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On Sunday, Nintendo finally released Wii U, its new game console. We've raved about early launch games like NintendoLand and New Super Mario Bros. U, showing that the big N still has the magic touch when it comes to making great play experiences.
Unfortunately, Nintendo is still lagging behind when it comes to creating what consumers are increasingly expecting out of their devices: a feature-rich, multimedia online experience. Wii U, available in $300 and $350 configurations, has a bunch of these features – Netflix, a social network feed called Miiverse, a digital game shop – but all of them have distinct problems that make the user experience less fun than it should be.
Problems like this at the launch of a new piece of hardware are to be expected. Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 had all kinds of problems when they shipped, and remember when the iPhone didn't even have copy-and-paste? Nintendo does have the ability to upgrade all of these features over time – and it should get cracking on them immediately. Until then, Wii U has over-promised and under-delivered. Here are the 10 things that tick me off the most.
- The Big-Ass Firmware Update. ——————————-
The reason you're only reading about Wii U's online features now is that out of the box, it doesn't have any of them. You can't even connect to the internet on Wii U without first downloading a massive firmware update. Nintendo released this at the eleventh hour – almost literally, since it was released a couple of hours before the midnight launch on Sunday – and anyone who took home a Wii U realized that if they wanted to play games with online integration (that is, the way they were meant to be enjoyed) they had to first update the firmware.
Okay, no problem. Except the giant update – which contained Miiverse, Netflix, a web browser and God knows what else – was such a ginormous download that it took users around 90 minutes to pull it down. So be aware: If you buy a Wii U for Christmas, you're going to be spending a good part of Christmas morning and some of Christmas afternoon updating the OS first. Oh, and don't get impatient and stop the process halfway, or as L.A. Times reporter Ben Fritz found, you might permanently brick your new Wii U.
- Brutally Slow OS. ——————–
This is the problem that makes every other problem seem that much worse. Clicking on anything in Wii U's menu, anything at all that you try to do, takes For. E. Ver. People can post text and images to the Miiverse feed, kind of like Twitter where you can draw pictures. But imagine Twitter where every time you wanted to view a new tweet you had to wait five seconds. Booting up, loading software, loading games, refreshing feeds.... Everything is accompanied by an agonizing wait.
- Netflix. ———–
This should have been an early killer app for Wii U, and instead it just sucks. "Netflix will be great on Wii U," I'd tell friends, apparently talking right out of my ass. "Say somebody has to get a drink from the kitchen: They don't have to pause the movie for them! They can just take the GamePad with them! Or say you're browsing: You could show a movie on the TV screen, while you browse for more on the GamePad! It's going to be our Netflix machine for sure."
Netflix on Wii U, as it turns out, doesn't do any of that. The only difference between it and any other bog standard Netflix app is that you can show the movie on the TV or the GamePad. Convenient, but nothing you couldn't do – better – with an Xbox and an iPad.
- Tiny Battery in the GamePad. ——————————-
Wii U's big defining feature, from which all things flow, is the GamePad controller. It features a touchscreen right in the middle that can display graphics perfectly in sync with the TV, allowing for new types of gameplay. Unfortunately, you'll find yourself needing to charge it constantly. This problem is compounded by the fact that even though Nintendo built the GamePad to hold a large battery, it ended up putting a smaller one inside the case, presumably to keep the cost of goods low. Oh, and you can't charge GamePad by plugging it into the Wii U console. It has its own proprietary AC adapter and it must be plugged into the wall.
- Miiverse, the Social Network in Which You Are Not Allowed to Socialize. ————————————————————————–
I signed up for Nintendo Network, Nintendo's first (!) ever attempt to create an account-based online service for its players. I clicked through the Terms of Service, skimming them. As you do. OK, I'm not going to post anything offensive, no problem. I enter my details into my profile and throw Game|Life's URL and my Twitter handle in there so people know it's me. Big mistake. Minutes after I posted my profile, I got a message saying that I had posted prohibited content and that Nintendo had blocked my profile pending a change. The hell? Turns out that you are strictly prohibited from posting anything on Miiverse that might allow someone to personally identify you. It didn't specifically call out Twitter URLs, but I guess those must also be banned. Nintendo clearly doesn't want any stories in the press about harassment (or worse) stemming from people meeting on Miiverse. So it is doing everything it can to make sure its members do not know who each other actually is.
That's apparently not the only thing that Nintendo's eagle eyes are looking out for. Destructoid writer Jim Sterling said he had a message banned for using the word "idiot" in a funny Batman quote (it was later reviewed and re-posted). One parent said on Twitter that his son cannot use his first name – Killian – because Miiverse deems the word to be offensive.
I changed my profile to "Hi!" Nintendo has not flagged it – yet.
- Content Transfer From Old Wii Is Terrible. ———————————————
If you have tons of content – game save data, Mii characters, and downloaded software – on your old Wii, you'll want to transfer them over to Wii U. The process is about as convoluted as can possibly be. You'll actually need to alternate between your Wii and your Wii U, which means either hooking them both up to the TV or swapping cables. First you have to get an SD card. Then you have to put it in your Wii U to "prepare" it for transfer. (You'll need an internet connection to do this so Nintendo can transfer the digital rights to the software.) Then you put it into the Wii and wait for, oh, about half an hour as it copies over all of the files from the internal storage to the SD card. (Admittedly, this is dressed up with a very cute animation of Pikmin hauling your files away.)
Then you put the card into the Wii U and wait another half hour as the Pikmin move the files from the SD card to the Wii U. But besides being time-consuming, there's also a big missing feature. If you had games already stored on an SD card and not on the Wii's system memory, you have to move them back to the Wii or else you can't transfer them. But if you have games stored on the SD card in the first place, that's probably because you ran out of memory on your Wii (not hard, since it only has 512 megabytes in there). So you are screwed. The transfer process will move over all of the digital licenses, but to get those games onto your Wii U, you'll have to individually download every single one again from the digital store, which will take forever.
Adding insult to injury, if you pop the SD card full o' games into your Wii U, it will actually recognize them, show them as icons on the menu, then tell you you cannot play them if you try to click on them.
- Playing Old Wii Games Is Sub-Optimal. —————————————-
Wii U is, sort of, backward compatible with the vast majority of your Wii software, whether it was on disc or downloaded. But the way it does it is not exactly seamless. In fact, it's kind of like Boot Camp. You click on a Wii icon on the Wii U menu. This causes the system to actually reboot in "Wii mode," running the old Wii operating system. At this point, you can play Wii discs in their original 480p resolution, and access your downloaded games once you've transferred them.
So instead of simply being able to drop all of your previously owned Virtual Console classic games into a folder on Wii U's main menu, you have to navigate into the Wii mode, basically rebooting the system, to do it. Most things on Wii U take forever, but man does this take forever: one minute, 28 seconds, two controllers and five clicks from startup to gameplay.
And yes, even though Wii now has tons of internal storage, you can still only use 512K of it for old Wii games, meaning you'll have to still keep an SD card full of Virtual Console games in your Wii U even if you connect a terabyte hard drive to it.
You can't play old Wii games on the GamePad's screen. This would have been pretty amazing for the classic Virtual Console games – imagine just sitting back with the GamePad and playing the 8-bit version of Legend of Zelda while someone else uses the TV. Nintendo says it's going to release new versions of the games with GamePad support for the Wii U's eShop. Hopefully it will offer some kind of upgrade path instead of screwing its most dedicated big-spending customers.
Finally, I don't know about yours, but my TV will not let me go into "normal" 4:3 display mode when it gets a 16:9, 1080p signal. And that's what Wii U outputs all the time, even for the old games. So unless I want to play Secret of Mana stretched out like a freaking funhouse mirror across my whole TV, I have to manually set the Wii U's display to 480p.
- Non-Functional Buttons on the Home Screen. ———————————————
Hey, remember like a week ago when Wii U was going to be released with "Nintendo TVii," a piece of software that was going to let you run your whole television experience using the GamePad, adding interactive content to football games and such? Yeah, that's not out yet. But there is a great big useless button on the GamePad screen for it. Also see: Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime, YouTube.
- Resistive Touchscreen Not Great for Fingers. ———————————————–
The GamePad comes with a stylus, which works well with the resistive touchscreen. But you don't always want to pull out a stylus pen; sometimes you just want to press a button with your finger and get on with it. That's not so good on this type of screen. One wants to, when using Netflix, just sort of lightly swipe with a finger and scroll through the cover gallery. Not so much.
- Miiverse Is Just Plain Confusing. ————————————-
Contrary to Nintendo's every desire, I was able to find someone I knew in real life on Miiverse, 1up editor Jeremy Parish. Or I figured it was him anyway. So I decided to make him my first friend. "You must complete initial Friends List setup first," I was told. Okay, how do I do that? It did not say. I looked around all of the different sections of Miiverse and found nothing, nothing at all. Kept looking. Looked in the Wii U instruction manual. Nothing. Jumped out to the Wii U main menu. Nothing. Edited my Nintendo Network profile. Tried all of those things over again in case I missed something. Where the eff was the Friends List Setup? Finally hit the Home button and there it was, a button that said Friends List. Clicked it.
"Do you want to have a Friends List?" it basically said. "Yes," I clicked, exasperatedly. "Okay, now you have one!" it said (again I paraphrase).
That was the Whole. Entire. Process.


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3185-2 (1)
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If you're working on a wake surf wish list, the X46 belongs at the top. Featuring 24 feet of creature comforts, cavernous storage and crisp handling all designed around a hull that delivers an incredible surf wake.
The X46 will pound through the busiest day on the water without missing a beat with space for 15 passengers inside a massive, well-appointed cockpit.

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Mr Callan Duck
Senior Research Scientist
My main function at SMRU is to monitor the size and status of the UK seal populations. Almost all of the surveying I undertake is in Scotland, with Chris Morris. Dave Thompson usually looks after harbour seals in east England. We survey harbour seals during their June and July breeding season in limited local areas. Our main surveys are during their annual moult, in August, when we obtain an index of the size of populations in different parts of Scotland. We survey grey seals during their breeding season, between mid September and the end of November/early December. We use light aircraft and small helicopters for our aerial surveys.
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Marine Mammal Science 2014 vol.30 pp.1456-1472
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Scottish Oceans Institute
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Hi All: I have been laid off due to the recession and I am in a very tight spot financially. If I cannot find work soon, I may not be able to pay my rent. Meaning, I will lose my home and the ability to take care of my foster cats. All the rescue groups are full to the max and with the flood of homeless animals ariving at the shelters daily, the outlook for my kids to get through this alive would be very bleak.To help while I am looking, I do sewing projects and make beds (snuggle sacks) for cats or small dogs that I sell for 35-55$ each (depending on fabric choice).If anyone can help or donate food/litter for the 'kids' - please let me know. Thank you all. Pray for me that I find work very, very soon!Sus
More on the horse slaughter and what you can do: http://www.awionline.org/legislation/eAlerts/2008/072408.htm THIS HAS TO STOP
I read about the plan to euthanize thousands of wild mustangs to control the population. In order to protect the Mustang, the BLM must be removed from the management of wild horses. There is ample land for the horses, but agency and cattlemen want the horses removed and are not interested in compromise. Sterilize, don't euthanize! Get more info at www.awionline.org.


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The Capitol One Academic All-District Men's Soccer Team was released and Central Connecticut senior Reece Wilson was honored as a member of the District 1 roster. COSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) selected the 11-man NCAA Division I list early this November.
COSIDA recognizes the top student-athletes in the nation for their performance athletically and academically. District 1 includes teams from Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
Wilson is an accounting major and held a GPA of 3.84 which landed him on the honorary roster. The senior captain is a 2012 Herman Trophy Candidate and was named Northeast Conference Player of the Week twice this season (9/17 and 10/22). He helped lead Central to an 8-8-2 overall record and a 6-3-1 conference mark, good for fourth place at the conclusion of the conference regular season.
Leading the team with 24 points, Wilson netted and impressive nine goals and also knotched six assists on the year. He finished the season with a shot-on-goal percentage of .551 and had two game-winning goals.


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Courtroom erupts: Howard's family exults in guilty verdict
By the third time the judge read the word, "guilty," the mother of the murdered woman let out a sob. The fourth time– the murder count– Katherine Danielle Howard's mother Debbie Umstadter jumped up and shouted, "Yes, yes," and the judge ordered her arrested for contempt and removed from the courtroom, along with two other family members.
That was the emotional end of the five-day trial of Gary Christopher "G-Money" Johnson, 19, who was found guilty December 12 of first-degree murder in the 2006 death of Dani Howard, 22, as well as on three other counts involving guns and drugs.
The jury deliberated for seven hours at U.S. District Court in Charlottesville, reaching guilty verdicts on all counts. "It's a good day for justice," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig "Jake" Jacobsen.
A jubilant Michael Howard, Dani's brother, left the courthouse with his arms raised. He thanked all the law enforcement officers involved in the three-state, multi-jurisdictional prosecution, and described his reaction upon hearing the verdict: "I felt like I won the Super Bowl for life."
And he expressed only contempt for G-Money, whom Howard now dubs "G-Monkey," and called "garbage." G-Money is the cousin of Dani's drug-dealer boyfriend, Curtis "L.A." Waldron, and he had come down from New York when he had nowhere else to live to stay with them. "Danielle helped him," fumed her brother. "She took care of him."
Howard described his sister as a vibrant, outgoing young woman "who got around the wrong people and didn't get away in time."
While the right side of the courtroom was packed with Dani's family and friends, G-Money sat alone with his attorney, Richard Davis, and displayed no emotion when the guilty verdicts that could put him away for life were read. He'll be sentenced March 16.
Eyewitness Justin "Trigger" Harris had testified that the day Dani died, February 22, 2006, her boyfriend had berated his young cousin for not working on his GED. When Dani and her boyfriend left to go buy a car for Dani, G-Money stole his cousin's softball-size chunk of cocaine, $34,000 in cash, his Glock .357 Sig, and Dani's minivan.
On her way home, Dani spotted her Ford Windstar and gave chase in her just-purchased 1999 Saab. According to testimony, G-Money pulled over on Cadmus Drive and fired at her, then left her to die in the street from two bullet wounds.
Wearing prison stripes, her boyfriend, Waldron, testified about the three haunting messages he found in his voicemail from Dani the morning after she died. Two of the calls were made at 12:16am. "The first message, she said she was behind my cousin and Trigger, and they're in her van and won't pull over," he said.
The second message he received, he told the jury, Dani said, "I'm behind your cousin. I'm behind Trigger. I'm honking my horn and flashing my lights, and they won't pull over." And in the final message at 12:18, all he could hear was a horn honking.
Dani had purchased the Glock used to shoot her from Snooky's Pawn Shop on the Downtown Mall as a birthday present for Waldron in 2005. Investigators found the empty gun box in her house with a receipt from Snooky's. By contacting the gun's previous owner and comparing casings from a firing range to those found at the scene and in the minivan, police were able to identify the Glock as the murder weapon.
Perhaps most damaging for the accused, the prosecution brought in five witnesses on December 10 who all testified that G-Money had told them about killing a woman in Virginia. Reluctantly testifying were his girlfriend and best friend from New York, the two young women from Culpeper who drove the fleeing G-Money and Trigger to Harrisburg and New York (and saw their big wads of cash and cocaine as well), and a prisoner from the Albemarle Charlottesville Regional Jail.
Prosecutor Jacobsen cited all the people the defendant "blabbed to" about shooting Howard. "Had he kept his mouth shut," said Jacobsen, "this murder still wouldn't have been solved."
Defense attorney Richard Davis contended there was reasonable doubt and that Trigger Harris could have been the gunman. "Do you believe Trigg has no motive to lie?" asked Davis.
"I never thought it would take three years to get a verdict," said Don Howard, her father, after the trial. "He's going to get what he deserves."
After being hauled out of the courtroom in contempt, Judge Crigler brought in the three family members and lectured them on disrespectful behavior in the courtroom– but did not further penalize them. "I can understand the emotion," he said, while still admonishing the three, "You owe respect to the court–- if not the defendant."
Howard's mother Debbie Umstadter has not spoken to the media before about her daughter's death, but after the case was closed, she said, with tears streaming down her face, "It's not any justice for us. It's justice for Danielle."
And even with the guilty verdict she had hoped for, she still reminded, "We'll wake up on Christmas morning, and she won't be there again."
Last updated December 16 at 9:40am. This version corrects the age of Gary Johnson.
2 comments
To Dani's Family,
We are sorry you had to go through this, but glad in the end, you got justice for your daughter. We've been thinking about you this week, and wish you peace. Nothing will bring her back,we know, but at least you know the people responsible will be punished.
Heidi Swartz
Fresh out the Federal Building.


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Walden Woods Project delivers on affordable housing pledge
Nearly a quarter-century after first pledging to help Concord find land for affordable housing, the Walden Woods Project has fulfilled its commitment by paving the way for construction of new units in town.
State and local officials joined representatives from the Lincoln-based environmental and conservation group last week at the Colonial Inn in Concord Center to celebrate the end of a long process to not only identify viable land but acquire it.
Earlier this month, a 12-acre parcel near the state prison in West Concord was officially transferred from the state to the Concord Housing Development Corporation at no cost to the town.
"Twenty-three years later, we are here to say that commitment has been fulfilled,'' said Kathi Anderson, executive director of the Walden Woods Project.
The corporation will begin the process of getting the housing designed, approved, and built, and will be seeking state and local grants, donations, and other funds to help subsidize the project, which will probably take years to complete, officials said.
Anderson said the pledge was made in 1990 after the Walden Woods Project, founded by musician Don Henley, fought a housing development near the area made famous by 19th-century naturalist and author Henry David Thoreau. Once the proposal was stopped, the Walden Woods Project said it would find land elsewhere in town for housing.
Many options were pursued but none of the previous efforts worked out, Anderson said.
"It's very, very hard to conserve land, and it's even harder to find land for affordable housing,'' she said.
Several years ago, the Walden Woods Project learned of an undeveloped parcel under the control of the state Department of Correction, and began looking into its potential use by the town.
In 2009, state Representative Cory Atkins and then-Senator Susan Fargo filed legislation authorizing the state to convey the parcel to the Concord housing agency. The bill was passed and signed into law in 2010. Since then, state and local officials have been hammering out the details of the deal, and conducting appraisals and environmental tests.
Four years after the bill was filed, the transfer became official.
"This is a 23-year-old story,'' said Atkins, a Concord Democrat. "It really took a spirit of cooperation. We're delighted Concord has this opportunity.''
Anderson said the Walden Woods Project paid for the appraisal and environmental tests on the property. She said because there were so many conveyance restrictions, such as requiring all units to be set aside for income-eligible residents, the appraised value was $0, meaning the land was free.
While the official conveyance was the last step in the land transfer, the task of planning, designing, and building the project is just beginning, said David Hale, the Concord Housing Development Corporation's chairman.
Hale said the project is "an amazing opportunity'' for the town to provide affordable housing with convenient access to public transportation, shops and restaurants, and recreation.
"It's a fantastic location,'' Hale said. "It's right on the future Bruce Freeman Rail Trail, it's within walking distance to West Concord and the train station.''
Hale said the next step will be reaching out to the affordable housing development community and soliciting proposals for the site. He said the town agency will be looking for a variety of options, including housing for families and senior citizens. He said it's still not clear how many units will be built, or whether they will be rental apartments or sold as condominiums.
Hale said once the corporation board receives the proposals, it will work closely with town officials and residents to pick the one that best meets the needs of the community, and fits in with the neighborhood.
"Our objective is to make it an open and inclusive process,'' Hale said. "I expect it will be a several-year process before we have the opportunity to break ground.''
Once a design is selected, Hale said, the project will have to be approved by several boards, including the Board of Selectmen. Also, because it is an affordable housing project, Hale said, the corporation will need funds to help subsidize the construction. He said it will likely be seeking state grants, tax credits, donations, and funds from the town's Community Preservation Act program to offset the costs.
Carmin Reiss, chairwoman of the Board of Selectmen, said members support the project and will do what they can to help move it forward.
Reiss said given the high cost of living in Concord, having more affordable housing opens up the community to different groups of people, and also gives seniors on fixed incomes the option of staying in their hometown.
"We really want, as a town, to maintain a stock of affordable housing and the diversity that it brings to our community,'' Reiss said.
Jennifer Fenn Lefferts can be reached at email@example.com.


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Lesson five in the BICSI/Iowa State telecom installation correspondence course focuses on fire-containment with firestop systems.
When installing cable on any project, you must consider fire containment. This means understanding the importance of firestopping. Technically speaking, the term firestop refers to the installation of "qualified" firestop materials in holes made through fire-rated floors, walls or ceilings for the penetration of pipes, cables or other construction/building, service/utility items. Since you often must create openings in existing walls and floors within buildings in this line of work, it's equally necessary that you safely close them.
Why is firestopping necessary? This practice buys you time, because fire and smoke typically spread through openings in walls, floors and ceilings. It also saves lives, protects critical systems and investments and serves as a building liability reinforcement. You should use firestop products to restore the opening to the original fire-rated integrity. Most common requirements are for 1-, 2- or 3 hr. In rare instances, you'll need a 4-hr to 6-hr rating.
As a cabling installer, you must use approved methods to restore any penetrations made during the installation to the original rating of the structure you're penetrating. You're also responsible to firestop any holes created by the removal of existing penetrations. The two basic types of penetrations are:
- A through penetration is a hole made in a fire-rated wall or floor to run pipes, cables or any type of building service, completely through from one side of the fire barrier to the other.
- A membrane penetration is a hole in one side of a fire-rated wall or floor for a single surface-barrier penetration. (i.e., an electrical outlet/switch box).
A third party must independently test all firestop materials to ensure functionality. Always install products according to the manufacturer's instructions based on independent testing, or you may be held legally and financially responsible.
This means you cannot substitute products that are not part of the qualified assembly; cannot add more of a product to get a higher rating; cannot add or change the type or location of penetrations; can be held personally responsible for improperly firestopping or not firestopping at all; and can contact the manufacturers to get written assistance for situations not covered in their installation practices for qualified assemblies.
The topic of firestop systems can be broken down even further into two broad categories: mechanical and nonmechanical.
Mechanical systems consist of manufactured elastomeric components pre-sized and shaped to fit around standard cables, tubes and conduits (Fig. 1). These products are made of several flexible substances that resemble rubber. These systems use mechanical pressure to hold the elastomeric components in place and provide a tight seal around the penetrating devices. Whether or not this includes frames, you must have some means of applying compression to the modules. The elastomeric modules are fitted around penetrating elements or arrayed within a flame.
Nonmechanical firestop systems are generally pliable. These include items such as putties, caulks, blankets, silicone foam and other types of materials that can be molded to fit into an opening to seal it.
Since all firestop products have unique properties to help contain the fire, each may contain one or more properties, including:
- A firestop that is endothermic can absorb heat. This prevents the temperature from rising on the other side of the fire barrier.
- A firestop that is intumescent will swell or enlarge when under the influence of heat (Fig. 2). The material swells around and within the penetration to provide a tight seal. In some applications, it's designed to crush the penetration, such as with combustible conduits.
- A firestop that is ablative develops a hard char that resists erosion from fire and flames. This allows a soft firestop to become rigid and to help it withstand the force from a hose stream (Fig. 3 on page 40).
When referring to firestopping systems, the terms qualified, tested, listed, classified and approved are essentially synonymous. Each refers to firestopping systems tested by an independent laboratory and certified as effective (different laboratories use different terms). For simplicity, this lesson uses the word qualified to represent all of these terms.
As they relate to firestopping, the terms system and design are nearly synonymous; both refer to an arrangement of specific firestopping materials in a specific configuration (See the table on page 38). Keep in mind, this lesson does not address local authorities' requirements concerning the design, use and specifications for these structures or assemblies. Consider the following guidelines before selecting a qualified firestopping solution for your specific application.
- Consider actual conditions tested/ covered by the system.
- When you are substituting one manufacturer's system for another's, make sure the firestop materials selected are appropriate for the actual conditions.
- Never substitute products of a qualified firestop system with another manufacturer's products. Products from one manufacturer's system are not interchangeable with products from another's.
- The difference between the actual floor/ceiling/wall thickness and conditions tested during qualification may affect listed F and T ratings. Generally, the thinner the qualified construction, the better the F and T performance may be if actual construction is thicker. The reverse may not be true.
- A firestop material capable of sealing against the passage of smoke and toxic gases through the penetration is desirable (Fig. 4).
Most importantly, you should select a qualified firestop system that matches the actual conditions that exist (i.e., penetrating item(s), material, wall/floor/ceiling configuration). If you cannot make an exact match between firestop systems listed and actual conditions, select a system that's close and seek an engineering judgment by a qualified local authority having jurisdiction.
This correspondence course is offered in conjunction with BICSI, but is not directly sponsored by the organization. The intent of the course is to help students prepare for the written portion of the BICSI Installer Registration Program. This BICSI program also requires hands-on training, which is outside the scope of this correspondence course. This course is also offered as continuing education for those already registered as a BICSI apprentice, installer or technician.
STRUCTURED WIRING SYSTEMS MAKE INROADS With the growing use of the Internet, the wider application of PCs for schools and offices and the use of entertainment systems, residential wiring needs are changing fast.
According to Cahners In-Stat Group, Scottsdale, Ariz., a high-tech market research firm, response to these changing needs will create a residential structured wiring market that will exceed $1.4 billion by 2004. A structured wiring solution brings voice, data and video services to a central distribution center or hub.
The components of a structured wiring system use more expensive materials than the plain old telephone system (so-called POTS) wiring. This includes Cat. 5 twisted-pair (for voice and data). The recommended Cat. 5 cabling can support a local area network (LAN) and can transfer data at a speed of 100 megabytes per second.
RG-6 coaxial cable (for video) replaces RG-59, coaxial cable. The RG-6 cables, which are a replacement for the older RG-59 type cable, are routed to selected ports throughout the house, allowing each TV to receive its own signal or share it with other TV or computer monitors. Whether standard or optional, the hub enhances a structured wiring system, making it easier to install LANs and additional cabling for extra telephone lines, fax and data lines from a centralized location. Maintenance and repair are made easier.
BICSI OFFERS VIDEO TOURS FOR STRUCTURED CABLING TAMPA, Fla. - BICSI, the international telecommunications association, announces its new video-based training, "Introduction to Commercial Voice/Data Cabling Systems." Designed to provide a general knowledge of commercial telecommunications cabling, the video visually explains structured cabling systems through a narrated tour of installations in both large and small facilities.
The video provides an overview of building pathways and spaces, codes and standards, electrical protection and copper and fiber cabling media. The narrator and BICSI Master Instructor inspect cabling infrastructure components in a real-world setting. Accompanying study guide/workbooks allow students to review diagrams and key points in more detail.
For more information on the video, call BICSI at (800) 242-7405 or (813) 979-1991.


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JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- Just weeks before South African Olympian Oscar Pistorius is due to face trial on charges of murdering his girlfriend, he posted a Valentine's Day message on his website, calling the shooting a "devastating accident."
The killing of Reeva Steenkamp, which took place on Valentine's Day last year, and the subsequent charges against Pistorius shocked South Africans. A bail hearing attracted massive global media attention.
"No words can adequately capture my feelings about the devastating accident that has caused such heartache for everyone who truly loved -- and continues to love Reeva," said the athlete, who rarely makes public statements or appearances.
Pistorius told last year's hearing that he mistook Steenkamp for a burglar and fired shots through the door of a toilet cubicle off the bathroom where she was concealed. The prosecution accuses him of killing Steenkamp in anger during an argument.
In a tweet, Pistorius called Friday's statement "a few words from my heart."
"The pain and sadness -- especially for Reeva's parents, family and friends consumes me with sorrow," Pistorius said on his website. "The loss of Reeva and the complete trauma of that day, I will carry with me for the rest of my life."
Pistorius, a double amputee dubbed South Africa's "Blade Runner," made Olympics history as the first sprinter to compete using prosthetic blades. His trial is due to begin next month.
Twitter: @latimesdixon


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Margaret F, Illinois
- 12/13/2010
About Me
Hello, my name is Margaret. I was raised in a suburb just outside Chicago and live just a few minutes from my childhood home in Oak Lawn, Illinois. In addition to my full time career, I am happy to be completely overwhelmed with my three boys' lives. I have served for many years as their school's PTA president, the district's Council President and I am an executive officer for the town's baseball organization. I spend most of the months of the year coaching soccer and baseball. I love to spend time outside, I am an avid reader, a diehard Cubs fan who still believes there is always next year (sad but true) and above all, I am a Disney maniac.
About My Family
My husband Mark and I just celebrated our sixteenth wedding anniversary with a trip to our favorite place, Disney World. We are the proud parents of three rambunctious boys ages 13, 9 and 7. The boys' interests and activities change by the day and we spend most weeknights and weekends running from one sport and club to another. Our boys have become hooked on Disney just like their parents and still look forward to every trip with enthusiasm and excitement. We continue to find new and exciting things to do at Disney World as well as our list of favorites.
About My Disney Experience
I did not make my first trip to Disney World until I was nineteen, but am quickly making up for lost time. My numerous visits have come as a young adult, newlywed, mother-to-be and now mom of boys from infancy to the dreaded teen years. Over the years, we have visited for almost every major holiday, birthdays and anniversaries and after my upcoming trip, will have stayed at every resort Disney offers. The magic of Disney World never stops for us. We plan every trip with the same excitement as our first and each trip is a new family adventure to be treasured and remembered. My hope is that I can help other families experience the fun, laughter and magic that our family finds in every trip.


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*Watercraft daily rental rates vary by marina, season and availability. Boat and PWC configurations, colors and features may vary slightly by location.


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Capcom announces GamesCom line-up
Capcom has announced its GamesCom line-up for Cologne. Here's the list of games that will be on-hand: Lost Planet 2, Monster Hunter 3 MotoGP 09/10 Spyborgs Dark Void Tatsunoko vs. Capcom Ultimate All-Stars Sounds like good times to us, and we will be there. Full press release posted after the break.
Spyborgs headlines
Capcom dates Spyborgs
Capcom has slapped a September 25th date on Wii exclusive beat-'em-up, Spyborgs. The action is interspersed with rhythm action and on-rails mini-games. There are puzzles and interactive cartoon cut-scenes too. Not long to wait now. Thanks, EG.
Capcom to attend GameOn! London
It has been announced that Capcom will attend GameOn! London this year. Games available for the public to try out include: Dark Void (Xbox 360) Lost Planet 2 (Xbox 360) Marvel vs Capcom (PSN) Original Resident Evil (Wii) Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles (Wii) Spyborgs (Wii) Tatsunoko Vs Capcom (Wii) "We are delighted to be part […]
CAPTIVATE 09 embargo lifts - All coverage rounded-up
The CAPTIVATE embargo just lifted, revealing impressions on Dead Rising 2, Lost Planet 2 and plenty me. Don't trawl the web: we'll do it for you. We'll add everything as it appears. Lost Planet 2 Eurogamer preview Eurogamer screens Eurogamer.fr boss battle trailer "Downloadable Lost Planet 2 demo at E3" (Eurogamer) Lost Planet 2 Demo […]
CAPTIVATE08: Everything in one place
The embargo's up on content from Capcom's CAPTIVATE08 event, and Eurogamer's done some work for once. We'll just link to Tom's stuff, as everyone else appears to be asleep. Update: Some alarm clocks have gone off now. Links added. Resident Evil 5 preview (new screens) – Eurogamer First Resident Evil 5 gameplay impressions – Kotaku […]


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|2012-05-08, 03:47
|Link #41
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: California
And for the other thing in vol 1 taking in to consideration what you said and Issei's character your right he would never say this .
But Q's is what if he did?
I am not saying she did not care about him or anything but it looks like to me she from what I saw in the anime Rias only took an interest in Ise because she saw something in him or gave her some sort of feeling. The SG perhaps?
So after Ise died at Yuma's hand she appeared and tried to revive ise as devil servent and learned she was right about Ise being special because she needed 8 pawn pieces to revive him.
So Rias originally made him her servent and revived him because of his SG.
Of course after this their relationship changes as she gets to know him and what he does for her.
Last edited by sky black swordman; 2012-05-08 at 04:25. Reason: forgot add other things.
|2012-05-08, 04:09
|Link #42
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Europe
sky black swordman@ I don't think that was the case. You think was the Sg ,but from both anime and Ln they give me the feeling that was something else that attract one to the other.But this is what i think from what I read/watch . Also it 's pretty hard answer you question because if Ise would do that,at that time would be another Ise and not the Ise that we know.
|2012-05-08, 04:13
|Link #43
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: California
And are proably right about the whole attract one to the other thing this LN also is about romance.
Last edited by sky black swordman; 2012-05-08 at 04:33.
|2012-05-08, 04:40
|Link #44
Anime Critic
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: California
Retaining to kiba's cut arm.
Is it going to be another case like Saraog in vol 10?
It's going to hinder his movements for awhile, not even a Pheonix tear can completely heal it right?
I still don't like how ascalon = 1 mutated piece.
|2012-05-08, 06:16
|Link #45
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Tokyo, Japan
@ Soji and sky...(too long to type) Rias' main reason for reviving Ise is because she noticed that she had to use 8 pawn piece to revive him as a devil, she noticed that Ise had BG later on. The romantic feeling can't be used as reason for reviving because before Vol.2 it still can be questioned(whether its real love or just high affection for something precious)
@Jellal Kiba's arm should be fixable since the Phoenix Tear only heals wound that the potion has contact with so it didn't heal the arm instead only close the wound. If he wants to recombined his arm again, then he needs to wield his arm like what Cao Cao did in Vol.9
Last edited by NoirX; 2012-05-08 at 07:38. Reason: Correcting explanation thx to sky
|2012-05-08, 06:43
|Link #46
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: California
And like you said later learned that the SG was one of the Thirteen Longinus The Boosted Gear.
So like I said before Rias originally made him her servent and revived him because of his SG.
Oh and it was not in vol 11 that Cao Cao did that but in volume 9 during his first one on one with Issei.
Last edited by sky black swordman; 2012-05-08 at 06:56.
|2012-05-08, 06:43
|Link #47
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Europe
NoirX @I don't say that the reason was love,i agree with you here. But like you say in this line
|2012-05-08, 08:34
|Link #48
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2012
We don't know that Ascalon was a mutant piece, we just know it was one pawn. Now if you're saying a mutant piece wasn't strong enough, remember mutant pawns are at least 8 pawn's worth.
As for why Rias revived Issei as a devil in the first place?
It looks like a whim, but there are several factors.
1.) She's been watching him for a while, so she knows what kind of guy he is, and how loyal he is to his friends and family.
2.) There is SOMETHING about him that the Fallen Angels (at that time an enemy faction) considered a threat, so it would be good for the Devils to possess that. (She did not know at the time that she would be getting Ddraig.)
3.) His desire for her was so strong that she was summoned personally, a subordinate would not do. That seriously goes against all protocol, and demanded further investigation, but if he died, that would be impossible.
Lastly, I suspect that Rias gave Issei unlimited viewing privileges of her body because she knew that that more than anything else would win his undying loyalty. She, of course, was absolutely correct.
It really helps that the Gremory clan treats its servants well. As for those servants who rebelled in Vol 12, remember, the Gremory and Sitri clans are exceptions. Those servants were most likely treated quite badly and always reminded that they are just "trash" except for their Sacred Gears, and when the opportunity arose to rebel, they did.
|2012-05-08, 10:21
|Link #49
U mad?
Join Date: Apr 2012
Since we are talking about Rias reviving Ise in Vol. 1, how did Rias know that she couldn't use Bishop / Rook / Knight on Ise? Do high-class devils get some device measuring a person's worth in Evil Pieces along with their chess set? Or is it pure instinct?
|2012-05-08, 10:47
|Link #51
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Tokyo, Japan
|2012-05-08, 11:01
|Link #52
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2012
Rias explains it to Ise in volume 1:
"When I was trying to reincarnate you, the only pieces I had left were 1 Knight, 1 Rook, 1 Bishop and 8 Pawns. To make you into my servant, I could only use all 8 pieces of Pawn. The other pieces didn't have the power to reincarnate you."
Last edited by Kutra; 2012-05-08 at 11:39.
|2012-05-08, 12:33
|Link #55
U mad?
Join Date: Apr 2012
@Kutra I know that Rias used all 8 pawns to revive him, but I tried to focus more on the fact that she knew Ise couldn't be revived with any other pieces; not about mixing pieces.
@NoirX Is that stated in the novel because I can't remember reading it?
|2012-05-08, 21:59
|Link #58
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: California
Azure-Priest Like I said before in my other post's it is as I said before.
And on the " As for why Rias revived Issei as a devil in the first place? It looks like a whim, but there are several factors."
If we use what we saw in the anime tells us more that LN did not LN only implied it some what . It shows us Rias felt something or sense sonething more then likely the SG or the Dragon sleeping in him.
On 1 the first part is right but the second part is not.
On 2 Is right. His connection with fallen angel said something about him after at he time he was a normal human so why a falllen angel be around him or with him.
On 3 thats right. but its more like he lust after her breast's as he was dying. Remmember at the time he was in love with yuma and even thought about marrying her if possible in the future. and even though she killed him he still at that time loved her. So he summoned her because of his lust and desire for her breast and body.
And on the lastly part I think you maybe right. rias may have manipulate his feelings and emotions to make him loyal to her.
Awrya on where that line is vol 1 its in new life.
On Asia being revived yeah. It is as Kutra said Rias already knew about the SG and what it can do so she wanted it .
On that subject I wonder if that was the only reason Rias revived Asia I mean if you think about what Azure-Priest posted on the "lastly part" I think her reviving Asia may have solidified Issei's loyalty and affections toward her.
Think about it at the time Asia was more important to him and cared about her more then Rias and the group. He had very little or no loyaly toward her or her group at all. He shows this by talking back to Rias.
He even said to Rias face to let him out of the group so he can go save Asia even though he knew he was not strong enough to save Asia and was likely to die in the attempt but was more then ready to die to try and save her. His loyalty was toward his friend Asia then his master Rias.
Last edited by sky black swordman; 2012-05-09 at 00:53.
|2012-05-09, 05:33
|Link #59
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Europe
sky black swordman@ Wait ...slow down here. Why you soo death set to make Rias a manipulative girl?.We know pretty well why she don't want ise do go there and also why she bring asia back to life.Honestly i don't really know why you try to make both ise and rias what they are not. If you think Rias is this kind of character you really need to re-read the whole ln. Because seem to me we see a different character.
Also i was sure we already agree that not was because the SG and Ddraig that she bring him back to life.And we back to square one? Really it seems you are looking for thing that are not here.
|2012-05-09, 06:00
|Link #60
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: California
And no I dont need to Re read the whole LN I know.
I know Ise is not like that .
And I know Rias is not like that and she is not a a manipulative girl.
The only time when she look like she could was in vol 7 with Ross but then that show us how good she is at buying someone off or bribing someone and may also show us she may have a promising career as sales woman.
Well then on to a new topic then. has anybody got one?
Last edited by sky black swordman; 2012-05-09 at 06:24.
|harem, school life, shounen
|Thread Tools


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The Yale men's swimming and diving team downed Columbia 178-122 to grab a season-opening win in a meet made all the more crucial by the fact that it is the Bulldogs' lone conference showdown before the new year. Adding to the excitement around the victory were the impressive performances from numerous Yale freshmen in just their first collegiate meets; members of the class of 2015 took home six individual wins, while junior transfer Paschall Davis grabbed another to make it seven overall for Eli newcomers.
The Bulldogs got off to a hot start in the 200-yard relay, thanks to the performances of three freshmen - Mike Lazris, Andrew Heymann and Alwin Firmansyah. Senior Goksu Bicer, a first-team All-Ivy honoree in the butterfly last year, rounded out the squad.
Another freshman, Robby Harder, made it back-to-back wins for the Elis, taking first in the 1000-yard freestyle (9:30.61). Just behind him was classmate Dillon Thompson, who placed third (9:37.44). Harder grabbed a second-straight win just minutes later, showing versatility with a victory in the 200-yard freestyle (1:14.71), touching out yet another freshman, Josh Ginsborg, for the win.
Relay star Mike Lazris took second in the 100-yard backstroke in 51.88 before freshman Ronald Tsui grabbed first in the 100-yard breaststroke (58.46), touching out Heymann, who took second (58.55). Firmansyah added two more to the Bulldog win column with victories in the 200-yard butterfly (1:47.59) and 100-yard freestyle (46.09), and Davis followed that up with a first-place finish in the 50-yard freestyle (21.17).
Lazris and Thompson went 2-3 in the 200-yard backstroke before a comparatively aged veteran sophomore Danny McDermott grabbed first in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:06.90). Freshmen continued to impress in the 500-yard freestyle, as Harder established himself as a force to be reckoned with in the Yale distance corps, taking first in 4:33.70. Ginsborg finished second in 4:36.87.
A senior and junior were the story in the 100-yard butterfly, where reigning Ivy League champion Goksu Bicer took first, just ahead of Davis. But the freshmen struck yet again in the 200-yard IM, as Firmansyah earned a victory, just ahead of third-place finisher Heymann.
Yale capped the day with a victory in the 400-yard freestyle relay, thanks to strong swimming from Bicer, Davis, sophomore Pat Killian and Harder. Bulldog divers also turned in strong showings, as sophomore Tyler Pramer took third in the 3 meter event (289.35) before junior Colton Staab matched that feat in the 1 meter (286.35).
The story of the day, however, were Yale's freshmen, who accounted for seven individual victories and 17 top-three finishes. They and the rest of the Bulldogs will be back in action next week at Boston University for the highly competitive Terrier Invitational.
Report filed by Chelsea Janes '12, Yale Sports Publicity


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The AAFP is urging the House Committee on Appropriations to provide adequate funding for various HHS programs essential to sustaining and strengthening the nation's primary care physician workforce in the fiscal year 2013 (FY13) budget.
"There is ample evidence that primary care physicians serve as a strong foundation for a more efficient and effective health care system," the AAFP said in written testimony(5 page PDF) submitted to the House Appropriations Committee, which funds the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and other health-related agencies. "Federal investment not only would help to guide health system change to achieve optimal, cost-efficient health for everyone, but also would support primary care medicine training in what the January 2012 Bureau of Labor Statistics projections recognized as 'the most rapidly growing sector in terms of employment through 2020.'"
The March 29 testimony calls on the committee to provide at least $7 billion for HRSA in the FY13 appropriations bill and to allocate specific funding levels, including
- at least $71 million for Health Professions Primary Care Training and Enhancement, a program authorized as part of Title VII, Section 747, of the Public Health Service Act;
- $10 million for teaching health centers development grants;
- $4 million for rural physician training grants;
- $122.2 million for the Office of Rural Health Policy;
- at least $300 million for the National Health Service Corps;
- $120 million for the Primary Care Extension program; and
- $3 million for the National Health Care Workforce Commission.
- The AAFP is urging the House Committee on Appropriations to approve specific funding levels for programs that are vital to sustaining and strengthening the nation's primary care physician workforce.
- In written testimony, the AAFP provided the committee with a brief description of the various programs and explained the role of each in supporting the primary care physician workforce.
- The AAFP also reiterated support for various programs, such as the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the National Health Care Workforce Commission.
In its written testimony, the AAFP provided a brief description of each program, explaining its respective role in supporting the primary care physician workforce. For example, Section 747 of Title VII is the only federal program that provides funds specifically to academic departments and programs to increase the number of primary care health professionals. The AAFP said it is "gravely concerned that failure to provide adequate funding for Title VII, Section 747, of the Primary Care Training and Enhancement program will destabilize education and training support for family physicians."
"Between 1998 and 2008, in spite of persistent primary care physician shortages, family medicine lost 46 training programs and 390 residency positions, and general medicine lost nearly 900 positions."
Primary care training grants are "vital" to family medicine, general internal medicine and general pediatrics training, said the AAFP. The grants strengthen curricula and offer incentives for training in underserved areas.
"In the coming years, medical services utilization is likely to rise, given the increasing and aging population, as well as the insured status of more people," said the AAFP. "These demographic trends will worsen family physician shortages."
The Academy also called on the committee to support reforms to graduate medical education programs. The AAFP has long advocated that primary care residents be trained in nonhospital settings, which is where most primary care is delivered, and teaching health centers development grants help in this process.
"Federal financing of graduate medical education has led to training that occurs mainly in hospital inpatient settings, even though most patient care is delivered outside of hospitals in ambulatory settings," said the AAFP in its testimony. The teaching health centers program, on the other hand, provides resources to qualified community-based ambulatory care settings that operate a primary care residency, the Academy said, calling on the committee to invest $10 million in program grants.
The AAFP also reiterated its support for AHRQ and the National Health Care Workforce Commission, asking for at least $400 million for AHRQ and $3 million for the workforce commission.
Related ANN Coverage
Ensuring Access to GME Is Focus of Message on Capitol Hill
AAFP Leaders Meet With Congressional Staff to Highlight Key Issues and Concerns
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AGA Ventilation
Elegant and powerful AGA rangehoods provide optimal ventilation and style to any kitchen. Available in both 36-inch and 44-inch models, each size offers a three-speed 600 CFM fan, halogen lights, and charcoal filters to remove cooking odors.
High powered and sleek our AGA rangehoods can be vented inside or outside as each hood contains a re-circulation kit for inside venting. Available in Black, Ivory, Cranberry, Vintage White and Stainless Steel. Choose the finish and size that works for you.


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Emma Stone burst into tears while promoting The Amazing Spider-Man 2: Rise Of Electro in Sydney, Australia.
Stone, 25, was conducting an interview for 2DayFM when the hosts surprised her with a blast from her past: a video message from the Spice Girls' Mel B.
"Oh my God, is Mel B talking to me? I'm going to cry. I'm so excited, I am legitimately crying," she said as she watched the clip. "I am the biggest Spice Girls fan ever."
Hosts Merrick Watts and Sophie Monk originally intended to have Mel B visit the show so she could meet Stone, but because Scary Spice couldn't make it, they decided to have her leave a message for the movie star.
"Hi Emma this is Mel B," the former Spice Girl says in the clip before thanking her for being a such a good fan and calling her out for liking Baby Spice the best.
You can check out a clip of the moment below.


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The popular and favorite blue dude with tude, Sonic The Hedgehog, blasts his way onto the Nintendo DS and takes high-speed action gaming to a whole new level...literally! He's the fastest blue hedgehog on this planet and now he's pairing up with royalty - Queen, Blaze the Cat. This dynamic duo is a pair from different dimensions...but it's a match made to save the world! In search of the Sol Emerald, Sonic and Blaze must battle it out in their own worlds but as they do, ripple effects will change the events of the others. Sonic Rush takes full advantage of the dual screens on the Nintendo® DS system to deliver a frenetic adventure with dizzying dives, near vertical curves, extreme jumps, brain-twisting loops and more!


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Wait — Is Tyra DATING New ANTM Judge Robert Evans?
Maybe! RadarOnline says that the former supermodel and America's Next Top Model host was seen "canoodl[ing] over dirty martinis" with her new co-star, the 24-year-old male model Robert Evans at the Palihouse in LA last week. There are plenty of reasons to be interested in this development: up until her recent breakup, Tyra Banks has […]Read more


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Update your admin phone number and email address in Office 365
This article explains how you, the admin, can change your business phone and email address in Office 365.
If you're looking for how to change your company's profile information, such as company name and address, company phone number, and technical contact information, see Change your organization's address, technical contact email, and other information.
To update your name, phone number, and email address
Use the Personal info page to change your name, mobile phone number, and alternate email address. The alternate email address is used for important notifications, such as resetting your Office 365 admin password (not your computer admin password).
Browse to the Microsoft 365 admin center.
Click Settings > Office 365 Settings > Personal info.
On the contact details section, update your phone, primary email address and alternate email address. Make sure you use something different from your Office 365 email address for your alternate email address.
IMPORTANT: The alternate email address and the mobile phone number are needed for resetting your Office 365 admin password (not your computer admin password).
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Why I Created New Art and Success Website (Mar 26 2018)
Studio Tour
Welcome to my Open Studio Tour (June 2018)
Cold Wax Workshops
Takapuna, New Zealand (February 2018)
LIVE Cold Wax Workshop - OAXACA City, Mexico-Oct 18-26, 2019!!
Collaborative Work and Fun Painting Exercises
Pamela Caughey and Jane Kenyon, Large Scale Black and White Mixed Media Painting on Paper
Time Lapse – Pamela Caughey and Jane Kenyon, Mixed Media on Paper
LIVE YouTube Videos
[2019-03-23] LIVE YouTube Call - How to Make Your Own Cold Wax Medium!
[2019-03-16] - LIVE in Pam's Studio What I'm Working On - Personal Voice
How Do You Find Your Personal Voice?
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Pamela Caughey - ART SUPPLY GIVEAWAY WINNERS!
Pamela Caughey -Part I - INTERVIEW: FERRIS MARTINEZ-Painter/Assistant to NICHOLAS WILTON
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Pamela Caughey - BONUS - INTERVIEW with FERRIS MARTINEZ-Painter/Assistant to NICHOLAS WILTON
Pam Caughey - INTERVIEW: Nicholas Wilton
Part 2 – Cold Wax Medium, Solvents and Galkyd Gel
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Total Members Voted: 32
So black women's thread vs. woman's thread? If the thread is suppose to include everyone, why not call it a woman's thread? Hmmm interesting.
I know you aren't talking about black women. Yesterday I saw Maria fighting Pablo over some oranges. I don't know why they were mad b/c they were both selling roses. At least when black people fight, the police can break them up, but Mexicans don't stop fighting until immigration shows up.


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First, speaking coach Olivia Mitchell, in preparing for her own Ignite! talk, shares what she considers the fastest way to prepare an Ignite! talk--knowing that it sometimes takes longer to prepare for a short presentation.
Writer Lisa Orange just attended the Ignite! DC event, and she offered The Eloquent Woman this glimpse at the proceedings and some of the presentations that caught her eye:
What would you say in five minutes, and how would you say it?
Just five minutes, and 20 slides. That's the premise of Ignite DC, a high-energy gathering of people with ideas and the courage to put them out in front of 300+ strangers
Ignite DC #6, held earlier this month, had the flavor of a Tweetup and the velocity of a speed-dating event. Sixteen speakers each had 20 slides, which advanced automatically every 15 seconds.
Who were the speakers? Ignite's Web site promised "artists, technologists, thinkers and personalities." I heard from a marketing student and a life coach, a DJ and a policy analyst, an artist and a hacker, among others.
The evening's organizers -- DC entrepreneur Jared Goralnick and public relations strategist and local blogging guru Geoff Livingston – kept the program moving. None of the 16 speakers went over their time, I noticed with admiration. Each presentation was focused, well paced and delivered with verve.
If your time is brief, a flamboyant title creates a flurry of interest right at the start. Here are some of my favorites:
- Why Jack Bauer Needs a Nap: He'd make better decisions if he could get out from under that 24-hour stress, which must be wreaking havoc on his mind and body. Life coach Alison Horner made her point with humor and offered a gentle reminder to all.
- Help! The title of Heather Coleman's presentation was indeterminate, but she followed up on that exclamation point and grabbed our attention with her first words: "If you saw a naked woman running down the road, would you stop your car?" Any snickering stopped as she revealed that the woman was in the grip of severe postpartum psychosis. Tragedy was averted only by a traffic jam and some people whose names she never knew. A sobering story that encouraged listeners to reach out to strangers.
- I Suffer from… FOMO: Right away, the listener wonders, what is FOMO? And should I be worried? FOMO = Fear Of Missing Out, Shana Glickfield opined in a cheerfully self-deprecating sketch. Glickfield, an online communications consultant, described overbooking herself, spending too much money, and stressing out friends and relatives in an attempt to avoid what she described as "the worst thing a person with FOMO can hear: `You should have been there!'" She ended the evening with laughter, and a reminder to look away from the screen occasionally and pay attention to the live world.
Have you given an Ignite! talk? Share your experiences in the comments.
Use the Evernote clip button, above, to save this post in an Evernote notebook. Go here to subscribe to Step Up Your Speaking, my free email newsletter that looks at a different speaking topic in depth each month...then become a fan of The Eloquent Woman on Facebook and join the conversation with thousands of other women (and men) about public speaking skills and confidence.


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The FCC's December decision to adopt Internet Openness rules has been the subject of an extraordinary amount of heated rhetoric. If one sets aside the politics, however, the reality of the agency's order does not come close to living up to the hype. Far from being radical, the FCC's rules are in fact quite moderate and leave ample flexibility. This document responds to some of the widely circulated myths about the Internet Openness rules.
The FCC rules mean the Internet is now a regulated medium. Once the rules take effect, the government will be "regulating the Internet."
The FCC rules apply only to companies that provide Internet access – that is, the providers of the Internet's physical "on ramps." The vast universe of speech, commerce, and civic and social activity that rides on top of the Internet remains just as unregulated as it was before. In fact, the entire point of the rules is to ensure that Internet access providers don't act as de facto private regulators, picking winners and losers among online businesses and services.
The FCC rules will radically change how the Internet works. This is a big departure from the status quo.
Just the opposite: The rules protect against radical changes in the way the Internet works, by ensuring that consumers will continue to have access the full Internet without tampering or favoritism. The rules don't interfere at all with the ability of Internet service providers (ISPs) to keep on providing Internet access service as we know it. They merely prevent ISPs from discarding traditional Internet access in favor of a more restricted, supervised offering – something that ISPs claim they have no intention of doing anyway and that has long been discouraged by federal policy under the FCC's 2005 Internet policy statement.
Since the rules reflect the way the Internet already works, key ISPs such as AT&T and Comcast have said they don't object to them. NCTA, the cable industry association, has said that the FCC's action "largely codifies the broadband Internet access providers' current conduct, which doesn't change the economic status quo, whether in terms of investment or job creation."
This is a power grab by the FCC. In the absence of new legislation, the FCC has no jurisdiction over broadband.
If the FCC were asserting jurisdiction over all the activity that flows over the Internet, that would indeed be a remarkable power grab. But the FCC is doing no such thing. Its Open Internet rules apply only to the "pipes" – the physical communications links that connect people to the Internet.
There is a long history of FCC jurisdiction regarding the provision of physical communications infrastructure. Ensuring that operators of such infrastructure do not abuse their position is a core function of the FCC. With respect to data communications in particular, in a long-running set of proceedings starting in 1971 known as the Computer Inquiries, the FCC focused specifically on the relationship between the operation of the physical communications network and the offering of "enhanced services" (the prior label for "information services"). The new Open Internet rules address the same fundamental issues.
Far from terminating this longstanding FCC role, the 1996 Telecommunication Act effectively carried forward the Computer Inquiries regime. Nothing in that Act remotely envisioned that the FCC would be stripped of all authority in this area at the very moment that data- and computer-related services were assuming an unprecedented role in the nation's commerce, civic discourse, education, and government.
The only real question regarding jurisdiction, then, should be the viability of the specific legal theory the FCC relied on in its recent order. That will be tested in court – but Congress should keep in mind that the FCC chose its legal theory in an effort to compromise with the major carriers. Far from trying to grab power, the FCC was trying to take a light-touch, compromise approach.
The existing legal framework has proved perfectly adequate to address any incidents that arise, as the Comcast-BitTorrent and Madison River examples show. There's no need to add new rules.
In the wake of the D.C. Circuit's ruling in the Comcast case, the prior legal framework is in shambles. That framework had centered on the 2005 Policy Statement and the threat that, if necessary, the FCC could take action. The court ruling has exposed that threat as toothless. So eliminating the FCC rules would not take us back to the regime that existed from 2005 to 2010; rather, it would lead to a new, almost total absence of safeguards.
Nor does antitrust law offer much protection for Internet openness. Absent a clear anticompetitive motive, network operators likely could curtail Internet openness in a variety of ways without running afoul of antitrust law. In short, antitrust's prohibition against anticompetitive conduct is a far cry from any kind of affirmative policy to preserve the Internet's uniquely open network structure. Nor can antitrust law take into account the major non-economic reasons for maintaining an open Internet, such as the impact on independent speech and civic empowerment. Finally, as a practical matter, antitrust cases tend to drag on for many years. Individual innovators and small startup companies – key beneficiaries of Internet openness – are unlikely to be in a position to bring antitrust cases against major network operators.
There is no reason for the FCC to act now. Rather, it can wait and see what happens. If ISP practices develop in ways that prove to be harmful, the FCC can always intervene at that time.
Once the damage is apparent, it may well be too late to go back. Imagine the FCC trying to unravel a web of discriminatory deals after significant investments have been made and new business plans have been built, all based on companies' reasonable assumptions about what the legal framework permits. It would be a hugely difficult undertaking both politically and logistically. Moreover, the very parties that today say that no "rules of the road" are needed would surely argue that, since companies had no warning that certain kinds of arrangements might be illegal, it would be unfair for the FCC to seek to nullify those arrangements at a later date. Setting some ground rules in advance would be far more efficient and effective than trying to reverse established "facts on the ground."
Competition provides a sufficient safeguard against any possible "bad behavior" by ISPs. Consumers can always "vote with their feet."
First, consumers have very limited options for broadband – often just two providers. Second, switching ISPs is too big a hassle for consumers to do frequently or lightly. Third, consumers don't have sufficient information; if a particular website or application performs poorly, a consumer can't tell if the cause is ISP-level discrimination or some other factor. Fourth, and most important, the bottom line is that once a consumer has selected an ISP, other online companies and Internet users can reach that consumer only via the facilities of that ISP. This is the "terminating monopoly" problem: subscribers may occasionally switch ISPs, but at any point in time each ISP has an effective monopoly over the ability to reach its subscriber base. You can't reach AT&T subscribers without handing off traffic to AT&T.
The FCC rules help some companies at the expense of others. The rules effectively force ISPs to subsidize companies that deliver content and services over the Internet.
Nobody is subsidizing anyone. On the Internet, everybody pays their way by contracting with some ISP to "get connected." Big users pay more: A major corporate provider of online content or services, for example, buys far more capacity than an individual subscriber. Each ISP then turns around and negotiates with other carriers, including "backbone" providers, to route traffic to and from the rest of the Internet. Under this system, each and every bit that ISPs carry is traffic they have previously agreed to carry in the contracts they have negotiated with their subscribers and with other carriers. No ISP is somehow forced to carry traffic in excess of what it has already committed to do by contract, and no online content provider gets a free ride.
If anything, the new FCC rules prevent subsidization, by ensuring that ISPs cannot demand to "take a cut" whenever some other company wants to do business with the ISPs' subscribers. Allowing ISPs to run the equivalent of a protection racket, in which online businesses have to pay the ISP to avoid discriminatory traffic handling, amounts to forced subsidization of ISPs by the rest of the Internet economy.
The FCC rules will prevent ISPs from adopting technically sound practices to deal with the serious challenges of running a network – in particular, the exploding bandwidth demands caused by the growing use of online video.
The FCC rules are plenty flexible to permit reasonable ISP responses to technical challenges. The rules only bar "unreasonable" discrimination, and they contain an open-ended exception for reasonable network management. In addition, the FCC's order specifically notes that ISP actions to address congestion and bandwidth challenges directly, by charging for or reining in high-volume usage and users, does not violate the rules. When the concern is really about volume, there should rarely be a reason to discriminate based on the specific content or application a user chooses to access. The FCC's rules do not affect the ability of ISPs to adopt volume-based policies or limits on bandwidth usage.
The FCC rules will undermine investment in broadband networks, because they will force ISPs to continue to rely exclusively on Internet subscribers to recoup costs. Allowing ISPs to seek deals with content providers could help generate additional revenues that could spur more deployment.
First, jeopardizing the core characteristics that make the Internet such a valuable platform would be a terrible and ultimately counterproductive way to try to spur investment in broadband. The Internet is a big hit with subscribers, and demand for it continues to grow, precisely because it offers an open platform for a constantly changing array of innovative new services.
Second, the FCC's rules do not preclude ISPs from operating multiple services, with multiple revenue streams, over broadband networks. The rules allow the development of "specialized services," for example.
Third, pay-for-priority arrangements actually discourage broadband investment, by giving ISPs a strong financial incentive to maintain bandwidth scarcity. Put simply, it's hard to sell express lane service when the regular lane is zipping right along. The more ISPs generate profits from pay-for-priority service, the less incentive they have to stay ahead of bandwidth demand. Allowing ISPs to extract additional revenues from online content and applications providers is not a sound strategy for promoting broadband investment.