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When Florida enters the McKale Center Saturday, they'll be the first ranked opponent on Lute and Bobbi Olson court since the 2010-11 #21 BYU Cougars, uhhh, beat Arizona. I was at that game and vomited four times. Literally.
Alright so I had food poisoning and that shall not be the premise of my Florida-Arizona commentary. No, I'd like to revisit the upset surrounding scheduling. How the departed Jim Livengood, knowing full well the program was in moderate shambles could arrange for such a home-and-home to happen. To allow a mid-major to embarrass the Wildcats in McKale – then a year later on the road.
I'm not pointing a finger at Livengood. He wasn't dribbling or shooting or letting Jimmer to the rack at will. No, it was a strategic lapse, on to the next. And what's next has been the Sean Miller show with guest appearances from Derrick Williams, Josiah Turner, Kyryl Natyazkho and Lamont Jones. With special contributions from Tim Floyd.
But this Saturday marks the end of guests and special contributors. This is year four and Miller hand picked this team. He's built them and developed them and, if we're to believe he's as good a coach as we want to, he knew what he was doing. And that's why he has Florida coming to town. That's why next year marks the beginning of a home and home with Michigan followed by a home and home with Missouri with rumors of Gonzaga sprinkled in and visits to NYC (preseason NIT) and Maui. It's the model Lute followed and if you'll recall his twenty-five seasons in Tucson, it worked pretty well, right?
So what of these Gators? The first top-10 showdown in McKale in eight years? With respect to the aforementioned build up to this crowning season of the Sean Miller era, this is the marquee game. This is the coming out party. This is the how you like me now moment. For all of the cupcakes and walkover games previously scheduled and played, the ones built to set these developing Wildcats up for success, this is the one built to lead them to success. The kind that puts tiny numbers next to your name and the kind that puts you in the national conversation. The kind that makes programs not seasons and the kind that puts rings on your finger and banners in your rafters.
For all the talk of SOS, RPI, etc. this is Miller's first flash of SOP – Strength of Program. And that's not to say this is a must win. Arizona could very well lose this game and carry on to have tremendous success; win a billion games and twelve titles. But for the first time, by program design, Arizona will work to assert itself nationally, not just the best amongst a meddling Pac-12.
Now when discussing this stance I've put forth, my buddy Jamie (who once unofficially procured a triple-double in HS) was quick to cite my hyperbole. And he's got a point. This is a scheduled contest, part of a contract signed maybe two years ago. How could anyone have known Florida would be a sultry 7-0 in 2012? I see his point. Big schools schedule big schools. This is just another in a series of games that will be added to the schedule.
But just ask Tom Crean about the three years of beatings he took from Kentucky before finally dropping them last year. Think that meant something to him? Think that meant something to Hoosier faithful? How about this year's team? WE ARE INDIANA HEAR US ROAR!
Maybe I get a little carried away in the magnitude of this game, swept up in the romanticism of perhaps getting to witness a catapulting victory. But you can't tell me there isn't something bigger than Gators at Wildcats here because it's been a spell since Tucson could taste it. There was that moment in Anaheim but it never quite felt real, lasting. Don't get me wrong, taking Duke to task was remarkable but deep down there it was all too unexpected. Special to be sure, but this is the time. This is why players come to Arizona. It's why Sean said yes and it's why there will 15,000 people inside that arena just off Campbell Ave.
So yeah, Jamie, I'm swept up in it. But I just think we're supposed to be.


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MIAMI (REUTERS) - Russia's Maria Sharapova demolished Serbia's Jelena Jankovic 6-2 6-1 on Thursday to book her place in the final of the Sony Open, one of the few titles missing from her CV.
Britain's Andy Murray was also in great form, defeating Croatia's Marin Cilic 6-4 6-3 to reach the semi-finals of the men's draw.
Sharapova, an impressive winner at this month's Indian Wells event in California, extended her winning streak to 11 matches with a lopsided win in just over an hour against Jankovic, a former world number struggling to regain her best.
One of just 10 women who have won all four grand slams, Sharapova has been collecting titles all over the world but has never won the Sony Open, played in her home state of Florida, despite playing four previous finals.
"It would mean so much to me," she said in a courtside interview. "I love this city, it's the first city I landed in when I came to the United States as a little girl."
Sharapova's opponent in the final will be the winner of Thursday's second semi-final between world number one Serena Williams and Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska, last year's Sony Open champion.
Murray dropped his opening service game against Cilic but recovered quickly to wrap up a straight sets win.
The United States (US) Open champion is the highest seeded player left in the men's draw after world number one Novak Djokovic lost to Tommy Haas and will leapfrog Roger Federer to second place in the world rankings if he wins the title.

subset: commoncrawl


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Huge Cock Bareback Breeding A Tight Hole In A Sex Sling
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Click here to download this full length amateur gay bareback sling sex and hundreds more amateur gay porn videos at Raw and Rough.


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linked in positie
{loadposition linkedin}
(de ideale breedte voor plaatjes is 624 pixels trouwens)(dat is ook meteen de maximale breesdte zonder de template stuk te maken ivm met het statische karakter van de site)
de timeglider positie en module
{loadposition timeglider}
gewoon de bovenstaande text plakken en je timeglider word geladen, ps momenteel 1 timeglider maar dit kunnen er meer worden. hiervoor moeten dan nieuwe posities voor worden aangemaakt en een nieuwe module met de code die je heb. ow en ik heb het "twitterding" eronder geladen om te kijken.
ps: hier even een kleine handleiding over de indeling van content in joomla
Let's start with some definitions. In Joomla!, an Article is some written information that you want to display on your site. It normally contains some text and can contain pictures and other types of content. For many Joomla! sites, articles form the majority of the information presented in the website.
It is important to understand that, with Joomla!, the content of the site (for example, Articles) is totally separate from the formatting of the site -- the way it looks on the page. So it is best to think of articles as pure content, independent of the way it might be presented. For example, the same Article might be shown with different fonts, colors, headings, and background, and might be shown in different locations on the page.
Sections and Categories
Sections and categories in Joomla! provide an optional method for organizing your articles. Here's how it works. A Section contains one or more categories, and each Category can have articles assigned to it. One Article can only be in one Category and Section.
For example, you might have a Section called "Pets", and categories called "Dogs" and "Cats". Articles about dogs would be assigned to the "Dogs" Category, ones about cats to the "Cats" Category. So an Article about dogs would be in the "Pets" Section and the "Dogs" Category. You cannot have one Article that is in both the "Cats" and "Dogs" categories. To work around this, you could either (1) create a new Category called "Cats and Dogs" or (2) create a second Article to put in the second Category.
Why Use Sections and Categories?
There are two main reasons you might want to organize your Articles in sections and categories.
List and Blog Layouts
First, there are built-in Menu Item Types in Joomla! that take advantage of this organization. These are the Section Blog, Section List, Category Blog, and Category List. These Menu Item Types (also called "layouts") make it very easy to show articles that belong to sections or categories. As new articles are created and assigned to sections and categories, they will be automatically placed on these pages according to the parameters you set for each page.
For example, say you have a Section Blog layout for the "Pets" section, and say you have it set to order articles starting with the most recent one first. When you add a new Article to the "Pets" Section, it will automatically show on the "Pets" blog page as the first Article. You don't have to do anything other than add the Article and assign it to the "Pets" Section.
Organizing Articles in Article Manager
If you will have a large number of articles on your site, a second reason to use sections and categories is to simply group the articles so you can find them. For example, in the Article Manager, you can filter articles based on Section or Category. So if you have 200 articles in your site, you can find an Article more easily if you know its Section or Category.
Sections and Categories vs. Menu Organization
It is important to understand that, just because Joomla! uses a 3-tier organization level for articles (Section → Category → Article), this has nothing to do with the structure of the menus on your site. For example, your site could have one menu level or six menu levels.
Other Types of Categories
There is also a potential for confusion about categories. Sections are only used for articles. However, categories are also used for other components, including Banners, Contacts, News Feeds, and Weblinks. These categories are completely different from Article categories and are set up in different screens in the back end of Joomla!. So when you see something about categories, it might refer to Article categories or it might refer to categories for these other components.
groetjes christian


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Material:Polyester + Feather fabric(Filling). Lightweight,Soft,Comfortable.
• PRODUCT FEATURES:3D Prirnted Dog thin quilt throw blanket.Gift for your family or friend
• Occasion: Sofa, Bedroom, Indoor, Outdoor, Travel, Hiking, Airplane ,Cosplay ect.
• EASY CARE- Machine wash cold, gently and separately. Do not bleach. Tumble dry low.
Package Includ: 1 x Quilt
3D Printing Thin Quilt comes in Kids,Single,Double Bed Quilt.
Perfect Quilt for adults, kids, toddler, teen girls and boys.
Unique gift for Birthday, Children's Day,Mother's day, Father's day, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year!Anime Fans and Cosplay.
1.Size maybe 1-3 cm error due to hand measure.
2.Color maybe little different due to monitor. Thanks for your understanding.
3.Bedding Care:Don't bleach it, machine washable in cold water on gentle cycle.


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You are here:
|Our Policy:
We do not pass along or sell any visitor information. We extend the same courtesy to all who link to our pages.
Page design by by K C Consulting. Banners, link header bars, and pictures are property
of, and designed by, K C Consulting. All other graphics and sounds are: Public Domain
(Freebies), or granted by permission, and/or site links.
If anyone finds this to be incorrect, please advise me by E-Mail: K C's E-Mail


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JUAN GONZÁLEZ: President Obama is facing criticism for nominating another former Wall Street executive to become treasury secretary. On Thursday, Obama tapped his own chief of staff, Jack Lew, to replace Timothy Geithner. Lew was an executive at Citigroup from 2006 to 2008 at the time of the financial crisis. He served as chief operating officer of Citigroup's Alternative Investments unit, a group that bet on the housing market to collapse.
Lew has also long pushed for the deregulation of Wall Street. From 1998 to January 2001, he headed the Office of Management and Budget under President Clinton. During that time, Clinton signed into law two key laws to deregulate Wall Street: the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999 and the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000.
On Thursday, independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont criticized Lew's nomination, saying, quote, "We don't need a treasury secretary who thinks that Wall Street deregulation was not responsible for the financial crisis."
At a press conference at the White House Thursday, President Obama praised Jack Lew's record.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Jack has the distinction of having worked and succeeded in some of the toughest jobs in Washington and the private sector. As a congressional staffer in the 1980s, he helped negotiate the deal between President Reagan and Tip O'Neill to save Social Security. Under President Clinton, he presided over three budget surpluses in a row. So, for all the talk out there about deficit reduction, making sure our books are balanced, this is the guy who did it—three times. He helped oversee one of our nation's finest universities and one of our largest investment banks. In my administration, he's managed operations for the State Department and the budget for the entire executive branch. And over the past year, I've sought Jack's advice on virtually every decision that I've made, from economic policy to foreign policy.
AMY GOODMAN: For more on the nomination of Jack Lew, as well as other news about Wall Street, we're joined by two guest. William Black, author of The Best Way to Rob a Bank Is to Own One_, he's associate professor of economics and law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, former senior financial regulator. His recent 2446848.html">article for the Huffington Post is called "Jacob Lew: Another Brick in the Wall Street on the Potomac."
We're also joined by Matt Taibbi, contributing editor for Rolling Stone magazine, his latest piece, "Secrets and Lies of the Bailout," which we'll talk about in a bit, author of Griftopia: A Story of Bankers, Politicians, and the Most Audacious Power Grab in American History.
We welcome you both to Democracy Now! Professor Black, let's start with you. Your assessment of Jack Lew?
WILLIAM BLACK: Well, on financial matters, Jack Lew has been a failure of pretty epic proportions, and he gets promoted precisely because he is willing to be a failure and is so useful to Wall Street interests. So, you've mentioned two of the things in terms of the most important and most destructive deregulation under President Clinton by statute. But he was also there for much of the deregulation by rule, and a strong proponent of it, and he was there for much of the cutting of staff. For example, the FDIC, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, lost three-quarters of its staff, and that huge loss began under Clinton. And the whole reinventing government, Lew was a strong supporter of that. And, for example, we were taught—instructed by Washington that we were to refer to banks as our "clients" in our role as regulators and to think of them as clients.
He goes from there to Wall Street, where he was a complete failure. You noted that part of what Citicorp did was bet that housing would fall. That was actually one of their winning bets. But they actually made a bunch of losing bets, as well. And the unit that he was heading would have not been permissible but for the deregulation of getting rid of Glass-Steagall under President Clinton. And you saw, as an example of Citicorp, why we shouldn't be doing this. Why would we create a federal subsidy where all of us, through the U.S. government, are on the hook for Citicorp's gambling on financial derivatives for its own account, you know, running a casino operation? That makes absolutely no public policy sense.
Then he comes into the Obama administration, and he was disastrously wrong. He tried very hard to impose austerity on the United States back in 2011, which is—he wanted, you know, the European strategy, which has pushed the eurozone back into recession, and Spain, Greece and Italy into Great Depression levels of unemployment.
And this is the guy, after all of these failures, who also is intellectually dishonest. He will not own up to his role and deregulation's role and de-supervision's role in producing this crisis—and not just this crisis, but the Enron-era crisis and the savings-and-loan debacle.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, Matt Taibbi, your reaction to the nomination of Jack Lew by President Obama?
MATT TAIBBI: I think there's a couple things. I agree with everything that Professor Black said. I think it's—the symbolism of this choice is, I think, very important for people, just the mere fact of picking somebody from Citigroup and from that same Bob Rubin nexus that Timothy Geithner came from. And, you know, you heard Barack Obama, as he's introducing Jack Lew, praising Tim Geithner as somebody who's going to go down in history as one of the great treasury secretaries of all time. I think what this tells everybody is that Jack Lew is going to represent absolute continuity with the previous treasury secretary, who had a very specific agenda when it came to Wall Street. And I think we're just going to expect more of the same, more of the same really being overt and covert support of these too-big-to-fail institutions that Lew worked for, Citigroup being the worst and most disastrous example of that kind of company. So I think it's—the choice of somebody from that particular firm is fraught with pretty upsetting symbolism for the country, I think.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to go back to 2010, when Jack Lew appeared before the Senate Budget Committee for a confirmation hearing after he was nominated by President Obama to head the Office of Management and Budget. During the hearing, he was questioned by Senator Bernie Sanders.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS: Do you believe that the deregulation of Wall Street, pushed by people like Alan Greenspan, Robert Rubin, contributed significantly to the disaster we saw on Wall Street several years ago?
JACK LEW: Senator, I—as when we discussed, I mentioned to you, I don't consider myself an expert in some of these aspects of the financial industry. My experience in the financial industry has been as a manager, not as an investment adviser. My sense is, as someone who has, you know, generally been familiar with these trends, is that the problems in the financial industry preceded deregulation. There was an increasing emphasis on highly abstract leveraged derivative products that got us to the point that, in the period of time leading up to the financial crisis, risks were taken. They weren't fully embraced. They weren't well understood. I don't personally know the extent to which deregulation drove it, but I don't believe that deregulation was the, you know, proximate cause. I would defer to others who are more expert about the industry to try and parse it better than that.
AMY GOODMAN: That's Jack Lew responding to Bernie Sanders, who, when President Obama announced his nomination of treasury secretary—to treasury secretary of Jack Lew, Senator Sanders said, "We don't need a treasury secretary who thinks that Wall Street deregulation was not responsible for the financial crisis." Professor Black?
WILLIAM BLACK: Well, I mean, we can agree that he lacks expertise in the area, but he was supposed to have expertise. This was supposed to be his area of expertise, both in his role as OMB head under Clinton, and then, of course, as being in the industry and actually implementing the fruits of this deregulation.
So—and he has the history, in one sense, correct. He says the problem arose before deregulation. That's true that derivatives were already a problem before deregulation. And so, Brooksley Born proposes to deal with the problem by having a regulation to deal with credit default swaps. And then the Clinton administration, in league with Greenspan, in league with Phil Gramm, and with one of the important architects of all of this being Jack Lew, squashes Brooksley Born to destroy the proposed regulation and to pass something, the Commodity Futures Modernization Act—talk about a dishonest phrase—that not only said, "You, Brooksley Born, cannot go forward with this particular regulation," the statute actually said, "We hereby withdraw all regulatory powers to protect the nation, period. From the federal government, from the state and local governments, we exempt you from the gambling laws. We exempt you from the boiler room laws to prevent fraudulent operations." It's one of the most extraordinary abusive things in the world, heavily involved with AIG's ability to produce not just the disaster at AIG, but the disaster of credit—of the CDOs that blew up a larger portion of the world. And those CDOs would not have been possible without these credit default swaps.
So, this is a guy who designed the disaster, participated in the disaster on Wall Street, was made rich by it. We haven't talked about the fact that he got a huge bonus for destroying—helping to destroy the world at Citicorp. And he got it through the bailout of Citicorp by the U.S. government. So he produces disaster, profits from the disaster, we pay him bonuses for causing the disaster, and then we have the absurdity of the president of the United States saying that this is a man with a track record of unmitigated success. It is exactly the opposite, in terms of finance. He is a worthy successor to Tim Geithner, in that he has screwed up everything substantively he has ever touched.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: William Black, I'd like to ask you about another aspect of Lew's portfolio: his stance on austerity. You have raised questions in terms of his continued support of austerity measures, as opposed to efforts by the government to stimulate the economy. Could you talk about that?
WILLIAM BLACK: Yeah, and this is an irony, as well, in terms of the political aspects and Obama. So, under Lew, in his new incarnation a while back as OMB head of—for Obama, I have a piece that talks about how OMB under Obama sounds almost exactly like the tea party. So, it adopts all of their rubric about, you know, these terrible social programs, this terrible safety net and how it's going to imperil our nation, and what we need to do is be balancing the budget—in other words, austerity.
Now, had Obama succeeded in following Lew's recommendation in July 2011, when they were trying to negotiate the so-called "grand bargain," which is really the grand betrayal of the safety net—unemployment in July 2011 was 9.1 percent. Austerity in the United States would have done just what it did in Europe. Unemployment would have surged. So, all through 2012, the election year, unemployment would have been going up well above 10 percent, quite possibly into the 11 and 12 percent range, which is where it is in Europe. Obama would have been toast; would have been no chance. He would have been crushed in the election. The Democrats would have lost control of the Senate, and such. And these folks, even today, are claiming that the failure to achieve the grand betrayal and to cut the safety net is their great disappointment. So, they not only tried to destroy themselves and the country, they are continuing to do that, and indeed, but for Harry Reid literally throwing the Obama administration's suggestion that they do cuts to the safety net in the fireplace and burning it up, they would have gotten it as part of this interim austerity deal that was just done about eight days ago.
AMY GOODMAN: We're going to break, then come back to this discussion with William Black, professor at University of Missouri-Kansas City, and Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone editor. "Secrets and Lies of the Bailout" [is] his latest piece. This is Democracy Now! Back in a minute.
Briefly, we wanted to update you on where Truthout stands this month.
To be brutally honest, Truthout is behind on our fundraising goals for the year. There are a lot of reasons why. We're dealing with broad trends in our industry, trends that have led publications like Vice, BuzzFeed, and National Geographic to make painful cuts. Everyone is feeling the squeeze of inflation. And despite its lasting importance, news readership is declining.
To ensure we stay out of the red by the end of the year, we have a long way to go. Our future is threatened.
We've stayed online over two decades thanks to the support of our readers. Because you believe in the power of our work, share our transformative stories, and give to keep us going strong, we know we can make it through this tough moment.
Our fundraising campaign ends tonight at midnight, and we still must raise $14,000. Please consider making a donation before time runs out.


text: Risk Management Solutions is a provider of catastrophic risk models that, in the last few years, has expended its portfolio management services at the behest of its insurance and reinsurance customers.\n\n\n\nIn the process, RMS has become a de facto cloud service provider, its clients now able to combine existing actuarial data with risk modeling data from RMS to improve underwriting and portfolio management tasks using a system known as RMS(one).\n\n\nThe applications that provide such analysis are understandably data- and compute-intensive, says John Stanford, director of cloud architecture and engineering for RMS. It was only a matter of time before the firm \u2014 based in Silicon Valley but with offices in nine time zones \u2014 needed a global data center.\n\n\nRMS decided on Iceland. It wasn't long after the Eyjafjallaj\u00f6kull volcano erupted, though, and the Nordic nation found itself in the midst of a financial crisis that saw all three of its major private banks collapse. Many wondered if building a data center in Iceland was worth the risk, Stanford says.\n\n\nRMS thought so \u2014 the firm knows a thing or two about risk analysis, after all \u2014 and opened its RMS Cloud environment on Sept. 19. RMS now occupies part of a 44-acre data center campus located 45 minutes from Iceland's capital of Reykjav\u00edk at the site of a former NATO Command Center.\n\n\nIf NATO's geological data deemed the site suitable for storing missiles, says Lisa Rhodes, vice president of corporate strategy and market development with Verne Global, which owns and operates the facility, then it's good enough for a data center.\n\nIceland Appeals to International Firms With a Catch That Benefits Locals\n\nRhodes says Iceland offers several advantages when a firm is choosing a data center location. (Verne Global also counts Climate Action and BMW among its tenants.)\n\n\nThe island can claim consistent temperatures, proximity to North America and Europe, a new power grid and a steady supply of renewable energy \u2014 largely geothermal but also hydroelectric and, increasingly, solar \u2014 which lets firms predict energy costs as far as 20 years into the future. Even if there's another volcanic eruption, prevailing winds will likely blow the ash toward Europe, Rhodes says.\n\n\nMeanwhile ... Why Putting Your Data Center in Canada Makes Sense\n\n\nAlso: 5 U.S. States That Offer Big Data Center Appeal\n\n\nStanford adds that Iceland's government, in an effort to attract international business, charges no value-added tax (VAT) to companies that operate in Iceland but don't have an office there. Part of that rationale is to thus encourage those companies to partner with Icelandic firms. This has the added effect of encouraging what Stanford describes as a "highly educated and technologically astute" workforce to pursue certification and training while building a new managed services industry in Iceland.\n\nCloud Architecture Encourages 'Freedom and Flexibility'\n\nWith the RMS Cloud up and running, the insurer's clients no longer have to run risk models on their own servers, using a product that had to be shipped to clients, Stanford says. The cloud architecture gives them the "freedom and flexibility" to perform additional analyses as necessary. Datapipe's Stratosphere Hosted Private Cloud platform handles peak loads in Verne Global's data center.\n\n\nPlus, Putting the cloud environment in Iceland places it in close proximity to Amazon Web Services data centers in London and Dublin. (The island also has redundant cables that link it to Europe and Boston, the latter via Greenland and Nova Scotia, Rhodes says.) This is good for latency, Stanford says, and also helps when RMS needs to boost capacity in the event of a catastrophe or an insurance policy renewal. "We're aiming to automate at scale as much as possible," he says.\n\n\nFinally, the scalability may give RMS the opportunity to offer RMS(one) to clients beyond the insurance industry that need to calculate risk, Stanford says, specifically citing real estate and government agencies.\n\n\nBrian Eastwood is a senior editor for CIO.com. He primarily covers healthcare IT. You can reach him on Twitter @Brian_Eastwood or via email. Follow everything from CIO.com on Twitter @CIOonline, Facebook, Google + and LinkedIn.


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Play&Go - Loundry Toy storage bags
We all know that feeling. Toys under the bed, on the floor, in the dog's basket - but you still can't find that favourite piece of LEGO®, Playmobil® or Duplo®. The Play&Go bag is a simple and effective solution to toy storage, and it's lots of fun. A 2 in one toy storage bag that doubles as a play mat is every child's dream. Even lego storage is simple, and dolls, cars, balls and blocks can all be swiftly cleared away with one swing. The Play&Go toy storage bag measures 140cm in diameter and is made from cotton fabric. Its portable, hard wearing design also makes it the perfect lego storage sack for the beach, the park, holidays or trips to visit grandparents.
Our Play& Go bags are made from premium full cotton made under world-class environmental stewardship standards. OH, Yes, they are delightfull to hold and use!
1 year warranty.
Producer code
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Abstract Art
"Painted walls started as a real indulgence. I just had this need to create something for myself in a totally new way, the enjoyment turned to captivation. I realize I'm outpouring my conscious and subconscious thoughts with these walls sometimes in developing form and in others with pure spontaneity. I feel at one with these panels, they seize my energies, I have no preconceived idea of their physical destiny, all I can say is I simply paint them for my own sake. I've painted dancers for thirty-five years. I can't stop now. I like to paint figures, but I need to paint these abstracts too." - Robert HeindelRead More


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Latest news
Join the Journey
ABRSM launches Journeys, the new online learning resource for electric guitar
ABRSM is extending its influence and serving a new market with the launch of Journeys, the new online learning resource for beginner electric guitarists.
Journeys is an online platform that offers those starting to learn to play the electric guitar a pathway to learning the songs they love, with a personalised journey that draws from 100 songs and gradually helps them build the skills they need, step by step, at their pace. Tutorials, self-assessment tools and many unique features help them as they gradually build up their own set list from a wide range of artists - Adele to the Zutons, Beyoncé to the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. Once they feel ready, learners can choose to jam with a band comprising some of the best session musicians on the circuit.
Journeys is designed for those picking up an electric guitar for the first time and also for those who may have played some time ago before putting their learning on hold. Extensive research revealed that learning to play the electric guitar alone can be difficult and many new learners often don't continue their journey to becoming a competent player. ABRSM believes that many would keep going when supported by high quality resources designed to meet their needs. We look forward to supporting this significant global community through the provision of outstanding learning resources from ABRSM, a recognised leader in inspiring musical achievement.
Michael Elliott, ABRSM's Chief Executive, said: "Journeys is a natural progression for our organisation as we continually seek to inspire musical achievement in a wide range of genres and for musicians of all abilities. This is a new market for us, but we bring to it the familiar ABRSM expertise, rigour and high standards. Working with seasoned guitar players and trusted industry experts, we've developed Journeys to motivate learners so that they continue their personal musical journey, wherever they wish that to take them. We are really proud of this first release of Journeys, which we believe has the potential to become a market-leading online resource for electric guitarists."
Reflecting an attention to quality together with the aim of assisting progress in learning that are hallmarks of any ABRSM product, Journeys has been two years in the making, with ABRSM consulting with recognised industry experts and learners to fully understand their needs in order to provide the best possible support. Journeys is a subscription service, priced at £12.99 per month and available online at www.journeysguitar.com


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Our Partners
'Hearing the Music of the Age'
- Tributes to R. Lord Jonathan Sacks zt'l
Please join us for an evening of tributes to Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks zt'l, hosted by 2020 Torah and Faith in Leadership. Speakers will include:
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Refugee Resettlement in Transition
From Europe to the U.S., and beyond, changes are being made to policies that determine who among the world's roughly 12 million refugees will be able to resettle in a safe third country. Today's transformations will have a critical impact on refugees, from their personal safety to their place of residence and family unity. For many, the outcome will have a long-term effect on their life chances.
Most refugees, fleeing to escape violence or persecution, come to rest in the border regions of neighboring states. Their troubles are rarely over at that point. The conflicts they have fled may pursue them across the border, the host country may threaten to return them to the dangers they have just escaped, or they may face years of bare subsistence cut off from their usual means of livelihood and unable to integrate into the economy and society of the host country. Refugee resettlement is the process by which some refugees are allowed to leave a country of asylum and start life anew in a third country that is willing to receive and protect them on a permanent basis. Resettling refugees are, in this way, distinct from asylum seekers, who arrive without prior authorization to seek refugee status.
Out of roughly 12 million refugees in the world today, only about 100,000 per year have been selected for resettlement in the late 1990s and the early years of this decade. Ten countries -- Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States -- have, since the 1970s, set annual quotas or ceilings for a certain number of resettlement slots, though the Swiss quota is suspended. Since 1998, another eight have started to cooperate with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in providing resettlement places. Four additional states -- Belgium, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom -- accept refugees for resettlement on an ad hoc basis. UNHCR normally refers 35-40,000 refugees for resettlement each year, and receiving countries directly select approximately 60,000 more.
The year 2002 has not been a normal year for refugee resettlement around the world, however. The number resettled will be far below the norm of 100,000, particularly because of the impact of the events of September 11 on the U.S. resettlement program. The United States accounted for between 60 and 85 percent of all refugees resettled in 1998-2001. In 2002, security concerns slowed the U.S. resettlement program to the point where no more than 25-30,000 refugees are likely to enter through this channel, against a ceiling of 70,000. The future size and shape of the program is unclear.
At the same time that the U.S. resettlement program is being scaled back, at least temporarily, Western European countries are re-examining their involvement in resettlement. Some individual countries, such as the United Kingdom, are considering the establishment of national resettlement programs. The European Union is also investigating the feasibility of a union-wide resettlement plan that could involve all fifteen member states and expand as more states become EU members. These deliberations are taking place against a backdrop of growing concern about the considerable number of spontaneous asylum seekers arriving in Europe, and the suggestion by some politicians that a tougher line on asylum seekers might be counterbalanced by a more expansive resettlement program. Outside the EU, Australia has become the first country explicitly to reduce resettlement in proportion to unauthorized arrivals of asylum seekers.
UNHCR continues to push for an expansion of resettlement, both by recruiting new participant countries and by urging existing ones to maintain or expand their quotas. First asylum countries hosting large numbers of refugees urge the application of faster and more flexible resettlement procedures to take some of the pressure off their own communities. With all of these pressures, refugee resettlement clearly is going through a period of transition, whose outcome remains to be seen.
The Purposes of Resettlement
Refugee resettlement has multiple personalities within the international refugee regime. It is a powerful tool of protection for individual refugees, a means to secure other rights, a durable solution for those who cannot go home or integrate in the country of first asylum, and a means by which states can share the responsibility for refugees with overburdened host countries and by doing so bolster their commitment to providing first asylum.
For some refugees, the country of first asylum is not safe. Refugees escaping persecution may find that the agents of their persecutors -- the government of the home country, or a rebel group -- operate with impunity across the border, or that there are groups with similar agendas in the place of exile. Afghan women who escaped the misogynistic rule of the Taliban often have found themselves at risk in Pakistan, especially if they transgressed the strictures on female education, work, or dress. Women who do not have the protection of a male relative are particularly vulnerable to exploitation and abuse in that and many other settings.
Refugee camps sometimes fall under the control of one faction in a multi-faceted conflict, as was the case among Cambodian refugees in Thailand and Rwandan refugees in eastern Zaire. In such situations, refugees associated with different factions are often targeted. Ethnic minorities among refugees, like the Roma among ethnic Albanian Kosovar refugees in Macedonia, may be scapegoated, abused, or excluded from assistance.
Very often, local law enforcement is unable or unwilling to intervene when refugees are victimized. UNHCR may conclude that the only way it can guarantee the protection of some refugees is to refer them for resettlement, usually on an individual basis. The United States, Canada, and Australia also accept protection cases identified through means other than UNHCR referrals, but UNHCR remains the main gatekeeper for resettlement as a means of protection.
The ability to move from one place of refuge to another is one of the few means that refugees have to effect the human right to family unity. Refugee families are often separated in the process of flight and may end up in different countries. The countries with the largest resettlement programs (Australia, Canada, and the United States) give some preference to close relatives of refugees already settled in these countries. Resettlement is also used to enable refugees to get vital medical treatment not available to them in the country of first asylum. Some countries with relatively small resettlement programs specialize in these resource-intensive cases.
The search for a durable solution to the refugee's plight can end in one of three ways: repatriation, integration in the country of first asylum, or settlement in a third country. Planned resettlement has an important role to play in bringing exile to an end, not only for individual refugees, but also as part of a comprehensive plan for an entire refugee population. In the aftermath of a peace agreement, for example, as in Angola in 2002, the majority of refugees may choose to return home. Some may prefer and may be allowed to remain permanently in the country of first asylum, eventually assuming citizenship. Zambia is opening this possibility for some Angolans who have lived there for many years. But there are also likely to be some refugees who for some reason are not able to return safely or to integrate locally, and for them resettlement may be the only solution in sight. Several thousand Somali Bantu, a minority group descended from slaves and subject to brutal discrimination by the dominant clans in Somalia, are being processed for resettlement in the United States. Repatriation would place them in renewed danger, and their host country is not willing to have them remain indefinitely.
Beyond providing individual protection and a durable solution for some refugees, resettlement can function as a broader support for refugee protection by assuring countries of first asylum that other countries are willing to share responsibility for refugees. Resettlement can act as a safety valve where the presence of a particular group within a refugee population may cause tensions with the local people or create security concerns. In a few cases, countries of first asylum have demanded resettlement as the price for keeping their borders open to refugees: in Macedonia in 1999 or Southeast Asia in the late 1970s and early 1980s. With such a small number of resettlement places available, there is an obvious danger in this pattern becoming widespread.
Unmet Needs, Unfilled Places, Uncertain Future
The number of refugees seeking resettlement hugely exceeds the number of places available. Paradoxically, and despite this overwhelming imbalance, more than 10,000 agreed resettlement slots expire unfilled in an average year. As Mark Hetfield of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, a U.S. resettlement agency, points out, "Over the last decade more than 100,000 refugees in need of resettlement could have been rescued from danger, or been provided with an opportunity to lead productive fulfilling lives, rather than living off handouts in squalid camps or struggling underground as urban refugees." Part of the explanation for the "unfilled seats in the resettlement lifeboat," as Hetfield puts it, lies in the difficulties in identifying who among the millions of refugees worldwide is most in need of resettlement as a means of protection.
UNHCR has established criteria that are supposed to be applied uniformly, but the work of identification is extremely labor-intensive and subject to many pitfalls. The pressures on resettlement staff from desperate refugees can be intense, endangering objectivity. With so precious a resource at stake, fraud and corruption are constant dangers. Refugees often have genuine difficulty in establishing their identity by modern bureaucratic standards, having lost, been robbed of, or never possessed documents recording their birth, residence, and relationships. These concerns have been greatly heightened by post-September 11 security developments.
Refugee resettlement remains an essential tool of protection, solution, and international burden sharing. But with the U.S. resettlement program on an uncertain trajectory, Europe contemplating a new approach, and new countries starting to participate, refugee resettlement at the end of this decade may look very different than it does today.


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The Raleigh Hatchet, that altrag well-loved by a self-selected chosen few, is no more. It has ceased to be. It has run down the curtain and joined the choir invisible. It is an ex-altrag.
Or is it? Not being a resident of the Raleigh area, I have no firsthand evidence that there is no resurgent circulation, perhaps in hastily-mimeographed form akin to the much-mourned communist leaflets of this time, last century…or like the show flyers of classic '77 punk rock (may as well unite, you have nothing to lose but your chops). Maybe the message has migrated to a more 21st Century medium, and the once-beloved Raleigh Hatchet now shares cyberspace with other such forward-thinking endeavors.
I assume that there is no more Raleigh Hatchet — because otherwise how could the domain have come to me (for all the world sliding through the night like a working girl with an appointment to keep)?
Well, I know my limits… there's no way that I alone could live up to the ineffable majesty of the once-reigning king (or other non-gender-specific mythic royalty signifier of your choice) of alternative art and literary journalism. I'd just be one man who has never visited Raleigh talking about art and music and stuff. And do we really need another of THOSE people on teh Interwebz?
I took the detour to the dark side and ended up confused, exited but poorer. Teh Interwebx IZ good for sumptin sumptimes. I'm sure the Hatchet would approve – took out a cash advance online and used the funds to launch this website. There, the truth is out. Took a crappy loan to get there and when the totals come in, this dance will have cost me more than twice the funds I spent! My cash advance vaporized into the INterwebx at the speed of an online transaction with no regard for its negative impact on my well being, the culture surrounding Raleigh, or my own dignity. I did splurge on one item of hedonism – a sterling silver ring from sterlingforever.com, which I had to rationalize and did so without regret. Still putting any cash into a vanity exercise is embarrassing, yet sometimes necessary even though the hole it burned in my pocket may be the ruin of me. But without the payday loan or the cash advance, or the mortgage on your house, where would we all be?
The only good luck I had was a trip to Dallas where I totaled my car – rather it was totaled for me by a semi going the wrong way on the off ramp. Good luck you ask? Well excellent luck as I wasn't killed and only slightly injured but I looked a bloody mess which was more than good luck since I was offered the services of the most excellent Texas truck accident lawyer who helped turn those gory photos of me (was only a small head gash from hitting the steering wheel), into a substantial settlement. So yeah! Great luck. And altho I hate to brag about being the pawn of lawyers, this was one instance where the law was on my side, big time! But I digress…
So while we await the second coming of the Raleigh Hatchet, in whatever form the demon may assume, pray allow me to be your guide to tweaking the noses of disinterested respectability with superficial and un-involving cultural subversion. He might not be appreciative of a culture that worships material items and glitzy traditions like gold rings and prom dresses. Or suffers the misfortunes of the power hungry oligarchy in all its forms, or the decadence of the hCG diet program. I specifically take aim at the medical dieting marketplace even though I recognize that some people are truly helped by these programs. My beef is not with an obese person trying to lose weight, but with an industry that sells unnatural fixes for a natural problem and targets your self esteem to do it. Enough said.
Music! Literature! Fashion! Events! Arts! Crafts! Television! (am I leaving anything out? Uh…) food travel leisure recreation et cetera…no subject will be threatened less equally here. By the time you're finished digesting my synthetic additives of hipness, you'll be so freaking cool that white rappers will be jealous and art school girls all over the world will put pinups of you in creative collages on their dorm room ceilings.
And that's a money-back guarantee, baby.


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Admissions Process
Thank you for your interest in enrolling your child at our school! This page will take you step-by-step through the admissions process. If you have any questions, please contact the school office at 317-636-0134.
Step 1: Download Application Interest Form
Please complete the Application Interest Form and return it either in person, or by mail to our school address.
Step 2: Schedule a Tour
After you have completed the Application Interest Form, please schedule a tour with us.
Step 3: Complete Application
After your tour, you will receive an application to complete and return.


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Regular price $2.32
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Kwikset is the leading residential lock manufacturer, making homeowners feel safe since 1946. Kwikset works hard to understand the world you live in, so that we can do everything we can to protect it. The company's unwavering commitment to meeting homeowners' needs has inspired its innovative lock portfolio that includes patented SmartKey Security deadbolts, keyless entry combination locks, connected home technology, first-to-market electronic lock, Kevo, door hardware with Microban antimicrobial product protection and a wide variety of styles and finishes. Our interior and exterior door products provide customers with the quality, technology, durability and style they want while guaranteeing the highest level of security.


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Below, check out a behind the scenes look inside rehearsal for GYPSY, starring Tony Award winner Leslie Uggams as Rose, at Connecticut Repertory Theatre! The production runs July 10-20 at the Harriet S. Jorgensen Theatre. For tickets and information, call 860-486-2113.
Back in April 2014, Artistic Director Vincent J. Cardinal announced that Tony and Emmy Award- winning actress Leslie Uggams would be starring as Rose in Connecticut Repertory Theatre's (CRT) production of GYPSY: A Musical Fable July 10-20. This announcement quickly spread through social media circles and the theatre community and set off a firestorm of discussion on message boards and Twitter about casting an African American actress in this iconic role. "We weren't necessarily looking for an actress of color but rather an incredible talent to play this incredibly challenging role," Cardinal said. "The actor needed to be able to sing and act brilliantly - this is the King Lear of musical theatre. When we found Leslie Uggams, we were thrilled and honored to have such a legendary talent in this legendary role."
The cast includes Michael James Leslie of Broadway's The Wiz and Little Shop of Horrors, as Pop, Scott Ripley as Herbie, Alanna Saunders (Dianna in CRT's recent A Chorus Line) as June, Amandina Altomare (Judy in A Chorus Line, Philia in Funny thing...Forum) as Louise, Luke Hamilton as Tulsa, and features Ariana Shore as Tessie Tura, Dale AJ Rose as Mr. Goldstone/Cigar and Steve Hayes as Uncle Jocko/Kringelien. Additional cast members include Brandon Beaver, Johnny Brantly III, Thomas Brazzle, Madison Coppola, Kristin Devine, Conor Donnally, Cassandra Dupler, Julia Estrada, Mackenzie Leigh Freidmann, Khetanya Henderson, James Jelkin, Sean Jones, Rebecca Mack, Coles Prince, Maria Sheehan, Kyle Schoeplein, Courtney Schoeplein, Annie Tolis, Gianna Yanelli and Madison Young. The production is directed by CRT's Artistic Director Vincent J. Cardinal, with scenic design by Tim Brown, costume design by Lisa Loen, lighting design by Greg Purnell, sound design by Michael Skinner and stage manager Alyssa K. Howard.
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|Photo by Beat Jegerlehner
I was shattered by the time I reached the cabin. Beat had been able to run most of the way down the dome, but I could only manage a half-hearted shuffle. I couldn't even join the guys for the first soak of the evening because I had to huddle next to the stove, drink hot cocoa, and shiver my way to recovery. My body temperature had dropped during the descent, because after I burned up my energy reserves on the climb, my body stopped making heat. I knew I needed to eat a candy bar to stop this from happening, but I was still nauseated from the hard effort. If I hadn't been so close to a cabin, I would have stopped and put on my down coat and dealt with it right away. Instead, I just slogged along until I reached the cabin, and by then I was deeply bonked, and thus deeply cold. Really, for an eleven-mile pleasure trip it's embarrassing, but the hike into Tolovana Hot Springs turned out to be quite the epic for me ... and only me.
Of course, I was plenty grateful when I arrived at the trailhead to find the truck had fired up, no problem. It was a great trip without major mishap, a Boxing Day miracle.


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Fatty Liver Disease - Please help, guidance needed.
About two weeks ago I brought my long-haired cat to the vet. He's twelve years old and he's been losing a lot of weight and not eating. I didn't know how much of this to chalk up to old age and until that day didn't hear about Fatty Liver Disease.
Anyway, that day at the vet (new vet) they took blood and it wasn't until that Saturday that I got results saying his liver was having problems.
Aside from being skinny he wasn't in TERRIBLE condition at this point**
The doctor prescribed Zentinol and I began administering it for about a week until I noticed on Saturday he still wasn't eating and that he had turned a bit yellow.
I brought him back to the Vet and he referred me to a pet ER and gave me an antibiotic (zenaquin) and appetite stimulant (Cyproheptadine). Shadow's condition continued to worsen and I brought him to the ER, where the doctor checked him over and stressed the urgency of the situation and how critical Shadow's condition was.
She said that I could hospitalize him (for a total of 5000 dollars) or he would basically die and the other option was to euthanize him (250 dollars).
I didn't have enough for either of those things (thank god, to be honest) and I felt like she was a gangster holding a gun to my head and saying, "Five thousand, or the cat gets it." She wasn't, and she finally gave me a deal on a subcutaneous injection and an anti-nausea injection before sending me and Shadow home. I cried all night and in the morning decided to take matters into my own hands. I felt pigeon-holed by the ER vet who would do nothing without thousands of dollars I didn't have and neglected by the primary vet who should've seen shadow's condition a week and a half prior and told me more about the situation (I would have started force feeding him right then had I known what Fatty Liver was and how it worked).
ANYWAY, I went to the pet store and bought science diet for adult cats and a syringe. I crushed up his Zentinol and Cyproheptadine and put it in his food. I gave him three ounces of wet food the first day, Sunday, and moved it to about four on Monday and he's eaten about five to five and a half today, Saturday. He's also been given regular water. Today I introduced the antibiotic so as not to overwhelm his weaker system on Sunday with pills, I also upped how much water I'm giving him.
He's obviously not fine, but if you saw the difference between Saturday night and tonight you would be astonished. His coat looks better, he looks fatter and fuller, he's more engaged and not glazed over, he's emotional and expressive (purring and meowing occasionally) and peeing on his own. I could even swear that his yellow tint is reducing, but I could just be getting a little excited. I'm feeling a bit hopeful but I'm scared to feel too much hope and be crushed if it doesn't turn out well.
Anyway, I don't have five thousand dollars to hospitalize him and I'm not going to sit here and watch him starve himself to death so I don't care if it's not perfect (the ER vet said he might not eat normally if I syringe fed him - though I found that contradictory as he is already not eating normally), I am going to get food and water down his throat, give him his medicine, and hope he recovers. I'm hoping the appetite stimulant takes effect soon so he will start eating on his own (or at least check out his food).
Here are my concerns and I would REALLY appreciate the guidance:
He's not pooping. This makes me nervous because his belly is a bit bloated and he's been eating now since Sunday morning without a bowel movement. Any suggestions? I saw pumpkin somewhere on here. Does this work?
Also, I read that electrolyte therapy might help him as he's not receiving regular subcutaneous injections (he just got the one Saturday night) but I'm nervous to give him anything that might interfere with the other medications, that he'll puke up, or that will mess with his liver or kidneys. Any suggestions?
Also any suggestions in this situation as to how to get the best results possible?
Should I stop the appetite stimulant for now and give it to him in a week when it's more likely he'll eat on his own?
Any advice is greatly appreciated.
I hope Sugarcatmom or Growler will see this thread and have some great advice for you.
14+kittles nursed one of her cats back to health after having liver problems, she may be able to offer some advice on the steps she took.
Did any of the vets recommend a feeding tube? If the meds didn't work, that would be my first choice. The cat doesn't have to stay at the hospital while it's in.
At this point getting your cat to eat is priority. A better food would be Wellness, grain free. It easily mixes with water to help force feed her. A healthy immune system requires a quality diet.
Cat maid to:
Rose semi feral, a cpietra rescue, female tabby (approx 13 yrs)
Jasper RIP (2001-2018)
Sweet Pea RIP (2004?-2014)
Puddles RIP (1996-2014)
Snowball RIP (1991-2005)
In a cat's eye, all things belong to cats.-English Proverb
While we are free to choose our actions, we are not free to choose the consequences of our actions. Stephen R. Covey
Oh wow, what a rough ride for you and Shadow! I have some info that may help but I'm just about to leave work. Will try to post later tonight. Hang in there!!!
"To close your eyes will not ease another's pain." ~ Chinese Proverb
We must not refuse to see with our eyes what they must endure with their bodies. ~ Gretchen Wyler
Although this paper is addressed to vets, perhaps you can find some useful info in there: http://www.vin.com/proceedings/Proce...6620&O=Generic They mention possibly using lactulose to deal with constipation.
The Zentonil is best given on an empty stomach (an hour before or 2 hours after eating) and shouldn't be crushed, which exposes it to destruction by stomach acid.
A feeding tube would be the best option, so perhaps you can look into financial aid from one of these resources:
Info on feeding tubes: http://www.catinfo.org/?link=feedingtubes
If that truly is not an option, here are some links dealing with anorexia in cats:
And here is an excellent resource consisting of many other people who have been in your shoes: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/F...isted-Feeding/
All the best to you and Shadow! Let us know how things go.
"To close your eyes will not ease another's pain." ~ Chinese Proverb
We must not refuse to see with our eyes what they must endure with their bodies. ~ Gretchen Wyler
|bowel, cat, fatty liver, liver, vet
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Becton, Dickinson and Co. (BDX). Below are some highlights from the above linked analysis:
Company Description: Becton, Dickinson and Co. provides a wide range of medical devices and diagnostic products used in hospitals, doctors' offices, research labs and other settings.
Fair Value: In calculating fair value, I consider the NPV MMA Differential Fair Value along with these four calculations of fair value, see page 2 of the linked PDF for a detailed description:
1. Avg. High Yield Price
2. 20-Year DCF Price
3. Avg. P/E Price
4. Graham Number
BDX is trading at a discount to 1.) and 3.) above. The stock is trading at a 16.3% discount to its calculated fair value of $93.13. BDX earned a Star in this section since it is trading at a fair value.
Dividend Analytical Data: In this section there are three possible Stars and three key metrics, see page 2 of the linked PDF for a detailed description:
1. Free Cash Flow Payout
2. Debt To Total Capital
3. Key Metrics
4. Dividend Growth Rate
5. Years of Div. Growth
6. Rolling 4-yr Div. > 15%
BDX earned two Stars in this section for 1.) and 3.) above. A Star was earned since the Free Cash Flow payout ratio was less than 60% and there were no negative Free Cash Flows over the last 10 years. BDX earned a Star for having an acceptable score in at least two of the four Key Metrics measured. The company has paid a cash dividend to shareholders every year since 1926 and has increased its dividend payments for 39 consecutive years.
Dividend Income vs. MMA: Why would you assume the equity risk and invest in a dividend stock if you could earn a better return in a much less risky money market account (MMA) or Treasury bond? This section compares the earning ability of this stock with a high yield MMA. Two items are considered in this section, see page 2 of the linked PDF for a detailed description:
1. NPV MMA Diff.
2. Years to > MMA
BDX earned a Star in this section for its NPV MMA Diff. of the $958. This amount is in excess of the $500 target I look for in a stock that has increased dividends as long as BDX has. If BDX grows its dividend at 9.8% per year, it will take 4 years to equal a MMA yielding an estimated 20-year average rate of 3.1%. BDX earned a check for the Key Metric 'Years to >MMA' since its 4 years is less than the 5 year target.
Memberships and Peers: BDX is a member of the S&P 500, a Dividend Aristocrat, a member of the Broad Dividend Achievers™ Index and a Dividend Champion. The company's peer group includes: The Abbott Laboratories (ABT) with a 3.3% yield, Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY) with a 4.7% yield and Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (BMY) with a 4.1% yield.
Conclusion: BDX earned one Star in the Fair Value section, earned two Stars in the Dividend Analytical Data section and earned one Star in the Dividend Income vs. MMA section for a total of four Stars. This quantitatively ranks BDX as a 4-Star Strong stock.
Using my D4L-PreScreen.xls model, I determined the share price would need to increase to $97.47 before BDX's NPV MMA Differential decreased to the $500 minimum that I look for in a stock with 39 years of consecutive dividend increases. At that price the stock would yield 1.9%.
Resetting the D4L-PreScreen.xls model and solving for the dividend growth rate needed to generate the target $500 NPV MMA Differential, the calculated rate is 7.6%. This dividend growth rate is lower than the 9.8% used in this analysis, thus providing a margin of safety. BDX has a risk rating of 1.5 which classifies it as a Low risk stock.
In spite of operating in the competitive medical equipment market, BDX has enjoyed more favorable demand and pricing than others in the industry. The company's needle and surgical business has provided investors with robust returns for years. Strong global demand for the company's safety, diabetes care and disease-testing products should be sustainable in the foreseeable future.
As a result of BDX's innovation and judicial deployment of capital, its business continued to prosper during the economic downturn. The stock is favorably priced below my calculated fair value price of $93.13. However, its 2.3% yield is below my my minimum 2.5% yield. This is a stock I will continue to monitor.
Disclaimer: Material presented here is for informational purposes only. The above quantitative stock analysis, including the Star rating, is mechanically calculated and is based on historical information. The analysis assumes the stock will perform in the future as it has in the past. This is generally never true. Before buying or selling any stock you should do your own research and reach your own conclusion. See my Disclaimer for more information.
Full Disclosure: At the time of this writing, I held no position in BDX (0.0% of my Dividend Growth Portfolio) and was long ABT and MDT in my Dividend Growth Portfolio. See a list of all my dividend growth holdings here.
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Tags: [BDX] [ABT] [BAX] [MDT]


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Jim wanted to be in radio as far back as he could remember and, in 1960, finally got his foot in the door at WPLA, his hometown station in Plant City (FL), while still in high school. The 16-year old stayed with the station part-time during his junior and senior year, handling the music and an afternoon air shift, and then went fulltime following graduation.
From there, he made stops at Lakeland's WONN (MD and evenings, then mid-days), WHOO Orlando (mid-days), WWKE in Ocala (MD and afternoons), and again WPLA for his first PD's job. In 1973, he began a four-year stint as PD/MD and pulled afternoon drive for Tampa Bay's WQYK before leaving for Memphis to do late mornings at Plough's flagship station WMPS. After that, he returned to Florida as PD/MD and afternoons at Lakeland's WQPD, did mornings for five years with Cypress Gardens' WGTO, and then mid-days at Lakeland's easy-listening WEZY-FM.
Jim joined his final station in 1997, helping to launch Lakeland's new 98.3 WWRZ. Since his air shift was afternoons, he was also able to become a regular (as "The Connoisseur of the Obscure") on sister station WONN-AM's morning show in 2001 and 2002. After 43 years behind the microphone, his broadcast career came to a close November 14, 2003 when he announced his retirement. The following year, he established RadioYears.com, his website devoted to the history of radio in the Greater Tampa Bay area.
Home | WPLA | WONN | WLAK | Other Stations | Related Links | Contact Us
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Giving a run down of the facts, MSNBC's Today Movies section breaks apart recent interviews from Entertainment Weekly and USA Today as well as various comments from Comic Con to hone in on just what we know will and won't happen in Breaking Dawn Pt 1. From the simple but elegant wedding dress to the pillow biting honeymoon, through the blood drinking pregnancy and the C-section birth, they catch all the details the stars and filmmakers have managed to let slip out over the past few weeks.
So we want to know what isn't confirmed? What is something in the books that we haven't heard about that you are really hoping makes it into the final cut? Leave us a comment telling us which unconfirmed moments you are still crossing your fingers for.
Read the whole story on MSNBC Today Movies.


text: CRM systems are the most political of all enterprise software applications. This is partly because of the user community; sales and marketing play politics for a living. It's also due to the data in the system, as a single CRM table\u2014the forecast\u2014can make or break careers. Exactly who sees what, and when, is a key issue in organizations of any real size.Tips: How to Get Smarter About CRM SecurityEvery CRM system has a slightly different security model, but there are general principles that apply everywhere. This article focuses on the Salesforce.com access control and privilege model. It's complicated enough to be frequently misunderstood\u2014which makes it a good example for illustrating key issues.Core Privileges: Start With Exclusions, Then Add ExceptionsSalesforce security has several overlapping layers that focus first on exclusion, then on adding access as exceptions to the exclusion. In small systems, most of the filtering is turned off. This can lead to some nasty consequences, so larger organizations must use every filtering mechanism available to keep data quality up and compliance issues down.The first exclusion filter is specified by the class of user, or profile, and is applied at the object (table) level: Is a given profile allowed to see an object at all, and, if so, what operations are generally allowed? In addition to create, read, update and delete, there are privileges to "change record owner," "be allowed to see any record of this object, even if you shouldn't otherwise be able to" and "execute certain classes."The next level of filtering is at the column level. This enforces three levels of access: Hidden, read-only and read-write. Profiles also define system-wide privileges (for example, export report data), but most aren't object-specific and therefore not a big deal.Tips: Too Much Access? Privileged Identity Management Can HelpIf you've created a bunch of customer fields and installed lots of applications in your CRM, this may mean you can set 1,000 attributes or more for each profile. Don't worry, it'll get more complicated soon enough.To Avoid Broken Records, Sort Out Role ProblemsThe next layer of exclusion filtering is done by the user's role in the organization. Role hierarchy enforces a single Boolean attribute: Are you allowed to see an individual record, based on who owns the record? You can't see what your siblings (peers) or superiors own. If you can't see a record, it's literally invisible to you and any code that's executing under your user identity.If you turn on roles in a system that wasn't using them before, all kinds of records just aren't there any more. Why? The system is now enforcing record ownership, and many of your records now owned by users who are inactive, who no longer work for the organization, who have no defined role or who have changed roles.How-to: Avoid 3 CRM User Identity MistakesDepending on the specifics, records owned by users with role problems may be visible to the wrong groups, or they may not be visible to anybody at all. This causes all kinds of fun in reporting, workflows and other automation that's supposed to make things easier. The malfunctions will continue until the record ownership is brought up to date with the current role hierarchy.The good news: This particular data repair\u2014fixing who owns which record\u2014requires updating just one field per CRM record. The not-so-hot news is that some data repair needs to be done every time there's a sales reorganization or staff change. The solution: Bake some data repair into your work plan at least once a quarter.CRM Record Sharing Can Save the DayBecause the effect of roles are binary, they must be supplemented with sharing rules that amend record visibility. For example, you don't generally want sales representatives editing each others' deals, but you do want to be able to do load-shedding when a sales rep is on vacation.Sharing rules are exception handlers that simply say, "Under these special conditions, some users will be able to see records that would be otherwise hidden from them." Although each rule has only a few input parameters and a single yes\/no output parameter, large organizations may have hundreds of them\u2014and, you guessed it, they need to be updated whenever there is a significant org-chart or business-charter change.Additional CRM Security Mechanisms Will VaryIn Salesforce, several system elements\u2014in particular, record types\u2014are inherently sensitive to profiles, while several other areas of the system can be configured to be sensitive to roles, groups, teams and queues. Applications and custom code added to Salesforce may add their own privilege management systems for individuals and collections.As is the case with distributed systems, cloud administration doesn't offer a single administrative master control system. You have to build and maintain your own expertise around your system's peculiarities and expect that a major part of the system administrator's job is troubleshooting and fixing security issues on an ongoing basis.Although lots of great tools can help inspect and manipulate many of the security attributes in your CRM complex, there is no "God's eye view" of the system. In my humble opinion, there's no hope for one, though we have seen elaborate tools purpose-built to coordinate change across multiple system elements.The only way to know every area of the system that might be affected by a change, then, is to build your own administrative manual. This is best done as a crowdsourced effort, allowing only the truly knowledgeable to write and measuring them for frequency and length of their contributions.David Taber is the author of the new Prentice Hall book, "Salesforce.com Secrets of Success" and is the CEO of SalesLogistix, a certified Salesforce.com consultancy focused on business process improvement through use of CRM systems. SalesLogistix clients are in North America, Europe, Israel and India. Taber has more than 25 years of experience in high tech, including 10 years at the VP level or above.Follow everything from CIO.com on Twitter @CIOonline, Facebook, Google + and LinkedIn.


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This article was posted by CrystalWind.ca.
Daily Message, September 09, 2023 - Goddess of Creation
Category: The Family of Light Written by Shelly Dressel
Yes, indeed, receiving is truly an important aspect of life.
In order for you to accept all of your potentials, you have to receive that truth within you; perhaps through your mental body, your emotional, perhaps through your spiritual consciousness. It is here for you.
Shelly Dressel channeling the Goddess of Creation. All rights are reserved. You are welcome to share this channel, but we ask you not take any portion of it out of the body of the channel and to retain this copyright message. For further information please check out our website: www.goddesslight.net
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© 2023 crystalwind.ca. All rights reserved.
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Stephen Weiss scores twice as Panthers even series with Devils
SUNRISE, Fla. -- Stephen Weiss waited 10 years. The Florida Panthers waited 15 years.
Fast start, frantic finish -- and finally, a moment to savor.
Weiss scored the first two playoff goals of his career, Jose Theodore stopped 23 shots and the Panthers got their first playoff victory since April 17, 1997, topping the New Jersey Devils 4-2 on Sunday night to even the first-round series at a game apiece.
Clinging to a 3-2 lead, the Panthers lost a faceoff with 7.6 seconds left, New Jersey's Ilya Kovalchuk had a chance to tie that was blocked, and Tomas Fleischmann scored an empty-net goal as time expired and Florida fans littered the ice with hundreds of toy rats -- a tradition that dates to the Panthers' run to the 1996 Stanley Cup finals.
"I was freaking out," Weiss said about those last desperate moments. "You can say scary. I was freaking out. That's the wrong guy you want to be shooting with 7 seconds left. But sometimes your buddies have to bail you out."
It took a couple minutes for referees to decide if the final score was 3-2 or 4-2, as they reviewed to see if Fleischmann's goal counted.
To the Panthers, it simply didn't matter. At long last, they were playoff winners.
"Over the course of the season we've been able to kind of balance things out," Panthers coach Kevin Dineen said. "And I think that's what happened tonight."
Marcel Goc had a goal and an assist for the Panthers, who led 3-0 entering the third period, then saw the game change in a flash. Travis Zajac and Kovalchuk scored in the first 2:02 of the third, but the Devils got no closer.
Martin Brodeur made 20 saves for New Jersey, losing for the first time in six career postseason starts against the Panthers.
"It's important to stay composed," Brodeur said. "I think it's easy to get frustrated and not be happy about the situation because we had a chance to go up 2-0 in the series. But at the end of the day, you go on the road, you should be happy to split the series. You should be happy that we came back in the game and made it really interesting for them late in the game and we have to build off that."
Game 3 in the Eastern Conference series is Tuesday night in New Jersey.
It was the Panthers' first playoff win in 5,478 days, since topping the New York Rangers 3-0.
Of course, a streak like that wasn't going to end easily.
Zajac scored 48 seconds into the third, and before the scoring on that goal was even announced, Kovalchuk redirected Adam Henrique's shot past Theodore to get the Devils within one. New Jersey's flurry was somewhat reminiscent of how the Devils started Game 1, when they unleashed 26 shots on Theodore in the opening 20 minutes.
"Special teams were the difference in the first two periods," Devils coach Pete DeBoer said. "They got two power play goals, put us in a hole. I thought they were the hungrier team the first two periods. You can't play 20 minutes in the playoffs and expect to win."
Well, they came close.
Brodeur kept the Devils within a goal with 6:02 left, sprawling to his side to stop Scottie Upshall's point-blank tip attempt. Theodore was up to the task as well, denying both Kovalchuk and Zach Parise from in close in the final minutes. Brodeur made it to the bench with 1:15 left, but the Panthers' defense found a way to survive.
"No question, we had a chance," Henrique said.
New Jersey managed to get only four shots to Theodore in the opening 20 minutes of Game 2 -- and the Devils were actually leading in that department heading into the first intermission. Shots were 4-3 at that point.
But Florida only needed one to get going, one that Weiss had been waiting on for more than a decade.
Devils defenseman Andy Greene tripped Goc on the first shift of the game, setting up a power play that Florida quickly converted. Mikael Samuelsson's shot from the point bounced off bodies in front and made its way to Weiss, who lifted the rebound by Brodeur for a 1-0 lead just 23 seconds into the game.
"I don't know if we were bad or they were good," Kovalchuk said. "But it's all behind us."
The opening seconds of the first period were a turning point. So were the final seconds.
Florida got a 5-on-3 with 17 seconds left in the first after David Clarkson and Alexei Ponikarovsky tangled with Panthers defenseman Erik Gudbrandson in the corner. Clarkson was whistled for charging, Ponikarovsky for high-sticking, and it was costly.
"No comment," DeBoer said.
With the two-man advantage winding down, Jason Garrison's shot appeared to deflect off Goc and to Weiss, who tapped the puck past Brodeur for a 2-0 Florida lead at 1:12 of the second. Goc made it 3-0 with 5:21 left in the period when his shot made it through a maze of bodies around Brodeur.
"Feels good," Weiss said. "Obviously, these fans have been waiting a long time for this kind of hockey and this is a big win for us. Not the start we wanted in the third period, but this is a big win."
Game notes
Game 5 will be Saturday night at Florida. ... Weiss' only other two-power-play-goal night of his career came Nov. 1, 2005, at Montreal. ... Samuelsson went to the Panthers' dressing room early in the second period after being called for hooking against Parise. Samuelsson appeared to get his skates caught in the boards, and as he spun himself free his stick connected with the face of the Devils' captain. ... Through two periods, the teams were getting nearly three times as many hits in as shots -- 75 hits against 27 combined shots, according to the Panthers.
Series tied 1-1
Game Information
- Referees:
- Brad Meier
- Linesmen:
- Greg Devorski


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Blue Man Group
The Blue Man Group is an exclusive group of Portugese prostitutes whose primary goal is to knock up every known species of salamanders with impunity intact. So far, they have failed 57 times. Years ago, they gave up that dream and are now working with PETA on the ultimate mission of splattering paint on *fake* fur coats.
Their evil plot[edit]
The plan of the Blue Men is simple:
Turn everything in the world blue.
Yes, this seems stupid, but in their culture, turning a planet blue means that they have conquered it. Why do you think Neptune is blue? No, it's not because it's a gaseous planet or whatever. That's exactly what the government wants us to think, so there isn't an outbreak of mass panic. They got Magrathea too! And, why is the sky blue? Not because of refracted sunlight. THEY did that! Their latest project is the ocean. So far, they've only been able to blueinate the Carribean.
What we can do[edit]
Basically, when it comes down to the big picture, we can't do shit. However, there are some things that we, as individuals, can do to slow down their progress.
The wisest thing to do however, is to consult a UFO expert or someone who has had experiences with aliens, such as Eric Cartman (Who was anally probed, twice), Dib (who's neighbor is an alien), or Homer Simpson (Who has had multiple encounters with aliens, one in fact being his boss.) Also, you could try to get in contact with crazy people like Fox Mulder, who believes that pretty much anyone at any time could be an alien. Or do the smart thing and stop the blue men yourself.
The following people/groups may be affiliated with the blue men:
See also[edit]


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The wild places we love and need are under siege from oil drilling, overfishing and other threats. That's why we want to set a national target of protecting 30 percent of our land and 30 percent of our ocean by 2030.
Every minute, America is losing two football fields worth of forest, meadow, grassland, desert, beachfront, riverside or wetland. Today, just 13 percent of oceans worldwide can be classified as "wilderness" relatively unaffected by human activity.
This continuous loss of nature diminishes not only the richness of our natural world, but also of our own lives and that of our children's future.
We have a better vision. We want more mountaintops where we can see nothing but forest below, more rivers that flow wild and free, more shoreline where all we can hear are waves. We want abundant wildlife in our world, from butterflies floating by to coyotes howling at night to whale tails breaching the surface just visible from shore.
It's not too late. Protecting 30 percent of our lands and oceans by 2030 is an ambitious, but attainable goal, if we start now and take it step by step.
We live in a world of incredible material abundance, but we're running short on nature.
We want more places where we can hike, bike and jog among trees and wildflowers. We want more mountaintops where we can see nothing but forest below, more rivers that flow wild and free, more shoreline where all we can hear are waves. We want more wildlife in our world, from the grizzly on the ridgeline to the butterfly in our backyard, from the wolf in the forest to the sea otters bobbing in the waves off the coast. We want and need more, to paraphrase Emerson, of a world so beautiful that we "can hardly believe it exists."
For centuries, we sacrificed nature in our lives for the sake of economic progress. But that's not a world we have to live in anymore. Nor is it the future our children deserve — especially when we're called upon to accept less nature in our lives just so we can produce and consume more stuff we don't need.
Sacrificing nature comes at too steep a cost. America is losing two football field's worth of land and water every minute. There are 3 billion fewer birds in North America than there were in 1970. There are so many — too many to name — iconic animals native to America that are now endangered or threatened. There's the North Atlantic right whale, sperm whale, humpback whale and fin whale. The sea otter, ringed seal, Steller sea lion, the manatee and the loggerhead turtle. On land, there's the polar bear and grizzly bear, the gray wolf, the Florida panther, the ocelot and the Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep.
We've sacrificed enough nature in our lives. Fortunately, we live in the country that created the world's first national parks. At our best, we as a people have acted out of a deep desire to protect the places we love, both those that are close to home as well as those that define our country, from the Grand Canyon to the Great Lakes, from the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters.
That's why Environment Missouri is working to reverse trends that point us in the wrong direction. We are working to protect 30 percent of our little stretch of the planet by 2030, and half of it by 2050. We're doing it by:
- Expanding protections of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, home to manatees, sea turtles, dolphins and the only barrier reef off the coast of the continental United States.
- Expanding Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuaries to protect more coral habitats off the coasts of Texas and Louisiana.
- Creating a Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary to ensure some of the last parts of California's coast are protected from offshore drilling and to preserve habitat that is important to iconic marine species, including the California sea otter.
- Using funds from the Land and Water Conservation Fund to purchase and protect new lands. We helped permanently renew LWCF in 2019 and to fully, permanently fund it in 2020.
- Restoring protections for three national monuments that the Trump administration shrank (Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments) or weakened (Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument).
- Expanding conservation protections in our national forests.
- Adding new wildlife corridors to landscapes across the U.S. to connect habitats and protect species.
- Adopting a concrete goal, via a congressional resolution, of protecting 30 percent of American lands and waters by 2030.
With big visions and pragmatic steps, we can — and must — succeed at reversing all trends to the contrary and protect more nature in the U.S., starting with 30 percent by 2030.