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|We sincerely welcome you to visit any Tzu Chi office and join us as a part of Tzu Chi's Great Love.
|Be a Volunteer
Join us in creating a better world!
We hope the information on this web site has introduced you to Tzu Chi and its functions. We also hope that you will spread the joy of knowing Tzu Chi to all your friends, and invite them to join us in bringing warmth to society and creating a better world.
For volunteering opportunities, please contact your nearest Tzu Chi office.
More informaton:
|Make a Donation
Wanting to help others but don't know how? Or, because of your busy lifestyle, you haven't got down to do it? Don't let it slip away. Seize the moment of kind thoughts. And follow this easy way of helping others.
Be a Tzu Chi member and donate monthly in support of Tzu Chi's Missions. Amount to be donated is flexible. Your donations to Tzu Chi are tax-deductible and you can expect a tax-deductible receipt. Your company might have a corporate gift matching program (company matching % of your donation). Please inquire with your company's HR department.
Phone: +886-3-8266779 ext. 223/224
E-mail: [email protected]
How to donate:
1. Online Donation
2. Find the local office near you: click here
3. Post office (Taiwan only)
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Account number: 06887791
|Donate Bone Marrow
It doesn't hurt to save a life!
When one is struck by leukemia, a bone marrow transplant may be the last resort to save his/her life. For such patients, time runs out quickly and a compatible donor match must be found as soon as possible.
Since 1994, Tzu Chi has held numerous bone marrow blood test drives encouraging people to join the Tzu Chi Bone Marrow Donor Registry (Buddhist Tzu Chi Stem Cells Center).
As October 2009, there are more than 300,000 donors registered in the databank. For more statistical data, please click here.
Save someone's life by donating bone marrow. Please contact your nearest Tzu Chi office to register.


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Thursday, May 13
Thursday Dose of Cute: Nighty Night
5 comments:
I'm not sure I could do without take out. Although having those sweet little lambs around must make it easier.ReplyDelete
Aw, that is an extra sweet photo!ReplyDelete
It is hard to imagine exactly your farm life because I know farming is a tough, hard-working, 24/7, day-in day-out life, but thank you for sharing it with us - those babies are so precious. I wish I could at least visit and see it all in person.ReplyDelete
(No take out and no mail delivery would be pretty tough, though!!)
Awww..so sweet!ReplyDelete
December 2015 update: Hi! For some reason I can't figure out, Blogger hasn't been letting me leave comments on my own blog (!) for the last several months, so I've been unable to respond to your comments and questions. My apologies for any inconvenience! You're always welcome to email me: farmgirlfare AT gmail DOT com.
Hi! Thanks for visiting Farmgirl Fare and taking the time to write. While I'm not always able to reply to every comment, I receive and enjoy reading them all.
Your feedback is greatly appreciated, and I especially love hearing about your experiences with my recipes. Comments on older posts are always welcome!
Please note that I moderate comments, so if I'm away from the computer it may be a while before yours appears.
I try my best to answer all questions, though sometimes it takes me a few days. And sometimes, I'm sorry to say, they fall through the cracks, and for that I sincerely apologize.
I look forward to hearing from you and hope you enjoy your e-visits to our farm!

subset: commoncrawl


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Bangkok, Thailand – The Greater Mekong region's majestic and mysterious wild ungulates – animals with hooves – many of whom are unique to the region are on the edge of disappearing unless regional governments boost protection and intensify efforts to restore their numbers and their habitats, according to a new WWF report, Rumble in the Jungle.
The 13 ungulates of concern profiled in the report vary in species and status: from dog-sized deer to culturally significant wild cattle; from large antlered species to others so seldom seen that they have taken on mythical status. What is known, is that their futures are uncertain and for some it is already too late.
Two species endemic to the Greater Mekong region, the kouprey and Schomburgk's deer, became globally extinct in the 20th century, while the hog deer and saola are on the edge of disappearing from the region and a number of other species face a similar fate in countries they once inhabited, including Eld's deer and banteng.
"The extraordinary variation in habitats in the Mekong region has resulted in the greatest diversity of hooved animals on earth. Four new species have been discovered in the last 20 years which is unparalleled," said Dr. Thomas Gray, Manager of WWF-Greater Mekong's Species Programme. "While human pressures, such as hunting and habitat destruction, are fast eroding populations of these extraordinary species, there is still time to save them if governments put biodiversity, and its protection, at the heart of decision-making."
Little is known about many of the region's hooved mammals; the saola's discovery in 1992 was described as one of the most spectacular zoological discoveries of the 20th century; the species has still not been observed by scientists in the wild and the difficulty in detecting the secretive animal has prevented making a precise population estimate, but numbers could be in the 10's to a couple of hundred.
"While development is encroaching in the saola's habitat, the greatest threat comes from illegal hunting. Saola are caught in wire snares set by hunters to catch other animals," added Dr. Gray. "In Vietnam, a new approach to law enforcement, supported by WWF's Carbon and Biodiversity Project, is delivering good results with locally employed forest guards patrolling reserves and removing over 14,000 snares annually."
The world's second smallest deer species, the leaf muntjac, so called because a single large tree leaf can wrap its body, was first recorded in 1999 in Myanmar. Sightings of the animal are so rare that scientists have not been able to assess its full distribution and status. While the sambar deer is among the giants of the ungulate world – of all living deer species only moose and elk can attain sizes larger than this species. Sambar numbers have declined severely throughout the Mekong region due to hunting.
The banteng, considered to be one of the most beautiful and graceful of all wild cattle species, have declined by 80 percent since the late 1960's. Cambodia's Eastern Plains – the largest intact tropical dry forest in southeast Asia – is host to the world's largest population of banteng, numbering between 2,700 – 5,700 individuals. Illegal hunting and international trade for their horns is a major factor in the species decline.
"Across Asia wild cattle and large deer comprise the majority of the prey selected by tigers," added Dr. Gray. "Conservation of the region's ungulate species is inexplicably linked to the plight of the Greater Mekong's tigers, whose numbers have fallen from 1,200 to about 350 since 1998. Further declines in prey species would deal a serious blow to the remaining population of tigers that rely on these animals for food."
Ungulates of the region are also crucial food sources for three critically endangered vultures in the region. Red-headed, slender-billed and white-rumped vulture have declined dramatically in the Indian subcontinent due to poisoning from the veterinary drug diclofencac. The remnant populations in Myanmar and Cambodia's Eastern Plains landscape represent the best hopes of the survival of these iconic species.
"The status of deer and cattle species is one indicator of the health, diversity and resilience of the entire Greater Mekong region's natural environment," concluded Dr. Gray. "The well-being and recovery of these species is therefore an important part of the sustainable management of the region. Regional leaders have already affirmed that healthy economic growth goes hand in hand with healthy and productive nature and wildlife, but fast and effective responses are needed."
WWF is working with governments and partners to recover and restore ungulate populations to forests where they were once abundant, and reconnect forest habitat to ensure populations can increase. As part of this effort, WWF is supporting enhanced protected area management and law enforcement, and fostering sustainable forestry, alternative forest uses and sustainable livelihoods to help alleviate further pressures on remaining populations of the region's unique ungulates.


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If there is going to be a war with Russia, then the United States
will most certainly be destroyed, and most of us will end up dead.
Let us take a step back and put what is happening in a historical context. Russia has suffered a great deal at the hands of foreign invaders, losing 22 million people in World War II. Most of the dead were civilians, because the country was invaded, and the Russians have vowed to never let such a disaster happen again. Each time Russia had been invaded, she emerged victorious. In 1812 Nepoleon invaded Russia; in 1814 Russian cavalry rode into Paris. On June 22, 1941, Hitler's Luftwaffe bombed Kiev; On May 8, 1945, Soviet troops rolled into Berlin.
But times have changed since then. If Hitler were to attack Russia today, he would be dead 20 to 30 minutes later, his bunker reduced to glowing rubble by a strike from a Kalibr supersonic cruise missile launched from a small Russian navy ship somewhere in the Baltic Sea. The operational abilities of the new Russian military have been most persuasively demonstrated during the recent action against ISIS, Al Nusra and other foreign-funded terrorist groups operating in Syria. A long time ago Russia had to respond to provocations by fighting land battles on her own territory, then launching a counter-invasion; but this is no longer necessary. Russia's new weapons make retaliation instant, undetectable, unstoppable and perfectly lethal.


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by David Crane
[email protected]
You may remember our fairly recent article about the Jordanian Security Forces (JSF) adopting Hyperstealth Biotechnology Corp.'s PSD Urban Digital Camouflage Pattern. The article is titled "DefRev Scoop: Jordan Adopts Hyperstealth Advanced-Tech PSD Urban Digital Camo".
Well, DefenseReview recently received the scoop on Hyperstealth Biotechnology Corp.'s new Jordanian KA2 Night (Blue) and Jordanian Special Forces Woodland digital/digitized camouflage patterns (both shown below, at right) that debuted at SHOT Show 2005. The following email message was sent to DefRev from Guy Cramer, Hyperstealth's President/CEO (The following email message has been content-edited, as certain aspects of the message are confidential):…
From: Guy Cramer
[mailto:gcr[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, February 10, 2005 9:47 AM
To: David Crane
Subject: KA2 Camouflage Scoop
Jordan KA2 Night (Blue) and Special Forces Woodland shown below. Research has shown that blue (at night) in connection with grey and black causes the eyes to focus beyond the grey and black causing the brain to interpret increased depth and texture where other colors flatten out or shine at night. It is unknown if the KA2 Night is to be used with Jordan Elite Special Forces or their advanced Counter-Terrorism team as Jordan Armed Forces will only confirm the pattern as a Night variation.
The King has approved the Jordanian Special Forces new uniform in the woodland scheme (Below). Given the new U.S. Army ARPAT bright colors and lack of black, the digital KA2 Woodland is a much more appropriate choice for temperate and woodland regions of the world. Uniforms will be issued in Jordan within March/April 2005. The pattern is quite advanced over CADPAT and MARPAT in that the Spatial Frequency (Blob size) is over twice as large while incorporating special placement of bright and dark regions to simulate reflection and shadows not seen in CADPAT/MARPAT. The pattern is omnidirectional, however, the majority of the pattern is horizontal to break the human Symmetry with a few vertical elements to disrupt the horizontal element as one direction only will attract the eye."
For information related to camouflage development, or to the new JSF (Jordan Security Forces) PSD Urban, KA2 Night (Blue), or KA2 Woodland digital camouflage pattern or uniforms, spefically, please contact HyperStealth Biotechnology Corp., directly at [email protected] or phone (604) 961-7046. Ask for Guy Cramer.
Click on this link to visit Hyperstealth Biotechnology Corp.'s PSD Urban advanced-tech digital urban camouflage page. Lots of great pics of a Jordanian Security Forces (JSF) operator demo'ing the new camo (shown at left).
Below are links to previous DefenseReview articles on Hyperstealth Biotechnology Corp.'s advanced digital combat camouflage patterns:
"DefRev Scoop: Jordan Adopts Hyperstealth Advanced-Tech PSD Urban Digital Camo".
"Fracture Camouflage™: You can't hit what you can't see."
"Fractal Camouflage and New Digitized Tiger Stripe Camo Patterns"
"Tactical Assault Camouflage (TACAM): Multi-Environment Counterterrorism Camo"
"Millenium Texture Series Camouflage (MilTex): Privatized Answer to CADPAT/MARPAT"
"Dual Texture Camouflage (Dual-Tex Camouflage) Digital/Digitized Camouflage"


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Brezhnev Era Death and funeral Legacy
Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev (Russian: Леони́д Ильи́ч Бре́жнев (help·info), 19 December 1906 (O.S. 6 December) – 10 November 1982) was the General Secretary of the Central Committee (CC) of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), presiding over the country from 1964 until his death in 1982. His eighteen-year term as General Secretary was one of the longest, second only to that of Joseph Stalin. During Brezhnev's rule, the global influence of the Soviet Union grew dramatically, in part because of the expansion of the Soviet military during this time, but his tenure as leader has often been criticised for marking the beginning of a period of economic stagnation, overlooking serious economic problems which eventually led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Brezhnev was born in Kamenskoe into a Russian workers' family. After graduating from the Dniprodzerzhynsk Metallurgical Technicum he became a metallurgical engineer in the iron and steel industry, in Ukraine. He joined Komsomol in 1923 and, in 1929, became a member of the Communist Party, playing an active role in the party's affairs. He was drafted into immediate military service during World War II; he left the army in 1946 with the rank of Major General. In 1952 Brezhnev became a member of the Central Committee, and in 1964, Brezhnev succeeded Nikita Khrushchev as First Secretary; Alexei Kosygin succeeded Khrushchev in his post as Chairman of the Council of Ministers.


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Updated: 2022/Sep/29
Please read Privacy Policy. It's for your privacy.
VR(4) Device Drivers Manual VR(4) NAME vr - Ethernet driver for VIA Rhine Ethernet boards SYNOPSIS vr* at pci? dev ? function ? Configuration of PHYs is necessary. See mii(4). DESCRIPTION The vr device driver supports network adapters based on the VIA VT3043(Rhine), VIA VT86C100A(Rhine-II), and VIA VT6105(Rhine-III) chips. HARDWARE Supported cards include: D-Link DFE530TX MEDIA SELECTION Media selection is done using ifconfig(8) using the standard ifmedia(4) mechanism. Refer to those manual pages for more information. SEE ALSO ifmedia(4), mii(4), netintro(4), pci(4), vlan(4), ifconfig(8) NetBSD 9.99 December 16, 2010 NetBSD 9.99


text:
Every week, courts around the United States issue decisions addressing aspects of civil UDAAP claims. In an effort to illuminate the UDAAP standards, below is a sampling of some of this week's UDAAP decisions on the meaning of unfair, deceptive, and abusive.
Note that this Weekly UDAAP Standards Report serves to highlight only some of the many weekly developments in the law around these standards.
Please feel free to contact me for more information or to discuss these cases or any other UDAAP developments.


text:
Welcome to the Release Day Celebration for
The Perilous Journey Of The Much Too Spontaneous Girl
by Leigh Statham
presented by Month9Books!
Be sure to enter the giveaway found at the end of the post!
Happy Book Birthday, Leigh!
Lady Marguerite Vadnay and her trusty automaton, Outil, have settled into life in New France rather well. Marguerite is top of the class at flight school and her future as an aerpilot is nearly secure. She has everything she wants— except a commission on the pirate hunting dirigible The Renegade. Using every card in her aristocratic arsenal, Marguerite wiggles her way onto the finest warship France has to offer. But as usual, Marguerite's plans endanger the lives of those she holds dear— only this time no one else is going to save them. As Marguerite and Outil set off on a rescue mission they may not return from, she finally realizes it's time to reorder her cogs.
This steampunk adventure is littered with facts from The Golden Age of Piracy and follows (not too closely) some of the lives and adventures of the brave men and women who sailed the seas as privateers, pirates and soldiers.
The Perilous Journey Of The Much Too Spontaneous Girl
(The Perilous Journey of the Not So Innocuous Girl #2)
by Leigh Statham
Publication Date: September 20, 2016
Publisher: Month9Books
Google Play | BAM | Chapters | Indies | Amazon | B&N | Kobo | TBD | iBooks
Lady Marguerite lives a life most 17th century French girls can only dream of: Money, designer dresses, suitors and a secure future. Except, she suspects her heart may be falling for her best friend Claude, a common smithie in the family's steam forge. When Claude leaves for New France in search of a better life, Marguerite decides to follow him and test her suspicions of love. Only the trip proves to be more harrowing than she anticipated. Love, adventure and restitution await her, if she can survive the voyage.
Google Play | BAM | Chapters | Indies | Amazon | B&N | Kobo | TBD | iBooks
Leigh Statham was raised in the wilds of rural Idaho, but found her heart in New York City. She worked as a waitress, maid, artist, math teacher, nurse, web designer, art director, thirty-foot inflatable pig and mule wrangler before she settled down in the semi-quiet role of wife, mother and writer. She resides in North Carolina with her husband, four children, five chickens and two suspected serial killer cats. If the air is cool and the sun is just coming up over the horizon, you can find her running the streets of her small town, plotting her next novel with the sort of intensity that will one day get her hit by a car.
Website |Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads
Complete the Rafflecopter below for a chance to win!


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L'ulu: Leeward Culinary Arts Gala
HONOLULU Magazine was proud to be a sponsor/supporter of L'ulu: Leeward's Culinary Gala, a benefit for LCC's Culinary Arts Program on Saturday, May 10, from 6 to 9 p.m.
Guests were able indulge in the delectable cuisines of some of Hawaii's finest chefs alongside the Culinary Arts Program's instructors and students. All amid the festive atmosphere and extraordinary ambiance of dining amid the Culinary Arts Program's new dinging room (The Pearl) and kitchen facilities.
The event also honored chef Roy Yamaguchi, the face behind the fusion, as the first of twelve Hawaii Regional Cuisine founding chefs that will be inducted into the Hawaii Regional Cuisine Wall of Fame in The Pearl restaurant.
Participating restaurants included: 3660 on the Rise, Alan Wong's Restaurant, Chai's Island Bistro, The Pearl, Leeward Culinary Arts Program, JW Marriott Ihilani Resort & Spa, Nalo Farms, Ola at Turtle Bay Resort, Poke Stop, Roy's Hawaii Kai, Sansei Seafood and Sushi Restaurant, Side Street Inn, and Tango.
For more information about the Leeward Culinary Arts Program or to get involved with the event next year (May 9, 2009), contact Tommylynn Benavente at 455-0298 or e-mail firstname.lastname@example.com.


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he stools from the "Companion" collection can be used as an extra chair, as well as a piece of art. The name "Companion" refers to the uplifting function of the stool as it adds an extra dimension to the room.
The collection includes two different stools: "Companion" and "Companion 4 legs". The stools are available in four different colors: black, white, yellow and blue.
The seats are of solid wood and are available in oak, beech and sipo mahogany.
The base is made of powdercoated steel tubes and the seat is made of clear-coated solid wood. The white part of the seat is painted and the black eye is turned of solid wood and painted.
The stools are produced in Denmark and Germany.


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WASHINGTON (AP) Jordan Zimmermann pitched a two-hitter and picked up his NL-leading 19th win Friday night, leading the barely-still-alive Washington Nationals to an 8-0 victory over the Miami Marlins.
Zimmermann (19-8) took a no-hitter into the sixth inning, struck out nine and faced only three batters above the minimum. He passed the 200-inning mark for the season and lowered his ERA to 3.18 for the Nationals, who have essentially hit must-win mode in their late push for the playoffs. They began the day trailing the Cincinnati Reds by five games with nine to play for the NL's second wild card berth.
Zimmermann had a one-hitter this season, on April 26 in a 1-0 win over the Reds.
After hovering near .500 for most of the season, the defending NL East champs have won 12 of 14 and 29 of 40. With Zimmermann so effective, they got all the offense they needed - and then some - when they sent 11 batters to the plate in a seven-run sixth against Marlins starter Jacob Turner (3-8) and reliever Chris Hatcher.
It was obvious from the get-go that Zimmermann had his best stuff. Nearly every pitch seemed to have out-of-this-world movement, making it an unfair fight against most anyone holding a bat.
He needed only nine pitches to get through the first inning, eight of them strikes. He struck out the side in the second, getting Logan Morrison to flail at a high 96 mph fastball to end the inning. The perfect game ended with a two-out, five-pitch walk to Giancarlo Stanton in the fourth, but the next hitter, Justin Ruggiano, was left so clueless by a two-strike, 88 mph slider that the centerfielder's left hand came off the bat during a halfhearted swing.
Second baseman Anthony Rendon made two nice plays on sharply hit one-hoppers - to his right in the fifth, to his left in the sixth - to allow those in the ballpark to start pondering the possibility of the franchise's first no-hitter since the move from Montreal in 2005.
Donovan Solano rendered such hopes mute with a solid single to center with two outs in the sixth, eliciting an "awwww" of disappointment and then a nice ovation from the crowd.
Until then, Turner had been nearly as stingy, allowing three hits and no runs through five innings. The Nationals broke the scoreless tie by opening the bottom of the sixth with four consecutive hits, including back-to-back doubles by Jayson Werth and Bryce Harper. Denard Span, whose 29-game hitting streak came to an end Thursday night, had two hits in the inning, including a two-run triple.
Turner has lost seven consecutive decisions and remains winless in his career on the road (0-8). The Marlins are 0-8 this season at Nationals Park.
NOTES: The Nationals wore blue and yellow patches on their jerseys in memory of the victims of the mass shooting Monday at the nearby Navy Yard. ... RHP Stephen Strasburg played catch with no apparent ill effects before the game and is expected to start Saturday for the Nationals. Strasburg's scheduled start Thursday was pushed back two days because of tightness in his forearm. ... RHP Tom Koehler, the Marlins' scheduled starter Saturday, cut a finger on his left hand while lifting weights but is expected to pitch. "He should be fine," manager Mike Redmond said. "It's his glove hand." Redmond smiled and added: "It might affect his swing a little bit" - not much of a development given that Koehler has three hits in 36 at-bats this season. ... Nationals manager Davey Johnson was all smiles before the game, having defended his member-guest title over 18 holes at Congressional Country Club. "So a win's a bonus tonight," he said.
Follow Joseph White on Twitter: http://twitter.com/JGWhiteAP


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BMW 840Ci Parts
- Engine
- Transmission
- Fuel System
- Drivetrain and Axle
- Suspension
- Exterior Body
- Steering
- Brake
BMW 840Ci Parts
The 840Ci is a car from BMWs exotic 8 series that was produced from 1993-1999, although it was only available to the North American market for the 1994 through 1997 model years. Over the entire production run a total of 7,803 840Ci models were made out of which 2,450 were sold in North America. With their unique awe inspiring styling and supercar performance, the BMW 8 series were very desirable cars during the 1990s and still are today. The BMW 840Ci was the entry level model of the 8 series, sporting either a 4.0L or 4.4L V8 engine (the change took place mid 1995), and although it was the only 8 series without a V12 engine, it still produced just under 300 horsepower which isnt too shabby even by todays standards. Although the 840Ci was a real sports car, it retained the luxury and class you would expect from a BMW. The 8 series, which has since become a collector car, is a classic example of a timeless BMW that will always be remembered.
BMW 840Ci Parts at FCP Euro
Here at FCP it is our goal to help you keep your car on the road for many years of future enjoyment. If you own an 8 series you already know how special your car is, and how important it is to take care of it. The next time you find yourself looking for BMW 840Ci parts, be sure to trust FCP to supply you with the parts you need to keep your car performing like new. Weve got the parts for everything from basic preventative maintenance to a suspension overhaul. Our BMW 840Ci catalog has a large variety of both 840Ci original parts and aftermarket parts available.


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Future natural gas prices are expected to be higher, but demand will grow more slowly than in previous projections, according to the Energy Information Administration's latest annual long-term forecast, the "Annual Energy Outlook 2006."
Tips for Reducing Energy Costs
For the best blacktop new jersey company, call All Design Paving & Masonry.
To find the best blacktop new jersey company, click here for All Design Paving & Masonry.
Future natural gas prices are expected to be higher, but demand will grow more slowly than in previous projections, according to the Energy Information Administration's latest annual long-term forecast, the "Annual Energy Outlook 2006."
Additionally, residential consumption of natural gas is projected to fall by 6 percent from 2005 levels this year but increase by 7.7 percent in 2007, the EIA says.
Energy conservation would help those cooling bills now and in the future. To help save energy:
* Put curtains on your windows to keep out the sun.
* Install a thermostat that will automatically adjust temperatures. Set it for 75 degrees in the summer when you are at home and raise it when you are out.
* Turn off lights, appliances and electrical equipment when not in use. Do your baking, washing, drying and ironing early in the morning or the evening.
* Clean or replace the filter for your air conditioner.
* Let dishes air dry in the dishwasher.
Costs related to natural gas consist of four main components: production, transmission, distribution and commodity price as determined by the marketplace.
When the gas is produced, it is transmitted over long distances by pipeline from the wellhead to a local gas company. Once at the gas company, it is stored and then distributed to local customers. The price of natural gas consumed is determined by supply, demand and other market conditions.
The Gulf of Mexico supplies 25 percent of domestic natural gas that is consumed in the U.S. But 11 percent of Gulf production is still blocked due to damage from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Twenty-three percent of natural gas goes to home use and 27 percent goes to electricity generation. Companies like Mammoth Resource Partners Inc., a Kentucky-based oil and gas exploration company, are striving to put a dent in skyrocketing natural gas prices by tapping into the gas-rich Appalachian Basin.
"While people are facing ever-increasing energy costs, investors recognize that within these increases exists a greater investment potential," says Roger L. Cory, president of Mammoth Resource Partners.


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TESSCO Technologies Schedules Second-Quarter Fiscal 2020 Earnings Release and Conference Call
HUNT VALLEY, Md.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–TESSCO Technologies Incorporated (NASDAQ: TESS), a leading value-added distributor and solutions provider for the wireless industry, will report financial results for its fiscal second quarter ended September 30, 2019 after the market closes on Wednesday, October 30, 2019.
Management will host a conference call to discuss these results the following day, October 31, at 8:30 a.m. ET. To participate in the conference call, please call 877-824-7042 (domestic call-in) or 647-689-6625 (international call-in) and reference code #1799449.
A live webcast of the conference call will be available on the Events & Presentations page of the Company's website. All participants should call or access the website ten minutes before the conference begins. An archived version of the webcast will be available on the Company's website for one year.
About TESSCO Technologies Incorporated (NASDAQ: TESS)
TESSCO Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: TESS) is a value-added technology distributor, manufacturer, and solutions provider serving commercial and retail customers in the wireless infrastructure and mobile device accessories markets. The company was founded more than 30 years ago with a commitment to deliver industry-leading products, knowledge, solutions, and customer service. Tessco supplies more than 50,000 products from 350 of the industry's top manufacturers in mobile communications, Wi-Fi, Internet of Things ("IoT"), wireless backhaul, and more. Tessco is a single source for outstanding customer experience, expert knowledge, and complete end-to-end solutions for the wireless industry. For more information, visit www.tessco.com.
Aric Spitulnik
Chief Financial Officer
TESSCO Technologies Incorporated
[email protected]
Jamie Bernard, IRC
Sharon Merrill Associates
[email protected]


text:
Remember, if you use a transaction you should use lastInsertId BEFORE you commit
otherwise it will return 0
(PHP 5 >= 5.1.0, PHP 7, PHP 8, PECL pdo >= 0.1.0)
PDO::lastInsertId — Returns the ID of the last inserted row or sequence value
$name =
null): string|false
Returns the ID of the last inserted row, or the last value from a
sequence object, depending on the underlying driver. For example,
PDO_PGSQL requires you to specify the name of
a sequence object for the
name parameter.
This method may not return a meaningful or consistent result across different PDO drivers, because the underlying database may not even support the notion of auto-increment fields or sequences.
Name of the sequence object from which the ID should be returned.
If a sequence name was not specified for the
parameter, PDO::lastInsertId() returns a
string representing the row ID of the last row that was inserted into
the database.
If a sequence name was specified for the
parameter, PDO::lastInsertId() returns a
string representing the last value retrieved from the specified sequence
If the PDO driver does not support this capability,
PDO::lastInsertId() triggers an
Emits an error with level
E_WARNING if the attribute
PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE is set
Throws a PDOException if the attribute
is set to
Remember, if you use a transaction you should use lastInsertId BEFORE you commit
otherwise it will return 0
To save time for some of you.
When using MySQL or MariaDB while inserting multiple rows in a single query (INSERT INTO table (a,b,c) VALUES (1,2,3), (2,3,4), ...) to a table with auto_increment column, PDO::lastInsertId does NOT return the autogenerated id of the last row. Instead, the FIRST generated id is returned. This may very well be explained by taking a look at MySQL and MariaDB's documentation.
Quotations from their respective documentations,
"With no argument, LAST_INSERT_ID() returns a BIGINT UNSIGNED (64-bit) value representing the first automatically generated value successfully inserted for an AUTO_INCREMENT column as a result of the most recently executed INSERT statement."
"LAST_INSERT_ID() (no arguments) returns the first automatically generated value successfully inserted for an AUTO_INCREMENT column as a result of the most recently executed INSERT statement."
This is clearly not what lastInsertId's own documentation states. Hopefully this will save someone from debugging the cause of id mismatch.
tl;dr (MySQL | Mariadb) + multi row insert + PDO::lastInsertId = first autogenerated id
Behaviour tested using MariaDB 10.2.6 32-bit, PHP 5.6.31 32-bit and mysqlnd 5.0.11 running on windows 7.
Sorry to contradict Jonathon Hibbard's comment (http://php.net/manual/en/pdo.lastinsertid.php#82838), but my experiencie with INSERT INTO ... ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE is totally different; maybe it's due to PHP version (I'm on Windows, 5.4.7; I realize his post is 6 years old) or to the database engine (MySQL in my case).
Nevertheless, if I do an INSERT INTO ... ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE (something like id=id or equivalent, where the updated value is equal to the original one), this is what I'm getting:
- If the key didn't exist, the value is inserted, and lastInsertId() returns the expected id for the new row.
- If the row exists AND a value is updated, with lastInsertId() I get the ID of the updated row.
- If the row exists but NO value is updated, lastInsertId() returns 0.
That contradicts his example, where he assures that
"INSERT INTO city (`city`) VALUES ('Paris') ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE `city` = 'Paris'"
returns 2 (??) on lastInsertId() and that he expected to return 1 "since no records were inserted" (??).
Hope this helps someone.
Beware of lastInsertId() when working with transactions in mysql. The following code returns 0 instead of the insert id.
try {
$dbh = new PDO('mysql:host=localhost;dbname=test', 'username', 'password');
$stmt = $dbh->prepare("INSERT INTO test (name, email) VALUES(?,?)");
try {
$tmt->execute( array('user', 'email@example.com'));
print $dbh->lastInsertId();
} catch(PDOExecption $e) {
print "Error!: " . $e->getMessage() . "
";
} catch( PDOExecption $e ) {
print "Error!: " . $e->getMessage() . "
";
When no exception is thrown, lastInsertId returns 0. However, if lastInsertId is called before calling commit, the right id is returned.
If you're accessing MSSQL/SQL Server 2008 R2 (or higher) from Linux via FreeTDS there's a slightly neater way of getting the last insert ID than the solution(s) outlined below.
The specific SQL involved is outlined here:
So for example, with a table containing the two columns (product_id, product_name) where product_id is a uniqueidentifier or something similar you could do the following.
// Assume $dbh connection handle is already established
$sql = "INSERT INTO product (product_name) OUTPUT INSERTED.product_id VALUES (?)";
$sth = $dbh->prepare($sql);
$temp = $sth->fetch(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC);
Then $temp will contain an array like:
[product_id] => E1DA1CB0-676A-4CD9-A22C-90C9D4E81914
Just be warned that there are some issues relating to how uniqueidentifier columns are handled by PDO_DBLIB/FreeTDS depending on the TDS version you choose that have only been fixed as of PHP 5.3.7.
Information regarding this and the patch can be found here:
It should be mentioned that this function DOES NOT retrieve the ID (Primary key) of the row but it's OID instead.
So if you use one of the latest PostgreSQL versions this function won't help you unless you add OID to the table specifically when you create it.
in case anyone was wondering
something like
$val = 5;
$sql = "REPLACE table (column) VALUES (:val)";
$stmt = $dbh->prepare($sql);
$stmt->bindParam(':val', $val, PDO::PARAM_INT);
$lastId = $dbh->lastInsertId();
will return the last inserted id, whether the record was replaced or simply inserted
the REPLACE syntax, simply inserts, or deletes > inserts
so lastInsertId() still works
refer to http://mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/replace.html
for REPLACE usage
I think I get a nice solution in Postgres to get the ID using the RETURNING that comes with Postgress since version 8.2. In the example below, I add to my insert clause the "returning" along with the primary key of my table, then after the execute, I do a fetch getting an array with the value of the last inserted id.
public function insert($employee){
$sqlQuery = "INSERT INTO employee(user_id,name,address,city) VALUES(:user_id,:name,:address,:city) RETURNING employee_id";
$statement = $this->prepare($sqlQuery);
$a ="2002-03-11 12:01AM" ;
$statement->bindParam(":user_id", $employee->getUserId(), PDO::PARAM_INT);
$statement->bindParam(":name", $employee->getName(), PDO::PARAM_STR);
$statement->bindParam(":address", $employee->getAddress(), PDO::PARAM_STR);
$statement->bindParam(":city", $employee->getCity(), PDO::PARAM_STR);
$result = $statement->fetch(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC);
return $result["employee_id"];
This function is now compatible with the newer MS SQL driver. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff628155(v=sql.105)
About the connections created through classes
eg: db::SQL()->query();
then db::SQL()->lastInsertId();
it will create a new connection and will not return the last ID inserted. it is better to include a PDO connection file (or directly the logins) and work with it to get the last ID properly.
$db = new PDO(logins);
WARNING for PostgreSQL users! In response to the comment by ed at hicklinslade dot com, who wrote:
$last_insert_id = $objPDO->lastInsertId("$strTable_id_seq);
This does appear to function as expected. What is a little unclear to me is whether this simply returns the current value of the sequence; if it does, this isn't a particularly reliable indicator as to the id of the record your code just inserted, especially if your site or application is especially high traffic.
NEVER ever use lastInsertId() with PostgreSQL sequences, ESPECIALLY when your application's insert/update load is high. PostgreSQL sequences are non-transactional (a natural design feature to avoid exclusive locking which otherwise produces unacceptable performance). This means that any concurrent transaction incrementing the same sequence will render the value returned by lastInsertId() invalid with respect to the last insert by your transaction. Example:
Transaction 1 inserts with nextval('some_seq') yielding 100;
Concurrent transaction 2 inserts with nextval('some_seq') yielding 101;
Transaction 1 calls lastInsertId(), expecting 100, BUT GETS 101.
This PDO method is braindead for PostgreSQL, always use INSERT ... RETURNING instead. Regards.
Easiest solution I've found for MSSQL to obtain the last inserted ID is
$STH = $DBH->query("SELECT CAST(COALESCE(SCOPE_IDENTITY(), @@IDENTITY) AS int)");
$result = $STH->fetch();
print $result[0];
On version 7.0.9 I've implemented lastInsertId without having to name the sequence for PostgreSQL (I've also have done it for 5.6.can'trememberthenumber, but I can't find the PR).
Can someone update the documentation about it?
Here is the Pull Request: https://github.com/php/php-src/pull/2014
Workaround for the fact that MSSQL does not provide lastInsertId(). This is locale-independent by design.
$mixRc = false;
try {
// Issue a compound command, 2nd part outputs the inserted Id
$strQuery =
'INSERT INTO t1 (f1,f2) VALUES(v1,v2); SELECT @@IDENTITY AS mixLastId';
// Yup, your eyes are ok, NOT exec but query!!!
$objSth = $objDb->query($strQuery);
$mixRc = (is_object($objSth) and $objSth->errorCode() == '00000');
catch (PDOException $objException) {
$pdoMsg = $objException->getMessage();
$pdoMsg = iconv("ISO-8859-1", "UTF-8", $pdoMsg);
$strMessage = 'insertRecord: Failed ' .
$strQuery . ', Error Message: ' . $pdoMsg;
doLog(__FILE__, __LINE__, $strMessage);
throw new core_exception_database($strMessage);
if ($mixRc === false) return false;
// The compound command delivers a multi-rowset statement handle
// Move past the first (invalid) rowset from the INSERT command
// Pick up the first row of the rowset from "SELECT @@IDENTITY"
$rowTd = $objSth->fetch(PDO::FETCH_NUM);
if (!is_array($rowTd)) {
doLog(__FILE__, __LINE__,
'insertRecord: $objSth->fetch() returns %s', gettype($rowTd));
return false;
$strLastRowId = trim($rowTd[0]); // trim() for trailing Nullbyte
// Integers are returned stringified, format depends on locale
// Generally ends with ",00" or ".00" - trim that off
$strLastRowId = preg_replace('/[,.]0+$/', '', $strLastRowId);
// Remove any remaining "." or "," for thousands
$strLastRowId = preg_replace('/[,.]/', '', $strLastRowId);
// A GUID, which contains no "," or ".", will be left unchanged
return $strLastRowId;
beware when mixing auto-incremented and explicit IDs!
Given a fresh table "tbl", executing
insert into tbl values (0, 'kaeptn blaubaer'); --auto increment (-> 1)
insert into tbl values (16, 'pipi langstrumpf'); --explicit id (-> 16)
select LAST_INSERT_ID();
will return 1, which is not the value of the last insert. its the value from the last auto-increment insert!
(using mysql)
Simple example:
try {
$dbh = new PDO('mysql:host=localhost;dbname=test', 'root', 'passowd');
$smf = $dbh->prepare("INSERT INTO test (`numer`) VALUES (?)");
$a = mt_rand(1, 100);
$smf->bindParam(1, $a, PDO::PARAM_INT);
print $dbh->lastInsertId().'
';
$a = mt_rand(1, 100);
$smf->bindParam(1, $a, PDO::PARAM_INT);
print $dbh->lastInsertId();
$dbh = null;
} catch (PDOException $e) {
print "Error!: " . $e->getMessage() . "
";
It should be noted that, at least for MySQL using InnoDB tables, with transactions PDO will report the last insert id as 0 after the commit, the real ids are only reported before committing.
(As a side note, MySQL keeps the ID number incremented after a rollback).
As said by Dennis Du Kroger, in this situation the function will return 0.
But you can retrieve the last inserted Id executing a query asking for the function LAST_INSERT_ID() (at least in MySQL)
Try this:
($o_db is the declared adapter)
$last_id = $o_db->fetchAll('SELECT LAST_INSERT_ID() as last_id');
$last_id = intval($last_id[0]['last_id']);
In response to Yonatan Ben-Nes, it does appear that using the latest versions of PHP 5.x and PostgreSQL 8.x, the driver will return a "meaningful" ID (rather than an OID), provided you pass the name of the corresponding sequence.
So, if you created a table as follows:
CREATE TABLE "user" (
"id" SERIAL PRIMARY KEY NOT NULL,
"username" character varying(32)
PostgreSQL will (by default) create a sequence called 'user_id_seq'.
You can then do something like:
$strTable = "user":
$last_insert_id = $objPDO->lastInsertId("$strTable_id_seq);
This does appear to function as expected. What is a little unclear to me is whether this simply returns the current value of the sequence; if it does, this isn't a particularly reliable indicator as to the id of the record your code just inserted, especially if your site or application is especially high traffic.
print $dbh->lastInsertId();
The above will always return zero (0)
So it is important to call $dbh->lastInsertId(); before commiting transaction
the above should be modified as
print $dbh->lastInsertId();
You need to call lastInsertId before you commit
It should be noted here at this function will not display the correct ID if issuing ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE.
Example on a new Row:
$sql = "INSERT INTO city (`city`) VALUES ('Paris') ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE `city` = 'Paris";
echo $dbh->lastInsertId();
Above displays: 1
Expected display: 1
Example on an existing row that gets updated:
$sql = "INSERT INTO city (`city`) VALUES ('Paris') ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE `city` = 'Paris";
echo $dbh->lastInsertId();
Above displays: 2
Expected display: 1 (since no new records were inserted)
You'll have to work around this.
For PostgreSQL you can still use the old solution to return the last Id of an INSERT, selecting the currval of a table's id_sequence.
The code below shows a working function (which is easy adaptale into another class, etc).
// -------------------------
// Last Insert ID for PDO with PostgreSQL
// -------------------------
function pgsqlLastInsertId($sqlQuery, $pdoObject)
// Checks if query is an insert and gets table name
if( preg_match("/^INSERT[\t\n ]+INTO[\t\n ]+([a-z0-9\_\-]+)/is", $sqlQuery, $tablename) )
// Gets this table's last sequence value
$query = "SELECT currval('" . $tablename[1] . "_id_seq') AS last_value";
$temp_q_id = $pdoObject->prepare($query);
$temp_result = $temp_q_id->fetch(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC);
return ( $temp_result ) ? $temp_result['last_value'] : false;
return false;
Example of use:
// ... connects to a PostgreSQL DB
$pdoObject = new PDO('pgsql:host=localhost;dbname=mydb', 'user', 'pass');
$sql = 'INSERT INTO table (column) VALUES (\'some_value\');';
$result = $pdoObject->prepare($sql);
echo 'Last Insert ID: ' . pgsqlLastInsertId($sql, $pdoObject);
In the Return Values part:
If the PDO driver does not support this capability, PDO::lastInsertId() triggers an IM001 SQLSTATE.
So what's the solution for this....?
And I got this error:
PHP Warning: PDO::lastInsertId(): SQLSTATE[IM001]: Driver does not support this function: driver does not support lastInsertId() in xxxx
I'm using IBM db2 odbc driver...


text:
Intimate relationship skills
Skills Edit
"These qualities or skills are so well known that the list may even seem banal at first glance. Knowing what's on the list is of no great consequence. It is having the skills and being able to apply them, having practised and internalised them, which makes a difference. And the difference which can be made is not at all banal, it is magnificent. It is the difference between living happily and just existing."
~ Tony Wilkinson[1]
"Science, when applied to personal relationships, is always just wrong."
Advice for love Edit
"My chief desire is to link myself to you week by week by bonds which shall become ever more intimate and profound."
~ Winston Churchill to his wife. [3]
"Familiar acts are beautiful through love"
"When one finds their own other half, the two of them are wondrously thrilled with affection and intimacy and love, and are hardly to be induced to leave each other's side for a single moment. These are they who continue together throughout life. No one could imagine this to be the mere amorous connection: obviously the soul of each is wishing for something else that it cannot express. Suppose that Hephaestus should ask "Do you desire to be joined in the closest possible union, that so long as you both shall live, the pair of you, being as one, may share a single life?" Each would unreservedly deem that he had been offered just what he was yearning for all the time.
The craving and pursuit of that entirety is called Love."
"Forget about learning how to argue better, analysing your early childhood, making grand romantic gestures, or experimenting with new sexual positions. Instead, recognize and admit that you are emotionally attached to and dependent on your partner in much the same way that a child is on a parent for nurturing, soothing, and protection."
Kindness Edit
"I learned to be kind and loving to all them of my house and family"
~ Marcus Aurelius (circa A.D. 170)[7]
Thinking about thinking Edit
"Your life is what your thoughts make it."
~ Marcus Aurelius (circa A.D. 170){11}
Intimacy Edit
"Loves mysteries in soules doe grow,
But yet the body is his booke."
~ John Donne (1572-1631)[8]
Target fixation Edit
"Love is really the only thing that makes life worth living.
We are desperate for touch, for contact, for love. Without it we can survive, but we're like plants clinging to a rock.
Choose where you look, ignore the tree on the bend, keep your eyes on the road and you'll be fine.
Making meaningful connection with people transforms everything."
~ Mike Carter[9]
Conflict Edit
A teacher writes to his pupil, admonishing him to work harder: "I know that you frequently abandon your studies and whirl around in pleasure, that you wander from street to street and every house stinks of beer when you leave it… You, boy! You do not listen when I speak! You are thicker than a tall obelisk 100 cubits high and 10 cubit wide."
~ Egypt (1580BC – 1350BC) on Papyrus [10]
See also Edit
References Edit
- ↑ Wilkinson, Tony. "Chapter 6. "Basic skills"". The lost art of being happy. p. P55..
- ↑ E. M. Forster. Selected Letters. Letter 231, to W. J. H. Sprott, 28 June 1923.
- ↑ Clementine Churchill: the biography of a marriage, By Mary Soames. ISBN 0-395-27597-0 Page75
- ↑ Shelley, Percy Bysshe. The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley — Volume 1. p. Prometheus, Act4, scene 4.1, line 404. Retrieved on 16-Apr-2011.
- ↑ Symposium, by Plato 385–380 BC, Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1980. ISBN 0521295238.
- ↑ Johnson, Sue. Hold Me Tight - Your guide to the most successful approach to building loving relationships. Piatkus Books. p. 5. ISBN 978-0749955489.
- ↑ Aurelius, Marcus (circa AD170). Meditations. pp. Book I, XI.
- ↑ Donne, John. The Extasie. Retrieved on 02-Jul-2011.
- ↑ Uneasy Rider, by Mike Carter (2008) ISBN 9780091923266. Subtitled: Travels through a midlife crisis. P.348.
- ↑ Donoughue, Carol (2007). The Story of Writing. British Museum. p. 107.


text:
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"On behalf of Adolfson & Peterson, we wish to express our gratitude and appreciation to Siewert Cabinet for your efforts in performing work on the Cannon Equipment Project… Your positive attitude and quality workmanship helped to ensure that the project was a success… We especially want to thank you for your responsiveness and cooperation throughout the project. The teamwork approach that you demonstrated was evident to us and the Owner, and was a contributing factor toward the overall satisfaction of Cannon Equipment…Exceptional efforts produced exceptional results!"
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"(Siewert) did an outstanding job in every category. Their diligence in coordinating efforts with Ryan, associated Subcontractors, and site conditions was outstanding and headed off potential issues. This led to a project where all delivery and installation schedules were met, budgets were maintained as originally planned and the owner was impressed with the quality of the final product. Overall, they were a key component to the success of this project and I would recommend them on any future projects."


text:
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text:
Massachusetts State Lottery officials knew for years that a small group of gambling syndicates had virtually taken over a game called Cash WinFall — winning most of the prizes during high payoff periods — but did nothing about it until the Globe began investigating, according to state Inspector General Gregory W. Sullivan.
Sullivan's report details the way a handful of math and science wizards, including Massachusetts Institute of Technology undergraduates looking for an interesting school project, turned Cash WinFall into a nearly full-time business, spending $40 million on tickets over a seven-year period and winning an estimated $48 million.
And lottery officials were happy about the huge sales to these sophisticated gamblers, bending and breaking lottery rules to allow them to buy hundreds of thousands of the $2 tickets, Sullivan found. If anything, lottery officials were envious, with one supervisor asking in an e-mail: "How do I become part of the club when I retire?"
State Treasurer Steven Grossman, who oversees the lottery, finally stopped the game this year. On Monday, Grossman said the agency should have taken action sooner.
"I feel it is important to essentially apologize to the public because a game was created that allowed syndicates to gain special opportunities that others did not have — using machines themselves, partnership with lottery agents, using them after hours. We're sorry some gained unfair advantage," said Grossman, who had requested Sullivan's investigation.
"Revenues were tremendous and the lottery benefited, but there were practices that were not appropriate and things done that were not right," he said.
However, the inspector general recommended no further action, concluding that lottery officials got no personal benefit from the syndicates' manipulations. He also found that ordinary gamblers still had a fair chance at winning Cash WinFall, though the syndicates reported a much higher rate of profit than ordinary gamblers.
Sullivan found that the lottery failed to manage the game or enforce the rules, but concluded the game was "a financial success for the lottery."
The Globe reported last summer that a few gamblers with an extraordinary knowledge of math and probability had found a quirk in Cash WinFall shortly after it was introduced in 2004, allowing them to make an almost guaranteed profit as long as they purchased enough tickets at the right time. They figured out that, for a few days every three months or so, Cash WinFall became the most reliably lucrative lottery game in the country.
Sullivan said that these high rollers made a livelihood from playing it, giving up their day jobs to devote nearly full-time to the game, often backed by hundreds of thousands of dollars put up by investors.
The leaders of the group of MIT students stumbled on Cash WinFall as part of a college research project. James M. Harvey told investigators he was looking for an interesting senior independent study subject for his final semester in 2005. He said it took only a few days to determine that during so-called rolldown weeks, it was easy for large-scale bettors to win more than they lose.
Here's why: Unlike most lottery games, the biggest prize in Cash WinFall was capped at $2 million. If no one won the jackpot when it reached $2 million, the jackpot was then redistributed — or "rolled down" — into the smaller prizes, making them 5 to 10 times bigger than normal. Matching 5 of the 6 numbers drawn in Cash WinFall would normally produce a $4,000 prize, but during a rolldown week, the prize could top $40,000.
The groups figured out that if they bought at least $600,000 worth of tickets, the chances were excellent that they would win back 15 percent to 20 percent more than they spent. As a result, whenever the Cash WinFall jackpot got close to $2 million, the syndicates rushed to stores to buy as many tickets as possible.
Harvey said he initially tried the game on a small scale during the Feb. 7, 2005, rolldown, winning $3,000 from $1,000 worth of tickets. The group's winnings inspired other betting pools on the MIT campus, the report said, but Harvey made it large-scale, forming a company with fellow student Yuran Lu. They called it Random Strategies Investments, after the dorm, Random Hall, where their plan was hatched.
Random Strategies officials spent many hours filling out betting slips and buying tickets at a few hand-picked stores, the report said, betting between $17 million and $18 million over a seven-year period on Cash WinFall. Sullivan estimated the group earned at least $3.5 million in profits from 2005 to 2012, though Harvey declined to disclose his group's earnings.
Leaders of another group, GS Investment Strategies of Michigan, told investigators they typically aimed to buy around 312,000 tickets to ensure profits. On July 14, 2011, the group placed its largest bet ever, spending $720,000 on 360,000 tickets.
A third group, made up of scientists at Boston University and Northeastern University, started betting in 2005 after analyzing Cash WinFall and realized the odds were in favor of large-scale bettors.
"I told everyone I met: 'You should put more money into this game'," said Dr. Ying Zhang, who formed the Doctor Zhang Lottery Club Limited Partnership.
He told investigators the group made steady profits from Cash WinFall from the beginning, just as his calculations had suggested. In 2006, he left his day job as a biomedical researcher to focus mainly on Cash WinFall.
The game's vulnerability became clear in 2010, Sullivan said, when the MIT group figured out a way to win nearly the entire jackpot for a single drawing, something lottery officials had erroneously concluded was impossible. The MIT group figured out that, if it bought enough tickets, it could push the jackpot to $2 million and trigger the rolldown all by itself.
In August 2010, the group began quietly buying up enough tickets to force a rolldown. The lottery remained silent as the MIT group stockpiled 700,000 tickets and did not alert the public that a rolldown week was about to happen, as it normally does. The MIT group bought more than 80 percent of the tickets during the August 2010 rolldown, Sullivan found, and ultimately cashed in 860 of 983 winning tickets of $600 or more.
Lottery officials previously told the Globe that they had no way of knowing what the MIT group was up to, but Sullivan concluded that was untrue. He found that the lottery knew the MIT group was buying up hundreds of thousands of tickets, because the lottery had to approve extra ticket sales for the stores the MIT group frequented.
The lottery's finance department, which approved the extra sales, failed to notify other lottery employees whose job was to predict jackpots for the public.
The inspector general faulted the lottery for not notifying the public, noting that the agency had been caught off-guard by the MIT group — even though the group had been preparing for a forced rolldown for years before it carried one out.
Sullivan concluded the lottery was aware of the gamblers' activities as far back as 2005 and cracked down only after officials feared negative publicity.
For instance, in April 2010, compliance officer John Marino visited the two Western Massachusetts stores where the Michigan group routinely spent hundreds of thousands of dollars during rolldowns — and found no problems. "Everything is very organized and runs smoothly," wrote Marino, who mentioned that the owners of both stores were part of the Michigan betting club. The lottery even placed a second Cash WinFall machine at both Billy's Beverage of Sunderland and Jerry's Place in South Deerfield, allowing the gamblers to process more bets faster.
After the Globe reported on the syndicates' takeover of Cash WinFall last July, Grossman disciplined the owners of the two stores that had allowed the Michigan group to run the ticket machines themselves, and restricted the number of tickets any store could sell in a day, essentially ending the groups' dominance. The game was phased out earlier this year.
"I see this as a teachable moment, to send a message to our customers that the integrity of the lottery is of paramount importance," said Grossman.
Andrea Estes can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com.


text:
I always enjoy Max Wong's articles. She chooses interesting, timely topics that are well researched and well written. Looking forward to reading more from this talented writer.
In 2007, I became a member of the environmental movement known as The Compact, mainly because everything in my life has to be a dare. The basic idea behind The Compact is to take as few new resources out of the planet as possible. The way that Compactors put this idea into practice is by pledging to only buy used products for one calendar year, with obvious exceptions for things like food, heath care products, and services.
I started The Compact because I like to test myself, but many people come to The Compact for the same reason people get involved in the voluntary simplicity movement — they are broke. And this is totally OK because frugality is often the way that people lower their carbon footprint. So the motive for pledging to buy nothing new isn't really important. Learning to be aware of the environmental costs of every purchase is. (See also: Simple-Living Lessons I Learned From "Hoarders")
While I have yet to hear of anyone who has joined The Compact and not saved thousands of dollars, The Compact is about environmental responsibility, NOT personal frugality. Depending on how you define frugality, how you spend money versus how you spend resources can be very different things.
Is Couponing Bad for the Planet?
For example, a long-running discussion on The Compact's message board is on the subject of how to use coupons responsibly. While there are several Compactors who are black-belt coupon masters (one member uses her ninja couponing powers to save her local food bank thousands of dollars a year), a number of standard couponing maxims are terrible for the environment.
One of the first lessons that most people learn about shopping with coupons is that you should use your largest denomination of coupon to buy the smallest size of an item in order to lower the cost per ounce. While this strategy, when used properly, can save the couponer money, alas, it's horrible for the planet. Buying ten small four ounce containers of say, lotion, not only generates more trash, it takes more resources (plastic, water, electricity, gasoline, etc.) to create ten small containers than it does to create one twenty ounce bottle.
Another core principle of The Compact is "buy local." This is where The Compact can get complicated. Because it's really important to me to have a good used bookstore in my town (Los Angeles), it is worth it to me to spend, on average, $2.00 more per book at my brick and mortar bookstore than I would spend for the same book on Amazon.com.
Because the 10,000 members of The Compact live all over the place, the principles of buying used and buying local often come into conflict with each other. For example:
While frugality often has an immediate reward — more money in your pocket — automatically looking for the best deal might have long-term negative repercussions for the environment and for your neighbors.
There are two selfish reasons why I go out of my way to try and buy locally even if it means spending more money up front:
Supporting the Local Economy
By buying used and buying local in my neighborhood, I am supporting the local economy, not some multinational corporation that doesn't care about maintaining a high quality of life. This positively impacts the value of my home. Target couldn't care less if their store results in traffic gridlock for my neighbors or makes our Main Street less attractive. By patronizing local establishments, I'm helping to create and maintain a vibrant consumer experience that is tailored to the needs of local residents.
Supporting the Health of Locals
The sprawling ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are the largest in the nation and basically serve as the mouth of America's consumerist habit. The combined ports are also the largest single contributor to air pollution in Southern California. Because we cannot break our addiction to cheap goods from China, people who live in Long Beach and San Pedro suffer from elevated levels of asthma and other respiratory illnesses. They are literally subsidizing other people's purchases with their health.
The Compact is about the journey and not the destination.
The process is ultimately fun, which is why most Compactors tend to stay with their pledge long after the first twelve months. And while all Compactors not-so-secretly strive for perfection, every Compactor eventually has to buy something new. Not surprisingly, most Compactors end up subscribing to the "you get what you pay for" school of thought. Socks and underwear are a Compact exemption and can be purchased new without breaking the pledge.
But, even with exemptions, Compactors generally will pay top dollar in order to buy high quality undies that will stand the test of time over a multi-pack of cheap knickers that will fall apart after a few trips through the wash. Sometimes new really is better for the environment. And sometimes more expensive can be better for the budget.
How do you define frugalness vs. mindfulness? Are they the same thing? Can one be truly mindful without being frugal? Do you think you could step away from the consumer grind for 12 months?
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I always enjoy Max Wong's articles. She chooses interesting, timely topics that are well researched and well written. Looking forward to reading more from this talented writer.
Max- excellent article. I couldn't agree more. Why buy 20 -1L bottles of water because a coupon makes it cheaper than the 20L jug. Some may say because I am saving money for my child's college fund- but, that raises another question. These products and plastics that use water and petrol to create are damaging our environment, severely. Would you rather save a dollar or do your part to make sure your children live in a safe environment? I am all for saving when I can but not at a cost to the environment.
I haven't gone into this 100%, but am leaning toward this. I am having fun buying clothes, household goods, books, videos, purses, jewelry etc all used.
I try and check out farmer's markets and flea markets for local foods. They are more expensive, but I'm working on using what we have and trying to not waste any food.
I also take into account fuel consumption by driving less, carpooling and opening blinds in the winter and closing them in the summer.