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A judge's decision could speed new rules regulating polluted runoff from farms, rules that growers say will be costly and burdensome.
A judge's decision could speed new rules regulating polluted runoff from farms, rules that growers say will be costly and burdensome.
Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Timothy M. Frawley last week sided with state water quality officials, finding the environmental reports they prepared supporting the new rules were adequate.
Frawley also ruled that temporary rules already in place fail to protect water quality. But he said they can remain until the permanent regulations are written.
His decision is the latest legal twist in what's known as the "ag waiver."
Under the federal Clean Water Act, farmers are not required to get permits to cover the polluted irrigation water that drains off their fields into rivers and streams.
However, they're now required to join coalitions and pay a per-acre fee to help fund water quality testing and educational outreach.
The permanent rules could add burdens, such as more frequent reporting and a requirement that farmers monitor groundwater quality.
The ag waiver has been attacked from multiple fronts, with farmers saying it is burdensome, and environmentalists saying it doesn't go far enough.
Both sides filed lawsuits. In his ruling last week, Frawley dismissed the farmers' complaint entirely and delivered a limited success to the environmentalists.
With the farmers' challenge aside, the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board can proceed with the rules, said Ken Landau, the board's assistant executive officer.
"We have been working hard to reduce the paperwork and the costs of the program," Landau said. "There's a finite amount of money out there and we would rather have that money going to actual on-the-ground improvements, as opposed to spending it on paperwork."
But a leader of the farm coalition that covers San Joaquin County said the judge's ruling was a disappointment.
"Instead of having time to work on negotiating a more reasonable, less onerous order, we are now on the fast track of having our order adopted," said John Brodie, who coordinates the local coalition. "There's no indication from (water board) staff that they're interested in negotiating anything more reasonable."
While that order has not yet been written, Brodie said the expectation is that the cost for growers to comply will triple, if not quadruple.
Stockton's Bill Jennings, whose California Sportfishing Protection Alliance also sued over the ag waiver, said he hoped the board would develop regulations that "comply with the law, are protective of our waters and which penalize bad actors and reward farmers who implement measures to prevent pollution."
He said the environmentalists could probably work with the farmers to resolve differences, "except for the water board's costly, unwieldy and ineffective bureaucratic octopus."
Contact reporter Alex Breitler at (209) 546-8295 or firstname.lastname@example.com. Visit his blog at recordnet.com/breitlerblog.


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San Francisco was the center of a vibrant and exciting punk scene in the late 1970s, rivaling Los Angeles and New York. In 1977, photographer Ruby Ray began documenting the punk scene in the city for the seminal punk magazine Search and Destroy. Punk Passage San Francisco First Wave Punk features 45 black and white photographic portraits and live music photographs of original punk innovators by the San Francisco-based photographer Ray in the Main Library, Jewett Gallery, Sept. 12-Dec. 6. Original punk rock 'zines, flyers, posters and ephemera from 1977 to 1981 along with additional articles and ephemera from the Library's Art, Music and Recreation Center Collection and from the Little Magazine Collection, Book Arts & Special Collections also will be on view, sharing the rich historical roots of punk rock from the center of the San Francisco artistic movement. The photographs represent some of San Francisco's contribution to the international punk movement. The message is unabashed individualism, creativity, do-it-yourself activism and black humor. Bands such as The Avengers, the Dead Kennedys, the Dils, Crime, Sleepers, the Mutants and others are represented, placing them within the historic context as an important part of San Francisco's counter-cultural history, as innovative for its time as the beat and hippie movements were.
Exhibition: From September 12 through December 6, 2009 Main Library, Lower Level, Jewett Gallery
Related Display: Punk Penelope September 12 through December 6, 2009 Main Library, Lower Level, Library Café Exhibition Case
Related Programs: Meet the Artist-Photographer Ruby Ray Tuesday, September 15, 2009, 5 p.m. Main Library, Lower Level, Jewett Gallery
Punk Live on Film: Screenings of Louder, Faster, Shorter; Deaf Punk and Insect Lounge Sally RemiX 1978 followed by audience Q & A with filmmaker Mindy Bagdon and photographer Ruby Ray. Wednesday, October 7, 2009, 6 p.m. Main Library, Lower Level, Koret Auditorium
Gimme Something Better - Author reading and presentation by Jack Boulware and Silke Tudor. Book sale to immediately follow. Tuesday, October 20, 2009, 6 p.m. Main Library, Lower Level, Latino Hispanic Community Meeting Room
Film Screening of SF Punk (West Coast Premiere) by Target Video followed by audience Q & A with photographer Ruby Ray and video producer Joe Rees. Wednesday, November 4, 2009 at 6 p.m. Main Library, Lower Level, Koret Auditorium 100 Larkin Street (at Grove)
Queer Punk: Panel Discussion - Panel will discuss how being Queer influenced their music and share memories of playing in the San Francisco punk scene in the '80s and '90s. Panelists include KD Davis, bass player for Wilma and Impulse F, Debbie Hopkins, drummer for The Contractions and Jon Ginoli, founder of Pansy Division.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009, 7 p.m. Eureka Valley/Harvey Milk Memorial Branch Library 1 José Sarria Court (at 16th St.)

subset: commoncrawl


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Photo Friday
The 2011 AAA Photo Contest is a showcase of anthropology at its best. Of the 93 photos submitted, AAA members selected their favorites in each of the four categories: Practice, People, Place and Process. You can view the top 20 photos in Anthropology News. Here on the AAA blog, we will feature several of the … Continue reading Photo Friday


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1/5th Giant Scale Exceed RC Hannibal 32cc Gas-Engine led Off-Road Monster Truck Almost Ready to Run ARTR & Fail Safe (AA Blue) RC Remote Control Radio Car
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More Featured Items


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Don't have an account with us yet? Please set up an account to place order or obtain customer services.
This is amino acids 11 to 42 fragment of b-amyloid peptide labeled with HiLyte Fluor 488, Abs/Em=503/528 nm. Post-mortem Alzheimers diseased (AD) brain specimens reveal significant levels of this b -amyloid peptide within the insoluble amyloid pools. HiLyte Fluor 488-labeled b-amyloid (11-42) has a brighter intensity than FITC or FAM-labeled b-amyloid (11-42).
Copyright © 2002-2019 AnaSpec, Inc. All rights reserved. | Site Map | Terms & Conditions | 1-800-452-5530


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Teradata Universe is live.
Login to Virtual X now to watch online.
A comprehensive portfolio to remove barriers and unify your analytic ecosystem.
Get better business outcomes quickly, innovatively, and in line with core strategies and objectives.
Explore Teradata learning and growth opportunities or get support for your current Teradata portfolio of products.
Searchable technical publications including user guides, configuration guides, SQL manuals, and much more.
Simple, secure customer access to products, services, education, and support function information.
Management, development, and oversight of the premiere Teradata Certification Program.
Comprehensive, cost-effective training programs to build Teradata skills and capabilities.
Students experience corporate reality with hands-on experiences provided by professor-designed assignments.
Our success is rooted in proven capabilities spanning technology, people, and methodologies.
Unleashing the potential of great companies with data and analytics requires driven, forward-thinking people.
Teradata has been recognized by the Ethisphere Institute, a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices, as a 2019 World's Most Ethical Company®. Teradata has received this honor for 10 years in the Computer Software industry underscoring their commitment to leading ethical business standards and practices.
Teradata was recognized as a 2018 Top 100 Global Technology Leader by Thomson Reuters. This inaugural program identifies the tech industry's most operationally sound and financially successful organizations based on eight principle pillars of performance: Financial, Management and Investor Confidence, Risk and Resilience, Legal Compliance, Innovation, People and Social Responsibility, Environmental Impact, and Reputation.
Teradata is proud to be ranked #1 in our treatment of customers and #30 overall by Forbes—in partnership with Just Capital—who analyzed nearly 1,000 of the nation's largest publicly-traded companies to determine which have the best and most just business behavior.
Congratulations to NXP Semiconductors, named a 2018 Manufacturing Leadership (ML) Council winner in Data & Analytics Leadership for leveraging best-in-class processes, technologies, and engaged teams. NXP partnered with Teradata Consulting to design and deploy an Advanced Analytics Platform and implement an initial pair of sophisticated analytics and data science applications to deliver immediate and maximum value to quality improvement.
Congratulations to Nadeem Gulzar of Danske Bank, selected as the 2017 Winner of the Data to Decisions category of Constellation SuperNova Awards. Sponsored by Constellation Enterprise, these awards celebrate the leaders and teams who have overcome the odds to successfully apply emerging and disruptive technologies for their organizations.


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Quote:Does anyone know if the komagong / ironwood escrima for sale on ebay (and elsewhere) are generally legitimate? I've read that there is a ban on exporting komagong from the Philippines, and I find it strange that companies like Century don't offer them.thanks!
Artifacts from the Ryukyu Kingdom missing since WWII.
Visit www.ShisaLion.Org
to view pictures
Stun Guns
Self Defense Products-stun guns, pepper spray, tasers
and more
Complete surveillance systems for covert operations
or secure installation security
Asylum Images
Book presents photo tour of the Trans-Allegany Lunatic Asylum. A must if you're going to take a ghost tour!


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|By Cloud News Desk
Article Rating:
|July 27, 2009 04:00 AM EDT
No one can properly understand anything related to enterprise-level Cloud Computing without having first gained a reasonable understanding of the very basics.
SYS-CON's pioneering Cloud Computing Bootcamp is designed with that in mind, It is a one-day, fully immersive deep-dive into the Cloud, in which the sessions during the day seek to deal with real problems and look at alternative solutions.
The ever-popular Bootcamp, which is now held regularly around the world, is being held next in conjunction the 4th International Cloud Computing Conference & Expo in Santa Clara, CA (November 2-4, 2009). It is led by software industry entrepreneur and Bootcamp Instructor Alan Williamson.
Attending delegates will leave the Bootcamp with resources, ideas and examples they can apply immediately.
Register Today for Cloud Computing Expo and Attend Cloud Computing Bootcamp for Free
4th International Cloud Computing Conference & Expo
At the 4th International Cloud Computing Conference & Expo, November 2-4, 2009, being held in the Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, CA, more than 1,500 delegates will find out how cloud computing is transforming the way that enterprises everywhere build and deploy applications. Now held three times a year - in New York, Prague, and Santa Clara - the Cloud Computing Conference & Expo series is the fastest-growing Enterprise IT event, devoted to every aspect of delivering massively scalable enterprise IT as a service. The event is co-located with our 7th International Virtualization Conference & Expo.
Sponsor or Exhibit at 4th International Cloud Computing Expo
Register Today as a Gold Pass Delegate and Save !
Submit a Speaking Proposal to 5th International Cloud Computing Expo March 2010
More Than 100 Cloud Sessions by a Rock Star Faculty
4th International Cloud Computing Conference & Expo in November will offer 100+ technical breakout sessions, 120 speakers from 80+ leading companies, three top major industry keynotes, two Power Panels, SYS-CON.TV interviews with industry luminaries, product launches and other special events plus a 2-Day Expo Floor - there's no event with a technical program as wide and deep. If you're already a Cloud player - or would like to be - this is the one event to attend this year.
"Bringing the Economics of the Web to Enterprise IT Through Cloud Computing" is the conference theme and our organizing principle is that through our intensive three-day schedule of keynotes, and 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.
Introducing "SOA in the Cloud" and "RIAs in the Cloud"
4th International Cloud Computing Conference & Expo in November will introduce two new and dedicated tracks - "SOA in the Cloud" and "RIAs in the Cloud" - which will examine how service oriented architecture, AJAX, rich internet applications, enterprise mashups, social media and Web 2.0 find their new place in the Cloud.
Now is the time to take the Cloud seriously. And the Santa Clara Convention Center, at the 4th Cloud Computing Expo (Nov 2-4), is the perfect place to do it!
More Than 120 Companies Exhibited or Sponsored SYS-CON's 2008-2009 Events
Cloud Computing Conference & Expo 2008 - 20009 events were sponsored by more than 100 leading global cloud computing technology providers, including: 3PAR, 3Tera, Active Endpoints, Adobe, APC, Appcelerator, AppSense, Apptricity, AppZero, Aria Systems, Astaro, Bizwhazee, CA, Ceedo, Certeon, Composite Software, Cordys, Corporate Technologies, Curl, Cycle Computing, DataDirect, Denodo, DreamFace, EasyBusiness, EMC, ExactTarget, Farata Systems, Freedom OSS, Fujitsu, Good Data, Green Hills Software, Grid Dynamics, IBM, ICEsoft, iLOG, Install Free, Intel, Isomorphic, iTKO Lisa, J9 Technologies, jBoss, JnetDirect, Kaazing, Keynote Systems, Krugle, Layer 7 Technologies, Lightstreamer, LynuxWorks, M/Gateway Developments, Managed Methods, Maxworks, MeetTheBoss, Metron-Athene, Microsoft, MindSHIFT, Moderro, Mosso, MQSoftware, Nastel, Neotys, Netmagic, Nexaweb, OASIS, OpenSpan, OPNET, OpSource, Oracle, ParaScale, Platespin, Platform Computing, Qooxdoo, Quantum XML, Rackspace, Red Hat, Reflex Security, RightScale, RoundArch, RTI Real-Time Innovations, Sensedia, Skytap, Software AG, Splunk, Stoneware, Sun Microsystems, Super Micro Computer, Sybase, Symantec, Tap In Systems, Tranxition, TripWire, Virtera, Visual WebGui, VMware, Web Age Solutions, WSO2, Xsigo Systems, Zeus Technology.
Platinum Sponsorships Sold-Out! - 100 Sponsors and Exhibitors Expected at the Santa Clara Convention Center
4th International Cloud Computing Conference & Expo, colocated with 7th International Virtualization Conference & Expo 2009, which will take place November 2-4, 2009, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Silicon Valley offers a number of sponsorship and exhibitor packages.
All platinum sponsorships were sold out by June 2009 and other sponsorship opportunities are expected to be sold out before the event date, and currently offered at a first-come first-served basis.
For sponsorship and exhibit opportunities please contact Cloud Computing Expo sales department at 201 802-3021 (events at sys-con.com).
- The Top 150 Players in Cloud Computing
- The Top 250 Players in the Cloud Computing Ecosystem
- Cloud People: A Who's Who of Cloud Computing
- Ulitzer Names the World's 30 Most Influential Cloud Computing Bloggers
- Cloud Expo 2011 East To Attract 10,000 Delegates and 200 Exhibitors
- Cloud Expo New York to Attract More Than 8,000 Delegates
- Top 50 Bloggers on Cloud Computing
- Industry Experts Discuss the State of Cloud Computing
- Publishing Synergy: Blog, Twitter and Ulitzer
- Cloud Expo, Inc. Announces Cloud Expo 2011 New York Venue


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12-07-2012Reminder: Final Revisions to Accreditation Manual - Effective January 1, 2013
Reminder: Final Revisions to Accreditation Manual - Effective January 1, 2013
11-15-2012Applications for Accreditation
Applications for Accreditation
10-31-2012ABHES Call for Master Teacher Award 2013 Nominations
REMINDER – deadline November 15, 2012! Let us recognize your most innovative teacher! ABHES & Elsevier are pleased to announce that Master Teacher Award 2013 nominations are now being accepted! The ninth Master Teacher Award will recognize best practices in health care education. The award recipient will be recognized at the 10th Annual National Conference on Allied Health Education, hosted by ABHES, on February 13-15, 2013, at the beautiful Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego. The winner will present his / her best practice to conference attendees and receive a plaque, $500 cash, and complimentary conference registration, airfare, and hotel. Congratulations to past Master Teacher Award...More
10-30-2012Important Update - Hurricane Sandy
Tuesday, October 30, 2012 Due to Hurricane Sandy, there may be delays in service from ABHES, including delayed responses. Thank you....More
10-03-2012Commissioner Vacancy - Nominations Due - October 20, 2012
Commissioner Vacancy - Nominations Due - October 20, 2012
10-03-2012Fall 2012 Advantage
10-02-201210th Annual National Conference on Allied Health Education – Registration NOW OPEN!
You are cordially invited to join ABHES as it celebrates a milestone hosting the 10th Annual National Conference on Allied Health Education. The conference will be held February 13-15, 2013, at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego. This year's program is chock-full of breakout sessions focused on those issues most current and relevant to allied health care educators. Exhibitors will also be on hand to showcase the products and services you most want and need. New this year…ABHES has put together several extracurricular conference events, which include the 6th Annual Golf Tournament at the world renown Torrey Pines Golf Course, Zumba®...More
09-14-2012Commissioner Appointment
09-06-2012Commissioner Resignation
08-31-2012Final Revisions to Bylaws - Effective Immediately
Final Revisions to Bylaws - Effective Immediately
Page 1 Next Page >>


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'Health' Drink Turns People Blue, And It Doesn't Even Work
By Shared.com
October 12, 2017
What is it called when your skin turns permanently blue? Well, doctors call it argyria, which by medical definition is a "blue-grey discoloration of the skin and mucus membrane. The condition is permanent and there is no known cure for it.
The condition made its way into the main-stream consciousness in 2008 when Paul Karason appeared on The Today Show to show the world what had happened to him.
Karason did this to himself by ingesting colloidal silver regularly. Colloidal silver is silver ions dispersed in water, and Karason started ingesting it after seeing a demonstration of how an old daisy was brought back to life after being immersed in it. Karason hoped that ingesting the same liquid would help him with his long term health prospects. Unfortunately Karason passed away from a heart-attack in 2011 at the age of 62.
Read the full story on Shared.com.
Photo: Shared.com


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The Patriot PC3-14400 is one of the company's latest DDR3 offerings.
It's equipped with Viperfin cooling, which looks a lot like Corsair's picket fence-style DHC solutions, although without quite the same technology behind it. The kit we had clocks in with a pair of 1GB sticks
High price, high performance
The closest current competitor to the PC3-14400 is fellow Yanks OCZ's Platinum RAM, which comes in at a similar price point but features lower latency.
However, Patriot's memory beat OCZ's hands down, and it topped all of the DDR3 memory in our recent supertest – even Corsair's seriously pricey Dominator sticks. We were testing on one of the latest X48 boards though to get the most out of the memory itself.
Obviously, twice as much DDR2 RAM would be cheaper, but in terms of speed and performance, this is the best memory we've come across. You will though need one of the latest X48, P45 or 790i motherboards to take full advantage of the ramped-up 1,800MHz frequency.
It is pricey, but definitely worth considering if you're after high-performance memory.


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Corpsmen Up!!
"Uncommon Valor was a Common Virtue." . . .
Let us not forget that there was in fact a Corpsman with the Marines as they raised the flag on Mt. Suribachi. Hospital Corpsman John Bradley was there and was one of the three survivors from the raising to leave Iwo Jima. John Bradley died January 11, 1994 at the age of 70.
Since this site is for the Marine Wives - I feel compelled to also provide for the wives of those who serve with and treat those Marines in their time of suffering. For the wives that don't understand the love hate relationship with the Navy I can only say that at no time and in no place will you need to worry about the medical care received by your Marine. There are only three kinds of doctors -- corpsmen, Corpsman, and CORPSMAN.
One might ask for a definition of a Corpsman and while I was setting this page up I ran across a mighty fine site called what else "Navy Corpsmen", where I found what can only be described as the best damn definition of a Corpsman anywhere. It read as follows:
CORPSMAN - Usually a young, long haired, bearded, Marine-hatin' Sailor with certain medical skills, who will go through the very gates of Hell to get to a wounded Marine.
It may surprise some but the Navy Corpsman has a long proud tradition of serving with the United States Marine Corps. They have fought with us, fought along side of us, and sadly have made the ultimate sacrifice for us. Their Medal of Honor citations read like they were Marines... and by God I will honor them like the Marines they so proudly served!


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ARLINGTON, Texas — Another fabulous group of young players has Michigan headed back to the Final Four.
Led by Big Ten player of the year Trey Burke and sharp-shooting guard Nik Stauskas, one of three freshman starters, the Wolverines dominated Florida right from tipoff, scoring the game's first 13 points and routing the Gators 79-59 in the South Regional final Sunday.
"A lot of guys said we were really young and that we couldn't get here," said Burke, a sophomore and the South Region's most outstanding player. "We're here now and we still have unfinished business."
The last time Michigan made it this far was the Fab Five era of the early 1990s, what until now had been considered the program's glory years.
Might be time to start rethinking that.
Once they got ahead Sunday, the Wolverines (30-7) maintained a double-digit against the SEC regular-season champion Gators (29-8), who lost in a regional final for the third straight year.
"We haven't gotten off the greatest of starts of late. That was a terrific start," Michigan coach John Beilein said. "Just hanging in there with our defense allowed us to keep that separation."
Stauskas scored 22 points while making all six of his 3-pointers and Burke scored 15. Mitch McGary, a 6-foot-10 freshman, had 11 points and nine rebounds.
When the game ended, Burke was among several Michigan players who went to the opposite side of the court toward Michigan fans behind press row with fingers raised. Fans were chanting, "It's great to be a Michigan Wolverine!"
And great to be young.
The Wolverines are headed to Atlanta to play Syracuse (30-9) in a national semifinal game Saturday.
Michigan hadn't reached the Final Four since consecutive national championship game appearances in 1992 and 1993, the freshman and sophomore seasons of the Fab Five — Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Ray Jackson and Jimmy King.
Webber was gone before that team's 1994 regional final loss to Arkansas played in the now-demolished Reunion Arena in Dallas, and Howard followed him to the NBA after that.
With four wins in this NCAA tourney, the Wolverines already have more tournament victories than their total from the end of the Fab Five era to this season. They had one win in 1998, and then didn't even make the field again until 2009.
Despite being the only team to make regional finals each of the last three seasons, the Gators haven't been to the Final Four since winning consecutive national titles in 2006 and 2007.
Kenny Boynton and Erik Murphy, the four-year seniors who came in not long after those titles, will leave without one of their own. They were part of the only Gators class to win consecutive outright SEC regular-season championships, but came up short in the biggest games.
Boynton and Will Yeguete had 13 points each for the Gators.
Florida is the first team to make it to three consecutive regional final games without winning at least one of them, according to STATS. Wyoming lost in the round of eight from 1947-49, but that stretch ended two years before the NCAA tournament expanded to more than eight teams.
The Gators were able to recover from an early deficit against Florida Gulf Coast for a 62-50 win Friday night on the raised stage at Cowboys Stadium.


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INGLEWOOD – Jockey Joe Talamo highlighted a five-win afternoon Sunday with a victory aboard Eastern horse Bickersons in the $100,000 Moccasin Stakes at Hollywood Park.
Talamo, 19, rode a perfect race, briefly relinquishing the lead on the backstretch when Bickersons was challenged by Neeko, and the Canadian-bred had plenty left when challenged by favorite Crisis of Spirit rounding the far turn.
Bickersons easily opened up at the head of the stretch and went on to win by 2 lengths while covering seven furlongs on Cushion Track in 1:22.49.
"She kind of toyed with them the last part," said Talamo, who went out and connected on A Jealous Woman in the nightcap for his fifth win – one shy of the track record held by Bill Shoemaker (1953 and 1970), Laffit Pincay (1968) and Kent Desormeaux (1992).
"I don't know if they're going to ship her out, but where ever they go, let me know," he said of Bickersons. "Around the turn she was just taking deep breaths and I knew they'd have to run to catch her. I had a lot of horse and at the top of the stretch she just kicked instantly."
Bickersons, owned by George and Lori Hall of Rumson, N.J., and trained by Kelly Breen, broke her maiden at Monmouth Park in July before finishing third in the Spinaway at Saratoga and third in the Oak Leaf at Santa Anita in October. In her previous start, the daughter of Silver Deputy tired and finished 10th in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies on Nov. 6 at Santa Anita.
"I had no excuse why she ran so bad in the Breeders' Cup, I wish I did," Breen said. "We had talked in the past about putting blinkers on her, but after today there's no reason to make any changes.
"We had a tentative plane to go back to our farm in Kentucky on Tuesday, but we might have to put that on hold."
Bickersons paid $9, $5 and $3.20. Miss Heather Lee, second under Victor Espinoza, returned $5.40 and $3.60, and the show payoff on It Tiz with Joel Rosario up was $3.20. Crisis of Spirit, the 7-5 betting choice, had to settle for fourth.
The victory was worth $60,000, raising Bickersons' earnings to $149,180.
From Wire Reports


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July 10. 100 block Bethlehem Pike. Complainant states that an unknown person used part of a broken wheel chair to force open locker. Money and other items were stolen from locker. Reported at 7 a.m.
July 10. Valley Green Inn and Valley Green Rd. Complainant states that he and other males got into a verbal altercation over females in the park. He walked away to parking lot and was surrounded by group. Someone stabbed him in stomach and twice on the left side. Reported at 5:50 p.m.
July 10. 100 block Mermaid Lane. Complainant states that some time after 3:12 a.m. he heard a loud crash and went down to investigate. Complainant found passenger side front window broken. Someone had taken a Blackberry, two iPods and a Tom Tom global positioning system.
July 11. 8300 block Germantown Avenue. Police responded to burglar alarm and were met by owner. Police did a walk through and nothing appears to have been taken. Reported at 10:53 p.m.
July 11. 7700 block Crittenden Street. Manager states that male came and left several times taking 80 cans of Gerber's Good Formula. Arrested was Martel Scurry, 46 – 50 years old, residing in the 5900 block of McCallum Street.
July 12. 9400 block Meadowbrook Street. Complainant states she parked her 2010 Audi and when she returned she found driver's side door open and a MAC computer and a computer bag missing. Reported at 7:15 p.m.
July 14. Unit block Rex Ave. Complainant states that between 1 and 8 a.m., an unknown person stole a red 2010 Quantum, Pennsylvania tag RFB531.
July 16. 7700 block Crittenden Street. Manager states that one of his employees observed a black male loading items into his vehicle and leaving without paying. Incident was recorded on video camera. Taken were six 20 oz. Mountain Dews and two 24 oz. packs of Dasani Spring Water. Arrested was Wendell Dincle, (57), residing in the 600 block of Allens Lane. Reported at 12 noon.
July 16. Valley Green Inn and Seven Valley Road. Complainant states that an unknown person entered her red Nissan and stole a red wallet containing money and credit cards.
July 16. 100 block Springfield Avenue. Complainant states that between 3 p.m. on July 15 and 8 a.m. on July 16, an unknown person forced side door open and stole one black 9 mm handgun, one silver Ruger handgun, one diamond bracelet, two Samsung televisions (42" and 2"), two watches and a Canon camcorder.
July 16. 8000 block Germantown Avenue. Complainant states that a black male robbed him at point of black handgun. Taken was money. Offender jumped into a green Chevrolet Corsica driven by another male. Robber, 6'2" tall, 180 lbs., dreadlocks, medium complexion, wearing a red shirt and blue pants. No description of driver.
Summary — Eleven crimes for week: one robbery, one burglary, one aggravated assault, one stolen vehicle, four thefts and three thefts from vehicle.
Town Watch.
If you have been the victim of a crime and would like information, service or support, call Northwest Victims Service, 6301 Germantown Ave., Second Floor, Suite One, 215-438-4410. The service is free.


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If your car stereo sounds bad, look at the speakers first
The first step to better sound might be new speakers
Your factory speakers might not look this bad, but they probably still don't sound that great. New speakers will really improve your in-car audio.
Case in point — bad sound on the road
My brother-in-law knew that his car stereo sounded bad. He didn't know why. He spends a lot of time, every day for his job, driving around town listening to classic rock radio. He came to me for help. "I'm willing to spend five hundred dollars to make it right," he said. "What do I need, a better radio?"
I gave it a listen. His stereo sounded muffled at low volume and downright distorted when I turned it up any. The vocals were indistinct and there were buzzing noises around the edges of every note.
These are the symptoms of blown speakers. A "blown" speaker is a speaker with something broken inside. There are a lot of things inside a speaker that can break, but the most vulnerable are the speaker cone and its supporting structures (surround and spider). These parts are usually made of paper, especially in a car's original factory speakers, and can tear because of sonic abuse, moisture, or even just old age. New aftermarket speakers replace the paper parts with much more durable materials like polypropylene and rubber.
I convinced brother-in-law that he'd get a much better bang for his buck by getting new speakers: all four – left, right, front, and rear – and matched, too, so that no one sound would dominate one corner of his car more than another. New speakers would not only clear up his sound, but also improve its overall balance.
Time for a shopping trip
So we drove up to our local Crutchfield retail store, with his favorite Foghat CD, and listened to "Slow Ride" on a bunch of 6-1/2-inch speakers. Despite the rolled eyes of the other customers over his choice of music, he finally picked the ones that sounded the best to him and would fit in his car. At less than $250 for the four of them, brother-in-law could still afford a new stereo if he wanted.
Installing the speakers
During installation, we found that the old factory car speakers were disintegrating. Their surrounds were completely gone and their paper cones were torn. It was amazing they made any sound at all.
Blown speaker (left) and new speaker (right): which do you think sounds better?
After the installation, he was very happy with the sound. It was a vast improvement over what he had been listening to. Not only was there now bass in his car's system, the vocals were clear and understandable, and the guitars and cymbals sizzled with life.
In fact, he called me, the other day and said, "I just heard the new Jack Bruce/Robin Trower song on the radio and wow, it was awesome. I even turned it way up. I'm glad I talked you into putting in these new speakers."
Lesson learned
So, if the music in your vehicle sounds terrible at all volume levels, do yourself a favor and replace the speakers. Replacing your receiver or adding an amplifier won't do any good for your sound quality if you don't have good aftermarket speakers to play your music through.
The first step towards better sound is finding a set of speakers that fits in your vehicle. Our vehicle selector makes it easy to find out which speakers will work in your car or truck.


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The Jody Sayler Team works with buyers and sellers in the Gold Canyon, Mesa, and Queen Creek area. Our knowledgeable and friendly team offers unique insights, tips, and information you won't find with anyone else!
Jody Sayler is the source for all your residential real estate needs. As a Certified Residential Specialist (CRS) and an Accredited Buyer Representative (ABR) with over 8-years of real estate success stories to share in the Gold Canyon area, Jody has successfully guided hundreds of clients through the buying, selling, investing and relocating process on the principles of professionalism, dedication, trust and exemplary customer service.
Now Proudly serving Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase & Co. , CitiMortgage, PennyMac Loan Services, Aurora Bank FSB and REO service providers namely NRT REO Experts, LPS Asset Management Solutions, Inc , Specialized Asset Management LLC, RMS Asset Management Solutions.
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SANDY, Utah – Real Salt Lake will look to continue its unbeaten start to the season on Saturday, when it will take on Philadelphia Union at 2:00 p.m. MT at PPL Park. Saturday's match will be broadcast locally on ABC 4, ESPN 700 and 102.3 La Gran D FM.
Real Salt Lake enters Saturday's match undefeated with a 2-0-3 record and nine points from its first five MLS regular season games. Real Salt Lake earned a hard-fought 0-0 draw with Sporting Kansas City at Sporting Park last Saturday. RSL backup GK Jeff Attinella, who was filling in for injured GK Nick Rimando, put in a stellar performance, earning his second career clean sheet and making a total of eight saves at SKC. Attinella could be called into action again this weekend, as Rimando continues to deal with a knee injury suffered in the U.S. Men's National Team's 2-2 draw against Mexico on April 2.
Real Salt Lake and Philadelphia Union last met on July 4, 2013, in a 2-2 draw at Rio Tinto Stadium. A late penalty kick goal from RSL MF Javier Morales in the 97th minute gave a 10-man Claret-and-Cobalt side a thrilling draw in front of a sold-out crowd. RSL went down a man when trailing 1-0 in the 59th minute, when Referee Ismail Elfath controversially showed former RSL DF Lovel Palmer a straight red card for a tackle on former Philadelphia MF Michael Farfan. RSL substitute MF Luis Gil equalized for the Utah side in the 75th, only for Union FW Conor Casey to give Philadelphia its second lead of the night one minute later. Morales pulled RSL level deep into stoppage time, converting his spot kick after a Union hand ball in the area.
The last meeting between the two sides at PPL Park on Aug. 24, 2012 resulted in a scoreless draw. Real Salt Lake has never lost in Philadelphia, posting a 0-0-3 record at PPL Park all-time. The Claret-and-Cobalt is unbeaten all-time against the Union, holding a 2-0-4 all-time record against Philadelphia.
Real Salt Lake was hit with an early season injury bug but will look to have most of its players back and available for selection for Saturday's tilt in Philadelphia. RSL DF Tony Beltran (R ankle), DF Chris Wingert (R hamstring) and MF Sebastian Velasquez (L hamstring) have all returned to full training this week. Claret-and-Cobalt FW's Robbie Findley (R knee) and Joao Plata (L hamstring) are both out for Saturday's match, while MF Luis Gil (L hamstring) is a doubt due to an injury picked up last week at Kansas City. RSL MF Jordan Allen, who has recovered from his ankle injury, and FW Benji Lopez were called up to the U.S. Under-20 Men's National Team on Wednesday to participate in the Dallas Cup tournament and will not be available for Saturday's MLS match.
Philadelphia Union is off to a 1-1-3 start to the 2014 season. The Union most recently tied Chicago Fire 2-2 last Saturday at Toyota Park. After taking a 2-1 lead going into the half, the Union allowed Fire FW Juan Luis Anangono to equalize in the 86th minute before Philadelphia GK Zac MacMath preserved the point with a stoppage time penalty kick stop on Chicago FW Mike Magee.
The Union made a splash in the offseason, signing U.S. international MF Maurice Edu on loan from English Premier League side Stoke City FC. The California native has a one goal and one assist through five MLS matches. Philadelphia recently traded its 2013 leading scorer, FW Jack McInerney, to Montreal Impact in exchange for FW Andrew Wenger.
Real Salt Lake will return home on Saturday, April 19, when it will host Portland Timbers at 7:30 p.m. MT. Tickets to the Portland match can be purchased at the Rio Tinto Stadium box office, online at www.RealSaltLake.com/Tickets or over the phone at 801-727-2700.
How to Follow Real Salt Lake at Philadelphia Union
- Kickoff: 2:00 p.m. MT at Philadelphia Union
- English Radio: ESPN700 AM (Pregame begins at 1:00 p.m. MT)
- Spanish Radio: 102.3 La Gran D FM
- Online: The @RealSaltLake Twitter Feed will provide match updates
Game Guide for Saturday's RSL-PHI Match Now Available Online
Click here to download the PDF version of the MLS Game Guide for Saturday's RSL-PHI matchup
RSL History v. Philadelphia Union
Real Salt Lake and Philadelphia Union last met on July 4, 2013, in a 2-2 draw at Rio Tinto Stadium. A late penalty kick goal from RSL MF Javier Morales in the 97th minute gave a 10-man Claret-and-Cobalt a thrilling draw in front of a sold-out crowd.
The last meeting between the two sides at PPL Park on Aug. 24, 2012 resulted in a scoreless draw. Real Salt Lake has never won in Philadelphia, posting a 0-0-3 record at PPL Park all-time. The Claret-and-Cobalt holds a 2-0-4 all-time record against the Union.


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Bruce Willis is renting his lavish villa located on the exclusive private island of Parrot Cay in the Caribbean. For £8,240 per week, renters will enjoy access to the "Die Hard" star's private villa and to the island's mile-long powdered beach, which has become a treasured tropical spot of A-listers such as Britney Spears, Sir Paul McCartney, Ben Affleck, and Madonna.
"The Residence" features five white and teak bedrooms, all with ensuite bathrooms. The villa is over 1,500 square feet and also boasts two three-bedroom guest villas adjacent to the main house. The private island offers an award-winning holistic spa, healthy cuisine and each beach villa includes a private infinity pool. It's luxury living at its finest.
Parrot Cay offers the utmost privacy to its occupants and is where Bruce Willis married Emma Heming two years ago in a lavish beach ceremony. At this ultimate vacation home, you'll have direct access to the mile-long powdered beach. For more details, visit the website.


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Toowoomba shoppers turn out in force to snap up a bargain
INCLEMENT weather did not deter Toowoomba shoppers who hit the city's stores today in record numbers.
With the promise of huge discounts the annual Boxing Day sales did not disappoint.
A brave few hunkered down in the miserable weather outside Harvey Norman, JB HiFi and Myer at Grand Central Shopping Centre keen to be the first through the doors and snap up a bargain.
City retailers are confident the multi-million dollar post-Christmas spend will cap off a successful festive season all-round.
Queensland police have sent additional personnel to both Grand Central and Clifford Garden Shopping Centres to cope with the increased traffic volumes on roads surrounding both centres.
It is predicted that Queensland shoppers will spend about $3 billion during the sales period according to peak retail industry body the Australian Retailers Association.
Queenslanders are expected to spend $338.3 million today and $261.8 million tomorrow.


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Much as the Stig's American cousin is fat, Ken Block's West Virginian cousin hoons a Mustang. Are you surprised?
You can trash talk New Edge Mustangs all you want, but they're still one of the best ways to get cheap horsepower to the rear wheels. That makes more amateur gymkhana videos. And the more amateur Gymkhana videos we find, the happier we are about the next generation of very-sideways drivers.
If you're wondering why this German car driving in Germany is titled as "West Virginian," that's how the uploader describes himself in the YouTube title. He's probably a military man given that his other videos are all shot in Southwest Germany, where many Americans are stationed. Even if he's not, ze Germans have a bit of a love affair with rural America, so any joking is good-natured.


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The Walking Dead is a five-part game series set in the same universe as Robert Kirkman's award-winning comic book series. Play as Lee Everett, a convicted criminal, who has been given a second chance at life in a world devastated by the undead. With corpses returning to life and survivors stopping at nothing to maintain their own safety, protecting an orphaned girl named Clementine may offer him redemption in a world gone to hell.
Only registered members can share their thoughts. So come on! Join the community today (totally free - or sign in with your social account on the right) and join in the conversation.


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Windows 7 Games | Puzzle Games | Hidden Mysteries®: Vampire Secrets
Hidden Mysteries®: Vampire Secrets Game
One hour or 60 minutes free trial demo version of the game is provided above. There are some games with more than 1 hour (80 minutes) time limit. Windows7Games.com provides virus free games setup files which are placed on secure server. Downloading time of game setup files varies depending up on size and your internet connection speed. Before buy your full version legal copy with various available payment methods you can play free demo of downloadable casual game. You have to purchase activation code or serial key for full version of the game by credit card, Visa Card, Master Card, American Express Card, Discover Card or Via PayPal.
Read Hidden Mysteries®: Vampire Secrets Game Features
- Mysterious atmosphere
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- Join Claire on an adventure!
- Get the Strategy Guide!
- Check out our Blog Walkthrough
- Buy full version of this game for PC!
Minimum System Requirements for Playing Game
- Operating System: Windows XP/Vista/8
- Processor: 1.0 GHz
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- DirectX Version: 9
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More Information About This PC Game
- Game Size: 224.18 MB
- Date of Release:
- Game Category: Puzzle Games


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Andy Murray is British, so naturally, he's the local favorite at Wimbledon. Hey, that would make for a sappy Rick Reilly video essay, complete with "Das Deutschlandlied," the British national anthem, as background music.
Even American schoolchildren know "God Save The Queen." Same melody as "My Country 'Tis of Thee." God save our gracious Queen, long live our noble Queen, crown us a Wimbledon champion, etc. Lyrics aren't important when Reilly, his pink tie punctuating his Wimbledon whites, is narrating the video essay. The soundtrack matters most — the music must connote England in all its royal glory.
Which is why it was probably a mistake to run "Das Deutschlandlied" — also known as "Das Lied der Deutschen," in case that rings a bell — instead of the most recognizable song in England.
Take a bloody look for yourself, and let's just hope the ol' chaps who run Wimbledon can differentiate between the two anthems if Murray scores the Grand Slam title Sunday. Sir Winston Churchill would be so proud.
Hope For The Brits [ESPN]
Best on-air mistake ever [SportsJournalists.com]


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An executive favorite gets a makeover — again.
Since it was first introduced in the late 1970s, the Sikorsky S-76 has been a mainstay among corporate VIP helicopter operators, one of the most popular midsize executive rotary-wing transports. Sikorsky has now continued that tradition with introduction of the S-76D, the eighth rendition of the line that comprises the S-76A, A+, A++, B, C, C+ and C++.
First flown in March 1977 and with deliveries of the twin beginning two years later, the more than 800 S-76s put into service have collectively accumulated over 6.2 million hr. There are still more than 680 of the type operating in 42 countries around the world.
While the largest group of users, accounting for 430 aircraft, is the offshore oil industry, the second largest block of aircraft is devoted to executive transport and numbers more than 180 aircraft so far, logging in excess of 630,000 flight hours. Other markets primarily targeted by Sikorsky for the S-76 are emergency medical service (EMS) providers and search and rescue (SAR) units.
Those four groups are already welcoming the S-76D, with orders already placed by the Japan Coast Guard for SAR operations and the Chinese Ruili Jingcheng Group for aircraft configured for airline use. The Chinese company is expanding into the aviation sector through three aviation subsidiaries, including a helicopter operating company. Sikorsky also noted that along with the S-76D, Ruili Jingcheng ordered the larger S-92 for its airline.
A number of VIP executive transport aircraft have been ordered, and Sikorsky "is close to an EMS order," according to Dan Hunter, Sikorsky's director of programs. There are also discussions with both Mexican and Chinese oil companies, he added, "and we're hoping for a U.S. fleet operator."
Production of the S-76C++ ended in 2012, and first deliveries of the D model are scheduled for later this year. Sikorsky quotes a base price of around $12 million and up, depending on factors such as configuration, interiors, options and number purchased. This compares to $10.2 million to $10.4 million for a very, very new C++ and $8.5 million to $9 million for a midlife C++, according to Sharon Desfor, president of HeliValue$ Inc., the Blue Book of the helicopter industry.
The new model received FAA certification on Oct. 12, 2012, and is programmed to get Canadian Transport certification in April, followed by EASA and Japanese certification in May. Brazilian certification is expected in the October/November time frame.


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St. Louis, MO (PRWEB) August 22, 2013
The School for Professional Studies at Saint Louis University has named Jennifer L. Roberts, Ph.D. as the new Assistant Chair for its Renaissance Programs in Education. The Renaissance Programs provide three teacher certification options for working adults. Courses are offered in online and blended formats in accelerated eight-week terms.
Prior to this position, Jennifer worked as a full-time high school English instructor at Belleville West High School in Illinois. In this position, Jennifer taught a variety of English courses, including the advanced placement courses, which are also offered for dual-enrollment through SLU's 1818 program. She also founded and advised the Belleville West Chapter of Girls Learn International, a service learning organization that educates students on girls' education. Through this organization, Jennifer and her students completed advocacy work and fundraisers in the community to benefit their partner school in Cambodia. Jennifer's research interests include: gender and education, international and comparative education, international development, and international students in higher education. She conducted her dissertation research on girls' education in India.
Dr. Roberts received her Master's of Arts from Southern Illinois University Carbondale in English, her Master's of Education from University of Missouri Columbia in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis, and her Ph.D. in Educational Studies from Saint Louis University.
All classes in the School for Professional Studies are offered in accelerated eight-week sessions and are designed for busy adults with affordable tuition rates as well as convenient, online classes. SLU for Busy Adults gives working professionals the opportunity to earn their degree with flexible online and evening courses. In Saint Louis University's tradition of excellence, the School for Professional Studies caters to nontraditional students so they can pursue Bachelor's and Master's programs from globally-recognized SLU.
Applications for all programs are being accepted now for the Fall Term. Anyone interested can apply online at busyadults.slu.edu or call (314) 977-2330.


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(The Council Chronicle Online, posted April 21, 2009)
by Katie Van Sluys
ad•vo•ca•cy (ad'v?-k?-se) n. The act of pleading or arguing in favor of something, such as a cause, idea, or policy; active support. 1
As educators, our everyday instructional decisions, conversations with students and their families, discussions of educational issues with neighbors, op-ed pieces, blog entries, meetings with school administration, and/or connections with lawmakers are all acts of advocacy.
We know that simply wishing or waiting for better policies or practices is unrealistic and that change emanates from real people's engagement and actions over time.
Furthermore, we know the importance of relationships and collaboration when working for change: networks of people working together result in more knowledge and possibilities being brought to the table.
This article provides a snapshot of the ways in which we, as an organization, continue to move forward in our advocacy work as we continue to develop relationships with key collaborators and policymakers' offices, commit ourselves to focused and timely work via an annual legislative platform, collaborate in drafting legislation, and participate in NCTE-sponsored initiatives such as Advocacy Month.
Recognizing the value of work over time, NCTE sponsors a Literacy Education Advocacy Month as a way to offer all of our members opportunities to connect and collaborate with key decision makers in their local contexts. Advocacy activities are suggested for each day of the month (http://www.ncte.org/action/advocacyday/calendar). Electronic Action Alerts invite members to contact their legislators either via email or in person. Advocacy Day on April 23rd is an opportunity for members to work either directly with NCTE colleagues, collaborating agencies, and lawmakers in Washington, D.C., or electronically via an e-mail Action Alert.
Whether we are writing letters, sending emails, or engaging in face-to-face meetings, our efforts are focused via the use of our legislative platform. For the last four years, NCTE has developed an annual platform to inform and focus the year's work. The platform is the result of intense work with Washington staffers, members of key legislative committees, and NCTE member constituents ranging from Early Childhood Literacy interests to two- and four-year college concerns.
The process of creating and using the platform enables us, as a collective, to make decisions about which key issues we are best poised to speak to; it aids us in sharing our message often and with diverse audiences; and it helps others come to know NCTE as a place to turn to for information and advice related to concrete issues of literacy teaching and learning.
The platform has served as a key tool in advancing our collective efforts. It focuses efforts on a subset of the many issues our organization cares and knows about—as it helps NCTE gain recognition as a resource to turn to on particular issues as well as supports focused follow-through.
To date, the 2009 NCTE legislative platform has guided our involvement in the collaborative authoring of a comprehensive literacy bill. NCTE, in cooperation with the National Association for Secondary School Principals, the National Association of Elementary School Principals, the Alliance for Excellent Education, the National Middle School Association, and the International Reading Association, drafted a plan that invites districts to apply for funds at the state level for continuous and aligned literacy work across learners' lives—from birth to grade twelve. The plan calls for literacy work that emphasizes both reading and writing and calls for professional development that is ongoing and embedded within learning communities. Currently the plan is moving through legislative processes on the Hill.
Furthermore, NCTE's platform is being used as a tool for naming specific requests—or "asks"— for working with legislators on Advocacy Day. This year NCTE members will ask for support of the comprehensive literacy bill and the support of NCTE's National Day on Writing initiative. Participants will use the platform as one tool in their preparation for visits with policymakers. Other preparations by participants will include reading and becoming familiar with NCTE's advocacy goals; deciding where their passions, expertise, and needs rest; and thinking about what personal stories can be told to punctuate the necessity of addressing the highlighted issues in contexts important to legislators.
Whether you engage in advocacy for better literacy education learning opportunities by travelling to Washington on April 23 to meet with NCTE colleagues and legislators, by writing letters, by making phone calls, or by meeting locally with lawmakers, always keep in mind that you are talking with your representatives. Their job is to gather the needs of their constituents and they often do this by collecting stories and information that they can use to argue for or against dimensions of legislation.
We need to be the people our representatives turn to when they need advice and information. We hope that the range of opportunities offered invites all of our members to be active advocates in some way, shape, or form. And, in the spirit of not acting alone, we invite members to share their stories of advocacy with fellow NCTE members through the NCTE website (www.ncte.org), the NCTE Ning (http://ncte2008.ning.com/), and conference conversations. Together we can actively craft, support, and argue for the kinds of policies we need to make the kind of schools we're passionate about offering to every child.
Katie Van Sluys is Assistant Professor of Literacy, DePaul University, Chicago, and Chair of the NCTE Executive Committee's Subcommittee on Government Relations.
1. advocacy. (n.d.). The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Retrieved April 10, 2009, from the Dictionary.com website at http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/advocacy
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Thank you for this post. It is especially timely for part of a discussion about the NCTE currently underway on the English Companion Ning.
I plan to share the link to this with the teachers on the EC.
Dan Sharkovitz
English department chair
Martha's Vineyard Regional High School
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Moya Brennan
Moya Brennan's Forum
Moderator: All Moderators
Siobhan wrote:OK, G, you asked for it!
The "problem" with me and my music and the lyrics is that I always look for my own meanings, my own visions, my own thoughts, feelings or parts of life in the songs I love. Sometimes I cannot really explain my vision of the lyrics, but I still "feel" them in my own special way. And therefore I have all different bits of Clannad`s lyrics that mean something to me, or just move me, or awoke certain feeling within me. So, to begin with...
"The mist has cleared from Muckish hill,
Our parting coming nearer,
The last embrace, the final touch,
With nothing more to say"
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Please accept the harmonious balance of David Letterman and Tim Allen's alma maters, respectively, to infiltrate your Tuesday night plans. The undefeated Ball State Cardinals welcome the 9-2 WMU Broncos, and the winner is in the MAC Championship game. Fun fact: It's not illegal to shout "jump" in a crowded live blog. * * * * *Fourth Quarter 10:13 — Rebelling against the PA announcer was simply more fun. Ball State is 12-0 and will play Buffalo in Ford Field. WMU is 9-3 and the irony is they'll probably get a January bowl game while the Cardinals won't. The two lesser MAC tie-in bowls, the International and the GMAC, are both played in 2009 for some unknown reason, while it's probably going to be Ball State in the Motor City bowl against a shitty Big Ten team. Yay! All right, enough MAC regular season live blogging for this year. Thanks for putting up with the itch I just had to scratch on this Tuesday night. 10:12 — Hugs and hearty high-fives all around on the Cardinals sideline. The PA announcer doesn't want anyone to rush the field. And I don't blame him. In a state where there's plenty of open spaces, why commune on this one? 10:09 — Not wanting to risk anything with 1:26 left in the game and give BSU great field position, Western punts the ball away. 10:07 — Nice of WMU to put the backup quarterback in, Drew Burdi, so he can be the resident Matt Stairs and get his ass hammered by guys. 10:06 — There's the most salient thing Bentley has said all night. Let's see Ball State and Boise State play each other, since it looks like neither will get a BCS crack. 10:04 — MiQuale has now rushed for more TDs than any other Ball State running back in a single season. The previous record was held by ... uh ... someone? 9:59 — Either every Directional Michigan linebacker has opposable thumbs, or MiQuale Lewis is just that good at eluding tackles. He escapes a sure wrap-up a few yards away of the goalline then skitters around more defenders for six points. This game's gotta be over by now. 22
459:56 — Dante Lewis. Not Dante Love. Dante Lewis is probably a human being, but he's not the one you were talking about, Ray Bentley. 9:55 — Did ... did Nate Davis just run one-third the field down the sidelines? Did MiQuale Lewis steal his jersey and put on really tall shoes? Hot damn, he's a good quarterback. 9:52 — While the nation* awaits to see if Darius Hill caught the pass, I saw Hill talking and joking with a WMU defender. This is a huge game for both teams, and one team is certainly in better spirits than the other. How can they joke with each other, or at least be cordial on the field between plays? This is why I could never be a professional athlete, aside from the obvious reasons. I don't even talk to my friends and family members if I'm playing Monopoly and have most of my properties mortgaged. * - Muncie 9:43 — West scampers in for six, which is magically converted into eight points on a successful pass from Hiller to Nunez. WMU is back in this assuming Nate Davis does his best Chris Rix impression for the last 11 minutes. 22
389:41 — Brandon West's run sets up a 1st and goal, and for bonus difficulty, they'll take a false start penalty. For added super double whopper difficulty, they'll add an illegal formation penalty. 9:40 — See below, replace everything with "Simmons gets shellacked by Bryant Haines and somehow keeps all his teeth." 9:38 — See below, replace "Hiller to Simmons" with "Brandon West runs." 9:37 — See below, replace "3rd" with "1st." 9:37 — Hiller to Simmons for, yep, a 3rd and 10 conversion. 9:34 — WMU needs three touchdowns, complete with the 2-point conversion premium TrueCoat™ that they put on at the factory, to tie. But if nothing else Tim Hiller and Jamarko Simmons can get their stats back up to where they should be. 9:30 — Right, like Ozzy's texts are that much clearer than his speech. Third Quarter 9:26 — And ... punt. ESPN shows the results of their latest poll: "Should Utah be considered for the BCS National Championship game?" All but one state said "No." Guess. 9:23 — Schneider Julien is running around there with two last names, while so many first-name-heavy humans are starved for a surname. His own teammate Caleb Clark, for example, would LOVE to make a trade with Julien, who just danced around tackles for a first down. 9:21 — They're really going to let Tim Hiller play quarterback, aren't they? What bet did he lose? 9:17 — Or that. Hiller throws an INT for TD to Ball State cornerback Trey Lewis. Youch. 14
389:16 — Really, though. Tim Hiller is good at football. Don't let the ball slipping out of his hand a microcosm of the oeuvre of his total work. 9:15 — Elsewhere in the MAC: Northern Illinois trails Navy 16-0. Woof. Total passing plays by Navy: one. 9:13 — How meritocratic of that TomTom commercial: "$100 doesn't go as far as it used to." I know! Who do you have to blow to get a decent limo driver these days? 9:10 — Davis pumps up the crowd (or does non-jumping jumping jacks. It's hard to tell from this vantage) then feeds it to 3'4" MiQuale Lewis for a touchdown and a commanding lead. 14
319:09 — Oh, and Darius Hill is good too. First and goal. 9:07 — Briggs Orsbon brings in a big 3rd and 10 catch. Orsbon sounds like a corporation that did a lot of mysterious things in the 1950s to make white suburban life easier. 9:06 — Ball State has a 32-year-old U.S. Marine on their team. Brandon Crawford gets up at 4:30 a.m. every morning. He's a junior. He probably wakes up to tuck in his teammates goodnight at 4:30 a.m. 9:03 — Tim HIller. I haven't mention the other quarterback in this game yet. But there he is, falling down as he hands off to Winchester to convert a 3rd and short. Hiller follows that up by throwing a deep ball that bounces off a Cardinal defender, then loses 13 yards on a sack. I'm pretty sure he's not nearly as bad as the last progression of plays make him out to be. 9:01 — Probably not the best idea inside the 10-yard line to get a false start. 8:57 — Well, he won't be asking Briggs Orsbon to the HMP. His speeding missile of a throw wicks off his raised hands and the Cardinals have to punt. Nice kick, though, as it lands on the 3-yard line. 8:55 — MiQUALE MAN puts about 30 yards of field ahead of him in his front pocket. Also, Nate Davis throws a downfield block. The four-year man crush I've had on Nate Davis is finally paying off. I just hope he remembers me when he's looking for a date to the Heterosexual Man Prom. 8:53 — Aaron Winchester is good, but not "continuing the drive past a few first downs" good. Punt. 8:49 — M"kay, WMU. Don't make this game a repeat of last night's Packers-Saints game. Let's get a 4-OT duel underway. I don't ask for much. Halftime Entertainment Video Joe Montana, Buster Douglas and Pat Riley can agree about how many bits a video game console system should have. Eight isn't enough!
Second Quarter 8:27 — It's a video game-style offensive push with 23 seconds left. ...wait, they just run the ball out and decide it's coo' to have a 10-point deficit. End of half. 8:24 — Scrambled eggs all over my face. What is a Bronco to do? Nate Davis runs six yards into the endzone. "Nate Davis does what Western Michigan's buses couldn't do, and that's get through traffic." Somewhere, a Kalamazoo-area charter bus driver throws his bottle of Miller Lite at the TV. 14
248:22 — Not a great sign for WMU's defense when the tight end gets behind the secondary. Darius HIll receives Davis's throw and drags a defender to the 5-yard line. 8:19 — Ball State put their offense back on the field rather quickly. Did they go out of turn? Davis scrambles out of bounds and the Cardinals have 42 yards and less than 90 seconds in the half. 8:16 — And yes, there's mention of the double-overtime win Buffalo had over Bowling Green on Friday night. They failed to mention the BGSU coach mad at his own fanbase for being "pitiful" for not freezing their asses off on a Friday night to see a home loss. Yes, damn their fans! 8:14 — Yeah, Letterman should have been the free space. 8:12 — Perhaps it was not a good idea to coin the word "Nuggnut" in a McDonald's campaign. Especially if you leave out former innuendo-laden hockey goalie Ron Tugnutt. 8:10 — A team can only convert so many 3rd and teens before they bring out the kickin' game. Ian McGarvey converts the field goal to give his team a 3-point McLead. 14
178:08 — Nate Davis runs for a first down and a lot of bonus yards. But WILL HE FLOAT? 8:06 — It's Muncie's answer to Wes Welker. Briggs Orsbon dives and catches the 3rd and long pass. 8:04 — BJ Hill might've had the most acrobatic and impressive kickoff return in college football this year that only wound up putting the ball on the 30-yard line. 8:00 — Coffee magnate Juan Nunez scores a touchdown on the infield fly rule, and hey, maybe this will be a close game after all. 14
147:59 — Yes, Jamarko Simmons made a great one-on-one play to set up first and goal ... but what kind of star WR number is 27? 7:52 — WMU's "two quarterback" formation winds up with other-QB Drew Burdi running the ball for 9 yards and one under par. 7:50 — BSU begins with a punt, and Western returner E.J. Biggers loses oodles of yards by stepping outta bounds accidentally. Heh. "Biggers." 7:47 — Oh, look, the commercial where the guy sneak-pulls a Heineken out of the wrapping paper. How often can we re-gift this ad? First Quarter 7:45 — The chirpin' Cardinals, trying to bring the lead back to 14, instead let a WMU defender fling Cory Sykes down to the ground for a big loss. 7:42 — Hiller laterals it to backup QB Drew Burdi, who lobs it to Schneider Julien.
Also, please punch a hole through "trickeration." Twice, technically. 7
147:38 — Well, that's modestly hopeful. Brandon West returns the kickoff to the 40something line, but unlike most other fortysomething results, he will not have a mid-life crisis and try to take up surfing. 7:34 — And good thing they kept the ball, because Davis chucks it to Louis Johnson for about a 40-yard touchdown reception. Bentley: Johnson "runs unmolested down the field." Ah, schoolboy memories. 0
147:33 — Ball State really is the new Toledo. Brady Hoke lets his team run the ball on 4th and 1, and they convert. 7:31 — Much like last week, Sean Baker enjoys intercepting directional Michigan quarterbacks. Hiller forced it and Ball State takes over at midfield. 7:28 — Many ESPN commenters are cheering for Ball State and Western Michigan. Some misunderstood the question and are rooting for Alabama or Auburn. 7:23 — MiQUALE! MAN!
77:22 — WMU still refuses to guard #81, Johnson, in the secondary. Because that's just what they'd be expecting them to do. 7:20 — Davis to Louis Johnson. I'm sensing a theme. "Davis should register his arm as a lethal weapon." Haven't they made enough of those films? 7:17 — Footage of Western Michigan buses getting to the stadium 40 minutes late, because of accidents on I-69. You never want to have an accident on 69. 7:15 — QBs on display my foot. These punters ROCK! 7:13 — There's something remarkably unsettling with the name "Trey Buice." Is that a Gaelic greeting? 7:11 — Nice run by the not-at-all-pretentious-sounding name Aaron Winchester for 19 yards. 7:09 — Not enough Quale-ness for another first down, and WMU will receive the punt and set up the football. 7:07 — So, actual game updates. MiQuale Lewis catches Nate Davis's screen pass and makes some Quale-like moves for the first down. Not to be confused with Quayle-like moves, where he catches a screen passes and puts "E"s on words that don't need them. 7:06 — Also, any comments you leave on ESPN's game thread might make it to the TV screen. Remember. "Gaping hole." 7:03 — Ooh, it's Interactive Tuesday! you can write comments to ESPN and put them on the scrolling marquee at the top. Your goal for the day: get the phrase "gaping hole" into a published comment. "Call 1-800-269-0213 to voice your opinion," it says. Please do.
Pre-Game Babble Even though last night's Saints win over Green Bay had more scores than an Abraham Lincoln speech, it's getting to the point of the year in which prime-time-scheduled football is not nearly as interesting as mid-majors duking it on on a Tuesday night. And this one actually means something, at least in the fishbowl of a world that is the Mid-American Conference. The winner of this game will play in the MAC Championship game against — hold your laughter — the University at Buffalo. The game will be in Ford Field in a valiant attempt to hold a meaningful game there. Both of these teams are bowl bound, although in all fairness they're also good enough to make the playoffs in the NBA Eastern Conference. Record In Deadspin Live Blogs Ball State: 1-0 Western Michigan: It's amazing, after all their tradition and glory, that they haven't been in one yet. Bingo Card Today's digitally-mastered bingo card will not be seen tonight, for numerous technical reasons, many which involve Adobe InDesign crashing every time I open it. So as part of last week's Green Week, I have wasted a piece of looseleaf on tonight:
NOTE: If you have trouble reading any of them, don't worry. We're probably not going to make a bingo tonight anyway.


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Corvette-o-philes know the first-generation Corvette wasn't a muscle car — it was a European-style roadster with Jaguar in its sights. Under the fiberglass hood was an inline six, dubbed "Blue Flame." But in 1955, sales were off. The Corvette needed a transfusion — and it got one.
Among the 200+ cars in the collection of Ken Lingenfelter resides the very first Corvette to be fitted with a small-block V8 engine. To GM, it was experimental car EX-87; to 'Vettologists it's the Duntov Mule, named after Chevrolet engineer Zora Arkus Duntov, champion of the V8 Corvette — and author of the research brief that sold GM brass on muscle cars and performance parts: "Thoughts Pertaining to Youth, Hot Rodders and Chevrolet."
Somewhere around 1954, Duntov headed a joint project whose contributors included Duntov himself; racing legend Smokey Yunick; Ed Cole, father of the Chevy small block; and three-time Indy 500 winner Mauri Rose. The result was the car you'll see in this episode of Big Muscle. It had a special, pre-production small block punched out to 307ci, in which still resides the "Duntov 3030." That is, a particularly hot, solid-lifter cam Duntov special-ordered from GM Engineering. The EX-87 also had a bunch of aero gear fitted for stability, for when, at GM's Arizona proving grounds, it would eventually hit 163 mph — staggering speed for the time — with Duntov at the wheel.
Lingenfelter paid $318,000 for the "Duntov Mule" at auction in 2009. Now it's worth over a million, easily. Lumpy cam and all.


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Sunday's Super Bowl has been five years in the making for Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Anquan Boldin.
Boldin was with Arizona when the Cardinals lost to Pittsburgh 27-23 in the 2009 Super Bowl, and he still feels the sting.
``Everything that I have done as far as working out, as far as preparing, has been to get back to this point and to win,'' Boldin said. ``I think whenever you're in a situation like that and being a competitor, you don't want to lose. But I think when you do (lose) in a situation like that, it drives you. I mean, for me, it's been only about football and getting back and trying to win.''
Now that he's back in the NFL championship, Boldin is drawing on his experiences from 2009.
The Super Bowl is unlike any other game, with a longer-than-normal halftime and long delays following warmups and the coin toss. Though football players are creatures of habit, Boldin said he and his teammates have to be prepared to adjust their normal routines.
``Everybody is used to going out and warming up at a certain time. Coming in the locker room, having a certain amount of time in the locker room before you go back out. Having a certain amount of time before the coin toss,'' Boldin said. ``You can toss all that to the side, because it's completely different. (You can't) ... use too much energy or get too excited too early.''
- Nancy Armour -http://twitter.com/nrarmour
EDITOR'S NOTE - ``Super Bowl Watch'' shows you Super Bowl XLVII and the events surrounding the game through the eyes of Associated Press journalists across New Orleans and around the world. Follow them on Twitter where available with the handles listed after each item.


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This is only peripherally about real estate and much longer than most of my posts and may be just venting, but a warning about this kind of a move might be helpful to some of your clients. If you read it you might conclude that it is just hyperbole from an angry customer but if anything it understates the difficulty of this encounter with the self-moving giant.
U-Haul is a very successful company. Their revenue and profits have been great and they have enjoyed a nice run-up on their stock price in the last year.
That's not why I hate them.
A little background…this summer a close relative went through simultaneous domestic, medical, and financial crises after she is abandoned in Las Vegas. The family pooled some financial resources to move her and her toddler daughter back east. Since money was tight, I researched various alternatives for getting her modest possessions and her daughter's toys across the country.
The two least expensive alternatives both turned out to be U-Haul. The first option was to rent a truck, load up her stuff and drive it cross country…about 2300 miles in this case. The second alternative was what U-Haul calls U-Boxes. These are crates about 8' X 7' X 5'. We estimated correctly that we would need two U-Boxes. The shipping cost came to almost exactly the same thing as renting the truck plus gas, food, motel, etc and nobody had to take the week off and make that punishing journey in a small noisy truck.
Easy decision, right? Maybe not. There are a couple of costs that may or may not affect your pocketbook, depending on your situation. The first is that you are not likely to get your shipment if you are moving cross-country in the time you could driving it yourself. U-Haul "guaranties" it will reach your destination city in 10 days. Internally they are confused whether this is ten business days or ten calendar days but when you go to their website and punch in your contract number and name it calculates the guarantee ten calendar days out from the pickup date.
The second thing you should be aware of is that you don't know where your stuff is during that shipping period. The real problem is that U-Haul doesn't know either. U-Haul uses freight brokers and regular shippers to move the boxes. U-Haul depends on these brokers to keep track of the boxes.
How did I find this out? My boxes did not arrive in the guaranteed time. However, someone, I presume someone in the corporate offices in Phoenix, called me to tell me that they had. I got my help together and went over to the local store to arrange getting them home. False alarm, they weren't there.
This I learned from the lone bewildered clerk in the store after waiting for twenty minutes in line with several other customers and potential customers trying to do everything from buy a couple of shipping boxes, to returning a truck, to trying to get a trailer hitch installed that they had scheduled ahead of time
Their attitude about the shipment was "it will get here when it gets here." They have no access to any tracking information, apparently because there isn't any.
This is where the fun begins.
I'm not totally unfamiliar with shipping stuff because I used to help run a company that managed the logistics for our clients' trade show programs. The U-Boxes actually look like the big crates we built to ship trade show exhibits. However, trade shows go on whether your shipper has a problem or not so we would pay more for real shipment guarantees. The U-Boxes are not handled that way. But that's OK if you're going for the least expense and aren't too concerned about when they reach their destination. They can keep the cost reasonable by letting the freight companies consolidate cross country shipments in a variety of ways. It turned out our boxes went from Las Vegas to Los Angles before they headed east.
Honestly, a day or two late was not going to cause a major problem. What did cause a problem was that no one I could reach in the U-Haul/U-Box organization could tell us what was going on even well past the "guaranteed" date. Here are a few highlights of those days.
- I talked to at least a dozen U-Haul personal on the phone not including the people in the local store. When you try to call the local store, if they are busy, the calls get rolled to a call center in Phoenix. But someone at a call center only knows what's on the computer which in this case was wrong.
- I was on hold at least two hours total over several days. A couple of those holds where about a half hour each. In retrospect, I don't think anyone had any intention of picking the calls back up so I started hanging up after 15 minutes. Otherwise, only heaven knows how many of my cell phone minutes would have been spent listening to the ironic on-hold message about how "easy" U-Haul made your move. To amuse themselves I wonder if the customer service people make bets on how long disgruntled customers will hold before they hang up?
- When corporate insisted that the boxes had reached their destination and the local general manager said they weren't there, she and I walked her lot and checked the numbered barcodes to prove that they weren't. The barcodes suggest that the boxes are tracked. Maybe that's one of those things that falls in the category of "coming soon."
- I asked one of the customer service people on the phone what the guaranteed delivery meant. She hemmed and hawed. A free shipment? No. A discount? No. A Starbucks Gift card for a latte? No. A written apology from the Director of Flack Catching? No. It's a meaningless, empty promise? Yes.
- Twice I was transferred out of the U-Haul network, obviously to get rid of me. Once to an e-learning company that was closed for the weekend and shortly after that to a civilian who thought I was crazy. Speaking of that, I saw the same sort of thing in a customer review where the customer was transferred twice to a phone sex line. I wonder if longtime customer service personal in companies like this have a name for this process, like "ditching," and I wonder if every customer service person has their personal favorite transfer location?
- If you want to see those customer reviews, it's not obvious on the U-Haul website where they are. Interestingly, most of the reviews are positive, or at least made without comment, but when something goes wrong, they really go wrong. Check for yourself. At the bottom of the home page under "Company Info" click on "Social Media Directory" and you will find the reviews. What that has to do with social media, I don't know. I had to tell one of the U-Box managers in Phoenix about these reviews. He had no idea they existed.
- When you call U-Haul the first line of defense is a customer service area. The folks that answer the phone (I talked to at least seven or eight of them) are well trained to seem sympathic and listen patiently…that is, they know the basics of dealing with unhappy customers. They can look stuff up on the computer but beyond that they can't do much but transfer you to someone else who can't do much either. One, who was trying to be helpful suggested that I send an email and guided me to where I could find the form on the website. She said this would draw some attention and that all emails had to be responded to within 72 hours. I've sent three and none have been responded to, now well beyond the 72 hours. Together what I wrote provides a pretty good chronology of my misadventures in customer service hell. One gentlemen in the U-Box department confessed that he didn't know this email capability existed on the website, had never seen one, and had no idea what happened to them or who responds to them. I suggested he send one himself and ask to be contacted so he would know where they went. My bet is that he will get nothing.
- Somewhere along the line one of the customer service people suggested that my shipment had been delayed because the charge to my debit card was rejected. I had been told and it was reflected on my status page on the website that it would be charged 5 days after the boxes were shipped. They tried it that day and three subsequent days. This turned out to have nothing to do with the delay. However, I was concerned because the money was in the account. I called my bank and discovered the debit card had a $1500 limit on POS transactions, which is probably a reasonable security precaution. I had it changed to accommodate the expected charge for three days. However nobody could tell me who initiated the charge or why nobody called me to tell me it hadn't processed.
- In one of my conversations with the U-Haul department in Phoenix, they promised that they would have the shipper call me with an update. I thought that was really odd and have never experienced a company that wanted you to deal directly with their vendors. The freight broker did call me, and besides accepting some of the blame for the snafu, gave me his name and phone number. He also gave me a projected arrival of the boxes that was only about a half day wrong.
- Another customer service person suggested that I file a formal complaint. I explained that I had already sent these emails complaining and I still hadn't got a response. Even though they contained my contract number, they were not included/attached to the record she had of the transaction. U-Haul doesn't call complaints "complaints." They call them "customer objections." So I told her the story again. She had to assign it to a particular department. She said that since it involved shipping it would be sent to the location that initiated the shipping in Henderson/Las Vegas. I told her that I wasn't enthusiastic about that because I had already tried to contact them twice. I gave up after 15 minutes on hold after I was told I was being transferred to the manager. When I called back later I refused to be put on hold and whoever was unlucky enough to answer the call promised that the manager would call me back. I did talk to him later (I actually had a name) and he said that he had never gotten the message.
- Everybody seemed to be blaming the people in Henderson including the Regional U-Box person in Raleigh. I was given her name and number by the store personnel and called her twice. She refused to call me back but passed word to me through the store to deal with Henderson. I tried Henderson again and got Susan who I subsequently learned was their U-Box coordinator. She was very pleasant and said that she would check and get back to me in a few minutes. She did call back several hours later and gave me the same information the shipper had given me earlier.
- I talked to Henderson one more time. It was the manager who had never called me back several days earlier. He was responding to the complaint…that is, the "customer objection." By this time, the freight had finally arrived in Durham. He offered to compensate us $100 for every day it was late but insisted that it was only two days late because they didn't count weekend days in the ten day guarantee even though it clearly gave the guarantee date on my status page on the website. He said that he would talk it over with his boss and see whether they could do five days. I shared with him that my major complaint no longer had anything to do with the shipment but was mostly about getting the run-around from so many people. I never heard from him again.
- Turns out the manager in Henderson didn't think he should pay because I was unhappy for being run around so he kicked the complaint up to corporate. So, I told my story again to corporate. They asked what I wanted. I said they should be embarrassed that the local store kept calling to tell me the shipment was here and I could get the two boxes when I paid the full balance. He asked what I wanted. I said free shipping and a consulting fee for outlining all the faults of their customer service in the three disappeared emails. He said he would talk it over with his boss and get back to me. I expected a reasonable counter offer. After two days I hadn't heard from him so I called him back at the number he had given me at the headquarters in Phoenix. The call rolled to another customer service person and I was told my guy was not in. How about his boss? Not in either. Can I leave him a message? They don't have voice mail. Can I have his email address? No. Can you email him my message? Yes. Never heard from him.
- The last customer service person I talked to suggested that I file a customer objection. I said that I already had. She said she didn't see an active one. I said that I knew I filed one. She asked for a reference number. I had forgotten about that but had it right in front of me. She looked it up. She said "That has been resolved." I told her nobody told me it was resolved and she had no information about what the resolution was. She said that she would re-open it. Three days later, I still haven't heard anything.
I give up.
So that's why I hate U-Haul. I really don't blame the people who I dealt with on the phone or in the store. I think that at least some of them would have really liked to help me. If you look at the customer reviews and U-Haul's financial performance, they are obviously doing something right. They may simply be a rapidly growing organization with systems that haven't caught up with the growth and don't know how to handle exceptions.
If I had to bet though, I'd bet the culture is that customers who experience problems like I did are just collateral damage to them that they don't consider important to the growth of the bottom line. Maybe this will catch up with them, as it recently did with General Motors which buried information about faulty ignition switches that killed people. They won't get much sympathy in this family if it does.
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Food and Agriculture (State/Intrastate)
The California Department of Food and Agriculture has jurisdiction over several areas of food and agriculture, including: ensuring that consumers, handlers, and producers receive accurate weights and measures of the commodities and services they purchase; promoting California agriculture and food products; protecting against exotic pests and diseases; and ensuring that only safe and quality food reaches the consumer.
Department of Food and Agriculture Office of Public Affairs 1220 N Street Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 654-0466 General Information (916) 654-0462 Public Affairs (800) 735-2929 TTY (916) 657-4240 Fax www.cdfa.ca.gov/Contact_Us.html
Complaint Jurisdiction:
Cleanliness, wholesomeness, truthful labeling of meat and poultry produced in establishments exempt from federal regulation, maturity, grade, size, weight packaging and labeling of fruits vegetables, nuts, eggs, beans, commercial feed, etc.
Complaints Outside Jurisdiction:
Inspection of processed food (canned, frozen, or packaged), food
stamps, farm advisor activities (information on growing foods).
Consumer Resource & Referral Guide Directory of State Agencies Directory of Federal Agencies Return to DCA Home Page


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The renovation of this home along the banks of Core Sound in Down East Carteret County is featured on the new season of DIY Network�s Blog Cabin. A sweepstakes to win the home is open through Sept. 13.
The renovation is complete and it�s now time to win it.
The seventh season of DIY Network�s Blog Cabin series returns July 29 at 9:30 p.m. and will feature the transformation of a fisherman�s cottage in Down East Carteret County into a summer retreat. In conjunction with the television series, there is a sweepstakes to win the remodeled home.
The home dates back to the mid-1800s and has weathered the years on the banks of Core Sound in Atlantic, one of the unincorporated communities at the east end of Carteret County, an area that remains relatively undeveloped and holds to its coastal heritage and traditions such as boatbuilding and decoy carving.
The house sits on three acres that was originally owned by Uriah Robinson and sold in 1892 to one of his sons, John Bryan Robinson, for $50, according to history provided by a family member.
John Robinson, a local fisherman, settled on the land to start a family. Over the years as the family expanded and the home passed among generation, the one-room cottage saw additions and improvements.
The Blog Cabin series wills show its latest transition to a 2,000-square-foot, three-bedroom summer retreat with outdoor entertainment areas, a private dock and waterfront views.
Blog Cabin, the first interactive home-building television series,is hosted by Chris Grundy and the project included DIY Network�s team of renovation experts � Matt Blashaw of Yard Crashers, Jason Cameron of Desperate Landscapes, Anitra Mecadon of Mega Dens, Matt Muenster of Bath Crashers, Josh Temple of House Crashersand Alison Victoria of Kitchen Crashers.
The coastal division of Andrew Roby Inc, which has an office in Atlantic Beach, was general contractor and work included local sub-contractors.
New episodes of Blog Cabin will air every Monday at 9:30 p.m. Viewers can enter the sweepstakes for a chance to win the home online at DIYNetwork.com/BlogCabin through Sept. 13.
Visit the web site for a virtual tour of the house.
Contact Daily News reporter Jannette Pippin at 910-382-2557 or email@example.com.