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Protect your Casio Exilim Ex-10 with a rugged, luxury leather case from MegaGear and enjoy stylish functionality!
Cameras today offer beautiful high-definition photos that perfectly capture our vision. But just like most technology, it's important to protect it to maintain that quality work. That's why we create the MegaGear "Ever Ready" Protective Leather Camera Case designed specifically for the Casio Exilim Ex-10.
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Interesting note from the KJ press conference
At least this bit:
When a reporter asked KJ if the other investors were going to make up the difference, he did not say yes. He said the owners are committed and that they were aware this might be an issue, which implies that things will be fine, but he never comes out and states an unequivocal yes. Might mean nothing, might mean something when it comes from a politician whose job is to parse words.
Maybe it's not an issue, but I am skeptical that you can take out the biggest investor in the group and have people ready to pony up a huge amount of cash.
So there was no confirmation that the Sac group would match, and the answer was just as political and dodgy about whether or not the amount Burkle was going to contribute is being completely replaced by the other investors.
http://www.king5.com/news/Sacramentos-w ... 55251.html
Also interesting
"A high level NBA league source says Burkle "wasn't all that fired up about this deal.""
Even more interesting?
"NBA Commissioner David Stern said last week, when prompted about whether the Sacramento offer needed to be improved, "That's not one of the issues we're currently researching for the Owners.""
Uh what? I kept seeing that quote as simply "That's not one of the issues," but that additional bit sure feels like it changes the connotation. Basically going from "it's not an issue" to "it's not an issue we are looking into any further", which would fit the idea thrown out there that the Sac offer is in, it is what it is, and the NBA is moving on, not that the NBA is necessarily fine with the Sac offer or that the Sac group has matched give or take $30m.

subset: commoncrawl


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Telstra will provide discounted Foxtel pay TV for customers who bundle it with phone and Internet service.
The 10 per cent monthly discount is available to any customer with a T-Bundle connector plan, Telstra said. The discount applies across any combination of Foxtel and Telstra services and to multi-room subscription charges, it said.
Customers already bundling Foxtel with phone and Internet will have the discount automatically applied to their monthly bill.
The deal does not apply to Foxtel on Xbox 360, Foxtel on T-Box or Foxtel on Internet TV, a Telstra spokesman said.
Because of the new offer, Telstra will stop selling its T-Bundle entertainer package, it said. Existing customers can keep the bundle.
The move comes as telcos seek to differentiate their packages ahead of the NBN rollout. With all telcos offering essentially the same fibre service, it's expected there will be more emphasis on what else is in the package.
With more choice for customers through the National Broadband Network (NBN), "competition will be about differentiation," Optus regulatory affairs vice president, David Epstein, said at the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) conference in September.
Follow Adam Bender on Twitter: @WatchAdam
Follow Techworld Australia on Twitter: @Techworld_AU


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U.S. farmland values scored another gain in 2002, rising for the 16th consecutive year, according to the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service's newly combined Agricultural Land Values and Cash Rents Report.
Farm real estate values, up 5 percent from 2001, are a measurement of the value of all land and buildings on farms across the country and averaged $1,270 per acre as of Jan. 1, 2003.
Increases were driven by a combination of factors including low interest rates, poor returns for alternative assets, certainty of government commodity programs, and potential for nonagricultural uses. Income generated from agricultural production provided limited support for farm real estate values in some areas, while creating a slight drag on values in other areas.
Regional increases in the average value of farm real estate ranged from 3.4 percent in the Pacific region to 7.6 percent in the Lake States. The highest farm real estate values emerged in the Northeast region, where urban influences drove the average up to $2,950 per acre.
In the Appalachian and Southeast regions, urban influences again factored in to boost values 7.1 percent to $2,420 per acre. Farm real estate values rose less significantly in the Mountain region to $526 per acre.
Cropland values rose 4.7 percent to $2,450 per acre in the Corn Belt and rose 2.6 percent to $738 per acre in the Northern Plains. Together, these regions account for about one-half of the U.S. total cropland acres. Pasture values outpaced those of cropland in many States, mainly due to its greater appeal and availability for development and recreation.
Nationally, cash rents paid in 2003 increased 2 percent from 2002, advancing to $73 per acre. In the Corn Belt, cropland cash rents averaged $110 per acre and $48 per acre in the Northern Plains, 2 percent above the previous year. In the Southeast region, cropland cash rent fell 2 percent to $44 per acre. The Pacific region's rental rates remained unchanged at $180 per acre. Overall, cropland rental rates increased in 8 of the 10 regions.
Pasture cash rents dropped 2 percent, from $9.20 per acre in 2002 to $9.00 per acre in 2003. The decline in cash rents reflected the drought-reduced forage production of pastures and rangelands in major livestock-grazing states.
Access the complete 2003 Agricultural Land Values and Cash Rents report online at:


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Narrow Selection
Boy or girl, man or woman, baseball caps come in handy all the time. What's better than protecting yourself from the sun and representing Israel at the same time? World of Judaica offers hats that come in a wide variety of colors and designs that are creative and great for the whole family.
Whether it's a plain hat that has "Israel" or "Jerusalem" written across the front or just has an Israeli flag on it, any of these caps would be a great addition to your hat collection.
Support your favorite Israeli sports team with a Maccabi Haifa green cap or a Maccabi Tel Aviv yellow and blue cap. Show your love for the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) with a Camouflage Cap with both English and Hebrew text.
Maybe you want to promote the strong relationship between the two countries with an Israeli and American flag cap. Either way, those are just a few of the many hats one could find in our Baseball Caps category.
Browse more apparel on our main site.


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Strausbaugh, Moore Place at 2010 Midwest Classicby Brent Harris • December 20, 2010 Share:
Sophomore Jake Strausbaugh finished in second place at 149 pounds and senior Jake Moore took fourth place at 165 at the 2010 Midwest Wrestling Classic hosted over the weekend by the University of Indianapolis.
Strausbaugh entered the talent-laden competition seeded third in his weight class. He opened with an 11-1 victory over Beau Voegeli from Northern State, followed by a 7-2 victory against Derek Allen from Calumet St. Joseph. A 14-9 victory by Stausbaugh against sixth-seeded Daniel Genetin from Ashland moved the Wabash wrestler to the championship semifinals, where he knocked off second-seeded Mark Marianovich from Lincoln College 12-7. The win put Strausbaugh up against top-seeded Dale DeBacco from Newberry. Strausbaugh lost a tight 7-4 decision to finish in second place.
Moore advanced to Sunday's second day of competition after posting a 10-2 win aver Cory Disbennett from Mount St. Joseph. Moore, the seventh-seeded wrestler in the 165-pound bracket, lost to second-seeded Mike Williams from North Carolina-Pembroke in the championship quarterfinals. Moving to the consolation bracket, Moore scored an 8-4 win over fourth-seeded Thomas Graszl from Ashland, followed by a 4-3 win against Ryan Pieper from Trine after Pieper had defeated the third-seeded wrestler in the weight class. A 12-8 win against fifth seed Patrick Spano from King College in the consolation semifinals sent Moore to the championship round, where he lost 11-4 to sixth-seeded Blake Ridenour from Newberry.
Wabash finished 14th out of 21 teams at the two-day event. The Little Giants will return to action next week at the Midlands Championships at Northwestern University December 29-30.


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The first bear to be featured is the "Together We Can" Bear by artist Jeanne Fry. The bear was sponsored by Morris Broadband and benefits the Arts Council of Henderson County.
Throughout the summer, the Times-News will feature each of the 12 bears that are part of Hendersonville's downtown public art display, "Bearfootin' 2012."
The bears will also be featured on BlueRidgeNow.com with a map noting the locations on Main Street. An auction of the art will be Oct. 20. Each bear will benefit a nonprofit in the community.
The first bear to be featured is the "Together We Can" Bear by artist Jeanne Fry. The bear was sponsored by Morris Broadband and benefits the Arts Council of Henderson County.
Question: What was the inspiration behind the design of the bear?
Jeanne Fry: When learning that my sponsor was Morris Broadband, who is so supportive of community and the arts, along with the Arts Council of Henderson County as the benefiting organization who nurtures the artist community, it was clear what my inspiration would be for the bear. I was given the mother and cub bear to design and decided that the cub would be exploring his artistic talents. He is holding a paintbrush, and an open paint can sits in front of him, as he just finished painting all of the colorful leaves on the tree silhouette on the mother's back. A leaf branch is in his other paw. He has painted "Together We Can" on one of the leaves.
Together We Can … support one another.
Together We Can … support community.
Together We Can … support the arts.
Together We Can … make the world a more beautiful place.
Q: How did you execute creating your design on the fiberglass?
A: Working out of my home studio, my husband built a flat dolly to place the bears on while I was working on them to allow me to move them wherever need be. This was convenient for the sanding process of the bears, which I did on my front porch, while the actual painting of the bears occurred in my studio. I used layers of latex acrylics, giving the bears a more realistic feel, before adding their thematic designs.
Q: Briefly discuss the mission of the organization benefiting from the bear. Why did you get involved with this particular nonprofit, and how is it reflected in the design of the bear?
A: The Arts Council of Henderson County is a community organization that promotes, advocates for and nurtures the arts in Henderson County and Western North Carolina. Being a full-time artist, I believe in the importance of supporting your local arts councils, which bring so much benefit to every community, by supporting arts education to youth, providing opportunities to established and emerging artists, and assisting the growth in local economies.
This is reflected in my bear design, symbolically the mother bear representing the Arts Council of Henderson County, and the cub representing youth and emerging artists.
Q: How do you feel all of the elements of your bear (nonprofit beneficiary, design and sponsorship) represent the community as a whole?
A: I feel that our three components came to together in exactly the way my theme was designed to express.


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Seib & Wessel: Full Michael Froman Interview
New U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman talks with WSJ's Jerry Seib about the prospects for the U.S. expanding its trade agreements with Asia and Europe and what political support exists in Washington for doing so.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
the ... Jerry side with a Wall Street Journal joined today by Michael Froman newly minted United States Trade representative Mike thanks for joining us to get back to it's it's it's very much ... you get busy agenda that the US is trying to do when your watch ... big free trade agreements with both Europe and Asia ... oh what star with a shouldn't your kid is your sense of the state of progress and how close we can ... get to the finish line of those this year ... well we're we're very much ... indeed for the TPP ... partnership ... aam partners were in the eighteen from around the negotiations does in a time in Asia as we speak ... and our goal is to try and get it done this year ... today Japan joins ... the negotiations over we point them to ... get them into negotiations as quickly as possible and ... ensure that we can get it on track down ... the intrusion and makes the potential final product obviously more meaningful also makes the process of getting their ... more complicated um what's the trade off for their ... well though the it'll be challenging anti BP itself is this challenge it's a complex negotiation ... twelve countries now twenty nine chapters ... but as you say having to pay and be part of this platform ... makes it the most significant form for ... racial integration in the ancient as you talk a lot of getting it done this year ... how realistic is that ... it's ambitious but it can be done ... you're not so far down the track um what's that what you sense of the state of play in the free trade agreement with your ... we've only just started ... the process we had our first round of discussions here in Washington ... a week before last and that was an opportunity to ... exchange ideas exchange views on how to approach ... all various ... issues and ... now he Steve will go back and for the work and will be come the fall ... to really think ... you know you and you might look to the situation cheaply with your given ... of economic stress the contents been through ... um and you might say this is a hard time to do a free trade agreement because that kind of economic stress tends to produce protectionist sentiment ... of is that what's happening in Europe it is back and slow down this process ... actually it's more the opposite and that given all the challenges that ... Europe is having returned to a path toward sustainable growth ... is a lot of political will Europe ... it sees this trade agreement as one mechanism is part of an overall ... pro growth strategy so ... is concentrated attention there and wait as this is before ... you know that the big elephant in the trade room in a way to China of course China is not part of the TPP the free trade ... agreement process that you talk about and then ago ... yet it's the subject of a lot of conversations via latterly between Washington and Beijing about ... dealing with obvious trade issues ... um are you resolving some of those issues is there any prospect that China joins the TPP process eventually ... aam and that is the new leadership there making any difference in these subjects ... well we have a very robust bilateral dialogue with the Chinese across the whole array of economic issues ... trade and investment and most recently ... Cnooc China's leadership is here in Washington for a meeting of Strategic and Economic dialogue ... we did make progress on a number of items ... is more work to be done you wanna go farther and faster ... than we've ... been we've made progress today ... we are making progress through these these was and ... is in bed the the the issue that probably bothers us business community most is intellectual property rights protection of American intellectual property ... the Chinese in gauging on that ... they are engaging and they're increasingly ... focused on it because within China there is ... more production and playful property itself ... we made this a very high priority the whole area of ... tellittoal property protection trade secret protection ... Cyprus that it's a key part of our dialogue with them ... again he's one of these engagements from that President Obama meets prison she ... where there's a sea level dialogue ... we use each one of these meetings as a way that has the ... video when you say there there's more intellectual property protection China stuff did you mean that they see that they got some skin in this game in a way they did before and increased my so didn't resemble them ... year to go ... we reach agreement with them about how to introduce our films market ... and that agreement is still being implemented in ... it's it's coming along ... they have a ... emerging film industry that they want to see protected is well ... and so Jesus a common interest in ... talking about ... welcoming and it's it's like ... shift the focus to the scene here in Washington a little bit first up one of the things that will make your job easier and maybe is essential for closing the kinds of deals are talking about is getting fast so-called fast track authority ... to ... a renewal of the law that says ... outfit agreements get an up or down vote in Congress ... that's always been important to trade partners of their their tend to be ... skeptical editing as it can be amended in Congress ... how how far down that path for you toward getting ... new fast track authority on this Congress ... there is this a lot of interest in Congress and ... in tune with trade promotion authority in moving ... forward to precaution authority ... we agree that it's a critical school and we stand ready to engage them as they work through their process ... to develop a bill that can search your interest but the moment ... there's no legislation is actually moving to the view that the ... two committees are working on both the Ways and Means and Finance Committee ... are working on legislation and we are where we are ready to ... get it is it is their prospects this year for that to happen Elise to start moving ... I think there's profit for its really up to them in their schedule ... well the the ... yesterday the protectionist ... the potential protectionist issued in Europe ... Bumi students in question about the U S you know um ... we've been through a dark economic tunnel in this country for about five years ... it's the sort of environment that tends to increase protectionist sentiment people worry more about protecting jobs ... what is your sense of it as a political question now when you finding in your conversations with people and they know about ... the openness to free trade ... in the strained economic environment ... I think notwithstanding the strand economic American people understand ... that with ninety five percent of the consumers of the world outside United States ... we have to be engaged with being used in promoting global growth is ... due to the G twenty for example ... with the new opening markets for exports ... with the season leveling the playing field to make sure our our workers have a ... fear of level playing field on which to ... on which to compete ... I did was unremarkable last four years and the G twenty s and one this ... is a little protectionism there's actually ... at the worst economic strains in seventeen eighty years ... yet when you look at all the measures adopted by all the major countries of ... disaffected Orchant tiny percentage of the tray ... and I think it's because leaders came together in one repeats the Smoot Hawley of the nineteen thirties really committed themselves ... to ... to ... to reduce protectionism or they founded not to engage in ... additional ... while we're several hours ... Mr. one final question um ... if you we were having a conversation like this ten years ago much of the word out about ... the global trade agree ... the so-called all round dot BTO ... um we're talking instead here in the conversation in general that traders use of bilateral country to country agreements for regional agreements ... has Kjetil global ... trade agreements going out the window just because is too complicated ... and I think everybody agrees that ... the best and highest form of tradables Asia would be ... global with the multilateral trade position to do with the WTO ... but for Number reasons ... argue he's now the view of the international community is ... this is not the right time for an overall agreement ... from our perspective ... China India Brazil ... are ready to open up their markets and play ... their role commensurate with their size global ... economy in other countries have other views of why ... the negotiations in stalemate ... doesn't mean we can make progress and when they were trying to do in Geneva is ... Cray pas momentum for further multilateral trade liberalization by ... initiating a services agreement of its agreement to expand trade and ... information technology and green around trade facilitation ... or making progress on all those even as we in the number of other countries pursue region trade agreements ... oh what makes the project sometime congratulations again


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Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company and is often referred to simply as Coke or (in European and American countries) as Cola or Pop. Originally intended as a patent medicine when it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton, Coca-Cola was bought out by businessman Asa Griggs Candler, whose marketing tactics led Coke to its dominance of the world soft drink market throughout the 20th century.
The company produces concentrate, which is then sold to various licensed Coca-Cola bottlers throughout the world. The bottlers, who hold territorially exclusive contracts with the company, produce finished product in cans and bottles from the concentrate in combination with filtered water and sweeteners. The bottlers then sell, distribute and merchandise Coca-Cola in cans and bottles to retail stores and vending machines. Such bottlers include Coca-Cola Enterprises, which is the largest single Coca-Cola bottler in North America and western Europe. The Coca-Cola Company also sells concentrate for fountain sales to major restaurants and food service distributors.
The Coca-Cola Company has, on occasion, introduced other cola drinks under the Coke brand name. The most common of these is Diet Coke, which has become a major diet cola. However, others exist, including Caffeine-Free Coca-Cola, Diet Coke Caffeine-Free, Cherry Coke, Coca-Cola Zero, Vanilla Coke and special editions with lemon and with lime and even with coffee.
In response to consumer insistence on a more natural product, the company is in the process of phasing out E211, or sodium benzoate, the controversial additive linked to DNA damage and hyperactivity in children, of Diet Coke. The company has stated that it plans to remove the controversial additive from its other products - including Sprite, and Oasis - as soon as a satisfactory alternative is discovered.[1]
[edit] History
The first Coca-Cola recipe was invented in Columbus, Georgia at a drugstore by John Stith Pemberton, originally as a cocawine called Pemberton's French Wine Coca in 1885.[2][3] He may have been inspired by the formidable success of European Angelo Mariani's cocawine, Vin Mariani.
In 1886, when Atlanta and Fulton County passed prohibition legislation, Pemberton responded by developing Coca-Cola, essentially a non-alcoholic version of French Wine Cola. The original recipe was made without carbonated water, but was added later when Pemberton was mixing the drink for friends without the carbonated water and accidentally added it to a glass. His friends loved it more and he decided to continue making his drink with the carbonated water instead.[4] The first sales were at Jacob's Pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia, on May 8, 1886.[5] It was initially sold as a patent medicine for five cents[6] a glass at soda fountains, which were popular in the United States at the time due to the belief that carbonated water was good for the health.[7] Pemberton claimed Coca-Cola cured many diseases, including morphine addiction, dyspepsia, neurasthenia, headache, and impotence. Pemberton ran the first advertisement for the beverage on May 29 of the same year in the Atlanta Journal.[8] For the first eight months only nine drinks were sold each day.[citation needed]
By 1888, three versions of Coca-Cola — sold by three separate businesses — were on the market. Asa Griggs Candler acquired a stake in Pemberton's company in 1887 and incorporated it as the Coca Cola Company in 1888.[9] The same year, while suffering from an ongoing addiction to morphine, Pemberton sold the rights a second time to four more businessmen: J.C. Mayfield, A.O. Murphey, C.O. Mullahy and E.H. Bloodworth. Meanwhile, Pemberton's alcoholic son Charley Pemberton began selling his own version of the product.[10]
In an attempt to clarify the situation, John Pemberton declared that the name Coca-Cola belonged to Charley, but the other two manufacturers could continue to use the formula. So, in the summer of 1888, Candler sold his beverage under the names Yum Yum and Koke. After both failed to catch on, Candler set out to establish a legal claim to Coca-Cola in late 1888, in order to force his two competitors out of the business. Candler purchased exclusive rights to the formula from John Pemberton, Margaret Dozier and Woolfolk Walker. However, in 1914, Dozier came forward to claim her signature on the bill of sale had been forged, and subsequent analysis has indicated John Pemberton's signature was most likely a forgery as well.[11]
In 1892, Candler incorporated a second company, The Coca-Cola Company (the current corporation), and in 1910, Candler had the earliest records of the company burned, further obscuring its legal origins. Regardless, Candler began marketing the product, although the efficacy of his concerted advertising campaign would not be realized until much later. By the time of its 50th anniversary, the drink had reached the status of a national icon for the USA. In 1935, it was certified kosher by Rabbi Tobias Geffen, after the company made minor changes in the sourcing of some ingredients.[12]
Coca-Cola was sold in bottles for the first time on March 12, 1894. Cans of Coke first appeared in 1955.[13] The first bottling of Coca-Cola occurred in Vicksburg, Mississippi, at the Biedenharn Candy Company in 1891. Its proprietor was Joseph A. Biedenharn. The original bottles were Biedenharn bottles, very different from the much later hobble-skirt design that is now so familiar. Asa Candler was tentative about bottling the drink, but two entrepreneurs from Chattanooga, TN, Mr. Benjamin F. Thomas and Mr. Joseph B. Whitehead, proposed the idea and were so persuasive that Candler signed a contract giving them control of the procedure for only one dollar. Candler never collected his dollar, but in 1899 Chattanooga, TN became the site of the first Coca-Cola bottling company. [14]However, the loosely termed contract proved to be problematic for the company for decades to come. Legal matters were not helped by the decision of the bottlers to subcontract to other companies—in effect, becoming parent bottlers.[15]
Coke concentrate, or Coke syrup, was and is sold separately at pharmacies in small quantities, as an over-the-counter remedy for nausea or mildly upset stomach.
[edit] New Coke
On April 23, 1985, Coca-Cola, amid much publicity, attempted to change the formula of the drink with "New Coke." Follow-up taste tests revealed that most consumers preferred the taste of New Coke to both Coke and Pepsi. Coca-Cola management was unprepared, however, for the nostalgic sentiments the drink aroused in the American public. The new Coca-Cola formula caused a public backlash. Protests caused the company to return to the old formula under the name Coca-Cola Classic on July 10, 1985.
[edit] 21st century
On February 7, 2005, the Coca-Cola Company announced that in the second quarter of 2005 they planned a launch of a Diet Coke product sweetened with the artificial sweetener sucralosePepsi One.[16][17] On March 21, 2005, it announced another diet product, "Coca-Cola Zero", sweetened partly with a blend of aspartame and acesulfame potassium.[18] Recently Coca-Cola has begun to sell a new "healthy soda" Diet Coke with Vitamins B6, B12, Magnesium, Niacin, and Zinc, marketed as "Diet Coke Plus". ("Splenda"), the same sweetener currently used in
On July 5, 2005, it was revealed that Coca-Cola would resume operations in Iraq for the first time since the Arab League boycotted the company in 1968. [19]
In April 2007, in Canada, the name "Coca-Cola Classic" was changed back to "Coca-Cola". The word "Classic" was truncated because "New Coke" was no longer in production, eliminating the need to differentiate between the two.[20] The formula remained unchanged.
[edit] Use of stimulants in formula
When launched Coca Cola's two key ingredients were cocaine (benzoylmethyl ecgonine) and caffeine. The cocaine was derived from the coca leaf and the caffeine from kola nuts - Coca-Cola (the 'K' in Kola was replaced with a C for marketing purposes).[21][22]
[edit] Coca - Cocaine
Pemberton called for five ounces of coca leaf per gallon of syrup, a significant dose, whereas, in 1891, Candler claimed his formula (altered extensively from Pemberton's original) contained only a tenth of this amount. Coca Cola did once contain an estimated nine milligrams of cocaine per glass, but in 1903 it was removed.[23] Coca Cola still contains coca flavouring.
After 1904, Coca Cola started using, instead of fresh leaves, "spent" leaves - the leftovers of the cocaine-extraction process with cocaine trace levels left over at a molecular level.[24] To this day, Coca Cola uses as an ingredient a cocaine free coca leaf extract prepared at a Stepan Company plant in Maywood, New Jersey.
In the United States, Stepan Company is the only manufacturing plant authorized by the Federal Government to import and process the coca plant.[25] Stepan laboratory in Maywood, New Jersey, is the nation's only legal commercial importer of coca leaves, which it obtains mainly from Peru and, to a lesser extent, Bolivia. Besides producing the coca flavouring agent for Coca Cola, Stepan CompanyMallinckrodt, a St. Louis, Missouripharmaceutical manufacturer that is the only company in the United States licensed to purify cocaine for medicinal use.[26] N.J. Stepan buys about 100 metric tons of dried Peruvian coca leaves each year, said Marco Castillo, spokesman for Peru's state-owned National Coca Co.[27] extracts cocaine from the coca leaves, which it sells to
[edit] Kola Nuts - Caffeine
Kola nuts act as a flavouring in Coca Cola, but are also the beverage's source of caffeine. In Britain, for example, the ingredient label states "Flavourings (Including Caffeine)".[28] Kola nuts contains about 2 to 3.5 percent caffeine, is of bitter flavour and is commonly used in cola soft drinks. In 1911 The US government initiated United States v. Forty Barrels and Twenty Kegs of Coca-Cola, hoping to force Coca Cola to remove caffeine from its formula. The case was decided in favour of Coca Cola. Subsequently, in 1912 the US Pure Food and Drug Act was amended, adding caffeine to the list of "habit-forming" and "deleterious" substances which must be listed on a product's label.[29]
Coca Cola contains 34 mg/12 fl oz of caffeine, while Diet Coke Caffeine-Free contains 0 mg.[30]Caffeine may be used by athletes as ergogenic aid - to increasing the capacity for mental or physical labor. The ergogenic qualities of caffeine are contested, although there is strong evidence that it may significantly enhance endurance performance. For this reason, caffeine is listed as a restricted substance by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Nevertheless Coca Cola was the leading sponsor of the 1996 summer Olympic games.[31]
[edit] Production
[edit] Formula
The exact formula of Coca-Cola is a famous trade secret. The original copy of the formula is held in SunTrust Bank's main vault in Atlanta. Its predecessor, the Trust Company, was the underwriter for the Coca-Cola Company's initial public offering in 1919. A popular myth states that only two executives have access to the formula, with each executive having only half the formula.[32] The truth is that while Coca-Cola does have a rule restricting access to only two executives, each knows the entire formula and others, in addition to the prescribed duo, have known the formulation process.[33]
[edit] Franchised production model
The actual production and distribution of Coca-Cola follows a franchising model. The Coca-Cola Company only produces a syrup concentrate, which it sells to various bottlers throughout the world who hold Coca-Cola franchises for one or more geographical areas. The bottlers produce the final drink by mixing the syrup with filtered water and sugar (or artificial sweeteners) and then carbonate it before filling it into cans and bottles, which the bottlers then sell and distribute to retail stores, vending machines, restaurants and food service distributors.[34]
The Coca-Cola Company owns minority shares in some of its largest franchises, like Coca-Cola Enterprises, Coca-Cola Amatil, Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company (CCHBC) and Coca-Cola FEMSA, but fully independent bottlers produce almost half of the volume sold in the world. Since independent bottlers add sugar and sweeteners, the sweetness of the drink differs in various parts of the world, to cater for local tastes.[35]
[edit] Brand portfolio
[edit] Bottle and logo design
The famous Coca-Cola logo was created by John Pemberton's bookkeeper, Frank Mason Robinson, in 1885.[36] It was Robinson who came up with the name, and he also chose the logo's distinctive cursive script. The typeface used, known as Spencerian script, was developed in the mid 19th century and was the dominant form of formal handwriting in the United States during that period.
The equally famous Coca-Cola bottle, called the "contour bottle" within the company, but known to some as the "hobble skirt" bottle, was created in 1915 by bottle designer, Earl R. Dean. In 1915, the Coca-Cola Company launched a competition among its bottle suppliers to create a new bottle for the beverage that would distinguish it from other beverage bottles... "a bottle which a person could recognize even if they felt it in the dark, and so shaped that, even if broken, a person could tell at a glance what it was".[37] Chapman J. Root, president of the Root Glass Company, turned the project over to members of his supervisory staff including company auditor T. Clyde Edwards, plant superintendent Alexander Samuelsson and Earl R. Dean, bottle designer and supervisor of the bottle molding room.
Root and his subordinates decided to base the bottle's design on one of the soda's two ingredients, the coca leaf or the cola nut, but were unaware of what either ingredient looked like. Dean and Edwards went to the Emeline Fairbanks Memorial Library and were unable to find any information about coca or cola. Instead they were inspired by a picture of the gourd-shaped cocoa pod in the Encyclopædia Britannica which Chapman Root approved as the model for the prototype.[37]
Faced with the upcoming scheduled maintenance of the mold-making machinery, over the next 24 hours Dean sketched out and created the mold for the bottle. Dean then molded a small number of bottles before the glass-molding machinery was turned off.
Chapman Root approved the prototype bottle and a design patent was issued on the bottle in November, 1915. The bottle was chosen over other entries at the bottler's convention in 1916 and was on the market the same year. By 1920, Dean's contoured bottle became the standard for the Coca-Cola Company. Today, the contour Coca-Cola bottle is one of the most recognized packages on the planet..."even in the dark!"[38]
As a reward for his efforts, Dean was offered a choice between a $500 bonus or a lifetime job at the Root Glass Company. He chose the lifetime job and kept it until the Owens-Illinois Glass Companythe Root Glass Company in the mid 1930s. Dean went on to work in other Midwestern glass factories. bought out
Although endorsed by some, this version of events is not considered authoritative by many who cite its implausibility as difficult to believe. One alternative depiction has Raymond Loewy as the inventor of the unique design, but although Loewy did serve as a designer of Coke cans and bottles in later years, he was in the French Army in the year the bottle was invented and did not migrate to the United States until 1919. Others have attributed inspiration for the design not to the cacao pod, but to a Victorian hooped dress.[39]
In 1997, Coca-Cola also introduced a "contour can", similar in shape to their famous bottle, on a few test markets, including Terre Haute, Indiana.[40] This new can was however never widely released.
A new slim and tall can has begun to appear in Australia as of December 20, 2006, which costs an average of $2AUD. The cans have a distinct resemblance to energy drinks that are popular with the teenage demographic. It is unknown if this design is of limited edition or may soon replace the current 355 ml cans that have been used in the past (the new slim cans are 300 ml, making the volume to cost ratio even smaller).
In January 2007, Coca-Cola Canada changed "Coca-Cola Classic" labeling, removing the "Classic" designation, leaving only "Coca-Cola". Coca-Cola stated this is merely a name change and the product remains the same. The cans still bear the "Classic" logo in the United States.
Coca-Cola is a registered trademark in most countries around the world and should always be written with the hyphen and not as "Coca Cola". The US trademark was registered in the United States Patent Office on 31 January 1893. In the UK Coca-Cola was registered with the UK Patent Office on 11 July 1922, under registration number 427817.
In 2007, Coca-Cola introduced an aluminum can that is designed to look like the original glass bottles that Coca-Cola was first distributed in .
In 2007, the company's logo on cans and bottles has changed, retaining the red color and familiar typeface but taking branding back in time by removing much of the clutter on the can, leaving only the logo and a plain white swirl-- the "dynamic ribbon".
In 2008 in some parts of the world, the Coca-Cola plastic bottles for all Coke varieties, including 1.25 and 2 litre bottles was changed with a new plastic screw cap and contoured bottle shape designed to evoke the old glass bottles.
[edit] Local competitors
Pepsi is often second to Coke in terms of sales, but outsells Coca-Cola in some localities. Around the world, some local brands do compete with Coke. In South and Central America, Kola Real, known as Big Cola in Mexico, is a fast growing competitor to Coca-Cola.[41] On the French island of Corsica, Corsica Cola, made by brewers of the local Pietra beer, is a growing competitor to Coca-Cola. In the French region of Bretagne, Breizh Cola is available. In Peru, Inca Kola outsells Coca-Cola. However, The Coca-Cola Company purchased the brand in 1999. In Sweden, Julmust outsells Coca-Cola during the Christmas season.[42] In Scotland, the locally-produced Irn-Bru was more popular than Coca-Cola until 2005, when Coca-Cola and Diet Coke began to outpace its sales.[43] In India, Coca-Cola ranked third behind the leader, Pepsi-Cola, and local drink Thums Up. However, The Coca-Cola Company purchased Thums Up in 1993.[44] As of 2004, Coca-Cola held a 60.9% market-share in India.[45] Tropicola, a domestic drink, is served in Cuba instead of Coca-Cola, in which there exists a United States embargo. French brand Mecca Cola and British brand Qibla Cola, popular in the Middle East, are a competitor to Coca-Cola. In Turkey, Cola Turka is a major competitor to Coca-Cola. In Iran and also many countries of Middle East, Zam Zam Cola and Parsi Cola are major competitors to Coca-Cola. In some parts of China, Future cola or 非常可乐 can be bought. In Slovenia, the locally-produced Cockta is a major competitor to Coca-Cola, as is the inexpensive Mercator Cola, which is sold only in the country's biggest supermarket chain, Mercator. In Israel, RC Cola is an inexpensive competitor. In Madagascar, Classiko Cola, made by Tiko Group, the largest manufacturing company in the country, is a serious competitor to Coca-Cola in many regions. On the Portuguese island of Madeira, Laranjada is the top selling soft drink. In the UKRobinsons drinks.[citation needed] Coca-Cola stated that Pepsi was not its main rival, but rather
[edit] Advertising
Coke has a 5¢ Coca-Cola ad in McPherson, Kansas on an old building that has survived many years. Originally, Coke sold them a huge amount of paint so that they would not have to buy anymore touch-up paint for a very long time. Coke still has some paint stashed up because they want to be sure that that advertisement never completely wears away.
Coca-Cola's advertising has had a significant impact on American culture, and is frequently credited with the "invention" of the modern image of Santa Claus as an old man in red-and-white garments; however, while the company did in fact start promoting this image in the 1930s in its winter advertising campaigns, it was already common before that.[46] In fact, Coca-Cola was not even the first soft drink company to utilize the modern image Santa Claus in its advertising – White Rock Beverages used Santa in advertisements for its ginger ale in 1923 after first using him to sell mineral water in 1915.[47][48]
Before Santa Claus, however, Coca-Cola relied on images of smartly-dressed young women to sell its beverages. Coca-Cola's first such advertisement appeared in 1895 and featured a young Bostonian actress named Hilda Clark as its spokesperson.
In the 1970s, a song from a Coca-Cola commercial called "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing", produced by Billy Davis, became a popular hit single.
Coca-Cola has a policy of avoiding using children younger than the age of 12 in any of its advertising. This decision was made as a result of a lawsuit from the beginning of the 20th century that alleged that Coke's caffeine content was dangerous to children. However, in recent times, this has not stopped the company from targeting young consumers.[citation needed]
Coke's advertising is rather pervasive, as one of Woodruff's stated goals was to ensure that everyone on Earth drank Coca-Cola as their preferred beverage. This is especially true in southern areas of the United States, such as Atlanta, where Coke was born.
Some of the memorable Coca-Cola television commercials between 1960 through 1986, were written and produced by former Atlanta radio veteran Don Naylor (WGST 1936-1950, WAGA 1951-1959) during his career as a producer for the McCann Erickson advertising agency. Many of these early television commercials for Coca-Cola featured movie stars, sports heroes, and popular singers of the day.
During the 1980s, Pepsi-Cola ran a series of television advertisements showing people participating in taste tests essentially demonstrating that: "Fifty percent of the participants who said they preferred Coke actually chose the Pepsi". Statisticians were quick to point out the problematic nature of a 50/50 result; that most likely all this really showed was that in blind tests, most people simply cannot tell the difference between Pepsi and Coke. Coca-Cola ran ads to combat Pepsi's ads in an incident sometimes referred to as the cola wars; one of Coke's ads compared the so-called Pepsi challenge to two chimpanzees deciding which tennis ball was furrier. Thereafter, Coca-Cola regained its leadership in the market.
Selena was a spokesperson for Coca-Cola from 1989 till the time of her death. She filmed three commercials for the company. In 1994 to commemorate her 5 years with the company, Coca-Cola issued special Selena coke bottles.[49]
In an attempt to broaden its portfolio, Coca-Cola purchased Columbia Pictures in 1982. Columbia provided subtle publicity through Coke product placements in many of its films while under Coke's ownership. However, after a few early successes, Columbia began to under-perform, and was dropped by the company in 1989.
Coca-Cola has gone through a number of different advertising slogans in its long history, including "The pause that refreshes", "I'd like to buy the world a Coke", and "Coke is it" (see Coca-Cola slogans).
In 2006, Coca-Cola introduced My Coke Rewards, a customer loyalty campaign where consumers earn virtual "points" by entering codes from special marked packages of Coca-Cola products into a website. These points can in turn be redeemed for various prizes or sweepstakes entries.[50]
[edit] Sponsorship of sporting events
Coca-Cola was the first-ever sponsor of the Olympic games, at the 1928 games in Amsterdam and has been an Olympics sponsor ever since.[51] This corporate sponsorship included the 1996 Summer Olympics hosted in Atlanta, which allowed Coca-Cola to spotlight its hometown. Since 1978 Coca-Cola has sponsored each FIFA World Cup and other competitions organised by FIFA. In fact, one of the FIFA tournament trophy: FIFA World Youth Championship from Tunisia in 1977 to Malaysia in 1997 was called "FIFA - Coca Cola Cup".[52] In addition, Coca-Cola sponsors the annual Coca-Cola 600 and Coke Zero 400 for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte, North Carolina and Daytona International Speedway in Daytona, Florida. Coca-Cola has a long history of sports marketing relationships, which over the years have included Major League Baseball, the National Football League, National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League, as well as with many teams within those leagues. Coca-Cola is the official soft drink of many collegiate football teams throughout the nation.
In India Coca Cola was one of the official Sponsors of the 1996 Cricket World Cup.
In England, Coca-Cola is the main sponsor of The Football League, a name given to the three professional divisions below the Premier League in football (soccer). It is also responsible for the renaming of these divisions- until the advent of Coca-Cola sponsorship, they were referred to as Divisions One, Two and Three. Since 2004, the divisions have been known as The Championship (equiv. of Division 1), League One (equiv. of Div. 2) and League 2 (equiv. of Division 3). This renaming has caused unrest amongst some fans who see it as farcical that the third tier of English Football is now called "League One." In 2005 Coca-cola launched a competition for the 72 clubs of the football league - it was called "Win a Player". This allowed fans to place 1 vote per day for their beloved club, with 1 entry being chose at random earning £250,000 for the club. This was repeated in 2006. The "Win A Player" competition was very controversial, as at the end of the 2 competitions, Leeds United AFC had the most votes by more than double, yet they did not win any money to spend on a new player for the club. In 2007 the competition changed to "Buy a Player". This competition allowed fans to buy a bottle of Coca-Cola Zero or Coca-Cola and submit the code on the wrapper on the Coca-Cola website {www.coca-colafootball.co.uk}. This code could then earn anything from 50p to £100,000 for a club of their choice. This competition was favoured over the old "Win A Player" competition as it allowed all clubs to win some money, instead of all the money going to one winning club.
[edit] In mass media
Coca-Cola has been prominently featured in countless films and television programs. It was a major plot element in films such as One, Two, Three, The Coca-Cola Kid, and The Gods Must Be Crazy. It provides a setting for comical corporate shenanigans in the novel Syrup by Maxx Barry.
[edit] Alternative propulsion and Global Warming Policy
Due to the rising cost of fuel in 2008, Coca-Cola Co. and its two largest U.S. bottlers are shifting their fleets to hybrid electric vehicles. [53]
[edit] Criticisms
The Coca-Cola Company has been criticized for its business practices as well as the alleged adverse health effects of its flagship product. A common criticism of Coke based on its allegedly toxic acidity levels has been found to be baseless by researchers; lawsuits based on these criticisms have been dismissed by several American courts for this reason.
Since there are indications that "soda and sweetened drinks are the main source of calories in [the] American diet,"[54] most nutritionists advise that Coca-Cola and other soft drinks can be harmful if consumed excessively, particularly to young children whose soft drink consumption competes with, rather than complements, a balanced diet. Studies have shown that regular soft drink users have a lower intake of calcium, magnesium, ascorbic acid, riboflavin, and vitamin A.[55] The drink has also aroused criticism for its use of caffeine, due to the possibility of physical dependence.[56] A link has been shown between long-term regular cola intake, of which Coca-Cola is the most consumed brand worldwide, and osteoporosis in older women (but not men). [57] This was thought to be due to the presence of phosphoric acid, and the risk was found to be same for caffeinated and noncaffeinated colas, as well as the same for diet and sugared colas.
Although numerous court cases have been filed against The Coca-Cola Company since the 1920s, alleging that the acidity of the drink is dangerous, no evidence corroborating this claim has been found. Under normal conditions, scientific evidence indicates Coca-Cola's acidity causes no immediate harm.[58]
There is also some concern regarding the usage of high fructose corn syrup in the production of Coca-Cola. Since 1985 in the U.S., Coke has been made with high fructose corn syrup, instead of sugar glucose or fructose, to reduce costs. This has come under criticism because of concerns that the corn used to produce corn syrup may come from genetically altered plants.[59] Some nutritionists also caution against consumption of high fructose corn syrup because of possible links to obesity and type-2 diabetes.[60]
In India, there exists a major controversy concerning pesticides and other harmful chemicals in bottled products including Coca-Cola. In 2003, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a non-governmental organization in New Delhi, said aerated waters produced by soft drinks manufacturers in India, including multinational giants PepsiCo and Coca-Cola, contained toxins including lindane, DDT, malathion and chlorpyrifos — pesticides that can contribute to cancer and a breakdown of the immune system. Tested products included Coke, Pepsi, and several other soft drinks, many produced by The Coca-Cola Company. CSE found that the Indian produced Pepsi's soft drink products had 36 times the level of pesticide residues permitted under European Union regulations; Coca-Cola's soft drink was found to have 30 times the permitted amount. CSE said it had tested the same products sold in the US and found no such residues.[61] After the pesticide allegations were made in 2003, Coca-Cola sales declined by 15%. In 2004, an Indian parliamentary committee backed up CSE's findings, and a government-appointed committee was tasked with developing the world's first pesticide standards for soft drinks. The Coca-Cola Company has responded that its plants filter water to remove potential contaminants and that its products are tested for pesticides and must meet minimum health standards before they are distributed.[62] In the Indian state of Kerala, sale and production of Coca-Cola, along with other soft drinks, was initially banned, before the High Court in Kerala overturned the ban ruling that only the federal government can ban food products. Coca-Cola has also been accused of excessive water usage in India.[63]
[edit] Coca-Cola as a political and corporate symbol
The Coca-Cola drink has a high degree of identification with the United States itself, being considered by some an "American Brand" or to a small extent as an item representing America. The identification with the spread of American culture has led to the pun "Coca-Colanization".[64] The drink is also often a metonym for the Coca-Cola Company.
There are some consumer boycotts of Coca-Cola in Arab countries due to Coke's early investment in Israel during the Arab League boycott of Israel (this contrasts sharply to Pepsi which stayed out of Israel).[65] Mecca Cola and Pepsi have been successful in the Middle East as an alternative.
The art group monochrom as part of their 2005 "Experience The Experience" tour created a "Brick Of Coke". To do this, they put several gallons of Coca-Cola into a pot and boiled it down until the residue left behind could be molded into a brick.[66]


text:
Selecting your vehicle's make, model, and year allows us to display only parts and items specific to your car's model and year.
Part# G240257
4 Reviews
OPGI Price: $38.99
Part Type: (R) = Authentic reproduction of the original GM product
Years: 1959-1966
Sold As: EACH
We are now able to offer exact reproductions of the two different fuel filters available for the 1959-67 Pontiacs. The first is for the 1959-66 Tri-Power cars that feature a 3/8" inlet and outlet, while our second fuel filter is for 1964-67 applications featuring a 3/8" inlet and outlet with a vapor vent line. Both filters come with the correct blue-painted finish with red lettering.


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Perlico needed a new other design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 47 designs submitted by 11 freelance designers.
Good afternoon,
Let me explain this more clearly. What we are looking for is a Box design for "Spiritpak". This is going to be used for all types of products like napkin, black bags, plastic cutlery, paper cups, paper bags etc. We will be manufacturing and also buying from other manufacturers. We are looking for a simple but clear box design that will have need the following points
1. Spiritpak logo
2. Product description "Plastic fork", "paper cups" etc...
3. Image outline of the product
4. Barcode
5. Pack size i.e. 10 x 100pcs, 20 x 50pcs etc...
6. http://www.spiritpak.com, email@example.com
We are looking for the box to be no more than 3 colors. We want the box to clearly display the product inside. We also want the box to look professional (it's all about the image).
Also our logo was called SPIRIT but is now SPIRIT PAK. We added PAK to our logo but it doesnt look amazing we have to admit so if you can also make this look better (keep ghost, but work on words if you can). No need for background colours.
Here is our layout for box: http://www.sendspace.com/file/94e2nr
Please ignore sizes and dimensions as they will change for all types of product
Thanks and good luck
nothing specific. Just no need for background colours


text:
28 June 2006 08:15
The most Trendy Hotels in Europeby thijs
A nice website where you will find the most Hip and Trendy Hotels in Europe. In cities like Amsterdam, Brussels, London, Berlin, Barcelona, Madrid, Milan and Athens.
1 (1 marks)
Founded in late 2003 and heartquartered in France, we are non-profit and independant.
We believe in the open web, think internet services should be sustainable, build for the long term.
While we are re-launching the service, we only accept new members through invitation.
last mark : 28/06/2006 08:28


text:
Free shipping in the USA (lower 48) when your order is over $89 (excluding gift certificates and sales tax, if applicable).
In Stock. There have been many recordings of the famous Gabrieli canzoni for various combinations of brass and woodwind instruments. Several of these canzons have been arranged for a like-instrument ensemble. Antiphonal spacing is always a successful performance practice allowing the passing of melodic material to be enhanced by the spatial distance. These pieces are a welcome addition to this repertoire.
� 2019 Music44. All rights reserved.


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Apple paid less than 2% tax on its overseas profits, documents revealed today, after the iPad and iPhone giant slashed the amount foreign taxmen receive.
Apple paid $713m in corporation tax outside the US in the year to September 29, despite its foreign pre-tax earnings surging more than 50% to $36.8bn papers filed with US regulators revealed.
The technology giant's overseas tax rate fell to 1.9%, compared to 2.5% the previous year and a headline corporation tax rate in the UK of 24% and 35% in the US.
The slide in its overseas tax rate came as the company sold 125 million iPhones, 58 million iPads and 13.5 million MacBook laptops worldwide, including the US.
Apple was not immediately available for comment.
The California-based firm is the latest company to come under scrutiny for making a poor contribution to overseas coffers after Starbucks, Facebook and Google met similar criticism.
Coffee giant Starbucks reportedly paid just #8.6 million in corporation tax in 14 years of trading in Britain - and nothing in the last three years.
And America's top five technology companies, including Facebook, Amazon and eBay, legally avoided around #850 million in corporation tax last year, a Sunday Times investigation found.
Companies are able to sidestep the taxman by constructing complex global structures that allow them to move money through offshore havens.
Apple channels much of its business in Britain and Europe through a subsidiary based on an industrial estate in Co Cork, The Sunday Times reported.
Apple recorded a 45% rise in turnover to $156bn in the year, helping deliver a 63% rise in pre-tax profits to $55.8bn.
It paid $13.3bn in federal and state taxes in the US.


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Gendarme 20 is a modern classic fragrance that captures the cool, fresh essence of clean white linen. A fragrance so soft and subtle yet combined with citrus floral notes. An amalgam of citrus and herbs that refresh, uplift and sooth the spirit. while creating confidence and comfort.
We do have in stock our new sleek modern 1.7 oz & 6 oz sprays in an Aluminum Can.


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|2012-09-05, 03:59
|Link #81
a.k.a Enki
Join Date: Sep 2012
Maybe it has been answered elsewhere. But if the NerveGear intercepts all signals from the brain, how does it keep the body functioning. Recently i read an article about alcohol poisoning that stated that alcohol overdose kills because it depressed the autonomic breathing function, so the body "forgot" to breathe. If all signals are being intercepted, the body would die in 3 minutes. Tops.
Also, it's really the "game time" in sync with the "real time" I'm convinced it isn't, for the argument above and a the fact that so far the only deaths reported are people who got their helmets out by relatives and people who were killed by the game. Nobody has died of starvation/dehydration of their real body.
|2012-09-05, 04:10
|Link #82
Moe Kyun~!
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Philippines
|2012-09-05, 04:16
|Link #83
a.k.a Enki
Join Date: Sep 2012
|2012-09-05, 04:26
|Link #84
Moe Kyun~!
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Philippines
|2012-09-05, 08:03
|Link #85
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2006
With that in mind it'd be fairly easy to find *most* everyone... and the people you didn't find, well, 2000 people died in the first two months, so there's a LOT of room for people to simply waste away because they logged in from a foreign country / an unlisted address / somewhere other than their registered address. Heck, the player's likely wouldn't even know why they died... they would feel full from eating in game.
It's fairly safe to assume Kayaba published the details of every single subscriber to the government before starting his 'tutorial', so it wouldn't take much to track down 'most' everyone in those first few hours.
|2012-09-05, 08:42
|Link #87
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2009
|2012-09-05, 10:08
|Link #89
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2009
|2012-09-05, 10:14
|Link #90
a.k.a Enki
Join Date: Sep 2012
Wild Speculation:
Maybe in the end it's a joint government conspiracy to put a lot of people in a controlled virtual environment an Kayaba is just a victim of it. The deaths at the beginning may be errors in the initial stages and now that they have corrected the bugs, just oversee everything. That would justify extensive and government funded health care.
Or maybe they're all batteries.
|2012-09-05, 10:39
|Link #91
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2006
|2012-09-05, 10:48
|Link #92
Moe Kyun~!
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Philippines
|2012-09-05, 11:24
|Link #93
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: InterWebs
Basically even if it was originally a game with the fairest rules in all universe, the moment it becomes a death game then all that fairness lost their meaning. Is it possible to survive a perfect Russian Roulette like the one above? Very possible, but that possibility isn't gonna be any comfort if you have a huge gaping hole in your head.
At the very least though, even in SAO's case as a death game, I think it is "unfair" in the sense that it traps its participant there against their will. If everyone was given the knowledge of the death game beforehand and still plays it anyways and died as a result, they have no one but themselves to blame.
Personally, the problematic notion that I have with calling SAO in its current entirety as "fair" is that it implies the innocent victims who died as legitimate "losers", as inevitably exist in any fair game. And I can't sit really well with that.
|2012-09-05, 11:28
|Link #94
a.k.a Enki
Join Date: Sep 2012
Let me raise another point, that i'm sure someone else has raised but i'm the lazy type.
Are we really, really sure that people who die "in game" die "in real life"? I mean, the system seems very closed, people inside have no ways to be contacted from the outside (so far, that is) so they only have the word of Kayaba about the fact that the game kills for real. That concern was also raised by a character in a previous ep, but everyone quickly dismissed.
Of course, nobody will try to test that theory because what if it's real? Of course the anime told us so in the end of EP 1, but can you really trust anime?
|2012-09-05, 12:12
|Link #96
a.k.a Enki
Join Date: Sep 2012
|2012-09-05, 12:14
|Link #97
Unleashing the Homu-Rage
Join Date: Apr 2010
As for creating killers, I suppose if you believed Akihiko was telling the truth, it might desensitize you to the idea of killing a person, but it wouldn't desensitize them to the act itself - there is no blood in SAO, the avatar disappears immediately, so you don't see or hear the person suffer before they die, no feeling of blood on your hands or smell of death, the body disappears immediately so there's no decay. Even in the most violent of real life video game is nothing to the feeling of actually killing or seeing someone die a violent death (That said, I have never seen or felt this, and I hope I never have to, but listen to any interview with a war veteran or something like that.).
Besides the point, the military actually does psychological screening to AVOID recruiting individuals with sociopathic or otherwise homicidal tendencies. The psych eval isn't perfect, and occasionally one gets through, but the point remains, a sociopath is a liability in the military as they could snap at any time and kill friendlies or civilians.
Finally, the military has, in real life, invested in video game-like simulators- There was one on display once for a Javelin missile that I actually used once, and I've seen fancier ones from other hand-held weapons, tanks, and jets, however, the point of these, and most likely any simulator in the SAO universe, would be for the familiarization of a soldier with the equipment without expending ammunition (especially if, as is the case with the Javelin missile, the ammunition is exceedingly expensive).
That said, if someone does something like the "Chronicles of Amusphere" fic idea posted a while ago (basically about various games for the Amusphere including sequels to IRL games), a military grade training simulator could be included, not to mention training simulators for other things that are expensive or dangerous to use, such civilian aircraft.
Although, I suppose some the AI technology featured in SAO could be useful for numerous purposes, both civilian and military.
|2012-09-08, 07:38
|Link #100
Yummy, sweet and unyuu!!!
Join Date: Dec 2004
In the episode 9 thread the conversation was drifting towards girls up at the front line. The SAO Nerve Gear from what I gather interact directly with the brain. Now recent studies have shown women and men of the same IQ actually do have different brain structures. Men have more grey matter (processors), whilst women have more white (interconnections).
So with this in mind do you think there would be any advantage between women and men? For example I think that women would have a tiny advantage since it doesn't matter how fast you can process if data gets bottled up at the interconnects, so I think that more white matter should be information flows quicker and therefore allowing the gears to interact quicker.
Link to a quick summary of the report
|Thread Tools


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Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Mary Elizabeth Winstead was born on 28th November 1984 in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. She grew up in Salt Lake City and North Carolina many years of her life and actually had an ambition to become a ballerina, for which she attended Joffrey Ballet School in Chicago at the age of 11 and started taking acting lessons too.Her theatre credits include "The Nutcracker" and the Broadway production of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" with Donny Osmond.Her most notable roles are in movies such as Sky High (2005), Final Destination 3 (2006), The Ring Two (2005) and the horror remake, Black Christmas (2006).On the small screen, Winstead is probably best known for her role as "Jessica Bennett" in the popular NBC daytime drama "Passions" (1999), for which she received nominations from the Hollywood Reporters' Young Star Awards and the Young Artist Awards for her performance on the show. Other television credits include the CBS series "Wolf Lake" (2001), the MTV original telepic Monster Island (2004) (TV) and guest roles in popular shows such as "Touched by an Angel" (1994), "Tru Calling" (2003) and "Promised Land" (1996). She ia a distant cousin of Ava Gardner.


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Last week was the Bazaar sprint, which was fantastic and tiring. Somehow even the people who'd been at UDS just before made it through five packed days of fixing bugs, preparing releases, and debugging package imports. We were most hospitably hosted at the Canonical offices a long way up Millbank tower. But even those who couldn't be there in person to enjoy the view were part of the experience. At home in the Ukraine Alexander wore his Bazaar shirt in support during the first day. On IRC larstiq and santagada ran the test suite on pypy and investigated incompatibilities. And all week we had a small robot John sitting in the middle of the table on the line from the Netherlands, working on performance bugs and offering helpful advice.
There were two new faces introduced. Max has been a stalwart maintaining the ~bzr PPAs and getting daily builds working. Jonathan is joining the Bazaar team on rotation from Kubuntu, which is very exciting for fans of qbzr. He started getting to know bzrlib by taking on some bugs tagged 'easy' and pair programming on harder ones. It was a bit tough to keep track of everything going on, but good progress was made on the Ubuntu Distributed Development front, the translation framework branches Naoki put together were landed, and lots of pet bugs were fixed. Download bzr 2.4b3 now to see the rest of the results for yourself.
After these long days in front of screens a nice meal out was a welcome treat. Over dinner we even managed to get on to topics other than code on occasion. On Thursday evening everyone went to As You Like It at the Globe as groundlings. Even with the language barrier to overcome for some of the sprinters, the comedy lived up to the categorisation. Trying to use the cycle hire scheme to travel there and back proved more of an obstacle. The bikes themselves were fine, provided you could get past the terrible computer interface and persuade the system to let you rent them. Now, if only they took patches for that…Read more


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NSA Abused Wiretap Rights: Intercepted, Shared Private Calls Of Americans
from the funny-how-that-works dept
However, according to the operators, it appears to be very much for the heck of it. Not only were calls between Americans listened to and recorded on a regular basis, the "good parts" (i.e., phone sex) were sent around to other operators to listen to as well. One of the operators said that on a regular basis messages would be sent around with messages like: "Hey, check this out. There's good phone sex or there's some pillow talk, pull up this call, it's really funny, go check it out." Of course, this shouldn't surprise anyone. When you give someone the power to spy on calls with absolutely no oversight, it's going to get abused. It's just that simple.


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CRESTVIEW � Given a life full of achievements, William Oneby has earned the right to sit on his Crestview porch and rest on his laurels.
CRESTVIEW � Given a life full of achievements, William Oneby has earned the right to sit on his Crestview porch and rest on his laurels.
But the spry 90-year-old refuses to do that.
Instead, he sings karaoke four nights a week and has been perfecting his speech-making skills as he works toward the local Toastmasters Club�s next level.
Oneby turned 90 on April 20, Adolf Hitler's birthday, "But I outlived him," he said. "I turned 22 in Germany on his 56th birthday. Eight days later he committed suicide."
Friends at the American Legion threw Oneby a karaoke party and gave him a polo shirt emblazoned "chick magnet" on the back.
Oneby hits one of his four favorite local karaoke nightspots, including the Legion post and AmVets, about four nights a week. There, he entertains from a repertoire of 600 songs and not quite as many jokes.
Memories of war
His memories of World War II in Germany, including the time his sergeant saved his life, are still vivid.
Oneby was relaxing in the back of the radio repair van soon after his unit arrived in Germany in 1944. German gunfire set alight the gasoline tank wagon his vehicle was pulling.
"The only exit was out the back through the gasoline flames," Oneby said. "It was a giant Bunson burner from top to bottom. I heard my sergeant's voice, 'Stay in there, Oneby! That's an order!'"
Tech. Sgt. Frank Gregorin unhitched the tank wagon, which threatened to explode at any moment, and pushed it over a hill just before it blew sky high.
"He would accept nothing from me except a haircut� in gratitude, Oneby said.
Another time, he and a fellow radio technician were sent into the German town of Kolmar to repair a broken radio truck. In the confusion of a snowy day, the soldiers drove right through the town � and into the middle of a raging battle.
Zigzagging their way back through the gunfire, they found a bunker occupied by Americans. Oneby and his friend tumbled into safety.
"And then the big guns opened up," Oneby said. "I was a kid from Milwaukee. It looked like the Fourth of July. I was enjoying the show until somebody grabbed me and said, 'Get your head down, you idiot!'"
Injury and civilian life
After Germany surrendered, Oneby, following injury in a truck accident, recuperated in the same hospital where Gen. George Patton succumbed to wounds sustained in a car crash three days earlier.
Oneby came home and attended Marquette University, where he majored in electrical engineering and got a job at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Lincoln Laboratory.
There he developed the concept of global positioning satellite technology, or GPS, and became project engineer for the study of the system.
He also conceived phased-array radar, which today is the main technology behind the U.S. Air Force's AWACS � airborne warning and control system � radar planes.
Oneby also worked for the Navy at the Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center in the Bahamas, where he held a part-time job teaching oceanography.
"My wife said, 'What do you know about oceanography?'," Oneby said. "I said, 'I'm learning oceanography. I'm a month ahead of my students.'"
Chess master and Toastmaster
Oneby has been a Crestview resident for 35 years. He has delivered more than 30 Toastmasters speeches.
A rising chess champion as a teenager, he still enjoys the game, which he now often plays against his computer.
"I can beat the computer pretty easily if I play white, so now I play black and the computer beats me," Oneby said. "I discovered I have to learn all its nasty tricks."
He was first matched against a computer in a Florida state tournament.
"I said, 'I did not agree to play a computer,'" Oneby said. "They said, 'If you beat the computer you win $50 and I said, 'Oh.' And I beat the computer and they took me to dinner as well."
90 and counting
Upon turning 90, Oneby received several birthday cards, including one from President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama.
Oneby is replying to all those who sent him greetings.
"Being 90 years old, I am always afraid I'm getting Alzheimer's, but then I remembered I had this problem when I was young," Oneby said, his eyes twinkling. "I was always forgetful."
Oneby then shared a joke.
"Before I sing a karaoke song I tell a short joke," he said. "Last week somebody stole the toilet from the Crestview Police Department. This week the police still have nothing to go on.
"You have to have a sense of humor in this life," he said.
Want to go?
The Crestview Toastmasters Club will honor William Oneby�s recent 90th birthday, along with his many accomplishments, at an open house 5:30-7 p.m. May 14 at the Holiday Inn Express, 125 Cracker Barrel Rd. For information call 974-3662. The public is invited.
Contact News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes at 850-682-6524 or firstname.lastname@example.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbBrian.


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I am new to Lisp (and functional programming, really), and just finished the below code that works great.
However, I am told that I should "treat setf as if there were a tax on its use". And yet this simple function has it twice.
How would I go about removing them (without turning my optional argument in to a key)? Also, if you see that I'm making some other non-related mistakes, please let me know.
- Code: Select all
; by Will Fitzgerald
(defun strcat (&rest strings)
(apply 'concatenate 'string strings))
; by me
(defun alternate (text &optional tchar)
"Return the string with every other character replaced"
(if tchar () (setf tchar "$"))
(let ((out ""))
(dotimes (iter (length text) out)
(setf out (strcat out
(if (= 1 (mod iter 2)) tchar
(subseq text iter (+ iter 1))))))))


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Sydney Traffic HD
- App Store Info
DescriptionThis applications brings easy access to the traffic web cams in Sydney You can select from the map view in the main screen a camera just by touching the pin. The camera picture is shown below the map. You can double tap the image to reload the image or slide your finger on it to the left or right to show the next camera along the road. If the application starts up, it checks your current location and automatically selects the closest camera for you.
You can also select a camera by name from a list of all cameras. Cameras you access very often you can bookmark for a quick access. The application also supports searching that list or any address in the area. When you search for an address, the closest camera to that address will be displayed.


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Product Overview
Troy Industries' Battle Rail Covers are engineered to survive the most extreme conditions. Constructed from durable, heat- & chemical-resistant synthetic polymer resin, the Troy Battle Rail Cover quickly and easily slides onto a 1913 Picatinny Rail and locks into place with a built-in retaining clip. No tools required. The Battle Rail Cover protects unused rail space from damage and is more comfortable to grasp than a bare handguard. Made in the USA.


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...."a tenuous jelly".... "a meticulous love"...."a febrile and 'irrational' beatitude"....
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
his finest five minutes
Long Good Friday been on my mind recently
Posted by SIMON REYNOLDS at 1:26 PM Links to this post
Monday, April 28, 2014
Saturday, April 26, 2014
are eye pea
Posted by SIMON REYNOLDS at 11:15 PM Links to this post
Labels: DAMN SHAME, DJ RASHAD, FOOTWORK
Thursday, April 24, 2014
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Saturday, April 19, 2014
Hours 'n' garage
A lot of Mustard's Ratchet & B tracks sound like slowed-down house, slowed-down garage.
Reminding me of things like
The languid male vocals, sensuality with a tinge of sadness.
Posted by SIMON REYNOLDS at 11:49 PM Links to this post
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Price: $27
This item has been shown 0 times.
Item Description
- Brand New High Quality Hub-Centric Aluminum Spacers
- CNC Machined using high quality aerospace aluminum
- Our items are hubcentric, which means they will fit over your hub perfect - eliminating possibility of vibrations
- Designed to move the wheel further out from the hub
- Gives your car a more aggressive stance & allows for better handling characteristics
- Fixes clearance issues if your wheel is currently hitting your shocks or brake calipers (message us in order to find out how to get the correct thickness spacer to solve your problem)
- Fitment, Quality, & Durability tested
- Extended bolts in silver and black available... please click on the link below the Important Notes section
Important Note: These spacers are brand new in that they've never been used or installed on any vehicle. But due to slight cosmetic imperfections/scratches that occurred during handling, we are discounting them.
Why should you choose hubcentric spacers like the ones that we sell?
Non-hubcentric spacers like the one you see above do not center around your vehicle's hub. This causes it to rotate unevenly during driving, which is one of the main causes for steering wheel vibrations
Spacer SpecificationsQuantity Two (2) Thickness 3mm Centerbore 57.1 mm Bolt Pattern (PCD) 5x112 2nd Bolt Pattern (If Applicable) 5x100