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These provisions revise the current rules for subjecting Social Security benefits to personal income tax. We provide a summary list of all options in this category. For each provision listed below, we provide an estimate of the financial effect on the OASDI program over the long-range period (the next 75 years) and for the 75th year. In addition, we provide graphs and detailed single year tables. We base all estimates on the intermediate assumptions described in the 2012 Trustees Report.
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Starting in 2013, tax Social Security benefits in a manner similar to
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Starting in 2013, tax Social Security benefits in a manner similar to
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Located in the heart of the state, Oklahoma City, commonly shortened to OKC, combines urban amenities with small-town charm. Modern OKC skyscrapers combine with natural attractions, such as the caves of Alabaster and calming Lake Hefner. OKC has something for everyone - including lovers of excellent massages at home. Now, residents of this emerging community can now enjoy a great mobile massage delivered straight to their homes or office with the easy-to-use Zeel app, available for iPhone and Android.
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by Staff Writers
University Park PA (SPX) Jul 15, 2010
A blast of the brightest X-rays ever detected from beyond our Milky Way galaxy's neighborhood temporarily blinded the X-ray eye on NASA's Swift space observatory earlier this summer, astronomers now report. The X-rays traveled through space for 5-billion years before slamming into and overwhelming Swift's X-ray Telescope on 21 June.
The blindingly bright blast came from a gamma-ray burst, a violent eruption of energy from the explosion of a massive star morphing into a new black hole.
"This gamma-ray burst is by far the brightest light source ever seen in X-ray wavelengths at cosmological distances," said David Burrows, senior scientist and professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State University and the lead scientist for Swift's X-ray Telescope (XRT).
Although the Swift satellite was designed specifically to study gamma-ray bursts, the instrument was not designed to handle an X-ray blast this bright.
"The intensity of these X-rays was unexpected and unprecedented" said Neil Gehrels, Swift's principal investigator at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. He said the burst, named GRB 100621A, is the brightest X-ray source that Swift has detected since the observatory began X-ray observation in early 2005.
"Just when we were beginning to think that we had seen everything that gamma-ray bursts could throw at us, this burst came along to challenge our assumptions about how powerful their X-ray emissions can be," Gehrels said.
"The burst was so bright when it first erupted that our data-analysis software shut down," said Phil Evans, a postdoctoral research assistant at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom who wrote parts of Swift's X-ray-analysis software.
"So many photons were bombarding the detector each second that it just couldn't count them quickly enough. It was like trying to use a rain gauge and a bucket to measure the flow rate of a tsunami."
The software soon resumed capturing the evolution of the burst over time, and Evans recovered the data that Swift had detected during the software's brief shutdown.
The scientists then were able to measure the blast's X-ray brightness at 143,000 X-ray photons per second during its fleeting period of greatest brightness, which is more that 140 times brighter than the brightest continuous X-ray source in the sky - a neutron star that is more than 500,000 times closer to Earth than the gamma-ray burst, and that sends a 'mere' 10,000 photons per second streaming toward Swift's telescopes.
Gamma-ray bursts typically begin with a bright flash of high-energy gamma-rays and X-rays, then fade away like a fireworks display, sometimes leaving behind a disappearing afterglow in less-energetic wavelengths, including optical and ultraviolet. Surprisingly, although the energy from this burst was the brightest ever in X-rays, it was merely ordinary in optical and ultraviolet wavelengths.
The Swift scientists were able to estimate the overall brightness of GRB 100621A by sampling the photons at some distance from its overexposed center - a standard correction technique. Scientists who study the Sun use a similar approach to observe the Sun's corona by blocking out its much-brighter center.
"With this burst, we had to sample the photons twice as far from the center as we ever had to go before," Burrows said. "The correction factor for the X-rays from GRB 100621A was 168 times larger than for a typical gamma-ray burst and 5 times larger than for the brightest burst we previously had seen. We never thought we'd see anything this bright."
Automated analysis of the Swift XRT data is performed at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom, which has been studying X-rays from outer space for the past half century. Evans was the first to see the processed data from the burst's initial blast. "When I first saw the strange data from this burst, I knew that I had discovered something extraordinary," he said.
"It was an indescribable feeling when I realized, at that moment, that I was the only person in the whole universe who knew that this extraordinary event had occurred. Now, after our analysis of the data, we know that this burst is one for the record books."
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This sermon series includes the following messages:
Please contact the publisher to obtain copies of this resource.Publisher Information
The following is an excerpt from The MacArthur New Testament Commentary on Romans 13.
RESISTANCE TO GOVERNMENT IS REBELLION AGAINST GODTherefore he who resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; (13:2a)The logical ramification is simple. Because civil government is an institution of God, to rebel against government is to rebel against the God who has established it. In his commentary on Romans, the nineteenth-century Scottish evangelist Robert Haldane wrote, "The people of God then ought to consider resistance to the government under which they live as a very awful crime, even as resistance to God Himself" (An Exposition of Romans [McLean, Va.: MacDonald Pub. Co., n.d.], p. 579).
The seriousness with which God takes rebellion is illustrated vividly in the book of Numbers. God had chosen Moses not only to be the human lawgiver but to be the human leader of Israel as He delivered her from Egypt and led her through the wilderness to the Promised Land. The Lord also had appointed Moses' brother Aaron to be high priest. During that journey, a group of some 250 malcontents, led by Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and On, "assembled together against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, 'You have gone far enough, for all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is in their midst; so why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?… Is it not enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to have us die in the wilderness, but you would also lord it over us?' " (Num. 16:3, 13).
The Lord was so angered by their insolence "that the ground that was under them split open;… Fire also came forth from the Lord and consumed the two hundred and fifty men who were offering the incense" (vv. 31–35). Incredibly, the people learned nothing from that awful judgment. Instead of drawing them back to God, it merely escalated their hatred of His chosen leaders. "On the next day all the congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying, 'You are the ones who have caused the death of the Lord's people' " (v. 41). In response to that defiant accusation, the Lord sent a deadly plague that instantly killed "14,700, besides those who died on account of Korah" (v. 49). Had not Aaron intervened by making atonement for the people, the entire congregation would have been annihilated (vv. 46–48).
THOSE WHO RESIST GOVERNMENT WILL BE PUNISHEDand they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. (13:2b)Paul is doubtless not speaking about God's direct judgment on those who have opposed civil authority but rather the condemnation men suffer from the government itself as punishment for crime. As the apostle mentions a few verses later, civil authority "is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath upon the one who practices evil" (Rom. 13:4).
A graphic and striking illustration of this principle came from our Lord Himself. When He was being taken prisoner in the garden, to be unjustly accused and executed, Peter drew a sword to fight the soldiers (authorities) who came to take Him. If ever there was a just cause for revolt, that would seem to have been it. But Jesus said to Peter, "Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword" (Matt. 26:52). Jesus affirmed that, no matter how noble the cause, government has the right to execute a murderer.
The Mosaic law prescribed many kinds of punishment, all of which were appropriate to the offense committed. For theft, the punishment included restitution, returning that which was stolen or payment of equal value. If he had no money or property with which to repay, the thief was required to work out his debt.
Under Mosaic law, punishment was always public. The offender was shamed before his family, friends, and society as a means of deterrence. Punishment was also generally corporal. The lashes of the whip, for example, brought immediate physical and bodily pain. But with the obvious exception of execution, punishment was also short-term. And, once the penalty was paid, the offender was free to pursue his life again.
Under Old Testament law, punishment was to be without pity for the offender. "You shall not pity him [a murderer], but you shall purge the blood of the innocent from Israel, that it may go well with you" (Deut. 19:13). That policy is in stark contrast to what is found in many societies today, where often more pity is expressed for criminals than for their victims.
Punishment under Mosaic law had several objectives. First, it was administered as a matter of justice, of appropriate retribution for a crime or other evil committed: "life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot" (Deut. 19:21). But this well-known precept of "eye for eye"—much maligned in our day—was given by God as much to prevent over-punishment as under-punishment. It must also be noted that punishment was to be determined and administered by the proper civil authority, not by victims. Personal revenge was not involved.
Second, punishment was to be a deterrent to crime—to discourage the guilty person from committing further crime and to discourage others from following his unlawful example. "Then all the people will hear and be afraid, and will not act presumptuously again" (Deut. 17:13; cf. 13:11; 19:20).
Third, Mosaic law required impartiality. The guilty were to be punished, regardless of their wealth, social standing, or position in the community—even if they were members of one's own family, "your brother, your mother's son, or your son or daughter, or the wife you cherish, or your friend who is as your own soul" (Deut. 13:6).
Fourth, punishment was to be without delay. "If the wicked man deserves to be beaten, the judge shall then make him lie down and be beaten in his presence with the number of stripes according to his guilt" (Deut. 25:2). Most punishment was administered on the spot, immediately after the sentence was declared. The principle of speedy trial and punishment is found in the constitutions of most modern democracies, but unfortunately it is frequently acknowledged more by disregard than by observance. Apparently the principle was also sometimes disregarded in Israel, hence the warning in Ecclesiastes: "Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil" (Eccles. 8:11).
Fifth—again with the exception of execution—Old Testament law provided for pardon and rehabilitation. The guilty person could be beaten "forty times but no more, lest he beat him with many more stripes than these, and your brother be degraded in your eyes" (Deut. 25:3). Criminals were not to be permanently stigmatized. Once an offender paid his penalty, he was to be accepted back into society as a respectable citizen.


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by Caroline von Fluegge-Chen
New Guidelines for Third Party Reimbursement for Biofeedback
Ronald Rosenthal, PhD
In an ideal world, we would be able to generate a long list of insurance companies and managed care organizations that have consistently paid for biofeedback services.However, the world we live in is far from ideal and insurance reimbursement for biofeedback continues to be inconsistent and unpredictable.
In order to try to bring some order to this topic, it is important to remember how third party reimbursement works. When billing to third party payers, we need to complete (accurately) a claim form that provides specific information about what we did. In addition to the basic demographic information identifying your client, the claim form will include a diagnosis code and a procedure code. All of the decisions regarding payment will be based upon the combination of codes you provide.
The first step in the process is to contact the insurance company and verify coverage. The basic details of coverage may be available on-line, but it you want to determine if you will be paid for biofeedback services, you will need to call the insurance company. Payment may be restricted to participating providers or there may be higher deductibles and increased copays if you are not a network provider. Some services may also require preauthorization
Many insurance companies have (long) lists of excluded services, and the biofeedback codes are often on these lists. In other cases, the procedure codes will only be paid if the diagnosis code is from a list of covered conditions. As an example, the basic mental health procedural codes, like 90806, used by psychologists and counselors are only covered when the diagnosis is for a psychiatric or developmental disorder.
There is a relatively small set of procedural codes for biofeedback. There are two pure biofeedback codes, 90901 and 90911. The 90901 code is for any modality of biofeedback and the 90911 code is pelvic floor training for the treatment of incontinence. There are also two codes for mental health providers, 90875 and 90876. These refer to sessions that combine biofeedback with some kind of talk therapy or counseling—90875 for a 25 minute session and 90876 for a 50 minute session In addition to the codes listed above, some practitioners have been billing using codes from the physical medicine section of the code book or with the new health and behavior intervention/assessment codes. The use of these other codes reflects the complex and diverse ways that biofeedback training can be used. Most biofeedback practitioners believe in an integrated treatment approach in which biofeedback training is just one part of a package. Other modalities could include counseling, breathing training, relaxation and meditation techniques, Feldenkrais exercises, Tai-Chi, yoga, and so on. The basic biofeedback codes may not reflect accurately all of what is done within a session.
The set of alternative codes that have been used with biofeedback include 96150 and 96152, 97532, 97112. 96002 and 90806. The 90806 code is for psychotherapy, not biofeedback, and providers combining biofeedback and psychotherapy are advised to use 90876 or 90875,. Some providers may be tempted to use 90806 when 90876 is not covered, but this can be considered to be a misrepresentation and leaves one open to charges of insurance fraud. Many clinicians have reported that insurance company representative have told them to use the 90806 when 90876 is not covered, but unless these instructions are obtained in writing, a significant risk remains. The health and behavior codes, 9615x, were released in 2002. They are used for the assessment or treatment by a psychologist of patients with primarily a physical complaint diagnosed by a physician. These codes recognize the mind/body connection and the interplay of biopsychosocial factors in the expression of health and disease. In many cases, a legitimate case for the use of these codes can be made for treatment that includes biofeedback for patients with chronic medical conditions such as headache, hypertension or fibromyalgia.
The health and behavior codes are time based codes. They are billed in 15 minute units and permit billing for extended sessions, e.g., 6 units for a 90 minute evaluation. They must be linked to a medical diagnosis given by a physician. It was intended that payment for these codes would come from the general medical pool of funds, not from mental health funds. In practice, the use of the medical diagnosis has caused problems at times because some insurance companies require the use of only mental health codes by psychologists.
The 97532 code refers to cognitive retraining; it has typically been used by speech and language pathologists working to improve cognitive function of patients with cognitive deficits. Many neurofeedback providers have started to use this code when working with clients with ADHD or TBI. The 97112 code refers to neuromuscular retraining of movement, balance or coordination. Surface EMG training (as well as some less common techniques) in rehabilitation settings can be coded with 97112. I have also come across a relatively new code, 96002, that is used for dynamic surface EMG recording for gait training and other functional activities. We may be able to use this code when providing EMG biofeedback to improve motor control.
Medicare will pay for CPT codes 90901 and 90911 when specific criteria are met. Medicare does not reimburse for 90876. Under Medicare guidelines, biofeedback training for muscular pain or weakness may be eligible for payment. Each carrier will have a list of eligible diagnoses and you would have to check to see what conditions are eligible for your local carrier and whether you can be reimbursed as a provider.
The main concern when billing Medicare with 90901 is that reimbursement is quite low. The allowance is between $40-50 per session, regardless of the length of the session. The reimbursement for 90911 is typically higher. Billing Medicare for 90901 also requires the use of a modifier (GP or GN) to indicate whether the services are coordinated with physical therapy or occupational therapy.
All of the Medicare carriers are now paying for the health and behavior intervention codes. In Florida, the allowance is $97 for the evaluation (96150—1 hour or 4 units) and $89 for individual treatment (96152—1 hour or 4 units).
I don't have information on Medicare coverage of 97532. Since the vast majority of clients getting neurofeedback for attention deficit disorder are children, it is highly unlikely that they will have Medicare for insurance.
The federal workers' compensation program (http://owcp.dol.acs-inc.com/portal/main.do) will pay for biofeedback training. The enrollment process can be tedious, but once you are enrolled as a participating provider, you can bill for biofeedback services provided to federal employees who are injured on the job.
With regards to the major insurance carriers, it is impossible to give any universal advice. Many providers have reported success in getting reimbursement for biofeedback services, but it often requires getting authorization on a case-by-case basis. Certification by BCIA has been helpful as well as documentation from AAPB's Evidence-Based Practice in Biofeedback and Neurofeedback . Neurofeedback providers have reported that having a QEEG brain map has been helpful in getting authorization or reimbursement. Blue Cross/Blue Shield has long been considered to be quite negative in its views about biofeedback, but several providers have reported success in getting paid by Blue Cross for biofeedback. In addition, we have reports of biofeedback reimbursement from Aetna, United and Delta on the West coast.
The best advice is to be persistent and prepared. Have your office verify coverage for all possible biofeedback codes for all of your patients. Coverage often varies widely based upon the specifics of a given contract and may include restriction based upon type of licensure. If you get a rejection initially, contact a supervisor, case manager or provider relations. If you have success, let us know at AAPB or BCIA.


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- Nuclear & Particle Physics
- Collider-Accelerator
- Isotope Research & Production
- Physics
- RIKEN BNL Research Center
Quasiparticle Behavior in Bose Quantum Liquids
March 25, 2005
LOS ANGELES, CA - Quasiparticles carry energy in condensed matter. In the world of quasiparticle physics, understanding when and how these energy carriers fail opens doors to another level of understanding, and can lead the way to many new and important theories. Scientists at the U. S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have discovered the failure point for the quasiparticle construct, the standard model of condensed matter physics. This could have far-reaching implications, for example, in the study of high-temperature superconductors, materials currently under intense scrutiny as a possible replacement for the conventional superconducting materials now used in many facets of everyday life.
Physicist Igor Zaliznyak (click image to download hi-res version).
At the March 2005 meeting of the American Physical Society, Brookhaven physicist Igor Zaliznyak will explain how he and his colleagues identified the "spectrum endpoint" in a Bose quantum spin liquid, the point at which the quasiparticles are no longer well-defined energy carriers. Zaliznyak will discuss his paper at 1:39 p.m. Friday, March 25, 2005, in Room 515B of the Los Angeles Convention Center.
"Although the quantum-liquid state has been studied for roughly a century, it continues to fascinate physicists," Zaliznyak said. "We have demonstrated that at higher energies, the Bose quasiparticle description fails because of quasiparticle decay."
The study of quasiparticles, which govern the properties of quantum liquids, was pioneered by Russian Nobel Prize winning-physicist L.D. Landau. There are two types of quasiparticles, Bose and Fermi, and physicists around the globe are exploring the properties of each type. The Brookhaven experiments, conducted using the triple-axis neutron spectrometer at the National Institutes of Standards and Technology, confirmed that in a particular Bose quantum spin liquid, quasiparticle decay leads to spectrum termination, as was predicted by Landau.
"Landau proposed that at some energy, the quasiparticle description breaks down, and in a generic form this has been known," Zaliznyak said. "But the extent of the phenomenon and how it reveals itself in real materials hasn't been clear. We have shown that at twice the minimum excitation energy, known as the spin gap, Bose quasiparticles cease to be defined at all and disappear."
The Brookhaven experiments studied a quantum liquid found in systems composed of quantum spins in magnetic crystals, specifically an organo-metallic material known as PHCC. The scientists' neutron scattering measurements demonstrate the occurrence of spectrum termination in the two-dimensional quantum spin liquid found in PHCC.
"When you attempt to create an excitation that is more than twice the gap rate, it's possible that your excitation decays, " Zaliznyak said. "In Bose quantum liquids, when decay processes like this become allowed, you can't have quasiparticles."
The research was funded by the Office of Basic Energy Sciences within the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science, the National Science Foundation, and the Robert A. Welch Foundation.
Note to local editors: Igor Zaliznyak lives in Port Jefferson, New York.
2005-10286 | INT/EXT | Newsroom


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Developed by ports themselves, the Port Environmental Review System (PERS) has firmly established its reputation as the only port sector specific environmental management standard.
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The Port Environmental Review System (PERS) doesn't only incorporate the main general requirements of recognised environmental management standards (e.g. ISO 14001), but also takes into account the specificities of ports. PERS builds upon the policy recommendations of ESPO and gives ports clear objectives to aim for. Its implementation is independently reviewed by Lloyd's Register.
A PERS certification is valid for a period of 2 years.


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(visited by Guillermo Terrazas)
02-Feb-2014 -- We decided to visit this confluence point while staying at San Carlos for the weekend, due the reason it was very close where we were staying (less than 3 miles). Even though, the point was already visited by someone else before, we decided to revisit it since we already had 4 points of our own.
The main group was formed by the members of the Nogales 4x4 Club plus a few more friends from the Orejanos 4x4 Club.
We departed around 10-11 AM. We only encounter one gate to access the land but it was open for our convenience. It took us only a few minutes to get there because there are a few dirt roads that almost get you there.
We got right to the point and we found a pile of rocks about couple feet off where my GPS was marking the exact location. This is OK due the tolerance of the readings.
List of visitors :
Emilio Garcia Sr.
Emilio Garcia Jr.
Andres Felix - Orejanos 4x4 Club
Ana Bujanda - Orejanos 4x4 Club
Christian Said - Orejanos 4x4 Club
Natalia Luke - Orejanos 4x4 Club
Arturo Arochi
Keino Symonds
Austreberto Garcia Sr.
Austreberto Garcia Jr.
Miguel Angel Cantu Sr.
Miguel Angel Cantu Jr.


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JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (April 17, 2007) - Members of the ETSU men's and women's basketball teams spent some time off the court Tuesday afternoon giving back to the community by participating at an All-Star Reading Night event at North Side Elementary in Johnson City.
Junior Jenny Norman (Peachtree City, Ga.), freshman Mike Smith (Vandalia, Mo.), and assistant coaches DeShawne Blocker and Will Bailey took part in the after school activity as they read their favorite children's story to a group of North Side students and their families.
"It's important for parents to find time and read to their children," said Blocker. "By doing so, it encourages them to learn more and also makes reading fun."
Three times a year the elementary school holds a family reading night, and this month they decided to add an athletic theme to the function. Coaches and players from ETSU and
Each student was given a scorecard before the activity, and after listening to a story they received a sticker to place on their card. When the students filled up the card they would take it to the library and turn it in for a book of their choice, which in return promoted more reading. The students also had opportunities to meet the athletes and coaches by receiving autographs and pictures.
"We were happy to have the schools join us today in reaching out to the children, and we hope this can start a partnership in the community," said North Side principal Richard Church. "We thought by bringing in role models such as the student-athletes and coaches, that it would generate more excitement for the children to read."
For more information on the ETSU Department of Intercollegiate Athletics' community service efforts, visit www.ETSUBucs.com.


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Good post. I had a conversation today with a prospective client who seems pretty savvy but is being pressured by his insurance agent to convert all or at least some of his term to whole life. Nothing wrong with whole life, but it is not appropriate for everyone. Even for those for whom it makes sense, it is important to look at their stage of life, cash flow, etc. before making the decision to purchase or convert.
The ability to access the cash value can be an excellent benefit of a policy, but this also needs to be managed. If too much is borrowed and the policy lapses the owner could face a large unexpected tax bill. Also the need for the full death benefit should be factored in as well.
Even as a financial planner i consider life insurance to be much more complicated than it needs to be.


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The ocean tides mirror life itself. Their ebb and flow pay homage to the cyclic nature of the cosmos along even the most secluded seashores. But is life itself also ultimately a fluke of the tides?
If so, life may ultimately owe its origins to our serendipitously large moon. The sun and wind also drive the ocean's oscillations, but it is the moon's gravitational tug that is responsible for the lion's share of this predictable tidal flux.
Our current Earth–moon system, according to the prevailing theory of lunar formation, reflects our solar system's early game of planetary billiards, when colliding planetary embryos created entirely new versions of themselves—in the case of our own planet, a disproportionately large natural satellite in close orbit.
It all started some 4.5 billion years ago when, as theory has it, our nascent Earth was blindsided by a Mars-size planetary embryo, believed to have spun Earth into its initial fast rotation of roughly 12 hours per day. The molten mantle thrown into orbit after the catastrophic lunar-forming impact quickly coalesced into our moon. Within a few thousand years, Earth cooled to an object with a molten surface and a steam atmosphere. Life emerged some 700 million years later, or about 3.8 billion years ago.
But four billion years ago a cooling Earth already had an ocean, but remained barren. The moon was perhaps half as distant as it is now, and as a result, the ocean tides were much more extreme.
At an average distance of 235,000 miles (380,000 kilometers), the moon is currently receding from Earth at a rate of 1.5 inches (3.8 centimeters) per year. As it does, Earth's own spin rate is slowing. And, in the process, roughly 1020 joules of gravitational energy is shed into the oceans annually.*
Over the eons, all that energy has had an evolutionary impact.
"The oceans' tidal flow helps transport heat from the equator to the poles," says Bruce Bills, a geodynamicist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "Without the lunar tides, it's conceivable that climate oscillations from the ice age to the interglacial would be less extreme than they are. Such glaciations caused migrations of animal and plant species that probably helped speed up speciation."
Bills also points out that such tidal heat transfer could have also mitigated climate fluctuations. The problem in determining which "tidal forcing" scenario is correct, he says, is that climate researchers currently lack data spanning extremely long timescales. Even so, Peter Raimondi, an ecologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, says the tools of evolution are also driven by the tides' influence on these intertidal regions.
"In a rocky intertidal area," Raimondi says, "it's very clear there are strong evolutionary pressures brought on by a changing environment over a short spatial scale. Without our moon, our marine environment would be much less rich in terms of species diversity."
But is the influence of the lunar tides actually responsible for life itself?
If life originated around deep ocean hydrothermal vents (so-called black smokers), then the lunar tides played a minor role, if any, says James Cowen, a biogeochemical oceanographer at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. If, however, life originated in tidal waters, he says, then tidal cycles could have played a major role.
*CORRECTION (4/23/09): An earlier version stated that three terawatts (3 TW) are shed into the oceans annually; 3 TW is the measure of the power dissipated continually.
Both DNA and RNA—the messengers of life as we know it—almost certainly were selected and evolved from a large diverse group of protonucleic acid molecules. But for DNA and RNA to evolve from this group of protonucleic acid structures, first they had to be able to replicate. That involved organizing their copying via cyclic assembly and dissociation.
"A lot of origin-of-life reactions involve getting rid of water," says Kevin Zahnle, a planetary scientist at the NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif. "So you look for means to concentrate your solutions. One way to do that is to throw water up on a hot rock, then have the waters recede and evaporate."
Molecular biologist Richard Lathe of Pieta Research, a biotech consultancy in Edinburgh, Scotland, contends that some 3.9 billion years ago, fast tidal cycling caused by the influence of our moon enabled the formation of precursor nucleic acids.
Lathe says that a 12-hour Earth day would have produced high tides "a little faster than every six hours."
He believes these lunar tides would have moved many miles inland, beyond the crashing waves driven by the sun or surface winds, and onto a vast, flat sandscape. Today, this sort of ocean cycling pervades the sandy flats surrounding France's famed tidal island of Mont-Saint-Michel, abutting the English Channel.
In the early Earth environment, Lathe notes that such fast lunar tidal oscillations would result in the highly saline low-tide environment that protonucleic acid fragments would have needed to associate and assemble complementary molecular strands.
Having bonded in pairs at low tide, these newly formed molecular strands would then dissociate at high tide, when salt concentrations were reduced, providing what Lathe terms a self-replicating system. Lathe believes that DNA would ultimately have arisen from such protonucleic acids.
If the lunar tides were a crucial part of evolution on our own planet, what of other ocean-bearing terrestrial planets without benefit of a significant nearby lunar neighbor? Would their prospects for life be diminished due to lack of tides?
"Odds of nucleic acids forming on Earth without the lunar tides would be much lower," Lathe says. By this accounting, he says that Mars, with its two puny moons, Deimos and Phobos, could not have formed life.
Within our own solar system, the moons of Jupiter have turned the idea of tidal influence on its head. On Jupiter's icy moon Europa, tidal heating, caused by the flexing of the satellite under the gravitational pull of the giant planet, is believed to maintain a large liquid water ocean below its frozen surface.
"Europa must have big tides, so it's my favorite for microbial life," says Max Bernstein, an astrochemist and program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. "Europa is considered by many as the best place to find life in the solar system."
But even with strong tides, any evolutionary ambitions of microbes on Europa would soon be stymied by their harsh habitat. That is one reason why so much time and energy still goes into unraveling the mystery of life's origins on our own planet.
Our disproportionately large nearby moon certainly gave Earth an early tidal nudge. But unlike Venus and Mars, our moon's gravitational influence also helped ensure that Earth's spin axis and climate remained stable over long timescales. That's arguably just as important as our oceans' tidal ebb and flow.
Still, as Bruce Lieberman, a paleobiologist at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, points out: "I suspect that eventually life would have made land without the tides. But the lineages that ultimately gave rise to humans were at first intertidal."


text:
Dodge traps and steal gold in this unique platformer. Introducing King of Thieves HTML5, the new game from the makers of award-winning Cut the Rope, loved by millions of players worldwide!STEAL SHINY THINGS. Collect gold and gems to become the wealthiest thief in the world!
Embed this game on your MySpace or on your Website:


text:
Brucknerhaus – Großer Saal
Program: Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37
Other Performers: Bruckner Orchestra Linz with
Dennis Russell Davies, Conductor
October 4, 2023
Seattle Symphony
Benaroya Hall
October 6, 2023
Philip Lorenz International Keyboard Concerts
Fresno, CA
October 8, 2023
Stanford Live
Bing Concert Hall
October 12, 2023
San Francisco Symphony
Davies Symphony Hall
HILLBORG Piano Concerto (SF Symphony commission and world premiere)
with Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor
October 13, 2023
October 14, 2023
October 25, 2023
Performance Santa Fe
Santa Fe, NM
recital with Camilla Tilling, soprano
October 29, 2023
Capitol Region Classical
Schenectady, NY
Artist-in-Residence: Emanuel Ax 2012/13.
Read more »
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4
Brahms: Music For 2 Pianos
Haydn: Piano Sonatas
Liszt: Piano Sonata in B Minor
Mendelssohn: Piano Trios
Strauss: Enoch Arden
Extract from masterclass given by Emanuel Ax on Beethoven Piano Sonatas and Variations. The student is Nicolas Van Poucke. The full masterclass is available on DVD from www.masterclassfoundation.org
© 2012 Emanuel Ax. Website by Lenny's Studio | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube


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take tee'sMonday, May 14, 2012
Amy would like to give my readers a 50% (!!!) discount. Enter the code afriendtoknitwith when checking out. You can order here.
6 comments
How nice of you to share the love of her business! I think I'd be a take control kind of girl as well. :)ReplyDelete
Actually take action is a better reminder for me. :)ReplyDelete
Really cute! I just ordered the chocolate brown v neck. I couldn't resist :DReplyDelete
Sweet! I just ordered a chocolate 'Take Control'. How nice of you to promote her (a 'Friend' indeed) and how nice of her to offer your readers such a generous discount.ReplyDelete


text:
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Seven Months of Bodhi Linux in Pictures
Bodhi 0.1.0 - Alpha 1
There is no doubting the look of our first alpha release was fairly bland (bad? awkward?). White on black on green on purple... What where we thinking?
This first Bodhi release happened on November 17th 2010. It was our latest release for four whole days and saw 539 downloads in that time.
Bodhi 0.1.1 and 0.1.2 - Alphas 2 and 3
Our look didn't change much here. In fact can you spot the only subtle difference between this image and the one above it?
Alpha 2 was our main release for 7 days and during this time it saw 1470 downloads. Alpha 3 had a shorter lifespan of just two days during which time it saw 423 downloads.
Bodhi 0.1.21 - Alpha 3.1
By our third alpha Bodhi had started getting some press. This "hot fix" release was designed to combat the number one issue most people had with our distro - it's look! Our default theme changed to a slightly more consistent looking black on green.
Alpha 3.1 served as our latest release for two weeks and snagged 1590 downloads during this time.
Bodhi 0.1.3 - Alpha 4
During our fourth alpha release Bodhi's look took a drastic 180. We went from a dark green to natural brown and wood tones. The default icon set also jumped from the default Gnome icons to the much over used Faenza icons.
This wooden Bodhi served as our latest release for twenty five days and saw 2,262 downloads in this time.
Bodhi 0.1.4 - Beta 1
Reviewers didn't like our dark green look and they didn't like our wood tone... What are we to do? Give the user a choice obviously! The theme wasn't the only thing we start giving the user a choice about though. Beta 1 was the first time we introduced the profile selection at startup. Each profile was offered with a "light" and "dark" option.
It seems while many people are wary of "alpha" software, "beta" does not scare so many away. Bodhi 0.1.4 received 5,090 downloads during the three weeks it was our main release.
Bodhi 0.1.5 - Release Candidate 1
The most notable change in our first release candidate is that two new profiles where added. One that had Ecomorph (compiz) enabled by default and one that was optimized for tablets/netbooks.
The download stats for the RC1 release where fairly close to the beta. 5,635 downloads in just nineteen days.
Bodhi 0.1.6 - Release Candidate 2
Our release candidate did away with having each profile offered in two different colors. This time around you simply had two screens to click through. The first offered you a choice of profiles and the second a choice of themes. The Luxe theme from the previous two releases stayed around and four other new themes (Beauty, Greyish, Mariad and Sky) appeared on the default disc. The default icon set also changed to the MaXo ReMix.
In twenty two days our first release candidate saw over double the downloads of our first beta. Bodhi 0.1.6 snagged 11,062 downloads while it was our main release.
Bodhi 0.1.7 - Release Candidate 3
Initially 0.1.7 was suppose to be our first "stable" release, but some unforeseen development issues lead to it simply being a second release candidate. The most notable changes here are the introduction of the ELFE launcher in the netbook profiles and the replacement of the Beauty theme with Brownish.
Our second release candidate saw 8,599 downloads in just two weeks time.
Bodhi 1.0.0 - Stable Release
Our stable release didn't bring any drastic changes with it. In fact from an end user stand point the only major change was the "Desktop" profile layout.
This was the big time though. All "developmental" tags where off of the distro and all bets where off. Our first stable release was our main version for two months, during which time it saw 25,136 downloads.
Bodhi 1.1.0 - Update Release 1
In between major releases Bodhi will be releasing "update" releases to keep software on the live CD current. The first of these is our current release and it brought with it some minor changes to the tablet interface and four new default themes (Ambient, Boox, Elegant and Moonlight).
This latest release is still racking up downloads as I type this - but it is well into the tens of thousands!
If you would like to see for yourself just how much our Bodhi releases have improved since past releases you can find an archive of all of our old releases on source forge. If you have ideas for further improvement we are always looking for user feedback and I welcome you to leave a comment below or sign up on our forums.
~Jeff Hoogland
15 comments:
is the difference in the first and second picture, the reflection looks brighter and more extended downward?ReplyDelete
I think the difference between Pictures 1 and 2 is that the volume indicator changed from a vertical meter to a speaker icon.ReplyDelete
Download numbers are important, but then the ISO on my hdd has self replicated on several pc. Good job JeffReplyDelete
For an e17 release I found Bodhi to be lack-luster. The lack of the special effects modules like fire, rain, peguins, etc. makes it "just another release." May as well be XFCE or, for that matter Gnome. Sorry, guys, but I'm not impressed and I even have it installed on my HD!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousJuly 7, 2011 at 7:39 AM
yea looks great,will it work with cheap wide screen laptops.?ReplyDelete
@Athenroy All those modules are just a few clicks away in the Bodhi repo. We just don't clutter the default disc with them as most people woll never use them.ReplyDelete
Great job Jeff and all the Bodhi team! I've always been a distro hopper switching distros every few weeks, but I've stuck with Bodhi since the first Beta came out. Really nice distro for anybody that is interested in trying out an E17 desktop. Thanks again Jeff.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousJuly 7, 2011 at 2:36 PM
Mr. Hoogland sir, my most vital question is, how does Starcraft II work with this distro?ReplyDelete
A bit snappier than on other Linux distros, but still slower than on Windows do to the use of Wine technology.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousJuly 8, 2011 at 10:05 AM
Thanks for your job I'm glad to have a so quick and very nice distro. It's what i'm looking for since a long time. Just a few little bug but nothing very bad. Good luck for next!ReplyDelete
Bernard from Belgium
- AnonymousJuly 29, 2011 at 12:32 AM
muy bella distro la mejor con e17,me recuerda a lubuntu con lxde, me he topado con algunos errores, pero se que lo van a mejorar. graciasReplyDelete
- AnonymousAugust 10, 2011 at 6:34 AM
hello Jeff,ReplyDelete
I have not tried bodhi yet but i'm more interested in speed and no clutter, as well as, ability to replace my ubuntu in terms of connectivity in a windows environment(drag an drop ontop of folders, accessing file shares, printing to network printers etc., can bodhi do all these seemlesly).
I must say thank you for your dedication that birthed bodhi. you are awesome. all the good comments must not be from stupid people.
Before i try it, one or two more questions :
1.) is bodhi a rolling release or do i have to reinstall for every new release?
2.) can the bodhi ARM work on atom tablets?
Bodhi is on a two year release cycle. We currently plan to move from one Ubuntu LTS to the next and we backport newer versions of all popular (and requested) software in the mean time so users stay up to date.ReplyDelete
Bodhi ARM packages will work on anything Debian ARM can be installed on. We will be working on fine tuning that process some in the coming year.
- AnonymousAugust 29, 2011 at 12:45 PM
Do the latest Catalyst drivers work with Bodhi? I've had a time finding distro's that work well on my AMD A6 based laptop.ReplyDelete
I can't say first hand as I do not give money to ATI as their Linux drivers are historically poor.ReplyDelete
Some of our users have reported success with their binary drivers after rolling back their kernel to the older 2.6.35 which we maintain in our repo.


text:
WASHINGTON (REUTERS) - US intelligence officials were considering on Tuesday whether to ask the Department of Justice to open a criminal investigation into the suspected leak of a classified counterterrorism document to a website, a US official familiar with the matter said.
The intelligence officials were preparing a criminal referral over the publication on The Intercept website of a document that provides a statistical breakdown of the types of people whose names and personal information appear on two government data networks listing people with supposed connections to militants, the official said.
The document was published by The Intercept on Tuesday, but because it was dated August 2013, some US media reports speculate that a second leaker besides former US spy agency contractor Edward Snowden had begun to send classified documents from inside the US intelligence community to the media.
An official familiar with the matter said, however, that the government does not know for sure that a second leaker exists.
The apparent leak involves information on the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment database (TIDE) and the Terrorist Screening Database, according to the document.
The document posted by The Intercept, a multi-coloured graphic classified "secret", says 680,000 names are "watchlisted" in the Terrorist Screening Database, an unclassified data network which is used to draw up more selective government watchlists.
It says 280,000 of the 680,000 people are described by the government as having "no recognised terrorist group affiliation". Around the same number of people on the list have suspected connections to several specific militant groups, including Al-Qaeda, Hamas and Hizbollah, it says.
The graphic says the more selective lists include a "no fly" list totalling 47,000 people who are supposed to be banned from air travel and a further "selectee list" of 16,000 people who are supposed to get extra screening by security personnel before being allowed to board aircraft.
The graphic says the screening database is in turn extracted from TIDE, a larger, ultra-classified database which contains 320,000 more names than the unclassified one, as well as raw intelligence information excluded from the screening system.
Because the graphic carries a "secret" classification, an official said, the agency which generated it, The National Counterterrorism Centre, is obliged to consider submitting a referral to the Department of Justice, which then can decide if a criminal investigation should be opened into the leak.
Snowden, who has worked closely with two founders of The Intercept, writer Glenn Greenwald and filmmaker Laura Poitras, left his post as a National Security Agency contractor in Hawaii in May of last year. He is not known to have had access to any secret materials since then.
Last month, The Intercept, which is financed by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, also published a lengthy document setting out the criteria and procedures by which names are placed into terrorist watchlist databases. That document was labelled "Unclassified/for official use only/sensitive security information".


text:
- Home
- Government
- Departments N - Z
- Public Safety Training Center
Cape May County Department of Public Safety Training Center
Located in the Crest Haven Complex, the center serves as a training facility for fire, police, rescue personnel and 911 dispatchers from the state of New Jersey.
In addition to classroom facilities, the center has two outdoor and one indoor firing range, a fire tower, a smoke house, burn building and pit for firefighting training.
In 2008 the 6,250 square foot block Fire Training Building/Garage was completed and dedicated to serve the firefighters of Cape May County. This structure consists of 3 equipment bays along with an equipment / teaching bay with bleacher seating, classroom and break room with a kitchen and restrooms. This building takes fire training to the next level. It provides live fire training as well as advanced pump operations which allows training to take place in all weather conditions.
National Pro Board Certification
The New Jersey Division of Fire Safety was formally approved by the ProBoard effective October 16, 2013. This National Accreditation is an honor for the state along with the Cape May County Fire Academy as we have become a member of the South Jersey Regional Training Academies (SJRTA). The Cape May County Fire Academy together with Camden, Atlantic, Gloucester, Salem and Cumberland County Fire Academies, have all become approved facilities.
We are now able to issue their certification to new Firefighters completing a Firefighter 1 training program at any of the above mentioned Academies.
The following programs are ProBoard Certified:
Firefighter 1
Firefighter 2
HM: Awareness
HM: Operations
Fire Instructor 1
Fire Instructor 2
Fire Officer 1
Fire Officer 2
Fire Academy Mission Statement
To serve Cape May County Safety Units in the highest level of excellence in training, investigation and service to our communities.
To serve Cape May County Safety Units in the highest level of excellence in training, investigation and service to our communities.


text:
A Man's Requirements by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Love me Sweet, with all thou art,
Feeling, thinking, seeing;
Love me in the lightest part,
Love me in full being.
Love me with thine open youth
In its frank surrender;
With the vowing of thy mouth,
With its silence tender.
Love me with thine azure eyes,
Made for earnest grantings;
Taking colour from the skies,
Can Heaven's truth be wanting?
Love me with their lids, that fall
Snow-like at first meeting;
Love me with thine heart, that all
Neighbours then see beating.
Love me with thine hand stretched out
Freely, open-minded:
Love me with thy loitering foot,
Hearing one behind it.
Love me with thy voice, that turns
Sudden faint above me;
Love me with thy blush that burns
When I murmur 'Love me!'
Love me with thy thinking soul,
Break it to love-sighing;
Love me with thy thoughts that roll
On through living, dying.
Love me in thy gorgeous airs,
When the world has crowned thee;
Love me, kneeling at thy prayers,
With the angels round thee.
Love me pure, as muses do,
Up the woodlands shady:
Love me gaily, fast and true,
As a winsome lady.
Through all hopes that keep us brave,
Farther off or nigher,
Love me for the house and grave,
And for something higher.
Thus, if thou wilt prove me, Dear,
Woman's love no fable,
I will love thee, half a year
As a man is able.


text:
SALE Bob Lilly Autograph 8x10 Photo Dallas Cowboys TCU CHOF Signed JSA COA
Regular price $ 69.99 Sale price$ 10.00 Save $ 59.99
Shipping calculated at checkout.
- International Shipping is Available
- Low stock - 2 items left
- Inventory on the way
Bob Lilly Autograph 8x10 Photo
This item was authenticated by JSA COA. The item will come inside a new plastic top loader. As well as the matching JSA COA card.
We offer multiple options for shipping. USPS 2-3 Priority and First Class Shipping.
Social Media:
Make sure to follow us on Instagram @ZobieProductions or Like our Facebook page to stay up to date with our upcoming signings.


text:
IPv4枯竭計數器 (繁體中文)
INTEC Inc. provides a blogpart version of "IPv4枯竭計數器" that visualize the status of IPv4 address exhaustion. This blogpart is licensed under aCreative Commons License [Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.1 Japan].
|"IPv4枯竭計數器" is a blogpart that visualize the status of IPv4 address exhaustion which mashed up with the information provided by each RIR and "IPv4 Address Report" researched by Mr. Geoff Huston of APNIC.
|Please copy a following deployment code (HTML tag) into design template or entry of your blog page, and HTML file of your Web page.
|[Deployment Code]
It shows the X-day and unallocated IPv4 address blocks in each RIR(Regional Internet Registry).
The X-day of exhaustion RIR is displayed in red.
It shows whether you access via IPv4 or IPv6.
Ref:IANA What is RIR?
|Please use a following deployment code (HTML tag) for IPv4枯竭計數器 (IANA).
|⋅The contents or design of this tool may change/terminate without notice.
⋅This tool can't deploy on other sites that infringe the rights of any other entity, or offend public order and morals.
⋅We may use access information for research and analysis.However, we do not get personal information.
IPv4枯竭計數器 (RIR)
IPv4枯竭計數器 (IANA)
COPYRIGHT©2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 INTEC Inc. All Rights Reserved.


text:
Time Magazine hit newsstands this week with the U.S. cover featuring Kim Jong Un, the young newly crowned leader of North Korea, who Time dubs Lil' Kim. The same cover appeared in Europe and the South Pacific. But in Asia, the phenomenon known as Linsanity took the cover with Kim Jong Un relegated to the inside of the mag. Yes, Jeremy Lin after starting a grand total of five games for the New York Knicks made the cover of Time.
Lin, of course, made the cover of Sports Illustrated this week. He made the non-swimsuit edition at least with the swimsuit issue featuring a curvier Kate Upton. SI makes sense, but Time? Is Linsanity really that big?
Kobe Bryant has never been on the cover of Time. Same goes for Derek Jeter, Peyton Manning and just about every other active athlete in professional sports today. LeBron James made the cover as part of Time's preview of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. The Olympics are one of the only times that Time puts a sports subject on the cover with Bode Miller, Michael Johnson (twice) and Carl Lewis making the cut.
There are a couple of other instances athletes on the cover in recent years. Soccer got the nod as a preview to the 2010 World Cup. A celebrating Jason Varitek and Keith Foulke were chosen after the Boston Red Sox won the title in 2004. The Williams sisters made a 2001 cover for their incredible story and rise to the top of tennis. Football, the most popular sport in the U.S., has been the cover subject just once the past 25 years in a 2010 feature on the dangers of the game with an image of a deflated ball.
It wasn't always that way. Time used to feature sports a lot on the front during its nearly 90-year history. A Super Bowl preview appeared on the cover three times during the 1970s. There were 10 baseball covers during the 1950s. Golfer Bobby Jones appeared on two covers in 1925 and 1930 (Tiger Woods made it in 2000). The athlete on the cover the most times is O.J. Simpson with six appearances. Of course, none of those were during his record-breaking playing days with the Buffalo Bills.
Congratulations Jeremy. You have now made the cover of Time the same number of times as Michael Jordan. Linsanity reigns on.


text:
A foraminotomy is a surgical procedure that targets the area where nerve roots exit the spinal canal to relieve pressure and other build-up that is causing pain. It is most commonly used on patients who have a condition known as foraminal spinal stenosis.
The spinal cord connects the nerves that stretch all across the body. To reach the extremities, smaller nerves thread through openings in the spinal canal around the vertebrae. However, the vertebrae may become misaligned, causing the nerve openings, or foramina, to narrow. This creates pressure to build up around the spinal canal or around nerves extending out from it and may lead to chronic, shooting back pain.
A foraminotomy can be performed open-back or endoscopically. Endoscopic foraminotomies are less invasive, minimally scarring, and faster in recovery; open back foraminotomies are employed for more severe cases of back pain and are more invasive and require longer recovery times.
Conditions Treated by Foraminotomy
Foraminal spinal stenosis, a condition in which the openings between the spinal cord and the extremities narrow, is the primary situation in which a patient would receive a foraminotomy.
Other symptoms and condition that could be treated through a foraminotomy include:
- Chronic back and neck pain
- Numbness or pain in any part of the body
- Tingling "pins and needles" sensation
- General fatigue
- Muscle weakness
You will need to have an MRI or X-ray scan to determine if you need a foraminotomy. The doctor will see that your bones or cartilage from damaged spinal discs are causing undue pressure on your spinal nerve. The surgery's main goal is to remove any unwanted bone or cartilage.
The Process
A foraminotomy proceeds as follows:
- Depending on whether you're doing an open-back or endoscopic procedure, you may or may not receive anesthesia as the procedure begins. An open-back foraminotomy will require a general anesthesia, whereas an endoscopic procedure will only require a local anesthesia.
- The surgeon will make an opening on your back and push aside your skin, muscles and ligaments to operate on the affected vertebra and nerve.
- The surgeon will then clean the neural foramen with irrigation and a laser. This will remove the build-up. The build-up will commonly consist of a disc fragment, scar tissue, excess ligament or even a bone spur.
- The surgeon may perform a spinal fusion to fuse your vertebrae together with bone grafts or metal rods.
- Finally, the surgeon will put your muscles and ligaments back into place and stitch your skin back together.
After the foraminotomy has been completed, you may need to take several days or several weeks to recover, depending on the extent of your procedure. Endoscopic procedures take less time to heal, while open-back procedures may take a month or more of physical therapy, pain medication and rest.
Contact your physician for a consultation on receiving a foraminotomy. The doctor should perform all necessary tests to determine if the surgery could be a possible solution to your back pain.


text:
Young White Gyrfalcon
Gyrfalcon in a dive
Gray Gyrfalcon
White gyrfalcon on black
Gyrfalcon banking
Gyrfalcon going vertical
A white gyrfalcon in all its glory
Classic Gyrfalcon Pose
Gyr in a dive
A trained gyrfalcon stooping.
White Gyrfalcon
Adult White Gyrfalcon
White Gyrfalcon (c)
White Gyrfalcon (C)
Gyrfalcon on the move
Young Grey Gyrfalcon, Alaska
Adult White Gyrfalcon (c)
Grey Gyrfalcon
Grey Gyrfalcon with the Sun Setting in his eyes.
A young silver gyrfalcon in flight.
A young gyrfalcon trying to balance on its perch.
Immature Grey Gyrfalcon photographed in north western Alaska
A young Grey Gyrfalcon on a very small perch considering this is a big female.


text:
Hasbro Family Game Night 3
The Games on Demand version supports English, French, Spanish. Download the manual for this game by locating the game on http://marketplace.xbox.com and selecting "See Game Manual". FAMILY GAME NIGHT 3 The third installment in the successful HASBRO FAMILY GAME NIGHT video game series delivers another great lineup of time-tested favorite Hasbro game brands. Featuring digital versions of both classic and remixed versions, players can spin the wheel of fate in THE GAME OF LIFE, find out "whodunit" in CLUE, tie themselves in knots with TWISTER, trigger chain reactions in MOUSE TRAP, and try their hand at YAHTZEE HANDS DOWN. Online play takes the entertainment and competition to an entirely new level. (Online Interactions Not Rated by the ESRB)
- Sumo Digital
- Electronic Arts Inc.
- Family, Card & Board
- Offline players 2 - 4
- Online multiplayer 2 - 4


text:
Failed Bank Information
Information for Bank of Clark County, Vancouver, WA
- Introduction
- Press Release
- Is My Account Fully Insured?
- Acquiring Financial Institution
- Question and Answer Guide
- Banking Services
- Loan Customers
- Possible Claims Against the Failed Institution
- Priority of Claims
- Dividend Information
- Brokered Deposits
- Purchase and Assumption Agreement - PDF
- Balance Sheet Summary
Please be advised you will not receive any email notification to claim/unlock/unsuspend your account or to provide any private information. Please be aware of any Phishing Scams to obtain information from you.
I. Introduction
On January 16, 2009, Bank of Clark County, Vancouver, WA was closed by the Washington Department of Financial Institutions and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was named Receiver. No advance notice is given to the public when a financial institution is closed.
The FDIC has assembled useful information regarding your relationship with this institution. Besides a checking account, you may have Certificates of Deposit, a car loan, a business checking account, a commercial loan, a Social Security direct deposit, and other relationships with the institution. The FDIC has compiled the following information which should answer many of your questions.
II. Press Release
The FDIC has issued a press release (PR-006-2009) about the institution's closure. If you represent a media outlet and would like information about the closure, please contact LaJuan Williams-Young at 202-898-3876.
III. Is My Account Fully Insured?
This link will allow you to verify the insurance status of each of your accounts. This link will be available for use no later than the first business day after bank failure.
Simply enter your account number in the search screen. If you receive the message that "your account is fully insured" a link will appear that provides you with additional information. If you receive the message that you should contact the FDIC, then a link will appear that provides you contact information.
IV. Acquiring Financial Institution
All insured non-brokered deposit accounts have been transferred to Umpqua Bank, Roseburg, OR ("assuming institution") and will be available immediately. On Tuesday, January 20, 2009, the former Bank of Clark County locations will reopen as branches of Umpqua Bank.
Principal and interest on insured accounts, through January 16, 2009, are fully insured by the FDIC, up to the insurance limit of $250,000. You will receive full payment for your insured account. Certain entitlements and different types of accounts can be insured for more than the $250,000 limit. IRA funds are insured separately from other types of accounts, up to a $250,000 limit.
All interest bearing accounts that exceed the $250,000 insurance limit, and/or all interest bearing accounts that appear to be related and exceed this limit, are reviewed by the FDIC to determine their ownership and insurance coverage. If you think you might have uninsured deposits you should call the FDIC Call Center to arrange for a telephone interview with a Claims Agent at (888) 206-4662. The Claim Agent may direct you to download and submit a particular form that will assist in expediting the processing of your claim.
List of Affidavits, Declarations, and Forms available for download
If it is determined that you have uninsured funds, the FDIC will generate and mail to you a Receiver Certificate. This certificate entitles you to share proportionately in any funds recovered through the disposal of the assets of Bank of Clark County. This means that you will eventually recover some of your uninsured funds.
To find out more about FDIC Deposit Insurance:
- Visit EDIE the FDIC's Electronic Deposit Insurance Estimator
- View the FDIC Deposit Insurance Coverage Video
Checks that were drawn on Bank of Clark County will be honored up to your available balance or the insured amount. You may withdraw funds from any transferred account without an early withdrawal penalty until you enter into a new deposit agreement with your new bank. A hold may be in place on deposit accounts due to delinquent loans where the depositor is the borrower or guarantor. Additionally, any account pledged as collateral for a loan will be held. You may view more information about Umpqua Bank by visiting their web site.
Umpqua Bank (www.umpquabank.com)
VI. Banking Services
The Automated Teller Machines (ATM) will remain available.
Online services will resume on Monday, January 19, 2009.
On Tuesday, January 20, 2009, you may continue to use all other services to which you previously had access, such as, safe deposit boxes, night deposit boxes, wire services, etc.
Your checks will be processed as usual. All outstanding checks will be paid against your available insured balance(s) as if no change had occurred. Your new bank will contact you soon regarding any changes in the terms of your account. If you have a problem with a merchant refusing to accept your check, please contact your branch office. An account representative will clear up any confusion about the validity of your checks.
All interest accrued through Friday, January 16, 2009, will be paid at your same rate. Umpqua Bank will be reviewing rates and will provide further information soon. You will be notified of any changes.
Your automatic direct deposit(s) and/or automatic withdrawal(s) will be transferred automatically to your new bank. If you have any questions or special requests, you may contact a representative of your assuming institution at your branch office.
VII. Loan Customers
If you had a loan with Bank of Clark County, you should continue to make your payments as usual. The terms of your loan will not change under the terms of the loan contract because they are contractually agreed to in your promissory note with the failed institution. Checks should be made payable as usual and sent to the same address until further notice. If you have further questions regarding an existing loan, you may call 1-800-822-9247.
For all questions regarding new loans and the lending policies of Umpqua Bank, please contact your branch office.
VIII. Possible Claims Against the Failed Institution
If you or your company provided a service or product, leased space, furniture, or equipment to the Bank of Clark County after Friday, January 16, 2009 and have not been paid you do not have a claim against the Bank of Clark County. Please follow your normal billing procedures by providing an invoice as instructed.
Claims against failed financial institutions occur when bills sent to the institution remain unpaid at the time of failure. If you or your company provided a service or product, leased space, furniture, or equipment to the Bank of Clark County prior to Friday, January 16, 2009 and have not been paid you may be entitled to a claim against the bank. If you provided a product to or a service for the Bank of Clark County prior to the bank's failure for which you have not been paid and you have not received communication, please contact the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation at the address below.
FDIC as Receiver for Bank of Clark County
1601 Bryan Street
Dallas, TX 75201
(888) 206-4662
IX. Priority of Claims
In accordance with Federal law, allowed claims will be paid, after administrative expenses, in the following order of priority:
- Depositors
- General Unsecured Creditors
- Subordinated Debt
- Stockholders
IX. Dividend Information
XI. Brokered Deposits
The FDIC offers a reference guide to deposit brokers acting as agents for their investor clientele. This site outlines the FDIC's policies and procedures that must be followed by deposit brokers when filing for pass-through insurance coverage on custodial accounts deposited in a failed FDIC Insured Institution.
Deposit Broker Processing Guide


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Posted by Editor on 04/7/10
Once again, it is time for the Classics Fantasy Tour - Sponsored by Specialized!
So far, we have nearly 100 teams registered for the the Classics Fantasy Tour, but registration closes April 10th at 5:00 pm EDT, so don't delay in signing up.
This year, the Fantasy Tour will run in two installments: the Spring Classics AND the two new Canadian additions to the ProTour calendar, which will take place in Quebec City (September 10th) and Montreal (September 12th).
As always, Specialized has donated generous prizes, totaling over $4000, with the Grand Prize a choice of a Specialized Tarmac Elite Bicycle ($2589), Roubaix Elite Bicycle ($2589) or women's Ruby Elite C2 Bicycle ($2509).
Intermediate prizes will be awarded at the end of the Spring Classics to the three leaders in the Pool, and overall prizes after the final two Canadian ProTour events.
Registration and team selection is open until April 10th at 5:00 pm EDT, and you are allowed to select up to five teams.
The 2010 Canadian Cyclist Classics Fantasy Tour - Sponsored by Specialized consists of the following events:
1. March 20 - Milan-San Remo
2. March 28 - Gent-Wevelgem
3. April 4 - Tour of Flanders
4. April 11 - Paris-Roubaix
5. April 18 - Amstel Gold
6. April 21 - Fleche Wallonne
7. April 25 - Liege-Bastogne-Liege
8. September 10 - GP Cycliste de Québec
9. September 12 - GP Cycliste de Montréal
To enter, click on the Fantasy League button in the navigation bar at the top of the website, read the rules carefully and then click on the add teams link at the top. If you are registering, you will be taken to a page to sign up. If you have already registered, you can sign in and modify your squad.
|Return to Cycling 4 Women homepage | Return to Canadian Cyclist homepage | Back to Top


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More than two years after Ingrid Betancourt was freed in a daring raid by an undercover Colombian military squad dressed as humanitarian workers, one of the world's highest profile former hostages has delivered a potent testimonial on surviving the unimaginable.
Her new memoir, Even Silence Has an End, is a stunning exploration of the human ability to transcend a seemingly endless imprisonment at the hands of sadistic captors with a penchant for self-delusion. Her experience was, she explained in an exclusive pre-publication interview published by France's Nouvel Observateur magazine, a "medieval tutorial in slavery."
The 2008 rescue of the Colombian-born Betancourt spurred a wave of exaltation across the world, and led her to meet with national leaders, as well as the pope before she suddenly retreated from the public eye.
"I had decided that they would not hurt me. Whatever happened, they would not touch the essence of who I was."
After half a year spent rebuilding a relationship with her two children who had grown up in her six-year absence, she sat down with a pen and paper, and wrote this strikingly intimate and unflinching book over the last 18 months. As she sifted through her trauma, she gradually managed to convey the great emotional cost of her captivity in nomadic prison camps deep in rebel-held portions of Colombia's tropical rainforest. She was physically and mentally tortured, and often chained. She is convinced that the FARC rebel movement never had any intention of letting her go. She became, as she pointed out in the interview, "some sort of fetish object" for the FARC.
The strikingly blunt 544-page book begins with Betancourt on a mad-dash nighttime run toward escape. It is one of the many times when she tried, and as with all of the other times, she failed. The punishment was brutal. She was beaten, chained at the neck like a dog, and sexually abused. "I could feel I was being assaulted, driven to convulsions, as if borne away by a high-speed train," she writes early in the book. "I don't think I lost consciousness, but although I suppose I had my eyes open wide, the blows I'd received no longer allowed me to see. My body and my heart were frozen during the short span of an eternity."
Betancourt's unsparing early account makes for tough reading, but she consciously decided to share the most difficult subject matter early in the book. As she told Nouvel Obs, "After that, I felt relieved and I was less afraid of writing."
That isn't to suggest that the rest of her captivity was easy. There was the ever-looming specter of death, whether spoken in words or gestured with machine guns. There were the perpetual tribulations of a prisoner's life in a tropical rainforest, the daily cruelty of her captors, and the challenges of trying not to transfer anger from abusive guards on to other captives, especially her former presidential campaign manager and cage-mate Clara Rojas.
On top of that, the rebels manipulated their captives to divide them and keep them in submission. "Our captors inundated us with deceitful information with the goal of creating conflict among prisoners. It was abominable," she told Nouvel Obs. "Even if we were conscious of the manipulation, it was very hard to detach ourselves from that because we were so burned out."
It was often almost impossible to ascertain the motives of her captors. At one point, a guard let Betancourt get ahold of a month-old newspaper—that included her father's obituary. Was it an act of relative kindness or a plant aimed at breaking her spirit? It didn't matter. She was crushed.
Still, the book is largely a stirring account of ways to keep the heart, soul, and body going when the time for reasonable hope has passed. In Betancourt's case, that amounted to creating small rituals to give structure to life, and reading the few books that she had access to, including a dictionary and the Bible. "I had decided that they would not hurt me. Whatever happened, they would not touch the essence of who I was," she writes. "I had to cling to this fundamental truth. If I could remain inaccessible, I might avoid the worst."
She harvested reserves within herself that she didn't know existed. She sometimes found strength in blunt opposition, as when she told a rebel commander who wore a jaguar tooth necklace that he shouldn't kill an endangered creature. At other times, she found an unexpected reservoir in surviving her own submission. "I observed myself from within, measuring my strength and resistance not according to my ability to fight back but rather to submit to those blows," she wrote, "like a ship that is battered by the tides yet will not sink."
Her nightmare began on February 23, 2002, when her military escort was likely stripped from her by the sitting president's office as she prepared to campaign for the presidency on behalf of the Green Oxygen party in an area that she had visited many times. A government invitation to fly there in a helicopter was rescinded at the last moment, so she went in a car, as usual, albeit without protection. Soon after, an impromptu roadblock of armed men stopped her car. She had joined the ranks of thousands of FARC prisoners.
Perhaps more than anything, Betancourt's story of survival can be seen as a battle to retain one's humanity. She had to find reasons to endure it all. Sometimes that involved scanning Colombian radio, when she was granted access, for her mother's daily message.
Or by creating an "inner dialogue" that involved putting her most intimate thoughts down on paper, when she was given a pen. After two writings were confiscated, she continued, but began to systematically burn her accounts immediately after finishing it, to deny her captors a window into her mind. Still, as she noted in the Nouvel Obs interview, that acted as a de facto practice run for this book.
And it was this book that Betancourt dreamt of writing while imprisoned. A book that would explain to her children and her mother what had happened, and testify to the horrors that she and thousands of other hostages endured—and still endure—in Colombia. It was that dream that kept her focused in captivity on plotting her next flight, by obsessing over each crucial small step, from hiding a machete to secreting food, pills, that got her closer to freedom (or the illusion of it).
Freedom has brought surprises, though. There was her high-profile divorce from a man who, she concludes, surely believed she had died. She no longer had a home, a job, an income, or even a clear daily purpose in life. The regimented days of a hostage suddenly gave way to a disorienting and floating sort of freedom. She had to find her pathway in life.
She has been getting to know her children, who grew up in her absence. The former hostage has been living part-time in New York, where her daughter is a film student at NYU, and in Paris, where her son lives (and where her mother has moved from Colombia).
To her surprise, Betancourt has discovered that communicating her experiences directly to her family was impossible. Trauma is rarely processed so neatly. "I was completely unable to," she told Nouvel Obs. But after 18 months of writing and editing, she has delivered her testimonial to them—and to us.
In her memoir, Betancourt notes that she didn't want to leave the jungle as a bitter and hateful old former hostage. "Yes, we were all at the end of our rope," she told Nouvel Obs. "When I say that, I have a very great guilt complex because I know that 15 of my companions are still there. They are still attached to that rope, and it is getting longer, and they are still holding on."
Plus: Check out Book Beast, for more news on hot titles and authors and excerpts from the latest books.
Eric Pape has reported on Europe and the Mediterranean region for Newsweek since 2003. He is co-author of the graphic novel Shake Girl, which was inspired by one of his articles. He has written for the Los Angeles Times magazine, Spin, Reader's Digest, Vibe, Courrier International, Salon, and Los Angeles from five continents. He is based in Paris. Follow him at twitter.com/ericpape.


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Located in the heart of Abilene, TX, the leading chiropractic professionals at Abilene Chiropractic are dedicated to helping you achieve your wellness objectives -- combining skill and expertise that spans the entire chiropractic wellness spectrum. Dr. Jacqueline Weaver is committed to bringing you better health and a better way of life by teaching and practicing the true principles of chiropractic wellness care.
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If you are new to our website, please feel free to discover and learn about chiropractic wellness. If you are interested in starting your journey towards wellness please subscribe to our award winning newsletter. If you are already a newsletter subscriber, please explore the member wellness section of our website for wellness articles, resources, and health facts---specifically targeted by Dr. Jacqueline Weaver to your wellness needs and interests.


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Featured News - Current News - Archived News - News Categories
The Historic Riviera Theatre presents the 1922 silent movie "Sherlock Holmes" accompanied by organist Steven Ball and the Mighty Wurlitzer on Wednesday, Nov. 7, at 7:30 p.m., at 67 Webster St., North Tonawanda.
When a young prince is accused of a crime that could embroil him in international scandal, debonair super-sleuth Sherlock Holmes comes to his aid, and quickly discovers that behind the incident lurks a criminal mastermind eager to reduce Western civilization to anarchy. John Barrymore stars in one of his most prestigious early roles, and includes the screen debuts of William Powell ("The Thin Man") and Roland Young ("Topper"). The concert will include the silent movie.
Ticket prices are $10 for adults. Students under the age of 18 are admitted free.
For further information, call the Riviera Theatre box office at 716-692-2413 (weekdays) or visitwww.rivieratheatre.org.


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Billy Hallowell theblaze.com
"LOS ANGELES (AP) — In therapy sessions, the priest confessed the shocking details he'd kept hidden for years: He had molested more than 100 boys, including his 5-year-old brother. He had sex with male prostitutes, and frequented gay strip clubs.
The admissions of the Rev. Ruben Martinez are included among nearly 2,000 pages of secret files unsealed Wednesday that were kept on priests, brothers and nuns who belonged to religious orders but were accused of child molestation while working within the Los Angeles archdiocese.
The papers, which were released under the terms of a $660 million settlement agreement reached in 2007, are the first glimpse at what religious orders knew about the men and women they posted in Roman Catholic schools and parishes in the Los Angeles area. The archdiocese itself released thousands of pages under court order this year for its own priests who were accused of sexual abuse, but the full picture of the problem remained elusive without the orders' records. Several dozen more files are expected to be released by the fall.The documents cover five different religious orders that employed 10 priests or religious brothers and two nuns who were all accused in civil lawsuits of molesting children. Among them, the accused had 21 alleged victims between the 1950s and the 1980s.
Some of the files released Wednesday, including those of the nuns, don't mention sexual abuse at all, and others appear to have large gaps in time and missing documents. The release included documents from the Oblates, the Marianists, the Benedictines and two orders for religious sisters.
That the files don't reflect some of the alleged abuse doesn't mean it didn't happen, said Ray Boucher, lead attorney for some abuse victims. "Much of this went unreported. You're talking about kids that were terrorized and frightened in so many different ways, with no place and no one to turn to."
The Los Angeles archdiocese settled eight lawsuits over Martinez's actions in 2007, but had little documentation on him in its own files even though the priest worked in its parishes for years in the 1970s and 1980s.
However, his order file includes graphic details described in therapy notes and psychiatric evaluations. It also reveals the years of effort – and tens of thousands of dollars – the Oblates spent trying to cure him of his self-admitted pedophilia as it shuttled him between programs, including inpatient treatment.
In 1965, Martinez took his final vows for a religious order called the U.S. Province of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, a nearly 200-year-old Catholic organization with roots in France. In 1969, he was ordained as a priest and assigned by his order to a small parish in Brawley, Calif.
In a 1993 psychiatric report – one of several such evaluations done between 1991 and 2005 by various treatment programs – the priest admitted to molesting children beginning in 1970, when he began playing "giddy up" games with young boys on his lap. In the documents, Martinez says he stopped "direct sexual contact" with boys after a mother complained to a pastor in 1982 and that he stopped touching boys altogether after another complaint in 1986.
It's unclear whether his religious order or the archdiocese was aware of those complaints, but around the same time as the first complaint, Martinez began weekly therapy sessions. He entered a counseling program for people with sexual compulsions after the second complaint in 1986.In 1991, he received five months of inpatient psychological treatment from a center in Jemez Springs, New Mexico that specialized in treating troubled priests.
Upon his release, Martinez was assigned to a tiny parish in the remote town of Westmorland, Calif., in the far southeastern corner of the state. While there, he would drive miles to San Diego to pick up male prostitutes, according to his file.
He was removed from parish ministry in 1993, enrolled in a sex offender program and sent to live and work at the order's California headquarters in Oakland after another complaint surfaced from his past. For the rest of his career, he filled administrative roles.
Calls to the U.S. Province of the Oblates and emails to two attorneys representing Martinez and the three other Oblate priests whose files were released were not returned. Attorneys for the Benedictines and Marianists and a representative from the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus also did not return calls.
Carolina Guevara, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles archdiocese, did not address the current file release specifically but said religious orders are expected to make sure the priests they present for ministry in the archdiocese don't have any history of sex abuse.
One man who sued over Martinez's abuse told The Associated Press that the priest molested children after he was assigned to his hometown parish in Wilmington, a working-class city south of Los Angeles, in 1972. The man, now 50, requested anonymity because he is well-known in his professional life and has not spoken publicly about his case before. The AP does not publish the names of victims of sexual abuse without their consent.
"He would have us wrestle each other and then wrestle with him, which means we'd get down into our skivvies and he'd take pictures of us. He was always taking pictures," the man said. "I just remember the smell of the old Polaroid flash cubes. He would go through them like crazy."
The man received a settlement in 2007 from the archdiocese. Martinez was never charged criminally; most of his alleged abuses weren't reported until years later.
The man said Martinez always had a group of young boys around him and would take them to see R-rated movies and on group trips. One summer day, he recalled, the priest took six boys to a local amusement park, but stopped on the way at an apartment where another man lived. Martinez and the man went inside with one of the boys and left the other five in the car for several hours. When the trio came back, the boy was sobbing and didn't stop for hours.
Martinez, now 72, has a most recent address at the Oblate Mission House in Oakland, Calif. No one answered the door there and a call was not returned on Wednesday. A receptionist at a Missouri retreat home for troubled priests – another possible place where Martinez could be living – would not say if he was there.
"I don't know who else has time to monitor him, or to what `safe' place we could assign him," the Rev. Charles Banks, the vicar provincial and director of personnel for the Oblates wrote in an exasperated memo in 2003.
The file shows that Martinez was sent to the Missouri retreat home for troubled priests in 2005. In a psychiatric assessment dated that same year, Martinez said he hadn't had sexual contact with a child in 23 years and had learned to control his impulses. The same report notes that at age 13, Martinez sexually molested his little brother and went on to molest "about 100 male minors" – a detail also included in several others therapy evaluations in the file.
"It has not been easy to face what I did, to admit it and to talk about it with others," Martinez wrote to the order's provincial in 2006. "I have had to deal with depression, self-hatred, the inability and unwillingness to forgive myself, and the desire and tendency to isolate."
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We're Going Local
Freelancers and employers can now work together on location-specific jobs!
Freelancers and employers can now work together on location-specific jobs!
Freelancer.com has hit 30 million users, and to celebrate we're offering a share of $5,000 in prizes for amazing projects and the people behind them.
Freelancer.com has officially hit 30 million registered users, a major milestone for each and every person in the Freelancer.com global community.
Details of the new Project Management service, the latest upgrade available for employers that want to ensure success for larger projects.
In order to achieve success on Freelancer.com, you really need to nail your profile. Here's how to do it.
Watch some of the most fantastic entries from the past Expose Our Logo challenges.
Tips on how to win big in the Expose Our Logo 2017 competition
Right after reaching its 25 million users milestone, Freelancer.com wins big in the 2017 International Business Awards.
Freelancers designed their weapon ideas for Wonder Woman
What you need to know about the Freelancer Corporate Membership
The Freelancer Rewards program is an exciting way to increase your chances of winning projects and boost your earning potential.
Must-have Freelancer apps to help maximize your productivity
How Recruiters find the freelancer that perfectly matches your project
Follow this guide on how to have a profile page that earns employer's trust
Need help with your Valentine's Day plans? Hire a local freelancer to get things done.
Опубликуйте статью о Сообществе Freelancer и обретите известность


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After numerous scientific experts went on record supporting authenticity of Meier's physical UFO evidence, extraordinary efforts at damage control were undertaken by governmental and media agencies, according to U.S. media rep
Playa Del Rey, CA (Vocus) October 12, 2010
Recently published information from Gary Kinder's Open Letter to the UFO Community shows that among the stellar scientists and experts who first found for the authenticity of Billy Meier's UFO photos, films and other evidence were Michael Malin, Robert Post, Marcel Vogel, David Froning and others.
According to Michael Horn, U.S. media representative for the Meier case, the scientific support was not only unprecedented but posed unique problems for governmental and media agencies. "Consider that you had major scientists like Malin saying, 'I find the photographs themselves credible, they're good photographs. They appear to represent a real phenomenon,' while he naturally found it hard to accept that 'some farmer in Switzerland is on a first name basis with dozens of aliens who come to visit him…' Similar opinions were expressed by Robert Post of JPL, who said, 'From a photography standpoint, you couldn't see anything that was fake about the Meier photos. That's what struck me. And of course Marcel Vogel's conclusion that, even with all of the resources of IBM available to him, he couldn't duplicate the metal samples given to Meier by the extraterrestrials.'"
Horn said that Kinder, who was a skeptic about the Meier case when he began his research, apparently foresaw the likelihood that the various scientific experts could later regret being so candid about their findings. "Threats regarding withdrawal of funding could be used to get them to distance themselves from something as controversial as a UFO case. So Kinder, who is also a lawyer, made sure that each expert read and then signed off on their statements before publication in his book, Light Years."
Damage control from the powers that be reportedly took the form of enlisting UFO organizations, like MUFON, to ignore, suppress or actively discredit the Meier case. According to Horn, "The fact that they, and almost all other such groups, still steadfastly refuse to discuss, research or take a position on it seems to bear out that theory. And considering the overwhelming scientific corroboration for Meier's information, one has to wonder why these groups waste their time chasing lights in the sky. While it's too late for the scientists to disavow their expert opinions in favor of the case, MUFON is not similarly burdened because of their own lack of any such scientific credibility."
See also:
The Meier Contacts – The Key to Our Future Survival


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Video: The Day After Sandy in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn
Remarkably, my waterside neighborhood in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn did not suffer the extensive flooding or power outages many of my friends and colleagues in the New York area are going through right now. Here's the scene from our local pier, which was underwater last night at high tide.
Nathan Golia is senior editor of Insurance & Technology. He joined the publication in 2010 as associate editor and covers all aspects of the nexus between insurance and information technology, including mobility, distribution, core systems, customer interaction, and risk ... View Full Bio