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subset: commoncrawl


text:
Editor's note: This is an update to an earlier Reporter-Herald story.
LONGMONT -- Two new schools, a church, a library and a medical clinic sit cheek-by-jowl with oil and natural gas wells in two adjacent southern Weld County towns.
A Loveland delegation led by City Manager Bill Cahill and Mayor Cecil Gutierrez visited all of them on Friday.
They traveled aboard a city bus through the heart of the Wattenberg gas and oil field to see, hear -- and even smell -- what happens when a community's development collides with the quest for energy independence.
"OK, now. Think with your nose," said Shane Davis, oil and gas research and information director for the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Sierra Club.
Davis was walking past a playground and picnic pavilion at the Frederick Recreation Area toward a Noble Energy gas well, where venting chemicals permeated the surrounding air.
"Can you smell that?" he asked, as a dozen people followed. "It's pretty strong today."
Loveland, like other communities up and down Colorado's Front Range, is caught in a dilemma.
New technologies for hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," and horizontal drilling extend the reach of the world's largest energy producers. Oil and gas exploration and development now encroaching on population centers previously untouched by their industry.
'We're Lucky'
Elected officials and planners in those towns and cities are wrestling with ways to balance community health, safety and quality of life with private property rights and the need for new sources of energy.
"We're lucky," Gutierrez said after the first tour stop in Firestone, where oil and gas wells were operating less than 100 feet from a new home, and inside the state-mandated 350-foot setback from a new charter school.
"We can be proactive. They weren't."
Davis' "Tour de Frack," as he calls it, has become a popular circuit for groups, including city officials, interested in seeing just how pervasive the oil and gas industry's most undesirable consequences can be on Colorado's landscape.
Loveland, in the face of rising interest from producers in oil and gas deposits that underlie the city's eastern fringe, has placed a moratorium on production that extends through February.
And city officials are spending that time looking at ways policy can protect their constituents from what they saw Friday.
On The Edge
"Luckily, this kind of density is like nothing we would ever see in Loveland," Cahill said near the end of the tour. "We're on the very edge of this. And, we have time."
The towns of Frederick and Firestone are very near the center of the vast Wattenberg oil and gas field, an oval that extends from northern metro-Denver through much of Weld County and portions of eastern Boulder and Larimer counties.
Some petroleum industry analysts say it contains, even after decades of exploitation, more than 3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
Oil is also a target, locked in the Niobrara shale formation that closely follows the Wattenberg contours, where global giant Anadarko Petroleum Corp. has two permits pending just outside Loveland's city limit.
Friday's tour included, in addition to Gutierrez and Cahill, three Loveland city councilors -- Ralph Trenary, Joan Shaffer and Daryle Klassen, and councilor-elect Dave Clark. Planning commissioners Troy Krenning and Carol Dowding were also aboard.
Wells, Rigs 'Everywhere'
Loveland development services director Greg George and City Attorney John Duval, the two senior staffers who are crafting Loveland's proposed oil-and-gas regulation ordinance, also had keen eyes on the southern Weld scene.
"I hadn't driven around that area," George said. "I had no clue. When you get out into the open, and look out on the horizon, you see how consistent it is. It's everywhere."
Pinched on a narrow strip between Coal Ridge Middle School and a King Soopers-anchored retail center in Firestone, Canadian natural gas producer Encana Corp. operates 12 wells, some within the 350-foot setback that state regulations specify.
The reason for the proximity: The wells were there long before the school or the store.
"A failure of planning" is how Gutierrez described the haphazard mash-up of wells, houses, schools and other buildings.
"We don't have to allow that to happen," he said. "We will not allow that to happen."
Loveland's regulatory process relies heavily on work done by Greeley, where numerous oil and gas wells are located within the city.
Reaching a Balance
It also steers clear of Longmont's regulations, deemed by the state attorney general to be so much in conflict with state law that he filed suit against the city.
Longmont's position is now complicated by Tuesday's voter-approved measure calling for an outright ban on hydraulic fracking in the city, one that almost certainly will draw another legal challenge.
Loveland likely will pursue "enhanced" measures that producers and the city would voluntarily agree to, George said.
"It's a balance that we have to reach," he said. "We will be trying to deal with regulations that would otherwise be preempted by state law."
He said conversations that he and Duval had with Anadarko gave rise to optimism.
"They were open-minded to some additional air quality measures, well beyond what the state requires," George said.
Air quality was a prime focus of Friday's trip, as the bus swung into a housing development where the venting of "volatile organic compounds," a family of toxic chemicals known by the shorthand VOCs, from a gas well was visible in the clear morning air.
"Wow. You can see it. Clearly," Loveland councilor Joan Shaffer said. "How would you like to live next door to that?"
Tom Hacker can be reached at 669-5050, ext. 521, or firstname.lastname@example.com.


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St James' Park
Key facts
Club: Newcastle United FC | Opening: 1880 | Capacity: 52,339 seats
History and description
St James' Park was first used for football in 1880, but was initially nothing more than a bare pitch.
By the late 1890s, one small stand had been built, but it was the promotion of Newcastle to the First Division in 1898 that prompted the club to properly develop the ground. New terraces were built, which brought capacity to 30,000.
It then only took five more years before another round of major reconstruction works was started. A new stand at the Barrack Road side and expanded terraces increased capacity to over 60,000.
In the 1920s, Newcastle planned for an extensive redevelopment of St James' Park with new stands designed by architect Archibald Leitch, but conflicts between the landlord (the city of Newcastle) and planners led to abandonment of the plans.
In 1930, St James' Park recorded its highest attendance when 68,386 people visited a match between Newcastle and Chelsea.
Further conflicts between the club and city led to more cancelled plans in the 1950s and 1960s, which also made Newcastle miss out on hosting matches during the 1966 World Cup. These were hosted by Middlesbrough's Ayresome Park instead.
In the early 1970s, the club finally reached agreement with the Newcastle city council, and in 1972 a new Leazes Terrace Stand opened. Works were to continue with the Leazes End, but relegation and a precarious financial situation ended hopes of further improvements.
Safety requirements resulting from the Bradford fire made a replacement of the old West Stand necessary, and in 1987 a new stand, named Milburn Stand, opened.
Further improvements were needed, but funding only came available after the takeover of the club by Sir John Hall in 1992. In only a few years three new stands got built, resulting in a bowl-shaped stadium with a capacity of 37,000 seats.
In 1996, St James' Park was a playing venue of the Euro 1996 Championships, during which it hosted three group matches.
The increasing popularity of the club made further expansion necessary, and after plans to move to a new stadium had fallen through, instead was chosen to build a second tier on top of the Milburn and Leazes Stands. Works were completed in August 2000. The stadium now has the largest cantilever roof in Europe.
In 2011, St James' Park was temporarily renamed Sports Direct Arena (after the company of club owner Mike Ashley), but the stadium referred back to its original name after new club sponsor Wonga bought the naming right.
(photos of the present St James' Park below)
How to get to St James' Park
St James' Park is located on the edge of Newcastle's city centre, making it easy to reach by public transport.
The stadium lies slightly towards the north-east of Newcastle's centre and north of the main railway station, from where it is a 10-minute walk. On its northern side it borders Leazes Park.
If arriving by car, follow directions to Newcastle's city centre. The stadium is close to most city centre car parks, but due to its location it is advised to travel by public transport.
St James' Park is also served by metro (stop St James) if you arrive from elsewhere in the Newcastle region or Newcastle Airport.
Address: St James' Park, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE1 4ST
Eat, drink, and sleep near St James' Park
One of the great assets of St James' Park is its central location right in Newcastle's city centre. This means that there is a large variety of eating and drinking options in the surroundings of the stadium.
This also means that there are a fair few hotels at close walking distance of the stadium. The excellent-rated Sandman Signature Hotel lies right next door, but there are various more toward the main railway station. The Holiday Inn Express, County Hotel, and Sleeperz Hotel are among the more affordable that get good reviews.
For all hotels near St James' Park click here, which shows you also all hotels in the city centre.
Newcastle United Tickets
Tickets for Newcastle United games can be bought online, by phone +44 (0) 844 372 1892, or at the official club stores at St James' Park and the Metrocentre.
Newcastle tend to sell out a quarter to half of their home matches depending on how well the season is progressing. If not sold out, tickets can also be bought at the stadium ticket office right before the match.
Ticket prices depend on the opponent. For a typical match most tickets for the ends cost £27.00 and those for the sides between £32.00 and £52.00. Prices are increased with about £15.00 for high-profile matches.
You can find a seating plan here.
St James' Park stadium tours
Newcastle United offer guided stadium tours around St James' Park that include the changing rooms, dugouts, players' tunnel, and the media suite.
Tours typically run every day at 11:30 am, 12:30 pm, and 2:00 pm, but the current schedule may differ.
Booking in advance is recommended, but not required. Bookings can be made online or by phone +44 (0) 844 372 1892.
The tours costs £15.00.
Photos of St James' Park
Relevant Internet links
Nufc.co.uk – Official website of Newcastle United FC.
Newcastlegateshead.com – Official tourism website for Newcastle and Gateshead.
Nexus.org.uk – Journey planner and Newcastle public transport information.
2 reviews
Right, first things first, I am a Sunderland fan. A big SAFC fan. But, believe it or not, this ground is one of my favourite grounds that I did when I did the 117, but not higher than Wembley. The atmosphere was electric for the game, Manchester United won 4-0 in the game, and now I am going to mark out of 10 most general parts of the stadium.
Size: 9/10
Atmosphere: 10/10
Quality: 9/10
Outside: 10/10
Owner: -10/10 (Only joking, about 7/10)
Actual Team from my point of view: 2/10
Realistic: 9/10
The Sports Direct Arena is a challenge. The two big stands are very impressive and extremely spaceish, however getting up there is a nightmare and I am an athlete!!! The designers done really well to get the old smaller stand to fit and create the bowl effect. The view from the gods I honestly thought wasn't as bad as people made out until we scored and you could not tell at all who got it??? The atmosphere in here was nuts as it was derby day and the passion in the north east is second to none in English football. This ground is good, though with Mike Ashley and his Sports Direct brand the stadium is being tarnished.


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Euro Classic RN White Men's Vest
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Express. Home of the Daily and Sunday Express.
Debuchy signing can lift Toon - Pardew
Newcastle boss Alan Pardew is hoping a successful pursuit of Mathieu Debuchy will help to secure the club's biggest names.
The Magpies are hopeful of pushing through their protracted move for the 27-year-old Lille full-back later this week after tracking the France international for more than a year.
Pardew said: "When you sign good, senior international players, which he is, it's going to give everybody a boost, your senior players too. I hope that's the case - but we are still far from a deal yet."
In the short term, Pardew's only focus, however, is Wednesday night's clash with Everton in which the Magpies will attempt to avoid a ninth defeat in just 11 Barclays Premier League games.
That sequence of results culminated in a remarkable pair of fixtures in the immediate aftermath of Christmas, which saw Newcastle visit Manchester United and Arsenal in quick succession and score three goals on both occasions.
However, the fact that they conceded four at Old Trafford and, in a kamikaze conclusion to the game, seven at the Emirates Stadium, meant they returned home with nothing to show for their efforts.
The task gets little easier back on Tyneside as Everton are smarting from their 2-1 home defeat by Chelsea on Sunday despite taking the lead and with the influential Marouane Fellaini back among their ranks following his three-match ban.
Pardew, who could be forgiven for bemoaning his current run of fortune, said with a smile: "We are expecting them to sign Ronaldo tomorrow.
"We are accepting all of that, we really have to turn a blind eye to all of that. We are not really bothered, we just know it's about us.
"We are at home and our fans have been brilliant. They have stayed with us through this difficult, difficult period and I hope we can reward them."


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Software defect tracking company Parasoft has produced a new version of its eponymously named SOAtest product with additional support for electronic data interchange (EDI), fixed length, and delimited (CSV) message formats. Positioned as a tool suited to what its makers denote as both "functional and performance" related testing, SOAtest configures, sends, and validates "virtually" any text-based message via a forms-based interface.
Parasoft VP Wayne Ariola rationalizes the need for a product like SOAtest on the fact that communication across today's composite applications often involves industry-standard message formats like EDIFACT, HL7, HIPAA, X12, and so on. There are also some "very distinct specialized formats" (as he puts it) used in niche markets.
"Our goal with this release was to ensure that organizations leveraging any of these message formats could take full advantage of SOAtest's interface when they're configuring, sending, and validating the messages that drive their business. Another major enhancement in the new release is enhanced REST and WADL support, which provides an additional layer of control for RESTful services," said Ariola.
The new support ensures that only valid values can be entered when configuring a message, alerts the team when tests need to be updated, simplifies updating tests as the WADL evolves, and ensures the interoperability of WADLs.
Other key features introduced in the latest release include:
- HP ALM 11 and Quality Center 11 integration
- Groovy, JSR 223-compliant scripting support
- Queue browser support for any JMS provider
- Load Test "active reporting" and WebSphere 8 monitoring support
- New supported technologies & environments (NTLM v2, Eclipse 3.7, .NET WCF 4.0, XPath 2.0, Jython 2.5, Firefox 10, Chrome 17)


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Symantec STAR Team Gives the Scoop on Hot Malware
No Good Deed Unpunished
First up was the threat Symantec calls Printlove. As Security Watch reported in June, when this threat hits some systems they begin spewing pages and pages of gibberish from the printer. It turns out that there's more to the story.
Printlove exploits a vulnerability in the Windows print spooler, a vulnerability that Microsoft patched in 2010. The infamous Stuxnet used this same vulnerability as one of its seven infection vectors. Printlove typically gets a toehold on a network when a hapless user plugs in an infected USB drive. Once active, it spreads across the network by dropping a carefully crafted payload into the print spooler folder.
On an unpatched system, this payload causes the spooler process to execute malicious code. If you've kept your system properly updated, the spooler just sees the payload as a print job and tries to print the binary file, with unpleasant results. That's right; only the security-wise users who keep abreast of the latest patches will suffer the "printer bomb" effect!
Big Brother Really Is Watching
Gamma International, a British firm, bills its Finfisher tool as a "governmental IT intrusion and remote monitoring solution." We don't really know what agencies are using Finfisher, but its presence has been reported in countries all over the world. Symantec's STAR team analyzed an actual working sample and determined that it really live up to its promised feature list.
Among other things, it can record your Skype calls, instant messages, email, and VOIP conversations. In addition to an advanced keylogger, it has the ability to snoop using the victim PC's webcam and microphone. It can exfiltrate sensitive files from your hard drive. It communicates covertly with the owning agency's headquarters and can bypass over 40 antivirus systems.
Gardner reported that Finfisher typically arrives buried in an email with a .rar-compressed collection of images attached. One of the images is actually an executable file, but its filename uses a peculiar feature of Unicode, the right-to-left override character, to make the extension display as .jpg. When the victim opens this wolf in sheep's clothing, it infects the Master Boot Record. At the next reboot, the victim system is totally pwned.
Is the FBI watching you with Finfisher? How about the KGB? Chances are good you're not a Person of Interest, but that doesn't mean you're safe. It's only a matter of time before cyber crooks start using this technology, if they haven't already. Unless your antivirus detects it, you just won't know. Naturally Symantec's antivirus products detect it, calling it Backdoor.Finfish, along with a similar Mac-specific tool they call OSX.Crisis.
For more from Neil, follow him on Twitter @neiljrubenking.


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Artist's Concept of Exoplanet with Comet-like Tail
This artist's illustration shows a view of the gas giant planet HD 209458b, as seen from the surface of a hypothetical nearby companion object. The planet is orbiting so close to its sunlike star that its heated atmosphere is escaping into space. Spectroscopic observations by the new Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) aboard the Hubble Space Telescope suggest that powerful stellar winds are sweeping the castoff material behind the scorched planet and shaping it into a comet-like tail.
Artwork Credit: NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI);
Science Credit: J. Linsky (University of Colorado, Boulder, Colo.)


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"Fighting For Frederick" is a project of the Kristen Renee Foundation, a not-for-profit organization.
Keep informed! We will update you as news develops
Visit the Fighting for Frederick bookmarks on Delicious. Here we bookmark all of our news items and tag key words so you can follow along with us.


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Bad news for workers relying on their employer-sponsored health insurance—if Republicans get their way, you may be losing your coverage. That is, if the workweek gets restructured.
Continue Reading Below
A Republican-backed bill seeks to restructure the definition of a full-time worker in the Affordable Care Act, bumping what would be considered a full-timer to 40 hours a week from the law's current threshold of 30 hours. The change would be bad news for workers relying on employer-sponsored health insurance.
H.R. 2575, the "Save American Workers Act of 2013," bumps up the full-time worker hour status from the Affordable Care Act's 30-hour per week threshold to 40 hours per week. The bill was unanimously opposed by Democrats Ways and Means earlier this month, and will soon hit the House floor for a vote.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reported Tuesday that if passed, the bill would mean approximately 1 million workers would lose their private-employer-based coverage. An estimated 500,000 would shift to publicly-funded Medicaid or onto the public exchange marketplace coverage, and up to 500,000 would be left without insurance.
Under the ACA, every individual in the country has to have insurance by the end of open enrollment period on April 1, or they will face a fine of $95 or 1% of their annual income for failing to comply. The employer mandate, which requires every business with at least 50 or more full-time workers offer coverage, kicks in in 2015. The mandate has been delayed from its original 2014 start date.
The Obama Administration announced earlier this month that businesses with between 50 and 99 workers would not have to comply with the employer mandate until 2016.
Gary Burtless, labor economist at the Brookings Institution, says employers face competition to attract and retain talented workers, and that those who currently offer coverage to their workers would likely continue to do so even if the hourly requirements were to change.
"Those who offer will continue to offer, even with the higher threshold for who is considered full-time," he says.
Critics of the ACA have said that the 30-hour requirement would lead employers to scale back the amount of hours offered to employees to skirt the penalty, but Burtless argues this could actually create more jobs, if people are needed to fill the gaps.
"More jobs could be available to people if you reduce their hours by a sizeable faction," he says. "Then I would think you would need to hire other workers to make up for lost hours. No one has mentioned that."
The bill is another attempt by the Republican party to weaken ObamaCare, says Pam Villarreal, labor expert at the National Center for Policy Analysis. "It's not really addressing the need for reform of the ACA," she says. "It's taking employees that were designated as full-time up to 40 hours so that companies don't have to pay as many penalties."
Ways and Means Ranking Member Rep. Sander M. Levin, (D-MI), says the CBO estimate reveals the dangers of the Republicans' continued efforts to repeal the ACA ."Republicans have just embraced a proposal to put wages and benefits at risk for a million or more hard-working Americans, while substantially increasing the deficit," he said in a statement.
But Villarreal disagrees, adding that this could have a positive impact on wages, especially if fewer employers have to offer health benefits as a result.
"We look at how wages have remained stagnant," she says. "But the cost of labor has gone up, and that is attributable to benefits. This keeps monetary wages stagnant, because companies will only pay so much per employee to work. Redefining the work week could actually raise wages."


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The ABA is committed to helping the newest members of the legal profession.
The Young Lawyer is a practice-oriented newsletter focusing on topics of interest for new lawyers. It delivers specific, practical information in an easy-to-read format.
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text:
Definitions of men
plural of keelman 1
plural of man 1
n. - pl. of Man. 2
pron. - A man; one; -- used with a verb in the singular, and corresponding to the present indefinite one or they. 2
The word "men" uses 3 letters: E M N.
No direct anagrams for men found in this word list.
Words formed by adding one letter before or after men (in bold), or to emn in any order:
a - amen mane mean name nema d - mend e - neem i - mien mine o - meno nome omen u - menu neum
Shorter words found within men:
em en me ne
Words formed from any letters in men, plus an optional blank or existing letter
List all words starting with men, words containing men or words ending with men
All words formed from men by changing one letter
Other words with the same letter pairs: me en
Browse words starting with men by next letter
Previous word in list: memsahibs
Next word in list: menace
Some random words: oses invulnerabilities esemplastic jnana prude ukase jake
This is not a dictionary, it's a word game wordfinder.
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text:
Samsung is set to launch its ATIV S Windows Phone in Australia this coming February, according to a Windows Phone Down Under tipster who has managed to confirm details for the unlocked version (not locked to mobile operators). Launching in the next few weeks, the ATIV S will finally hit the market after Australia joined the long line of countries who were waiting for Samsung to release its smartphone, which was announced back at IFA 2012.
The company has received some criticism from both consumers and ourselves, with release dates being pushed back and we're now months after the actual device was announced. That said, it's good to see Samsung pushing on with the ATIV S (and Odyssey) and introducing it to consumers far and wide. So where will the Windows Phone be available in the next handful of weeks?
Australian consumers will be able to head on over to Allphones and pick up the ATIV S for $668. This is aggressively priced against the $699 Lumia 920 (available on Telstra), with both flagship devices battling it out with one another, as well as the HTC 8X. There's no information on Australian carriers just yet, but at least consumers can head on out and get the ATIV S unlocked.
As well as the Samsung ATIV S, Australia will be able to purchase the Lumia 620, which is also looking set to be released in February. Compared with the selection of handset available when Windows Phone 7 launched, we're looking at stronger foundations. We're looking forward to see how Microsoft, Nokia and Samsung can look to market the platform in the country, with previous stunts including a cool reality experience.
We'll be sure to keep an eye out on any further details that'll arise for Australian carriers who are looking to stock the ATIV S.
Source: WPDownUnder


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How to Drink and Be Social Without Smoking. . . Switch to VapingWomen are social critters.
I know I am. I absolutely love getting together with my friends – the more, the merrier.
When we get together, we'd often have a couple more drinks than usual. Some friends would want to have a smoky treat. We'd laugh louder. The more we drank and smoked, the more fun we had – or so we thought.
The problem is that excessive drinking – and any amount of smoking – isn't good for us. It is NOT a recipe for having fun, and it can even be a prescription for disaster – we all know the risks of driving after too many drinks.
The problem with "social smoking" is that it's still smoking. Your mind may be telling you that you're not really a smoker, but your body is definitely feeling the effects. Just one cigarette increases the stiffness in the arteries.
|Social smoking is still smoking
Overall, statistics show that even just occasional smokers – women who don't smoke daily or even weekly – live up to six years less on average than non-smokers.
Is smoking worth cutting your life short by six or more years? No way!!
What about Hookahs?
Hookahs are another popular social activity; hookah bars are popping up all over. Statistics I read say about half of all college women had sucked on a hookah pipe by the end of their freshman year.
|During a typical 45-minute hookah session, you're smoking the equivalent of 56 cigarettes and are taking in a higher concentration of tobacco's toxins.
One 45-minute hookah session is about the same as smoking 56 cigarettes or almost three packs!* Hookah smokers run the exact same risks as those who smoke regular cigarettes, and we all know what those are: lung and oral cancers, heart disease, and other serious diseases.
Contrary to what you may think, the water doesn't filter out the toxic ingredients in the tobacco smoke – in fact, hookah smokers may take in a higher concentration of the toxins due to the fact the they are puffing more often, inhaling deeper and puffing for longer.
And the more social we are, the worse it is for us to be hookah smoking. Because hookahs are a social activity, you add one more layer onto your risks. Hookah pipes may not always be cleaned properly, so there is also the risk of contracting an infectious disease such as herpes, hepatitis, and even tuberculosis.
Socializing without Smoking
The first step is to realize that you CAN have fun with your friends without having to smoke cigarettes or hookahs. I would guess than some of your friends have been trying to get you to quit smoking for a while.
If you know that some of your friends will want to get you to join them in social smoking, I'd advise telling them that you're trying to break the habit. If they're really your friend, they will support you, because they know you're trying to take care of your health.
You might be surprised to learn that as a social smoker, you may not actually be hooked on nicotine. Of the 40 million adults who smoke, only about 60 percent are actually addicted to nicotine, according to the most recent National Survey on Drug Use.
|You can have good, clean fun with your friends vaping an e-cigarette with no nicotine!
And your non-smoking friends will thank you for not exposing them to deadly secondhand smoke!
*According to a study in the Journal of Nicotine and Tobacco Research.


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OVERLAND PARK, KS -- The Salvation Army is continuing to build its presence in the nonprofit fitness center market with the opening this week of two facilities.
There are now 11 Salvation Army Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Centers across the country, built through a posthumous gift from philanthropist Joan Kroc, widow of McDonald's founder Ray Kroc.
A $31-million-dollar facility opened Nov. 1 in Kerrville, TX. Within the 48,000-square-foot community center are a multi-activity gymnasium, a group exercise studio and a 4,600-square-foot fitness center featuring Life Fitness and Precor strength and cardio equipment, many with personal viewing screens. Outdoor amenities include a jogging track, a lap pool and a leisure pool with waterslide and beach entry.
Membership fees at the Kerrville Kroc Center are $35 per month for single adults. Family memberships start at $80 per month.
This week also marked the official opening of a Kroc Center in Grand Rapids, MI.
In addition to an 8,000-square-foot health and wellness center with 75 exercise machines, a free-weight area and a 30-foot rock climbing tower, the Grand Rapids facility features a 7,000-square-foot indoor aquatic center with a two-lane lap pool, waterslide area, lazy river and beach-entry leisure pool. An outdoor sports and recreation area, with a high-ropes course and facilities for various team sports and ice skating, also is included within the facility's 20,000 acres.
Single adult memberships at the Grand Rapids facility cost $30 per month. Full family memberships are $70 per month and include free drop-in child care.


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Monday, December 3, 2012
Interview with Damir Davidovic, NEOGOV
Story by Benjamin F. Kuo
It's surprising how often we run into rapidly growing companies that not many people have heard of, here in Southern California, but that's the case with El Segundo-based NEOGOV, which has quietly built an enterprise software company supplying human resources software to the government and public sector. The firm recently showed up as one of the fastest growing companies in LA as part of the Deloitte Fast 500 rankings. We caught up with Damir Davidovic, CEO of NEOGOV, to hear about the rapidly growing (and hiring) company.
What is Neogov?
Damir Davidovic: NEOGOV is a cloud-based, human resources suite. It basically covers recruiting, performance, evaluations and appraisals, onboarding, and we're also now working on full, back-end HR management, managing things like absence tracking, timesheets, etc. Currently, we have over a thousand customers, with customers ranging from anywhere from 100 employees to clients with more than a 100,000. Most of the top 100 cities and counties in the country are our customers, and twenty out of fifty states run all their recruiting and HR through our system. We're the clear leader in government, and we have 25 times more customers than our nearest competitor. If you look at the commercial sector, and look at the landscape, there are companies like Taleo, SuccessFactors, and Workday. We do that for the public sector, mainly state and local governments.
How did you come across the market?
Damir Davidovic: We started working with government agencies in the area awhile back. Their goal at the time was to accept resumes online. We quickly found that government has a much different process of hiring than the private sector. There are lots of checks and balances, and they're very accountable about how they hire. In the private sector, you can hire anyone. But, in the public area, as you can imagine, if you're mayor of a city you can't just hire your buddies. There's accountability built in, and everyone has to go through the same hiring process, get asked the same questions, go through the same hurdles, and there's a lot more of an objective and scoring evaluation process for each candidate. Systems like Taleo and the others completely lack the process involved, an deal mainly with a resume search and matching, which couldn't be used in government.
It looks like you've had quite fast growth, what has been driving that growth?
Damir Davidovic: What's driving that growth, is we have established a standard in the public sector for agencies and organizations using our system. It's really been word of mouth and referrals within that community. The government and public sector is a fairly large market. Basically, fifteen percent of all jobs are in the public sector. We have really been spreading around lots of organizations across the state, through word of moth and referrals from satisfied customers. In addition, we have launched a performance management suite, the parallel in the public sector to something like SuccessFactors. New products we've launched include performance, onboarding, and backend HR functionality. We expect much larger growth in the next three years than we saw in the past, because we have lots more products to sell. In the past, we had been a one product company.
A lot of software startups have shied away from serving public institutions, despite a big market, due to concerns about how slow they adopt things. How were you able to find success there as a startup?
Damid Davidovic: One of the things we first noticed, was there were not many players in the market. Those there certainly didn't tailor their products to serve that market at all, which is why we saw the opportunity. No one was really focusing their products and services for those customers in a good way. We saw that opportunity, and executed. It does take a long time to penetrate the market. It took us maybe four years to rack up our first ten clients. After that, once we got the recognition, trust, and customers starting providing word of mouth and referrals, it was a much easier process. For us, it's been much easier to keep expanding our market share in the government, that it took to initially crack it. It's also taught us a lot of discipline by being in the public sector. Companies here are really held accountable to what is in the contract, and how their products are implemented. That's really a lot of different from what typically happens in the commercial sector, where most startups are flying by the seat of their pants.
How difficult has it been to have public institutions accept software-as-a-service, and where is that now in general?
Damir Davidovic: That's a good question. When we first started, back in the day, government were very shy about implementing SaaS. They all wanted to deploy the service at their location. We were very stubborn from day one, that this was SaaS, and we did not want to offer an on-premise product, and that it's not even an option. We didn't want to break our business model. But, as we gained adoption, and the barrier got much smaller, especially when se started signing up very large agencies, such as Orange County, the City of Los Angeles, and the State of Washington. Once those states were signed up, and did lots of due diligence, it went easier. Event now, we're one of the only SaaS solutions that these government agencies have. In the last three years, especially since the recession, government has really been forced to look into saving on their IT costs, and they've really been forced to look at the concept of ROI, where SaaS is the perfect solution. There's been a huge shift in preference towards SaaS versus onsite installations in the last three years. It went from early adoption to really accepted as a standard, almost.
What's the next thing for you?
Damid Davidovic: What's really exciting is we've launched another concept this year, which is basically a fully blow human resources, software-as-a-service platform. It's also positioned to compete in the commercial sector. We're looking at it as an alternative to Taleo, SuccessFactors, Cornerstone On Demand, and so on. As you know, SuccessFactors was bought by SAP, Taleo was bought by Oracle, and the only independent companies left are Cornerstone OnDemand and Workday. For the last few years, we've been working on our full blown human resources platform, which is built on the latest technology. That platform, called HRCloud (www.hrcloud.com), is a spinoff of our company, and our goal is to bring this out the marketplace. It has all of the main modules you need for HR, including recruiting, performance management, onboarding, and an HR suite, but it also has the concept of an app store, very much like you have an app store on the iPad. You get enterprise apps, like you might buy an app on Google Play or Apple iTunes or Amazon. An example of some of those apps would be handling vacation requests, time sheets, online time clocks, job sharing, ride sharing for employees, etc. We're building many of the apps ourselves, but we're also running hackathons for developers to build other apps, and working with partners to build apps into our app store. We're looking to make it more of a HR platform in the cloud.


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Target should pay for hostile work environment
Like many major U.S. corporations, Target has discovered Hispanic customers. It has always had them, but it seems that only recently did the company notice they were there.
Hispanic buying power is now about $1.3 trillion annually, climbing each year by about $100 million. Fortune 500 companies spend billions of dollars to tap into this market.
Target gets a piece of the pie, but it wants a bigger slice. In fact, the nation's second-largest discount chain, which is based in Minneapolis, has hired a multicultural advertising agency to help it attract more Hispanic customers.
According to Advertising Age, Target ranked 29 among the 50 largest advertisers in Hispanic media in 2011, spending $45.6 million to reach customers. For a company that last year had revenues of $73.3 billion, this isn't much. Besides, most of that spending goes to advertising in Spanish, which is a curious way to reach Hispanics — 82 percent of whom, according to a recent study by the Pew Hispanic Center, get some of their news and entertainment in English.
Either way, winning the loyalty of Hispanic consumers isn't as easy as running ads in Spanish-language media, or donating money to a few self-serving national organizations that claim to represent Hispanics, or sponsoring a couple of conferences and public events aimed at Hispanics.
We're going to need something more substantial. If Target wants our cash, then it will have to make change.
Here's the question: What good does it do to make Hispanic customers feel welcomed and respected if you're not doing the same for your Hispanic employees?
Three former employees at a Target distribution center in Woodland, Calif., are suing the company for discrimination and retaliation. They have made some troubling allegations about how they and other Hispanic employees were treated by managers and about an offensive training document filled with stereotypes about Hispanics. The lawsuit claims that white managers regularly used ethnic slurs when addressing Hispanic employees and that, when the three workers complained about being mistreated, they were fired.
Target spokeswoman Molly Snyder said in a statement that, while she couldn't comment on specific allegations, the company doesn't "tolerate or condone discrimination in any form" and has policies and procedures to prevent it.
Yet one part of this story is not in dispute — the training document. It is either someone's idea of a joke, or a testament to how ignorant some people can be about Hispanics. According to the complaint, the document relied on negative stereotypes in appearing to advise managers about how to deal with Hispanic subordinates. Category by category, it cautioned: "Food: not everyone eats tacos and burritos; Music: not everyone dances to salsa; Dress: not everyone wears a sombrero; Mexicans (lower education level, some may be undocumented)."
The company has apologized for the content of the document. Snyder said in the statement that the guide wasn't part of any "formal or company-wide training" and that it was only used at the one distribution center in Northern California.
"The content of the document referenced is not representative of who Target is," Snyder said. "We take accountability for its contents and are truly sorry."
This story sounds familiar. Americans have already learned from the Paula Deen fiasco that racism, whether real or perceived, is bad for business. In the last few weeks, the celebrity chef has been pilloried for using the "N-word." Some experts on consumerism have estimated that Deen, who earned an estimated $18 million in 2012, could lose as much as two-thirds of that total next year after being dumped by the Food Network, Smithfield Foods, Caesars Entertainment Corp., QVC, J.C. Penney Co. and several other sponsors and partners.
These issues are no longer as simple as black and white. African-Americans aren't the only ones victimized by racial and ethnic bigotry. Hispanics and other ethnic groups have to put up with it as well.
If Target is found to be guilty of allowing a hostile work environment for Hispanic employees, it should pay damages and make changes to ensure that this doesn't happen in the future.
Now for the irony: remember those companies that cut ties with Deen to protest her insensitivity? If you guessed that they included a certain discount retailer based in Minneapolis, you'd be right on target.


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Saturday, April 22, 2006
What Are You Having?
When you ask someone you're eating with in a restaurant what they're having, this is
a) out of idle curiosity
b) in order to avoid the embarrassment of ordering the same thing
I would answer b), and until a few months ago I would have thought of this as common sense. Apparently, though, it isn't. What brought about this realization was a recent incident in a restaurant with a group of people who all decided to order the same thing. Someone at the table said to me, "Hey, Positive, I bet you're dying of embarrassment right now." Which I was. Everyone wondered both how she knew, and why I would be embarrassed, while I wondered why they had no manners. You see, the person who knew I was embarrassed was a fellow Chicagoan, and was equally embarrassed, but had previously realized that this was a little-known instance of regionalism. I was skeptical, but some casual asking around has basically confirmed this, that Chicagoans find it embarrassing to order the same thing as someone else at a restaurant, whereas no one else cares.
My interest in American dialects stems from a general interest in regionalism and cultural diversity. I have a theory that is too vague to be testable (the best kind) that accounts for why people assume that American culture is becoming homogenized, while linguists are observing dialect divergence. My theory is that localisms are being subsumed by broader regionalims, which are diverging. The fact that I could have a strong cultural taboo, one that I had never heard articulated, moreover, that the people I was eating with (among them my wife) were ignorant of shows that such cultural differences are at least plausible. If this were really to conform to my theory, then this taboo must be more widespread than just Chicago. Have you encountered this taboo? Do you yourself have it? Is it the craziest thing you've ever heard of?
What strikes me is that even though most non-Chicagoans I've asked don't know about this taboo, everyone is familiar with the phenomenon of asking, "What are you having?"
18 comments:
- argotnaut said...
I do have it, but I think it's just for the sake of efficiency. If three people order three different things, you can see which dish is best, and order that one the next time.
- Queenie said...
i find it embarrassing *unless* the dish is widely known to be spectacular.
- the chocolate lady said...
I have never heard of such a taboo in a life largely devoted to hearing such things, and while it is not the craziest thing I have ever heard, it is surely among the top twenty.
I would ask you what you are going to order not because I would be embarrassed to get the same thing, but because I am going to taste your food, and I want to maximize tasting opportunities.
I am aware that tasting others' food is taboo by some folks, but I don't think this is along strictly regional lines. Now *that's* crazy.
- ~J said...
I wasn't aware of the taboo. But for what it is worth I'm a Chicagoan who always feels a bit odd when I'm with dinner and people are ordering the same thing, unless that thing has a very good reputation (then that makes sense but it still feels weird). I agree with some of the above posters though in my general belief that everyone should order something different so we can all taste each others food.
- Ben said...
So I feel like so far your comments fit my friend's observation that there is a geographic correlation to this taboo: there is one Chicagoan who has the taboo, one who claims not to, but still "feels a bit odd" ordering the same thing, which counts in my book, a northern Illinoisan who sort of has it, and a New Yorker who has never heard of the taboo, and finds it crazy. I think it has emerged clearly, too, that there is a practical cause underlying this taboo, namely that ordering different things allows people to taste eachothers' food, and that if a place is known for its risotto, poutine or frog legs, then two Chicagoans may both order the risotto, poutine or frog legs.
Argotnaut -
Efficiency aside, do you feel weird ordering the same thing as someone else?
Chocolate Lady -
I agree; the anti-sharing thing is mystifying. I suspect that it's related to germ phobia.
~j -
I suppose I wasn't 'aware' of the taboo, either, except that like you I "felt a bit odd" or even embarrassed to order the same thing as someone else. I guess that's how some taboos are - you don't need to be conscious of them to have them.
- ~J said...
You know, now that I think about it, I cannot count how many times I've changed what I had intended to order at the last minute because someone else ordered it and I didn't want to order the same thing.
- MM said...
I was born and raised in Chicago and now again reside in my natal city. I was until moments ago unaware of any such taboo. Perhaps this belies a certain social awkwardness that I might (or might not) be comfortable anonymously confessing, or perhaps it simply demonstrates a loyalty to the logic of maximizing tastes that prevents order overlap.
I am a free spirit and want my own item, yet I am true to myself and will order what I want, even if someone beats me to it. What a conundrum. But seriously, I have never heard of this as a taboo before!
- Fesser said...
Having lived in Chicago for five years, I do not think it is a specifically Chicago thing. I think it varies according to your notion of what eating out with friends involves. Attending college in St. Louis, I recall being scolded for ordering a duplicate item at a Chinese restaurant by my NY/NJ Jewish friends, who IDed it as especially WASPY behavior. I think it depends on the nature of the food and the nature of the group.
- Ben said...
I'm glad you're such a free spirit! But the fact you put it in those terms implies, I believe, that you've "freed yourself" from this taboo, even if you didn't know it existed.
Fesser -
Chinese restaurants are a completely different story. I was in fact brought up to think of even ordering a dish for myself (as opposed to for the whole table) at a Chinese restarant was uncultured. I'm curious, though, where this custom of sharing, and being required to share, at a Chinese restaurant comes from, and how wide spread it is. Those lazy susans are pretty ubiquitous.
- Pyewacket said...
I have never heard of this. I am aware that some people don't order the same thing to maximize sharing, and I would do that if I was eating with someone with whom I would expect to share (my boyfriend, eg), at a place we don't get to often. But, generally, I would say the idea of a "taboo" on ordering the same thing sound crazy. I'm from New England.
I would agree about the Chinese restaurants, though, because generally people order family-style. You only double up on a dish if it's so good there's concern there won't be enough for everyone. I do find it weird to eat at Chinese restaurants with people who expect to order just one dish for themselves - acually, I only remember this happening once.
- Pyewacket said...
Oh, and I ask what people are ordering to open up the conversation about food, of course!
- the chocolate lady said...
I think what is most embarrassing is the fact one is eating at all. This explains both the sharing taboo and the ordering-the-same-thing taboo, since both practices call attention to the scandalous fact that we are actually going to put things in our mouths.
Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett reports in Destination Culture that young women, for most of the last two centuries were advised to eat invisibly (the term comes from a book published in 1941!). Strategies for invisible eating included breaking off pieces of bread and eating them rather than leaving lascivious toothmarks in one's toast for all to see.
- Ben said...
Wow, this turned out to be lively!
Invisible eating, eh? What a world...
- V Smoothe said...
I always try to avoid having people at my table order duplicate meals in order to maximize sharing and taste everything.
My mother, however, who is from Connecticut, does get embarassed about ordering the same thing as someone else, and will frequently change her order to something she wants less if someone else at the table picked the same meal as she did.
She also has bizarre issues with "copying" anyone. When I'm home, she won't wear black, because she thinks it's weird to have both women in our party wearing the same color. She loves my cookware, but won't buy it for herself because "that's [my] thing." If I have a sweater, a watch, or a purse she likes and I encourage her to buy one, she insists that she doesn't want us to "look like twins." Nevermind that she lives thousands of miles away from me and we see each other maybe twice a year. It's possible that she's just a freak.
- Ben said...
I'm gonna go with the 'freak' explanation. Nothing against your mother, of course, but this allows me to disregard this bit of data that doesn't fit my theory. Man, being unscientific is fun!
- argotnaut said...
It _feels_ like efficiency/tasting is my motivation, but I can't guarantee that my brain isn't just coming up with that excuse to appease me.
- eve said...
A few more reasons to ask what others are having:
1) to figure out how soon you have to decide;
2) to guage what kind of wine to get (did someone say this?);
3) to find out if anyone is eating appetizers;
4) to find out what price range people are eating in;
5) if there are several things on the menu that say they'll take a while, to find out if anyone's ordering one;
6) occasionally, to switch my order TO what someone else is having. What if I have 2 favorite choices, and then she takes one of them and I take the other and I turn out to be jealous of her meal? No joke; I've done this.
- Ben said...
Argotnaut -
Isn't it funny how nebulous these feelings are when we try to examine them?
Heck of a list there. Did someone say "to gauge what kind of wine to get," you ask? I believe that Wachtel fellow did. As for the food jealousy thing, I've been there. In one of their books Penn and Teller have a trick where you pretend to be doing some other trick that involves the other person closing their eyes and concentring, and you meanwhile eat their superior food.


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'Seed' sprouts lightweight comedy for CW
Harry is a bartender, a womanizer, not much into settling down and certainly not planning on being a parent anytime soon, but the past has ways of coming back to haunt you, as it does in the new CW sitcom "Seed," premiering Monday.
In Harry's case, the past is a series of brief visits to a sperm bank when he was younger and needed money. Now his donations are paying dividends, as it were, when first 9-year-old Billy (William Ainscough) and then teenager Anastasia (Abby Ross) come knocking at his door to meet their "father."
Harry's not the daddying kind, but Billy could do with a guy friend to help him navigate the dangerous social waters of middle school, while Anastasia's parents are well-meaning but overprotective and more about following child psychology books than their own parental instincts when it comes to raising a teenager contemplating becoming sexually active.
Billy's two moms have differing viewpoints about the presence of their son's sperm donor in their lives. Michelle (Amanda Brugel) thinks Harry is a bad influence, while Zoey (Stephanie Anne Mills) gets that Harry can help Billy learn to become cooler at school.
More Information
When: 8:30 p.m. Monday
Network: CW
Anastasia's mom, child psychologist Janet (Laura de Carteret), calls the shots in that household, while dad Jonathan (Matt Baram) feels threatened by a self-confident alpha male in their midst.
The show's setup is promising and very of the moment. Yes, Harry is only a bar rag away from Mark Ruffalo's character in the film "The Kids Are All Right," but as portrayed by Adam Korson, he's a likable enough chap, and anyone could see he has parenting potential, even if he's just an overgrown kid like the Will Freeman character in Nick Hornby's "About a Boy." In other words, the more he exercises his dormant paternal instincts, the more he's learning to grow up himself.
The show is pleasant without being as good as it could be. Creator Joseph Raso has done OK laying the groundwork; now he and his fellow writers need to make it sharper and funnier.
One thing "Seed" isn't is something viewers would expect from the CW, known for teen-viewer-baiting shows like "The Arrow" and the sexy "Vampire Diaries." "Seed" does qualify as "a new take on a family comedy series," as the network describes it. Granted, it's not the usual definition of "family," but then again, what is the usual definition these days?


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About Maxi Kniewasser
Born in "the flattest place on earth" (northern Germany), Kniewasser moved ever farther west, quietly notching a string of impressive international kayaking expeditions and descents (as well as a stunning photo portfolio along the way) before finally settling in Vancouver for grad school. In this West Coast hub he can cultivate dual mountain passions for kayaking and skiing, best reflected in one of his highlights for C&K, paddling the Class V Homathko River in order to climb B.C.'s tallest peak, Mt. Waddington.Website: maxi-kniewasser.com


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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Tuesday urged Congress to pass a small package of spending cuts and tax reforms to delay larger, automatic cuts from going into effect and damaging the economy on March 1.
Republican leaders quickly rebuffed his proposals, rejecting what they saw as a bid for new tax increases after lawmakers agreed to raise rates for top U.S. earners earlier this year.
If launched as scheduled, the cuts - dubbed the "sequester" - would reduce federal spending across the board by about $85 billion for one year, split evenly between military and domestic programs. The total of reductions through 2022 would amount to roughly $1.2 trillion.
Obama said he still believed a broad, balanced plan to achieve $4 trillion in deficit reduction was possible, and he said his proposals to do so during "fiscal cliff" talks with Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner last year were still on the table.
With only a few weeks before the spending cuts go into force, however, Obama urged lawmakers to agree to a small package now that would avert economic damage and give them more time to negotiate a broader deal.
"So if Congress can't act immediately on a bigger package ... then I believe that they should at least pass a smaller package of spending cuts and tax reforms that would delay the economically damaging effects of the sequester for a few more months until Congress finds a way to replace these cuts with a smarter solution," Obama told reporters.
"Congress is already working towards a budget that would permanently replace the sequester. At the very least, we should give them the chance to come up with this budget, instead of making indiscriminate cuts now that will cost us jobs and significantly slow down our recovery," he said.
The budget deficit for fiscal 2013 will dip to $845 billion after four straight years of $1 trillion-plus deficits, the Congressional Budget Office said on Tuesday, largely because of the higher taxes being paid by wealthy Americans. The analysis assumes that the $85 billion in spending cuts that Obama wants to avoid will go into effect on March 1.
Reactions from Republicans suggested that was likely.
"Sorry, President Obama, but no more tax increases for even more government spending," said Republican Senator Pat Toomey in a statement. "We should keep our word to the American people and keep the spending cuts you signed into law."
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who helped secure the deal that avoided the "fiscal cliff," said Obama needed to lay out specific spending cut ideas and abandon his tax push.
"The American people will not support more tax hikes in place of the meaningful spending reductions both parties already agreed to and the president signed into law," McConnell said in a statement. "Now that Congress has acted on the tax issue, the president needs to lay out significant spending reforms — the other side of the 'balance' as he defines it," he said.
Obama has been reaching out to business leaders to support his domestic policy agenda, meeting with a group at the White House on Tuesday.
But a large group of chief executives rejected his proposal.
"Hiking taxes and forgoing improvements in our nation's long-term competitiveness in favor of short-term budget choices would move us in the wrong direction," said John Engler, president of the Business Roundtable, which represents chief executives in Washington.
Engler said tax changes should be made in the context of broad reform. The group would prefer a more thoughtful allocation of spending cuts than sequestration, he said.
The White House and Congress agreed on a deal at the beginning of this year that avoided the "fiscal cliff" of spending cuts and tax increases by raising tax rates on households making more than $450,000 a year. During these negotiations, Obama offered a means to reach $4 trillion in deficit reductions.
The deal put off the huge spending cuts for just two months.
The Republican-controlled House last year passed two measures that sought to replace the sequester cuts and shield military spending by shifting the burden onto domestic programs, including many that serve the poor, such as Medicaid, food stamps and social services block grants that fund programs like Meals on Wheels. The measure was never taken up in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
Obama's statement is the latest in a series of moves to outline his policy agenda before his State of the Union address on February 12. The president has recently made trips outside of Washington to promote proposals to reform immigration and reduce gun violence.
Obama's push for a short-term deal to avoid the sequester comes after a sharp drop in defense spending helped cause U.S. economic output to shrink at the end of last year. The White House has attacked Republican leaders for threatening to use the sequestration deadline as a bargaining chip to obtain cuts to government retiree and healthcare programs.
The U.S. economy contracted by 0.1 percent in the last three months of 2012 on the deepest plunge in defense spending in 40 years.
Outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Sunday the cuts would be deeply harmful and make it more difficult to respond to crises in the world. His designated successor, Chuck Hagel, has made similar warnings.
Additional reporting by Steve Holland, Roberta Rampton and David Lawder; Editing by Philip Barbara and Jim Loney


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Rnr (Feat. Tranz, & GC) - Lesson U Must Learn [Unsigned Hype]
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|5' 9"
|Mar Del Plata, Argentina
|Instituto Peralia Ramos
|Sports Management
2006-07: Was named the team captain for the season�garnered a 25-11 singles record� was perfect in conference play compiling a 5-0 record�defeated Marc Boiron of No. 31 MTSU to clinch the history-making win for ETSU�defeated Bokang Setshogo of No. 53 Drake�was named the A-Sun POTW for two consecutive weeks�compiled a 28-0 overall doubles record and had a perfect 5-0 conference record with partners Felix Insaurralde and Daniel Isaza�paired with Felix Insaurralde to win the Division II doubles title at the Southern Intercollegiate, 8-6 over teammates Enrique Olivares and Alex Ahlgren�partnered with Insaurralde again to pick up their second title in Flight A doubles at the UNC Invitational with an 8-5 victory of South Carolina States Rendek Pivanka and Ionut Hurdoc.
2005-06: Compiled a 21-8 singles record�was undefeated in conference play posting a 8-0 record�had a 13-match win streak through the end of the season�Posted a 4-5 singles record in fall tournament action...made it through ITA Mid-East Regional qualifying rounds, defeated Andy Sobczyk of Furman 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 before falling to No. 82 Ytai Abougzir of Florida State, 6-3, 6-4...defeated Dan Buikema of Alabama 6-4, 7-5 at the UNLV Fall Classic before falling to Charles Irie of Fresno State 7-5, 6-2...compiled a 14-9 overall doubles record and a perfect 5-0 conference doubles record with partner Felix Insaurralde.
2004-05: Joined the team for the spring of 2005...compiled a 19-4 singles record...had an 11 match winning streak...compiled a 14-5 doubles record with partners, Daniel Escobedo, Felix Insaurralde, and Fernando Fiuri.
Prep: Ranked as high as second in Argentina in the past three years ... finished the 2004 season ranked fifth in Argentina ... in 2003 played in the COSAT in Colombia ... competed in the 2002 Junior ITF Tournament in Venezuela and 2003 Junior ITF Tournament in Copa de Cafe, Costa Rica ... played in the COSAT Circuit in 2001 and was a doubles semifinalist in Peru and a doubles finalist in Bolivia ... competed in several tournaments in Chile, Argentina, and Paraguay ... went to high school at Peralta Ramos Institute.
Personal: Born on July 25, 1985 ... expected major is sports management ... son of Dr. Jorge Picardo and Adriana Ibanez.


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Publisher's blurb:
Wanted: Players and DMs who love figurines of wondrous power
"The Agate Companion is a figurine of wondrous power that grants you an animal companion or your existing animal companion is granted the benefits of being a figurine of wondrous power. Like you, I love figurines of wondrous power, even long before a certain black panther and dark elf teamed up, and the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game gives me a window to something marvelous and make it work seamlessly with this simple addition. There is this wonderful twist I added too, but you will have to read about that for yourself..."
—Steven D. Russell (Designer of the Agate Companion)
The Agate Companion is an extraordinary magic item that you can smoothly integrate into any campaign at any level of play while adding an additional piece of roleplay to the mix. The Agate Companion is the first piece in the Reverse Design project, where game material is crafted based on pitches submitted by the patrons and staff of Rite Publishing on a single piece of evocative artwork.
Within, you will find:
An innovative figurine of wondrous power balanced for all level of play
Extensive Lore DCs so that DMs can impart the background of the magic item to the PCs
An original creature template that can be applied to any animal companion
Two example NPCs that can be used to introduce this new item into an existing campaign


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Hi guys. Ive been anxiously waiting for my score back and I recieved this email from LSAC yesterday:
A hold has been placed on your file because you did not sign either your LSAT admission ticket, your LSAT answer sheet, your registration, or your report order form. A form letter has been sent to you. Please complete, sign, and respond as instructed on the letter.
Im just wanting to know if anyone else has been in this situation and whether or not that delayed getting their score back. If it did, how much longer would it take?
Im pretty sure I followed ALL directions that were read and Im pretty confident everyone at my testing site probably got this email as well because we were placed in a large auditorium and the proctors seemed a little haphazrd at best. The testing site ran well but a lot of little things were off like the time we started and stuff.
Anyway any help is appreciated! I plan on over nighting the letter back to LSAC.


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Planning and Sustainability Commission Gives the Green Light for RICAP 6 Workplan
The Planning and Sustainability Commission (PSC) held a hearing on Aug. 13, 2013, to review the City's proposed workplan for regulatory improvement or RICAP 6. Several people appeared to testify in support of examining issues related to short-term rentals, home occupation issues, wireless facility regulations and density transfers, among other topics.
The Regulatory Improvement Code Amendment Packages seek to continually update and improve City building and land use regulations. Suggestions for improving the City's codes come from issues identified by other City bureaus, members of the public and the development community. These suggestions are entered into the Regulatory Improvement Requests (RIR) database. Suggestions are prioritized based on the geographic reach of the issue, the severity of impact or how often the issue arises, and room for improvement of the existing regulation. Issues that may require a major change in policy are not addressed through RICAP. RICAP addresses technical matters and clarifications or refinement of existing adopted policy in typically a one-year revolving workplan.
The RICAP 6 workplan was unanimously approved by the PSC as proposed, which will enable staff to begin researching and analyzing potential code amendments for future consideration through the legislative process. Staff anticipates releasing a public discussion draft report in January 2014, and will return to the PSC for a hearing on the proposed code amendments in Spring of 2014.


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(Note the awesome long tie on the blouse)
Black magic woman.
As always, I <3 you Phoebe Philo.
yes. color blocks - should wear that more often.
I loved the Africa-lite colour blocked dresses and separates from this collection. I think Phoebe is always dead-on when it comes to simple craziness. And making reference to mid nineties goth, and Stevie Nicks helps.
I like those briefcase-y, man-bag, clutchy bags
I love all of it. The black magic woman is my favorite tho.
these are amazing
such a lovely photos
I love "naughty goth nun"
Must say my favorite is definitely the yellow/tomato red/forest green combo. I just love those colors together. Reminds me of vegetables.


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My Favorite Flirts is a feature that lets you reach your favorite Flirts easily from My Account or on 1-800-TO-FLIRT.Manage My Favorites
(1 Reviews)
BBW Domme Goddess
I am Goddess Helen Bed. I am 37, happily engaged to a black man (I know all you lil penis rejects know the reason why), weigh 289lbs. (losing weight btw), 58" ass, size 24W, 442DD, size 8 in shoes, My hair is usually red, wear glasses & have hypnotic eyes. I am immortal in weak, wimpy, pathetic minds. My voice is sultry, hypnotic. I have that kind of voice that will make you weak in your knees, your backbone shiver, your mind corrupted and your heart beating furiously. You will be weak with the need to submit to My every whim. You were meant to serve Me. When you call, know what you seek for there are various ways for you to humble Me. If you wish to know what topics I do discuss, see below.
Topics I Discuss
I discuss a range of topics. I am pretty much a anything goes Goddess as long as the topics are related to Me dominating/humiliating you. I do ask that you know what you need. Just saying "I want to be dominated" gives Me full reign to do whatever I desire. This includes anything listed below or whatever I am thinking in My twisted, deviant mind. Know the difference between being a slave and a sub. Slaves have no limits, subs do. I love SPH (Small Penis Humiliation), Racial Humiliation, Financial Domination, JOI (Jerk Off Instructions), CEI (Cum Eating Instructions), Raise the Rate, Forced Bi, Goddess Worship, Role Play, Mature, Ass Worship, Ass Smothering, Spanking, Smoking (e-cigs), Cuckold, BBC Worship,Belly Worship, Belly Smothering, Breast Worship, Breast Smothering, Feminization, Sissification, Arm or Armpit Worship, Foot Worship, Foot Smothering and more various fetishes. I do enjoy listening to your degrading, humiliating fetishes. Below are links to My other accounts on NiteFlirt, Monthly Devotion Video, Monthly Assignment & more.


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The Canyon Chapter of the National Charity League held a bowling event at Lake Forest Lanes during its annual Ticktocker Day to raise money for gift cards and gift bags for Operation Help a Hero. Over the past six months, the Ticktockers have served more than 6,200 hours supporting local philanthropies, including Boys Town, Friends of Dorothy Day, Friends of the Rancho Santa Margarita Library, Susan G. Komen, Working Wardrobes, Special Olympics, Petal Pushers, Rebuilding Together Orange County, San Francisco Solano Food Bank, South County Senior Center, Ronald McDonald House, Bell Tower Foundation and Laura's House.
The Mission Viejo/Saddleback Valley Elks Lodge raised more than $4,000 for the Orange County Foundation for Oncology Children and Families during its costume party and silent auction event. More than 100 people attended the event, which was organized by Elks Lodge member Stephanie Bongartz and volunteers Pam Mackay, Naomi Sanchez, Kay Devine, Pat Ohman, Laura Lumley and Bill Bongartz.
Navy Seaman Jacob Jolly, a 2010 graduate of El Toro High School, has completed U.S. Navy basic training at Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes, Ill. The eight-week program included naval customs, first aid, firefighting, water safety and survival, and shipboard and aircraft safety.
Navy Airman Daniel Wright, a 2003 graduate of Trabuco Hills High School, was recently selected as Blue Jacket of the Quarter at Naval Air Station, Kingsville, Texas. Wright was chosen as the top performer from among all the sailors assigned to the command and was cited for outstanding professional accomplishment, proficiency, leadership, initiative and military bearing. He joined the Navy in July 2010.
For 23 years, the Rotary Club of Mission Viejo has participated and volunteered for the Mission Viejo's Annual Walk Against Drugs. This year, the Rotary Club of Mission Viejo prepared and delivered free hot dogs to the first 1,500 finishers of the walk from Mission Viejo High School to the Norman P. Murray Community and Senior Center.
Tasha Peterson, 15, of Mission Viejo has been selected to perform as the Lucia, which leads the Lucia procession during a Scandinavian Christmas show on Nov. 18. The event, which is launched by the Swedish Women's Educational Association, will take place during the annual Swedish Christmas Fair at Old World Village in Huntington Beach. Peterson, who is homeschooled but taking classes at Saddleback Valley Christian High School and Saddleback College, is a dual citizen of Sweden and the U.S. She is also involved in the Girl Scouts and is working on her Gold Award and also volunteers at Mission Hills Church.
Contact the columnist at firstname.lastname@example.com


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Select your language:
Coffee beans container with aroma saving cap
It allows you to prepare any kind of coffee, merely by pressing a button. The simple rotation of the knob lets you increase or decrease the coffee aroma intensity. By the pressure of simple buttons, you can choose among short or long coffee.
The Cappuccino System device is ideal to produce a rich, creamy froth for great cappuccinos
© De'Longhi Appliances S.r.l. - Via L. Seitz, 47, 31100 Treviso, Italy - All rights reserved


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Wellness Student Wellness
Student wellness begins with decisions made by the individual student. The four pillars of wellness: exercise, diet, rest, and moderation — when followed — will provide the energy to be a productive student.
The Wabash Wellness page has a wealth of information for students to use in their individual quest for good health. You can find out where and how to exercise on a regular basis at no cost. Links to wellness sites provide information on proper diet and the importance of rest. Tips on how to balance an active lifestyle with the rigors of academic life are also available. Support services to help students achieve and maintain emotional health can be found in our counseling office.
But the road to wellness begins with the first step taken by the individual student. Don't wait. Let's get it started!


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2015 Commission Business Meetings
Agendas, Minutes, Transcripts and Back-Up Materials
- Agendas are usually available from this page about 10 days before the date of the meeting.
- Minutes are available after they are voted on and approved by the Commission at a subsequent meeting.
- Transcripts are usually available in Adobe Acrobat PDF format about 10 business days after a meeting date.
For more information about our Business Meetings, please contact
Energy Commission Secretariat
Tiffani Winter at 916-654-5072, or via e-mail at: email@example.com
Members of the news media please contact the Media and Public Communications Office at 916-654-4989.
To receive Listserv email notification of Business Meeting agendas and materials, enter the information below:


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The plan that regulates growth in much of rural Sarasota County was years in the making, and pretty much everyone found something not to like about it.
Opponents of suburban sprawl thought county government was allowing too much development in areas where little more than cows and two-lane roads currently exist. Developers saw an unprofitable straitjacket on their land.
They fought in public meetings. They squared off in court. They invested hundreds of hours and millions of dollars. The Great Recession put the issues on the back burner, but they never went away.
Today, the process is poised to start all over again when the County Commission reopens the debate over the 2050 plan, one of the most controversial and drawn-out public policy disputes in county history.
The issue is hotly contested because the stakes are so high. Most of the large tracts of undeveloped land left in Sarasota County are governed by 2050.
Landowners have proposed 37 revisions to the plan that they say are necessary to make it commercially viable.
They argue that regulations requiring more compact, walkable communities surrounded by large amounts of open space may sound good but are often impractical. They also are attacking aspects of the plan that require constant monitoring to ensure that growth pays for itself.
Opponents counter that the proposed changes would gut the 2050 plan, encouraging sprawl and exempting developers from paying the full cost of extending services and infrastructure to remote areas.
The debate strikes at the heart of two long-running community discussions that also resonate regionally and across the state: How to pay for growth, and how to balance the short-term financial needs of developers with long-term concerns about making communities vibrant and convenient places to live.
Revisiting those issues is likely to be divisive, said Lourdes Ramirez, president of the Sarasota County Council of Neighborhood Associations and an opponent of the changes.
"This was really a huge controversial topic where everybody gave a little," Ramirez said. "I can't see how they can even consider" major revisions.
But landowners are determined.
"Under 2050, as it's currently drawn, nothing will ever be built," said developer Pat Neal.
Urban boundary
County leaders have long resisted approving large developments in rural areas, worried they would be inefficient and costly to serve.
The county created an urban service boundary in 1975 and refused to expand roads or extend water, sewer and other government services beyond it.
The boundary largely follows Interstate 75, severely restricting development east of the federal highway.
Over the decades, as developers used up most of the available land in northern Sarasota County west of I-75, landowners out east began clamoring to put subdivisions on their properties.
An advisory group formed in the late 1990s. Environmentalists sued to try and block the plan in 2003. The final rules went into place in 2004, but the housing market crash kept most developers from moving ahead.
Only one housing project near Venice has started construction under a 2050-style plan.
What finally emerged through 2050 was an agreement to allow housing developments in rural areas that had largely been zoned for agriculture.
But in exchange, the plan requires compact new developments to mimic communities like Sarasota, Venice and Bradenton that have vibrant downtown districts and a good balance between shopping, multifamily apartments and condominiums, and single-family houses.
Planners want to avoid problems with sprawl that have plagued cities like North Port, where the community struggles to pay for infrastructure needs and residents complain that there are too many strip malls and no true downtown district.
The push to limit sprawl has become known in planning terms as "new urbanism." It has been the guiding force in community planning for at least the last 15 years. County leaders hired specialized consultants to bring elements of new urbanism to their master development plan.
Now landowners are pushing back.
One of the proposed revisions to 2050 calls on planners to "re-evaluate the 'new urbanism' form of development ... because it is overly prescriptive."
Plan unworkable?
As vice president of planning for LWR Communities — an arm of Lakewood Ranch's developer — Todd Pokrywa is responsible for designing projects that are attractive to both home buyers and businesses.
Pokrywa said new urbanism principles that seek to limit traffic congestion by allowing people to do much of their shopping close to home have not worked.
Businesses have struggled when clustered inside a development rather than on the periphery. Developers have been forced to subsidize commercial centers that are designed to mimic downtown shopping districts.
Strip malls along major traffic corridors bring in more customers, Pokrywa said.
"It makes it very difficult for retailers to be successful when they're not on a main collector or arterial where they have some drive-by traffic," he said.
Sarasota attorney Jim Turner, whose family owns the 10,000-acre High Hat ranch that stretches between Fruitville Road and Clark Road east of I-75, also finds fault with new urbanism, which he calls a "utopian ideal."
The 2050 plan "didn't work in the hottest housing economy ever," Turner said. "So what was the outlet for that housing demand? Everybody had to live in North Port. It created sprawl in South Sarasota County."
Turner also chafes at provisions in 2050 that call for large amounts of open space. He said the plan forces houses to be clustered on just 20 percent of his property, creating small lots that are less marketable.
But the most controversial element of 2050 boils down to money.
Paying for growth
The plan now calls for "fiscal neutrality," with developers paying for increased demands on government infrastructure and services.
Growth control advocate Bill Zoller said in an email that, "Fiscal neutrality was always the major creative element that was the linchpin of the entire plan."
Developers must generate reports proving that their projects will not require new roads, schools, fire stations and other government services, or pay those costs.
Periodic updates are required.
If the updated reports find more demand for government services than predicted, developers must pay more.
Pokrywa, the Lakewood Ranch planner, said those future costs are too unpredictable.
"We need certainty," Pokrywa said. "It's not just something we desire. When you go to get a project financed, we're not going to have a lender look favorably on something with a lot of uncertainty."
Lakewood Ranch officials are hoping to expand south into Sarasota County, but that plan is on hold for now.
"We're not going to build the first house unless we know we can build the last house," Pokrywa said.
Pat Neal, the only developer to proceed under 2050 guidelines, said his 1,999-home Grand Palm community would not have been feasible if he did not have deep pockets.
"I've invested all my own money in it because it would be impossible to get a loan," he said.
But Dan Lobeck, of the group Control Growth Now, said developers are lobbying to get rid of the monitoring reports because they know the initial reports severely underestimate the true cost of development.
"Developers play their games, hire consultants to make false assumptions, whatever is necessary to get them off the hook from paying these fees," he said.
New leaders
The dispute goes before a county commission that has been reshuffled since the original 2050 debate.
The revamped commission — one that now more closely mirrors the makeup of the Manatee County commission in recent years — is expected to be more friendly to development interests.
Commissioners requested the list of proposed 2050 changes. County planners held 10 meetings with developers from September to January to gather their input.
Growth control advocates say they were not invited to those gatherings, which resulted in a laundry list of 2050 complaints.
Any changes could take months.
Neal said he would not be surprised if the debate drags on for years.
"This is a complicated, comprehensive process and it involves two thirds of Sarasota County's area, so it needs to be well thought out," he said.
Sarasota County revisits growth east of I-75
The plan that regulates growth in much of rural Sarasota County was years in the making, and pretty much everyone found something not to like about it.