text:
Most of the books we list can be read in an ordinary Web browser by people with normal vision and physical capabilities, and a reasonably up-to-date computer. You may need special programs to read some of the books we list, either because you have special needs, or the digital formats of the books have special requirements.
If you need assistance beyond what's given here, please don't hesitate to contact us (use the email address at the bottom of this page) .
Blind and visually impaired readers may need special programs or devices to read online books. Here are a few useful resource directories for such tools:
The International Digital Publishing Forum's Epub format for books is not natively readable in most web browsers, but can be read by a number of plugins and applications. Two free commercial Epub readers are Adobe Digital Editions (for Windows 2000 or later, or Mac OS X 1.4.10 or later), and LexCycle's Stanza (for Windows XP and above, Mac OS X 10.4.8 and above, Iphone, and Ipod Touch). For Linux, there's FBReader. The Wikpedia Epub page mentions additional Epub reader programs.
Users that want to see Flash selectively (for instance, to read books interactively but block intrusive Flash ads on other web sites) may want to consider installing a browser plugin like NoScript or Flashblock, to prevent Flash from running except when the user wishes.
The Wikipedia page on Flash has more information about Flash display and management programs.
As with other proprietary formats, we generally only list titles that are not also legitimately available in open formats.
However, text-based browsers and other browsers for special needs may have a harder time with frames. Some, such as Lynx, can still let you navigate through framesets-- but might only show one frame at a time, making it easy to get lost in a frameset.
If you're thinking of putting a book online that uses frames, consider making it accessible to frameless browsers as well. This can often be done with very little extra effort, such as by making a link to a contents page in a <NOFRAMES> section.
There is no practical way at present to use a text-based browser to read a book online stored as page images.
Some PDF files (version 1.4 or later) may be incompatible with older PDF viewers. If you can't read files marked "PDF 1.4" (or other PDF files) you may need to upgrade to Adobe/Acrobat Reader 5 or later, or a newer version of other third-party PDF reading programs.
Adobe also provides a set of free tools to convert PDF documents into HTML or ASCII text, which can be helpful for visually disabled readers. See this site for more information. (Note that these tools will not work on certain (very large) PDFs that consist only of scanned, un-OCR'd page images, since there's no encoded text to convert.)
Several programs can be used to view Postscript files, the best-known being Ghostview, which is available for all major computer systems.
Postscript is the language used by most modern printers, so in many cases you can print the content of Postscript files just by sending the files to the printer (however this is done in your system).
The free OpenOffice suite, available for Windows, Mac, and Linux, will also display many Word files. Some other word processing programs also provide converters from Word to their internal formats, though they don't always work perfectly for all Word files.
As with other proprietary formats that don't have openly published specifications, we tend to bypass listings for Word files in favor of listings for more open formats, when available.
Home -- About Us -- FAQ -- Get Involved! -- In Progress / Requested -- More Book Links
Books -- News -- Features -- Archives -- The Inside Story
Edited by John Mark Ockerbloom (email@example.com)
OBP copyrights and licenses


text:
Ever wish that the characters from your favorite story could step out and join you for a drink? Then check out "The Magician and the Maid and Other Stories" by Christie Yant, from the anthology The Way Of The Wizard.
The Way of the Wizard is edited by John Joseph Adams and includes stories by Neil Gaiman, Ursula K. Le Guin, Kelly Link, George R.R. Martin, Peter S. Beagle and many others. Here's one of our favorites.
by Christie Yant
She called herself Audra, though that wasn't her real name; he called himself Miles, but she suspected it wasn't his, either.
She was young (how young she would not say), beautiful (or so her Emil had told her), and she had a keen interest in stories. Miles was old, tattooed, perverted, and often mean, but he knew stories that no one else knew, and she was certain that he was the only one who could help her get back home.
She found him among the artists, makers, and deviants. They called him Uncle, and spoke of him sometimes with loathing, sometimes respect, but almost always with a tinge of awe—a magician in a world of technicians, they did not know what to make of him.
But Audra saw him for what he truly was.
There once was a youth of low birth who aspired to the place of King's Magician. The villagers scoffed, "Emil, you will do naught but mind the sheep," but in his heart he knew that he could possess great magic.
The hedge witches and midwives laughed at the shepherd boy who played at sorcery, but indulged his earnestness. He learned charms for love and marriage (women's magic, but he would not be shamed by it) and for wealth and luck, but none of this satisfied him, for it brought him no nearer to the throne. For that he needed real power, and he did not know where to find it.
He had a childhood playmate named Aurora, and as they approached adulthood Aurora grew in both beauty and cleverness. Their childhood affection turned to true love, and on her birthday they were betrothed.
The day came when the youth knew he had learned all that he could in the nearby villages and towns. The lovers wept and declared their devotion with an exchange of humble silver rings. With a final kiss Emil left his true love behind, and set out to find the source of true power.
It was not hard to meet him, once she understood his tastes. A tuck of her skirt, a tug at her chemise; a bright ribbon, new stockings, and dark kohl to line her eyes. She followed him to a club he frequented, where musicians played discordant arrangements and the patrons were as elaborately costumed as the performers. She walked past his booth where he smoked cigarettes and drank scotch surrounded by colorful young women and effeminate young men.
"You there, Bo Peep, come here."
She met his dark eyes, turned her back on him, and walked away. The sycophants who surrounded him bitched and whined their contempt for her. He barked at them to shut up as she made her way to the door.
Once she had rejected him it was easy. She waited for his fourth frustrated overture before she joined him at his table.
"So," she said as she lifted his glass to her lips uninvited, "tell me a story."
"What kind of story?"
"A fairy tale."
"What—something with elves and princes and happily-ever-after?"
"No," she said and reached across the corner of the table to turn his face toward her. He seemed startled but complied, and leaned in until their faces were just inches apart. "A real fairy tale. With wolves and witches, jealous parents, woodsmen charged with murdering the innocent. Tell me a story, Miles—" she could feel his breath against her cheek falter as she leaned ever closer and spoke softly into his ear "—tell me a story that is true."
Audra was foot-sore and weary when they reached the house at dawn. She stumbled on the stone walk, and caught Miles's arm to steady her.
"Are you sure you don't need anything from home?" he asked as he worked his key in the lock.
At his mention of home, she remembered again to hate him.
"Quite sure," she said. He faced her, this time with a different kind of appraisal. There was no leer, no suspicion. He touched her face, and his habitual scowl relaxed into something like a smile.
"You remind me of someone I knew once, long ago." The smile vanished and he opened the front door, stepping aside to let her pass.
His house was small and filled with a peculiar collection of things that told her she had the right man. Many of them where achingly familiar to Audra: a wooden spindle in the entryway, wound with golden thread; a dainty glass shoe on the mantle, almost small enough to fit a child; in the corner, a stone statue of an ugly, twisted creature, one arm thrown protectively over its eyes.
"What a remarkable collection," she said and forced a smile. "It must have taken a long time to assemble."
"Longer than I care to think of." He picked a golden pear off the shelf and examined it. "None of it is what I wanted." He returned it to the shelf with a careless toss. "I'll show you the bedroom."
The room was bare, in contrast with the rest of the house. No ornament hung on the white plaster walls, no picture rested on the dresser. The bed was small, though big enough for two, and covered in a faded quilt. It was flanked by a table on one side, and a bent wood chair on the other.
Audra sat stiffly at the foot of the bed.
The mattress creaked as Miles sat down beside her. She turned toward him with resolve, and braced herself for the inevitable. She would do whatever it took to get back home.
She had done worse, and with less cause.
He leaned in close and stroked her hair; she could smell him, sweet and smoky, familiar and foreign at the same time. She lifted a hand to caress his smooth head where he lingered above her breast. He caught her wrist and straightened, pressed her palm to his cheek—eyes closed, forehead creased in pain—then abruptly dropped her hand and rose from the bed.
"If you need more blankets, they're in the wardrobe. Sleep well," he said, and left Audra to wonder what had gone wrong, and to consider her next move.
Aurora was as ambitious as Emil, but of a different nature. She believed that the minds of most men were selfish and swayed only by fear or greed. In her heart there nestled a seed of doubt that Emil could get his wish through pure knowledge and practice. She resolved in her love for him to secure his place through craft and wile.
Aurora knew the ways of tales. She planted the seed of rumor in soil in which it grew best: the bowry; the laundry; anywhere the women gathered, she talked of his power.
But word of the powerful sorcerer had to reach the King himself, and to get close enough she would need to use a different craft.
The hands of guards and pikemen were rougher than Emil's; the mouths of servants less tender. She ignited the fire of ambition in their hearts with flattery, and fanned it with promises that Emil, the most powerful sorcerer in the kingdom, would repay those who supported him once he was installed in the palace.
And if she had regrets as she hurried from chamber to cottage in the cold night air, she dismissed them as just a step on the road toward realizing her lover's dream.
Audra woke at mid-day to find a note on the chair in the corner of the room.
In deep black ink and an unpracticed hand was written:
"Stay if you like, or go as you please. I am accountable to only one, and that one is not you. If that arrangement suits you, make yourself at home. – M."
It suited her just fine.
She searched the house. She wasn't sure what she was looking for, but she was certain that any object of power great enough to rip her from her own world would be obvious somehow. It would be odd, otherworldly, she thought—but that described everything here. Like a raven's hoard, every nook contained some shiny, stolen object.
On a shelf in the library she found a clear glass apothecary jar labeled "East Wind." Thief, she thought. Audra hoped that the East Wind didn't suffer for the lack of the contents of the jar. She would keep an eye on the weather vane and return it at the first opportunity.
Something on the shelf caught her eye, small and shining, and her contempt turned to rage.
She pocketed Emil's ring.
Miles seemed to dislike mirrors. There were none in the bedroom; none even in the washroom. The only mirror in the house was an ornate, gilded thing that hung in the library. She paused in front of it, startled at her disheveled appearance. She smoothed her hair with her fingers and leaned in to examine her blood-shot eyes—and found someone else's eyes looking back at her.
The gaunt, androgynous face that gazed dolefully from deep within the mirror was darker and older than her own.
"Hello," she said to the Magic Mirror. "I'm Audra."
The Mirror shook its head disapprovingly.
"You're right," she admitted. "But we don't give strangers our true names, do we?"
She considered her new companion. The long lines of its insubstantial face told Audra that it had worn that mournful look for a long time.
"Did he steal you, as well? Perhaps we can help each other find a way home. The answer is here somewhere."
The face in the Mirror brightened, and it nodded.
Audra had an idea. "Would you like me to read to you?"
Emil travelled a bitter road in search of the knowledge that would make his fortune. By day he starved, by night he froze. But one day Luck was with him, and he caught two large, healthy hares before sunset. As he huddled beside his small fire, the hares roasting over the flames, a short and grizzled man came out of the forest, carrying a sack of goods.
"Good evening, Grandfather," Emil said to the little man. "Sit, share my fire and supper." The man gratefully accepted. "What do you sell?" Emil asked.
"Pots and pans, needles, and spices," the old man said.
"Know you any magic?" Emil asked, disappointed. He was beginning to think the knowledge he sought didn't exist, and he was losing hope.
"What does a shepherd need with magic?"
"How did you know I'm a shepherd?" Emil asked in surprise.
"I know many things," the man said, and then groaned, and doubled over in pain.
"What ails you?" Emil cried, rushing to the old man's side.
"Nothing that you can help, lad. I've a disease of the gut that none can cure, and my time may be short."
Emil questioned the man about his ailment, and pulled from his pack dozens of pouches of herbs and powders. He heated water for a medicinal brew while the old man groaned and clutched his stomach.
The man pulled horrible faces as he drank down the bitter tea, but before long his pain eased, and he was able to sit upright again. Emil mixed another batch of the preparation and assured him that he would be cured if he drank the tea for seven days.
"I was wrong about you," the man said. "You're no shepherd." He pulled a scroll from deep within his pack. "For your kindness I'll give you what you've traveled the world seeking."
The little man explained that the scroll contained three powerful spells, written in a language that no man had spoken in a thousand years. The first was a spell to summon a benevolent spirit, who would then guide him in his learning.
The second summoned objects from one world into another, for every child knew that there were many worlds, and that it was possible to pierce the veil between them.
The third would transport a person between worlds.
If he could decipher the three spells, he would surely become the most powerful sorcerer in the kingdom.
Emil offered the old man what coins he had, but he refused. He simply handed over the scroll, bade Emil farewell, and walked back into the forest.
Audra filled her time reading to the Mirror. The shelves were filled with hundreds of books: old and new, leather-bound and gilt-edged, or flimsy and sized to be carried in a pocket.
She devoured them, looking for clues. How she got here. How she might get back.
On a bottom shelf in the library, in the sixth book of a twelve-volume set, she found her story.
The illustrations throughout the blue, cloth-bound book were full of round, cheerful children and curling vines. She recognized some of her friends and enemies from her old life: there was Miska, who fooled the Man-With-The-Iron-Head and whom she had met once on his travels; on another page she found the fairy who brought the waterfall to the mountain, whom Audra resolved to visit as soon as she got home.
She turned the page, and her breath caught in her throat.
"The Magician and the Maid," the title read. Beneath the illustration were those familiar words, "Once upon a time."
A white rabbit bounded between birch trees toward Audra's cottage. Between the tree tops a castle gleamed pink in the sunset light, the place where her story was supposed to end. Audra traced the outline of the rabbit with her finger, and then traced the two lonely shadows that followed close behind.
Two shadows: one, her own, and the other, Emil's.
Audra was reading to the Mirror, a story it seemed to particularly like. It did tricks for her as she read, creating wispy images in the glass that matched the prose.
She had just reached the best part, where the trolls turn to stone in the light of the rising sun, when she heard footsteps outside the library door. The Mirror looked anxiously toward the sound, and then slipped out of sight beyond the carved frame.
The door burst open.
"Who are you talking to?" Miles demanded. "Who's here?" He smelled of scotch and sweat, and his overcoat had a new stain.
"No one. I like to read aloud. I am alone here all day," she said.
"Don't pretend I owe you anything." He slouched into the chair and pulled a cigarette from his coat. "You might make yourself useful," he said. "Read to me."
The room was small, and she stood no more than an arm's length away, feeling like a school girl being made to recite. She opened to a story she did not know, a tale called "The Snow Queen," and began to read. Miles closed his eyes and listened.
"Little Kay was quite blue with cold, indeed almost black, but he did not feel it; for the Snow Queen had kissed away the icy shiverings, and his heart was already a lump of ice," she read.
She glanced down at him when she paused for breath to find him looking at her in a way that she knew all too well.
Finally, an advantage.
She let her voice falter when he ran a finger up the side of her leg, lifting her skirt a few inches above her knee.
She did not stop reading—it was working, something in him had changed as she read. Sex was a weak foothold, but it was the only one she had, and perhaps it would be a step toward getting into his mind.
"He dragged some sharp, flat pieces of ice to and fro, and placed them together in all kinds of positions, as if he wished to make something out of them. He composed many complete figures, forming different words, but there was one word he never could manage to form, although he wished it very much. It was the word 'Eternity.' "
He fingered the cord tied at her waist, and tugged it gently at first, then more insistently. He leaned forward in the chair, and unfastened the last hook on her corset.
"Just at this moment it happened that little Gerda came through the great door of the castle. Cutting winds were raging around her, but she offered up a prayer and the winds sank down as if they were going to sleep; and she went on till she came to the large empty hall, and caught sight of Kay; she knew him directly; she flew to him and threw her arms round his neck, and held him fast, while she exclaimed, "Kay, dear little Kay, I have found you at last.' "
His fingers stopped their manipulations. His hands were still on her, the fastenings held between his fingertips.
She dared not breathe.
Whatever control she had for those few minutes was gone. She tried to reclaim it, to keep going as if nothing had happened. She even dropped a hand from the book and reached out to touch him. His hand snapped up and caught hers; he stood, pulling hard on her arm.
"Enough." He left the room without looking back. She heard the front door slam.
Audra straightened her clothes in frustration and wondered again what had gone wrong.
It took only a moment's thought for Audra to decide to follow him. She peered out into the street: there he was, a block away already, casting a long shadow in the lamp light on the wet pavement.
Her feet were cold and her shoes wet through by the time he finally stopped at a warehouse deep in a maze of brick complexes. He manipulated a complex series of locks on the dented and rusting steel door, and disappeared inside.
So this was where he went at night? Not to clubs and parlors as she had thought, but here, on the edge of the inhabited city, to a warehouse only notable for having all its window glass.
The windows were too high for her to see into, but a dumpster beneath one of them offered her a chance. The metal bin was slick with mist, and she slipped off it twice, but on her third try she hoisted herself on top and nervously peered through the filthy glass of the window.
In the dim light she could just make out the shape of Miles, rubbing his hands fiercely together as if to warm them, then unrolling something—paper, or parchment—spreading it out carefully in front of him on the concrete floor. He stood, and began to speak.
The room grew brighter, and a face appeared in front of him, suspended in the air—a familiar face made of dim green light; Audra could see little of it through the dirty glass. She could hear Miles's voice, urgent and almost desperate, but the words he shouted at the thing made no sense to her.
She shifted her weight to ease the pain of her knee pressing against the metal of the dumpster, and slipped. She fell, and cried out in pain as she landed hard on the pavement. She didn't know if Miles had heard, but she did not wait to find out. She picked herself up—now wet, filthy, and aching—and ran.
When she reached the house she went straight to the library. Audra shifted the books on the shelf so that the remaining volumes were flush against each other, and she hid her book in the small trunk where she kept her few clothes.
The Mirror's face emerged from its hiding place behind the frame, looking worried and wan.
"It's my story, after all," she told it. "I won't let him do any more damage. What if he takes the cottage? The woods? Where would I have to go home to? No, he can't have any more of our story."
The language of the scroll was not as impossible as the little man had said—while it was not his own, it was similar enough that someone as clever as Emil could puzzle it out. He applied himself to little else, and before long Emil could struggle through half of the first spell. But when he thought of arriving home after so long, still unable to execute even the simplest of the three, the frustration in him grew.
Surely, he thought, he should begin with the hardest, for having mastered that the simpler ones will come with ease.
So thinking, he set out to learn the last of the three spells before he arrived home.
When Miles finally returned the following evening at dusk, he looked exhausted and filthy, as if he had slept on the floor of the warehouse. She met him in the kitchen, and didn't ask questions.
He brooded on a chair in the corner while she chopped vegetables on the island butcher block, never taking his eyes off her, then stood abruptly and left the room.
The hiss and sputter of the vegetables as they hit the pan echoed the angry, inarticulate hiss in her mind. She had been here for days, and she was no closer to getting home.
The knife felt heavy and solid in her hand as she cubed a slab of marbled meat. She imagined Miles under the knife, imagined his fear and pain. She would get it out of him—how to get home—and he would tell her what he had done to her Emil before the miserable bastard died.
Sounds from the next room were punctuated with curses. The crack of heavy books being unshelved made her flinch.
"Where is it?" he first seemed to ask himself; then louder, "Where?" he demanded of the room at large; then a roar erupted from the doorway: "What have you done with it, you vicious witch?"
A cold wash of fear cleared away her thoughts of revenge.
"What are you talking about?"
"My book," he said. "Where is it? What have you done with it?"
He came at her hunched like an advancing wolf. They circled the butcher block. She gripped the knife and dared not blink, for fear that he would take a split second advantage and lunge for her.
"You have many books."
"And I only care about one!" His hand shot out and caught her wrist, bringing her arm down against the scarred wood with a painful shock. The knife fell from her hand.
He dragged her into the library. "There," he said, pointing to the shelf where her book had been. "Six of twelve. It was there and now it's not." He relaxed his grip without letting go. "If you borrowed it, it's fine. I just want it back." He released her and forced a smile. "Now, where is it?"
"You're right," she said, "I borrowed it. I didn't realize it was so important to you."
"It's very special."
"Yes," she said, her voice low and hard, "it is."
And with that, she knew she had given herself away.
Miles shoved her away from him. She fell into the bookcase as he left the small library and shut door behind him. A key turned in the lock.
It was too late.
She rested with her forehead against the door and caught her breath. She tried to pry open the small window, but it was sealed shut with layers of paint. She considered breaking the glass, and then thought better of it; she could escape from this house, it was true, but not from this world. For that, she still needed Miles.
She watched the sun set through the dirty window, and tried to decide what to do when he let her out. She heard him pacing through the house, talking to himself with ever greater stridency, but the words made no sense to her. It gave her a headache.
The sound of the key in the door woke her. She grabbed at the first thing that might serve as a weapon, a sturdy hardcover. She held in front of her like a shield.
Miles stood in the doorway, a long, wicked knife in his hand.
"Who are you?" he finally asked, his eyes narrowed with suspicion. "And how did you know?"
"Someone whose life you destroyed. Liar. Thief. Murderer." She produced Emil's ring.
He seemed frozen where he stood, his eyes darting back and forth between the ring in her hand and her face. "I am none of those things," he said.
"You took all of this," she gestured around the room. "You took him, and you took me. And what did you do with the things that were of no use to you?"
She had been edging toward him while he talked. She threw the book at his arm and it struck him just as she had hoped. The knife fell to the floor and she dove for it, snatching it up before Miles could stop her.
She had him now, she thought, and pressed the blade against his throat. He tried to push her off but she had a tenacious grip on him and he ceased his struggle when the knife pierced his thin skin. She felt his body tense in her hands, barely breathing and perfectly still.
"You still haven't told me who you are."
"Where is he?" she demanded.
"Where is who?" His voice was smooth and controlled.
"The man you stole, like you stole me. Like you stole all of it. Where is he?"
"You're obviously very upset. Put that down, let me go, and we'll talk about it. I don't know about any stolen man, but maybe I can help you find him."
He voice was calm, slightly imploring, asking for understanding and offering help. She hesitated, wondering what threat she was really willing to carry out against an enemy who was also her only hope.
She waited a moment too long. Miles grabbed a heavy jar off the shelf and hurled it at the wall.
The East Wind ripped through the room, finally free.
Fatigued and half-starved, Emil made his way slowly toward his home, and tried to unlock the spell. Soon he had three words, and then five, and soon a dozen. He would say them aloud, emphasizing this part or that, elongating a sound or shortening it, until the day he gave voice to the last character on the page, and something happened: a spark, a glimmer of magic.
He had ciphered out the spell.
Finally, on the coldest night he could remember, with not a soul in sight, he raised his voice against the howling wind, and shouted out the thirteen words of power.
As weeks turned into months the stories of Emil the Sorcerer grew, until finally even the King had heard, and wanted his power within his own control.
But Emil could not be found.
The angry vortex threw everything off the shelves. Audra ducked and covered her head as she was pummeled by books and debris. Miles crouched behind the trunk, which offered little protection from the gale.
There was a crash above Audra's head; her arms flew up to protect her eyes; broken glass struck her arms and legs, some falling away, some piercing her skin.
The window broke with a final crash and the captive wind escaped the room. The storm was over. Books thumped and glass tinkled to the ground.
Audra opened her eyes to the wreckage. Miles was already sifting through the pages and torn covers.
"No," he said, "no! It has to be here, my story has to be here . . . " He bled from a hundred small cuts but he paid them no mind. Audra plucked shards of dark glass out of her flesh. The shards gave off no reflection at all.
A cloud drifted from where the Mirror had hung over the wreckage-strewn shelves, searching. On the floor beside Audra's trunk, the lid torn off in the storm, it seemed to find what it was looking for. It slipped between the pages of a blue cloth-bound volume and disappeared.
"Here!" Audra said, clutching the volume to her chest. He scrambled toward her until they kneeled together in the middle of the floor, face to face.
Smoke curled out of the pages, only a wisp at first. Then more, green and glowing like a sunbeam in a mossy pond, crept out and wrapped itself around both them.
"The Guide you sought was always here," a voice whispered. "Your captive, Emil, and your friend, Aurora." Audra—Aurora—looked at the man she had hated and saw what was there all along: her Emil, thirty years since he had disappeared, with bald head and graying beard. Miles, who kept her because she looked like his lost love, but who wouldn't touch her, in faith to his beloved.
Emil looked back at her, tears in the eyes that had seemed so dead and without hope until now.
"Now, Emil, speak the words," the voice said, "and we will go home."
So should you happen across a blue cloth-bound book, the sixth in a set of twelve, do not look for "The Magician and the Maid," because it is not there.
Read the other stories, though, and in the story of the fairy who brought the waterfall to the mountain, you may find that she has a friend called Audra, though you will know the truth: it is not her real name.
If you read further you may find Emil as well, for though he never did become the King's magician, every story needs a little magic.
This story originally appeared in The Way Of The Wizard edited by John Joseph Adams, out now from Prime Books.
CHRISTIE YANT is a software tester by day, a science fiction/fantasy writer by night. She is also an assistant editor with Lightspeed Magazine. This story is her first fiction publication. In addition to writing fiction, she has also narrated several stories for the Hugo Award-winning Starship Sofa podcast, and reviews audiobooks for Audible.com. She lives on the central coast of California with her two amazing daughters, her boyfriend, and assorted four-legged nuisances. Her website is inkhaven.net.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Equipped with IWC-manufactured 52010 calibre from the new IWC 52000-calibre family; Unmistakable and distinctive design; Power reserve of 7 days = 168 hours (power reserve display at 3 o'clock)
Small hacking seconds
Rotor with 18-carat gold medallion
Pellaton automatic winding
Sapphire glass, convex, antireflective coating on both sides
Date display
Power reserve display
7 days power reserve
Watch Details
- case
- Movement
- Features
- Care For Your Watch
- Stainless steel case
- Diameter 42.3 mm
- Height 14.1 mm
- See-through sapphire glass back
- Water resistance 3.0 bar
- 52010 Calibre
- Automatic, self-winding
- 168 hours Power Reserve
- Frequency 28'800 VPH (4 Hz)
- 252 Components
- 31 Jewels
- Small hacking seconds
- Rotor with 18-carat gold medallion
- Pellaton automatic winding
- Sapphire glass, convex, antireflective coating on both sides
- Date display
- Power reserve display
- 7 days power reserve
It involves a full overhaul of the timepiece and is a complex, largerly manual task that takes several hours.
Learn how to clean your watch, wind it and more in our six-part "How To…" video series.
Standard: 5-7 business days* Express: 2 business days* Urgent: next business day **
You may also choose to pick-up your purchase in one of our selected Boutiques, which can be chosen during the checkout. In this case, you will be notified by email when your order is ready for collection.
30 days, Phone only, Exc. Custom items, Gifts over phone only, ret/exch. Shipping fees: IWC
Would you like to visit us? Find the IWC boutique or service centre that is closest to your location.
Register to become a member of my IWC and benefit from a 6-year extension to the standard 2-year international limited warranty.
Portugieser Automatic
Railway track chapter ring, appliquéd Arabic numerals, feuille hands: no other features express the unmistakable design cues of a typical IWC Portugieser so effectively.
Portugieser Automatic
Railway track chapter ring, appliquéd Arabic numerals, feuille hands: no other features express the unmistakable design cues of a typical IWC Portugieser so effectively.
The Portugieser Automatic has become one of the most successful Portugieser models ever to be produced in Schaffhausen. The balanced dial design retains the classic appeal of the legendary original Portugieser first manufactured in the 1930s. The pawls, automatic wheel and rotor bearing in the legendary Pellaton winding system are made from extremely wear-resistant ceramic, while two barrels build up an impressive 7-day power reserve. The ergonomically optimized strap horns ensure greater comfort even on slimmer wrists. The Portugieser Automatic is available with a 42.3-millimetre stainless-steel case and silver-plated dial. Thanks to the slimmed-down rotor, a glance through the transparent sapphire-glass back reveals even more details of the IWC-manufactured 52010-calibre, such as the black ceramic pawls in the winding system or the Geneva stripe decoration.
6 Variations
This watch is available in multiple variations. Discover the different colour and material combinations here.


text:
"When opening a new tab, users are now presented with their most visited pages," according to Mozilla's Firefox 13 release notes.
But as one Firefox user discovered, that tab-restoration feature was also "taking snapshots of the user's HTTPS session content," reported The Register, after one of its readers opened a new tab and was "greeted by my earlier online banking and webmail sessions complete with account numbers, balances, subject lines, etc."
While other browsers have long included the ability to see a list of "most visited" pages, they don't restore data contained on HTTPS pages. "This content is behind a secure login for a reason," noted the Register reader, and the ability of anyone who subsequently opened Firefox to see all of that information would constitute an obvious breach of the user's privacy, as well as data security. Furthermore, for users of Firefox 13 on shared computers, the information could potentially be stored and made available to subsequent users, without the original user being aware that the data had ever been captured.
[ Internet Explorer gets a high five from privacy experts, but Microsoft IE10 Privacy Settings Draw Advertiser Fire. ]
Mozilla acknowledged the issue and said it's working on a fix. "We are aware of the concern and have a fix that will be released in a future version of Firefox," said Mozilla spokeswoman Valerie Ponell via email. "Mozilla remains resolute in its commitment to privacy and user control. The new tab thumbnail feature within Firefox does not transmit nor store personal information outside the user's direct control."
In the meantime, how can users disable the tab-restoration feature? For starters, Ponell noted that the feature is based solely "on users' browsing history," and that the stored information can be deleted by users via the preferences screen. "Users can also switch back to using blank new tab screens by clicking the square icon in the top right corner of the browser," she said. "That will change the default preference to show a blank page, rather than the most visited websites when a new tab is opened."
But she advised anyone who uses Firefox 13 on a shared computer to use "the built-in privacy tools in Firefox, such as Private Browsing Mode," which will also prevent a copy of the session tab from being recorded.
Firefox 13, released June 5, also patched seven bugs, four of which were critical. Many Firefox installations are set to automatically update and install the latest version.
While Mozilla may have committed a temporary, local Firefox privacy gaff, the company has been working to proactively address larger questions involving people's right to privacy when using the Internet. In a TED talk earlier this year, Mozilla CEO Gary Kovacs delivered a presentation titled "Tracking the Trackers," in which he introduced a an experimental browser add-on for Firefox called Collusion, which visually displays behavioral tracking sites that are following a user, including sites which the user has never visited.
Collusion was created by Mozilla Hackasaurus developer Atul Varma to present users with a graph of which sites were tracking them, and color-coding ones which the user hadn't explicitly granted permission. Varma told the TED blog that he was surprised not just by how many different trackers followed him, but how companies such as Google's DoubleClick and Scorecard Research consistently tracked him across different sites that he visited.
"One of the ones that was most surprising to me was VirginAmerica.com. One of the most unusual things about it--on the graph, it appears to make a single request to DoubleClick, which then makes requests to like 20 different data collection companies or something crazy," said Varma. "When you watch it in graph form, it looks like ... there's that kind of flower that, when you blow on it, there's all of these wispy things that fly out of it--a dandelion. It's pretty, but it's also kind of scary."
Kovacs likewise detailed just how pervasive he'd found online behavioral tracking to be, recounting how many sites were following him after just a few minutes' browsing one morning. "We are not even two bites into breakfast, and there are already nearly 25 sites that are tracking me. I have navigated to a total of four," he said. By the end of the day, meanwhile, he found over 150 sites tracking his personal information by the end of a typical day, "almost all of them without my consent," he said. "I'm being stalked across the Web."
While the Internet is an indispensable tool, "the price we're being asked to pay for all this connectedness is our privacy," he said. "We are being watched, it's now time for us to watch the watchers."
Security information and event monitoring technology has been available for years, but the information can be hard to mine. In our SIEM Success report, we provide a step-by-step guide to make the most of your SIEM system. (Free registration required.)


text:
Muscle Daddy Jon Galt And Muscle Cub Sean Harding Bareback Flipping
Men Over 30 find some of the sexiest big dick guys you will ever find. Their new release today featuring Jon Galt and Sean Harding is no exception. Jon Galt is a sexy tatted up muscle daddy with a long thick cock. Sean Harding is a cute hairy muscle cub that likes older men. Sean and Jon are lying in bed discussing how much they like fucking each other. They are happy because they are both versatile and they get so much pleasure fucking each other. The two start some heavy kissing and their clothes come off. Sean goes down and sucks on Jon's long daddy dick until it's rock hard. Once Jon is hard, Sean turns him around so he can get a taste of that daddy ass. He dives his tongue into his dads hole and vigorously licks away. It's Sean's turn now for some pleasure and Jon starts sucking on the younger cubs cock. They take turns sucking each other off and rimming each other's hot hairy holes. When both of their holes are lubed up with the others spit it's time to start breeding. Jon fucks his cub first on all fours, pummeling his big daddy cock in and out of his boy. Sean puts Jon on all fours and gives him a hard bareback pounding from behind. After some back and forth bareback fucking, Jon fucks Sean on his back until he fucks the cum right out of him. Sean shoots a huge load all over his furry stomach. Jon tells his boy to lick his balls while he jerks off and cums all over Sean. Fuck yeah!
Click here to watch this full length muscle daddy and muscle cub bareback flip fucking gay sex video and hundreds more big dick older men at Men Over 30.
Click here to watch this full length muscle daddy and muscle cub bareback flip fucking gay sex video and hundreds more big dick older men at Men Over 30.


text:
(CNN) -- If you're feeling great today, you may end up inadvertently spreading the joy to someone you don't even know.
This network from 2000, colored for average mood, shows yellow as happy, blue as sad, and green as in-between.
New research shows that in a social network, happiness spreads among people up to three degrees removed from one another. That means when you feel happy, a friend of a friend of a friend has a slightly higher likelihood of feeling happy too.
The lesson is that taking control of your own happiness can positively affect others, says James Fowler, co-author of the study and professor of political science at the University of California in San Diego.
"We get this chain reaction in happiness that I think increases the stakes in terms of us trying to shape our own moods to make sure we have a positive impact on people we know and love," he said. Watch more on how happiness spreads »
Sadness also spreads in a network, but not as quickly, the researchers found. Each happy friend increases your own chance of being happy by 9 percent, whereas each unhappy friend decreases it by 7 percent. This reflects the total effect of all social contacts.
When framing the question differently, the study found that you are 15 percent more likely to be happy if a direct connection is happy, 10 percent if the friend of a friend is happy, and 6 percent if it's a friend of a friend of a friend.
The study, published in the British Medical Journal, used data from the Framingham Heart Study to recreate a network of 4,739. Fowler and co-author Dr. Nicholas Christakis of Harvard Medical School charted friends, spouses and siblings in the network, and used their self-reported happiness ratings from 1983 to 2003.
Daniel Gilbert, professor of psychology at Harvard University and author of "Stumbling on Happiness," called the study "a stunning paper by two of the most respected scientists in the field" in a statement he e-mailed to CNN.
"We've known for some time that social relationships are the best predictor of human happiness, and this paper shows that the effect is much more powerful than anyone realized," Gilbert said. "It is sometimes said that you can't be happier than your least happy child. It is truly amazing to discover that when you replace the word 'child' with 'best friend's neighbor's uncle,' the sentence is still true."
If you are the hub of a large network of people -- that is, if you have a lot of connected friends or a wide social circle -- you are more likely to become happy, the study found.
But the reverse is not true.
"You might only have one friend or two friends or something like that, and if you become happy, you're not going to try to get more friends. You're probably going to stick with what worked in the first place," Fowler said.
The researchers are also looking at the phenomenon on Facebook, which has more than 120 million active users. This study, which has not yet been published, looked at who smiles in their profile pictures who doesn't, and whether their connections also smile or not, Fowler said.
"We find smiling profiles cluster in much the same way as happiness is clustering in the Framingham Heart Study," he said.
It's not just happiness that spreads in a social network. Fowler and Christakis have also looked at trends in cigarette smoking and obesity using the parts of the heart study network.
They found that when someone quits, a friend's likelihood of quitting smoking was 36 percent. Moreover, clusters of people who may not know one another gave up smoking around the same time, the authors showed in a New England Journal of Medicine article in May.
Social ties also affect obesity. A person's likelihood of becoming obese increased by 57 percent if he or she had a friend who became obese in a given time period, Fowler and Christakis showed in a paper in the New England Journal of Medicine in July 2007.
And, like happiness, both smoking behavior and obesity seem to spread within three degrees of separation in a social network, Fowler said. Beyond three, things get fuzzier.
"Eventually you get out far enough in the social network that you're competing with all these other cascades of happiness and unhappiness that are sort of duking it out," he said. "Happiness on average wins, but once you get far enough away from someone in a social network, it's not possible to detect their effect anymore."
All About Psychology


text:
The SSCA is the market conduct regulator of financial institutions, that provide financial products and financial services, financial institutions that are licensed in terms of a financial sector law, including banks, insurers, retirement funds and administrators, and market infrastructures.
The Spherical Sector Conduct Authority (SSCA) is responsible for market conduct regulation and supervision. SSCA aims to enhance and support the efficiency and integrity of financial markets and to protect financial customers by promoting their fair treatment by financial institutions, as well as providing financial customers with financial education. The SSCA will further assist in maintaining financial stability.
To ensure an efficient financial sector where customers are informed and treated fairly.
To ensure a fair and stable financial market, where consumers are informed and protected, and where those that jeopardize the financial well-being of consumers are held accountable.
Subscribe to see what we're thinking & get always latest update


text:
A recent paper by Yanhui Lu and others in Science (DOI: 10.1126/science.1187881) shows how ecological impacts of Bt cotton at the landscape level have lead to a surge in pests. In northern China, the cotton crop is 95% Bt cotton. The paper shows that Mirid bugs have increased both within cotton fields, but also in other crops grown in regions with large amounts of Bt cotton.
While the farmers who planted GMO cotton have benefited from it, the increase regional pest load has imposed a burden on other farmers who do not grow Bt cotton – a negative externality. This regional impact on other crops is shown in Figure 4 from their paper.
While this is the first paper, which I'm aware of, to demonstrate such landscape level impacts of GMOs on insect pests, this type of consequence of Bt GMO crops has been predicted for a long time. For example, ten years ago I argued in Conservation Ecology that risk assessment of GMO crops should include not only direct impacts, but indirect ecological impacts, as part of an adaptive risk assessment processes for GMO crops. Below is Figure 1 from that paper.
The Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog comments on the paper, and SciDev.net reports Bt cotton linked with surge in crop pest:
Their fifteen-year study surveyed a region of northern China where ten million small-scale farmers grow nearly three million hectares of Bt cotton, and 26 million hectares of other crops. It revealed widespread infestation with mirid bug (Heteroptera Miridae), which is destroying fruit, vegetable, cotton and cereal crops. And the rise of this pest correlated directly with Bt cotton planting.
Bt cotton is a genetically engineered strain, produced by the biotechnology company Monsanto. It makes its own insecticide which kills bollworm (Helicoverpa armigera), a common cotton pest that eats the crop's product — the bolls. …
They watched the farms gradually become a source of mirid bug infestations, in parallel with the rise of Bt cotton. The bugs, initially regarded as occasional or minor pests, spread out to surrounding areas, "acquiring pest status" and infesting Chinese date, grape, apple peach and pear crops.
Before Bt cotton, the pesticides used to kill bollworm also controlled mirid bugs. Now, farmers are using more sprays to fight mirid bugs, said the scientists.
"Our work shows that a drop in insecticide use in Bt cotton fields leads to a reversal of the ecological role of cotton; from being a sink for mirid bugs in conventional systems to an actual source for these pests in Bt cotton growing systems," …
Nature news reports:
The rise of mirids has driven Chinese farmers back to pesticides — they are currently using about two-thirds as much as they did before Bt cotton was introduced. As mirids develop resistance to the pesticides, Wu expects that farmers will soon spray as much as they ever did.
Two years ago, a study led by David Just, an economist at Cornell University at Ithaca, New York, concluded that the economic benefits of Bt cotton in China have eroded. The team attributed this to increased pesticide use to deal with secondary pests.
The conclusion was controversial, with critics of the study focusing on the relatively small sample size and use of economic modelling. Wu's findings back up the earlier study, says David Andow, an entomologist at the University of Minnesota in St Paul.
"The finding reminds us yet again that genetic modified crops are not a magic bullet for pest control," says Andow. "They have to be part of an integrated pest-management system to retain long-term benefits."
Whenever a primary pest is targeted, other species are likely to rise in its place. For example, the boll weevil was once the main worldwide threat to cotton. As farmers sprayed pesticides against the weevils, bollworms developed resistance and rose to become the primary pest. Similarly, stink bugs have replaced bollworms as the primary pest in southeastern United States since Bt cotton was introduced.
Wu stresses, however, that pest control must keep sight of the whole ecosystem. "The impact of genetically modified crops must be assessed on the landscape level, taking into account the ecological input of different organisms," he says. "This is the only way to ensure the sustainability of their application."


text:
Posted by Editoress on 10/18/13
Cycling Canada has released initial details of the upcoming 2013 Cyclo-cross Canadian Championships, to be held in Surrey, BC, on November 30th.
The event is expected to attract the best cyclo-cross racers in Canada to Surrey to race on a brand new course, giving participants a fresh experience for the 2013 edition of these popular championships.
"We are excited for Cycling BC to build on the success of the 2012 Canadian Championships to host another great event. BC is the hotbed for Cyclo-cross in Canada with a large numbers of grassroots riders," said Nicholas Vipond, Competition Coordinator at Cycling Canada.
New for 2013 will be the presentation of a Junior women's national title. This makes the first year that there will be a separate title for the Junior Women. The Junior women's race will be combined with the Elite Women's race as per UCI regulations.
The full list of Canadian Championship categories include Elite Men, Elite Women, Espoirs (U23) Men, Junior (U19) Women and Junior (U19) Men, as well as Masters 30-39, 40-49, 50+ for the men and Masters 30+for the women.
Cycling BC will also host challenge youth races in conjunction with the Canadian Championships. Registration for both the Canadian Championships races and the Challenge categories can be found Here.
The BC Grand Prix of Cyclocross UCI C2 race will take place on the following day, December 1st. This race will feature elite men's and women's UCI races, as well as Cycling BC Challenge categories.
Registration for the BC Grand Prix of Cyclocross can be found Here.
More information can be found in the tech guide posted at the 2013 Cyclo-cross National Championships webpage.
Matt Klymson, Cycling BC's board volunteer as VP Cyclo-cross, is the race director and primary contact (email@example.com), in a collaborative effort between local clubs, cyclo-cross community members, and Cycling BC staff in hosting this event.
|Return to Cycling 4 Women homepage | Return to Canadian Cyclist homepage | Back to Top


text:
Late Roman Bronze Coinage - An attribution guide for poorly preserved coins - by Guido Bruck
We've had the scarce original 1961 German issue for years and found it a boon for attributing coins as far as my understanding German. How happy for all of you that this awesome guide has been republished and translated into English!
It is very easy to use with only two pages of instructions and will only take you a few minutes to find the reverse and compare it to the requisite obverse portrait. After that, you'll only need to refer to the detailed drawings to hone down your complete attribution, even if the exergue is missing! The line drawings are so precise that you'll actually be able to "mint attribute" Camp-gate issues just from the blocks and form of the towers and FEL TEMP REPARATIO issues by the 'fallen horseman' details. This is really a wonderful book. The more I read it, the more I learn.
FYI - I have a very rare Licinius II Trier mint issue (RIC R5) in my personal collection with a very odd left facing portrait that I couldn't exactly pin down via RIC. I now know that the portrait is refered to as wearing a 'fur-trimmed pteryges' and only from the Trier mint. For me, that alone was worth the price of the book!
This is one of those books that you'll use over and over and over, trust me. For a short tutorial, please visit here: http://www.keepandshare.com/doc/7580855/lrbc-guide-for-poorly-preserved-coins?da=y
"In the course of the fourth century, millions of bronze coins were struck in the Roman Empire: an area extending from modern Britain to Egypt. The iconography present in these modest remnants of a distant past provides a fascinating insight into the realities, hopes and desires not only of the common people, but also of those who ruled over them. It is possible to identify with a remarkable degree of precision where, when and by whom coins of this period were struck. Traditional numismatic works rely heavily on a textual description and assume that one has a perfectly preserved specimen. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given their age, the majority of coins encountered are worn or incomplete, making identification difficult. However, as demonstrated by this work, a closer study of their composition and iconography yields more than enough information to identify all but the most poorly preserved specimens. Translation of Die spätrömische Kupferprägung - Ein Bestimmungsbuch für schlecht erhaltene Münzen (1961)."
This book was originally published in German in 1961 and has been recently translated to English by our friend Alisdair Menzies. This book is brand new.
"Late Roman Bronze Coinage"
ISBN 978-1502926012. Softcover 148 pp.


text: John L. Nau, III is President and Chief Executive Officer of Silver Eagle Distributors, L.P., the nation's largest distributor of Anheuser-Busch products. Silver Eagle employs more than 1,200 employees that serve sixteen counties in Texas through operations in Houston, San Antonio, Conroe, Cypress, and Rosenberg. Silver Eagle also distributes Grupo Modelo beers, a broad selection of microbrews and craft beers, and several non-alcoholic beverages and waters. His current involvement includes Vice Chairman of the National Parks Foundation Board of Directors; Civil War Trust Board of Directors; Chairman Emeritus, Baylor College of Medicine Board of Trustees; Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History Board of Trustees; Honorary Trustee of the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau; Honorary Trustee of Texas Heart Institute; Director and Executive Committee member of the Greater Houston Partnership; and Advisory Council member to the Center for Big Bend Studies. He also serves as a Board Member for the Center for Houston's Future, Discovery Green Conservancy, Friends of the Texas Historical Commission, Friends of Vicksburg National Military Park, Houston Police Foundation, The Admiral Nimitz Foundation, and The Texas State Historical Association. Additionally he is Chairman of the Capital Campaign for The Center for Texas Cultural Heritage and Chairman of the Steering Committee for the proposed Lone Star Coastal National Recreation Area. He is founder and President of The Nau Foundation. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in History and currently serves on the Board of Visitors, a position appointed by the Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia. He also serves as Vice Chairman and Executive Committee for the UVA Capital Campaign. Mr. Nau and his wife, Bobbie, reside in Houston, Texas. Their family includes two daughters, Elizabeth Nau Stepanian and husband Andy, Victoria Nau Johnson and husband Parker, and five grandchildren, Katharine, Reese, and Driggs Stepanian, and Liston and Case Johnson.


text:
You've almost certainly heard about PRISM, an abbreviation that has come to mean "US surveillance of everything."
Since Naked Security first wrote about this unfolding drama last week, a raft of new information has come to light.
The whistleblower who leaked the information has come forward; his employer has responded; and the US Department of National Intelligence itself has spoken on the record.
The conspiracy theories probably haven't been shaken, but they've certainly been stirred.
Whistleblower comes forward
A chap by the name of Edward Snowden, who's 29 years old and works for a defence contractor, has outed himself as the source of the PRISM leak.
According to The Guardian, he slipped out of the US, flew to Hong Kong and holed up in a hotel.
Apparently, he's been out of his room only three times in the past three weeks.
From Hong Kong, he blew the whistle, purportedly claiming that:
I don't want to live in a society that does these sort of things.
He also seems to have come up with a very quotable quote that will probably end up being seen as selfless by his fans, but as mildly messianic by his detractors:
I understand that I will be made to suffer for my actions, but I will be satisfied if the federation of secret law, unequal pardon and irresistible executive powers that rule the world that I love are revealed even for an instant
Employer responds
His employer, the redolently-named Booz Allen Hamilton, has reacted with undisguised outrage:
Booz Allen can confirm that Edward Snowden, 29, has been an employee of our firm for less than 3 months, assigned to a team in Hawaii. News reports that this individual has claimed to have leaked classified information are shocking, and if accurate, this action represents a grave violation of the code of conduct and core values of our firm. We will work closely with our clients and authorities in their investigation of this matter.
US National Intelligence speaks publicly
The US Office of the Director of National Intelligence has gone public, too.
The Director himself, James R. Clapper, has opened up a list of previously-classified nuggets about the PRISM project.
(You can download the official version from the DNI's website. [PDF, 3 pages.])
Here's a very brief summary of the DNI's brief summary:
- It's not called PRISM; that's just the name of the computer system that makes it work.
- It's really called the Collection of Intelligence Pursuant to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or Section 702 for short.
- Section 702 doesn't operate outside the oversight of Congress and the courts.
- It doesn't collect information without court approval or without informing service providers.
- It isn't allowed to target anyone inside the US, or any US citizen anywhere.
- It isn't allowed to target foreigners in order to target people inside the US.
- It's actually been jolly useful and has mitigated potential computer network attacks.
There you have it.
Department of Justice gets involved
The DNI followed up its declassification by passing the buck to the Department of Justice, pretty much ruling out any further comment from the intelligence community:
Because the matter has been referred to the Department of Justice, we refer you to the Department of Justice for comment on any further specifics of the unauthorized disclosure of classified information by a person with authorized access. The Intelligence Community is currently reviewing the damage that has been done by these recent disclosures. Any person who has a security clearance knows that he or she has an obligation to protect classified information and abide by the law.
And that's that.
You get to have your say
All I can say is that I can't see the DNI persuading people to stop using PRISM as a collective noun for the entire schemozzle, and I can't see the schemozzle abating for quite some time.
What do you think? What will happen next?
Let us know in the comments below!


text:
What is a PBGC-initiated termination?
The law provides that PBGC may terminate a pension plan, even if a company has not filed to terminate a plan on its own initiative, if:
- the plan has not met the minimum funding requirements;
- the plan cannot pay current benefits when due;
- a lump sum payment has been made to a participant who is a substantial owner of the sponsoring company; or
- the loss to PBGC is expected to increase unreasonably if the plan is not terminated.
PBGC must terminate a plan if assets are unavailable to pay benefits currently due.
Contact info for PBGC-initiated terminations
Mailing address:
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
445 12th Street SW
Washington, DC 20024-2101
Phone: 1-800-736-2444, Ext. 4100, or (202) 229-4242


text:
Students discover an ocean of possibilities
Honolulu Community College to host Ocean Hawaii Marine Exploration DayHonolulu Community College
Billie K. Takaki Lueder, 808-778-8589
Marketing/Public Relations
Marketing/Public Relations
Posted: Jul 14, 2010
HONOLULU – Honolulu Community College in partnership with the Polynesian Voyaging Society (PVS) will host a free public event for students entitled Ocean Hawaiʻi Marine Exploration Day in celebration of the college's 90th anniversary.
Friday, July 16, 2010
9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Honolulu Community College's Marine Education and Training Center
10 Sand Island Parkway
Students will have a unique opportunity to tour the Hōkūle'a; learn how traditional canoes were built compared to how they are constructed today; make traditional cordage and learn how to lash or tie the cordage to keep parts of the canoe together; understand how ancient Hawaiians used stars to navigate to their destinations utilizing a mini-planetarium device; paddle 12-person canoes, and much more.
Honolulu Community College is honoring the well-established partnership with the Polynesian Voyaging Society (PVS) which began in 2003. The college will play an important role in the training of over 2,000 people in preparation for the 2012 World Wide Voyage of the Hōkūle'a led by master navigator and PVS Executive Director Nainoa Thompson.
"Undertaking this monumental endeavor of a World Wide Voyage, has been made so much more easily achievable through the partnership with Honolulu Community College. PVS now has the educational resources and the base of operations that is important to the success of this extraordinary journey. It is our responsibility to transfer this knowledge to Hawai'i's keiki who are the next generation of navigators," Thompson explains.
The Marine Education and Training Center (METC) is a state-of-the-art training facility ranked as one of the premier training facilities in the United States. Honolulu Community College vessel fabrication students were instrumental in the refurbishment of the Hawai'i Loa, Hōkūle'a's sister, melding traditional and modern methods.
For more information, visit: http://www.honolulu.hawaii.edu/90th


text:
There are no products listed under this category.
Dressers and Chests at SmartFurniture.com
A compulsory item for every bedroom is a nice, spacious chest of drawers. Otherwise, where would you keep your slick white tees? At Smart Furniture, we carry an extensive selection of dressers that'll be the perfect repository for all of your clothing storage needs.
Modern, Traditional, Coastal, Oh My!
The functionality of dressers is pretty consistent across the board. A (usually larger) console is filled with varying numbers of drawers. The size of the console will usually depend on the quantity of drawers it holds, and the shape can vary from tall and skinny to short and squat.
Since dressers typically function the same way, the varying styles and features are what really set them apart. For example, the Astrid 4-Drawer Dresser is a made-in-the-USA beauty that boasts solid wood construction and is hand crafted in Vermont. Its mid-century influences and solid American quality make it an instant classic. The River Ridge Media Chest takes a different approach with its industrial casters and open design. For those who live on the coast, the Abingdon Dresser is reminiscent of lighthouses, sand castles, and weekend beachfront retreats. Dressers can also be statement pieces like the customizable Mudulicious Dresser or highly distressed Hidden Treasures Rustic Cabinet. Whether you like modern, industrial, traditional, or anything in between, Smart Furniture carries the perfect dresser for you.
Any questions? Call for help!
Deciding between all of our dressers can be an intimidating venture, but we want to help make your shopping experience easy. We can curate your shopping experience for you. Our friendly sales team is also on standby every day from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM EST, so give them a call at 800-260-8420 and they'll be happy to help get you set up with the perfect dresser or chest for your home!


text:
CHICAGO – The satirical newspaper The Onion is attracting some public ire for an image that shows an airliner about to crash into Chicago's Willis Tower, the tallest building in the country.
The image, in a video on The Onion's website showcasing its stories, shows an airplane emblazoned with the company name Sears flying toward the iconic black skyscraper, which for decades was named Sears Tower and headquarters to the retail chain. A narrator intones, "Sears extremists fly a plane into Willis Tower."
The image generated more than 3,200 responses on The Onion's Facebook page by Friday evening, many denouncing the use of an image reminiscent of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City.
In response to questions about the criticism and using such an image, The Onion marketing director Grant Jones stuck with the newspaper's tone. He wrote in an email that, "9-11 must never be the fodder for jokes. Perhaps you didn't see the news that humor died after 9-11."
Jones called the blurb "a very important story," then added: "We're surprised other major news sources are not giving it the coverage it deserves."
People in New York weren't taking the image as lightly.
"That's not funny," said Christina Lopez, 36, who was living on New York's Long Island on Sept. 11, 2001. She said she can't foresee a time when such a gag would be appropriate, adding: "It's not OK. Ever."
Bill Hylen, a Philadelphian who was visiting lower Manhattan on Friday, also didn't find the image amusing. The 45-year-old said there may be a time when a lighthearted allusion to 9/11 won't hit such a nerve in the nation, but "it's not coming up any time soon."
It isn't the first time The Onion has generated angst with its satire.
Last September, Washington Capitol Police released a statement refuting tweets and an article claiming members of Congress had taken a group of school children hostage. It included a doctored picture of Republican House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner holding a gun to a child's head.
The story came a day after the FBI arrested a man accused of planning to bomb the Pentagon and the Capitol with explosive-filled model airplanes.
The Chicago-based publication was founded in 1988 by two students in Madison from the University of Wisconsin. Starting as a local college newspaper, it became a national comedy institution and went online in 1996, and has since developed a television news parody. The publication is distributed weekly in cities, but it has also embraced Twitter and on has an app for the iPad and other tablets.
The Onion's editorial staff has been based in New York City with other offices in Madison, Wis., but is relocating to Chicago.


text:
Agricultural Cooperatives Headquarters 1966
Prev 7 of 14 Next . The requirements of the client - two agricultural sister organizations - stipulated two separated buildings, hence the concept of separate twin towers connected by a central elevator core was adopted. The twin towers terminate in double-floor high assembly-halls extending over the whole floor area, and seating 250 people. These two square halls are hung in between the four external structural pillars. All elevations are strongly accentuated in a horizontal direction; the deeply recessed window strips alternate with the concrete strips of the exterior walls on each floor; the four pillars projecting from the façade continue over and above the top floor, emphasizing the verticality of the building. The whole building complex is carried out in reinforced concrete, with exposed surfaces poured in fish-grate forms in a vertical direction, creating vivid patterns of light and shade around the four elevations. Each office tower is square in plan and the four supporting pillars are placed at opposite sides of the square. The ground floor of each tower is raised above the four, double-floor high, free-standing pillars, creating a large open space, which is accentuated by flower-beds and sculptural elements. Each tower has an additional service core in its midst, containing emergency staircase, shelter and cloakrooms. The office space surrounding the service cores is partitioned off into smaller or larger offices along a modular grid pattern. The service cores terminate with the last storey, while the four pillars continue and protrude over and above the top storeys carrying the load of the two meeting halls.Read More


text:
Andy Murray survives, Rafael Nadal thrives at French Open
Grimacing in pain with almost every step, Andy Murray nearly had to call it quits because of a back spasm at the French Open on Thursday.
Instead, the fourth-seeded Brit rebounded from an awful first set to beat Jarkko Nieminen 1-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 and reach the third round.
"I was a few points probably from stopping," Murray said. "I just didn't really want to stop the match. Then at the end of the second set I started standing up at the change of ends, and my back started to loosen up a little bit."
A few hours later on the same court, 10th-seeded John Isner of the United States produced yet another marathon match, but this time lost 18-16 in the fifth set.
Murray could barely walk straight when the first match of the day started on Court Philippe Chatrier, gingerly trotting around the red clay with the equivalent of a big target on his back. Nieminen took advantage, at the beginning.
But after losing the first four games, Murray called for a trainer. He then broke back to 4-1, and needed more treatment during the changeover.
It was then that he started to consider retiring from the match.
"It was around that period, end of the first set, and then when I played a couple more games," Murray said. "Then I was thinking whether to keep playing or not.
"I'm happy I did."
Despite being broken to open the second set, Murray started to move better and make his shots count. By the time he broke back for 4-4, Murray was the one getting stronger.
"I should have taken a double break in the second set to have taken the second set," Nieminen said. "I couldn't take that, and then I played one very poor changeover, two bad games, and then he started to play better.
"I really never got the momentum back."
Last year, Murray injured his right ankle at the French Open, but he still made the semifinals. This year, he skipped the Madrid Open with a back problem and said it was still affecting him after a three-set loss to Richard Gasquet in the third round of the Italian Open.
Murray said Thursday's injury was different, but that his physio advised him that he couldn't do any permanent damage by playing, so he continued despite the discomfort.
"Then, obviously, it didn't feel good. So they were telling me to stop, and then I just kept going, and then it started to feel a bit better," Murray said.
Defending champion Rafael Nadal also made it to the third round, defeating Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 6-2, 6-2, 6-0 and improving his record at Roland Garros to 47-1.
The second-seeded Spaniard has won the French Open six times, and one more will break the record he shares with Bjorn Borg.
Nadal's only loss at Roland Garros came in 2009, when he lost to Robin Soderling in the fourth round.
Marathon Man Isner loses
Isner, who won the longest match in history two years ago at Wimbledon, lost to Paul-Henri Mathieu of France 6-7 (2), 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 18-16. The match lasted 5 hours, 41 minutes — the second-longest by time in French Open history. The record is 6:33.
The last set alone took 2:28.
"I never felt comfortable. It's been like that since I've been in Europe, really," Isner said. "I don't know what it was. I just didn't play the right way."
Isner beat Nicolas Mahut 70-68 in the fifth set at Wimbledon in 2010.
Because of the time, Maria Sharapova's second-round match was postponed until Friday.
Kvitova overpowers Polish foe
No. 5 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France and No. 6 David Ferrer of Spain also advanced, while Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova reached the third round by beating Urszula Radwanska of Poland 6-1, 6-3.
The fourth-seeded Czech was never really troubled on Court Suzanne Lenglen, saving all three break points she faced.
Kvitova secured her first Grand Slam title at Wimbledon last year, and then won the WTA Championships. Although she has yet to win a title in 2012, she is seeded fourth in Paris and is expected to go deep into the tournament.
"I don't have any expectation. I know that last season was great for me, and it will be very tough to have a similar result as last year," Kvitova said. "So I know this season will be very tough with the pressure and with everything else."
Radwanska is the younger sister of third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska. The elder sibling reached the third round on Wednesday by beating seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams.
Defending champion Li Na easily advanced by beating Stephanie Foretz Gacon of France 6-0, 6-2.
Caroline Wozniacki also made it through. The ninth-seeded Dane, who last year spent all but one week as the No. 1-ranked player, beat Jarmila Gajdosova of Australia 6-1, 6-4.
Wozniacki is still looking for her first Grand Slam title. At Roland Garros, she has never been past the quarterfinals, losing at that stage in 2010.
Francesca Schiavone, the 2010 French Open champion and runner-up last year, defeated Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria 2-6, 6-3, 6-1.


text:
CIO New Jersey Summit | Oct 9, 2018 | Hilton Meadowlands - East Rutherford, NJ, USA
The CIO New Jersey Summit is a chance for CIOs and IT executives in New Jersey to meet with technology peers from multiple industries, including, but not limited to, health care, finance, insurance, government, telecom, utilities and education. This summit features engaging keynote speeches, open forums, think tanks, case studies and panel discussions on the latest technology topics and trends. Open discussions and networking time give attending CIOs and technology executives the opportunity to discuss common problems, and discover new and innovative solutions. Attendees will leave the event with new business contacts and new ideas on how to move their businesses forward.
CDM Media Summits bring together leading C-level executives, analysts and solution providers to network and attend interactive agenda sessions on the latest business topics and trends.
The events are organized by industry, topic or organizational role, and offer an opportunity for attendees to have in-depth discussions, while making new business contacts. One-on-one meetings held throughout the events allow vendors to introduce products and services to attending executives.
Other summit highlights include:
For more information about CDM Media's upcoming summits, visit our Summit Calendar.


text:
FORT MYERS, Fla. – Felix Doubront pitched 1 2-3 scoreless innings in his first outing of spring training, and the Boston Red Sox beat the Tampa Bay Rays 5-1 Monday.
Dubront's debut was delayed by a sore left shoulder. He gave up one hit, walked two and struck out two. He threw 43 pitches.
Rays right-hander Jeremy Hellickson, making his first start and second appearance of the spring, went three innings, allowing one run and two hits with four strikeouts. He threw 43 pitches, 31 for strikes.
The Red Sox scored a run in the third off Hellickson as Jose Iglesias hit a one-out double, advanced to third as Brock Holt grounded out and scored on Pedro Ciriaco's single to left.
Cole Figeuroa drove in a run for the Rays in the fourth with a two-out double.


text:
Abigail Jain in 'Yeh Hai Aashiqui'
TV actress Abigail Jain will be seen in an upcoming episode of the show "Yeh Hai Aashiqui". She will be joined by actor Vishal Singh.
The duo will essay the role of two lovers who cannot be together because of some unavoidable circumstances.
Abigail, who has earlier been a part of shows like "Tujh Sang Preet Lagai Sajna", "Dil Se Diya Vachan", "Humse Hai Life" and "The Serial", is excited to be a part of the love story.
"I'm very excited to be a part of 'Yeh Hai Aashiqui' because all the love stories are very unconventional and every story is so different and so beautifully written," she said in a statement.
"In this episode of 'Yeh Hai Aashiqui' I am playing a role of this really cute girl, Komal, who never gives up when it comes to the guy she is in love with. She dreams a lot, she is full of enthusiasm and always excited," she added.
Hosted by Vikrant Massey, the show airs on UTV Bindass.


text:
Wyoming Teens Turning Away From Alcohol and Tobacco
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — A study indicates fewer Wyoming junior high and high school students are using alcohol and tobacco.
The Wyoming Department of Health says 17 of the 19 participating counties saw substantial reductions in alcohol use and 15 of 19 showed substantial reductions in tobacco use.
The student survey provides detailed state- and county-level data on substance abuse issues, risk factors and protective factors affecting Wyoming youth.
Keith Hotle of the state Health Department says at the state level alcohol remains the most commonly reported used substance in all grade levels.
The 2012 survey was administered for the state Health Department by the University of Wyoming Survey and Analysis Center.
The agency uses the study to monitor changes in youth substance use trends.


text:
V-22 Osprey: The Multi-Year BuysSep 27, 2023 04:56 UTC
In March 2008, the Bell Boeing Joint Project Office in Amarillo, TX received a $10.4 billion modification that converted the previous N00019-07-C-0001 advance acquisition contract to a fixed-price-incentive-fee, multi-year contract. The new contract rose to $10.92 billion, and was used to buy 143 MV-22 (for USMC) and 31 CV-22 (Air Force Special Operations) Osprey aircraft, plus associated manufacturing tooling to move the aircraft into full production. A follow-on MYP-II contract covered another 99 Ospreys (92 MV-22, 7 CV-22) for $6.524 billion. Totals: $17.444 billion for 235 MV-22s and 38 CV-22s, an average of $63.9 million each.
The V-22 tilt-rotor program has been beset by controversy throughout its 20-year development period. Despite these issues, and the emergence of competitive but more conventional compound helicopter technologies like Piasecki's X-49 Speedhawk and Sikorsky's X2, the V-22 program continues to move forward. This DID Spotlight article looks at the V-22's multi-year purchase contract from 2008-12 and 2013-2017, plus associated contracts for key V-22 systems, program developments, and research sources.


text:
Popularity for small dog breeds in the last ten years has steadily risen.
Articles on buying, training, housebreaking and more....
Small dog breeds are popular with people who live in apartments, smaller homes, and recretional vehicles.
Small dogs are wonderful and devoted companions as well as great family pets. They may be small in size but can be bold and make good watchdogs.
There are many breeds to choose from depending on your lifestyle, living arrangements, do you have children, time to exercise your dog, and grooming needs.
You need to decide if you want a puppy who is adorable but will take a lot of time and attention or an older dog who is housebroken and obedience trained.
The most popular small dog breeds in the United States are: Chihuahuas, Pugs, Maltese, Yorkies and Toy Poodles.
You can find a small dog breed that is right for you no matter your lifestyle.
This site will provide information on some of the most popular dog breeds telling you it's qualities, temperament, characteristics, exercise requirements, potential health problems and more.
I've included articles on dogs good with children and dogs good for seniors. There is an article on the most popular dogs which include
big and small dogs.
Their are questions you need to ask dog breeders before you even think about buying a puppy from him. Of course, their are questions you need to ask him when after you decide to buy a puppy too.
The goal of this site is to give you all the information you need to choose a small dog breed and everything you need after you have him.
So let's get started with all that information you need.


text:
Bedroom Blinds & Window Treatments
- Privacy and light control are key
- Blackout shades offer complete darkness
- Top down/bottom up for flexible privacy
- Day/night shades offer flexible light control
- Quality and style for the room you inhabit often
1 results
Customizeback to products
Size24" x 36"
Your selections also include:
- Cellular / Honeycomb
- Opaque / Blackout
- Double Cell
- Single Cell
- 3/8" Pleat
- 1/2" Pleat
- Blackout
- Cordless
- Mini Blind Alternatives
- Pleated Shade Alternatives
- Bali
- Horizontal
- Beige / Neutral
- Blue
- Gray
- Green
- Purple
- White / Off-White
- Yellow / Cream
- Bathroom
- Family Room / Den
- Home Theater
- Living Room
- Office
- Cellular
- Fabric
- Hard-to-Reach
- Sidelights
- Energy Efficient
Bedroom FAQ
Bedrooms allow us to enjoy the restorative benefits of quality sleep, making privacy and light control in the bedroom absolutely key. You don't want anyone looking in while you're sleeping and you don't want the sun to wake you up until you're good and ready. We offer a variety of shades suitable for any bedroom, many available with blackout features to give you the best chance at a good night's sleep.
Privacy and light control in the bedroom are essential. Blackout shades are our top pick for any bedroom, blocking almost all incoming light and giving you total privacy. Blackout features are offered on many types of blinds an shades, and in a variety of colors, making it easy to find something to suit your space.
Absolutely. Wood blinds and faux wood blinds are a traditional choice for many bedrooms. While they won't block as much light as a traditional blackout shade, they can be paired with curtains or drapery for a layered look with extra light control. You can also order many of our blinds with a routeless option, eliminating the small holes in each slat for a slightly darker room.
customer reviews for bedroom
"Quality Product"
By Patricia C from British Columbia, Canada
Ordered these blinds as housewarming present for my son. He needed something to keep heat out in summer and cold out in winter. These blinds have done the trick. Not only is the quality good but the blinds have done what we needed them to do. With all that, they look great! Will order again.View this product
"Great quality"
By Claire from Quebec city
Delivery was fast. The blinds fit perfectly in the windows. I liked the blinds so much that I desinstalled them and reinstalled them in my new house after moving. Fortunately, the windows have the exact same dimensions. After using them for many years now, they still look like new.View this product


text:
Microsoft haven't committed to anything in C# 4 yet. However, there have been hints about what they've been considering in Eric Lippert's blog, and more than hints in Charlie Calvert's blog. There's not a lot to go on yet, but:
Immutability support
Most of Eric's posts about immutability have so far been about immutable data structures. However, the first post in the series did mention that they're playing around with immutability from the point of view of potential language support. Joe Duffy also wrote about immutability at roughly the same time.
What can we expect in terms of support? Possibilities:
- Compiler checking via attributes, as per Joe's posts
- Immutable collections to make it easier to sensibly embed collections within immutable types
- Readonly automatic properties (as I mentioned in part 1 – I'll expand on this in the next post)
I'm not sure what could be usefully added beyond those. One possibility, however: what about automatic equality and hashcode generation? I touched on this last time when talking about "instant data types" but I don't see why it shouldn't be applicable in general. After all:
- Immutable types are good candidates for dictionary keys – or to put it the other way round, using mutable types as dictionary keys is a risky idea
- If all immutable types automatically override GetHashCode and Equals, and immutable types can only compose other immutable types, everything should just work
- The obvious implementation of Equals and a "multiply, add, repeat" implementation of GetHashCode are pretty reasonable for many, many types. You could always manually override the methods if necessary.
One downside: Equality doesn't really work well when there's an inheritance hierarchy involved. Read Josh Bloch's "Effective Java" for a detailed discussion. (Ooh, new edition coming out soon. Should make for great reading.)
Generic variance support
Once again, Eric has posted rather a lot on this, concentrating on two aspects: interfaces and delegates. I believe these are already supported in the CLR (I'm sure interfaces are, and I suspect delegates are too).
Just to be clear, I don't think anyone should expect unsafe covariance/contravariance. The following code still won't compile (at least unless things go very differently to how I expect):
IList<string> strings = new List<string>();
IList<object> objects = strings;
objects.Add(new object()); // Oww!
This code, however, would be okay, due to the "readonly" nature of iteration:
IEnumerable<string> strings = new List<string>();
IEnumerable<object> objects = strings;
That's the interface side. For delegates, this would probably be possible:
Action<object> objectAction = (x => Console.WriteLine(x));
Action<string> stringAction = objectAction;
// Covariance of returns (and output parameters?) from delegates
Func<string> stringFunc = () => "foo";
Func<object> objectFunc = stringFunc;
All of this is conceptually good. It's more for people to understand, of course, but it's still a useful thing to have available.
Dynamic calling support
This one really surprised me – to the extent that I'll now need to edit the last chapter in the book so as not to look stupid when it's published. (It's fine to be wrong when predicting the future, but making a prediction which has already been proven false before publication is embarrassing.) I expected C# to stay fully static forever. However, it looks like the C# team is at least strongly considering making dynamic calling support available. Read the blog for more details, but note what isn't included: C# reacting dynamically. In other words, Ayende's beloved
IDynamicObject support isn't being proposed (at the moment) – although I guess there's always a possibility that the DLR support will somehow be available through "normal" C# without extra compiler support.
This will disappoint some people of course, but I'm happy enough. I can't see myself using the new support particularly often, and I'm slightly worried at the extra complexity required in the language spec to explain what it will actually do, but I'm likely to treat it in roughly the same way as unsafe blocks – something to ignore most of the time.
As you can see, there's not a lot really on the table yet. That in itself is quite interesting, however – as well as the nature of the changes. I believe that the changes from C# 3 to 4 will be much more like those from 1 to 2 than 2 to 3. Think about when VS 2005 was released – C# 3 extensions were already available in CTP form for the VS 2005 beta. Here we are with VS 2008 having RTM'd a while ago, and we only have a few ideas to mull over. Now, I'm sure that there are implementations of all of the above features and almost certainly more – but they're not putting them out just yet. Hopefully we'll learn more over the next few months.
The big difference with C# 3 was that there was a grand plan: LINQ. Almost every feature in C# 3 (basically not automatic properties or partial methods) supports LINQ in some way or other. I don't see a big plan for C# 4. That's a very good thing, in my view. We need time – quite a lot of time, I suspect – to digest LINQ. Awful as the phrase is, LINQ has the potential to be a paradigm shift in development. Those shouldn't come along too often. Disparate changes can still be incredibly useful of course, so let's not lack ambition for C# 4 – but I'm expecting idiomatic C# 4 to still be roughly similar to idiomatic C# 3, which certainly couldn't be said of C# 3 to C# 2.
Only one more post in the immediate future: my own ideas for C# 4 (or at least those which I've come up with independently, even if others have mentioned them too).


text:
FRIDAY, Dec. 6, 2013 (HealthDay News) -- The widely held belief that mentally ill substance abusers are the most frequent users of hospital emergency departments is an "urban legend," a new study claims.
Researchers examined emergency room visits by more than 212,000 Medicaid patients in New York City since 2007. The analysis showed that problems associated with substance abuse and mental illness accounted for only a small share of the visits made by frequent ER users.
In addition, ER use accounts for a small portion of these patients' total Medicaid costs, found researchers John Billings from New York University and Maria Raven of the University of California, San Francisco.
They also found that frequent ER users often have multiple chronic health conditions and many hospitalizations, according to an NYU news release.
In the study published in the December issue of the journal Health Affairs, the authors wrote that "contrary to urban legend, most repeat users in the study did appear to have relatively strong linkage to ambulatory care, at least as evidenced by their high rates of primary and specialty care visits. Except for [emergency department] users with 10 or more visits in the index [initial] year, ambulatory care visit rates actually exceeded [emergency department] visit rates."
Emergency room use is not a major contributor to the cost of Medicaid, but learning more about Medicaid patients who frequently seek ER care could help policymakers determine how best to meet these patients' needs and control costs, the researchers said.
More information
The American College of Emergency Physicians outlines when you should go to the emergency room.


text:
Best Hotels in Mexico
See the best hotels in Mexico from National Geographic Traveler's annual Stay List.
The most authentic and unique hotels in Mexico, chosen by National Geographic Traveler editors for the 2011 Stay List
Casa Natalia, San José del Cabo, Baja
Intimate off-the-beach inn facing the plaza, across from 17th-century mission. Palm trees, waterfalls. Each room with a hammock-slung terrace, where breakfasts are served. Open-flame braziers enliven pool courtyard and alfresco restaurant. Nouvelle Euro-Mexican cuisine. Shuttle to private beach club. Better yet, canoe nearby nature preserve. 16 rooms; from $250, incl. breakfast.
El Encanto de Cabo Pulmo, Baja California Sur
Art-centric inn with palm-thatch roofs, high-arching windows, and patios ushering the outside in; gardens boast native plants culled by owners—both with masters degrees in botany. Locally crafted furniture, whimsical sculptures. Close: Cabo Pulmo National Marine Park. 3 casitas; from $90.
Hotel Posada de las Minas, Mineral de Pozos, Guanajuato
Restored 19th-century mansion breathing energy into a mining village that went bust during the Mexican Revolution. Rooms showcase regional crafts. Village women cook típico meals in the rustic cantina. On premises: cactus garden. Off: historic mines, rapidly disappearing village life. 8 rooms; from $48, incl. breakfast.
La Casa Que Canta, Zihuatanejo, Guerrero
A reclusive cliff-dweller stair-stepping its way down to the swirling surf. Big romantic rooms (flower petal designs on bed) with terraces and balconies poised for views. No real beach (Playa La Ropa is 100 yards away). Languorous alternative resort: Infinity-edge pool mimics ocean horizon; walking the grounds is a folkloric tour of Mexico. 29 rooms; from $392.
Las Alamandas, Costa Alegre, Jalisco
Escapist beach fantasyland plopped down on 1,500 acres, far from madding crowd. Six radiantly painted villas ventilated by sea breeze. Additional drama comes from four-mile stretch of untouched coastline: four private beaches, bird island sanctuary, wetlands preserve. Celebrate mango-colored sunsets by releasing hatched turtles into the waves (more than 6,000 launched in 2008). 14 rooms; from $371, incl. an hour horseback ride.
Villa Ganz, Guadalajara, Jalisco
Urban refuge celebrates Mexico's 1930s golden era on city's hip west side. Chill spots: garden terrace, small library. Breakfasts served anytime. Antiques and crafts filling large suites are all Mexican origin. Exception: duvets from Switzerland. A hundred flickering candles romance the night. 9 rooms; from $200.
Hacienda San Angel, Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco
Richard Burton's former abode plus three more villas, amid gardens and fountains in PV's colonial heart, overlooking cupolas of famous Guadalupe church. Tolling church bells and dreamy panoramas from rooftop whirlpool, alfresco restaurant. Rooms with regionally sourced antiques and colonial artifacts. Mariachis serenade at cocktail hour. Lots of private niches for romance; illuminated at night by hundreds of candles. 20 rooms; from $285.
Organic modernism in a Crusoe setting on Banderas Bay, an hour's journey south of Puerto Vallarta. Reached by boat, then 15-minute hike through jungle to your hillside roost destination. Design-conscious open-air bungalows, compost toilets, infinity pool hued to color of ocean. Candles provide most nighttime lighting. A tropical chill spot with drop-dead ocean vistas. 8 houses; from $480 for two, incl. all meals.
Mesón Sacristía de la Compañía, Puebla, Puebla
Petite artisanal hotel in historic student district full of clubs and bars. A generations-old family of antiques traders stitched it together: 300-year-old bathroom doors from local jail, gold-leaf detailing, wrought-iron bedsteads. Garden courtyard sanctuary; cooking classes, Bar el Confesionario (two of their margaritas and you'll confess to anything). 8 rooms; from $118.
Balamku Inn on the Beach, Mahahual, Quintana Roo
Simplicity on the beach in gadget-free Maya-style cabanas nestled among the palms and sea grapes. Textile art, built-in bancos (benches), windows louvered to catch the breeze. Solar and wind generation powers this low-wattage encampment: composting toilets, wetlands constructed for gray-water dispersal. Kayak offshore, then roll overboard to snorkel the reef. Lack of a dinner restaurant encourages in-town exploring. 9 rooms; from $75.
- Nat Geo Expeditions
Yoga-centric Maya-style thatch-hut resort, nestled among tropical flowers and coconut palms two miles from ancient Maya ruins. All natural: no phones, no electricity (except in restaurant and bar). Tip: Breezy sea-view cabanas much cooler than ones in jungle. Organic room amenities, antioxidant meals, holistic treatments in spa. Coral reef offshore. 47 cabanas; from $30.
Former beachside retreat of an Italian duchess; 50-acre estate sitting on two sweet miles of empty beach. All-white rooms. Organic spa—the first in the area—with Maya-style domed steam rooms and traditional treatments using herbs grown right there. Complimentary yoga classes. 29 rooms; from $459, incl. breakfast.
Casa de Sierra Nevada, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato
Nine statuesque mansions evoke colonial past with traditional arts and crafts. Hand-painted tile baths, quarry-stone fireplaces in rooms. Bolero trio serenades diners at one of two restaurants; Sazon cooking school for do-it-yourselfers. In heart of expat enclave with cobblestone streets and pealing church bells. 37 rooms; from $248.
Hacienda Chichen Resort & Yaxkin Spa, Chichén Itzá, Yucatán
A 16th-century corn-colored hacienda built by Spanish conquerors of stone "recycled" from Maya temples. Functioned as archaeologist accommodations in 1920s. 200-acre jungle preserve and bird refuge; a 10-minute walk to archaeological park. Maya immersion: attend "sacred" rituals, sign up for cooking classes, submit to treatments at the holistic spa. Craft boutique donates profit to Maya Foundation. Environmental policies. All in all, as green as the jungle. 28 rooms; from $120. incl. breakfast.