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The Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry (TAPPI) will offer a new scholarship designed for students pursuing a career in the field of packaging thanks to a recent gift. The Daniel Siegel Memorial Scholarship was funded by the Siegel family and MICA Corp. in honor of Daniel Siegel, its founder and chair.
"We are very grateful for the recent gift made on behalf of Daniel Siegel that will fund a new scholarship for students in our industry," said Larry N. Montague, president and CEO of TAPPI. "The Daniel Siegel Scholarship Fund will assist deserving youth in pursuit of a career in the field of packaging. This gift will be a testament to Daniel Siegel's interest in TAPPI and higher education for all."
MICA Corp. is a supplier of primers, coating, and adhesives to the flexible packaging industry. Siegel's innovations in water-based adhesive technology were game changers of their time and continue to be the standard for world-wide manufacturers of flexible packaging materials. Dan joined TAPPI early in his career in 1968. He attended many TAPPI events over the years and played a key role in encouraging his employees to become active in TAPPI.
The scholarship, in the amount of $4000, will be presented to an undergraduate or graduate student chapter member at a packaging school. The scholarship is designed to encourage more students to pursue careers in packaging and to raise awareness of the TAPPI Polymers, Laminations, Adhesives, Coatings, and Extrusions (PLACE) Division at these institutions. The deadline is February 15 on even numbered years, except this year, when it is March 15.
The Daniel Siegel Scholarship Fund comes at a crucial time in American Manufacturing. "A chronic shortage of engineering students threatens America's role as the world's leading innovator and continues to impede our nation's fragile economic recovery," wrote Paul Otellini, a member of the President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, in a recent opinion piece for The Washington Post. This shortage of engineers is even more acute in the manufacturing sector and threatens America's ability to retain its innovation edge.
TAPPI is the leading association for the worldwide pulp, paper, packaging, and converting industries and publisher of Paper360° and TAPPI JOURNAL. Through information exchange, events, trusted content, and networking opportunities, TAPPI helps members elevate their performance by providing solutions that lead to better, faster, and more cost-effective ways of doing business. It has provided management training and networking to the industry's leaders for more than 95 years. For more information, visit www.tappi.org.


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Engaging Student Materials · Purposeful Instruction
Engaging Student Materials - Purposeful Instruction
Nonfiction books packed with interesting facts and kid-friendly humor The Real Deal informational texts give kids a fun, nonfiction reading experience while building the skills they need to become strategic, content-area readers. Jokes and cartoons coupled with high-interest topics keep students coming back for more.
The Real Deal features:
The Real Deal series:
Teacher GuidesThe Sundance Hi-Lo Reading Teacher Guides provide an 8-page lesson plan for each title in the series that includes 6 reproducible skill sheets for every book!
Follow this link for a more detailed description of Sundance Hi-Lo Reading.
Awards: Assoc. of Educational Publishers Distinguished Achievement Award

subset: commoncrawl


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Most Americans Will Be Able to Spend $0 Per Year in Retirement
As we do periodically, we will now remind you that you will probably never save enough money to retire successfully. What makes us so sure of ourselves? Well, try this simple quiz: are you an American?
If you answered "yes," then congratulations: you live in the greatest country in the world! Home of the Kansas City Royals. Also, you will probably never save enough money to retire successfully. Because, if you are an American, the odds are, I'm afraid, stacked against you quite heavily. See, experts say that if you want to retire at a halfway decent age and live a halfway decent life, you probably should have, socked away in your retirement account—this is absolutely true, no joke—well over half a million dollars. And that is being modest! Do you have well over half a million dollars, in your retirement account? Don't answer that yet. Let's try to guess. First, let's look at some true facts, via this Bloomberg story about a nice 77 year-old man who will be flipping burgers for the rest of his life despite the fact that he was once a corporate executive with a six figure salary:
- "Only about half of private-sector workers were covered by an employee-sponsored retirement plan of any kind in 2011. And fewer than 40 percent of those participated." Too bad, since that is essentially the only kind of retirement plan left!
- "59 percent of households headed by people 65 and older currently have no retirement account assets, according to Federal Reserve data."
Says here that experts recommend that you deduct no more than 4% of your retirement savings per year, in order to remain solvent into your later years. So the majority of Americans will be able to deduct $0 annually, which is 4% of $0.
Only socialism will save you from a poverty-stricken death in your old age.


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Brooklyn readers will recall this summer's borough-wide open studio event, in which the public was invited to tour artist studios and vote to nominate artists for an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum. Today, the curators have announced their selections from a pool of ten, with definite leanings toward painting. That list, after the jump.
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Cornell University
PhD. in Mathematics
Norm was 4th at the 2004 USA Weightlifting Nationals! He still trains and competes occasionally, despite his busy schedule.
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Cornell University
PhD. in Mathematics
Norm was 4th at the 2004 USA Weightlifting Nationals! He still trains and competes occasionally, despite his busy schedule.
Here is a slightly more challenging problem. We want to prove that tangent alpha equals sine 2 alpha over 1 plus cosine 2 alpha. The reason for this is we're going to try to develop a tangent half-angle formula in a second.
First let's prove this and when you're proving an identity, you can start from either side and work towards the other so I'm going to start on the right hand side. Sine 2 alpha over 1 plus cosine 2 alpha. Here I need both of the double angle identities.
Now for sine, it's 2 sine alpha, cosine alpha. Now here I have 1 plus and then I have cosine 2 alpha. Cosine 2 alpha is cosine squared alpha minus sine squared alpha. Now if you look at the denominator, recall your Pythagorean identity, Pythagorean identity says cosine squared alpha plus sine squared alpha equals 1, so 1 minus sine squared alpha will equal cosine squared alpha, so let me take this guy and replace it with cosine squared. 2 sine alpha, cosine alpha over cosine squared, this cosine squared, plus another one and that's 2 sine alpha cosine alpha over 2 cosine squared alpha. And so you get a little it of a cancellation here, the 2s cancel, the cosine cancels leaving a single cosine in the bottom and a sine in the top and that's tangent alpha just like we wanted.
So this result's proved, now how do we get the half-angle identity? All we do is we replace alpha with theta over 2, so here we get tangent of theta over 2 equals and then we had sine 2 alpha which becomes sine of theta over 1 plus cosine 2 alpha which becomes 1 plus cosine theta, that's our half-angle formula for tangent. Let's use it on the tangent of 15 degrees.
Tangent of 15 degrees, so that's half of 30, we have the sine of 30 degrees over 1 plus cosine 30 degrees. Now the sine of 30 degrees is a half, cosine of 30 degrees root 3 over 2. 1/2, 1 plus root 3 over 2, let's simplify this. We multiply by 2 over 2, we get 1 on the top and 2 plus root 3 on the bottom, it's still not simplified enough. We need to rationalize the denominator and so 1 over 2 plus root 3, we have to multiply by the conjugate. The conjugate of 2 plus root 3 is 2 minus root 3.
So 2 minus root 3 over 2 minus root 3 and this is going to end up being a difference of squares we get 4 minus 3, or 1, 4 minus 3 and on the top we get 2 minus root 3 and so this becomes 2 minus root 3 over 1, 2 minus root 3 and that's our tangent of 15 degrees.


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Kevin Hoover: Public Involvement, So Crucial And So Stupidly Disregarded – September 17, 2012
There's something not happening here. What it is ain't exactly clear. That is, if it's anything at all.
As you know from the "Then and Now" series of photos in the Eye's pages, Arcata is always changing in ways large and small, blatant and subtle, but also visual and invisible.
Over the last several years, we've had a fall-off in opinion submissions at the paper. We used to have far more letters to the editor than we could fit into two or even three "Opinion" pages. These days, we can easily get by with one, and some weeks there aren't even any letters to the editor other than cranks and identity-theft sexpots. Maybe we're satisfying our expressive needs on Facebook, saying "LOL!!!!!!!!" to pics of kittens in hampers, or anonymously calling people Nazis on blogs, I don't know.
Further, we, as a town, didn't manage to generate any ballot choices for City Council other than the three incumbents and any possible write-ins (Valerie Rose-Campbell is trying, but even if she succeeds, she'll be at a structural disadvantage).
In the near term, that's OK in that the three incumbents, Mayor Michael Winkler, Vice Mayor Shane Brinton and Councilmember Susan Ornelas are functioning fairly well. There's been a measurable maturation of this council and its individual members, they're doing the work and they aren't stale yet.
At the same time, the City's many citizen volunteer committees and commissions boast numerous high-functioning members who would have made fine candidates. They know procedure and attend reliably. Maybe they're happy working on nuts and bolts matters, as they didn't try for a council seat.
It's too bad, because those committees have served as the "nursery" for successful councilmembers in the past. Hopefully they will again, since those who want to go from zero government experience to Arcata's top leadership haven't gotten it together.
(The lack of a big council race certainly saved me a lot of work organizing another candidate forum and managing the profiles and advocacy letters. But that's fun work, in that people are involved and impassioned, you have a lot to work with. I had already reserved the Council Chamber, talked to the Chamber of Commerce and KHSU about participation, and was getting ready to ramp up the Issue Scrutinizers one last time, then the candidate collapse happened. Oh well…)
Arcata's Nuclear Weapons Free Zone & Peace Committee has suspended operations. A flagship committee when formed in 1989, the classic Arcata committee (with "Peace" added to its name in 2005) withered for lack of participation. It couldn't maintain enough members to form a quorum and is now moribund.
Now, the Committee on Democracy and Corporations is in suspense, unable to sustain the critical mass of a quorum. Measure F, which created the committee, passed by a landslide in 1998 (3,193/60.83 percent in favor; 2,056/ 39.17 percent opposed). It probably would again.
This Saturday, we'll have another great Farmers' Market. The Ridge Trail and McDaniel Slough projects are proceeding apace. Arcata has a whole bunch of new affordable housing. In spite of economic adversity and lack of public involvement, everything is kind of OK… for now.
Still, it seems prudent to lay down a marker here that this kind of non-involvement will eventually be very, very bad for Arcata. Nature – and politics – abhors a vacuum, and if credible candidates don't run, the opportunists and extremists will gladly fill the void. It has happened.
So here's the big tut-tut: 1. Never assume that City stuff is being handled properly, because sometimes, without you, it isn't. 2. If this is a trend, no good can come of it. 3. Don't despair that you, the concerned citizen, don't have a chance in the next City Council race. If you can just get 20 qualified voters to sign your petition, you're on the ballot, and you may not have much competition. 4. If you're thinking of an eventual run for council, try working on a volunteer committee first to see if you can handle and/or enjoy the work. 5. If you're already a well-functioning member of a citizen committee, consider going for the council gusto.
The Humboldt County Board of Stupidizers?
Over 12 years and more than 200 public meetings, Humboldt County has been crafting a General Plan Update (GPU). All that scoping, testimony, drafting and other staff work is at risk of being thrown away. The reason? Supervisors Bass, Bohn and Sundberg say – in so many, sometimes too many words – they don't understand it, so they don't believe it.
It's the logical fallacy known as argument from personal incredulity – one used, for example, by the 911 "truthers." They don't understand how two planes could destroy more than two buildings, so they reject that explanation. Creationists don't see how an eyeball could evolve, so that rules out evolution.
It's not just for conspiracy theorists. Spend any time at City Council meetings and you'll soon hear someone testify that, "I fail to understand how (an idea is true or relevant)," as though their inability to grasp a concept invalidates it on some objective level.
The key words, though, are the first two: "I fail." Yes, you fail. But must we all be hobbled by your failure? In the case of the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors, apparently so.
As quoted by Ryan Burns in the North Coast Journal, here are the explanations by the three supervisors for wishing to dispose of the current draft:
Rex Bohn: "I wished I had the knowledge that, I mean, that Mark [Lovelace] had. He's got to work on this for 12 years. I'd like to have some of that knowledge so maybe I'd have a little bit of understanding."
Ryan Sundberg: "I guess the more I look at this the more confused I get… It's super-overwhelming to me, I know, to try to go through this thing and understand it. The more I read it, it seems like, the more backwards I get."
If that plaintive confession doesn't instill fear for the county's future in you, check out this dog's breakfast of a rationale:
Virginia Bass: "What my uncomfortableness at this point, especially when you, you know, we're looking at the document, we have asked for so much information … but what I don't have in there, and I have never really asked or we haven't really been able to get to the bottom of, which really rises to my radar today is, again, the unintended consequences and my needing to have a level of confidence in moving forward."
It's particularly regrettable that Bass – someone who actually does do the work – should pretend to be a know-nothing. The feigned dumb-down is most unbecoming.
Did any of these folks happen to mention in their campaigns for office that they couldn't understand planning documents? Now they tell us. What other parts of their jobs are they unable to comprehend? These are stark questions that these three will be asked when and if they run for re-election. We now know that any new candidates ought to be asked this as well: what parts of the job are you going to have trouble with?
With three of five county legislators unable to read legislation, it seems that the citizen participation in the GPU– including long evenings spent away from families at meetings that stretched into the night over the past decade, then driving home in the rain and dark – well, that was all for nothing, because of the supervisors' just-disclosed perceptual and cognitive impairments.
Rather than toss out the work laboriously crafted by citizens and planners, couldn't these supervisors hire someone to explain the General Plan to them in simple terms that would expedite comprehension? We all have challenges in our work, and this is their work.
It shouldn't be hard – the language and length isn't at all exotic for a technical planning document. Lots of people do understand the GPU very well. Planners understand it. Attorneys certainly do. And the special interests who backed these supervisors are obviously paying attention.
As Frank Zappa so succinctly put it in "Heavenly Bank Account," a song about televangelist-grifters: "It is best in cases like this to pretend that you are stupid."
Trouble is, no one believes that these three supes are stupid. So the mumbling and dissembling isn't believable, and won't cover up payback for patrons.
These three supervisors asked everyone for their jobs. They ought to find a way to do them – for everyone.


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The strangely flat Honeymoon in Vegas hasn't aged terribly well. A hit comedy back in 1992, the film today seems to have succeeded on the strength of an easily grasped premise, acceptable star players, and the trailer-ready climax involving "The Flying Elvises."
Anticipating the following year's Indecent Proposal, Honeymoon in Vegas hinges on a rich guy's offer to buy out a young woman from under her man. In this case, the gag is that the deal comes just at the moment when the couple is poised to marry. It's for this very reason that Jack Singer (Nicolas Cage) and girlfriend Betsy (Sarah Jessica Parker) have come to Las Vegas, but an ill-advised side trip to a poker game finds Jack playing right into the hand(s) of mobster Tommy Korman (James Caan), who sees Betsy as the spitting image of his late wife Donna. A man who doesn't take "no" for an answer, Tommy gets Jack into crippling debt then promises to cancel it for a weekend with Betsy. Thus begins a game of cat-and-mouse between the men as Tommy whisks Betsy off to Hawaii to convince her that he's the better man, while Jack wises up and attempts to make his way back to his fiancée.
It's all very...cute, including a soundtrack larded with Elvis covers by top pop artists (Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Willie Nelson, Bono, et al). It would be telling to reveal how the Flying Elvises become involved, but it's worth noting that the film also includes a cameo by future pop star Bruno Mars (as "Little Elvis"). Anne Bancroft has a one-scene cameo as Jack's droll drama-queen mother, and Peter Boyle, Seymour Cassel, Pat Morita and Tony Shalhoub all show up in supporting turns. But nothing much gets a foothold here, comically or emotionally. In a way, Bergman's film is the romantic comedy version of its setting: an overgrown theme park that momentarily amuses, wears down the body and spirit, but mentally stays behind. With leads more generic than Cage and Caan, Honeymoon in Vegas would be unwatchable, but the former keeps the energy up and the latter makes for a love-to-hate-him weasel.
MGM gives Honeymoon in Vegas its Blu-ray debut in a bare-bones budget release sporting what appears to be a not-so-well-aged hi-def transfer. Color representation is uninspiring, with some suspiciously unnatural hues, and detail and texture are inconsistent. Noisy grain alternates with DNR to add to the picture's schizoid quality, but on balance, the picture certainly delivers enough good-looking moments to recommend it over DVD. In fact, since the DVD was only ever released in an incorrect 1.33:1 aspect ratio, this new Blu-ray is pretty much the only way to go for anyone looking to put this film on the shelf. Audio comes in an adequate DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track that again probably bests its DVD equivalent but fares poorly in comparison to today's hi-def standard. The only bonus feature is a "Theatrical Trailer" (2:10, HD).
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Denon AVR2112CI Integrated Network A/V Surround Receiver
Pioneer SP-BS41-LR Bookshelf Speaker (2)
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Here's how you can get involved in World AIDS Day or AIDS Awareness Week in your community:
- Attend a local vigil
- Start A Red Scarf campaign with a local HIV/AIDS service organization or partner
- Wear a red ribbon
If you would like to request more information regarding the Red Scarf Campaign and/or ask for a toolkit to help you get your own Red Scarf campaign started in your community please connect with either Martin Mcintosh, Director of Community Relations or Meredith Fraser, Director of Education at Regional HIV/AIDS Connection 519.434.1601
Thank you for your interest in Regional HIV/AIDS Connection (RHAC). We welcome media inquiries. RHAC has many great stories to tell and we are happy to work with you to profile the agency and our clients, volunteers and staff.
Media Contact
Please contact Brian Lester, Executive Director or Martin Mcintosh, Director of Community Relations for all media requests.
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An attempt by a Guardian correspondent to investigate the whereabouts of Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari has nearly landed him in trouble.
A Guardian reporter escaped being arrest after he tried to inquire about President Muhammadu Buhari's health at the Abuja House in London yesterday.
According to The Guardian, security staff at the Abuja House in London yesterday called in policemen to arrest itscorrespondent who was on the premises to see President Muhammadu Buhari and possibly interview him.
The report revealed that when the correspondent told a member of staff at the Abuja House, the official residence of the Nigerian High commissioner to the United Kingdom, yesterday afternoon that he had come to see the president, he replied: "As far as I'm concerned, he's not here."
At 2:50 p.m., when a black Mercedes jeep arrived, the occupant sitting by the driver rolled down the glass and asked the The Guardian correspondent, "why are you here?" "When I told him that l was a reporter with The Guardian and l had come to see if the president was there and to interview him, he looked quite irritated and replied angrily: 'he's not here, you can't see anybody here.' "
In an extraordinary move, two police officers, Constables Marlett and Stock, were called in by the security staff at the Abuja House to arrest the reporter. When both arrived on their motorcycles, they took the reporter's name and date of birth and subsequently made a check on the national database, before staying around for about 20 minutes and then left.
Prior to that, the security staff threatened the reporter with the police when he called at the Kensington residence to interview President Buhari about his continued stay in the UK.
A few minutes after The Guardian arrived at the Abuja House, just after 1:00 p.m., wanting to speak to the high commissioner, the reporter was directed to go to the Embassy- Nigerian House at Northumberland Avenue. "Somebody should be there," he was told.
Around 1:20 p.m., when a man and a teenage-looking girl wearing glasses pressed the buzzer, a security officer appeared to open the gate for the duo. When asked: "Is that the daughter of the president?" – judging by her resemblance of the First Lady- the security officer replied: "I don't know." He then reiterated that the reporter should go to the office at Northumberland Avenue.
When The Guardian pressed the buzzer about five minutes later, the security man sounded angry and threatened to call the police even when the reporter disclosed his identity and said he had come to speak to the president or any member of staff of the residence. "You should realise this is a private place and I will call the police," he said. When he was immediately corrected and told that the reporter was standing outside in a public place, he then said: "l won't speak to you again."
But around 1:40 p.m., when two guests arrived, the reporter shook hand with one of them and asked, "have you come to see Mr. President?" He replied cheerfully, saying "yes", but he didn't enter the compound. He left about 15 minutes later.
Another security officer came out shortly after and told the reporter to move away from the main gate. "Excuse me, you can't just stand here," he said.
Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, was also at Abuja House, a strong indication that Buhari may actually be there. At 5:13p.m., Saraki emerged from the house in a black suit, accompanied by a male aide.
"Hello, Senate president, hello Senate president," The Guardian said to him from outside the gate, before he entered an official car and was driven away.
Meanwhile, Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose has accused the leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) of politicising the health status of President Buhari by their visitation to London which he described as "make-belief and too much of eye-service."
Fayose said he had "temporarily suspended" his criticism of the president because of his health challenges. The governor spoke on a live programme tagged, 'Meet Your Governor' aired on the state-owned Ekiti Television and Radio Stations on Saturday.
Fayose who prayed for sound health for the president said his desire for a better Nigeria accounted for why he had been criticising the Federal Government when things were not done the right way.
"I don't have any problem with the president; the only problem I have is with his handlers. They will say something today and say another "tomorrow. Anybody can fall sick," he said.
Besides, the Anglican Bishop, Diocese of Lagos West, Rt. Revd. James Olusola Odedeji yesterday cautioned Nigerians against wishing the president dead but rather pray for his health and wellbeing so that he could succeed in delivering his electoral promises to the nation.
Odedeji spoke at the induction and installation of Venerable Adegoke Oludare Agara as the Dean of Archbishop Vining Memorial Church Cathedral held at the church in Ikeja, Lagos.
He said: "It is unfortunate in this country that Nigerians do hate their leaders. The rate at which people are willing to wish the president of the country dead is alarming. What are we going to gain if he dies?''
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Upon reading that Google Apps is a profitable business from Larry Dignan, one of my Enterprise Irregular blogging cohorts quipped that Microsoft was the Titanic and they're standing in a couple inches of water soon to get much worse.
I responded:
Nah, there's no water in the Titanic yet. But the steel plates of the hull are extremely brittle, there is an iceberg coming up off the port bow, and Captain and Crew are at a party in full tux alternately listening to an entertainer named "Bing" and trying to get the attention of a lovely lady at the next table named "Bartz."


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Last night's Green Umbrella concert of new music was the first concert in Los Angeles solely comprising Australian music, and it was a real success. As the second part of the Phil's recognition of Dean as composer, he was given freedom to select the program and his own role. So we saw Brett Dean as composer, as performer on viola, as conductor, as commentator, as programmer, and — in all of these — as effective communicator. This was an evening that deserved to be recorded and made available for download so that more than the thousand in Disney Hall last night could hear this music and those performances. Dean, himself, is poorly represented on recordings. I find several including Dean as performer on viola, but only three containing a short composition each. To add to the pain, the most recent of these was a commission from the Berlin which is included on Rattle's new release of Holst's "Planets; the work, "Komarov's Fall", is on the recording — but Dean is not identified as composer so that an Amazon search on Dean will fail to find the work, and an iTunes search will locate the recording but fail to tell you which "song" is the reason for the match.
The major works of the evening were Dean's. In the first half we heard his "Voices of Angels" (written in 1996, the oldest work on the program, as Dean pointed out). He wrote the work while still in Berlin, premiered by Berlin colleagues in the small hall of the Philharmonie. This work is for Schubert's quintet: violin, viola, cello, bass, piano; by coincidence we heard the "Trout" on Monday night, and "Voices of Angels" (of similar length) could hold its own on a program including both, a program intended for less adventurous ears. I suppose the caveat is that the players must be good enough to handle the advanced techniques asked of them by Dean.
The climax of the second half of the concert was Dean's "Pastoral Symphony" (2000), written on his return from Berlin to Australia and his rediscovery of Australian spaces and natural resources, specifically including its birds. Also impacting the piece was his recognition of the loss of environment from expansion and modernization; in the music a bucolic environment at the start of the work becomes largely supplanted by construction, by shopping centers, by freeways. The work is a 20-minute movement for a small chamber orchestra with prominent winds and percussion: 3 violins, 3 violas, 2 cellos, bass; flute, oboe, 2 clarinets, bassoon, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, trombone, tuba; 2 percussion, piano; sampler. I joined what seemed to be almost all of the audience in liking this work very, very much; however, as Dean told the audience, by a large margin this was the largest audience for a new music concert he had experienced — and the most responsive. We liked it. Salonen was just a few seats away; he like it, too.
The program began with the first U.S. performance of Liza Lim's "Songs Found in Dream" (2005), commissioned by the Salzberg Festival and premiered by Klangforum Wien. Lim received a Phil commission, writing "Ecstatic Architecture" for the first season in Disney Hall. I wasn't enthusiastic then, and the newer work last night didn't communicate to me. My wife says the problem is with me; she said that the work clearly evoked the images in aboriginal art and in petroglyphs, and she was surprised I didn't hear this. Lim's web site includes music of three of her compositions.
For the second half of the program Dean introduced his younger (27) colleague, Anthony Pateras, who came on stage looking as if he'd much rather be in a club or a studio, and not in this large auditorium with audience sitting in orderly rows. (His web site gives a clue of why he might feel that.) He seemed much more relaxed when he returned on stage to acknowledge the continuing applause after his first work; later, after performing the second of two pieces, you could see him having his own "Sally Fields" moment: "They like me, they really like me!" I hope someone was taping this for his records, a few years from now.
The first Pateras piece was "Chromatophore" (2003) for amplified strings (2 of each instrument). The name comes from the pigment cell used to change colors by chameleons or fish. Through technique and amplification the work uses strings almost as percussion instruments; sustained tones (i.e., traditional string sounds) are minimized. The work was developed through improvizations, and while it now has a written structure, each player has cells in which independent playing is required. Within the approach of limiting sustained notes, the work explores the pitches of thee common diatonic scale. The music was challenging and stimulating.
Pateras' solo work was a movement from a work-in-progress, "Continuums & Chasms, Movement vii". This is for fully-prepared piano, in which each note of the piano is altered. For this work, Pateras seemed to structure the alterations into clusters: in some, sounding of a pitch was minimized; in others, the pitch and tonal color were altered in various ways, producing gong-like effects, for example. He uses very rapid fingerings as he moves across the keyboard, and the uses of different types of sound creates very interesting colorings. Both Pateras works were performed in U.S. premieres. I lack the language to convey how interesting these pieces were as music, not merely as sound.
The re-birth of Monday Evening Concerts is achieved! The brochure for the 2006-2007 season has been released and is shown on the web site. Four concerts! I only wish that at least one of the four concerts was for local new music and that another was for other American new music. My private campaign is for them to hire Kyle Gann as one of the curators. Well, maybe next year. Just having the program alive is accomplishment enough for now.


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Emma Chapter 39
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Chapter 39
his little explanation with Mr. Knightley gave Emma considerable pleasure. It was one of the agreeable recollections of the ball, which she walked about the lawn the next morning to enjoy. She was extremely glad that they had come to so good an understanding respecting the Eltons, and that their opinions of both husband and wife were so much alike; and his praise of Harriet, his concession in her favour, was peculiarly gratifying. The impertinence of the Eltons, which for a few minutes had threatened to ruin the rest of her evening, had been the occasion of some of its highest satisfactions; and she looked forward to another happy result -- the cure of Harriet's infatuation. From Harriet's manner of speaking of the circumstance before they quitted the ball-room, she had strong hopes. It seemed as if her eyes were suddenly opened, and she were enabled to see that Mr. Elton was not the superior creature she had believed him. The fever was over, and Emma could harbour little fear of the pulse being quickened again by injurious courtesy. She depended on the evil feelings of the Eltons for supplying all the discipline of pointed neglect that could be further requisite. Harriet rational, Frank Churchill not too much in love, and Mr. Knightley not wanting to quarrel with her, how very happy a summer must be before her!
She was not to see Frank Churchill this morning. He had told her that he could not allow himself the pleasure of stopping at Hartfield, as he was to be at home by the middle of the day. She did not regret it.
Having arranged all these matters, looked them through, and put them all to rights, she was just turning to the house with spirits freshened up for the demands of the two little boys, as well as of their grandpapa, when the great iron sweepgate opened, and two persons entered whom she had never less expected to see together -- Frank Churchill, with Harriet leaning on his arm -- actually Harriet! A moment sufficed to convince her that something extraordinary had happened. Harriet looked white and frightened, and he was trying to cheer her. The iron gates and the front door were not twenty yards asunder; -- they were all three soon in the hall, and Harriet immediately sinking into a chair fainted away.
A young lady who faints, must be recovered; questions must be answered, and surprises be explained. Such events are very interesting, but the suspense of them cannot last long. A few minutes made Emma acquainted with the whole.
Miss Smith, and Miss Bickerton, another parlour boarder at Mrs. Goddard's, who had been also at the ball, had walked out together, and taken a road, the Richmond road, which, though apparently public enough for safety, had led them into alarm. About half a mile beyond Highbury, making a sudden turn, and deeply shaded by elms on each side, it became for a considerable stretch very retired; and when the young ladies had advanced some way into it, they had suddenly perceived at a small distance before them, on a broader path of greensward by the side, a party of gipsies. A child on the watch, came towards them to beg; and Miss Bickerton, excessively frightened, gave a great scream, and calling on Harriet to follow her, ran up a steep bank, cleared a slight hedge at the top, and made the best of her way by a short cut back to Highbury. But poor Harriet could not follow. She had suffered very much from cramp after dancing, and her first attempt to mount the bank brought on such a return of it as made her absolutely powerless; and in this state, and exceedingly terrified, she had been obliged to remain.
How the trampers might have behaved, had the young ladies been more courageous, must be doubtful; but such an invitation for attack could not be resisted; and Harriet was soon assailed by half a dozen children, headed by a stout woman and a great boy, all clamorous, and impertinent in look, though not absolutely in word. More and more frightened, she immediately promised them money, and taking out her purse, gave them a shilling, and begged them not to want more, or to use her ill. She was then able to walk, though but slowly, and was moving away -- but her terror and her purse were too tempting, and she was followed, or rather surrounded, by the whole gang, demanding more.
In this state Frank Churchill had found her, she trembling and conditioning, they loud and insolent. By a most fortunate chance his leaving Highbury had been delayed so as to bring him to her assistance at this critical moment. The pleasantness of the morning had induced him to walk forward, and leave his horses to meet him by another road, a mile or two beyond Highbury -- and happening to have borrowed a pair of scissors the night before of Miss Bates, and to have forgotten to restore them, he had been obliged to stop at her door, and go in for a few minutes: he was therefore later than he had intended; and being on foot, was unseen by the whole party till almost close to them. The terror which the woman and boy had been creating in Harriet was then their own portion. He had left them completely frightened; and Harriet eagerly clinging to him, and hardly able to speak, had just strength enough to reach Hartfield, before her spirits were quite overcome. It was his idea to bring her to Hartfield: he had thought of no other place.
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Emma (Contd)
This was the amount of the whole story, -- of his communication and of Harriet's as soon as she had recovered her senses and speech. He dared not stay longer than to see her well; -- these several delays left him not another minute to lose; and Emma engaging to give assurance of her safety to Mrs. Goddard, and notice of there being such a set of people in the neighbourhood to Mr. Knightley, he set off, with all the grateful blessings that she could utter for her friend and herself.
Such an adventure as this, -- a fine young man and a lovely young woman thrown together in such a way, could hardly fail of suggesting certain ideas to the coldest heart and the steadiest brain. So Emma thought, at least. Could a linguist, could a grammarian, could even a mathematician have seen what she did, have witnessed their appearance together, and heard their history of it, without feeling that circumstances had been at work to make them peculiarly interesting to each other? How much more must an imaginist, like herself, be on fire with speculation and foresight! especially with such a ground-work of anticipation as her mind had already made.
It was a very extraordinary thing! Nothing of the sort had ever occurred before to any young ladies in the place, within her memory; no rencontre, no alarm of the kind; -- and now it had happened to the very person, and at the very hour, when the other very person was chancing to pass by to rescue her! It certainly was very extraordinary! And knowing, as she did, the favourable state of mind of each at this period, it struck her the more. He was wishing to get the better of his attachment to herself, she just recovering from her mania for Mr. Elton. It seemed as if every thing united to promise the most interesting consequences. It was not possible that the occurrence should not be strongly recommending each to the other.
In the few minutes' conversation which she had yet had with him, while Harriet had been partially insensible, he had spoken of her terror, her naïveté, her fervor as she seized and clung to his arm, with a sensibility amused and delighted; and just at last, after Harriet's own account had been given, he had expressed his indignation at the abominable folly of Miss Bickerton in the warmest terms. Every thing was to take its natural course, however, neither impelled nor assisted. She would not stir a step, nor drop a hint. No, she had had enough of interference. There could be no harm in a scheme, a mere passive scheme. It was no more than a wish. Beyond it she would on no account proceed.
Emma's first resolution was to keep her father from the knowledge of what had passed, aware of the anxiety and alarm it would occasion: but she soon felt that concealment must be impossible. Within half an hour it was known all over Highbury. It was the very event to engage those who talk most, the young and the low; and all the youth and servants in the place were soon in the happiness of frightful news. The last night's ball seemed lost in the gipsies. Poor Mr. Woodhouse trembled as he sat, and, as Emma had foreseen, would scarcely be satisfied without their promising never to go beyond the shrubbery again. It was some comfort to him that many inquiries after himself and Miss Woodhouse (for his neighbours knew that he loved to be inquired after), as well as Miss Smith, were coming in during the rest of the day; and he had the pleasure of returning for answer, that they were all very indifferent -- which, though not exactly true, for she was perfectly well, and Harriet not much otherwise, Emma would not interfere with. She had an unhappy state of health in general for the child of such a man, for she hardly knew what indisposition was; and if he did not invent illnesses for her, she could make no figure in a message.
The gipsies did not wait for the operations of justice; they took themselves off in a hurry. The young ladies of Highbury might have walked again in safety before their panic began, and the whole history dwindled soon into a matter of little importance but to Emma and her nephews: in her imagination it maintained its ground, and Henry and John were still asking every day for the story of Harriet and the gipsies, and still tenaciously setting her right if she varied in the slightest particular from the original recital.
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I ran across this post by Scott Dannemiller during my daily reading! It's a message we all need to hear:
I was on the phone with a good friend the other day. After covering important topics, like disparaging each other's mothers and retelling semi-factual tales from our college days, our conversation turned to the mundane. "So, how's work going?" he asked. For those of you who don't know, I make money by teaching leadership skills and helping people learn to get along in corporate America. My wife says it's all a clever disguise so I can get up in front of large groups and tell stories. I plead the fifth. I answered my buddy's question with, "Definitely feeling blessed. Last year was the best year yet for my business. And it looks like this year will be just as busy." The words rolled off my tongue without a second thought. Like reciting the Pledge of Allegiance or placing my usual lunch order at McDonald's. But it was a lie.
Now, before you start taking up a collection for the "Feed the Dannemillers" fund, allow me to explain. Based on last year's quest to go twelve months without buying anything, you may have the impression that our family is subsisting on Ramen noodles and free chips and salsa at the local Mexican restaurant. Not to worry, we are not in dire straits. Last year was the best year yet for my business. Things are looking busy in 2014. But that is not a blessing.
I've noticed a trend among Christians, myself included, and it troubles me. Our rote response to material windfalls is to call ourselves blessed. Like the "amen" at the end of a prayer.
"This new car is such a blessing."
"Finally closed on the house. Feeling blessed."
"Just got back from a mission trip. Realizing how blessed we are here in this country."
On the surface, the phrase seems harmless. Faithful even. Why wouldn't I want to give God the glory for everything I have? Isn't that the right thing to do? No. As I reflected on my "feeling blessed" comment, two thoughts came to mind. I realize I'm splitting hairs here, creating an argument over semantics. But bear with me, because I believe it is critically important. It's one of those things we can't see because it's so culturally engrained that it has become normal. But it has to stop. And here's why.
First, when I say that my material fortune is the result of God's blessing, it reduces The Almighty to some sort of sky-bound, wish-granting fairy who spends his days randomly bestowing cars and cash upon his followers. I can't help but draw parallels to how I handed out M&M's to my own kids when they followed my directions and chose to poop in the toilet rather than in their pants. Sure, God wants us to continually seek His will, and it's for our own good. But positive reinforcement? God is not a behavioral psychologist.
Second, and more importantly, calling myself blessed because of material good fortune is just plain wrong. For starters, it can be offensive to the hundreds of millions of Christians in the world who live on less than $10 per day. You read that right. Hundreds of millions who receive a single-digit dollar "blessing" per day. During our year in Guatemala, Gabby and I witnessed first-hand the damage done by the theology of prosperity, where faithful people scraping by to feed their families were simply told they must not be faithful enough. If they were, God would pull them out of their nightmare. Just try harder, and God will show favor. The problem? Nowhere in scripture are we promised worldly ease in return for our pledge of faith. In fact, the most devout saints from the Bible usually died penniless, receiving a one-way ticket to prison or death by torture.
I'll take door number three, please.
If we're looking for the definition of blessing, Jesus spells it out clearly (Matthew 5: 1-12).
1 Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to Him,
2 And He began to teach them, saying:
3 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the sons of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
I have a sneaking suspicion verses 12a 12b and 12c were omitted from the text. That's where the disciples responded by saying:
12a Waitest thou for one second, Lord. What about "blessed art thou comfortable," or 12b "blessed art thou which havest good jobs, a modest house in the suburbs, and a yearly vacation to the Florida Gulf Coast?"
12c And Jesus said unto them, "Apologies, my brothers, but those did not maketh the cut."
So there it is. Written in red. Plain as day. Even still, we ignore it all when we hijack the word "blessed" to make it fit neatly into our modern American ideals, creating a cosmic lottery where every sincere prayer buys us another scratch-off ticket. In the process, we stand the risk of alienating those we are hoping to bring to the faith. And we have to stop playing that game.
The truth is, I have no idea why I was born where I was or why I have the opportunity I have. It's beyond comprehension. But I certainly don't believe God has chosen me above others because of the veracity of my prayers or the depth of my faith. Still, if I take advantage of the opportunities set before me, a comfortable life may come my way. It's not guaranteed. But if it does happen, I don't believe Jesus will call me blessed. He will call me "burdened." He will ask,
"What will you do with it?"
"Will you use it for yourself?"
"Will you use it to help?"
"Will you hold it close for comfort?"
"Will you share it?"
So many hard choices. So few easy answers. So my prayer today is that I understand my true blessing. It's not my house. Or my job. Or my standard of living. No. My blessing is this. I know a God who gives hope to the hopeless. I know a God who loves the unlovable. I know a God who comforts the sorrowful. And I know a God who has planted this same power within me. Within all of us. And for this blessing, may our response always be, "Use me."
Since I had this conversation, my new response is simply, "I'm grateful."


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Thanks to the Visual Comet for fitting into our very tight budget! I still have no idea how did you do it but I'm very happy with results and indeed haven't even stressed much about all of it. Very recommendable
Share your thoughts with community.
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We are an independent agency, which means that we represent several insurance companies instead of just one. This enables us to find the best coverage at the best price for you.
At Neely and Wade, we can handle all of your insurance needs.


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Sep 27, 2012
New Icon Designs Inspired by iOS App Style
iOS icons have always been characterized by their square shape. With the expansion of the mobile app market, more and more apps are being created, and for every app comes an identifing app icon. We might think it's not possible to do great things with such a little icon, but it's really incredible what creativity can do. Today we present a fresh and recent selection of original iOS-style icons and we encourage you to try creating one yourself, with the help of iOS App Icon Template in PSD and these great tutorials Create a Mobile App Icon in Photoshop and iOS App Icon Design Tutorial in Illustrator CS6


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There are many choices in the computer market with different models and designs all created for different benefits and uses. Computer manufacturers design systems made for all possible uses with a variety of features to perform any type of computing task. There are also different models and designs available and a whole mobile sector that makes it easy to compute from anywhere without being tied to a plug.
As far as desktop systems go there are two main designs, the all-in-one and the traditional desktop computer system. Each has its own benefits and pros and cons. The choice sometimes comes down to how and for what the computer will be primarily used.
The all-in-one model is where the monitor and CPU are part of one unit so you do not have a CPU tower and a separate monitor that takes up more space as is the case with the traditional desktop system. The all-in-one eliminates the bulky and messy cables and connection wires that are part of the traditional set up.
There are some important differences between an all-in-one desktop computer and a traditional desktop computer. The traditional desktop is big and bulky. It can take up a lot of room, especially when you have a limited amount of space, with the CPU tower, plus the monitor as well as other peripherals, such as a printer or scanner.
The all-in-one also has no cables except for the power cord and peripheral cables and so it creates much less clutter under your desk. Overall the all-in-one desktop is able to provide you with much more space because of its compactness and size, which makes it much more space friendly. Another benefit of them is the fact that they come with notebook computer components, which require less power and generate less heat and so they save on power, which saves some money.
There are some cons with the all-in-one models. As opposed to the traditional desktop computer, which has plenty of room for expansion such as adding a hard drive or more memory, the compactness of the all-in-one leaves little room for it. So while the all-in-one is more efficient, it is less upgradeable. But unless you need a lot of features or you are a power user, the all-in-one because is a great choice for aesthetics, space and power saving benefits. However, for extreme gamers or power users the traditional system is a better choice.


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LONDON – Pippa has two aggressive suitors: banker Alex Loudon and Prince Harry. Who will win her heart?
Pippa Middleton, the youngster sister of the Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton, has been seen in the last week with both r Alex Loudon, the city banker and former cricketer (he accompanied Pippa Middleton to the Royal Wedding in April 2011) and Prince Harry, who has told Royal insiders that he will fight for Pippa's heart.
Speculation that Pippa had split from Alex intensified last month after she was spotted with Prince Harry at The Troubador pub in Chelsea. BA friend of Middleton is quoted as saying, "It is common knowledge in their close circle of friends that Pippa and Alex have recently split up".
But sources close to Pippa say that she never split from Alex. "She's seeing Alex and she's also spending time with Harry. She's confused. She's madly in love with them both."
Loudon, a promising cricketer who was once selected for England, announced his retirement from the game in 2007, enrolling at the London Business School one year later. The couple's relationship appears to have become strained under the intense media interest in Pippa following her appearance as maid-of-honour at the Royal Wedding.
But, after the Royal Wedding Pippa reportedly "hooked up" with Harry during a stay at Buckingham Palace. They two were seen together at clubs throughout London. Prince Harry was "completely smitten," according to one bartender that served them in Camden.
Prince Harry recently did a "Couples Triathalon" with Pippa:
There's even a third suitor vying for Pippa's hand: her old college friend George Percy, the son of the Duke of Northumberland.
Following her graduation from the University of Edinburgh, Pippa Middleton currently works as an event planner, while also helping out with her parent's online party website and editing the web-magazine 'Party Times'.
Prince Harry told WWN that "Alex has nothing on me. He might be good at cricket, but he's got nothing on me. I love Pippa and I hope she will become my bride in the near future.
But Alex isn't going to give up on Pippa and let "the Royal redhead" take her away from me. "He's lost the plot if he thinks he will take Pippa away from me. She belongs with me. I am the only man that can make her happy."
When asked by WWN if he would fight the Prince in a cage match (sponsored by WWN), Alex immediately responded. "Yes, he won't last five seconds." Prince Harry has yet to respond to the catch match, "Fight For Pippa" but sources close to him says he likes the idea and will welcome the chance to put Alex in his place.
Royal watchers say Pippa is distraught because she loves both men equally. Though, she looked at ease last week:
Meanwhile, there's another suitor for Pippa. A man who thinks she's a goddess:


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Jeff "Jeffy" Allen is a big league pick-up artist instructor who has published multiple books and DVDs on the craft of treating women like shiny gold coins in a video game. He's also the owner of San Francisco's well-known "Freedom Van," which he calls his "rape van," and a pathetically avid OkCupid troll. Please stay far, far away from him.
Last August, Amanda, a 26-year old marketing manager for a software company based in San Francisco, received an message on OKCupid from Captain_Derp. His initial missive was obnoxiously twee — "Um. Hi. Anyways, I feel you appear attractive and consequently would like to explore the possibility of enhancing your life by means of exposure to my awesomeness kthxbai" — but she was curious about a photo on his profile, captioned: "Consensual Sex in the Missionary Position For the Sole Purpose of Reproduction Van. I painted it myself."
That's a van many SF residents have seen parked around the Mission District, notable for its "2 Pac R.I.P FOreva" and "Freedomn is not Free" signs. Local blog Mission Mission wrote about it this week, asking "Why isn't everyone talking about the 9/11 Tupac Freedomn van?" Amanda was likewise intrigued.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm not usually attracted to explicit douche bags but I immediately felt refreshed after scanning hundreds of profiles depicting young startup professionals that are just 'enjoying our beautiful city' and love to cook, travel, and rock climb," Amanda wrote on her Facebook wall. "Every motherfucker on okcupid rock climbs. So I wrote back and let him know that if that was in fact his van, I would go on a date with him. His response was that he was busy promoting his clothing line in vegas and I should text him. Note: all of his t-shirts say "beast mode" on them. At this point I figured I would probably be better off not meeting him and it was only later when he reached out again that I decided, fuck it, YOLO!"
Captain_Derp asked her to meet him at a tapas bar, but the morning of their date she had a change of heart, and messaged him to say as much:
In response, he wrote, "Why am I not surprised. Eat a bag of dicks" and "Also, I guarantee your date with me would be far more horrifying than these last two amateurs you went out with. I drive a fucking RAPE VAN. Ps you're fat." Lovely.
When Amanda posted about her experience on Facebook, she realized she wasn't the only woman to be drawn in by Captain_Derp — her friends quickly told her that his real identity is Jeff "Jeffy" Allen, a prominent pick-up artist who has been teaching live dating boot camps since 2003 — he works for Real Social Dynamics, Tyler Durden's company — and has released DVDs and books.
In Get Laid or Die Trying: The Field Reports he's described as such:
The undisputed king of the field report was a player named "jlaix." This was the handle of Jeff Allen, who would go on to be a founding member of Real Social Dynamics with Tyler Durden and Papa, all of whom play major roles in Neil Strauss's The Game, the bestselling exposÉ of the world of pickup artists. In an arena founded on one-upmanship, Jeff Allen did it bigger and better than anyone. Get Laid or Die Trying presents in utterly shameless, hilarious, and graphic detail, Jeffy's gritty, 100 percent real, and jaw-droppingly astonishing feats of seduction...
His fans apparently love him not only for his tips on "Attracting the girl you want by sleeping with all of her friends" and "Convincing a girl you just met that before you fuck her, she must mow your lawn" but for his character. "...i think a lot of what Jeffy / RSD do is great," wrote one Amazon reviewer. "They not only help guys become good with women, but also help develop your confidence and character with out scripts or canned lines." A DVD reviewer stresses how his systems "help you create a weird, synergistic effect that helps not only your love life, but all other areas too."
So the ideal pick-up artist develops his confidence by bragging about his "rape van" and calling women who reject him fat? Amanda's not the only woman in her social circle who interacted with Allen online; he asked one of her friends to meet him at the same tapas bar a few years back and "wear something sexy." When she declined, he called her a bitch and was so proud of the exchange that he posted it on his Facebook:
text exchange w woman after setting up date:
Me: wear something hot. so we match.
her: what makes you think im inclined to dress hot for strangers
me: actually, forget it, never mind... you sound like a pain in the ass
Is it wishful thinking to hope that maybe some potential PUAs-in-training will stay away from Allen if they know the extent of his ridiculous dickitude? Probably. (Sigh.) But hey, San Franciscans: watch out for this van. We're not suggesting you egg it or anything, but, you know, we're not suggesting you don't, either.


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Back to the Future in the Metaverse
May 13, 2014
On Thursday, May 15, at 2pm EDT (8pm CEST) there will be a meeting in Second Life to discuss the VR renaissance outlined in Back to the future in the Metaverse.
Location: Soleri City, Terasem Island, Second Life. Click here to teleport to Soleri City (requires a Second Life viewer)
Philip Rosedale is a visionary technology entrepreneur and founder of Second Life. Rosedale's new project, High Fidelity, is "building a new virtual world enabling rich avatar interactions driven by sensor-equipped hardware, simulated and served by devices (phones, tablets and laptops/desktops) contributed by end-users." Think: a distributed Metaverse powered by end-user devices, Oculus Rift support out-of-the-box, total immersion, live avatars with body language and non-verbal expression, and low-latency, real 3D VR user interfaces.
Ben Goertzel is currently Vice Chair of Humanity+. His research work encompasses artificial general intelligence, natural language processing, cognitive science, data mining, machine learning, computational finance, bioinformatics, virtual worlds and gaming and other areas. He has served as a university faculty in the US, China, Australia and New Zealand, and published a dozen scientific books. See Artificial General Intelligence in Second Life (2007).
Stephen Larson is a co-founder and the project coordinator for the OpenWorm open science project which aims to reverse engineer a whole organism in an in silico digital model. He currently works as the CEO of MetaCell, a systems biology informatics company. His diverse educational background includes a bachelor of science and master of engineering from MIT in computer science as well as a Ph.D in neuroscience from the University of California, San Diego.
Natasha Vita-More is a Professor at the University of Advancing Technology. She designed "Primo Posthuman", and her current work includes developing a transhumanist research center. She is co-editor and contributing author of The Transhumanist Reader: Classical and Contemporary Essays on the Science, Technology, and Philosophy of the Human Future. She is currently Chair of Humanity+, former President of Extropy Institute, and a Fellow of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies.
The Rev. Christopher Benek is a PCUSA pastor on Hilton Head Island, SC and is completing the world's first ever Doctor of Ministry in Science and Theology at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. He also holds two other advanced degrees in theology (Ethics) and will begin a PHD researching Theology and Technological Futurism at Durham University in the fall of 2014. See Virtual Reality is Going to Change How We Experience Church.
David Orban is CEO of Dotsub, and Advisor and member of the Faculty at Singularity University. An early adopter and experimenter of immersive virtual reality, his interdisciplinary work cuts across silos of specialization to uncover innovative bridges of value creation.
Giulio Prisco, a Director of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, is a VR consultant as well as a writer, futurist, and transhumanist. He writes and speaks on a wide range of topics, including science, information technology, emerging technologies, virtual worlds, space exploration and futurology. He is Transhumanism Editor at KurzweilAI.
Khannea Suntzu, a Second Life artist who had her name legally changed to her avatar name, is a transgendered technoprogressive with a far-leftist stance on society and progress. She is an outspoken advocate of life extension, space industrialization, basic income, societal resilience, and radically new modes of communication and social interaction.
Thanks to Martine Rothblatt, visionary technology entrepreneur and social activist, founder of Terasem (see this recent Time article), for allowing the use of Terasem Island in SL.
The event is free to attend but donations to the OpenWorm Kickstarter will be appreciated. You can donate in-world or on Kickstarter.
Contacts: Giulio Prisco, Khannea Suntzu
Second Life contacts (avatars):
Eschatoon Magic
Khannea Suntzu
Kirsch Greenwood
Perplexing Poultry


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In order to lower actual rates and maximize your teen auto insurance coverage, you can give your teen a simpler or older car; let your teen keep a good driving record; let him keep a clean insurance record; enroll him to a driver safety education; get your teen a safer car; let him maintain good academic grades; keep the mileage low; keep the car safe; and apply for multiple policies with your insurance company.
Teen auto insurance can cost as much as five times more than the rates for adults. This is because of the greater driving risk involved in teenagers evidenced by greater number of accidents and higher number of serious injuries and fatalities compared to adult drivers.
Practical Ways to Save on Teen Auto Insurance:
Give your teen an older car
A brand new sports car would make a very nice birthday gift for your beloved teen, but if you want to save to insurance costs, this would not be a smart move. Remember that one of the factors that make up an expensive car insurance would be a brand new car because of its high book value. A sports car would also be expensive to insure with its higher horsepower compared to a four-door sedan. With a stronger car, your teen would tend to drive faster, making it more prone to accidents and damages. If you are giving your teen an older car model, you can also save by dropping collision coverage.
Good driving record
If this is not your first year in getting your teen a car insurance and he or she had a good driving record, you can ask for a discount from your insurance provider. Most auto insurance companies give discounts to drivers who have not been issued a ticket or those who have not been involved in any accident since they have been driving. Remind your teen that it always pays to be a good driver.
Clean insurance record
Aside from having a good driving record, teen insurance costs may also be lowered if your teen keeps a clean insurance record. It is advisable for him to keep from claiming for very minor car damages from insurance companies in order to qualify for discounts.
Enroll him in a driver safety education
Some states require teenagers to get driving lessons first before he gets a driver's license. Aside from this condition, the cost of car insurance for teenagers may also be reduced if your teen had been enrolled to a driving course before driving his own car, most especially if he had good grades. The insurance company would most likely give discounts to responsible student drivers who have had lessons to safe driving than to those who have not.
Get your teen a safer car
Just like in applying auto insurance for adult-driven cars, discounts also apply to teenager-driven cars with safety features. Airbags, anti-lock brake systems, and alarm systems can help lower the insurance cost of your teen auto insurance as they reduce risk for injuries as well as theft and damages.
Maintain good academic grades
Yes, indeed. If your teen proves to have good grades in school, most especially if he is in the honor roll, you can avail of the good student discount. Most insurance companies offer this incentive to responsible students who are most likely more sensible and responsible too when it comes to driving.
Keep the car's mileage low
When you ask for online auto insurance quotations, companies do ask for estimated mileage your teen has to travel from residence to destination, as well as estimated annual mileage. As much as possible, advice your teen to keep his mileage low and use the car only when needed. Do not encourage weekend road trips and the like. Higher mileage leads to higher risk of meeting accidents, thus resulting to higher insurance cost.
Keep the car in a safe location
Another very important determining factor for insurance premium is the place where your teen brings and parks his car. Insurance companies will be asking where the car will usually be brought and parked. Is the school parking safe? Are the places he goes safe enough, too or are there many reported cases of car thefts and damages? If at home, does he park his car in a covered garage or just outside the apartment? Of course, the more risky the situation, the higher the insurance cost.
Apply for multiple policies with your insurance company
If your teen's insurance provider with other concerns, such as life or home insurance, also covers teen auto insurance and you get a policy from them, you may be given a discount on your teen auto insurance for your devotion to their company. Alternately, you can also apply for the whole family's car insurance policies in one insurance company and be granted of discounts for each of your plan. Do not hesitate to ask your insurer about these discounts to save bucks.
Other discounts you may qualify for with your teen's car insurance include a loyalty discount, if you have been with your insurance company for a certain number of years, as well as a multiple car discount, when you enroll more than one car for your teen.
I'm a former 7th grade Science teacher turned stay-at-home mom that lives in Houston, Texas. I am married to my college sweetheart and have a beautiful daughter named Riley, who definitely keeps me on my toes! I am also involved in starting a small business which would both manufacture and sell an invention that I've patented, called Toothpaste 2 Go. I love interacting with my readers and hope to learn as much about you as you learn about me!
Melissa @ Mommy Living the Life of Riley!
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Sunday, May 1
The Daily Donkey 1
5 comments:
so excited for the daily donkey.you know I can't get enough of them. I am planning on doing some new work & I know donkeys are going to be in the series ! love to all on the farm.ReplyDelete
I'm very excited about the daily donkey! When I was a kid, my parents rented their pastures to a man that showed paint quarter horses and he kept a donkey with them. The donkey was always referred to as Jim the donkey (as if we were going to confuse him with Jim the uncle or Jim the brother-in-law). Jim the donkey was feared by all the horses and my older siblings, but for some reason he put up with me and my obsession with rubbing his fuzzy ears. Even though he was kind of a foul-tempered Eeyore, I still love donkeys and those big fuzzy ears.ReplyDelete
Maybe some of your clever commenters could come up with Daily Donkey captions!!!ReplyDelete
- Agraule2/08/2011 8:29 AM
Thank you for the beautiful idea! A donkey a day keeps sorrows away :-)ReplyDelete
The donkey's are soooo cute. I've always loved donkeys. This is a great idea that you came up with, and I'll be glad to see the picture each day. I just love your farm, and this blog is just wonderful.ReplyDelete
December 2015 update: Hi! For some reason I can't figure out, Blogger hasn't been letting me leave comments on my own blog (!) for the last several months, so I've been unable to respond to your comments and questions. My apologies for any inconvenience! You're always welcome to email me: farmgirlfare AT gmail DOT com.
Hi! Thanks for visiting Farmgirl Fare and taking the time to write. While I'm not always able to reply to every comment, I receive and enjoy reading them all.
Your feedback is greatly appreciated, and I especially love hearing about your experiences with my recipes. Comments on older posts are always welcome!
Please note that I moderate comments, so if I'm away from the computer it may be a while before yours appears.
I try my best to answer all questions, though sometimes it takes me a few days. And sometimes, I'm sorry to say, they fall through the cracks, and for that I sincerely apologize.
I look forward to hearing from you and hope you enjoy your e-visits to our farm!


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New ? > Click me
What would fit your child? Take a look here >>
Dark - light - bright - greenishyellow - bluishpink - colors have different shades.
Colors from yellow to purple and from light to dark.
'ligther than... and darker than' in the colours of the rainbow


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Bread Knives - View our range of Bread Knives here at Anthony Ryans cookware shop, offering excellent quality Bread Knives to suit your needs.
Bread knives typically has a sharp edge with saw-like large notches or teeth, commonly referred to as a serrated edge. The blade of a bread knife is usually 8 to 10 inches long. The serrated blade works well to slice through food that is hard on the outside and soft on the inside, such as slicing through the homely crusty loaves of bread. The serrated-edged knives are difficult to sharpen so many times a new knife is bought.
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Related Expertise: Retail Banking, Financial Institutions, Marketing and Sales
There can be a huge difference in the digital experience offered by different retail banks. To understand how big, let's look over the shoulders of two customers, Zuzanna and Oliver, as they use their mobile-banking apps.
It's 10 a.m. in Warsaw, and with a few quick taps on her phone, Zuzanna is repaying a friend for last night's dinner. As she sends the money, Zuzanna sees a reminder to activate her new credit card. The bank will give her 5% cash back if she uses her card five times in the coming week, and it's offering a discount at her regular coffee shop if she uses her card to pay there. She taps the "activate" button, which automatically loads the card digitally into her e-wallet, orders herself a discounted coffee, and heads out for the day. The convenience and speed of this and other mobile-banking experiences have turned Zuzanna into something close to a purely digital customer; she rarely steps into a branch office anymore.
In another European city, Oliver is having a different experience. While attempting to open a new savings account, he gets frustrated when the application form in the banking app doesn't prefill with his profile information. This means he has to provide—yet again—data that he's given to the bank many times before. He gets stuck somewhere in the middle of the process and is forced to go to his local branch to complete the application.
For banks, digital sales are a crucial new benchmark—and a logical next step in the race to digitization. For every one time that customers visit a branch, they now access their banking apps between 50 and 80 times. And this doesn't take into account visits to bank websites, which make the ratio of digital to physical interactions even more lopsided. Yet despite this mammoth behavioral shift, most banks' proportion of digital sales hasn't increased by much. It remains an opportunity that banks haven't seized.
In their next phase of hiring, technology buying, and strategy formulation, banks need to create a foundation for digital sales. The ones that do so will gain a lasting advantage.
To determine the extent to which customers are willing and able to buy bank products digitally (by using a bank's mobile app or online site, rather than by visiting a branch), we sat down with actual customers of more than 140 banks globally—our "mystery shoppers"—while they worked with more than 210 sales-related features on their digital-banking apps and websites. We looked at the following features and scored their effectiveness:
Not many banks are doing a good job in all these areas simultaneously. In observing our mystery shoppers, we found that very few banks are delivering personalized marketing to their customers' mobile devices. (The Polish bank used by Zuzanna is the rare exception.) Many banks provide product information over their digital channels, but the presentation often doesn't take advantage of the medium's interactivity or, in the case of mobile, is not suited to the small screen. It's almost never easy to buy a bank product digitally; most such attempts result in the shopper's having to re-enter personal data, be redirected to a separate bank website, or visit a branch. And heaven help the shopper who wants support while making a purchase: the options, whether phone, chat, or video, are usually rudimentary—if they are available at all.
As a result, most of the banks we looked at score low on our digital-sales diagnostic; the median score of the banks' mobile apps is 22 out of 100. This is a stunningly low number given the billions of dollars that banks collectively have poured into their digital initiatives in recent years.
Of course, not every bank performs badly. At the more advanced end of the continuum, some banks in Poland and Spain have scores up to three times the global average. (See Exhibit 1.) While we have not yet compared banks' digital scores with their actual digital sales—which we estimate at 10% to 15% of total sales at banks globally—there is plenty of empirical evidence that the two move in tandem.
Performing well in the categories described above isn't solely a function of a bank's excelling at data and analytics—there's much more to it than that. In our view, most banks are going to have to rethink their digital-sales "stacks": the technology, processes, talent, operating model, and coordinating mechanisms needed to increase sales through digital channels. (See Exhibit 2.)
At banks, the stack has five distinct layers, most of them requiring new capabilities and infrastructure:
Each layer of the digital stack comes with its own technology set, business processes, and organizational imperatives. At the best banks, these are set up and orchestrated in much the same way as at a digitally native company. And the method of achieving outcomes is similar, too. Just as Amazon seamlessly fulfills orders and Google stimulates consumer demand by ensuring that its messages are relevant, best-practice banks do the same.
To understand the challenges, let's look at what a single layer—marketing operations—might be trying to accomplish at a given point in time. We'll use just one campaign as an example: an effort to get customers to increase their savings balances.
Such a campaign is relatively common, and it makes sense to pursue it digitally as well as through traditional marketing. In managing the digital parts of a savings account campaign, however, most banks don't make effective use of marketing operations. Common mistakes include underestimating the scale and breadth of the required effort or assuming that it can be handled by old-school CRM systems originally built to support branches or contact centers. Sometimes banks allow different teams to create their own messages, using systems that overlap and are poorly coordinated. And then there are the structural pitfalls, such as when a marketing operations team sits in the wrong place in an organization or doesn't have the decision rights it needs.
At a bank with a more effective approach to digital, marketing operations would be very selective about the customer IDs it targets for the savings campaign. And it would pick a marketing approach that makes sense for each individual prospect, based on a unique combination of customer preferences and behaviors. For example, the notification would say "Hello Zuzanna" if Zuzanna had indicated that she prefers that greeting to the more formal "Good afternoon, Ms. Kowalski." And if the bank knows that Zuzanna tends to do some mobile banking on her commute to work, it might display the campaign message at 8 a.m. on a weekday morning on the mobile app. Or suppose Zuzanna has deposited 10,000 zlotys from a fixed-term investment that has just matured at a competitor bank; in that case, the bank might offer her a special bonus savings rate to dissuade her from reinvesting the funds at the other bank.
Of course, a single campaign such as this can only provide a partial picture of what the marketing operations layer does. The real challenge is coordinating the execution of hundreds of campaigns, which necessitates selecting from among dozens of formats and managing multiple channels and millions of communications each day.
The payoff from having a well-developed digital-sales stack isn't just the increase in digital sales. A bank that has built up its digital operations in this way will reap other benefits as well, including an increase in digital traffic and a reduction in costs. (See Exhibit 3.)
For many banks, it helps to start with a self-assessment: Where are we today for each of our main offerings in the market? Where are we lagging and why? Do the gaps matter, given our strategic priorities? What is our current level of digital sales? What would we like it to be two years from now? Do we have a mobile app with features our customers love to use? How well-developed are the different layers of our digital-sales stack?
Data and analytics isn't the only capability that banks need in order to sell more through their digital channels. All five layers of the stack are important. The good news is that it's possible, indeed advisable for most banks, to develop the digital stack incrementally. Fortunately, there are several viable paths to become best in class in digital sales. The right approach depends on your own bank's strategy, customer base, and technology roadmap.
Begin with some no-regrets steps. Identify your strategic priorities as a bank: what needs you wish to serve, what products you have to meet those needs, which market shares you want to grow, and which customer segments to target. Then optimize your existing stack. Put people who are experienced in delivering digital campaigns in key roles, deliver campaigns more quickly, and improve governance.
Next, turn your attention to deeper improvements. Build the analytics engine and use it to drive digital traffic along the sales funnel. Start with one customer segment and a simple high-volume product, one distribution channel and messaging format. Build what you need, and quickly learn and scale from there. Over time, add customer segments and products, and build out the stack. In our work, we have seen programs start delivering end-to-end capabilities in six to nine months. It doesn't need to take years.
Your efforts to increase digital sales will have the best chance of succeeding if they are part of a broader digitization strategy—that is, if you are also building capabilities and skills to support a dramatically improved customer experience. In addition, your digital development needs to focus on customer advocacy and the structural lowering of costs. And it helps if you have an ongoing program to explore new tech-led business models and revenue streams, including revenue streams outside of your core business.
But their low levels of digital sales mean that most banks should make it a priority—all on its own—to increase their readiness to sell more products digitally. Remember that with every passing day, your customers' expectations of a great digital experience are increasing. And as in any race, you can't win if you haven't even qualified to compete.


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Whitfield Diffie and Martin Hellman, whose names have been linked since their seminal paper introduced the concepts of public key encryption and digital signatures some 40 years ago, have been named winners of the 2015 ACM A.M. Turing Award (a.k.a., the "Nobel Prize of Computing").
The work of MIT grad Diffie, formerly chief security officer of Sun Microsystems, and Hellman, professor emeritus of electrical engineering at Stanford University, has had a huge impact on the secure exchange of information across the Internet, the cloud and email.
The annual Association for Computing Machinery prize carries a $1 million prize, with financial support from Google. Past winners have included Internet pioneer Vinton Cerf, database visionary Michael Stonebraker and recently deceased A.I. innovator Marvin Minsky.
MORE: Whirlwind tour of computing and telecom's top honors, awards and prizes | Why there's no formal Nobel Prize in Computing
This major recognition of Diffie and Hellman's accomplishments comes at a critical juncture for cryptography, which is at the heart of the current Apple-FBI feud and the heated international debate over security "backdoors."
"Today, the subject of encryption dominates the media, is viewed as a matter of national security, impacts government-private sector relations, and attracts billions of dollars in research and development," said ACM President Alexander L. Wolf, in a statement. "In 1976, Diffie and Hellman imagined a future where people would regularly communicate through electronic networks and be vulnerable to having their communications stolen or altered. Now, after nearly 40 years, we see that their forecasts were remarkably prescient."
Not surprisingly, years after Diffie and Hellman published "New Directions in Cryptography," there are calls being made for stronger encryption schemes.
Diffie and Hellman's groundbreaking contributions to the technology industry have not been overlooked. As we documented some years back, the two have been among the most honored tech luminaries, receiving other such awards, including the 2000 Marconi Prize.
ACM has recognized numerous crypto experts over the years, including 2012 Turing Award winners Shafi Goldwasser and Silvio Micali of MIT, and 2002 winners Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir and Leonard Adleman (the RS & A in RSA).
ACM will present the 2015 A.M. Turing Award at its annual Awards Banquet on June 11 in San Francisco.
This story, "Crypto dream team Diffie and Hellman wins $1M A.M. Turing Award" was originally published by Network World.


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Warranty Info
How long is my product's warranty? What's the coverage?
General warranty periods:
- Trash Can*: 1 year limited warranty (*some parts excluded, refer to product user manual)
- Trash can lid: 1 year limited warranty
- Other items: Please refer to the user manual
iTouchless will only honor warranty requests from purchases made from our websites and authorized dealers in the U.S. and Canada. We will replace a product or part that fails as the result of a defect during the warranty period, payment for return shipping may be required per the warranty service. Products that are sold as used, floor samples, closeouts, refurbished or purchased from an unauthorized dealer or auction are not warranted by iTouchless.
To obtain your warranty service:
- Register your product (customer account is required)
- Go to ACCOUNT and find the 'Make a claim' button
- Submit a claim by filling out the claim form
Exclusions: Parts, such as Trash Cans' Body, Inner Bucket, Trash Bag Retainer Ring, Battery Cover, Odor Filter, Odor Filter Compartment, etc., are not covered by the warranty service.


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NEW YORK — Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is phasing out the sale of Amazon.com's Kindle Fire tablet and Kindle e-readers, the second major retailer to stop offering the items in six months.
Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, said Thursday the decision was made as part of its overall merchandising strategy to offer a broad assortment of products at low prices. Amazon has been selling lower-priced tablets at thin — if any — profit margins to boost sales of digital media like books and music from its online store. That makes it less attractive for major retailers to carry Kindles in their stores, particularly as online retailers like Amazon.com become more of a threat for traditional brick-and-mortar stores.
Retailers are trying to fight a growing practice called "showrooming." That's when shoppers, armed with smartphones, browse products in physical stores and then shop online for a better price.
The move echoes Target Corp.'s decision to stop offering the Kindle in May following its own merchandise review. And it comes ahead of the holiday season, which is crucial for retailers since they generate up to 40 percent of their annual revenue during the period. Tablets are expected to be a popular gift this year, much like last year.
"Amazon is clearly becoming a more attractive consumer retail destination, so it was inevitable that Target or Wal-Mart would stop selling the Kindle product," said Morningstar analyst R.J. Hottovy. "They perceive Amazon as a potential threat, and this is one way to neutralize that."
Wal-Mart Stores will continue to sell a range of tablets and e-book readers, including Apple's iPad, Barnes &Noble's Nook, and devices from Samsung, Sony and others.
Wal-Mart spokeswoman Sarah Spencer said the Bentonville, Ark., company will continue to sell its existing inventory of Kindles until it is depleted.
While neither Wal-Mart Stores nor Amazon.com release Kindle sales figures, Amazon itself is by far the biggest seller of Kindle devices, so being cut off from Wal-Mart is unlikely to make a dent in its revenue. Amazon touts its Kindle line as its best-selling product.
"At the end of the day, Kindles are a very small percentage of sales for a lot of these mass merchants," Hottovy said. "So this won't have much of an impact on them, or Amazon, either."
Amazon unveiled several new devices in its Kindle line earlier this month, including ones with larger color screens, as it steps up competition with rival tablet makers such as Apple Inc. Amazon.com introduced a new $299 8.9-inch Kindle Fire and a $159 7-inch Kindle Fire, down from the original price of $199. A 7-inch HD version starts at $199. Meanwhile, the cheapest iPad costs $399, and the most recent models start at $499.
Amazon doesn't say how many Fires it has sold, but says it captured 22 percent of U.S. tablet sales over nine months. That would make the Kindle Fire the second-most popular tablet, after the iPad. Tom Mainelli at research firm IDC said that figure matches his estimate of 6.7 million Fires sold, all in the U.S.
Amazon.com, based in Seattle, declined to comment.
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PITTSBURGH — The National Park Service said Friday that it has awarded a roughly $20 million construction contract for the Flight 93 National Memorial Visitor Center to a North Carolina company.
The Park Service said that URS Group Inc., of Morrisville, N.C., won the contract to build the 6,800-square-foot visitor center and do other site improvements, including a pedestrian bridge, water and sewer work and parking.
The visitor center, expected to open in late 2015, is designed so that the building will be broken in two at the point of the plane's flight path overhead. The ridge it will be on gives people a clear view of the crash site, which is near a memorial wall that lists the 33 passengers and seven crew members who were killed when the plane crashed into a field on Sept. 11, 2001, after passengers fought back against hijackers.
Flight 93 Memorial superintendent Jeff Reinbold said that URS plans to subcontract with western Pennsylvania firms for much of the work. Reinbold said the Park Service is grateful for all the donations from people and businesses and for the support from the state.
United Airlines Flight 93 was traveling from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco when it was diverted with the likely goal of crashing it into the White House or Capitol.
The Flight 93 National Memorial is in Shanksville, about 75 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. The memorial drew about 320,000 visitors last year.