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Welcome to Aiken Elementary School!
Welcome to the Aiken Elementary School website. Aiken School is named in honor of Mary Louise Aiken, a devoted educator. Aiken School is a wonderful place to learn and grow! Students in preschool through grade five receive an outstanding education under the direction and support of our dedicated teachers and staff.


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Kitchen Remodeling with Kitchen Remodel Estimate
Your kitchen may be the emotionally connection space in your home. It acts to determine a relationship by potential customers using the viewing of the house. With satisfaction, each customer is brought in to the home in San Tomas, California, ideally the home's operator does following the purchase. He/she does this harden and to start still another relationship with someone else. It's extremely difficult to create these important ties with others effectively if your home does not fulfill specific requirements. One's kitchen's state might be showing which you seriously need home remodeling in CA. Arista Kitchen is a superb spot to obtain assistance and the motivation required to produce the perfect operating kitchen for house and your family.
Actions in Planning Kitchen Remodeling in San Tomas, California
The initial step would be to analyze one's current kitchen's format. This is actually the developer focusing on the project's work. The dog owner can also be concerned. Using the style improvement agreement, that will be accompanied by the onsite visit from the developer, you need to start your strategy after some dialogue.
The custom starts on conceptualizing a brand new search for your home working. A function agreement is likely to be offered foryou to sign whenever you agree with the brand new format. The agreement certainly will possibly contain floorplans and includes an appraisal of the expense in addition to listing the parties involved custom, such as the company in CA, adviser and manager. The agreement could need to be modified as well as your signature might be needed more often than once for inclusion or every change.
Work permits might be needed to get going about the changes. It'll be essential for the company to use for work permits along with a drawing can also be needed. A time-table adhered and must be invented to to be able to assure some normal work-flow. Over the administration of the procedure the manager who might already be helping another part within the home remodeling process in San Tomas, California takes at this time.
The manager accounts for maintaining the house operator updated during meetings using the improvement of the redesign. Funds also collect in the property owner whilst the project continues.
Whilst the task approaches a finish, there is a walk-through planned. That is once the final project in CA will be viewed by the property owner. All of the accessories must be in position complete with cut, devices must perform correctly and decoration must be complete. The dog owner must feel their task was finished for their pleasure while final cost is created.
Along with the major devices, your home in CA is likely to be made up of several components that are operating. You might choose to truly have a floorplan which allows for maybe more than one stove and/or fridge or several ready area, several stove-top. The ground design will need to consider all your kitchen's distinctive facets. Each one of these needs will be taken by planning for a home remodel into account.
Style suggestions range from the working triangle's setup, the search of the units, the appearance of the counters and also the devices chosen. Additionally, you will find wall colors light components together with your flooring option and to select. If you should be a passionate cook, you might need perhaps a gasoline range versus a power range or upscale devices. Should you choose robot, you might need a a dishwasher and-or stove, toaster oven. Efficient counters could be Carrara marble stone, quartz, Corian, Formica, butcherblock or cement. Cabinet choices are abundant also. Homeowners may select units produced from composite wood, laminate or Thermofoil. The dog owner can pay $80-150 per base for $50 and wood cabinets - $75 per base for Thermofoil or laminate units. This specific home component will likely be your kitchen remodel's most expensive section.
You will find bottom units that sit above the ground. Many property owners select the bottom units to be matched by wall cabinets. Some homeowners decide to possess a different-looking case about the wall compared to search on the ground. Frequently glass doors are selected for wall units. High units that reach full-length space top units and roof level will also be used. Specialty units tend to be selected to suit to mask cooktop, in small edges to accommodate devices and drain fronts and also to shop alcohol consumption.
Devices are the most versatile. Along with the various energy resources, appliances possess numerous special features' choices. It's designer's obligation and the house in San Tomas, California owners to pick one of the most inexpensive equipment styles that produce the outcomes they're currently seeking centered on their requirements along with their wishes.
Floor and light are components which should also come in the look ideas decided the kitchen in San Tomas, California designer and also from the property owner. Your choices are again abundant. Home light may include types and simple wall, of roof and under cabinet accessories. Lighting fixtures are typical as are flush-mounted roof lamps, fluorescents, recessed lighting and track lighting. The light components could be situated in the middle of your kitchen in San Tomas, California, within the area, underneath the units or across the walls. These are typically task-oriented lighting options.
Operating combined with the options for devices, home components for example light, counters and units are wall and floor solutions. the homeowner and also the custom may choose the floor product that style best and assists their requirements. As the efficiency of your kitchen seldom affects wall treatments would be the many arbitrary of the look choices. Arista Home can guide all of your choices so they mix to make your home, one of the most effective final item.
About Us
AristaKitchen may be the number 1 resource for the home remodeling needs. All our developers and certified and tradesmen are skilled. We complete every remodeling work in San Tomas, California on budget using the finesse and on time preferred by our customers. Your shop has use of the most highly sophisticated devices and also all of the newest aspects of decoration and the most contemporary methods are used by our workman. We therefore are pleased to reveal a viewing of our profile, which documents our kitchens and happily uphold our work. It's usually a delight to assist the homeowner who's prepared to transform one of the most existed-in-room in the home.

subset: commoncrawl


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Street Photography (Compact) Essentials Package - Fuji
I Want My Rental
I Want My Rental
Days RESET DATES
Rental Price: $108.00
Retail: $1,998.00
Add to CartAdd to Cart
The Street Photography (Compact) Essentials Package - Fuji features the gear you need to help kickstart your venture into street photography. The Fuji X-Pro 1 Digital Camera introduces a new kind of sensor that forgoes an optical low-pass filter in favor of a proprietary way of countering false color and moire patterns allowing for sharper images, making the X-Pro's 16Mps perform more like a full-frame 21Mp DSLR. The X-Pro is also sporting an upgraded LCD, optical and electronic viewfinders with magnification options, and 2 new film simulation modes. Designed specifically for the Fuji X-Pro 1, the Fuji XF 35mm f/1.4 R is a standard focal length lens with an angle of view that is very similar to the human eye. Producing pleasing bokeh and is ideal for dramatic portraits as well as everyday use, especially in low light.
An SD memory card is not included. We make every attempt to have a fully charged battery, but can not guarantee it. If you need a fully charged camera body, please request it via order notes.
There are no specs for this product.
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Cal South PRO+ Seeks to Eliminate Conflicts
In an effort to further reduce the conflicts between its clubs and PRO+, Cal South created an annual schedule that maximizes development for players at the club and state levels. Too often, players are put in a position where they have to compromise their relationship with their club to attend PRO+ activities.
Recognizing that development at both the club and state level are essential for our most talented players to prepare them for collegiate, regional and national teams, Cal South has selected times during the year when our clubs and their players will be least impacted by PRO+ activities, all the while maintaining quality within the state team program. A majority of training sessions that Cal South PRO+ will undertake will be used toward actual competition at the regional and national level.
In the winter, players will be selected for each current age group. Coaches will then select 18 players who will represent Cal South and compete at the US Youth Soccer Region IV ODP Championships in January. If successful there, they will then carry that success forward to the annual US Youth Soccer National ODP Championships in Frisco, Texas, usually held in March.
All age groups in the winter cycle will train on Sundays to prevent conflicts with their high school teams. The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) has approved these training sessions and events, and they will not impact their high school eligibility.
To go back to the Cal South PRO+ menu page, click here


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Water Curses/Street Flash
edited September 2012 in Animal Tracks
... are insanely good and Strawberry Jam should have been two tracks longer. Cobwebs and Seal Eyeing are not brilliant, but are quite strong, and are good enough that Water Curses is probably my favourite AnCo EP at the moment. Discuss why I am right >:D< The piano on Seal Eyeing is weird, but it will grow on me I'm sure.
I havent gone delved into Water Curses EP much..... I gonna have to say that Fall Be kind is my favorite EP. But I do like the song water curses, its so.... watery. Its pretty catchy though. i wish the vocals were a bit more abrasive and more upfront though. But at the same time vocals like that wouldnt really fit the song
The piano on Seal Eyeing is beautiful! Water Curses is such a happy song. Also i think i prefer Cobwebs to Street Flash.
FBK is not only my favrite EP but my 2nd favorite release by AC
After Centipede Hz?
after HCTI!
Water Curses EP is amazing!!! Seal Eyeing is sooooo beautifull, Mzrokkks you crazy! How can you not instantly fall in love with Seal Eyeing? Ugh! All the lyrics are so playful and sprout so much imagery. They are a perfect blend with the music. 'Ever since I was a boy I found new ways to view my porridge Sometimes electric, organic like strawberry meat' :} I love this line from cobwebs. Water Curses is just such a pick up. Feeds energy to my body every time I listen to it. Ahh, thanks for the opportunity to vent. HAHAH oh yeah, Curses is one of my favourite songs!! ITS in my username after all. oh gosh, I miss such spontaneous fun lyrics.. anyway.. hushing now. :}}
You know what 156curses, I like Seal Eyeing quite a bit. It grew on me, as I said it probably would
the whole thing is genious to me. if anything water curses the song is the most boring for me on the ep just because of the chord progression. Of course its not boring because of the great lyrics, infinate sounds in the backround, cool percussion amd guitarra. Each song has a different lyrical style to it which is cool. this ep is my favorite anything ever
I've been listening to this EP heavily lately and its definitely surpassed Fall Be Kind for me Cobwebs is my favorite
That's funny purp, although I like Cobwebs quite a bit, it's my least favourite of all the tracks (opinions!). Seal Eyeing has REALLY grown on me, to the point that it's challenging for second favourite on this EP
sea lion is def. the odd man out / weak link on that EP for me kind of a bummer! and the title track i always just felt was Pretty Good weirded me out when people were going gaga for that one when it came out and not saying much about STREET FLASH! ... cobwebs is damn groovy too! ... those 2! are KEY! to me!
cob WEBS! cob WEBS! |)
corn cobby webbings! WEMBLY!
I think Street Flash is my favourite at the moment. It's also maybe one of the most trippy songs AnCo has done, imo, and I love it for that. DEM SCREAMS
i forever now associate it with depeche mode! treasure! little plejur!
"STILL ALIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVVVVVVE!!!!!!!!!!!" My throat gets soar singing along with this one too many times booboopeedoop its bill cosby
Water Curses is my favourite release by AnCo. I was baked the first time I heard water curses in my friends' room with 6 other people and I think that's why it became my favourite song and then album... Street Flash is amazing. Seal Eyeing blew my mind the first time I heard it. Cobwebs is probably my third AnCo song. And they've stayed my favourite for months and months now and I don't think it'll change. The People EP is my second favourite release by them.
Really? People is my least favorite release by the AC.
people is like the leftovers of feels to me
that's exactly what it is! wish it had ficko syko / muffin mang on it then it'd be a more proper ep though STILL a bit lemmy! obviously PEOPLE / TIQUID / FICKO are all damn groovy muffins / colours more lemmy and live version of a song on an ep with only 2 proper songs is a bit damn odd of a choice! so it being yr 2nd fave is REALY weird! haah!
though people as yr least fave release is baffling! obviously something like wastered / project:gummer / crapfire songs would be worse! or ac related like pander young prayer or pullhairgrubeye die! / ttones BLASTERED! or SOMETHING!
i used to be buddies with the lead singer of alien ant farm! nice / weird guy!
I agree with the idea of combining fickle and muffin with people and shit bra!
I used to rage so hard to alien ant farm lololol How'd you know him GO?
ha! ok i wasn't really friends but just talking to him after the show (about his beagle! named regal!) and he gave me a mint (and i thought it was drugs!) and then aga


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The G550 4x42
Capability to a higher power.
The cubic root of timeless design.
Created to conquer challenges on six continents, the 38-year evolution of the G-Class keeps elevating the pinnacle of refinement. From its advanced lighting to its classic upright shape, its purposeful elegance is both unmistakable and irrefutable. Every surface of the G-Class reflects its confident capability on any surface of the earth.
Built, like no other SUV.
Its sturdy ladder frame and galvanized steel body are hand-welded. The frame is flowed with hot wax to resist corrosion. Even its wiring harnesses are hand-loomed. It takes more than 40 hours to craft each G-Class virtually entirely by hand. Beyond strength, more than quality, how a G-Class comes to life bestows it with unwavering character.
Half a mile of thread. 45,000 stitches. And one unblinking eye.
Even with its perpetually fresh design, ergonomic layout and advanced luxuries, the G-Class cabin remains a living tribute to a tradition of handcraftsmanship that's all but vanished from the earth. And for decades, a single inspector has allowed no G-Class to undergo your scrutiny until it first surpasses his.
Paintwork and personalization: Matched by eye, unmatched by anything.
Exquisitely handcrafted cabin appointments offer an almost unlimited palette of personalization: Literally dozens of Nappa leathers, in a variety of styles, colors and stitching details. Six hand-finished cabin trims in rich wood or carbon fiber. And a rich spectrum of paintwork, from classic solids to modern matte finishes.
Unmatched aptitude at any altitude.
As you make your way off-road, three sequentially lockable differentials offer increasingly masterful capability. Each differential can be locked in sequence (center, rear, then front) via a set of buttons on the dash, to help maintain the ideal balance of torque and traction for the situation.
ESP, 4-ETS, ABS, Brake Assist and Trailer Stability Assist do not operate when the differential locks are engaged. Off-road driving should only be attempted by drivers with the necessary skill, experience and understanding of the vehicle's limits. Locked differentials will limit steering ability. Read Operator's Manual before driving off-road or in deep water.
Attitude at any latitude.
An advanced V8 biturbo engine generates 416 hp and 450 lb-ft of torque from a compact 4.0 liters of displacement. Able to thrust the G550 from 0 to 60 mph in just 5.8 seconds, it features a "hot inside V" turbo layout, patented low-friction NANOSLIDE® cylinder walls, and an ECO Start/Stop system.
Stated rates of acceleration are estimated based upon manufacturer's track results and may vary depending on model, environmental and road surface conditions, driving style, elevation and vehicle load.
Unwavering confidence in any season.
The standard G-Class permament all-wheel drive system continually sends power to all four wheels. Its 4-wheel Electronic Traction System (4-ETS®) instantly apportions torque to the wheels that can use it best, for surefooted grip on snowy and wet roads. Off-road, its locking differentials help you conquer muddy, loose or uneven terrain.
ESP, 4-ETS, ABS, Brake Assist and Trailer Stability Assist do not operate when the differential locks are engaged. Off-road driving should only be attempted by drivers with the necessary skill, experience and understanding of the vehicle's limits. Locked differentials will limit steering ability. Read Operator's Manual before driving off-road or in deep water.
No system, regardless of how advanced, can overcome the laws of physics or correct careless driving. Please always wear your seat belt. Performance is limited by available traction, which snow, ice and other conditions can affect. Always drive carefully, consistent with conditions. Best performance in snow is obtained with winter tires.
It'll take you to extremes. And back again.
Timeless, meet fearless. With nerves of hand-welded steel, the new G550 4x4-squared raises every measure of G-Class capability. Gear-driven portal axles and 22-inch wheels create over 17 inches of ground clearance. Dual spring-struts and 10 inches of added track conquer extreme terrain, yet they let you enjoy its lavish cabin on any road.
Horsepower in your hands.
There are only two handcrafted SUVs with handcrafted power, and they both start with G: the 563-hp V8 AMG G63 and 621-hp V12 AMG G65, the most powerful SUV in production. A single master craftsman hand-builds each biturbo engine. It's teamed with an AMG SPEEDSHIFT® PLUS 7-speed and 20- or 21-inch AMG® wheels, and wrapped in exquisite luxury.
Comfortable cruising, extra sensory perceptions.
Technological teamwork helps make driving safer and easier. Distance Pilot DISTRONIC cruise control uses radar to adapt your speed to the traffic flow, even stop-and-go. Blind Spot Assist, a rearview camera and Parking Assist PARKTRONIC help you sense your surroundings, for added safety when changing lanes or maneuvering in tight quarters.
Distance Pilot DISTRONIC, Blind Spot Assist and Parking Assist PARKTRONIC are not available on G550 4x4-squared.
DISTRONIC adaptive cruise control is no substitute for active driving involvement. It does not adapt cruising speed in response to stationary objects, nor does it predict the curvature and lane layout of the road ahead or the movement of vehicles ahead. It is the driver's responsibility at all times to be attentive to traffic and road conditions, and to provide the steering, braking and other driving inputs necessary to retain control of the vehicle. Drivers are cautioned not to wait for the system's alerts before braking, as that may not afford sufficient time and distance to brake safely. Braking effectiveness also depends on proper brake maintenance, and tire and road conditions.
Blind Spot Assist may not be sufficient to avoid all accidents involving vehicles in your blind spot and does not estimate the speed of approaching vehicles. It should not be used as a sole substitute for driver awareness and checking of surrounding traffic conditions.
See Operator's Manual for systems' operating speeds and additional information and warnings.
Rearview camera does not audibly notify driver of nearby objects and is not a substitute for actively checking around the vehicle for any obstacles or people. Images displayed may be limited by camera field of view, weather, lighting conditions and the presence of dirt, ice or snow on the camera.
Convenient connections, extraordinary benefits.
From your car, computer or phone, mbrace connects you to your world. Enjoy in-vehicle apps like Yelp® and local search. Let remote diagnostic tests help keep your car healthy. And use remote features to turn on the lights, lock the doors, and more, all from the Mercedes me app.Get mbrace® Connect standard for five years with any new model.
All Mercedes-Benz mbrace® services operate only where cellular and Global Positioning System satellite signals are available, which are provided by third parties and not within the control of Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC. Five years of the mbrace Connect package are included with new-vehicle sales and leases at an authorized Mercedes-Benz dealer. Subscriber Agreement is required for service to be active. Some services are only available on select vehicles. Your PIN is required in order to use certain services. Some services may be limited or restricted in some areas. Driver is responsible for complying with traffic and other laws. See your dealer or MBUSA.com/mbrace for details.
The Mercedes me app is compatible with Apple iPhone® models running iOS 8.0 or later, and Android-based phones running OS 4.3 or later.
Comprehensive entertainment, expert guidance.
Advanced entertainment, navigation and communication systems work with intuitive ease in the G-Class. Bluetooth® lets you make calls hands-free and play music cable-free. The elegant central controller and color displays put a world of features within easy reach. Available Rear Seat Entertainment brings first-rate video to the second row.
While the navigation system provides directional assistance, the driver must remain focused on safe driving behavior, including paying attention to traffic and street signs. The driver should utilize the system´s audio cues while driving and should only consult the map or visual displays once the vehicle has been stopped in a safe place. Maps do not cover all areas or all routes within an area.
Bluetooth® interface does not provide phone charging or external antenna. Voice interactivity feature is dependent on selected handset. Phone sold separately. See dealer for a list of approved compatible phones. Bluetooth is a registered trademark of Bluetooth SIG, Inc.
The purchase of a new, satellite radio-enabled vehicle includes a 6-month introductory subscription to the Sirius All Access package, and a 5-year introductory subscription to SiriusXM Traffic and SiriusXM Weather. SiriusXM Traffic and Weather services are available for select markets. SiriusXM Satellite Radio, SiriusXM Traffic and SiriusXM Weather subscriptions are sold separately or as a package after trial period. If you decide to continue your subscription after your trial, the plan you choose will automatically renew and you will be charged according to your chosen payment method at then-current rates. Fees and taxes apply. To cancel you must call SiriusXM at 1-866-635-2349. See SiriusXM Customer Agreement for complete terms at siriusxm.com. All fees and programming subject to change.


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Special-Purpose Constructions
Complete solutions from one single source for highest demands.
Achieving the very best solution at an economical price for your ambitious demands on products being not off the shelf is what you are looking for? – Please tell us about your project requirements and challenge us!
More than 400 architects, engineers and technical draftsmen are working on design solutions and concepts using the latest technologies to fulfill your requirements. With our in-house R&D department your individual design ideas will be evaluated in detail and tested to realise them in the best possible way on the site. A complete solution from one single source is just one of Lindner Group's services.
Challenge us with your project visions and find out how we can support you regarding their realisation.
Phone +33 139 3759-10
» Contact forme
Phone +32 16 311320
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Phone +352 26 665398
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Yes, those are peanuts in the picture. No, I don't usually eat those. Sunflower seeds are a better choice. The second time I made this I did have sunflower seeds and used those. I liked it better. I came up with this idea after eating at my favorite Vietnamese restaurant. I get the same salad every time I go there. Their version likely has soy in it and now that I think about it probably wheat because they use regular soy sauce. Hmmm and I wonder what they sweeten it with. I know it isn't honey… Crap! The restaurant also adds daikon radish, shrimp and BBQ pork (and does not have the seaweed in it). I want to try that at home too but that will require some pre-planning. Does ayone have a good recipe for Vietnamese BBQ pork?? This salad is sweet and salty and was whipped up in 10 minutes. I almost didn't post this recipe. I realize that most people don't keep Thai basil and arame in their house as a staple. I don't expect this to be a very popular post. However, this is currently my favorite salad and if you happen to have access to the ingredients I highly recommend it.
Asian Slaw
Half a head of green cabbage – shredded
1 english cucumber with the skin on – quartered and sliced
fresh Thai basil – handful
fresh mint – handful
big pinch of dried arame (seaweed)
sunflower seeds as a topping
1/4 cup EVOO
3 T Braggs liquid aminos or coconut aminos
1 T sesame oil
1/4 cup unsweetened rice vinegar
3-4 T raw honey
Soak the arame in room temperature water. It softens in just a few minutes and doubles or triples in size. Next make your dressing. Combine all ingredients in another bowl and whisk together until well blended. In your food processor using the slicing blade shred half a head of cabbage. You could do this by hand too if you are less lazy than I. Then slice your english cucumber lengthwise into quarters and feed it through the food processor (or slice by hand). Very coarsely chop the Thai basil and mint. Add cabbage, basil, cucumber, mint and arame to a large bowl. Mix everything together. Dress the salad as you need it. The dressing keeps well in the fridge. Top with a handful of sunflower seeds.
This post was shared at http://www.realfoodwholehealth.com/2012/01/fresh-bites-friday-january-27-2012/


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Primrose Hill Primary School, Primrose Hill, Stanningley
Select the size, finish and quantity of the photograph you require. If you require sepia toning please tick the appropriate box. Please note the size of the photographs will be as near as possible to that requested, however to avoid distorting the image sizes may not be exact. VAT will be added to the order at checkout.


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Hudson Valley LGBTQ Community Center v. Bahruth
Find Your State
Legal Help Desk
Case challenging the wrongful denial of non-profit property tax exemption for a New York LGBTQ community centerRead more
The Hudson Valley LGBTQ Community Center provides educational forums, support and counseling groups, advocacy and publications to the Hudson Valley LGBTQ community. Although the Center's activities entitle it to exemption from taxes under the New York Real Property Tax Law, Kingston's assessor denied the Center's application, claiming that the Center does not warrant exemption. The Center's appeal to the Board of Assessment Review was then denied. The Center is run completely by volunteers who work hard to provide these services to the LGBTQ community and the community at large. But now the Center is faced with a discriminatory tax bill for almost $9,000.
New York provides tax exemption for property used by not-for-profit corporations for purposes that are charitable, educational or for moral or mental improvement. Courts recognized more than a decade ago that these objectives are fulfilled by activities that combat homophobia, provide support to members of the LGBT community and educate the public about LGBTQ and HIV issues.
Lambda Legal's Impact
The fight for tax exemption is another battle that the LGBTQ community must go through to prove we serve worthy, charitable and societal goals. Denial of tax exemption undermines an organization financially and socially — a decided blow to the LGBTQ communities that receive help and support from such organizations. Lambda Legal continues to fight for the proper recognition of organizations like the Center, much like we did in 1971 to receive approval of our own not-for-profit status.
- September 2007 Lambda Legal, the Workers' Rights Law Center of New York, Inc. and Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver and Jacobson LLP file suit in Ulster County Court of New York.


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All Press Releases by Midlands Carriagedriving can be found here.
Release date: 12/06/2018
With thanks to Wendy Nix for her words.
Please click on the icon to read the Press Release
03/02/2019 - Updated Preview for 2019
Progress report for the MC season by Wendy Nix
20/01/2019 - 2019 Season
Preview by Wendy Nix
07/01/2019 - 2019 Club Event Dates
Our confirmed dates are here for 2019 events, although we hope to add at least one other in the near future.
07/01/2019 - National Championships Evolution Class 2019
By Wendy Nix
07/01/2019 - National Championships Report 2018
Produced by Wendy Nix
14/12/2018 - 2018 AGM report
Written by Wendy Nix
12/09/2018 - Championships Report
Written by Wendy Nix
29/08/2018 - Anslow Report
Thank you to Wendy Nix
22/08/2018 - Onley Report
With thanks to Wendy Nix
12/06/2018 - Thoresby Report
With thanks to Wendy Nix for her words.
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Hello fellow mapmakers, I have recently decided to get back into map-making as a hobby but I found out that the map I was working on for 8 months got deleted somehow and I am left with the protected version. The map is a detailed castle defense with over 20 playable characters, hundreds of custom models and a save/load code. I heard that this site was good for requesting help and I wanted to know if anyone could assist me in de-protecting the map. It was protected with optimizer I believe so if anyone is up for the task let me know! Any help would be greatly appreciated! Also I will include you in the credits for the map
Link: http://www.epicwar.com/maps/125668/


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From mountain to valley and all the foothills in between, Denver has more than its share of open-air Rocky Mountain terrain, which translates to outdoor venues galore.
read more
Providing a fast, friendly, and prompt limousine rental service for all your transportation needs. Sedans and party buses also available.
Winner of Colorado's "Best Of" Limousine/Transportation Provider.
Denver wedding limo service including pre-event transportation and airport shuttle service. Our drivers are prompt and professional and will provide you and your guests with an exceptional experience.
American Heritage Limousines offers executive sedans and 6-, 8- and 10-passenger stretch limousines and exotic SUV limousines for every special occasion or event.
1st Class Transportation provides airport transportation by luxury sedan and six passenger stretch limousine, to and from the airports of Denver Colorado.
"The experienced ground transportation company."
Chase Travel & Limousine is a first class provider of luxury transportation. As a full service travel company, we provide our clients with many travel options. We take pride in serving you!
Excursions Limousine Services has been in business in Denver since 1982 and specialize in all aspects of wedding transportation. Our most popular rentals are our Rolls Royces and Bentleys.
Our mission is to make your charter with our friendly staff a memorable and comfortable experience. We offer from one to 14 passenger super stretch limo's in the Rocky Mountain region.
Sunset Limos is a privately owned and operated company providing the Denver Metro Area with professional, courteous limousine service for over 20 years. Sunset Limos has the biggest and newest selection of limousines in Colorado with over thirty vehicles in its limo fleet! Sunset Limos offers superb customer service.
Premium service for over 25 years. Call to customize transportation for your special event. Serving the Colorado region.
No matter the day, the venue, or your specific needs, we have the perfect solution to complement that perfect dress! Call us today and let us help put your mind at ease – at least about the transportation!
Our mission is to provide professional, courteous and reliable limo service combined with competitive prices to all of our customers.
Boulder Limousine provides only the highest level of customer service and strives to create exceptional experience, courtesy and reliability.
We are known as one of the most trusted and reliable limousine and car services in the area. Let us handle all your car service needs for your special occasion.
With us, your guests, family members and the bridal party will arrive at the right place at the right time with door-to-door transportation and courteous full service.
Executive Comfort is a private car/SUV service offering service for weddings, parties and airport transportation.
We stand behind our reputation as one of the finest transportation companies in Colorado. Our chauffeurs are courteous and will be on time to pick you up. We are licensed and fully insured.
Our professional drivers will take you to your Summit County destination door stop whether it is in Breckenridge Airport Shuttle, Keystone, Copper Mountain or Dillon so you may start your Colorado vacation hassle and worry free.
Let our limousines make your big day even more special! Serving northern Colorado since 2002, TLC Limos is passionate about making our customers #1. We offer a luxurious fleet of elite limousines that is sure to make whatever your occasion extra special.
Monument Limousine Service's motto is "Setting a Higher Standard in Limousine Service." The consistent goal pursued by Monument Limousine is to be the premiere limousine service provider.
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In motion control, it is often desirable — or necessary — to stop a moving load smoothly. A rubber bumper, a compression spring, or a dashpot all can accomplish this by absorbing energy. The bumper and spring store energy and release it after they are compressed, resulting in a rebound. A dashpot is a fluid-filled cylinder with an opening through which fluid may escape at a controlled flow. Any force acting against the piston in the cylinder encounters high resistance from the fluid at the beginning of the stroke, then much less as the piston retracts. However, none of these three items dissipate the energy uniformly. The impact of a moving load against a resisting force produces peak forces, which are transmitted to the machine's moving elements or to the load itself. In order to dissipate the energy uniformly, the use of a shock absorber is required.
The graphic shows plots of force versus stroke for the same load moving at the same velocity striking a rubber bumper, a spring, a dashpot, and a shock absorber. The kinetic energy to be absorbed is the same in each case, but it is dissipated at differing rates. A linear rate of deceleration is the most efficient combination of force, space, and time that can be used to stop a moving object. The ideal rate is an almost square curve, where a constant force resists the load, until it is slowed to a stop.
Shock absorbers decelerate loads linearly
Shock absorbers convert the kinetic energy of a load into heat that is dissipated into the atmosphere. They stop a moving load with no rebound and without transmitting potentially damaging shocks to equipment.
In its most general form, a shock absorber consists of a double-walled cylinder with space between the concentric inner and outer walls, a piston, some means of mechanical return for the piston, and a mounting plate. The piston return is usually a spring, which can be mounted externally around the piston rod or internally on the inside of the cylinder body. A series of orifices are drilled in the inner cylinder wall at exponential intervals. The reason for the exponential spacing is derived from the equation for kinetic energy: KE=1/2 mv2.
The cylinder is filled with fluid; all air is bled from the fluid because air bubbles cut the efficiency of the shock absorbers by causing spongy or erratic action. When a moving load contacts the piston rod, it moves the piston inward, forcing fluid through the orifices in the inner cylinder wall. The fluid is forced through the oil return passages, into the space behind the piston head. As the piston retracts, it closes the orifices behind it, reducing the effective metering area, and maintaining a uniform deceleration force as the load loses its energy.
Fluid pressure is constant in a shock absorber, providing constant resistance to the load. The load slows to a stop as its kinetic energy approaches zero. There is no rebound because the shock absorber stores no energy. To return to its extended position, several events must happen. First, the load must be removed from the piston. The spring then pushes the piston outward, opening a check valve, which permits fluid to flow from behind the piston to the space the piston was in when retracted.
Smaller shock absorbers, with bores under 3 in., have a ball check valve to control fluid flow. Larger models use a piston-ring check valve.
Fixed vs. adjustable shocks
There are two basic types of shock absorbers: those with a fixed orifice, and those with an adjustable orifice. The fixed type, sometimes referred to as non-adjustable, has orifices drilled along the inner cylinder wall at distances determined by the manufacturer. While generally less expensive, they are designed for a specific application's load range and cannot be changed to meet the requirements of other applications. They are more economical in high volume applications where the exact operating parameters will not change significantly over time.
Adjustable-orifice shock absorbers can accommodate a range of loads - as much as 30 times the range of a non-adjustable type. They are adjusted by moving a graduated dial on the outside of the shock absorber. This moves a ring around the orifices to control the size of the openings.
Controlling the amount of fluid forced through the orifices controls the deceleration rate. The dial rotates through 90° or 180°, and is calibrated on a scale from 1 to 10. Usually, the higher the number, the greater the resistance to impact. Generally, adjustments are made by observing energy absorption at different settings. Constant resistance to the load should be evident throughout the stroke of the shock absorber.
Orifice design
Orifice design is critical to the operation of a shock absorber. A circular hole drilled in the inner cylinder wall will permit fluid to flow to the outer portion of the cylinder, but causes pressure drop or a change in fluid viscosity due to change in fluid temperature. A simple hole will produce laminar fluid flow, which is less efficient in dissipating energy and often cannot be controlled precisely.
As a shock absorber cycles more and more frequently, and if there is a high amount of laminar flow through the orifice, the operating temperature will increase. The resulting change in fluid viscosity will require constant readjustment of the shock absorber. A knife-edge orifice is very short when compared to the thickness of the inner cylinder wall. These produce non-laminar flow, which is not sensitive to changes in fluid viscosity, and is easily controlled.
Selecting a shock absorber
When choosing a shock absorber, the most important factor to consider is the type of load to be stopped. Basic loads encountered in shock absorber applications include: pure inertial, free-falling, rotating, and loads subject to an additional propelling force. Load weight and velocity are the next two most important factors in sizing a shock absorber. Potential shock to equipment, number of impacts per unit of time, and ambient conditions must also be considered to properly select a shock absorber.
Application conditions include extreme temperatures, load acceleration, maximum propelling force applied to the load, and time limitations imposed on the equipment. Time limitations would include minimum and maximum cycle times and the time required for the shock absorber to return to the extended position between strokes. Cycle rate is another important consideration. If the shock absorber must handle too many impacts within a given time, it will overheat, resulting in poor performance and premature failure. Rapid cycling may heat the fluid, reducing its ability to dissipate energy.
As a safety feature, most manufacturers recommend that shock absorbers be sized for 70% to 80% of capacity. Because the amount of impact the shock absorber can accommodate is inversely proportional to the length of its stroke; doubling stroke length will cut the impact of the load in half.
Shock absorbers must be bolted rigidly to a non-flexing mounting structure. Some type of external stop is required to provide a firm positioning point, and to prevent the shock absorber piston from bottoming out at the end of its deceleration stroke. Mounting can be achieved through a drilled hole and secured by a mounting stop collar, rear mounted into a drilled and tapped blind hole and secured by a jam nut, or via its own mounting flange.
Shock absorbers can be used in a myriad of places. Applications include straight-line functions, as well as rotary, free-falling, rolling, and sliding movements. It makes no difference if the action is driven mechanically, hydraulically, or pneumatically. One common situation for shock absorbers is on high-cycle automation machinery that use rotary motions. For this the shock absorbers should be positioned near the pivot point to provide more clearance for the work area. However, this placement subjects the shock absorbers to high effective weight conditions due to their low velocity. Most of the kinetic energy involved originates from the propelling force rather than from inertia. For such applications, specify shock absorbers designed to operate in a velocity range from 1/4 to 2 ft/sec.


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Join Email List
If you'd like to be placed on an email list announcing events and information about the Depth Psychology program, please click here to submit your information.
The Jung Institute of San Francisco sponsors lectures and conferences in Jungian psychology.
The International Association for Jungian Studies (IAJS) is a world-wide network of Jungian scholars, psychotherapists, artists, and practitioners.
The Guild for Psychological Studies sponsors seminars exploring Christianity through a Jungian and depth psychological lens.
Sacred Feminine
Serpentina sponsors lectures and events around the sacred feminine.
The Center for the Divine Feminine at the Institute for Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto sponsors events and gatherings and a listing of articles related to the divine feminine.
The Sophia Institute in Charleston, South Carolina offers events and conferences aimed at integrating sacred feminine and masculine.
The Marion Woodman Foundation offers programs centered around the embodied soul and the conscious feminine.
China Galland runs an Images of Divinity project out of the Graduate Theological Union which focuses on images of the Black Madonna.
Sacred Masculine
Doug Von Koss is a magical elder in men moving together, women and men singing together. He leads trips to Bali as well as a men's gathering, the Noah Project, in the Bay Area.
The Redwood Men's Center is a Sonoma county organization sponsoring groups, conferences and events integrating myth, ritual, music, and art.
Psychology and Spirituality
The Angela Center in Santa Rosa offers workshops in psychology and spirituality.
The Golden Sufi Center offers programs with Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, who integrates Sufi mysticism with Jungian psychology.
The Haden Institute in North Carolina offers spiritual direction and dream leader training in the Jungian mystical Christian tradition.
Mercy Center in Burlingame south of San Francisco offers spiritually and psychologically oriented programs.
The Ibn 'Arabi Society offers texts, conferences and information on the work of 12th-13th century Sufi mystic Ibn' Arabi.
The Institute of Noetic Sciences in the hills south of Petaluma in Sonoma County offers retreats and transformative learning workshops in a stunning setting.
Kalliopeia Foundation in San Rafael sponsors people, events and initiatives contributing to the evolution of community and the diversity and oneness of humanity.
The New School at Commonweal in Bolinas on the Marin Coast offers in-person events and on-line podcasts for a contemporary community of inquiry.
Commonweal Retreat Center offers an oceanside retreat center in Sonoma County.
EarthRise at IONS is a retreat center at the Institute of Noetic Sciences south of Petaluma and north of San Francisco.
Four Springs is a 280 acre wooded retreat center in southern Lake county.
Mercy Center in Burlingame south of San Francisco offers spiritually and psychologically oriented retreats.
Depth Psychology Alliance offers a world-wide on-line community of persons, events and podcasts for those interested in depth psychology.
Article Evening
Come and hear the 2019 master's graduates present their culminating work on Thu May 16, 6pm in the Cooperage.
Public Programs
Hear Dr. Naomi Lowinsky speak on the wild source of poetry on Sat April 27, 10am - 1 pm in Art 108.


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The Law's Majestic Equality?
Literary writers do not think much of the law. In the last century, Anatole France wrote, mordantly: "The majestic equality of the laws prohibits the rich and the poor alike from sleeping under bridges, begging in the streets and stealing bread." More recently, Aarvind Adiga says, "The jails of Delhi are full of drivers who are there behind bars because they are taking the blame for their good, solid middle-class masters. . . . The judges? Wouldn't they see through this obviously forced confession? But they are in the racket too. They take their bribe, they ignore the discrepancies in the case. And life goes on."


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A veteran of multiple IBM software units, including a prior stint in Information Management, Picciano is tasked with revitalizing a business that has been "a little flat for the last year or two," according to Gartner Analyst Merv Adrian. "No doubt their feistiness is going to be more evident," Adrian says.
Feisty is a fitting description for Picciano, who in this in-depth interview with InformationWeek is at turns effusive and dismissive. He talks at length about IBM's vision for five big data use cases while ceding nothing to database competitors SAP, MongoDB and Cassandra. Read on for the big data perspective from inside IBM.
InformationWeek: There's a growing view that companies will use Hadoop as a reservoir for big data. Everyone agrees that conventional databases will still have a role, but some see big enterprise data warehouses being displaced. What's your view?
Bob Picciano: Sometimes people drastically overuse the term big data. We've done more than 3,000 engagements with customers around our big data portfolio, and almost all of them have fallen into one of five predominant use cases: developing a 360-degree view of the customer; understanding operational analytics; addressing threat, fraud and security; analyzing information that you didn't think was useable before; and offloading and augmenting data warehouses.
Some of these use cases are more Hadoop-oriented than others. If you think about exploring new data types including a high degree of unstructured data, for example, it doesn't make sense to transform that data into structured information and put it into a data warehouse. You'd use Hadoop for that. We have an offering called Data Explorer, which is based on our Vivisimo acquisition, that helps index and categorize unstructured information so you can navigate, visualize, understand and correlate it with other things.
Operational analytics is another use case involving Hadoop. There we just delivered a new offering with our Smart Cloud and Smarter Infrastructure that focuses on helping clients to pull in and analyze log information to spot events that could be used to help improve the resiliency of operational systems.
In the case of developing a 360-degree view of customers, maybe you have a system of master data [like CRM], so you have customer data files, but how do you also include information from public or social domains?... And how do you sew together interactions on Web pages? That's very much a Hadoop data workload.
IW: IBM has a Hadoop offering (with IBM BigInsights), but so, too, does Microsoft, Oracle, Pivotal, Teradata, Cloudera and others. How does IBM stand out in the big data world?
Picciano: One of the use cases that's unique to IBM is streaming analytics. In a big data world, sometimes the best thing to do is persist your question and have the data run through that question continuously rather than finding a better place to persist the data. Hadoop is, in many ways, just like a different kind of big database. That may be insufficient to differentiate company performance on a variety of different workloads.
Data is becoming a commodity, information is becoming a commodity and even insight is becoming a commodity. What's going to become a differentiator is how fast you can develop that insight. If you have to pour data into a big data lake on Hadoop and then interrogate that information, then you have to figure out, "is this the right day to ask that question?" With streaming analytics you can ask important questions continuously.
IW: Aspirations around the Internet of Things seem to be reinvigorating the complex event processing market. Is this the kind of analysis you're talking about?
Picciano: Yes. If you think about machine-to-machine data and areas like health care and life sciences, we've done some great work with amazing institutions like UCLA and the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto by analyzing data in motion with IBM InfoSphere Streams. When you look at neonatal care, for example, a nurse typically comes by once an hour and writes down vital signs. That's one chart point, and they'll come back in another hour and so on. But there's so much volatility around blood oxygen levels, heart rates and respiratory rates. By streaming that information and analyzing on a constant basis, you can spot when infants are having what they call spells, which increase their susceptibility to life-threatening infections. In some instances they can also over-oxygenate babies, and when that happens they can go blind.
IW: You hear a lot of talk about real-time applications, but there seem to be far fewer real-world examples. Is real-time really in high demand?
Picciano: There are many other examples. In the telco space, providers are constantly trying to analyze call quality and spot potentially fraudulent activity. They typically do that based on call data records that they load into a warehouse on a daily basis. We're doing it in real time so there's a whole different degree of remediation for customer experience management. We can identify dropped calls and whether they were related to call quality. You can look at the profile of callers, particularly pre-paid callers, and see if they're trying to burn up their minutes. That means they're likely to churn to another carrier, but we've found that there are ways to intercede in those cases and prevent churn.


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My recommendation for this week's Follow Friday is Heather H. Doherty's Good to Know: A Genealogist's Guide. Heather's blog gives genealogists a look into other fields of study and sees how knowing them can help you find your family.
Heather has only 4 posts are her blog so far but they are all packed full of information. I love how she encourages genealogists to think differently about their research.
Part I - Historical Events
Part II - Terminology & Abbreviations
Part III - Sociology and Behavorism
Part IV - Get to Know Another Occupation


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It's Mixology Monday time again, this month hosted by Brenda at The Spirit World. Brenda chose the theme festive drinks for this iteration. Sounds great to me! Let's get festive!
I chose a drink that I expect a few others will do this time as well: eggnog. And that's okay, because it seems that just about everybody has a personal favorite recipe for eggnog, so I expect a lot of variation in ingredients and techniques.
And that's okay, too, because I have a confession. I'm a nogn00b. Oh, I've had eggnog before, if you think that stuff you get at the grocery is eggnog. But I can't recall ever having homemade nog, and this was my first attempt at making it from scratch. I'll have fun reading what others have done and, I hope, picking up some tips on making a better nog.
(As an aside, there is a great New York State dairy, Ronnybrook Farm, that apparently makes a superb bottled eggnog. Although I'd love to try it at some point, I didn't want to use their product for this MxMo entry. Where's the challenge in that?)
So, on to the nog…
I heard from a friend that Alton Brown had done a nog episode for Good Eats, and since Alton has seldom steered me wrong, I decided his would be a good base recipe and a great introduction to eggnogs. One thing I like about Alton Brown is that his recipes are usually a good jumping-off point for experimentation. Once you have the basic flavors and techniques down, you can start to improvise.
I won't reproduce his recipe here, but I will talk about his technique: He starts by separating four eggs, beating the yolks until they're light and then adding sugar. He blends a mixture of milk, cream, bourbon, and nutmeg into the yolks. He whips up the whites separately, adds a bit of sugar, and then folds the dairy/yolk mixture into the whites. He chills this for at least an hour before serving.
Now, Alton's recipe is light on the bourbon–just three ounces for that entire batch. (Brenda, on the other hand, uses twenty-four ounces of liquor in a nog that calls for six eggs. It's interesting to compare their recipes: Alton's a freakin' lightweight.)
After I finished mixing it all up, but before chilling it, I pulled a bit aside for us to taste. Jen and I both loved this recipe, low-octane though it may be. The nog was fresh, creamy, rich, and delicious, with just a hint of bourbon.
A hint of booze, however, is not enough for this drink, so when I served it, I poured a couple ounces of dark rum into a glass, added the nog, and stirred. Next time I make this, I'll very likely just add more booze from the start.
photograph by Jennifer Hess


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- / World & News
- / Countries of the World
- / Chile
Facts & Figures
President: Michelle Bachelet (2014)
Land area: 289,112 sq mi (748,800 sq km); total area: 292,260 sq mi (756,950 sq km)
Population (2014 est.): 17,363,894 (growth rate: 0.84%); birth rate: 13.97/1000; infant mortality rate: 7.02/1000; life expectancy: 78.44
Capital and largest city (2011 est.): Santiago, 6.034 million
Other large cities: Valparaiso 883,000; Concepcion 770,000 (2011)
Monetary unit: Chilean Peso
- Chile Main Page
- President Pinochet Presides Over a Ruthless Regime
- Socialists Return to Power
- Earthquake Devastates Beginning of Right-Wing Rule
- Fate of Trapped Miners Rivets the Nation
- Plan for Hydroelectric Dams Causes Outrage
- Chilean Youth Call for Reform
- Bachelet Regains the Presidency
Situated south of Peru and west of Bolivia and Argentina, Chile fills a narrow 2,880-mi (4,506 km) strip between the Andes and the Pacific. One-third of Chile is covered by the towering ranges of the Andes. In the north is the driest place on Earth, the Atacama Desert, and in the center is a 700-mile-long (1,127 km) thickly populated valley with most of Chile's arable land. At the southern tip of Chile's mainland is Punta Arenas, the southernmost city in the world, and beyond that lies the Strait of Magellan and Tierra del Fuego, an island divided between Chile and Argentina. The southernmost point of South America is Cape Horn, a 1,390-foot (424 m) rock on Horn Island in the Wollaston group, which belongs to Chile. Chile also claims sovereignty over 482,628 sq mi (1,250,000 sq km) of Antarctic territory; the Juan Fernández Islands, about 400 mi (644 km) west of the mainland; and Easter Island, about 2,000 mi (3,219 km) west.
Chile was originally under the control of the Incas in the north and the nomadic Araucanos in the south. In 1541, a Spaniard, Pedro de Valdivia, founded Santiago. Chile won its independence from Spain in 1818 under Bernardo O'Higgins and an Argentinian, José de San Martin. O'Higgins, dictator until 1823, laid the foundations of the modern state with a two-party system and a centralized government.
The dictator from 1830 to 1837, Diego Portales, fought a war with Peru from 1836—1839 that expanded Chilean territory. Chile fought the War of the Pacific with Peru and Bolivia from 1879 to 1883, winning Antofagasta, Bolivia's only outlet to the sea, and extensive areas from Peru. Pedro Montt led a revolt that overthrew José Balmaceda in 1891 and established a parliamentary dictatorship lasting until a new constitution was adopted in 1925. Industrialization began before World War I and led to the formation of Marxist groups. Juan Antonio Ríos, president during World War II, was originally pro-Nazi but in 1944 led his country into the war on the side of the Allies.
In 1970, Salvador Allende became the first president in a non-Communist country freely elected on a Marxist program. Allende quickly established relations with Cuba and the People's Republic of China, introduced Marxist economic and social reforms, and nationalized many private companies, including U.S.-owned ones. In Sept. 1973, Allende was overthrown and killed in a military coup covertly sponsored by the CIA, ending a 46-year era of constitutional government in Chile.
President Pinochet Presides Over a Ruthless Regime
The coup was led by a four-man junta headed by Army Chief of Staff Augusto Pinochet, who eventually assumed the office of president. Committed to eliminating Marxism the junta suspended parliament, banned political activity, and severely curbed civil liberties. Pinochet's brutal dictatorship led to the imprisonment, torture, disappearances, execution, and expulsion of thousands of Chileans. A government report in 2004 indicated that almost 28,000 people had been tortured during his rule, and at least 3,200 murders and disappearances had taken place.
The economy, in tatters under Allende's Socialist revolution, gradually improved after Chile's return to privatization under Pinochet. In 1989, Pinochet lost a plebiscite on whether he should remain in power. He stepped down in Jan. 1990 in favor of Patricio Aylwin. In Dec. 1993, Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, the candidate of a center-left coalition and son of a previous president, was elected president.
Pinochet, who had retained his post as army commander in chief after the 1989 plebiscite, retired in March 1998. In Oct. 1998, he was arrested and detained in England on an extradition request issued by a Spanish judge who sought Pinochet in connection with the disappearances of Spanish citizens during his rule. British courts ultimately denied his extradition, and Pinochet returned to Chile in March 2000. He died in Dec. 2006 at age 91, before facing trial for the abuses of his 17-year dictatorship.
Socialists Return to Power
Ricardo Lagos became president in March 2000, the first Socialist to run the country since Allende. Chile's economic growth slowed to 3% for 2001, partly the result of a drop in international copper prices and the economic turmoil in neighboring Argentina. In 2003, there were several minor financial scandals involving insider information and bribery. In response, Lagos introduced new reforms promising greater transparency. In 2004, Chile passed a law permitting divorce for the first time.
In 2006 presidential elections, Socialist Michelle Bachelet won 53% of the vote. The former pediatrician is a survivor of the Pinochet dictatorship, which was responsible for her father's death and subjected her to prison, torture, and exile. Bachelet took office on March 11, becoming Chile's first female chief of state. She promised to continue Chile's successful economic policies while increasing social spending. The president's first major challenge came when 700,000 of the nation's students organized a national boycott in May demanding educational reform. The students called off the strike in June after the government agreed to address their concerns.
In January 2008, president Bachelet swore in six new ministers to her 22-member cabinet. The major change was the appointment of Christian Democrat leader Edmundo Perez Yoma for Interior Minister, the top political post of the cabinet. Bachelet also replaced ministers of economy, public works, mining, agriculture, and planning. The cabinet changes are not expected to affect government policy.
Earthquake Devastates Beginning of Right-Wing Rule
In January 2010, for the first time in 50 years—since the rule of Pinochet—Chile elected a right-wing president. Billionaire businessman Sebastián Piñera narrowly defeated Eduardo Frei of the Concertacion, the center-left alliance that has been in power for 20 years, in the second round of voting. Piñera, who was elected to the Senate in 1990, owns a television station, a soccer club, and a large stake in the country's main airline, Lan Chile. He lost to outgoing Bachelet in the 2006 election, his first run for the presidency. Piñera said he would use his business acumen to create jobs give private industry a more prominent role in the economy. He has distanced himself from the Pinochet regime, and his cabinet is made up of a group of technocrats with no ties to Pinochet.
Chile was hit by an 8.8 magnitude earthquake in February 2010. Fatalities were relatively low, with some 500 people killed in the devastation. However, as many as 1.5 million people were displaced. The country, long known to be at high risk for earthquakes, has enforced strict building codes in urban areas, which helped to limit the amount of damage in these areas. But buildings and homes in poorer areas—many built with adobe—did not fare as well. Chile's electricity grids, communication, and transportation systems were badly damaged, severely hampering rescue and aid efforts. The epicenter of the quake was 70 miles northeast of Concepcion in central Chile. Massive waves caused additional damage along the coast.
In March 2010, Sebastián Piñera was sworn in as President of Chile, immediately following three major aftershocks from the recent massive earthquake. Piñera is the first right-wing president since Pinochet. He made an effort to distance himself from the former dictator, and he assembled a cabinet of technocrats with no ties to Pinochet. He faced the widespread devastation of his country following the February earthquake, visiting the quake zone directly after his inauguration. One of his first acts as the new president was to form an emergency response team to deal with the country's reconstruction in the aftermath of the disaster.
Fate of Trapped Miners Rivets the Nation
On Aug. 5, 2010, a tunnel collapsed at the San José mine, trapping 33 miners 2,000 feet below ground. Remarkably all of the miners survived. Rescuers drilled a small borehole to provide the miners with food, lights, and liquids and to allow them to send notes to and from family members as they wait to be rescued. The miners have become national heroes throughout Chile. They were rescued in mid-October, weeks earlier than planned, lifted to safety one by one in a rescue capsule. Each of the miners emerged jubliant and in overall good health considering the ordeal.
Plan for Hydroelectric Dams Causes Outrage
Immediately following the successful rescue of 33 miners in 2010, Chilean President Sebastián Piñera had an approval rating of 63 percent. By June 2011; however, Piñera had a disapproval rating of 56%, the highest of any Chilean president since democracy returned to the country in 1990. The main reason for the approval rating nosedive was Piñera's support for the Hidroaysén electricity project, a plan to build five dams on two rivers and flood over 14,000 acres of nature reserves in the Patagonia region.
A government environmental commission approved the $3.2 billion Hidroaysén project in May 2011, prompting a country-wide protest movement. The protests caused injuries to 28 police officers and over one hundred thousand dollars in property damage. One protest in early June involved 30,000 demonstrators marching to the presidential palace, with some protestors throwing stones and pieces of wood at police vehicles. The police fired back with water cannons. Since the commission's decision, the focus has turned to the yet to be approved transmission line for the project. Patagonia, considered by Chileans to be a national treasure with its breathtaking glaciers and lakes, attracts thousands of tourists each year.
Chilean Youth Call for Reform
Throughout 2011, partly inspired by the Arab Spring, activists continued to protest and started a movement which came to be known as the Chilean Winter. On August 4, 2011, some protestors set up barricades around Santiago, the nation's capital, while others banged on pots and pans. Police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse hundreds of high school and college students. About 900 demonstrators were arrested. Also in August, nearly three dozen university and high school students went on a hunger strike to show their disapproval of President Piñera's government. These education protests have taken over several schools, forcing some to stop classes. Students organized rallies which were attended by 100,000 people. The protestors were demanding a more accessible and affordable university system as well as higher quality and equal funding for elementary and middle schools.
In October 2011, student representatives attempted to negotiate with government representatives led by Felipe Bulnes, the education minister. However, the students withdrew from the negotiations, reporting that Bulnes attacked a student representative, David Urrea. Bulnes reportedly accused Urrea of trying to break up the negotiations. A spokesperson for the government blamed extremists within the student movement for the breakdown of negotiations. Bulnes was replaced by Harald Beyer as education minister two months later.
Although the student protestors did not get all their demands met, they did influence a huge drop in President Piñera's approval rating. As of January 2012, Piñera's approval rating hovered around 26–30%.
Bachelet Regains the Presidency
Michelle Bachelet won a runoff presidential election against Evelyn Matthei on Dec. 15, 2013. Bachelet received 62.2% of the vote, Matthei 37.8%. Bachelet was the first person to be elected for a second term since Arturo Alessandri whose third term ended in 1938.
Bachelet first served as president from 2006 until 2010. She has also served as health minister and defense minister. Bachelet took office on March 11, 2014.
See also Encyclopedia: Chile .
U.S. State Dept. Country Notes: Chile
National Institute of Statistics (INE) (In Spanish only) www.ine.cl/ .


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The cake is lush and bright and perfumes the room with the scent of lemon.
"Happy Birthday Nicky," it reads in baby-blue cursive.
Nick O'Neill's family is gathered for his 28th birthday, in late January, at the home of his mother, Joanne, and father, Dave Kane. Cornbread and chicken are warming in chafing dishes. Nick's 3-year-old nephew, Asher, darts among the mingling grown-ups, shouting "peek-a-boo!"
Nick died 10 years ago in The Station nightclub fire in West Warwick, R.I. But his parents still give him birthday parties. They speak to him every day as though he's in the house, coming and going and very much alive. They detect messages from him on passing license plates, and in the flickering light in the dining room. It's Nicky checking in, they say when the bulb inexplicably lights up.
That night of Feb. 20, 2003, Dave dropped the lanky 18-year-old at a friend's house before a concert by the rock band Great White. "The show must go on," Nick said as he got out of the car, the last words Dave ever heard from him.
The time that followed was an incomprehensible fever dream, threaded with pain. Joanne relived the fire repeatedly in nightmares, always trying to save him. And of all her questions, one tortured her most. Did her child feel pain? Then they started seeing the signs, and there was comfort.
At today's party, they hope for more, to speak to Nick. They have invited a woman who says she communicates with the spirit world. She takes a seat near a glowing fire in the living room. The guests gather on the sofa and chairs. Joanne and Dave sit, take hands, and watch expectantly as she begins.
• • •
The Station nightclub is now just a barren parking lot on a stretch of suburban road. There is a rusted marquee and a patch of leaf-covered dirt staked with crosses made of lumber from the fallen building. On occasion, a figure can be seen stopping to leave mementos.
The site betrays little of the horror of that cold Thursday night 10 years ago, when, in just six minutes, flames ignited by pyrotechnic sparks exploded into an inferno of poisonous gas and unimaginable heat. One hundred people died. Firefighters found the dead jammed like matchsticks into a narrow hallway at the front door, where people clawed over one another to escape, or in scattered clusters where they were trapped or searched in vain for other exits.
The roughly 350 who made it out — some of them horrifically burned — heard screams inside and, as the flames rose, heard them fall silent.
Some lost friends or loved ones who had been a step behind; the difference between life and death was often inches, or seconds, or dice-roll decisions to move one way instead of another.
For the survivors and the families of the dead, the hell inside the tiny roadhouse that night became a cataclysm upon which new lives had to be built. Some, like Gina Russo, who underwent 54 surgeries for severe burns, channeled their pain into public causes. A few, like Angel Amitrano, who lost her father, moved far away. Many are left with memories and tokens they can neither forget nor keep too close, like the family of Matthew Pickett, an avid concertgoer who set out to tape the show but wound up recording his own death. Investigators gave them a remastered copy, but they have squirreled it away, vowing never to listen.
Dave and Joanne were forced to find their own path, as did Melanie Fontaine, whose journey began moments after the fire started.
• • •
Just before the lights failed and black smoke enveloped her, Melanie Fontaine released her fiance's hand. The instinct to hold tight ceded to the desperate thoughts churning through her mind, and she let go.
John had reached back to clutch her hand just a moment before, when the mass behind them started to push in a panicked surge toward the door. Melanie pictured the two of them getting crushed and knew how much worse off he would be, brittle-boned and stooped from a painful genetic condition, more likely to fracture something.
That was her fear then — not the fire. And over the screeching alarm and the rising din of human noise she shouted to him and let go. He would be steadier on his own. He was a step closer than her to the door. He'd be OK.
She hoped her brother Mark and his friends were close behind.
Sudden darkness changed everything. She was choking, blinded. Around her was nothing but screaming and shoving, everyone for himself. Something knocked her down, something else swept her to the side.
Stay down, she thought, and started to crawl. She was disoriented and didn't know which way was out. The layer of inky smoke at the ceiling ignited, and a blast-furnace flash roared overhead. A sting, like high voltage, seared across her hands and back. Strange. Shouldn't it feel hotter? She was on fire, she assumed, and, reaching a hand before her, felt a wall. She turned her back to it and pressed hard, hoping to snuff out any flames. Then she slouched. A dreamy feeling was coming over her, and she felt herself drifting, as though to sleep. If this was dying, it didn't seem so bad.
But then, a pinprick of thought: What if she and her brother both died here? How will Mom and Dad survive? A voice crackled inside, shattering her daze. Go! it shouted. You have to try! But left or right, which way?
She held her breath and went, not knowing where she was going, just feeling along the wall, crawling and touching. She came to a gap and crawled into what she would learn was the kitchen and kept going until she burst all at once out onto the snow.
It seemed almost too easy, she would later reflect, when she learned of the other deaths. She would think of her fiance and repeatedly see her hand letting go of his.
• • •
The roads near The Station were full of panicked drivers. Dave Kane had heard the club was on fire from a TV bulletin on the 11 o'clock news. Nick didn't answer his phone. He and Joanne drove as fast as they could.
The scene was a chaos of flashing lights and police barricades. They couldn't get close enough to learn anything so they drove frantically from hospital to hospital. Over and over they dialed his phone.
At a hastily assembled crisis center, workers had an ominous request: bring dental records.
It seemed hazy and unreal to Joanne, as though she was being forced to perform a role in a play and watch herself at the same time. Nick's half-brother Chris, Joanne's son from another marriage, arrived early in the morning from Boston.
"Did you hear?" Joanne asked him through tears. "We can't find Nicky and we don't know if he is alive."
Of course Chris had heard — why else would he rush through the dark of early morning to get there? His mother seemed confused, and he was frightened for her.
They drove back to the crisis center, where officials announced names of survivors as hospitals identified them. Nick's was not among them.
Joanne wouldn't eat, was barely able to speak. She seemed physically crushed. "I was afraid she wasn't going to survive the experience," said her son, Bill, another half brother of Nick's, who flew from California.
At some point that day, Joanne says she threw herself across Nick's bed and cried herself into a troubled slumber. Waking sometime later, alone in his room, she says she felt somebody breathing beside her.
"I felt a presence next to me," she recalls. "I can't even explain the glow I felt from this presence."
• • •
In the hospital, Melanie floated in morphine dreams. She remembers only bits and pieces: Her mother rewrapping her hands after the nurses had gone, winding the gauze around each finger, watching the death count climb on TV, waiting to hear familiar names.
She was black all over when she arrived, even her teeth. The nurse who cut off her clothes had gasped at the sight of her back. She was on her stomach in bed, hands positioned on pillows at her head.
She remembers her mother helping her to the sink and gently washing her hair, brittle strands cascading into the water and the retching stench of the fire filling the air.
• • •
Every day after her son's burial, Joanne walked the mile and a half to Mount St. Mary Cemetery to visit Nick's grave. She broke down often and crouched in bushes to hide her grief. She recalls talking to Nick out loud at those times, imploring him to say if he was still here. "How does this work? Do I still have three sons?"
One day as she walked, she says she felt drawn to a car at a drive-through restaurant. The license plate said: 3SONS. And she thought, "He's trying so hard to get through to me, I need to listen."
Since the day on Nick's bed when her pain was eased by the sense of him nearby, Joanne had begun to see things that she interpreted as her son communicating with her, like the time stamp of 9:41 on a text message wishing the family well. Nick had had a fascination with the number 41 since he was a teenager, pointing it out on hotel doors or street addresses or anywhere he saw it.
The day after the fire, Dave, who hosted a radio talk show, received a call at home from a woman he knew who says she is a spirit medium. She told him she wanted to go on his radio show because a charred boy had appeared to her and said, "Call my dad." As Dave recalls it, she hoped someone would recognize the story and call in. Dave concluded the boy in the woman's vision was Nick.
Dave and Joanne soon began to see signs everywhere. They noticed things happening at 41 minutes past the hour, and when 41 cropped up on buses and license plates, area codes, and restaurant checks. They realized Nick lived 18 years and 23 days, and that those numbers add to 41.
Determined to make more direct contact with their son, they made an appointment to see Robert Brown, a British man who staged events across the globe to communicate with spirits. He also held private meetings. He was to be in New York that fall.
In September, Dave survived two heart attacks. A month after bypass surgery, they rode Amtrak to see Brown. The author dazzled them with details about Nick, which they believed were personal and intimate and true. How could he know these things? As the session was ending, Brown added: Your son wants me to tell you that the show must go on.
Joanne and Dave were thunderstruck. There seemed no earthly way Brown could have known Nick's final words to his father, except from Nick? They left the appointment elated and utterly convinced their son is a living spirit. They strolled Manhattan, laughing and weeping, until landing at a deli, where they ate like ravenous castaways.
• • •
Melanie's mother, Chris, walked her daughter slowly through the darkened house, trying to take away the pain. The hospital had sent Melanie home early. Chris was a nurse and convinced them she could handle the dreadful, painstaking work of changing bandages and cutting away decaying skin. But when the morphine wore off, the pain became a livid scream inside Melanie's body, radiating from nowhere and everywhere.
Chris led her daughter, whispering, crying with her. It would be OK. One day, it would be OK.
Chris had to try to believe that, too. She had stayed above water while taking care of Melanie in the hospital, was able to keep at bay the almost certain death of her son. But then she came home to see Mark's car in front of the house, towed from The Station, and finally it was real. Her grief swallowed her, and she had to be carried into the house.
She ached for her daughter now, needed to take care of her. And so they shuffled through the house, down the corridor bridging the bedrooms, around the family room, lap after lap until the sun came up.
They would get stronger pills for Melanie's pain, but they didn't help with the agonizing reality crystalizing in her head. Her brother and fiance were gone. When she had let go of his hand in the club, she had a flash that it might be forever. And now it plainly was.
She woke mornings, replaying the moment. She loathed herself for getting out so easily, berated herself for not finding John and Mark in the choking, scorching madness and leading them out. She spoke aloud to Mark, asking from his bed if he could hear her.
On the other side of the wall, Chris would wake from restless sleep and realize all over again that her son was dead, the blow knocking the wind out of her each time. But Melanie needed her, and she would force herself from bed.
They could fill a day treating and dressing the burns and doing it again a few hours later, Melanie leaning over their kitchen table, beneath a big framed photograph of her and Mark in high school. Moving slowly, Chris would lift the yellowish-white parts of each blister with forceps and snip away with scissors. She would slather on antibiotic cream and skin-loosening ointment, bandage Melanie's back, wrap her hands and fingers with gauze.
Chris took comfort in a sweater of Mark's, inhaling the fading scent of his once-heavy cologne. Sometimes, she went out to the site of the fire. She thought maybe she could feel his presence in the place where he last lived. She bought bags of tea candles and lit them, retreated to her car to watch them flicker.
She and Melanie talked, replaying the fire, trading stories about the boys. How John, in a wheelchair then, had rolled up to Melanie that first week in school, bowed, kissed her hand. How Mark couldn't pass anyone he loved without reaching out to pat or hug them, how even his friends learned to kiss and hug his parents goodbye.
And as Chris had done in the hospital, she stood over the sink and kneaded her fingers through Melanie's hair, lathering, rinsing, releasing more of that horrible stench. It was a weekly ritual, the smell persisting, until Melanie could stand it no more and cut off her hair.
• • •
As time passed, Joanne and Dave say, Nick sent signs every day. Each brought a feeling of relief, like when any child checks in with his parents.
"Thanks for checking in, Nick," Joanne says out loud. "I love you."
The family trained itself to refer to Nick in the present tense.
Nick is, not was.
Sometimes one of them slips up with the past tense. The offender will apologize, "Sorry, Nick!"
In 2004, nearly a year after the fire, the family celebrated Nick's birthday at Chelo's restaurant. They saved an empty seat at the long table for the birthday boy. That was where they told the wait staff to put the cake, and the staff and the family all sang Happy Birthday.
• • •
Melanie's mother wipes the face of a 20-month-old girl with a floral ribbon in her hair and lifts her from her high chair. "Kisses and hugs for Gabe," she says, and lets the girl's 3-year-old brother nuzzle her before carrying her upstairs to bed. They are Melanie's children. Chris comes to babysit twice a week now, 10 years after the fire, in the little house Melanie bought on a quiet street in Southbridge two summers ago, an hour from where she grew up.
The winding road that led here from the fire took time to reveal its course. After Melanie's burns healed, she could not conceive of going out with friends, never mind dating. Chris told her that she would meet someone, live again, and that hers would still be a good life, if one very different from what she had planned.
Melanie did not believe her, not at first, but she began to make peace with what happened inside the club the night she let go.
She learned that John and Mark were likely killed instantly by the blast-furnace flash that burned her. It gave her comfort. They didn't suffer, and there was nothing she could have done. She came to believe their spirits helped guide her out, and now they wanted her to live.
She crafted elaborate crosses for her brother and her fiance and for the two others from their group who died, painting and repainting them, decorating them with mementos. She took them to The Station site and planted them in the ground.
Sometimes Melanie went with Chris to West Warwick, and sometimes her mother went alone, Chris's own visits becoming twice-weekly, then weekly, now monthly. She no longer buys tea candles by the case; she can visit The Station without crying. And years after the smell of Mark's cologne faded, his sweater, long since washed, rests comfortably in a drawer. But he remains her first thought every morning, her last at night.
In the Southbridge house, Melanie's son sings his way down the hall, skating in an imaginary game of hockey. She will never forget that night, but it no longer defines her. "She has found her place in life," her mother says, proudly, trying not to imagine what would have happened if Melanie had gone another direction that night. If Melanie had not let go.
• • •
As the weak winter sun begins to fade on the lemon cake at Dave and Joanne's house, the woman in black and teal lights candles and puts on soft music. She scribbles in a notebook and calls out questions:
"What's 3/18?"
"My birthday," replies Nick's half-brother Dave, born on March 18.
"You need to know you are not alone." She suddenly breaks down and cries. "Oh my God, I'm sorry, Dave. I don't know why they want me to feel this." It is the spirits, she says, making her feel alone and empty. She collects herself. "I'm hearing from the other side: No more close calls." Nick wants Dave "to take better care of yourself."
"Okay," Dave says, softly.
Dave rubs Joanne's shoulder. Joanne's posture is tense, but her eyes are soft and smiling.
"Where are my shoes, Ma?" the medium says, relaying words from Nick.
"In the closet," Joanne replies.
"Did you take them out?"
"I was just looking at them today."
"It's his way" — Nick's way — "of saying he was right there," the medium says.
The session over, people get up and gather around the cake. The family sings Happy Birthday, with gusto. Little nephew Asher puffs out the candles. Joanne cuts the cake. She is in a very good mood.
"Nicky's really happy everybody gets together for his birthday," she says. "That is part of his job, just to let people know that their loved ones are with them, and life never ends."
Joanne and Dave understand people outside the family may roll their eyes. Or that some will think: How sad for that poor family, hurt so bad they created an imaginary son.
Skeptics don't bother them.
"For the people who don't believe, it may be because they haven't had a reason to," Joanne says. "Losing a child? You can't even imagine what it's like until you get there."
The daily signals "have enabled me to breathe," she will say. "They've enabled me to function. It's how I get through. It's how all of us get through."Mark Arsenault can be reached at email@example.com. Follow him on Twitter @bostonglobemark. Eric Moskowitz can be reached at email@example.com.