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- Premier League
Suso handed £10k fine for tweet
Liverpool's Premier League clash against Fulham is exclusively live on ESPN on Saturday. Click here for how to subscribe
Liverpool attacking midfielder Suso has been fined £10,000 by the FA and warned about his future conduct for an inappropriate comment posted on Twitter.
The 19-year-old Spaniard found himself under investigation after using a derogatory word to describe a photo posted by team-mate Jose Enrique at the end of November.
"What f*** is he doing?" Suso tweeted after the Liverpool full-back posted a picture of himself during a teeth-whitening session. Before adding a derogatory word that caught the attention of the FA.
The tweet was quickly deleted and Suso issued an apology, but the FA felt compelled to act.
"Following an Independent Regulatory Commission hearing yesterday [Monday 17 December 2012], Liverpool's Jesus Fernandez Saez (Suso) has been fined £10,000 and warned as to his future conduct for a comment posted on Twitter," the FA wrote on their website.
"The charge, which the player admitted and requested a paper hearing, was that he acted in a way which was improper and/or brought the game into disrepute in that the comment was posted on his Twitter account and included a reference to a person/s sexual orientation and/or disability."


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What is Mondex®?
Mondex, part of the MasterCard WorldWide suite of smart card products, enables cardholders to carry, store and spend cash value using a payment card. It is faster than handling conventional currency, and in many cases safer. It behaves exactly like cash, offering immediate transfer of value while requiring no signature, PIN or transaction authorization. The unique Mondex platform allows its use in multiple channels where cash cannot be used including:
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For company information visit www.mastercardworldwide.com.

subset: commoncrawl


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Coffee's here!!: The Wikipedians - "a bunch of egocentric introverts"?
Perish the thought. People who say such things had better roll their own party sandwiches.
Yet Asher Moses for The Age (July 8, 2009) advises,
a study by Israeli psychology researchers found "the prosocial behaviour apparent in Wikipedia is primarily connected to egocentric motives ... which are not associated with high levels of agreeableness".Feather, please. I can't be expected to do my pro-gravity trick without the familiar prop.
The study, published in the journal CyberPsychology and Behaviour, gave personality tests to 69 active members of the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit and 70 non-Wikipedians, finding the former "feel more comfortable expressing themselves on the net than they do offline".
The researchers' findings that Wikipedians were introverted, disagreeable and closed to new ideas is at odds with the notion that Wikipedia was built around community and knowledge sharing.
The rest of the article goes on to provide details and to vindicate Australian Wikipedians as less messed in the head than others, and we must hope it is so.
Of course, anyone familiar with the intelligent design controversy will be well aware of the waste of time associated with trying to get reasonably neutral information posted.
To me, the scandal is not that the trolls are running the 'pedia, but that profs actually send their students there for information.
Labels: Wikipedia


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Like other netbook makers, Acer is refreshing its line with the new Intel Atom N450 processor (Pine Trail), which promises similar performance but greater endurance. Also like its competitors, Acer has tweaked the design, adding a keyboard with the same style as its larger notebooks and trimming down the chassis. But most significantly, it's also trimmed the price: though our review model came in at $349, the Aspire One 532h starts at $299, a hundred bucks less than competing brands. But does price trump all, even in the commodified netbook market?
The 532h is a bit of a departure from Acer's previous 10.1-inch netbooks, the Aspire One D150 and D250. In fact, it looks more like Acer's 11.6-inch netbook, the Aspire One 751h. Instead of a solid color, the lid of the Onyx Blue 532h fades from a dark metallic blue to black. Other color options included Garnet Red and Silver Matrix. This treatment makes the netbook look much more refined. However, the glossy finish, which is also found beneath the keyboard, picks up fingerprints quickly. There's now a lot less room at the top of the deck; the keyboard is shoved right up to the top, and the power button is crammed in by the left hinge.
Like the Toshiba mini NB305-N410, Acer saw fit to change the design of the six-cell battery on the 532h. No longer does it jut out the back; it's now tucked in underneath, shaving three quarters of an inch off the footprint. The area beneath the display and between the hinges has a sharp edge as opposed to the smoother curves of the D250. At 10.2 x 7.3 x 1.0 inches and 2.8 pounds, the 532h is about the same size, shape, and weight as most 10-inch netbooks.
After playing a Hulu video at full screen for 15 minutes, the touchpad on the 532h registered 92 degrees Fahrenheit, the space between the G and H keys was 91 degrees, and the middle of the underside reached 97 degrees. While we don't consider any this heat to be troublesome, the temperature of 110 degrees in the left front corner was a cause for concern.
Keyboard and Touchpad
Instead of a traditional keyboard as on its older netbooks, the 532h has Acer's FineTip keyboard, which is completely flat on top, and has a slight space between each key. Also, it's larger than when compared to older netbooks: whereas on the D250 there was approximately half an inch of space on either side of the keyboard, on the 532h there's less than a quarter of an inch unused. While it looks identical to the layout on the 11.6-inch 751h, the 532's keyboard is smaller and the keys have a shallow pitch to them, which made typing somewhat more difficult. We much prefer the keyboards on the ASUS Eee PC 1005PE-P (Seashell) and the Toshiba mini NB305, which have island-style layouts and more space between the keys.
We're also pleased to see that the touchpad on the 532h is much larger than on previous Acer netbooks. At 2.6 x 1.4 inches, it's positively spacious compared to the previous generation—though still not as large as that on the Toshiba mini NB305. The multitouch-enabled touchpad is covered with a number of tiny dots that distinguish it from the glossy deck, making it practically friction-free. While we wish the metallic blue mouse button beneath was split into two, it's sufficiently large and has a nice response.
Battery Life and Wi-Fi
The six-cell, 5600-mAh battery in the 532h lasted 8 hours and 36 minutes, over 3 hours longer than the netbook average, and just a minute shy of the Toshiba mini NB305. The 532h's time also bests the D150 by about 40 minutes. While we're pleased to see that Acer's netbook endurance improved since the last generation, it's still two hours shorter than the Eee PC 1005PE-P.
The 532h took a leisurely 4 hours and 8 minutes to completely recharge. During that time, it drew an average of 28.5 watts, for a total of 7068 watts. Its Battery Efficiency rating (total watts divided by battery life) of 13.7 is better than the category average (18.4), but not as good as the HP Mini 5102 (11.0).
At 15 feet from our access point, the 802.11b/g/draft-n Wi-Fi card on the 532h delivered throughput of 20.0 Mbps, which falls just below the average of 21.1 Mbps. At 50 feet, the throughput fell to 18.1 Mbps, which is slightly above average (17.3 Mbps).
While our version of the 532h costs $349, Acer is also selling a $299 version with a smaller 160GB hard drive and lower-capacity 4400-mAh battery. If extra storage is not essential, this represents a real bargain. Users can also easily upgrade the RAM and hard drive themselves, as both are easily accessible through covers on the underside.
Software and Warranty
The 532h comes with a 60-day trial of Microsoft Office, McAfee SecurityCenter, Norton Online Backup, and Microsoft Works, as well as desktop shortcuts to the Acer Games portal, eBay, and Netflix. Acer backs the system with a one-year limited warranty. To see how Acer fared in our Tech Support Showdown, click here.
In most respects, the Acer Aspire One 532h is a lot like every other netbook: specs include a 1.66-GHz Intel Atom N450 processor, 1GB of RAM, Windows 7 Starter Edition, and a 250GB hard drive. Its performance, too, is almost identical to such netbooks as the Toshiba mini NB305 and the ASUS Eee PC 1005PE-P. Where Acer has everyone else beat, though, is price. At $349, the company has undercut the longer-lasting 1005PE-P by $30, and the NB305 by $50. If you don't mind a smaller hard drive (and presumably less battery life), you can pick up a 532h for just $299. That's a price that would let us overlook the less-than-ideal keyboard. Overall, the 532h's stylish design and excellent endurance make it a strong value.


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Bryan Bennett plans to transfer from Oregon, a team source confirmed to The Register-Guard.
The website DuckTerritory first reported the news Monday, and said Bennett will enroll this week at Southeastern Louisiana, a Football Championship Subdivision school in the Southland Conference.
UO officials did not immediately confirm the report.
Bennett, a redshirt sophomore during the 2012 season, appeared in 10 games after losing out to Marcus Mariota for Oregon�s starting quarterback job. He completed 20-of-37 passes for 211 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions off the bench, and ran 39 times for 165 yards and six touchdowns.
Bennett�s departure comes one day after the Ducks announced that offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Mark Helfrich was promoted to succeed Chip Kelly as head coach. Those developments seem to be unrelated, however; a UO team source said Monday that Bennett decided some time ago that he would leave the program.
Freshmen Jeff Lockie and Jake Rodrigues remain on the UO roster behind Mariota after redshirting last season, along with walk-on senior-to-be Dustin Haines. The Ducks also are recruiting a junior college transfer at quarterback, Tanner McEvoy.
Southeastern Louisiana is an FCS program, making Bennett immediately eligible to play this fall as a junior. The Lions were 5-6 last season behind senior quarterback Nathan Stanley, an Ole Miss transfer who was invited to two postseason all-star games this month.
Bennett, a former four-star recruit, redshirted in 2010 and was Oregon�s primary backup to Darron Thomas late in the season, after Nate Costa�s career-ending knee injury. Bennett made seven appearances in 2011, starting at Colorado while Thomas nursed an injury and leading the Ducks to touchdowns on their first four possessions in a 45-2 victory.
But he never shined as brightly in 2012, his confidence seemingly shaken after Mariota won the starting job. Bennett came close to transferring after that decision was made but stuck with the Ducks after an 11th-hour meeting with then-coach Chip Kelly.
Bennett�s most prominent role this past season was as the quarterback in a specialty package used several times at midseason, with tight end Colt Lyerla lined up at running back.
In the Fiesta Bowl, Bennett played on the Ducks� kickoff team for its final appearance of Oregon�s win season-finale win over Kansas State.


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The View From 1776
§ American Traditions
§ People and Ideas
§ Decline of Western Civilization: a Snapshot
§ Books to Read
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
How FDR Destroyed the Dollar
Until 1933, the U. S. dollar was the among the strongest and most stable currencies in the world. With the stroke of a pen, President Franklin Roosevelt torpedoed it. We are still plagued with the resulting inflation.
All governments lust for taxpayers' money. The ability to direct the expenditure of large sums of money confers great power upon political leaders. But the spending requirements that President Franklin Roosevelt had in mind upon taking office in 1933 were of extraordinary dimensions. Inflating the currency, in socialist theory, was a way to create more money for that end.
In the 1920s, after the disillusionment of World War I, socialism enjoyed great vogue in the United States. Social Gospel ministers extolled it, intellectuals lauded it, and popular magazines ran many favorable articles about it. In that period, the general public had no awareness of the horrors then being effected in the name of socialism in the USSR, and Hitler's National Socialism was still in the future.
It was against that background that Franklin Roosevelt campaigned for the presidency in 1932 with the promise to give state-planning a try. Described in that way, it seemed to be no more than a proposal to coordinate government spending more effectively.
FDR's ideas, however, went much further than that, as demonstrated by the barrage of government take-over programs enacted immediately after his inauguration. His "brain trusters," socialistic Ivy League professors, were proposing to nationalize the private banks and agriculture, and to regulate industrial production, prices, and wages on the model of Mussolini's Fascist state-corporatism.
The tenor of the times was flippantly described in The New Dealers, an admiring book written in 1934, the second year of the New Deal. The author wrote:
To-day, as the New Deal moves slowly towards the nationalization of the banking system through the social control of credit policies, there is lamentation in the tents of ... the Wall Street group… For the monetary controversies of the first year of the Roosevelt Administration can be understood only an the assumption that there is a profound struggle between the Government and the bankers for the control of the American credit system…..
The President knew that financing the imposition of socialism and collectivization of power in Washington would require a huge expansion of Federal spending power. Along with that, his "brain trusters" proposed to inflate prices with the theoretical intention of giving farmers and workers more spending power. Inflation, they assumed, would enable easier debt repayment, force higher wages, and reduce unemployment. In practice the results were quite disappointing.
Throughout the history of the world, the one universal measure of value has been gold. In times of war and economic weakness, people owning gold have always been able to buy what they needed in exchange for gold. Paper currencies, like the present-day U.S. dollar, have no intrinsic value. Their worth changes daily with inflation and foreign exchange dealers' transactions.
OPEC, for example, came into existence in large measure because oil-producing countries were being paid fixed prices in dollars, but the exchange value of the dollar was declining rapidly. OPEC pushed oil prices from around $5 to more than $90 per barrel, adjusted for today's inflation, in the 1970s.
To the consternation of everyone outside the New Deal government cohort, President Roosevelt almost immediately abandoned the gold standard in order deliberately to produce overnight inflation.
In April, 1933, the President issued an executive order that abrogated gold payment clauses in government and private contracts and made it illegal for private citizens to keep their gold coins or to own gold for any purpose other than industrial applications. He completed the destruction of the dollar by arbitrarily reducing the dollar's gold content.
Before FDR's executive orders, Federal Reserve currency could be exchanged at the Federal Reserve banks for gold at a price of $20.67 per ounce. President Roosevelt ordered that the dollar be devalued almost 41% by raising the price per ounce of gold to $35.00. At the $20.67 gold ratio, one dollar would buy 0.048 ounces of gold. At the $35 ratio, one dollar would buy only 0.0286 ounces of gold.
The inflation set in motion by FDR's actions has continued without cease. The London gold price was $664.95 on February 16, 2007, a de facto 96.9% devaluation of the dollar vs the price before President Roosevelt began the devaluation process. The Consumer Price Index is now approximately 905% higher than in 1932.
Before FDR's inauguration, gold coins minted by the Treasury were in common use, Federal Reserve paper currency was exchangeable for gold, and U. S. Treasury debt gave holders the option to take payment in currency or gold, at a fixed rate. Moreover, most corporate debt similarly provided for payment in currency or gold. This gave the dollar a fixed value and made it one of the world's strongest currencies, "as good as gold."
In effect, President Roosevelt confiscated 40% of assets in the hands of individuals, corporations, and banks, without offering any compensation to them.
Needless to say, the President's action was profoundly unsettling to private individuals, corporations, and to the international banking community, particularly to central banks which held dollars as part of their currency reserves.
Senator Carter Glass was one of the most financially knowledgeable and most highly respected figures in Washington (and a Democrat). He had sponsored the legislation that created the Federal Reserve in 1913 and later served as Secretary of the Treasury. Outraged at the President's actions in 1933, he said, It's dishonor, sir. This great government, strong in gold, is breaking its promises to pay gold to widows and orphans to whom it has sold government bonds with a pledge to pay gold coin of the present standard of value. It is breaking its promise to redeem its paper money in gold coin of the present standard of value. It's dishonor, sir.
Oklahoma's Senator Thomas P. Gore put it more bluntly: Why, that's just plain stealing, isn't it, Mr. President? At the next election, FDR financed a rival candidate in the Democratic primary and defeated Senator Gore.
To make FDR's perfidy even clearer, he had pledged to support the Democratic Party's 1932 presidential campaign platform, which explicitly promised to uphold the existing gold standard for maintenance of a sound currency.
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Home > News & Events > Wayland Press Release Archives > 2007 News Releases > November 2007 > WBU will perform opera scenes
WBU will perform opera scenes
PLAINVIEW -- Wayland Baptist University's Department of Music has scheduled and evening of opera scenes for Dec. 3 at 7:30 p.m. in Harral Memorial Auditorium.
The opera scenes performance has become an annual event at Wayland under the direction of Jeff Kensmoe, director of vocal studies, opera and musical theatre at Wayland. This year's performance will feature some familiar scenes as well as some that people may not recognize.
The group will perform scenes from Stephen Sondheim's "End of the Woods," an opera that mixes familiar fairy tales to create a whole new story.
"It's a fan favorite," Kensmoe said.
Spectators will also be treated to scenes from the Tony Award winning "Thoroughly Modern Millie," as well as "Julius Caesar," "The Magic Flute," Leonard Bernstein's "Trouble in Tahiti," and the famous "Lakme Flower Duet." The performance will also feature scenes from the American Opera "The Ballad of Baby Doe," by Gerald Moore.
"It's a very wide variety both operatically and musically," Kensmoe said.
Admission to the performance is free and open to the public.


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In pop culture, it was a time like no other. Ronald Reagan was in the White House, "The Terminator" was in the box office and Run-D.M.C. was in certified gold. It was also the time when Oakley created one-of-a-kind sunglasses called Frogskins®. Oakley resurrected the original tooling from the early '80s giving you a chance to own a piece of history.
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More drama for the Jersey Shore cast.
The same night Ronnie and Sammi were photographed holdings hands in the streets of Florence, Italy, before getting into a reported fight inside of a club later that night, Ronnie and The Situation also got into a fight, except it was a violent fist fight!
The above photos were taken yesterday (the day after the fight) as both Ronnie and The Situation returned back home. The Sitch returned home after a visit to the hospital, while Ronnie can be seen applying bandages to his fist.
In the pic above, The Sitch can be seen sporting cuts and in another photo by a different photo agency, he can be seen sporting a shiner courtesy of Ronnie. As for Ronnie's injuries, his fist suffered some cuts and bruises.
According to TMZ, the fight took place Monday night, presumably inside the home the roomates share. While full details about the fight have yet to come out, what is certain is that sources tell TMZ it all began with a blowout between Ronnie and Sammi… of course.
And it seems the roomates are all Team Ronnie as Ronnie has since been photographed with most of them out and about since the incident while The Situation has yet to be seen in public since the above picture was taken.
A close up of Ronnie's fist is below. You know what they say, you can take the kids out of the Jersey Shore but…
Photos credit – Mario & Luigi/WENN.
UPDATE – TMZ is reporting that Ronnie and The Situation have buried the hatchet and are back to being friends again. The two reportedly had a long talk following their fight.
As for what caused the fight, sources say after a heated argument with Sammi on Monday night, Ronnie returned home and "turned his anger towards Mike." He started talking smack about The Sitch's family causing Mike to snap and hence the fight. The two fought briefly before it was "quickly broken up." Ronnie then decided to blow off some steam by punching a wall, which tore up his knuckles.


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USA Rugby to send two teams to World Club 7s at Twickenham
BOULDER, Colo. – Elite Cup Champion San Francisco Golden Gate and New York City Sevens will represent the United States at the inaugural World Club 7s tournament August 17-18 at Twickenham Stadium in London, England.
Hoping to capitalize on the sport's inclusion on the 2016 Rio Olympic Games Program, Premiership Rugby has created the World Club 7s to bring together the best sevens clubs from around the world.
"This is a tremendous opportunity for these US players, clubs and coaches to be exposed again to a higher, more challenging level of rugby," said USA Rugby Club Director Jim Snyder. "In the long run, it will be this type of exposure to the best rugby in the world that will help our systems and players continue to develop. I expect this will be a very special experience for the US teams involved".
Eleven of the 12 teams to compete in the World Club 7s have already been announced, including Super Rugby clubs ACT Brumbies, Auckland Blues, Vodacom Blue Bulls, and DHL Western Province and Aviva Premiership's Harlequins and Northampton Saints. Teams from Russia and Argentina will also be in London for the tournament. The 12th participant will be the winner of the J.P. Morgan 7s in August.
San Francisco Golden Gate will consist of players from the Division I club, while New York City Sevens will feature players from the local region. Both teams will also draw on available Men's Eagles Sevens players in Residency at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif. Full rosters for both teams will be announced soon.
San Francisco Golden Gate has been drawn in Pool B against Buenos Aires, Northampton Saints and Vodacom Blue Bulls. New York City Sevens will face the winner of the J.P. Morgan Premiership Rugby 7s, VVA Moscow Region and DHL Western Province in Pool A.
Much like the IRB World Sevens Series, the top two teams from each pool at the end of day one will progress to the Cup Quarterfinals, as will the two best third-place teams. The other four teams will advance to the Shield competition.
Tickets for the World Club 7s can be purchased here.


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You can help save the coast by putting your Christmas tree out on the curb.
You can help save the coast by putting your Christmas tree out on the curb.
Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes will once again gather residents' Christmas trees for a project that builds wave barriers in the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and along the Larose-to-Golden Meadow levee.
The parishes' Christmas tree programs are an extension of a state program that used Christmas trees to help prevent wetland erosion. That program ran for almost 20 years until the state cut its budget in 2009, deeming the program ineffective. But Terrebonne Parish Coastal Restoration Director Nic Matherne said the program has been revived in Terrebonne because it works.
"Terrebonne decided to keep the program because our Christmas tree program location is providing a great deal of protection for the marsh," Matherne said. "If you look at satellite imagery, it's doing a great job of preventing that land from washing away."
The trees are used to help slow waves in areas suffering erosion and help to build new land. The Christmas trees collected from residents are placed into retention fences, called cribs, which have been constructed along the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway near the Mandalay National Wildlife Refuge in Terrebonne. In Lafourche, the trees are placed outside the south Lafourche levee in Golden Meadow to protect against erosion, said Lafourche Parish spokeswoman Loralei A. Gilliam.
Placed inside the cribs, the trees allow water to move through but break the waves that erode wetlands. The trees also slow the water so it drops silt and sediment, helping to sustain wetlands.
Eventually, the trees decompose.
The program keeps trees out of the landfill and uses them for something positive for the coast.
"Here we can put them to good use, because saving even the smallest bit of coast counts," Matherne said.
It is also cost effective because it uses the regular garbage collection service to pick up trees, and volunteers place them in areas vulnerable to coastal erosion.
The project may not be one of the biggest and best restoration projects out there, said Terrebonne Parish President Michel Claudet. But one of the biggest advantages of the program is it allows residents to get involved in coastal restoration, Claudet said. And that's important.
"One of the No. 1 questions I get from residents is 'What can I do to help?' " Matherne said. "Unless you have millions of dollars to spare for a restoration project, the best thing you can do is volunteer for coastal plantings or participate in our Christmas tree program."
To participate in the program, place your Christmas tree in your normal garbage pickup area between Wednesday and Jan. 8. You can also take your tree to one of the residential drop-off sites at 263 Ashland Landfill Road in Houma, 651 Isle of Cuba Road in Schriever or 160 Crochetville Road in Montegut.
In Lafourche, trees will be collected curbside from Jan. 10-12 and from Jan. 17-19. Trees left on the curb outside of these dates will be picked up as regular garbage.
Dropoff locations will not be offered in Lafourche Parish this year because of program constraints.
Only green trees will be accepted. Flocked trees and trees with tinsel, decorations or tree stands cannot be used.
Nikki Buskey can be reached at 857-2205 or firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Science Friday® is produced by the Science Friday Initiative, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Science Friday® and SciFri® are registered service marks of Science Friday, Inc. Site design by Pentagram; engineering by Mediapolis.
A retrospective risk analysis by the Space Shuttle Safety and Mission Assurance Office found that the first nine shuttle flights had a one-in-nine chance of catastrophic failure -- ten times the risk of flights today. Teri Hamlin and Mike Canga of NASA's Johnson Space Center discuss the report.
Space Shuttle Program Top Risk Review, Jan 20, 2011. by the Space Shuttle Safety and Mission Assurance Office, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas


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SKOKIE, IL — A steady decline in adult fitness memberships and insufficient community fundraising efforts forced the Mayer Kaplan Jewish Community Center (JCC) in Skokie, IL, to cut back its programming.
Effective July 1, the JCC will no longer offer adult fitness or aquatic programs and will eliminate its children's swimming lessons. Adult members will be able to visit other local JCCs or rec centers or get refunds on unused months on their JCC memberships.
A Jewish Federation allocation will allow the JCC to continue to offer children's programming.


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Valentine's Day is quickly approaching and, while I would agree that we don't need a specific day marked on the calendar to tell our loved ones how much we care, it's nice to do a little special something for your special someone.
Ray and I generally exchange a little gift on Valentine's Day every year, in spite of the fact that we shower each other with gifts of love all year long. (Okay, that sounded cheesy…) There have been some years when all I did was make a handmade card filled with heartfelt words of love. One year I created a photo memory book and included letters and notes from before we were married.
This year I was approached by Red Envelope to help spread the word about their Valentine's Day gifts. I I found so many great items at RedEnvelope.com, but decided to give Ray a couple of items to bring a little fun into our times alone together. You know, after all the kids are sound asleep in bed…
It was super easy to place my order, once I had narrowed it down from several items to just two. (Only one is pictured above, so I don't ruin the whole surprise for Ray.) I chose 2 day shipping for a bit of a fee, but I wanted to be sure that I would receive his gifts in time. I was so excited when the big red boxes arrived for Ray, already wrapped and tied with a bow!
Red Envelope is a great site for gifts for anyone you want to remember this Valentine's Day. In fact, LivingSocial has a great deal through the 5th of February. You get $30 to spend on unique and personalized gifts for just $15!
I was compensated in the form of a Red Envelope gift card for the purpose of this post.


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Haag Certified Inspector – Residential roofs - Program information
Course Dates:
October 2-4, 2018– HCI-Residential Roofs
The HCI program is intended for industry professionals wishing to improve their damage assessment understanding and techniques. HCI-R attendees must verify that they have minimum experience of 100 roof inspections as the primary inspector assessing damage within the past 10 years. Random industry experience and reference verification may be conducted to verify an attendees experience.
Haag Certified Inspector – Residential Roofs description
The Haag Certified Inspector program for residential roof inspectors (HCI-R) will help you build on your knowledge of damage assessment to residential (steep slope) roofs by teaching you Haag's inspection and damage assessment methods. The HCI-R program focuses on hail, wind, inspection techniques, inspection safety, composition roofs, fiber cement/synthetic roofing materials, tile roofs, slate roofs, wood shake and shingle roofs, metal roofs and repair vs. replacement analysis. This class is eligible for 18-20 hours of continuing education credit for insurance adjusters, and is eligible for other CE programs as well.
What is Haag Certification?
Haag Engineering and Haag Education certifies that those attendees who have completed the class have verified required work experience, and have completed the entire twenty hours of classroom instruction. All Haag Certified Inspectors have also passed the corresponding HCI examination to Haag's minimum required standards.
Haag reserves the right to revoke certifications of any Haag Certified Inspector at any time, for any reason.


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Hi folks--
I am a racquet tech who strings out of his home in North Providence, near Fatima hospital. I've been stringing since 1995 and have well over 12,000 frames under my belt at this point. Needless to say, I'm VERY particular about the string jobs I produce.
I have a Gamma 6500ELS electronic constant pull machine that gives very consistent tension. It was just overhauled at the Gamma factory last summer.
My rates are comparable to the big box sporting goods stores (Dick's/Sports Authority), but my work is as good (many say better) than what is done at a club. I also can usually do next-day turnaround.
Feel free to contact me the next time you need a tennis (or racquetball) racquet re-strung.
e-mail: gamby1 [at] cox [dot] net
call/text: 401 829 6114
Chris G.
Views: 101
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For those who are interested, I just got my website up. Still needs a bit of polishing, but it's live nonetheless...
Outdoor season is coming--just keep telling yourselves that. (I'm typing this as the snow is cascading from the sky)
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50 Cent Throws Twitter Tantrum, Threatens to Stop Making Albums
If you've been impatiently waiting for 50 Cent's new album to drop, he feels your pain. In fact, as he demonstrated during a recent Twitter rant, he's ready to give up on his longtime label, Interscope — and maybe quit making records altogether.
50′s outburst was triggered by Interscope's decision to delay the long-in-the-works project, which he's been tinkering with for over a year. "Man I'm not releasing [an] album I can't believe interscope is this f—– up right now. I apologize to all my fans," he wrote. He added, "I will work with other artist on there [sic] projects but I will not put out another album. They dropped the ball with me one time [too] many."
In Interscope's defense, 50 has often seemed unclear as to his own plans for the album, which was originally titled 'Black Magic' and was, at one point, supposed to encompass a wide variety of hip-hop and R&B styles. The sessions for the project, which have gone on for months, have utilized a long list of collaborators and producers, including Eminem, Dr. Dre, David Guetta, Kanye West, Swizz Beatz, and Busta Rhymes.
Mr. Cent also expressed displeasure at the recent leak of his new song 'I'm On It.' "I don't know how I can record 41 song[s] for my album and the one song I give Interscope leaks," he observed. "But I don't care it's good music. I hate when I can't present my music the way I feel it should be."
Not one to turn away free publicity, he quickly added, "But f****** it check out I'm ON IT."
50 fans probably shouldn't get too upset about his "no more albums" announcement — he's made grand claims before, most notably when he said he'd retire if Kanye West's 'Graduation' outsold his 'Curtis Jackson' during their first week of release — and we all know how that turned out.


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World Entertainment News Network
Conrad Murray, the Houston doctor who was Michael Jackson's personal physician, stunned viewers on Tuesday night after calling into Anderson Cooper's CNN show from jail and singing Nat King Cole's The Little Boy that Santa Claus Forgot.
The medic was sentenced to four years in prison on an involuntary manslaughter charge after he was found guilty of administering a fatal dose of Propofol, which claimed the King of Pop's life in 2009.
He has refused to testify in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the superstar's mother, Katherine, against concert promoters AEG Live and, on Tuesday, the same day as jury selection for the case began in Los Angeles, Murray gave an interview from behind bars.
Murray called Cooper's CNN show and declared, "If I testify, I will testify very honestly. It is a sad thing when I look at what's going on on the television because if Michael was alive today he would be absolutely upset, he would be so unhappy with what is happening."
He also touched on his humble upbringing, comparing it to Jackson's early life, and then bizarrely launched into a rendition of Cole's track.
Lyrics include, "He's a little boy that Santa Claus forgot, and goodness knows he did not want a lot/ He wrote a note to Santa for some crayons and a toy, it broke his little heart when he found Santa hadn't come … I'm so sorry for that laddy who hasn't got a Daddy."
He then added, "That song tells my story. That's how I grew up – I had no Christmases, I had no toys. I had nothing."
Murray insisted, "I'm an innocent man, Anderson. I maintain that innocence. I must tell you, I'm extremely sorry that Michael has passed. It's a tremendous loss for me, it's a burden I've been carrying for the longest while and it's a burden I will carry for an indefinite period of time.
"The loss is just overwhelming. He was very close to me, I was close to him, we were absolutely great friends."
Murray also gave another interview, recorded on Friday with CNN's Don Lemon, insisting he was a scapegoat in the death of Jackson.
He said, "I have taken the brunt of the storm for the entire life of a man 50 years old, who has had a monumentally destructive, painful life that has been so damaged it is of huge proportions.
"It is in terms so humongous that for 50 years of pain that he (Jackson) has lived and I did not do him for all of that (sic). All of the mishaps that he has encountered in life seem to trickle down on me and I think that is the definition of a scapegoat. Nobody has taken any responsibilities for anything that they may have done to this man but, because I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, then here I am.
"Why am I innocent? Because I did nothing wrong and all I tried to do was to help a friend who I encountered in a devastated state and I tried to do everything possible to help my friend. I have been called names and who knows what. Nobody else was there at that time and I can say with the effort that I made I could've suffered a cardiac arrest myself. It was not an easy task but I never gave up on my friend – never did."
Murray is due to be released in October if he serves his full sentence.


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The spice of life is variety, or so they say. If that's true for people, what about our dogs and cats?
Pet food company advertising would have you believe that feeding one food (theirs!) for your pet's entire adult life is the way to go. But that concept is all wrong. When you really think about it, it doesn't even make sense!
For many of us, our pets are our children. So let's imagine for a moment that you have a child, let's say a 2-year old boy named Junior (of course!), and let's imagine taking him to the pediatrician for a check-up. The doctor bustles in, looks Junior over, then plunks a big bag of Yummi-o's down on the exam table.
"Good news," he beams. "All the vitamins, minerals and a perfect balance of nutrients that Junior needs are right here in New Complete Yummi-o's. Now all you have to do is make sure Junior gets three servings every day." The doctor wags his finger at you as he continues in a serious voice, "Now, since this food is perfectly complete and balanced, you mustn't feed Junior anything else—no apples or oatmeal or broccoli or peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches—because you might cause a nutrient imbalance!"
Well, this sounds a little weird, but you trust the pediatrician—after all, it's his name you see on all the gold-embossed university degrees on the exam room wall—so you go ahead and put Junior on an all-Yummi-o's diet.
Time passes, Junior grows, and by golly, it sure is cheap, easy and convenient to feed him. The next year you bring him in for his checkup, and the doctor is very pleased.
"He looks great," says the doc. "I see you've been keeping him on Yummi-o's. Terrific! Now, I have more good news for you! Yummi-o's now comes in Life Stages! You'll keep him on Yummi-o's Growth until he starts kindergarten. Then he'll go on Elementary Yummi-o's until he hits middle school. Then you give him Adolescent Yummi-o's until he's 18, when he can be weaned onto the Adult formula. And it gets even better—you can eat it too! New Improved Yummi-o's is complete and balanced for adults up to 65 years old."
Ridiculous? Of course! What rational parent would feed a child only one food for years on end? Even if the food were, in fact, complete and balanced, most of us would consider it unnatural, even cruel to the child. Never give Junior a carrot or a glass of orange juice? No fresh food at all? Preposterous!
Then why does everyone think it's okay to feed a cat or dog that way?
We would think a pediatrician who recommended a single food diet for a child was bonkers, yet when the veterinarian recommends a single food for our pampered pet, we obey without question. But feeding a dog or cat is not all that different from feeding a child.
It's way past time to bring a little common sense to bear, and common sense dictates that an animal ought to get a variety of foods.
The veterinary literature is full of cases where nutritional deficiencies (or excesses) were discovered, and in virtually every one, the problem arose (or was discovered) because the animal was kept on one food for a long period of time.
Cats, being strict obligate carnivores, have most often been the unintended victims—taurine, copper, vitamin E and potassium deficiencies have turned up in cats fed certain foods (which were, by the way, "complete and balanced" according to the standards at the time) as their sole diet.
Dogs, whose omnivorous metabolism is more adaptable, haven't had quite as many problems, though zinc and fatty acid deficiencies have occurred on certain poor quality foods.
The Myth of Complete and Balanced
Wait a minute … aren't we indeed talking about "complete and balanced" foods? How can a complete and balanced food have deficiencies or excesses of nutrients? Unfortunately, even for the best commercial pet foods, there are several places along the road to the retail store shelf where any food's nutritional value can go astray.
1. The standards by which the food is made aren't perfect. Pet nutrition is an evolving science, and we don't yet know all there is to know about it (if we ever will!). Veterinarians have seen many examples of how the particular nutritional needs of a species become known—mainly by stumbling on cases where they aren't being met.
2. The exact quantities of individual nutrients in a given ingredient may not be known, or may be inaccurately assessed. A shipment of barley might be presumed to have a certain nutritional composition based on analyses of previous batches, but depending on the weather where it was grown, the soil conditions, and the type of fertilizer used, the exact amounts of each nutrient may vary. The same applies to animal-based ingredients.
3. Ingredient quality may be inconsistent or unknown. A vitamin-mineral premix purchased from an outside supplier and added to the food may guarantee minimum levels of each item, but if the quality control on that product was poor, the finished pet food will merely compound the error. Many vitamins and minerals are normally "overdosed" in pet food to make up for loss of those nutrients during processing, transport and storage. Some of these may present a health risk. For instance, iodine excess in cat foods is suspected of contributing to the skyrocketing incidence of hyperthyroidism in older cats; and a zinc overdose in a commercial dog food sickened author Ann Martin's dogs and started her on a quest through the maze of pet food manufacturing and regulation, detailed in her stunning book Food Pets Die For in 1997.
4. Processing alters many nutrients. The heat used in various stages of pet food manufacturing can alter many ingredients, some for the better and some for worse. Carbohydrates are made much more digestible by cooking, but proteins can be denatured, vitamins can be destroyed, and fats can be damaged by heat. In general, pet food manufacturers are aware of changes that occur in their products during processing, and compensate for heat-sensitive ingredients by adding supplements, such as extra vitamins, but alterations in proteins and fats are not generally accounted for.
5. The pet food manufacturer itself can make mistakes. It's obvious from feed reports from around the country that virtually every manufacturer—no matter how good, bad or indifferent its reputation—at one time or another fails one or more tests for protein, calcium, magnesium or other nutrients.
6. Increased risk of toxic effects. As many people unfortunately discovered in last year's recalls, feeding the same food, from the same manufacturer, who continually buys from the same suppliers, can lead to health problems for your animal companion. While some of the recalled foods had such huge amounts of melamine that even one serving was deadly, feeding a variety of foods could have "diluted" the effect of the toxin and caused less harm for thousands of pets.
Next time, we'll talk about how periodically switching foods can prevent food allergies and finicky eating behavior.
Why Switch Food Part II…
In this post, we'll continue our discussion about the reasons for periodically switching your pet's food.
Let's consider all the different kinds of pet food on the market. When I started veterinary school, there were basically two kinds of pet food: adult, and puppy or kitten (growth/lactation); "light" foods were just coming into the market, although there were no rules at the time about calories or fat content, so the claim was a little questionable.
But looking at dog food today, we find all-life-stages food, baby dog food, puppy food, adult food, mature food, aging food, senior food, food for sensitive stomachs, food for itchy skin, food for small, medium, large, and giant breed dogs, food for Yorkies and Dachshunds and Poodles and Bulldogs and Shih Tzus and Boxers and Retrievers, vegetarian food, high performance food, reduced calorie food, light food, and an array of veterinary diets for dogs with heart disease, kidney disease, liver disease, arthritis, digestive problems, cancer, diabetes, bladder stones, dandruff, and dirty teeth.
Cats, being more or less the same general size and shape, have been spared some of this, but recently a spate of new foods for indoor, outdoor, and specific breeds of cats has arrived on the market. And there are designer diets for hairball hurlers, happy bladders, and tartared teeth. And, of course, most of the veterinary diets available for dogs have a feline counterpart.
However, the standards for pet food nutrient levels remain the same today as they were when they were set in 1989 (for dogs) and 1991 (for cats). There is one chart for adult maintenance, and one chart for growth/lactation. (Food intended to treat disease must provide documentation to FDA that it actually works as advertised, but the research is done by the company making the food-–and the claim.) New standards for dog and cat nutrition were just recently published by the National Research Council, but it will likely take several years before they are reviewed and accepted by AAFCO. Until that happens, pet food manufacturers don't have to abide by them.
Is There Really a Difference?
Is it just me, or is something wrong with this picture? How much different are these foods really from each other—given that they all have to meet the same nutritional standards? For instance, if you look at the ingredient statements on the labels of regular versus large breed foods, they look pretty similar. In any case, the exact nutritional requirements of hundreds of breeds (and infinite combinations of breeds), every imaginable lifestyle, and each animal's individual metabolism simply cannot be accurately known, at least not with current technology.
Moreover, even an individual animal's needs fluctuate, depending on the season, activity level, normal variations in hormone levels and organ functions, infections, parasites like fleas, illness, and a host of other factors. A dog who spends a lot of time outdoors in Colorado may need a higher calorie/higher fat food in the winter to cope with the cold, but unless she is extremely active in warmer weather, such a food may put on the pounds if fed year-round. It does make sense to try to match the food to your animal's particular needs as those needs vary, although whether you can really do this based solely on a manufacturer's claims for its food is unlikely.
The Allergy Factor
Another pitfall of feeding a single food is the potential for your animal to develop an intolerance or allergy to one or more ingredients. A dietary intolerance is a reaction to something in the food, rather than the food itself.
The list of suspects is a long one and includes flavoring agents, coloring agents, emulsifiers, humectants, stabilizers, thickeners, texturizers, and dozens more. Different manufacturers use different additives, so changing foods periodically may avoid constant exposure to certain ingredients that could become a problem for your animal.
True food allergies are thought to be uncommon (though more common in cats than dogs), but many practitioners and veterinary nutritionists are coming to the conclusion that most, if not all, cases of inflammatory bowel disease are linked to food.
It usually takes months to years of exposure to a food to develop an allergy. Allergies are usually to proteins, which are found in animal products, of course, but also in to some extent in the cereal grains commonly used in pet food. Corn meal (also known as ground yellow corn) contains 9 percent protein, soybean flour contains 37 percent protein, and wheat contains 10 percent protein. Corn and wheat are very common allergens in pets.
Switching foods every three or four months, from chicken-and-corn, to lamb-and-rice or turkey-and-barley or duck-and-green peas or rattlesnake-and-quinoa may help prevent your animal companion from becoming food-allergic in the first place. (But remember to carefully check the ingredient list on the package-–a food legitimately labeled "emu-and-amaranth" could actually consist mainly of corn and chicken.)
A Matter of Taste
The last big reason to change foods periodically is to prevent finicky eating habits and enable the gut to handle challenges without catastrophic consequences.
Pet food makers are masters at making the food irresistibly tasty. Consequently, an animal fed a single food may become "addicted" to it. I once got a call from a woman whose cat would not only eat just one flavor of cat food, but it had to have been canned at a particular factory! Cans of the same flavor with a different code stamp were rejected by the cat. She was frantically searching from coast to coast to find more cans from that factory—which had since closed down.
Some foods are produced on a "least cost" basis, and the ingredients may change significantly from batch to batch. "Fixed formula" foods always use the same ingredients. Depending on ingredient quality, such a food may be a better pick. But even fixed formula foods that use the same ingredients all the time may still periodically alter certain characteristics, such as size of the kibble, or flavoring components.
When you buy a new bag of the same food, it could be just different enough from the usual fare that your furry friend will turn up her nose at it. Or you might run out of her favorite food and not be able to get over to the gourmet pet store right away—she'll just have to eat something from the grocery store for a few days. If you board her, she may get fed whatever the kennel is using (errors can be made, even if you supply your own food).
It's best to have your animal companion develop more "cosmopolitan" tastes, and be willing to eat whatever you give her. (For some dogs in some situations, training to accept food only from you can and should be done, but that's an issue beyond the scope of this blog.)
Next time, we'll get to the nuts and bolts of how to make the switch. The first word of caution: too radical or too abrupt a switch could cause your pet stress and tummy upset. On the bright side, it could keep your local carpet cleaning company busy!


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-Gold Metallic, Silver Metallic, Rose Gold Metallic & all Glitter colors are CUT vinyl and are available as single color designs only
-White & Black as a single color design will be CUT vinyl
-Regular colors are PRINTED vinyl & designs are available with one or more colors. For multi-colored designs, specify in the notes exactly what you like, the design will be printed as one piece for application.
-Specify if you would like a color other than Gold for the crown
-Designs are printed on semi-gloss heat transfer or gloss sticker vinyl using a professional eco solvent process (these are not printed on a home inkjet printer, but on commercial grade digital printers)
-Due to the differences in monitor resolution and computer settings, colors may vary slightly from image on computer screen
-Application instructions will include wash/care information
-Printed stickers up to 14" are laminated
-Material can be applied with a home iron or heat press
-Apply onto the following material types: 100% cotton, 100% polyester, cotton/polyester blends, rayon, satin, iron-safe silk, cotton canvas, polyester mesh, linen, Lycra/spandex blends up to 5%(material may crack or peel if applied to blends greater than 5%)
-Will NOT adhere to fabrics marked "Do Not Iron" and/or heavily textured materials
-Nylon, Leather, Lycra/Spandex(greater than 5%) require different materials, contact us for ordering instructions
-All materials are CPSIA certified so they are safe for children's items
-Application Instructions, parchment paper and a sample test piece are included with every order
-Choose your size from the menu based on the size WIDTH of the entire design
4", 5", 6", 8", 10", 12", 14"
All designs are copyright Stickers by Stephanie or their respective owners.
Transfers may be used on physical items for sale. Transfers may not be resold or claimed as your own.


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Inspired by the new free-range chicken mince available at the local supermarket, I figured I'd get my hands dirty and make a variation of my usual burgers with a lighter, spicier finish. I thought my days of enjoying chicken were over, but these guys will be entering regular rotation!
500g chicken mince
4 eggs
1 red capsicum, diced
1 small fennel bulb (1/2 cup when diced)
2T chopped basil (I prefer fresh, but didn't have any)
2T chopped parsley
2 garlic cloves, chopped finely
1T paprika
1t salt (optional)
3T-ish almond flour
Optional extras I'll be playing with next time around:
Diced bacon, pre-fried
Chopped onion, pre-fried
Sun-dried tomatoes
Curry powder or cumin
(Check out the eggs above - they're from Swampy, my raw milk supplier from Warrnambool. His hens haven't been laying for the past couple of months, but a cartoon greeted me when I went to my organic grocery last week. They're fabulous - and they still have dirt on them!)
1. Preheat oven to 175°C. Line a baking tray with foil, and grease lightly with coconut oil.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients except almond flour. Stir until all items are combined.
3. On a clean, dry, flat surface, sprinkle almond flour in a thin layer, ready to coat burger patties.
4. Warning - chicken mince is very sticky! Using your hands if you dare, section the mixture into desired portions, and roll and squish into patties. Place patties onto the floured surface, pressing lightly and flipping so that both sides have a light coating. This is not meant to be as dense as other coatings, i.e. that of my Fried Chicken Fingers.
5. Place coated burgers onto prepared tray, and place into oven.
6. Bake until edges begin to brown and meat is cooked through.
Serve atop romaine/cos lettuce (if you have large enough leaves or small enough burger patties, you can use the leaves as a wrap for holding the burger). The beau took his with slices tomato, shredded cheese, and a little tomato sauce. I would also be more than tempted to top future burgers with a fried egg, maybe some cooked onion slices, and some homemade mayonnaise... Yum!
Letters From Viewers
14 hours ago


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1979 Simca 1307 S 1.2 from Greece
Very reliable and comfortable
Front brakes heat up after excessive use, especially when the car is fully loaded and is moving on a slope. As a result, when the driver presses the brake pedal, they have the feeling that there is a sponge instead of brakes.
General Comments:
A good car and very reliable.
Very comfortable and roomy interior. Very comfortable seats.
Low cost repairs.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 10th September, 2004


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Bev's Chocolate Chip Cookies
EatingWell reader Beverley Sharpe of Santa Barbara, California, contributed this healthy chocolate chip cookie recipe. She gave chocolate chip cookies a healthy update by cutting back on sugar and incorporating whole grains. To increase protein, Sharpe replaces the rolled oats with 1 cup almond meal. Download a FREE Best Winter Recipes Cookbook!


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2nd Anual Banff Run
The Banff trip is about 24 days from now and we need to get our poop ina group.... NOW
Here is the basic plan... Feel free to sugest a better one or run your own route, just let others know so they can join you if they like...
Friday Aug 27 meet in Edmonton, travel to Red Deer, travel to Calgary, hit Banff and get settled in...beverages yehaaaww.
Sat Aug 28 travel to Golden or somewhere of the like for lunch, return to Banff...beverages and yehaaaaw
Sunay Aug 29 Breakies, goodbyes, edmonton/red deer members head home viaCalgary...or up through Jasper.
For BC guys, we can Meet up in Banff Saturday morning, or Golden around lunch, and we may run further to teh interior if enough guys are up for it!!
Now this is just a sugestion, as with EVERYTHING we do, it is a democracy and if anyone has a better plan or route, speak up!!
I would also like to know who is a for sure you bet wouldnt miss it;
who is a maybe I dont know depends on work how wifey feels if my mommy will let me out;
or who is a lamer cant make it didnt plan well eough, HAVE to work cant get out of it.
Also if you are running a bit tight on cash, dont let that stop you, it is verry economical, if you share a tent site its only about 18 bucks a night, food will run you probably 23 a ay or so, depending if you eat like a bir or a hog like me, fuel cost will run about 150 - 200.
You dont mis something till its gone. Dont be a pussy, love your car, treat her right and get involved.
I take it as there were 43 views or so that there might be a chance that some of the BC members will take a chance and show up Sat or sunday??
You dont mis something till its gone. Dont be a pussy, love your car, treat her right and get involved.
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Scientific Sessions
Have your doctors been to the American Diabetes Association's Scientific Sessions?
If not, you should encourage them to attend.
Scientific Sessions is the largest diabetes meeting in the world, bringing together nearly 18,000 participants—including more than 14,000 clinicians and researchers from all 50 states and 117 countries.
The 5-day annual meeting features timely and significant advances in basic science and the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diabetes.
Attendees choose from over 3,000 original presentations which include symposia, oral abstract sessions, meet the expert sessions, interest group discussions, guided audio poster tours, and poster presentations.
It also includes approximately 175 exhibitors showcasing the latest in diabetes-related products, services, and technology available to health care professionals.
Your doctors can came away from Scientific Sessions with groundbreaking approaches to improving your care.


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Template:Farm Home and Its Planning/req
From MeritBadgeDotOrg
- Make a sketch of a darm house, showing locations and relation of house to farm buildings, pens, yards, garden, fields with proper landscape effect.
- Present a landscape plan for a farm home showing both front and back yard effect and show drainage plans.
- Present a drawing plan of sewage disposal for a country home.
- Describe the value of windbreaks for a rural home, and the kind of trees of most value for such purpose in his section.
- Tell where and when he would plant nut and fruit trees for a country home.
- Name seven suitable shrubs, plants and vines for the farm door yard.
| The official source for the information shown in this article or section is:
Handbook for Boys, 1948 Edition


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Looking for the cheapest, best electricity rates/plans for your home or business?
Texas Electricity your one-stop shop for electricity rates in Texas. Whether you're shopping for electricity for your home, or you have 200,000 square feet of warehouse you need powered — we'll show you rates and plans from top, local providers.
What's TexasElectricity.com?
We're a team of professional energy consultants in Texas. Owned by ElectricChoice.com, the #1 source for Houston electricity rates, we have close relationships with all of the top electricity providers throughout Texas — just give us your zip code and we'll provide you with a list of the electric rates and plans in your local area.
Have questions? Want to talk to a professional energy consultant over the phone? Call us at 1-800-974-3020 and we'd love to talk and walk you through the process.


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NYC Resistor's Nick Vermeer is working on conductive ink:
I've recently had success in making a conductive ink using a fine copper powder suspended in an acrylic airbrush medium. This paper on conductive epoxies was really the key to getting this ink working.
The paper shows that etching the metal filler slightly before mixing it with the binder improves the conductivity of the ink. In this test I first used ammonium persulfate as the initial etching solution. After decanting off the resulting copper sulfate solution, the powder was then washed with deionized water. The wet powder was then mixed with an acrylic airbrush medium to make the resulting ink.
There is still quite a bit of experimentation to be done, but this is a very encouraging result!


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Indian Mangoes, Goin' to Cali
California, long used to exporting fruit, is buzzing about a certain import: mangoes from India have arrived in SoCal. And blogger (and Serious Eater) Marvin has a great comparison, in words and pictures, between regular Mexican-grown variety and the Kesar mangoes from more distant lands. The imports are more than three times as pricey. Marvin's advice:
You should also find some buddies who are mad for mangoes and go in on a case with them, that way it's cheaper. My wife and I will probably eat one or two more of the dozen that I bought, and I will probably give the rest of them to my parents, who enjoy eating mangoes with white rice -- a simple, tasty, and very Filipino preparation.
Bonus: An '80s flashback courtesy of The Last Dragon.
This post may contain links to Amazon or other partners; your purchases via these links can benefit Serious Eats. Read more about our affiliate linking policy.


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This is a sample registry
Nicole & Christopher
Nicole Courtney and Christopher Taylor's Honeymoon Registry
Buenos Aires & Santiago Chile
|This is a sample registry
"Well Wishes" From Our Family & Friends
|"Yeah your special day has finally arrived. Hope you have a blast on your honeymoon!
You two make a wonderful couple, cheers to the rest of your lives together."
- Denise &Eric Ericson
|"The mornings were our favorite part of our honeymoon! That special time together as newlyweds are the best! We are so excited for the both of you and love you!"
- Patrick and Michelle Canaday
|"We wish y'all so much happiness and good fortune. Take many pictures as you start your married life, so your grandchildren can laugh their a---- off! And so we can live vicariously through you'all. Love y'all. Garvis and Trisha Pollard."
- Garvis and Trisha Pollard
|"We are so excited to be able to spend this moment with you. Have a wonderful life together and always be happy. We wish you the best!"
- Tami and Kenny
|"Here's a hang gliding trip for you guys. Hope your marriage always flies high! :-)"
- Dan Verboski
|"We are so happy for you both. Our thoughts will be with you on your special day. Have a great time on your honeymoon."
- Scott and Cindy Denton
|"I am so happy I got to meet you through Target and I wish you both so much Love and Happiness. Have an awesome Honeymoon! :)"
- Lytia Emms ( Miranda)
|"Have a memorable honeymoon and life together. May all the moments in your lives be positive memory makers. Love you with all my heart."
- Mom (Mary Kay)
|"We are so happy for you both!! We hope you have an amazing life together! Cherish every day you have together and make even the little moments something amazing!! We love you!!!"
- Love, Aaron, Leslie, Kevin, Christopher, Tori (&Maggie 2)
|"Wishing you a grand adventure and every happiness in this world.
Lots of love to you both."
- Mike and Sherrie Dunn
|"Wishing you a Happy Married life
and a wonderful Honeymoon"
- Anil Shetty
|"Since Scott works for General Motors I thought it was fitting to hook you up with transportation on your honeymoon. Don't worry if you get something besides a GM vehicle we will still love you : ) Looking forward to seeing your pictures. Have fun!"
- Scott and Cindy Denton
|"Have a wonderful honeymoon and a beautiful life together!"
- Love, Russ and Karen
|"I wish you both all the happiness in the world!"
- Terri Yates
|"I so wish I could be a part of your wedding shower, but we are looking so forward to sharing in the BIG day. Much love to both you and Chris!"
- Love, Tami
|"Congradulations and Best Wishes! Have a great Trip."
- Nancy Weidlich and Vicki McGriff
Thank You for visiting our honeymoon bridal registry and wedding website. We decided to use this honeymoon bridal registry to allow us to pre plan all the wonderful things we want to do on our dream honeymoon. If you have any questions about how our honeymoon bridal registry works, please contact a honeymoon registry specialist at 858-433-1506 and they can help with our wedding registry list. Again, Thank You so much for using our honeymoon bridal registry and wedding website. Most of all, thank you for being part of our wedding and helping us have the romantic honeymoon and wedding we've always imagined.
This is a sample registry
Items cannot be purchased from a sample registry.
If you're looking for a specific couple please search for them here.


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By Moni Basu, CNN
(CNN) -- Tucked in the Senate bipartisan plan on immigration reform are key requirements for prospective immigrants. Among them, a knowledge of English, civics and history of the United States. Assimilation is clearly an underlying issue in the debate.
A new study shows that second-generation Americans have enjoyed success in becoming a part of America.
Roughly 6 in 10 said they consider themselves to be a "typical American," though they maintain ties to their ancestral roots. That's almost double the number of immigrants who identify that way, according to a new Pew Research Center study released Thursday.
Like Jose Martinez, 29, a son of Dominicans who owns his own graphic design company in New Jersey.
"It's important to try and hold on to your roots, stay Latino," he said. "But you have to be American at the same time."
And Suvrat Bhargave, 44, a son of Indian immigrants, who likes to say Indian is an adjective but American is the noun when he describes himself as Indian-American.
Martinez believes his interests -- he likes snowboarding, biking and social media -- jibe with mainstream America. His ethic of hard work, strong among immigrants in general, puts him on a path of achieving the dream.
"I'm on my way to doing better than my father," he said.
Bhargave, too, believes he is in a better place in life now than his father was at the same age. There is a lesser sense of isolation.
With his father's generation, two worlds were clearly defined. India and America.
"I think we have created a world that fits us," said Bhargave, a child psychiatrist in suburban Atlanta.
The comments and the findings of the Pew study are not surprising, perhaps, when you think about the waves of immigration in this country. The biggest difference is that the bulk of America's newest second-generation adults are not Europeans. Half of the 44 million immigrants who arrived in America after the passage of landmark immigration legislation in 1965 are Latinos and about a quarter are from Asia.
The roughly 20 million adult U.S.-born children of these immigrants are substantially better off than immigrants on several measures of socio-economic progress, said the Pew study, based on the latest U.S. Census data.
More second-generation immigrants -- half of whom are Hispanics and Asian-Americans -- are college graduates and have higher incomes. Second-generationers' median household income is $58,000, compared to $46,000 for immigrants. More are homeowners and fewer -- 11% versus 18% -- live in poverty.
"In all of these measures, their characteristics resemble those of the full U.S. adult population," said the Pew report, based on an analysis of the latest U.S. Census Data.
Second-generation Latinos and Asian-Americans differ from the general population in the importance they place on hard work and career success. They identify more with the Democratic Party rather than the GOP.
That is more in line with the values and beliefs held by immigrants.
But they are more likely to speak English than immigrants. They are also more likely to marry outside their ethnic or racial group.
The comparisons hold up across racial and ethnic groups, Pew found, though it recognized vast differences between different groups. Many Hispanic immigrants have relatively low levels of formal education and work in low-skilled, low-paying jobs, while the majority of Asian immigrants are more educated and are in higher-skilled occupations.
The study said:
These large racial or ethnic group differences in the human capital of recent immigrants are echoed in the socioeconomic profile of the second generation," the study said. "For example, some 55% of second-generation Asian-Americans have a bachelor's degree or more, compared with 21% of Hispanics. There are also gaps in household income and poverty rates among second- generation Hispanics and Asian-Americans.
The Pew report points out that some immigration experts have questioned whether the children of modern-day immigrants will be able to experience the upward mobility of previous generations.
The skeptics cite many factors: Most modern immigrants are non-white and thus face deeply ingrained social and cultural barriers; about a quarter of today's immigrants (the vast majority of whom are Hispanic) have arrived illegally and thus must navigate their lives in the shadows of the law; globalization and technology may have eliminated many of the jobs that provided pathways to the middle class for earlier generations of hard-working but low-skilled immigrants; the relative ease of travel and communication have enabled today's immigrants to retain their ties to their countries of origin and may have reduced incentives to adapt to American customs and mores.
The report warns against making judgments based on the data that was analyzed, saying that data trends do not reach far back enough in history.
But the findings are important as the immigration debate heats up in Congress.
And because of this fact: Consider that virtually all of the growth (93%) of America's working-age population between now and 2050 will be accounted for by first-generation immigrants and their U.S.-born children. That's according to Pew's projections given current trends.


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Will Ferrell's "Anchorman" character Ron Burgundy is to release his memoirs.
The fictional newsman has "inked a deal" to release a "tell-all autobiography" named "Let Me Off at the Top!: My Classy Life and Other Musings."
In the book, Burgundy will share "never-before-told stories of his childhood" and will offer readers a "rare glimpse behind the camera into the real life of a man many consider to be our greatest living news anchor."
A statement from publishing company Random House reads, "The long wait is over. Ron Burgundy pulls no punches in this widely anticipated, fully authorized tell-all autobiography," and the man himself concludes, "I don't know if it's the greatest autobiography ever written. I'm too close to the work. I will tell you this much: the first time I sat down and read this thing… I cried like a goddamn baby, and you can take that to the bank!"
The book will be released in November, just in time for Ferrell's famous comedy character to return to the big screen with "Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues," the follow-up to the original 2004 film, "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy," on Dec. 20.


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Cheryl Elliott, president and CEO of the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation, is stepping down at year's end.
Elliott, 62, joined the foundation in 1992. She served as program director, youth council adviser, executive vice president and COO before taking the helm of the foundation in 2001.
Board chairman Bhushan Kulkarni and Vice Chair Michelle Crumm are leading the board's search for a new president and CEO. They plan to name someone to the post by the fall, the foundation said in a news release.
Under Elliott's leadership, the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation's assets increased to $75 million at the end of last year from $22 million in 2001, generating more than $26 million in grants and scholarships.
Those grants have helped to launch prominent programs, including: the Neutral Zone, the Ann Arbor YMCA's Youth Volunteers Corps, the Housing Bureau for Seniors' Foreclosure Prevention and Home Share programs, Dawn Farm's Chapin Street Project, the Ypsilanti Area Community Fund and the Community Foundation of Plymouth.
Under Elliott's direction, the foundation also played a role in launching the Coordinated Funding initiative, a public-private partnership with the Office of Community & Economic Development representing the city of Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County and Washtenaw Urban County, United Way of Washtenaw County and the RNR Foundation Inc.


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Charlie Sheen hunts for the Loch Ness Monster in Scotland
CHARLIE SHEEN indulged his inner explorer when he headed to Scotland last week (beg01Jul13) to hunt for the mythical Loch Ness Monster.
The former Two and a Half Men star travelled to Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands last week (beg01Jul) with a group of friends on a mission to find the beast, nicknamed Nessie.
The actor stayed at Aldourie Castle on the shores of the loch during his trip, but failed to catch a glimpse of the fabled creature during his stay, however, he did have his picture taken with a wooden sculpture of Nessie.
Sheen took a private jet home to the U.S. on Saturday (06Jul13) and he climbed on board the plane to the sounds of a former Scots Guard playing traditional Scottish tunes on the bagpipes.


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Ubuntu 8.10 USB Drive Review
Ubuntu 8.10 offers a way to create a USB drive from the Live CD or an .iso. The question is, how well does this really work. In order to test we created several of these USB drive installs. The first thing to note is that the process is easy to do. Here is a step by step in create a USB Pen Drive disk.
Insert the USB Pen Drive once you have booted the Live CD. Now go to System/Administration and Create USB startup disk in the menu. You will see it has detected the 2 GB San Disk. You can use as small as 1 GB for the disk. You will also need to indicate the location of the Live CD or an .iso so the system can build the disk. Here we used the Live CD.
It provides you with the option to decide how much free space to allow for files that you create. What this does is give you a way to move this Pen Drive from computer to computer and save your files. A mobile Pen Drive.
Installation process is quick.
Now remove the USB drive and boot from the USB drive. On most computers at boot time you will have an option to choose your boot drive by selecting F12 at boot. Then select boot from USB drive. If all is well the Ubuntu USB drive should boot and you will see the same thing as the Live CD. Your computer must be able to boot from a USB drive, if it does not have that capability it will not work.
Results Were Mixed:
We tried it on a Lenovo T60p and it would not work at all. Error message " No operating system". So for some reason it could not read the disk. On a Dell Inspiron 1100 it booted fine. A little slow but you have to remember it is creating the whole operating system off the USB drive initially.
November 29, 2008 at 8:57 pm
I tried this on a dell inspiron 1520 and I get "Invalid or damaged bootable partition".
December 18, 2008 at 2:02 pm
on thinkpad X41 same error "Invalid or damaged bootable partition"
December 30, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Could not get it to boot on an HP Compaq nx9010 or on a Compaq 6820s, either using the BIOS or while using Smart Boot Manager, but it worked just fine on a Lenovo T61. Using a 1GB Kingston DataTraveler and was created using the method above.
the nx9010 only has an option for "removable devices" and the 6820s only has option for "USB Hard Drive." The Lenovo actually listed out all the USB devices in it's boot selection screen, so it seems to be a BIOS deal, rather than a problem with the drive or the procedure.
December 30, 2008 at 10:13 pm
Tried it on a couple of computers once I got home and both were "Invalid or damaged boot partition" = Dell Inspiron 600m and Dell Latitude D600.
January 8, 2009 at 4:45 am
Tried it with a generic desktop, HP Pavlion, HP Notebook, Dell and all were unable to locate the kernel. I solved the problem with the "missing operating system" error, widely noted via Google. Also read formatting as Fat16 was a fix but 8.10 insists on reformatting to F32 and there seems to be some evidence to support that as a source of problem in locating the Kernel.
Any more ideas?
January 21, 2009 at 10:19 pm
Just blogged about this, had an issue where the USB stick wasn't booting up properly. Had to install the master boot record on it after creating the live usb
July 2, 2009 at 5:40 pm
Got this to work on a Lenovo S10 laptop, Dell Optiplex 170L and Gateway 832GM, however I get the "Invalid or damaged boot partition" on my Dell D600 Laptop (using the same usb drive), using the latest A16 BIOS.
November 24, 2008 at 6:59 am


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Phone Number
Fashion forward clothing and accessories boutique located in Emerald Park, Saskatchewan.
7C Great Plains Rd, (beside DQ)Emerald Park, SKMonday - Friday: 10am to 8pmSaturday: 10am to 5pmSunday: Noon to 5pm
Coming March 2019 12 High Street East, Moose Jaw (across from Deja Vu Cafe)
Spend $150 and get free shipping across Canada! No coupon code required.
NOTE: all sale items are final sale.
Copyright © 2019 Bella Chic • Design by StartSellingOnline • Powered by Shopify


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Shuri Atomi
You can't resist a cute tiny Japanese girl in her school uniform. You know that under her uniform are the sweetest, pertest breasts imaginable. No lips have sucked on those delicious tits} before, no hands have plunged into the pure white panties and run a cuties are about to bud, about to take a hard cock in their slim hands and stroke it hard, suck the shaft, and then slip out of their panties and sit on that throbbing member and take it deep in their virgin slits. You can watch these cute schoolgirls explore their new found sexual desires here.
Pure and innocent Japanese schoolgirls
Opening with desk on sitting Atomi Shuri in uniform hair in pigtails giving footjob to end.Explore our site for more Japanese Teens pictures and videos


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Off topic chat. Pull up a chair.
The GREAT word association game
What iOS games are you playing right now?
The U.S Tax System explained w/simplicity
NCAA Football 2018
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This is a continuation of the serialization of "The Great Pennant Race Abstract" from the book It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over: The Baseball Prospectus Pennant Race Book.
Many readers will be interested in which pennant races in the last few years rank the highest and so here are the top 10 races since the dawn of the new millennium.
Rank Year Lg Div Score Teams Winner
1 2007 NL West 32.7 3 Arizona Diamondbacks (90-72)
2 2004 AL West 31.8 3 Anaheim Angels (92-70)
3 2002 NL West 30.0 3 Arizona Diamondbacks (98-64)
4 2005 AL East 28.0 2 New York Yankees (95-67)
5 2004 AL East 27.9 2 New York Yankees (101-61)
6 2006 AL Central 27.0 2 Minnesota Twins (96-66)
7 2002 AL West 26.2 2 Oakland Athletics (103-59)
8 2000 NL East 25.0 2 Atlanta Braves (95-67)
9 2001 NL Central 24.0 2 Houston Astros/St. Louis Cardinals (93-69)
10 2007 AL East 22.9 2 Boston Red Sox (96-66)
The most recent race to make the list is of course the excellent 2007 NL West race between the Diamondbacks, Padres, and Rockies thanks to the improbable heroics of the Rox. But just two years ago, the 2006 AL Central race was very tight as the Tigers, after leading the division for almost the entire season, were passed by the Twins on the season's final day as the Tigers fell in twelve innings to the lowly Royals as the Twins beat the White Sox.
The 2004 AL West race takes the second spot and the 38th overall as the Anaheim Angels finished one game in front of the A's and three games ahead of the Rangers. The Angels took matters into their own hands by beating the Rangers three out of four and the A's four out of six to close the season. Although the Diamondbacks in the 2002 NL West race were in sole possession of first place after July 15th, the race scores well since it tightened in the final week before Arizona swept a 4-game series with the Rockies to end the season and win by just 2.5 games over the Giants.
The unbalanced schedule since the introduction of divisional play coupled with the fewer number of teams per division - especially since 1995 and the addition of two more divisions - makes it a bit more difficult for modern races to rack up really high Race Scores. When you consider that 176 of the 312 races occurred since the inception of divisional play in 1969, and yet only 12 of the top 50 races but 28 of the next 50 are from this period, you can see how the calculation of the Race Score favors the past. Traditionalists will no doubt agree that this is the way it ought to be.


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Why walmart reloadable gift card are needed
The gift card is one of the most practical and pleasant gifts in our time. When a person is very busy with his work and there is no time at all to search for and choose a gift, he perfectly helps out a walmart reloadable gift card.
A walmart reloadable gift card is a great gift for any person.
How the walmart reloadable gift card works
Each gift card has its identification number, which can be found on the back of the walmart reloadable gift card.
Also, as a rule, on the gift card is the phone number of the provider. At this phone number you can absolutely free to contact the card provider.
Also on the back of the card is the expiration date.
All damage to the walmart reloadable gift card should be immediately reported to the card provider.
Unique walmart reloadable gift card number
As mentioned above, each card has its own unique number. With this number you can learn the walmart reloadable gift card balance.
To do this, on the official website of the supplier, you must enter this number in a specific field. If you experience any difficulties, immediately contact the card supplier.


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1707 NW St. Lucie W. Blvd Ste. #188
Port St. Lucie West, Florida 34986
United States
Phone: 772.237.8887
Fax: 772.237.8892
Looking for a new mattress in the Port St. Lucie West, Florida area? You've come to the right place! Mattress One, located at 1707 NW St. Lucie W. Blvd Ste. #188, carries the top mattress brands in the industry including Sealy, Tempur-Pedic, and Stearns & Foster. Regardless of the comfort level you're looking for, Mattress One stores carry the full range of support for every type of sleeper at a price you can afford.
Whether you're in the market for memory foam mattresses, hybrid-style design, or adjustable gel memory foam of any size, the sleep experts at Mattress One in Port St. Lucie West, Florida can help find your perfect mattress. With Mattress One's Price Match Guarantee, you can rest easy knowing that you'll get the best possible price on your mattress.
Don't suffer from a restless night's sleep any longer. Head to the mattress store in Port St. Lucie West, Florida with the widest selection of comfort available. Visit your local Mattress One store at 1707 NW St. Lucie W. Blvd Ste. #188 today.
Ultimate Sleep. Unbeatable Price.
Mattress 1 One is a quality mattress retailer that understands our customers and what they need for a good nights sleep. We carry all the major brands including Tempurpedic, Sealy, Serta, Stearns & Foster, and Simmons visit us online or in one of more than 300 locations in Florida, Texas and Georgia.


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Posted: 04/02/2014 12:01:00 AM CDT
Updated: 04/02/2014 12:08:48 AM CDT
Geek Squad founder Robert Stephens has been mostly silent about his 10-year tenure at Best Buy, the final two years as chief technology officer.
And even after he left in 2012, he couldn't say much because of lingering contractual ties with the Richfield-based big-box technology retailer.
Those ties lapsed this week. Now, Stephens has released a candid memo ( https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/9008/pioneerpress/stephensmemo.pdf) he sent to Best Buy management not long before heading out the door.
The retailer was, and still is, struggling to survive in an age of booming Internet commerce. Stephens intended his memo to serve as a call to arms and a blueprint for Best Buy's future.
"I don't have an adversarial relationship with them," Stephens, who now lives in San Francisco, said in an interview. "But everyone I know in Silicon Valley can't believe there is not more excitement going on there."
Best Buy's thriving online nemesis, Coupon Code.com">Amazon.com, "is not going to kill physical retail," Stephens added. "It's going to kill mediocre retail."
Stephens left a company in disarray. "Showrooming," a concept where shoppers browse physical stores and then find lower prices online, was a major challenge.
But for the past 20 months, Best Buy has been under new management. CEO Hubert Joly's team has pushed more employee training, stronger online capabilities, stronger customer service (through Geek Squad) and even embraced the vision of Best Buy as a "showroom."
Through price matching, Best Buy has turned "showrooming" into instant gratification for shoppers who don't want to wait for Amazon's shipment to arrive.
In February, Joly called the Geek Squad "one of Best Buy's biggest competitive advantages, and yet, at the same time, it is an underutilized asset."
The two brands, now inseparable, were married in a 2002 business deal that brought Stephens on board. Stephens founded the mobile tech-help company in Minneapolis in 1994.
The 2012 memo did not mince words about Best Buy's predicament and the need for drastic action.
"Nothing short of radical will accomplish much now," Stephens wrote.
In the memo, Stephens called for:
Better workers, better training. "We will employ the best people in retail at all cost to us," he said. "Hire for curiosity above all else. Curiosity for the customer, curiosity for the tech, passion and persistence."
A generous employee discount on Best Buy products is one essential variable "because it is the greatest training program ever devised."
Humility. "The public is rooting for us," he wrote. "How many turnaround stories have we seen? The public is used to them and even expects them. The only thing people love more than seeing a giant fall, is seeing it humble itself, and resurrect itself."
He added: "Admit our mistakes. Immediately. They will forgive us. We then must work tirelessly to avoid repeating mistakes. If we're going to make a mistake, it should always come from trying to create some amazing new customer benefit. Customers will always cheer those 'failures.' "
Simplicity. At a time when "anything can be Googled," it is essential for Best Buy shopping to be friction-free, Stephens wrote.
He proposed one cardinal rule for workers: "Don't ever say, 'I don't know.' Say, 'I'll find out.' At the end of the day, customers don't expect rocket science from any retail employee, but they expect us to try. The majority of complaints stem not from lack of knowledge, but lack of trying."
Free tech support. "Anything you purchase from us should come with some level of support for free beyond anything the manufacturer provides."
Digital and mobile first. Best Buy's stores should answer to those in charge of the retailers' website, not the other way around, he said.
"Make the stores part of the dot-com universe, (and) every system being changed or built will be built for the mobile interface first, then for tablet, finally for desktop. ... Stop buying PCs inside the company," and let employees bring their "own device, or provide tablet, or mobile at minimum."
Embrace being Amazon's showroom. "Go further: Become the Internet's showroom."
Kill the social media team: "Everyone is on the social-media team. No more press releases or corporate-speak."
Stephens also made some more-predictable recommendations in the memo, such as closing stores that did poorly, slashing spending, cutting the staff and otherwise streamlining and automating. That has been happening at Best Buy.
The memo in early 2012, just before the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, was prompted in part by a just-published, scathing Forbes magazine article: "Why Best Buy is going out of business ... gradually," at bitly.com/bestbuygoingout.
In his memo, Stephens wrote, "We owe (article author) Larry Downes a huge favor. We should call a spade a spade, and give him credit."
Stephens, in an interview last week, said then-CEO Brian Dunn did not take him and his ideas seriously enough, he now believes.
Around the time Stephens was considering a departure, Dunn was involved in a relationship with a female co-worker that later would become public and be deemed "improper." This led to Dunn's departure from the company and a year-long leadership vacuum.
Stephens said his vision for the company while CTO included:
-- Using his bully pulpit to help reform obvious failings in the tech industry, such as getting Sony to make its technology more open and prodding Microsoft to make its more mobile.
-- Going Google big-time by embracing the technology titan's Android operating system and "putting it in every picture frame, washing machine and television."
-- Using Best Buy as a showcase for emerging tech trends like home automation, robotics and wearable tech. The stores would have been terrific places to feature experimental but brimming-with-potential products from Kickstarter and Quirky.com, he said.
-- Making the Geek Squad, which remains the retailer's customer tech-help arm, "the tech department for every company in America with under 100 employees."
Stephens, who is now heading up as-yet-undisclosed startup projects in the San Francisco Bay Area, said he made Best Buy an offer as he prepared to quit. He proposed using Silicon Valley as the springboard for a new kind of Best Buy: a "retail lab" to experiment with fresh, promising tech-retail approaches.
The company, he said, did not take him up on that.
Tom Webb contributed to this report.


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THE HUSKY STORE is now open click the "The Husky Store" link at the top of the page. Now back to our regularly scheduled program.
Husky Records is proud to present THA BISHOP with his single release entitled THE UNIVERSAL CODE.
You can view The Universal Code video here top of this page in the menu selections choose LINKZ.
You can also purchase 'The Universal Code' mp3 download here as well in the menu selections at the top of page as well.
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SUPPORT GREAT INDIE MUSIC LIKE OURS. PURCHASE 'THE UNIVERSAL CODE' TODAY! Only .99 cents.
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Oct 25, 2018
The Husky Store is open. Finally! Now you too can have your own Husky hoodie. It's cold outside so let's stay warm this winter because we got your Husky hoodiez right here. The best part of your purchase is that you'll be simultaneously supporting Hu


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New Bike Master MG14-A2 (YB14-A2 , YB14-B2 , YTX14AH-BS) True Gel Powersports Battery
Factory Activated Gel Battery With 2 Year Warranty
It is 12 volts , 134mm Long, 88mm Wide & 166mm High, 160cca
This BikeMaster TruGel Battery is a top of the line factory activated, nano gel battery. Why is Gel better? Gel electrolyte will not leak like acid or AGM Batteries. Gel Batteries require no venting and will not overflow. Because Gel maintains constant contact with the lead plates, it sulfates less and lasts longer. This battery comes ready to use, with gel electrolyte in the battery. No messy acid to deal with. TruGel Batteries come with a 2 year Warranty from BikeMaster. No registration is required; just keep your original purchase receipt. Should you have a problem within the two years, all you have to do is contact BikeMaster and provide them with a copy of your receipt to prove date of purchase. For more information click here to check out the Bike Master website, or take a look at the videos below.
Some of the bikes this will fit are:
- 2010 Polaris Sportsman 300
- 2009 Polaris Sportsman 300
- 2008 Polaris Sportsman 300


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Starting Kindergarten is an exciting time in a young child's life filled with new experiences and opportunities to learn and grow. Kindergarten Registration at the York Catholic District School Board is now open. The Board looks forward to welcoming new families for the 2018-2019 school year.
Children must be four years old by December 31, 2018 and born in 2014 to register in Junior Kindergarten, or five years old by December 31, 2018 and born in 2013 to register in Senior Kindergarten.
The Full-Day Kindergarten (FDK) program teaches children through inquiry and play-based learning methods. Teachers and Early Childhood Educators work together in Kindergarten classes to support the unique needs of each child.
Children explore their world through play and real-life experiences. In York Catholic's FDK program, students talk to their classmates as they actively engage in problem-solving and inquiry in an atmosphere of fun and cooperation. The FDK program helps children develop a solid foundation for their future learning by enhancing their social, emotional, cognitive, language, and academic skills in a safe, caring, nurturing and fun environment.
How to Register
To determine which York Catholic elementary school offers the Full-Day Kindergarten program in their local area, parents and guardians should either visit http://locator.ycdsb.ca/, or call the Board's Admissions Department at 905-713-2711 or 416-221-5050.
Register at your local Catholic school
Parents and guardians who wish to register their children in the York Catholic District School Board FDK program should bring the original documents listed below to their local Catholic school during regular school hours, and are encouraged to call the school ahead of their visit. Students currently attending Junior Kindergarten at a York Catholic school do not need to re-register for Senior Kindergarten.
Parents/Guardians should bring the following original documents at the time of registration:
- Roman Catholic Baptismal Certificate (child or parent)
- Proof of child's age
- Proof of legal status in Canada
- Proof of residency
- Proof of Separate School Support (ex. MPAC Assessment Notice, or you can complete a school support form at the school)