text:
Superbugs are not just a problem in hospitals but could be also coming from our animal farms. Research published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Microbiology indicates insects could be responsible for spreading antibiotic resistant bacteria from pigs to humans.
Ludek Zurek and collaborators from Kansas and North Carolina State Universities isolated bacteria from farm pig feces and compared them to the bacteria present in the intestines of the house flies and German cockroaches caught on those farms. They subjected the bacteria to a range of different antibiotic resistance testing and genetic analysis and discovered that not only were the same types of bacteria carried in the intestines of all the insects and pigs, but also that there was a high prevalence of antibiotic resistance. In particular, the common gut bacteria Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium were found to be frequently resistant to tetracycline, erythromycin, streptomycin, and kanamycin -- common antibiotics used to treat human infections.
Dr. Ludek Zurek explains that the significance of these findings could be very important for public health. He said, "In the USA, antibiotics are widely used in pig farming as growth promoters; they cause the pigs to gain weight faster. As a result, the digestive tract bacteria in pigs are often exposed to selective pressure and many become resistant to antibiotics. Consequently, there's a risk that these bacteria might be transferred -- by common livestock and urban pests such as house flies and cockroaches from pig farms to humans." "Moreover, since we found such a good match between enterococci from pig feces and insects, it is possible that flies and cockroaches carry other microbes originating from swine feces with even greater public health importance and may transport them to the surrounding urban environment."
While there is thought to be no risk to humans from eating properly cooked pork meat, the widespread use of antibiotics in confined swine production is likely to only increase the selection and evolution of antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains. While farm pigs continue to share their homes with insects, the risk of these resistant strains being transferred to humans via cockroaches and flies is an ever-present possibility. Effective management strategies aimed at reducing insect pest populations should be an important component of pre-harvest food safety efforts on animal farms.
Story Source:
Materials provided by BioMed Central. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Journal Reference:
Cite This Page:


text:
In 2015, Egypt was a buzz with anger over the video of three men beating and stabbing a restrained dog in front of his owner. After several minutes of torture, one of the men steps up to kill the dog by smacking the dog's head and body with a metal pole until it lay still in a pool of its own blood. The incident became known as Dog al-Ahram and brought to light the serious dearth of animal welfare laws in the Arab republic.
After uproar on social media, the men were arrested and were given a sentence of three years in prison but within months the sentences were reduced to just months. Clearly, justice was not served.
Now, nearly 3 years later some Egyptians are demanding the country adopt its first animal welfare law. Among other things, the law would prohibit the murder of stray animals, create animal humane animal transport provisions, regulate the use of animal testing and put controls on the treatment of animals in slaughterhouses. In short, it is a huge step forward for one of the oldest civilizations which, until now, has very little mention of animal rights in their legal statutes.
Egypt, like other developing countries is not known for their good treatment of animals, and they have even suffered economically for it. Australia, for example, banned exports of livestock to Egypt on several occasions after video of animals being cruelly slaughtered in Egyptian facilities. They only resumed when protocols were put in place that would ensure Australian standards.
While some believe Egypt has more pressing issues, the protection of animals is not a luxury. Animals, like people, should enjoy basic welfare and humane treatment and should be respected.
Activists hope Egypt will adopt the new animal welfare law next year. As Care2, with the backing of animal rights supporters like you all over the world, let's help encourage them to do so and ensure animals can have a better life in Egypt. Please sign the petition and ask the Egyptian Parliament to pass real animal welfare.
By signing, you accept Care2's Terms of Service.
You can unsub at any time here.
Having problems signing this? Let us know.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Adidas Tennis Apparel
Adidas Apparel Sets Trends in Tennis
Adidas tennis apparel offers some of the most trendsetting, innovative outfits on the sports market—and is in demand by tennis pros like Ana Ivanovic and Andy Murray. Adidas tennis clothes is comfortable, stylish, and functional—and Do It Tennis carries a wide selection of tennis apparel for men, women, and juniors, to accommodate all tastes and budgets.
Adidas' Cutting-Edge Fabrics Can Beat the Heat
In warm weather, a heavy game of tennis can pose challenges. Sweat dampens clothes which can result in discomfort, fatigue, and poor performance. Adidas tennis apparel has perfected moisture management fabrics to keep players cool—and apparel dry, lightweight, and comfortable.
ClimaCool Apparel
ClimaCool is Adidas' most aspired fabric breakthrough. ClimaCool fabric regulates body temperature, and actively expels heat and sweat away from the body. Three-dimensional fabrics and ventilation channels allow cool air to flow in and out to let a garment breathe. Moisture-dissipating materials evaporate sweat from the skin and keep clothing, and a player, dry and comfortable.
ClimaCool Hats, Visors, and Headbands
To protect a player's head from the sun (and to look great at the same time), Adidas hats and visors keep sweat out of the eyes, and keep a player's head fully cool and ventilated—even in direct sunlight.
ClimaCool's antimicrobial headband with mesh side panels provides superb breathability, and incorporates a sweat-wicking technology that evaporates sweat on contact.
ClimaCool Wristbands
Adidas wristbands keep your hands dry when playing tennis—this is especially important for serving. These wristbands are absorbent, odor resistant, and fashionable. They come in a variety of colors and materials, including bands made from high-tech crystals that turn into a cooling gel when in contact with moisture.
Adidas ForMotion fabric is designed for sport-specific motion. ForMotion apparel controls and enhances muscle activity and maintains proper form. Adidas ForMotion socks incorporate an anti-microbial technology to decrease odor, and an anatomically-shaped left/right fully cushioned footbed.
ClimaLite fabric provides moisture management by transferring sweat away from the skin to a garment's outer surface—allowing for quick evaporation, and keeping garments dry. ClimaLite uses mesh panels to channel cooling air in and out of the garment, leaving players cool and ventilated.
Do It Tennis has a staff of friendly experts who are happy to take your call and answer questions about tennis apparel, or anything that's on your sports mind! Call us today at (866) 900-3648, and let us help you with all of your athletic needs.
Adidas Men's Heat.RDY Tennis Polo (Navy)
Adidas Men's Heat.RDY Tennis Polo (Black)
Adidas Women's Standard Club Short Tennis Tights (Black/White)
Adidas Men's Stella McCartney 7 Tennis Short (Red)
$60.00| $29.00
adidas Men's Standard Club Tennis Shorts 9 Inch (Black/White)
Adidas Women's Club Tennis Pleated Skirt (Black/White)
Adidas Women's Club Tennis Pleatskirt (White/Grey)
Adidas Women's Standard Club Tennis Tee (Black/White)


text:
George W. Bush on Jobs
President of the United States, Former Republican Governor (TX)
Perhaps what the president meant to say is that illegal immigrants will do the work cheaper. Let's look at the next two sentences of the quotation:
"There are jobs that just simply aren't getting done because Americans won't do them. And yet, if you're making 50 cents an hour in Mexico, and you can make a lot more in America, and you've got mouths to feed, you're going to come and try to find the work. It's a big border, across which people are comwing to provide for their families."
If the president means that Mexico is so impoverished that even working wages there do not compare with below-market wages here, he is probably right. We have fought for minimum-wage laws and for union wages in this country, since the 1930s. Are we supposed to abandon all the laws now, just because Mexican illegal immigrants consider 50 cents an hour to be a good job?
However, when the President said "the American people have turned in an economic performance that is the envy of the world," he was standing on firm ground. The US unemployment rate for December was 4.9 per cent. That's significantly lower than most other industrialized democracies. Unemployment in Germany stands at 9.3 per cent, France at 9.2 per cent, Canada at 6.5 per cent. Only Japan's rate of 4.6 per cent and the United Kingdom's 4.8 per cent were better than the US, according to latest figures from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
BUSH: I'd like our farmers feeding the world. We're the best producers in the world. And I want the farmers feeding the world. We need to open up markets. Exports are down. And every time an export number goes down, it hurts the farmer. I want the next president to have fast track negotiating authority to open up markets around the world. We're the best. We're the most efficient farmers. I don't want to use food as a diplomatic weapon from this point forward. It hurts the farmers. It's not the right thing to do.
We need more work on value-added processing. I'm for research and development, so that we can use our technological base to figure out new uses for farm products.
I'm for completely getting rid of the death tax. One reason family farmers are forced to sell early is because of the death tax. It's a tax that taxes people twice, it penalizes the family farmer.
A: Yes. The best way to ensure a strong and growing agricultural sector is through a more market-driven approach that allows our farmers to fully participate in the world economy. As farming moves towards market-driven production, I believe the government should help farmers adapt to a global marketplace by providing a strong safety net and the means to manage the cyclical downturns in the farm economy. I will reinforce the important role farmers and ranchers play in the U.S. economy by increasing trade opportunities, reducing regulatory burdens, and reducing the overall tax burden. My administration will also renew our commitment to investments in new and innovative technologies for rural America.
It's true that the number of consecutive months in which the economy has added jobs is the longest on record, but the number of jobs gained is not. The pace of job creation was far stronger during the Clinton administration, when 22.7 million new jobs were added despite seven months that saw slight declines. Since Bush's "record" run began in August 2003, the gain has been 8.3 million. It's true that wages are up: Average weekly earnings for rank-and-file workers were $605.96 in Dec. 2007, compared with $578.67 a year earlier. But after adjustment for rising prices, the buying power of the average weekly paycheck actually declined.
CNN FACT CHECK:Kerry is correct that Bush is on track to have a net loss of jobs by the end of his first term, and possibly to become the first president since Herbert Hoover to leave office with a net loss in jobs. However the 1.6 million figure that Kerry refers to in his speech overstates the scope of the nation's total job loss. This number refers to the total number of private sector jobs lost since January 2001, when Bush took office, through August 2004. The 1.6 million figure does not factor in a net increase in public sector jobs, which reduces the loss in overall jobs to 821,000. The Kerry campaign explains this distinction in a fact sheet to reporters, but on the stump, Kerry himself only says that 1.6 million jobs were lost, without clarifying that he is referring to only private sector jobs, and not all jobs overall.
A: I've got policies to continue to grow our economy and create jobs. Here's some help for you to go get an education. Here's some help for you to go to a community college. We've expanded trade adjustment assistance. We want to help pay for you to gain the skills necessary. The best way to keep jobs here in America is to make sure our education system works.
BUSH: Let me start with how to control the cost of health care: medical liability reform, for starters, which he's opposed. Secondly, allow small businesses to pool together so they can share risk and buy insurance at the same discounts big businesses get to do. Thirdly, spread what's called health savings accounts. It's good for small businesses, good for owners. You own your own account. You can save tax-free. You get a catastrophic plan to help you on it. The best way to keep jobs here in America is, one, have an energy plan. I proposed one to the Congress two years ago, encourages conservation, encourages technology to explore for environmentally friendly ways for coal-to use coal and gas. It encourages the use of renewables like ethanol and biodiesel. Less regulations if we want jobs here; legal reform if we want jobs here; and we've got to keep taxes low.
|Other past presidents on Jobs:
|George W. Bush on other issues:
Former Presidents:
Barack Obama(D,2009-2017)
George W. Bush(R,2001-2009)
Bill Clinton(D,1993-2001)
George Bush Sr.(R,1989-1993)
Ronald Reagan(R,1981-1989)
Jimmy Carter(D,1977-1981)
Gerald Ford(R,1974-1977)
Richard Nixon(R,1969-1974)
Lyndon Johnson(D,1963-1969)
John F. Kennedy(D,1961-1963)
Dwight Eisenhower(R,1953-1961)
Harry S Truman(D,1945-1953)
Past Vice Presidents:
V.P.Joseph Biden
V.P.Dick Cheney
V.P.Al Gore
V.P.Dan Quayle
Sen.Bob Dole
Political Parties:
Republican Party
Democratic Party
Libertarian Party
Green Party
Reform Party
Natural Law Party
Tea Party
Constitution Party
Civil Rights
Foreign Policy
Free Trade
Govt. Reform
Gun Control
Health Care
Homeland Security
Social Security
Tax Reform


text:
The Center for Natural Resources at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, was founded in 2012 to foster sensible approaches for environmental and energy resource utilization. The Center's specialties include assessment and remediation studies of pollution in natural settings, and evaluation of natural resources for potential production of energy, especially the production of renewable energy. The Center for Natural Resources conducts studies ranging from the microscopic scale to the landscape scale, and utilizes advanced networks of sensors.
The staff of the Center integrates comprehensive field measurements with powerful computational models. The Center is internationally known for its long-term studies of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska and the recent Gulf of Mexico oil spill, along with its efforts in dealing with Hurricane Sandy. The Center's publications have been in renowned journals, such as NATURE geosciences and Environmental Science and Technology. The CNR Center collaborates with a broad range of constituents including federal, industrial and regional foundations to create sustainable approaches that adequately balance the diversity of public and private interests.
CNR's long-term vision is the development and adoption of minimally intrusive technology for dealing with environmental and energy challenges. It aims to produce the next generation of scientists that are well informed of societal needs. The Center also strives to fostering environmental education and best methods for stewardship of natural resources.


text:
Schedule your orthodontic appointment
We make it easy for both new and existing patients to schedule orthodontic appointments that fit with their needs and schedules. To request an appointment, please complete the form information, and one of our team members will confirm your appointment as soon as possible.
You can also call us to schedule appointments. Find a location to get started.
We look forward to seeing you soon!


text:
Lamb of God frontman Randy Blythe was finally released from a Czech prison on Thursday (Aug. 2) after being incarcerated for more than a month. Blythe was being held on manslaughter charges from a 2010 incident in which a fan died from injuries alleged to have been sustained during a Lamb of God concert. The metal community showed great support for Blythe throughout this ordeal and when news of his release spread, several rock and metal acts, from Slash to Slipknot to Lamb of God themselves, took to Twitter to comment or simply report the news to their fans. See what they had to say regarding Blythe's release below:
Original post:
Randy Blythe Released From Czech Prison – Rockers React on Twitter


text:
"My Battle with Same-Sex Attraction," Ensign, Aug. 2002, 48–51
My Battle with Same-Sex Attraction
I was certain Heavenly Father had given up on me. How wrong I was!
There was a time in my life when I believed there was no hope for me—no future—and that I would never come close to being a righteous daughter of God. This resulted from the fact that I felt same-sex attraction and acted on it. I wondered if I could ever be free of the bondage I was in.
I joined the Church at age 21 and was an active member until I started acting on the confused feelings I had experienced for many years. I knew the Lord did not approve of my actions, but I was not willing to give them up, so I stayed away from the Church altogether.
The turning point came when a friend visited me shortly after returning home from her mission. She noticed that there seemed to be a coldness in my home and that I seemed different somehow. When she questioned me about this, I admitted my problem to her. She urged me to see my bishop.
I resisted at first, but inside I knew I would never be happy as long as I continued my behavior. I decided I wanted to be close to the Lord more than I wanted the lifestyle I was living, so I made an appointment with my bishop. When the time for our interview arrived, I tried to act cool and nonchalant, but my heart was pounding. I felt humiliated, ashamed, and frightened. I was sure the bishop would be uncomfortable with my disclosure and would ask a few cursory questions before ushering me out the door.
Instead, he listened to my story with compassion and concern. After we discussed my situation at length, he urged me to attend all my Church meetings and to meet with him regularly. He encouraged me to spend time in fasting and prayer, and he said he would do the same so that he would be prepared to offer me the counsel the Lord wanted me to receive. What affected me most of all was when he told me, "Sandra, Heavenly Father loves you. You are His child, and He wants to help you."
The Spirit of the Lord confirmed the truth of those words, and I was overcome. My understanding of the gospel was relatively new at that time, and I had been sure Heavenly Father wanted nothing to do with me. But that wasn't true—He loved me! He understood my challenges far better than I did, and He would help me repent and return to Him! I left the bishop's office with a lighter heart.
I started coming back to church and taking the first steps of repentance. It wasn't easy to break away from the lifestyle I had been living for so long, and there were times I felt discouraged and overwhelmed, wondering if I could continue along this new path.
But I soon realized what had been missing from my life for quite some time—the influence of the Holy Ghost. Church became an anchor for me, a safe shelter. I followed the counsel my bishop gave during my meetings with him, and eventually the Spirit was able to operate more fully in my life.
Many years have passed since that first meeting with my bishop. I wish I could say that I never again struggled or felt same-sex attraction, but that would not be true. What I have gained, however, is the strength not to act on those feelings, as well as the sense of peace I craved for so many years. Any desire I have had to act on this temptation has been overshadowed by a stronger desire to serve the Lord. I have come so far, and while I do not know if my healing will be complete in this life or in the next, I do know that God is aware of my efforts, that He is actively involved in my life, and that He will bless me with a complete and total healing when the time is right.
Through my experience, I have learned key principles that have helped me in my struggle. These principles can be applied by anyone seeking to overcome a moral weakness:
Trust in the Lord. In the world there is a debate over the origins of same-sex attraction. Yet Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles teaches that regardless of our personal susceptibilities, we are responsible for our thoughts and behavior: "Some kinds of feelings seem to be inborn. Others are traceable to mortal experiences. Still other feelings seem to be acquired from a complex interaction of 'nature and nurture.' All of us have some feelings we did not choose, but the gospel of Jesus Christ teaches us that we still have the power to resist and reform our feelings (as needed) and to assure that they do not lead us to entertain inappropriate thoughts or to engage in sinful behavior" ("Same-Gender Attraction," Ensign, Oct. 1995, 9).
To overcome this challenge, trust the Lord and obey Him. He knows how to succor you and will give you the strength not to act upon your temptations, whatever they may be (see Alma 7:12; Alma 13:28; Alma 34:39; 1 Cor. 10:13). Isaiah 29:16 asks, "Shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?" Know that your Creator understands you perfectly, and He knows how to help you. As you turn your heart over to Him and submit fully to His will, He will heal you in His own due time (see 3 Ne. 18:32).
Fast and pray. Pray unceasingly and "with all the energy of heart" (Moro. 7:48). Fast and pray for protection against the adversary and for deliverance from unholy thoughts. Do not assume that the way will be easy, for no matter what you do, Satan will desire to ensnare you. Be on the alert always (see Mosiah 4:30). Invite the Spirit of the Lord to be with you constantly, and strive to be worthy of it. The companionship of the Holy Ghost will speak to you in a still, small voice; listen to the promptings and obey them.
Remember who you are. Remember that you kept your first estate; otherwise you would not be on earth today. Remember that Heavenly Father loves you and wants you to come home to Him and receive all the blessings He has in store for you. He will be your great encourager if you will only give place in your heart for Him.
Do not attach labels to yourself or others who struggle with this problem. We all have temptations, but they do not define who we are. Know that having this particular challenge does not make you an "evil" person. As you commit not to act on these attractions, and as you immerse yourself in righteous thoughts and activities, you can be worthy of all the Lord has to offer. The freedom you find will be sweet to you.
Read and ponder the scriptures daily. Make this a priority. Through the words of the prophets, the Lord will bear you up. Sincerely liken the scriptures to yourself (see 1 Ne. 19:23). As you do so, you will make yourself more receptive to the promptings of the Spirit of the Lord, which will guide you in the paths of righteousness.
Change your environment. Gain the strength to resist temptation by leaning heavily on Heavenly Father and listening to the voice of the prophets. I made myself more receptive to their counsel by cleansing my home of harmful influences. I stopped watching immoral television programs and gave up inappropriate movies. I threw out tapes and CDs with suggestive lyrics and books with immoral plots or profanity. I removed anything and everything that was not wholesome and clean. I displayed pictures that reminded me of who I really am, and I immersed myself in the scriptures and other edifying books. These things have enriched my life in ways I could not have imagined, and now I never miss what I have forsaken.
Choose righteous associations. Most people tend to become like the individuals they spend the most time with. I urge you to distance yourself from those who see nothing wrong with same-sex attraction. Avoid places frequented by those who are involved in this lifestyle. Quit your job if need be. This is a battle for your eternal exaltation—and battle is a fitting word.
Lean on family and friends who see what is best in you. The members of my ward have been wonderful friends to me. As I have reached out to them, they have responded in kind, and I have learned much from their caring examples.
Seek counseling from your bishop and, if necessary, a professional therapist who shares your values. They can offer support and help you through your challenges. If needed, your bishop can refer you to LDS Family Services for counseling or for information about local resources.
Heavenly Father loves each one of us and wants to rescue us. His arms are outstretched toward us "all the day long" (2 Ne. 28:32). He provided the Atonement of His Son so that we might be released from our respective prisons.
I cherish the peace I have found in my own life as I have emerged from the bondage that held me captive for so long. I have learned that Heavenly Father loves us more than we can imagine and that if we allow Him, He will help us in our struggles. How grateful I am for that knowledge and for the freedom I have found as I have followed His counsel.
Help Is Available
"Through Christ and his church, those who struggle can obtain help. This help comes through fasting and prayer, through the truths of the gospel, through church attendance and service, through the counsel of inspired leaders, and, where necessary, through professional assistance with problems that require such help. Another important source of help is the strengthening influence of loving brothers and sisters. All should understand that persons (and their family members) struggling with the burden of same-sex attraction are in special need of the love and encouragement that is a clear responsibility of Church members, who have signified by covenant their willingness 'to bear one another's burdens' (Mosiah 18:8) 'and so fulfil the law of Christ' (Gal. 6:2)."
Elder Dallin H. Oaks, "Same-Gender Attraction," Ensign, Oct. 1995, 13–14.
LDS Family Services provides professional counseling to members as well as consultation to Church leaders assisting members. Contact your bishop or branch president for more information, or visit www.ldsfamilyservices.org.
More on this topic: See A. Dean Byrd, "When a Loved One Struggles with Same-Sex Attraction,"Ensign, Sept. 1999, 51–55; Name Withheld, "Becoming Whole Again,"Ensign, Jan. 1997, 26–29; Dallin H. Oaks, "Same-Gender Attraction,"Ensign, Oct. 1995, 6–14.
Visit www.lds.org or see Church magazines on CD.


text:
Another Thursday brings another challenge here today at CRAFT Challenge again, this time our challenge is 'Things with Wheels'. So, any project fitting this subject will be eligible for a prize. There is a maximum of 5 entries per person each challenge, so please don't enter any more than that or they will not be counted.
We hope you will enjoy playing along with this one again. Thank you for everyone who joined us again last week for our Inspired by a Song challenge (lots of entries again) and thank you again to Crimson Cloud, Floppy Latte Designs and AiFactory for sponsoring us last week. Please scroll down to find the winners of last week's challenge, our Top3 and our Star of the Month. If you were one of them, please contact us to claim your prize and/or badge.
This week we have 3 sponsors, so there will be 3 chances to win in this challenge. Just for clarification, there are no first, second or other places in our winners, but our first winner drawn will win the prize from our first sponsor, the second drawn the prize from the second sponsor, etc.
So, here are our sponsors for this week:
Sponsor 1: Digital Delights
The prize for winner 1 is
Sponsor 2: Lauretta's Digital Stamps
The prize for winner 2 is 4 images of choice from her site.
Sponsor 3: Truly Madly Crafty
The prize for winner 3 is a £5 voucher for their shop.
The prize for winner 3 is a £5 voucher for their shop.
We will be announcing our Star of the Month again on Saturday and our sponsor for our Star of the Month will be
The prize for the Star of the Month is 3 digis of choice from their site.
Some of our team will have used one of the images from any of the sponsors above.
Here are the creations by our Guest Designers this week:
(using 'Sexy Witchy' by Lauretta's Digital Stamps)
(using 'Train' by The Stamping Boutique)
And from our Design Team:
(using 'Train' by The Stamping Boutique)
(using 'Train' by The Stamping Boutique)
Jo – (me):
(using 'Love Blooms' papers by Floppy Latte Designs and 'Claudia Cow' by Digital Delights)
(using 'Full Gear' by Lauretta's Digital Stamps)
is unfortunately poorly and won't be with us for a little while, we are all
sending her hugs and best wishes for a speedy and full recovery!
(using ' Rockaround Sue; Rockabilly Richie and 50's car ' by Digital Delights)
So, now it's up to you again, we would love to come and visit your creations again. If you are 15 or younger, please include your age again in your name, collect a special badge here and contact us for a little prize from Jo (2 digistamps, 1 easel card sheet or a paperpack).
Don't forget to contact us to claim your prize if you have won one of our challenges or to collect your badge if you made our Top 3 here! We only will respond to people who get in touch with us and will not go looking for you! (Sorry, a bit too busy to do that). If prizes have not been claimed by 8pm GMT the day prior to the next challenge going life (so for our current winners, see post below, next week).
Have fun with our challenge and good luck!
If you don't see Inlinkz below, please refresh your page, your browser may not have fully loaded this page.
Jo and the CRAFT Team.


text:
- Home
- Departments
- Animal Shelter
- Capital Campaign
Capital Campaign
2014 Needs Assessment
On March 6, 2014 Heather Lewis of Animal Arts hosted a Needs Assessment Workshop with the City of Weatherford and Parker County to discuss short and long range plans for expansion and renovations to the current Weatherford/Parker County Animal Shelter campus.
The Needs Assessment showed the following results:
• As the population of Parker County continues to grow rapidly, we expect animal populations to increase as well. The current campus does not allow for future growth in animal populations.
• The current facilities do not meet current industry and building code standards and are not constructed of long-lasting materials. The existing buildings are in need of repair and eventual replacement.
Due to the results from this assessment, and in order to keep up with demand, the Shelter administration developed a multi-phase Strategic Master Plan for construction, renovation and expansion of the Shelter facilities. The Master Plan will allow for cohesive and sensible development of the campus over time, with emphasis on:
• Improving the flow of animals, staff, and visitors;
• Improving the safety of all operations; and
• Providing spaces for new and expanding programs in a cohesive manner.
This careful long-range planning by Weatherford/Parker County Animal Services administration and knowledgeable friends resulted in this exciting strategic approach to meeting the needs of the animals and constituencies of the Weatherford/Parker County Animal Shelter. This multi-year plan is positioning the Shelter for an exciting era of service. The Animal Shelter's Giving Second Chances Campaign was authorized by the Weatherford City Council and encouraged by the Animal Shelter Advisory Committee.
The Business of Giving Second Chances
Campaign Priorities
The Giving Second Chances Campaign Base Goal is $1,650,000 and the Challenge Goal is $2,600,000 to be raised in three-year commitments. The Campaign will fund the following priorities:
Medical Treatment/Animal Care Center - Goal: $615,000
Spay and Neuter Funds - Base:$50,000; Challenge: $50,000; Total Goal: $100,000
Medical Isolation Center - Goal: $360,000
Renovation of Adoption Center - Goal: $60,000
Intake/Processing Building and Sallyport - Goal: $420,000
Animal Play Yards and Enrichment - Goal: $50,000
Livestock Barns and Relocation - Goal: $196,000
Feral Cat and Trap-Neuter-Release Funds - Goal: $165,000
Improved Roads and Grounds - Goal: $75,000
Multipurpose Classrooms - Base Goal: $70,000; Challenge Goal: $127,000;
Total Goal: $197,000
GETTING STARTED: Master Plan Kickstart $362,000
The Shelter is also pursuing estate/planned gifts in this campaign. At least $1,000,000 for endowment could be achieved through this method of giving. Please review the Campaign Questions and Answers Pamphlet and/or speak with Dustin Deel, Director of Municipal and Community Services and Campaign Director, to assist you with this method of giving.


text:
MERS coronavirus may have transmitted from animals to humans more than once
20 September 2013
The largest study of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) genomes to date reveals new information about how MERS-CoV is evolving, and its likely patterns of transmission.
Using advanced DNA analysis techniques, an international team of researchers led by Professor Alimuddin Zumla of UCL and UCLPartners, Professor Ziad Memish of the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health, and Dr Matt Cotton & Professor Paul Kellam of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Cambridge, analysed MERS-CoV genomes obtained directly from 21 different patients with MERS from across different regions of Saudi Arabia.
Genomic sequencing of viruses allows scientists to reconstruct how, when, and where the virus has evolved. This, in turn, allows researchers to establish whether human infections have originated from a single zoonotic event (i.e. where the virus passes just once from an animal to a human), with subsequent transmission between humans, or whether the virus is transmitting from animals to humans repeatedly.
The results
clearly show that the circulating virus in Saudi Arabia is centred around
Riyadh, with sporadic excursions to other centres, although additional virus
genomes will need to be analysed to more firmly establish the locations
Transmission of this virus appears to be more complicated than anticipated... Watchful surveillance and vigilance is required despite the minimal risk of global spread.
Professor Alimuddin Zumla, UCL Research Department of Infection
The researchers' analysis of how quickly the virus has evolved, and how it has transmitted between locations and patients, suggests that a single transmission from animal to human is unlikely. Instead, it appears that the virus has transmitted from an animal reservoir to humans on several occasions, as well as transmitting between humans.
Diverse genetic variants of the virus have appeared in Riyadh, and this high local diversity might indicate that the virus is being transmitted from an animal reservoir which is being continuously imported from other regions. Alternatively, it may be down to the fact that Riyadh is the region's largest population centre, and therefore the largest target for human-to-human transmission of the virus.
The results
also show that considerable time has passed since the viruses analysed in this
study shared a common ancestor, supporting the hypothesis that MERS-CoV
might be being transmitted to humans by an intermediary animal host.
While an ancestor of the virus has been found in bats, and signs of the virus have been found in dromedary camels, no animal reservoir for the virus has yet been definitively identified, and the authors reiterate an urgent need for further animal studies in the region to better establish where the virus is coming from.
According to Professor Memish: "So far, there has been very little information about the molecular evolution of MERS-CoV, and how this relates to virus transmission.
"While our research substantially adds to the existing evidence base for how, where, and when MERS-CoV is transmitting, further definition of the exposures responsible for the sporadic introductions of MERS-CoV into human populations is urgently needed to provide the necessary information to interrupt transmission and contain the virus."
Professor Zumla, who is supported by the National Institute for Health Research University College London Hospitals Biomedical Research Centre, emphasises that, "In lieu of our study's genomic findings, and the fact that the source of the MERS coronavirus has not yet been found, transmission of this virus appears to be more complicated than anticipated.
"The reassuring news is that two mass gatherings events, attracting over 8 million pilgrims, have occurred in Mecca, Saudi Arabia since the discovery of MERS-CoV 12 months ago - the annual Hajj in October 2012, and the recent July 2013 Ramadaan Umrah season - and yet no major outbreaks of MERS-CoV cases have been reported from these events to date. Watchful surveillance and vigilance is required despite the minimal risk of global spread."
Media contact: David Weston
Image caption: Professor Alimuddin Zumla, UCL Research Department of Infection (left), with Dr Abdullah Al-Rabeeah, Minister of Health, KSA (centre) and Professor Ziad Memish, Deputy Minister, KSA (right).
Journal paper in The Lancet
NIHR University College London Hospitals Biomedical Research Centre
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Ministry of Health
Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute


text:
George Lucas and Steven Spielberg recently took part in a symposium in which they predicted an imminent "implosion" in the system as a result of the industry's current obsession with blockbuster movies. Curious about whether or not this was simply exaggeration, Vulture's David Edelstein got in contact with producer Lynda Obst, author of a new book titled Sleepless in Hollywood: Tales From the New Abnormal in the Movie Business. During their conversation, she grimly agreed with the two moguls, predicting, "If, say, four huge tentpole [movies] were to go down at the same time in the same season, it would be catastrophic."
The Lone Ranger — a.k.a. Pirates of the Caribbean 4.5: Sparrow Goes West — is looking like it might be a huge tentpole movie (it reportedly cost $215-250 million) that goes down this weekend. It also happens to be a perfect example of almost everything that's wrong with the current Hollywood blockbuster system. In addition to being massively expensive, The Lone Ranger demonstrates the industry's franchise obsession, origin-story laziness, over-reliance on bloodless violence, and inability to prevent running-time bloat. These are not small problems, and there is no sign that they will be riding off into the sunset anytime soon.
1. The Franchise Problem
Last November, shortly after it was announced that Disney had acquired Lucasfilm and would make a new Star Wars trilogy, Vulture's Kyle Buchanan posited that we were entering a phase in which we would begin to see films from the same franchises over and over and over. That's because, as Obst writes in her book, studios need movies with "pre-awareness" — titles that are familiar enough to sell in both the U.S. and abroad. Whether it's ready-made properties like Star Wars or surprise hits that studios can then sequelize until the properties burn out (see the Hangover series), franchises are, and will continue to be, the name of the game. Each studio has its own set of titles: Disney is basically a franchise machine these days — the studio is now in charge of the Star Wars, Marvel, Muppets, and Pixar brands; Paramount has Star Trek and Mission: Impossible; Fox has Ice Age, Planet of the Apes, and the X-Men films; Warner Bros. has Batman, Superman, and the Lord of the Rings series; Universal has the Bourne movies and the hit Fast and Furious series; Sony has Spider-Man.
But in addition to all those very recognizable properties, there is pressure to expand and find more. As a result, studios will glom on to practically anything that is even vaguely recognizable (hello, Battleship!), preferably one with a title that is the name of a person or a cartoon or a superhero. Disney tried this last year with John Carter and failed. Questions of quality aside (the film's Metacritic score is split almost down the middle at 51 percent), John Carter was simply rejected by audiences. That might have to do with the fact that few were likely familiar or interested in a movie about a character from an early 20th century series of sci-fi adventure novels. The year before, Seth Rogen starred in director Michel Gondry's film version of The Green Hornet, another pulp-era hero (the character is actually the grand-nephew of the Lone Ranger) who audiences had no interest in getting to learn about. In the mid-nineties, two films with similar comic strip/old-time radio heroes — The Phantom and The Shadow — were equally unsuccessful. Yet, as studios continue to plumb our pop culture past for any recognizable names that have yet to be made into a movie/potential franchise, we're likely so see more films along these lines. (Even if The Lone Ranger flops, Hollywood has not been known to always learn from its mistakes.)
2. The Origin-Story Problem
This is a corollary to point number one. Don't be fooled by the title. The Lone Ranger is as much a movie about sidekick Tonto as it is about the titular masked man. It's a choice that makes sense, given that the Native American is played by Johnny Depp in full, mugging Jack Sparrow mode. You don't pay Johnny Depp money and then shunt him to the side. As a result, the movie must make its way through not just one, but a pair of origin stories, as we learn both how lawman John Reid (Armie Hammer) became the masked avenger as well as how face-painted, dead-bird–wearing Tonto became the wandering outcast of this version. The Lone Ranger spends a good chunk of time marking off origin-story checklist items and very little time on the actual lone ranging. But, if you're going to try to establish a franchise, the origin story must be told, especially with a character as obscure to current audiences as the Lone Ranger. As a result, there's a heavy sense of obligation and Catch-22-ness to the entire task. Here's a suggestion, Hollywood — try starting a series in media res. Give us a story that works and then, if you're lucky enough to earn a sequel, you can give us flashes of an origin tale down the road, as opposed to weighing down your first movie.
3. The Rating Problem
The modern blockbuster's primary responsibility is to deliver maximum profits and to perpetuate franchises. According to Obst, "If you make a movie that makes $200 million and you can't make a sequel out of it, it's a dead property." So in order to ensure sequels and appeal to the maximum number of people, it must be rated PG or PG-13. Good luck finding an R-rated summer blockbuster. By and large, raunchy comedies, like last month's This Is the End or last summer's Ted, are where the R-rating is to be found. Yet, in The Lone Ranger, an ostensibly family-friendly PG-13 movie, the following things happen: A man eats another man's heart (off-screen), a Native American tribe is massacred, a group of Texas Rangers are all loudly shot to death, two men have their heads crushed by a giant block of wood. All these things happen and there is nary a drop of blood to be seen. The film shows us death and gun violence but brushes aside any sense of consequence. The same thing could be said about Man of Steel's blasé destruction of an entire city or World War Z's gore-free zombie apocalypse. Specifically to Lone Ranger, though, it's likely why many negative reviews have focused on — as Vulture's David Edelstein wrote in his review, in which he discusses its leaps between silliness and sadism — the movie's wildly inconsistent "tone." What that really means is that the Lone Ranger is trying to have it both ways, like many summer blockbusters, when it's actually not possible.
4. The Length Problem
The modern blockbuster suffers from a bloat problem, a bagginess problem. Two-hour plus running times have long been a calling card of fall/Christmas releases. Last year, Les Misérables, Django Unchained, The Hobbit, Lincoln, and Zero Dark Thirty all fell between two and a half and three hours in length. The modern summer blockbuster is slowly but surely following that example. The Lone Ranger is two and a half hours long. Star Trek Into Darkness, Iron Man 3 and Fast and Furious 6 all fall at about two hours and ten minutes while Man of Steel clocks in at nearly two and a half hours. Last summer's two biggest movies, The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises, came in at two hours, 23 minutes and two hours, 45 minutes, respectively. The Pirates of the Caribbean movies — summer releases all and featuring the same star, producer and director as The Lone Ranger — run anywhere from two hours, sixteen minutes to nearly three hours.
Now, there's nothing inherently wrong with long movies, of course. Roger Ebert once said, "No good movie is too long and no bad movie is short enough." But it's hard to argue that summer blockbusters, as entertaining as the best ones can be, deserve to be as long as the generally more substantive fare of Oscar season. Do studios feel that, with less people going to theaters these days, movies need to be lengthy in order for a moviegoer to feel justified in spending both their time and money? It's hard to imagine anyone leaving The Lone Ranger saying, "that movie was neither too long nor too short — it was just right!"
As of Thursday night, The Lone Ranger was projected to gross $45 million over the five-day Fourth of July weekend. (About a month ago, the Ethan Hawke horror movie The Purge made only $10 million less than that in its non-holiday debut weekend.) It has been critically panned, notching a 24 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and a 37 percent on Metacritic, and ever since production was halted to bring the budget down, the industry press has had its knives out. It's hard not to feel sorry for the damned film. It's a product of a system stuck in neutral. Hollywood happened to The Lone Ranger, not the other way around.


text:
Last update: Version 3.4.1 – July 19, 2018
Braxton is the premier magazine theme that combines both form and function into one comprehensive WordPress theme. This sleek, modern theme is retina-ready, fully-responsive and comes with four different ad units, including a custom wallpaper ad. Braxton is also compatible with WooCommerce and BBPress, is translation-ready, fully-responsive, comes with over 600 Google Fonts, a Featured Slider on each category page, Infinite Scrolling, Lazy Load, a "sticky" menu bar and sidebar, post/page slideshows, super quick demo install and so much more!
Other Key Features
Responsive design – Braxton adjusts its layout based on the device it is being viewed on. This means the theme's content will be easy to read and easy to navigate whether it is being viewed on a desktop computer, a tablet or a mobile device.
Retina Ready – The theme and its images look sharp and crisp on retina-ready devices!
4 Different Ad Units – Braxton takes full advantage of available ad space to give you 4 different ad units, including a rare wallpaper ad! The ad units include a two 970×90 leaderboard ad areas (which can also be used as a 728×90 ad banner), a wallpaper ad, and unlimited 300×250 and 125×125 ad units.
Drag-and-Drop Homepage – Create unlimited homepage layouts by dragging and dropping our custom widgets into the layout that gives your website the professional look and feel you are truly looking for.
8 Custom Widgets – Braxton gives you the flexibility and ease of use to display your content the way you want it without altering any code with our custom widgets.
Complete List of Features
- Compatible with WordPress 4.9+
- SEO Optimized
- Translation ready (contains .po/.mo files)
- Child Theme ready
- Comes with XML dummy data (posts, tags, categories, menus, dummy images)
- Easy implementation with Google Adsense ads
- WordPress Featured Image support
- WordPress Custom Background support
- WordPress Custom Menu support
- Youtube, Vimeo, and Soundcloud integration
- No need for any additional plugins
- Custom Theme Options panel
- Custom CSS section in Theme Options so users will not lose custom changes to CSS when you update to a new version
- Built in Google Analytics support
- Facebook comments support
- Disqus comments support
- Optional homepage blog layout
- Free lifetime updates
- Mobile/tablet versions use "swipe" navigation for Featured Slider
- Easy logo customization
- Threaded comments
- Ability to turn Featured Image on posts on/off
- Ability to turn social buttons on posts on/off
- Optional Author Info at the bottom of posts
- Optional Photo Credit overlay on Featured Images in posts
- Custom copyright/footer text
- Custom favicon
- In-depth documentation
- And much more!
More Testimonials
I usually don't leave reviews on themes I buy from here but I had to on this one. This is by far the best theme that I have ever purchased anywhere. It is more than a theme as it helps you to completely build a professional looking site without the usual hassle that other themes have. Also, the responsive layout is amazing. I have been testing it on hundreds of devices and have yet to find one that this does not work with. Again, thank you for this amazing theme and if anyone is on the fence about buying it, this is the best investment you will ever make.
– fbrcold
The BEST theme I have purchased. It's so easy to use and the guys have really thought about what is important for a blog style layout. Very friendly service and I just wish I brought my other themes from this company!
– veena13
GREAT Theme and AMAZING support from the MVP guys!! Had issues with version 1.02 and was guided through the newest version and now the theme is the best I've used on here! Great job guys, keep the good themes coming!!
– artestre
I just wanted to say I've been using this theme for a few weeks and although my site isn't live, it has been working great. But more importantly, the support has been amazing. 5 stars!
– JonBrommet
Honestly, Braxton theme is the best fashion WordPress magazine/blog theme! It's especially perfect for users who don't understand coding because it's easy to navigate through. Not to mention, the theme is very high quality, and it equally compares to other fashion magazine's sites.
– gfalvor
Great theme, very easy to set up and use. Support has been quick and helpful. Highly recommend!
– MoSportsMag
I really LOVE this amazing theme. You seem to know exact what people want because this literally has it all!
Great theme, outstanding support. 5 stars!!!
– CharliBaltimore
Unfortunately, MVP Themes cannot perform customization work for each of our customers, so Braxton comes "as-is". Any customization you would like to make to the theme outside of fixing bugs will need to be done by you or a third party.
v3.4.1 – July 19, 2018
- Updates Theia Post Slider to latest version (2.0.0)
v3.4.0 – November 14, 2017
- Theme is now PHP7 compatible
- Fixes bug with retina function
- Updates Theia Post Slider to latest version (1.15.0)
Affected files: /js/retina.js /widgets/All Files style.css
v3.3.0 – April 30, 2017
- Adds compatibility with WooCommerce 3.0
- Made minor style changes
- Removes share count due to change in Facebook API
- Updates Theia Post Slider to latest version (1.14.0)
Affected files: attachment.php functions.php page.php page-fullwidth.php single.php style.css
v3.2.0 – August 3, 2016
- Increases speed and efficiency of theme by removing Tag arrays in Theme Options by adding input fields
- Updates Theia Post Slider to latest version (1.10.4)
Affected files: /admin/theme-settings.php functions.php style.css
v3.01 – February 15, 2016
- Adds integration with SIDEKICK interactive guided walkthroughs
- Fixes bug with logo in navigation
Affected files: functions.php header.php style.css
v3.0.1 – January 10, 2016
- Fixes bug with Infinite Scroll on homepage
Affected files: functions.php page-home.php style.css
v3.0 – January 5, 2016
- New Feature! – Adds built-in fly-out menu to replace Menufication plugin
- New Feature! – Adds option to place logo & leaderboard ad above navigation
- Increased speed of backend by removing dropdown of Google Fonts. Now, you can simply enter the font name in the Theme Options
- Fixes bug with Theme Options caused by WordPress 4.4 update
- Updates title tag code to comply with WordPress 4.0+
- Fixes bug with Proceed to Checkout button in Woocommerce
- Fixes bug with social buttons in footer
Affected files: All
v2.10.1 – August 28, 2015
- Fixes bug with social count relating to Google Plus
Affected files: functions.php style.css
v2.10 – August 22, 2015
- Changes formatting of share counts higher than 1,000 to 1.0K, 1 million to 1.0M, etc
- Fixes bug with widget code to comply with WordPress 4.3
Affected files: All files in /widgets folder functions.php style.css
v2.9 – July 20, 2015
- Updated mobile display to full-width on all devices
- Updates social media links to include full URL instead of username
Affected files: /admin/theme-settings.php /css/media-queries.css /widets/widget-social.php style.css
v2.8 – June 3, 2015
- Fixes bug with Featured Slider font on category pages
- Fixes bug with Adsense ad next to logo
- Updates Theia Post Slider to latest version (1.9.1)
Affected files: header.php style.css
v2.7 March 17, 2015
- Updates Responsive Ad Unit below articles to enter code from Theme Options rather than individual articles
- Updates Theia Post Slider to latest version (1.8.3)
Affected files: /admin/theme-settings.php functions.php single.php
v2.6 March 13, 2015
- New Feature! – Full-Width Posts layout
- New Feature! – Adds responsive ad unit below article content
- Adds Social Count number to social sharing buttons
- Updates Theia Post Slider to latest version (1.8.2)
- Makes minor styling changes based on new version of Woocommerce
Affected files: attachment.php functions.php header.php page.php page-fullwidth.php single.php style.css
v2.5 January 19, 2015
- Removes built-in Lazy Load feature
- Updates social sharing buttons
- Updates Theia Post Slider to latest version (1.8.1)
Affected files: All files
v2.4 – December 18, 2014
- Fixes issue from previous update causing plugins to load in author description
- Fixes issue with multiple categories being displayed on post pages
Affected files: author.php single.php style.css
v2.3 – September 26, 2014
- Updated author description code to allow for line breaks
- Fixes retina related errors by updating retina.js to latest
- Updates Theia Post Slider to latest version (1.6.4)
Affected files: /js/retina.js author.php single.php style.css
v2.2.1 – August 19, 2014
- Updates Theia Post Slider to latest version (1.5.7)
Affected files: none
v2.2 – June 13, 2014
- Fixed minor bug with unclickable buttons on My Account page of WooCommerce
- Updates Theia Post Slider to latest version (1.5.4)
Affected files: style.css
v2.1 – March 6, 2014
- Fixed minor bug with Menufication stylesheet
- Fixed minor bug with new Facebook Share button
- Fixed styling bugs caused by WooCommerce update
- Updates Theia Post Slider to latest version (1.4.0)
Affected files: /css/media-queries.css /css/menufication.css functions.php page.php sidebar.php sidebar-home.php single.php style.css
v2.0 – February 9, 2014
- Adds WooCommerce Compatibility!
- Adds BBPress Compatibility!
- Updates Theia Post Slider to latest version
- Improved design of vertical tablet layout
Affected files: /css/media-queries.css functions.php sidebar-woo.php (new file) style.css woocommerce.php (new file)
v1.08 – January 9, 2014
- Adds ability to translate backend
- Fixes bug related to Theia Post Slider that affected some installations. The plugin is now included separately. Existing users will now have to install it as a plugin
- Fixes minor bug with text in Theme Options
- Fixes minor bug with Featured Posts 2 layout
Affected files: /admin/theia-post-slider/ (folder removed) /admin/theme-settings.php functions.php page-home.php
v1.07 – December 12, 2013
- Added 2 new options for the Featured Posts section on the homepage
- Updated Theia Post Slider plugin to the latest version (1.3.4)
- Fixed bug with Facebook Comments plugin compatibility
Affected files: /admin/theme-settings.php /css/media-queries.css /images/feat-tri.png (new file) /email@example.com (new file) functions.php page-home.php style.css
v1.06 – November 14, 2013
- Added Menufication plugin
Affected files: /css/menufication.css functions.php header.php searchform.php style.css
v1.05 – November 9, 2013
- Fixed bug with Twitter and Google Plus social sharing buttons
- Fixed bug with sticky sidebar on homepage in Safari
- Fixed bug with some images displaying properly in IE8
- Fixed bug with Featured Posts section on smaller devices
- Fixed bug with logo in navigation
Affected files: /admin/theia-post-slider/ (all files) /css/media-queries.css header.php style.css
v1.04 – October 25, 2013
- Fixed bug with images in Featured Posts section
- Fixed bug with custom menu background color option
- Fixed bug with Theia Post Slider
- Fixed bug with social buttons
- Made a few small changes to stylesheet
Affected files: /admin/theia-post-slider/ (all files) /css/media-queries.css comments.php functions.php header.php style.css
v1.03 – October 24, 2013
- Fixed issue with large images in Homepage Blog layout extending into sidebar
- Fixed issue on category pages without slider
- Fixed issue with trying to remove default social usernames and ads from Theme Options
- Updated language strings
- Added Video/Audio posts feature
- Added option to disable responsiveness
- Added option to disable featured image from displaying in posts individually
- Made a few small changes to the stylesheet
Affected files: All files
v1.02 – October 21, 2013
- Fixed issue with social buttons on posts
- Fixed issue looping stories on homepage and latest news pages
- Added option to disable the sticky sidebar feature
- Added option to disable infinite scroll feature
- Added compatibility with Nebula Facebook Comments plugin
- Made a few small changes to the stylesheet
Affected files: /admin/theme-settings.php /js/scripts.js /languages (entire folder) functions.php page.php page-home.php page-latest.php single.php style.css
v1.01 – October 18, 2013
- Fixed issue when viewing category pages and homepage without slider
- Fixed issue with comments section
- Updated the language files (.po/.mo)
- Made a few small changes to the stylesheet
Affected files: /languages (entire folder) category.php comments.php page-home.php style.css[ad_2] Source


text:
Prior to Government Shutdown and Latest Stock Market Corrections, President's Support Remains Stable
A majority feel he should remain in office this term
The reported likelihood of voting for the current President in 2018 remained stable this month. The effects of the government shutdown and the latest stock market correction may be felt in January 2019.
Survey Methodology
In this study, the Fishlinger Center conducted online national surveys focusing on political issues in the United States. The fieldwork for the poll was conducted using a blended national panel form Survey Sampling, Inc. Interviews were conducted December 1-31, 2018. The credibility interval for 1,000 respondents is plus or minus four percentage points. The credibility interval is larger for subgroups and for differences between polls.
In addition to credibility interval, the polls are subject to other potential sources of error including, but not limited to coverage and measurement error. Data were rim weighted to match the national population on age, sex, Hispanic origin and race. Question wording and topline results are available at firstname.lastname@example.com.
About the Fishlinger Center for Public Policy
The Fishlinger Center for Public Policy Research opened in February 2015 at the College of Mount Saint Vincent. The Center conducts deep and broad studies of public opinion on key public policy concerns through independent and objective research conducted by students, faculty, and other members of the academic community.
By providing a forum for discourse that can stimulate intelligent dialog about issues that deeply affect all Americans, the Center illustrates and enhances the relationship between the work of the College and the common good.
James F. Donius, Ph.D. director of the Fishlinger Center for Public Policy Research at the College of Mount Saint Vincent, is available to speak to members of the press about the survey, the Fishlinger Optimism Index™, and the Center. To arrange an interview, or for more information about the study, please contact Public Relations at email@example.com.
About the College of Mount Saint Vincent
Founded in 1847 by the Sisters of Charity, the College of Mount Saint Vincent offers nationally recognized liberal arts education and a select array of professional fields of study on a landmark campus overlooking the Hudson River. Committed to the education of the whole person, and enriched by the unparalleled cultural, educational, and career opportunities of New York City, the College equips students with the knowledge, skills, and experiences necessary for lives of achievement, professional accomplishment and leadership in the 21st century.


text:
Playing politics with the deaths of their personnel, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have proven: power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Newly uncovered e-mails show that Clinton and Obama knew within hours that the Benghazi attack was carried out by al-Qaeda linked terrorists. The same terrorists they contracted to destroy Libya and assassinate the late Muammar Gaddafi.
You have to hand it to United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, you could get whiplash watching her flip-flop back and forth, her statements and positioning on the Benghazi attack changing and dodging back and forth like some Wimbledon tennis match on amphetamines with the fast-forward locked on hyper-speed.
Not long ago I wrote about the Clintons and their hiring of legal team in the event that she was blamed for the security failures that allowed the Benghazi attack to take place. Clinton took the fall the next day, in a political move to protect Obama's re-election bid. I also went into the fact that the attack was actually aimed at CIA base Benghazi and not on Stevens. Clinton has not gone into this. Now it is revealed that Clinton and the Obama Administration knew it was a terrorist attack almost immediately, and said nothing.
Another political move? This latest revelation begs a lot of questions, among them: are Clinton's political ambitions and her dream of being the first woman president of the United States in 2016 getting in the way of her performing her job as Secretary of State? Is she incompetent? Or is she just following the Clinton tradition of flipping and flopping as the wind changes?
Whatever the case for the Clinton obfuscation, the release of the e-mails is damning to put it mildly. Yet Clinton continues to side-step, dodge and obfuscate. She warns us to take the e-mails cautiously, and downplays their significance even saying that the news that it was a terrorist attack came from social networks and that is not evidence.
The e-mails in question started to come in within 20 minutes of the attack, and according to Reuters were obtained by them from government sources. Reuters reports that the first email, was sent at 16:05 Washington time, 20-30 minutes after the attack began with the subject line being "U.S. Diplomatic Mission in Benghazi Under Attack". The text read: "…. approximately 20 armed people fired shots; explosions have been heard as well. Ambassador Stevens, who is currently in Benghazi, and four (redacted) personnel are in the compound safe haven. The 17th of February militia is providing security support."
The second e-mail was sent at 16:54 Washington time with the subject being: "Update 1: U.S. Diplomatic Mission in Benghazi" and text reporting that : "… the firing at the U.S. Diplomatic Mission in Benghazi had stopped and the compound had been cleared. … a 'response team' was at the site attempting to locate missing personnel."
A third email sent at 18:07 carried the subject line: "Update 2: Ansar al-Sharia Claims Responsibility for Benghazi Attack."The message reported: "Embassy Tripoli reports the group claimed responsibility on Facebook and Twitter and has called for an attack on Embassy Tripoli."
Why then did the White House and Clinton continue to place the blame on the video "The Innocence of Muslims" for days after the attack? Well for one the terrorists groups most likely connected with the attack, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and Ansar al-Sharia, and other groups were working with the CIA and the US Government in Libya in the operation to overthrow Muammar Kaddafi. For a Secretary of State who is blinded by her own political ambitions this connection would not be something she would want to come out.
In fact as was made clear by the actions of the Clinton's in gathering a legal team, they are terrified of the American public seeing any failure in Libya. Clinton and her glib: "We came! We saw! He died!" comments on the brutal and unjust assassination of Kaddafi, from the start, showed the true beast beneath her aging and waning exterior. That and her self-congratulatory stance on the decimation of yet another country by the US proves her godless inhumanity and the fact that she will do anything, including murdering thousands, if not millions, to attain her political ambitions.
This time the checks and balances come from the Republican side, Democrats being cowed into submission to protect the party's president and Clinton. According to ABC News Republican Senators John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Kelly Ayotte wrote a letter questioning Obama why his administration "consistently described the attack for days afterward as a spontaneous response to an anti-Islam video. These emails make clear that your administration knew within two hours of the attack that it was a terrorist act and that Ansar al-Sharia, a Libyan militant group with links to al Qaeda, had claimed responsibility for it… This latest revelation only adds to the confusion surrounding what you and your administration knew about the attacks in Benghazi, when you knew it, and why you responded to those tragic events in the ways that you did."
Clinton and Obama may tell a lie or two to the American people every day, they are politicians; they are concerned for their political futures. It is a shame that they would play politics with the deaths of their own personnel and continue to attempt to paint their complete utter and total failure in Libya as some sort of victory.
Unless killing Muammar Gaddafi at any cost was the goal to begin with? The aggressive invasion and assassination of the head of state of the sovereign country of Libya was a crime against humanity. Of course they are going to lie.


text:
During allergy skin tests, according to the Mayo Clinic, the skin "is exposed to suspected allergy-causing substances (allergens) and is then observed for signs of an allergic reaction." Before you submit to an allergy skin test, you may want to ask the following questions of your doctor.
What is the purpose? An allergy skin test can help your doctor formulate a treatment plan that consists of allergy avoidance, medications or allergy shots. Allergic conditions that are diagnosed by allergy skin tests include hay fever, allergic asthma, dermatitis, food allergies, penicillin allergies, bee allergies and latex allergies.
Under what circumstances would you not recommend an allergy skin test? Your doctor will likely advise against an allergy skin test if you've experienced a severe allergic reaction that even the small amount present in a skin test would cause harm. Other reasons for not recommending a skin test occur if you're taking medications that might interfere with the test or if your allergy involves a widespread skin reaction.
For what allergies are skin tests most reliable? Allergy skin tests are most reliable when diagnosing airborne allergies. Although food allergies can be detected, it often takes additional tests to fully diagnose them because of their complexities.
What are the risks associated with allergy skin tests? Slightly swollen, red, itchy bumps are the most common side effects with allergy skin tests. Sometimes they last for a day or two but usually disappear within a few hours. On rare occasions, a skin test can produce a severe reaction. For this reason, it is recommended the test be conducted where appropriate equipment and medication is present.
What is the most common type of skin test? Forty different substances can be tested with a skin prick test, sometimes called a puncture or scratch test. A skin prick test is ideal for detecting allergies to pollen, mold, pet dander, dust mites and foods. This type of test is not painful and involves a shallow puncture of the skin.
Are there other types of skin tests? A skin injection test, which involves injecting a small amount of allergen extract just under the skin of your arm, is used to check for allergies to insect venom or penicillin. A patch test is used to test delayed reaction allergies. It involves wearing a patch on your arm or back for 48 hours. Patch tests are used to detect allergies to latex, medications, fragrances, preservatives and hair dyes.


text:
Victoria Magazine To Close
Seems people have better things to think about these days then decorating their houses with an unending supply of flowers and frilly poofy things. Victoria Magazine, launched in 1987 in the prime of the Yuppie Genration, will cease to publish after the June issue due to a sagging circulation and lack of advertiser support. [via Ad Age]


text:
The Story: Don't eat the fruit in the garden, Eden,, It wasn't in God's natural plan., You were only a rib,, And look at what you did,, To Adam, the father of Man.
The Story: You smell like goat, I'll see you in hell
The Story: All the b***h had said, all been washed in black
The Story: And my blunt is my ho now
The Story: At home, drawing pictures, Of mounds of tots, With ham on top
"Old Regime" Funny Misheard Song Lyrics
by Steely Dan
Did you or a friend mishear a lyric from "Old Regime" by Steely Dan? Click here and tell us!
Misheard "Old Regime" LyricsThe aubergine is falling.
Other Songs by Steely DanBabylon Sisters
Bad Sneakers
Cousin Dupree
Deacon Blues
Do It Again
Hey Nineteen
Home at last
Kid Charlemagne
Midnight Cruiser
My Old School
Parker's Band
Reelin' In The Years
Rikki Don't Lose That Number
Sign in Stranger
The Boston Rag
Time Out of Mind
You Enjoy Myself
Funniest Misheards by Steely Dan


text:
Lady Ranchero With MicroBLOQ™
You Save: ₱100.00 (20%)
Hurry up! Sales Ends In
Hurry! Only 5 Left in Stock!
MASQ MicroBLOQQ is built to be fashion without sacrificing protection and comfort. With a copper-charged layer, 99.9% of bacteria and viruses on contact. Each masq includes 10 PureMASQ filters and a reusable pouch.
Your everyday masq is here with MASQ MicroBLOQQ. There's nothing else like it, you'll want more.
✓ First Layer – Silk Fabric
✓ Second Layer- Tight- woven Fabric
✓ Third Layer- MicroBLOQ™ Antimicrobial Thread
✓ Fourth Layer – PureMASQ Filter (Optional)
✓ Each mask includes ten (10) PureMasq®* filters OR five (5) PM2.5** filters
✓ Reusable "Limited Edition" MASQ Pouch.
Benefits of the MicroBLOQ™ Layer
✓ Pevents microbial growth within fibers.
✓ Proven in tests and studies across the world to destroy 99.9% of bacteria and viruses within contact.
✓ Lab tested & certified (SGS, CMA, CNAS).
✓ Requires fewer washes- it reduces the growth of odor causing microbes that remain on fabrics even after washing.
✓ Produces no permanent odor build up.
✓ Generate longer product life — bacteria and fungi degrades textiles, but with the antimicrobial fabric, this will extend the life of the product.
✓ Stay cleaner and fresher longer.
✓ Antimicrobial technology adds a durable defense barrier on fabric, which helps fight odor causing bacteria, mold and mildew.
Customer Reviews
Lady Ranchero With MicroBLOQ™
So stylish very comfy..
Lady Ranchero MASQ With MicroBLOQ™
Customer Reviews
Lady Ranchero With MicroBLOQ™
So stylish very comfy..
Lady Ranchero MASQ With MicroBLOQ™


text:
New York, N.Y. - Raymond Depardon, 1986, 35mm
The filming was done in New York, but what it shows is not this city but rather a hazy diffusion, which softens the three pictures with shadows, as if perceived through the unwashed windowpane of a cafe. The passers-by at the street intersection are nothing but strange, anonymous silhouettes, wandering through a Nietzschean metropolis. No one sees anyone else, and everyone is alone.--Hartmut Bitomsky on New York, N.Y., The Documentary World, published in Retrospektive catalogue, Goethe Institute, Munich, 1997, p.17.
The object manifests itself through its absence. It has vanished from the film.
New York Portrait Pt. II - Peter Hutton, 1980-81, 16mm


text:
You might call it doggy tech.
Social networks, software applications, photo sharing, information tools, messaging, and even collars to monitor your dog's health have begun to sprout amid a surge in spending on pets.
"There is some exciting stuff coming out of the app world for dog lovers that goes beyond just being social with other dog owners," said Leslie May, principal analyst and founder of Pawsible Marketing, a Georgia-based firm that provides consulting services for pet-related businesses.
The new digital tools for dog owners are more than fun and frivolity.
The Dog Land app, which is free, is a social network that enables people to find and rate services and facilities for their dogs, such as dog parks, animal shelters and dog-friendly hotels and restaurants. People can chat with other dog owners as well as share photographs.
"We want to improve the lives of dog owners," said Gareth Wilson, president and creative director of Los Angeles-based BetterPet, which created the Dog Land app. "We want our product to be more than a novelty."
Lesley Ramos, a Santa Cruz resident with a dog named Bob, uses an app called Dog Park Finder, which provides an array of information for traveling short or long distances with a canine.
"The Dog Park Finder app is specifically for dogs and covers everything from dog parks, dog-friendly places like parks and restaurants, all the way down to hotels that allow dogs," Ramos said. "It has lists with icons that show the user if it's a fenced dog park, or on-leash area. Its database is pretty good and is constantly being updated."
Dog Park Finder is free and is offered by Los Angeles-based Dog Goes.
For those eager to monitor their dog's health, there are devices like Voyce, a dog collar with a high-tech twist. The collar tracks a dog's active and resting periods and measures both heart and respiratory rates. The information is then transmitted to the cloud, which the dog's veterinarian can access to provide expert advice about the animal's health. The whole idea is to provide dog owners with more insight into their dog's health, as well as offer additional treatment and training options.
"It's like a wellness coach for your dog," said Jeff Noce, president of Virginia-based i4C Innovations, which will put Voyce on the market this summer for about $300.
Buyers will also need to pay a $15 monthly membership fee for the data to be transmitted, processed and sent to a doctor for their feedback.
That sort of high-tech information can be valuable because dogs are predisposed by evolution not to tip off their owners that they feel distress over an illness. For thousands of years, dogs and wolves that displayed weakness often are drummed out of the pack and left behind to fend off other predators.
Other health-related tools are offered by Boston-based Petmobi, which has an app named after the company. The free Petmobi app enables owners to create a profile for their dog or cat, upload a photo and set weight and calorie goals for the animal, said company founder Alex Papanicholas.
"The app lets you figure out how much your pet should be eating to maintain weight or lose weight," Papanicholas said. "Petmobi is similar to a human health and fitness app."
New high-tech pet products have a healthy market because spending on dogs is on the upswing, according to surveys released by the American Pet Products Association. Spending averaged $1,649 per pooch in the United States last year, up 4.7 percent from an average of about $1,575 during 2012.
The rising spending comes at a time when dog ownership has flattened out. In 2012, an estimated 36.5 percent of U.S. households had at least one dog, down slightly from the 37.2 percent of households in 2007, according to a study released by the American Veterinary Medical Association, a nonprofit group.
Last year, Americans spent $55.72 billion on pets of all kinds, ranging from dogs and cats to horses, reptiles and birds. This year, the American Pet Products Association expects spending on pets is expected to increase by 5 percent.
"There is really a lot of stuff out there these days for dog owners," said May, the Pawsible analyst. "These apps are fun and functional. The whole app world for pets has taken a really different and interesting turn."
Dog Land. Social networking, information gathering, photo sharing, rating of dog facilities
Voyce. A dog collar that measures a dog's health and transmits the data to experts
Petmobi. Social networking with weight and calorie goals
Tagg. Mounts on a collar to monitor pet and track if lost
Sources: Pawsible Marketing, company reports
Talk to us
- You can tell us about news and ask us about our journalism by emailing firstname.lastname@example.com or by calling 425-339-3428.
- If you have an opinion you wish to share for publication, send a letter to the editor to email@example.com or by regular mail to The Daily Herald, Letters, P.O. Box 930, Everett, WA 98206.
- More contact information is here.


text: Let me make a few comments. First, if BibDesk is installed, then its "Service" offers already this functionality instantaneously (!). There are may other reasons why one should use BibDesk. Secondly, if, for whatever reason, one would like to run the Applescript, then the following points should be observed: 1. Each file that uses bibtex contains a command like \bibliography{mrabbrev,publications}, where the last name is the name of the relevant .bib file. The best place to store the .bib file is ~/texmf/bibtex and the script could be directed to this directory. 2. The script contains a lot of subroutines which should be saved in a compiled form and called upon if necessary. There is already a folder for subroutines ~/Library/TeXShop/Scripts. Claus On 18.09.2004, at 09:32, Daniel Becker wrote: > Hallo, > > Am Donnerstag, 16.09.04 um 23:54 Uhr schrieb Matthew Hills: > >> There was an earlier discussion about a script to help with >> citations. I >> put together a script that will present a list of the citations in >> your >> bibliography file. Key features: >> >> - can show the title in addition to the citation key >> - can filter the output (ie, if you type and select "Arm", then >> run the >> script, it would only return entries that contain >> "Arm", such >> as an author "Armstrong" or a title "Arms Race" >> >> http://tina.stanford.edu/~hills/Tidbits/ > > Could this script by Matthew Hills please be > > a) tested widely and > b) included in TeXShops standard set of scripts? > > a) is a wish because I have problems to use it from within TexShop and > wonder if its me or something in the code (the former most, likely), > and b) is because I think this script is one of those breakthroughs > that make LaTeX so much easier. > > Thank you > > Daniel > > > --------------------- Info --------------------- > Mac-TeX Website: http://www.esm.psu.edu/mac-tex/ > & FAQ: http://latex.yauh.de/faq/ > TeX FAQ: http://www.tex.ac.uk/faq > List Post: <mailto:MacOSX-TeX at email.esm.psu.edu> > > --------------------- Info --------------------- Mac-TeX Website: http://www.esm.psu.edu/mac-tex/ & FAQ: http://latex.yauh.de/faq/ TeX FAQ: http://www.tex.ac.uk/faq List Post: <mailto:MacOSX-TeX at email.esm.psu.edu>


text:
Environmental advocacy group Greenpeace is out with its latest report card judging internet companies on use of renewable energy and while Apple, Google and Facebook continue to score the highest marks, the market's leading IaaS public cloud vendor Amazon Web Services is called out with failing grades.
+MORE AT NETWORK WORLD: No honor among thieves: Crooks seeking ransom for MongoDB data someone else stole | Oops, this Redditor accidentally deleted his Microsoft Azure DNS +
Overall, Greenpeace applauds the technology sector's pursuit of a clean energy future. Of the 3.2 Gigawatts of renewable energy purchased in 2015, more than two-thirds of that was from internet companies, Greenpeace notes.
Some vendors are better than others at going green though. Apple, Google and Facebook have led the field in years past and do so once again in Greenpeace's 2016 wrap-up report. Switch, the Las Vegas-based data center and collocation provider, is named a leader for the first time.
Greenpeace calls out AWS for needing to do more. The Canadian-based environmental advocacy group says AWS has taken "important steps" in recent years, but they haven't gone far enough. "Given AWS's continued lack of transparency and its rapid growth in Virginia and other markets largely served by dirty energy, it remains unclear whether the AWS cloud is actually on a path to becoming renewably powered," the Greenpeace report notes. Greenpeace says AWS, along with Asian data center provider Tencent, LG CNS and Baidu are each leaders in their respective markets, which "(makes) their lack of movement toward more transparency even more egregious."
AWS, for its part, has committed to being 100% powered by renewable energy, and it most recently said it hopes to be half way to its goal by the end of this year. "AWS has to date enabled 10 renewable energy projects in the United States that will deliver a grand total of 2.6 million MWh of energy annually onto the electric grid powering AWS data centers and four of these projects are already online," an AWS spokesperson said. "That said, we are nowhere near done. We will continue to make progress toward our 100 percent goal and have many exciting initiatives planned."
Greenpeace gave AWS an overall grade of "C", but gave it an F for energy transparency and C grades for energy efficiency and mitigation and renewable procurement. Meanwhile, AWS's biggest competitors in the IaaS public cloud market are leaders in Greenpeace's report.
Google received and overall "A" grade, with a B in transparency and A's for mitigation and renewable procurement; Microsoft meanwhile got an overall B grade, with B's for mitigation and procurement. By comparison, some of Asia's largest web services vendors like Baidu and Tencent got overall failing grades. See the full list of Greenpeace's scores for Internet companies here.
Greenpeace says one of the most disturbing trends is the growth of data centers in areas like Asia and Virginia, where there are limited options to power those operations from green energy.
While some IaaS cloud vendors argue that a shift to using public cloud resources is good for the environment – because it consolidates workloads into providers who have a better opportunity to use green energy – Greenpeace questions this claim. "The transition to the cloud could in fact increase the demand for coal and other fossil fuels despite significant gains in energy efficiency and adoption of a commitment to 100% renewable energy because of the dramatic growth in new data center construction by cloud and collocation companies such as AWS and Digital Realty in Virginia and other hot spots that have some of the lowest percentages of renewable electricity in the U.S."
Tech vendors have an opportunity to drive toward a green energy future: Greenpeace estimates that the IT sector consumes more energy than Russia, Japan and India; only the U.S. and China consume more energy than the aggregate IT international sector.


text:
Saturday, December 22, 2012
And Then There Were Four
8 comments:
Oh what fun -- the story continues!ReplyDeleteReplies
Unfortunately, Wendy, this represents the sum of what I know about this family. Just a snippet out of some mystery family's life...Delete
Make some time so you won't be in front of the post office on New Year's Eve. :-) I've been blogging most of the day. Now I need to go go shopping.ReplyDeleteReplies
Grant, I will no doubt be joining you in that last minute Christmas-shopping rush. But then, it's to the packet for the Ohio Genealogical Society!Delete
- Replies
Christmas does bring such family times to light, doesn't it?Delete
I've looked high and low for these folks and came up empty.ReplyDelete
I assumed your family (the Beans) knew them - so they were local to the Beans (or from where the Beans came from...) and found next to nothing to shine a light on them.
Perhaps someday they will appear in a database somewhere.. :)Replies
Iggy, I'd done the same, too. Looked everywhere. Tried to manipulate the clues in all sorts of ways, but no luck. I just don't know enough about this family and all their distant relatives and descendants. Maybe after a few more months, I'll have enough data to tackle this mystery once more.Delete
Thanks for trying, though. If anyone could find out, I know it would be you!


text:
Global temperatures have warmed significantly since 1880, the beginning of what scientists call the "modern record." At this time, the coverage provided by weather stations allowed for essentially global temperature data. As greenhouse gas emissions from energy production, industry and vehicles have increased, temperatures have climbed, most notably since the late 1970s. In this animation of temperature data from 1880-2011, reds indicate temperatures higher than the average during a baseline period of 1951-1980, while blues indicate lower temperatures than the baseline average.
Data source: NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Visualization credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio
Note: For more information, see NASA Finds 2011 Ninth-Warmest Year on Record.


text:
Home » Search
In order to access the site you must be registered. Before you register please ensure you are familiar with our terms of use and related policies. Please ensure you read any site rules as you navigate around the site.
Terms of use | Privacy policy
If you have forgotten your TBMOPA username or password, please click the button below to recover your login info.
It is currently Wed Oct 04, 2023 9:37 pm


text:
For the last few years, more and more runners and training professionals have been touting the bene?ts of running with a mid-foot landing, rather than the more common heel-strike. Many agree that a mid-foot landing is more natural. Have you tried running in place with no shoes on? You'll never land on your heel.
The human foot is an amazing structure, built with 26 bones, 33 joints and over one hundred muscles, ligaments and tendons. The arch is a beautifully designed spring mechanism that feeds energy to our calves, quads and hips and lets us run gracefully and painlessly, if we just let it do its job.
The running shoe we see most often today has been around since about the mid 80s, when more of the general masses started to take up running. The athletic shoe industry figured that the average jogger might want more comfort than the serious athlete, who had up until then influenced the market toward a more lightweight racing shoe.
Major shoe companies decided to add cushioning and a raised heel to the running shoe, leading to the heel-strike form. Essentially they made running feel like walking. It must have seemed like a good idea at the time.
Since then we have seen an explosion of runners, but we have also seen an explosion of knee problems, heel spurs, plantar fasciitis, ankle sprains, and the list goes on. Many believe that the super-cushioned, gel-?lled, motion-control features of the modern running shoe have dimmed the natural movement of our feet and disrupted our skeletal balance, causing unnecessary injuries.
Because of this, some runners are setting their feet free. Some go completely barefoot while others are choosing to lighten up on their footwear, wearing shoes closer to what runners wore in the old days, with little to no cushioning and no pronation control. No bells and whistles.
Runners today are taking back their mid-foot and reaping the bene?ts with less injuries and more enjoyable runs. If you're up for the challenge of finding your mid-foot and improving your running form, here are some tips to follow:
1. Lose the shoes.
Bare feet are your best teacher. If you aren't comfortable going totally bare, try some lightweight footwear. You can choose anything from running sandals, to water shoes, to a high-tech pair of minimalist running kicks.
The things to look for in a minimalist shoe are:
- no significant lift from the toe to heel (4mm or less) or none at all (often marketed as "zero-drop")
- very little to no cushioning
- an extra flexible sole
- plenty of room for your toes to spread and move
If you absolutely cannot part with your cushioned trainers, that's okay. You can still improve your running form with these next tips.
2. Stop landing on your heel.
The key to good form is contacting the ground with the front half of your foot first. This is more difficult to do in heavy trainers, and next to impossible to avoid when barefoot. The exact contact spot varies from person to person. Some land on the ball of their foot (forefoot landing), but most land somewhere in the middle (mid-foot landing).
Your heel should still touch the ground briefly. However, it should not carry a large weight load. Most of your weight should be directly above your mid-foot. As soon as your heel makes contact, your arch and lower leg muscles can gather the spring they need to move your body forward. This way you can land much more lightly and bounce out of each stride rather than pound the ground.
- 1
- of
- 2


text:
Remember back in the halcyon days of the web, when bloggers shared a sense of community with each other, linking back and forth to each other as a matter of social grace and conversation, as opposed to calculated consideration?
Well, if not, that's how it was back in 2003 or so, when I started blogging. Now, that signal (who linked to you recently) is gone, and honestly, not just for blogging. It's also gone for most of the web. Of course, you can find it, if you want to geek out in your refer logs. But honestly, why have we buried it there?
The funny thing is, this is the very signal Larry Page was looking for when he came upon the idea for Google with Sergey. Backrub, remember?
I sense there's about to be some serious reconsideration of the value of declarative and transparent backlinks. I don't know why, but call it an itch I'm scratchin', rather like that of RSS….
All of this brought on by my continued and early explorations of Tumblr….


text:
At Union Catholic, students fulfill their academic goals within a progressive, challenging, and supportive learning environment. Utilizing innovative instructional strategies, teachers focus on 21st century learning skills and content knowledge, guided by the New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards.
Classes are offered on six learning levels, ranging from Foundational to Advanced Placement. Classes are also available in an online format, made possible through our partnership with Virtual High School (govhs.org). Students are challenged to succeed in the academic program that maximizes their strengths, within a faith-based environment that encourages our faculty To Teach as Jesus Did and our students to strive to become all God calls them to be.


text:
No time to post my own thoughts on David Cameron's public service speech but - in response to Henry Edward-Bancroft's request - here begins a thread for you all to pitch in. Here is a key quote from DC's remarks:
"The Conservative Party has always focused, rightly, on giving taxpayers value for money and reducing burdens on the state. But in our legitimate desire to drive out government waste and improve public sector efficiency, we have sometimes risked giving the impression that we see those who work in the public sector as burdens on the state rather than dedicated professionals who work hard to improve the quality of people's lives. Anyone working in the public services could easily have heard a pretty negative message from my Party: "there's too many of you, you're lazy and you're inefficient." This is far from how I see things."
Here is a pdf of the full speech and a link to Iain Dale's commentary on the pre-briefing.


text:
Adam B. Schiff (born June 20, 1960) is an American politician. He first served in the California State Senate. He has been a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives since 2001, representing California's 29th congressional district (map) and in 2007, he became a member of the House Appropriations Committee. The district, which was numbered as the 27th District during his first term, includes Alhambra, San Gabriel, Burbank, Glendale, South Pasadena, Temple City, Monterey Park, and Pasadena.
Adam Schiff is a Blue Dog Democrat as well as a member of the New Democrat Coalition.
He was born in Framingham, Massachusetts. He received a political science degree from Stanford University and a law degree from Harvard University. He was a lawyer before entering politics, working as an assistant prosecutor in the Los Angeles branch of the U.S. Attorneys Office. He was a member of the California State Senate before entering the House, serving as the chair of that body's judiciary committee during his one term.


text:
|Funfest Mission
Funfest Missions are the next step up from the Entralink missions introduced in Pokťmon Black & White. Like before, they are accessed by going to the Entralink through the C-Gear and accessing the Entree. Once there, you can select the mission and participate in it. These missions can be played alone or with various people and many are accessed by speaking to characters within the game
The missions vary from hunting to get certain items, Pokťmon, or finding players and asking them quiz questions. This is all done in real-time over local wireless. If you succeed in the mission, you shall receive a reward. This reward varies from Pass Orbs to rare items such as Rare Candy. When you complete the mission, you will often get a harder version of the mission, which then offers better rewards. In addition to that, you can keep all items and Pokťmon found in the mission. On Level 3, if you double the score needed, you may get even more rarer items as prizes
Each mission has got up to three levels for you to play, of varying difficulty. However, there is a fourth level that can be accessed for each mission by using the following key command: Select, Down, Down, Down, Up, Up, Up, Up, Select. This allows you to collect more items and generally try to get more.
Unlike the Entralink missions of the past game, you can play with up to 100 people. These people are all challengers and are trying to get the highest score, which comes from completing the mission. You can see all of the other plaers on the bottom screen and even send messages out to them if necessary. You can however play alone.


text:
by David Crane [email protected] The Crye Precision website is now active. The industrial design firm, Crye Associates, launched the Crye Precision website to promote their new MultiCam multi-environment camouflage pattern. MultiCam, according to the Crye Precision website, "is a Multi-Environment Camouflage™ system, which was developed by Crye Precision in co-operation with the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research Center {a.k.a. U.S. …Read More »
Tag Archives: objective force warrior
New MultiCam Combat Camouflage Pattern by Crye Associates/Crye Precision
by David Crane [email protected] The industrial design firm, Crye Associates, designed and developed a unique universal-type camouflage pattern for the U.S. Army's Scorpion program back in 2001-2002. Scorpion was the experimentation/concept-development project for (and precursor to) the Objective Force Warrior (OFW) program, which has now become the Future Force Warrior (FFW) program. This picture shows the original Scorpion camo pattern, …Read More »
Future Force Warrior (FFW) Program Still Intact…for Now.
by Noah Shachtman Ever since they tangled with the Red Coats, American generals have been giving their grunts more and more and more gear to lug — from rations to radios, body armor to batteries. Now, for the first time, the Army has decided to junk the old uniforms and start from scratch. "We're stripping the soldier down to his …Read More »
U.S. Army Introduces Truck with a Punch. Meet the New SmarTruck II.
by David Crane The U.S. Army has a new toy for off-road adventures in third world countries. It's called the SmarTruck II. It comes complete with the latest global communications equpment, 360 degree video surveillance gear, and a dual SPIKE laser-guided missile launcher utilizing an 18-round magazine. The SmarTruck II is part of the U.S. Army's overall movement towards a …Read More »
Objective Force Warrior (OFW): Soldier of the Future.
The U.S. Army is looking to significantly increase the lethality of its infantry forces. This involves not only modernizing its combat vehicles, but also the individual soldiers themselves. The Objective Force Warrior (OFW) program is designed to do just that. Here are whole bunch of great…links to info and stories about the program and the two LTI's(Lead Technology Integrators) competing …Read More »
Objective Force Warrior(OFW) System Soon to be Selected by U.S. Army
According to Scott Gourley, a "Jane's Defence Weekly" correspondent, the U.S. army is reportedly close to formally selecting the Lead Technology Integrator for the revolutionary Objective Force Warrior(OFW) system. The goal of the OFW system appears be to greatly enhance the combat effectiveness of both individual infantry soldiers and whole squads, by utilizing lightweight integrated communications and target-identification systems, combined …Read More »