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Pat Toomey's gun control moment
Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) rose to prominence as a conservative firebrand: He ran to the right of then-Republican Sen. Arlen Specter in a 2004 primary, headed the Club for Growth and has an "A" rating from the National Rifle Association, which spent almost $1.5 million getting him elected in 2010.
Now he's emerged as the possible savior of gun control efforts in Congress, calling expanded background checks a matter of common sense during a news conference Wednesday with his Democratic ally, West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin.
Story Continued Below
The backdrop of Toomey's pivot is unavoidable: After winning his seat in the Republican wave of 2010, he'll face a Democrat-friendly electorate in 2016 in Pennsylvania, a state that just voted for President Barack Obama and Democratic Sen. Bob Casey by comfortable margins.
( Also on POLITICO: Senators unveil deal on background checks)
Showing a pragmatic side on an issue like gun control could help Toomey soften his image among moderate voters, especially in the vote-rich Philadelphia suburbs. Still, Toomey said in a brief interview that he doesn't expect everyone to agree with his move on the issue.
"I expect to hear the entire range," he said when asked if he worried about getting pushback from the right. "There will be some who will disagree — people have the right to express that."
Veteran Pennsylvania-based GOP strategist Ray Zaborney said the background checks compromise "speaks to the difference between the perception of Pat Toomey and the reality of Pat Toomey," adding, "The perception is that he's a conservative firebrand bomb-thrower, but the fact is he's been a pretty moderate member who's done what's in the best interest of his state."
( Also on POLITICO: Mayors' gun group pulls Toomey ad)
When Toomey runs for reelection in three years, it will undoubtedly be with a different kind of Pennsylvania electorate than the one that gave him a 2-point victory in 2010. That year was particularly good for Pennsylvania Republicans, who saw statehouse gains, a Republican governor and a handful of House seat pickups. Toomey won't have those built-in electoral advantages in 2016, a presidential year that will most likely have high voter turnout.
"Obviously, Sen. Toomey remains popular among conservatives both in Pennsylvania and even outside the state — I think he's only enhanced his credentials among conservatives during his time in the Senate," said Chris Borick, who does polling for Muhlenberg College. "I think what the senator is likely considering now is how does he establish a firm positive place in the broader electorate as his term goes on, eventually to reelection in 2016?"
( PHOTOS: Politicians speak out on gun control)
In a state like Pennsylvania, where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than 1 million, Toomey will need to appeal to suburban moderate and independent voters in order to win again.
"Newtown changed the attitudes of a whole host of Americans, particularly people who live in the Philadelphia suburbs and the Lehigh Valley," said former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell. "To vote against all of these measures would have cast [Toomey] in a very shaky position with these voters. I think he picked up a lot of support with what he did."
Political experts in the state also noted that Toomey's done well with swing voters in the past: He won three terms as a congressman from Pennsylvania's 15th District, a perennially competitive district.
Toomey's alliance with Manchin this week is just the latest example of his willingness to work with Democrats. Observers pointed to his role on the supercommittee, as well as his tendency to back Obama's judicial and Cabinet nominees.


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It didn't take long for Ray Horton to find a new job.
Horton, the former Cardinals defensive coordinator who was reportedly unhappy when he was passed over for the head-coaching job in Arizona, has landed in Cleveland as the Browns' new defensive coordinator.
"We are truly excited that we were able to get someone of Ray's caliber as our defensive coordinator," Browns coach Rob Chudzinski said in the team's announcement. "He possesses a great deal of experience as a player, position coach and coordinator in the NFL and has been part of some of the top defenses in the league throughout his career. He is an extremely talented coach and I know that he will work very well with the young nucleus of players we have on defense."
Horton has been the Cardinals' defensive coordinator for the last two years. Prior to that he spent seven seasons on the coaching staff in Pittsburgh, two seasons in Detroit, five seasons in Cincinnati and three seasons in Washington. Before becoming an NFL assistant coach he spent 10 seasons as an NFL player.

subset: commoncrawl


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MIDDLESBROUGH are interested in bringing Bournemouth striker Lewis Grabban to the Riverside Stadium, but they won't make a move for any of their attacking targets until the futures of Marvin Emnes and Lukas Jutkiewicz are resolved.
Reports emerged yesterday that Boro had made an approach for Grabban, who scored 22 goals in 46 appearances for the Cherries this season, however, the Northern Echo understands that so far there has been no bid made by the Teessiders.
Bournemouth chief executive Neill Blake swiftly reacted to the reports, saying: "No bid has been received for Lewis Grabban from Middlesbrough or any other club." But that is likely to change given his record in the Championship this term.
Grabban is on a list of several attacking targets – that also includes Leeds United's Ross McCormack and Reading's Adam Le Fondre - Aitor Karanka has compiled with the club's recruitment staff, but formal approaches will not be made until they know what is happening with Emnes and Jutkiewicz.
The former, who spent the second half of the season on loan at Swansea City, is understood to be wanted on a permanent basis by Swans manager Garry Monk, while Jutkiewicz is likely to sign for Bolton Wanderers after his successful loan spell at the Reebok Stadium.
Boro chairman Steve Gibson has promised Karanka funds to strengthen his squad in the transfer window, but how much will depend on the fees departing players will command.
Chief scout Gary Gill is understood to have recommended 26-year-old Grabban to Karanka, but the striker has a £3m buy-out clause in his contract at the Goldsands Stadium. Relegated Cardiff City are ready to trigger that clause, but whether Boro can compete with the Welsh club, and indeed Grabban former club Crystal Palace, rests on how much they can recoup from player sales.
Karanka is ready to overhaul the squad he inherited from Tony Mowbray last November and he is keen to bring Chelsea duo Kenneth Omeruo and Nathanial Chalobah back to the Riverside on new season-long loan deals. The former has been named in Nigeria's provisional squad for next month's World Cup in Brazil, and the defender revealed working under Karanka, a defender himself, has helped improve his game.
"I've really enjoyed my time at Middlesbrough," Omeruo said. "I knew that if I had the chance to play I would keep the position.
"I would like to thank the club, the manager especially for believing in me and playing me. I'm happy that I didn't disappoint him. I knew I had to play games to be fit for the World Cup and also to make the squad. It's been a really good season for me.
"It's easy to play under a manager that has played in the centre of defence. I'm lucky to have the same in the national team (with Stephen Keshi). You get advice from them on how you should play."


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As if Taiwan's status and official designation were not confusing enough for those who are not familiar with its precarious situation, President Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) foreign policy in recent months has seen so many twists and turns as to stun even the most seasoned of policy wonks.
The root of the confusion is not, as some of his detractors would have it, that Ma is bending to Beijing's will, but rather that he wants it all.
He wants to improve relations with China, the US, Japan and the rest of the international community, but at the same time his administration feels it must rock the boat to ensure that Taiwan is not ignored while elephants clash, and must prepare for a rainy day should the current detente in the Taiwan Strait shift in a different direction.
As a result, while Ma has proposed the widely hailed East China Sea peace initiative, Taipei has also engaged in brinkmanship of a kind never seen before, sending militaristic signals and appealing to nationalistic sentiment, while relying on the Coast Guard Administration to flex some muscles at sea over the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) dispute.
Even though most people in the know agree that the front-page-earning water cannon battles between Taiwanese and Japanese coast guard vessels are for the most part orchestrated, this is nevertheless not the type of behavior usually associated with peaceful Taiwan, especially at a time when it is endeavoring to relaunch long-stalled talks on fisheries with Japan.
Ma's efforts to improve relations with Beijing have also created the impression in some minds that Taiwan is cooperating with China, which also claims the islets, in pressuring Japan; an illusion that no amount of negation by Taipei has managed to fully dispel.
Critics argue that as part of a grand bargain to further appease China, Ma is seeking to weaken the armed forces, for which there seems to be ample evidence. Live-fire drills have become less frequent under his watch, while his administration has been wishy-washy on efforts to procure new F-16s. Its efforts to create an all-volunteer military also seem half-hearted and threaten to undermine morale. Rumors abound that intelligence agencies are pulling out of espionage in China and that in the not-so-distant-future Taiwan and China might sign a peace accord.
However, while there might be an element of truth to the above, the military has mass-produced Hsiung Feng IIE land-attack cruise missiles, is equipping its navy vessels with HF-3 supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles, is seeking to extend the range of the latter and has embarked on a program to develop the Yunfeng ("Cloud Peak"), a 1,200km surface-to-surface missile capable of reaching central China, with plans to begin production as early as next year.
Ironically, while the development of offensive weapons could serve to undermine the oft-heard argument that Ma is "soft" on national defense, it also risks causing friction with Taiwan's principal ally, the US, which has long opposed the development of missiles whose range or warhead yield go beyond those stipulated by the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR). Yet, when Defense News asked whether the Yunfeng program, which is a "1,000 percent violation" of MTCR, risked causing difficulties with Washington, a source in the government replied: "I don't care what the [expletive] Americans think."


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When it's completed this fall, Riverside's Hillcrest High School will be a high-tech academic hub with wireless Internet, a robotics lab, digital smart boards in every classroom and a first-rate performance hall worthy of any "Glee" hopeful.2. Young Jason Kidd.
But no students.
Sapped by state budget cuts, the Alvord Unified School District doesn't have the money to turn on the lights or hire staff for the $105-million campus.
3. It's a tremendous shame George Takei hasn't been able to show off his personality until the last few years.


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From the Blogosphere
Announcing @Dyntrace to Exhibit at @CloudEXPO New York | #Agile #DevOps #Serverless #CloudNative #APM #Monitoring
Dynatrace is an application performance management software company for digital transformation of medium and large businesses
Oct. 30, 2018 11:45 AM
DXWorldEXPO LLC announced today that Dynatrace will exhibit at the 22nd International CloudEXPO | DevOpsSUMMIT | DXWordEXPO New York, which will be held November 11-13, 2018, in New York City.
Dynatrace is an application performance management software company with products for the information technology departments and digital business owners of medium and large businesses.
Download Slide Deck: ▸ Here
Download Slide Deck: ▸ Here
Building the Future of Monitoring with Artificial Intelligence
Today we can collect lots and lots of performance data. We build beautiful dashboards and even have fancy query languages to access and transform the data. Still performance data is a secret language only a couple of people understand. The more business becomes digital the more stakeholders are interested in this data including how it relates to business. Some of these people have never used a monitoring tool before. They have a question on their mind like "How is my application doing" but no idea how to get a proper answer.
Download Slide Deck: ▸ Here
In his session at 19th Cloud Expo, Alois Reitbauer, Chief Technical Strategist at Dynatrace, discussed how they have worked to build a conversational interface on top of Artificial Intelligence to help make performance data accessible by asking natural language questions and simple dialogs to expand the use of operational data beyond experts.
Download Slide Deck: ▸ Here
Speaker Bio
CloudEXPO | DevOpsSUMMIT | DXWorldEXPO 2018 New York will be held November 12-13, 2018 in New York City.
Digital Transformation (DX) is a major focus with the introduction of DXWorldEXPO within the program. Successful transformation requires a laser focus on being data-driven and on using all the tools available that enable transformation if they plan to survive over the long term.
A total of 88% of Fortune 500 companies from a generation ago are now out of business. Only 12% still survive. Similar percentages are found throughout enterprises of all sizes.
Our Top 200 Digital Transformation Sponsors
Last year, 43 sponsors, 104 exhibitors, and over 200 DX companies participated at CloudEXPO | DevOpsSUMMIT | DXWorldEXPO, more than any other similar event in the world. This year we launched our conference conference website and conference schedule on May 12, 2018, exactly six months before our November 12-13 New York event dates.
View our Top 200 Digital Transformation Sponsors ▸ Here
Register for the Conference ▸ Here
We are offering early bird savings on all ticket types where you can save significant amount of money by purchasing your conference tickets today.
Speaking Opportunities ▸ Here
This year we are presenting a MEGA faculty of 222 rockstar speakers. Submit your speaking proposal which will be instantly shared with conference advisory board. All accepted proposals are confirmed within six hours of paper submission.
Sponsorship Opportunities ▸ Here
Contact us with you sponsorship and exhibit inquiry. We will answer all your questions and work with you to identify the best option based on your goals.
Sponsor List (updated daily) ▸ Here
Exhibitor List (updated daily) ▸ Here
2018 Conference Agenda, Our MEGA Faculty of 222 Rockstar Speakers
View our conference schedule (updated daily) ▸ Here
View our speaker lineup (updated daily) ▸ Here
DXWordEXPO New York 2018, DevOpsSUMMIT New York 2018 and CloudEXPO New York 2018 agenda will present 222 rockstar faculty members, 200 sessions and 22 keynotes and general sessions in 10 distinct conference tracks.
CloudEXPO | DevOpsSUMMIT | DXWorldEXPO 2018 New York cover all of these tools, with the most comprehensive program and with 222 rockstar speakers throughout our industry presenting 22 Keynotes and General Sessions, 200 Breakout Sessions along 10 Tracks, as well as our signature Power Panels. Our Expo Floor brings together the world's leading companies throughout the world of Cloud Computing, DevOps, FinTech, Digital Transformation, and all they entail.
As your enterprise creates a vision and strategy that enables you to create your own unique, long-term success, learning about all the technologies involved is essential. Companies today not only form multi-cloud and hybrid cloud architectures, but create them with built-in cognitive capabilities.
Cloud-Native thinking is now the norm in financial services, manufacturing, telco, healthcare, transportation, energy, media, entertainment, retail and other consumer industries, as well as the public sector.
CloudEXPO is the world's most influential technology event where Cloud Computing was coined over a decade ago and where technology buyers and vendors meet to experience and discuss the big picture of Digital Transformation and all of the strategies, tactics, and tools they need to realize their goals.
Register for the Conference ▸ Here
Speaking Opportunities ▸ Here
Sponsorship Opportunities ▸ Here
Sponsor List (updated daily) ▸ Here
Exhibitor List (updated daily) ▸ Here
Conference schedule (updated daily) ▸ Here
Speaker lineup (updated daily) ▸ Here
FinTech Is Now Part of the DXWorldEXPO | CloudEXPO Program
Financial enterprises in New York City, London, Singapore, and other world financial capitals are embracing a new generation of smart, automated FinTech that eliminates many cumbersome, slow, and expensive intermediate processes from their businesses.
Accordingly, attendees at the upcoming 22nd CloudEXPO | DXWorldEXPO November 12-13, 2018 in New York City will find fresh new content in two new tracks called:
which will incorporate FinTech and Blockchain, as well as machine learning, artificial intelligence and deep learning in these two distinct tracks.
FinTech brings efficiency as well as the ability to deliver new services and a much improved customer experience throughout the global financial services industry. FinTech is a natural fit with cloud computing, as new services are quickly developed, deployed, and scaled on public, private, and hybrid clouds.
More than US$20 billion in venture capital is being invested in FinTech this year. We're pleased to bring you the latest FinTech developments as an integral part of our program.
Sponsorship Opportunities
CloudEXPO | DevOpsSUMMIT | DXWorldEXPO are together the single event where technology buyers and vendors meet to experience and discus cloud computing and all that it entails. For more than a decade, sponsors and exhibitors of CloudEXPO | DevOpsSUMMIT | DXWorldEXPO benefit from unmatched branding, profile building and lead generation opportunities through:
Secrets of Our Most Popular Sponsors and Exhibitors ▸ Here
Secrets of Our Most Popular Speakers Here
For more information on sponsorship, exhibit, and keynote opportunities call us at 954 242-0444 or contact us ▸ Here
Speaking Opportunities Open
The upcoming 22nd International CloudEXPO | DevOpsSUMMIT | DXWorldEXPO, November 12-13, 2018 in New York City, NY announces that its Call For Papers for speaking opportunities is now open. We reply to all accepted speaking proposals within six hours.
About DXWorldEXPO LLC
DXWorldEXPO LLC is a Lighthouse Point, Florida-based trade show company and the creator of DXWorldEXPO - Digital Transformation Conference & Expo. The company produces and presents the world's most influential technology events including CloudEXPO, DevOpsSUMMIT, FinTechEXPO - Blockchain Event.
Reader Feedback: Page 1 of 1
Silicon Valley Faculty Highlight
Digital Transformation Blogs
DevOpsSUMMIT Blogs
CloudEXPO TV Power Panels


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Jumbo Dinosaur Stegosaurus Floor Puzzle
Kids love dinosaurs. Now, they'll love learning, solving problems, and building their fine motor skills with the Stegosaurus Jumbo Dinosaur Floor Puzzle. Over 4 feet long, it's perfect for encouraging an early curiosity about paleontology. The double-sided pieces have a Stegosaurus on one side, and a skeleton on the reverse. The big foam pieces are soft and sturdy, and the entire puzzle is extra easy to assemble. Safe for all floors!
Educational Benefits
Educational Benefits
- Learning Styles: Tactile, Kinesthetic, Visual
- Skill Development: Parts-to-whole relationships, Eye-hand coordination, Vocabulary building, Problem solving
- 20 double-sided foam pieces plus activity guide with dinosaur facts and full-color Stegosaurus poster
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MJ4UND wrote:I am not sure you can put Brooks in that catergory yet. I believe he needs to prove himself against better competition. The score from the holiday tournaments don't support that assumption. Look at his save percentage, not elite.
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The morning drive for a group of Cape Canaveral, Florida commuters was recently disrupted thanks to the amorous longing of one very gigantic bird. Taco, an emu and exotic pet of a suburban Cape Canaveral resident, had escaped his enclosure and took to rampaging the highway for reasons the owner says are related to heat and mating season. Unable to find a lady emu to bestow his sexual skillz on, Taco found himself drawn to the motor vehicles on the road, particularly motorcycles. Don't blame him — he's a nice boy; he's just confused!
Or maybe not. Maybe Taco, a wild bird of the Australian outback, just wasn't ready to settle into this humdrum suburban life. Maybe he wanted to shake things up a bit — get with Harley Davidson or two — before resigning himself to domesticity. Taco has a song of freedom in his bird heart. It's a song we've all longed to sing, but maybe we haven't been brave enough to do it.
Run free, sweet Taco. You run for all of us.


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Weimer: No new gun law stops madmen
To the Editor:
Does anyone really think that the Second amendment is talking about hunting
or target shooting? This amendment guarantees the right of the individual to
own, shoot and trade current technologically advanced weapons such as the AR
and AK type semi-auto rifles so that the government fears the people, not
the other way around.
The second amendment (one of 10 called the Bill of Rights which limits the
power of the federal government to interfere with you and I) is the teeth
behind the Constitution of the United States. If the Second Amendment falls,
the other nine will soon follow.
Do you realized how serious this issue is to the American way of life?
Madmen will always kill and maim innocents. No new gun law will stop that.
Thou shall not murder has been a law since creation.
Terry Weimer
Hot Sulphur Springs
Start a dialogue, stay on topic and be civil.
If you don't follow the rules, your comment may be deleted.


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For easy maintenance, we offer a pair of diamond sharpeners, one for the basic grind and the other to put a micro-bevel on the chisel corners. This set is specially designed to match the size range and geometry of this series of chisels.
Shank diameters of the drill bits range from 11/64" (4.4mm) for the 1/4" bit to 1/2" (12.7mm) for the 1" bit. Sizes from 1/4" to 5/8" have 5/8" shanks, while those 3/4" and larger have 3/4" shanks. Please double-check your mortiser's capacity before ordering.


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Looking for design inspiration? Browse our curated collections!
Boundary: Bleed area may not be visible.
Click and drag to re-position the image, if desired.
The watermark at the lower right corner of the image will not appear on the final product.
by John Rizzuto
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Doesn't Get Any Better iphone x case by John Rizzuto. Protect your iPhone X with an impact-resistant, slim-profile, hard-shell case. The image is printed directly onto the case and wrapped around the edges for a beautiful presentation. Simply snap the case onto your iPhone X for instant protection and direct access to all of the phone's features!
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Protect your iPhone X with an impact-resistant, slim-profile, hard-shell case. The image is printed directly onto the case and wrapped around the edges for a beautiful presentation. Simply snap the case onto your iPhone X for instant protection and direct access to all of the phone's features!
Average Rating (4.92 Stars):
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Fine art photography of Doesn't Get Any Better at the Jersey Shore by John Rizzuto.
Booking photo tours and coaching sessions in 2017 to New Orleans and NYC. Go to http://johnrizzutophototours.com/ for more details. John Rizzuto is a fine art photographer from New Jersey dedicated to the promotion of photographic art, and providing fine art to established and new collectors. My photographs have been licensed to films and television shows and have appeared in galleries worldwide as well as, adorn many commercial establishments and individuals seeking fine art photography for their home and office. Follow John Facebook Twitter Instagram Photo Tours & Coaching Every purchase includes a money-back guarantee. The Fine Art America watermark does NOT show up on prints. That is for display purposes only...
Our return policy is very simple:
If you're not happy with a purchase that you made on FineArtAmerica.com, for any reason, you can return it to us within 30 days of the order date. As soon as it arrives, we'll issue a full refund for the entire purchase price. Please note - Fine Art America does not reimburse the outgoing or return shipping charges unless the return is due to a defect in quality.
Fine Art America sells thousands of pieces of artwork each month - all with a 100% money-back guarantee. We take great pride in the fact that hundreds of thousands of artists have chosen Fine Art America to fulfill their orders, and we look forward to helping you select your next piece!
All iphone x cases ship from our production facility within 1 - 2 business days of your order.


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The Leather & Grindery Supplies are a friendly family run business based in New Malden, Surrey. We supply shops throughout the UK and overseas with Shoe Repair materials, Shoe Care products and key blanks.
Our customers range from Shoe Repairers, Dry Cleaners, Hardware Stores, Locksmith and launderettes. We also stock a large range of leather 'off-cuts' in various colours and thicknesses that suit the requirements of fashion students, Re-enactment enthusiasts and just about anyone else that wants to have a go at fixing that old bag.


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Guild : ElysionKingdom
Guild level : Lv7
Social, PVP, PVE
This Guild is for those who wish to have warming home, willing to help each other and make this guild as your Elsword home.
Just starting to recruit members. Until today it's just only me who running this guild because take time to learn everything about Guild function and making Discord for Guild use. You can try to join and and hope you enjoy your stay. I hope can really find good member and build this guild into a warm family. This guild is for english user but in case you're indonesian, you can be accepted since I still in the middle to learn Indonesian language to communicate (I'm not Indonesian)
Please put your IGN and I will open the character and add you as friend, then invite you to join the guild if I saw you online. Add IGN Shinryun as friend, direct add you into the guild when I saw you online.
Or you can put your message at Discord : https://discord.gg/A32pJu
*Put your IGN at #introduce tab
Thank you, Terima Kasih
Note : last time did try to do the recruitment but not confident but now I will give a try.


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Hello everybody and welcome to DragoArt.com. I have had such a long day yesterday, but I still managed to get four lessons done for you all to enjoy today. I think I will start the day off with a tutorial on "how to draw a bicycle, step by step. The bike is a fun, enjoyable, ridable object that is used by many people around the world. There are even some countries that rely solely on bicycles to commute back and forth to work, stores, and just to simply get around. But when was this fantastic two wheeler invented? Well the answer to that question is debatable. Some historians think that the father son team, Pierre and Ernest Michaux, are the ones responsible for the creation of the bike. Supposedly, the first bicycle was made sometime during the 1860's. After researching over the years, historians now believe that the bike was invented long before 1860. What they do believe the Michaux's invented, was the bike pedals and cranks back in 1861. The first bicycle concept was invented back in 1818 which was basically made from all wood. Users had no pedals, instead they sat on the wooden contraption, and pushed their way around using their feet, almost like Fred Flintstone did with his car. The wooden bicycle concept was invented by Baron Karl Drais von Sauerbronn from Germany. He called this invention the "Laufmaschine" or in other words, the "Running Machine". Before the wooden contraction was made, a Frenchmen named Comte Mede de Sivrac invented a machine called the "Celerifere" back in 1790. Then along came the Penny Farthing. This bike was called the "High" and or "Ordinary bicycle". These bikes had a small back wheel, and a large front wheel. Today, we have the pleasure of buying all different types of bikes. There is mountain bikes, BMX bikes, road racing bikes, Time Trial or Triathlon bikes, hybrid or commuting bikes, kids bikes, trailer bikes, and also unicycles and tricycles. This lesson will teach you how to draw a simple bike step by step. I think you will enjoy this tutorial even though it is just on "how to draw a bike". I will be back again with more drawing fun. In the mean time hang out, and draw your hearts out.
DragoArt members upload artwork and drawing tutorials! They are also allowed to leave comments on tutorials, profiles, etc. Many more features, as well; it's way better than just being a boring guest! Register Now!


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At Gurley Precision Instruments, measurement is our business. GPI was one of the first companies to develop the chrome-on-glass process necessary to manufacture optical encoder discs, and has since been a significant provider of optical encoders, optographic products and related devices. This tradition and commitment to measuring excellence is still very much alive today - as we offer as many standard and custom encoder options as any company in the business. Incremental, absolute and Gurley's own Virtual Absolute technologies in enclosed and modular rotary and linear configurations - each is available in prototype and OEM quantities.
Gurley is an ISO 9001 certified company.


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The ever burgeoning smartphone bike mount systems are proliferating due to increasing mobile GPS apps usage by mountain bikers, roadies and triathletes. The Quad Lock iPhone bike mounting system from Annex Products of Melbourne, Australia, is an interesting and innovate product, that uses a unique connection system between the mount and smartphone case.
The Quad Lock iPhone Universal Mounting System, in its $69.95 Deluxe Kit variant (as tested), includes a protective case, a bike mounting system and two wall mounts. They also make simpler kit, which has just the case and wall mounts for $39.95.
The Deluxe Kit includes:
- 1 Quad Lock Case for iPhone 4/4S – Polycarbonate hardcase
- 2 Quad Lock Wall Mounts – 3M self adhesive
- Quad Lock Bike Mount PRO
- Mounting hardware (4 o-rings and 2 zip ties)
- 3 Instruction booklets
The tough polycarbonate case for the system was moderately thin, and all the buttons were easily accessible, and although it offered a good degree of robustness, it's not water or dust proof. It was easy to insert the phone into the case, but I found it difficult to remove, and never quite found the best method or trick to make extraction simpler? The back side of the case has the Quad Lock connection interface, which creates a bubbled center section, so the phone wasn't stable when it was lying on its back if any edge was tapped. The case doesn't have a screen cover, so it really needs a protector installed to prevent any damage to your phone in adverse outdoor conditions, though I ran mine without any ill effects.


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SAN FRANCISCO – If you're looking for something special to do with Mom after breakfast in bed and lunch at her favorite restaurant on May 8th, why not take her on a California wine country day trip? From picnics, vineyard hikes and passport weekends to charity benefits, golf tournaments and Meet the Winemaker programs many California wineries give special treatment to Mom's on this day and there are wine country events across California to suit every style and budget.
Mendocino County
Campovida (Mendocino): Campovida will be the start of a community garden tour for Mother's Day on May 8th. Ken Boek, Campovida's master gardener, will be available to share the garden with the guests and artists will be stationed within the gardens capturing the essence of nature's abundance. Tickets cost: $20, and includes tours of popular residential gardens in Ukiah. Takes place 9 a.m. – 11 a.m. Guests are welcome to stay or return later for complimentary tastings. Tickets can be purchased at Mendocino Book Company or at the winery's tasting room. www.campovida.com
Parducci Winery (Ukiah): Liv Fashion Boutique and the biodynamic Parducci Winery have partnered together to bring the Mother's Day Fashion Show on May 8 at Patrona Restaurant, a benefit for breast cancer awareness. All proceeds go to the Cancer Resource Center of Mendocino County. The models each year range from their early 20's to late 60's, some of which are battling or have beaten cancer. Parducci will be featuring its award-winning wines with fantastic food pairings. Ticket prices for this annually sold out event are $25 and are available at Liv Fashion Boutique. Each ticket includes a glass of wine or non-alcoholic beverage, tasty foods, raffle and a swag bag filled with goodies donated from several local businesses. For more information please call Liv Fashion Boutique at 707-462-4730 or Parducci at 707-463-5357. www.parducci.com
Napa Valley
Duckhorn Vineyards (St. Helena): Celebrate Mother's Day on May 7, one day early, with Duckhorn's Spring Celebration, featuring a rare opportunity to taste estate wines and converse with founder Dan Duckhorn, winemaker Bill Nancarrow, and president & CEO, Alex Ryan. Walk through the gardens and sip wines from the Duckhorn Vineyards portfolio with a few other surprises. The event will highlight a tasting of the highly anticipated 2007 vintage and offer the ability to purchase a unique hand-picked selection of older vintages from the Duckhorn library. Tickets are available for four tasting times and cost $40.00 in advance ($30 - Club Members - limit 2) and $50 at the door ($40 - Club Members - limit 2) Call 707-967-2030 or order online www.duckhornwineshop.com
Hall Wines (St. Helena): Treat Mom to special food and wine pairings featuring oysters and chocolate on May 8 from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Cost is $20. Hall is California's first LEED Gold certified winery. www.hallwines.com/events
Rutherford Appellation Wineries (Rutherford): Sixteen Rutherford wineries are inviting wine lovers to thank their mothers by treating them to the "Celebrate Mom, Rutherford Style" Passport Weekend May 7-8, 2011 to benefit Napa Valley community charities. Enjoy discounted spring wine and food pairings featuring hearty wine country brunch fare. Each winery will feature its own food pairing experience to highlight Rutherford varietals, Napa Valley terroir and show how well the wines pair with different foods. Includes access to wineries not normally open for public tastings. Passports is $75 per person, members of participating winery wine clubs and Face book Fans receive 20 percent off promotional code. Limited availability. www.rutherford-appellation-wineries.com
Sonoma County
Gloria Ferrer Caves & Vineyards (Sonoma): Enjoy a Mother's Day Brunch on May 8, featuring a special menu paired with glorious wines. Start with appetizers at 11:30 a.m., attend private tour at noon if desired, and sit down to lunch at 12:30 p.m. Call 707-996-7256 for reservations Cost is $70 per person or $59.50 for club members and persons under 21 accompanied by an adult. www.gloriaferrer.com
Heritage Oak Winery (Lodi): Enjoy a Mother's Day Picnic & Concert on May 8 including a jazz concert by Jackie Floyd and Swing Shift. Free if you bring your own picnic, $15 per person if you order lunch through the winery, excluding wines. Lunches for children under ten are only $10. Takes place 12 p.m. – 5 p.m. For more info or to book email email@example.com or call 209-986-2763.
Madera County
Madera Vintners Association: If your mother is a wine lover then treat her to the perfect Mother's Day gift – tickets to the Meet the Winemaker Weekend in Madera County on May 14 and 15, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. She'll sample a wide variety of local award-winning wines, from aperitif to dessert old-world styles to the latest in winemaking technology, all from the hands of the winemakers themselves. These talented winemakers will be found around the Trail discussing their hand-crafted wine techniques, hosting barrel tastings, winery tours and more. Plus, you will find indulgent food pairings, local art and live music. Passport Glasses are available for $25 from any participating winery both days of the event. Pre-sale tickets can also be purchased for $20 at select locations. Visit www.MaderaWineTrail.com or call 800-613-0709 for more event and ticket information.
Amador County
Deaver Vineyards (Plymouth): Make the world's best Mom feel special with a Mother's Day Picnic on May 8. For just $13 enjoy delicious gourmet sandwiches from Andre's Bakery in Amador City, Yukon Gold potato salad, fudge brownie and a bottle of water. Make your reservations for lunch and to hold a picnic table on the beautiful Deaver Green overlooking the vineyards and Deaver Ponds. Grab a bottle or glass of Deaver Vineyard's award winning wine to complete your Mother's Day lunch. www.deavervineyard.com
El Dorado County
Fitzpatrick Winery (Fair Play): Treat Mom on May 8 to a special Mother's Day Ploughman's Lunch and/or the expanded Winetaster's menu with a complimentary hand-crafted chocolate treat. Enjoy the warmth and beauty of our new garden patio or the spectacular view of the deck. Since mothers rule and love to shop, guests can mix a case of favorites and Fitpatrick's staff will whisper a deal. Starting at $13.95 for two. Call 800-245-9166 or visit www.fitzpatrickwinery.com
Placer County
Synapse Wines (Placerville): Synapse Wines tasting room in downtown Placerville is offering a special discounted treat for Mom on the big day – just $19 for a gourmet cheese plate with two glasses of premium wine (normally $25). Synapse Wines is a brand name of High View Vineyards. Open May 8 from 12-5 p.m. www.synapsewines.com
Livermore Valley
Garre Winery (Livermore): The winery will hold its popular annual Mother's Day Champagne Brunch on May 8 in its festive Grand Pavilion amidst the gardens and vineyards. The chefs will make omelettes to order, the buffet is filled with many brunch favorites. Reservations required, $36.95 person, Children 4-12 $14.95, 3 and under are free. Seatings from 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Call 925-371-8200 for reservations. www.garrewinery.com
Retzlaff Vineyards (Livermore Valley): Enjoy a leisurely Mother's Day Picnic on May 8, 11:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. by bringing your own picnic lunch to our beautiful organic vineyard and dancing to the live music of "Top Secret." Prizes will be awarded to those wearing the most colorful, most outrageous and the oldest hats. Costs are $10 for adults and children 15 and under are free. Enjoy $5 wine tastings. Reservations required. Call 925-447-8941 or visit www.retzlaffwinery.com
Monterey County
Monterey County Vintner's Association (Monterey County): If your Mom loves wine and golf, continue the Mother's Day celebration on Monday and treat her to the Monterey County Vintners and Growers Association's annual Golf Tournament, hosted this year at the Corral de Tierra Country Club on May 9. This year's It and Rip It Tournament will include wonderful gifts, great food, and of course, delicious Monterey County wine. The day on the golf course is capped off with a one-of-a-kind awards party. The tournament, BBQ luncheon, and post reception is $195 per person. (Non-golfers can join in on the post party fun for $85 per person) Make your reservation today to play in this annual event by calling 831-375-9400, or visit the Monterey County Vintners and Growers Association's site at www.montereywines.org.
Paso Robles
Sextant Wines (Paso Robles): Offering a perk for Mom this Mother's Day with a complimentary wine tasting on the main deck, and specials on wine cases. Souvenir glass may be purchased separately. www.sextantwines.com
Still Waters Vineyards (Paso Robles): Enjoy a free Picture Perfect Sunday Mother's Day on May 8 from 1-4 pm with live music in the olive grove from blues/rock group Guy Budd Band. Celebrate Mom while sipping on some wine and listening to great music. Wine by the glass and tri-tip will be available for purchase. Call 805.237.9231 or visit www.stillwatersvineyards.com
Santa Barbara County
Zaca Mesa (Los Olivos): If your mom is the outdoorsy type, take her on a "Hike, Blend and Picnic Lunch" in Zaca Mesa's vineyards, where she'll learn about the vines, terroir and Rhone varietals and get a chance to blend her own GSM (Grenache, Syrah , Mourvedre) blend. From 9 a.m. to noon. Costs $50 for Wine Club members and $65 for Non-members. www.zacamesa.com
Santa Cruz County
Bargetto Winery (Soquel): Treat Mom to a Mother's Day brunch on May 8 for $53, including a deluxe gourmet meal, unlimited sparkling wine and live music (tax and gratuity included). Arrive by 11:30 a.m. for noon brunch. For reservations call 831-475-2258, ext. 10. www.bargetto.com
Temecula Valley
Keyways Winery (Temecula): Keyways, the only woman owned and managed winery in Temecula Valley, is offering a glass of complimentary Muscat Canelli to all mothers visiting the winery that day. Call 1-877-KEYWAYS or visit www.keywayswine.com.
Ponte Family Estate Winery (Temecula): Pamper the mother in your life at Ponte this Mother's Day with a relaxing day in the country. Enjoy a gourmet brunch buffet with delicious wines and live jazz music. There will be a children's buffet filled with all of their favorites. Commemorate with professional photography courtesy of Grins 2 Go. Tickets for each of four different seatings and cost $55 per adult ($49 Wine Club Members), $25 per child (12 and under) and $22 for Wine Club Member's child (12 and under). Call 951-694-8855 or visit www.pontewinery.com.
South Coast Winery (Temecula): Create unforgettable memories with a special Mother's Day Champagne Brunch on May 8 at South Coast Winery, featuring attractively priced and elegant fare in the winery's restaurants. Tickets cost $42 per adult, $19 per child (12 and under), with 10% Wine Club Members discount for up to 4 guests. This annual event sells out early so call 951-587-9463 Ext. 7237 or visit www.wineresort.com
Wilson Creek Winery (Temecula): Give mom a break this Mother's Day and head to wine country on May 8 for Wilson Creek's popular Mother's Day Champagne Brunch at 10 a.m. Enjoy live music with vineyard view dining for an unforgettable Sunday Brunch menu created for the occasion and paired with award winning wines. Tickets cost $49.95 per person ($59.95 per person with champagne), $12.95 (Children 12 and under), $44.95 Wine Club members ($53.95 and $11.65 for kids 12 and under). Call 951.693.9463 or call www.wilsoncreekwinery.com
About California Wine and Wine Country
California is the top producer of wine in the U.S. with dozens of distinctive winegrowing regions and more than 100 varieties of winegrapes. More than 20 million travelers visit California wine regions each year, soaking up eye-popping pastoral vistas, enjoying visits to tasting rooms, attending blending classes, wine and food pairings and garden and art tours and more while enjoying delicious, innovative cuisine at wine country restaurants. California has one of the leading sustainable winegrowing program in the world, with more than 1,566 wineries and vineyards participating. Many vintners and growers are from multi-generational family businesses where preserving the land for the next generation is a priority. In celebration of the annual harvest, dozens of events happen around the state during California Wine Month each September. Visit www.discovercaliforniawine.com for California wine county events in September and throughout the year.
About Wine Institute and the California Association of Winegrape Growers
Wine Institute is the association of more than 1,000 California wineries and wine-related businesses that initiate and advocate state, federal and international public policy to enhance environment for the responsible production, consumption and enjoyment of wine. The organization also works to enhance the economic and environmental health of its communities, home state and the nation through leadership in sustainable winegrowing, an international marketing program to promote California wine exports and a partnership with California Travel and Tourism to showcase the state's wine and food offerings. www.wineinstitute.org
The California Association of Winegrape Growers (CAWG) was founded in 1974 with the mission to provide industry leadership to advocate public policies, research and education programs and trade positions that enhance the business of growing California winegrapes. CAWG's membership represents the growers of approximately 60 percent of California's total annual grape crush. www.cawg.org
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BRADFORD, England, July 28 (UPI) -- A newly developed blood test could help doctors rule out cancer in patients presenting certain symptoms, helping avoid the expense and stress of undergoing unnecessary and invasive procedures like colonoscopies and biopsies. Likewise, the test could help identify hard-to-find cancers in patients, allowing doctors to more quickly commence with a course of treatment.
The blood test was developed by researchers at the University of Bradford, a public university in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. Early results suggest the blood test can -- with a high rate of accuracy -- locate cancer and pre-cancerous conditions in patients with melanoma, colon cancer and lung cancer.
Called Lymphocyte Genome Sensitivity (LGS) test, the analysis hones in on the DNA of white blood cells. By measuring the damage caused to the DNA of white blood cells when subjected to different intensities of ultraviolet light, researchers can differentiate between the white blood cells of patients with cancer or pre-cancerous conditions and the white blood cells of healthy patients.
"These are early results completed on three different types of cancer and we accept that more research needs to be done," explained Professor Diana Anderson, researcher at the University's School of Life Sciences. "But these results so far are remarkable."
Anderson detailed the test she developed along with her colleagues in a study published in The Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.
"Whilst the numbers of people we tested are, in epidemiological terms, quite small, in molecular epidemiological terms, the results are powerful," Anderson added.
The new test is currently being employed in a clinical trial at Bradford Royal Infirmary. The trial will be used to determine the effectiveness of the LGS test in determining whether a patient should or shouldn't have a colonoscopy.


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With the baseball's first-year player draft starting tonight in Secaucus, N.J., The Baltimore Sun spoke with analyst Jonathan Mayo, who will be part of MLB Network's coverage. Mayo offers his take on the Orioles' strategy and some players to keep an eye on.
What is the Orioles' No. 1 need in the draft?
I think the first thing I always say that's universal, not just the Orioles, most teams aren't known to draft for [need], especially early on. Later on, if you want to look at their system and they want to get certain areas, they might do that. I think they could probably could use some more bats. They could use some more everything. They don't have the deepest system in the world … some extra catching or middle infielders or center fielders.
How does their strategy change picking this low?
It certainly is a different perspective for them. The strategy might just be the same. Let's assume every year they're picking fourth. I think they would have a handful of guys, maybe a half dozen, that they'd really be looking at and they would hope somebody would filter down to them. Most would probably go above them and then they'd take the one they felt was the best. They might have the same exact strategy. The pool just has to be a little bit larger. You have to be able to adjust because, invariably, somebody slides down that everyone thought would be long gone before pick No. 22. That's something they need to do there. There is some talent for them to look at at 22, so I think this draft here, it's an especially good year to be picking low. Not a lot of guys separated themselves. There's a good amount of depth as you sort of move along. In the 20s and then at pick 37, there actually could be some good talent there. The player they get at that pick in the 30s could be every bit as good or not that much different than the guy they get at 22.
Does picking this low put any additional strain on a scouting department?
I don't know if it puts that much more strain. You may have to rely on your lower-level scouts for higher picks. The scouting director and crosscheckers are going to make sure they've seen everyone they're considering with their first couple of picks at least once or multiple times. But when you have several of them, it gets a little bit harder. There are only so many people and there are only so many days to scout them during the spring. In every draft, you start relying on your area scouts because you don't crosscheck, the scouting director doesn't see every single player. That might start a little bit sooner. You might have to rely on some summer evaluations. … I don't know if it taxes you anymore. It does enable you to be a little more creative because of the extra money and the extra picks. They can sort of decide what direction they want to go and maybe they reach for a guy they like at 22 and save some money and then there's a guy who slides to [37] they can spend some money on and it works out for their benefit.
Who are some of the players in the No. 22 to No. 37 range that stand out as players they might be targeting or players who could make a quicker impact?
Without having any certainty whatsoever because every year is difficult but the back end of the first round is extremely difficult, there's a good amount of college pitching they could look at it if they wanted to. There's a couple college bats. A guy like [right-hander] Alex Gonzalez from Oral Roberts made kind of a late charge and is being mentioned in that neck of the woods. [Right-hander] Chris Anderson from Jacksonville started the year pitching the year extremely year and then really kind of faded toward the end. [Right-hander] Jonathon Crawford from Florida, [left-hander] Marco Gonzales from Gonzaga, those are college pitchers they could look at it as guys that could bolster them a little more quickly. Position player-wise, there's [third baseman] Eric Jagielo from Notre Dame; Austin Wilson, an outfielder from Stanford; Phillip Ervin, an outfielder from Samford University. [Outfielder] Michael Lorenzen is another guy from Cal State Fullerton. … They could look at any of those guys at 22 and they could still be around for [37]. Even the next wave college pitching is not that different from the guys I mentioned.
Who are some of the top local prospects the Orioles could be looking at?
The best player from Maryland is Matthew McPhearson (Riverdale Baptist). He's one of the smaller, compact, really athletic outfielders. He'll be somewhat interesting. Errol Robinson (St. John's College High School) is shortstop, a good athlete, might be able to stay at short. I saw him over the summer. He was fairly impressive. Those are the two guys that jump out to me. Nobody else really stands out. If I were going to pick two Maryland guys, those are the top two.
What is the end goal of the Orioles' draft?
Baltimore, I'm sure, would like to find some players who can help them sooner rather than later, given how competitive the AL East always is. They're not one to shy away from high school players, at least they haven't in the past. … What happened with Kevin Gausman is probably the best case scenario. They drafted a guy and he made it to the big leagues in a real hurry. I think if they can find some guys like that, even some high school guys that might take a little longer. The ultimate goal is to find big league parts, impact players, part-time players, trade bait, whatever it is that can help them continue to compete in that division.


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From restaurants and nightlife to entertainment, family fun, and shopping, The Village at Gulfstream Park is THE place to be! Get access to all of the exclusive content you've been looking for: event photos, contests, deals, giveaways, recipes, events, and so much more!
We all love FREE Music right?! We know you do!! We want you to take the Gulfstream Park experience home with you, so you can be reminded of all the fun you had at our world class racetrack, casinos, shops, and restaurants the next time your phone rings!
Download your FREE copy of the DAY & NIGHT mixes below
and you'll always have Gulfstream Park on the go!
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This gem of a video was directed by Tani Ikeda and stars me and Grant Lee Phillips and some amazing dancers! We shot this in downtown LA in July on a single soundstage – really like an old school MTV music video and it was very exciting to be styled in all these incredible looks and costumes. I really love when Grant is in the cage – very goth and ominous! During the sushi scene I ended up eating a piece of tuna that had been on my leg for several hours, and it had warmed up to my body temperature. There was no soy sauce on it or anything, and it seemed to have my body odor as well as some lotion and glitter on it, and I ended up eating it and then I couldn't think about anything else for the entire day except that I ate it. I didn't actually get sick from it, but it was a pretty intense fish experience. I haven't had sushi since. But I love this video and this song. Much thanks to the incredibly talented Tani and Grant and everyone in this video!
Margaret Cho – Asian Adjacent – featuring Grant Lee Phillips from Margaret Cho on Vimeo.
"Asian Adjacent" is from Margaret's Grammy-nominated comedy music album, "Cho Dependent."
Get the song on iTunes here.
Get it on CD or Vinyl with automatic download of the whole album, from Margaret!


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Who did it? Mr. and Mrs. Cakespy (a couple of serious troublemakers)
What did we do? We shipped 4 parcels containing cupcakes, each packaged in a different way, to see which ones would arrive in the best condition. (Note: To ease our holiday-stressed budget, the cakes were all from an economy-sized box of "Fun Cakes with Buttercreme Icing"--their spelling--from the local QFC grocery store; the cupcakes themselves were of a medium size, so this experiment might not turn out the same with jumbo or mini cupcakes).
Why did we do this? To see how well cupcakes need to be packaged to ship safely...and to see how they arrive if not packed carefully. And, you know, for fun.
Where did we ship the cupcakes? For ease of time and budget, we shipped each package from ourselves to ourselves (so each parcel would remain within the Seattle city limits). The transit time in this case should be just one or two days.
How did we do this? We packed the boxes as follows:
Box 1 (Above): In the first package, we packed a cupcake in a padded envelope just by itself, no additional packing material. Not so sure about this one. Shipped via first class; total cost $1.31.
Box 2 (Above): This one we have high hopes for; an individual cupcake packed in the Cup-a-cake carrier with bubble wrap all around it, in a box. Shipped via first class, $2.83.
Box 3 (Above): This cupcake was wrapped in tinfoil and surrounded by newsprint, then
packed in a box. Risky, or will it be OK? We wonder. Shipped via first class; total cost $2.49.
Box 4 (Above): we tried putting a few cupcakes (to avoid them sliding around) in an airtight container, then padded around it with newsprint. Seemed pretty safe. Shipped via priority mail (it was cheaper); total cost: $4.60.
*Note: the shipping method for each box was the most economical, and none of the parcels were marked as fragile or given any special treatment.
And as for the results? Well, at the time of this writing all of the parcels were currently in transit; check back on Friday to see the results! But in the meantime...which one do you think will arrive in the best condition?


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Friday, October 26, 2007
Thermostat Repair Guys
6 comments:
- NYC Educator said...
Ah, the good ol' reliable trailer fixit squad. I know them well.
As does every other teacher in the system, while Bloomberg and Weingarten screw around with merit pay.
- 7:14 PM, October 26, 2007
- Pissed Off Mom said...
How many workers does it take to fix a thermostat?
Well now I know how it feels in a trailer in the rain. Due to construction at our school (brick work) it now rains in our building.
Nice big flooding rain. Lets just say our Principal is not to pleased.
- 8:00 PM, October 26, 2007
- Anonymous said...
Oh dear... I understand the gravity of the situation, but the picture you took is hilarious. What were they thinking? Why didn't they split up and fix both thermostats at the same time?
- 4:35 AM, October 28, 2007
- Pissed Off said...
They only had the parts for one thermostat. And, those weren't the right parts either. I wonder if we will have any heat tomorrow.
- 12:51 PM, October 28, 2007
- Ms. Tsouris said...
It's very difficult to split up 3 guys 2 ways, especially when there's only 1 part and you need 2.
Maybe they need to use the workshop model to more effectively install at least one part in one place?? Maybe they can learn how to do it from one another, and that's what you witnessed....
- 1:27 PM, October 28, 2007
- Ms. Tsouris said...
PO'd, I forgot to mention.....perhaps you will now be able to use those old crappy Prentice Hall Math A books in a more effective manner, for firewood? This is really not funny at all, it's much cooler out today. I'd like to know which administrator is doing their job without heat in their office or a decent workspace. The message to the kids is loud and clear..."WE DON'T CARE!!"
- 1:32 PM, October 28, 2007


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Governing 'Energy for All'
On February 1, Climate & Energy Director Alexander Ochs will participate in the Governing "Energy for All" Conference at the Brookings Institution. He will participate in a working group examining how emerging economies can transition to renewable energy systems while withstanding the fluctuations of global energy markets.
About the Governing "Energy for All" Conference
It is access to modern energy that discriminates between social development and stagnation, between economic opportunities in rural areas and migration pressure, and between local stability and vulnerability. Since the Sustainable Energy for All initiative and the Rio+20 UN conference, energy access is increasingly acknowledged as a key ingredient for achieving the Millennium Development Goals, fostering regional stability and mitigating climate change. The energy poverty paradigm, however, is complex and involves multifaceted aspects at the local, national and global levels. The unique challenge is to harmonize interests and to orchestrate initiatives by closing the governance gaps that prevent the realization of tangible results on a larger scale.
This high-level conference will provide a platform for addressing a number of crucial issues in the debate on energy access, following three key "red threads" from a global public policy and transatlantic standpoint:
- The development obstacles preventing effective rural electrification.
- The sectoral opportunities of renewable energy industries and financial instruments required to mobilize the private sector.
- The overall public policy needs to reduce vulnerability of developing countries and enhance regional stability.
The conference will explore and discuss these issues by addressing the following key questions:
- Which approaches have proven successful in assisting developing countries in the creation of frameworks and governance mechanisms for ensuring energy access, particularly to rural households?
- How can global public policy, financial industries and climate finance mobilize private sector investments in clean energy supply in developing countries?
- What can be done to increase resilience of energy systems in developing countries while mitigating the impacts of volatile energy markets?
About the Towards a Global Environmental Energy Transition for Stability Working Group
In the process of rural energy supply, often times political short-term interests contrast with the technical-economical rationality of energy systems. Developing countries need to adopt strategies that prevent them from running into debt-traps of retail subsidies and simultaneously protect their people from the impacts of volatile energy markets. How can the transition to sustainable energy in poor and developing countries be promoted given the challenging circumstances? What can the EU and the US do to assist their partners in this process?
- Introduction: Matthew Sohm, Strategy Analyst, Desertec Industrial Initiative (DII)
- Commentator: Alexander Ochs, Climate & Energy Director, Worldwatch Institute


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Houston radio stations KKBQ (92.9 FM) and KLOL (101.1 FM) have received Marconi Awards from the National Association of Broadcasters as the nation's top stations in country and Spanish-language formats, respectively.
KKBQ, which is owned by Cox Communications, was selected for the country award over finalists KCLR-FM, Columbia, Mo.; WDSY-FM, Pittsburgh; WGSQ-FM, Cookeville, Tenn.; and WUSN-FM, Chicago.
Other finalists for the Spanish station award won by KLOL, which is owned by CBS Radio, were KGBT-FM, McAllen; KLNV-FM, San Diego; WKAQ-FM, San Juan, Puerto Rico; and WYUS-AM, Milford, Del.
KTCK-AM in Dallas was honored as the top sports station in the country.
Other winners included WBBN/WCFS in Chicago, legendary station; WBEB-FM in Philadelphia, major market station of the year; KSTP-FM in Minneapolis, large market station of the year; KRMG-AM in Tulsa, medium market station of the year; WKDZ-FM in Cadiz, Ky., small market station of the year; WBZ-AM in Boston, news/talk; WZLX-FM in Boston, rock; WVEE-FM in Atlanta, urban; WTMX-FM in Chicago, adult contemporary; WRDW-FM in Philadelphia, contemporary hits; and KLRC in Siloam Springs, Ark., religious


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The Skyhawks are wearing a new color scheme red, white and blue.
The Fort Lewis College cycling team, collectively, donned the red, white and blue jerseys of national champions Sunday afternoon at Angel Fire Resort.
Behind a balanced and deep roster, the Skyhawks won their eighth consecutive national title at the USA Cycling Collegiate Mountain Bike Championships, holding off the University of Colorado over three days of mountain bike racing.
Ive come to really appreciate that Im on a team that wins the national omnium almost every year, FLC senior Rotem Ishay said. Its easy to take (winning) for granted. But when I see the dedication of our coaches especially Dave Hagen, who is the heart and soul of the program - it inspires me.
Ishay, in his final national collegiate mountain bike competition, finished second in the individual omnium for men in Division I. He won the short track endurance race Saturday after finishing second to teammate Howard Grotts in Fridays cross country race.
Ive been on the podium every year (four) because college racing is important to me, said Ishay, who closed his collegiate mountain biking career with three national short track titles in a row.
Im also a pro, and Im a student, but this is important to me, said Ishay, who qualified for the final field of 32 in Sundays dual slalom, his first year of gravity racing.
Joe Schusler (of the University of Colorado) was definitely the man of the mountain this weekend, Ishay said of the omnium winner who was second in Sundays dual slalom.
He did far better on the endurance side than I expected. He was top 20 in the cross country. I have a lot of respect for him because he did all of the events on one bike (a Yeti). I had different bikes for cross country and downhill.
FLC teammate Kaila Hart, a product of the Durango DEVO youth cycling program, finished fourth in the Division I womens omnium. She raced cross country, short track, downhill and dual slalom to help FLC win its 20th national cycling championship.
I was happy to finish fourth (in the omnium), Hart said. Juggling the time slots is tough with four events. Not tiring yourself out but getting enough practice time. Its a tough balance.
She said the FLC coaches helped her focus on each event one at a time.
Hagen is amazing, Hart said. He keeps us hydrated and fed the entire day. And thats hard to do.
She said the support of coaches Chad Cheeney and Elke Brutsaert puts the Skyhawks in a position to excel, like they did at Angel Fire over the weekend.
Its always nice to contribute to the team, Hart said after Sundays award ceremony where the Skyhawks literally traded their blue and gold kits for the red, white and blue champions jerseys. This is so fun. We all have so much fun racing together.
Grotts, another product of the Durango DEVO program, added an individual national championship (cross country) and a runner-up finish (short track) to the Skyhawks winning point total.
Its great to be part of such a cool program, Grotts said. Were excellent at riding bikes. But we also have a great team ... a community. The best part about it is having fun together.
But the Skyhawks did more than have fun: They won.
This year, particularly, the staff we have are passionate people (about cycling), Hagen said after the Skyhawks collected magic numbers 8 and 20. Theyve been a part of the program. They know how it operates. Its not just fast racers its a team. Its everyone working together as a team.
But, Hagen said, with all the planning and preparation, the Skyhawks still have to go out and execute.
They still have to go out and give it their all, Hagen said. Thats all I ask. If they give it their all, and we dont win, thats all right. We still have a good time.
FLC totaled 701 points to win the complex team omnium scoring.
CU was second with 625.
Marian University of Indianapolis, a strong road and track cycling program, made mountain bike headlines by finishing third (445 points).
Lees-McRae of North Carolina, the longtime cycling rival of FLC, was fourth (439).
The University of Wyoming, behind womens repeat omnium champion Jill Behlen, finished fifth (434).
Behlen, a tiny dynamo at 4 feet, 10 inches, solidified her title with a third-place finish in the dual slalom Sunday afternoon.
Skyhawks Taylor Borucki, Phil Cowen and Adam Digby all advanced through the first elimination round of Sundays dual slalom, which amounted to a dual BMX race. Think BMX track on the side of a mountain, and that was the dual slalom course at Angel Fire Resort.
The Skyhawks were bumped in the second round, as was Brittany Clawson, who won the womens downhill for FLC on Saturday.
Meghan Kane of FLC took a high-speed crash in the dual slalom, launching over her handlebars in the first elimination round. Kane, who was knocked out momentarily, was tended to by medical personnel. Gravity racers all wear full-face motorcycle helmets when racing.
Kane, who finished on the podium in downhill, was transported to the hospital in Taos, where doctors cleared her to return to Angel Fire on Sunday evening. She got back to the resort just in time to put on her red, white and blue jersey and join her teammates at the top of the collegiate podium.
The team, which gave its all, again was whole, just in time to collect its eighth consecutive mountain bike gold and the programss 20th national championship overall.
We have the most fun out of any of the teams, said Lauren Catlin, who won two national titles this year for FLC cross country and short track.
To me, thats the most important.
dstrode @durangoherald.com


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Dear users,
As you know, I'm working on mod_openpgp and Enigform for a second installment of the OWASP Summer of Code. Even though I have just reached a 60% completion on such project, the remaining 40% is mostly oriented towards producing a working, yet simple, Enigform-powered DEMO website, or an authentication plugin for one of phpBB, Wordpress, etc.
So, what do you think?
Shall I create a simple website? What ideas do you have for that?
Would you prefer a plugin for any open source, web-based project, such as a forum, blog or wiki system? A wiki sounds like an ideal candidate... Enigform integration on a wiki sounds very... straight-forward, and obvious.
Let's get this discussion to the rest of the community!
DIGG THIS STORY by clicking here.


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The presentation of Bryn Llewellyn was a good one! He talked about the 11g new features. Well, he said it is maybe not named 11g and maybe none of the features will be available. But since the beta is already available, I guess all of the features he talked will be available. It is very rich, and went fast, so I apologize for not relating all of them, or any mistakes that I include.
The result set caching. My favorite. This sounds like a huge performance improvement for many applications. I have an application which is doing a select count(*) at every screen. It is the bottleneck. A possible workaround is to use query rewrite and materialized view. Now in 11g, you just add a /*+result_cache*/ hint, so the result of the query will be cached. Justin Cave asked about the integrity. The answer is : there is no compromise of the integrity. There is an aggressive cache invalidation, so whatever DML happens on one dependent table, the cache result is invalidated. As for the materialized view rewrite in 9iR1, I guess there will be quite a few P1 bug for that hint in 11.1.0, but still it is a great announcement. This hint also works for PL/SQL functions, the declaration of the function can include result_cache relies on (emp)
Fine grained dependency tracking. Currently, if you have a view or a function based on a table, and if you modify that table, the view is getting invalid. This is what Bryn called : aggressive object invalidation. Now in 11g it has improved, so if you modify an element of the table which is not included in that view (ex: you add a column), the view is not invalidated. This is wise.
Regular expression improvements. This is rather a SQL improvement, glad Bryn did presented it too. One of this is a new function called regexp_count. All of the existing functions have been improved. I love that kind of new features, because they offer new way of solving queries. I hope I will be able to reanswer Re: Can any one retrive Nth column from a table with one less function in 11g.
Using the => syntax in sql. In 11g you can use select f(x=>1) from dual, which is a goodie.
Fine grained access control to the TCP packages family (utl_tcp, utl_smtp, …). This is a good one. You can grant execute on the package only for specific IP addresses.
Read-only table. Ok, it reminds me one thread how-to-set-a-table-in-read-only-mode. Glad to see this one too!
Fast triggers. Nothing to do about it, triggers are just faster in 11g.
Intra-Unit inlining. This is the 3rd level of PLSQL_optimize_level.
Trigger order. You have many triggers on one table, you can now specify in which order they will be fired.
Compound trigger. A new powerfull type of trigger, which enables you to specify a declarative section (and to have a kind of package global variable), a before procedure, an after each row procedure, and an after procedure. All this in a single trigger.
Create disabled trigger. It is now possible to create a disabled trigger. You can create an invalid trigger, and compile it later, but if not used appropriately by the developers, it may create a new kind of invalid objects in the databases. Good for the developer. Not necessarily pleasant for the DBA.
Using sequence in PL/SQL without DML. It is possible to use x:=s.nextval in plsql, instead of selecting from dual.
PLSQL_Warning. You can compile a procedure with PLSQL_WARNING=enable all, to get errors when others exceptions are caught and not raised. Tom Kyte does appreciate this one 😉
A special mention to the super keyword. I am enthusiastic but somehow skeptic about the implementation of inheritance in PL/SQL. Well, I am looking forward from reading more about this.
Faster and real native compilation. Improvement have been done to bypass the filesystem and the external C compiler in this release.
DBMS_SQL improvement. Ways to bypass the 32k limitation. I have not understand very well this change.
The continue keyword. You can use the continue keyword in your plsql loops, as you would do in another languages.
disclaimer: the post was based on OOW 2006 announcement and may not reflect the production release of 11g


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If You Have Multiple Parts Requirement, Then Upload Your Part List Here !
This is a quotation for the goods listed above. This quotation is meant as an estimate and does not reflect a final bill or invoice. All quotations are subject to change until acceptance by ASAP Semiconductor of a binding Purchase Order, and quotations may be withdrawn or revised at the sole discretion of ASAP Semiconductor. This quotation is subject to the ASAP Semiconductor Terms & Conditions available at https://www.asapsemi.com/terms-conditions.aspx. All United States Government and Department of Defense bids are quoted as CAGE code 6RE77 from ASAP Semiconductor's Irvine, California facility. Any quotation from ASAP Semiconductor without CAGE code 6RE77 is void.
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TEL AVIV, Israel, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- Elbit Systems says it has successfully flight-tested its Hermes 450 and Hermes 900 unmanned aerial vehicles from one ground control station, greatly enhancing the operational flexibility of the long-range drones amid a growing global market for the aircraft.
The tests underlined how Israel's high-tech defense industry is developing a wide range of unmanned robot systems for air, land and sea. These include Nahshson, a remote-controlled land vehicle that can tote 2 tons of cargo.
This is an advanced variant of the Guardium robot vehicle developed by G-NIUS Unmanned Ground Systems, a joint venture by Elbit and state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries. The Guardium has been in operated by the Israeli military since 2008.
Elbit said the Hermes tests were conducted from the company's new universal ground control station using a single operator for both UAVs.
"Joint flight control and management of two different unmanned aircraft systems provides users with enhanced operational flexibility, adapting each UAS to a specific mission and enabling management of highly complex missions in diverse arenas," Elbit said.
The Hermes 450 is a tactical long-endurance UAV that is the backbone of the Israeli air force's drone fleet, with more than 200,000 operational flight hours.
It's capable of flying at altitudes up to 20,000 feet. The latest variant is quieter than its predecessors and carries a heavier payload.
The Hermes 900 has longer endurance, a silenced engine, a maximum altitude of 30,000 feet and a larger payload capacity of 770 pounds.
Israel's defense industry has become a major producer of UAVs, along with the United States.
According to Jacques Chemia, chief engineer of IAI's UAV division, "Israel is the world's leading exporter of drones, with more than 1,000 sold in 42 countries."
Under a ground-breaking April 2009 contract with Moscow, worth $53 million, IAI, flagship of Israel's defense industry, sold Russia 12 short-range Bird-Eye 400, I-View MK150 and long-range Searcher II UAVs.
It was Russia's first purchase of a foreign weapons system and emphasized its technology shortfall following the sharp reduction of spending on research and development in the 1990s when the Cold War ended.
That contract led to a $400 million deal between IAI and Russia's Oboronprom OPK Group in October under which the Russians will eventually manufacture the Heron 1, one of Israel's most advanced UAVs capable of strategic missions.
IAI has developed the more advanced Heron TP, dubbed the Eitan which is Hebrew for "Strong."
This long-range UAV weight 4.5 tons, has a wingspan of 86 feet -- about that same as a Boeing 737 airliner -- and can stay aloft for 20 hours at high altitude.
This unique UAV, a major technological breakthrough for the Israelis, has a 1,200 horsepower turbojet, a maximum altitude of 40,000 feet and can carry hundreds of pounds of equipment, such as high-resolution cameras, electronic surveillance systems and presumably weapons.
The Heron TP is capable of reaching Iran, although it's not known whether it has done so on surveillance missions, or whether it can be refueled in air.
The Hermes 900 is also reported to be able to reach Iran.
The ground-based robot systems are now widely deployed with the Israeli military. The Guardium has notched up thousands of operational hours since 2008.
The Nahshon, the latest UGV being developed by UGS, is able to operate on its own in combat zones. The Nahshon team believes it is close to producing a completely autonomous guidance system for the cargo vehicle.
Guardium and other UGVs are used to reinforce the remote-controlled gun and sensor towers or patrol areas along Israel's borders with troubled Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.
Amid the upheaval in Egypt that toppled President Hosni Mubarak, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu ordered the construction of a security barrier along a 90-mile stretch of the border with Egypt to be speeded up.
This, originally intended to keep out illegal African immigrants, could have remote-control guard towers as well and be patrolled by UGVs.
Over recent years, the Israeli military has automated much of its security along the Lebanese and Gaza borders.
This includes the Sentry-Tech armored watchtowers, 15 feet high and 6 feet in diameter, that are topped with remote-control machine gun turrets and night-vision video cameras. The latest addition is radar that can penetrate fog.


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My mom's dear friend of 50 years is crippled with arthritis. Over the years, she has enjoyed sending out greeting cards, but is now unable to hold a pen to sign her name. I am going to have a stamper made with her signature.
I was looking on-line and will go to a local office supply store to find what is best for her. She needs to just push the stamper and self-inking versus an ink pad would be best. I know absolutely nothing about stampers or stamping. Anyone have any advice?
Signature Stamp
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Do a Google search for "self-inking signature stamp". I found this page at the top, probably the sort of thing you need:
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Here's your daily link to Dave McKenna's brilliant "Cranky Redskins Fan's Guide to Dan Snyder," which we'll be posting until Snyder's dumbass libel suit disappears like Jim Zorn's head-coaching authority.
Today, we share with you an E:60 segment in which Boy Wonder explains to ESPN that "I'm shy with cameras and I'm shy with media." Asked for an explanation why, he says, "I don't know. Maybe because I've been beaten up so much."
Aw, poor wittle guy, he just didn't realize buying an NFL franchise made him a public figure, it seems. "There's no instruction manual," he explains to a fawning Rachel Nichols.
There sure isn't. But, there are 2.25 million Google hits for "how to be a public figure."
If you want to help the City Paper, you needn't be shy. You don't even need a manual. You can contribute to its legal defense fund.


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Item Description
Testimony of James H. Holmes
Author: Hyatt, Thaddeus
Date: December 8, 1856
This testimony of James Holmes is a portion of the Journal of Investigations in Kansas, a collection of personal stories recorded by Thaddeus Hyatt, president of the National Kansas Committee. Mr. Holmes had studied agricultural chemistry before entering Kansas Territory, and his initial reason for emigrating was his desire to undertake agricultural experiments. He had also intended to join with Clubbs Vegetarian Settlement, which was located on the Neosho River near the north line of the Osage Reserve. He goes into detail about the Neosho valley and its vegetation, mineral deposits, etc. The rest of his account deals with his involvement in the free state militia and his role in defending Osawatomie.
Location of Original: KSHS Call Number: Thaddeus Hyatt Collection, #401, Box 1, Folder 5
Item Number: 101588 Number of images: 10
Keywords: Agriculture; Border disputes and warfare; Brown, John, 1800-1859; Cline, Captain; Emigration and immigration; Free state militia; Harvey, James A.; Holmes, James H.; Hyatt, Thaddeus; Lawrence, Kansas Territory; Missourians; Osawatomie, Battle of; Osawatomie, Kansas Territory; Shore, Samuel T.; Skirmishing; Stringfellow, Benjamin F.; Violence
pg. 1
pg. 2
pg. 3
pg. 4
pg. 5
pg. 6
pg. 7
pg. 8


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PixelCrafted HTML Onepage adavtive template suits your needs if you are an web agency, freelancer, copyrighter, or just business company to present your work, projects and services in best way. Animated headings, unusual adaptive gallery, one page layout – all this features helps you to be different, to present your work in most memorable way. Template includes also design and html of blog page.
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- Clipart from – Photodune
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Update 1.1 – 05.05.2013
- fixed responsive issue on Blog page and Single Post Blog Page


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Hi! My name is Dr. Poppy Moon and I am a school counselor in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. I have a Masters degree in School Counseling from Texas A & M Commerce, and a Ph.D. in Counselor Education From the University of Alabama. I am a Licensed Professional Counselor, National Board Certified Counselor, and a Certified School Counselor. This year I was honored to be selected as the 2015 Alabama School Counselor of the Year! I really needed some good material to use with my students (not the dusty VHS tapes laying around my office). As a result, I decided I would create my own books and games to use. Luckily, Youthlight, Inc. chose to publish my products and still support me in creating more. I am very proud that my book The School with No Rules received a Mom's Choice Gold Award. Several other books I have illustrated have also won Gold & Silver Mom's Choice Awards. Check them out! I am the Art & Photography Director for my company, Out of This World Productions. We create streaming guidance videos for school counselors. My goal in life is to help counselors be better counselors. There is magic in what we do. We change lives. I welcome any ideas or suggestions. Let me know what you need, so that I can be a resource for you and other counselors.
I like to use a variety of techniques with my students depending on the setting (classroom guidance, small groups, & individual counseling). I think it is important to always recognize students for not only academic success, but in social success as well! I hope you find some neat things you can use in both guidance lessons and in the general classroom settings. I try to keep my products generic, so you can use them year round and in different situations.
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Ph.D. Counselor Education (CACREP Accredited) University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, August 2006 1st Minor: Play Therapy 2nd Minor: Human Development M.S. Counseling (CACREP Accredited) Texas A & M University, Commerce, TX 2001 B.S. Chemistry, Magna Cum Laude Centenary College of Louisiana, May 1996
Visit my website at www.poppymoon.com for more ideas, tips, and tricks for school counselors, teachers, and administrators.
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As Research In Motion prepares to announce its third-quarter earnings later today, one of the company's investors is calling on it to start selling off parts of the business.
In a wide-ranging statement (PDF), Jaguar Financial, a frequently outspoken critic of RIM and its co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, said that the time has come for the company to dump its handset business, leverage its broad patent portfolio, and become a service provider.
"Jaguar believes that RIM should sell its handset business and monetize its patent portfolio, while retaining its service business under new leadership," the investor wrote today in a statement. "Jaguar believes RIM has lost its ability to compete in the consumer hardware business and a sale or spinout to its shareholders of the handset business is recommended as an approach to restoring value."
If RIM were to follow its advice, Jaguar says, the company should be able to dramatically improve its financial performance. The investor pointed out that RIM's services business, which includes BlackBerry Enterprise Server, is a high-margin operation, but due to RIM's desire to bolster its own device sales, it's limited in its scope. By dumping the hardware business, RIM could free itself up to capitalize on the broader market.
"If the hardware business were sold, RIM can focus on managing and delivering mobility solutions in the enterprise sector for all smartphones and tablets," Jaguar wrote. "With its secure messaging platform, Jaguar believes RIM could create considerable value as a software and service provider."
That said, RIM already appears to be moving in that direction. Late last month, the company announced BlackBerry Mobile Fusion, a product that will bring its mobile device management services to Android and iOS. Companies will be able to use the platform to remotely monitor iPhones or Android-based handsets, as well as control how those products can access corporate data.
Still, the company has stuck to its plans to offer smartphones to customers. And although RIM's top management thinks that's central to the company's future success--even as its market share declines--Jaguar believes it's a matter of the company's executives failing to see the changing times.
"At this point we believe investors have lost faith in the ability of the RIM management team to carry out a proper game plan to restore value," Jaguar Financial CEO Vic Alboini said today in a statement. "Unless the independent directors push to replace management or change RIM's strategic focus, Jaguar believes that the road map to value restoration lies in a sale of RIM whether as a whole or in separate parts."
As one might expect, Alboini and his team also have an idea on how to handle RIM's top management. In today's statement, the investor highlighted two RIM board members--Barbara Stymiest and Roger Martin--who they believe, should take a "leadership" role at the company. Jaguar stopped short of saying Symiest, former CEO at TSX Group, and Martin, Dean at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, should take over RIM's board or head up the company's management team, but did say that they should "take the lead in making dramatic governance change."
Jaguar seems especially concerned with the board's decision late last year to appoint both Balsillie and Lazaridis co-chairmen. RIM has justified the decision by saying the appointments "are intended to provide the Co-Chief Executive Officers with the title of Co-Chairs for the purpose of representing the Company's business and operational interest with customers, suppliers, governments, regulatory authorities and other strategic parties consistent with the duties and authority of the office of the Chief Executive Officer."
However, as Jaguar notes, board chairpeople are, in many cases, outsiders that don't serve as CEO. That's done to make it easy for companies to make management changes if the firm isn't performing well. With RIM's co-CEOs also serving as co-chairmen, Jaguar believes they have an "unacceptable level of management dominance over independent directors," making it "highly unlikely that the Board will cause a change in leadership or a change in strategic focus."
Jaguar Financial has been saying for months that things must change, and it has been joined by both small investors and Northwest & Ethical Investments, which also called on RIM to split the roles of chairman and CEO.
But those critics appear to be fighting an uphill battle. Earlier this year, both Balsillie and Lazaridis said during an earnings call that if it weren't for their working relationship, RIM wouldn't be RIM.
"I absolutely believe that the complementary skill sets and good working relationship between Jim and I led to the success of RIM over the past two decades," Lazaridis said.