected from at least 3 people that I know died, so I'm sure there are plenty more that none of us are aware of.
And, (against TOS) certain individuals use stealth experimental profiles for legitimate research reasons, of course.
@ Kelly: It would be interesting to see what percentage of the 300M were actually open to any position (by doing as I suggested- having to opt in every 30days), but I fear we'll never know that...
BTW, I understand that Sellhack is digging its way out of the Li "Cease and desist"- at least I got some sort of an email from them to that they're re-opening...
@ Keith - I think all of the setting should be opt in. I rec'd a SH Chrome update today, but noticed that it doesn't seem to function same way as before. It shows an icon on top right of screen and allows name search, but from what I can tell doesn't show up on profiles as it previously did. Anyone else notice that?
@kelly - Dont know. It seems to just have my name and where I have lived. It list ONE company and that is it. Like I said LI numbers dont add up at all.


text:
James King
Caruthersville High Class of 2009
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text:
* Innervate now Causes the target to regenerate mana equal to 450% of the casting Druid's base mana pool over 20 sec sec.This change to Innervate isn't all that unexpected given some of the things Ghostcrawler has been saying on the forums recently. From a PvE perspective it is about neutral for moonkin, and makes innervate better for Pallys and Shaman. For PvP, it is a good change given the complete lack of Spirit on PvP gear.
* Glyph of Innervate - Innervate now grants the caster 90% of
base mana pool over 20 sec sec in addition to the normal effects of Innervate. (Old - Innervate now grants the caster full mana regeneration while casting for 20 sec, in addition to the effect on the target. If the caster targets self, the mana regeneration effect of your Innervate is increased by 20%.)
As a side effect, this change has prompted a quite a bit of discussion on the value of spirit for druids, and Ghostcrawler has decided to chime in with a couple of comments.First he said this:
Spirit isn't an attractive enough stat for Balance druids. That's a problem, but Innervate is not a great solution to that problem. As I said in a previous post, it's more like int and crit become great regen stats for Balance, which then leaves spirit to become a damage stat... which you have to admit is a little weird. (That said, we may still boost it for Balance in the near term.) (source)
Then he followed it up with this.
We aren't taking Spirit off of gear. It's a stat in the game and we need to use it. "Sub-optimal" is not the same as "worthless." Spirit on plate is worthless.
We did improve the set bonus by quite a bit, and we are considering increasing the amount of spellpower provided by Improved Moonkin Form.
Long term we would still like to evaluate whether we're happy with there being so much crossover of Int becoming a mana regen stat and Spirit becoming a dps stat.
Finally he said this:
Making Improved Moonkin Form grant 30% Spirit to spellpower instead of 15% is the kind of thing that would make Spirit a more attractive stat.
First off, I assume that when he says "We did improve the set bonus by quite a bit" he is referring to the increase in the 4T8 proc rate to 15% instead of 5%. This is being reported in the EJ forums. Hopefully we will be able to provide a value for it soon.
The more significant part about the comment is that how he talks about buffing Spirit. I do agree that something needs to be done to buff Spirit for Moonkin. Its ridiculous that Warlocks benefit from it more then we do. That just doesn't make sense from a game design stand point or a lore stand point in my opinion.
However, I think it is a bit like putting a band aid on a stab wound. The problem isn't that Spirit is a "Sub-optimal" stat. The problem is how blizzard is choosing to design gear.
I think the old method worked fairly well. If you look at the cloth and leather caster raid gear before 3.1 a majority of it followed a pretty standard path. The stats could be divided into two groups: Fixed stats and Variable stats.
The Fixed stats were Stam, Int, and Spell Power, and they were on 99% of the cloth and leather gearing options. The Variable stats were Hit, Haste, Crit, and Spirit, and most gear choice had two of thes four stats. Items with spirit obviously lent themselves to healers more then DPS, and the items without spirit were considered to be DPS items.
With the release of patch 3.1 Blizzard seems to have changed its philosophy. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but they've done it in the worst way possible.
A vast majority of the cloth and leather caster gear in Ulduar has spirit, and Blizzard seems to be interested in making it a Fixed stat. Again, that's not necessarily a bad thing but they haven't committed to the switch and it has reeked havoc on gearing/looting decisions for caster DPS.
Of the choices without Spirit, most of them have Hit rating. This is fine to me because hit rating is awesome but very limited because of the cap. The problem is with the 2 or 3 awesome items that have Stam, Int, Spell Power, Crit and Haste. Every Moonkin, Warlock, Mage, and Shadow Priest in the game will want these options, and an item designed like this is clearly better then items of a higher item level not designed this way.
If you want Spirit to be a Fixed stat for caster DPS then you can't create items like [Robes of the Umbral Brute], because it is so clearly superior to anything with Spirit.
Secondly, there is always going to be a problem with secondary item slots like Necks, Rings, Backs, and Weapons, since Spirit is a horrible stat for Paladins and Shaman. Unfortunately Blizzard doesn't have a good way to say that a neck is meant for a Holy Pally instead of a Moonkin, but an item that is designed perfectly for the Holy Pally will also be very good for a moonkin, and likely better then an option with Spirit on it.
Finally, Blizzard has to itemize the tier sets more fairly. If you look at the T8 Moonkin sets, 4 out of 5 slots have Spirit. It sucks, but I could understand it if other casters were designed similarly. However, if you look at the Mage set, Warlock set, and Shadow Priest set, you will see that all of them have only 3 out of 5 pieces with Spirit. What sense does that make?
Mages and Shadow Priests have their own issues with Spirit, but it is arguable that Warlocks benefit more form Spirit then Moonkin do. So why are Moonkin being singled out and forced to have more of a "sub-optimal" stat then other caster DPS are not? It isn't fair.
So in conclusion, while I would love to see spirit made more valuable for moonkin given the current state of Ulduar gear, but Spirit is not the problem. The haphazard way in which Blizzard itemizes the gear is the problem.
Personally, I think Blizzard should go back to the old method and allow Spirit to be "sub-optimal" but optional stat. However, if you choose to continue putting Spirit on almost all cloth and leather caster gear then commit to it completely.


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How did the Jay Cutler-Kyle Orton trade work out for Broncos and Bears?
On April 2, 2009, the Broncos and the Chicago Bears pulled off a massive trade, swapping starting quarterbacks as well as a boatload of draft picks. A few pieces of that trade are easy to follow.
But a slew of draft-day trades over two seasons have made it hard to trace exactly what the Broncos got in return:


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The Transfrontier Operational Mission (MOT) is an association that was set up in 1997 by the French government.
It is supported at national level by :
- the Commissariat Général à l'Égalité des Territoires (CGET - General Commission for Territorial Equality);
- the Banque des Territoires;
- the Ministries of Europe and Foreign Affairs, the Interior and Overseas France.
Its network is comprised of players in border territorie:
- 13 Plurinational grouping of local authorities
- 4 Municipalities
- 13 Groupings of local authorities and territorial authorities
- 5 Departments
- 11 Regions, provinces, etc
- 3 States
- 3 Public enterprises and chambers of commerce and industry
- 4 Federations and national agencies
- 2 Urban planning agencies
- 8 Associations of legal persons and other structures (including metropolitan centers)
- 2 Associations of physical persons
See the membership map below
This positioning facilitates structured dialogue between national and European authirities and local and regional players.
The President:
Robert HERRMANN, President of the Strasbourg Eurometropolis
The Vice-Presidents – European and national parliamentarians:
Joël GIRAUD, Deputy of the Hautes-Alpes, national parliamentarian
Anne SANDER, European deputy
The Vice-Presidents – political representatives of the following territories:
Mathieu BERGÉ, Regional councilor, Region Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Laurence BOETTI-FORESTIER, Regional councilor, Region Sud Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
François DECOSTER, President of the Agence d'urbanisme et de développement Pays de St Omer-Flandre intérieure
Christian DUPESSEY, President of Annemasse Agglo
Jean-Marc DURIEZ, President of the Agence d'Urbanisme et de Développement Durable Lorraine Nord (AGAPE) : Vice-President
Jean-Louis FOUSSERET, President of the Communauté d'Agglomération du Grand Besançon
Claudine GANTER, Regional councilor, Region Grand Est
Gilles PARGNEAUX, Metropolitan councilor, Métropole européenne de Lille (MEL)
Brigitte KLINKERT, President of the Department of Haut-Rhin
The Secretary:
Laurence NAVALESI, Metropolitan councilor, Métropole Nice Côte d'Azur
The Treasurer:
Michel CHARRAT, President of the Groupement Transfrontalier européen


text:
In the rush of modern life there is little time for reflection but it's sometimes relaxing to pause occasionally to reflect on some single instances of Shakespeare's genius. Here is a short soliloquy from Macbeth worthy of attention.
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
The passage is full of meaning and there is so much one can say about it. But we can look at it only for the way Shakespeare uses imagery. If we do that we are reminded that any idea of the Bard's not being the greatest user of the English language ever would be absurd.
At this moment Macbeth's suffering is intense and becoming unbearable. His victim's ghost is haunting him, his guilt is torturing him, his enemies are closing in on him, his wife has gone mad and now he's just heard that she's committed suicide. We would expect a response with language that expresses a wild and desperate state of mind. That's what it seems like, with his mind jumping from one idea to the next without any logic. He mentions time, then candles, acting and the theatre, shadows, and a tale told by an idiot.
There is no intellectual logic in the development of the passage but the poetical, imaginative logic makes the piece very tight, and one of the most remarkable achievements one could find in English poetry.
In this soliloquy Macbeth is a man for whom life has ceased to have meaning. He starts with a statement of the futility of life and of time itself with images of time – tomorrow, yesterday, day, recorded time – using a rhythm that stretches time out, making it creep.
Then there is a mention of light, but it's only daylight to guide us to the darkness of death. The light has come naturally from the images of time, particularly the word 'day'. In death that light is extinguished, like a candle, which is the next image, and a candle's light is brief, like life, compared with the long period of the night to come. Candles cast shadows, which gives rise to the next image, life as a walking shadow.
A walking shadow is another term for an actor on the stage, so the shadow thrown by the candle creates the image of the actor on the stage. The actor plays out the dramas and anguish of a human being, strutting and fretting, but that only lasts for the performance, and then he goes home and you don't hear from him again. His passion has been shallow, just an act, and for a very short time. All that is a representation of life: it's full of empty passion that is just the raving of an idiot: it doesn't last and it's meaningless.
There you are. It's a short piece of verse that sums up, not only a weariness of life but a whole philosophy of life and its futility. Each image gives birth to a new one and the beautiful logic develops in that way. And it captures perfectly the state of mind of the speaker. No wonder it's one of the most famous passages in English poetry.


text:
Living off the land
If the pioneers of the Earth's great age of exploration had had to carry all their supplies upon their backs - food, water and even the air that they breathed - most of our planet would still be an uncharted wilderness. Yet the men and women who will explore the solar system in the 21st century must bear just such a burden, unless, like their predecessors on Earth, they can learn to live off the land.
Fortunately, future astronauts may be able to do exactly that. The solar system is rich in energy and raw materials. If we can learn how to exploit them in situ, we will quite literally take a huge load from the shoulders of our explorers.
Consider, for example, a lunar mission - a possible target of ESA's Aurora programme. For an exploration team to live in long-term comfort on the lunar surface, each person requires around 30 kg of consumables daily - food, water and air. To put a kilogramme of anything on the Moon means launching about 4.5 kg into Earth orbit. The extra mass is simply the rocket propellant needed for the lunar trip and a soft landing at the final destination. Since at current prices it would cost around 100,000 Euros to put those 4.5 kilos into orbit, supplying and resupplying our lunar explorers will rapidly burn a very big hole in the most generous budget.
There is a better, cheaper way to do things. Most of the 30 kg daily allowance consists of oxygen, either in the form of air for breathing or locked into water molecules. Very conveniently, the lunar regolith - the loose, powdery 'soil' that covers the surface of the Moon - is about 45% oxygen.
This indigenous resource could also be used as construction material to shelter humans against the harsh radiation environment, to provide for needed storage facilities, or to extract other material such as metals or silicon for further applications. With the help of some relatively simply technology, the lunar explorers can tap into an almost unlimited supply and they will have a truly unlimited supply of solar energy to power their biochemical 'factories'.
With lunar oxygen available, resupply costs undergo a startling transformation. Not only do the explorers have a homegrown source of breathing air but they need no longer import liquid water, which forms the greater part of their daily allowance. All they need is hydrogen, which is almost non-existent in the lunar rocks. The resupply burden shrinks by 80% and the support costs drop from the fantastic to the feasible.
In principle, similar techniques will allow us to exploit the resources of the moon and Mars. With an abundant supply of locally-produced air and water, astronauts could even grow much of their own food - in greenhouses made from extraterrestrial glass.
In-situ resources will ultimately yield much more than life-support. If astronauts can find - or make - water, they can also make rocket propellant. Better still, robot chemical plants could generate the fuel before the humans arrive: the idea already features in several proposals for manned Mars missions. With no need to haul propellant for a return trip, a Mars ship would be vastly cheaper as well as more comfortable for its crew and much better provided with scientific equipment.


text:
Happy Halloween!!
Friday, October 8, 2010
Happy Halloween!!
10 comments:
- Madigan at madiganmade said...
I think it works. I like the simplicity of the idea. It looks very delicate, like there should be flowers on the branches, but instead there is candy. Great idea!
- October 8, 2010 at 9:47 PM
- Amber said...
I think it turned out great! Very cute!!
- October 8, 2010 at 10:43 PM
- Jen @ tatertotsandjello.com said...
I love that. I think it's really cute! I shared it on my TT&J facebook page and linked to you :)
- October 9, 2010 at 4:21 AM
- staci @ lizard n ladybug said...
I love it!!
- October 9, 2010 at 8:11 AM
- Alexis said...
I love it! It totally caught my eye on the Tatertots and Jello link up...
- October 9, 2010 at 11:07 AM
- Megan said...
I have no idea who you are, but I feel that I should tell you that I LOVE it as well. It definitely works.
- October 9, 2010 at 1:32 PM
- Sourkraut said...
Spotted you at Tatertots & Jello and I think it definitely worked! I like both this and the original candy corn tree idea. I featured your wreath on my blog today since I adore it so much:
Oh, and check out this link from Woman's Day for how to preserve that candy corn. I assume their tips would also help keep the bees away.
- October 9, 2010 at 8:09 PM
- Lindsey said...
This is sooo cool and unique! It definitely worked. :) If you wanted it to last longer you could cover the candies in resin or something (I have no idea what I'm talking about, I just know that some people cover them in shiny hard stuff haha). I love it!
- October 9, 2010 at 11:37 PM
- Mim Smith Faro said...
I love this! Thanks for the note on melting and bee attraction. I am going to try this for inside. This is quite a success!
- October 10, 2010 at 7:10 PM
- Stephanie Lynn @Under the Table and Dreaming said...
Hi Kristol I'll be featuring this today! I love the look of this wreath! Stop by and grab a featured button if you like. Thanks so much for linking to The Sunday Showcase - I greatly appreciate it! Hope you had a wonderful weekend! ~ Stephanie Lynn
- October 11, 2010 at 10:18 AM


text:
For the track and field fan …
Recently I was honored to win the Jesse Abramson Award for excellence in track and field journalism from the Track and Field Writers of America. For those who enjoy track and field I am posting the links to the stories in my entry below. Four were published in The Denver Post and one was a magazine story (Running Times) on Boulder and Eugene, the twin capitals of American distance running.
Quarter miler Jeremy Wariner and Clyde Hart: http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_5883127
Pole vaulter Jenn Stuczynski: http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_6214115
Ryan Shay dies at the marathon Olympic Trials: http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_7364187
Denver's David Oliver a top hurdler: http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_6703469
Boulder and Eugene: http://www.runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=13781


text:
|By Cloud News Desk
Article Rating:
|February 27, 2009 05:45 PM EST
What, aside from a professional passion for the Enterprise IT possibilities of cloud computing, do IBM's Cloud CTO Dr Kristof Kloeckner, Amazon's VP & CTO Dr Werner Vogels and Sun's Cloud SVP David Douglas have in common? The answer is that all three are giving a major keynote address at SYS-CON' 2nd International Cloud Computing Conference & Expo being held next month in New York City (March 30-April).
IBM, Sun and Amazon headline a technical program of the very highest excellence, with top industry speakers from the industry's leading companies such as Microsoft, HP, Yahoo!, Salesforce, Intel, 3tera, Trend Micro, Cisco, Keynote Systems, VIRTERA, AppSense, ParaScale, ExactTarget, Corporate Technologies, RightScale, Cordys, 3Leaf Systems, Egenera, Elastra, CohesiveFT, Kadient, eyeOS, Zeus, Dataline, Cloudscale, Blue Mountain Labs, Cumulux, Unisys, Intuit, Aria Systems, Canonical, Cloud9 Analytics, Vertica, Xeround, Zuora; from analysts like The 451 Group; and from end users like Stanford University, the Ohio State Dept. of Transportation, Quark, and Forbes.com.
Opening Keynote - March 30
Building the right infrastructure that can scale up or down at a moment's notice - the very essence of Cloud Computing - has become ever more crucial in today's challenging business landscape.
But it can be a complicated and expensive task, which is why we're pleased to have the Chief Technology Officer of Amazon.com, Dr. Werner Vogels, give the Opening Keynote at the 2nd International Cloud Computing Conference & Expo, being held March 30-April 1, 2009.
Join us in New York City to hear first-hand about Infrastructure as a Service and the lessons Amazon.com learned from building one of the world's largest distributed systems.
Dr Vogels will explore the many challenges of building a reliable, flexible architecture that can manage unpredictable behaviors of today's internet business. The main focus of his keynote session will be state management - one of the dominating factors in the scalability, reliability, performance and cost-effectiveness of the overall system.
Day Two Keynote - March 31
Drawing on IBM's experience of working with customers and operating 13 cloud centers worldwide, Kristof Kloeckner, CTO of Enterprise Initiatives and VP of Cloud Computing Platforms, IBM Software Group, will review the conditions under which cloud computing can deliver its promise of flexibility and cost savings in the delivery of IT services to the enterprise.
In his keynote, Kristof Kloeckner will discuss the importance of dynamic infrastructures and service management for both public and private clouds, cloud service life cycles, and integration between public clouds and enterprise services. He will also talk about the standards required for interoperability between clouds and application scenarios that demonstrate the use of cloud computing in an enterprise context for a smarter planet.
Day Three Keynote - 1st April
Sun's Sr. VP of Cloud Computing, David Douglas, will be joining Amazon's CTO Dr Werner Vogels and IBM's Cloud Computing CTO Kristof Kloeckner.
Sun is committed to making Cloud Computing - scaling up instantly to massive capacities to meet changing needs using the Web - a reality. And whereas some clouds are closed platforms that lock you in, Sun's open source philosophy and Java principles form the core of a strategy that provides interoperability for large-scale computing resources. Sun envisions a world of many open, interoperable clouds - public, private and hybrid - driven by different application types. Cloud computing, Sun reminds the industry on its corporate web site devoted to the subject, "is about managing petascale data" - and its server and storage systems are all designed "to radically improve the data-intensive computing emerging in the cloud." All without having to invest in new infrastructure, train new personnel, or license new software.
Douglas, who also serves as Sun's Chief Sustainability Officer, will be speaking on April 1, 2009 at 8:30AM. Cloud Computing Conference & Expo 2009 East is a three-day event, and is being held at The Roosevelt Hotel in New York City.
You can follow the Event - and those planning to attend - by connecting to the Event on LinkedIn.
Register Today and Save !
Cloud Computing Conference & Expo 2009 East features a top-notch lineup of speakers from the leading industry players of the main layers of the Cloud ecosystem - the infrastructure players, the platform providers, and those offering applications and services. The lineup includes, among others:
- Vik Chaudhary - VP of Corporate Development, Keynote Systems
- Peter Coffee - Director of Platform Research, Salesforce.com
- Doug Tidwell - Senior Software Engineer, IBM
- Prasad Rampalli - VP, Digital Enterprise Group, Intel
- David Bernstein - VP & GM of Cloud Computing, Cisco
- Glenn Brunette - Chief Security Architect, Sun
- Sajai Krishnan - CEO, ParaScale
- Ken Oestreich - Vice President, Egenera
- Patrick Kerpan - CTO, CohesiveFT
- Thorsten von Eicken - CTO and Co-Founder, RightScale
- Scott Sanchez - Chief Technology Architect, Unisys
- Scott Wiener - Co-Founder & CTO, Cloud9 Analytics
- Jeff Bauer - Creative Director, Forbes.com
- Anthony Arrott - Special Assistant to the CTO, Trend Micro
- Stuart Charlton - Chief Software Architect, Elastra
- David Bressler - Principal Architect, Progress Software
- Raghavan Srinivas - Technology Evangelist, Intuit
- Brian Zanghi - President & CEO, Kadient
- Kevin Jackson - Director of Business Development, Dataline
- Bob Quinn - Founder, Chairman & CTO of 3Leaf Systems
- David Linthicum - Editor-in-Chief, Virtualization Journal
- Bill McColl - Founder & CEO, Cloudscale
- Omer Trajman - Director of Field Engineering, Vertica Systems
- Jon Pyke - Chief Strategy Officer, Cordys
The organizing principle of each Cloud Computing Conference & Expo is that through our intensive 3-day schedule of keynotes, general and breakout sessions, attending delegates will be assured of leaving the Conference with abundant resources, ideas and examples they can apply immediately to leveraging the Cloud, helping them to maximize performance, minimize cost and improve the scale of their endeavors.
- The Top 150 Players in Cloud Computing
- Cloud Expo New York Call for Papers Now Open
- Cloud Expo 2011 East To Attract 10,000 Delegates and 200 Exhibitors
- Cloud Expo New York to Attract More Than 8,000 Delegates
- Industry Experts Discuss the State of Cloud Computing
- Publishing Synergy: Blog, Twitter and Ulitzer
- NPR Asks: Will Cloud Computing Work in the White House?
- The Five Characteristics of Cloud Computing
- CIA was Headed to an Enterprise Cloud All Along: Jill Tummler Singer
- Cloud Expo New York Speaker Profile: Jill T. Singer – Federal CIO Emeritus


text:
ADAMAS GEMOLOGICAL LABORATORY publishes gemologically oriented software for the jewelry appraiser, jeweler, or student in gemology or mineralogy. The laboratory also developed the SAS2000 Spectrophotometer Analysis System for diamond color grading, detection of synthetic and color treated diamomds. The laboratory provides technical consulting and jewelry appraisal services to the trade and the public and expert witness services to the legal profession.
Support Our Troops
NOTE: We are moving to Louisville Kentucky on July 13th, and will be unavailable for a few weeks while we unpack
SAS2000 Spectrophotometer Analysis System
The Greedy Institute of Arrogance . Com
Is your "G" really a "J"? GIA Redefines Color Grading
Historical Gubelin Interview
The following links will take you to the last interview held with Eduard J. Gubelin, who some would say, is the father of the study of inclusions in gemstones. (Broadband connection recommended, total interview over an hour)
Interview Part 1 of 4
Gubelin Interview Part 2 of 4
Gubelin Interview Part 3 of 4
Gubelin Interview Part 4 of 4
Ian Campbell Of South Africa's Colored Stone Grading System
General Electric Synthetic Jadeite Proof Of Synthetic Origin
GIA Patent Misrepresents SAS2000 Technology
Debeers Claims SAS2000 Technology As Their Own
In "DTC Research Comes To
Diamonds' Defense" (Rapaport Diamond Report), DeBeers states "An
instrument still under development, and currently being evaluated at a major grading
laboratory, is one especially designed to screen for HPHT- treated type II
diamonds. This uses the latest minature solid state laser technology and
incorporates a small chamber filled with liquid nitrogen to cool a diamond down
to -196C. A result is produced in less than 30 seconds, compared with about
half an hour for standard spectroscopic equipment." Well, this proven technology has been
available for a few years now; it is the SAS2000
Spectrophotometer Analysis System and the SAS2000
Raman/Photoluminescence System !!! Imitation is
the sincerest form of flattery... more
DeBeers Claims SAS2000 Technology As Their Own (Debeers Replies)
Editorial: General Electric HPHT Detection Patent
SAS2000 Raman GEPOL Data
SAS2000 Raman (Near Colorless Diagnostic?)
SAS2000 Laboratory Warning "Fancy Deep Brownish Yellows"
Argyle Blue-Gray Diamond Spectra
General Electric HPHT Green Transmitters
NovaDiamond HPHT Green Transmitters
Chameleon Diamonds From China
"Tolkowsky's Diamond Design Online" (Jasper Paulsen)
More Diamond Grading Issues
"The Van Graff Diamond" Just Another CZ??
New Important
Diamond Related Patents
Professional Jeweler Article On SAS2000
Professional Jeweler Article On Synthetic Diamond Diagnostic
GemKey Synthetic Diamond Article
DeBeers' Synthetic Diamond Transmittance Data
DeBeers' Premier Mine Tour (pdf)
GIA Raytrace
Brilliance Study Materially Flawed
Moissketeer 2000SD Operating Instructions
Synthetic Moissanite Spectra And Commentary ( inc. Patent Claims)(NEW INFO Russian Material)
Have You Seen This Ring
Emerald Treatment Chamber
Contents Of This Website Copyright (c) 1992-2006 Martin D. Haske All Rights Reserved


text:
The Search for Autism's Environmental Triggers
Barbara Loe Fisher Commentary:
It is encouraging that autism researchers at the University of California - Davis, as well as researchers in academia and government are focusing research initiatives on the complex relationship between genetic and environmental trigger co-factors in the development of autism. Understanding all potential causes of the growing chronic disease and disability epidemic among children, which includes millions of children suffering from regressive autism and other developmental delays, deserves to be made a high priority in biomedical research.
Although it is becoming clearer that bolus and cumulative mercury exposures via mercury preservatives in vaccines are not the sole cause for increases in cases of autism during the past quarter century, the hypothesis that mercury preservatives in vaccines have harmed the brains and immune systems of many children should not be dismissed. Mercury is a neuro-toxin and does not belong in any form in any product consumed by humans, much less directly injected into humans. Biological mechanism research on animals has already confirmed that thimerosal can be toxic and research should continue into the potential synergistic effect of repeatedly injecting even trace amounts of thimerosal along with other components, such as aluminum, into infants and children via vaccines.
Science is a dynamic search for truth and evolves with each new discovery over time. The search for the truth about all causes for vaccine injury and death cannot be left in the hands of epidemiologists. That search also properly belongs in the hands of basic science researchers examining the biological effects on brain and immune function of atypically manipulating the immature human immune system by injecting multiple vaccines during the first years of life, when the brain and immune system are developing at their most rapid rate outside the womb. The UC-Davis study certainly cannot fail to include evaluation of the biological effects of the most frequent atypical environmental exposure most children of the 21st century are subjected to in early life: repeated injection of lab altered live viruses and killed bacteria via vaccines that also contain quite a few potentially toxic ingredients.
Parents will be closely watching the way the UC- Davis study is conducted and will eagerly await the results of this important investigation into the potential environmental and genetic co-factors involved in the development of autism. Any new information which will help shine a light on ways to prevent and develop healing therapies for autism is a step in the right direction.
14 comments:
- Brenda said...
Hi Barbara- I just recently stumbled across your blog- I'm familiar w/ your other website and have not vaccinated my 2 kids. This post was very interesting- i have always been confused as to why there has been no comprehensive research conducted among NON vaccinated children and the vaccinated to compare incidence of autism. I'm sure there are some- but i've yet to hear of any one with an autistic child who did NOT vaccinate. I'm very curious why no one has researched this?
- Anonymous said...
I greatly appreciate your comments and your information. I wish I had had this information 19 yrs ago when my first child was born. When my daughter recieved her first set of shots her entire leg was all blotchy not just red around the injection site, she also had a very high fever and upset stomach and she cried for days. I spoke with my ped 3 days later and she assured us this was normal. We missed her second set of shots and took her in at about 7 mo to get her next set of shots, at this time she could crawl, after the next set of shots her leg was paralized for three whole days. Once again our Dr. told us this was totally normal. I was young and naive and continued my daughters shots. I wasn't as gulable with my next 4 children. None of them have recieved any of the recommended immunizations. I have a 14 yr old daughter who went to the Dr.s for the first time in 13 yrs to have sports participation exam, and she is in perfect health. My other children are about the same, only seeing the Dr. for a case of strepp and the occasional ear infection.
My oldest daughter on the other hand has suffered from numereous ailments. Three years ago she was diagnoused with severe bipolar disorder in which she actually was hospitalized in a mental health facility for 11 mo, akathisia and last year type 2 diabetes, none of which runs in either of our families. I believe there needs to be more research completed on the neurological effects that immunizations may have on the brains of these little ones. I truely believe that my daughter would have been better off "NOT" recieving her shots. I wish I had not just mindlessly listened to my Dr. and acctually searched it out for myself in the first place. I'm glad we live in a country were we can have web sites such as yours in order to make informed decisions for ourselves and our children. Thank you.
- Juniper Daunen said...
I just wanted to say thanks for your blog. I'm the mother of an autistic child who was vaccinated. My two younger children I DID NOT vaccinate. The evidence in support of the link between mercury poisoning and autism is quickly becoming overwhelming. Just think of what pharmaceutical companies stand to lose if they admit any fault at all or any link? They could be faced with billion dollar lawsuits from adults harmed by vaccines given to them as children. What do parents speaking out against vaccines have to gain? Nothing - except the desire to help other people's children. Who is more likely to have reason to lie or exaggerate? Doctors and pharm. companies have often been wrong in the past, but vaccines seem to be "immune" from criticism, if you'll forgive the pun.
Thanks again for your blog. I will be emailing a link to it to my friends and family.
- Marlene said...
I would also like to know if there are any NON vaccinated children that show signs of autism. I have never heard anyone say their child has autism and was NEVER vaccinated.
- Anonymous said...
I will like to express my thoughts on you add aimed at young gilrs..Tell someone! well tell young girls not to have sex! That is telling someone. Teach them morales and to wait. You only get this kind of cancer form having sex to young, to soon and to many times..Tell someone to be one less who dose not hop in bed to soon.
- alaughman said...
I always love to read anything that confirms my reasoning for not vaccinating my 2 girls. Thanks for such a great blog.
- sismandeer said...
Barbara, keep up the good work. I wonder if you could use your influence to get a study on autism done correctly. I think a big hole exists in the way that the scientific community has performed research (such as it
is) concerning autism and possible causes. For example, in the
retrospective cohort study involving Danish children, researchers compared autism rates in non-vaccinated children to autism rates in vaccinated children; pro-vaccine groups have argued that the finding
of no statistically significant difference between the rates of autism in the two groups means that autism is not caused by the MMR vaccine.
This is not the appropriate conclusion to draw. From what I remember of my days in Stats 100 at Harvard, the way to study a group like this is to compare the populations of autistic children and non-autistic children, and then to see if the proportion of vaccinated children in the autistic population is more than two (or more) standard deviations
away from the proportion of vaccinated children in the non-autistic population. In other words, because the autism community only suggests
that the MMR vaccine may be *one factor* contributing to autism, the
only way to test this hypothesis is to compare the proportions of
vaccinated children in each population (autistic population and
non-autistic population). The researchers should also compare the
proportions of children whose births were induced, the proportions of children whose mothers consumed high levels of mercury-laden fish ...
you see where I'm going with this--find the proportions of the
existence of every factor in both populations (autistic and non), and
compare them.
It is very surprising to me that this methodology (which our Stats
professor taught us was the only way to evaluate situations like this) has not been used. I would run the numbers myself if I had them. Maybe you can get your hands on them; a list of the potential causal factors that you might want to check can be found on
Dr. Lewis Mehl-Madrona's site
- Anonymous said...
I believe in vaccinations. I'm vaccinated myself and am healthy. My 28 month old son is fully vaccinated and DOES NOT HAVE AUTISM. He can count up to 10, knows all his colors, and talks in full sentences. In daycare he is with the other 3 year olds. He's very advanced, intelligent and aware of his surroundings.
Immunizations has NOTHING to do with the vaccinations.
I strongly believe its in the genetics that the child ARE born with autism which becomes obvious as the child grows. It doesn't just "pop" up, it becomes more and more prevalent as time passes and he/she begins to lag behind developmentally in speech, thinking, walking, behavior etc. My own cousin HAS autism. He was born with it, and it was easily noticed that he didn't look at people's eyes, didn't interact with anyone and cried if anyone touched him or held him even as a newborn. He simply wanted to be left alone and did not talk until he was four. He was FINALLY diagnosed being autistic very late at 6 years old.
Thankfully more and more children are being diagnosed earlier, at 12 months which gives children more chance to be given therapy and intervention to catch up with other children and be as normal as possible to live fully.
- Anonymous said...
You will be the first to go to the doctors when your child develops Measles, mumps or rubella. Pertussis is on the rise, as well as non-vaccinated children. Now these children are out of school for at least 3 weeks after the last child is diagnosed and treated. There is no doubt that some children are not able to recieve vaccines because of reactions to them, but not every child will have a reaction. Plastic is also a toxin. Have you ever eaten a microwave dinner? Have you ever re-heated leftovers in a plastic container. Do you eat meat. Pumped full of hormones. Clothes bought at the store are full of chemicals. Have you put new clothes on your child before washing them? I am not an expert on autism by any means but I am an educated individual- and work in the medical field. I am a physician who has vaccinated all of my six children and all of my friends and family members have vaccinated all of thier children and not one case of autism. The cause of diabetes has long been debated and now there is research that relates this to a virus that some children are suseptible to. Those born with cognitive disabilites were put in an institution as soon as an abnormality was noticed and were forgotten about. We now have the tools to diagnose these conditions and are more toleable of them. There has been an increase in the ability to diagnose bi-polar, depression, anxiety, autism, add/adhd, and other cognitive disablilites. Don't jump to conclusions. No matter what your decision is, make it an educated one.
- LouAnn said...
It is interesting to hear people state with such passion their opinions about vaccinations and because their children weren't prone to holding onto the toxins in the vaccinations and didn't become autistic - then they assume it isn't the vaccinations. However, you will be unlikely to find an Amish child who has autism. check out http://www.infowars.com/articles/science/autism_none_for_unvaccinated_amish.htm
We have seen and worked with a lot of families who are dealing with children who are autistic/aspergers/add/adhd/pdd - etc. All a part of the autistic spectrum - according to a lot of educators today. Because of the injury or change in these children - from medication/vaccinastions or even from the horrible food that is being processed - I say all the nutrition is processed out - ha! What if we could reverse some of that? I say that can happen. We've helped a lot of families by detoxing out the metals that are in them as well as nourishing them with optimal nourishment. There is a new book on the market that talks about doing just that. I know that the author is a wife of a famous actor - but can't remember the name right now.
Anyway - nutrition is the key for our bodies to heal - let's give the best and see what happens - We have a friend named Tami who has two children with special needs - one with autism. She went to Sweden to test his urine and had hours and hours per week of therapy - however, changing his nutrition changed that whole family - however, when he missed this nutrition - his symptoms come back - but his original doctor who diagnosed autism - took away that diagnosis - amazing. This child was not able to carry on conversations and only had about 50 words, wouldn't brush his teeth, watched the toilet flush over and over - etc - there is too much to tell all that was going on - but today if you entered this home - you would not be able to tell the difference between this child and his other brothers who do not have autism - amazing. There is a link somewhere -
I have been in the education realm for 30 years now and when I started teaching - it wasn't even something that we even knew about. We are always able to help others - not sure how to connect - but just wanted to agree with some on this blog!
- Anonymous said...
My 4 year old son has just been diagnosed with austistic spectrum disorder, although he is yet to be clinically assessed, but he has NOT been vaccinated at all. I have read alot of information about mercury levels and autism amd as i have some mercury fillings in my teeth i'm wondering if that has harmed him during my pregnancy.
- Anonymous said...
I wish they would look at autism in relation to an autoimmune disorder. I really feel that not so much the ingredients of the vaccines but the amount and timing of them causes a change in the immune system which causes the body and attack and breakdown some of the connective tissue in the brain (the key areas that help maintain behavior) Mercury does break down this tissue as well and high levels of metals do effect brain function - alzheimer's patients have a break down of this tissue plus high levels of aluminum in their brains. As studies have shown, autistic persons harbor heavy metals in their bodies, unable to filter and release them normally. This could have a genetic tendency but exposer to these metals early on may be a trigger.
Autism did exist before this vaccine debate BUT the real debate here is does it make children's health worse instead of better. I fully believe that to bombard their systems so young with so much is a grave error. The rise in not only autism but allergies and chronic/autimmune disorders is something that should be looked at as a whole and not treated as completely independent of each other. My DD who was completely vaccinated has Celiacs disease and think, although she may have had a genetic disposition to this disorder was triggered early by vaccinations. I also believe her behavior issues are from vaccinations. My second DD was vaccinated until the assault of shots she got at age one which sent her into a medical tailspin. She had not even had a runny nose until that day. It took us a year to recover, she has had no vaccines since and won't, and seems to have recovered almost fully from her reaction. My 6 mo old has not and will not be vaccinated until he is one and then only in single cases of the most severe illnesses to avoid. But the last time I was at the doctor she said something that made NO sense about the MMR combo vaccine. She said "Why would you want to expose them to illness 3 different times?" and I though to myself - so it makes sense to expose them to ALL at one time? I seriously think the drug companies push these combo vaccines because the get more bang for the buck out of it.
For those that have not vaccinated and still get a diagnosis for autism I would suggest they get their children tested genetically and for heavy metals. Another point to consider is the exposure and health of the grandparent of the child when they were pregnant with the parent. Tests have shown that your health is directly linked to the health of your grandparent during pregnancy of your parent. Interesting stuff.
In life all we can do is the best we can and hope for the best. Bless all of you!
- Anonymous said...
I also am in support of immunizations. I feel that the risks of getting these diseases outweigh the SMALL risks associated with immunizations. Just recently here in our hometown, there was an outbreak of the mumps (among NON-VACCINATED individuals). There were serious complications in some of these individuals and some of the children will be suffering for the rest of their lives from these complications (brain damage etc). I am so thankful that my family and I had all been vaccinated against mumps, as non of use contracted the disease. Not to mention the fact that not a single vaccinated individual contracted the disease.
I think people are jumping to conclusions about this debate. People are always looking for someone else to blame for autism, add/adhd etc...rather than their own genetics, or other factors. Not to mention the fact that our vaccinations in Canada no longer contain mercury...soooo...where could the issue be? Heavy metals in our foods, in the air, in our water etc etc...it isn't just the immunizations, it is much bigger than that.
I have been vaccinated my entire life, I rarely ever get sick, let alone I don't even remember the last time I had a cold. I am perfectly healthy and will continue to get immunizations if needed. I would rather be protected than not.
I do agree though, that there needs to be LOTS more research...and NON-BIASED at that.
- Anonymous said...
"Immunizations has NOTHING to do with the vaccinations" (From above post from anon) What in the world does this mean?????
"I have read alot of information about mercury levels and autism amd as i have some mercury fillings in my teeth i'm wondering if that has harmed him during my pregnancy." --- Yes this affects it.
One thing to remember when you are saying that your son/child has been vaccinated and does not have autism etc, is that not EVERY child can rid the body of mercury. Your child apparently can so he/she is not affected. Also it's not just specifically the MMR vaccine it's a build up of the toxic metal in the child's system that causes autism. If you look up mercury poisoning symptoms they are EXACTLY the same as Autism. Coincidence?? I don't think so.
Also studies on the toxicity of mercury to mammalian neurons in culture demonstrate that low nanomolar levels can have lethal effects. Experiments using this system have also demonstrated, in agreement with published literature, that many antibiotics, other heavy metals and chemicals increase the toxicity of mercury and thimerosal (ethyl mercury). Additionally, in this same system the female hormone estrogen decreases thimerosal's toxic effects. In contrast, the male hormone testosterone greatly increases the toxicity. This may explain the 4 to 1 ratio of boys to girls that become autistic and the observation that boys represent the vast majority of the severe cases of autism.


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Muslims and Jews in Christian America
To kick off this year's McKinzie symposium—One Nation Under God: The Politics of America's Religious Diversity—the University of Wisconsin's Charles L. Cohen delivers a keynote address on the issues facing minority religions in America.
Cohen is a professor of history and religious studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and director of the Lubar Institute for the Study of the Abrahamic Religions.
The symposium is co-sponsored by the Bernardin Haskell Lecture Fund, UMKC Center for Midwestern Studies, and the UMKC Division of Diversity and Inclusion.
The symposium continues on Friday with workshops from 9 a.m.—2 p.m. that are open to the public but geared to students and educators.


text:
2013 Progress Report – Executive Summary
The ultimate goal of our NDC is to develop therapeutic strategies for protein misfolding diseases by harnessing our understanding of chaperonin mechanism and function. To this end, we aim to develop chaperonin-inspired therapeutics and/or substrate adaptor molecules, to prevent aggregation and/or refold proteins responsible for misfolded-protein diseases. Our approach includes developing and integrating new methods to characterize the biophysical and biochemical properties of chaperonins.
Our group continues to evolve, moving from a more basic science-oriented team to one geared towards therapeutic applications, specifically translational and clinical investigation. We focus on two specific diseases: Huntington's disease (HD) and von Hippel Lindau disease (VHL). Our choice was based on the importance of these disorders with respect both to disease burden and to the opportunity to exploit their underlying biology to create new insights into the pathogenesis and treatment of related protein misfolding disorders. We expect to impact the future treatment of a number of diseases that feature protein misfolding. To achieve our goals, we are currently supporting clinical investigators from M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, University of California at San Diego and the University of California at Irvine; translational researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and basic science investigators from Baylor College of Medicine and Stanford University.
Both HD and VHL Disease arise as a consequence of well-defined genetic lesions which cause misfolding of chaperonin substrates. However, the underlying molecular nature of their pathology is distinct: HD features the aggregation of a mutant protein that triggers a cascade of pathogenic mechanisms that appear to result in both gain of toxic function and loss of function; in contrast, VHL Disease arises from the loss-of-function of a folding-defective mutant protein. The translational approaches to remedy each disease through chaperonin- based intervention thus differ. In the case of HD, we will use the eukaryotic chaperonin and/or engineered chaperonin-derivatives to prevent the cellular toxicity associated with protein aggregation. In the case of VHL Disease, we will exploit our knowledge of chaperonin- mediated action to promote pVHL refolding and restore functionality to tumor-promoting mutants.
In the past year we have developed several translational settings and assays that together with the basic knowledge obtained in the Program have established proof-of-principle feasibility for our strategy. For VHL Disease we have demonstrated that increasing the protein levels of mutant VHL variants can restore VHL function in the degradation of HIF1alpha. This supports the idea that approaches that prevent degradation and/or enhance folding can restore functionality to miss-sense VHL mutations. For HD we have demonstrated that a chaperonin domain can be exogenously added to a neuronal cell model of HD and alleviate mutant Huntingtin aggregation and toxicity. Experiments in an animal model of HD also provide encouraging feasibility studies that a chaperonin-based approach may be therapeutically effective. These findings open the way to improve on our therapeutic exploitation of the protein homeostasis machinery, through a better understanding of chaperonin-based reagents and through the development of better assays and readouts. Our strategy of integrating the fundamental understanding of molecular principles of protein homeostasis with the biological understanding of disease pathways provides a powerful paradigm to obtain rationally developed therapeutics for protein misfolding diseases.
This page last reviewed on September 24, 2013


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Date(s) - 09/07/2019
9:00 am - 10:00 am
SkyZone Indoor Trampoline Park - Fishers
Toddler Time is a great shared experience for child and parent. A time for your little ones to discover the joy of being active, bouncing under the supervision of their parents, and without interference from the big kids.
Toddler Time is held on Saturdays from 9-10 am. and Fridays from 10 am – 12 pm.
Cost: $8
We do our best to provide the most relevant and timely information to our readers, but please confirm dates, times, and availability before attending an event. Events are posted on IWK from information found on, but not limited to, attraction sites, government city sites; as well as submissions from individual attractions, press releases and PR firms. All events are subject to change without notice and Indy with Kids cannot be held responsible.


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If you want another helping of dumplings, err, I mean another helping of our podcast with Farihah Ali, you can download the transcript. Read along as Farihah tries to find the best dumplings on Friendly Planet Travel's Taste of China tour.
Posts Tagged 'Cuisine'
Farihah Ali searches for the perfect dumpling on Friendly Planet Travel's Taste of China tour
|Spiced beef dumplings in Shanghai
Food and travel — they're like two peas in a pod. I always enjoy trying the exotic foods native to the country I'm visiting.
In fact, I've told you plenty of times that Vietnam tops my list of countries to go to for the food. But it's not the only country in Asia that foodies adore.
Let's head north to China. Farihah Ali, from Atlanta, went on Friendly Planet Travel's Taste of China tour in November and wrote about her time in the country on her own blog, Spice Bites. When I stumbled upon her blog posts, I asked one of our Friendly Planet Travel bloggers, Melissa, to get to know what mouth-watering food Farihah discovered in China.
In our podcast Farihah dives into what she saw and ate in the three cities she visited in China, Shanghai, Xi'an, and Beijing. Dumplings where on the top of Farihah's list to find. She tells us about her adventures to find the best ones in each city, as well as the other food she tasted along the way thanks to help of her tour guides.
Farihah breaks down what the hotels, escorted tours, tour guides, and transportation was like in each city. She also tells Melissa how it was easy to get around the cities when she only knew one or two phrases in Chinese, and much more.
After you listen to the podcast, I encourage you to flip over to her blog to read her posts about China and look at all the beautiful photos she took. If you've been to China and ate some amazing food, please tell me about it in a comment on this post.
|Farihah in Suzhou, China


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Saturday with Renee Klein
8:30-9:45 a.m.
ALL LEVELS YOGA with, Renee Klein RYT 500
Come breathe, stretch, move, balance and explore in a safe manner that honors each student's capabilities - from newcomer to advanced yogi. This all levels class is based on yoga therapy, where bodies, minds, hearts and spirits can be healed and enriched. Flexibility not required!


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|Birth Date:
|Dec. 6, 1988
|Whitleyville, Tenn.
|High School:
|Jackson County
TEE TALK: Tyler is a top performer for the Golden Eagles who is constantly striving to better his game...returned to competition this year after redshirt year in 2009-10 for injury rehab...his overall abiliites will keep him close to the top of the leaderboard and will help lead the team in every tournament...one of the top junior players in the region during his high school career...after making a big impact on the team his first two years, Tyler sat out last year and returned in the fall with a 73.7 average, which was the lowest on the team...shows great leadership and is one of the most experienced players within this group of guys.
AT TECH -- In 2010-11: Competing in four
tournaments, Tyler scored a low round of 70 for the season which
was also his career-best.. tied for 12th in the Wasioto Winds
Fall Kick-off and carded his low of 70 in the first round of that
tournament on September 13 ... matched his low in the second round
in the APSU F&M Bank Intercollegiate Tournament on October 18,
where he shot 74-70-71--215.. season total of 12 rounds in tourney
play..total score of 884..achieved his career best average of 73.7.
In 2008-09: Tyler qualified for six tournaments, and posted an average of 76.4 strokes over his 17 rounds of competition...shot two sub par rounds on the year...low round of 70 came at the Murray State Invitational where he shot 73-74-70--217 and finished 21st...best finish was a tie for 20th and came at the Grub Mart-Young Oil Intercollegiate with a score total of 148 over two rounds
In 2007-08: As a true freshman, Tyler played in
six of Tech's nine tournaments, and posted a stroke average of
76.7...had three Top 20 finishes...low round of 73 came in the
second round of the Murray State Invitational in October...tied for
15th place in his first college action, the Showdown in the Valley,
where he shot 77-78-74--229...tied for 17th with a 223 total, his
low score for 54-hole event, at the Murray State
Invitational...placed in a tie for 15th at the Pizza Hut
Invitational in February.
HIGH SCHOOL: A two-sport standout at Jackson County High School, Tyler was the starting point guard on the basketball team and played No. 1 position on the golf team for four years...played his high school golf three seasons for coach Lakelan Barham and one year for coach Gary Flynn...co-captain of the basketball team...school record for lowest average of 35.0 strokes in his senior year...also career record with 36.2 stoke average...helped JCHS team win district and region titles as a junior before a seventh place finish at TSSAA state tourney...led Blue Devils to region championship as a senior and fourth place in state tournament...three-time all-state selection, receiving first-team honors twice and second-team once...three-time all-Mid State...won the 2005 Tennessean Metro Parks Schooldays Tournament...four-time team MVP...played in state tournament all four years, finishing 29th as a freshman, fifth as a sophomore, and third in final two seasons.
PERSONAL: The son of Kelly and Karen Cassetty of Whitleyville, Tenn...born December 6, 1988 in Cookeville...full name is Tyler Samson Cassetty...majoring in business.


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Any postwar NATO presence in Afghanistan must ensure the proper distribution of billions of dollars in security aid, officials said.
Because of the need to safeguard more than $4 billion that will flow annually from being squandered or pilfered in a country plagued by corruption, NATO officials are planning a postwar force with more military managers and fewer combat trainers, The New York Times reported Sunday.
The issue relates to plans after NATO and U.S. forces end their combat operations in Afghanistan at the end of next year.
Without plans that would have U.S. and NATO troops positioned at Afghan military and police headquarters to oversee how the money is spent, the newspaper said, NATO officials fear the U.S. Congress and European parliaments might cancel their financial commitments.
The report said military commanders want the postwar effort to concentrate on training and advising Afghans, with NATO troops spread across the battlefield, while political leaders in Washington and in NATO countries prefer fewer troops only at large Afghan headquarters.
Any enduring NATO military presence in Afghanistan
is tied directly to the $4.1 billion and our ability to oversee it and account for it, a senior NATO diplomat told the Times.
Financing of Afghan security forces is important to prevent political chaos and factional bloodshed that could result after the coalition forces leave, he said.
The report said NATO proposes an enduring presence of as many as 12,000 troops, with two-thirds made up of U.S. forces. That number would be below what military commanders have recommended but senior NATO officials told the newspaper larger numbers are unnecessary given the more limited goals being set by political leaders.
Any postwar plan would come only after a security agreement is concluded between the United States and Afghanistan. Such an agreement would deal with the number, role and legal protection of U.S. troops.
Because of problems concluding a deal, Washington may opt for stationing no U.S. troops.
The report said NATO plans call for its military personnel to be assigned to the headquarters of the defense and interior ministries, the six Afghan National Army corps headquarters and to the similar number of national police headquarters. They would also be well represented in army and police training institutions.
The report said Pentagon officials want at least some American commandos to remain to carry out counter-terrorism missions, unilaterally or in coordination with Afghan forces.
Via SyndiGate.info
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