text:
It only takes one word to describe these pretzels... awesome!
Adapted from Guy Fieri, via the Food Network
1 1/2 cups warm water (approx. 110 degrees)
2 packets active dry yeast
4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp sea salt
1 T sugar
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg
3 cups shredded colby jack cheese
1 egg
2 T milk
1 tsp poppy seeds
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp minced onion
1 tsp sea salt
In a large measuring cup, heat water and sprinkle yeast over the water. Stir to combine and let sit for about 10 minutes until frothy. Meanwhile, in a food processor fitted with a dough blade, combine all dry ingredients and pulse to combine. Add egg and yeast mixture and pulse in short bursts until the dough comes together. Do not over mix, you just want the dough to come together. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead a few times with your hands. If dough feels sticky, add a little more flour. Form the dough into a ball and cut in half.
Roll out 1/2 of the dough into a large rectangle, approximately 12"x17", sprinkle about 3/4 cup of the colby jack cheese down the center 1/3 of the dough. Fold one edge over the cheese, sprinkle with another 3/4 cup cheese, and fold over the remaining 1/3. Pinch the edges of the dough to seal the cheese inside. Roll out the dough again into a rectangle about 11"x15". Cut the dough into six strips approximately 1 1/2" wide. Roll each strip into a tube and form into a pretzel shape by looping and crossing the ends over each other, then tuck back onto the loop and pinch to seal. Transfer to a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Repeat with remaining half of dough.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a small bowl, combine remaining egg and milk. Whisk to combine and set aside. In another small bowl, combine poppy seeds, garlic, onion, and salt. Brush the pretzels liberally with the egg wash, then sprinkle with spice mixture. Bake 18-20 minutes until light golden brown. Transfer pretzels to a wire rack to cool.


text:
Lon Morris has now received the charitable distributions it was anticipating from Heartspring Methodist Foundation and Texas Methodist Foundation. Those distributions are being used to make lump sum settlement payments to former employees. Checks and ACH payments are being processed today. We are very thankful for the kindness of these foundations in working with the school towards this outcome. If you have any questions, please contact the Plan Agent.
GREAT NEWS! The Plan Agent is pleased to report the Bankruptcy Court has approved the settlement agreements between Lon Morris and certain foundations. The foundations need to wait an additional 14 days for certain objection and appeal periods to run. No objections are expected during the appeal period however, so payments should go out on or before August 30th. Please contact the Plan Agent if you have any questions or need to reconfirm your distribution information at:
The Plan Agent for Lon Morris has filed a series of objections to claims of creditors in the bankruptcy case, as was required under the Plan of Liquidation. With respect to the wage claims of employees, there were also objections filed. Generally those objections are for the purpose of correcting the amount filed by the employee where it either differed from the school's records, didn't account for the prior distributions made for funds received from the Church or the Foundations, or had arbitrary penalties added to the unpaid wage amount. The objections only relate to correcting the amounts owed, and do NOT mean the debtor is objecting to paying the wage claims. The debtor DOES still intend to pay the prior unpaid wages when it receives the funding from the Foundations. We have been working diligently with the Foundations, and previously with the TX Attorney General's office, to finalize these matters, and regret the significant delays employees have experienced since these funds were committed. We have recently been advised the funds and distributions are anticipated to occur in August. We will keep you apprised of further updates as we get them.
Lon Morris College confirmed its' bankruptcy plan on February 12, 2013 (Case No. 12-60557, Eastern District of TX). The College sold substantially all its assets, but will continue to retain ownership of the name, and certain real estate and other assets of the College that will be liquidated over time pursuant to the bankruptcy plan.
For the time being, students needing transcripts can still request them via this website by following the links. Please note the student account must be paid in order to release transcripts. Because there is no longer full time or permanent staff, transcript requests can only be processed once or twice a month.
For an interim period the College will maintain an office at The Cooper House, a building the school is currently retaining. Mail can be forwarded there as follows:
Lon Morris College
c/o The Cooper House
600 College Avenue
Jacksonville, TX 75766
Dawn Ragan of Bridgepoint Consulting will be the Plan Agent and Liquidating Trustee, responsible to handle ongoing matters post-bankruptcy. Correspondence requiring immediate attention can be sent to Ms. Ragan as follows:
Dawn Ragan, Plan Agent
c/o Bridgepoint Consulting
1700 Commerce Street, Suite 810
Dallas TX 75201
Periodic updates will be made to this website with additional information, including regarding the payment of claims, as it becomes available.
600 College Avenue · Jacksonville, Texas 75766
© Lon Morris College 2011

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Panetta Calls for Closer Military Relations With Brazil
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, April 25, 2012 – The relationship between the United States and Brazil is between two global powers, and American officials welcome the warming ties with the South American powerhouse, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said during a speech to Brazil's Superior War College in Rio de Janeiro today.
The speech comes a day after Panetta and Brazilian Defense Minister Celso Amorim conducted the first U.S.-Brazil Defense Cooperation Dialogue meeting in Brasilia.
"We support Brazil as a global leader, and seek closer defense cooperation, because we believe that a stronger and more globally engaged Brazil will help enhance international security," Panetta said in prepared remarks released by the Pentagon.
The United States and Brazil have cooperated in real-world operations and have expanded joint training and exercises. "The United States military has been receiving more requests to participate in Brazilian-hosted military exercises and attend Brazilian military schools," the secretary said.
U.S. military personnel are again training at the Brazilian Army's Instruction Center for Jungle Warfare. U.S. ships and personnel exercise and patrol together from the shores of Rio de Janeiro to the Gulf of Guinea off the coast of Africa. Two years ago, the U.S. Air Force participated for the first time in the Brazilian Air Force's CRUZEX multinational air exercise. The Brazilian Air Force will return the favor and participate in the American Red Flag exercise next year.
Brazilian and U.S. personnel worked together following the Haiti earthquake. The Brazilians have also participated in a number of United Nations missions around the world.
"Still, I think we can all agree that there is much more we can do together, and that it is in all of our interests to pursue a shared vision of deeper defense cooperation that advances peace and security in the 21st century," Panetta said. The defense dialogue seeks to find ways to deepen and extend military cooperation between the two nations.
Panetta wants to expand sharing technology with the Brazilians. "I would like to find a way for our defense institutions to improve cooperation on research through exchange programs between our scientific establishments and joint research projects," he said.
One area of immediate concern is in cybersecurity. Both the United States and Brazil face severe threats from cyber attacks. "I believe both of our nations must leverage our extensive technical expertise and exchange more information on cyber policies, training and best practices," he said.
These exchanges could help Brazil as the country gears up for soccer's World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016, the secretary said.
Looking overseas, Panetta thinks the United States and Brazil can cooperate on other continents. "Both of our nations have historic connections to Africa and have a strategic interest in stability on the continent," he said. "We should explore ways for our two militaries to work together to assist African militaries, such as by conducting combined exercises and other forms of training."
The United States and Brazil have cooperated to help areas affected by natural disasters. Panetta called on the two militaries to work even more closely together.
Panetta also wants growth in trade in the defense arena. "The United States seeks to increase high-tech defense trade, flowing in both directions," he said. "Perhaps the most prominent example of our willingness to partner with Brazil on advanced defense technology is the United States government's offer to provide our Super Hornet fighter aircraft to the Brazilian Air Force."
The offer has strong support in the U.S. Congress. "But this offer is about much more than providing Brazil with the best fighter available," he said. "With the Super Hornet, Brazil's defense and aviation industries would be able to transform their partnerships with U.S. companies, and they would have the best opportunity to plug into worldwide markets."
Panetta said he believes that increased military-to-military cooperation between the United States and Brazil would benefit both nations.
"I do believe that our common interests are so great, and the possibilities that come from our cooperation are so tangible, that we must seize this opportunity to build a stronger defense partnership for the future," he said.
|Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list


text:
Hot weather is expected this week and as temperatures reach the high teens and 20s, pet owners are being reminded to leave their furry loved ones at home when going out in their vehicle.
With close to 1,000 cases of pets being left inside hot vehicles across B.C. in 2017, the BC SPCA finds itself continually having to remind people about the dangers of leaving animals in cars — even if you think it's only for a short time.
"Please, leave your pets at home," says Lorie Chortyk, general manager of community relations for the BC SPCA. "You might just be running into the store for a moment, but then there's a line up or something else and that turns into five, 10 or even 15 minutes."
She said it takes as little as 10 minutes in a hot car for a pet — quite often a dog — to suffer brain damage, organ damage and even death. Thankfully, Chortyk said, only one of those estimated 1,000 cases resulted in a pet dying.
However, she encourages people not to play the odds. And each time there's a spike in temperature, the BC SPCA puts out the now-familiar warning that the weather can risk the lives of people's pets if they accompany them in their vehicles.
"People don't seem to get the message," said Chortyk, adding that may be because people have done it in the past and nothing happened to their pet.
"People forget, or they've done it before and nothing happened. But no one wants to play Russian Roulette with their pets."
Chortyk said pets do not perspire the same way humans do. It's mainly through their paws, so regulating their heat inside a hot car is almost impossible — even if the vehicle is parked in the shade, the windows are cracked and there's a dish of water inside.
The best thing people can do, she continued, is leave their pets at home when you know it's going to be warm or hot outside. If they do, they could run afoul of B.C.'s Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. Chortyk pointed to a well-publicized case a few years ago of the Act being applied when a dog walker in Vancouver left animals in a hot vehicle and six died. The individual got six months in jail. Chortyk recalls another incident where someone left their dog in their car when they went into an airport to pick someone up. The flight was delayed and by the time they returned to their vehicle, the dog was dead.
Chortyk said no one wants to lose their pets that way, so why take the risk?
As more people become aware of animals in distress during warm weather, Chortyk said they are reporting it more and more often to the SPCA or local police. The BC SPCA has a toll-free hotline — 1-855-622-7722 — for people to call when they find an animal locked in a car in the heat.
The BC SPCA does not advise people to break windows in vehicles to rescue animals, but instead to call the number and determine if an animal is in distress. If it is, Chortyk said they can direct people on how to help and who to call. Causing damage to vehicles puts people on the wrong side of the law, she explained. Asking local police to respond when animal control officers or SPCA employee are not available, is a better option.
To prevent the problem in the first place, Chortyk said there are resources — such as posters and cards people can leave on windshields — available at www.spca.bc.ca
Chortyk said more information about an issue that's "one hundred per cent preventable" can help save animals — even if it's one life.


text:
This morning I spoke at my first Microsoft Springboard STEP event. The subject was "Deploying Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2" and featured WAIK/WSIM, Windows Deployment Services (WDS) and Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010. We had a nice turn out and apart from my XP VM acting a bit funny at the end, all went well. It was very much a demo, demo, demo session.
I recorded the webcast. You can see the entire thing, unedited, right here. It will be available for 365 days from now. And here is the slide deck:
Thanks again to the folks at Microsoft Ireland for organising the venue and for helping to spread the word and thanks too to all who came along or tuned in live.


text:
Concept-art : DragonsWednesday, June 16th, 2010
As I promised last week I'm back with new digital painting and drawing done during the concept-art period. This week : Dragons ! Here you 'll find a mix of studies ( al.chemy , mypaint, gimp-painter or … watercolor ) … And as you suggested me last post ( in comments ), I created them in a friendly resolution and size for using them as wallpaper. More soon !
– David


text:
patient trust
an environment that relaxes patients and wins their trust. Simultaneously, it should support the staff in their physiological processes and consequently also our medical care. Light plays a decisive role here."
- Andreas Janzen, Anesthesiologist, Managing Director of Lumaris GmbH – South Operating
The Sana Hospital is the home of healthcare in Lübeck. The largest hospital in the region, it is comprised of 13 medical practices, including the South Operating Centre. Could light create a relaxing, stress-free ambience for patients and meet the high demands of a medical facility?
For general lighting, Rotaris was used to create a productive workplace with its glare-free performance. In reception, DayWave luminaires support the stimulating atmosphere thanks to their refreshing light and wave-like dynamic. iColor Cove MX Powercore enhances wellbeing in the waiting area, anaesthetic preparation room, and operating zone, with soft color changes.
To meet hygiene and sterility requirements, cleanroom TBS426 luminaires were installed in the operating theatres. In the anaesthetic recovery room, dynamic light from Savio has been used to assist care. It can be set to shine a warm white light directly after an operation, before changing to a cooler light to help patients wake up. Additional colored cove lights and RGB down lights were used to create a more relaxed ambience in corridor areas.
The centre has now been upgraded with lights that meet the needs of staff and patients in each area. The task-specific lighting concept responds to the various stages of treatment experienced by patients. For example, in the reception and waiting areas, the soft, relaxing color changes help to reduce anxiety.
The new hospital lighting is helping to lower costs. The efficient performance of LED reduces energy output, lowers C02 emissions, and minimizes maintenance costs.


text: Lamar County schools will close Wednesday and Thursday due to the pending ice storm, The Herald Gazette has learned. Official notification to the public is expected shortly. UPDATE: The school system has confirmed the closure!UPDATE 2: Gordon State College is closed Wednesday and Thursday.Pike and Spalding schools have announced closures for those days as well.County offices will also close both days, according to commission chairman Jay Matthews. Road crews will be at work. Report problems to the sheriff's office at 770.358.5159Additionally, the Board of Assessors meeting has been cancelled Thursday February 13, 2014 due to inclement weather. The meeting has been rescheduled for February 20, 2014 at 2:00 p.m.All Southern Crescent Technical College locations will close at 5 p.m. Tuesday and be closed all day Wednesday. They will open at 10 a.m. on Thursday.The Pretty for Prom kickoff party set for Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Beautique downtown has been postponed . A new date will be announced soon.Criminal court set for Thursday has been cancelled.The Milner city council meeting set for Thursday has been postponed until Tuesday, Feb. 18 at 11 a.m.


text:
Kenneth Corbin| Cio
With the agencies of the federal government in various stages of shifting their IT operations to the cloud, CIOs must take a considered approach that places cloud computing in the context of a host of other factors, chiefly the agency mission, but also the prevailing currents that are reshaping the technology landscape, a top analyst with Gartner said on Thursday.
In remarks here at a conference on cloud computing and the federal government, David Cearley a fellow and vice president with the research group, pitched a hybrid vision of IT that would marshal cloud computing in service of an agency's business objectives while at once tapping into the transformative potential of social, mobile and the information insights to be harvested from big data.
"Make no mistake. It's not cloud in isolation. It's cloud in the mix of a series of disruptive trends that you really have to address," Cearley says.
Seeing Clouds Clearly
First, as a matter of definition, Cearley notes that the term "cloud computing," through overuse common to IT faddishness, is in danger of drifting from its essential meaning, which Gartner articulates as "a style of computing in which scalable and elastic IT-enabled capabilities are delivered as a service using Internet technologies."
"Cloud is stamped on everything that doesn't move fast," says Cearley. "When cloud means 'everything' and it's stamped on everything, then cloud computing loses its meaning."
He argues that cloud computing, in the non-diluted sense of the term, must entail a layer of abstraction that casts whatever the function at issue — software, business process applications, infrastructure, etc. — as a service.
To the federal IT workers in the audience, Cearley advises that they keep that focus on services in mind in their pitch meetings with cloud vendors looking to score government contracts.
"Be sure you're having [a] conversation about you providing service to me. Keep that separate from the conversation about building your own private cloud," he says. "The whole idea is to create this abstraction layer."
And indeed, Gartner's forecast anticipates an across-the-board, if uneven, uptick in spending on an array of technologies delivered as a service, encompassing software, business processes, platforms and infrastructure.
Along the way, interest in the private cloud and hosted private cloud appears to be waning. In its polling of IT executives in various sectors, including government, Gartner found that decision makers are growing more comfortable with public and hybrid cloud models, with a corresponding shift away from purely private clouds.
"That's happening because as people get more comfortable with public cloud services, they layer in additional security capabilities and make it safer, and as certification models like FedRAMP and other things come up, then the security issues are getting addressed for more and more applications. Look at this as a steady progression over time," Cearley says, calling 2013 "the year of hybrid cloud thinking."
Cearley intends a broader resonance in his message of hybrid computing, urging CIOs to take a wide view of their IT operations to bring a consistency to areas like security and governance across internal, external and mixed environments.
Similarly, he cautions against moving forward with a cloud strategy without an accompanying consideration of how any new deployment will support the organization's strategy and mesh with its enterprise architecture.
Effectively implementing that hybrid approach will often entail a shakeup of roles and responsibilities within a traditional IT operation, designating one team with building services and creating the interface for users, and another with the more foundational elements such as security and deciding whether the process should be housed in a public, private or hybrid cloud.
"You've got parallel efforts that should be going on within your organization," Cearley says.
"It's not just a technology issue, it's an organizational issue," he adds. "We've seen a lot of new org charts come out, particularly in enterprise."
Cloud Cost and Security
Cearley takes a somewhat contrarian view when it comes to two of the issues most central to the discussion of cloud computing: cost and security.
On the former, he challenges the blanket assertion that cloud computing is a cost saver, describing "plenty of cases" he has seen where a cloud solution delivered by an external service provider proved costlier over a 5- or 7-year life cycle than a comparable solution done in-house.
"Everybody starts looking at cloud saying it's going to be a way of saving money, and you know what, there will be targeted areas where you'll save money using cloud services, particularly from external firms, but it's not always going to save you money," Cearley says.
"Don't just assume cloud is cheaper. You've got to have mechanisms to evaluate the life cycle cost over time, and sometimes even if it isn't cheaper, it makes sense to do it anyway, because the number one issue with cloud is agility."
On security, often held up as a leading inhibitor of cloud adoption in the government, Cearley points out that it's a function of the provider, and that many cloud players have stronger data-center security than midsize government agencies and enterprises.
But at its core, cloud computing isn't entirely different from some of the outsourcing functions that businesses have relied on for decades where a level of control over sensitive material is handed over to an outside firm (say, sending a design prototype via FedEx or storing vital paper documents with Iron Mountain).
Then, too, Cearley argues that security is sometimes offered as a red herring from a corner of an IT organization reluctant to give up oversight of certain processes and fearful of the disruption that the cloud could bring.
"Cloud services are not inherently more or less secure than traditional outsourcing," he says. "Security is important, but I've got to tell you, at least 50 percent of the time when people raise security as an issue what it really means is job security."


text:
The Line, an all-new standalone from Amie Knight is available now!
The Line by Amie Knight
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publication Date: May 23rd
I was a thief.
The invisible girl only he could see.
The woman who wanted to be more.
He was the mark.
The extraordinary cowboy who stole my sixteen-year-old heart.
The damaged man who still owned it, even four years later.
The Line was where we began.
Where fates collided.
Where truths derailed.
The place where our love story ends.
How could it be so damn hot at seven in the morning? I wasn't sure, but it was. Even in a thin tank, cut-off shorts, and my boots, I was melting. I stood at the top of a ladder Cole had placed against a tree so that we could reach the peaches up top. I used the rubber band on my wrist and tied my hair into a knot at the top of my head, hoping that it helped. Cole climbed up behind me on the ladder and stood a couple of rungs below, but still, he towered over my small frame. "Okay?" he asked. "Yep," I answered, even though I wasn't okay. He was so close, and that familiar earthy, smoke smell I loved almost as much as rocky road invaded my senses. "Good." He looked at the peaches. "Alrighty. You see the ones that have that pink color?" He motioned to a cluster of fruit in front of us. I nodded, trying not to breathe in too much. Because Jesus, he smelled delicious. "Those look ripe and done. The paler ones behind them don't look ready yet." I nodded again, and Cole grabbed my hand. He pressed his fingers in, wrapping both of our hands around a peach. He pushed the tips of his fingers into mine at the top of the fruit, near the stem. "Feel the give, how it feels soft there?" I squeezed my fingers around the stem again without his help and said, "Yep. Feels softer there." He smiled down at me. "Good. That's also a sign it's ripe for picking. But be gentle. They bruise easily." Cole's front pressed closer to my back, and I shivered. The way Cole taught me to do things here was pure torture. It was also outright ecstasy. I lived for these moments as much as I loathed them. Because the man was a damn tease. He'd sent me back to the big house a sweaty, panting mess more times than I could count, my panties drenched. He gently squeezed our hands around the peach and twisted and pulled. The peach came free, my tiny hand gripped it and his big, rough hand wrapped around mine. He brought our hands to my face and pressed the peach closer to my nose. "How does it smell?" he asked in my ear. I wanted to say, "I don't know. I can't smell a damn thing but your smoke and leather, and I don't want to." Instead, I closed my eyes. I pressed my nose right up against the peach and concentrated on the smell. "Sweet," I said, my eyes still closed. Our hands moved, and I felt the peach at my lips. My heart hammered and fire raced across my skin, and it had absolutely nothing to do with the weather. Cole positioned himself even closer, and it seemed, in that moment, that every breath he took sucked up every bit of air in the atmosphere. My own breath quickened, and a growl rumbled low in Cole's chest. "Taste it," he whispered in my ear, his lips so close that I was sure he could taste me on them. I opened my mouth and wrapped my lips around the fruit, the fuzzy skin tickling my lips. I bit down, and that rumble I heard from Cole made an appearance again. I moaned as I pressed my teeth to the fruit, the juicy sweetness of the peach sliding over my tongue. "So good," I groaned as Cole pulled our hands and the peach back. A little juice rolled down my chin and I attempted to lift my free hand to wipe it. "I got it," Cole said, brushing his hand over my chin, slowly picking the juice up with his finger, and ever-so-Goddamn-enticingly placing his finger in his mouth before sucking it clean like it was the best thing he'd ever put in his mouth. "Delicious," he said, his hooded eyes on mine as he popped his finger out of his mouth. And fuck me. I swayed on that ladder, my own eyes closing as I willed my cowboy to kiss me with every breath I took. I made myself only will this about once a day, so I thought I was doing pretty good. He brought our hands holding the peach to his mouth. He wrapped his mouth around it, his lips brushing my fingers, and I felt it deep in my core. I pressed my thighs together and swallowed a moan. "Perfect," he said, staring into my eyes. He held my gaze for a moment more before shaking his head and letting my hand, which was still clasped around the peach, go. Then he stepped off the ladder like he hadn't just made sweet, sweet love to that peach with his mouth right here in front of me. I watched him walk off to another tree, place a ladder against it, and climb up like nothing in the world had happened. I kicked the rung of the ladder and turned back to the tree. Damn peach molester.
Read Today!
(Free in Kindle Unlimited)
Amazon US: http://amzn.to/2q9muR6
Amazon UK: https://goo.gl/VCDx2x
Add to GoodReads: https://goo.gl/fVu3QF
About the Author:
Amie Knight has been a reader for as long as she could remember and a romance lover since she could get her hands on her momma's books. A dedicated wife and mother with a love of music and makeup, she won't ever be seen leaving the house without her eyebrows and eyelashes done just right. When she isn't reading and writing, you can catch her jamming out in the car with her two kids to '90s R&B, country, and showtunes. Amie draws inspiration from her childhood in Columbia, South Carolina, and can't imagine living anywhere other than the South.
Connect with Amie:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/authoramieknight
Twitter: www.twitter.com/authoramieknigh
Instagram: www.instagram.com/amie_knight
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/amieknight


text:
KWIN Inc. Network
KWIN Inc. servers reside at The Planet data center in Dallas, Texas. The Planet allows KWIN Inc. customers to utilize one of the world's best networks to power their web sites and ensure maximum uptime. The Planet's world-class datacenters feature state of the art security, power, safety, and cooling systems - all designed to ensure that service remains uninterrupted.
Data Center Features
KWIN Inc. houses servers in four of The Planet's Dallas, Texas-area datacenters. Ranging from 22,000 to more than 78,000 square feet, these world-class datacenters contain top of the line technology to ensure that servers stay cool, secure, and up at all times. The datacenters feature redundant power, HVAC, and fire detection systems, and are monitored 24/7 by The Planet's Network Operation Centers.
Network Features
Web sites hosted with KWIN Inc. are accessible via a fully meshed and redundant Certified Cisco Network feature 10 backbone and fiber providers including:
In addition to a fully redundant network and top of the line data centers, system administrators monitor all servers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Servers are monitored and issues are acted upon before they become serious. Additionally, the network and datacenters are monitored and managed by on-site technicians dedicated to ensuring maximum uptime and reliability.


text:
Please visit our Open House at 505 1050 BOWRON CRT in North Vancouver.
Open House on Saturday, April 21, 2012 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Offering an amazing and massive 2 bedroom, 2 bath gem. Made for entertaining indoors and out and room for all your house sized furniture. A great open plan with an updated kitchen, granite counters, new SS appliances. Fantastic space with with views of the Islands and downtown lights at night. Each well laid out bedroom has its own ensuite. Ample sized laundry room with new H20 tank and great storage as well as separate storage locker. BONUS! 2 parking stalls. Not like an apartment as it has a separate exterior entrance. Well run building with new exterior, elevated walkways and fencing. New roof and gutters already paid for. Please call now for your exclusive viewing. Open House Sat April 21 from 3 -4:30 PM / Sun April 22 2-4 PM


text:
With such a colorful name, it is small wonder that magician J. B. Bobo is known throughout the world. Adults across Arkansas and the country remember him for taking his magic shows to their schools when they were children. Magicians around the world own copies of his books on coin magic, which are universally agreed to be the best ever written.
J. B. Bobo was born on February 11, 1910, in Texarkana (Miller County), where his family owned Bobo Grocery Store. He was christened with initials only, and he patiently explained this when anyone asked what they stood for. His French immigrant great-grandfather, Jean Beaubeaux, had anglicized the family name from the original spelling.
Bobo never really knew his father, Horace H. Bobo, who died when Bobo was young, but he learned later that his father knew several magic tricks. Bobo's mother remarried, and she, J. B., and his sister moved to Chesley in Ontario, Canada, when he was twelve. In each of the four Canadian cities where Bobo lived (Chesley, Hanover, Hamilton, and Windsor), the family owned restaurants. Traveling salesmen frequently stopped at the restaurants, and Bobo met them and learned magic tricks and tips.
His interest in magic grew with each trick he learned and each magic show he saw. A family friend was an amateur magician who performed between movies at a local theater. Bobo went back, over and over, more to watch and study the magician than to see the movies. He went to see traveling medicine shows on their crude outdoor stages, which usually had a magician in their midst. Frequent traveling tent shows—Chautauquas—also had magicians. He went to every one he could. When the family lived in Windsor—across the Detroit River from Detroit, Michigan—Bobo and his sister often took a ferry to Detroit to attend Sunday vaudeville performances. There, he saw many famous magicians who became inspirations for him to develop his own act and style. But he missed a live performance of Harry Houdini, which he later wrote was one of his biggest regrets in magic.
At age thirteen, Bobo discovered the famous Johnson-Smith Novelty Catalog, which featured many magic tricks. He ordered as many tricks as he could, but he could not afford many. He taught himself sleight-of-hand tricks—with cards, balls, thimbles, and coins—because they were free. These were mainstays of his act for the rest of his career. He also completed the famous Tarbell Course, a hardback series of instruction books on magic. He slowly honed his magic skills, many self-taught. His first public appearance was a contest for amateurs at the Windsor Theater.
When Bobo returned to Texarkana at age nineteen, he joined a troupe of "stage-struck friends," as he called them, which performed locally and in nearby cities. These engagements helped him develop his craft and performing skills. While he worked as a show card writer and decorator for several retailers in Texarkana, he met Lillian Carlow. They were soon married, and she became part of his act.
Bobo was asked by a producer for the Graham Music and Lyceum Bureau whether he and his wife could fill a contract for a magician on a western circuit. He agreed, and it was the beginning of their traveling magic show career. The Bobos traveled throughout the western states, giving school shows.
After several years working for different entertainment bureaus—and learning the ins and outs of the school show business—the Bobos tired of traveling and quit to start working for themselves out of their Texarkana home. Building a schedule in public schools was difficult in the early years, but their reputation grew, and they signed repeat bookings in schools in Arkansas and surrounding states. They earned return visits because they changed everything about their show from year to year, from new tricks and apparatus to new jokes and colors of silks.
At the peak of their school show career, they performed 400 to 450 shows a year; this decreased to 300 a year in later years. It is estimated that they gave more than 14,000 school shows in more than fifty years.
In 1947, Bobo put many of his magic ideas in a book, Watch This One! But it was his classic book, Modern Coin Magic (1952), that earned him a worldwide reputation. The book has been reprinted several times and is still available. It was expanded by over 150 pages in 1966 into the New Modern Coin Magic. His success in school magic prompted him to write a third book in 1984, The Bobo Magic Show.
Bobo was well known as an accomplished magician and comedian, but he also excelled as an artist, cartoonist, photographer, cinematographer, and craftsman. He designed his own flyers and posters, and he made many of his own trick apparatus.
Bobo endeared himself to magicians throughout the country not only from his writings but also by presenting lectures to magic clubs and conventions. His last book was virtually a manual on how to make a living as a school magic performer. In 2006, a DVD tribute to him was issued as part of a new series, The Greater Magic Video Library. Volume 23, named simply Bobo, features an interview with him, a complete children's performance by him and his wife, and demonstrations and explanations of a half-dozen of his favorite tricks.
Lillian Bobo died on August 12, 1989. They had no children. J. B. Bobo died on September 12, 1996, in Texarkana, where he is buried.
For additional information:
Blackmon, Lyn. "Bobo celebrates 50 magical years." Texarkana Gazette, January 28, 1993.
"Broken Wand." The Linking Ring 76 (November 1996): 126.
Goodsell, David R. "Bobo: Magician of the Month." MUM (Society of American Magicians) 68 (May 1979): 11.
The Greater Magic Video Library. Vol. 23: Bobo. St. Paul, MN: Twin Cities Magic & Costumes Co., 2006.
McPherson, Kevin. "'Bobo the Magician' dies at 86." Texarkana Gazette, September 13, 1996, p. 1
C. Dennis Schick
North Little Rock, Arkansas
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Top pols briefed on Libya attack
State Department and Pentagon officials have held a number of high-level briefings for key members of Congress in the wake of the attack that cost U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens his life.
The Gang of Eight — the chairmen and ranking members of the Senate and House intelligence committees and all four party leaders — were briefed Thursday by intelligence officials.
( Also on POLITICO: Libyan ambassador: 'I feel shamed')
The Senate Intelligence Committee was briefed by CIA Director David Petraeus. That group also included Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.), the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The House Intelligence Committee was also briefed Thursday afternoon, according to several top lawmakers.
Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House intelligence panel, said top lawmakers are trying to "make sure we get things under control."
"We want to be focused clearly on finding the perpetrators," Ruppersberger told POLITICO. "One of the things we're concerned about is whether this was a conspiracy, a planned attack." Those concerns, he said, were stoked by the timing of the attacks — so close to Sept. 11 — and the sophistication of the weapons that were used, such as AK-47s.
Congress's foreign policy dealings typically are limited to funding, nominations and oversight. But when international crises occur, top lawmakers are privy to highly sensitive information about foreign policy and military actions.
Ruppersberger said the Obama administration, particularly the State Department, has been forthcoming with information about the incidents in both Libya and Egypt.
"Oh my gosh, yes," Ruppersberger said when asked whether administration officials have shared what they've learned with lawmakers. Ruppersberger said he and other members of the Intelligence Committee have been briefed by State Department officials about the deadly incident and its aftermath.
Ruppersberger also slammed GOP White House hopeful Mitt Romney for his criticism of President Barack Obama over the Libya and Egypt attacks.
"In the middle of a crisis, we come together — Democrats, Republicans, everybody," Ruppersberger said. "I think it's fair game for Romney to criticize the president on how he handled the crisis after the situation is over. Right now, it's wrong. Presidential politics has to stay out of this."
Ruppersberger added: "As far as I'm concerned, [Romney] is a nonissue here."


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Arthur D. Crino was born in Portland, Oregon, in 1924. He joined the U.S. Navy during World War II and rose in the ranks to become a Seaman First Class while serving on a submarine chaser in the Pacific. In 1951, he earned a degree in electrical engineering from Oregon State University and soon became a Licensed Professional Engineer in both Oregon and California.
He began his professional career with the Allis-Chalmers Corporation in California. Ten years later, the firm erected a new facility in Oregon and Art headed back to the Northwest. Eventually, Siemens Corporation bought Allis-Chalmers and when the new owner moved the plant out of Oregon in 1988, Art left and formed his own Pacific Air Switch Corporation. Functioning as chairman and president of this hugely successful operation, he sold it in 1997 and retired fully in 2003.
Art and his wife, Sally, joined The John Birch Society in 1960. Appointed to the Council in 1999, he was also a member of the Society's Executive Committee.


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US tour scheduled to begin in January – ticket giveaway now live!
AMON AMARTH is pleased to announce they will be premiering the stunning production video for the track "Father Of The Wolf" at the first date of the US tour-taking place in Las Vegas onFriday January 17. For fans attending this show, make sure to follow Amon Amarth's and Metal Blade Records' Twitter and Facebook pages for info on what time the video will be played at the kickoff date of the tour. Fans not attending this show will be able to view this epic music video, which is more like a mini movie, at metalblade.com/amonamarth on Saturday January 18.
Don't forget to catch the Swedish heavy metal titans AMON AMARTH live this January/February 2014 as the band headlines the US in support of their newly released album Deceiver of The Gods. Very special guest on the dates will be Enslaved with additional support fromSkeletonwitch.
Thanks to our friends at Live Nation and Blabbermouth, fans can enter to win a pair of tickets to one of the shows listed below by entering HERE. Rules and restrictions apply and can be found on the contest page.
Friday, January 17 – Las Vegas, NV @ House Of Blues
Saturday, January 18 – Phoenix, AZ @ Club Red
Monday, January 20 – San Antonio, TX @ Backstage Live
Tuesday, January 21 – Dallas, TX @ House Of Blues
Wednesday, January 22 – Houston, TX @ House Of Blues
Friday, January 24 – Atlanta, GA @ Center Stage
Saturday, January 25 – Tampa, FL @ The Ritz
Sunday, January 26 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL @ Revolution
Monday, January 27 – Orlando, FL @ House Of Blues (*no Skeletonwitch)
Wednesday, January 29 – Charlotte, NC @ The Fillmore
Thursday, January 30 – Norfolk, VA @ The NorVA
Friday, January 31 – Silver Springs, MD @ The Fillmore
Saturday, February 1 – Boston, MA @ House Of Blues
Monday, February 3 – Philadelphia, PA @ TLA
Tuesday, February 4 – New York, NY @ Irving Plaza
Wednesday, February 5 – Huntington, NY @ Paramount
Thursday, February 6 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Small's
Friday, February 7 – Chicago, IL @ House Of Blues
Saturday, February 8 – Minneapolis, MN @ Mill City Nights
Sunday, February 9 – Lawrence, KS @ Granada Theatre
Tuesday, February 11 – Denver, CO @ Summit Theatre
Wednesday, February 12 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Murray Theater
Friday, February 14 – San Francisco, CA @ The Regency
Saturday, February 15 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern
Sunday, February 16 – San Diego, CA @ House Of Blues (* No Enslaved)
Tickets are available now at: http://amonamarth.com/tour
Deceiver of the Gods shattered the band's previous sales records around the world. The album landed at #19 on the Billboard Top 200 Chart and #19 on the Top Current Albums Chart. The band's last album, Surtur Rising, entered the Top 200 Chart at #34 making Deceiver of the Gods the band's highest charting record to date. In Germany, Deceiver of the Godsentered the Top 100 Chart at #3, the official Media Market/Saturn Chart at #3 and the German Media Control Weekend Trend Chart at #2. Deceiver of the Gods came in at #9 on Canada's Top 200 Chart, #2 on the Hard Music Charts and #21 on the Digital Music Chart. Additionally, the record came in at #2 on the iTunes Metal Chart, #2 on the iTunes Rock Chart and #7 on the iTunes Top 200. In the UK, the record entered the official Album Charts at #67, the Rock/Metal Chart at #4 and the Independent Chart at #14 marking the highest UK chart placements for the band yet. Elsewhere, Deceiver of the Gods came in at #9 on the Top 100 Album Chart in Switzerland, #7 on the Austrian Top 100, #9 in Sweden, #27 in Denmark, #51 in France, #34 in Czech Republic and #51 in Hungary.
Keep up to date on all things Amon Amarth at the following locations:
*press release courtesy of Metal Blade Records


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Aug. 7, 2014
Sale Total: Not available yet
Total Lots: 209
Number of Market Lots: 40
Grand champion: Taylor Kennedy*
Bid: $19/pound Weight: 1,392 pounds
Buyer: Amerikohl Mining Co.
Reserve champion: Ashley Brehm*
Bid: $15/pound Weight: 1,382 pounds
Buyer: Rex Energy
Champion home bred: Shane Harvey
Bid: $3/pound Weight: 1,250 pounds
Buyer: Amerikohl Minign Co.
Reserve champion home bred: Connor Harvey
Bid: $2.50/pound Weight: 1,306 pounds
Buyer: J.K. Hydraulics
Champion county bred: Jacob Kennedy
Bid: $3.75/pound Weight: 1,120 pounds
Buyer: Rita and Jim Kennedy and various buyers
Reserve champion county bred: Julianne Schmur
Bid: $3.25/pound Weight: 1,276 pounds
Buyer: Butler Farm Market
Number of Market Lots: 54
Grand champion: Hannah Govan
Bid: $9/pound Weight: 263 pounds
Buyer: Butler Eagle
Reserve champion: Nataleigh Kerr
Bid: $6/pound Weight: 232 pounds
Buyer: Rex Energy
Champion home bred: Alyssa Tice
Bid: $6/pound Weight: 256 pounds
Buyer: XTO Energy
Reserve champion home bred: Matthew Tice
Bid: $3.50/pound Weight: 280 pounds
Buyer: Nixon Mine Cable Supply
Champion county bred: Christopher Shuler
Bid: $5/pound Weight: 272 pounds
Buyer: Shaun and Maddie Krill
Reserve champion county bred: Chase Shuler
Bid: $3.50/pound Weight: 246 pounds
Buyer: Butler County Ford
Number of Market Lots: 64
Grand champion*: Aaron Drake
Bid: $30/pound Weight: 136 pounds
Buyer: Amerikohl Mining Company
Reserve champion: Rebecca Betteridge
Bid: $6/pound Weight: 137 pounds
Buyer: Keystone Clearwater
Champion home bred: Alyssa DiPippa
Bid: $8/pound Weight: 140 pounds
Buyer: Fairground Market
Reserve champion home bred: Scott Snyder
Bid: $4/pound Weight: 135 pounds
Buyer: Duke Whiting and Eric Irvine of Phoenix Farms
Champion county bred: Tarrah Freund
Bid: $7/pound Weight: 126 pounds
Buyer: Elliot Tire Service
Reserve champion county bred: Robyn Freund
Bid: $5.50/pound Weight: 126 pounds
Buyer: Schmur's Meat Market
Number of Market Lots: 19
Grand champion: Ivie Scott*
Bid: $25/pound Weight: 93 pounds
Buyer: Amerikohl Company
Reserve champion: Apryl Scott*
Bid: $20/pound Weight: 94 pounds
Buyer: Rex Energy
Champion home bred: Camden Bash
Bid: $5/pound Weight: 90 pounds
Buyer: ESB Bank
Reserve champion home bred: Lauren Bash
Bid: $5/pound Weight: 90 pounds
Buyer: Dr. Kimberly Berry, Butler Veterinary Associates and Emergency Services
Champion county bred: Nicholas Black
Bid: $5.50/pound Weight: 73 pounds
Buyer: West Central Equipment
Reserve champion county bred: Deven Whitacre
Bid: $7.50/pound Weight: 75 pounds
Buyer: Mars and Saxonburg Agway
Number of Pens of Three: 12
Grand champion: Grace Swope*
Bid: $2500/pen Weight: 12 pounds 4 oz.
Buyer: Rex Energy
Reserve champion: Cody Wood
Bid: $300/pen Weight: 12 pounds 14 oz.
Buyer:Linda Steele, Boosel Farm
Number of Pens of Three: 15
Grand champion: Kaitlin Eichenlaub
Bid: $475 Weight: 30 pounds 1 ounce
Buyer: J.W. Marshall Inc.
Reserve champion: Bronwyn Wain
Bid: $550 Weight: 36 pounds 4 ounces
Buyer: Rex Energy
Auctioneer: John R. Huey II
* Denotes new record price.
Up-to-date agriculture news in your inbox!


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A NY Times editorial suggests that Michelle Obama's scorn for cooking is doing the nation a disservice.
Although foodies everywhere have applauded the First Lady's commitment to healthy eating in the form of a widely-publicized White House organic garden, food writer Amanda Hesser takes issue with Michelle's stated disinterest in that food's preparation.
When The Washington Post asked Mrs. Obama for her favorite recipe, she replied, "You know, cooking isn't one of my huge things." And last month, when a boy who was visiting the White House asked her if she liked to cook, she replied: "I don't miss cooking. I'm just fine with other people cooking." Though delivered lightheartedly, and by someone with a very busy schedule, the message was unmistakable: everyday cooking is a chore...Both times Mrs. Obama missed a great opportunity to get people talking about a crucial yet neglected aspect of the food discussion: cooking. Because terrific local ingredients aren't much use if people are cooking less and less; cooking is to gardening what parenting is to childbirth.
Now, the objections to this statement are obvious: Hesser (herself a busy working mom) acknowledges that the First Lady is a busy woman with a lot of important things on her plate, and it would be disingenuous to pretend that her life, or cooking opportunities, are like that of the average American. While food and cooking, to someone in the food world, is at this point not a gendered issue, to Michelle Obama it's probably not incidental to distance herself from generations of recipe-swapping First Ladies who aligned themselves firmly with the domestic. And because Mrs. Obama does not cook much these days does not imply unilateral scorn - Mrs. Obama has mentioned cooking in the past, they've hired a chef well-versed in organic and sustainable cooking, and this year's Easter Egg Roll incorporated a cooking class for kids. A garden can teach a lot about nutrition and the environment even to those who can't or don't have the opportunity to cook. And Mrs. Obama clearly enjoys and appreciates good, healthy food - perhaps as important as anything. Besides, should a First Lady have to censor her every word? Be an example and a role model at every turn? At the end of the day, probably a lot of people can relate to a First Lady who doesn't always talk from the script - and doesn't cook.
But that would, of course, be Hesser's point - that too many people can relate. And that every word, from someone so admired and imitated, is an opportunity. One could certainly argue that the food issue is one the Obamas have been strong-armed - and Anthony Bourdain and his Waters-hating ilk would likely argue just that. But having taken on an issue, one must see it through. And having acknowledged a crisis in our nation's diet, one can't separate the issue of cooking from it. Cooking is essential to changing the nation's habits - locavore restaurants are great, but it's not Blue Hill that's going to feed the man on the street. The issue here is a tricky one, though, because Mrs. Obama has to tread a fine line: while there's nothing remotely elitist or luxurious about scratch cooking to its champions, the simple truth is that this is far from a universal view, and Mrs. Obama would risk just as much criticism from devoting time to, say, a course of cooking classes, as by her current flippancy. Hesser suggests that watching the First Lady master the preparation of food would be a great example for the country, and it would - but if it's that important, it would be nice if her husband could be in there with her occasionally - and would do quite a bit to un-load the issue.
The Commander In Chef [NY Times]


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Warmer still, scientists say, lies ahead.
Through 10 years of global boom and bust, of breakneck change around the planet, of terrorism, war and division, all people everywhere under that warming sun faced one threat together: the buildup of greenhouse gases, the rise in temperatures, the danger of a shifting climate, of drought, weather extremes and encroaching seas, of untold damage to the world humanity has created for itself over millennia.
As the decade neared its close, the U.N. gathered presidents and premiers of almost 100 nations for a "climate summit" to take united action, to sharply cut back the burning of coal and other fossil fuels.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told them they had "a powerful opportunity to get on the right side of history" at a year-ending climate conference in Copenhagen.
Once again, however, disunity might keep the world's nations on this side of making historic decisions.
"Deep down, we know that you are not really listening," the Maldives' Mohamed Nasheed told fellow presidents at September's summit.
Nasheed's tiny homeland, a sprinkling of low-lying islands in the Indian Ocean, will be one of the earliest victims of seas rising from heat expansion and melting glaciers. On remote islets of Papua New Guinea, on Pacific atolls, on bleak Arctic shores, other coastal peoples in the 2000s were already making plans, packing up, seeking shelter.
The warming seas were growing more acid, too, from absorbing carbon dioxide, the biggest greenhouse gas in an overloaded atmosphere. Together, warmer waters and acidity will kill coral reefs and imperil other marine life - from plankton at the bottom of the food chain, to starfish and crabs, mussels and sea urchins.
Over the decade's first nine years, global temperatures averaged 0.6 degrees Celsius (1.1 degrees F) higher than the 1951-1980 average, NASA reported. And temperatures rose faster in the far north than anyplace else on Earth.
The decade's final three summers melted Arctic sea ice more than ever before in modern times. Greenland's gargantuan ice cap was pouring 3 percent more meltwater into the sea each year. Every summer's thaw reached deeper into the Arctic permafrost, threatening to unlock vast amounts of methane, a global-warming gas.
Less ice meant less sunlight reflected, more heat absorbed by the Earth. More methane escaping the tundra meant more warming, more thawing, more methane released.
At the bottom of the world, late in the decade, International Polar Year research found that Antarctica, too, was warming. Floating ice shelves fringing its coast weakened, some breaking away, allowing the glaciers behind them to push ice faster into the rising oceans.
On six continents the glaciers retreated through the 2000s, shrinking future water sources for countless millions of Indians, Chinese, South Americans. The great lakes of Africa were shrinking, too, from higher temperatures, evaporation and drought. Across the temperate zones, flowers bloomed earlier, lakes froze later, bark beetles bored their destructive way northward through warmer forests. In the Arctic, surprised Eskimos spotted the red breasts of southern robins.
In the 2000s, all this was happening faster than anticipated, scientists said. So were other things: By late in the decade, global emissions of carbon dioxide matched the worst case among seven scenarios laid down in 2001 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the U.N. scientific network formed to peer into climate's future. Almost 29 billion tons of the gas poured skyward annually - 23 percent higher than at the decade's start.
By year-end 2008, the 2000s already included eight of the 10 warmest years on record. By 2060, that trajectory could push temperatures a dangerous 4 degrees C (7 degrees F) or more higher than preindustrial levels, British scientists said.
Early in the decade, the president of the United States, the biggest emitter, blamed "incomplete" science for the U.S. stand against rolling back emissions, as other industrial nations were trying to do. As the decade wore on and emissions grew, American reasoning leaned more toward the economic.
By 2009, with a new president and Congress, Washington seemed ready to talk. But in the front ranks of climate research - where they scale the glaciers, drill into ocean sediments, monitor a changing Earth through a web of satellite eyes - scientists feared they were running out of time.
Before the turn of the last century, with slide rule, pencil and months of tedious calculation, Svante Arrhenius was the first to show that carbon dioxide would warm the planet - in 3,000 years. The brilliant Swede hadn't foreseen the 20th-century explosion in use of fossil fuels.
Today their supercomputers tell his scientific heirs a much more urgent story: To halt and reverse that explosion of emissions, to head off a planetary climate crisis, the 10 years that dawn this Jan. 1 will be the fateful years, the final chance, the last decade.
Charles J. Hanley has covered climate issues for The Associated Press since the Kyoto conference of 1997.


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Diablo 3 Lead Designer Reveals Skill Rune System
Diablo III lead designer Jay Wilson revealed the Skill Rune system of skill modification during his talk at BlizzCon. Skill Runes are...
Skill Runes are skill-modifying items that are randomly dropped by monsters and used across all classes. They can be attached to each skill like an item, often completely changing the gameplay of each skill.
The lead designer showed off the Teleport skill with a Striking rune, turning the spell into an offensive skill that can destroy enemies. The Skull of Flame skill was modified by the Multistrike Rune, which split the single fireball into multiple splashing attacks, to the crowd's enormous delight.
The Electrocute spell was modified with Multistrike, turning it into a Chain Lightning-esque spell. The Lethality rune added an explosion effect to Electrocute, splattering enemies on contact.
Wilson first took the crowd through the evolution of the current Diablo III skill system.
"We wanted to have more depth to the combat [than Diablo II], so that skill system was hard for us because of that," said Wilson. "The tree also had a lot of unwanted skills, but you had to take them even if you didn't want them."
Wilson also talked about how Diablo II offered skill choices where "1 point is all you ever need, but you can spend 20 points."
"Why is that? It seemed like a lot of opportunities to make mistakes, and there's no respec," he said.
When it comes to the World of Warcraft, Wilson noted that one problem with directly adapting that system to Diablo III is problematic due to the minimal builds available.
"There really is kind of a good path of the talent tree, and that's desirable of a game that has so many different ways to play it for balancing, but for us that's not as much of a concern."
Wilson eventually explained various skill trees in what he called the team's "Crazytown." Various skill designs Skill Cards, Skill Ring, and a Skill Wheel.
"I honestly don't remember what this did," said Wilson on the Skill Wheel. "I think there was some kind of spinning involved."
Wilson then revealed a diagram of an incredibly complicated Horadric Cube-styled Skill tree, to which the crowd roared in laughter.
The lead designer then elaborated on how the team reached the current scheme, including two ideas they wanted to incorporate into the system: randomly dropped skills, and skill modification. Thus, Skill Runes.


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Success in Afghanistan, Pakistan Linked, Official Says
By Fred W. Baker III
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, April 22, 2009 – The United States cannot afford to ignore the challenges in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and success or failure in one country likely means the same for the other, a senior Defense Department official told a foreign policy think tank here yesterday.
Security in the region is inextricably linked between the two countries and, until now, the United States has viewed them as two separate fights, said Michèle Flournoy, undersecretary of defense for policy.
But, to move ahead, she said, an overarching strategy must aim at stopping al-Qaida and other extremists' activities in both countries.
"Instability in Pakistan threatens our efforts in Afghanistan," Flournoy said. "Failure in Afghanistan would increase the risk of failure in Pakistan. And recognizing this interaction must be central to every dimension of our strategy."
Flournoy, who recently co-chaired a review that helped to guide President Barack Obama's strategy in the region, made the comments at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. She offered a stark warning that failure in the region would have far-reaching impacts, well beyond Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"We will all be at risk," she said. "We simply cannot choose to ignore the growth and professionalization of violent extremist groups. And in a nuclear Pakistan, the stakes are as high as they can get.
"Countering al-Qaida and its affiliated groups and preventing catastrophic instability in a nuclear-armed state are absolutely critical, crucial to our security and to international security," she said.
To move forward in Afghanistan, the United States must adequately resource troops on the ground, she said, who have, since the start of the war there, been fighting in an "economy of force" mode as U.S. troops surged to quell violence in Iraq.
"Our troops can do astonishing things with … even minimal resources, but they can't do magic," Flournoy said. "We need to give our people on the ground, military and civilian, the resources they need to succeed in this mission."
A civil-military counterinsurgency strategy needs to be resourced that can reverse Taliban gains and protect the population, Flournoy said, while at the same time provide Afghan forces with more training and mentoring.
More trainers are needed, she said, and U.S. units deploying to Afghanistan should be given the mission of not only securing the population, but also partnering with local Afghan units to build their capacity. Strengthening and integrating civilian assistance efforts also is critical, she added.
"We plan to significantly increase our civilian expertise and resources, both U.S. and international, in Afghanistan," Flournoy said. "That will involve not only drawing on U.S. government resources, which are too few, but also from the private sector, from think-tanks, from [nongovernmental organizations].
The new strategy also will show a slight shift from solely concentrating on building the Afghan national government, to focusing more resources on building Afghanistan's municipalities, she said. In some remote parts of Afghanistan, she noted, people rarely see their national leaders, and tribal alliances often are stronger than district government ties. The Afghanistan strategy also calls for a more robust counternarcotics effort, Flournoy added.
Eventually, she said, reconciliation efforts will have to include bringing those who once fought on the side of the insurgency back to the side of the Afghan government, and corruption must be culled from the Afghan government.
In Pakistan, efforts must be placed on building Pakistani counterinsurgency and counterterrorism capabilities so that the country's legitimate government can more effectively combat militants at home, she said.
"Pakistan has been both a victim of terrorism and a safe haven for terrorists for too long," she said. "Pakistani democracy needs our support…. We share an enemy."
Greater international support is needed in the region, Flournoy said, and the United States is reaching out to other countries for help.
"It's important that we recognize this is not just the United States' effort or America's war, as some have said," Flournoy said.
|Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list


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Jan 16, 2015
ESF - European Social Fund for Germany
The video describes the ESF in Germany for the funding period 2014-2020.
You find an overview of all english videos about the European Social Fund (ESF) in Germany and in general.
Jan 16, 2015
The video describes the ESF in Germany for the funding period 2014-2020.
Apr 14, 2021
The film is a compilation of 3 videos, which express the participants' successes particularly well and show how the mobility programs have supported them. It also contains a video message from EU Commissioner Nicolas Schmit, in which he emphasizes the importance of these mobility programs for a social Europe.
Mar 27, 2017
In just two minutes the film explains how the funding program "Integration through Qualification" (IQ Network) supports people with foreign professional credentials as well as the achievements of the actors in the labor market integration of immigrants.
May 18, 2016
The film represents the three priority areas of the programme "Federal ESF Integration Directive" (in german: ESF-Integrationsrichtlinie Bund).
Apr 5, 2016
Here you find all videos of the European Commission about the ESF in general.


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Browsing this Thread: 1 Anonymous Users
Out of step City lobbying to keep $300K grant for '100 Steps' project
2011/9/14 17:52
Last Login :
2013/9/7 10:28
From Jersey City Heights
Registered Users
Posts: 11
Out of step
City lobbying to keep $300K grant for ?100 Steps? project
by E. Assata Wright
Reporter staff writer
Aug 05, 2012
The city held a groundbreaking for the 100 steps project in 2009. But since then no work has been done.
City officials are scrambling to hang on to a $300,000 New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) grant that had been earmarked for a pedestrian walkway from the Jersey City Heights to Hoboken after failing to hire a construction contractor for the project last month. After years of repeated delays, residents are now wondering how much longer they will have to wait for this project to be completed.
The project, known as ?100 Steps,? is supposed to connect the Palisade Cliffs in the Heights to Paterson Plank Road near the Cliffs, a luxury residential loft development in Jersey City located near the Second Street Light Rail Station in Hoboken. This light rail station is just a short ride to the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail?s Hoboken terminal, which connects to the PATH train and several NJ Transit rail lines. Residents in the Heights see the completion of these steps as essential to connecting their neighborhood to transit hubs in the area.
?The city never forces developers to keep their agreements.? ? Becky Hoffman, RNA
But the ?100 Steps? project has been in the works for eight years and has been plagued by several setbacks and delays, the most recent being just last month.
The city had planned to use the $300,000 NJDOT grant to offset the estimated $700,000 in construction costs to build the steps. To do this, however, the city needed to award a construction contract by July 3, 2012 or risk losing the state money. The City Council last month failed to approve a $1.7 million bid from the only contractor who submitted a bid for the project. The bid was rejected since it was well over the $700,000 construction estimate.
The city now finds itself in the position of having to re-bid the construction contract while lobbying to keep the state grant.
?We are rebidding the contract so we can find a contractor who meets the bid specifications,? said Rosemary McFadden, chief of staff to Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy. ?We?re also in contact with the Department of Transportation and talking to them about keeping the $300,000 grant. We don?t think that will be a problem.?
Residents are, however, frustrated by this latest delay and wonder how much longer they will have to wait for the stairway project to be completed.
?One of the main reasons why people moved to the Heights is because of its proximity to Hoboken and New York,? said Becky Hoffman, president of the Riverview Neighborhood Association. ?The 100 Steps project is essential to people getting to and from work, but also being able to go into Hoboken for restaurants and other activities. So it?s important to our local commerce as well.?
Until the 1920s there was a 100-step stairway that connected Hoboken to the Heights. This stairway was closed in the ?20s after the steps started to crumble and became unsafe. The original ?100 Steps? were later removed in the 1990s.
As Jersey City and Hoboken were redeveloped and began attracting New York City workers and people who wanted to commute easily between the three cities, residents began lobbying for the stairway to be rebuilt.
An opportunity and solution seemed to come along in 2003 when Brass Works Urban Renewal, the developer of the Cliffs, agreed to rebuild the ?100 Steps? as part of its development deal with Jersey City. At the time, residents in the Heights hoped the stairway would be finished by the time the 120-unit development was completed in 2008.
As the estimated cost to rebuild the 100-step stairway rose from $250,000 to $700,000, however, Brass Works Urban Renewal told the city it could not afford to take on the project. In 2010, the city agreed to take over the ?100 Steps? project from Brass Works Urban Renewal and planned to use about $144,000 from the developer, plus a $300,000 NJDOT grant, and $256,883 in city funding to get the job done.
Some residents, Hoffman said, opposed this shift in responsibility from the developer to the city.
?The city never forces developers to keep their agreements,? Hoffman stated. ?Developers know they can make an agreement, get what they want out of the city, then renegotiate to get out their commitment later. And this is very frustrating for residents because you know the city will always look out for the developer?s interests. But what about the residents? What about our interests??
Despite opposition, the city last year said it planned to have the steps completed by the spring or summer of 2012.
New bids by fall?
Fall is just two months away and the 100 Steps project has yet to get underway. In addition, the city concedes that a construction contract needed to be awarded by July 3 for it to access the $300,000 NJDOT grant.
McFadden said a new RFP (request for proposals) will be issued later this month and she believes the project can still get started this year.
http://hudsonreporter.com/view/full_s ... ndary_stories_left_column
Posted on: 2012/8/7 22:13


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Head-On MVA 8/18/10
This accident occurred Wednesday evening August 18th at around 7:40 PM. Warwick firefighters used the Jaws of Life to extricate the driver of the silver Toyota who was then transported by Warwick Ambulance to a landing zone at Kings Elementary School. From there the driver was flown by helicopter to Westchester Medical Center. The driver of the red Jeep was transported by Warwick Ambulance to Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern, NY. Both Drivers sustained life threatening injuries. Kings Highway remained closed to traffic for approximately four hours as Warwick Police and the State Police Accident Reconstruction Team investigated the accident.Read More


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Caffeine & Exotics - April 17th, 2016
06/19/16 - Will have the first C&E Event of 2016 album filled out shortly. Taking place at Lenox Square Mall in the Buckhead area of the ATL. Shot with a professional model and two SAG actors. The weather was ideal, the crowds not so much. Packed to the hilt - made getting clean shots a challenge. Still, we persisted and made our time worth it.Read More


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ECE497 Notes on TLC5940 16 LED Driver
Embedded Linux Class by Mark A. Yoder
Here are some leads on interfacing the TI TLC5940 16 Channel LED Driver to a Launchpad.
- MSP430x2xx Family User's Guide
- How-to: Launchpad programming with Linux
- MSP430 Launchpad on Linux
- Launchpad SPI Explorer
- Demystifying the TLC5940 has a nice tutorial on building a library for the TLC5940 for the AVR.
- SPI experiments with the MSP430 has some next examples of doing serial via bitbanging and using the serial port.
- Don Bindner MSP430 Launchpad has lots of well documented examples using the Launchpad for various things.
- Launchpad SPI Ninja shows an example using the Launchpad SPI Explorer.
- Getting Started with the MSP430 LaunchPad Workshop
- Interfacing the Launchpad with TLC5940 16-channel PWM driver
Embedded Linux Class by Mark A. Yoder


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This amazing video shows a NASA-created simulation of the entire life of a single disk galaxy—all the way from the Big Bang 13.5 billion years ago to the present time.
Disk galaxies are, as the name suggests, flattened circular volume of stars, and account for many of the galaxies in the universe —including our very own Milky Way. This might only be a computer simulation of the life of such a galaxy, but it is completely mesmerizing. NASA explains:
Colors indicate old stars (red), young stars (white and bright blue) and the distribution of gas density (pale blue); the view is 300,000 light-years across. The simulation ran on the Pleiades supercomputer at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., and required about 1 million CPU hours. It assumes a universe dominated by dark energy and dark matter.
I think it was worth the computation time. [YouTube]
Video by F. Governato, T. Quinn, A. Brooks and J. Wadsley


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Why Install LAMP on Ubuntu? Why should you install LAMP on Ubuntu? When working on web development, I prefer to work within the privacy of my own development environment located on my computer. I'd rather make the majority of my mistakes where no one else can see them rather than out in the wild of …Continue reading Installing a LAMP Server on Ubuntu
LAMP stands for Linux, Apache, MySQL, and php, (or Perl). It's one of the most popular web hosting platforms. If you're developing websites, it's good to have your own private development environment to use while you build and test your websites. This post will show you how to install and configure a LAMP web development …Continue reading Install LAMP and phpMyAdmin on Ubuntu 11.10
I've had a book on PHP & MySQL for over a year, but I've barely touched it. Last night I decided to get to work on getting through the book as I've got some website ideas I'd like to pursue, but I currently lack the skills to execute what I want. Anyway, I've decided to …Continue reading Displaying Today's Date With PHP


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For instructions on how I do my handcoloring - click here!BROMOIL PRINTING PROCESS:
For details on
the bromoil process - well, I'm just a beginner at that one, so I'll
send you on to listen to those who have been doing it much longer.
For starters, check out the following websites:
Come back soon for some of my musings on the subject. In the meantime you can also take a look at Nudes (Camera Craft), by Anna Henley. This is a lovely book, just published in June 2003 by AVA Publishing. It's part of a series of "how to" books. It features the work of quite a few photographers, describing how they made each photograph. The photos are grouped into sections like "Working With Light", "The Male Nude", "The Female Nude", "The Commercial Nude", "The Artistic Nude", etc. There is a lot of really good information here, and the photographers all share a lot of their philosophy of photographing thenudes as well. Four photographers (including me!) were chosen for a special section with interviews. Eight of my images were chosen for this book, including the cover.


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Get your tasks and work done above the ground safely and efficiently. DuraBoom offers a diverse range of boom lift rental units in Malaysia. Take advantage of our competitive rates and flexible leasing options today!
Boom Lift Rental Kampung Padang Jawa
- Impressive selection of boom lift rental units for rent
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Emperor penguins: skilled survivors
Discover the characteristics and behaviour of the emperor penguin
This primary resource introduces children to the resilience and survival tactics of the emperor penguin in its extreme environment. Discover how cold their Antarctica home can get in the ice-cold winter. What do penguins eat in the summer to help them keep warm? How much will their weight change before the winter sets in? How deep can emperor penguins dive to reach food?
Pupils will learn about the characteristics and behaviour of the emperor penguin, as well as the habitats they are found in, in our National Geographic Kids' Science primary resource sheet.
The teaching resource can be used in study group tasks for comparing the emperor penguin to other 'extreme animals'. It can be used as a printed handout for each pupil to review and annotate, or for display on the interactive whiteboard for class discussion.
Activity: Ask children to create a case study, comparing the emperor penguin to another species of penguin, or another species of bird, such as the African fish eagle. Pupils could draw a picture of an emperor penguin and use the information in the resource to label and annotate its features that have adapted for survival.
N.B. The following information for mapping the resource documents to the school curriculum is specifically tailored to the English National Curriculum and Scottish Curriculum for Excellence. We are currently working to bring specifically tailored curriculum resource links for our other territories; including South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. If you have any queries about our upcoming curriculum resource links, please email: firstname.lastname@example.com
This Animals primary resource assists with teaching the following Key Stage 1 Science (Year 1) objectives from the National Curriculum:
Pupils should be taught to:
- identify and name a variety of common animals including fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals
- identify and name a variety of common animals that are carnivores, herbivores and omnivores
- describe and compare the structure of a variety of common animals (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals, including pets)
Pupils might work scientifically by: using their observations to compare and contrast animals at first hand or through videos and photographs, describing how they identify and group them; grouping animals according to what they eat; and using their senses to compare different textures, sounds and smells.
National Curriculum Key Stage 1 Science (Year 2) objective:
Pupils should be taught to:
- identify that most living things live in habitats to which they are suited and describe how different habitats provide for the basic needs of different kinds of animals and plants, and how they depend on each other
- identify and name a variety of plants and animals in their habitats, including micro- habitats
- describe how animals obtain their food from plants and other animals, using the idea of a simple food chain, and identify and name different sources of food.
Pupils should be introduced to the idea that all living things have certain characteristics that are essential for keeping them alive and healthy. They should raise and answer questions that help them to become familiar with the life processes that are common to all living things. Pupils should be introduced to the terms 'habitat' (a natural environment or home of a variety of plants and animals) and 'micro-habitat' (a very small habitat, for example for woodlice under stones, logs or leaf litter).
Pupils should compare animals in familiar habitats with animals found in less familiar habitats, for example, on the seashore, in woodland, in the ocean, in the rainforest.
Pupils should be taught to:
- notice that animals, including humans, have offspring which grow into adults
- find out about and describe the basic needs of animals, including humans, for survival (water, food and air)
Pupils should be introduced to the basic needs of animals for survival, as well as the importance of exercise and nutrition for humans. They should also be introduced to the processes of reproduction and growth in animals. The focus at this stage should be on questions that help pupils to recognise growth; they should not be expected to understand how reproduction occurs.
National Curriculum Lower Key Stage 2 Science (Year 3) objective:
Pupils should be taught to:
- identify that animals, including humans, need the right types and amount of nutrition, and that they cannot make their own food; they get nutrition from what they eat
- Compare and contrast the diets of different animals (including their pets) and decide ways of grouping them according to what they eat. They might research different food groups and how they keep us healthy and design meals based on what they find out.
National Curriculum Lower Key Stage 2 Science (Year 4) objective:
Pupils should be taught to:
- recognise that living things can be grouped in a variety of ways
- explore and use classification keys to help group, identify and name a variety of living things in their local and wider environment
- recognise that environments can change and that this can sometimes pose dangers to living things.
- construct and interpret a variety of food chains, identifying producers, predators and prey
National Curriculum Upper Key Stage 2 Science (Year 5) objective:
Pupils should be taught to:
- describe the differences in the life cycles of a mammal, an amphibian, an insect and a bird
This Animals primary resource assists with teaching the following Sciences Early level objectives from the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence:
- I have observed living things in the environment over time and am becoming aware of how they depend on each other
Scottish Curriculum for Excellence First level Sciences objectives:
- I can explore examples of food chains and show an appreciation of how animals and plants depend on each other for food.
Scottish Curriculum for Excellence Second level Sciences objectives:
- I can identify and classify examples of living things, past and present, to help me appreciate their diversity. I can relate physical and behavioural characteristics to their survival or extinction.
- I can use my knowledge of the interactions and energy flow between plants and animals in ecosystems, food chains and webs. I have contributed to the design or conservation of a wildlife area.
Scottish Curriculum for Excellence Third level Sciences objectives:
- I can sample and identify living things from different habitats to compare their biodiversity and can suggest reasons for their distribution.
Scottish Curriculum for Excellence Fourth level Sciences objectives:
- I understand how animal and plant species depend on each other and how living things are adapted for survival. I can predict the impact of population growth and natural hazards on biodiversity.


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Credit Analyst
The Credit Analyst plays a key role in supporting the credit assessment department and underwriting to both new and existing personal or professional business customers. Credit Analyst play a crucial part in the assessment and analysis of credit decisions, Credit Analyst should have a background of working in a credit and lending environment. You will need to acquire strong attention to detail along with strong numerical skills. To be diligent in this role you will need to have a good understanding of compliance, regulatory and codes of conduct affecting the banking industry. You will need to be a well organised a team player who has an ability to strive for results.


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We, in this initiative, will be providing a short and to the point synopsis of answers to the questions provided under Daily mains drill.
Download Current Affairs based Mains Drill – 20 January 2020. (Link the respective PDF)
As we all know that Mains examination is a highly competitive part among the three stages UPSC Civil Service Examination and the questions here demand subjective or descriptive answers. However, writing answers all together demands a totally different approach. At first, it may appear to be a very easy task, but when one starts writing, the probability of going blank increases many folds.
In order to cater to the needs of the UPSC Mains examination, Jatin Verma's IAS Academy has been providing a comprehensive online mains answer writing programme for UPSC CSE 2020. Here in Current Affairs Based Mains Drill Initiative, we are providing 6-8 questions based on current affairs articles appearing in the newspapers on a daily basis. On each alternative day, we also upload the answers to the questions provided.
Get all the current affairs based Mains Drill: Target 2020


text: IN PRISON... you spend the majority of your time in an 8X10 cell. AT WORK... you spend the majority of your time in a 6X8 desk cubicle. IN PRISON...you get three meals a day. AT WORK...you only get a break for one meal and you pay for it. IN PRISON...you get time off for good behavior. AT WORK...you get more work for good behavior. IN PRISON...the guard locks and unlocks all the doors for you. AT WORK...you must carry around a security card and open all the doors For yourself. IN PRISON...you can watch TV and play games. AT WORK...you get fired for watching TV and playing games. IN PRISON...you get your own toilet. AT WORK...you have to share with some idiot who pees on the seat. IN PRISON...they allow your family and friends to visit. AT WORK...you can't even speak to your family on the phone. IN PRISON...the taxpayers pay all expenses with no work required. AT WORK...you get to pay all the expenses to go to work and then they deduct taxes from your salary to pay for prisoners. IN


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Windows Server 2012 Base Configuration Test Lab Mini-Module for a Basic PKI
This Test Lab Guide Mini-Module describes how to add a basic public key infrastructure (PKI) as an optional addition to the Windows Server 2012 base configuration test lab. If you are running the base configuration test lab in
a virtual environment, you can create snapshots of the virtual machines (VMs) for all of the test lab computers before performing the following procedure. There are two steps to adding a basic PKI deployment to the Windows Server 2012 Base Configuration test
1. Install an enterprise root certification authority (CA) on APP1.x
2. Enable computer certificate auto-enrollment for the corp.contoso.com domain, and verify computer certificate enrollment.
Step 1: Install an Enterprise Root CA on APP1
Do this step using Windows PowerShell
To install the Certification Services server role on APP1
Windows PowerShell equivalent commands
The following Windows PowerShell cmdlet or cmdlets perform the same function as the preceding procedure. Enter each cmdlet on a single line, even though they may appear word-wrapped
across several lines here because of formatting constraints.
Install-WindowsFeature AD-Certificate -IncludeManagementTools
Install-AdcsCertificationAuthority -CAType EnterpriseRootCA -Force
Step 2: Enable Computer Certificate Auto-enrollment
Next, configure Group Policy on DC1 so that domain members automatically request computer certificates.
To configure computer certificate auto-enrollment
7. Close
Group Policy Management Editor and Group Policy Management Console.
Configure a client-server authentication template for auto-enrollment on APP1
Next, configure a custom client-server authentication template that can be used by servers and clients in further test lab guides.
To configure the client-server authentication template
Snapshot the Configuration
This completes the Basic PKI configuration. To save this configuration for additional test labs, do the following:
Additional Resources
For a list of all of the Windows Server 2012 TLGs, see
Windows Server 2012 Test Lab Guides in the TechNet Wiki.
Adam Cooperman edited Revision 8. Comment: Corrected the Install-AdcsCertificationAuthority to correctly install an EnterpriseRootCA and not a standalone.
Ed Price - MSFT edited Revision 4. Comment: Font style; added tags
Joe Davies edited Revision 3. Comment: Misc editing
Joe Davies edited Revision 2. Comment: Updates for Windows Server 2012
This doesn't work well for me (tried in SCEP 2012 and SCSM 2012 TLGs, computers do not get their certificates). It is better to add AD CS role to DC1 and than add automatic certificate request for computers. Something like Base Config for Windows Server 2008 R2.
Works for me, but I did have to add the READ permission in step 7, section 'Configure a client-server authentication template for auto-enrollment on APP1'.
is it possible to post correction to the main test lab guides ? there are some bits of powershell that need sorting ?


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TEXAS – A reservoir in West Texas turned blood-red in recent weeks. Does this mean the end of the world?
Due to unrelenting drought in Texas, the lake has almost entirely dried up, leaving thousands of dead fish behind. As of the last week in Novvembery, bacteria had turned the stagnant dregs of the lake red.
Many in Texas believes that this "blood lake" signifies the End of the World.
It is End Times? Or did the lake turn red because a drought has left the OC Fisher Reservoir in San Angelo State Park in West Texas almost entirely dry. The water that is left is stagnant, full of dead fish — and a deep, opaque red.
The color has some apocalypse believers suggesting that OC Fisher is an early sign of the end of the world, but Texas Parks and Wildlife Inland Fisheries officials say the bloody look is the result of Chromatiaceae bacteria, which turn red in oxygen-deprived water.
Texas is experiencing a major drought this summer, with 75 percent of the state's area in an "exceptional" drought, the highest level, according to the National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC). The state had hoped for some relief from Tropical Storm Don in the summer, but the system fizzled and brought only an inch or two of rain to areas near the coast.
The drought has taken its toll on a number of reservoirs in West Texas, Cruz told LiveScience. OC Fisher has never been completely full, Cruz said, but it was stocked with catfish, bass, sunfish and other popular targets for fishermen.
"We surveyed the lake, I believe it was last year, and we had a pretty good fish population out there," Cruz said. "It was pretty sickening going out there, watching lake levels just drop and drop and drop and seeing these nice trophy-sized bass just floating dead."
End times predictions
As of last week, all that remained of the lake was a small pond a few feet deep, Cruz said. There were thousands of dead fish, he said, but no sign of life.
Pictures of this blood-red pool circulated online in fishing forums and caught the notice of Indiana preacher Sue Begley, who said that the lake might be evidence of the apocalypse as predicted by the Biblical book of Revelation.
"The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead person, and every living thing in the sea died," the passage Begley cited reads. "The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood."
Begley may not have any more luck at predicting the end of the world than did Harold Camping, the radio preacher who set the date for May 21, 2011. But for as long as the drought persists, the OC Fisher reservoir is a reservoir no longer.
"I don't know what's left in there now. We haven't been back," Cruz said. "But I would guess it's probably pretty much gone already."


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Medicinal Seeds: Natural Healing
Embrace natural wellness with top quality Medical Cannabis Seeds
- Jack Herer Autoflower SeedsIn stock
- Blue Dream Feminized SeedsIn stock
- Sour Diesel Feminized SeedsIn stock
- Green Crack Feminized SeedsIn stock
- Sour Diesel Autoflower SeedsIn stock
- Blue Dream Autoflower SeedsIn stock
- White Widow Feminized SeedsIn stock
- AK-47 Feminized SeedsIn stock
Since all cannabis strains have medical properties some people choose a combination of different strains to suit their needs. In most cases, medical strains can be grown from high CBD seeds with little to no psychedelic effect. You can also find different varieties suitable for day time and night time use. Choose a Sativa for when you need to stay alert and an Indica for when relaxation and sleep is the aim.
*The content on this page is provided strictly for educational purposes only. Please abide by and follow the laws in your country.
"With the expansiveness that occurs with marijuana, the subject may begin to notice infinite possibilities to raise the quality of his/her life that would otherwise have remained hidden from normal, defensive consciousness. And feelings of health and happiness naturally lead to hope, which of itself can be curative." - Joan Bello
Legalization in a variety of reasons has generated growing interest in cannabis seeds and home-growing. For the first time, hundreds of thousands of patients have the right to purchase medicinal seeds and grow their own medicine at home. Which, for many who cannot afford to purchase from dispensaries, makes far more sense than buying it. Nevertheless, before investing in medicinal marijuana seeds and getting started, it's important to pick up a little background knowledge. Particularly when it comes to selecting the appropriate seeds for your own personal requirements.
The first recorded use of medical cannabis took place approximately five thousand years ago in Ancient China. Then seen as a potentially effective treatment for malaria, beriberi, constipation, rheumatic pains, lack of concentration and more, we've since learned just how far the therapeutic properties of medical cannabis extend.
Since the early 90s, medical marijuana has been growing in popularity across much of the western world. Semi-Legalization having opened cannabis up as an option for thousands with chronic and life-affecting conditions. However, it's only recently that patients have been given the green light to pick up quality medical seeds and grow their own. Which has brought about a quite extraordinary era in self-medication and proactive personal treatment.
Making the decision to grow your own MMJ is something of a no-brainer. If you need it and have the legal right to produce it yourself, why wouldn't you? Once it has been established that medical cannabis seeds could help you, it's simply a case of putting them to work at home.
Which makes sense for a few very important reasons. Medical marijuana seeds are comparatively affordable – medical pot products can be hugely overpriced. Growing from seed at home means knowing exactly what's gone into your medicine from start to finish. No chemicals, nothing inorganic, nothing potentially harmful. When you need it, you have it – no delays and complications.
It's also worth bearing in mind that succeeding with medical cannabis seeds – even as a first-timer – can be surprisingly easy. With the right equipment and the right strain, producing outstanding results is well within the reach of just about anyone. It also doesn't need to be particularly difficult to set things up in the first place. This means that just as long as you are legally entitled to do so, growing your own medical marijuana comes highly recommended.
Nothing matters more than ensuring you choose an appropriate strain for your own requirements. There are literally thousands of different types of medicinal seeds available from breeders all over the world. Every strain having its own fundamentally unique properties, benefits and effects. The important thing to remember is that nobody is in a better position to advise you than your doctor. If your current doctor is unable or unwilling to advise on medical cannabis issues, perhaps seek a second opinion.
If looking to select the right strain for your needs without medical advice, it is useful to have a basic understanding of what you are getting. For instance, do you want a high CBD strain or a high THC strain? Do you know the differences between Indica strains and Sativa strains? Both have extremely valid and potentially beneficial medical applications, though are also fundamentally different.
The primary active ingredients in most medical strains are CBD and THC, whilst new Cannabinoids are being discovered regularly such as THCV, CBN, CBG and CBGA, which are also found in smaller amounts. In Medicinal seeds CBD can be present in concentrations anywhere up to 20%. This typically means that the lower the THC and higher the CBD, the less intense the "high". THC and CBD levels vary wildly form one strain to the next – something to take into account when selecting a suitable medical strain. However, if you decided to opt for seeds with very high THC, we recommend clicking this page.
Also important to consider is the Indica or Sativa-dominance of the medical pot seeds you choose. Indica cannabis is known for its relaxing and sedating properties which hit the body harder than the mind. Muscles are relaxed, inflammation subsides and effective pain reliefcan often be attained. An Indica strain is commonly used in the treatment of chronic pain, arthritic and rheumatic stiffness and swelling, insomnia and anxiety. However, an intensive Indica body stone can make it difficult to function normally so it is best to avoid day time use if you need to stay motivated.
By contrast, Sativa cannabis is more about the delivery of a much more energizing and uplifting cerebral high. Such strains are commonly used for the treatment of patients with chronic nausea, depression, headaches, poor appetite, and chronic pain. This is a much better choice as a day time strain as it is less likely to leave you feeling sluggish, at night it can also stop you from sleeping as Sativas are known for causing your brain to become more active.
These days, the vast majority of medicinal marijuana seeds on the market are neither pure Sativa or Indica. They're hybrid weed seeds – meaning they combine both in their own unique measures. Which can be enormously advantageous for people who may wish to address various conditions and ailments at the same time. Combining the effects of Indica and Sativa could, for example, relieve pain, relax the body and provide gentle mental stimulation and clarity at the same time. As such, it's a case of determining exactly what you want to get out of your chosen strain, before selecting the ideal medical pot seeds.
Growing from seed opens up the widest range of options in terms of strain varieties, while at the same time improving on the average germination rate of cloning – 90% of seeds germinate as opposed cloning's 50% chance of taking root. Growing from seed can produce a wonderful variation of buds within the same genetic range. Although growing from a female clone guarantees you a female plant, unless you change the growing environment, there is little room for variation and therefore improvement. And of course, there's much to be said for the affordability of medical marijuana seeds – not to mention the satisfaction of growing your own medicine 100% from scratch!