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Financial Remediation Framework: Frequently Asked Questions
Updated on 11/23/2012
Financial Remediation Framework Approach
1. What is the purpose of the Financial Remediation Framework?
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (FRB) have developed the financial remediation framework (the Framework) to provide examples of situations where compensation or other remediation is required for financial injury due to servicer errors, misrepresentations, or other deficiencies. The independent consultants will use the Framework to recommend remediation for financial injury identified during the Independent Foreclosure Review. The servicers will prepare remediation plans based on the independent consultants' recommendations. The federal banking regulators must approve each servicer's remediation plan. The categories included in the Framework are not intended to be exhaustive or to cover all possible situations or remediation options for borrowers who may require compensation or other remediation for financial injury.
2. Will the regulators issue updates to the Framework periodically?
The OCC and FRB do not plan to make updates to the Framework. We recognize that the independent consultants may identify other situations or remediation options that are not covered in the Framework. In those cases, the independent consultants may recommend other remediation or compensation for the servicers to use in preparing their remediation plans, which will be subject to regulator approval.
3. Will the regulators issue updates to these Frequently Asked Questions periodically?
The OCC and FRB intend to update these Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) as appropriate.
4. Can a borrower get remediation under more than one category in the Framework?
Borrowers who suffered one of the injuries in categories 1 through 4 will only receive the remediation described under the category that provides the highest remediation amount because the remediation is intended to cover all financial injuries related to the foreclosure process.
Where the remediation is not intended to cover all financial injuries related to the foreclosure process, borrowers may receive remediation or compensation for more than one category if they suffered separate injury. For example, if a borrower was never solicited for a loan modification under category 7 and was improperly charged fees under category 13, they will receive remediation under both categories. On the other hand, a borrower who has been wrongfully denied a loan modification under category 5 will not receive $500 for a credit reporting error under category 13 because that is already covered under category 5.
5. If the Framework is supposed to address direct financial injury, why does it include a number of fixed dollar payments?
The fixed dollar payments approximate an amount of direct financial injury that borrowers may have suffered as a result of a specific error. The regulators believe that payments of designated amounts for particular types of injury will avoid the need for borrowers to provide proof of the amount of the injury suffered and will avoid the delay and expense associated with an examination of the particular circumstances involved in each borrower's case. The fixed dollar payments may over compensate borrowers for the harm they suffered in some cases. Nonetheless, there may be some cases where a borrower believes that additional compensation is warranted. In those cases, borrowers may pursue other available legal remedies.
6. What if the Independent Foreclosure Review finds that the servicer made an error relating to a borrower's loan, but the borrower did not suffer any financial injury as a result of the error? Will they receive remediation?
If the borrower did not suffer any financial injury as a result of a servicer's error relating to the borrower's loan, the borrower will not get any remediation under the Independent Foreclosure Review. However, the servicer will have to correct any errors identified by the Independent Foreclosure Review process.
7. Are the remediation amounts listed in the Framework fixed, or may an independent consultant recommend a different amount or form of remedy?
The Financial Injury Framework requires fixed dollar payments for most injury categories. These fixed dollar payments approximate an amount of direct financial injury that borrowers may have suffered as a result of a specific error. The regulators believe that payments of designated amounts for particular types of injury will avoid the need for borrowers to provide proof of the amount of the injury suffered and will avoid the delay and expense associated with an examination of the particular circumstances involved in each borrower's case. The fixed dollar payments may under or over compensate borrowers for the harm they suffered in some cases, but will allow for a consistent remedy across servicers. In unique situations, and for those categories of the framework where remediation is to be determined on a case-by-case basis, the independent consultants have flexibility to recommend a remedy tailored to the individual borrower's facts and circumstances. The regulators expect that variances from the Framework will be very infrequent.
Remediation for Violations of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA)
8. Are interest rate injuries related to SCRA covered under category 1?
No. Interest rate related actions that violate the SCRA are covered under category 13. Only foreclosure related actions that violate the SCRA are covered under category 1.
9. For SCRA interest rate related violations, how will a correction to the servicer's record for excess interest accrued in error to a borrower's account be calculated?
Where the servicer has not reduced the interest rate as requested by the borrower in violation of the SCRA addressed by category 13, interest will be calculated from the date the servicemember was called to military service through the earlier of the remediation date or one year after military service ended.
Definition of "Borrower Not in Default" under the Framework
10. What is meant by "Borrower Not in Default" for category 2?
Under category 2 in the Framework, the terms of the borrower's original mortgage or permanent loan modification agreement will determine whether or not the borrower is considered to be in default. Generally, a borrower who is current on all required payments is not considered to be in default.
Loss Mitigation Programs
11. What is a "loss mitigation program"?
Loss mitigation programs are programs intended to assist the borrower in avoiding foreclosure or otherwise minimize financial losses that occur as a result of foreclosure. In addition to loan modifications, loss mitigation programs refer to such things as cash-for-keys programs, deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure, payment plans, short sales, or loan forbearance agreements.
12. How will injuries related to loss mitigation programs such as cash-for-keys programs, deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure or short sales be addressed under the Framework?
These injuries will be addressed under category 13 of the Framework.
13. What is a written trial-period plan under category 3?
To be covered under category 3 in the Framework, the servicer must have communicated to the borrower a written trial-period plan that would entitle the borrower, upon full satisfaction of all of the required elements of the written agreement (including submitting all documentation requested and meeting all underwriting qualifications specified), to have their loan converted into a permanent loan modification, such that the borrower would no longer be in default status upon execution of the permanent loan modification.
14. What is a forbearance plan? What forbearance plans are covered under category 4?
A forbearance plan is typically an agreement by the servicer to postpone, reduce, or suspend payments due on a loan for a specified period of time. These agreements are usually intended to provide the borrower time to resolve a short-term financial impairment. Interest may continue to accrue at the contractual note rate during the forbearance period, in which case it remains the borrower's responsibility.
To be covered under category 4 in the Framework, the forbearance plan offered by the servicer must be documented and include specific payment terms for a specified period of time longer than one month. In addition, the foreclosure must have been completed before the expiration of the specified timeframe while the borrower was meeting all requirements of the forbearance plan.
15. For categories 3 and 4, the servicer is permitted to offset missed and unpaid principal & interest payments and property taxes paid on behalf of the borrower, subject to certain limitations. How will this offset be applied?
For categories 3 and 4, where the foreclosure is complete and rescission is not possible, the servicer may reduce the remediation payment to the borrower for any missed and unpaid principal & interest payments and property taxes paid on behalf of the borrower before the trial- period plan or forbearance plan began.
For category 3a, the servicer may also reduce the remediation payment to the borrower for missed and unpaid principal & interest payments and property taxes paid on behalf of the borrower for the period after the failure to convert the trial-period plan to a permanent modification. The servicer's offset for missed and unpaid principal & interest payments after the failure to convert the trial-period plan may not exceed the monthly payment amounts the borrower would have owed had the conversion to a permanent modification occurred.
In all of the above situations, the servicer may only reduce remediation payments if the servicer had not previously taken some other action to recover those same amounts, such as adding the unpaid amounts to the principal balance of the loan, or including those amounts in a deficiency judgment, unless the servicer also reduces the unpaid principal balance or the deficiency judgment by an equivalent amount.
Based on Past Documentation
16. What does it mean to provide a loan modification "where permitted based on past documentation"?
Some loan modification programs may allow the servicer to offer borrowers the modification they should have received based entirely on previously submitted documents. In such cases, servicers should provide borrowers the loan modification they would have previously qualified for without requesting that the borrower submit current and/or additional information.
17. What is meant by rescission of a foreclosure under the Framework?
Under the Framework, rescission means to unwind the foreclosure action or sale and return ownership of the property to the borrower as applicable.
18. When is rescission of a foreclosure possible under the Framework?
For categories 1 and 2, rescission of a foreclosure is possible when the following conditions exist:
In addition to the conditions listed above for categories 1 and 2, the borrower must also expressly indicate that they want to stay in the home or return to the home.
For categories 3, 4, and 5, rescission of a foreclosure is possible when the following conditions exist:
In addition to the conditions listed above for categories 3, 4, and 5, the borrower must also expressly indicate that they want to stay in the home or return to the home.
Equity Calculation
19. How is the amount of a borrower's equity being calculated?
A borrower's equity is calculated based on the estimated value of the borrower's home at the time of the servicer's error reduced by the amount the borrower still owes on the property. The estimated value of the borrower's home will be calculated as follows:
If the home was later sold in a foreclosure sale for an amount more than the amount the borrower owed on the mortgage loan(s), the borrower's equity will be reduced by this amount if previously paid to the borrower.
Deficiency Judgments
20. What is a deficiency judgment?
Under the Framework, a deficiency judgment is a court judgment publicly recording the amount the borrower owes to another party as a result of the borrower's home being sold for less than the amount the borrower owed on their mortgage.
21. What does it mean to "remedy deficiency" under the Framework?
If the amount of a deficiency judgment is incorrect, the servicer will be required to take steps to ensure that the borrower is not responsible for payment of the erroneous portion of the deficiency amount.
22. Why wouldn't the regulators just require the servicer to void all deficiency judgments?
It is not always possible to void a deficiency judgment where an error has been found. For example, there may be legal limitations on the servicer's ability to void a deficiency judgment or the loan may be under the control of an investor or other third party who may have rights to the deficiency balance. Additionally, there will be cases where part of a deficiency judgment is in error and requires remedy, but the remainder of the judgment is accurate and valid.
Excess Interest
23. What does the term correct "excess interest" mean in the Framework?
Excess interest means the interest amount accrued or charged to the borrower in error by the servicer. Under the Framework, servicers will be required to correct any excess interest by, for example, making corrections to the servicer record or reimbursing the borrower for excess interest amounts paid.
Loan Modifications — Corrections for Excess Interest
24. How will excess interest be calculated for errors related to loan modifications?
Excess accrued interest will be calculated from the date the servicer committed the error until the error is or was corrected.
25. How will the independent consultants determine the date the servicer committed the error for loan modification related categories?
If the independent consultant cannot determine the exact date the error occurred, then the independent consultant will use a reasonable approximation of the date that the error occurred to calculate the amount of excess interest.
Loan Modification Never Offered or No Follow-up Occurred
26. What is meant by HAMP for purposes of the Independent Foreclosure Review?
For purposes of the Independent Foreclosure Review, HAMP refers to any government sponsored HAMP program, including, for example, the Department of the Treasury Making Home Affordable MHA HAMP, the Department of Housing and Urban Development Federal Housing Administration FHA HAMP, the Department of Veteran Affairs VA HAMP, the Department of Agriculture Rural Housing Authority RD HAMP, and the Government Sponsored Enterprise GSE HAMP programs administered by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.
27. What does it mean in category 6 that the servicer "never followed up to obtain complete loan modification documents" as required under the applicable program?
Some loan modification programs, such as HAMP beginning in January 2010, require a servicer to send the borrower a notice, or take other actions to obtain the documents needed to modify the loan under program standards. If the independent consultant determines that a servicer performed no required follow-up to obtain complete loan modification documents as required by program standards, the servicer will be required to provide the remediation described in the Framework.
28. What does it mean in category 7 that the servicer "never solicited borrower loan modification option" as required under applicable program?
Some loan modification programs, such as the HAMP, require a servicer to proactively solicit certain borrowers. If an independent consultant determines that a servicer made no effort to solicit a borrower for a loan modification as required by HAMP or other program designated by the regulators, the servicer will be required to provide the remediation described in the Framework.
Credit Reporting
29. When is the servicer required to pay $500 for credit reporting errors under the Framework?
Under the Framework, the servicer must pay $500 in cases where a servicer's erroneous negative credit reporting in an amount of $100 or more requires that a borrower's credit report be corrected. However, borrowers will not receive a separate payment of $500 for credit reporting errors where they also receive remediation under another category that is intended to cover all financial injuries related to the foreclosure process as described in FAQ # 4.
30. Does the $500 payment for remediation of credit report errors have to be made in all cases where the servicer must correct an erroneous credit report?
No. A servicer does not have to make the $500 payment where the total amount of erroneous fees that have been charged to a borrower's account by a servicer and reported to a credit bureau is less than $100. The servicers are required, however, to make all of the needed corrections to an individual borrower's credit report.
31. What if the servicer made multiple errors regarding a borrower's credit report?
The single fixed dollar payment of $500 reflects the total compensation for credit reporting injury, even if there are multiple errors.
Erroneous Late Fees and Foreclosure Fees Actually Paid
32. What if the borrower has already paid late fees and other foreclosure fees that were determined to be charged in error? Does the borrower get that money back?
Where the servicer charged the borrower erroneous fees and the borrower made a payment to the servicer for such fees, the servicer will be required to reimburse the borrower directly for those costs plus interest.
33. How will interest be calculated for payment of erroneous fees?
Interest will be calculated from the date the borrower paid the erroneous fee until the remediation date at 3.26 percent, the average rate paid on 10-year U.S. Treasury notes from 2009 to 2011.
Waivers and Releases
34. Does filing a request-for-review form prevent a borrower from filing litigation or taking other action against the servicer?
No. Submitting a request for an Independent Foreclosure Review will not preclude borrowers from pursuing any other legal remedies available related to their foreclosure.
35. Will the Independent Foreclosure Review process require the borrower to sign a waiver to release the servicer from any claims related to the foreclosure action in order to receive remediation?
No. Servicers may not ask a borrower voluntarily to release any claims in order to receive remediation payments.
However, servicers may assert in any separate litigation, or as part of future settlements related to the servicer's foreclosure and servicing practices, any right that may exist under applicable law to offset the amounts received from the servicer under the Independent Foreclosure Review, but they may only assert it in those other matters.
National Mortgage Settlement
36. Is the Independent Foreclosure Review process the same as the recently announced National Mortgage Settlement involving the Department of Justice, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, other federal agencies, and States Attorneys General?
No. The two actions are separate and provide different forms of remedies and relief. The Independent Foreclosure Review process results from consent orders issued on April 13, 2011 by the federal banking regulatory agencies against 14 large mortgage servicers for deficient mortgage servicing and foreclosure practices. The National Mortgage Settlement, announced and filed in federal district court earlier this year, requires five large mortgage servicers to address mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure abuses alleged by multiple federal and state government agencies.
37. Will a borrower be disqualified from the Independent Foreclosure Review, if they also participate in the National Mortgage Settlement?
No. Borrowers will not be disqualified from the Independent Foreclosure Review if they also participate in the National Mortgage Settlement.
38. If a borrower has received payment under the Borrower Payment Fund of the National Mortgage Settlement, will their remediation be offset under the Independent Foreclosure Review?
Remediation payments under the Independent Foreclosure Review will not be offset by payments the borrower has received under the Borrower Payment Fund of the National Mortgage Settlement.
Debt Owed by Borrower to Servicer Does Not Prohibit Participation in the Independent Foreclosure Review
39. If a borrower was more than six months delinquent on their mortgage, can that borrower expect remediation?
Remediation will be based on financial harm resulting from errors, misrepresentations, or other deficiencies in foreclosure practices by the servicer whether or not the borrower was delinquent. However, as explained in FAQ # 14, a servicer may reduce the amount of the payment by specified amounts due to the servicer under certain circumstances.
No Remediation for Pain and Suffering
40. If a borrower has been diagnosed by a physician for depression and anxiety related to the stress involved with the foreclosure action, can the borrower expect remediation to cover medications and doctor bills?
No. The Independent Foreclosure Review is intended to compensate borrowers for financial injury and does not compensate borrowers for emotional distress, pain, suffering, or other non-financial injury.
41. Will borrowers who receive funds from the Independent Foreclosure Review be required to pay taxes on amounts received as compensation or other remediation?
Borrowers should be aware that compensation received from the servicer pursuant to the Independent Foreclosure Review may have consequences with respect to their federal, state, or local tax liability, as well as eligibility for any public assistance benefits. The regulators cannot give advice about the impact of settlements on an individual's tax liability or receipt of public assistance benefits. Borrowers may wish to consult with a qualified individual or organization about any possible tax or other consequences resulting from the receipt of payments under the Independent Foreclosure Review.
Source of Remediation Funds
42. Where is the money to pay borrower claims coming from? Is any taxpayer money involved?
The servicers are financially responsible to compensate borrowers for financial injury and no taxpayer money is involved.
Disagreement with Independent Foreclosure Review Findings
43. What can borrowers do if they disagree with the independent consultant's decision? Is there an appeal process?
The results of the Independent Foreclosure Review are considered final and there is no process for appeal of either the findings or the amounts of remediation offered. The results of the Independent Foreclosure Review are not intended to have an impact on any other options the borrower may pursue related to their mortgage loan.
Borrowers Currently Facing Foreclosure
44. Will the Independent Foreclosure Review affect, stop, or delay a borrower's foreclosure sale date?
The Independent Foreclosure Review will not necessarily affect, stop, or delay the foreclosure sale date. The regulators have, however, issued guidance to the independent consultants and servicers to try to prevent any borrower who is receiving an independent foreclosure review from losing their home without their file first receiving a pre-foreclosure sale review or a review by an independent consultant. The regulators encourage borrowers who believe they have a basis to submit a request-for-review and are facing foreclosure to submit their requests as soon as possible. Additionally, borrowers should continue to work with their servicer to prevent a foreclosure sale using every avenue possible.
45. If a borrower has submitted a request-for-review under the Independent Foreclosure Review and is waiting for a response, can he or she still work with their servicer to obtain a loan modification or other loss mitigation option in the meantime?
Yes. In fact, borrowers should continue to work with their servicer. Participating in the review will not interfere with efforts to modify a borrower's obligations under an existing mortgage or to prevent a foreclosure sale. The Independent foreclosure Review is not intended to replace active foreclosure prevention efforts between a borrower and a servicer.
Process and Timing of Completion of Review
46. How and when will the borrower be notified of the results of the review?
Borrowers who ask for a review of their foreclosure will receive a letter advising them of the results of the Independent Foreclosure Review. Because the review process will be a thorough examination of many details and documents, the review could take a considerable amount of time to complete. In addition, because the servicers have to submit a remediation plan to their primary regulator for approval, the payment process may not occur immediately after completion of the file review.
47. Could borrowers be eligible for remediation, even if they didn't file a request-for-review?
Yes. In addition to the request-for-review process, the independent consultants are doing a separate file review to identify borrowers who suffered financial injury due to servicer errors, misrepresentations or other deficiencies in the foreclosure process. Servicers will be required to compensate all injured borrowers identified as part of that file review under the Framework.


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Happy Holidays, and high school hoops
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you! I hope you all had good ones – and that you traveled less than the giant-loop-of-North Carolina which I pulled this December. And as you enjoy the holidays, what better way to do so than with some high school basketball? The Leon Brogden Holiday Basketball Tournament begins tomorrow, Dec. 26, at UNCW's Trask Colisum. The first game begins at 2:30 p.m. and the last at 7 p.m. Put down the leftovers,… Read More »


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Whether and how much you're breastfeeding are the main factors that affect how soon you'll start menstruating again. But every woman's body and circumstances are different, so there's no reliable way to predict exactly when you'll get your first postpartum period.
The time frames below are just approximations of when you might start having your period again. If you're wondering whether your situation is normal, check with your doctor to make sure things are on track.
Nursing moms: One benefit of breastfeeding is that it can delay your period. If you've been breastfeeding exclusively, day and night, since you had your baby it can take six months or longer before you have to run to the store for tampons, suffer from PMS, or cope with cramps.
But the less often your baby nurses, the sooner your period may come back. So if your baby sleeps through the night from an early age, or if you're supplementing with formula, it's likely your period will return sooner than six months.
Note: Breastfeeding is no guarantee ovulation will stop. The information above describes the general pattern of postpartum periods, but breastfeeding's effects on menstruation vary widely. Some women who breastfeed exclusively around the clock may start menstruating a month after giving birth, while others who supplement with formula may not get their period for several months.
Non-nursing moms: If you're formula-feeding your baby, you'll probably start menstruating one to three months after delivering your child. If you don't get your period by three months postpartum, talk to your doctor. She may want to check for secondary amenorrhea (that's when women with previously normal cycles don't have a period for three months), pregnancy, or other issues.
All moms: Keep in mind that your body will release its first postpartum egg before you menstruate. So if you don't start using birth control as soon as you start having sex again, you can get pregnant even before having your first period. If you're breastfeeding, don't be misled by the myth that you're not fertile – many a nursing mother has been surprised by an unplanned pregnancy.
Don't be alarmed if your menstrual flow comes back heavier or lighter than it was before you became a mom. You may also find that your cycles are irregular at first.
If your periods don't become more regular after a few months, or if you've had very heavy periods for more than two or three cycles (meaning you're soaking through a pad or tampon every hour for several hours in a row), let your doctor know. She may want to check for uterine or hormonal issues.


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Do your bidding
Next Saturday, from 7-10 p.m., you are invited to a gala which offers you both the opportunity to an evening of elegance and enjoyment, plus the chance to do good for an international charity which is dedicated to the fight against breast cancer.
The gala will take place at the Jamestown Gateway Station, on West Second Street, in downtown Jamestown. The watchword for the evening is "Every Little Black Dress Needs a Pink Ribbon." The public is invited to wear black dresses or other dress clothes, although organizers are quick to say that Sunday best is the order of the day, regardless of color.
The evening will involve a cocktail reception, featuring wine, soft drinks, hors d'oeuvres, entertainment, a silent auction featuring celebrity memorabilia and fine art pieces. The highlight of the evening will be a fashion show, featuring a collection of little black dresses, modeled by breast cancer survivors.
Hosts for the evening are Bob and Irene Terreberry. To make reservations for the gala, and to gain admission for pre-sale prices, you can phone the Terreberrys at 386-2532. Pre-sale admissions cost $25 per person. Tickets purchased at the door will cost $30 per person.
Let me share with you some of the items which will be auctioned off at next week's gala event. The disadvantage of our early deadlines is that there are undoubtedly more items which have been donated after we had to submit our copy. Please treat this list as a sampling of what will be available, on which you can place your bid next Saturday:
Melissa Gilbert, who won fame by growing up in the living rooms of much of our country in the role of Laura Ingalls Wilder in the television series "Little House on the Prairie," has donated the complete collection of DVDs from all nine seasons of her television show, and they come with the star's autograph. Gilbert has also donated a signed copy of her 2009 memoir titled "Prairie Tale."
Mindy Kaling, a star from the television series "The Office," and now of her own program, "The Mindy Project," has donated a signed DVD disc of the pilot episode from her own show.
Jason Alexander, an actor probably best known for his role on "Seinfeld," has donated a signed photo and a copy of a children's book which he has authored.
Michael York, a prominent film and television star who has also published an autobiography and various books of poetry, has donated a DVD of one of his films and a collection of his published prayers and poems.
Journalist Cokie Roberts and women's rights activist Gloria Steinem are breast cancer survivors who have authored books, and signed copies of their books have been donated for the auction by Carrie Wolfgang at Novel Destinations.
Several singers-songwriters have donated signed photos. These include Melissa Etheridge, Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty, Sammy Hagar of Van Halen and Olivia Newton-John.
Hall of Famer and former Buffalo Bills quarterback Jim Kelly has donated a signed photo.
A sweatshirt autographed by both Lucie Arnaz and Buffalo Sabres player Rick Martin has been donated by the A.M. Rotary.
The Lucy-Desi Center of Jamestown has donated a dress which has been worn by actress Melody Thomas Scott from the cast of "The Young and the Restless." They have also donated a program signed by the headliners of the 2012 Lucy Fest celebration, and two tickets to a performance by one of the headliners of the 2013 celebration.
A cartoon of the principal cast of the animated television series "Family Guy," which has been autographed by many of the voice-over actors from the show, has been donated.
Jamestown native Tom Andolora, who has made a name for himself as an actor and a singer, has donated a signed script of "The Spoon River Project," the play which he adapted and directed for three summers in Jamestown's Lake View Cemetery, and which is now being performed around the nation. He has also donated a signed photo of himself.
Andolora has a friend who is a personal assistant to athletes Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf. They have donated signed photos, a signed shirt and signed tennis balls.
A native of Mayville who is not named in the materials I have on hand, currently works in post-production on the "Grey's Anatomy" television series. That person has donated a scrubs shirt autographed by most members of that program's cast.
Present and past members of 10,000 Maniacs have donated a number of items for auction.
A number of area restaurants have donated gift certificates for auction. These include The White Horse Inn in Cassadaga. The Red House in Cassadaga has made available the rental of its facilities for a small event, for auction.
F. Murray Abraham, Oscar winner for Best Actor for the film "Amadeus," has donated an autographed DVD of his award-winning film. Abraham has also donated a two-disc set of himself reading an adaptation of the film's screenplay, which he made for BBC. It is also autographed. The BBC set has never been released for mass distribution, so it is a rare item, indeed. Area native Ron Destro has arranged for the Abraham contributions and several others.
Area native Matt Weimer works for ESPN. He has donated four tickets to the Aug. 10 NASCAR Nationwide Series race, and four tickets to the Aug. 11 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Watkins Glen International. These tickets are worth more than $600.
In addition to these items, there are a few baskets full of valuable items which have been donated, as well as works of art from a number of area artists. These include Gary Peters, Bob Gibbon, Reno Pottery, Mike Flaxman, Susan Wolf, Bill Smith, Sue DiVincenzo, Kathy Swanson, Patricia Colburn and Jerry Paduano.
Money earned from next Saturday's gala celebration will be donated to The Avon Foundation's Breast Cancer Crusade. That is a charity founded by the Avon Cosmetic Corporation in 1992. The Crusade has donated more than $780 million in its history to fund research into causes and prevention of breast cancer, as well as treatment of the malady.
So, you can have an elegant evening out, you can have fun and see and learn about many interesting individuals, and you can do a good deed for an important charity.
Because we have some space yet to fill after sharing with you all the information about next week's gala, let me tell you about a popular new film which I have recently watched on DVD.
"The Intouchables" is a 2012 French film, which has won a number of Cesar Awards, the French equivalent of the American Oscar. For the most part, the film is entertaining, and the scenes of French vistas, ranging from views of Paris to the beaches of the Atlantic and the mountains of the Alps, are quite beautiful. It was recorded in French, and the DVD comes with easy-to-read subtitles in English.
The film won an approval rate of 75 percent from professional film critics, and of 93 percent from laymen viewers. Despite this, I think it is racist and anti-intellectual to an overwhelming degree which the film's creators probably don't even understand.
The film was both written and directed by Olivier Makache and Eric Toledano, based on a true story, as they announce at both the beginning and the end of the film. The actual people on whom the principal characters are based are shown in the "Extras" segment of the DVD.
It concerns a tall, handsome and muscular young man who soon tells us he was born in Senegal, and was brought to France as a child. His name is Driss, and we see him waiting in line for an interview to become a paid companion to a fabulously wealthy French executive named Philippe. Philippe has been paralyzed in a paraglider accident, and we are told he cannot move any part of his body nor feel any sensation from his neck down.
Driss is perfectly frank with the interviewers. He doesn't want the job. He wants them to sign a paper which says he applied for the job and they chose someone else, so that he can collect some sort of government welfare payments.
To the interviewers' astonishment, Philippe comes into the room in his custom-made wheelchair and immediately likes Driss at first sight. He tells one of his loyal servants that the young African is a glib talker, and he is the only candidate interviewed to date who hasn't treated Philippe like an invalid, but who has insisted that he take care of himself to the extent that he is able to do so.
Soon Driss is grabbing Philippe under the arms, dropping him into the passenger seat of his own wildly expensive sports car and taking him places he has never been. On the occasions he is stopped for his reckless and outrageous driving, Driss tells them he is rushing Philippe to the hospital because he is dying of convulsions, and Philippe obliges by shaking violently and covering himself with slobber. Naturally the police escort the car to the hospital, where as soon as the police cars depart, Driss drives away, leaving hospital staff staring in astonishment.
So, this is an unlikely buddy picture, and although there are many surprises in the screenplay, the basic elements of the film are predictable after the first 10 minutes.
We learn that Philippe is a widower, whose wife of 25 years has recently died of cancer. The couple has a daughter, now in her mid-teens, and with her mother dead and her father paralyzed, she has become unruly and treats everyone she knows with contempt.
The handicapped man is rich beyond all imagination. He assigns Driss a bedroom which by itself is larger than a great many apartments in the expensive city of Paris. The bathroom has several windows and is even larger than the red wallpapered bedroom.
On his rare day off, Driss returns to his aunt's home, where the woman lives with at least a dozen grandchildren, nieces and nephews and other young people she has taken into her house. Sometimes he steals her a little present from Philippe's apartment, such as a Faberge egg.
Soon Driss is showing Philippe that he can have a great deal of fun despite his handicap, and Philippe is taking Driss places such as expensive restaurants, to which he could never normally aspire. All of that is charming, and quite predictable.
The great problem with the film is that the filmmakers are culture snobs. Philippe celebrates his birthday by hiring a string orchestra, which performs music by Vivaldi and Bach, while Philippe and his guests sit in quiet contemplation. Driss soon orders the orchestra to stop playing, and gets the entire collection of guests up and dancing to some modern equivalent of the Boogie, while outrageous rock 'n' roll music pours out of Driss's iPod.
If the filmmakers created a scene in which Philippe entered into a collection of Driss's friends and relatives, listening to music which is unique to their culture, while consuming food which is normally attributed to their culture, and Philippe sneered at Driss's culture and demanded that it be replaced by Bach and Vivaldi, audiences would be outraged.
But the filmmakers never consider that the cultivated guests might actually like their habitual music and might be offended by having it criticized and ridiculed. Yet that is exactly what Driss does to his employer's birthday celebration, and this is treated as a good job, well done.
There is another scene where Driss ridicules an opera performance he is being paid to attend to look after the needs of his employer, and makes certain that people sitting near to Philippe's box are assaulted and knocked down, and Philippe is forced to abandon his seat and leave the performance.
Regular readers know that it is my firm belief that while everyone is entitled to his own tastes and opinions, the generally accepted principal that anything involving education and/or intellect is boring and a waste if time is a major culprit in our culture's enormous difficulty in teaching young people much of anything.
Elements such as Driss's frequent pouring of boiling water onto Philippe's bare skin to prove that he is incapable of feeling anything below his neck are also a problem.
The two principal actors, Francois Cluzet as Philippe and Omar Sy as Driss, are talented, and their relationship is admirable and enjoyable. One wonders if someone couldn't have dropped a hint that the film doesn't need to ridicule and insult in order to celebrate an individual's awakening to his position in the world.
"The Intouchables" was released in May 2012, and is available on DVD and Blu-ray Disc. The film is rated R for language.
Winged Ox Players will perform the play "Freud's Last Session" this evening and tomorrow afternoon at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in downtown Jamestown.
The play, by Mark St. Germain, imagines an encounter between an aged Sigmund Freud and the middle aged C.S. Lewis, taking place in London on the day World War II was declared. Freud, who in real life died approximately three weeks after the setting of the play, was a convinced atheist and was certain the coming carnage of the war was proof of the rightness of his beliefs. Lewis was a member of the Church of England, who would make a series of radio broadcasts throughout the war to support his Christian beliefs and to encourage the English public to remain faithful to them.
Tonight's performance begins at 7 and tomorrow's matinee begins at 2 p.m. One hour before curtain time, a catered meal will be served which is included in the ticket price. Both performances will include dessert and coffee, which will be served after the performance, along with an open discussion with the actors and director.
Tickets are $10. Each performance is limited by the size of the performing space, in the church's undercroft or basement, to no more than 60 members of the audience.
* * *
Tomorrow at 7 p.m., the Unitarian-Universalist Congregation of Jamestown will present a performance by classical guitarist James Piorkowsky, as part of their Music Salon series.
The artist is a former member of the Buffalo Guitar Quartet. He will play a number of his own compositions in the program.
Admission is free, although a freewill offering will be taken to meet the cost of offering the performances. The congregation's place of worship is located on Prendergast Avenue, near the intersection with Buffalo Street.


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The Future Leaders Exchange Program (FLEX) began 20 years ago as a way to introduce high-school students from Eurasia to American society and in turn, expose U.S. citizens to the culture, traditions, and lifestyles of the people of Eurasia. As a sign of its success, FLEX continues to impact a new generation. Olga Pak participated in the very first cohort of students in the FLEX program in 1993-1994 and spent her exchange year in California. Aleksandr Kim, her son, is the first second-generation FLEX Program participant.
Aleksandr says his mother's positive exchange experience inspired him to pursue a FLEX scholarship. "My mother was telling me stories about her exchange year since I was 11 years old. She encouraged me to come to the United States. Every time when she told me about some activity she did, I imagined myself doing it and I wanted to experience it too."
Olga and Aleksandr, from Kyrgyzstan, are two of the more than 21,600 participants who have come to the United States via the FLEX Program. The program provides scholarships for high school students from Eurasia to spend an academic year in the United States, live with a host family, and attend an American high school. Participants gain an understanding of America's culture and diversity, while learning about concepts such as volunteerism and grassroots organizing. The FLEX students promote mutual understanding as they teach Americans about their home countries, culture, and traditions.
Aleksandr is currently spending his academic year in Klamath Falls, Oregon. Speaking of his host town, Aleksandr said, "I actually imagined a big city like New York with skyscrapers, wide streets, traffic, and shopping malls everywhere. But in reality, my town is just a regular town with 20,000 people. People here are really nice, my family and my school are great. I've met a lot of people and learned a lot about American culture and the way Americans live."
Aleksandr heeded his mother's advice about being outgoing, flexible, and open minded. He has adjusted well to American high school life, playing football, joining the swim team, robotics team, and participating in community service events. "I really like to explore new things and this program is one of the best opportunities to learn something new. America is really different from other countries and just the way Americans live their lives is unique. This was the main reason to apply for the FLEX Program, so I could try to understand American culture and how people live here," Aleksandr explained.
Out of more than 45,000 applicants from 10 European and Eurasian countries, approximately 800 are ultimately selected to spend a year in the United States. Students interested in learning more about the FLEX program can visit http://exchanges.state.gov/non-us/program/future-leaders-exchange. American households interested in hosting a U.S. Department of State-sponsored high school student can learn more at http://exchanges.state.gov/us/programs.


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Good overview with lots of helpful suggestions.
Good overview with lots of helpful suggestions.
Jonathan Peelle, PhD
CV: PeelleCV.pdf | Google Scholar profile
Lab: peellelab.org
Office: McMillan 810 (directions)
E-mail: email@example.com(without the 123)
Twitter: @jpeelle
(A word to the wise: "Peelle" sounds like "peel", but if you spell it with a single L your email will not reach me. Also, I will be grumpy.)


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Asked if Vancouver Canucks head coach John Tortorella would be back behind the bench next season, general manager Mike Gillis gave a defeatist answer.
"I'm not sure if I'll be back next season," Gillis said.
In a candid interview with Vancouver radio station Team 1040, Gillis provided an assessment of his team's disappointing season and his coach.
"John is a proven winner and competitor," Gillis said. "The running of this team is my responsibility and I feel that the last few seasons we have been chasing goal posts that have been moving and got away from our core principles of how I want this team to play and how we want to perform and the tempo we want to play with.
"People want someone to blame but the reality is that as an organization we have deviated from things that have been successful and I know will be successful. We will get back to those levels and that style of play that we started six years ago and we have the personnel to do it."
If he's still around, that is.
Vancouver's playoff hopes hang by a thread. The club is six points behind the Dallas Stars for the second wild card spot in the Western Conference with five games to play. Dallas also has two games in hand.


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Express. Home of the Daily and Sunday Express.
Terry targets top spot
John Terry is targeting a win at Arsenal to take Chelsea top of the Premier League at Christmas.
The Chelsea captain recognises there is still room for improvement for the Blues, who won 2-1 against Crystal Palace to cut the gap at the top of the table to leaders Arsenal to two points.
Consequently, Jose Mourinho's men travel to the Emirates Stadium on December 23 to play an Arsenal side beaten 6-3 by Manchester City, knowing a win would put them top of the pile heading into Christmas.
"We've got an opportunity to go away to Arsenal next week and go top of the league," Terry told Chelsea TV.
"They got a bit of a thumping, but they're a really good side and really good at home as well.
"It's going to be tough, but I think the motivation for us is to go there and beat them and go top of the league, which, just before Christmas, is a really good place to be."
Fernando Torres' opener was cancelled out by Marouane Chamakh before Ramires scored what proved to be the winner in the first half against Palace.
Chelsea had numerous chances to make life easier for themselves, but also might have conceded an equaliser, and Terry knows they are still to find their best form.
"We're clearly not firing on all cylinders at the moment," Terry said.
"I think we've got another gear to go, which is still encouraging, being the position we are at the minute.
"So we're not too disappointed, we just know as a group we can get better.
"It's not only us who have suffered defeats and draws against teams where you would expect us to win. Hopefully we can knock that out of our system sooner rather than later while other teams are still struggling.
"Manchester United are still struggling, Cardiff beat Man City, there's been all sorts of results that have been big upsets.
"It's important like (against Palace), even though you're grinding it out and it's difficult, you have to see those games out."
Chelsea play at Sunderland in the Capital One Cup on Tuesday night with a place in the semi-finals at stake.
Goalkeeper Petr Cech said: "It's great to be in the position we're in: we topped the group in the Champions League, we're two points off the Premier League leaders and we can be in the semi-final of a domestic cup if we win on Tuesday.
"All of this, and we know that we haven't reached our peak, so it's great."
Mourinho plans to rotate his options at the Stadium of Light and would like to give Terry a night off, if Gary Cahill is deemed fit to play after missing the Palace win as a precaution.
"I would like to give John a rest for that match," Mourinho told Chelsea TV.
Branislav Ivanovic is suspended, so Cesar Azpilicueta will switch to his favoured right-back role, with Ashley Cole returning on the left.
Mourinho's men will not be practising penalties, despite the fact the match could be decided on spot-kicks.
He added: "I practice a lot and we always lose on penalties. This time we don't practice."
Tony Pulis has now had four matches in charge of Crystal Palace, winning two of them, and was pleased with the performance at Stamford Bridge.
Now Pulis hopes to recruit in the winter transfer window, without detracting from the spirit being fostered among his troops.
He said: "It's tough, because you go into a football club and you're playing catch up. In the Premier League it's such a relentless league and you have runs of games where you're playing against teams like Chelsea where it's very, very difficult to get points.
"The spirit from the players in the past five, six games has been absolutely fantastic.
"One thing we must be careful of is that we bring players in with the same attitude of these because their attitude has been absolutely fantastic."
Pulis knows survival remains a difficult goal to achieve.
He added: "I'm not coming to the club saying 'we're going to definitely stay up'.
"All I've said is I'll try and get it sorted out, organised and have a real go at it."


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Content Writer Required
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We are looking for an experienced article writer to help us create blog and articles for a couple of upcoming websites. The articles will cover a wide range of topics so all applicants to keep this in mind when submitting their proposals.
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text:
I have been a PocoMail user first before Barca was presented. I switched to Barca as soon as I tried it on the evaluation. Still I am using Barca (2.1 V).
Anyway, just so the forum knows where I am going with this, I have had to use another calendar with planner because Barca's does not worked correctly. I had continued to hope that the next version and the next version, etc., would correct the small annoying problems such as showing tasks on the calendar, deleting tasks, and, the largest problem, manipulating the calendar/planner to make it work correctly for you or me: One area works fine and the other area does not. This is crazy!!
This is not right since I or we paid from the beginning for this program, and the upgraded versions were paid, too. Pocosystems should correct the problems and offer the corrected upgrades, not wait for a year or more. Am I wrong? Shouldn't a calendar/planner work as a calendar/planner should if it was written on paper?
Don't get me wrong, Barca is a great program, but fix the problems and offer the upgrade.
Have a wonderful day!


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In this month's edition of the App Store Showcase, we've got 12 amazing new apps that will extend the awesomeness of your Shopify store. Most of these apps have a free trial so you can take them for a test-spin without any risk. Better yet, some of the apps are entirely free.
If you don't know already, the Shopify App Store is a collection of plugins (apps) that extend the functionality of your ecommerce store. We've got more than 200 apps for online store owners to choose from and we're adding new ones every week.
Here are 12 brand new Shopify Apps to check out, along with a special featured app at the bottom:
This app will show your customer profiles from dozens of SaaS apps simply by hovering over their email. Many Shopify merchants are using Zenbox to for Shopify and MailChimp - so you can instantly view and update customer information for both systems. You really do have to see this tool to understand how much it will help your business.
Promify(Pay Per Use)
Easily create and run social media promotions to promote word of mouth marketing and offer great prizes to those who participate.
This is a quick, easy and free way to list your shop's products on one of the most popular shopping engines on the Internet. If you haven't tried listing your products on a shopping search engine, now is your perfect opportunity.
Traffic ControlOne time fee of $40
Moving over to Shopify from another platform, or need to set up tons of page redirects for some other reason? This app makes it super-easy to get all of your old URLs pointing to the right place.
Dead simple order and inventory management. Take an order through any channel and process it in seconds from anywhere.
Shipping Calculator AdderOne time fee of $5
Add a shipping calculator to any shop really quick. This app will help you prevent cart abandonments due to unknown shipping costs.
Product Customizer7 day free trial, $8/month
Makes it easier then ever to offer cuper customizable products to your shop – let users upload files, add text, and more for all of your customizable products.
Shopstream14 day free trial, $9/month +
Analyze and track shop analytics like conversion rates, cart abandonmenents, and sales in real time.
Incentivibe30 day free trial, $9.99/month
With this app you can co-sponsor a number of great prizes to offer your customers. Simply share a fraction (e.g. $10) of the prize cost with other small businesses, and offer your online store visitors a chance to win a prize.
Quantity Breaks14 day free trial, $14.99/month
This app will let you create different price tiers for products based on the quantity a customer buys. Example: You can set it up so a customer can buy 5 of any product in a group to get 10% off. (Buy 5 or more of any hat and receive 10% off)
Easily create and generate the code for a highly customizable and beautiful contact widget to place on your site – for free!
Feedify30 day free torial, Free-$5.99/month
Easily submit your products to a bunch of comparison and shopping search engines – with great support, search engine requests are just an email away.
Helpjuice30 day free trial, Free - $99/month
Cut your customer support inbox in half by offering a powerful knowledge base solution to your customers branded to match your shop's design exactly.


text:
Psycho: Man Arrested For Throwing Jellyfish At Teens In Florida!
10 News reports "Madeira Beach, Florida-- A Pinellas County man is under arrest after witnesses say he began attacking Labor Day beachgoers with jellyfish. Keith Marriott, 41, was booked into the Pinellas County Jail Monday on a disorderly intoxication charge after witnesses say he began falling face first into the water at Madeira Beach then became violent."
Please click the "Report" button below if the video on this page is not working properly.
Comments will only be displayed by verified emails. No Spamming or Racism.


text: I'm attempting to add an autorun-style feature to my text-based OE. Basically, while it's waiting for character to be typed it'll call a subroutine that checks for autorun.inf on drive D: (or whatever) every second or so. However, if there is no CD in the drive DOS will helpfully inform me that nothing's in there (Abort, retry, fail stuff). Is there any way of checking to see if a CD is in the drive before actually attempting to access the disc?


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SF parks worker says he's 'devastated' he ran over sunbather and caused her death
SAN FRANCISCO – A San Francisco parks worker who ran over a woman as she lay with her baby and dog in a park says he thought he had hit something, but didn't realize it was a person until he was arrested.
An attorney for 57-year-old Thomas Burnoski told the San Francisco Chronicle (http://bit.ly/13YLjQJ) his client was devastated by when he learned the mother was fatally struck.
Burnoski says in a statement that his actions caused the death of 35-year-old Christine Svanemyr, "and there is nothing I can do to bring her back." He called what happened in the Bernal Heights park "a tragic accident."
Burnoski was arrested on Sept. 5 on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and felony hit and run.
Prosecutors have not decided whether to file charges in the case.
Information from: San Francisco Chronicle, http://www.sfgate.com


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Product Groups
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Learn why traders use futures, how to trade futures, and what steps you should take to get started.
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Learn why traders use futures, how to trade futures, and what steps you should take to get started.
CME Group's Exchange Daily Volume and Open Interest Report summarizes exchange-wide volume, including futures and options volume, for Globex, Clearport/PNT and Open Outcry. Volume figures are reported across divisions and asset classes to give you an instant grasp of market activity.
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1. Marcel Reece, RB, Oakland Raiders (99.8 percent):
Darren McFadden and Mike Goodson both suffered high ankle sprains in Week 9, leaving Reece to now share carries with Taiwan Jones. However, the fact that Reece saw most of the work against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers makes him the better fantasy option, especially in PPR leagues. Jones is also worth a look in deeper formats. (Ric Tapia/NFL)
Tom Gannam/Associated Press
2. Danny Amendola, WR, St. Louis Rams (69.2 percent):
If you need a wideout and have room to stash a player, go out and get Amendola. He was close to returning in Week 8, so the veteran will no doubt be back at 100 percent when the Rams face the San Francisco 49ers in Week 10. A real PPR machine, Amendola needs to be owned in most leagues moving forward.
Julio Cortez/Associated Press
3. Isaac Redman, RB, Pittsburgh Steelers (38.5 percent):
The Steelers backfield is fluid, as Rashard Mendenhall and/or Jonathan Dwyer could return at any time. For now, however, Redman is the hot name after a monster performance against the New York Giants. With a great matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs up next, Redman is at least worth a roster spot this week.
Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press
4. Mike Williams, WR, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (48.6 percent):
Williams has been in this space for weeks, and he's still a free agent in almost 50 percent of NFL.com leagues. Am I missing something? He had another solid stat line in Week 9, scoring 12.80 fantasy points and his fifth touchdown of the season. The Syracuse product needs to be owned in most formats.
Eric Gay/Associated Press
5. Ryan Fitzpatrick, QB, Buffalo Bills (74.8 percent):
Need a bye-week quarterback solution in Week 10? Take a chance on the Amish Rifle. Fitzpatrick faces the New England Patriots, who surrendered 350 yards and four touchdowns to him back in Week 4. The veteran out of Harvard has also scored better than 18 fantasy points in four of his starts this year.
Tom Lynn/Associated Press
6. James Starks, RB, Green Bay Packers (77.3 percent):
The Packers appear to be done with Alex Green in a featured role, as Starks led the team with 17 carries and 61 rushing yards in a win over the Arizona Cardinals. Green Bay is on a bye in Week 10, so Starks is someone to add and stash. Remember, Cedric Benson can't return to work until Week 14.
Damian Strohmeyer/Associated Press
7. Dustin Keller, TE, New York Jets (50.4 percent):
Keller is back at 100 percent and one of the better options in the pass attack for Mark Sanchez. That was evident in his last two games, as the Purdue product hauled in a combined 14 passes and averaged 80 yards in that time frame. He's back to being a viable, albeit a low-end, No. 1 fantasy tight end.
AJ Mast/Associated Press
8. Brian Hartline, WR, Miami Dolphins (63.9 percent):
Hartline put up a tremendous stat line against the Indianapolis Colts, posting eight catches for 107 yards. Though he has been anything but consistent in the stat sheets, Hartline can be a viable No. 3 option against poor pass defenses. That's what he faces in Week 10 against the Tennessee Titans.
AJ Mast/Associated Press
9. Donnie Avery, WR, Indianapolis Colts (86.9 percent):
Avery had a huge game against the Miami Dolphins, catching five passes for 108 yards before exiting the contest with an injured hip. Assuming the ailment isn't serious, the veteran wideout is worth a look in deeper leagues. Also, Avery has a nice matchup this weekend against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Tom Uhlman/Associated Press
10. Jermaine Gresham, TE, Cincinnati Bengals (81.3 percent):
Gresham has not been the most consistent tight end in fantasy football this season, but it's tough to ignore the six receptions and 108 yards he posted last week in a loss to the Denver Broncos. If you're hurting at a position that has been a disappointment in 2012, Gresham is well worth a look.
More Photo Essays:
- Ranking all 52 No. 1 picks of the NFL's common-draft era
- Super Bowl Rematches
- Mind-boggling stats: Russell Wilson
- Forrest Gregg through the years
- Mind-boggling stats: 2019 Preseason schedule
- NFL International Player Pathway
- New York Jets new uniforms revealed
- New York Jets uniforms through the years
- 2019 International Pro Day


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Oil Color made with walnut oil has been preferred by artists for centuries because it provides rich and vibrant colors. Walnut oil's unique refractive index and non-yellowing nature produces color that is more naturally alive and brilliant. Free flowing, slower drying and excellent tinting strength, Graham oil color enables delicate passages of finely blended color that will retain its brilliance over time.
Available in: 37, 150ml
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text: 2009/2/17 Robert G. Brown <rgb at phy.duke.edu>: >> > Right now the short answer for a vanilla starter cluster is: Connect > your systems via a switched network on a private IP subnet, setup a > shared common account space and remote mounted (e.g. NFS) working > directories from a shared server. Just to amplify on what Bob says. To build a vanilla Beowulf, you need to connect all eight of these boxes (for want of a better term) to an ethernet switch via patch cables. This is your own switch, not one controlled and run by your campus network people (but see below). This is the 'private network'. Allocate one box as the 'cluster head node' or 'master node'. This should have TWO network interfaces - if it is a modern box, it will have two network sockets for those RJ45 patch cables already on the back of it. If not, you will have to get an additional network card and slot it in. Actually, you could perfectly well run a computational cluster over the campus mamaged network. Just install them with campus 'public' IP addresses, and install the appropriate MPI libraries and scheduling systems. However, the advantage of a private network/subnet is that you can (a) control how your boxes boot up - ie reinstallation and network booting (b) you have the full banmdwidth of your private switch for the communications between the nodes - both the parallel messages the programs send and the storage traffic to the NFS server on the head node. ps. that reminds me - if any one box is more powerful, or has more disk space then that's the one to choose for the head node. Now, once you have neatly piled up those boxes, and have done the mains and patch cables neatly (think of the future - one day it is you that has to fix a failed box! - get those cables tied neatly in bunches), email the list and we can help from there.


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It all starts with one. One idea. One individual. One community. And one vision for a better future.
It starts with Juan Pablo in Bolivia teaching at-risk youth how to express themselves through sports and culture, developing their own identity so others won't define it for them.
It starts with Martha in Costa Rica or Yelitza in Panama, who found ways to reach the "unreachable" -- gang members, drug users, and school dropouts in whom others had given up hope.
Sometimes it begins with an idea -- teaching robotics to 10-year-olds in a drug-ravaged community in Costa Rica. Piece by piece, with the support of dedicated adults, these boys and girls learn to construct something bigger -- engines, cars, complex systems -- and along the way, they rebuild themselves and their neighborhoods.
These moments of inspiration exist across the Western Hemisphere, but if we can connect them and forge a network of community action, we will have a whole much greater than the sum of its parts. Building networks was precisely the purpose of the Alumni Enrichment Workshop that took place October 2-4 in Costa Rica, where 29 U.S. exchange alumni from 12 countries gathered to share ideas, challenges, and best practices on "Youth Empowerment and Citizen Security."
These alumni from Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, and Peru are leaders of NGOs, government offices, university campuses, and civic organizations. They are passionate, energetic, and dynamic, able to inspire change in the toughest neighborhoods of Latin America.
Over three days, the attendees shared personal experiences and tackled critical issues like drug and violence prevention, gang rehabilitation, self-esteem building, and human rights protection for women and minorities. One thing that struck me as I listened to presentations and group discussions was that these leaders already possess solutions to some of the most vexing challenges our hemisphere faces. The solutions are surprisingly simple: give young people positive alternatives to drugs and crime; provide a safe, welcoming space to express themselves, whether through music, art, sports, or classroom learning; and teach them to believe in themselves and to dare to dream.
The solutions may be straightforward, but multiplying them on a regional scale is where the challenge lies. Cultural differences and simple geography can stand in the way of building communities of practice and enabling aspiring leaders to transform their individual visions into global successes.
This alumni workshop, funded through the State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, was a powerful step in the right direction. These men and women of all ages, races, and backgrounds connected on a deep and personal level in a remarkably short period of time. The energy that emanated from the group -- from the first day of spirited discussions to the laughter and dancing at the farewell dinner -- was palpable and magical.
The workshop participants are eager to build on the conversations they started. The group's motto -- "Global Challenges, Local Solutions" -- captures so much of what I witnessed this week in tales of hope and empowerment across Latin America. I hope we can connect more of these local solutions through global networks. If we can leverage traditional and social networks to bring leaders like this together, we can help winning ideas transcend borders. Then the circle will be complete and we can finish as we started: as one.
Kyle in California writes:
This was a very motivating message that you have posted. I think the youth empowerment is what we need to establish the beginnings of a strong future. I own a web company and this has empowered me to grow it and help the economy as much as i can. Thanks for this great message!


text: with successfull I installed ISPconfig on Amazon AMI. I have only a problem. I uploaded a file called "installer.php" in the root of my website. The webpage generated from file have a button. When I click on the button after I completed the form I received error 404 because ngix webserver redirects on this page: http://mywebsite.com/installer.php/installer.php The error isn't in the file because I have tried it on another hosting and it works.


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Most states require continuing education for chiropractors who are licensed in the state. When it comes to continuing chiropractic education activities, CEU Records makes it easy to identify and complete the courses you need and to keep track of your progress in meeting these requirements. CEU topics can be viewed by format to determine what is currently available to meet your continuing education requirements.
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Since 1978, Conaway companies have been dedicated to building homes and communities that meet and exceed the dreams and expectations of our buyers. Our ultimate goal is your complete satisfaction—to make your life easier, more comfortable, more enjoyable.
From the moment you enter our office, tour our models or visit our communities, you'll know why we've earned a reputation for excellence and quality that is unequaled in the region. Under the guidance of a hands-on, forward-thinking management team, the quality of our homes and our neighborhoods is reflected in every aspect of our work—from market analysis and site selection through architectural design, construction and service. Especially service.
We never lose sight of your needs, your desires. We encourage your questions and promise you answers. We have already welcomed thousands of families home to inviting neighborhoods throughout East Texas—that's why we say, "The easy WAY is CONAWAY!"


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Havasmoak needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 55 designs submitted by 23 freelance designers.
I have a graphic design company and have been overwhelmed by my current work load and have recently lost one of my designers. I am looking for some talent that I can continue to work with on future projects.
This project is for a "Ground Support Equipment" Auction Website. There are three divisions. Each Division will need to have it's own logo but each division will need to have a consistent look and feel.
The three divisions are:
AfricaGSE .com
A website that handles much of this for the US market is GSEmarket.com. GSEmarket is now expanding into other markets. Gound Support equipment is all the stuff you see on the ground around the airplanes. Beltloaders, bagtractors etc… The purpose of the site is to give airlines a place to auction off ground support equipment they are no longer needing and other airlines the opportunity to purchase items in a closed bid situation like GSEMarket.com
- I want all three versions to have a consistent look and feel.
- I would like a graphic simple look. Each version could have a different color scheme but needs to incorporate the same fonts.
- Maybe to incorporate the shape of the continent as part of the logo. Just an idea but open to other takes.
- I need vector based artwork
- No photos, nothing busy
- No clip art
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


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If a $300 Chromebook is a touch beyond your budget, Acer just launched a $280 version with a smaller hard drive.
The slightly more affordable C710-2055 looks basically identical to the $300 C710-2605. They both share the same 11.6-inch, 1366 x 768 resolution HD display, rather than the Google Chromebook Pixel's near-retina resolution. Under its hood, both Acer Chromebooks share the same 1.1GHz Celeron 847 processor from Intel, 4GB of RAM, Wi-Fi (but no Bluetooth), HD webcam, and have the same 5000mAh battery that will give the laptops approximately 6 hours of juice.
The only hardware difference we could find between the $300 and $280 configurations has to do with the hard drive. With the $280 Chromebook (C710-2055), you will have a 320GB standard hard drive to store all your files and photos offline, but for $20 more you could have a 500GB hard drive on your $300 device (C710-2605).
As a laptop that runs Google's Chrome operating system rather than Windows or MacOS, you'll be spending most of your time accessing cloud-based tools like Google Docs, Gmail and Calendar, and using the Chrome Web browser. If you're worried that the Chromebook will become useless when you have no Internet connection, Acer wants to assure you that there are "hundreds of app with offline capabilities" in the Chrome Web Store so you can make good use of that 320GB of storage on the C710-2055.
This Acer Chromebook comes with all the expansion slots and ports you'd need on a laptop: three USB 2.0s, one HDMI for plugging into your HDTV, one VGA in case you need to plug into a projector for presentations, one full-sized SD card slot, an Ethernet jack, as well as a combo mic and headphone jack for your headset.
While the C710-2055 won't win any award for being thin and sexy, considering its sub-$300 price tag and perfectly tote-table weight at just 3.2-pounds, this Acer Chromebook could be an affordable computer for a casual user. Of course we would prefer for this Acer Chromebook's price to be as low as the $250 Samsung Series 3 Chromebook, but it deserves to command a higher price tag due to its Intel brains. If you prefer a larger 14-inch display, then it's worth dropping $330 for the HP Chromebook. Otherwise, the $280 Acer is priced just right and should sell well in the U.S. when it lands in stores on March 17.


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text:
Slax author's Blog (RSS)
Slackware is upgrading to 3.9.5
Slackware has recently upgraded to Linux kernel 3.9.5 and KDE 4.10.4 I'm currently busy by some other interesting work so just writing a short message here that you do not expect to get a new Slax release this week :) In all cases, I should have lots of time at the end of June, so all Slax components should be updated during that time. As usual, thank you for your patience :)
User comments
...Finally, good news !!!... It seems that Slax is not (yet) a dead project. Some real Slax power users are always waiting (impatiently) for the new kernel module only... Why don't you release new versions of Slax 7 (let's say R.C. or BETA versions) with only the following bundles : core.sb (including always the latest kernel available from AUFS) / xorg.sb / devel.sb / ffox.sb ???... We know that : "...Slax is a modern, portable, small and fast Linux operating system with a modular approach and outstanding design..." Good Luck, Tomas !!!...
This is good news.
Can you address the problem of the -hick-ups-?
I and some other users experience these while ( I'm ) using a high-end laptop and the slax-USB-key... (the official one)
It is probably a problem of the combination of your USB device and Slax's method how to save changes. If your USB is formatted using FAT32 filesystem, and is rather older, this could happen. I suggest you to try USB stick which supports ReadyBoost technology (it means it is somehow fast enough) and even try to make an ext2 or xfs partition on it and install Slax 7 to it instead of FAT.
Thanx for the tip Tomas, I will give it a try.
I just returned to this site after forgetting about Slax and ceasing to use it for a while because it didn't work right for me, it might have been maybe 1 or 2 years since I last came to the site. I never returned because I thought Slax ceased to be updated and was dead, now I see a very improved website that makes me excited to try Slax again!
Hello slax7 recognize my old-wifi-usb xg-703a (chip isl3887) (lsusb) but does not create the wlan0 interface
What should I do?
(I have added the module firmware)
hi se pueden postear modulos?
inputattach... Current Slackware version that Slax 7.08 is built upon uses old gpm package. Slackware recently upgraded gpm to include an inputattach that supports most touchscreen drivers. I see the new inputattach in slackbuilds along with the magical xinput_calibrator, but am having problems scripting the replacement of /usr/local/bin/inputattach with the newer version I built. Any tips would be great. I will try to build a sb but am not sure if it will suffer the same fate as the newer inputattach that I built. Watching init I see that gpm gets loaded and then my inputattach -pm9k /dev/ttyS0 returns an invalid mode. If I wait until x starts it works okay but xorg does not allocate the right driver if I dont get the touchscreen on the input layer evdev does not get associated with the device and no touchscreen.
Slax is one of the only distros that works on my webdt312 intel mid device with poulsbo curse. Cheers!
Hey Tomas, I want to say that I have been a long-time user of Slax and it inspired me to finally install Slackware 14 to one of my machines. The question I have is I was wondering if there were tutorials on how to streamline kde as it is in Slax? It runs like a powerhouse in Slax! Thanks.
Good news!
Waiting for updates...
Thomas, thank you for your great work!
Linux Kernel 3.10 released several days ago.
It'd be greate if next version of slax would equip with kernel 3.10, since this newer version kernel enable open-source AMD radeon driver hardware acceleration.
Hello! When be avaliable DC++? Such as EiscaltDC++, LinuxDC++/


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Find hotels in Pollock Pines using the list and search tools below. Search for cheap and discounted hotel and motel rates in or close to Pollock Pines, CA for your upcoming personal or group trip. We list the best Pollock Pines California hotel/motel rooms. Review the Pollock Pines hotel list below to find the perfect lodging. We also have a map of the Pollock Pines hotels. Booking 5+ Rooms? Find Pollock Pines Group Hotel Discounts
The Pollock Pines center point is around 9 miles east of Placerville Airport and 11 miles east of El Dorado Convalescent Hospital.
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More than a third of U.S. consumers say they saw their overall insurance spending increase in 2012, mostly due to rising premiums. As part of the January edition of Bankrate's Financial Security Index, Bankrate asked Americans about their household insurance budgets. Relatively few spent less on insurance last year, suggesting consumers may be missing out on insurance savings, experts say.
Continue Reading Below
The survey results show that 37% spent more overall for all kinds of insurance, including homeowners, renters, auto, life and health coverage, while 52% spent about the same, and just 7% saw their insurance bill decrease.
Of those whose overall insurance tab rose, 62% attributed the increase to a rise in premium costs. Other reasons included: the addition of coverage for a new home, vehicle, boat or RV (12%); changes in coverage due to family circumstances, such as marriage or addition to the family (9%); and a decision by the consumer to boost coverage on an existing policy (4%).
Bankrate's survey was conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International and involved landline and cellphone interviews from Jan. 3-6 with a nationally representative sample of 1,003 adults in the continental U.S. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.
Why Your Insurer May be Charging More
Michael Barry, spokesman for the Insurance Information Institute, an industry trade group, says an unusual streak of natural disasters in 2011 almost certainly contributed to a rise in homeowners insurance rates for many during 2012.
"We had Hurricane Irene, the Joplin tornado that was the single biggest insurance event in Missouri history, and widespread winter storms, tornadoes and flooding in interior states like Minnesota," he notes. "While homeowners rates don't move significantly in just one year, when you look at how some of the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history have all occurred in the last decade, this is not a surprise."
J. Robert Hunter, director of insurance for the Consumer Federation of America, has a different prime suspect for the cost increase.
"It's probably health insurance," he says. "That's one that people recognize because a lot of times it comes through their employer, so they have an opportunity to look at various options and think about that policy a little more."
In Hunter's view, the percentage of survey respondents who actually faced higher insurance bills last year was probably higher than the survey shows.
"I'd guess more than half probably had premium increases and just don't realize it," he says. "Consumers are buying insurance in six-month pieces instead of annually, and insurance companies have taken advantage of that. Instead of raising rates 10% every two years, they raise them 2.5% every six months, and people don't notice that."
Inertia Could Cost You
Hunter says insurance companies know we dislike shopping for insurance, don't understand our policies, and so are prone to park ourselves with one carrier.
"There's a huge inertia in insurance," he says. "People are afraid if they move from a company after 20 years and then have an accident, the company might cancel them, so they pay the occasional $50 (increase) and stay put."
Now that insurers have the technology to identify those inert clients through online buying and other behaviors, chances are if you appear willing to spend a little more, you probably will, Hunter says.
How can you rein in your overall insurance costs?
"Shopping is the key," says Hunter. "When I was insurance commissioner in Texas, we got 25 regular people to bring in their auto policies and 25 their home insurance policies, gave them our buyers guide and a telephone. In one hour, the average person saved $125 per car and $85 on home insurance. We called it the $100 hour."
Barry, of the Insurance Information Institute, offers these tips to save on insurance without unduly sacrificing on coverage:
- Increase your homeowners deductible. "A lot of people can achieve double-digit percentage decreases in their homeowners insurance premiums by going from a $500 to a $1,000 deductible, if you're in the position to pay the first $1,000 out of pocket," he says.
- Adjust your auto policy options. To trim your auto insurance bill, ditch collision coverage rather than comprehensive, especially if you drive an older vehicle. "Collision should be the first to go because it's the most expensive," Barry says. "I would recommend keeping the comprehensive coverage because it covers so many events such as a tree falling on a car or the car being flooded."
- Bump up your auto deductibles. As with your homeowners, it may make sense to increase your auto insurance deductibles, depending on how much risk you're willing to assume. "That will almost certainly result in premium savings," Barry says.
- Bundle home and auto policies. Most insurers offer a discount to customers who purchase more than one type of policy with them.
- Consider a new term life insurance policy. Premiums for term life policies have dropped significantly in recent years. If you currently own a waning term policy, you may be able to purchase the same or better coverage for less by shopping around.
Copyright 2013, Bankrate Inc.