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Deep-filled mince pies
These deep, decadent mince pies with a layer of almond frangipane cook brilliantly from frozen
Nutrition and extra info
- Freezable
- Easily halved
Nutrition: per pie
- kcal546
- fat25g
- saturates12g
- carbs77g
- sugars50g
- fibre2g
- protein7g
- salt0.39g
- 900g mincemeat
It's a classic ingredient at Christmas in small covered tarts, but mincemeat can be…
For the pastry
- 400g butter, very cold, cut into cubes
Butter is made when lactic-acid producing bacteria are added to cream and churned to make an…
- 700g plain flour, plus extra for rolling out
- 200g golden caster sugar
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 tbsp water or milk
For the almond filling
- 200g ground almond
- 200g golden caster sugar
- 4 egg whites
- few drops almond extract
Almondarr-mund or al-mund
Sweet almonds have a subtle fragrance that lends itself well to baking and also works well with…
- 1 egg, beaten, to seal and glaze
The ultimate convenience food, eggs are powerhouses of nutrition, packed with protein and a…
Make the pastry by rubbing the butter and flour together with your fingertips until the mix resembles fine crumbs or whizz in a food processor. Stir in the sugar and a good pinch of salt, then add the egg yolks and water or milk and work into the mix with a knife until the dough starts to clump together. Press the dough together with your hands to form a ball, split in two and knead each half briefly until smooth. Shape into a flat disc. Wrap in cling film then chill while you make the topping.
Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Beat the almonds, sugar, egg whites and almond extract together to a rough paste.
Roll out one of the discs of pastry on a lightly floured surface and cut 12 x 9cm circles (or 10 x 10cm circles, depending on the depth of your muffin tin) with a round cutter. Push into the wells of a 12-hole muffin tin. Re-roll the leftover pastry and cut out enough 7cm circles to cover the tops.
Spoon a heaped tbsp mincemeat into each case, followed by 1 tbsp almond mix. Brush the edges of the cases with egg and press the tops on, then brush with egg. If you're making ahead, 'open' freeze at this point, in the tin, uncovered. Once frozen, cover with cling film and use within a month. Bake for 20-25 mins until golden from fresh or for 25-30 mins from frozen. Leave to cool almost completely in the tin before lifting out. Serve dusted with a little icing sugar if you like. Repeat with remaining mix to make a second batch.


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Details emerge on Cleveland kidnap suspect's history
Cleveland kidnapping and rape suspect Ariel Castro has had several run-ins with police dating back to 1989, police records show, but apparently nothing serious enough to draw suspicion as young women disappeared in his neighborhood a decade ago.
Castro, 52, is a musician and former school bus driver accused of holding three women captive in a west Cleveland house. He could face the death penalty if it's determined he is responsible for the deaths of the victims' unborn children, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty says.
STORY:Castro's family speaks out on abusive past
Castro's run-ins with the law date back to at least Sept. 30, 1989, when common-law wife Grimilda Figueroa called city police from their 98th Street home to report that Castro had assaulted her.
Figueroa, who had two small children at the time, told police that Castro's brother had come by wanting to go out. When Figueroa asked where they were going, Castro became violent, she told police.
"Suspect slapped the victim several times in the face," the police report said. "Victim tried to get away from the suspect. He then grabbed her and slammed her several times against the wall and several times against the washing machine."
Figueroa ran to the family living upstairs and called police, the report said.
Figueroa, who was treated at the hospital for an injured shoulder, told police Castro had assaulted her on several other occasions but she had not filed complaints.
The outcome of the case, like most other cases involving Castro, was not available. USA TODAY was continuing to learn the disposition of all the cases. Here are some others:
• On Dec. 26, 1993, at the house on Seymour Avenue where Castro is now accused of holding the women, Figueroa told police that a drunken Castro threw her to the ground, hit her in the head and face and kicked her. When Figueroa's son fled the house, Castro chased him, she said.
Figueroa locked Castro out of the house, and he fled when police arrived. The report said officers caught Castro, but a grand jury declined to indict him.
• Castro called police in March 1993 to report an incident involving parents of a bullied child on his school bus. Castro said the parents got on the bus. When he tried to stop them, they pushed him.
The parents said they boarded the bus to stop other children from assaulting their child. Police turned the case over to the Board of Education's security department.
• In November 1994, Castro allegedly threatened the owner of a neighboring property with a shovel. Ernesto Santiago told police he went to check on a rental property next to Castro's on Seymour Avenue because a chain link fence was missing. Castro "became upset ... (and) picked up a shovel and attempted to hit victim with same."
• On May 16, 1996, police charged Castro with menacing on May 16, 1996. Fernando Colon, who was then dating Figueroa, said he had taken her children to the school bus stop. Castro, the children's father, pulled up behind him and got out of his car.
"He told the victim that he had better watch himself," the report said.
Colon got out of his car and tried to talk to Castro, but Castro drove away. Colon told police he thought Castro "would have ran him over if he did not get out of his way," the report said. "This is an ongoing problem."
• In August 1996, a police report says Castro drove to a former neighbor's house, stopped in front of the driveway and screamed out of his car window, "I'm gonna get you, bitch," then drove off. Police again charged Castro with menacing.
• In 2004, Castro and Figueroa reported Colon, then her boyfriend, for molesting two of the couple's daughters. The girls told police that Colon had touched and grabbed them several times. When the girls told their mother, she kicked him out of the house. A few days before the 2005 trial, Figueroa reported Castro again for domestic abuse.
Castro wanted his daughter, then living in Fort Wayne, to return to Cleveland to testify against Colon. The daughter did not want to testify.
Figueroa told police that Castro had threatened to go to Fort Wayne, bring the daughter back and "beat your ass in front of her."
Castro, a 1979 graduate of Lincoln West High School in Cleveland, applied to become a bus driver on Dec. 11, 1990.
"I enjoy working with children," he wrote on his application. "I have a good driving record. I speak English and Spanish. I plan to drive a bus and working with young people."
Cleveland Schools hired him on Feb. 19, 1991. There were problems.
In 2004, police initially charged Castro with child endangerment and abduction after he left a child unattended on his bus.
Castro allegedly picked up the child, a 13-year-old boy, from his home care provider. Castro allegedly escorted another child into school, but left the boy on the bus. When Castro returned to the bus, he drove to Wendy's restaurant and allegedly told the child to "lay down, bitch" while he went into the Wendy's to eat.
Castro allegedly returned to the bus, drove around for a while and then dropped the child off at the original pick up point two hours later. Police found no evidence of sexual or other assault and the case was referred to Board of Education police.
Cleveland Schools suspended Castro for 60 days for leaving the special needs child on the bus. A child abuse and neglect investigation found the child neglect charge to be "unsubstantiated."
Cleveland Schools fired Castro on Nov. 6, 2012 after Castro left his bus open, unattended and parked in the fire lane at school for four hours on Sept. 19, school records show.
"This is Mr. Castro's fourth demonstration of lack of judgment," Transportation Director Ann Carlson wrote in a letter Oct. 19 recommending Castro's termination.

subset: commoncrawl


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|September 30, 2013
|Different Types of Bank Check Fraud
|no comments
|September 30, 2013
|Keep your Profit Margin High
|no comments
Last year Utah saw one of the biggest identity theft breaches in US history when hacker stole near 780,000 medicaid records. With threats like these looming, it's difficult for any business or company to keep checkbooks or order them in their workplace because of check fraud.
Both the business and the consumer will be affected since the illegal check is not even real. Forging or creating fraudulent checks start with stealing financial documents. If a criminal gets hold of a checkbook stock or even an old check he can easily manipulate the image via computer editing and have it passed off as real. It is important for businesses to store checks without any financial information printed on them so that if they are stolen, your bank account information will not be compromised.
Forgery can come in the form of a stolen check. Besides copying somebody's signature it's also considered forgery to issue a check without proper authorization. Criminals might also use false identification just to be able to make an exchange at the bank.
Paperhanging is something that people do with closed accounts. They might pay, re-order or purposely write checks based on closed accounts. It's considered bank check fraud because the recipients of the check won't know that it's an invalid check until they find out at the bank. It's basically cheating on another person and it's considered illegal.
Check kitting is a type of loophole in most banking systems. Some criminals will open accounts at more than one bank. When the bank gives out available funds during "float time" the criminal would simply create inaccurate checks. This is like paperhanging but may be harder to notice because the damage is spread across multiple banks.
The most common of all types of bank check fraud is counterfeiting and alteration. Criminals will fabricate a check by means of a scanner, a specific type of software and high-grade laser printer. Checks can be altered too with the use of chemicals like acetone. Liquids like this can erase handwriting and some printed information on checks. Criminals can either change the written amount or date on an old check.
Many banks suffer greatly from these types of scams, especially business owners. The hassle of having to report the issue brings more expenses and takes up more time when you could have been working, or better yet, taking a break at home. To avoid fraud, focus on investing in check stock which does not have pre-printed account information, or use accounts payable automation. To learn more about check fraud click here.
During these troubled financial times it can be hard to keep your profit margin high. One way to do it is to get more work done without adding more labor costs. This can be accomplished by merging jobs. Train your employees to do more than one task. This way, when they are finished with their current task, they can help out in a different area. This is a small part of what is called lean manufacturing, and it's becoming an important businesses asset for accountable care organizations, consulting firms, and manufacturers.
Consider for a moment a machine that needs some work done to it. Normally, the people who need that machine to perform their duties get a break. They are still on the clock and being paid, but not producing anything. Teach them to work with other machines or even in different departments and they can continue to be productive. You could even have them doing some cleaning or janitorial work. anything that keeps them doing something so they are not being paid to do nothing. And modern VoIP technology means that it's easier than ever for employees to work remotely.
Many employees will enjoy being able to be trained elsewhere. This gives them more to put on a resume and more experience if they should ever need to look for work. Some may scoff at the idea of doing something they feel is beneath them, but you can gently remind them the reason they are needed elsewhere is because the person that normally does that has been laid-off.
In the office, there are many jobs that can be accomplished by one person. A receptionist can file or type up correspondence when not busy on the phones.
Make sure payroll is handled as much as possible by supervisors so the payroll department can save time and possibly help out in another accounting area.
Having people trained to do more than one job does not mean you will have to be letting others go. It just means that you will be able to shift around your employees to where they are most needed at that time. This will save time and money in the long run. it will also increase production and allow for larger and more sales. That will mean more job security for everyone.


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Regulations and Procedures Governing the Doctoral Dissertation
The dissertation is the culmination of a candidate's program. All PhD candidates are required to complete an original dissertation that makes a significant contribution to the existing knowledge in their field. If dissertation research involves humans, approval must be obtained from the WLU Research Ethics Board; if it involves animals, approval must be obtained from the WLU Animal Care Committee (details are available from the WLU Office of Research Services).
In order that the dissertation may be subject to the scholarly criticism of all members of the university community, it is placed on display in the Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies Office two weeks prior to the oral defence. Also, the oral defence is open to any member of the university community.
See also Doctoral Dissertation Guidelines
Each Dissertation Advisory Committee (DAC) must consist of:
After the candidate has completed the requirements for the comprehensive examination(s) or paper(s), and in consultation with the candidate, the DA recommends the members of the DAC to the graduate coordinator/ program director (the required documentation requesting advisory committee approval is available on the web). Once the DAC has been approved by the graduate coordinator/program director or the appropriate committee within the academic unit/program, approval of the dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (or Principal Dean and Registrar, WLS, as applicable) must also be obtained (the graduate coordinator/program director is required to forward the documentation to the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for approval). All members of the DAC must review and approve the dissertation proposal. All members of the DAC must also review a complete draft of the dissertation prior to the oral defence and verify that it is ready to go forward for defence.
The Dissertation Examination Committee (DEC) must consist of all the members of the DAC and an external examiner who is "arm's length" from the candidate and the DA (see the next two sections, and Guidelines for Determining "Arm's Length" of External Examiners, below). If the DAC does not include a member who is from outside the academic unit/program of the candidate, such a person must be nominated and approved for membership on the DEC no later than when the external examiner is nominated (this person would then function as an "internal/external" examiner).
Note: Although there is allowance for flexibility across academic units/programs with regard to whether a faculty member from outside the academic unit/program of the candidate is a member of the DAC as well as the DEC or is appointed only to the DEC as an "internal/external" examiner, there must be consistency within academic units/programs in this regard.
Completion of the Dissertation Defence Form by the DAC: Proposing Three Dates and Three Potential External Examiners for the Oral Defence
After all of the DAC members have agreed that the dissertation is ready for defense, they and the candidate must complete the pertinent sections of, and sign, the PhD Dissertation Defence form. The PhD Dissertation Defence form includes the nomination of three potential external examiners, the nomination of an "internal/external" examiner (if there is not already a member of the DAC from outside the academic unit/program of the candidate), and the determination of three proposed dates for the oral defence.
In the determination of proposed dates for the oral defence, it must be kept in mind that it may take two to three weeks to confirm one of the proposed external examiners as a suitable and willing nominee, and that copies of the dissertation, along with the PhD Dissertation Defence form, must be submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies at least seven weeks in advance of the defence. Thus, proposed dates for the defence should be at least nine to ten weeks from when committee members sign the PhD Dissertation Defence form and make proposals for the external examiners.
When it is necessary to nominate an "internal/external" examiner, the DAC should ensure that this person is a member of the Graduate Faculty of the university, has expertise related to the subject of the dissertation, is willing to serve in this capacity, and is available to attend the oral defence on the proposed dates. Although the "internal/external" examiner is not required to submit a written report on the dissertation, this person should be informed that if he or she has any significant concerns about the quality of the dissertation this should be communicated to the DA prior to the defence.
Determination of One Nominee for External Examiner and Submission of the Dissertation and the Dissertation Defence Form to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies
It is the responsibility of the academic unit/program of the candidate to determine one nominee for external examiner who is willing and available to serve in this capacity. Normally, this is done either by the DA or the graduate coordinator/program director. Those nominated as external examiners should be contacted one by one, in the order of preference indicated by the DAC, until one of the nominees has agreed to the nomination. The potential external examiner(s) should be:
Once a nominee for external examiner has been determined, the final section of the PhD Dissertation Defence form should be completed and a current CV obtained from the nominee should be attached. Then, at least seven weeks prior to the anticipated defence date, the PhD Dissertation Defence form and three copies of the dissertation must be submitted to the Office of the dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies. It should also be ensured that all members of the DAC, and where appropriate, the "internal/external" examiner, have received a copy of the dissertation. The candidate is responsible for ensuring that the dissertation is submitted in the format required by the current WLU Thesis Format Guidelines.
Confirmation of the External Examiner and Scheduling of the Oral Defence by the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies
The dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies will review the information submitted about the proposed external examiner to ensure that he or she is a suitable nominee (and where necessary, the dean will also approve the appointment of the "internal/external" examiner). The dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies will then contact the nominee for external examiner to:
Once the external examiner is confirmed, the Office of the dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies will:
An external examiner must be at "arm's length" from the candidate and the DA. Arm's length means not being a close friend, a regular or current collaborator, a former supervisor, or a former colleague. It also means not being in a conflict-of-interest position with regard to the candidate or DA and not having a vested interest in the outcome of the oral defence.
The defence is normally of two to three hours duration and is conducted by an impartial chairperson (the dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, or delegate).
Procedures for When a DEC Member Cannot Attend the Dissertation Defence
It is expected that all members of the DEC will attend the dissertation defence, either in person or via teleconference or videoconference. In the unusual event that one member of the DEC knows in advance that he or she cannot attend the defence, he or she must submit a written report, with questions and a preliminary vote (per the decision categories), to the dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies at least one week before the defence. The dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies will ask the chair or a member of the DAC to read the questions of the absent member during the rounds of questioning in the defence and to share the preliminary vote of the absent member during the "in camera" committee deliberations. Only if the absent member is the external examiner will the preliminary vote count toward the decision. If two or more members of the DEC inform the dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies in advance that they cannot attend the oral defence, it may be rescheduled.
In the case of an unexpected absence of the chair or a DEC member, the person who is going to be delayed or who cannot attend must, if possible, telephone the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (ext. 3127) as soon as possible. If any member of the DEC will be delayed not more than one hour, the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies will inform the chair, the candidate, and the other DEC members that the defense will be delayed for this period of time. If a DEC member is unable to attend, questions to be addressed to the candidate are to be dictated over the telephone, along with a confidential vote (per the decision categories).
If the chair or a DEC member do not appear for the defence and do not contact the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies within one-half hour, or when the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies has been notified of the chair's or DEC member's unexpected inability to attend, the following procedures are to be implemented:
The examination is to be postponed and re-scheduled as soon as possible only if the candidate or two or more members of the DEC do not appear.
Any member of the university community is entitled to attend the defence, but the chair has the authority to exclude persons whose conduct disturbs the defence procedures. Non-members of the university community may attend but must receive the permission of the candidate, the DA, and the chair of the defence.
1. Once all members of the DEC are present, the chair will ask the candidate and all other attendees to leave the room. The chair will then conduct an "in camera" meeting to:
a) remind the members that the candidate is being examined on both the written dissertation and the oral defence;
The chair will then invite the candidate and other attendees back into the room and inform them of the procedures that have been decided upon.
2. The chair will ask the candidate to present an oral summary of the dissertation (15-20 minutes) to begin the defence.
3. The chair will ask the external examiner to commence the rounds of questioning (in the absence of the external examiner, the chair will ask his or her questions).
4. When the members of the DEC have no further questions, the chair will offer other attendees an opportunity to direct questions to the candidate.
5. Upon the conclusion of all questions, the chair will ask the candidate and others to leave the room. The dean of Graduate Studies, the dean of the candidate's faculty, the departmental chair, and the graduate coordinator/ program director are permitted to stay and observe the "in camera" deliberations of the DEC; however, they may not participate in the discussion except by invitation and they have no vote.
6. The chair will conduct an "in camera" meeting of the DEC to:
a) summarize the decision categories (see below);
7. The Chair will then invite the candidate back into the room and:
a) inform the candidate of the committee's decision;
Note: The defence is public and the chair has the responsibility to ensure that high standards of conduct are exercised by those in attendance. Thus, the chair has the right to exclude persons whose conduct disturbs the defence or to stop and reschedule the defence, if necessary.
Voting Procedures
If all but one member of the DEC agree on a decision category (see below), the decision shall be that of the majority. Where two dissenting votes are cast, discussion must continue to arrive at a decision on which there is consensus (i.e., no more than one dissenting vote). When consensus is reached, all members of the DEC should sign the Record of Dissertation Defence form. As discussed above, if a DEC member is absent but has provided a preliminary vote, this vote will be shared with the committee during the in-camera deliberations, but the vote will count in the determination of a decision only if it is that of the external examiner.
Decision Categories for the Dissertation Defence
The following are the decision categories that are available to the DEC:
Note: If the examining committee is not prepared to reach a decision at the time of the dissertation defense, it is the responsibility of the chair to determine what additional information is required by the committee to reach a decision, to arrange to obtain this information for the committee, and to call another meeting of the committee as soon as the required information is available. It is also the responsibility of the chair to inform the candidate about the delay.
The criteria for nominating a candidate for a Medal for Academic Excellence are:
Academic & Related Dates 2015/2016
Other Calendars


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This honor roll was installed in Derry, New Hampshire's MacGregor Park, next to the public library. There are honor rolls nearby for each military conflict since World War I. I'm sure that since the onflicts in the Middle East are still on-going, more names will be added in the near future.
Names list from Top to Bottom (not alphabetical):
Daniel Dawe
Colleen Manning
Robert Hoaglund
Ian James
Eric Pierce
Barbara Strangman
Edmund Keefe
Joseph Cunningham
Erik Jerome
Bryan Boucher
Daniel Forseman
Gary Belcher
Joseph Perry
Joel Cameron
Eric Bausewein
Shamus LaFrance
James Bebeau
Joseph Weaver
Cory Beaudoin
William Vachon
Landon Olbright
Michael Rabe
Jonathan Bell
Justin Reichard
Scott Granacki
Lucas Hodgkins
Andrew Dimarca
James Goss
Michael Perry
Leszek Rompa
Adam Svenson
Chad Dowden
Michael Curran
Clyde Clark, Jr.
Justin Morrison
Matthew Zolla
Bernard Madore
Ernest Littlewood, IV
Richard Hunter
William McCarthy
Donald Ash
Melissa Young
Kyle Zingo
Johnathan Bulman
* Michael Geary
Brian Granacki
Nathan Oullette
Wendi Massaglia
Frank Gorman
Michael Mullen
John Pilvelis
David Bolton
Henry Miller, III
Robert Metts
Nathan Safron
Timothy Fahey
Marc-Damian Hartley
Anthony Rossignol
Brandon Page
Brian Kendall
Timothy Weaver
Kelsey-Lyn McNaney
Charles Occhipinti, III
James Erickson
Robert Lee
Joseph Bisson
Christopher Bouchard
Michael Denapoli
Michael Hamlin
Michael Desrosiers
Aaron Chapple
Abel Emanuelli
Michael Massaglia
Ryan Scheibert
Jeremy Dugan
Thomas Healy
Stephen Langelier, Jr.
Daniel Cervantes
Christopher Settle
* died in service
A complete list of transcribed honor rolls
See the list of Derry WW1 veteran's from the memorial honor roll
Derry's veterans of Lebanon, Panama, Granada and the Persian Gulf Wars
Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo


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Discrimination Complaint - Fair Housing
Document Number: ERD-10240
Description: This form should be used to file a Fair Housing Complaint.
Comments: This form must be signed by complainant or representative.
Content Contact: Equal Rights Information
Document Attachments:
ERD-10240 (pdf/17 KB)
ERD-10240-S (Spanish pdf/34 KB)
*** If you need to access this form in an alternate format, please send an email to the Content Contact listed above.
*** Should you require the necessary software to view the above attachment, please go to the DWD Viewers Download Page. Links to each specific vendor's site have been provided for you. Thank you.


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SKY REPORTER: October 2012
by Steve Beyer on
Sky Data
Monday October first, sunrise is at 6:53 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time. That evening the Sun, located in the constellation Virgo, sets at 6:37 p.m.
Monday October 15 sunrise is at 7:07 and sunset occurs that day at 6:15 p.m.
The last day of this month Wednesday the 31th, the Sun is in Libra rising at 7:25 a.m. and setting at 5:53 that evening. During October the daily duration of daylight decreases by one hour and 17 minutes. The altitude of the Sun at solar noon descends during October from 46 degrees of arc on the first to 35 degrees on the 31st.
Average overnight temperatures recorded in Central Park during October drop from 55 degrees Fahrenheit on the first to 46 degrees on the last day of the month.
Principal Phases of the Moon are:
|Last Quarter
|October 8
|New Moon
|October 15
|First Quarter
|October 21
|Full Moon
|October 29
Sky Cast
The expressions "morning star" and "evening star" don't refer to actual stars such as Vega or Sirius, but instead are traditional descriptions for planets that are above the horizon at either sunrise or sunset on a particular date.
On October first, Jupiter and Venus are the morning stars, and evening stars are Mercury, Mars, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. On that date Mercury sets during dusk at 7:10 pm, 33 minutes after sunset. The waning gibbous Moon, with its disk 97% illuminated and generally indistinguishable to casual observers from the Full Moon two days earlier, rises at 7:12 p.m. Saturn drops beneath the western horizon at 7:35, followed by Mars at 8:36. Jupiter rises at 9:47 p.m. Early the following morning, Venus rises at 3:23 a.m. Neptune sets at 3:44 a.m. and Uranus dips beneath the horizon at 6:44, shortly before sunrise.
During the last week of September, an image showing the furthest view of the Universe ever seen was released by NASA. It depicts about 5,500 galaxies including many that formed 13.2 billion years ago, relatively soon after the origin of the Universe in the Big Bang.
Thursday October 4, at about 3:30 a.m., the Moon is just south of the beautiful Pleiades open star cluster in the constellation Taurus. Following an imaginary line from that cluster past the Moon, onward toward the south point of the horizon, brings you past fourth magnitude star Tau4 in the constellation Eridanus then by third magnitude Acamar in Fornax. A minute portion of sky (about the apparent size as the Moon's Mare Crisium when seen from Earth) is located about four and a half degrees of arc from Acamar, seven degrees from Tau4, and 22 degrees above the horizon. It marks the area portrayed in NASA's digital picture, that was produced by stacking more than 2,000 separate images taken at various times over the past ten years, then assembled by the Hubble eXtreme Deep Field (XDF) project. Two Hubble cameras: the Advanced Camera for Surveys and the Wide Field Camera 3, sensitive to near-infrared light, were used in this endeavor.
As days of autumn pass, the site of the XDF image arrives at its location over the south horizon point about a half hour earlier with each passing week.
The nights of Thursday October 4 and Friday the 5th, the waning Moon is near Jupiter between the horns of Taurus. For those who have never had the experience of pointing to that giant planet, these proximities provide good guidance for having that experience.
The great planet with its four largest moons: Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, is one of the finest sights in any telescope, and these objects are sufficiently bright to hold their own against the glare of nearby moonlight. At eleven p.m. on the evening of October 4, the Jovian moons are arrayed with Callisto and Io to the east of Jupiter's disk with Europa and Ganymede to the west (the side of Jupiter nearest the Moon that night). The following evening at the same time, we may see that the Moon is then to the east (left) of Jupiter. A telescope will show that the Jovian moons have moved noticeably in the span of just one day. On the night of the 5th, relatively slow moving Callisto remains quite far to the east of the planet, but Europa, rather than Io, is now to the east of Jupiter's disk. Ganymede remains to the west having been joined on that side of the planet by fast orbiting Io, located further westward from the disk.
The four largest moons of Jupiter were among the first astounding sights that greeted the eyes of Galileo after he turned his little 20 magnification telescope to the sky late in 1609. Io and Europa are about the same size as Earth's Moon, while Ganymede (the Solar System's largest satellite), and slightly smaller Callisto are about one and a half times the Moon's diameter.
Early on the morning of Friday October 12, the thin 11% illuminated waning crescent Moon is above the east-southeastern horizon, six degrees to the right of Venus.
At the end of civil twilight about 6:45 p.m. on the evening of Wednesday October 17, the thin two day old waxing crescent Moon may be seen ten degrees of arc above the southwestern horizon, and ten degrees to the lower right of Mars, which shines in the constellation Scorpius with magnitude 1.24.
Saturday October 20 at about seven p.m., the waxing crescent Moon is in Sagittarius five degrees of arc to the east (left) of the dwarf planet Pluto, which has visual magnitude 14.
The evenings of October 24 and 25 the waxing gibbous Moon is about 25 degrees of arc north of first magnitude star Fomalhaut located in the constellation Piscis Austrinus.
On the last day of October, the morning stars are Venus and Saturn, with evening stars being Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Neptune, and Uranus. During the evening twilight of Halloween, Mercury sets at 6:46 p.m. The 96% illuminated waning gibbous Moon rises at 7:02 p.m. and Mars sets at 7:54, followed beneath the western horizon by Neptune at 12:44 a.m. Venus rises at 4:27a.m., Uranus sets at 4:40, and Saturn rises at 6:55 just before the Sun appears above the horizon.
Sky Lore
Fomalhaut is not only the brightest star in Piscis Austrinus, it is the brightest star in a large portion of the southern sky seen during evenings of October. Located about 70 degrees from the Galactic equator, Fomalhaut is significantly south of concentrated dust and gas in the Milky Way's plane, location of the Galaxy's most active star formation sites. Piscis Austrinus, representing the Southern Fish, is part of a sky region featuring a number of constellations with watery associations including Aquarius, and Cetus, the Sea Creature.
The mouth of the Southern Fish is represented by Fomalhaut, sometimes depicted in classic star atlases as catching water spilling from the jar of Aquarius. These aquatic constellations are traditionally known as part of the Celestial Sea, a designation suggested by the presence of the Sun among these stars during the northern hemisphere's spring season, when melting snows fill waterways with above average flows.


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-1 cup powdered milk
-2 tbsp. cocoa powder
-2 capfuls unscented bubble bath
Mix milk and cocoa together. Pour half of mixture under running bathwater. Follow with one capful of bubble bath. Repeat, and get ready to relax in chocolate heaven!
Benefits: Milk hydrates the skin, while cocoa tones and oxygenates, leaving skin glowing. You'll smell great, too!
HG Fun Fact! Research says the smell of chocolate may fool the brain and eliminate cravings. So next time you are jonesin' for a choco-fix, dive into this sea of chocolate instead!
HG Tip! Still hankerin' for a chocolate treat? Try one of Jell-O's Sugar Free, Reduced Calorie Pudding Snacks. They have just 60 calories each.
-2 tbsp. plain oatmeal
-1/2 cup peach yogurt
-2 tbsp. honey
- splash of milk
Mix oatmeal into yogurt and allow it to soften for a few minutes. Stir in honey. Add milk until a thick and creamy texture is reached. Spread mixture onto your face and let sit for 10 minutes (until slightly stiff). Rinse off with water, and enjoy your baby-soft and yummy-smelling skin!
Benefits: Oatmeal attacks and washes away dead skin, while the honey, milk, and yogurt moisturize.
HG Tip! With only 130 calories and 2.5g of fat, Peaches & Cream Quaker Instant Oatmeal makes a great breakfast or anytime snack!
-1/2 cup freshly ground coffee beans (try a flavored blend like hazelnut-vanilla)
-1/2 cup buttermilk
-2 tbsp. olive oil
Combine all ingredients and stir or shake well. Add more oil for a thicker mixture. Use this creamy and fragrant body scrub in the shower to jump start your morning. But remember, buttermilk is perishable, so don't store this yummy stuff in the shower!
Benefits: Coffee exfoliates and the caffeine wakes up tired skin. Buttermilk sooths and smoothes, while the oil will leave your skin unbelievably soft and silky.
HG Fun Fact! Coffee was originally used for medicinal purposes, treating everything from heart disease to fevers and coughs. It wasn't until people started craving the caffeine-buzz "side-effect," that coffee took on the hot beverage form we know and love today!
HG Tip! For a guiltless but satisfying coffee treat, indulge in one of Starbucks' 35-calorie Iced Coffee Italian Roast Light drinks. This stuff is available at supermarkets, so you don't have to wait in coffee lines or use words like "venti."
Today, August 10th, is National S'mores Day. Make yours guilt-free (and tiny!) by using Nabisco 100 Calorie Packs Honey Maid Cinnamon Thin Crisps, mini marshmallows and some chocolate chips.
Share these calorie-free beauty recipes with EVERYONE. Click "send to a friend" NOW!
For a printable text-only version of this email, click here.


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Octavia Spencer Oscars Dress: Inside Her Journey with Go-To Designer Tadashi Shoji [PHOTOS]
When stars strut the red carpet to be photographed by members of the media where they will inevitably be judged by fashion pundits and fans, it is easy to overlook the designers, who create not just beautiful, but artful, dresses and gowns for celebrities to wear. For the Kentucky Derby of awards ceremonies - the Oscars - in terms of fashion, the focus is more on the Hollywood heavy-hitters, or newcomers to the ceremony, like Octavia Spencer, who won her first Academy Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role for The Help.
"Get a great designer because you don't know if you're going to be on TV or not," Spencer told On The Red Carpet after her win.
But vying to be the best dressed, Spencer turned to not just a great designer, but to her favorite designer, Tadashi Shoji, whom she has worked with all season for the many awards ceremonies she attended for her role as Minny Jackson in The Help.
Shoji, a prominent designer of women's clothing and dresses, is a coveted celebrity favorite, having dressed A-listers from Helen Mirren to Blake Lively on countless occasions. However, Shoji said the relationship that he and Spencer have fostered over the course of her career -- which has skyrocketed since her role in The Help -- has a special dynamic like no other celebrity he has created designs for.
"It's not so often this kind of chemistry [exists]," Shoji told me of his relationship with Spencer. "When we design, some people take it for granted. She was really appreciative and I appreciate her generosity and also her appreciation. It's real, real mutual."
Shoji said Spencer first contacted him in August last year for her first awards show for the season, which he made a dress especially for her. Then Spencer started picking up dresses more often and eventually adopted Tadashi Shoji as her go-to designer.
"For all of the shows, she was wearing my dresses," Shoji told IBTimes, emanating an emotion of utter happiness.
Then in January, while he was shuttling back and forth from China, where his dresses are made, to the U.S. in preparation of his show at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York for February, Spencer caught a glimpse of a sketch he was working on and fell in love.
"She saw my sketch and she loved my design," Shoji said of the dress she wore to the Oscars. "Just one sketch, that's it. It was just a sketch, a fabric swatch, in a pale cream color" seen throughout his Spring 2011 collection.
"She told me she liked that color so I picked that color," Shoji said.
Shoji crafted the foundation of Spencer's Oscar dress, a simple high necked sheath with draping in a pale cream color, for the first fitting. Spencer fawned over the dress, which was incomplete at the time in its first stages, sans handmade beading embellishments.
"We did a fitting and that time she cried," Shoji said. "Without beading, just for the draping of the dress. She literally cried."
As a team, Spencer and Shoji crafted the beading design, which Shoji said flattered her figure perfectly, during that fitting.
"She was so excited. Her stylist was giggling about how it was so, so pretty. [Everyone] was giggling and smiling because it was so pretty on her. So happy," Shoji said.
The last time I spoke to Tadashi Shoji was backstage moments before his show at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York, where he was quite elusive about his plans to dress celebrities for the Oscars.
"Oh jinx, if I name them I think that they, before, they may not wear, so I cannot say," Shoji said backstage in February. "Surprise, surprise, surprise!"
Turns out that all along, he was collaborating with Spencer for the Oscars, which comes as no surprise as she wore designs by Tadashi Shoji for the Golden Globes, the BAFTAs, the Critic's Choice awards and the SAGs, to name a few.
While the design process with Spencer was so easy, as Shoji puts it, problems arose when it was being handmade in China. According to Shoji, just ten days before the Oscars, the company they utilized to ship the dress from China, where Shoji's workers stitched the beading details on one-by-one, had an error in tracking its shipments overseas.
"For three days we couldn't locate our dress from Shanghai. I was so nervous," Shoji said.
Luckily, Spencer saw the dress digitally and fell in love.
"They showed to Octavia just pictures...in China on the mannequin and she loved that one because of all the beading on the finished one. So she kissed the pictures. That time I figured, 'Oh we are safe.'"
Finally the dress arrived in time for the big day and Spencer, true to form, loved Shoji's design.
"She really loved it when she put it on. She literally cried and hugged me," Shoji said. "She was very sweet about it."
Spencer topped many of the best dressed at the Oscars lists, including The Telegraph, Perez Hilton, and E!'s Fashion Police, to name a few.
"She wore my dress and she looked so pretty and everybody in the media was saying she's one of the best dressed," Shoji said of the dress paired with Jimmy Choo shoes, a Judith Leiber clutch and Neil Lane jewelry. "I was so fortunate to design for her."
After the Oscars, Shoji posted a photo to his Twitter account showing him celebrating with a cake in the theme of The Help and a bottle of champagne, though he says he usually doesn't drink alcohol.
"She gave us a special champagne and she asked me, 'You have to drink for me if I win.' So we opened the bottle and we celebrated," he said.
And dressing Octavia Spencer was not only a pleasure for Tadashi Shoji, but her endorsement has helped his business, as well. According to Shoji, his phone has been ringing off the hook from buyers.
"All over the world, we have international customers calling us asking what price. We haven't decided a price yet because it is one-of-a-kind," he said about Spencer's dress. "They don't care about the price, they want it. So we are going to make it exactly the same style."
That style dress was more than just a beautiful dress; The sparkles were not just purposefully placed to catch the gleaming lights in photos, but to enhance Octavia Spencer's figure. Shoji said that he designed the dress specifically for Spencer, to hide problems areas while focusing the beautiful detailing on her curves, which took some alterations and changes here and there.
In fact, Tadashi Shoji is known for dressing women of all shapes, from the pin-thin models donning his designs on the runway to fuller figures like Spencer.
"No problem," he said of creating designs for women of all sizes. "Our forte, our strategy are specialty designs. We can fit any type of women. It was so easy."
Maybe it was so easy, as Shoji puts it, since the duo has worked together so many times before, which made Spencer's decision to don Tadashi Shoji a no-brainer.
"My dress chose me," Spencer told Pop Sugar before winning the award. "Tadashi Shoji is an amazing designer and he did a costume dress just for yours truly."
Speaking of winning the award, I asked Shoji if he believes in superstition when it comes to winning awards, that perhaps, while her acting talent is unarguably amazing, Spencer won so many awards and honorable mentions this season because she was so finely dressed. But Tadashi Shoji is not egotistical.
"No I don't think so. Nobody picked up so many awards for my dress," he said. "This is her acting. Her acting was great in the movie."
And as for next Oscar season, Tadashi Shoji just hopes he can emulate that chemistry he has with Octavia Spencer and wishes to dress "whoever appreciates my designs."


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Always enjoy this restaurant! You can't go wrong here. There is something for everyone on their menu
Let me start where I am coming from. When HiFalutin first opened my wife and I went and had the most horrible experience: slow, bad service, cold food, sending it back twice, and horrible wait times, in a very noisy crowded atmosphere. Even talking to the owner about the issues seem to elicit a "Meh!" attitude. So bad we walked out after 2 hours and not paying.
Fast forward maybe 8 years and for some reason my wife got spammed on their email list. Communications ensued and we were offered a gift card in an effort to try them again. OK, so we thought as they were still around after 8+ years they must have some sort of following.
We decided to go there 5:30pm Monday, the 22nd of August with friends and it was like night and day. We had a couple of happy hour $3 appetisers and then I had the $17 top sirloin steak with the wife lashing out on the $25 filet, both were cooked exactly as we asked them to be and were very tasty. The sides were good and hot, as hot food should be. Our friends both had enjoyable chicken dishes.
The service was somewhat inattentive but absolutely nothing like the abysmal service just after opening.
Would we recommend them now? Certainly and I'll stop bitching to friends about how bad they were 8 years ago :-)


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A disheveled closet can be a sore spot in any room. Fortunately, closet storage items can help you keep track of all your clothes. Expanding your bedroom furniture to include a new dresser or armoire isn't an easy solution in a small room, but efficiently organizing a cluttered closet can free up quite a bit of space without adding bulky new furniture. Kmart has affordable storage carts, drawers and portable wardrobes, offering you with many closet organization solutions to tidy everything from a child's wardrobe to a full walk-in closet.
Wicker baskets and bins offer a quaint sense of style while providing an easy solution to sorting out a closet. Closet storage drawers put jewelry and accessories in their place, and they also help to reduce the risk of delicate chains getting tangled. Hanging organizers can keep shoes, scarves and hats in one convenient place. Coordinate your closet design with the rest of your home decor to create a seamless transition from open spaces like hallways and bedrooms to storage areas.
Closets can quickly transform from organized wardrobes into piles of clothes without the right closet storage supplies. Kmart carries shelves, hangers and other closet organization items to make your space tidy and efficient.


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Lafayette Crowne Plaza • March 9-10, 2012
The short course Canoe, Explore… A Watershed Lesson & Tour! is full. The other short courses are nearing capacity so if you are interested in attending one, please contact Venise Ortego (firstname.lastname@example.com) immediately.
We'll have some VERY SPECIAL DOOR PRIZES, including the following:
• The Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries will be donating one group trip, a Nature and Birding Tour, in the White Lake Conservation Area as the grand door prize! The lucky winner & 14 of their counterparts/students/family/friends will spend a day with LDWF staff at their beautiful White Lake facility south of Gueydan! Guests will take a pontoon boat to various locations, including the birding trail, whooping crane pens (you might get to see a few!), & the infamous White Lake Lodge. (Value: $300)
• The critically endangered Whooping Crane, absent from Louisiana since the 1940s, is now being reintroduced to its native habitat in the White Lake area under the 10J Rule. We at LDWF are incredibly excited about our new Whooping Crane reintroduction program & want to share a very special experience with a few lucky educators. We are therefore offering 2 trips for 2 to see the juvenile Whooping Cranes after they arrive next December. The winners will travel by boat to a duck blind, where they will observe the cranes through scopes. They will have ample opportunity to visit with the biologists who oversee this program, getting the very latest information on the birds! A once in a lifetime opportunity! (Value: Priceless!)
And while you're in the Lafayette area…
Lafayette is a GREAT place to go for local Cajun music and fabulous food! We hope that you spend a little extra time there, enjoying what this lovely city has to offer. This link may help in your search: http://www.lafayette.travel/visitors/visitdowntown/?gclid=CNKm-rPWwa4CFdCb7QodRxoGTQ.
You may be interested in visiting the nearby Village of River Ranch, a mixed-use community incorporating a self-contained, walk able concept in the design. http://www.riverranchdev.com
If you are traveling from the north down I49, make sure to stop by the new St. Landry Parish Visitor's Center! You will be enthralled with the building and its green design!
"… it is one of the first visitor information centers in the state and the southern region that has a focus on sustainability and green construction… The landscape design plays an integral part in this project utilizing indigenous plantings and trees from St. Landry Parish, reflecting six of Louisiana's seven ecosystems."


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Richard Kelley started out his career as a fully accredited F1 photographer in 1972 at the United States Grand Prix. He quickly adopted his characteristic 'fly on the wall' style of photography – getting as close as he could to the moments, without influencing the emotion or drama of the moment. He witnessed and recorded hidden moments that became pivotal incidents in Grand Prix history.
Richard's images have sat unpublished for more than 30 years and we're proud to release these stunning limited edition prints for sale.
This photo captures Villeneuve - as described by Richard:
"No politics, no preferential treatment, no pouting… Nothing, but passion…
every race, every corner, every lap. His fans loved him for it and still revere his name to this day."
The black & white photo is professionally printed and framed with a black frame and white mount and features a hand-written limited edition number.
The framed print measures 75cm x 55cm and is protected with museum-grade perspex 'artscreen' instead of glass - you won't be able to tell the difference when it's hanging on your wall.
Limited edition of 50 prints.


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XML, XSLT and DFSORT, Part Zero - Overview
MartinPacker 11000094DH Visits (14346)
In the distant past I've written about using DFSORT to parse XML. This post (and two follow-on posts) will describe an experiment to make such processing much more robust. In this post I'll talk about what the problem I'm trying to solve is. And why. And a brief outline of my solution. About XML This isn't meant to be the most detailed description of XML, nor a complete list of where it's used. I... [More]
XML, XSLT and DFSORT, Part One - Creating A Flat File With XSLT
MartinPacker 11000094DH Visits (14436)
This is the second part of a (currently) three-part series on processing XML data with DFSORT, given a little help from standard XML processing tools. The first part - which you should read before reading on - is here . To recap, getting XML data into DFSORT is a two stage process: Flatten the XML data so that it consists of records with fields in sensible places. Process this flattened data with... [More]
XML, XSLT and DFSORT, Part Two - DFSORT
MartinPacker 11000094DH Comments (2) Visits (15293)
Following on from this post and this one , this post discusses the DFSORT piece. The DFSORT code in this post parses the Comma-Separated Variable (CSV) file produced by XSLT processing. In this simple example it merely produces a flat file report, but the post has a few additional details you might find valuable. First, here's the SORTIN DD JCL statement. It's not like a regular sequential file... [More]
XML, XSLT and DFSORT, Part Three - Multiple XML Input Files
MartinPacker 11000094DH Visits (13193)
While I was putting together the original three posts in this series a number of thoughts struck me, amongst which two really cried out for further investigation: I don't know how your XML data arrives on z/OS but quite a lot of scenarios don't have the data all as one document (file). XSLT looks complex - particularly if recursion does your head in. Thought 2 I'll deal with in a... [More]
The Best Sort Is The One You Don't Do
MartinPacker 11000094DH Visits (11234)
Have you ever had the suspicion a sort was unnecessary in your batch? I bet you have. In recent Batch Performance studies I've had the suspicion that many of the sorts are unnecessary: Either they should be merges or not done at all. But how do you prove it? But first, what do I mean by a sort not needing to be done at all? Clearly if the data is reformatted then something has to be done to... [More]
Another (Perhaps Obvious) Reason For Avoiding Unnecessary Sorts
MartinPacker 11000094DH Visits (9875)
Following on from The Best Sort Is The One You Don't Do here's another reason for eliminating sorts. I think it's worth a post in its own right. (In this post, again, I'm talking about resequencing passes over data - not copying or merging.) With a sort it's possible the last record read in might be the first record written out. So you can never overlap input and output phases. (There might... [More]
Recent Experiences With Hardware Data Compression
MartinPacker 11000094DH Comments (2) Visits (17555)
As you probably know Hardware Data Compression has been supported by MVS and IBM mainframes for around 20 years. In several recent batch studies I've conducted it's been evident in a widespread way. (In this post I'm not talking about DB2 compression of either flavour or VSAM compression - though some of the information here applies to these functions as well.) It's not as simple... [More]
Multiline Message Sifting With DFSORT
MartinPacker 11000094DH Visits (15087)
Frank Yaeger of DFSORT Development suggested I pass this tip along to y'all. It's his solution to a problem set by Brian Peterson of UnitedHealth Group... In z/OS Release 12 two new messages were introduced: IEF032I and IEF033I replace IEF374I and IEF376I. The older messages were single-line step- and job-end messages. The new ones are their multiple-line analogues: IEF032I is 3 lines and... [More]
Batch Capacity Planning, Part 2 - Memory
MartinPacker 11000094DH Visits (12705)
I can't believe it's been almost a week since I wrote Batch Capacity Planning, Part 1 - CPU . Where did the time go? Re-reading it I'm struck by the overwhelming theme of Batch's unpredictability and lumpiness. This is true of memory, as well, but to a much lesser degree. Why to a lesser degree? Well, in most systems I look at the memory usage is mostly fairly constant and dominated by big... [More]
BPXWUNIX - z/OS' Best Kept Secret?
MartinPacker 11000094DH Comments (8) Visits (28081)
Maybe you've all heard of BPXWUNIX. Maybe it's just me that hasn't. Hence the question mark in the title. Seriously, I doubt this REXX function is as widely known about as it should be. And this post hopes to illustrate a little of its value. Suppose you're writing a REXX program with a stem variable in it. Suppose you want to sort the strings in the stem variable: You might write your own... [More]
I Said "Parallelise Not "Paralyse" Part 4 - Implementation
MartinPacker 11000094DH Visits (12989)
Now with free map , this is the concluding part of a four part series on batch parallelisation, with especial focus on cloning. In previous parts I discussed: Motivation Classification Issues This part wraps up with thoughts on implementation. I'm going to break it down into: Analysis Making Changes Monitoring While there probably are iterations of this, this is the essential 1-2-3 sequence within... [More]
Another Way Of Looking At CICS Monitor Trace Data
MartinPacker 11000094DH Visits (12114)
The CICS Monitor Trace SMF Record (Type 110) has got to be one of the most complicated SMF records in existence - and for good reason. Which is precisely why I'm not going to attempt to process the raw records in my code. (And why PMCICS doesn't support releases after a certain point.) But the "and for good reason" hints at the fact I think this is a tremendously valuable type of... [More]
Square Roots In DFSORT
MartinPacker 11000094DH Visits (13811)
DFSORT's Arithmetic operators can do many things but the one thing they can't do is take the square root of a number. You might think that's minor but it means you can't calculate a Standard Deviation. (Variance is fine but dimensionally not so nice when used in conjunction with the Mean.) And I needed Standard Deviation in a real live customer situation. So I set out to "roll my... [More]
DSECTs To DFSORT Symbols
MartinPacker 11000094DH Comments (2) Visits (16468)
It's said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. In this Social Media age I'd say indirection comes a pretty close second. Indeed there's a nice term for it: "link love". Standard advice is not to just post links to the content of others. In reality the word "just" should probably be inserted: Don't just post links to the content of others. In that vein I want to... [More]
Flash Saviour Of The Universe?
MartinPacker 11000094DH Visits (13079)
When I first heard of Flash Express as part of the zEC12 announcement - some time before announcement - I thought of one use case above all, and one of particularly poignant resonance with some of my readers: Dump capture amelioration. Then, in the marketing materials, I heard of others. And the discussions have grown more numerous recently. So it's time I expressed (pardon the pun) my... [More]
Alternate Macro Libraries - Part 2
MartinPacker 11000094DH Comments (4) Visits (20312)
First, I'm indebted to Ray Mullins for his help in figuring out how to solve the problems I identified as remaining in Alternate Macro Libraries: A Way To Document Assembler Tables . Indeed he wrote a very handy blog post of his own: Wrapping your own macro code around vendor-supplied macros without changing source This post, to summarise, shows how you can use the OPSYN instruction to create... [More]
Data Collection Requirements
MartinPacker 11000094DH Visits (12955)
Over the years I've written emails with data collection requirements dozens of times, with varying degrees of clarity. It would be better, wouldn't it, to write it once. I don't think I can get out of the business of writing such emails entirely but here's a goodly chunk of it. Another thing that struck me is that the value of some types of data has increased enormously... [More]


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Toni Braxton is considering posing for Playboy and Access Hollywood got all the semi-racy details from the singer-turned-new reality star!
"Playboy asked me to grace them, and I'm really excited. I'm really flattered that they thought I was sexy enough," Toni told Access following the "Braxton Family Values" panel at the WE TV portion of the 2011 Winter TCA press in Pasadena, Calif., on Friday.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Bunnies Who Made It Big In Hollywood
U.S. & World
The day's top national and international news.
"I'm considering it. I haven't said yes," the financially troubled singer explained. "It's not a done deal, but when I say, yes, I will let everyone know – if I say yes."
The six-time Grammy winner told Access she won't bare all in the men's magazine – if she decides to model.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Stars Go Naked For PETA
"It will be tasteful, not the whole V, no V actually!" Toni continued. "No V, but definitely the alphabets, maybe a little T, a little A, maybe, if I did it."
When it comes to showing off her body, the 43-year-old said age is not a factor.
"I feel good about myself. I've lived, I'm a mom, I still feel sexy. I don't think it's over when you're a mom. I don't think exposing your body has an age on it," she told Access.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Tax Troubled Celebs
She also noted that her recent bankruptcy would not be a motivation to get naked.
"I wouldn't do Playboy for the money, I would do it for myself," she added.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Hollywood's Hottest Moms & Their Loveable Little Ones
The singer first Tweeted about possibly posing for the magazine earlier this week. Her new reality series, "Braxton Family Values," debuts on WE TV in April.
Copyright 2011 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Related Content from AccessHollywood.com:
PLAY IT NOW: Access Express: April 8, 2008
PLAY IT NOW: Is Holly Madison Happy About Hugh Hefner's Recent Engagement?
More from Access: [ Toni Braxton Playboy TV One ]


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Editorial: Obamacare enrollment figures are good, bad and irrelevant
The monthly announcement of Obamcare's enrollment figures has become an exercise in confirmation bias, starting with the administration itself. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius noted the "encouraging trends" in Wednesday's release, while House Speaker John Boehner opted to highlight its "embarrassing failures."
With just two months to go before the end of the Affordable Care Act's open-enrollment period, this kind of back-and-forth is a partisan indulgence. What matters is whether the law is helping more Americans get affordable health insurance — a goal all sides claim to support.
On that score, more than 1.1 million people signed up for insurance coverage on the law's state exchanges last month, bringing total enrollment to 3.3 million. That's the good news, and about halfway to the government's initial projections of covering 7 million Americans by the end of March.
On the other hand, not enough of these new customers are young and healthy, and it's unclear how many of those gaining coverage didn't have it before.
Why does this matter? Because younger enrollees are cheaper, and they help balance the risk pool. One-quarter of new enrollees are ages 18 to 34, below the 40 percent threshold the administration at first said was necessary to keep premiums steady. Moreover, 55 percent of enrollees are women, who are generally more expensive to insure than men, mostly because of maternity care.
The only debate worth having is how to improve enrollment. If not enough people sign up, or the mix of beneficiaries isn't quite right, it could lead to higher premiums down the road, pushing people away from buying coverage and making the law less effective.
In other words, what matters now is how to persuade more young people, especially young men, to sign up for health insurance before March 31. What has the administration learned in the first fourth months of open enrollment? What works and what doesn't? Everything else is beside the point.
The administration is already pushing hard, and its efforts have come in for a fair amount of ridicule: ads featuring cats, for example, to get more women to sign up, and the much-maligned "pajama boy," whose appeal was to … actually it's not clear who he was trying to appeal to. At any rate, a little ridicule is a small price to pay if these attempts result in higher enrollment. Republican state officials might also do more to promote the law, futile as it may be to point that out.
Contrary to what you may have read, enrollment numbers for Obamacare aren't some referendum on the president's popularity or lack thereof. They're the best way to tell whether the law is working as planned — and how to adjust if it isn't.
Editorial courtesy of Bloomberg View, www.Bloomberg.com/view


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A Hidden Life
It's one of the year's best and most distinctive movies, though sure to be divisive, even alienating for some viewers, in the manner of nearly…
It's one of the year's best and most distinctive movies, though sure to be divisive, even alienating for some viewers, in the manner of nearly…
Bombshell is both light on its feet and a punch in the gut.
Roger Ebert on James Ivory's "Howards End".
"The Ballad of Narayama" is a Japanese film of great beauty and elegant artifice, telling a story of startling cruelty. What a space it opens…
An article about today's noon premiere of a new movie about architect Benjamin Marshall at the Gene Siskel Film Center.
An article about the screening of Horace Jenkins' "Cane River" on Friday, November 1st, at the Academy Film Archive in Los Angeles.
Scout Tafoya's video essay series about maligned masterpieces celebrates Steven Soderbergh's Solaris.
An article about today's noon premiere of a new movie about architect Benjamin Marshall at the Gene Siskel Film Center.
An FFC on Gavin Hood's Official Secrets.
A celebration of Yasujiro Ozu, as written by a Far Flung Correspondent from Egypt.
A tribute to the Oscar nominated character actor, Danny Aiello.
Our contributors share their Top 10 lists for the best films of 2019.
The title "Middle of Nowhere" describes two of its main characters. Ruby, a nurse on the night shift, has put her life on hold to make four-hour round trips to Derek, her husband, who is serving an eight-year prison sentence. The title also describes Derek, who is not only in prison but lacking a moral compass. "I just got caught up in things," he tells Ruby, trying to apologize. He seems to think of himself as a passive victim.
Ruby is played in a star-making performance by Emayatzy Corinealdi, previously best known for the TV soap "The Young and the Restless." We learn that Ruby was in med school when she married Derek, and we're given some glimpses of their happiness (as in a standard scene of them cooking together). When Derek is sentenced to prison (for reasons that are withheld at first and then never fully explained), she drops out of school to devote herself to his life and morale. This is a decision sharply criticized by her mother, Ruth (Lorraine Toussaint). Her mother is correct.
This becomes clear during Derek's parole hearing, when Ruby learns disturbing things about his time in prison. Her lonely life, her long bus trips and her empty house have built up a sad weight that comes into play when she meets a kind of gentle bus driver named Brian (David Oyelowo). They slowly, tentatively start seeing each other.
"Middle of Nowhere" is the second film directed by Ava DuVernay, whose "I Will Follow" (2011) was the story, much admired by me, of a woman who packs up the belongings of her just-deceased aunt who was a mentor and inspiration. How many people, now dead, have you wanted to ask questions you should have asked when they were alive?
DuVernay also is the founder of the African-American Film Festival Releasing Movement, a collective formed to support and distribute serious black films. Its second film was the great Rwandan drama "Kinyarwanda," shown this year at Ebertfest.
"Middle of Nowhere" isn't a highly charged drama, as you might have gathered. Most of the action takes place within the mind of a lonely woman. That's why Corinealdi is so effective in the lead. Yes, she's beautiful, but this film isn't about her beauty. It's about Ruby's stubborn and undeserved loyalty to a husband who lacks anything like her strength. Even in the film's calm, gentle romantic scenes with Oyelowo, Corinealdi brings a grave dignity.
Also effective are the performances of Lorraine Toussaint as her mother and Edwina Findley as Rosie, her sister. Ruth is sharp-tongued and critical, and although she speaks the truth, it has the effect of alienating her daughters. One thing Ruby doesn't need right now is having the hopelessness of her situation pounded into her.
Note: Ava DuVernay won the best director award at Sundance 2012.
The best films of 2019, as chosen by the staff of RogerEbert.com.
A review of three premieres from Telluride.
The top 50 shows of the 2010s.
This message came to me from a reader named Peter Svensland. He and a fr...


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You're sitting at a restaurant waiting for a friend. Twenty minutes after your designated meeting time, they arrive in a flutter with a list of excuses. Perhaps there was too much traffic or a meeting ran long. You've heard it a million times, yet their behavior never changes. Sound familiar?
"I think everyone has a person in their life that does this," said Herb Reich, author of the book "2051 Things That Really Piss Me Off." "Being late constantly, to me, means you are saying your time is more valuable than mine. My doctor, who has a $60,000 watch, doesn't know I've been waiting in the lobby for 20 minutes."
Reich said while it's easier to forgive friends and family for their lateness, we need to establish very clear boundaries for being on time when it comes to professional relationships.
"Sometimes I will establish consequences in the contract," he said. "It's always wise to let people know what you feel about their behavior. If they reject it, they reject it, but at least you're telling the truth and how you feel."
And while Reich said lateness is a "personality trait," psychologist Pamela Brand said the behavior is neurological.
"We call this a bio-psycho-socio pattern," Brand said.
The biological cause of lateness, she said, is when the person's organization and planning skills are underdeveloped. Socially, she said there can be learned behaviors or cultural communities that don't focus on time or being prompt.
"If someone wasn't raised ever looking at a watch, and things were kind of loose growing up, just knowing this can help us understand why they function a certain way," she said.
The psychological part of the pattern is when a person condones or rationalizes their behavior with excuses, Brand said.
So can people change their tardy ways?
"It's my belief that all patterns can be changed if a person is conscious and wants it to be changed," Brand said. "There's a book called 'You Are Not Your Brain' that I refer to often that outlines a four-step process of changing patterns in the brain. It does a wonderful job of giving a clear explanation of how patterns develop, how they are hard wired into the brain and how to shift patterns to support neurological shifting.
"You can learn how to focus attention on the desired state," she said. "We need to retrain our brain to have the desire to be on time."
Brand said it's typical to have growing pains in the beginning stages of rewiring your brain, but that it's important not to get discouraged if things don't get better immediately.
"This could take six months for a neurological change to stick," she said.
To lend support for someone who is trying to be more punctual, Brand said it helps to raise the stakes.
"A person is much less likely to be motivated if there are no consequences," Brand said. "If there is no threat to losing a relationship, losing a job or getting kicked out of school, things will stay the same. So if (being late) bothers you, you have to really make the contract clear."
Reich agrees.
"Once, I was waiting for someone in my professional life, and after 15 minutes, I left," he said. "I explained why I did this, and that changed their behavior. My time is just as valuable as theirs and I don't want to sit around. They weren't late after that."
Twitter: @jenweigel


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Rewarding, life changing experiences. Welcome to Semester in Scotland.
This programme is for YOU if you want to learn and grow through experiencing life in another culture. Come and learn more about who God is and who you are through set reading and seminar tutorials. Come and grow through interaction within a church that Christ is building into a living, dynamic body.
Come, and your life will be changed - so say previous students.
Don't just take our word for it – Heather Miller
"I love this program; SIS has really changed my thinking pattern. How? God has equipped others to show me what I need to know and how I can grow as a disciple of Christ. I cannot thank God enough for placing me here—for I know this was God's calling for me—because of the people I have met, topics I have discussed, things I have observed, and activities I have participated in. May I encourage you, in turn, to pray that God will lead you to where he wants you to be and that He would give you the courage to run after these things?
I'd love to go on and on, but I must just mention one truth I have come to understand much deeper while being here: that EVERYTHING be to God's glory. Nothing we do is for "us"— it's all for Him."
So please have a look aroud the site, see more comments from people who have visited us, and if you think visiting Scotland would be something that you would enjoy, get in touch, and we'll give you more information.


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World Point Terminals, LP has moved higher as of late, but there could definitely be trouble on the horizon for this company. That is because WPT is now in overbought territory with an RSI value of 75.53.
What is RSI?
RSI stands for 'Relative Strength Index' and it is a popular indicator used by technically focused investors. It compares the average of gains in days that closed up to the average of losses in days that closed down; readings above 70 suggest an asset is overbought, while an RSI below 30 suggests undervalued conditions are present.
Other Factors
Yet WPT's high RSI value isn't the only reason for investors to be concerned, as there has been some decidedly negative earnings estimate revisions in World Point Terminals' stock as of late. This is especially true when investors dive into some of these revisions in order to get a better picture of WPT's prospects for the near term.
Over the past two months, investors have witnessed 2 earnings estimate revisions lower compared to none higher for the current year. The consensus estimate for WPT has also been on a downward trend over the same time period too, as the estimate has fallen from $1.13/share two months ago to just $1.10/share today.
If this wasn't enough, World Point Terminals also has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) which puts it into unfortunate company among its peers. So, given all of these factors, investors may want to consider exiting this stock now before it falls back to Earth. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
The Best Place to Start Your Stock Search
Today, you are invited to download the full, up-to-the-minute list of 220 Zacks Rank #1 "Strong Buy" stocks – absolutely free of charge. Since 1988, Zacks Rank #1 stocks have nearly tripled the market, with average gains of +26% per year. Plus, you can access the list of portfolio-killing Zacks Rank #5 "Strong Sells" and other private research.See these stocks free >>


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Event box
Homework Club
The Library provides a quiet and safe place for students to receive free assistance with homework, with special projects and reading. The "Homework Club" is open to students from kindergarten to high school.
- Date:
- Wednesday, March 14, 2018 Show more dates
- Time:
- 12:30pm - 4:30pm
- Location:
- Oakview
- Categories:
- Childrens Homework Club Oakview


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At 1 a.m. on April 1, 2004, Malaysian Airways Flight 201 departed from Kuala Lumpur Airport, Malaysia. Among the many passengers in the cabin were three Malaysian nationals associated with Taiping Zoo. Four young gorillas traveled in the cargo hold.
The gorillas, known as the "Taiping Four" had been smuggled from Nigeria to Malaysia on falsified documents claiming that the wild-caught animals were born in captivity at a Nigerian Zoo (see AWI Quarterly, Winter 2004). The reality was that the animals had been born in the wild in Cameroon and probably smuggled across the long road border between Cameroon and Nigeria. The Malaysian Government had issued import permits for these gorillas without checking into the dubious claims that they were captive-born.
In late 2002, the Malaysian Government announced that it would confiscate the gorillas and send them to Pretoria Zoo in South Africa, but Pretoria Zoo has had a poor record with gorillas, five of six having died, including two babies born there. Nevertheless, Pretoria Zoo's cause was promoted by the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums. South African Airways, which officially bans primate shipments, was somehow persuaded to carry the baby gorillas.
Instead of sending the primates to South Africa, the gorillas should have been sent to Limbe Wildlife Centre in Cameroon, which has a good record of caring for confiscated gorillas, as requested officially by Cameroon's Minister of the Environment.
It is outrageous that nobody in Malaysia, in or out of government, has been prosecuted in connection with the "Taiping Four" affair. Please send a letter requesting that there be a thorough investigation of the "Taiping Four" gorilla smuggling case, with anyone found to have acted improperly prosecuted or removed from his or her job. Contact the Malaysian Ambassador to your country (or High Commissioner if you live in a Commonwealth nation):
The U.S. address is:
The Ambassador of Malaysia
Embassy of Malaysia
2401 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20008


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This US Navy Blue Camo Digital Paper Pack includes 4 Camouflage pattern styles including Woodland Camo, Digital Camo, Multicam Camo & Scorpion Camo in 4 different colorways. Different camo colors can be found here.
These printable military camoflauge themed digital papers are perfect for any DIY handcrafted project (both personal and commercial) including but not limited to party invites, photography backgrounds, photo cards, printable scrapbook papers, digital scrapbook paper, digital scrapbook kits, greeting cards, wedding invitations, flyers, posters, planners, notecards, journals, party favors, album layouts, stationary, tags, stickers, bookmarks, teacher resources and more! The possibilities are endless…
You can open and print the files in this digital paper pack using any digital software program that supports JPEG file format. This includes word processing programs such as Microsoft Word, Open Office and LibreOffice as well as graphic programs such as Adobe Photoshop, Corel Draw, Paint Shop Pro, Adobe Photoshop Elements, GIMP, etc.
Download instantly and print from home easily on your home printer! Color will vary slightly based on your monitor, printer and the paper quality, weight and type you print on.
I personally like the Epson line of printers and papers for home based printing. I prefer their Matte paper line over their photo, luster or semi-gloss but I think all their papers are nice. It really depends on your needs.
For professional portfolio printing, I use both premium (#3) and ultra premium (#4). I've found that printing using papers from your printer's manufacturer yields the best color results. Use Epson papers with Epson printers and HP papers with HP printers.
The JPEG designs in these digital papers are SEAMLESS PATTERNS which you can use to create repeat patterns in Photoshop. You can apply the pattern to custom shapes and text as well as create different sized papers to meet your needs. Prior working knowledge with Photoshop patterns is required. Keep in mind that while these are seamless pattern designs, the pattern works best scaled down. These papers are in JPEG format (not vector) which means enlarging the pattern design too much will result in pixel loss.


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Thinking of buying Office 365 for your business?
It's not always easy to make a change, and when it comes to your business, migrating your services and changing your tools can seem overwhelming. But with Office 365 from GoDaddy we'll help you make that transition simple, and worthwhile.
See below for an overview of tools to help you and your business, and refer to the different Office 365 plans to see what's included in each.
|Jump to each section
|Learn about Outlook and migrations, and the add-ons for Security & Compliance.
|File storage & sharing
|See what the cloud can do for your business.
|Office Applications
|Do your best work using the whole suite of Office 365 apps.
Enjoy the benefits of having an enterprise-grade email solution, email distribution lists, filing and organization, a rules-based inbox, and more. (Back to top)
Note: Check out our webinar on moving your business email to Office 365.
- Discover how Office 365 will get your business set up with the most professional looking and functioning email.
- When you're ready to migrate your business email to Office 365, GoDaddy has a team of support experts to answer your questions and support you in the process.
Security & Compliance
Microsoft offers the gold-standard of data security, regardless of your add-ons. Your data will be safest on a Microsoft server, even safer than on your personal laptop. And if your business has specific security requirements for controlling sensitive information you'll be able to get those taken care of with Office 365. (These features are available as add-ons for your Office 365 plan.) (Back to top)
Note: Check out our webinar on how to maximize the security and privacy of your business data.
- See how email encryption will protect your Office 365 emails.
- Take advantage of email backups or archiving to guarantee you have copies of all your communications in case the worst happens.
- If your business needs to be HIPAA compliant you can take advantage of the Office 365's HIPAA compliant email (with the Business Premium or Premium Security plan).
File storage & sharing
Employee collaboration is vital to your business success. Being able to share files instead of emailing them, working together in live documents, and having access to your files wherever you go— and wherever your employees are— is made possible with Office 365.
The tool you use is OneDrive, which is Microsoft's version of the cloud. The cloud simply put, is the Internet. By connecting with computers in the cloud, you can store your files in the cloud to easily share with others. (Back to top)
Note: Check out our webinar on moving your business to the cloud.
- Storing all of your files online using OneDrive will ensure that your employees are always able to access the files they need, regardless of where they're located.
- Share files from Word, PowerPoint, Excel, OneNote, Publisher, and more, instead of emailing links. This will improve project efficiency and keep everyone from having dozens of emails in their inbox with new versions of the same document.
- Keep your teams in sync so everyone can work together, and always be up to date with the most recent document revisions. Having the ability to collaborate in live documents eliminates the chance for duplicate or out-of-date feedback.
- Have live chat conversations in the documents you're working in.
Office Applications
Office 365 is a world-class subscription service that ensures you always have the most up-to-date tools from Microsoft. Most Office 365 plans include Office 2016 with the fully installed Office applications that you're familiar with, like Word, PowerPoint, and Excel, plus extra online storage, ongoing GoDaddy tech support at no extra cost, and more. (If you choose the Email Essentials plan you won't have access to any apps, and if you go with Online Essentials you'll only have access to the web apps.) (Back to top)
- Apps you know and love (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, OneDrive, and on your PC, Publisher and Access).
- Always up to date (with an Office 365 subscription, you get the latest Office apps— both the desktop and the online versions— and updates when they happen).
- Get it on all your devices (on your desktop, on your tablet, and on your phone. Office 365 + your device + the Internet = productivity wherever you are).
- It's your great work, in the cloud (OneDrive makes the work you do available to you from anywhere— and to others when you collaborate or share).
You can chat with your employees through the instant messaging app that works best for your business. Choose between Skype for Business or Microsoft Teams. (Back to top)
Skype for Business
Skype for Business lets you connect with co-workers or business partners in your company or around the world. You can even IM anyone on an email thread right from within Outlook. (Back to top)
- Start conversations with IM, voice, or video calls.
- See when your contacts are available online, in a meeting, or presenting.
- Set industrial-strength security for meetings.
- Broadcast online to a large audience.
- Present your screen during meetings or give control to others.
- Use Skype for Business in other Office programs to chat, call, or join a meeting with a click.
Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams is a chat-centered workspace in Office 365. It brings people, conversations, files, and tools into one place, so everyone has instant access to everything they need. Learn more. (Back to top)
Next step
- Call to chat with your Account Manager at (480) 463-8887 about your specific business needs, and what Office 365 plan from GoDaddy is best for you.


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So there I was. Looking for the eight remaining burning embers I needed to complete the latest Wintergrasp Daily. We'd already lost, so I figured everyone Horde was going to be gathered outside of the Vault looking for invites. Or shopping, or hearthing. You know, what winners do.
But the embers were all ashes and there were bones scattered here and there. I was alone except for just 2 other green names. I don't leave the raid so we can continue to share our efforts. Turns out there must be multiple raids, because we were basically soloing. One guy's kill is not lootable by me. So be it. "Divided we fall."
Anyway I see a green name, Death Knight, run by below, and then a red name. A Shaman. Oh, this isn't going to end well for the Shaman, right?
Except the Shaman was chasing the DK down. Hmm.
Well, he's a brother in arms, this DK, and it's just a Shaman. So I join in.
The Shaman destroys the Death Knight.
And inbetween the flashes of Holy Light and Lightning I see the gear. Okay, it looks like basic PvP stuff. The maces are orange, so they're the Crusader Seal maces. Two of them, nice. Except why is this guy smoking me? I'm not hitting him, he's destroying me. WTF?
I check the combat log afterwards. He actually /flexes to add insult to injury. Let's see Dodge, dodge, dodge,dodge, miss, miss, miss. Hmmm. That's my results on him. Destroy, destroy, destroy, destroy. Those are him on me. … Did I have my fishing pole equipped? I check. No. Am I wearing my nobleman's monacle perhaps? No, I've got my epic helm equipped. What just happened?
I alt-tab out and go into the Armory. Seems our Shaman has over 1000 Resilience. Dag. I'm running 400 or so. He also had 7k health on me, and double the mana. Those maces weren't Crusader Seal maces, not doing up to 608 damage each. That must have been arena weapons.
Okay, I'm beginning to get the picture. He's on two Arena Teams, 2s and 3s. Face to face type. He's gotten himself the Conqueror title, so exalted with every battleground. He's wearing solid pvp gear from his head to his toes, pinkie finger included.
And, granted, even if his gear hadn't been top notch, this guys been PvPing since he left his crib. I've been PvPing since the last couple of weeks. I'd be outmatched if he was dual wielding spaghetti.
I know there's mouseover "gear score" add-ons. I figured why did I need to have that? Like I needed the boost to my ego (rather, the kick to it's head) over and over? "Oh, look. The NPC vendor selling breaksticks has a higher gear score than me." 🙂 ) I don't need a "gear score" ability.
Well, if I'm sizing up the competition and deciding whether or not I'm going to be a hero, or a lemming, a little more information would certainly come in handy.