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ghelas Titan E X C A L I B U R Monday 29/10/2012, 23:56
I hear a lot of complaints about ELO mode these days, what with cards like Kalindra and Askai roaming free.
I think these come from people focusing too much on cards that are individually strong and not enough on which cards have good synergy. Right now, building a good ELO deck is a fun puzzle. Which cards are banned this week? What can I do to counter the strong cards that aren't banned? While everyone is busy complaining, I am having the time of my life.
Let's take a look at Kalindra (the card people complain about most) and then take a look at some possible half-decks in two different clans, FPC and Pussycats. Think about using Fei, Chan, Shifou, and Zhu Tang -- three of those cards can easily beat Kalindra pill-for-pill, and the forth lets you threaten a fairly big life-per-damage gap of your own. Think about using Clover, Charlie, Lucy, and Ella in a Pussycats half-deck... All of these reduce Kalindra's damage so hard, that it's impossible for her to be the huge threat she usually is.
I think the definition of "OP" in this game is starting to change. When most players say a card is "OP" they now mean "I have to work to counter this card, and I don't wanna." A card that forces you right out of your comfort zone and into a creative deck you would have never tried otherwise is *good,* both for you and for UR. IMO, you can complain, or you can step up your deck-building game. The choice is yours.
14/4 with an Ulu/Vortex deck so far this week.
Icarus Colossus E X C A L I B U R Tuesday 30/10/2012, 18:07
You'll never that it is not broken until you played a real one
ghelas Titan E X C A L I B U R Tuesday 30/10/2012, 18:48
Azel effectively swings for 11 damage (up to 13 if there's life gain in the opponent's deck.) That is, assuming she hits first turn. That's a bit high of a gap for a 4*, but not outrageously so. There are many 5*s that gap about as hard, and don't demand that you hit 1st turn to achieve that gap.
Here's an easy test for if a card is OP:
Try running it.
If it consistently nets you way higher ratings than your favorite "non-OP" setup, you're right, it's OP. If not, the card is simply hard to fight, arguably "swingy," but not "OP." I have yet to discover any magical cards that boost ELO score by 40-50 points. If you find one, be sure to let me know!
wasteroftime Titan Open Casket Tuesday 30/10/2012, 21:45
Lots of cards and deck builds affect my ELO score 50 points...
ghelas Titan E X C A L I B U R Wednesday 31/10/2012, 03:43
@ Waster: That's all well and good to say, but have you really, honestly tried tracking that? I've checked your profile a few times. "highest ELO - 1433... not sure if one should play on " "Personal best recorded on Sunday 14/06/09"
You do seem to stick by that philosophy, spending many (most?) weeks without an ELO score.
Why not give the mode another honest chance? I think ELO has probably changed tons since you were really into it. It's true that swingy cards are a lot more prominent these days, and I agree that it can be frustrating at times. I just maintain that a lot of that can be countered with good strategy. Focus on control instead of necessarily winning 3 rounds or getting 2HKOs. Try a few unorthodox setups. Experiment with those crazy Vortex, and see for yourself how game-changing a good fork can be, whether your opponent has swingy cards or not.
You might find yourself having a lot of fun. I know I do.
wasteroftime Titan Open Casket Wednesday 31/10/2012, 04:02
Good forks... yeah lots of them... thats what makes the current meta more swingy and 50-50.
ive played enough of all existing modes that i know what i enjoy and know what i enjoy less
"Focus on control instead of necessarily winning 3 rounds or getting 2HKOs"
i dont actually know what that means and i imagine few people who actually read that knows what that means... i can translate that to roughly... gain pill advantage then smash him with the biggest meanest swingy card possible... even better if the nuke is backed up by some nasty opening pill manip or poison card.
more swingy cards equals more swingy games
i measure my ELO play based on how easily i can get up to just over 1320. I play for the credits and not for the lottery of the top 100. Making top 100 for me is not effective use of my time, since the hours of gameplay to get top 100 is often rewarded with... the exact same amount of credits with a score of 1300.
Are there weeks i can look at and instantly know i will cruise to 1300 in 30-40 games just based solely on the cards that are in play???? Ofcourse.
Are there weeks that i know it will be a tougher week due to the amount of crazy cards in play that ANY player can put their deck and take games off me??? Ofcourse.
So do cards affect my ELO score... well maybe not since ill play to 1300 the weeks i do play, but the cards affect the amount of effort I'll need to put into that week.
Swingy cards are not my style since i dislike the luck factor that it introduces in many (notice i say many not all) draws that either player gets.
Make whatever deck you want, at the end of the day you have to draw those cards and counter cards.... the more nasty cards in play, the more important it is to draw your counter cards.... and as a result we get a more draw dependent games.
Not trying to change people's minds. Bottom line, some people like the current system, some do not. I prefer a meta that has less luck involved.
subclavianHoA Imperator Wednesday 31/10/2012, 05:36
You are partly right, there are no real "overpowered" cards in elo, or at least none on the same level as Jackie Cr or the big 5. However, the 14 life change coupled with all the horrible life-gappers being released, turns many games into 50-50s (swingy? is that what you kids are calling it these days?), and that is not very fun for many people.
Judging from previous conversations with you, you seem to care a lot about whether cards/clans are overpowered or not. But overpowered cards are not the only thing that can break a game
ghelas Titan E X C A L I B U R Wednesday 31/10/2012, 06:01
When I say forks, I mean plays that give you a 100% advantage if done right. Example: if I sneak in a low-pill Round 1 win with Kusuri, I can threaten KO with with Tsubame. In some cases blocking Tsubame's KO attempt means you lose anyway, as I will have enough pills left to 3-round. A well-played fork is a strategic victory, not a "lucky" victory.
""Focus on control instead of necessarily winning 3 rounds or getting 2HKOs"
i dont actually know what that means and i imagine few people who actually read that knows what that means... i can translate that to roughly... gain pill advantage then smash him with the biggest meanest swingy card possible... even better if the nuke is backed up by some nasty opening pill manip or poison card."
If you say you don't know what it means, why attempt to translate?
By "control" I mean cards that dictate turn order. A lowly Jean or Graff or whatever will keep Azel from being a first-turn game winner. A + pillz card will let you punish your opponent if he overpills on the first turn. An ability SoB means that your opponent's bonus-reliant card has to tiptoe around it -- and that makes it easier to predict in which round it will be played. High-level ELO games are often won by encouraging your opponent to make moves that play into YOUR game plan; that is control.
I am not trying to change your mind, either. I understand the down sides of the current ELO system. Just pointing out that it is still rich in strategy. :thumbs
ghelas Titan E X C A L I B U R Wednesday 31/10/2012, 06:11
Very good point. (By the way, "swingy" is kind of a new one for me, too.)
I just think that strategy-based games are still very possible and that many players who love strategy thrive in the current meta. The punch/counter-punch style of deck-building, which often involves using big cards *and* thinking about how to stop said big cards, is not really all that 50/50 in itself. I personally feel there is a good amount of finesse involved.
I can imagine a meta with allllll "OP" cards removed, and I think that what would be left are a bunch of similar cards competing in an even more chancy way. If all draws end up being roughly equivalent, the game devolves into an exercise in psychology rather than strategy. The best bluffers/readers would reign supreme. I just tend to think that would be less fun than ELO is as it exists now. A good strategist and a good reader may think nothing alike, yet both end up in the top 100.
@ Everyone:
Just want to say thanks for enduring my rants, and for taking part in a discussion about the current meta that has, so far, been very good. I enjoy seeing what people think of ELO, whether or not their opinions happen to match my own.
wasteroftime Titan Open Casket Wednesday 31/10/2012, 06:39
Umm you do realize the vital part of that strategy you described is exactly what people are calling swingy
your set up for tsubame is EXACTLY what people are talking about... that opening play when backed up by some pill return card makes the 1st round too much of a guess.
winning a low pill round with kusuri with tsubame (or dregn/c beast is better actually) isnt skillful.. if the oppoent does not have a counter card (say a DR or SOA) in their hand in that situaition this simply reduced the game into an opening round guess.
power creep have also played a massive role.
in the past, it was more possible to recover from opening rounds, now the opening rounds are often far more unforgiving. Round 3 was often the decisive round in the past, now I see far more games being decided after round 1, and certainly far more in round 2.
opening rounds have always been important, too often they are have become decisive with how the match goes on
more games now can be determined after round 1 or sometimes even before the match begins when compared to the past meta. this i dislike or i should say i like it less than before.
SOB SOA DR counter cards... dont make it sound like countering the most threatening cards is always possible, smart players will dance around your counter since they do get to pick half of the match ups in a 4 round match.
no one is questioning the strategy element... but it is a matter of preference, i much prefer less luck involved.
edited by wasteroftime wednesday 31/10/2012, 06:39
ghelas Titan E X C A L I B U R Wednesday 31/10/2012, 07:51
"winning a low pill round with Kusuri with Tsubame (or Dregn/C Beast is better actually) isnt skillful.. if the oppoent does not have a counter card (say a DR or SOA) in their hand in that situaition this simply reduced the game into an opening round guess. "
I'm not sure I understand? You're saying this play shouldn't exist, because it's too unpredictable? If I have Tsubame and I'm leading with a small mitigating card like Kusuri, it's obvious to any good player what my play is. I will probably put a few pills on Kusuri, allowing her to possibly secure a win and open up the fork -- but if she's blocked, I get a couple of life back. Fairly safe move (which is exactly what makes it good.) It's pretty obvious that I'm not about to throw 7 pills on her, right? (We are talking about 14 life here, which means means I do need that Fury to KO.)
The advantage from making such a move is purely strategic. There is very little guesswork involved. When confronted with such a move, I would assume Kusuri has 4-5 pills on her (5 pills gives Tsubame 9 to work with in the following round.) But even if I read Kusuri perfectly, my opponent still suffers almost no disadvantage. It is a forceful but safe move that limits how the other player can react. I don't see how it's "swingy."
I definitely see your point about opening rounds, and I agree. It would be nice if there were a bit more recovery options. Power creep is a part of any such game, though. It is an artifact of progress.


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text:
REHOBOTH — The fate of the Dighton-Rehoboth Regional High School roof hangs on the result of an upcoming recount vote in Rehoboth.
According to the Rehoboth Town Clerk's office, the recount will be held on Monday at 10 a.m. in the selectmen's meeting room.
This recount comes after a turn of events in Rehoboth.
Last month, Town Meeting voters in both Dighton and Rehoboth approved a $6.7 million initiative to help repair and replace the high school roof. Affirmative votes in both communities are needed for the school district to qualify for a Massachusetts School Building Authority grant program that would reimburse 52 percent of those costs. Those Town Meeting votes allowed the initiatives to appear on election ballots in both communities' annual elections.
Less than one month later, Rehoboth voters at the annual Town Election rejected the high school roof project by only two votes. Meanwhile, voters in the Dighton annual town election passed the referendum.
On Wednesday, Dighton selectmen weighed in on the issue, saying that without the state grant, neither town has any funding mechanism to repair or replace the roof.
"Without approval, (the roof) will continue to deteriorate," Dighton Selectman Thomas Pires said. "We are concerned about the safety of them (the students and staff)."
Dighton Selectman Patrick Menges said that if the recount fails to change the result, he hopes that Rehoboth Town Meeting voters consider appropriating more funds for the high school roof later this year.
"I would hope that the result serves as a signal to the people of good will in Rehoboth who care about the plight of the schools to take heed for the upcoming school budget," Menges said.
Although the high school initiative failed in Rehoboth, voters passed the funding ballot for the town's middle school. Dighton voters also passed a $1.5 million initiative for its middle school roof and $2.5 million for its elementary school roof.
Regional School Committee member Tiffany Barthalomew has said that through these measures, taxes for the average homeowner with a house valued at $350,000 would experience a tax increase of $80.19 per year for the next 20 years.


text:
Letestu's late score helps Blue Jackets edge Ducks
Columbus, OH – Mark Letestu scored the game-winning goal with 1:00 left in overtime to give the Columbus Blue Jackets a 2-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday.
Derick Brassard also tallied and Sergei Bobrovsky turned away 29 shots for the Blue Jackets, who move into eighth place in the Western Conference with 37 points.
"The one thing we can't change now is being satisfied," said coach Todd Richards. "We can't have that. You've climbed the mountain and you get there and you can't take a breath. We're only halfway up the mountain. There's still a lot of work in front of us."
Emerson Etem scored the lone goal for the Ducks, losers in five of their last six games. Jonas Hiller had 16 saves in the setback.
"You obviously don't like the result," Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau said. "I'm just frustrated. We played well and we keep pushing and pushing and we're missing opportunities."
Brassard broke a scoreless tie after beating Hiller with a wrister with just under 10 1/2 minutes left in the middle session. Brassard corralled the puck off the backboard and quickly punched it into the back of the net.
Etem netted the equalizer 5:55 into the third with a snap shot. RJ Umberger turned the disc over in the Columbus zone. Etem took the puck as it skipped away from Umberger, and quickly sent it past Bobrovsky.
Both teams wasted several opportunities to score in the bonus period, but Letestu managed to beat Hiller with the game winner, a wrister from in front of the net.
Game Notes
Columbus was outshot 30-18 ... Letestu also tallied his 11th assist ... The teams went a combined 0-3 on the power play ... The Blue Jackets will visit the Nashville Predators on Thursday ... Anaheim will visit Dallas on Monday before hosting the Stars on both Wednesday and Friday.


text:
WASHINGTON — U.S. farmers planted more corn, soybeans, rice and cotton and fewer acres to wheat this spring than they did in 2003, according to USDA's June 30 planted acreage report.
Corn planted acreage is up 3 percent from last year; soybeans, 2 percent; cotton 3 percent; rice, 10 percent; and all wheat is down 3 percent, according to report.
Cotton plantings for 2004 are expected to total 13.9 million acres. That's up from last year, but down from March intentions of 14.4 million acres.
In 11 of the 17 cotton-producing states, upland growers decreased planted acres from their spring intentions and seeded alternative crops. The largest declines in cotton acreage occurred in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas, each down 100,000 acres from March.
According to C. William Otto, vice president, A.G. Edwards and Sons, the newest cotton estimate "is slightly higher than the average trade guess of around 13.7 million acres."
USDA estimated rice acreage at 3.35 million acres, up 10 percent over 2003. Acreage increased in all rice-producing states except Mississippi, where acreage remained unchanged from last year at 235,000 acres. Arkansas acreage was estimated at 1.54 million acres; California, 618,000 acres; Louisiana, 550,000 acres; Missouri, 190,000 acres; and Texas, 212,000 acres.
Corn-planted area was estimated at 81 million acres, up 1.96 million acres from March intentions and a little higher than average trade estimates. According to USDA, planting conditions during April and May across much of the Corn Belt were near ideal. Similar conditions were experienced in the northern and central Great Plains.
However, planting progress slowed after mid-May as heavy rains fell in many areas of the Corn Belt. Growers in Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin experienced rainfall which prevented them from planting some of their acres originally intended for corn.
Farmers reported that 98 percent of the corn acreage had been planted at the time of the survey interview, which is 1 percentage point above the average for the past 10 years.
Soybean area was estimated at 74.8 million acres, up 2 percent from last year and down 602,000 acres from March. If realized, that will be the largest planted area on record and a rebound from the three-year decline in acreage. Area for harvest, at 73.7 million acres, is also up 2 percent from 2003.
Area planted increased or was unchanged from last year in all states except Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. Growers in Illinois and Iowa showed the largest decreases in soybeans planted from 2003, but showed comparable increases in acres planted to corn.
Farmers reported that 87 percent of the intended soybean acreage had been planted at the time of the survey interview, compared to an average of 78 percent for the past 10 years.
All wheat-planted area was estimated at 59.9 million acres, with harvested acres expected to total 50.7 million acres, down 4 percent from last year.
Winter wheat planted area, at 43.5 million acres, is 3 percent below last year, but up fractionally from the previous estimate.
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Uriel Quesada named an American Council on Education Fellow
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Uriel Quesada, Ph.D., director of the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at Loyola University New Orleans, has been selected to be an American Council on Education Fellow for the 2012-13 academic year.
Established in 1965, the ACE Fellows Program—the longest running leadership development program in the United States—focuses on identifying and preparing senior leadership for the nation's colleges and universities.
"We are excited to welcome the new class of Fellows," said Sharon A. McDade, director of the ACE Fellows Program. "The program offers individualized, accelerated learning that advances leadership readiness while building institutional capacity. We are eager to embark on this transformational journey with the members of the class of 2012-13."
Fellows will observe and work with a college or university president and other senior officers at a host institution, attend decision-making meetings and focus on issues of concern. They will also work on projects that will contribute to the institutional capacity of their home campuses.
"It is truly an honor to receive this fellowship, and I know that this experience will be very important for me and beneficial for the university," Quesada said. "I look forward to learning about other 'best practices' and how to improve what we do at the center and help in other areas at Loyola as well."
The ACE Fellows Program combines retreats, interactive learning opportunities, campus visits and placement at another higher education institution to condense years of on-the-job experience and skills development into a single semester or year.
"One of the strengths of the fellows program experience is the learning community created among class members, which taps the incredible diversity of participants by gender, race/ethnicity, institution type, job function area and disciplinary background," McDade said. "This class also includes international diversity and representation from higher education organizations, creating a powerful learning network that lives well beyond the Fellowship year."
Of the more than 1,700 participants in the first 46 years of the program, more than 300 have become chief executive officers and more than 1,100 have become provosts, vice presidents or deans.
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LoyNews is an e-newswire produced by the Loyola University New Orleans Office of Public Affairs. LoyNews is distributed weekly to local, regional and national news media outlets, communicating the latest news and accomplishments of the university and its community.


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posted by Thom Holwerda on Mon 4th Nov 2013 17:21 UTC
We are pleased to announce the official release of OpenBSD 5.4. This is our 34th release on CD-ROM (and 35th via FTP). We remain proud of OpenBSD's record of more than ten years with only two remote holes in the default install.
That track record remains impressive - no matter how often I see it.


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text: Pella Corporation will close its manufacturing plant in Columbia, South Carolina at the end of the year. Pella Corp. spokesperson Kathy Krafka-Harkema says they're looking at a variety of ways to keep as many people employed as possible in Pella. She says that could include offering incentives for early retirement or voluntarily leaving the local workforce. Harkema cites a drop in new home construction of more than 70% since 2006 as the reason behind the plant closure and the possible downsizing of the workforce.


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Louisiana sugar cane farmers are keeping a close eye on what might happen to the $500 billion farm bill batted down by the U.S. House of Representatives Thursday.
Louisiana sugar cane farmers are keeping a close eye on what might happen to the $500 billion farm bill batted down by the U.S. House of Representatives Thursday.
The bill controls the sugar industry's price-control system that local industry representatives say is vital to keeping American sugar growers competitive.
Now its future is unclear. The Senate had earlier passed a version of the bill that kept sugar price-control protections.
"Everyone is just scratching their heads right now," said American Sugar Cane League General Manager Jim Simon. "It is kind of early in the game to figure out what the next step will be."
Simon said it's likely House leadership and Agriculture Committee representatives will meet to try to pick up the pieces, but it's too early to speculate on if a retooled bill will progress.
The sugar industry's price control system is guaranteed to be in place for the coming crop ,and Simon said it's possible the system could be extended.
Last year, Congress also failed to pass the five-year farm bill but extended its provisions for one year.
"What concerns me, just like any other business, we have to borrow money. And when you go to the bank they want to know what the situation is more than just one year ahead," said Wallace Ellender, who grows sugar in Lafourche and Terrebonne.
The managers of Lafourche's two sugar-processing mills could not be reached Friday.
"Well cane unlike other products has roots in the ground for three to four years. It affects planting decisions. ... We just like to have that stability to do business," said Greg Gravois, a sugar can farmer from St. James Parish.
The bill's passage was in question for reasons beyond controversial sugar price controls. It includes money for the federal government's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or food stamps.
The House version would have cut SNAP by $2 billion annually. Republicans felt that wasn't enough.
Democrats, including President Barack Obama, felt it cut too much.
While the SNAP provisions are the most hotly debated, the sugar price provisions are also the subject of controversy, Simon said.
Sugar producers benefit from a combination of import controls and a protective loan program.
Opponents say the program blocks less expensive foreign sugar that would bring down local prices.
Industry representatives say the program is the last defense keeping American producers competitive because of subsidies in foreign markets.
"This gives the (U.S. Department of Agriculture) the ability to manage sugar supply in the U.S. so that prices are stabilized. Those provisions create a level playing field so all growers can effectively compete on the world market," Simon said.
That combined with import caps keeps the price of sugar stable, but opponents note the price is higher than in other countries.
Without the program farmers will be undercut by countries that subsidize sugar, Simon said.
Simon used Brazil as an example. He said the country provides some $3 billion in subsidies per year to their sugar industry.


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DeKalb Public Library is one of 840 libraries and state humanities councils across the country selected to receive The Bridging Cultures Bookshelf: Muslim Journeys from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Library Association. The program aims to familiarize public audiences in the United States with the people, places, history, faith and cultures of Muslims in the United States and around the world.
The Muslim Journeys Bookshelf covers the themes of American stories, connected histories, literary reflections, pathways of faith, points of view and arts, architecture and film.
Among the titles are: "A Quiet Revolution" by Leila Ahmed; "Prince Among Slaves" by Terry Alford and the 2007 film based on the book; "The Columbia Sourcebook of Muslims in the United States," edited by Edward E. Curtis IV; "Acts of Faith" by Eboo Patel; "The Butterfly Mosque: A Young American Woman's Journey to Love and Islam" by G. Willow Wilson; "The House of Wisdom: How Arabic Science Saved Ancient Knowledge and Gave Us the Renaissance" by Jim Al-Khalili; "In an Antique Land" by Amitav Ghosh; "When Asia Was the World: Traveling Merchants, Scholars, Warriors, and Monks Who Created the 'Riches of the East'" by Stewart Gordon; "Leo Africanus" by Amin Maalouf, translated by Peter Sluglett; "The Ornament of the World" by Maria Rosa Menocal; "Minaret" by Leila Aboulela; "The Arabian Nights" (anonymous), edited by Muhsin Mahdi, translated by Husain Haddawy; "The Conference of the Birds" by Farid al-Din Attar, translated by Dick Davis and Afkham Darbandi; "Dreams of Trespass" by Fatima Mernissi; "Snow" by Orhan Pamuk, translated by Maureen Freely; "Muhammad: A Very Short Introduction" by Jonathan A. C. Brown; "The Story of the Qur'an: Its History and Place in Muslim Life" by Ingrid Mattson; "The Children of Abraham: Judaism, Christianity, Islam" by F. E. Peters; "The Art of Hajj" by Venetia Porter; "Rumi: Poet and Mystic," edited and translated by Reynold A. Nicholson; "In the Country of Men" by Hisham Matar; "Dreams of Trespass" by Fatima Mernissi; "Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood" by Marjane Satrapi; "House of Stone" by Anthony Shadid; "Broken Verses" by Kamila Shamsie; "Islamic Arts" by Jonathan Bloom and Sheila Blair; "Islamic Art Spots" (short films designed, written, and presented by D. Fairchild Ruggles, and produced by Twin Cities Public Television); "Islamic Art: Mirror of the Invisible World" (2011); and "Koran by Heart" (2011).
The books and films comprising the Bookshelf were selected with the advice of librarians and cultural programming experts, as well as distinguished scholars in the fields of anthropology, world history, religious studies, interfaith dialogue, the history of art and architecture, world literature, Middle East studies, Southeast Asian studies, African studies and Islamic studies.
For information about these new materials, visit www.dkpl.org or contact Steve Roman at 815-756-9568, ext. 280, or firstname.lastname@example.com.


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During speeches, Stallman often made the claim that Mac OS X contained a backdoor - similar to Windows, he says - which allowed Apple to forcible and secretly make changes to Mac OS X and its software. He now states that this assumption was wrong, and he apologizes for it.
"We have no way to verify that there is no backdoor in Mac OS X that could install changes without permission, but that is no basis to claim there is one," Stallman writes on the FSF website, "I apologize for repeating a criticism of Mac OS which I cannot substantiate and must presume is false."
Stallman based his claims on information he heard from the Mac community. "I heard this in the Mac community, but there is no published information that confirms it, and I now believe that I was misinformed," he writes, "There is no evidence that Apple has installed software changes without the user's permission."
Stallman does, however, reiterate that Mac OS X and Apple are "unethical", and points to the various times when users were forced to install iTunes updates which introduced new DRM features, breaking, for instance, PyMusique (used to gain access to the iTunes Music Store on Linux). He also details the case where a QuickTime update introduced a new DRM 'feature'.
"So I don't withdraw my condemnation of Mac OS. But I do withdraw the claim that it has a known backdoor," Stallman added.


text:
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Law Student Volunteer, Spring The interns assist field office attorneys in preparing for bankruptcy court appearances, developing bankruptcy fraud referrals, screening cases for debtor abuse of the Bankruptcy Code reviewing documents in chapter 7, 11 and 13 cases and filing motions and objections as appropriate, and monitoring section 341 meetings between debtors and creditors. First-year (second semester), second- and third-year law students are encouraged to apply. Superior research and writing skills are essential, as well as an eye for detail, a desire to work as part of a small team of professionals, and a commitment to fairness and integrity in the administration of the bankruptcy system. Students with a background and interest in bankruptcy, litigation, administrative law, and policy and legislation will be preferred. Must be able to commit 20+ hours per week for 8 continuous weeks.
Additional info
Submit cover letter, resume, current law school transcript and legal writing sample (5-10 pages).
Company infoDuane Currie


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WASHINGTON, D.C. Fifth-Congressional District Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Spokane has won this year's National Hydropower Association Legislator of the Year aard.
"It is a tremendous honor to receive NHA's Legislator of the Year award," McMorris Rodgers, a Republican, said Monday. "Hydropower affords us great opportunity for energy growth, and I look forward to continuing to support its development."
The Congresswoman co-authored the bipartisan Hydropower Regulatory Efficiency Act last year, which streamlines the permitting process for small hydropower and conduit projects.
The legislation passed the House unanimously and was signed into law in August. She continues to pursue hydropower opportunities.
"We owe it to the Pacific Northwest and to the rest of the country to expand an energy source that will not only lower energy costs for the working middle class, but create thousands of new jobs," she said.
McMorris Rodgers represents Ferry County, among others in Easter Washington.
Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.


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Community Calendar
Dear Ryan
Online Issues
Send a
Letter to the Editor
The Cup Is Not Yet Filled……
By Lafe Tolliver, Esq
Guest Column
Ho-hum. Yawn. Pause. Another shooting. Another killing.
Another innocent person dies at the hand of a person who has
either a mental health issue or a beef or a grudge against
someone known or even unknown.
Such tragic news comes on the TV or the radio and with
casual indifference, unless of course, you are the relative
or friend or co-worker of the newly departed, such grim
headlines only cause a quick headshake and maybe a prayer
for the living who barely missed being killed in the same
Tolliver, Esq
And then it is off to the next pressing issue be it
finding a mall parking space close to the main entrance or
waiting in line at that special diner or choosing which
commentator or talking head to believe about the latest NSA
Depending upon which poll you believe, it is said that
since the massacre at Sandy Hook there have been 10,000
killings. It is almost as if you could silence all of the
noise except the gunfire in these United States, that you
would constantly hear: piffff…piffff or pop! pop! or bang!
Imagine a daily diet of the smell of gunpowder and the
wail and cry of people bemoaning another casualty or a loss
to their family of an innocent who was either in the wrong
place at the wrong time or was gunned down for some real or
imaginary hurt or harm.
And Congress, being beholden to and terrified of the
supposed power of the NRA, cowers under their collective
desks and when prodded to do something, even something lame
and small, they cringe at the very thought of the NRA, as a
monster stalker, who will drown them in oppositional ads
when and if they decide to run again.
Of course, we as a nation do the right thing. We air
our outrage on Piers Morgan and MSNBC and rant and rail
about the needless loss of life and how we should do
something about this national carnage, but, in the end, when
the gunpowder smoke clears, we all come out of hiding and
brush the lint off of our clothes and gingerly walk to our
brunches and PTA meetings and do not remember who was shot
just a week ago.
When will it end you say?
Let me be very clear about when it will end, and there is an
ending date, but that date will not be birthed until this
cup of blood is running over. Running over from the spilt
blood of white innocents.
Until we have monthly Sandy Hooks and Columbines and
the theatre shootings such as Aurora Colorado, the cup is
not yet filled.
Until we witness more mental and emotional scarring
where we see more white youths and white families mowed down
and their blood trampled in the streets, the cup is not yet
Until there are repeated and continual mass shootings in
White Plains NY and Scottsdale, Arizona and Chevy Chase,
Maryland and Beverly Hills, California, and other such
ensconced enclaves of wealth and privilege, the cup is still
awaiting to be filled to the brim.
Being poor and white and being poor and black simply
will not become the demographics that will be the engine
behind gritty gun control laws.
Until more white mothers and white fathers are seen
weeping uncontrollably on the six o'clock news and they use
their clout to tell Congress, "That's enough!" and they tell
the NRA to stand down, the cup is still lacking.
Why white fathers and mothers? Simple. Other urban areas
such as Chicago and NYC and LA have been routine and ongoing
shooting galleries with black on black crime and although
the numbers are mind numbing and horrific, it is not enough
to cauterize the flow of blood.
You see. The cup. Fills up faster. And means more. If
the blood is from white folks…not black folks. The ongoing
shooting galleries in the large urban cities in which
minorities are engaged in acts of warfare against each other
is not enough to fill the cup.
After all, remember in the U.S. Constitution, a black
person was deemed to be only 3/5's of a person and as such
they did not measure up or have the same value as white
people. So, they losing their blood is only 3/5's as
valuable as a white person losing the same amount of blood.
What am I saying? Until there is a national ongoing
outrage regarding such killings, black or white against
anyone black or white, the cup is still there, waiting to be
Until there is a national roar that reasonable gun
control is not an option any longer, the cup sits idly by,
waiting to be filled.
Until the slaughter of the innocents, be it mostly
white kids in Sandy Hook or black kids in Hough in Cleveland
or in East St. Louis stops, we are all losers and are
slowing losing our collective will to stop the bloodletting.
So, unless we mobilize and say stop this madness, we
can only hope, in that perverted and warped sense of the
word, to have more meaningful massacres of white kids and
white folks.
Until they pull their levers of power and money and
give Congress an ultimatum and tell the NRA and others who
worship at the altar of unrestricted firepower that many,
many of these killings can be prevented by reasonable gun
control, nothing will happen.
If not, watch the cup. It is still thirsting for more
Contact Lafe Tolliver at
Copyright © 2017 by [The Sojourner's Truth]. All rights reserved.
08/16/18 14:12:33 -0700.
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by Harold H. Brown with Marsha S. Bordner
L.I.F.T. 2017 MIDWEST African American
Professionals and Allies Conference
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For Slain By Gun Violence in TX
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text:
posted by Thom Holwerda on Wed 18th Oct 2006 21:01 UTC
SGI says it has emerged from chapter 11 bankcrupcy protection and emerged 'leaner' and quite possibly meaner. Having dispensed with its own militant tendency, the company says it is now the 'New SGI'. It has slashed an burned a bit, dumped its old board of directors and management team and in the process saved a suggested USD 150 million a year.


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Yikes... don't encourage the crusaders... you could have picked a better metaphor!sq225917 wrote:would you go into a gay bar and complain there was guys kissing each other in there ?
probably not, no..
But no matter... I love the gay scene!!!
No... not the bars... but gay nights at regular dance clubs... that's where you will find the best dancing and friendly women But no kissing before the Crying Game check.


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Daneele and her husband Jay Shipman live in rural Frazee with their children Carter and Cassidy. Daneele is originally from the Chicago area, but has lived in Frazee for over 20 years. Daneele enjoys reading, quilting, knitting and gardening. She is a freelance writer for the Frazee-Vergas Forum and a Frazee Area Community Club director.
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If you live in a fire-prone area, check with your local fire department to learn how to landscape in ways that minimize damage during wildfires. Start by removing fuel sources near your home:
Trim branches that overhang structures.
Remove brush and dead vegetation on your property, especially near your home.
Keep plantings irrigated.
Move firewood piles away from buildings.
Clear gutters and roofs of plant material like dead leaves or pine needles.
Prune lower limbs of trees and remove small trees and shrubs beneath taller trees to eliminate fuel sources that enable flames to climb vegetation like a ladder.
Test Garden Tip: Maintain a fire-safe zone around your home that's a minimum of 30 feet (100+ feet on sloping sites). In this zone, space vegetation clumps 10 to 15 feet apart, separated by non-combustible materials.
Understand how to prune trees.
Staying on top of weeds early in the growing season will make late season gardening easier.
If you're overwhelmed with weeds, focus your efforts by pulling or digging offenders about to set seed.
Spot spray weeds in lawns using a broadleaf herbicide that preserves turf grass while zapping weeds.
Dig or spot spray dandelions in lawns. Remember when digging dandelions that you need to get the top 2 inches of tap root to ensure the plant won't resprout.
For a homemade weed spray, mix 3 parts undiluted vinegar (10 percent acidity) to 1 part liquid dishwashing soap. Spray weeds. Tough perennial weeds may require repeated sprays.
Test Garden Tip: Create a targeted herbicide spray zone by cutting the bottom off a plastic gallon jug or by removing the top and bottom lids from a large trash can. Slip the bottom end of the jug or can over the weed and spray herbicide through the top, coating weed foliage.
Plant heat-craving vegetables such as beans, corn, eggplant, melons, peppers, and tomatoes. You can direct-sow seeds or use transplants.
Heat-loving herbs can go in the ground now: rosemary, basil, and lavender.
Grow vegetables in raised beds.
Top plants for homegrown salads.
Plant tropical water lilies and aquatic plants when water temperature is above 70 degrees F.
The best plants for a water garden.
Add some perennials from the Plant Select program to your garden. These tried-and-true Rocky Mountain and high plains performers hail from a program by Denver Botanic Gardens and Colorado State University.
Colorado desert blue star (Amsonia jonesii) -- a western native with sapphire-blue blooms from April to early summer; fall foliage is yellow
Avalanche white sun daisy (Osteospermum 'Avalanche') -- white daisies all summer long above evergreen foliage; strong disease resistance
Grand Mesa Beardtongue (Penstemon mensarum) -- brilliant cobalt blue flower spikes in early spring last two months; evergreen leaves turn orange-red in winter
Test Garden Tip: When planting in June, water plants twice daily until they stop wilting. Even drought-tolerant plants need extra watering when first planted. Their drought-tolerant nature starts to show after root systems are established.
The best perennials for your garden.
Snip off dead blooms from annuals and perennials. Removing faded blossoms encourages more flowers to form. Get flowering annuals on the fast track to a showstopping season by using bloom booster fertilizer.
Don't fertilize cool-season lawns during summer. Some grasses may go dormant during summer drought.
Feed tropical water lilies monthly through early fall to increase flower formation.
Continue fertilizing roses monthly to encourage more flowers to form.
Prune shrubs that have completed their bloom cycle.
Pinch the top inch of growth on garden mums near the end of the month.
Don't prune shrubs such as elderberries, viburnum, quince, cotoneaster, or currant after flowering unless you don't want fruit to form during summer.
Start slipping stakes into soil to keep flop-prone plants upright.
To avoid spearing dahlia tubers, add stakes at planting time.
Remove yellowed, brown bulb foliage as soon as it pulls free from soil without resistance. This process may take up to 6 to 8 weeks after flowers fade.
If tulip and hyacinth bulbs performed poorly this year, dig up and discard bulbs. How do you know when bulbs are kaput? They produce few or no flowers and spindly leaves and stalks. You can expect most tulips and hyacinths to last 2 to 3 years with a strong show. These bulbs typically dwindle in growth after that
Test Garden Tip: As this year's spring bulb blooms fade, plan where to plant bulbs in fall to enhance the show. Make a planting diagram or use marker flags to indicate where to add bulbs.
More information on how to care for spring bulbs.
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Barbara Strauch, author of "The Secret Life of the Grown-Up Brain: The Surprising Talents of the Middle-Aged Mind" and health editor for The New York Times reveals her findings on the phoenomenon of the middle-aged brain in an interview with Tara Parker-Pope (also of the NYT). In the interview, Strauch addresses a few common myths about the middle-aged brain.
Short-Term Memory
Strauch defines modern middle age as between 40 and 65. Short-term memory can be a problem at this time, but overall, she says our brains are functioning better than ever during this time period. She notes that our brains — contrary to popular belief — are still developing during this time, much like the brain of a teenager, yet we're better able to do many things with our brains than we were during our earlier years.
Inductive Reasoning and Problem Solving
Inductive reasoning and problem solving are the biggest talents of the middle-aged brain, according to Strauch, along with social expertise and our ability to make financial judgements. Memory problems mislead us into thinking that our brains are on the downward slope, but in actuality we're able to make use of millions of connections and pathways that we've built over the years, boosting our creativity and critical thinking skills.
Boosting Your Brain
Using your brain continuously might have its benefits, but according to Strauch, what's good for your heart is good for your brain. Exercising your body, interestingly enough, is great for boosting your brain power. Exercise increases your brain volume and produces new brain cells, even in adults.
Socialization and Your Brain
Engaging in intelligent discussion, particularly with people who have differing opinions, is also good for your brain. And socialization helps, too. Strauch points to a number of studies that have shown that people living in more social situations age better cognitively than others.
Overall, Strauch emphasizes that middle age, while it's typically thought of as a gloomy period, is actually a very optimistic time in our lives, according to studies. One study in particular found that the well-being of men peaks at age 65.
All of these findings point to the benefits of remaining active and social as we age. Independent living communities offer seniors many advantages of active living, including plenty of opportunities for socialization and cognitive enrichment.
Image Copyright Liz Henry on Flickr


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Brand new coaches and a greatly changed line-up have given the Pella High girls tennis team a much different look this season. KNIA/KRLS Sports Director Eric Gotschall caught up with seniors Tiffany Carter, Joella Gerber and Jessie Ryals on this week's Marion County PM Sports Page program to learn what's been different about this season, where they hope the season will finish, and how they blend fun and focus on the court.
http://media.blubrry.com/iowaradioplus/p/content.blubrry.com/iowaradioplus/Pella_Girls_Tennis_PMSP_05-02-12.mp3 [1]
Podcast: Play in new window [1] | Download [2]


text: SRC Tournament: Princeton Logan defeated Ottawa Shepard 9-25, 25-20, 27-25 in the semifinals of the Starved Rock Conference Tournament. The Lionesses will face top-seeded Peru at 6 p.m. Thursday. Logan fell 26-24, 25-17 to Peru in the eighth-grade semifinals. Logan will meet Mendota at 5 p.m. Thursday for third place.


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Miami, Florida (PRWEB) July 14, 2012
Osteochondritis Dissecansis now being treated successfully at The Center for Regenerative medicine in Miami, according to Dr. A. J. Farshchian MD.
This is typically seen in adolescent males, Osteochondritis Dissecans (OCD) is an entity seen at the ossification centers of the bone (these areas are responsible for the development of new bone). The OCD mostly develops in the knee joint. Sometimes a fragment of cartilage separates from the joint surface. The cause is uncertain, but trauma and ischemia have been explained to be the etiology or cause of Osteochondritis Dissecans. As mentioned in earlier articles certain parts of the joints specifically the cartilage has poor blood supply and circulation and is prone to ischemia (medical lingo: Ischemia is a condition in which blood flow - and thus oxygen - is restricted to a part of the body) and possible necrosis (medical lingo: Necrosis means death of tissue in the body)
Common symptoms are pain and swelling of the joint. MRI is helpful in diagnosis of this ailment. Treatment should be directed towards increase of blood flow by means of possibly angiogenesis. Although less common, elbows and ankles are other sites of OND.
The Center for Regenerative Medicine in Miami, Florida concentrates on helping arthritic and injured people to get back to a functional level of life and their activities using non-surgical techniques and Orthopedic medicine. The center's expertise is in treatment of conditions of spine, knees, shoulders and other cartilage damages. They have developed non-surgical and rehabilitation techniques focused on treatment and management of joint pain. Theirr team includes health professionals organized around a central theme.
Their website is http://www.arthritisusa.net.


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Wadena awarded DEED grant for wellness center
The Wadena Regional Wellness Center project was awarded $4.2 million from the DEED Capital Projects Grant Program, making Gov. Mark Dayton's final choices Thursday.
"We are extremely ecstatic," Mayor Wayne Wolden said.
The award amount was short of the $4.625 million asked for, but Wolden said the private fundraising efforts had gone very well and a wellness center will be built.
Wolden said he heard the news first from State Senator Gretchen Hoffman (R-Vergas) prior to the official 11 a.m. announcement, and it was later confirmed by J.D. Burton of lobbying firm Flaherty and Hood.
A groundbreaking date for the wellness center will be set later.


text:
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Jiruska, P. and Finnerty, G. T. and Powell, A. D. and Lofti, N. and Cmejla, R. and Jefferys, J. G. R. (2010) Epileptic high-frequency network activity in a model of non-lesional temporal lobe epilepsy. Brain, 133 (5). pp. 1380-1390. ISSN 0006-8950


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Some thoughts on a hot summer day
- Posts
These first days of May, going out on the roads seems like a persecution. The sun seems to burn everything outside, and the temperature is measured to be at around 40 degrees Celsius. It suddenly brings home to me the value of trees and greeneries, and unfortunately, I also find out that my home city is seriously lacking in trees and green space.
Been living in Hanoi since I was born, I am proud of witnessing its change of appearance. From the debris after the war against the US, Hanoi has stood up to recover so quickly. In several decades, my city has turned into a modern urban area. New facilities have been being constructed. New roads are added, new buildings are built, and that trend will not stop for a long time. These days, coming to the newly developed area of Hanoi, it is easy to find splendid residetial areas with high-rise buildings, and magnificent office towers on the side of wide and open expressways. However, developers seem to forget one thing: greeneries.
My house has a view of the biggest park in Hanoi central area, and I find it such a great gift to me. Every day, on my way home, I walk through the trees and lakes, and the air is uniquely cool, which I can find nowhere else. I mean literally 'nowhere else', because it is extremely diffcult to find one in the new, splendid areas I have said. The result is that travelling in these areas is always anguishing. And to those residents who live there, they hardly have any open space to breathe cool and fresh air. Their only choice during these hot days is to stay inside those buildings, and turn on the air-conditioners. I must say that the habit is not good for their health in the long run.
Indeed, new buildings, new roads, and new areas certainly beautify the city. However, urban development is much more than constructing those facilities. Concrete, asphalt, or glass can heat the air strongly, so green trees and plants are so important to keep the city fresh. Greeneries also make the city much more attractive and graceful. After all, successful urban development leads to an ideal city, which not only appears modern but also makes it residents feel comfortable while living in. DOing so without green space, I can be certain, is an impossible task!


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Asia Pattaya Beach Hotel
WELCOME TO ASIA PATTAYA HOTEL located about 3 kilometers south of Pattaya overlooking the Gulf of Thailand, the Asia Pattaya Beach Hotel is perfect for those looking for a glorious vacation in their own private paradise. Pattaya's liveliness and non-stop action has earned it a reputation as one of the world's most exciting resorts, and the city is just a short drive away. The hotel is set amidst 22 acres of exotic gardens and has its own long beach front. Other amenities include a pool, tennis courts, snooker room and a private 9-hole par 3 golf course. The hotel offers several restaurants and snack bars, a pool bar and dancing at the Neptune Discotheque.


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Pulmonary Carcinoid
I am looking for information on pulmonary carcinoid tumors. My brother has been diagnosed with this and we need information. Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.
Li Liu, MD, Editorial Assistant for OncoLink, responds:
Pulmonary carcinoid tumors (PCT) are types of lung neuroendocrine tumors, cancers in which hormone-making malignant cells are found in the lung. PCT represent 1-2% of all primary lung cancers. The incidence is highest in the fifth decade of life, and there are no gender predominance or known risk factors (Mayo Clin Proc 1993 Aug;68(8):795-803). They generally arise within a major bronchus (windpipe) and present as slow-growing single polypoid masses. The majority of patients with pulmonary carcinoid tumors presents with coughing, recurrent lung infections, or cough up blood (hemoptysis). Some patients may present with "carcinoid syndrome," consisting of flushing, bronchospasms, diarrhea, and valvular heart disease (Thorax 1984 Aug;39(8):617-23). Surgical resection is the treatment of choice in the majority of patients. Radiation therapy and chemotherapy/systemic therapy are generally reserved for patients who are not surgical candidates and have symptoms, such as pain, difficulty breathing, and coughing up blood, and/or in cases when the disease has spread to other organs (metastasis). For localized pulmonary carcinoid tumors, the prognosis is excellent, with 10-year survival rates of >90% having been reported (Thorax 1984 Aug;39(8):617-23; Scand J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 1991;25(3):189-94). It is best to discuss specific treatment options and prognosis with your brother's oncologists.


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1997 Markus Molitor Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Spätlese Riesling AP #34 (auctioned in Bernkastel)
Still youthful in color. Intriguing, high-toned nose of white flowers whith a hint of cool-climate honey. Complex combination of creaminess and freshness on the palate. Richness, depth, delicate lemon-like fruit and moderate acidity. Clearly improves with airing. Determined to age gracefully within the upcoming 10-20 years (depending on storage conditions).


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You don't want to look good, you want to look great. We get it.
That's why at Planet Tan you'll get:
- Certified tanning consultants
- State-of-the-art sunbed tanning and sunless spray tanning equipment
- Cutting-edge skin care products that get you dark
- Fast service
- A head-turning tan
Find out more about our sunbeds, sunless systems or skin care products.


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Selena Gomez Knit Scarf
An oversized knit scarf with fringe gave Selena Gomez a casual but chic look while out in California.
Selena Gomez Skinny Jeans
Selena Gomez sported a pair of distressed skinny jeans for a cool and edgy look while out in California.
Brand: Hudson
Brand: Hudson
Selena Gomez Leather Jacket
Selena Gomez looked rocker-girl cool in this black leather jacket.
Browse: Selena Gomez | Knit Scarf | Skinny Jeans | Leather Jacket
Popular Lookbooks see all looks »


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Switching health insurance during open enrollment? Choose a plan that includes access to our world-class providers. Learn More
The cancer prevention specialists at Moores Cancer Center want to help you reduce your risk of developing cancer.
To support that goal, we offer these tips, which are founded on scientific research —some of it conducted at Moores Cancer Center — and supported by the National Cancer Institute. We encourage you to talk with your doctors for more specific recommendations on how to adopt a healthier lifestyle, and for more detailed guidelines for cancer screenings that may be right for you.
Scientists say that lifestyle choices are responsible for an estimated 50 to 75 percent of cancer deaths in the United States.
Numerous studies have linked nutritional factors with a risk for developing several types of cancer, and as a risk for recurrence and likelihood of survival when someone has developed cancer. The cancers most strongly associated with nutritional factors include cancer of the breast, prostate, colon and rectum, oral cavity, lung, endometrium, and cervix.
Learn more about
nutrition and cancer prevention and about Moores Cancer Center's
Healthy Eating Program.
Follow these
screening guidelines to find cancer early, when there is the best chance for cure. And during your next dental checkup, ask your dentist to check your mouth and gums for any sign of oral cancers.
Learn about your family risk of cancer. Five percent to 10 percent of all cancers occur in people who have a family member with the same cancer. Knowing what cancers have been in the family is the first step toward tailored screening and preventive options. If you have a family history of cancer, see the
Family Cancer Genetics Program for more information.
Avoid exposure to environmental chemicals known to cause cancer such as radon and benzene. Have your home tested for radon, an odorless gas released from rocks and soil that enters homes through cracks in the foundation. Benzene is a natural part of gasoline and cigarette smoke; exposure comes from inhaling air that contains it, so avoid smoking, secondhand smoke, and vapors from heavy traffic and gas stations as much as possible. (Radon is linked to lung cancer, and benzene is lined to leukemia.)
Information sources: Moores Cancer Center's
Cancer Prevention and Control Program and the
National Cancer Institute


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PARSIPPANY, N.J., Nov. 29, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Avis Budget Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:CAR) announced that it has honored Budget Iceland as the Budget Licensee of the Year for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) in recognition of its ongoing commitment to the Budget brand and to serving value-conscious travelers with outstanding products and services.
Budget Iceland is well-positioned throughout the country to serve the car rental needs of business and leisure travelers. Budget facilities are conveniently located inside airport terminals, including Keflavik, Isafjordur, Hofn, Akureyri and Egilisstair airports, and are supported by a strong network of locations in city centers.
"The number of visitors to Iceland has been growing strongly, and last year was a record year for tourist arrivals to the country," said Larry De Shon, president, EMEA, Avis Budget Group. "Working hard to capitalize on this increase in tourism, Budget Iceland has seen substantial reservation and revenue growth. We appreciate their hard work and dedication to meeting the demand and helping us to strategically accelerate growth. We are proud to recognize them as EMEA's Licensee of the Year."
Budget Iceland provides customers with quality, well-maintained vehicles. The Budget fleet includes a variety of makes and models from manufacturers, including Ford, Hyundai, Renault, Suzuki and Toyota, with many 4x4 models. Vehicles in the fleet are available with manual and automatic transmissions, and Budget offers a variety of insurance packages and products to enhance customers' experience. Renters also benefit from Budget's friendly, attentive staff and free shuttle service from major hotels and guesthouses in Reykjavik.
"We are committed to customer satisfaction and have proudly served the car rental needs of business and leisure travelers in Iceland since 1989," said Vilhjálmur Sigurðsson, sales and marketing director, Budget Iceland. "We're happy to receive this distinguished honor."
Budget Iceland is an independently-owned and operated licensee of Budget Car Rental. Licensees such as Budget Iceland have the right to operate under the Budget brand in specified territories and in accordance with Budget's brand standards.
About Avis Budget Group
Avis Budget Group, Inc. is a leading global provider of vehicle rental services through its Avis and Budget brands, with 10,000 rental locations in approximately 175 countries around the world. Avis Budget Group operates most of its car rental offices in North America, Europe and Australia directly, and operates primarily through licensees in other parts of the world. Avis Budget Group has approximately 29,000 employees and is headquartered in Parsippany, N.J. For more information, visit www.avisbudgetgroup.com.
The Avis Budget Group, Inc. logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=8891
CONTACT: Alice Pereira (973) 496-6113 email@example.com
Source:Avis Budget Group, Inc.


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NASA's twin robot geologists, the Mars Exploration Rovers, launched
toward Mars on June 10 and July 7, 2003, in search of answers about the history of water on Mars. They landed on Mars January 3 and January 24 PST, 2004 (January 4 and January 25 UTC, 2004).
The Mars Exploration Rover mission is part of NASA's Mars Exploration
Program, a long-term effort of robotic exploration of the red planet.
Primary among the mission's scientific goals is to search for and
characterize a wide range of rocks and soils that hold clues to past
water activity on Mars. The spacecraft are targeted to sites on opposite sides of Mars that appear to
have been affected by liquid water in the past. The landing sites
are at Gusev Crater, a possible former lake in a giant impact crater,
and Meridiani Planum, where mineral deposits (hematite) suggest Mars
had a wet past.
After the airbag-protected landing craft settled onto the surface and
opened, the rovers rolled out to take panoramic images. These images give
scientists the information they need to select promising geological targets
that tell part of the story of water in Mars' past. Then, the rovers
drive to those locations to perform on-site scientific investigations.
These are the primary science instruments carried by the rovers:
Before landing, the goal for each rover was to drive up to 40 meters
(about 44 yards) in a single day, for a total of up to one 1
kilometer (about three-quarters of a mile). Both goals have been far exceeded!
Where are the rovers now?
Moving from place to place, the rovers perform on-site geological
investigations. Each rover is sort of the
mechanical equivalent of a geologist walking the surface of Mars. The
mast-mounted cameras are mounted 1.5 meters(5 feet) high
and provide 360-degree, stereoscopic, humanlike views of the
terrain. The robotic arm is capable of movement in much the same
way as a human arm with an elbow and wrist, and can place instruments directly up against rock
and soil targets of interest. In the mechanical "fist" of the
arm is a microscopic camera that serves the same purpose as a
geologist's handheld magnifying lens. The Rock Abrasion Tool serves the purpose of
a geologist's rock hammer to expose the insides of rocks.


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Top U.S. intelligence officials told Congress Thursday that al-Qaida of Iraq was behind a series of bombings against the Syrian regime in recent months.
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said bombings against security and intelligence targets in Damascus and Aleppo bear "all the earmarks of an al-Qaida-like attack", leading the U.S. intelligence community to believe the Iraqi militant branch is extending its reach into Syria. Al-Qaida of Iraq is one of al-Qaida's largest regional affiliates.
He added that Syrian opposition groups may have been infiltrated by al-Qaida, likely without their knowledge. Clapper said the lack of a unified opposition group could leave a power vacuum that extremists could fill if the Syrian government falls, a potential development he called "troubling," because Syria has an extensive network of chemical weapons sites.
Defense Intelligence Agency chief Lt. Gen. Ronald Burgess added that it appears "the al-Qaida like attacks" were likely caused by elements already inside the country, and that the U.S. intelligence community had not yet detected "a clarion call to outsiders" to join the cause.
He made no mention of the video released by core al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri over the weekend, calling on Muslims to support Syrian rebels.
The officials also told Congress that if Iran is attacked over its alleged nuclear weapons program, it could respond by closing the Strait of Hormuz to ships and launch missiles at regional U.S. forces and allies.
Burgess tells senators Iran is unlikely to initiate or intentionally provoke a conflict.
Clapper says it's "technically feasible" that Tehran could produce a nuclear weapon in one or two years, if its leaders decide to build one, "but practically not likely."
He says recent diplomatic outreach by Iran to European diplomats could indicate that officials there are reconsidering the program.
Both men say they do not believe Israel has decided to strike Iran. Clapper said he would be meeting with Israeli officials soon to discuss the matter.


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The UPMC Department of Family Medicine offers comprehensive primary care to people of all ages and at all stages of life and health.
At UPMC's Family Medicine Department, we:
Family medicine doctors are board certified and are able to provide care in both the office and the hospital.
Practicing in the discipline of family medicine requires training in caring for:
Our approach at the UPMC Department of Family Medicine is based on understanding our patients in the setting of their own lives, families, and communities.
We serve as primary care providers and can handle your urgent, routine, and chronic needs in the office.
In addition to caring for patients, we also work to improve medical care through research and education in primary care medicine.
We educate and train future physicians in how to provide comprehensive primary care.
Learn more about:
UPMC's Department of Family Medicine has several locations throughout the city of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County.
Find a family medicine health center close to you and call us to make an appointment or find out how we can help you with your primary care needs.
» View a list of UPMC's Best Doctors as recognized in Pittsburgh Magazine.
Affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences
| Supplemental content provided by Healthwise, Incorporated. To learn more, visit www.healthwise.org
For help in finding a doctor or health service that suits your needs, call the UPMC Referral Service at 412-647-UPMC (8762) or 1-800-533-UPMC (8762). Select option 1.
UPMC is an equal opportunity employer. UPMC policy prohibits discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, age, sex, genetics, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, familial status, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected group status. Further, UPMC will continue to support and promote equal employment opportunity, human dignity, and racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity. This policy applies to admissions, employment, and access to and treatment in UPMC programs and activities. This commitment is made by UPMC in accordance with federal, state, and/or local laws and regulations.
Medical information made available on UPMC.com is not intended to be used as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. You should not rely entirely on this information for your health care needs. Ask your own doctor or health care provider any specific medical questions that you have. Further, UPMC.com is not a tool to be used in the case of an emergency. If an emergency arises, you should seek appropriate emergency medical services.
Pittsburgh, PA, USA | UPMC.com


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Many non-scientists are unaware of the importance or extent of "the scientific literature." In the geeky world of science, success doesn't depend on social prowess or earning power (thankfully!), but on one's publication record. It's hard to get published—to do so means making a significant contribution to the field, as judged by a panel of anonymous reviewers. Most people have nightmares about being chased or drowning. Scientists have nightmares about their papers getting rejected.
The main database for accessing the biomedical research papers, called PubMed, contains over 19 million articles. If you search PubMed for irreducible complexity, you'll get 11 hits, none of which represents a peer-reviewed piece of work showing evidence of an Intelligent Designer. Most of the hits are commentaries on the Intelligent Design (ID) movement itself or attempts to "reduce" irreducible complexity. A couple of them are totally irrelevant.
Could this mysterious absence from the literature be a result of a conspiracy by Big Science to deliberately marginalize the work of people like Michael Behe? Though ID proponents often try to make this case (just watch Ben Stein's Expelled), I think it's very, very unlikely. But let's give them the benefit of the doubt. If ID theory is scientific in nature, we can expect its leaders to engage scrupulously—as all scientists must—with the literature.
Unfortunately, Michael Behe does not have a great track record in this department. Consider his 1996 book Darwin's Black Box. When reading the chapter on the immune system, for example, I kept expecting him to interact with the evidence for the gradual development of the antibody recombination system. The transposon hypothesis, which we examined in detail in Part 2, is a well-tested model for how this system could have originated. I couldn't wait to see what Behe would say about it! His response was more than a little disappointing. He does refer to the model, at least indirectly, but only by discounting a two-page commentary—the purported "best efforts" in the field—as mere speculation:
[The authors] make a valiant stab at accounting for the components [of the antibody diversity generation system], but in the end, it is a hop in the box with Calvin and Hobbes. The authors speculate that a gene from a bacterium might have luckily been transferred to an animal. Luckily, the protein coded by the gene could itself rearrange genes; and luckily, in the animal's DNA there were signals that were near antibody genes; and so on. In the final analysis the authors identify key problems with gradualistic evolution of the immune system, but their proffered solutions are really just a disguised shrug of their shoulders (137).
Seriously, a hop in the box with Calvin and Hobbes? If you search Pubmed for RAG transposon, you'll get 18 hits, and they're all relevant to the evolution of the immune system. More papers deal directly with the data for the transposon hypothesis than for the much broader topic of irreducible complexity! The top two hits are recent reviews, each of which cites dozens of papers. And the first paper ever to propose the transposon hypothesis (Sakano et al. Nature 1979, which doesn't even appear in this narrow search) has been cited hundreds of times in peer-reviewed publications.
Questions certainly remain about the details of the transposon model, but Behe makes it sound like a pie in the sky idea with no supporting data. He writes, "We can look high or we can look low, in books or in journals, but the result is the same. The scientific literature has no answers to the question of the origin of the immune system" (138). This is patently false. Behe may not like the answers, but he misleads the public when he suggests they don't exist.
Nearly 15 years have passed since Darwin's Black Box first came out. During that time, scientists have collected some of the most compelling evidence for the transposon hypothesis (see Part 2). What has Behe said about this new data?
In 2005, he testified in a now-famous Dover, Pennsylvania, courtroom in favor of teaching ID alongside evolution in public schools. Behe maintained his previous position: "The scientific literature has no detailed testable answers on how the immune system could have arisen by random mutation and natural selection."
The judge, John E. Jones, wrote in his decision that Behe "was presented with 58 peer-reviewed publications, nine books, and several immunology textbook chapters about the evolution of the immune system; however, he simply insisted that this was still not sufficient evidence of evolution…" Jones ultimately ruled against teaching ID in classrooms, in part because of the impossibly high burden of proof Behe demanded. In 2006, the 10th anniversary edition of Darwin's Black Box appeared, featuring a new afterword. While Behe cleared up a few apparent misconceptions about irreducible complexity, he stood by the original text as a whole:
Despite the enormous progress of biochemistry in the intervening years, despite hundreds of probing commentaries…,despite implacable opposition from some scientists at the highest levels, the book's argument for design stands. Other than updating the list of my children in the Acknowledgements…there is very little of the original text I would change if I wrote it today (255).
Specifically about the immune system, Behe mentioned one new paper from 2005, but only to reemphasize that nothing in his thinking had changed:
Whatever interesting things [the 2005 paper] speculated about gradual evolution, however, it had nothing to say about Darwinian evolution. In fact neither Darwin's name nor any derivative word appeared in the paper. Nor did the phrase "natural selection" appear; "selection" is used once." "Mutation" appears twice, but the envisioned mutations are not specified (269).
This sort of defense is peculiar. Behe counts words when he should be grappling with the data. Interestingly, he implicitly admits that a gradual evolutionary process may be sufficient to explain the origin of the irreducibly complex immune system, but he contrasts such a process with Darwinian evolution, by which he means mutation and natural selection.
Recall the quote I referenced in my last post, in which Behe lays out the criteria for detecting design:
The laws of nature can organize matter…The most relevant laws are those of biological reproduction, mutation, and natural selection. If a biological structure can be explained in terms of those natural laws, then we cannot conclude that it was designed. Throughout this book, however, I have shown why many biochemical systems cannot be built up by natural selection working on mutations: no direct, gradual route exists to these irreducibly complex systems… (203).
The transposon hypothesis outlines a possible gradual route to an irreducibly complex system, and it relies entirely on the laws of reproduction, mutation, and natural selection. Nevertheless, Behe remains unconvinced. In his mind, to explain the origin of an irreducibly complex system entirely in terms of natural laws, one would have to show that the steps were in fact unguided.
Such a requirement can be seen more clearly in his 2009 letter to the editor at Science, written in response to a news focus article about the origins of the immune system. Science chose not to publish the letter, so Beheposted it on the ID blog Uncommon Descent. He wrote:
Darwin's chief contribution was not the simple idea of common descent, but the hypothesis that evolution is driven completely by ateleological mechanisms, prominently including random variation and natural selection. Intelligent design has no proper argument with the bare idea of common descent; rather, it disputes the sufficiency of ateleological mechanisms to explain all facets of biology…
Many scientists agree with Behe that evolution may have been guided in some mysterious way by a Mind. But whether or not the methods of science could ever rigorously detect teleology—mindful purpose—by studying the physical world is hotly debated. Most working scientists I know do not believe science is equipped for such a task.
Questions about teleology are fascinating, but today I'm concerned with just one thing: whether or not Behe has sufficiently engaged with the scientific literature. If I had read his book without any prior knowledge of immunology (or the other topics he covers), I'm pretty sure I would be left with a deep distrust of scientists and the scientific process. I think that's a pity.


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Poiana Brasov, Romania 2011
Regional Conference on Norwegian funded Regional Excellence Programmes for Safe Nuclear Energy in Romania and Bulgaria, 28 March - 1 April
The IAEA Extrabudgetary Programmes for Safe Nuclear Energy in Romania and Bulgaria were initiated in September 2009. The Programmes were funded by a grant from the Norwegian grant organization Innovation Norway on behalf of the Norwegian Government, and implemented by the IAEA Safety Assessment Section (SAS) in the Division of Nuclear Safety Installation (NSNI).
The Bulgarian, Romanian and Norwegian parties asked the IAEA to undertake the implementation of the two programmes to include best practises and to facilitate a balanced approach between improved safety at the nuclear installation and improved safety review by the regulators. As the programme implementation agent, the IAEA was directly involved in programme development and management. The completion date for programme activities is April 2011.
The overall objective of the programmes is to enhance nuclear safety in both countries. The Programmes aim to develop the regulator and operator to a level of sustainable excellence that will be recognized as a model for others to follow. A parallel outcome expected by the IAEA in its implementation efforts is to establish nuclear safety project frameworks and content that will be directly applicable to other IAEA Member States developing nuclear power capacity. This programme will, therefore, serve as a pilot for future excellence programmes for other IAEA Member States.
The topics include:
- Safety assessment methodology
- Safety culture
- Emergency preparedness and response
- Integrated management systems
- Enterprise risk management
- Knowledge management capacity building
- Site evaluation
The objective of this conference is to share the results from both programmes in upgrading nuclear safety competencies and capacities, and to explore possibilities of application of similar methodologies in other Member States. The Norwegian ambassador, Mr. Ø. Hovdkinn, stated in his opening remarks "The events in Japan have reminded us that nuclear safety is not only of national but also of international concern. It is therefore positive that this project has improved not only the nuclear safety in Romania and Bulgaria but also improved the cooperation between the two countries, especially the part of the project related to emergency preparedness, and thereby contributing to the IAEA safety effort towards all IAEA Member States".
For further information please contact


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As noted earlier, the official WWE website announced Monday that effective immediately, John Laurinaitis is resigning from his position as Senior Vice President of Talent Operations after eight years of service. He will, however, remain with the company as a producer assisting talent with their matches. His resignation is legitimate and not part of any storyline.
In an indication that he was on his way out of the position, Laurinaitis was quietly removed from the WWE Corporate website's index of Executive Officers in April.
Though WWE stated in their article that Laurinaitis was "burned out" from the position, multiple sources have stated that recent changes to the corporate infrastructure represent Paul Levesque, Executive Vice President of Talent and Live Events, assuming control of certain sectors of the company and re-shaping them to his liking.
Laurinaitis' duties had been scaled back in recent years as Levesque and fellow executive Stephanie McMahon gained control over Talent Operations and creating line-ups for house shows. He had overseen the department since April 2004, when he replaced Jim Ross. He was hired as a producer after the sport entertainment organization's acquisition of certain assets of World Championship Wrestling in March 2001.
Source: PWInsider


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We have a daily pick-up (Monday through Friday) at 3pm Central Time. In stock orders placed before noon are generally shipped the same day to the 48 U.S. States.
Hawaii, Alaska and Outside U.S.A. Shipments:
Shipments outside the continental 48 U.S. States are shipped by U.S. Postal Service Priority Mail (HI & AK) or U.S. Postal Service Global Priority Mail (Canada and other countries outside of the United States) within 24 hours.
Returning Merchandise:
Returned merchandise is subject to a 15% restocking fee, plus any express shipping where applicable. Custom products (made to your requested specifications or measurements for custom fit) are not returnable, all sales final. Express shipping is Next Day Air, 2nd Day Air, 3 Day Select and other overnight or express shipping services that may have been requested by you. Ground shipping is free when order is $299 or more. If your order was shipped by UPS Ground any return is subject only to the 15% restocking fee. No returns are accepted after 30 days.
Damaged Merchandise:
Time is of the essence. If you receive your order and notice the order is damaged you must contact us within 48 hours for an exchange. No exchanges or returns will be accepted after 48 hours.
Warranty Claims:
If you have a CaluTech manufactured product that has failed, and is under warranty, contact us to begin the claim process for repair, or replacement if deemed necessary by CaluTech.
If the item was never delivered we will verify status through the shipment tracking number. If the tracking number shows delivery we will not refund the order total or offer a replacement. For further information on this policy please review our Terms & Conditions.


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Steven Levy really liked Steely Dan, but so too, it seemed, did his iPod. Like a lot of people, he began to wonder about its shuffle - was the random function really random or a result of dirty tricks, blunders... or even telepathy?Read more about it at the Guardian (HT: The Mathematics Weblog)
Ruminations on computational geometry, algorithms, theoretical computer science and life
Saturday, October 07, 2006
"We're making it less random to make it feel more random."
Maybe we should use the iPod to explain all concepts in theoretical computer science:
Posted by Suresh Venkatasubramanian at 10/07/2006 10:40:00 AM
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Harston competes in Senior PGA Championship
New Lipscomb golf coach Buddy Harston shot a 74 and 79 in the first two rounds of the 67th Senior PGA Championship at the Oak Tree Golf Club in Edmond, Okla.
Harston shot a first round 74 Thursday on the par 71 course to finish in a tie for 59th. His two-day score of 153 kept him from making the cut for the final two rounds Saturday and Sunday in a very competitive field.
Some of the golfers competing in the event are Craig Stadler, Tom Watson, Curtis Strange, Gil Morgan. Loren Roberts and Peter Jacbosen,
The tournament continues through Sunday.
Harton begins his duties in June.


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The Whitcomb family
The Whitcombs were wrapping up lunch at the Mall in Columbia after a couple hours of Black Friday shopping, a family tradition. "Every year we say we're not going to, and then we do it anyway," said Shirley Whitcomb, 66, of Glen Burnie, seated at a table in the food court with three of her four daughters, plus a boyfriend and grandson. They'd hit a few stores in an hour and a half, but "we're just getting started," one said. "I'm a shopper," Shirley Whitcomb volunteered. "That's an understatement," one of her children interjected. Whitcomb said she was shopping for clothes and electronics and had already dropped $600, a good chunk of it on a Nintendo Wii gaming system for her 6-year-old grandson Benjamin. She figured she'd be spending more on gifts this Black Friday than in years past, "not because I have to, but because I like to ... I like to buy for my kids and other people. I like to give." --Timothy B. Wheeler (Standing from left: Breanne Whitcomb, 29, of Glen Burnie; Alicia Reynolds, 47, of Pinehurst, N.C.; Brian White, 28, of Crofton; and Alicia Whitcomb, 27. Seated, Benjamin Whitcomb, Alicia's son and Shirley Whitcomb, 66, of Glen Burnie.)
Baltimore Sun photo by Timothy B. Wheeler
Copyright © 2018, Hartford Courant


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Baltimore's most upscale neighborhoods in early 2011 [Pictures]
These are the most expensive ZIP codes in the Baltimore metro area and neighborhoods in the city during the first half of 2011, according to a Baltimore Sun analysis of average sale price data from Metropolitan Regional Information Systems. Areas were included in the analysis if they had at least five home sales. --Jamie Smith Hopkins
Copyright © 2018, Sun Sentinel


text: Eco-friendly up-cycled neckwarmer. This versatile accessory can be added to your daily wardrobe in various ways. Layer it over a sweater or add it as a statement piece to your business casual attire. The outer material is made from a space brown monotone scarf, and the inner material is new super soft brown and cream plaid micro-fleece. A new take on the old, this one-of-a-kind neckwarmer is also topped with a handcrafted button made from a fallen tree limb. Handmade in Pennsylvania.


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LibertyCabbage wrote:Webcomic: Owl and Fish-man
URL: http://www.timeforsleep.net/
Creator/s: Jessen Sheridan
Run: 7/10-current
Schedule: Tu/Th
Section/s: Ch. 8, "Prejudice"
Hey cool!
Thanks for taking the time to review my webcomic (sorry for the delayed reply). No one has ever done that for me before!
I really appreciate your critique of my work as I am always trying out new stories, styles and themes (and color schemes; I'm definitely going to be changing that a little later this year lol). I'll certainly be taking many of your suggestions to heart.
I did want to briefly clarify a couple of points you made, if you don't mind? As my story is an ongoing, chapter-based one, there can be some loss of context when reviewing a single, later chapter (though I completely understand why you do so for the purpose of your reviews). For example, there is character development happening, though it is happening over the course of the story, so the evidence is not seen over the course of this one chapter. As well, the narrative text at the top of each page is designed to be contradictory and provide misinformation (it is more clear when starting with chapter one and the reason for its inclusion will be explained come the epilogue) so I promise I wasn't including incorrect details due to laziness. Finally, the entirety of the comic is not based around racism, only this chapter (and I agree my treatment was simplistic and brief). While I tend to disagree that the subject of racism is not appropriate for younger audiences, that is just my opinion which comes from previous experiences as a teacher, so it's not an actual gripe lol
Anyways, thanks for hearing me out and thanks again for the review, it is the best way to learn! And thanks, also, for the encouraging push. I appreciate you noting my literary background and implying that I could do more detailed, less simplistic work both story-wise and illustration-wise. When I finish my run of Owl and Fish-man, I am hoping to do a more stylistically different story so the encouragement is not lost on me.
Best of luck with your future reviews and thanks for taking some time out for my little webcomic!


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Lippert Promotes Todd Driver to COO Position
March 18, 2013 by RVBusiness · Comments Off on Lippert Promotes Todd Driver to COO Position
Goshen, Ind.-based supplier Lippert Components Inc. (LCI) has appointed Todd Driver as COO. According to a press relases, Driver has been with LCI since 1998, starting in the company's management trainee program. In 2009, Driver was promoted to vice president of 0perations, and most recently has been responsible for over half of LCI's operations, including chassis, slideouts, furniture and accessories.
"Todd is invaluable to our team," said Jason Lippert, CEO of LCI. "Todd's ability to identify the right people for the position in which they can be successful is just one of his many talents and, as a result, he has been a great team builder at LCI for many years. During 2012, our revenue grew $220 million and we added over 1,000 employees. As we continue to seek growth opportunities, we want excellence at the highest operational level, and Todd adds that to our team."
"Todd's positive influence will expand significantly as he will now be involved with more of the company's operations and management teams," said Scott Mereness, president of LCI. "Coming off a year for which our revenues exceeded $900 million, we recognize the importance of having strong, effective managers at all levels of the company and, in particular, in our top leadership positions. Todd's proven track record epitomizes what we look for in our leaders."
Driver has been instrumental in many of the efficiency improvements implemented by LCI over the past few quarters. "One of our goals moving forward is to continue to identify areas for improvement and implement changes on a timely basis so we can exceed customer expectations," said Driver. "We intend to be the very best customer-oriented team in the industry."
He added, "LCI's top executives are extraordinary leaders and they provide the opportunity and support that encourages success among their managers. LCI has reason to be proud of its employees at every level, as every one of them contributes to the success of the company."
"Todd has been loyal to LCI for many years," added Jason Lippert, "and he is ready to assume additional responsibility. We are excited to see his drive, work ethic and passion spread throughout the Company. We all wish Todd the best in his new role at LCI."