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How to Use
the Readings
Inquiry Question
Reading 2: Francis Scott Key and the
Francis Scott Key, a successful 35-year old lawyer and amateur poet, witnessed the bombardment of Fort McHenry from an American ship anchored about eight miles away in the Patapsco River. A Maryland native, Key had a successful law practice in the District of Columbia. As a member of the opposition party, he opposed the War of 1812 for political reasons. As a devout Christian, he had moral objections to the attempted invasion of Canada. In 1813, he wrote a friend that he would rather see the American flag lowered in disgrace than have it stand for persecution and dishonor.1
By the time a large British fleet moved into the Chesapeake Bay in August 1814, Key found he had changed his mind. He was present at the humiliating American defeat at the Battle of Bladensburg. He also witnessed the burning of the Capitol and the other public buildings in Washington. He wanted the war to end, but thought there was "no hope for peace."2
An errand of mercy brought Key to the Patapsco. Key was trying to obtain the release of a prominent local doctor whom the British had taken prisoner. On September 5, he set out from Baltimore to meet the British fleet. The officers on board the British flagship agreed to release Dr. Beanes, but they would not let the Americans return to Baltimore until after the coming battle. They sent the men back to their small ship, which was kept under armed guard. Helplessly, Key watched the British bombard Fort McHenry. Early in the morning of September 14, Key noticed that the British had stopped firing. He strained to see whether the flag had been struck (taken down), which would mean that the fort had surrendered.
At about the same time, Fort McHenry's garrison raised a huge flag. Major Armistead had specifically asked for a "flag so large that the British will have no difficulty in seeing it from a distance." The enemy was duly impressed. Robert Barrett, a young midshipman on a British warship, commented on the "superb and splendid ensign." When Key saw the flag, he realized that the fort had survived the bombardment. Baltimore was safe.
Many years later, he described his feelings,
Through the clouds of war, the stars of that banner still shone in my view. . . . Then, in that hour of deliverance and joyful triumph, my heart spoke, and "Does not such a country, and such defenders of their country, deserve a song?" was its question. With it came an inspiration not to be resisted; and even though it had been a hanging matter to make a song, I must have written it. Let the praise, then, if any be due, be given, not to me, who only did what I could not help doing, not to the writer, but to the inspirers of the song!3
Key scribbled down the first words of his song on the back of a piece of paper and finished it back on shore. He took the draft to Judge Nicholson, a relative by marriage who had served at Fort McHenry during the bombardment. Nicholson liked it very much. He may have been the person who took it to the Baltimore American. That newspaper immediately printed it as a large poster-like broadside and began distributing it around Baltimore. Each man at Fort McHenry received a copy. The text appeared in the Baltimore Patriot on September 20 and the Baltimore American the following day. By mid-October, at least 17 other newspapers on the East Coast had published the new song. Some time during the first two weeks of November, it was set to music as "The Star Spangled Banner."
The original broadside said that Key's poem should be performed to the tune "Anacreon in Heaven." This tune was popular in the United States at the time and Key himself had already written one set of lyrics for it. It was originally composed in the mid-1770s as the club song for "The Anacreontic Society," a group of gentlemen in London who liked to get together to perform music, eat a good supper, drink some wine, and generally enjoy themselves. The president of this highly respectable group usually sang the song as a solo after the supper.
Francis Scott Key died on January 11, 1843. Flags flew at half-mast in mourning in Baltimore and Washington. The Baltimore American published his obituary two days later. It said, "So long as patriotism dwells among us, so long will this song be the theme of our nation."
Questions for Reading 2
Reading 2 was adapted from materials on the Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine website and from Lonn Taylor, Kathleen M. Kendrick, and Jeffrey L, Brodie, The Star-Spangled Banner: The Making of An American Icon (New York: HarperCollins for the Smithsonian Institution, 2008).
3Quoted in Harold I. Lessem and George C. MacKenzie, Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine, Maryland (Washington: National Park Service, 1954, reprinted 1961); available online, Section h, "The Star-Spangled Banner."


text: A child can be taught to love reading. The right book will captivate and without much effort on your part, inconspicuously teach. Spending time together in a book adventure or learning interesting facts together makes for special memories. A child who loves reading will go on to become a lifelong self-learner.

subset: commoncrawl


text: This is it people!!! Today is the last day. Do you want to win round-trip airfare, hotel accommodations and a ticket to see B.o.B in NYC on November 29, 2011? Then go to the AKOO Facebook page and enter for a chance to win before 5 pm today! Good luck. Also, come say hello when you make it to NYC.


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major macro economic indicators
|2018 (e)
|2019 (f)
|GDP growth (%)
|Inflation (yearly average, %)
|Budget balance (% GDP)
|Current account balance (% GDP)
|Public debt (% GDP)
(e): Estimate. (f): Forecast.
- Financial support from the diaspora
- Gas potential
- Robust banking system
- Highly exposed to regional geopolitical tensions
- Political divisions along religious lines
- Very high public debt
- Strong political differences leading to instability
Risk assessment
Growth will remain fragile
Lebanese growth is expected to pick up slightly, after a slowdown in 2018, due notably to a loss of confidence among foreign investors and Lebanese households alike owing to political uncertainty. Although weak, the improved growth prospects for 2019 are based on the resilience of tourism and the banking sector. Despite cooler credit growth, the banking system – the backbone of the Lebanese economy – will remain robust, particularly thanks to large remittances from the diaspora. The easing of the Syrian conflict could also benefit Lebanese exports. The gas sector is poised to receive investments and should contribute to growth. The Lebanese government has signed two offshore gas exploration and production agreements with an international consortium led by Total, and exploration is scheduled to begin in 2019. However, the political situation could still be a drag on growth in 2019, by hampering private consumption. The financial assistance promised by international donors, which is expected to be committed particularly to infrastructure projects, is being disbursed slowly due to the unstable political context. This situation could affect the already low level of public investment (1.4% of GDP in 2017).
After rising in 2018 following various tax hikes, inflation will slow in 2019. The return home of many Syrian refugees will ease the upward pressure on property prices, while the expected stability of oil prices will moderate imported inflation.
Substantial debt and twin deficits
After increasing in 2018, budgetary revenues, mainly from taxes (16% of GDP in 2017), are expected to stabilise in 2019. At the same time, expenditure is expected to tick up due to growth in the public sector wage bill and payment of debt interest. The latter, which accounted for nearly 10% of GDP and one-third of expenditure in 2017, will continue to have a significant impact on public finances. With a primary balance in equilibrium, it is this interest that will once again lead to a substantial government deficit. Subsidies paid to Electricity of Lebanon, a power utility company (9% of total expenditure in 2017), will continue to be a major expenditure item for the state. Public debt, mainly domestic, is expected to exceed 150% of GDP in 2019, making Lebanon the third most indebted country in the world, after Japan and Greece.
Regarding the external accounts, the current account deficit is not expected to change. Despite an increase in exports, including motor vehicles (18% of exports) and gold (13%), the goods deficit will widen. This is because imports are also set to increase amid sustained prices for oil (nearly 20% of imports), and will remain much higher than exports. At the same time, the services balance will see its surplus increase, mainly due to tourism. Remittances from expatriates (6% of GDP in 2017) will continue to reduce the current account deficit, which will be financed by inward foreign investment (21% of GDP in 2017), mainly composed of portfolio investments, as well as by foreign exchange reserves. The latter, which were equivalent to 14 months of imports in 2017, are therefore expected to shrink. Higher interest rates will put additional pressure on the reserves – a problem which must be tackled, given that the Lebanese pound is pegged to US the dollar. Abandoning this regime would have a significant impact on the private sector, in a country where external debt – most of which is denominated in US dollars and 90% of which is private – stood at close to 200% of GDP in 2017.
Instability affects Lebanese political life
President Michel Aoun, a Christian and a former general, is currently dealing with major political instability, which intensified further after the parliamentary elections in May 2018. Prime Minister Saad Hariri, leader of the Sunni community, emerged weakened from the elections: his Future Movement Party lost nearly half of its seats, while the March 8 Alliance, formed around the Shia movement and President Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement (Maronite), won a majority. The new distribution of seats in Parliament forced the prime minister to form a new government. However, this revived tensions between the political parties in a Lebanese political system where power is split along religious lines. A government proposal put forward on October 29, 2018 was rejected by Hezbollah, a Shia party, which called for greater representation of Sunnis who are not part of the Future Movement. Although a government is expected to be formed in 2019, the situation reflects a highly divided political landscape.
In addition to reinforcing sectarian and political divisions, the growing influence of Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed party that provides military assistance to the Syrian regime, is straining Lebanon's relations with its traditional allies. In 2018, the Gulf States and the United States stepped up sanctions against senior party officials. Hezbollah's electoral performance has also increased the tension with Israel.
Last update: February 2019


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Enjoy your weekend!
House Portrait
Enjoy your weekend!
44 comments:
I would love to have a painting of my pup! I need to contact her on that.ReplyDelete
For some reason, I've never been interested in having a painting of our home. I love our home, we had it built and put in a lot of the work ourselves, but I've just never thought about having a painting of it. Kind of like having a picture of yourself I guess.
It looks so pretty. She did a fabulous job. Hugs, MartyReplyDelete
she did a fabulous job! I've seen house portraits before but never though of having ours done...maybe i'll check into it. hope you have a wonderful weekend!ReplyDelete
Yes, I have had a watercolor painting done of my husband's childhood home - a farmhouse in Minnesota. His family homesteaded the land in the 1800's. Then his mom and I gathered photos (which were all very small black & white ones) that showed the barn in the background so the artist could also do a portrait of that very special building. The red barn burned down when my husband was about 10 and it's one of the first childhood storied he ever shared with me. Both watercolors hang in our living room. So your blog post caught my eye!ReplyDelete
Wow it's beautiful Kim!!ReplyDelete
Just beautiful...amazing actually!ReplyDelete
I did a watercolor house portrait for someone once. Loved the way it turned out. Never did my own though, for some reason. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=240842166079364&set=a.112690345561214.21606.112687852228130&type=3&theaterReplyDelete
Oh I love this! I have a sister in Cincinnati who has a friend who paints your home (from a photo) on a crock, another cool idea. And your photo looks like it was taken late Spring or early Summer, a great time for the landscape to show up as well. Love! Thanks for sharing.ReplyDelete
BRAVO - what a splendid job she has done - wow!ReplyDelete
I love this idea - what a great present for hubs for Christmas.
How long did/does it take, usually?
I really love the work she does! We are still getting ours together!ReplyDelete
- Anonymous11/16/13, 12:07 PM
Beautiful, Kim.ReplyDelete
We have one done by Fifi Flowers and we have a pencil sketch that was given to us by the Garden Club when we were on the house tour at Christmas. I've always wanted a large watercolor of the house.
The painting is wonderful, Kim. She did a great job. And YES, you need to get one of Miss Bailey for sure!!!ReplyDelete
She paints a beautiful picture! Thank you for sharing!ReplyDelete
She did a beautiful job!ReplyDelete
this is gorgeous!!! your home is just amazing, what a keepsake!ReplyDelete
She did a great job! It's absolutely lovely!!!ReplyDelete
Enjoy it.
So beautiful! I think house portraits are so special.ReplyDelete
I love this, Kimmie.ReplyDelete
Be a sweetie,
Shelia ;)
That is so pretty! I know you will treasure that for years to come. Where do you plan on hanging it?ReplyDelete
Love this too Kim!!!! Will definitely have my house done someday!!! yours look so fabulous!ReplyDelete
Oh Kim that turned out beautiful!! I so need one done!ReplyDelete
Kim, this is so fantastic. She did a wonderful job. I love how charming it feels.ReplyDelete
What a great idea...she did an amazing job. Your house is beautiful!ReplyDelete
Kim, She did a wonderful job capturing your beautiful home.ReplyDelete
Very pretty Kim. What a nice treasure to have. Kathleen did a great job.ReplyDelete
What a wonderful idea...looks beautiful!ReplyDelete
Gorgeous, Kim! Kathleen is an amazingly gifted artist!ReplyDelete
Just beautiful...I love how rich the colors are for a watercolor! I have pet portraits and they are such a wonderful way to remember our fur babies after they've gone. We had a sweet yorkie named Bailey in the early nineties. I think of her every time I see your Bailey. :)ReplyDelete
It's just beautiful, Kim! I've thought about having someone do our old house since it holds special memories for so many. And you should definitely have Miss Bailey done!ReplyDelete
This Artist really gives it character, Your home is lovely.ReplyDelete
Have a nice Sunday. yvonne
What a treasure. I have a watercolor of just my front porch and I love it. Definitely checking out her pet pictures!ReplyDelete
There is nothing more special, too funny about your door~ReplyDelete
Wow…she did a gorgeous job!!…Hmm…maybe I see a "Christmas present" in my future!...ReplyDelete
What a beautiful painting! Can't wait to see it in it's new home.ReplyDelete
What a wonderful idea! The first thing I noticed was that your door was brown. How fun that you are painting it again!ReplyDelete
It looks great. Somehow you must feel like you live in a famous castle, now that it's on a painting!ReplyDelete
Lovely Kim. So wonderful to immortalize a home by painting it. She does wonderful work!ReplyDelete
xo Nancy
- Anonymous11/17/13, 5:11 PM
Kathleen's work is gorgeous! We lost our home to fire. Kathleen used a photo from a friend to create a lovely work of art that we now enjoy in our new home. Her painting is the Mansard home above. She pays attention to the small details and made our home the place I remember.ReplyDelete
I love it! Your house portrait is gorgeous.ReplyDelete
Your home is a classic! Love the print!ReplyDelete
This came out beautiful, Kim. My sister-in-law got this done for us from someone that lived near her of the house we just sold. Since she doesn't do it any more I am going to save this for our new one!! So excited and happy to see this post. Thank you!!!ReplyDelete
That turned out beautifully, Kim! She did a lovely job with it!ReplyDelete


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In August, Nathan W. Murphy, wrote a blog on the FamilySearch website, where he wondered out loud about how accurate French Canadian record are – especially French Canadian immigration records.
As he reviewed his French Canadian ancestry at FamilySearch, he realized that "some of my ancestors are literally in the database 100s of times"!
To get around this problem, he used Ficher Origine, which he explains in his blog posting. You put in the name you are researching, and there you will see the latest up-to-date information on your immigrant ancestor. It should help you sort out your ancestors, one from the other.
So give it a try.
Read this very interesting blog at https://familysearch.org/blog/en/judging-familytree-accuracy-french-canadian-immigrants/#comments


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Phoronix: Ubuntu Developers Party In Budapest
The Ubuntu Developer Summit (UDS) for Ubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Oncelot" took place last week in Budapest, Hungary. A lot of meetings and development discussions took place. There were a lot of Phoronix news posts that I had wrote from Budapest, so if you happened to miss out on some of them, here's a summary of them.


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One Room Schoolhouse
Tucked into the northwest corner of History San Jose sits the One Room Schoolhouse. Santa Clara County elementary school students, while studying local history, use this authentic one-room schoolhouse on a regular basis. Thousands of students participate each year in a hands-on curriculum, developed by local elementary teachers, experiencing what it was like to attend school in the late 1800's.
Built in 1871, Santa Ana School was used as a schoolhouse for grades one through eight from 1872-1967. A total of 54 teachers taught at Santa Ana School. Teacher Elizabeth GatesRianda from 1972-1974 used it for the last time as a kindergarten classroom.
The Lurie College of Education Alumni Board raised funds to move the schoolhouse to History San Jose, renovate it, and dedicate it in 1998. [Click here to see the video]
Today it serves as a real life example of local history to elementary students and those who visit the history park and schoolhouse.


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I read some posting on Pharyngula recently that cited the Courtier's Reply, which is a much older Pharyngula posting. I don't have any quarrel with what P. Z. Myers says here, but there was one thing that bothered me (about my own sanity): if I agree that the Emperor has no clothes, why do I still spend time learning stuff about how finely those clothes are made? More bluntly, if I still read about religions and I learn to tell them apart, while being an atheist, am I just nuts? Or what?
The better analogy with the Emperor's clothes is that there are a whole bunch of Emperors, and they all are naked, but they are claim to have the finest clothes. The Courtier's Reply argument says we need to refocus the discussion on the fact that they're all naked.
Anyway, I am interested in hearing from other atheists who take the time to try and understand, say, the distinction between evangelical Christianity and fundamentalist Christianity. (We're talking, after all, about Christians who don't bother to understand the distinction between agnosticism and atheism.) Should we do this? Are we just nuts?
There is a historical reason, for me, to be interested in this stuff: I was raised as a Methodist in a family that has a long history of religious wars. I already know a lot about the Bible so it does not seem to cost much to learn more. But if it were not for that historical reason, I am not sure I would bother to learn stuff about various flavors of woo.
Views: 238
I think like every other minority, we are going to have to get some support outside to achieve our goals. First, we would have to have a clear set of goals. LOL! In order to reach our objectives, we have to be able to identify and recruit supporters outside our group, because we are simply too small to achieve much impact without some outside support. It would be helpful to understand the different religions and sects within each to identify who might go along with us and who might not.
Let's say one of our goals was to get rid of the tax exemption for ministers. I'm sure not all ministers out there get a tax exemption. This group who is not included in the tax exempt world of specialness might be a useful alley.
Or if we wanted to get rid of creationism taught in the public schools. Most Methodists, for example, think creationism is so much bunk and are supporters of evolution. In fact, many liberal theists also support of evolution, anti faith healing, pro vaccination and many sound medical and scientific ideas. They could also be useful allies.
We're never going to get them on our side about any issue if we don't understand them. They are not going to bother to learn to understand us. They can bully their way through and get their way, but we are too small a group to do that. If we want to achieve political and social objectives, we are going to have to appeal to a wider audience. So I agree with you. We should learn about them and try to understand them.
Yes, agreed.
You will probably find that you don't have to learn very much before you know more than Christians know about each other. Frequently they don't even know a lot about their own sect. I grew up a Methodist and never knew that Methodism was "evangelical" -- it was certainly called that when it was new, in the 1800s. (In my church we had some people who were evangelicals and some who were not. My parents were not.)
Anyway, I am interested in hearing from other atheists who take the time to try and understand, say, the distinction between evangelical Christianity and fundamentalist Christianity
I'm currently reading Fundamentalisms Observed, which is an in-depth discussion of various forms of religious fundamentalism. I'm trying to understand the history of religious movements and how they gain influence on society.
In answer to your questions; I dunno; you study whatever you're interested in. If you like studying religion, or think it will be useful, then that's what you do. Whether you should do it is up to your own interests and goals.
If you're going to spend time debating religious issues, obviously you don't want to caught in a position of ignorance.
It's also just kind of neat-o. Gives you something else to learn.
When my parents took me to church (that stopped in 1986, I'm 38), "we" were Lutheran. Lutheranism is sort of Catholic Lite. You take Communion, and do a lot of stand up, sit down, kneel down, stand up, sit down, rah-rah-rah. The sermons are boring, the outfits are pretty, and the pipe organ is cool.
I have no idea how Lutherans really differ from Methodists, Presbyterians or Episcopals. Southern Baptists tend to be fire & brimstone, and the Pentecostals handle serpents and speak in tongues.
That's about as far as I've looked.
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- Did you mean
- classes events selling december consider
Search results
2020 Tracks
Enterprise Mike Hogan-OSU Extension Track 3: Natural Resources Track 7: Marketing 9:15 a.m. Timber Harvesting ... and Pasture Management Rory Lewandowski–OSUExtension 9:15 a.m. Selling Meat at Markets and Off Your ... Wiseman & Chris Penrose–OSU Extension 1:15 p.m. Growing and Selling Organic Cut Flowers Kristi ...
2020 Small Farm Conference & Trade Show
or produce products that you would like to market and sell off your farm but you're not sure how to ... make it successful? If you're asking yourself these questions, you need to attend this event! Targeted ... small farm owner, you don't want to miss this event. Download mail-in flyer Conference Schedule ...
Save the Date
all day event, with a break for attendees to eat their own lunch. This is an opportunity for CHAIRE ... Behavior & Training class this semester. Check here for more information! ...
Academic Affairs: Deadlines & Updates
2 nd Friday (January 17) is the last day to add a class without petitioning/a course ... Note: Courses dropped will show a "W" on your record. The deadlines above refer to full-term classes ...
Your Yard in Living Color
the main event page for more information. ...
Buckeye Bonanza Open House & Horse Sale Preview
practicing with their sale horses in the Advanced Equine Behavior & Training class this semester. Check ...
CFAES T-Shirt Sale
CFAES Student Council is selling t-shirts that would make great holiday gifts! See the ...
Animal Science Winter Mixer
Our annual departmental Faculty/Staff-Student Mixer event is Tuesday, January 14 th in the ... open at 5, but the event will begin closer to 5:15. The event will last until about 7:30, but if you ... this is the January Buckeye's In Your Corner event, so you do not want to pass that up (if possible). ...
CHAIRE Inaugural Research Symposium
human-animal interactions research. This is a free event and all interested in the area of human-animal ... 4-H Center on Tuesday April 7, 2020. The symposium will be an all day event, with a break for ...
2020 American Angus Association Internship
traveling to industry events. Experience in news and feature writing, editing, and photography are strongly ... design. Experience in photography, video and social media would be beneficial. Events and Education: The ... intern will assist in planning and executing youth events hosted by the National Junior Angus Association ...


text: AVG Antivirus 2016 Key + License Key Free DownloadAVG Antivirus 2016 Key + License Key Download AVG Antivirus 2016 Key is the powerful protection for the computer for the users that prefer computer that is free from any type of virus or any threats. It provides full time protection from all type of threats and virus. It also prevent attacks of …Read More »


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Pink or Blue? Baby Shower
Guides, Tips & Videos
We've teamed up with Kim Stoegbauer, party stylist extraordinaire and founder of The TomKat Studio blog and shop, who designed this pink-and-blue themed gender reveal party. A reveal party is a great way for parents to share in the discovery of their baby's gender. Themed decor, fun guessing games and a sweet reveal activity make it the perfect way to share a special moment with friends and family.
We hope that with Kim's tips and printable templates, you'll find all the inspiration you need to plan your next party. Learn more about our guest stylist here.


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#DigitalTransformaker from head to toe from your first day
At Devoteam, we nurture new recruits from the moment they arrive. Nothing is left to chance in terms of understanding our group, what we do and how we work.
We also take time to present the everyday life of a consultant, the environment they work in and their career path. In brief, everything that helps our new #DigitalTransformakers understand the Devoteam organisation and meet the people they will come into contact with.
The beginning of a great adventure in our #DigitalTransformakers family!
When are YOU joining us?
Contact us if you have any question regarding the integration process at Devoteam.


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- Mold is a serious problem in flooded areas.
- The key to controlling mold growth is by controlling moisture-and doing it quickly.
- Dry out the building. Completely drying out a building will take time, and you may have to remove ceilings, wallboard, insulation, flooring and other materials if they were soaked.
- However, these materials may also contain asbestos and should be tested first if in doubt.
- Microorganisms will continue growing as long as things are wet. When fumes aren't a problem and if electricity is available and safe, you can remove moisture by closing windows and running a dehumidifier or window air conditioner.
- If you see mold or if there is an earthy or musty smell, you should assume a mold problem exists. Remove water damaged materials. Wash mold off hard surfaces with detergent and water, and dry completely. A disinfectant may be used to kill mold missed by the cleaning.
Flood-Related Public Service Announcement
Dealing with Mold


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Maybe I'm just lucky. I have no trouble sleeping! But there's a lot of evidence that many Americans do.
According to a National Institutes of Health State-of-the-Science Conference in June 2005, about 30 percent of the adult population complains of sleep disruption, and about 10 percent have problems with daytime functioning. And the National Sleep Foundation's 2005 annual poll found that while 49 percent of surveyed adults report having a "good night's sleep" nearly every night, 24 percent reported having good sleep just a few nights a week, and 26 percent said they only got a good night's sleep a few nights a month.
It should come as no surprise, then, that 42 million sleeping pill prescriptions were filled in 2005, up 60 percent since 2000, according to the health market research firm IMS Health.
What's keeping people awake? Most cases of insomnia are associated with other medical problems, particularly with psychiatric disorders like depression or substance abuse, heart and lung diseases that compromise breathing, and many chronic illnesses associated with muscle or bone pain such as rheumatoid arthritis or chronic low back pain. Other conditions associated with insomnia are sleep apnea and restless leg syndrome.
It's also known that the older you are, the more sleep difficulty you may experience. Whether this is because of illness or just age is unknown. Most studies have found a higher prevalence of insomnia in women, especially after menopause. Other contributing factors: cigarette smoking, alcohol and coffee consumption and certain drugs, both prescription and over-the-counter (e.g., many cold remedies contain pseudoephedrine, a stimulant).
Because there are so many potential causes for insomnia, you should be completely evaluated for treatable causes by a thorough physician if you have sleeping problems that have lasted for 30 days or more (that's the definition of chronic insomnia). It's possible that proper treatment of a medical condition, or a change in lifestyle, might lead to significant improvement in your sleep.
So what can you do if sleep is elusive and your doctor can't pinpoint a medical cause?
Well, if you watch much TV or read most any magazines, you'll probably be quite familiar with prescription drugs for insomnia, including Ambien (zolpidem) and Lunesta (eszopiclone). Another less advertised product is called Rozerem (ramelteon), and there may soon be another highly promoted pill, called Indiplon, which could be approved by the FDA in May (to be marketed by Pfizer). You may have also tried over-the-counter medicines like Sominex (all such OTC sleep medicines contain diphenhydramine, an antihistamine that causes sleepiness in many people as a side effect).
Recently, however, there has been a spate of news reports describing unusual behaviors in people taking Ambien. People have experienced sleep-walking, sleep-driving, sleep-eating, and even sleep-sex, all with no recollection of any of the events. In some cases, the activities have occurred in association with alcohol consumption, which is not recommended for people taking sleeping pills. In some cases, people have engaged in bizarre behavior the next morning (while awake), have had car accidents or felt groggy. So far, the articles have focused on Ambien, while Lunesta seems to be off-the-hook, at least for now.
So you might want to look into behavioral or cognitive-behavioral treatments. Behavioral methods include mind and body relaxation techniques. More recently, behavioral methods have been combined with cognitive psychotherapy in which you learn ways of mentally dealing with stress, anxiety and belief systems you may have related to sleep.
In fact, some studies have found that cognitive-behavioral treatments are at least as effective as prescription medications and the beneficial effects may last well beyond the active therapy (as opposed to medications that only work when you take them).
Other possibilities include yoga and tai-chi, both of which promote relaxation as well as movement.
Everyone is different and each person will need to figure out what's best for them. Prescription drug therapy may be the easiest method for you and your doctor, but it may just be putting a band-aid on your problem. If you give a person a pill, they may sleep through the night, but if you teach them how to sleep, they may have more lasting, less expensive results. Then again, maybe they won't – everyone is different!
Do you have insomnia stories or tips for others on how to get a good night's sleep? Have you experienced, or know of someone who has experienced strange behaviors after taking Ambien? Post them to this blog and share them with our readers. We look forward to hearing from you.
(Conflict of interest disclosure: HealthTalk and/or its sister companies have done work for Sanofi-Aventis [maker of Ambien] and for Sepracor [maker of Lunesta].)


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NASA Celebrates IYA2009
10 August 2009
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), in partnership with the U.S. national node and the IAU/UNESCO, of which it is an Organizational Associate, has developed a rich and vibrant program for the International Year of Astronomy 2009. We kicked off the event at the American Astronomical Society meeting in January 2009, with a sneak preview of the multiwavelength image of M101, taken by the three NASA Great Observatories, Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-Ray Observatory, and Spitzer Space Telescope. There was a steady stream of visitors at the NASA booth at the Opening Ceremony in Paris. Since then NASA programs have touched the hearts and souls of the young and old both in the U.S. and internationally. All NASA programs can be accessed via the website http://astronomy2009.nasa.gov/. Below is an update on some of the NASA programs - there are many more!
-Great Observatories Image Unveiling (HST-Spitzer-Chandra views of M101) - travelling exhibit at 116 science centers, museums, planetariums, and schools around USA.
-Visions of the Universe: Four Centuries of Discovery traveling exhibit for public libraries
-From Earth to the Universe image exhibition has been displayed in non-traditional venues in USA and around the world.
-Object of the month: Chosen by scientists to be easily observable by the public and supported by "Discovery Guides", "What's Up" video & podcasts, "Amazing Space" resources, "Epo's Chronicles" webcomic.
-MicroObservatory: Take and process your OWN images with the MicroObservatory robotic telescopes.
-Sun-Earth Day 2009 live webcast took place on March 20, 2009. Scientists shared top discoveries about the Sun. Students monitored the Sun and prepared their own space weather forecast. A download of the webcast is now available with the transcript.
- Around the World in 80 Telescopes: NASA missions participating in the 24-Hour Observatory included Hubble Space Telescope (HST), THEMIS, RHESSI, and FAST, Swift, Fermi, SOHO, TRACE, STEREO, GALEX, Chandra, Spitzer, (plus ESA scientists highlighting XMM-Newton and Integral).
- "Hubble's Next Discovery - You Decide" contest drew contestants from around the world in the selection of an object for observation by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST).
- Teacher Workshops associated with the launch Kepler, HST Servicing Mission 4, WISE missions have been planned/executed.
- International participation of NASA scientists on May 6-8, 2009, in a space adventure (Aventura Espacial) in Barranquilla, Colombia
-NASA IYA Student Ambassador program has spread the excitement of NASA missions in all 50 states of the U.S., Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia.
-Women in Astronomy and Space Science workshop, addressing the challenges of a diverse workforce will be held in October 2009 at College Park, MD.
Hashima Hasan and Mario Perez
NASA Headquarters, Washington DC 20546, USA
Search IYA2009 Updates
National Nodes: 148
Organisational Nodes: 40
Organisational Associates:33
National Websites: 111
Cornerstone Projects: 12
Special Task Groups: 11
Special Projects:16
Official Products:8
Media Partners:22


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FXTrade needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 151 designs submitted by 63 freelance designers.
FXTrade is an FX margin trading company based in Japan. We want to be recognized as a professional, dynamic and a leading company. The brand needs to look corporate.
The logo should be a modified font in a shade of dark blue or dark grey as main colour. Famous logos we like are: "Scottrade", "Visa". We are also interested in seeing an icon created out of the "FX" or a stylized "X". Examples of sites doing this are http://www.fxonline.co.jp/en, http://www.flextrade.com/, and http://www.ebs.com/products/. We would like to see two versions of the logo, one just FXTRADE and the other adding JAPAN. All letters should be in uppercase. The "JAPAN" should be somehwhere below the main logo as we don't want it too long, and it should be much smaller than the "FXTRADE".
Modified font type
Bold font + Italic
Professional / corporate
Clean and well brandable
Must be flat (ie. no 3d or swirly letters)
Thin font
Generic icons
Too much artwork
Currency symbols
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


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The perennially touring Lady Gaga is at it again. The five-time Grammy winner is in the midst of the Born This Way Ball tour, a seemingly endless succession of dates that will hit virtually every corner of the globe for more than a year—or longer. The elaborately gothic-inspired production was birthed in Seoul, Korea, in April of 2012 and has received glowing reviews ("the best live show you will see this year," per the UK Sun newspaper) and was honored as Major Tour of the Year at the Pollstar Concert Industry Awards.
Eighth Day Sound is again at the helm of the production, coordinating multiple universal stadium systems that at times are air-freighted with the stage set, leapfrogging across several continents to meet the tour.
"Each tour system is comprised of two DiGiCo SD7 Mach III systems at FOH outfitted with Waves and two Waves servers, with one running on a UPS for redundancy," explains Eighth Day Chief Technology Officer Jason Kirschnick. "A 192kHz DiGiCo SD Rack at FOH is loaded with 32 analog ins/32 analog outs, as well as 24 AES ins/outs for local I/O. At the stage end for FOH are two more 192 SD racks loaded with 48 analog ins, eight AES ins, eight AES and eight analog outs. We are deploying an Optocore switcher so there are three fiber loops for FOH—one loop of all three racks for FOH is connected to a Route 66 Optocore fiber router device. The primary console is in a loop with the two respective engines to the Route 66 as well as the second SD7 at FOH in a loop with the Route 66. This enables us with a push of one button to move the entire rack loop between the two FOH consoles for support acts and dual redundancy. At the monitor end is another SD7 running two Waves 9 servers (with one running on a UPS). There are two more 192kHz SD Racks at monitors loaded with 48 analog, eight digital inputs, 40 analog and eight digital outputs each."
The PA system is d&b audiotechnik, comprised of 96 d&B J Series made up of a combination of J8 and J12s (4 x hangs; 24 boxes deep), 32 d&B Flow J subs (4 x hangs of 8 deep), 48 d&B B2 subs on the ground (stacked on each side of the stage and along the front of the stage), 12 d&B Q7 front fills (spread across the front of the stage), with a stadium delay system consisting of 4 x hangs of 12 d&B V8 and V12s.
"The system is all-digital at 96kHz," adds Kirschnick, "with a complete analog backup comprised of Dolby Lakes and LM44s with wireless control of the complete system. The d&B amplifiers are all monitored and controlled remotely through the entire system as well."
The five-piece band consists of bass, two guitars, a sizable drum kit and a lot of stereo bass and keyboard elements, plus a programmer who supplies various stems. There are 70-some inputs at FOH, including talkbacks and audience mics and Lady Gaga's various headset and handheld mics.
"I came onboard between legs of the tour," explains Chris Rabold, whose previous gigs include stints with Beyoncé, The Fray and Widespread Panic. "I knew I'd only have a couple days of rehearsal before the first show so I went ahead and put a plan into effect that would ensure that I'd be as close to show-ready as I could be once we hit Bulgaria, the site of the first show on the second leg of the tour. I spec'd an SD7 for me at FOH above all else for its sonic quality. It has a million and one great features but at the end of the day, it's the sound of the desk and the sound of my mixes through the desk that matter the most. The DiGiCo consoles simply sound better than anything else out there. There are several strong platforms in the digital console realm, but this is the one. Period.
"I built the console offline on my computer and sent the file to the guys at Eighth Day, who prepped the desk. From there I was able to get on the console in Los Angeles for a few days, where I worked with the tour programmer on some tracks. The desk then bounced back to the Eighth Day shop in Cleveland where I worked some more on it, concentrating on some of the finer details with routing, system integration, etc. By the time we made it to load-in, I had a basic gain structure in hand, my EQs were at a decent starting point, I had a good idea of what dynamic processing I needed, snapshots written for each song, effects laid out… Basically every last detail was in place before I even saw the band—and this was on a show with a pretty sizable number of inputs. All of the work I was able to do beforehand was absolutely invaluable."
Rabold cites the flexibility of the snapshot section as one of the main features of the desk that aids in his daily workflow. "With a big pop show like this that is scripted very carefully, the goal is consistency and more or less perfection every single night. I don't think we'll ever get the perfection part of that equation down, but we can sure get the consistency through the use of snapshots. The SD7 is so much more configurable than other platforms. You can tweak it snapshot by snapshot, not just globally across all snapshots because automation is and isn't recall safe. This is tremendously helpful and keeps you from being tied to an all-or-nothing kind of mindset. For example, if I know I want to handle a bass guitar input in the traditional sense and just EQ on the fly for a few numbers, I can do that. But if I also know that by snapshot 17 I want it to have a very specific sort of treatment, I can have it where the recall safe feature comes off and suddenly that input is recalling precisely what had been written previously. It really allows you to be flexible when you need to be and by-the-book-exact when you want to go that route, all on a per-song basis."
Asked about outboard gear, he says he's using a combination of outboard and onboard plug-ins. "I basically use some of the same analog things I've used on and off for years on certain inputs just because I know they work for me. Lead vocal and drums see the outboard devices. I use the console's onboard complements of EQ, effects and dynamics for the real nuts-and-bolts work. The overwhelming majority of the inputs see nothing but onboard processing. As far as plug-ins go, I try to use the Waves server more as an effects device. I pull a lot of delays and specialty things from there and it's definitely a crucial part of the mix structure. I use C6s on the playback stems. A lot of times tracks can be overly bright or overly boomy for what really works live. These allow me to reshape certain frequency ranges yet keep the overall feel and intent of the tracks in place. These are my go-to problem solvers for playback stems in the live pop world. I use the Super Tap delays and H Delays as well. They sound great and can be synced to a song's BPM. Both of these are very flexible with how you can color them and how you can manipulate individual left and right sides of a stereo delay. Very cool. I use an L2 limiter on the output of a two-track mix as well. This is very handy when I know a board mix might be taken from the night and then played back by the artist right next to fully mastered album mixes. I want my mixes to sound competitively loud with anything they might be referenced to. You never know. Little stuff like that can go a long way toward keeping everyone happy."
Rabold says he multitracks nightly, mainly just for virtual soundchecking and to tweak his mixes during downtime. "When time permits, I can play back a show and tweak things in the mix. I do rely on this ability and have for several years now. Soundchecking in an empty room can be pointless. Listening to a mix with nearfields or headphones that have a response that you're familiar with can be way more helpful when it comes to listening critically and judging what's needed in a mix. We go standard MADI out of the desk and convert that to optical MADI via an RME MADI Bridge. From there the signal goes into SSL Delta-Links, where it is converted to HD so that we can record to Pro Tools. Pro Tools 9 is running on a MacPro with a ridiculous amount of memory due to the staggering track count. Because there are so many tracks and because we're recording at 96kHz, we split the audio files across three SSD drives."
Ramon Morales, who's mixed monitors previously for Beyoncé as well as other A-list artists including Destiny's Child, Mariah Carey, Mary J Blige and Pitbull, handles monitors for the band members, all of whom are on Sennheiser 2000 series IEM systems (with JH Audio JH16 custom in-ears), as well as the audio techs. He oversees a total of 12 stereo mixes, flown side fills, bass and drum subs, two mono mixes (for drum subs and thumpers on bass and drums) and several stereo FX sends.
"Everything about the console is great," he enthuses. "Sonically, it's one of the best consoles out there and definitely my favorite. I can have as many ins and outs as I need or want, and having the backup console mirrored—as well as all the other features it has—what else would you want? I've found the Macro feature to be very useful. We've set many of them up to do specific things for the show and no matter where I am on the console, I can access what I need on the macro section without having to scroll through aux sends or layers and banks. Our show intercom system is also routed through the monitor console, so the techs that need show comms in their mix can have it and plenty of talkback mics using the macros.
"I'm also using many of the built-in effects including Waves to add different colors to the mix. My favorite has to be the SSL channel and the C4, which I mainly use for my vocal inputs, since the console itself sounds great. I just use them to enhance what is already there. The only outboard gear we're using is a TC Electronics 6000 reverb system for a vocal verb. It's a Gold Plate and one of my favorites for vocals; it's very smooth and cuts through just enough to hear it and not overpower anything else going on in the mix. I also use it for a drum verb."
The console's ability to receive a video feed aids both Morales and Rabold in managing the spontaneous stage antics of the mercurial artist. "This is crucial when mixing monitors from under the stage," says Morales, "and having limited sightlines. Having a program feed straight into the console really helps."
"I barely even look at the stage now," adds Rabold. "This especially comes in handy when I have to watch for the moments where she yanks off her headset mic and goes for the handheld. There's no cue for that and being able to see it on a screen two feet in front of my face sure beats trying to see what she's doing 150 feet away across a sea of fans!"
A great deal of time and planning was invested prior to launching the multiple systems in the field, to ensure the production ran as smoothly as possible with no margin of error. "I personally spent weeks researching and testing the fiber loops and to failsafe the redundancy on as many things as possible," Kirschnick reflects. "I did this research and testing at our shop in Cleveland, and a great deal of time was spent making sure everything was running smoothly weeks before the tour embarked on its first show last spring. And now, with over six months of time logged with the systems in the field, the band and crew think the console and sound system sound incredible and unmatched."
Eighth Day tour crew:
Chris Rabold: Foh Engineer
Ramon Morales: Monitor Engineer
Dan Klocker: Audio Crew Chief / Monitor Tech
Wayne Bacon: Audio Crew
Christopher Bellamy: Audio Crew
Bill Flugan: RF Tech
Lee Fox-Furnell: Audio Crew
Mike "Stacker" Hackman: Systems Engineer
James La Marca: Show Coms / Audio Tech
Matt Strakis: Audio Crew
Pictured: Lady Gaga FOH Group: FOH Tech/Recording Engineer Wayne Bacon; FOH Engineer, Chris Rabold; Systems Engineer, Mike "Stacker" Hackman


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Mid-afternoon update: Shoppers stock up on winter essentials in Great Yarmouth
PUBLISHED: 14:39 18 January 2013 | UPDATED: 15:47 18 January 2013
As snow has continued to fall on Great Yarmouth this afternoon urgent shoppers have been flocking to stores and supermarkets.
And while some have been keen to stock up on edible essentials others have been snapping up a sledge to take advantage of the wintery weather.
John Cheeks, customer service manager at Tesco in Caister, said that although customer numbers have decreased - due to transport difficulties - sales of essential items such as bread, milk, cheese and eggs had rocketed.
Shoppers have reported that businesses in other parts of the county have been running low on some produce as people stock up ahead of the poor weather forecast for the rest of today and the weekend.
Mr Cheeks confirmed the Caister branch was having difficulties re-stocking essentials but the store is expecting deliveries to continue as usual.
Other shoppers have been heading to Kerrisons toy store on King Street, Great Yarmouth to buy some alternative winter essentials.
Staff reported increase in sales of sleds after the snow hit yesterday evening. More sales are expected over the weekend, however the store has a limited supply available to customers.
The James Paget Hospital has also seen a small increase in the number of patients, although a spokesman said it was no more than they expected due to the weather.
The majority of hospital staff have made it in to work today with the exception of a few that could not find alternative childcare, due to school closures across the borough.
Around three inches of snow has fallen across the borough but traffic has not been too disrupted. Side roads are still slippery, but the main roads through Yarmouth are clear.
Trains were disrupted earlier this morning, with some services not stopping at Acle or Lingwood, but are now back to normal.
Heavy snow is forecast to hit the county later this afternoon and temperatures are not expected to reach more than 0C.


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Follow the money! That's the advice my lawyer used to give me for trying to make sense out of the actions of government and politicians. Always question the policies that are being advocated, and try to find who benefits and why.
You can apply this to everything that happens in society, but in our case we need to apply it to an understanding of public health policy and what really drives it. I see thing almost daily in the media that I know instinctively are wrong.
For instance that fish oil is supposedly dangerous, vitamin supplements are worthless, vaccines are safe, cholesterol drugs make you healthier ect. There is an agenda that underlies all these statements, that involves powerful corporate interests and money.
Usually these issues are brought to light by what we call "muckrakers" which are people who expose corporate wrongdoing and public malfeasance. There is always an element of doubt in their claims because they are usually outsiders who are not part of the industries they are criticizing.
Every once in a while someone comes along who has inside knowledge of an industry and it's abuses, and steps up to blow the whistle on the corruption they witness around them. Such an individual is Dr. John Abramson M.D.
Dr. Abramson estimates that approximately 80% of prescription drug use in the United States is unnecessary! Yes…that's right…80%! Dr. Abramson took a year off from his medical practice to research and write a book about this.
The book is called: "Overdosed America – The Broken Promise of American Medicine."
Here is the link to the Amazon Kindle version:
This book was rated 5 stars over 82 reader reviews, some of those five star reviews were from other doctors! Pretty impressive. It lays bare the dirty secrets of the pharmaceutical industry, how it unduly influences medicine, misinforms doctors, and needlessly puts patients at risk.
In this book you will learn how drug companies hid some of the facts about the side effects of their drugs as "trade secrets." This means that your doctor could potentially prescribe a drug to you that has side effects that he or she does not even know about!
You will also learn how the drug industry funds the very research being done to determine whether their products are safe and effective. This is a clear conflict of interest that Dr. Abramson exposes in his book!
Doctor Abramson is a family practice physician from Massachusetts, who is affiliated with Harvard Medical School and has solid mainstream medical credentials. This fact makes the revelations in the book all the more convincing.
You owe it to yourself and your loved ones to read this book. Armed with facts and the truth, you can make better decisions about your health care and the role of prescription medications in it.
Don't be a victim of the drug industry's deception and dangerous products, read "Overdosed America."
Do you have a disease, or other medical condition that you or someone close to you is suffering from that you would like me to research and write about? Then please let me know. I can't give medical advice because I am not a doctor.
But I CAN research things for you and look for the most cutting edge information on that topic and present it to you and everyone who reads this newsletter. Our knowledge is advancing rapidly, and I am here to report on the very latest on health, wellness, and anti-aging for everyone who reads "Age Better."
So if you have questions, or comments, please share them with me. I love hearing from you!
Now to share something a bit lighter and more pleasant with you. Music never fails to illicit enjoyment and happiness with people. I really enjoy sharing some of the unique artists I have found over the years with you.
I have been a fan of American rocker Tod Rundgren for many years, but I was not aware of this amazing concert he did with the Metropole Orchestra in Amsterdam. This is a duet he did with Dutch singer Mathilde Santing (who is new to me).
The two songs are "Love in Disguise" and "Wailing Wall."
Todd described Mathilde as a Dutch national treasure, and you will see why in this wonderful clip from Youtube! The entire concert is available on Youtube at the link below:
This newsletter is read by people all over the world, so if you have something that you would like me to share such as music from your country or culture with the other readers, please let me know.
"Our greatest happiness does not depend on the condition of life in which chance has placed us, but is always the result of a good conscience, good health, occupation, and freedom in all just pursuits."
Thomas Jefferson


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LITTLE ROCK � State revenues in October were slightly below expectations, but for the first four months of the fiscal year, everything is on forecast, the state's fiscal director said Friday.
LITTLE ROCK � State revenues in October were slightly below expectations, but for the first four months of the fiscal year, everything is on forecast, the state�s fiscal director said Friday.
Net available general revenues totaled $355.6 million in October, $21.6 million or 5.7 percent below the monthly forecast, and $9 million or 2.5 percent below last year.
Richard Weiss, director of the state Department of Finance and Administration, said the drop occurred because of the �unusually large income tax growth� in September.
�We said it was going to come at the expense of (October), and guess what, it did,� Weiss said.
Individual withholding in September rose 18.1 percent compared to last year because of a payroll timing issue, Weiss said, adding that both withholding and estimated payments contributed to that gain.
�When you look at the whole annual amount, we�re right on track and doing just fine,� Weiss said Friday, adding that sales taxes were down in both business and consumer-related categories in October, but automobile sales rebounded.
A significant upswing in corporate income tax refunds also reduced net revenue during the month, he said.
Weiss is to present Gov. Mike Beebe�s economic forecast for the next fiscal year on Nov. 15 to lawmakers.
For October, sales tax collections totaled $171.3 million, $8.3 million or 4.6 percent below forecast, and $1.1 million or 0.06 percent below last year.
Individual income tax collections totaled $218.1 million, $2.3 million or 1.1 percent below forecast, and $10.7 million or 4.7 percent less than last year.
Corporate income tax collections totaled $22.3 million, a $700,000 or 3 percent below forecast, and $2.5 million or 10.1 percent below last year.


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Draygon Enterprises' founder accuses man he picked to take over of stealing thousands before firing most employees.
At age 60 and having built a successful business, Ray VanKouwenberg was looking to retire.
Enter Robert Boyce Lane, a 27-year-old computer whiz with a big vocabulary who claimed to have a doctorate in nuclear science.
Lane so impressed VanKouwenberg during several visits as a consultant that VanKouwenberg believed he could take over the company, Draygon Enterprises Inc., which is based in the seaboard district off Venice island and sells floor-finishing machinery around the world.
It turned out, VanKouwenberg says now, to be the worst move he ever made.
In less than a year, authorities allege, Lane nearly brought down Draygon Enterprises, reprogramming the company's computer system so Lane had control, stealing nearly half a million dollars and, finally before he fled, firing most of Draygon's employees.
"He had such an intricate plan," VanKouwenberg said. "When you keep peeling back the layers of what he did, there's just more and more and more."
Lane, of Athens, Ga., was arrested on 45 charges including fraud, embezzlement, forgery and grand theft.
He is in Sarasota County jail on $2.4 million bail. Attempts to interview Lane were denied by his attorney, Maria Xinidis, who also refused to comment for this story.
Police records show a complex paper trail Lane left during his time as the company's acting president from April 2012 until early March.
"He did everything he could possibly do to bury us and put us out of business," VanKouwenberg said.
A trust violated
VanKouwenberg founded Draygon in 1986 and made a name for himself in the floor-finishing industry.
The company sells cleaning, concrete staining and evaporation equipment to clients from Russia to Canada. It owns several patents and brings in orders for hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of machinery and chemicals.
After working with Lane to inspect some equipment in early 2012, VanKouwenberg thought he found someone to gradually take over his business.
Lane quickly gained VanKouwenberg's confidence.
"When I first started working here, I thought they were father and son," said Frank Erceg, who began working for Draygon in September 2012. "Ray showed him everything."
Erceg said Lane told everyone that he served in the Navy and earned his bachelor's, master's and doctorate degrees in nuclear science. He had several framed diplomas in his office.
The Navy confirmed that a man named Robert Boyce Lane served as an electrician's mate until April 2010. Lane's academic credentials could not be verified.
Erceg said Lane was not much of a people person, but he was very sure of himself. Although he was new to the world of floor-finishing machinery, he spouted information like an encyclopedia, even if some of it did not withstand scrutiny.
"If you were around enough, you'd see a few slip-ups and red flags," Erceg said. "But we never assumed it was because he was stealing from the company."
Among the first things Lane did as acting president of Draygon was change all of the company's software and hire his brother, sister and father.
Erceg said Lane's father took an active role in trying to separate the office employees from those who worked in the warehouse.
Lane's family members have not been charged.
Lane made himself administrator of the company's new software system, making it difficult for anyone to see what he was doing, police documents allege.
Police said Lane would write checks to himself with company software, print the check and then change the name in the software to make it appear the money went to a vendor, according to police.
At a glance, the payments seemed to be for legitimate business operations. But Venice Police Department detectives found that all of the checks were deposited in Lane's personal banking account, the majority bearing his signature on the back.
VanKouwenberg said Lane would give him bi-weekly reports of expenditures, all of which appeared to be business related.
The 13 fraudulent checks detectives discovered amounted to $132,143.17.
The paper trail for these checks stopped in November 2012, because, police said, Lane stole all of the company's records when he left town.
But other documents continued to show Lane's alleged spending with company money:
• Dec. 7, 2012: Lane bought a 2012 Dodge Mega Cab truck for $61,912.21 with Draygon's money and forged his boss' signature on a note requesting the vehicle be titled in Lane's name.
• Feb. 4-8, 2013: Lane received three unapproved cash advances totaling $10,309.97 from the Planet Hollywood Resort in Las Vegas.
• Feb. 27, 2013: Lane used Draygon's business information and his boss's personal information to apply for a $100,000 loan. He used VanKouwenberg's information but used his own address and phone number.
• March 5, 2013: Lane used Draygon's business information and his boss's personal information to apply for a $10,000 loan. He used VanKouwenberg's information but gave his own address and phone number.
• March 5-9, 2013: Lane incorporated a company in his name called The Wendell Lee Corp. He attempted to order supplies and equipment to be shipped to a storage unit in Athens. All of these purchases were done using Draygon Enterprises Inc.'s checking account and totalled $152,523.79. VanKowenberg was able to cancel the orders before his company was charged.
A hasty departure
Lane left the company suddenly on March 6.
Erceg said when he came to work that day Lane told him that he had a family emergency. He said Erceg should work from home.
"It was kind of weird because he was pacing and seemed very nervous," Erceg said. "I could tell something wasn't right."
After Erceg left, Lane is accused of ransacking the office. He stole all of the computer records, sabotaged the phones and destroyed inventory. He even took the waiting room sofa.
VanKouwenberg called police March 7 after Lane allegedly fired all of Draygon's employees.
VanKouwenberg was able to contact his employees are rehire them all March 8.
Even after an investigation was started, VanKouwenberg said he would still see suspicious charges on his credit card statements.
"Up until a month ago, I kept getting $13,000 surprises," VanKouwenberg said.
Lane turned himself in to the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office on June 21 after a warrant was put out for his arrest.
He is charged with 24 counts of larceny, 11 counts of embezzlement, seven counts of fraud and two counts of forgery. The Venice Police Department said more charges may be filed.
VanKouwenberg said recovering from Lane's wake of destruction has been a struggle. Some have recommended that he declare bankruptcy and shutter his business.
But VanKouwenberg is persevering.
"We're surviving, and we're getting stronger," he said. "I'm just done trying to retire."


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Federation and Web Access Management
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RPA and AI: Don't Isolate Your Systems, Synchronize Them
We already hear a lot about artificial intelligence (AI) systems being able to automate repetitive tasks. But AI is such a large term that encompasses many types of very different technologies. What type of solutions are really able to do this? Robotic Process Automation (RPA) configures software to mimic human actions on a graphic user interface (GUI) to carry out a business process. For example, an RPA system could open a relevant email, extract information from an attached invoice, [...]


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Main features
- Polyamide and viscose blend
- Long saddle sleeve
- High neck
- Ribbed knit hem
Made in: China
Product code: 10VRU2360_256
55% Viscose 45% Nylon
Clothing care
- Hand wash only. Maximum temperature: 40°
- Do not bleach
- Do not tumble dry
- Flat dry in shade
- Delicate iron at maximum temperature of 110°C. without steam, which could damage the garment
- Professional dry-cleaning in: perchloroethylene. Delicate cycle


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Montezemolo: "A victory important in three way at Le Mans"
Maranello, 17 June – Chairman Luca di Montezemolo was keen to underline the fact that this win for the 458 Italia in the Le Mans 24 Hours is important for Ferrari on three fronts. He was happy with the efforts of the AF Corse team that took victory in the GTE-PRO class of the most prestigious endurance race in the world.
"It is an important victory, in an important race which has always been important in the history of Ferrari," Montezemolo told www.ferrari.com. "It further pleases me that two Italians, Giancarlo Fisichella and Gimmi Bruni stood on the top step of the podium, along with Toni Vilander. This one-two at Le Mans proves that the amazing 458 is truly competitive. My congratulations and those of everyone at Ferrari go to the AF Corse team, its engineers, mechanics and naturally, its drivers."


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Engage participants in thinking about how they want to be perceived by others. This exercise can be used as an introductory ice-breaker or incorporated into a program module focused on Model the Way.
Group Size
Time Required
15 minutes
Materials Needed
Post-it notes, index cards or paper
- Distribute an index card or piece of paper to each participant.
- Introduce the power of legacy, using the following quote from The Leader's Legacy: "The life you live is the legacy you leave."
- Ask participants what this means to them.
- Ask participants, "How many of you are leaving a legacy? Raise your hands." You will always have some who don't raise their hands
- Discuss how the question is not IF we're leaving a legacy but what KIND of legacy are we leaving. Everyone's hands should really be raised.
- Allow participants to take approximately five minutes to think about their legacy. Have them consider what five words they would want other people to use when remembering them.
- When time is up, have participants share the five words they have chosen — either in pairs or with the entire group seated at the table, depending on the size of the session.
- Ask participants to consider whether their current behaviors are reflecting those words. If not, they should.
- Instruct participants to keep the card handy and refer to it when discussing Model the Way.
- Ask participants to keep the card in a spot where they can see the words every day for the next 30 days. Do a self-check.
Post-It note version:
Conduct the same exercise with one exception: have participants write their five words on Post-its. Using flip chart paper or the wall, have each person sign their note and post it, declaring in front of the entire group how they want to be remembered.
Valarie Willis is a Master Facilitator of The Leadership Challenge® Workshop and principal of Valarie Willis Consulting, in Loveland, OH, where she focuses on strategic management consulting. She can be reached at email@example.com.


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Freshwater pearl bracelet with sterling silver heart charm and swarovski crystals - Frangipani, Manhattan Collection
A gorgeous freshwater pearl bracelet. The silver grey pearls have been hand-knotted. The sterling silver toggle clasp also features a sterling silver heart charm and a Swarovski crystal charm.
Can be made to order in a different length.
Length: 7½"/19cms


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The Crimson will honor senior co-captains Sandra Lynne Fryhofer and Christine Wu prior to Saturday's match (Gil Talbot).
Story Line
Harvard returns home this weekend to conclude the 2011 season against Yale and Brown in the Malkin Athletic Center. The Crimson will first face the archrival Bulldogs Friday, Nov. 11 at 7 p.m. before hosting the Bears on Saturday, Nov. 12 at 5:00 p.m.
How to Watch
Fans can watch both matches this weekend live online through GoCriminson.com by clicking here. Fans can also follow the action via live stats by clicking here.
The Home Team
Harvard returns to the MAC after a trip to New York to face Ivy foes Columbia and Cornell. The Crimson were defeated in straight sets at Columbia, 3-0, on Friday and were edged out, 3-2, at Cornell on Saturday. Harvard carries an 11-11 overall record and 4-8 Ivy mark into play tonight.
Senior Night
The Crimson will honor senior co-captains Sandra Lynne Fryhofer and Christine Wu prior to Saturday's match against Brown. Fryhofer will graduate having recorded more than 700 kills and 250 blocks in her career, while Wu was named to the All-Ivy League second team in 2009 and was an honorable mention pick in 2010 and 2008.
Digging Into History
Senior co-captain Christine Wu moved into second place in Ivy League history for career digs last Friday at Columbia, cementing her place in Harvard and Ancient Eight history. Wu recorded 28 digs against the Lions, not only clinching the number two spot in Ancient Eight history but also setting a new career high for digs in a three set match. The senior has amassed 1,801 digs in her career, and enters play this weekend ranked 17th in the NCAA with 5.55 dps.
Click here to watch highlights from Friday's match including interviews with Wu and Head Coach Jen Weiss.
Doubling Up
The Crimson have combined for 20 double-doubles this season, led by Kristen Casey and Natalie Doyle who have each turned in seven. Beth Kinsella has notched five double-doubles while Taylor Docter has recorded two.
Block Party
Harvard ranks third in the Ivy League with an average of 2.09 bps, and has turned in at least 10 blocks in seven matches this year. The Crimson recorded a season-high 17 blocks in its 3-2 win at Georgia State and recently notched 11 blocks and 10 blocks, respectively, in back-to-back matches against Penn and Princeton.
Scouting Yale
The Bulldogs boast a 17-5 overall record and sit in first place in the conference standings with an 11-1 mark. Yale enters the weekend with conference bests in hitting percentage (.248), opponent-hitting percentage (.165), assists per set (13.04) and kills per set (13.95). Leading the way is freshman Mollie Rogers who has averaged 3.16 kps, which ranks sixth in the conference. Allie Frappier is eighth in the Ancient Eight with 3.03 kps, while Kendall Polan has posted an Ivy best 10.81 aps.
Scouting Brown
The Bears carry a 6-17 overall record and 2-10 conference mark into play this weekend. Maddie Lord entered the weekend ranked fourth in the Ivy League with 3.38 kps while Annika Gliottone also sits in fourth place with 5.05 dps.


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Hospitals Devise Strategies to Keep the Noise Down
Hospitals are taking new approaches to cutting noise, which disturbs sleep and harms healing. It's also the number one complaint on patient satisfaction surveys. Laura Landro reports. Photo: Vinit Satyavrata.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
... I ... oh one when the hospital so noisy new climate that's where stomach of a ... pile the snow to hospital administrators and then trying to change that ... it's a lot more about this will Street gentle ... Laura Landro ... more ... thing am I ... one of his also will suddenly say ... aam to suppress to be a place of rest and healing that basically to play for the most chaotic work and buying another them like a factory for some people is taking an owner or office other than your office right into your office but it's really crazy presenting Pakistani people to care for alarms are going off the pages are going out of the hat and doctors are being you know bring down the hall current equipment ... other people talking ... you also usually well it's been lately you can do things ... like busy twenty four seventy of other families in the next room making a lot of noise yet I'm I'm still surprised the nine dollars and sixty one and read your your piece about this lost some awesome hospital though the screening he was trying to be of operating room then off ... to a magistrate is one of change this though what are they to have a tape of the real reason to change a rate cut they actually get financial penalties and that patient satisfaction survey is ... in no way fifth consistently the worst patacas FX market you can get education ... so ... every patient feels that a survey that says how was the communication Harry discharge instructions ... and or worse Mark so it's gotta how was the noise was a quiet outside your branding I ... the whistle but with me but for me to sleep right aam Tsai I did they get penalties when the satisfaction scores are at the lowest level so that is open to what we do now I mean clearly you ... have people vote with other sometimes on emergency is likely to bring in someone who's who's ... bright leaving ... I mean you have to get them in new money in the Timor Sea wind is always a different story isn't as medical surgical unit the top floor is the places where people are being cared for a regular basis ... and I think one of the problems is really just ... getting everyone around you to think about being quieter but it's also not only getting with the bad noise beginning that noise or better Sam's champion cents ... seen have things like that closed circuit TV channel the kids you kind of quiet soothing music ... and nature in danger you have white noise does indeed sound machines the kind of neutralize some of the bad noise ... and you have done things that new sound absorbing ceiling tiles ... note I'm ... always with sound absorbing car ... BT no squeaky wheels just that some WD forty on him or something isn't this a lot of that kind of thing that goes on to take that ... into balance and getting good sounds and ... reducing that if I want to ... sell its carpentry at the hospital he can come from trying to find that and we tonight thank you Brian much Laura Landro


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D-Link VTA is a voice-over-IP analogue telephone adapter created for the Vonage VoIP phone service. It is sold in (at least) the United States, Canada, and the UK. In the United States, its full model name is VTA-VR. In Canada, it is VTA-CV.
Hardware Details
The VTA is based on the AR7 router-on-a-chip architecture by Texas Instruments. The processor's model number is TNETV1015ZDW.
This device has 16MB of SD-RAM and 8MB of flash ROM. The latter is provided by a single 4Mbx16 EN29LV640 chip by Eon Silicon Solution Inc.
It features one 10/100Mb Ethernet port, and two POTS telephone ports.
Linux Operating System
Its operating system is a variant of Linux 2.4.17 by MontaVista. This kernel has been used for several years on various embedded MIPS devices.
Linux version 2.4.17_mvl21-malta-mips_fp_le (alpha@06387) (gcc version 2.95.3 20010315 (release/MontaVista)) #3 �| 4�� 20 17:44:45 CST 2006
The device ships with an SSH server (Dropbear) activated. It requires the same account as the administrative web interface (with user name Admin).
Serial Console
The serial port (/dev/tts/0) is available on JF1. The pin-out is as follows. Pin 1 is on the left if you are facing the front of the device.
1 Receive 2 Ground 3 3.3v 4 Not connected (NC) 5 Transmit


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Ask any gardener what grows really well in your garden, and you may get an answer you don't want to hear: POISON IVY. Unfortunately, it thrives in just about any environment.
Poison ivy manages to grow anywhere – on islands, marshy areas, and forests. Sand, good soil, or among acidic pine needles, poison ivy grows. Worst of all it grows in sun or shade, climbing up, over and around most everything.
Gardening books hardly ever mention poison ivy, not even as a warning to be aware when walking or weeding. No one wants to admit it is everywhere. Poison ivy popping up in a private garden is like, well, – mum's the word.
Poison ivy is contagious by touching leaves or stems, petting an animal in contact with it, and from smoke where brush with poison ivy in it is being burned. If I inadvertently pull some up, I go inside and wash my hands and arms thoroughly with Soft Scrub.
The above information just makes one itch. Many of us are highly allergic to poison ivy. Horrible itchy welts form with relief varying from Vitamin E and over the counter products to ammonia and ice cubes. If I get bad enough I call my doctor for a prescription of some sort. It is one that keeps me awake, yet does give some relief in two days.
To add insult to itch a new study has come out stating that poison ivy is thriving with global warming and harmful emissions.
Your mother was right when she told you, "Three leaves let it be." Excellent advice.
A version of this article appeared in print in Florida Gardening Volume 20 Issue 2.
Photography courtesy of Gretchen F. Coyle.


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Dark grey Sixth June bomber jacket. Underlayer wrist. Zip on the left arm. Removable strap behind the jacket.


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Tattoo ink is placed beneath the top layer of skin. That makes tattoo removal more complicated — and expensive — than the original tattoo application. If you're no longer satisfied with your tattoo, however, tattoo removal might be possible.
Common procedures for tattoo removal include:
- Laser surgery
- Dermabrasion
- Surgical removal
If you're interested in tattoo removal, consult your dermatologist about the options. Don't attempt tattoo removal on your own. Do-it-yourself tattoo removal creams and other home treatments aren't likely to be effective and can cause skin irritation or other reactions.


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Follow Us
The Technological Singularity and Merging With Machines
The idea of a coming Singularity refers to a point in time of radical exponential progress, beyond which our minds can't imagine—the technological counterpart to an event horizon in a black hole.
The term "singularity," which is often heard today, comes originally from my field, theoretical physics. It denotes a point in space and time where the gravitational field becomes infinite. At the center of a black hole, for example, we might find a singularity. It also refers to a mathematical term where a certain function also becomes infinite. But the type of singularity that you have probably been hearing about the most lately is called "The Technological Singularity" and although its not a new concept, it's definitely becoming more of a mainstream topic of conversation.
Countless books on the subject are being published on a consistent basis, and Ray Kurzweil just recently launched his documentary, "The Transcendent Man" which shares his vision of a world in which humans merge with machines and is currently screening in sold-out screenings around the planet, web forums, blogs and video sites.
Recently it was part of a TIME Magazine cover story entitled "2045: The Year Man Becomes Immortal" which includes a five page narrative. Not to mention that there are an increased number of institutes, dozens of annual singularity conferences and even the 2008 founding of the Singularity University by X-Prize's Peter Diamandis & Ray Kurzweil which is based at the NASA Ames campus in Silicon Valley. The Singularity University offers a variety of programs including one in particular called "The Exponential Technologies Executive Program" which they state has a main goal to "educate, inform, and prepare executives to recognize the opportunities and disruptive influences of exponentially growing technologies and understand how these fields affect their future, business, and industry."
My television series Sci Fi Science, on the The Science Channel aired an episode entitled A.I. Uprising which maintained a focus on the coming technological singularity and on the fear that mankind will one day create a machine that could quite possibly threaten our very existence. One cannot rule out the point in time when machine intelligence will eventually surpass human intelligence. These super intelligent machine creations will become self-aware, have their own agenda and may even one day be able to create copies of themselves that are more intelligent than they are.
Common questions I'm often asked are:
But the road to the singularity is not going to be a smooth one. As I originally mentioned in my Big Think interview, "How to Stop Robots from Killing Us", Moore's law states that computing power doubles about every 18 months and it's a curve that has held sway for about 50 years. Chip manufacturing and the technology behind the development of transistors will eventually hit a wall where they are just too small, too powerful and generate way too much heat resulting in a chip meltdown and electrons leaking out due to the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle.
Needless to say, it's time to find a replacement for silicon and it's my belief that eventual replacement will essentially take things to the next level. Graphene is a potential candidate replacement and far superior to that of silicon but the technology to construct a large scale manufacturing of graphene (carbon nanotube sheets) is still up in the air. It's not clear at all what will replace silicon, but a variety of technologies have been proposed, including molecular transistors, DNA computers, protein computers, quantum dot computers, and quantum computers. However, none of them is ready for prime time. Each has its own formidable technical problems which, at present, keep them on the drawing boards.
Well, because of all these uncertainties, no one knows exactly when this tipping point will happen although there are many predictions when computing power will finally meet and then eventually tower above that of human intelligence. For example, Ray Kurzweil whom I've interviewed several times on my radio programs stated in his Big Think interview that he feels by 2020 we'll have computers that are powerful enough to simulate the human brain but we won't be finished with the reverse engineering of the brain until about the year 2029. He also estimates that by the year 2045, we'll have expanded the intelligence of our human machine civilization a billion fold.
But in all fairness, we should also point out there are many different points of view on this question. The New York Times asked a variety of experts at the recent Asilomar Conference on AI in California when machines might become as powerful as humans. The answer was quite surprising. The answers ranged from 20 years to 1,000 years. I once interviewed Marvin Minsky for my national science radio show and asked him the same question. He was very careful to say that he does not make predictions like that.
We should also point out that there are a variety of measures proposed by AI specialists about what do to about it. One simple proposal is to put a chip in the brains of our robots, which automatically shut them off if they get murderous thoughts. Right now, our most advanced robots have the intellectual capability of a cockroach (a mentally challengead cockroach, at that). But over the years, they will become as intelligent as a mouse, rabbit, fox, dog, cat, and eventually a monkey. When they become that smart, they will be able to set their own goals and agendas, and could be dangerous. We might also put a fail safe device in them so that any human could shut them off by a simple verbal command. Or, we might create an elite corps of robot fighters, like in Blade Runner, who have superior powers and can track down and hunt for errant robots.
But the proposal that is getting the most traction is merging with our creations. Perhaps one day in the future, we might find ourselves waking up with a superior body, intellect, and living forever. For more, visit the Facebook Fanpage for my latest book, Physics of the Future.
Business revolution: What is the membership economy?
The membership economy is upending how businesses are structured and how they deliver value to customers.


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The value of Iowa cropland rose 12.9% from March to September, according to the semi-annual survey conducted by the Iowa REALTORS Land Institute. Combining that 12.9% increase with the 19.7% increase reported in the RLI's March survey indicates a statewide average increase of 32.6% for the year from Sept. 1, 2010 to Sept. 1, 2011, says the Iowa RLI. Kyle Hansen, ALC, Hertz Real Estate Services and survey chair, says the 32.6% yearly gain is the largest percentage increase or decrease since the survey was created in 1978.
All nine Iowa crop reporting districts show an increase, Hansen says. The district increases ranged from 8.5% in southeast Iowa to 17% in northeast Iowa during the six-month period ending September 1. The highest-valued cropland is in the northwest crop district, according to the survey. That district lists an annual value of $9,685 per acre for high-quality cropland. That is followed by the west-central district's $9,085 per acre for high-quality cropland. Five crop districts report an average value in excess of $8,000 per acre for high quality cropland. The southwest district reports an average value of $7,555 per acre for high-quality cropland and the south-central district lists an average value of $6,300 per acre for high-quality farmland. The statewide average value of high-quality cropland is $8,330 an acre, according to the survey.
The statewide average value of medium-quality cropland is $6,477 per acre and the state average value of low-quality cropland is $4,588 an acre, according to the survey. The survey also pegs the statewide average value of an acre of non-tillable pasture land at $2,309 an acre, up 5% for the six-month period. The statewide average value of an acre of timber land is $2,019 per acre, up 2.7% for the six-month period.
Survey respondents cite the following as contributing to the increase in farmland values: strong commodity prices, favorable long-term interest rates, and limited amount of land offered for sale. Other factors also include: lack of alternative investments, higher livestock prices and fear of inflation. Concerns that could affect farmland values in the future include: higher input costs, increase in interest rates, larger amounts of land being offered for sale and continued uncertainty of the U.S. and world economy.
If interested in seeing a copy of LandOwner, just drop me an email at [email protected] or call 800-772-0023.


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Construction crews deploy roadside service to help stranded drivers
A Special roadside assistance crew is out around the clock
Construction crews are hard at work along Interstate 540 in Fort Smith.
"I just had to like slam on the bakes just to not hit anyone because it was at a dead stop, the traffic was," said James Plemmons, a Fort Smith driver.
There are some tough spots you don't want to be in if your car breaks down.
The Highway Department said the contractor is providing crews to help stranded drivers 24/7.
Drivers said they are happy to hear the news.
"I think that's a great idea to have just because of the fact that with that it's really helpful for the people that do have to go through that," said Shelby Worst, a Fort Smith driver.
The roadside assistance crews run the entire stretch of the interstate 540 construction project in Fort Smith and Van Buren.
The Highway Department said the service is always patrolling to keep lanes clear and traffic moving.
"We've had a couple of crashes out here when they have come in -- both the motorist assist and the contractor personnel actually moved traffic drums to allow (traffic) to continue to flowing around the vehicles around the minor crashes," said Joe Shipman, an engineer with the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Dept.
Since this is a busy construction project, the highway department said police will be quick to tow any abandoned cars left on the shoulder.
The Highway Department said, on average, the roadside assistance helps out one stranded driver a day.
40/29 News also learned the highway department has seen 12,000 fewer cars on I-540 since work started,as drivers find other ways to get around.


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Posts Tagged 'Shallow'
Soundtrack2 Ep. 109: Mind Flood
Tame Impala, Her Vanished Grace, Arc In Round, Snøskred, Thee Oh Sees & more
1. The Oh Sees – Lupine Dominus
Start off this week's mix by imagining you're at a groovy 60s dance club, but the go-go dancers are posessed.
2. Landing – We Lie In Fields
Veteran ambient crew pick things up on their engrossing self-titled latest album.
3. Tame Impala – Apocalypse Dreams
They're back! Good to hear their familiar sunshine psychedelia a la Magical Mystery Tour, but hoping their full-length will kick things up a notch.
4. The Raveonettes – Observations
Here's a group who is messing around with their signature sound on Observator. Great piano and smooth vocals give a much smoother sound, but just as sinister.
5. French Kicks – Also Ran
Digging through digital crates on these next few tracks. Listening to what's coming out these days now, I wonder if the ethereal groove rock on 2006's Two Thousand was ahead of its time.
6. Delays – On
Always enjoyed 2004's Faded Seaside Glamour by this British band. Fabulous guitar and harmonies.
7. Sam Roberts – Mind Flood
My fellow Canadians know Sam as a straight ahead rock and roller. But I've always loved this slightly epic tune that explodes into intense psychedelia at 4:25.
8. Oblisk – Overcast
This tune matches the slow/fast dynamic of the last tune, but swaps the downtempo rock for drone psych.
9. The Telescopes – There Is No Floor
Pushing deep into the red with this classic from Taste. Plus I love this title.
10. Snøskred – We Are
Big up to superb blog Sounds Better With Reverb for pointing me to this great single. Sounds like a shoegaze version of the Broken Social Scene.
11. Black Market Karma – Cocoon
Really digging their latest record, also called Cocoon.
12. Her Vanished Grace – Break Down
Track of the week comes from their latest album Star-Crossed. This killer tune with a chorus that could light up the sky. The album comes with a few very nice nods to the Cocteaus.
13. Shallow – Out Of Focus
Love me some minimal, hypnotic reverb-drenched shoegaze.
14. Arc In Round – Time Spent
I've been looking forward to this band's latest self-titled record for ages. Definitely worth picking up if you like both the smooth shoegaze pop heard here and something harder.
15. She's So Rad – Confetti
New Zealanders' latest continues their tradition of wrapping infectious melody around electronic pop.
16. Saint Saviour – Midnight City (M83 cover)
As M83 continues his never-ending tour, here's a great cover from the UK. To me, this sounds as if Kate Bush has channelled jazz legend Mark Murphy's talent for brilliantly vocalizing instrumental parts.
17. Parlovr – You Only Want It 'Cause You're Lonely
Montreal "sloppy pop" trio deliver this captivating gem.
18. Echodrone – Cold Snap
This band's melodic post rock continues to grow on me with this latest album Bon Voyage.
19. Honey – Cape Canaveral
Could've sworn this was an American band until I read they're from Glasgow. Goodnight folks.


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Well guys, I am so excited once again today to be uploading my daily lessons. The first thing I'm going to do is teach you all "how to draw zombie Spongebob", step by step. This is another character that was suggested by a member, and I have to say I think he came out way better than zombie Mario. I have to say, even though Spongebob is rocking a decrepit look, he still manages to keep his cute stature. I know he may look all torn apart and disfigured, but Spongebob makes an awesome addition to the Zombie category for this Halloween season. I had fun drawing him out, and if I'm right, I think you guys will fall in love with learning "how to draw zombie Spongebob". I have to go because there is much more for me to upload. I'll be back, so stay tuned in if you can. Adios people!
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