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Strathcona County AB Bioidentical Doctor
Welcome to the first step in the development of your very own Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy (BHRT) program. True Balance is a Canadian leader in the Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy field and takes your care very seriously.
At True Balance each of our Bioidentical Hormone Replacement specialists undergoes a comprehensive regimen of clinical training and in-service medical research seminars which uniquely qualify them as the leading practitioners in their field.
Together with you, they will develop a personalized treatment program which will help you reclaim your life and start feeling like you used to.
If you are a woman seeking relief from symptoms of menopause, you no longer have to endure hot flashing, temperature and mood swings or unexplained weight gain and insomnia.
If you are a man approaching the andropause who is living with the unwanted side effects of declining muscle mass and libido to match, you might want to consider Testosterone Replacement Therapy and find your way to a stronger, smarter, faster more virile you.
BHRT refers to the therapeutic use of hormones that are identical in every way to hormones produced naturally in your body. One common source of confusion is that the term "bioidentical" hormone implies that it is a "natural" hormone. Like pharmaceutical hormones, all bioidentical hormones are created synthetically from vegetable products in a chemical process that is not "natural."
However, by the end of the process, hormones are produced that are identical on a molecular basis to their human counterparts and therefore are better understood as 'human identical.' Unfortunately, the scientific term "bioidentical" is the one used to describe this new horizon in medicine.
Unlike bioidentical hormones, pharmaceutical hormones have been molecularly altered from their human prototypes so that they can be patented and sold as a synthetic substance. It is these differences that appear to have created some of the problems associated with hormone therapy in the past.
All hormone therapy, whether pharmaceutical or bio-identical, carries risks and must be monitored closely.
Our Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy program is designed with the intent of relieving the symptoms of hormone imbalances and deficiencies while keeping your safety at the forefront. Bioidentical hormones used in BHRT include: estradiol, estriol, progesterone, DHEA, pregnenolone, thyroid and testosterone.
Our team of highly specialized Technicians and BHRT Specialist are looking forward to meeting with you to discuss your way forward to a total personalized health strategy.


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Affordable is a relative term when it comes to African safaris but here are 10 – across Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Kenya – that offer great game-viewing without the super-high price tag.
With park fees,
transport and accommodation, Maasai Mara safaris can
quickly add up to US $300 a day. Many of the budget
options are very rough and ready, but this safari
sacrifices some comfort – getting there means up to
five hours on the road from Nairobi in a
safari-style van as opposed to a 40-minute flight –
but you still get nearly two full days in the
reserve and the chance to observe wildlife including
lions, elephants, cheetah, wildebeest, antelope and
many other species. During the great migration
(expected between July and October this year)
wildebeest herds cross from the Serengeti into the
Mara and make several high-risk river crossings. The
simple camp with platform tents is near one of the
gates to the Mara, the food – such as sausage and
beans – is no-nonsense but included in the price and
plentiful, and Kenya's famous Tusker beer can be
purchased separately. Add on a night's stay at a
guesthouse in Nakuru town and a game drive in the
beautiful Lake Nakuru national park, famous for its
flamingos but where many other animals can be seen,
for an extra $130.
• +254 733 764 667, bigtimesafaris.co.ke. $330pp, including transport by road from Nairobi, two nights full-board accommodation (Miti Mingi eco-camp), park fees for two days and four game drives
Track gorillas in Uganda
Normally it's
painfully expensive to go on a gorilla safari due to
the high cost of permits (usually $600) but during
the low season (April-May and November), the Ugandan
Wildlife Authority discounts the price and a local
tour company has capitalised on this to offer a
three-day gorilla tracking safari with a permit for
a third of the usual price. Guests stay at a lodge –
owned and recently renovated by Matoke Tours –
overlooking the spectacular Lake Mutanda and the
volcanoes of the Virunga Mountains, where they enjoy
good quality food and en suite accommodation. With
the safari including two travel days, travellers
will track through the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest
until the mountain gorillas are located, after which
the group will spend one hour with the gorillas.
• +256 312 202 907, matoketours.com. Tours cost $895pp during April, May and November, including transport by road from Kampala, two nights accommodation, full board while at the lodge, a day of gorilla tracking and gorilla permit; minimum group of four but the company will match you with other travellers
Ten-day camping adventure in Kenya's dramatic north
Get off the beaten
track with this 10-day camping safari that takes in
a wide range of Kenya's impressive wildlife and
breathtaking landscapes, including Africa's second
highest mountain (Mount Kenya) and the world's
largest desert lake (Turkana). After travelling
overland to the Ol Pejeta conservancy in the
foothills of Mount Kenya, the safari stops at the
semi-arid Samburu national reserve, which plays host
to all three big cats – lion, leopard and cheetah
–as well as elephants, buffalo and hippos. Crossing
volcanic terrain and the baked earth of the Chalbi
desert, travellers spend two nights at Lake Turkana
– a world heritage site that featured memorably in
the film The
Constant Gardener. Heading south once more, an
afternoon camel safari in the foothills of Mount
Nyiro is followed by a stop at Lake Baringo,
renowned for its birdlife, as well as hippos and
crocodiles. Accommodation is basic, in dome tents,
and much of the driving is off-tarmac: which means
it's not for the faint-hearted, but this safari
takes in some of Kenya's most unforgettable regions.
• +254 731 309 513, gametrackersafaris.com. $1,315pp, including all park fees, transport from Nairobi with driver-guide, camping equipment (dome tents and foam mattresses), all food (prepared by a cook travelling with the group) and selected activities
Explore the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro crater, Tanzania
A safari in the
Serengeti is a bucket-list aspiration for many,
which means that most tour packages to this game
park push the definition of "affordable".
Nevertheless, the expansive savannahs and woodlands
here are home to incredible wildlife spectacles,
especially during the famous wildebeest migration,
when up to two million animals are on the move (it
is expected to take place from July onwards this
year). All of the "big five" are here, acting out
their impulses with National Geographic-style
theatricality, as safari van passengers stare agog.
This four-day camping safari includes multiple game
drives and a visit to Ngorongoro crater, the
three-million-year-old extinct volcano that herds of
tourists descend into to see herds of wildlife on
the crater floor.
• +255 7540 37897, amaniafrika.com. $1,217pp, including transport from Arusha (reachable by five-hour tourist shuttle from Nairobi), three nights full-board accommodation (Pimbi and Simba campsites), camping gear including sleeping bags, mattresses and a tent that will be pitched for you, game drives and park fees
Track chimpanzees in Rwanda
The mountain gorillas
in the Virungas range get all the attention but
Rwanda is home to numerous rare primates, most of
which can be found in the staggeringly beautiful
Nyungwe Forest national park in the south-west of
the country. The forest is best known for its large
troops of chimpanzees but is also prime swinging
grounds for L'Hoest's monkeys, Angola colobus,
vervet monkeys, and a range of others, along with
around 300 bird species. Best of all, the cost for
this whole package, which includes a day of tracking
chimpanzees through the mountains, a nature walk,
and two nights in a comfortable forest lodge with
full board, still costs less than a single ($750)
gorilla tracking permit up north.
• +256 392 834 606, rwandagorillassafari.com. From $700pp, including transport from Kigali, two nights full-board accommodation, park and chimpanzee tracking fees for two days
A city safari and luxurious tented camp, Nairobi, Kenya
Many travellers pass
through east Africa's bustling regional hub en route
to other destinations but Nairobi national park –
just a short drive from the airport – offers
wildlife enthusiasts short on time a fast-track
safari experience. Thanks to the Nairobi
Tented Camp, which opened in 2011, visitors can
now sleep in the park – and tucked into a tree-lined
valley, it's hard to imagine that the capital's
traffic jams lie only a few miles away. The camp
replicates a luxury camp deep in the bush, with
spacious en suite accommodation in safari tents and
evening campfires. The park's small area means that
wildlife sightings are almost guaranteed: visitors
might see zebras, giraffes, lions and leopard on a
game drive. It is also an acclaimed rhino sanctuary,
home to both black and white rhino. While full-board
accommodation is not the cheapest on our list, a
two-night excursion into the park can be affordable
way to see impressive wildlife if you only can spare
time for a short stay in the region or want a brief
taste of luxury.
• +254 774 136 523, nairobitentedcamp.com. $630pp, including two nights full-board accommodation (sharing in a twin or double tent), two days mandatory park fees, airport transfers, two game drives, sundowner and free beer, wine, and gin and tonic
Track wolves in Ethiopia's Bale Mountains
The rusty-hued
Ethiopian wolf is the world's rarest canid, and more
than half of the remaining population of this
critically endangered carnivore lives in the rugged,
otherworldly landscape of Ethiopia's Bale Mountains,
a prime trekking destination in the south-east of
the country. Visitors hike through the stark
Afro-alpine moorland of the Sanetti plateau, home to
mountain nyala and spotted hyenas as well as wolves,
and explore the Harenna cloud forest, where lions
and leopards are occasionally seen. As you'll be
getting out of the Landcruiser to track on foot on
this three-day tour, it's best to avoid the rainy
season and go between November and February or from
May to July. The drive from Addis Ababa stops at the
bird and hippo watching spot, Lake Ziway, before
proceeding for lunch in Shashemene, a vibrant market
town that is the Rasta capital of Ethiopia.
• +251 9131 70579, fanosethiopiatours.com. $865pp, including transport from Addis Ababa, two nights B&B at the Wabe Shebelle Hotel, park and guiding fees
Murchison Falls wildlife, rhino tracking and Nile boat cruises, Uganda
Operating out of the
Red Chilli Hideaway – a popular backpacker stop-off
in Kampala – this safari heads to Murchison Falls
national park, the country's largest. After a picnic
overlooking the falls and a night in basic camp on
the banks of the Upper Nile, the safari then takes
in a morning game drive in the park's Nile delta at
Lake Albert – where you might see lion, leopard,
giraffe and elephant – followed by a boat trip on
the river. The camp is simple and facilities are
communal but it is one of the few budget
alternatives to Murchison's luxury getaways. After a
second night at the camp, the safari moves on to the
Ziwa Rhino sanctuary, where guests learn to track
rhinos with one of the rangers. Meals are excluded
on this trip but can be purchased at the camp, which
also has a fully stocked bar.
• +256 772 509 150, redchillihideaway.com. $380pp, including all park fees and activities, two nights accommodation in shared safari tents, and transport to and from Kampala. Subject to availability, Red Chilli Hideaway will offer one night's free camping or dormitory accommodation in Kampala prior to departure
From the forests to the shore in Zanzibar, Tanzania
Doors in the island
capital of Stone Town still boast brass studs for
repelling war elephants – by merchants who sought to
protect themselves from "combat" elephants that were
historically deployed in India and Persia – but
large mammals no longer dwell on the Spice Islands.
What the archipelago does have, however, is
astonishing marine life, with dolphins and
technicolour sea creatures galore. There's also a
healthy population of endangered red colobus monkeys
and giant Aldabra tortoises. This highly affordable
four-day tour package zips between land and sea,
with snorkelling trips to the magnificent coral
reefs of uninhabited Chumbe Island and walks through
two forest reserves, one primate-laden and the other
home to rare antelopes. There's also a trip to
Prison Island, where land tortoises creep along the
beach, and a stop to watch bottlenose and humpback
dolphins frolicking in the waves.
• +255 242 233 731, ecoculture-zanzibar.org. $485pp, including all transfers within Zanzibar, three nights B&B at Tembo House Hotel or Mtoni Marine, and all tour and park fees
If the idea of a roving herd of nearly 100 elephants appeals to you, then Amboseli national park in southern Kenya is the game park for you. The photo-ready peak of Mount Kilimanjaro, just across the border in Tanzania, looms over this small and manageable Rift valley park, where the roads are reasonable and the herbivore viewing is dramatic. In addition to the impressive – and highly visible – packs of elephants, Cape buffalo, hippos, and giraffes can also be seen in abundance, although the big cats are less common. This three-day package includes van transport from Nairobi (it's about a four-hour drive each way), and full-board accommodation in a nice tented camp with a pool, just outside the Kimana Gate, where many animals congregate during the dry season.
• +254 726 042 070, flashmctours.com.

subset: commoncrawl


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Maggie's Farm
We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.
Our Recent Essays Behind the Front Page
Blog Administration
Tuesday, February 28. 2017
Hollywood expertise
Over the transom:
LEONARDO DeCAPRIO's self-declared climate expertise enables him to speak on the world's environmental issues with a high-school education. He never took a college biology, chemistry, physics or climatology course, yet he knows more than most scientists. He proved that by addressing climate change before a full gathering of the UN.
SEAN PENN's quick takes on everything put him at the lofty level of an Einstein. He visited Iraq once and became an expert on that country. The same for Iran. He also became buddies with the brutal Venezuelan communist Hugo Chavez and consistently lauded that murderous thug. Now that Chavez is gone and Venezuelans are raiding dumpsters for food scraps, Penn is having a rare silent moment. Penn deserves some credit for becoming a world-affairs genius based on two years of auto mechanics classes at Santa Monica College.
More below the fold -
KATY PERRY's passion about politics and economics freed her to quit high school at 15 without compromising her expert status. Asked the square root of 64, the name given the Constitution's first 10 amendments and to explain PE ratio, her answer might be, "Republicans are for the rich." She recently demonstrated wizardry by making an anti-Trump video. It suggested the new president would commit acts similar to forced World War II lockups of loyal Japanese-Americans. Perry probably did not know the internment plan was developed and executed by DEMOCRAT President Roosevelt.
ROBERT DeNIRO must also be a quick learner. He acquired amazing scientific knowledge before dropping out of high school. He knows so much about geology that he joined Artists Against Fracking. (All the producing wells in his native Manhattan must have provided first-hand experience.) He's also an expert on pediatric medicine, enabling him to speak often against vaccinating infants and children.
HARRY BELAFONTE is another multiple-subject whiz who needed little formal education. Some people might think this talented singer might limit his words to songs since his IQ is so low. Don't worry. Despite advancing age, he remains expert on most things. When black people of greater intelligence (that's most black people) say something moderate or conservative, he hurls the N word at them. Decades ago, he loudly denounced Reagan's elimination of CETA, the Comprehensive Employment Training Act. It was one of the most wasteful federal programs ever -- many vanished dollars, few jobs. Belafonte tore into Reagan during an interview Finally, the interviewer asked Belafonte what CETA stood for. Belafonte had no clue. He knew almost nothing about the act.
ROSIE O'DONNELL was my personal favorite long before her hateful remark that Trump's 10-year-old son looked autistic. Her coarse philosophy must be that if you say something loudly, it need not be correct. Her bombast probably created lots of turmoil with both the women she "married." She also must have skipped chemistry during her high-school education. Otherwise, she would have not have offered "proof" that 9/11 was an inside job. She often bellowed that planes could not have brought down the Twin Towers because "steel doesn't burn." This constant jackass must not know that high temperatures DO reduce steel's strength.
AL SHARPTON would be America's greatest at-large criminal, if not for Hillary's tens of millions swapped for influence and favors. Sharpton owes nearly $5 million in delinquent taxes to IRS and New York state. Makes you wonder why NBC/MSNBC would ever hire him. Sharpton accumulated vast theological knowledge by age 9, when he was "ordained" as a preacher. He didn't need more than a high-school education to keep marching forward. His most successful high school class must have been Shysterhood. Despite one scandal after another, his 2004 run for president stands out. The Federal Election Commission forced him to return $100,000 in taxpayer money provided by FEC. One of many abuses was his $145,146 charge for "Campaign letter preparation -- Kinko's." Later, FEC fined Sharpton $285,000.
JULIA ROBERTS proves that physical beauty does not ensure a beautiful brain. She had a fling at Georgia State University before pursuing acting lessons and joining a modeling group. Her acting and modeling skills guided her to such thoughtful observations as "Republican" comes between "reptile" and "repugnant" in the dictionary. Impressed?
BROOKE SHIELDS, an Obama supporter, verifies the Roberts theory -- that physical beauty does not guarantee a beautiful brain. During her days as a boisterous animal-rights supporter, Shields had a mink coat custom-made.
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN could have been No. 1 on this list. He squabbled with nuns when in Catholic school. Transferring to a public school, he thought so little of the education experience that he skipped graduation. Had he gone to college, he might have majored in Hate 101. That's what we hear when he's not singing. He claims Trump is a "moron" who advocates "white nationalism." Springsteen demonstrates the analytical skills' void of most show-biz folk when he laments America's industrialization decline. Somebody please whisper to Springsteen that his party's business-crunching regulations and world-leading corporate tax rate compels U.S. manufacturers to go elsewhere.
Finally, two others are outside the entertainment world, disqualifying them from winning an Oscar, Emmy or Grammy. Politicians Nancy Pelosi and Maxine Waters do compete for the Rock Head of the Year trophy each time they speak. Pelosi frequently wins with comments like needing to pass a bill "so we can find out what's in it." Waters has already locked up the 2017 trophy for suggesting a Trump impeachment over his campaign antics. (Listen closely, Maxine. Presidents can be impeached only for what they do in office.)
Posted by The News Junkie in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 14:45 | Comments (9) | Trackbacks (0)
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If I was cuter and more charismatic, I could have skipped all those years in school and late nights studying. sigh
It's not all bad news. People in Venezuela have lost an average of 19 lbs each on their new diet.
Ya missed Danny Glover. He's another college dropout in love with socialism, especially the Latin American varieties.
With the addition of Danny Glover, that's a good start, but Hollyweird is such a target rich environment!
This is generally true, but not entirely just. Brooke Shields did well at Princeton, even in non-theater courses. Glenn Close was PBK at William and Mary. (She would absolutely beat your ass at Trivial Pursuit, Jeopardy, etc.) And much as I hate to report it, Meryl Streep went to Vassar and Yale. Such things may not stop them from being foolish or hypocritical or many other failings. But there are actors and actresses who are very intelligent and educated.
However, not often in science or math.
Cher was unaware that the earth revolved around the sun. This might complicate her plans to leave the planet unless she has taken additional classes on astronomy.
At first I thought "You don't really need a college degree to learn a lot of this stuff--you just need curiosity and a little discipline."
But after thinking about that a minute, I realized that curiosity is just as likely to lead you into slogan-land as a real explanation, and if you've no experience in working ideas through you may not know how to tell the difference.
I wonder how many people in the acting businesses (whether the beautiful one or the ugly one) got so good at fooling other people that they started believing themselves.
Let's face it folks. It takes extraordinary intelligence to utter someone else's words and pretend they're your own. As Willem Dafoe remarked, "it's just play acting" when some talking head noted his skills.
It's really an incredible business - working at a job which has a goal of being someone other than yourself. Not unreasonable that some would forget which is which.


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Export 3 results:
Filters: Author is Nikhil Bhatia [Clear All Filters]
An Algebra for Cross-Experiment Performance Analysis," 2004 International Conference on Parallel Processing (ICCP-04), Montreal, Quebec, Canada, August 2004. (166.12 KB)"
Automatic Experimental Analysis of Communication Patterns in Virtual Topologies," In Proceedings of the International Conference on Parallel Processing, Oslo, Norway, IEEE Computer Society, June 2005. (227.13 KB)"
A Pattern-Based Approach to Automated Application Performance Analysis," Workshop on Patterns in High Performance Computing, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, May 2005. (3.47 MB)"


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Jay-Z released a statement Saturday in response to public outcry over his partnership with luxury department store Barneys, which has been accused racial profiling.
"Making a decision prematurely to pull out of this project wouldn't hurt Barneys or Shawn Carter, but all the people that stand a chance at higher education," he said in his statement. Jay-Z's holiday collaboration benefits his Shawn Carter Foundation, which provides scholarships to minority students.
The Brooklyn-born music mogul was silent following the first report of racial profiling Wednesday, which prompted angry fans to take to Twitter and more than 14,000 signatures on a Change.org petition calling on Jay-Z to pull his partnership.
"I move and speak based on facts and not emotion," Jay-Z said in the statement.


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Words may be a clue to how people, regardless of their language, think about and process emotions, according to a Penn State researcher. "It has been suggested in the past that all cultures have in common a small number of emotions or emotion words, but that every culture has multiple ways of nuancing them, sometimes quite differently," says Dr. Robert W. Schrauf, associate professor of applied linguistics at Penn State.
These words include joy or happiness, fear, anger and sadness. Schrauf and Julia Sanchez, graduate student in psychology, Chicago School for Psychology, asked groups of people in Mexico City and Chicago in two age groups, 20 years old and 65 years old, to freely list the names of as many emotions as they could. The emotions were then categorized as negative, positive or neutral.
"People know more negative emotion words than positive or neutral words. The proportion of words was 50 percent negative, 30 percent positive and 20 percent neutral," says Schrauf. "The cognitive explanation is that we process negative and positive emotions in two channels."
Reporting in a recent issue of the Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, the researchers explain that positive emotions are processed schematically. People do not pay a lot of attention to assessment of positive emotions. In general, positive emotions signal that things are ok, so we process them more superficially. Negative emotions signal that something is wrong, and so they elicit a slowdown in processing. They require more attention and detail in thinking and, consequently, more words.
"Negative emotions require more detailed thinking, more subtle distinctions," says Schrauf. "So they require more names." There was no significant difference between the Spanish and English speaking groups in the proportions of negative versus positive responses to the assignment.
"We want to know if there are psychological differences between cultures in the way we see the world," says Schrauf. "We found that there are a small number of pan cultural emotion words, which probably makes good evolutionary sense, and that the proportion of negative words was larger than the positive ones."
The younger participants, regardless of language, tended to use the same sets of words with limited diversity in their responses. The older participants had fewer identical words but far more diversity.
"We expect a more diverse vocabulary in the older participants. They have experienced more living and have broader vocabularies," says the Penn State researcher. "This suggests that older adults have more diverse emotions."
However, the proportions of negative, positive and neutral words remained the same for the older adults with 50 percent negative, 30 percent positive and 20 percent neutral. So whether they were young or old, spoke English or Spanish, the proportion of words available to describe negative emotions was always much greater than those for positive emotions and the relationships stayed the same.
"Cross culturally, it appears that the cognitive approach to processing emotions is the same, with negative emotions requiring more detail and therefore more words and positive emotions requiring fewer words," says Schrauf. "Negative emotions trigger detailed process distinctions, nuances and, consequently, more words."
From Penn State


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SQLstream Announces University Partner Program
San Francisco, CA | February 20, 2013 – SQLstream, the provider of the real-time data hub for stream processing applications, today announced an extension to its partner program that helps to fulfill the growing need for real-time data processing systems in supercomputing centers and academic cyberinfrastructure facilities. The SQLstream University Partner Program (UPP) addresses educational institutions looking to expand research into streaming Big Data concepts by offering a non-commercial, royalty-free license to its market leading real-time analytics platform.
The Cornell University Center for Advanced Computing (CAC) headlines the growing list of UPP organizations using SQLstream's streaming analytics platform to gain real-time insight into massive volumes of data. CAC is one of 17 partner institutions in the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE), a single virtual system that scientists can use to interactively share computing resources, data and expertise.
"Too many computing systems producing too many logs too quickly are unmanageable," says Lucia Walle of Cornell University CAC. "SQLstream provided the real-time data mining system compatible with our local business logic that allows CAC to find events of importance using Sisyphus and queries, accurately simulate logs including the scale and pace of log activity, and monitor both simulated and actual system logs so that we can gain reliable insight into the cause and imminence of system failures before they actually occur."
All UPP members have access to the full suite of SQLstream server technologies and have access to engineering support from SQLstream. Among many of the SQLstream University Partner Program benefits are:
- Access to a non-commercial, royalty-free license to the SQLstream technology;
- Access to a library of use cases and analytic algorithms;
- Discounted training and kick-off assistance to research projects;
- Discounted commercial license available for those Universities desiring to implement SQLstream in a production environment.
"One of our main goals as an organization is to accumulate business intelligence by adding research partners that can challenge and complement our existing solutions," said Chris Clabaugh, VP of Business Development at SQLstream. "Streaming analytics and Big Data is seeing a lot of demand in the commercial and research space right now, so we are thrilled to be the streaming analytics technology supplier to university supercomputing centers."
To learn more about UPP, please visit https://sqlstream.com/university-partner-program/.
About SQLstream
SQLstream Inc. (www.sqlstream.com) makes systems responsive to real-time operational Big Data. SQLstream enables organizations to query their log, sensor and service data directly, and to share streaming operational intelligence with external systems, continuously and in real-time. SQLstream is built on a standards-based, distributed and massively parallel architecture, and uses industry standard SQL for the rapid analysis of high volume, real-time data streams. Standards mean lower costs, proven performance and seamless integration. Headquartered in San Francisco, CA, SQLstream is transforming the world of real-time, Big Data stream management.


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The Zero XU - electric commuter motorcycle with a removable battery pack
If you're going to be an early adopter and get yourself an electric motorcycle, one thing you'll need to get used to is charging the bike more or less whenever you're not riding it. If there's power outlets where you park, or the boss lets you bring the bike into the office, that's no problem – but if not, you might struggle to find an accessible spot to plug in. Which is where the latest addition to the Zero Motorcycles 2011 lineup could come in very handy; the Zero XU is the first Zero streetbike (and one of the only electric commuters we've seen) that allows you to quickly remove the battery and charge it away from the bike. Great idea, but we wonder how it will work in practice.
Zero Motorcycles is churning out some pretty impressive early commuter electrics – this California company's supermoto-style roadbike lineup now features three bikes, the S, the dual-sport DS and the brand new XU.
All are very lightweight, punchy and superb fun to ride – look for our upcoming video test on the Zero S in the next few weeks – all feature zero local emissions, and all have enough battery range to easily dispatch with the average city commute.
But while the S and DS are big-battery monsters geared at maximum range and capable of freeway speeds, the new XU has a much more inner-urban focus; short distances, sub-50mph speeds and low costs.
At US$7,995, the XU is some $2000 cheaper than its S and DS brothers. And with the battery being the most expensive part of any current electric motorcycle, that's where the savings are taken from. Instead of the S's 4.4kWh battery pack, the XU gets a 2kWh lithium-ion power pack lifted straight from the Zero MX motocrosser.
Unlike the S and DS, however, the battery pack is removable. And with the optional extra standalone charging kit, that means you can separate your battery charging from the spot where you park or garage your bike.
Since the electric motorcycle ownership experience right now more or less centers around charging, this could be a huge benefit. Even with the S model's larger battery, you feel compelled to plug it in wherever you park it – and that means you often have to bring the bike inside, squeezing it through doorframes not quite wide enough for big motocross handlebars or wedging it diagonally into elevators.
Being able to easily remove the battery would make life a lot easier in many cases. But it raises a few issues of its own.
For starters, battery packs are expensive - very expensive - which makes them prime targets for theft. For this reason, the S and DS streetbikes have their batteries tightly protected in the frame - in fact, it takes the best part of an hour to get the battery pack out of a Zero S.
The XU's chassis (also taken from the MX dirtbike) is designed to allow easy access to its battery pack - once you get past an aluminium locking bar. You'd hope the locking bar features thicker metal than the rest of the machine's featherweight frame, or else it might be a matter of 20 minutes with a good file.
Secondly, a 2kWh battery pack is not a light thing to carry around. Think about how heavy a standard car battery is - the Zero powerpack is considerably larger and just as dense. So you'd want to be sure you're able to lift it before you commit yourself to lugging it upstairs every day. Either that, or get a small trolley!
Zero seems to be leading the pack in electric motorcycles (at least, in the Western world). The company is now shipping to a number of countries, and selling in reasonable volume. With a focus on light weight and great handling, Zero seems to have hit the right balance of enviro-cred, fun performance and affordability to tempt a number of early adopters into joining the first wave of the electric bike revolution.
The XU is an interesting and potentially very practical addition to the 2011 range, we look forward to seeing how it works. Check the image gallery for a stack of high-res detail images.


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If you search for masonry contractors near North Reading MA, you will find Gerrior Masonry & Landscape, a local masonry company with years of experience. For over 30 years, Gerrior Masonry has been providing high quality masonry services for homeowners in North Reading and surrounding towns.
At Gerrior Masonry & Landscape, we employ only the most experienced and skilled masons in the industry. They take the time and pay attention to details on every project they work on.
Gerrior Masonry is a fully licensed and insured masonry company that guarantees all of our work. From luxury items for entertaining like outdoor firepits, patios and walkways to landscape upgrades like retaining walls, granite stairs or outdoor kitchens, we do it all.
Let us help you create your perfect living space. We'll work with you to come up with a design that fits your needs perfectly. We are an authorized contractor of Unilock products and highly recommend Beaconhill Flagstone or Brussels Block. We also use Belgard and Pavestone but certainly can work with any other block of your choosing. From firepits to sitting walls, adding additional features, large or small.
We can custom design an outdoor fire pit that fits your space and is safe to use all season long. We regularly install firepits, from Unilock Dimensional Block to natural Fieldstone. We'll work with you to find a look that harmonizes with your existing space.
Increase your homes curb appeal with a new walkway. We are a top installer of Unilock products, with Brussels Block being our most popular stone. We also use Belgard and Pavestone, and can even lay granite slabs or poured concrete. No project is too complicated for us.
Designing a Waterfall is one of our dream projects. Everyone at Gerrior Masonry and Landscape Construction loves to see the concealed smiles laughter and joy on the faces of our clients when the waterfall comes to life right before their eyes.
We have a dedicated crew that specializes in chimney work, from small repoints to total rebuilds. We are equipped with scaffolding to reach all heights and work with all different roof designs. Checking and replacing of flues as needed or installation of caps are also items we can take care of for you.
Need to replace your cellar entrance? We can install new bulkhead entryways, both the bulkhead and stair combo or just the exterior bulkhead doors themselves. We work with several vendors to make sure we have the perfect product to fit your needs.
Turn to Gerrior Corp to install or replace your pool deck area. We work with clients throughout the Middlesex Country MA. Contemporary style and a non-slip surface have made Umbriano our most popular pool deck paver. Comfortable under the feet, even on hot sunny days, Unilock Umbriano in Summer Wheat was the perfect choice for this large-scale patio project.
Looking to get the most out of your yard? We regularly install retaining walls or sitting walls, working with you to find a look that flows with your existing landscape. From new retaining walls, to entire terraced lawns, we can accommodate any size or scope. We work with fieldstone, flatstone, and block walls.
Let us help you create your perfect living space. We'll work with you to come up with a design that fits your needs perfectly. We are an authorized contractor of Unilock products and highly recommend Beaconhill Flagstone or Brussels Block. We also use Belgard and Pavestone but certainly can work with any other block of your choosing. From firepits to sitting walls, adding additional features, large or small.
We can transform your asphalt driveway into a beautiful part of your landscape using interlocking bricks and stone. With driveway pavers from Unilock, we can create a custom driveway that is more durable than regular poured concrete.
Want to update your hardscape but don't want to go with pavers? We regularly work with 4000 PSI concrete and have done everything from walkways and stairs to new patios and driveway aprons. We also do different finishes depending on the final texture you would like to have.
Our masons provide foundation repair services for homeowners in Woburn MA and beyond. If you have a fieldstone foundation or need repointing we can help.
Click HERE to learn more about our masonry services.
There are a lot of masonry contractors in North Reading MA, but there is only one masonry comany with the experience of Gerrior Masonry. For more information or to get started, call us at 781-933-4157 or request an estimate online.
Some of the Massachusetts towns we provide masonry services to are: Andover, Arlington, Bedford, Belmont, Beverly, Billerica, Burlington, Carlisle, Concord, Danvers, Lexington, Lincoln, Lynnfield, Malden, Medford, Melrose, Middleton, North Andover, North Reading, Peabody, Reading, Saugus, Stoneham, Tewksbury, Wakefield, Waltham, Watertown, Wilmington, Winchester, Woburn


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Equinix's clients provided a new, low latency direct access for the financial community to exchanges and execution venues
FOSTER CITY, CA, LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, SINGAPORE, July 12, 2010 – Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX, news, filings), a provider of global data center services, and Transaction Network Services (NYSE:TNS), a leading provider of business-critical, cost-effective data communications services, today announced that TNS' Secure Trading Extranet is now offering low-latency connectivity through Equinix's International Business Exchange™ (IBX®) data centers in Australia and Singapore.
This announcement follows TNS deployments in Chicago, New York, London and Frankfurt, enhancing TNS' position as a key connectivity provider for the global Equinix trading community.
The Asia-Pacific market presents significant growth potential to the electronic trading community as Asian exchange volumes continue to grow and as demand for interconnecting multiple venues, participants and geographies accelerates. TNS's network at Equinix data centers helps to connect a global financial community of interest, including buy and sell-side firms, hedge funds, execution venues and suppliers of market data and trading technologies.
The participants of Equinix's financial community will benefit from TNS' global network infrastructure, which provides services to over 40 countries around the world and 1,600 end-points on its Extranet. Both companies' financial sector expertise and the presence of an extensive trading community at IBX facilities will support TNS' objective of rapidly enabling new entrants with an easier access into the Asia markets, as well as connectivity to other markets worldwide.
"Supported by TNS' connectivity, our facilities in Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore become an even stronger platform for both new and current financial participants to build in and use for accessing Asia-Pacific markets," said John Knuff, general manager, Equinix Financial Services. Our IBX clients can benefit from this new high-performance, low latency infrastructure in addition to Equinix's broad range of offerings, other financial participants and technologies."
Alan Schwartz, President for TNS' Financial Services Division, said: "The presence of a robust electronic trading ecosystem within Equinix will allow us to increase our connectivity and build on our growing client base. We believe our joint clients will greatly benefit from this new low latency network connectivity, enabling them to capitalize on the improved speed and reliability that is key to today's electronic trading."
About Transaction Network Services
Transaction Network Services (TNS) is a leading global provider of data communications and interoperability solutions.
TNS offers a broad range of networks and innovative value-added services which enable transactions and the exchange of information in diverse industries such as retail, banking, payment processing, telecommunications and the financial markets.
Founded in 1990 in the United States, TNS has grown steadily and now provides services in over 40 countries across the Americas, Europe and the Asia Pacific region, with our reach extending to many more. TNS has designed and implemented multiple data networks which support a variety of widely accepted communications protocols and are designed to be scalable and accessible by multiple methods.
For further information about TNS, visit http://www.tnsi.com. 'One Connection, A World of Opportunities'
Statements and information contained in our press releases and newsletters that are not descriptions of historical fact may contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties or other factors beyond our control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from historical results or performance and from any opinions or statements expressed with respect to future periods.
About Equinix in the Global Financial Markets Equinix provides a neutral meeting place for the world's leading financial market participants including trading venues, buy and sell side firms, market data providers, technology providers and financial networks; that locate servers and infrastructure within Equinix data centers in order to support highly reliable, low latency connectivity for a broad range of market participants. Learn more at: http://financial.equinix.com.
About Equinix
Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ: EQIX) provides global data center services that ensure the vitality of the information-driven world. Global enterprises, content and financial companies, and more than 575 network service providers rely upon Equinix's insight and expertise to protect and connect their most valued information assets. Equinix operates 87 data centers across 35 metro regions in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
Important information about Equinix is routinely posted on the investor relations page of its website located at http://www.equinix.com/investors. We encourage you to check Equinix's website regularly for the most up-to-date information.
Press Contacts
Equinix Media Contact (Global)
Joan Powell
Equinix, Inc.
(650) 513-7098
Equinix Media Contact (Asia-Pacific)
Angela Ko
Equinix Asia-Pacific
+ (852) 2970 7731
LEWIS Public Relations
Jacinta Paul / Yik Wai Yi
LEWIS Public Relations
+65 6534 7250
TNS Media Contact
Jenny Nelson
Transaction Network Services
+44 (0) 114 292 6458
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from expectations discussed in such forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause such differences include, but are not limited to, the challenges of acquiring, operating and constructing IBX centers and developing, deploying and delivering Equinix services; unanticipated costs or difficulties relating to the integration of companies we have acquired or will acquire into Equinix; a failure to receive significant revenue from customers in recently built out or acquired data centers; failure to complete any financing arrangements contemplated from time to time; competition from existing and new competitors; the ability to generate sufficient cash flow or otherwise obtain funds to repay new or outstanding indebtedness; the loss or decline in business from our key customers; and other risks described from time to time in Equinix's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In particular, see Equinix's recent quarterly and annual reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, copies of which are available upon request from Equinix. Equinix does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking information contained in this press release.
Equinix and IBX are registered trademarks of Equinix, Inc. International Business Exchange is a trademark of Equinix, Inc.
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Speedmaster Moonwatch Professional Chronograph 3188.8.131.52.01.005
Sold Out
We have only a few of this retired model. The OMEGA Speedmaster is one of OMEGA's most iconic timepieces. Having been a part of all six lunar missions, the legendary Speedmaster is an impressive representation of the brand's adventurous pioneering spirit.
This OMEGA Speedmaster Professional "Moonwatch" features a black dial covered by a hesalite crystal and graced by a small seconds sub-dial, 30-minute recorder and 12-hour recorder along with a central chronograph hand. The black bezel, with its tachymetric scale, is mounted on a 42 mm stainless steel case and presented on a matching bracelet.
At the heart of this chronograph is OMEGA's mechanical calibre 1861, the legendary manual-winding movement worn on the Moon. This timepiece is offered with a special Moonwatch presentation box which contains a "NATO" strap, a strap for astronauts, a tool to change the bracelet and a book highlighting Speedmaster's adventures


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Pendant Stone Natural Amber Baltic 19,8g Special Old Sea Vintage Rare White 240
Pendant Stone Natural Amber Baltic 19,8g Special Old Sea Vintage Rare White 240. Please, take good look to picture's. Please look at the photos as they are part of the description!
Please check the picture carefully, you receive what you see, nothing more, nothing less. If there is a part that you don't see in the picture, that is because it's not included. Please note that colors and saturation may slightly vary from originals - monitor's setting can affect them too. This stone is 100% real Baltic amber.
Amber is the fossilized resin of ancient trees. Between 10 and 100 million years ago, these resin-bearing trees fell and were carried by rivers to coastal regions. The trees were covered with sediment, and over millions of years, the resin hardened. The result of this metamorphosis is an exceptional gem with extraordinary properties, which is used by both artisans and scientists.
The world's largest amber deposits come from the shores of the Baltic Sea, where amber has been harvested, traded, carved, and polished into sparkling beads and jewelry such as pendants, necklaces, and earrings for at least 13,000years. Amber, as it has been attracting attention of people from remote times, is called Lithuanian gold. It is valued as a marvelous adornment because it reminds of warm sunshine.Ladies used to wear it with a great pleasure in ancient. And in the Medieval Ages in. Nowadays it is also fashionable and is being worn widely. Maybe because it is easy grind and polished nevertheless it as hard as a stone. Sometimes called the Gold of the Baltic Sea, amber is an amazing natural gem.
Every piece has unique inclusions, colors, and textures that cannot be exactly duplicated. A huge variety of ancient insects and even tiny animals like crabs, lizards, and frogs have been trapped in amber! Amber's healing properties have been recognized for many centuries.When worn against the body, amber is said to release natural oils onto the skin that are circulated into the bloodstream. Amber is not just jewelry, but a valuable gem and a symbol of eternity and luxury. All amber we sell is Genuine, Authentic, and Natural Baltic Amber. It is not artificial, plastic, and synthetic, reconstituted or substitute for amber. The item "Pendant Stone Natural Amber Baltic 19,8g Special Old Sea Vintage Rare White 240" is in sale since Wednesday, October 2, 2019. This item is in the category "Jewelry & Watches\Loose Diamonds & Gemstones\Loose Gemstones\Amber". The seller is "mindaugasamber" and is located in Palanga, Lithuania. This item can be shipped worldwide.
- Material: Amber
- Gemstone: Amber
- Shape: Bead
- Country of Origin: Lithuania
- Country/Region of Manufacture: Lithuania
- Natural/Lab-Created: Natural
- Variety/Type: Baltic
- Brand: Amber


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Story highlights
The Free Syrian Army says it has thousands of members and many supporters
An opposition deal for a post-Bashar al-Assad era is in trouble
The Free Syrian Army says it thinks the Arab League mission is a "mockery"
Another double-digit death toll is reported Wednesday
The Free Syrian Army plans to kick off "huge operations" this week against "vital interests" of President Bashar al-Assad's regime, the force's commander said Wednesday.
"We prepared ourselves for this stage," Col. Riad al-Asaad said in Turkey. "We can't force him off with the peaceful demonstrations, so we are going to force him by arms to leave."
The anti-government resistance movement, which emerged over the summer, comprises defectors from the larger and better-equipped Syrian army. The fledgling force is flexing its muscles amid international fears of a civil war that could destabilize both Syria and the greater Middle East.
For the past week, during the Arab League's monitoring mission in Syria, it had suspended all but defensive actions against the regime.
The approximately 100 fact finders for the Arab League have been attempting to determine whether the Syrian government is abiding by an agreement to end the regime's 10-month crackdown against protests.
But Riad al-Asaad called the Arab League mission a "mockery," with "no teeth" and no pull. Security forces shot Tuesday at people in front of Arab League observers "who did not do anything about it," he said.
"We don't believe in the Arab League mission in Syria. I think they are covering the regime and blocking any international intervention to help the Syrian people," he said.
On Wednesday, the death toll across Syria was 26 – 19 in Homs, four in the Damascus suburbs, two in Daraa and one in Hama – according to the Syrian Revolution Coordinators Union, an Egypt-based opposition group.
The Free Syrian Army has documented the names of 25,000 of its fighters, 7,140 of them officers and the rest soldiers, the army's Lt. Col. Mohamed Hamado said. The U.S. State Department says the Syrian armed forces are "comprised of some 400,000 troops upon mobilization," but analysts say the number is lower.
The resistance group said grass-roots support has helped it carry out operations against government forces. Four days ago, Hamado said Wednesday, the force captured 10 members of the Syrian army and their munitions in Idlib province's Jabal al-Zawiya and posted videos of them on the Internet.
"We are preparing for big operations and have no faith in Arab League monitors or their useless mission," al-Asaad said.
Between 5,000 and 6,000 deaths have occurred over the last 10 months during the government crackdown against protesters, according to various accounts. Al-Assad's government says it is putting down armed terrorists whom it blames for the bloodshed.
As the military opposition resolved to take on the regime, the political opposition faced a possible setback.
A deal that charts Syria's course if al-Assad's regime falls appeared to be in danger Wednesday.
The Syrian National Council (SNC) and the National Coordination Body for Democratic Change in Syria (NCB), two major opposition movements, signed an agreement Friday night in Cairo.
But the council, which had said the deal was tentative and dependent on its executive board's approval, said on its website it is rejecting the proposal and wants a new one.
Walid Buni, a member of the Syrian National Council executive board, said the council leaders had wanted more discussion on what it considered to have been a tentative deal, but the NCB presented it to the news media as a final deal.
Khalid Kamal, an SNC member, said the sides are disagreeing over the percentage of NCB representation and the NCB's failure to call for the U.N. Security Council to protect civilians.
The NCB, which had said Saturday that the deal was final, could not immediately be reached for comment.
As for the Arab League mission, Secretary-General Nabil el-Araby was due to get a briefing on Syria from the head of the Arab Human Rights Council on Wednesday.
An opposition group said officials had cleaned up a prison in advance of a visit by monitors from the league, which sent its observers into Syria last week.
Monitors have arrived at the central prison in Homs, said the Local Coordination Committees of Syria, an opposition activist group. It charged that prison management had cleaned the place, fixed electrical heating and lighting, and improved the overall living conditions in the prison Tuesday.
The group also said government security forces were besieging the Damascus suburb of Daraya with helicopters, tanks and busloads of troops. The Local Coordination Committees reported unrest as well in Homs, Hama, Daraa and Idlib.
CNN cannot independently confirm events inside Syria because the government restricts the activity of international journalists.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Tuesday that Syria had failed to live up to its promises to the Arab League.
"For example, the violence hasn't stopped; far from it," she told reporters in Washington. "We've had reports from independent observers of some 49 new deaths in Syria since the 31st of December. The vast majority of these deaths have been at the hands of government troops, snipers, government armored personnel, etc. We've even seen reports that in places, the military is donning police uniforms in order to hide what they're up to."
On Wednesday, the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency, citing Foreign and Expatriates Ministry Spokesman Jihad Maqdisi, said he "considered the accusations a blatant interference in the core of the league's work and the sovereignty of its member states."
He viewed Nuland's statements as "an attempt toward deliberate unjustified internationalization of the situation in Syria and an anticipatory stance that harms the performance of the Arab monitors before issuing their preliminary report," according to SANA.
But Nuland was unfazed. "We remain concerned that, despite promises, despite some sporadic improvements in some places, the violence continues in Syria, and it continues primarily at the hands of the regime," she said Wednesday.
Arab League ministers are to meet this weekend to "take stock" of the monitoring effort, Nuland said. She said Jeffrey Feltman, assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, was headed to Cairo to consult with the Arab League ahead of the meeting.
The monitoring team's preliminary report will be ready Sunday, a day later than initially planned, Nuland said.
The United Nations last month estimated there have been more than 5,000 deaths since mid-March. The LCC said this week more than 5,800 people have been killed. Avaaz, a political activist group, said more than 6,000 people have died.
Journalists Mohamed Fadel Fahmy and Omar al-Muqdad and CNN's Hamdi Alkhshali and Joe Sterling contributed to this report.


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Having scored 321 goals during the '90s, this is clearly one of the decade's biggest stars. Who is he?
Alexander Mogilny was known for his elusiveness on the ice, as his exceptional skating ability and puck control helped him navigate defenders. These skills along with his explosive takeoff meant Mogilny could generate offense at a quick rate.


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Parmesan Pete's is the creation of chef-owner Peter Della Rocca. A meal with us is "a big bite of Brooklyn"—an unforgettable culinary experience for those who appreciate authentic, rustic, Italian home cooking. Serving wine and beer.
Our chef's combination of seasonal, fresh ingredients and advanced techniques have earned rave reviews from The New York Times, Zagat Survey and many others.
Enjoy our lovingly prepared cuisine to go or dine with us at Parmesan Pete's in Naples, Florida.
For reservations, catering and take-out orders, call 239-992-FOOD.


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Apple set two records for itself in the first quarter of its 2014 fiscal year, selling 51 million iPhones and reporting revenue of $57.6 billion, with a net profit of $13.1 billion.
Apple said it also sold 26 million iPads during the quarter, topping its previous record of 22.9 million sold in the year-earlier quarter, when it also sold 47.8 million iPhones. Mac sales were up to 4.8 million from 4.1 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2013.
The company's gross margins slipped to 37.9 percent from 38.6 percent in the comparable quarter a year ago. Apple said that 63 percent of its revenue came from international sales.
Earnings per share, at $14.50, were in line with analysts' estimates that averaged $14.09 per share. Apple will pay a cash dividend of $3.05 per share on Feb. 13.
For the current, second fiscal quarter, Apple is forecasting revenue between $42 billion and $44 billion, and gross margins between 37 and 38 percent.


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Global Link for Online Biomedical Expertise (GLOBE)
One of the aims of Fondation Mérieux is to promote amongst healthcare professionals knowledge sharing, expertise and to provide training in developing countries in the area of infectious diseases. The creation of the GLOBE web portal dedicated to healthcare professionals and scientists follows the same logic.
GLOBE is oriented towards three main themes:
Biology laboratories sciences and activities. The objective is to strengthen management and quality in biomedical laboratories through the provision of operating procedures (testing, sampling, interpretation of results).
Epidemiology and disease surveillance. The objective is to improve basic knowledge in epidemiology and to disseminate specific tools required for the implementation of epidemiologic studies, investigations and surveillance systems.
Prevention and vaccines. The objective is to reinforce infectious diseases prevention and particularly vaccine awareness.
The portal provides several e-tools:
Exchange network.
E-learning via interactive modules and Standard Operation Procedures.
Online resources.
News and events.
GLOBE has a content validation system and encourages users to participate in the content.


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A couple of months ago we released Voxel Farm and Voxel Studio. Many of you have already played with it and often we get the same questions: why so much focus on artist input, what happened to building entire worlds with the click of a button?
The short answer is "classic" real time procedural generation is bad and should be avoided, but if you stop reading here you will get the wrong idea, so I really encourage you to get to my final point.
While you can customize our engine to produce any procedural object you may think of, our current out-of the-box components favor artist generated content. This is how our current workflow looks like:
It can be read like this: The world is the result of multiple user-supplied data layers which are shuffled together. Variety is introduced at the mixer level, so there is a significant procedural aspect to this, but at the same time the final output is limited to combinations of the samples provided by a human as input files.
This approach is fast enough to allow real time generation, and at the same time it can produce interesting and varied enough results to keep humans interested for a while. The output can be incredibly good, in fact as good as the talent of the human who created the input files. But here is also the problem. You still need to provide reasonably good input to the system.
This is the first piece of bad news. Procedural generation is not a replacement for talent. If you lack artistic talent, procedural generation is not likely to help much. You can amplify an initial set into a much larger set, but you can't turn a bad set into a good one. A microphone won't make you a good singer.
The second batch of bad news is the one you should worry about: Procedural generation has a cost. I have posted about this before. You cannot make something out of nothing. Entropy matters. It takes serious effort for a team of human creators to come up with interesting scenes. In the same way, you must pay a similar price (in energy or time) when you synthesize something from scratch. As a rule of thumb, the complexity of the system you can generate is proportional to the amount of energy you spend. If you think you can generate entire planets on-the-fly on a console or PC, you are up for some serious disappointment.
I will be very specific about this. Procedural content based on local mathematical functions like Perlin, Voronoi, etc. cannot hold our interest and it is guaranteed to produce boring content. Procedural content based on simulation and AI can rival human nature and what humans create, but it is not fast enough for real time generation.
Is there any point in pursuing real time procedural generation? Absolutely, but you have to take it for what it is. As I see it, the only available path at this point is to have large sets of interesting content that can be used to produce even larger sets, but there are limits for how much you can grow the content before it becomes predictable.
For real time generation, our goal will be to help people produce better base content sets. These could be produced on-the-fly, assuming the application allows some time and energy for it.
Here is where we are going next:
Hopefully that explains why we chose to start with a system that can closely obey the instructions of an artist. Our goal is to replace human work by automating the artist, not by automating the subject. We have not taken a detour, I believe this is the only way.


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Aurora borealis (northern lights) over the Jokulsarlon glacier lagoon
Aurora borealis over an abandoned bridge on a farm in Jokulsarlon, Iceland. Wish the aurora was stronger, but it is what is was.
Stokknes beach, Iceland. One spooky place. Perfect for filming a Zombie movie, I think.
Iceburgs on Jukulsarlon Beach Iceland at sunrise
Vik, Iceland. On the other side of this mountain, I almost got pulled out to sea by the strong undertow. I suspect the little red sign says "no swimming."
Church in Vik, Iceland. Perhaps the most photographed church in the area.
Skaftafell mountain in sunlight
Skaftafell - one of the tallest mountains in Iceland. Mountain peaking out from behind the clouds.
Gullfoss (Golden Falls), Iceland
Icelandic roadside sunset. Note that this is a MAIN ROAD between Vik and Reykjavik.
Panorama at Brunnavellir (south east) Iceland
Icelandic Horses in the snow. Coming to say "hello" and disappointed that I had no treats for them.
Taken at the Árbæjarsafn Museum, an open-air museum opened in 1957. Old houses from Reykjavík have been relocated there from the center of Reykjavík to form a small village. If you look carefully, you will see my reflection on the back end of the car.
Old Barn in Iceland
Old barn used for drying codfish and taken at the Árbæjarsafn Museum, an open-air museum opened in 1957. Old houses from Reykjavík have been relocated there from the center of Reykjavík to form a small village. Note the grass roofed building in the background (common in the "old days").
Þingvellir National Park is the site of a rift valley that marks the crest of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
The world's oldest parliament or Alþingi was established at Þingvellir in 930 and remained there until 1798
Hallgrímskirkja church is Reykjavík's main landmark. Its tower can be seen from almost everywhere in the city.
Sun Voyager (Icelandic: Sólfar) in Reykjavik, Iceland. Sculpture by Jón Gunnar Árnason.


text: Our Moroccan Orange Cinnamon rooibos blend is inspired by a traditional Souk; an open-air market or bazaar! For the local people and curious tourists alike, a Souk is a wonderful cultural experience full of great sights, sounds, local food and spices! A beloved Moroccan classic is the orange cinnamon dessert- which inspired us specifically to create this blend of orange, clove and crystallized ginger infused rooibos! This blend is stunning visually; whole pieces of star anise, pink peppercorn and green cardamom pods are studded throughout. Once steeped, the citrus is just hinted at initially; then a warm earthy-sweet cinnamon with a full chai flavor lingers on and on. Moroccan Orange Cinnamon is wonderful hot, as a tea latte, and for a unique take- try this iced with sliced oranges!


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Both seasoned homebuyers and first time home buyers want the closing process to go smoothly.
This post is aligned with a network of sites interested with the intersection of small business, the philanthropic sector and government in creating healthy and sustainable communities.
For more information on small business grant and home ownership programs visit TopGovernmentGrants.com.


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After investigating the constitution of the nation's most-consumed coffees, we found this truth to be self-evident: all cups of Joe are not created equal. Especially ones that have booze in them.
According to our super-scientific source, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (supplemented by stats from the much-less-official-sounding EnergyFiend.com), the milligrams of caffeine per ounce vary from chain to chain as wildly as the mood of someone hopped up on six cups from Mickey D's.
Which happens to be the equivalent of just one cup from our champion, the Death Wish Coffee Company -- a roaster who might not give a damn about life or liberty but surely holds fast to the inalienable right to the pursuit of caffeination.


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LOS ANGELES — Denver Holt has been studying the long-eared owl for 27 years. He's banded over 1,700 of the birds and found 225 nests in Montana.
But he's never been able to see what the nocturnal birds do at night until now.
An infrared camera and microphone on top of a pole in willow thickets on Montana rangeland is aimed at a long-eared owl nest. Holt, founder and director of the Owl Research Institute in Charlo, Mont., believes there are four or five eggs in the nest.
He can't wait to see how the birds share child-rearing, how they interact with other species and how many naps they take during the night.
"There are only so many animals in the world admired by masses of people. There are penguins, some bears, whales and owls," Holt said.
The 24/7 long-eared owl cam goes live Thursday and is believed to be the first ever set up in the wild, Holt said. It is part of an explore.org Internet initiative, underwritten by the Santa Monica-based Annenberg Foundation.
The birds can be found throughout North America and Europe, "but because they are nocturnal and studies are so few, we don't have a good handle on what is going on in the populations."
He knows in some areas, including his, the birds and rangeland are disappearing together, but there isn't enough research data to make blanket statements, he said.
He does know that long-eared owls don't have long ears — and great horned owls don't have horns.
"They are all feathers and wings," Holt said. An average female long-ear weighs between 11 and 12 ounces, while an average male weighs between 9 and 10 ounces.
They settle into deserted magpie nests, come in colors that match their environment and have feather tufts in the middle of their heads that Holt believes evolved for camouflage.
They are friend to farmers and home owners because they eat voles or field mice. For many years, researchers collected "puke balls" — the thumb-sized pellets the owls regurgitate after a full meal. They've identified 35,000 prey and over 95 percent were voles, Holt said.
Some people collect the balls, dry them out and sell them to schools, Holt said, but the institute provides them to area schools for free.
Students tease the pellets apart to examine the small skulls of the voles and identify other species that have been eaten (the occasional mouse, pocket gopher and bird). Such lessons have become very popular in high school science classes, he said.
"Long-eared owls are seasonally monogamous, but they have multiple mates over a lifetime," the researcher said.
If one of the birds returns to the nest the next year, it will be the male. Owlets are the same. If a chick returns to the area to mate, it will probably be the male.
So what do cam watchers have to look forward to?
The female laid her eggs a few days apart, so the births will be staggered too. The chicks will start getting big in two weeks and in three, the mother will start sitting outside the nest. A few days more and the chicks will screech for their food.
Soon the babies will start branching or climbing clumsily onto branches above the nest. They will fall, but also keep moving further from the nest. Their screaming demands for food will grow louder, Holt said. It is likely the birds will move out of camera range as they venture further away. When the mother owl is finished nesting, when the chicks are around 11 weeks old, she will take off and "most of the time, we never see the female again." The father owl will continue to feed the chicks until they leave, again in a staggered sequence.
"Predation influences leaving the next as early as possible," Holt said, describing the hazards of a raccoon invasion.
Long-eared owls will live five to 10 years,
The institute will keep the cam trained on the nest until there is nothing left to see, Holt said.
The Pearls of the Planet series has put cameras on osprey, puffins, brown bears and polar bears, generating millions of streaming hours from all over the world, said Charlie Annenberg, the founder of explore.org and vice president and director of the foundation his grandfather Walter Annenberg founded.
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Violence Flares as Bahrain Revs for Forumula One Race
JERUSALEM - Opposition activists in Bahrain have called for "days of rage" ahead of Sunday's Formula One race.
As the Bahrain Grand Prix approaches, protesters calling for political reforms have taken to the streets in bigger numbers, trying to once again direct the world's attention to their bloody uprising against the ruling monarchy.
On Wednesday, hundreds of demonstrators were met with stun grenades and tear gas. Opposition group Al Wefaq posted photos of protesters sprayed with what they said was birdshot.
The Interior Ministry said they arrested "rioters in the act of sabotage." The ministry denied Al Wefaq's request for a Thursday rally, tweeting that "participation in the event is illegal."
The Formula One world has been fiercely debating whether Bahrain is safe enough to hold the race. It was cancelled last year due to the mostly Shiite uprising against the Sunni ruling family that began last January at the start of the "Arab Spring" and has since left around 50 dead.
Last weekend Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone called Bahrain "quiet and peaceful" and race organizers have insisted the country is safe for drivers and their teams.
On Wednesday night, members of the Force India team on their way back to the team's hotel found themselves in the middle of a protest with demonstrators hurling Molotov Cocktails. No was injured, but the team was reportedly shaken and one team member has gone home.
"We were not the target. We just happened upon an incident that was ahead of us, a disruption in the road," a Force India spokesman told The Associated Press.
Held since 2004, the race is a point of pride for Bahrain. The crown prince said this year's edition "would be a success for all of Bahrain and its people."
"This race is more than a mere global sports event and should not be politicized to serve certain goals, which may be detrimental to this international gathering," said Sheikh Salman, according to Reuters.
Amnesty International published a report last week accusing the authorities of "trying to portray the country as being on the road to reform, but we continue to receive reports of torture and use of unnecessary and excessive force against protests."
The tiny island kingdom ruled by the Khalifa family is home to the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet and has been the headquarters of American naval operations in the Persian Gulf since 1948.
Opposition activists accuse the security forces of rounding up scores of fellow activists ahead of the race to keep the peace. Along with political reforms, protesters have been calling for the release of human rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, arrested last April and now more than 70 days into a hunger strike. An anonymous Bahraini reporter told the BBC in Bahrain that if Khawaja dies, "the streets will explode."


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John Boyd, the American Air Force Colonel, wrote that there were five stages to victory. In the first two, Penetration and Isolation, one's forces enter the enemy's networks and began tearing it apart. In the last two, Reorientation and Reharmonization, the old world is refashioned in one's desired image.
There is only one grand choice, but that choice is critical. If, for the third stage, one chooses Subversion, one desires to "take-over" the enemy. The enemy's house — his many mansions — should be viewed as one's future property, and so their substance must be preserved while the deed is (re)-written
Christianity, a political philosophy that could accurately be described as Jesusism-Paulism, was designed to Subvert the Roman Empire and seize her institutions in order to remake them. Jesus summed up the essence of subversion — the conquest of force by the service to force — in one line:
If someone [a Roman soldier] forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.
Matthew 5:41
Of course, there is another strategy. Instead of attempted to take-over, one might take-down. One might Subdue the enemy, destroying what is his, and win through war instead of through peace. Six centuries after Jesus, another Semite elucidated that strategy
Submission Through Victory
It is not for any prophet to have captives until he hath made slaughter in the land. Ye desire the lure of this world and Allah desireth (for you) the Hereafter, and Allah is Mighty, Wise.
The Spoils of War:67
The Rule-Set Revolution of Islam had begun.
Muhammed ibn-Abdullah was clearly aware of Christian victory over the Romans. Muhammed changed two basic strategies of Christianity, by transforming it into a strict monotheism and optimizing it for victory in chaotic conditions. Yet these are details compared to his grandest innovation. Muhammed focused his faith not on the Most High or on His Son, but on a Rule-Set. Islam is, at its core, is not Muahmmed and is not Allah. Islam is the Holy Koran.
Muslims were the first "People of the Book" in all history. The earliest Semites were tribalists who wished for their gods to protect their families, and Judaism falls into this category. Jews may be thought of as People of their Father and Mother. The land of the Jews is given to them because of descent from Abraham:
When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, "To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates- the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites."
Genesis 15:17-21
and his wife, Sarah
God also said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her." … Then God said, "Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.
Genesis 27:15-22
The Christians, meanwhile were the People of the Son
"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
John 17:20-23
Muhammed saw a basic weakness in loyalty to a personality or Holy Family: ruleset corruption.
An essential difference between Christianity and Islam is that the faith of Jesus focused on resiliency while the religion of Muahmmed centered on resilience. Resiliency is "the ability to spring back from and successfully adapt to adversity." The Christian takeover of Rome exhibited resiliency because the faith could adapt to problems, through unifying mechanisms such as the Nicene Creed. However, Muhammed wanted Islam to have resilience instead. Resilience, the capacity of a material to absorb energy when it is deformed elastically and then, upon unloading to have this energy recovered, focuses on recovering the initial form. Christianity as practiced during its take-over of Rome would not be operationally the same as Christianity after the fall of Rome, because the needs of a 4GW force in its early stages are different from the needs of a 4GW army in its later stages. However, Muhammad wanted Islam to be the same everywhere, he made his words into a universal ruleset.
To Christians flexibility was not a problem — only Jesus was the Word of God and revolution could "unfold." The purpose of Christianity, after all, was not Law but Love, and Love is a magic cloud beyond words, but it is not measurable and not objectively verifiable.
To Muhammed this was a problem. As he said:
Say: "Of your 'partners' is there any that can give any guidance towards truth?" Say: "It is Allah Who gives guidance towards truth, is then He Who gives guidance to truth more worthy to be followed, or he who finds not guidance (himself) unless he is guided? what then is the matter with you? How judge ye?"
Mohammed was the first theorist in all history to define religion exclusively as rule-set adherence. Jesus and Paul had integrated a 4GW strategy — loving your neighbor — in with faith in order tow in. But Mohammed integrated every strategy into the faith. Contract law, criminal law, family law, even military strategy were elucidated before hand. Mohammed viewed Judaism and Christianity as failed because of the memetic drift they experienced.
Judaism and Christianity both "unfold" over time. Judaism can accurately be described as a Religion of Life because the focus is on the promulgation in this world of offspring of Abraham and Sarah. All Jewish Laws must be interpreted as rules to guide the People of Life. A Jewish Law that works against Life is not, in this context, being properly understood. Christianity can accurately be described as a Religion of Love because the focus in on the promulgation of loving kindness as described by Jesus and Paul. All Christian Laws must be interpreted as guide to the People of Love. A Christian Law that works against Love is not, in this context, being properly understood. In contrast, Islam can accurately be described as a Religion of One Ruleset, the Koran, in opposition to all others. The only proper Rules are those that spread the Ruleset. As a genetic program, Islam is frighteningly advanced.
It is fair to say that Judaism is Tribalist, Christianity is Ideological, and Islam is Totalitarian. Not in some particular implementations, but in their meaning and purpose.
The victories of Islam were swift, and they kept coming. A well evolved super-organism, the Ruleset and its Armies move conquered all of Roman Empire, Roman Iberia, all of Roman Asia outside of Anatolia. Fleets would soon sail to the indies, and assist in the flow of labor from Africa to the empire through slavery.
If there be of you twenty steadfast they shall overcome two hundred, and if there be of you a hundred…
Much worse for the Christian Revolutionaries, the shattering attacks would not stop. The Cosmopolitan Empire, imperfect as it was, of the Greek Christians would be less and less able to export the security a Cosmopolitan faith like Christianity required. The old Maoism of Greco-Roman Civilization, which Christianity aimed to conquer, would re-emerge and the Western Church would fall pray to the barbaric tribalisms of a petty continent.
Islamic ideals would challenge Christianity as the fumbling counter-insurgency of the Romans never could. Before the Christian Revolutionaries could even calculate their losses, the Islamization of Christianity had begun.
But that is a post for another time…
Jesusism-Paulism, a series in six parts
1. Love Your Enemy As You Would Have Him Love You
2. Caiaphas and Diocletian Did Know Better
3. Every Man a Panzer, Every Woman a Soldat
4. The Fall of Rome
5. The People of the Book
6. Embrace and Extend


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I've had one too many cocktails (two) so this might not make sense but we're taking Hailey to Europe this month and have no idea what we're doing because I'm a procrastinator and we've never been to Europe. I mean, technically Victor has been to Europe but he just spent a week working in some guy's basement in Torquay (long story) so I don't think that counts. Long story short…I have no idea what to do. We're only spending about 2 days in each town so there's not a lot of time to fill but I want to make sure I don't miss something awesome.
We'll be road tripping from Glasgow to Isle of Skye and back to Inverness. Then we take a night train to London. Then another train Paris and then we fly home. If you've ever been to any of these places and have a great restaurant/attraction/stop that was fantastic please let me know.
We're staying in lots of haunted hotels and doing ghost tours because that's the kind of people we are but we're cool with anything.
Tell us where to go?


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Beyonce's Mom Files for Divorce
Beyonce Knowles' mom -- the original costume designer for Destiny's Child -- has filed for divorce from her husband Mathew Knowles.
Tina Knowles filed divorce papers in Harris County, Texas last month, in an attempt to end their almost 31-year marriage. In the documents, it says Tina and Mathew "ceased to live together as husband and wife on or about January 5, 2009" -- the exact day of their 30th wedding anniversary.
Back in October, Mathew was hit with a paternity lawsuit from a woman who's not his wife -- no word if that affected Tina's decision to pull the plug.
Mathew has been Beyonce's manager for years, so there could be a ton of cash up for grabs in the split.
The couple has two children together: Beyonce and Beyonce's younger sister.


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James Caan Biography
James Caanactor, director
Born: 3/26/1939
Birthplace: Queens, New York
He gained fame as the dying football player Brian Piccolo in Brian's Song (1971) and as the eldest Corleone son in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather (1972), a role for which he won an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. His other films include Freebie and the Bean (1974), Rollerball (1974), Misery (1990) and Mickey Blue Eyes (1999).
|Sid Caesar
See also:
Here are the facts and trivia that people are buzzing about.


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Centre County PA Homes for Sale
Search all homes for sale in Centre County, PA.
If you would like more information on any of these Centre County real estate listings, just click the "Request More Information" button when viewing the details of that property. We can provide disclosures, past sales history, dates and prices of homes recently sold nearby, and more. And, if you haven't already, be sure to register for a free account so that you can receive email alerts whenever new Centre County listings come on the market.
"By heavens, Thompson, I have discovered an empire!" exclaimed James Potter to his attendant upon reaching the summit of Mount Nittany and viewing the "prairies and noble forest beneath him," in 1764. Read More...
This first account of the lands that make up Centre County from the book "Centre County, Pennsylvania: 15 Historical Sketches of our 200 Years" have acted as a harbinger of what's to come, as an empire has indeed been created from these bucolic valleys and stately ridges.
Formed on Feb. 13, 1800, from parts of Huntingdon, Lycoming, Mifflin and Northumberland counties, the area has come a long way from its rural beginnings in the early 19th century.
Perhaps best known as the home of The Pennsylvania State University, the county is one of the largest geographically in the state (ranking number 5 at 1,113 square miles) that holds a population of 154,000 people according to 2010 U.S. Census data. This makes the State College, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area the 13th most populous in the state, and the county the 22nd most populated in Pennsylvania. It's aptly named, as the geographic center of the state is located within its borders.
You cannot mention Centre County without acknowledging the presence of The Pennsylvania State University. Formed as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania in 1855, it's one of the two oldest land-grant universities in the country, and conducts teaching, research and public service. There are over 99,000 students attending the university, with over 47,000 at the University Park campus in Centre County.
Despite the university's strong presence, there's much more to life here than just Penn State. From the Grange Fair, the oldest encampment fair in the country, to the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, a five-day celebration of the arts that consistently ranks as one of the top outdoor fine art shows in the nation, there's always something happening in "Happy Valley."
The State College area is commonly referred to as "Happy Valley," a name coined during the Great Depression when the area was less affected by the country's economic downturn. Happy Valley is generally considered a nickname for Nittany Valley, a valley found within the Ridge-and-Valley province of the Appalachian Mountains. While much of the county is located in this geographic region, the northern portions belonging to the Allegheny Front, the Pittsburgh Low Plateau and the Deep Valley sections of the state. The most populated areas of the county are defined by forested ridges separating large agricultural valleys.
Speaking of agriculture, it's an important industry within the county, which holds over 1,200 farms on 164,500 acres, according to data from Centre County government. As one of the most historically important industries in the area, it's no surprise that the county created an agricultural land preservation board in 1989 to protect its rich agricultural heritage. This strong agricultural heritage also helped pave the way for the founding of Penn State in this area in the mid-19th century.
Outdoor recreation is big here, too. With over 71 percent of the county covered in forestland and parts of three state forests located within its borders, it's no surprise that you can pursue just about any outdoor activity you'd like. With six state parks found within the county, hiking, cross country skiing and equestrian trails are all easy to find, along with downhill skiing, kayaking, and plenty of hunting and fishing opportunities.
Centre County living is rural living at its finest. With two larger metros to choose from, along with countless towns and villages, there's something for everyone here. You can live among the hustle and bustle of State College, or perhaps take the short drive to the county seat of Bellefonte (laid out in 1799), which features Victorian architecture and more affordable home prices.
Housing stock is mostly single-family detached dwellings. However, unlike much of rural Pennsylvania, many condo and townhouse options are available in Bellefonte and particularly State College. Multi-unit homes are also prevalent in State College. According to the 2010 Census, 58.6 percent of residents own their homes, with 41.4 percent renting.
If you're looking for your first home in the area, you have many options. One you may not have considered is building your own home. If you've always dreamed of your own private getaway, there's seemingly unlimited options. Take a drive through pastoral Penns Valley or take in the endless views from the Allegheny Plateau, and you'll realize that Centre County is a big place.
Fortunately, getting around the county is easy. Public transportation is provided by the Centre Area Transportation Authority (CATA). CATA was first incorporated in 1974 and covers much of the county; however, because of the rural nature of Centre County, not all townships are accessible by public transit, so owning or renting a vehicle is advisable. Also, vehicle ownership can expand your house search to more rural areas that offer increased privacy and better land values.
Three major highways can be found in Centre County. Interstate 80 is a major cross-country freight route, with up to 35,000 vehicles a day locally, according to the Centre County Planning Office and PennDot projections. Stretching nearly from New York City to San Francisco, it helps not only cross-country travelers, but cross-county travelers.
Interstate 99 runs from Bedford, Pennsylvania, through State College and eventually ends in Corning, New York. However, a large section of the northern portion of this highway is unsigned or undesignated. Locally, this highway is of great importance in providing high-speed travel between some of the most populated portions of the county.
Finally, U.S. Route 322 runs from northern Ohio to southern New Jersey. This road is important in connecting Centre County to Harrisburg and the Philadelphia region. While much of this route is four-lane highway, unfinished portions exist along southern Centre County's border with Mifflin County. However, plans have been announced in 2019 to overhaul and upgrade this 2-lane portion of road, meaning travel between State College and the southern reaches of the state will be much quicker and safer.
Those looking for access to other parts of the country and world can choose flights from University Park Airport. This public airport is located in Benner Township not far from the university and both State College and Bellefonte, and provides quick access to connecting hubs in the Northeast and Midwest. The airport is currently served by United Airlines, Delta Air Lines and American Airlines. According to data from the U.S. Department of Transportation, there were 138,423 enplanements in 2017, making the University Park Airport the seventh busiest airport in the state.
Centre County has received many awards and accolades. The county made livability.com's "2018 Top 100 Best Places to Live" list, and we have to agree.
State College itself has received many accolades as well, including recent awards such as making the "50 Safest College Towns of 2018" list by Safewise, and the "Most Educated Cities Award" in Pennsylvania by Insurify.
With a great mix of urban amenities and rural living, we believe Centre County is one of the best places to live not only in Pennsylvania, but in the country and beyond. We also believe the best way to experience "Happy Valley" is to see it in person … and we'd be happy to show you the highlights whenever the time is right for you.