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This article is brought to you by TechCrunch.com
Article author: Devin Coldewey
Prosthetic limbs have come a long way from the heavy, solid hands and legs of yesteryear, but it's still difficult to pack a range of motion into them without complex or bulky machinery. But new research out of Cornell uses a cleverly designed 3D-printed mechanism to achieve speed and strength with simple construction — and it costs a lot less, too.
"Developing prosthetic limbs requires designers to make difficult trade-offs among size, weight, force, speed, and cost of the actuation system," the researchers say in their paper. For example, they point out, state of the art mechanical prosthetic hands can cost well over $10,000, with the high-end motors inside alone costing hundreds each. Cheaper hands use cheaper components, of course, which might mean that the hand can grip hard but not quickly, or vice versa.
This is partly because a mechanical hand needs to be able to adjust the force it's applying very quickly on the fly, and this usually involves some kind of variable transmission or dynamic gear ratio. But Kevin O'Brien and his colleagues developed a new way to have the motor adjust its speed and force without using hundreds of finely machined components. In fact, it and the hand it actuates can be almost entirely 3D-printed.
It works like this: The fingers of the hand are controlled, like many other such hands and indeed our own, by flexible cords that run along their lengths. These cords can be tightened or slackened to make the fingers take different positions, and that's often done by having a spool take up the slack or deal it out. It's this spool that must move precisely and is the end point of the complex gearing mentioned above in other hands.
But in the ADEPT hand (adaptively driven via elastomeric passive transmissions — we'll stick with the acronym) these spools have in their centers a flexible cylindrical core, the shape of which can be modified by tightening a separate "tendon" around it. When the tendon is loose, the core is wider and spins quickly, producing fast, responsive movement. When the tendon is tightened, the core is reduced in radius and correspondingly increases in torque while decreasing in speed.
There's no switching of gears, no meshing of teeth — if the hand determines that it needs just a little bit more torque to hold something, it can get it by tightening the tendon just that little bit. And as soon as it needs to quickly release or catch something, the tendon can loosen up and the fingers move quickly and lightly.
This simplicity and the ease of manufacturing make this much cheaper than other options, while it still provides a great deal of versatility and responsiveness.
"The benefits of elastomeric transmission systems are that they can be 3D printed quickly (50 per hour), cheaply (<$1 per part), and in many compact form factors," the researchers wrote. A whole hand could be built for less than $500, they estimate.
Unfortunately the materials aren't quite up to the task just yet — the part that's constantly having its shape adjusted tends to degrade, though they managed to get it to the point where it could be adjusted about 25,000 times before failing (not catastrophically, just not doing its job well enough any more). That may sound like a lot, but your fingers move a lot. So there's still work to do before this is a realistic replacement for other mechanical parts.
Still, it's a promising approach and general enough that it also could be used in artificial legs, arms and exo-suits. You can read more at Science Robotics.
Article source: https://techcrunch.com/2018/10/17/this-3d-printed-prosthetic-hand-combines-speed-and-strength-with-simplicity/


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Updated March 12, 2018:
View a more accessible version of each page on this site
Click the tab key on any page and then click on the Accessibility button that appears in the top left corner of the screen to open the most accessible version of the page.
- Ctrl+ = increase text size
- Ctrl- = decrease text size
If these controls do not work for you, try upgrading to the latest version of your browser or visit Web Accessibility Initiative (W3C) site for additional instructions. To magnify specific parts of your screen, try a tool such as Windows Magnifier.
The volume is often be controlled with a keyboard by pressing the Ctrl key (Command key on a Macintosh) while pressing the F11 or F12 key:
- Ctrl F12 = increase volume
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The mouse pointer is sometimes difficult to see.
The size and color of the mouse-pointer on the screen can be adjusted to make it easier to identify and locate. Most operating systems also provide options to show a trail when the mouse pointer moves around the screen. It also may highlight the mouse pointer when a specific key (such as the Ctrl key) is pressed.
- Apple Mac OS X – Accessibility: Physical and Motor Skills
- Microsoft Windows – Windows XP Accessibility Tutorials: Adjusting Mouse Options, Windows Vista Accessibility Tutorials: Make the Mouse Easier to Use, Windows 7 Accessibility Tutorials: Make the mouse easier to use
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If you find a keyboard or mouse difficult to use, the following free tools help to allow your computer to read the web page for you:
- Text-to-Speech for Web Browsers
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Some website users have difficulty reading text on a web page because of the use of color contrast on a page for the background or text colors. Many browsers provide a way to adjust the aspects of font and color. (see examples below)
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A transcript is the text equivalent of information that is provided in an audio version. This includes both spoken words and non-spoken sounds (such as sound effects).
A caption is the process of displaying the transcript for the audio portion of a video presentation that displays as the video is playing. Captions are text that is superimposed over the video and to allow people who are deaf, hard-of-hearing, or that cannot hear the audio (such as those in a crowded room) to be able to visually read the message while the video is playing .
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Some videos and webinars use open captions that will automatically appear. However, the Windows Media Player may be required for some online video content. If this media player is already installed on your computer, the player will come up automatically. If not, you can be downloaded it here: Microsoft Media Player download.
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Unfortunately, there is no way to test that every part of our site is fully accessible to every user, in every situation. If you experience a difficulty accessing any of our pages or files, please email Julie Reginek during our office hours: 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. (Monday – Friday).
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subset: commoncrawl


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The Log recently had the pleasure of sitting down with the Mariner's GM as he prepares for what is shaping up to be an eventful offseason, He shared some curious insights into his aquisition strategies and outlook for 2007.
ML: Thanks for being part of the Mariner Log launch.
BB: Happy to do it. It's important that we do a better job of reaching out to the Blog community as it is often where we get some of our best ideas.
ML: Such as?
BB: The Edgar Duck giveaway for one. The Pokey Reese signing is another. It could be something as obvious as someone pointing out that we don't have enough left-handed sock on the bench, or as happened recently, that there aren't any TV's over the urinals at Safeco. The passions of fans run deep.
ML: Coming into this offseason the team has some clear needs. How do you plan to address them?
BB: I wouldn't say there is any hole that we just HAVE to fill. Let's put it this way, when I was with the Angels in they said that Tim Salmon was washed up. That his skills were declining. One guy even described him as having a snowball's chance in you-know-where to hit 30 HR again. We gave him AB's in 2003 and he proved the critics wrong. Sometimes the only hole we have is in our own heads.
ML: Salmon's last year with 30+ HR was in 2000.
BB: You can't measure a body of work in a year. It took him three seasons, but he got to 30 HR. That's my point.
ML: Moving on. Assuming there were some holes, or areas that you would like to improve, what are they?
BB: (Chuckling) I didn't mean to sound like we're 100% set. We have a great young bullpen that is really the strength of the team. Putz, Soriano, Lowe, Fruto, all poised for big years. Have you seen the size of Fruto's head? A lot of smarts packed up in there. That group will be together for a long time. We plan on taking a look at some top-of-the-rotation starters, along with a big young bat to bring some power to our DH spot.
ML: Any names at the top of the list?
BB: Howard in Philly is our priority. We will take long hard looks at Schmidt, Zito and a few others for the rotation.
ML: Have you discussed Howard's availability with the Phillies?
BB: No. We find it helpful to get the names out there and let the press do the ice-breaking. Everyone is available for the right price. I once bought a cat from a woman in Malibu who claimed it was not for sale. Expensive cat.
ML: Is everyone on the Mariners available?
BB: Well Felix is not. We would have to get a pretty sweet price for Putz or Soriano, so I'd say they are staying put as well.
ML: Are there any pitfalls you are looking to avoid?
BB: We expect to be a player in the free agent market, but don't expect us to jump out of the gate and make moves just because other people are doing them. The last thing we want to do is get handcuffed by overpaying for a starter, or dealing young talent for questionable value in return. We also want to avoid guys with a solid track record. We've found that you get guys for a 25% discount if they don't have a history of success at the major league level or if they haven't had success in many, many years. This discount allows us to stockpile more of this type of talent, which is why you see the roster so balanced up and down with the type of players we have. I don't want to share too much or give the other teams in our division any more details.
ML: Interesting. Should be fun to see what happens. Thanks so much for stopping by.
BB: No problem. By the way, are you interested in a cat? He's extremely valuable.
ML: No.
Mariner fans know that it is sometimes better to laugh then cry. There may be cynicism, there may be mockery, there may be wild speculation, but there will never be snobbery here at the Log. Mariner Log is not affiliated with the Seattle Mariner organization, nor does it claim any accuracy for any of the information you find on this site. Celebrity interviews are likely fake. Passion for the Mariners is real.
Thursday, October 5, 2006
GM Outlines Strategy For Offseason
Posted by The Log at 2:48 PM 1 comments
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As businesses and societies around the world look for new means to evaluate success, the Grenoble metropolis has launched IBEST. This initiative aims to create indicators that will help measure sustainable well-being in the region. What is the goal of IBEST?
The project will identify well-being indicators that are sustainable and promote public good. The idea is to measure value at a regional level around the Grenoble metropolis. The study was created on the basis of an initial realization: "Numbers and figures are multiplying everywhere, in organizations and public politics. The result is an obsession for measuring performance that has led to negative effects and a loss of meaning for these indicators," explains e Fiona Ottaviani, a post-doctoral student at the Grenoble Ecole de Management Chair for Mindfulness, Well-Being at Work and Economic Peace.
With a background in economics and philosophy, Fiona highlights that IBEST first aims to find new methods for evaluating political initiatives in the city of Grenoble. "To accomplish this, the project had to create a set of 'sustainable well-being' parameters which can be applied to the scale of the Grenoble metropolis and include input from elected officials and business actors."
A new perspective on indicators
How can you change from traditional indicators, which can be highly sensitive and not necessarily measure actual well-being, to something that can effectively illustrate what actions are working in the region? "IBEST wants to go beyond traditional indicators such as measuring capital investments and CSP+- in order to produce positive indicators that can measure individual and group data in order to analyze overall well-being. This is why we launched a qualitative questionnaire throughout the metropolis. A second phase will include citizen participation in decision-making with input from elected officials and business actors. This is how we try to transition from individual well-being to initiatives that can provide sustainable common good." explains Fiona.
Eight dimensions of sustainable well-being
- Work conditions: What factors contribute to a quality work environment? This focuses on the quality of relationships at work, interpersonal relationships, social justice, pay gaps and recognition at work.
- Engagement and assertion: Through personal development and resources provided to individuals, each person will be able to participate at his or her level to improve the common good. At an individual level, these resources enable people to develop self-confidence, assert their position in society and engage in community life. The goal is to develop inner peace, peaceful relationships, and finally, economic peace.
- Democracy and living together: This factor highlights the importance of trust in authorities and the health of relationships between all actors. This means understanding how people can count on others in various situations of difficulty.
- Time and rhythm: This factor goes well beyond a region's GDP in order to think about how we divide our time between work, hobbies and engagement in community life.
- Access to fundamental needs: Food, healthcare, housing, minimum level of revenue…
- Access and use of public services: This factor explores how people can access various social initiatives.
- Health: This indicator evaluates individual stress levels at work and general health. Many people have to deal with a combination of stress and difficulty accessing treatment options.
- Natural environment: This factor takes into account housing insulation, recycling, green transportation options, water and air quality, and the cleanliness of a neighborhood.
Overcoming a tradition of destructive business reasoning
"These indicators are a call for us to break down sector barriers and think in transversal terms according to the needs of each individual. This vision has to be applied to politics as well as businesses in order to develop initiatives that meet current societal and environmental needs. A transversal vision can only be made possible if we also set up tools to help share information and facilitate decision-making. It's about helping public and private organizations break away from the 'warrior' spirit and re-orient their vision to work towards economic peace. This will provide us with answers to overcome current and future challenges," underlines Fiona.


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Bicycling is a lifestyle. It's a way of showing that you're the kind of person who cares about the environment; you're the type who wants to remain active; and—it turns out—you're the sort who can help bring in millions of dollars to Cleveland's economy.
A group of Case Western Reserve MBA students recently wondered, what effect would changing a fraction of University Circle employees from drivers to bikers have on the local market? Their findings may surprise you.
Students Justin Held, Katharine Mann, Susanna Mohan, Leigh Orne and Tsung-Han Tsai conducted an economic-impact study commissioned by the GreenCityBlueLake Institute. They found that shifting just 3 percent of University Circle's 82,000 workers from cars to bikes could boost the local economy by as much as $100 million. According to their report, enticing 2,000 individuals to pedal to work would lead to additional shopping for bikes, gear and apparel and also would spur the development of new stores and restaurants. On top of such benefits as fewer cars in an already congested district and a 1.6-million-dollar savings in health-related costs, they expect 500 new jobs to be born out of a biking boom—not to mention the environmental benefits of fewer exhaust pipes on the roadways.


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Three red snakelike devices bobbing in the waves three miles (4.8 kilometers) off the coast of Agucadoura, Portugal, represent the first swell of what developers hope will be a rising tide of wave power projects. Edinburgh-based Pelamis Wave Power, Ltd., (PWP) has since September been working with asset management firm Babcock & Brown, energy provider Energias de Portugal, and Efacec (a Portugese maker of electromechanical devices) on the Agucadoura project. This first phase will cost about $13 million and generate up to 2.25 megawatts. The company hopes to by early next year begin building installing another 25 wave-energy converters to increase the output to 21 megawatts, which is expected to serve the electricity needs of more than 15,000 Portuguese households.
Earth's oceans and rivers, pushed by wind and tugged by the moon and sun, ebb and flow over more than 70 percent of the planet, but only recently have researchers and scientists developed the materials and methods to finally harness some of that kinetic energy. There may not yet be a market for underwater turbines or wave-riding electrical generators designed to use ocean turbulence as a source of renewable energy, but that has not stopped a handful of entrepreneurs from trying to create one.
Although all renewable energy sources—sun, water and wind—suffer from peaks and troughs in productivity, "we consider wave energy to be more predictable than wind," says PWP CEO Phil Metcalf. "You look at the ocean 1,000 miles [1,600 kilometers] out, you'll get a good idea of what to expect over the next 24 to 48 hours. We think it's actually going to be easier to dispatch to the grid."
Pelamis's devices are big red cylindrical tubes, each 426.5 feet (130 meters) long, 13 feet (four meters) in diameter, weighing around 750 tons (635 metric tons), and with a life expectancy of up to 20 years. The tubes are connected by hinges so that they float like a snake in the water. As the tubes' sections rise up and down on the passing waves they tug on the hinges, which are resisted by hydraulic rams that pump high-pressure fluid through hydraulic motors and turn electrical generators to produce electricity. Power derived from the joints on each wave-energy conversion is fed down via a cable to a central undersea export cable, which carries the collective power generated from site to shore.
"Our machine works by reacting against itself," says Max Carcas, Pelamis's business development director. Most other technology developed for harvesting wave power—including Finavera Renewables's AquaBuOY, WaveBob Ltd.'s wave-absorbing buoy and another buoy-mounted generator made by SRI International—absorbs energy from riding the waves as they bob up and down.
Pelamis's tubes work best at a depth of more than 165 feet (50 meters) and roughly 3.7 miles (six kilometers) from the shore, where the waves are strong but a crew can still connect a cable from the tubes to the shore. "Waves lose energy once you get to get to less than half a wavelength depth—typically deep swell waves are 100 to 140 meters (330 to 460 feet) in wavelength—hence why we focus on being out above 50 to 70 meters (165 to 230 feet) of water," Carcas says. The distance off the coastline to get to this depth contour will vary from place to place but typically is two to 15 kilometers (1.2 to 9.3 miles), he adds.
Another approach operates at the bottom of New York City's East River, where in 2006 Verdant Power, Inc., planted six windmill-like turbines—each 16 feet (five meters) in diameter—30 feet (nine meters) below the surface and churning at a peak rate of 32 revolutions per minute to transform strong tidal forces into electricity. Despite a few setbacks—the river's powerful flow damaged the rotors and broke off some of the original fiberglass and steel blades—the company has managed to keep two of the turbines operational, supply electricity to a nearby supermarket and, more recently, attract $8.5 million in funding from sources including the U.S. Department of Energy and the Canadian government to further develop and test its technology.
Verdant's turbines require tides that move at least six feet (1.8 meters) per second in order to generate enough energy for them to be cost-effective, and the East River is more than obliging. "The East River is a good tidal channel that links the Long Island Sound to the ocean," says Trey Taylor, the company's president and head of market development. "Plus, New York is an expensive place to buy power, so it would be easier here to prove that this could help."
Verdant plans to next year test a new type of turbine in Canada on the Saint Lawrence River, near Cornwall, Ontario, that is heavily weighted and sits on the riverbed rather than being moored to the bottom. These two turbines are expected to generate more than 120 kilowatts of energy and will be easier for the company to remove when repairs are needed. (They have to wait for slack tide to do any work on the turbines in the East River.)
The East River site produced nearly 50,000 kilowatt-hours of energy from December 2006 to May 2007, and the testing spot has the potential to support as many as 300 turbines and nearly 10 megawatts of installed capacity. By 2010, Verdant's hope is to increase its turbine farm in New York City to 30 devices producing more than a megawatt of energy (800 households use about one megawatt). The company is also looking at sites in China and India.
Verdant is the main player in a market trying to catch on. Another tidal power company, East Yorkshire, England–based Lunar Energy, in March began working with Korea Midland Power Company to create a giant 300-turbine field in the Wando Hoenggan Water Way off the South Korean coast. The plant is expected to provide 300 megawatts of renewable energy to Korea Midland Power by December 2015. Researchers at Florida Atlantic University's Center of Excellence in Ocean Energy Technology in Dania Beach are using a $5-million state research grant awarded in late 2006 to develop technologies that tap into the powerful Gulf Stream and take advantage of large water temperature differences off Florida's shores. The researchers envision thousands of underwater turbines producing as much energy as 10 nuclear power plants and supplying one third of the state's electricity.
The U.S. government has made it clear that advanced water-power projects are a priority. Including its plans to help Verdant, the Energy Department in September said it would dole out up to $7.3 million over the next five years to advance commercial viability, cost-competitiveness and market acceptance of new technologies that can harness renewable energy from oceans and rivers.
It is unclear just how much it will cost to tap into energy from large bodies of water. Verdant's Taylor says his company is at least two years away from being able to quote costs to potential customers. That said, a rough cost estimate for Verdant's marine renewable energy technology is up to $3,600 per kilowatt—a higher price tag than wind power, fossil fuels or hydroelectric dams today, he says. He also points out, however, that Verdant will be able to lower its costs over time through the mass production of its technology and the reduction of inefficiencies in the licensing and implementation processes.
Verdant, which operates its kinetic (non-dam) hydropower project in the East River under a preliminary permit from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), plans to by the end of the year apply for a FERC pilot commercial license that would allow the company to create a field of up to 40 underwater turbines with up to 1.5 megawatts of capacity. It took four years to secure the necessary permits from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to get the project to where it currently is. Verdant has spent at least $9 million thus far on its East River project; one third of funds were spent on studies to gauge the potential impact of the turbines on vessel navigation, aquatic life and fish migration.
Taylor hopes to eventually have two fields of underwater turbines in the East River with a total installed capacity of up to 10 megawatts. Other opportunities abound throughout New York State, he adds. "One estimate predicts as much as 1,000 (megawatts) of potential installed capacity for the state," whose State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) chipped in $3 million toward the East River project. "With a commercial license issued, and with the field built, we will continue with operational tests, generating and delivering grid-connected power to paying customers."


text: Easy Mail Plus allows you to type your message, and then just a few mouse clicks can fax it, print it, e-mail it, prepare an envelope, and print a label. Best of all, leave your printer settings alone. To mail your letter, just stick an envelope where the paper goes and let Easy Mail Plus handle the rest. You can put a sheet of labels in the printer, print the ones you need immediately, and use the rest of the label sheet another time. Built-in importing uses easy drag-and-drop technology to make it a snap to create address files from your existing data files. Use our predefined envelopes and labels (metric and U.S.) or configure your own. Use one of our logos, or any BMP, GIF, JPEG, WMF, or ICO image. Drag and drop addresses, logos, and bar codes. Put post office bar codes on envelopes and labels. Print to the entire list, one at a time, or to selected addresses. Print just one label or a few per sheet. Print a full sheet of the same or of different addresses.


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Top Craft Sites
Tim Holtz Distress Inks are a collection of acid-free, non-toxic, fade
resistant, water-based dye inks. They're perfect for the new vintage,
stained, aged effect crafters are creating in their altered books,
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and helped develop these inks to produce a realistic, weathered look on
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afford added versatility when photo tinting and color layering with the
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We Never Store card details
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Some Wind Farms Need Controls to Minimize Risk of Instability on the Grid, Study Says
The location of a wind farm can play a key role in the potential for wind energy to add or detract from stability on the electric grid, according to researchers at North Carolina State University and Johns Hopkins University. The paper, released this month, notes that some wind farms, because of their location and the fact that wind generators differ from conventional generator systems, might actually worsen instability when there are disturbances on the grid, increasing the risk of power outages; others, in turn, could bolster the grid if sited in favorable locations. (See related quiz: "What You Don't Know About Wind Energy.")
The paper's authors detail a technique employing controllers to moderate the flow of wind power coming onto the grid by matching control efforts between wind farms and energy storage facilities. "By matching the behavior of the two controllers, we can produce the desired damping effect on the power flow and restore stable grid behavior," said senior author Aranya Chakrabortty in a release about the paper. (See related story: "New 'Flexible' Power Plants Sway to Keep Up With Renewables.")
The researchers point out that their system can be put to use regardless of where the turbines and batteries are located, making it applicable in decentralized systems over large geographical areas.
Though wind energy accounts for just a small percentage of U.S. electricity generation as a whole (3.4 percent in 2012), it is growing by leaps and bounds: the added electricity generation capacity for wind in 2012 was larger than for any other source, and is expected to grow by nearly 50 percent between 2015 and 2040, according to the Energy Information Administration.
Meanwhile, creative minds around the world are exploring ways to store surplus wind energy when the breeze generates more than the grid can handle. Ideas for storage vessels range from rock reservoirs to frozen fish. (See related stories: "Too Much Wind Energy? Save It in Underground Volcanic Rock Reservoirs" and "Frozen Fish Help Reel In Germany's Wind Power.")
Note: This post has been modified to reflect that wind farm location and equipment, not wind variability, were the key factors in the destabilizing effect researchers sought to correct.


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Let's face it; your pet's bed gets stinky from time to time. Our new pet bed deodorizer has been specially formulated to eliminate the unpleasant odors pets can leave behind on their beds and other fabrics like furniture and auto upholstery. This dog bed odor spray is designed to kill 99% of the bacteria that causes those unwanted smells by penetrating deep into fabric fibers, ensuring foul smells are eliminated at the source, not just masked.
With the natural scent of lemongrass, our King Klean pet bedding spray is guaranteed to leave your home and car smelling fresh and clean. Most importantly, our formula is completely eco-friendly and alcohol-free, so it is 100% safe for the furry members of your family.
Like the rest of King Kanine products, our King Klean line of deodorizing sprays is manufactured in our FDA registered facility. All products are cruelty-free and tested for quality and safety by independent laboratories.
Directions for Use: Shake well. Spray on the area you want to freshen up. Repeat as needed. Safe for all pets. Avoid contact with eyes.
Ingredients: Benzyldimethyl, ammonium chloride, Water & Tmaz 20, Vitamin E, Natural Lemon Grass Fragrance
Hemp is one of over 80 hemp compounds found in the hemp plant. It is a completely natural, plant-based compound that is non-toxic, non-psychoactive, and does not produce a so-called "high."
As mammals, all dogs, cats, and humans have what is called an Endocannabinoid System (ECS). This system contains receptors which when bound to create and modulate an immune system response, can have a profound effect on the nervous system and many common conditions that plague both us and our furry family members.
What is great about Hemp is that by modulating the immune system it may aid in all aspects of health.
We always recommend consulting with your veterinarian prior to using our products.
King Kalm™ Hemp is derived from Broad Spectrum Hemp Oils. Extracted from the highest quality all naturally occurring hemp and suspended in high omega-3 Krill Oil. Our Hemp is compounded by a licensed pharmacist & derived from non-GMO and organic hemp, is lab tested vigorously and often for its potency and bio-availability. We do not use ANY artificial ingredients, flavors, preservatives, or colors whatsoever. Our product is 100% pure and something that can be found only in nature. We only create and sell a product we would give to our own pets.
There are many factors in deciding which milligram bottle to choose which can also depend on the ailment you are treating. Since each dog and family is different it really becomes a personal decision.
Please use this chart to choose:
Small sized pet 20 lbs & under - 75mg bottle (approximately 2.5mg / 1ML)
Medium sized pet 21lbs to 50 lbs - 150mg bottle (approximately 5mg / 1ML)
Large sized pet over 50 lbs - 300mg bottle (approximately 10mg / 1ML)
There are approximately 3-4 milligrams of Hemp per treat and approximately 30 treats in each 8oz bag.
Each box of King Kalm™ Hemp comes with a dosing chart that may guide you based on your pet's weight.
Please note: This product has not been approved by the FDA and is not intended to treat, diagnose or cure any disease. Always consult a veterinarian prior to supplementing any product.
Each box comes with an oral syringe to administer in their mouth. That is the preferred method but you can put it in your pets food as a second option.
Administer the dose once a day and take notes of how your pet is responding. Monitor the signs and symptoms over a few days to weeks' time. Make adjustments based on your pets response.
Ask yourself this; once you decide to eat healthy, do you have to continue eating healthy in order to gain the benefits from the nutrients and vitamins found in that food? The answer is yes. This is a lifestyle change and like all other lifestyle changes they must be consistent in order to achieve the best results. There are no greater results to be had than the health of our four legged family members.
The FDA prohibits the correlation of our products and the healing of any medical condition and or ailments. We recommend trying one of our products for at least one month to witness any changes in your pet.


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Cherry Ion (Tokidoki Limited Edition) - Girls
Shipping calculated at checkout.
Main Features:
Emits 200 Million Negative Ions (Healthy Anions)
Safe Air within 3-feet radius
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Weight: 45g


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With Little to Say, Obama Eats Grits in Rust Belt
A Commentary by Michael Barone
"A step in the right direction." That's what Barack Obama said in Poland, Ohio, about Friday's Bureau of Labor Statistics unemployment report, which showed only 80,000 net new jobs and unemployment remaining at 8.2 percent.
The thought will occur to many, not all of them Obama detractors, that this was at best a baby step. It's not enough to keep up with population growth, much less to restore the low unemployment rates of most of the 1990s and 2000s.
Another thought will occur to professional amateur political strategists: Why did the president's campaign schedule a two-day bus tour of northern Ohio and western Pennsylvania to coincide with the day the unemployment numbers were announced?
Sure, Ohio and Pennsylvania are important states politically. They have 18 and 20 electoral votes, and Obama carried them in 2008 with 51 and 54 percent of the votes.
And current polling shows Obama with only 46 percent in Ohio and 47 percent in Pennsylvania when paired against Mitt Romney.
Obama's bus tour was aimed at the historically Democratic Rust Belt territory. Since the United Steelworkers, United Auto Workers and United Rubber Workers organized the steel, auto and rubber factories on Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Akron, Youngstown and Toledo, this has been prime Democratic territory.
Even in 1984, when Ronald Reagan was winning a 59 to 40 percent landslide, this Rust Belt -- 19 counties of northern and eastern Ohio and 14 counties of western Pennsylvania -- voted 52 to 47 percent for Walter Mondale. It was 12 points more Democratic than the national average.
If these 33 counties had been a single state, they would have cast 19 electoral votes for Mondale, more than doubling the 13 he won from his native Minnesota and the District of Columbia.
In the 1980s, the Rust Belt was still smarting from factory closings and heavy job losses in the recession of the late 1970s. Most of those lost union-wage jobs never came back, and angry laid-off factory workers and their families were unpersuaded by the Reagan campaign's claim that it was "morning in America."
In the years since, the economy of the Rust Belt has changed. The biggest employers in Cleveland and Pittsburgh these days are not steel mills but hospital complexes.
There has been considerable outmigration of young people, and from 1980 to 2010, the population of these 33 counties declined by 7 percent, while the national population increased by 36 percent. If they were a single state, they would have 14 electoral votes, down from 19 three decades ago.
The aging electorate of the Rust Belt remains Democratic, and these counties voted 56 to 42 percent for Barack Obama. But that means that they were only 3 percent more Democratic than the national average.
The polling data suggests that Obama is not running as strong in the Rust Belt counties this year. The bus tour was undoubtedly aimed at pushing his numbers up.
But he seems to have been left with little to say. No wonder he resorted to making jokes about his family and adding, "People've been commenting: I need to gain some weight."
As if to compensate, he ate some grits -- a staple once you get an hour or so south of Washington, but not so much up north.
But what else could he talk about? Certainly not the Environmental Protection Agency's rules shutting down coal-fired electric plants. Nor his decision blocking the Keystone oil pipeline.
He could hail the development of fracking in the region's Marcellus shale natural gas formation in the region, except for the fact that regulators in his administration seem intent on shutting it down.
He could repeat his calls for "investment" in education, but even if you don't regard that as a political payoff to the teacher unions, the dividends are going to be a long time coming in.
And calls for investment in infrastructure may lead people to recall his chuckling admission that there are no shovel-ready projects, thanks to regulatory and legal roadblocks.
The uncomfortable fact is that Obama doesn't have a convincing economic story to tell. The recovery summer promised for 2010 and for 2011 and again for 2012 has yet to arrive.
Obama needs majorities in the Rust Belt counties to carry Ohio and Pennsylvania again. But last week's bus tour shows he's having difficulty in this historically Democratic territory.
Michael Barone, senior political analyst for The Washington Examiner, is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a Fox News Channel contributor and a co-author of The Almanac of American Politics.
See Other Political Commentaries.
See Other Commentaries by Michael Barone.
Views expressed in this column are those of the author, not those of Rasmussen Reports. Comments about this content should be directed to the author or syndicate.
Rasmussen Reports is a media company specializing in the collection, publication and distribution of public opinion information.
We conduct public opinion polls on a variety of topics to inform our audience on events in the news and other topics of interest. To ensure editorial control and independence, we pay for the polls ourselves and generate revenue through the sale of subscriptions, sponsorships, and advertising. Nightly polling on politics, business and lifestyle topics provides the content to update the Rasmussen Reports web site many times each day. If it's in the news, it's in our polls. Additionally, the data drives a daily update newsletter and various media outlets across the country.
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Brüno's Package Disappointingly Small
If a gay Austrian falls in the middle of his opening weekend, and lots of people are around to see it, does it mean America hates gay people? Probably yes.
1) Brüno — $30.4 million
While it started really strong on Friday with $14.4 million, the film didn't quite hold on the rest of the weekend, and eventually fell significantly below expectations. (Some had even hoped for $50 million). What this has to say about America and the Gays remains to be discussed in myriad thinkies on Slate or in the Times. For now, though, we'll just mention that the movie got a lousy C from CinemaScore, meaning word-of-mouth sales won't be nearly as high as they were for Borat. So a strong opening day, then a slight fizzle. It'll probably fall even more drastically next weekend.
2) Ice Age: Dawn of the Dead, Fallen Machines or Whatever — $28.5 million
Man oh man, people just love them some computer animated weird animals in weird situations saying weird things. We don't quite get why this movie is doing so well ($120 million in two weeks), considering it and its predecessors have so little aesthetic value. People just inexplicably love Ray Romano. That's the only answer. That's all it can be.
3) Transformers: Dinosaur Salvation or Whatever — $24.2 million
$339.2 million in three weeks! Egads. Is Ray Romano in this thing? Did people get confused when they saw John Turturro in the trailer and though it was Everybody's Raymond? Or, wait, I don't know any 14-year-old boys so I haven't heard much about this aspect of the movie, but does Megan Fox blow something up with her tits or something? Is that what it is? Does Megan Fox blow Ray Romano up with her tits? Wait, but then people would be mad and wouldn't want to see it. She blows Doris Roberts up with her tits, right? That must be it. That's it.
4) & 5) Public Enemies: Nothing After the Colon, Actually No Colon at All & The Proposal: Canadian and Fabulous — $14.1 million & $10.5 million
So Michael Mann's art house popcorn film lurches toward the $70 million mark, and we can't tell if that's a success or a failure! For a summertime Johnny Depp movie? Failure. For an artsy, high-def-shot crime picture with decidedly no robots or magic Explode-O-Tits? Success! Speaking of success, Sandra Bullock has trotted gamely across the $100 million line for the first time in nine years, so good for her. Crazy thing is, because now is such a different time than then, this flick is going to surpass Speed to be her biggest movie yet. I mean, Speed! That was a phenomenon! Money just means different things now. Sigh.
7) I Love You, Beth Cooper — $5 million
This Chris Columbus-directed annoyathon did decent business on 1,800 screens. It won't become some summer sleeper, we don't think, but it's not a complete disaster either. What this spells for Hayden Paneepenty or whatever's career, we're not sure. But we're scared it might mean good things. Or at least it doesn't mean bad things. Which is what we were hoping for. Bad things. Sorry. It's just... Heroes. Ugh.


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ohmygems 1.2.0
I'm tired of the complications that tools like bundler and rvm inject into my system and my workflow. I don't want 4 billion gems installed globally. I don't want to have `rake` slow down for no good reason. I don't want rvm to regress on undefined variables over and over and over (and I don't want to report it anymore when it does). I want as much simplicity as I can afford and still be able to get my job done. I've found pretty good balance using rbenv (only when needed) and by using this 45 line shell function `ohmygems` (aliased to `omg`, of course). I still have my system-level gems as my previous GEM_HOME gets moved into GEM_PATH so things like minitest and autotest are always available. But now I have private gems that are incredibly easy to switch around and only rely on simple environment variables to manage. To go back to normal, simply run `omg reset`.


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ScottsMiracle-Gro to Release Second Quarter 2011 Financial Results; Conference Call with Investors on Tuesday, May 3rd
14 Apr, 2011, 12:59 ET
MARYSVILLE, Ohio, April 14, 2011 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE SMG), the world's largest marketer of branded consumer lawn and garden products, will release its second quarter financial results on Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011, prior to the opening of the U.S. financial markets. The Company will host a conference call to discuss those results at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time.
To participate in the conference call, please call 1-866-682-3515 (Conference ID: 60632852). A replay of the call can be heard by calling 1-800-642-1687. The replay will be available the same day approximately 2 hours after the conference call ends and will be available for 30 days.
A live webcast of the call and the press release will be available on the Investor Relations section of the Company's web site http://investor.scotts.com. An archive of the press release and any accompanying information will remain available on the site for at least a 12-month period.
About ScottsMiracle-Gro
With approximately $3 billion in worldwide sales, The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, The Scotts Company LLC, is the world's largest marketer of branded consumer products for lawn and garden care. The Company's brands are the most recognized in the industry. In the U.S., the Company's Scotts®, Miracle-Gro® and Ortho® brands are market-leading in their categories, as is the consumer Roundup® brand, which is marketed in North America and most of Europe exclusively by Scotts and owned by Monsanto. In Europe, the Company's brands include Weedol®, Pathclear®, Evergreen®, Levington®, Miracle-Gro®, KB®, Fertiligene® and Substral®. For additional information, visit us at www.scotts.com.
SOURCE The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company


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Round Vintage Pave CZ Evil Eye Pendant Necklace
Fashioned from a 14k gold filled chain and a 12 millimeter round vintage pave CZ evil eye pendant, this necklace measures 18 inches in length.
- Round Vintage Pave CZ Evil Eye Pendant
- 14k gold filled chain
- Gold pendant
- Pendant: 12 millimeters
- Length: 18 inches
Gold Filled
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Vermeil / Gold Plated over Sterling Silver
Gold that is bonded Sterling Silver. It can only be called Vermeil (Pronounced: ver-may) when it is .925 Sterling Silver base/core. Hypoallergenic and water friendly to add.
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Please allow up 7 business days (Mondays to Fridays) to fulfill your order. During peak season, high sales volume and holidays, do allow up to 2-4 weeks. We process our orders accordingly oldest to newest. Majority of our styles are made to order, if we do not have the immediate styles in backstock that is ready to ship. This does not include shipping time frame. Please factor this in when you're placing an order for gift and have a specific deadline is needed.
We offer a flat rate of $10 USPS First Class (3 - 5 business days) shipping on domestic orders, we do have a tier shipping rate of $15 USPS Priority (1-3 business days) shipping and a $25 flat rate shipping charge on all International orders.
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To be eligible for a return, your item must be unused and in the same condition that you received it. It must also be in the original packaging.
Only regular full priced items may be returned, unfortunately sale or promotional discounted items (including promotional codes) cannot be returned. Trade show items are discounted from the retail price thus being categorized as a sale item.
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Items purchased at full priced can be exchanged for any other item or a store credit issued.
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You have an one hour time frame window after placing your order to cancel or void your order. Due to majority of jewelry is made to order, we have to fulfill orders as they come in the timely manner. We can not stop or pause the order once it is already queued into line for production. If you wish to cancel outside of the allowed time slot, only a store credit is offered for the order. To request an order cancellation request, please send us an email to firstname.lastname@example.com.
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Items that are non-jewelry in category such as; gift cards, greeting cards, jewelry storage, artisanal candles or scents are final sale. No exchanges or returns will be accepted. We take the time to highly curate and edit our third party merchandise through designers and crafters we love.
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So the US leadership is supporting the creation of One Nation Under God in Ukraine. As one of the key groups involved in the militant overthrow of an elected government has stated in its party platform, "a system of the dictatorship of the Nation with regard to the socioeconomic interests of the people" needs to be implemented (more below).
Isn't that what the military in Egypt proclaimed in its coup to oust another elected official, Morsi?
The American press is fond of patting itself on the back for upholding the first amendment to the US Constitution, that being, among other things, freedom of the press. But that does not mean the freedom to obfuscate, ignore facts and curry favor with the US national security apparatus in whatever covert or overt form it takes.
The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post have engaged, once again, in a classic information operations effort. This time it is to shape a national anti-Russian consensus around the legitimate concerns of the Russian government. As these three big corporate institutions are the semi-official organs of the United States' government, they have shown the weakness of President Obama's national security advisers and, by proxy, heavyweight financiers like George Soros (who runs the Open Society NGO).
The power of the three media outlets exists in the corporate, for-profit nature of the enterprises, not any notable journalistic enterprise. They engage in pay-for-journalism beholden to advertisers, shareholders, investors and the US government. All three groups are known to collaborate on stories with state, local and federal officials so that news is not news to officialdom. But as Don Corleone said in the movie The Godfather, "It's just business." What else can one expect from a quasi-representative democracy?
The Wall Street Journal is owned by Fox News Corporation. News Corporation's ability to reach into and shape the opinions of tens of millions of the global watching/listening public is unprecedented. From the Wall Street Journal to National Geographic — and hundreds of media outlets local, national and global — it can carry its anti-Russian message 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
The Washington Post is owned by Jeff Bezos of Amazon fame. Little reported is the $600 million contract it recently won to provide the CIA with information technology products and services. Bezos had negligible presence in Washington, DC prior to his acquisition of the Washington Post, but now has a very loud voice. The Post has always been close to the CIA and other national security agencies with Katherine Graham (former owner) indicating in a speech to the CIA that there are some things Americans "don't need to know and should not…"
That might have been the case decades ago, but in the age of the Internet/WWW, hackers and independent journalists who know "it's not about the money" and can report freely, Graham's statement is nonsense. In short, in 2014 the playbook of the ruling class is open for all to see.
And what of the dreary New York Times? Gray indeed. This just about sums up what a once great journalistic enterprise has become.
Now in its fourteenth year the Luxury Conference is one of the world's most prestigious annual forums for the global luxury business, bringing together 500+ of the most senior business and creative leaders from the top echelons of the industry to gain insights, share ideas and expand their international networks. The 2013 conference took place in Singapore and examined the growing influence of Southeast Asia in the luxury market – as both creator and consumer. Speakers included: Ermenegildo Zegna; Domenico De Sole, President, Tom Ford International; Angelica Cheung, Editor in Chief, Vogue China; Anna Sui, Founder, Anna Sui; Bryan Grey Yambao, Blogger, bryanboy.com; HRH Princess Marie-Chantal, Founder and Creative Director, Marie-Chantal; and Andrew Keith, President, Lane Crawford and Joyce The award-winning 2012 conference took place in Rome and analyzed the potential of Africa and the power of the Mediterranean with contributions from major names such as Bono, Donatella Versace, Jean-Paul Gaultier and Vivienne Westwood.
But no matter.
Dean Acheson once said that Americans could hold focus on international issues for about ten minutes. So maybe President Obama is doing Americans a service by cutting back on press freedom. But wait! Isn't that something that President Putin would do?
One Nation Under God in Ukraine
Party Platform of UNA-UNSO. Note the logo for the party.
Required: Terminate the current practice of destroying the education system through its Americanization and privatization…National Social Power —a system of the dictatorship of the Nation with regard to the socio economic interests of the people..Our enemies: communism, cosmopolitanism, liberalism
God created us in Ukrainian and Hallowed be His will for evermore. We stand for God's will. God is with us! Our highest duty: the implementation of Ukrainian national idea – the idea of self-assertion of the Nation, the creation of the state of the Ukrainian national system…the purpose of the education system must be to develop the creative potential of the nation, the formation of highly educated personnel, education nationally conscious, active, selfless and sacrificial citizens of Ukraine.
Party Platform of Right Sector. Note the Logo for the party
The purpose of human existence is [to be] closer to God – or man, society, state degraded, degenerate and decadent. Humanists its [their] struggle with Christianity began with the denial of God and the deification of man: Man Anthem! Man, not God (P.Tychyna). Because of Jacobinism, socialism and social democracy, they naturally came to National Socialism, which turned man into beast, and communism that worked meaningless servants and destroyed millions of oppressed peoples. The current through demoliberalizm (sic) humanists, cosmopolitanism and globalization are not only individuals but entire countries are by atheism and denationalization, homosexuality and drug addiction.
Christ's teaching comes to everyone. And the man has to take care that the grain of truth zakorenylysya and sprouted in her soul a living faith. The child must grow and protect. Faith must cultivate and protect. Bandera [Nazi collaborator] taught: "We need not distinguish the defense of the Christian faith and the Church of the national liberation struggle, just concentrate and focus the main efforts around those critical statements against which the enemy directs strongest attack..Head over to the school between young children, where the enemy is trying to fill their hearts with Moscow and Washington poison, and taught there will be love and devotion to his native land.
Svoboda's nationalism is based on love, respect, and honour…We are Social Nationalists. We do neither belong to the old Communist nor to the new Democratic nomenclature. We have a new vision of the world and we can correctly assess the political developments in Ukraine.
Set the graph "nationality" in the passport and birth certificate. Determine the nationality by birth certificate or birth certificate of the parents, considering the requests of the citizen…Implement a criminal penalty for any displays of Ukrainophobia…Implement a "Reproductive Health of the Nation" program. Disallow abortion except due to medical issues, and/or rape, which were proved in court. Align the implementation of illegal abortion to attempted murder in the criminal law.


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This will be the 5th time I have brought this article back out in six years. I continue to be alarmed at the lack of discernment within the body of Christ.
Why would any of us feel that the Holy Word of God is not enough? God left us His Word – inspired by the Holy Spirit, yet some of us chase after extra Biblical nonsense. I'm sorry if that offends but I feel that I must; if offending will bring some of the brethren back to the truth.
"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables" (2 Timothy 4:3-4).
Originally written in 2015:
We have been searching for a Bible based church. For a long time, my husband and I have been worshiping from home; watching pastors and preachers whom we have come to trust and love via Youtube. We do miss fellowship and we are aware that God wants us to be in fellowship with other believers.
For the last two Sundays we visited a Baptist church. This church ordains women as pastors. The head pastor is a man. We do not believe that the Word of God supports women being pastors.
Knowing that we will probably not find a church where we agree on every point, we know that some things are essential, while others are non-essential to salvation. I have often spoken of the slippery slope in many of my articles that leadership finds itself on when they stray from the Word. It is inevitable.
A baby was being dedicated on the first Sunday we visited the new church. A book was presented to the parents of the baby. The name of the book was Jesus Calling. I had read about this book, and knew that it was very controversial, but I had no idea how wrong this book was for any Christian to be reading.
I know that this article is going to upset many people who have come to love Jesus Calling. My job as a writer is to speak truth. I have no control over the readers' reaction, but I must speak truth; and hopefully I will reach some Christians with the truth. I pray that this piece will help many to see that Jesus Calling is not a book that Jesus would have them read.
Jesus Calling is a New Age mystical book which Christians should completely avoid.
From gotquestions.org
Question: "What is sola scriptura?"
Answer: The phrase sola scriptura is from the Latin: sola having the idea of "alone," "ground," "base," and the word scriptura meaning "writings"—referring to the Scriptures. Sola scriptura means that Scripture alone is authoritative for the faith and practice of the Christian. The Bible is complete, authoritative, and true. "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16).
It says in Timothy 3:16, that all Scripture is God-breathed. Just as He breathed life into Adam, He breathed the Words of the Bible – penned by men, but under His inspiration. It is so vitally important for the believer to read God's Word. It is food for the soul. God speaks to us through His Word.
Have you ever read a verse of Scripture that you have read many times before, but suddenly the words just jumped off the page and into your heart? God was speaking to you through His Word, and helping you with whatever you were going through at that particular time.
"For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12)
The author of this book, Sarah Young, modeled her book after God Calling, a book written in the early 1930s. This book was written by two "listeners" who said that they would come into the presence of God and begin to write what they thought He was saying. It is a New Age practice called automatic writing. The New Age followers believe that they are channeling spirits who impart knowledge to them. We know that these so-called spirits are demons.
Isn't it just like Satan to deceive the children of God? In Jesus Calling, Sarah Young also claims that she came into God's presence and listened and then wrote what she felt He was saying to her. She writes as if Jesus Himself is speaking.
Doesn't it make you wonder who was saying the things for Miss Young to write? I have skimmed through many of the writings in this book, and on the surface they seem innocuous. But I have wondered why so many millions of Christians would resort to reading this book, when we have the Word of God. Why do they need more? Who is whispering to them that they need more?
I see that Sarah Young now has a book out for children, and even a Jesus Calling bible! This alarms me, and makes me wonder why so many Christians lack discernment. It is obvious to me that Satan is confusing and deceiving God's children. But if these same people would read the Word of God, they would see that everything they need to know is right there in His Word!
Harper Collins publishes "Jesus Calling" books. Harper Collins also publishes the Satanic Bible. Coincidence? I think not.
Back to the church that my husband and I visited; we had the pastor come to our home to speak with us about some of our concerns. I had already told him about being alarmed that the church would present Jesus Calling to the parents of a baby being dedicated. When we began to speak with him about this, he shut us down by saying that his wife loves Jesus Calling and that all of these books bring her peace. So, the book is okay because his wife loves it? I was speechless.
I began to connect the dots. I thought to myself that this pastor believes that it is okay to ordain women as pastors, and he was influenced by his wife about the spiritual legitimacy of Jesus Calling. My mind traveled back to the Scriptures about the Garden of Eden. It was Eve who was deceived by Satan. Adam sinned willfully. I believe that he did this because of his love for Eve. He put her above God.
If this pastor believed the Word of God, and studied it as any pastor should, he would have seen the error of his ways. God would have spoken to him through His Word. But instead he did what he thought was right.
"There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death" (Proverbs 14:12).
Warren Smith wrote a book entitled "Another Jesus Calling." In this insightful book, Mr. Smith asks the question "Is this really our Savior speaking?" I would encourage any readers of this article, who are defensive about Sarah Young's book, to purchase "Another Jesus Calling." Warren Smith believes (as I do) that this is just part of the Emerging Church movement, where contemplative prayer and eastern mediation is encouraged.
Please pass this article on to anyone you know who is reading Jesus Calling. I pray that the Lord will bring many away from this counterfeit book and back into His book – the Bible.
Shalom B'Yeshua


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The Radicals are now leaking and pooping on their once-reliable majority leader, Eric Cantor:
In a closed-door conference meeting on Wednesday, Cantor told one GOP member that if they blocked the Senate-passed Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) from coming to the floor, they'd cause "civil war" in the ranks....
Cantor's comment irked some Republican aides, who told National Review Online that such strong language is inappropriate.
Having helped press the toilet's lever, Cantor is inveighing against the GOP's vortex of madness at the eleventh hour. He was with the Radicals when radicalism seemed ascendingly sweet; now he's turning whiter than a Mississippi redistricter at the prospect of being flushed with these malodorous flunkies.
Will he save himself? Who knows? We do know he hasn't any principles to rescue, so that lightens his load. But what's more, who cares? Cantor's only consistency has come in playing the odds of personal advancement; this reptilian opportunist wouldn't know a national interest if one wiped his ass for him. He is truly one of the more despicable specimens of contemporary Radical Republicanism--and now it's abandoning him, or he's abandoning it, or something like that, if anyone any longer cares.
Of genuine interest, however, is the question of his party's "civil war." At long last, has its outbreak arrived? Will the Tea Party split into a third? Are establishment Republicans reclaiming the high ground?
With this bunch predictions are rather useless, since bumbling amateurism has so often been in command. The best we can do is stay tuned.


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HomeWord - October 22, 2013
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- 2013 Oct 22
All Mine
This devotional was written by Kelly McFadden
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. —Philippians 2:3-5
It had been a record-breaking Halloween. I had trick-or-treated until my pillowcase was busting at the seams. I couldn't wait to get home and sort through all my hard-earned candy. Greedily, I scavenged through my new prized possessions, thinking about the bragging rights I would have at school the next day once people saw my loot.
My parents walked in during this process, however, to let me know that half of my loot would be going to children who were too sick to trick-or-treat. Needless to say, I did not like this idea at all. I tried to pull out a few boxes of raisins for those kids, but in the end, half of my goods were taken and given to charity. I sulked for weeks afterwards, especially during key candy-trading times at school.
Paul writes the Philippians, encouraging them to put others' needs before their own. It was a call to unity, a call to be others-focused. It is easy and natural to look after and care only for ourselves, but the Lord wants us to look out for more than just number one. He tells us to care for the orphans, the widows, and the oppressed. He tells us to love our neighbors. Understanding that everyone is equal in God's eyes helps us walk in true humility. It allows us to work better together with those in our church, neighborhoods, and communities when we realize that our needs are not any greater than the needs of another.
There are still areas of my life today in which I catch myself thinking only of me. It is easy to get so wrapped up in me—my schedule, my problems, my stresses—that I do not take time to think about what others around me are going through. So each day, I try to ask the Lord to give me a humble spirit and an eye for the needs of others. Selfishness can ruin friendships, work relationships and, ultimately, pulls us further from Christ. To be Christ-like, we must put others before ourselves.
1. In what areas of your life do you find you struggle with selfishness?
2. How can you begin to turn those me-centered areas around so you can have a heart that truly looks out for the interest of others?
Proverbs 18:1; Philippians 2:1-11; James 3:13-18
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All entries for Thursday 15 March 2007
March 15, 2007
Student debt may be sold off
Writing about web page http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6453499.stm
According to the Beeb, Gordon Brown is planning to sell off the right to collect at least some of the estimated £16bn students owe to the government. Why do I have visions of the debt being bought by some evil parasite like Smallweed in Bleak House? Doubtless for people who don't pay up it'll be bailiffs galore.


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Your perfect car, truck, minivan or SUV awaits you at Hertrich Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram of Pocomoke. With an expansive inventory of new Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep vehicles priced competitively, you'll drive away satisfied.
If you can't find your desired vehicle in stock, simply fill out the CarFinder form and we'll do the searching for you! Be sure to browse our New Vehicle Specials as well as our hand picked inventory of Featured Vehicles.


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Draft 5; 2006-09-19
Please send comments and suggestions via the OSI Contact Form.
As the Internet shows so clearly, there is great social, technical, and financial benefit that comes from massive interoperability. This interoperability was not achieved in a vacuum, nor was it necessarily intended or happened as expected by the major players of the industry in its early days. But the processes and practices of the IETF, the W3C, the effect of events like the early Interop conferences, and the inclusive participation of virtually any party willing to follow the published protocols ultimately created something broadly useful and valuable.
Metcalfe's Law predicts that the value of interoperability increases geometrically with the number of compatible participants, and Reed's Law predicts that the utility of a network (implied by interoperable equivalence) increases exponentially due to the number of possible subgroups that interoperability enables. Both theories have successfully informed the investment of literally billions of dollars of capital investment as the Internet has become mainstream. Whichever law ultimately governs, interoperability is a positive function governing value, and thus any force that diminishes interoperability must be carefully scrutinized as it relates to ultimate and/or total value.
If interoperability is a grand goal as it relates to software, then standards are the critical tools for achieving this goal. Moreover, standards that permit:
- any license (free, open, or closed)
- any implementation
- any implementor
will expand the universe of interoperability compared with standards that militate against specific types of license, specific implementations, or specific implementors. Thus, for all the benefit that a standard can offer, the important question to ask is what the standard does or does not offer based on its implicit or explicit license or technology freedoms or restrictions.
At this point in time, it is has become largely intuitive across the industry and among users that broad and widely accepted standards are a Good Thing, better, certainly, than proprietary standards. In spite of these widely understood benefits, many market participants paradoxically believe that they can obtain a commercial or strategic advantage through unique, i.e., non-standard functionality. Some seek to burnish the perception of their products or technologies by claiming that they implement "open standards" while at the same time adding extensions that are not part of the standard. Others go farther, claiming that their unique implementations are themselves "open standards", a reversal of standards logic. The result is that the (usually undefined) term "open standard" has become more of an aspirational term than a defining term, a problem that we seek to rectify.
While the Open Source Initiative is not in a position to completely define what is meant by the term "open standard" (a term that may well become enshrined into law in some countries, and hence the perview of legal authorities, not the OSI), we believe that the OSI does have both the opportunity and the obligation to try to constrain the problem. In particular, as custodians of the Open Source Definition, we believe it is essential to help decision makers and developers understand how "open standards" relate to "open source software" and to ensure that a poor understanding of the former does not discriminate against the latter.
The Purpose of Open Standards
The purpose of an open standard is to increase the market for a technology by enabling potential consumers or suppliers of that technology to invest in it without having to either pay monopoly rent or fear litigation on trade secret, copyright, patent, or trademark causes of action. No standard can properly be described as "open" except to the extent it achieves these goals.
The industry has learned by experience that the only software-related standards to fully achieve these goals are those which not only permit but encourage open-source implementations. Open-source implementations are a quality and honesty check for any open standard that might be implemented in software; whether an application programming interface, a hardware interface, a file format, a communication protocol, a specification of user interactions, or any other form of data interchange and program control.
To help industry participants (suppliers, consumers, and regulators) identify and specify standards that permit open source implementations, the OSI has defined a minimal Open Standards Requirement (OSR). The OSI has also created a set of Criteria that can be used to judge whether a standard fully complies with that Requirement.
Problems not solved (because not in scope)
The problem of creating a robust and high-quality software standard, one that meets the needs of vendors and customers, users and implementors, public and private sectors, now and over time, is complex and context-dependent. In some cases, experienced hands are essential to the successful birthing of a standard; in others, a single idea from a single mind ensures the integrity of the problem definition and hence the problem's solution. The Open Standards Requirements for Software does not prescribe how open standards for software should be created, debated, ratified, and maintained except that they not preclude a viable implementation in open source.
There are any number of reasons why a particular open standard for software may succeed or fail in the market, and meeting the Open Standards Requirements is no guarantee that the standard will magically succeed on that fact alone. However, standards that preclude open source implementation are unhelpful to what is now a significant community of software developers and users, and it would be disingenuous to call any such standards "open" when they are, in fact, closed.
- How can we be broad enough to be relevant, yet precise enough to be defensible?
- Implementation vs. Specification
cf. Larry's paper is at: http://www.rosenlaw.com/DefiningOpenStandards.pdf
- Everyone should be free to implement open standards in both proprietary and open source software.
- Open standards should be available to everyone on royalty-free terms.
- Open standards should be developed using a collaborative, balanced and consensus-based approval process.
- Open standards should be developed under formal and binding commitments for the disclosure and licensing of copyrights and patent claims.
- Open standards should be made available under reasonable reciprocal licenses that require licensees to share under the same terms their own patent claims reading on the standard.
- The specifications for open standards should be available to everyone on open source copyright license terms.


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In the game "The Catapult" you must help the stickman defend his castle 🏰 from the siege weapons of the enemy.
Use the catapult to throw stones 🏹 at the opponents and break their military mechanisms and siege towers.
The game has a simple intuitive control 🎮. Tap on the screen and pull to charge the catapult and select the tension force. Release to launch the projectile into the enemy.
For each struck enemy you will earn coins which help you to buy upgrades shells, for example a bomb 💣.
We are waiting for your wishes and comments on the game.
Have a good game! 😜


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Krishna Inks is the brainchild of Dr. Sreekumar a medical professional by day and a connoisseur by night.
He brings his passion from his younger days, when he would grind and turn fountain pens long before the era of the ball pen. Drawing inspiration from his Master Mr Ramachandran of Calicut Dr.Sreekumar started making fountain pen inks in 2010. What started as a hobby is today his passion. Dr.Sreekumar a believer of the Make in India campaign hand makes these inks at his workshop in Kerala, India also known as Gods own country!
We've tried hard to accurately scan the swatches, but please note the usual caveats about variations due to scanning and displaying on your monitor, please treat this as a guide only.


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Believe It or Not, the MLB Regular Season Has Officially Begun
Ichiro drew all the cheers. Most everyone else on the Seattle Mariners did all the hitting.
A crowd that came to salute Ichiro Suzuki in his homeland saw Domingo Santana deliver the biggest hit at the Tokyo Dome, a grand slam that sent Seattle over the Oakland Athletics 9-7 Wednesday in the Major League Baseball opener.
Batting ninth and knowing he'd get two plate appearances, Ichiro popped up and worked a walk.
The 45-year-old star took his spot in right field to begin the bottom of the fourth inning, then was pulled to another huge ovation. He was met with hugs from the Mariners on the diamond.
All love for Ichiro! #MLB開幕戦 pic.twitter.com/tgiZDggKtz
— MLB (@MLB) March 20, 2019
"The fans in Japan probably aren't used to the reception I got from my teammates, but it's not that unusual in the majors," Ichiro said.
Mariners manager Scott Servais said Ichiro will play in Thursday's final game of the series, but there is no guarantee he'll start.
"We certainly want to give him an opportunity to go out and play, but we also want to get some other guys in the game," Servais said. "I understand everybody wants to see him go all nine innings. We're trying to do the best thing for the team and Ichiro understands."
This marked the earliest Opening Day ever — the summer sport actually started on the last day of winter. No doubt, most fans in North America were sound asleep when Oakland's Mike Fiers threw the first pitch at 5:36 a.m. EDT (6:36 p.m. local).
A year after the Cubs' Ian Happ homered on the very pitch of the season, the ball again was flying.
Tim Beckham also homered as several Seattle newcomers excelled.
WHEN IN ROME. pic.twitter.com/Ltu1NeVgIQ
— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) March 20, 2019
Khris Davis, who led the majors with 48 home runs last year, Stephen Piscotty and Matt Chapman connected for the A's.
"It was great. It's a fun crowd to play in front of. Even the pregame stuff was exciting. I think everybody had a good time," Oakland manager Bob Melvin said.
A packed crowd of 45,787 was buzzing for its favorite star, sending cheers, chants and camera flashes for Ichiro bounding all around the park. Signs and Ichiro jerseys were plenty, too.
The drip is IMMACULATE in Japan. #MLB開幕戦 pic.twitter.com/QzqUjWaDWn
— Cut4 (@Cut4) March 20, 2019
Ichiro became the second-oldest position player to start an opener, only a few months younger than Julio Franco was for Atlanta in 2004. Several of the players in this game weren't born when Ichiro began his pro career.
Ichiro is getting very near the end of a sensational pro career that began in Japan in 1992 when he was 18. He stopped playing last May to become a Mariners special assistant — after totaling 4,367 hits on both sides of the ocean — and struggled in spring training this year.
Santana, one of many Mariners new to the lineup, had no trouble at the plate. His opposite-field grand slam capped a five-run burst in the third for a 5-2 lead and Beckham's drive in the fifth made it 9-4.
Domingo Slamtana. ?#MLB開幕戦 pic.twitter.com/wfgrsr9uq0
— MLB (@MLB) March 20, 2019
Beckham got three hits and scored three times.
Also making a nice debut for Seattle were Jay Bruce, who singled for MLB's first hit of the season, and Edwin Encarnacion, who scored twice.
The Mariners won for the 12th time in 15 openers. They also beat the A's in 2012 when MLB last started in Japan.
Seattle starter Marco Gonzales hung in for six innings, allowing three earned runs and seven hits, and got the win. Felix Hernandez had started the last 10 openers for the Mariners.
Hunter Strickland pitched a scoreless ninth for a save in his first game for Seattle. Edwin Diaz, who led the majors with 57 last year, was traded with Robinson Cano to the Mets in the offseason.
Fiers, making his first opening day start at 33, was hit hard for three innings and took the loss.
After a lot of offseason talk about improved pace of play, the opener took 3 hours, 24 minutes. … The Mariners had held opponents to no more than three runs in their past 12 openers, an MLB record.
Mariners: C Omar Narvaez got stung in the bare thumb on a fastball right down the middle after an early cross-up with Gonzales. Narvaez was checked by a trainer and stayed in. … 1B Daniel Vogelbach was hit in the elbow by a pitch and kept playing.
Athletics: OF Nick Martini (sprained knee), who hit well after making his big league debut last season, is on the injured list for at least another week.
Mariners: LHP Yusei Kikuchi makes his major league debut in his home country. The 27-year-old lefty starred for Seibu last season, then joined Seattle with a contract that could be worth $109 million over seven years. Kikuchi mixes a hard fastball with a tough, looping curve.
Athletics: RHP Marco Estrada makes his debut after signing with the A's. The 35-year-old was 7-14 with a career-worst 5.64 ERA last season for Toronto and was hampered by hip and back problems.
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
Truth and Accuracy
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Recently, the Wireline Competition Bureau authorized $255 million from the Connect America Fund to expand broadband in rural areas lacking service. It's great news for the over 400,000 rural homes and businesses in 41 states that will get access to wireline broadband for the first time. And now, you can see more precisely where that expansion will occur on an updated interactive map.
The update of this map is especially useful because this round of Connect America funding includes a process to make sure that we are not subsidizing broadband where other providers are offering service without subsidies. The map shows where funds have been authorized because there was no challenge or challenges have resolved, and areas still subject to challenge. These decisions are based on very local information – down to the census block level – and the map provides a quick, easy, and clear way to identify those areas. Just zoom in! We'll update the map as challenges are resolved.
The Connect America Fund is part of the FCC's initiative to bring broadband access to rural communities in order to ensure that ALL Americans have access to today's essential tools for communications.


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Associated Press//September 23, 2013
//September 23, 2013
WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service says an official at the center of the agency's tea party scandal is retiring.
Lois Lerner headed the IRS division that handles applications for tax-exempt status when she was placed on paid leave in May. While she was in charge, the agency acknowledged that agents improperly targeted tea party groups for extra scrutiny when they applied for tax-exempt status from 2010 to 2012.
Lerner first disclosed the targeting at a law conference in May, when she was asked a planted question about IRS treatment of political groups. Less than two weeks later, she refused to answer questions at a congressional hearing, citing her constitutional right not to incriminate herself.
Republicans in Congress have repeatedly called for her to be fired.-