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I Will Give the Diseased Fish a Pass
The Telegram, St. John's, NLI'll give the diseased fish a pass, thanksPublished on January 29, 2013Russell Wangersky Fish for long enough, and you're bound to catch a salmon or trout that's obviously sick.I can remember one distinctly unhealthy salmon I caught near the mouth of the Salmonier River, and several different times when trout I've caught have clearly been unhealthy, including a few stunningly grotesque specimens caught in The Druke near Portugal Cove South (I'll spare you the details) that have put me off ever fishing in that river again.One thing I can tell you about all of those diseased fish: I didn't eat them.I'm not a fish scientist by any means. I have no idea what was wrong with them or whether through some piscine/human transmission, it could even affect me.I find it disturbing, that's all, just disturbing, and I think it's a natural reaction that may be a carryover from our distant past, a kind of knowledge by experience that diseased animals are not good eating.I think I'd have the same response to finding out that moose or caribou meat was from a diseased animal, even if there was no chance that disease could be passed on. (That's something even the provincial government recognizes, because they will issue a replacement moose licence for hunters who shoot diseased moose.)New rules?That's why I find it more than a little disturbing that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is changing the rules for farmed salmon that have contracted infectious salmon anemia (ISA).In the past, the agency has tried to eradicate the disease from fish farms. Now, the plan is to control it.Here's what Patricia Ouellette, a regional program officer with the CFIA, told CBC in Nova Scotia: "At first, the focus was on eradication of the disease. … We've shifted gears to preventing the spread of the disease and no longer consider eradication as an option."As part of that shifting of gears, 240,000 salmon that were found with ISA in Nova Scotia weren't destroyed, but were allowed to be processed in New Brunswick for food.I understand that ISA is not something that can be transmitted to humans — that's not the issue. I think I have a legitimate revulsion for the idea that I might be sold product from diseased animals, however harmless that disease might be to me. Not only that, as a customer, I definitely want to know if the fish I'm being sold was diseased — so I can have the choice about whether I want to consume it. If you're not going to tell me which is which, then I'll have a hard time buying any.Poor marketingProcessing diseased animals is hardly a sales-builder — and is the cause of great hue and cry when it turns up in the beef, pork or poultry industry.That's not the only concern, though.I'm equally concerned about the idea that nets with diseased salmon were allowed to stay in place for the final six months of a grow-out of fish that were almost ready for market.During that time, what exactly was preventing other fish, including wild Atlantic salmon, from having contact with the fish cages or the fish waste that came from them?After all, the CFIA's own website points out that the disease can be spread by something as straightforward as "contaminated water."And not only salmon — herring, cod and brown trout are apparently susceptible to the disease.I don't even fish for salmon anymore. I think the wild fish are under too much strain already, and I don't see the need to add to that strain. So this isn't a case of me trying to protect a hobby or something.It's more visceral than that.I don't think there are many people who, given a choice, would choose to eat fillets from diseased fish.I know I wouldn't.From a marketing point of view and from an animal husbandry point of view, I think this is the wrong way to go. I don't think I'm alone on that.Russell Wangersky is The Telegram's editorial page editor. He can be reached by email at email@example.com://www.thetelegram.com/Opinion/Columns/2013-01-29/article-3165824/Ill-give-the-diseased-fish-a-pass-thanks/1


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GT Renovation37 Feedback reviews, 100% positive
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subset: commoncrawl


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Photo via Shutterstock
With the number of athletes and fans traveling to a gigantic stadium filled with bright lights, epic half-time shows, and enough confetti to carpet a billion hamster cages, the Super Bowl is not what one would first think of as a "green event." However, one of our nation's biggest cultural events may have an environmentally-friendly side after all. In addition to efforts made by the promoters to offset carbon emissions through various eco-friendly projects, the behavior of the fans themselves could be working towards reducing the overall amount of energy used during the big game. Research by the consulting firm, Opower comparing the electricity use of 145,000 households during 2012's Super Bowl with other winter Sundays found that power use was reduced by as much as 7.7 per cent, depending on location.
Photo via Shutterstock
While exact reasons for the drop in energy usage are harder to pin down, the researchers believe that running large appliances such as big-screen TVs and refrigerators are balanced out by the lack of other activity during the game. In other words, people are so glued to the couch that they are not operating cleaning or cooking equipment that would otherwise suck up electricity. They are also "TV pooling," opting to watch the action together instead of sitting alone on the sidelines. Taking advantage of smart meter technology, Opower measured 91,355 households in the West and 54,574 in the East. The lower usage rates were at halftime, where the average drop was around 5 per cent. The total decrease of US home electricity was greater than three times the amount of energy consumed by all of the TVs watching the Super Bowl.
Opower estimates that savings from a three-and-a-half-hour broadcast could be up to $3.1 million. While that figure looks like a win for the environment, the company points out that energy usage could be shifted to another time, like doing laundry after a barbeque sauce spill or vacuuming up a carpet of chip crumbs the next day. The study also does not attempt to calculate the cost of gasoline burned during travel time, or the overall amount of energy needed to produce and cook all of those Super Bowl snacks. Still, it goes to show that being social and sharing resources is not just good for communities and sports fans, but also for the planet.


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Are sitcoms filth or just disposable?
The kid was right the first time.
Angus T. Jones apologized Tuesday for his delightful YouTube moment in which he called "Two and a Half Men" – the show on which he spent his boyhood and for which he reportedly earns close to $350,000 an episode – "filth."
"I'm on 'Two and a Half Men' and I don't want to be on it," Jones said originally in a video posted by a religious organization called Forerunner Chronicles. It is run by a fellow named Christopher Hudson, who has been known to accuse prominent rappers of worshipping the devil.
"Please stop watching," pleaded the young actor. "Please stop filling your head with filth."
On Tuesday, cooler and more monetary heads clearly prevailed on TV's most implosive sitcom. Jones pronounced himself regretful for speaking out of turn, "grateful" to oft-embattled show runner and inventor Chuck Lorre, and in high regard for everyone on the show, all of whom have "become an extension of my family."
It seems to me that all of the above can be true simultaneously – filth and family.
It is utterly inarguable that "Two and a Half Men" is filth of a sort, i.e. an advanced achievement in the sitcom art of putting as much acceptable smut into a half hour of prime time as you can. Double-entendres abound; when unnecessary, single-entendres will do – at best with the ribald, black humor that has been the province of the male locker room since time immemorial.
I don't watch "Two and a Half Men" regularly for a simple reason: I don't watch any sitcom regularly. I hate the form and always have, even when I was watching "Cheers" and "The Mary Tyler Moore Show." In Paleozoic TV, I never liked Lucy, much less loved her the way America did. (Desi was weird enough to be funny, though.) I only watched "The Life of Riley" because of Tom D'Andrea as Gillis and "Ozzie and Harriet" because of Ricky's deadpan put-downs of his goody-goody older brother.
I liked Gracie Allen, but only because I truly loved that inimitable moment when George Burns would step outside the French doors and comment on the action thus far – all the while punctuating with a cigar to make sure every line was timed perfectly. I wanted to be George Burns when I grew up. And I am – sort of – without the doors and the cigar and the really funny part. ("The action thus far" wouldn't be a bad name for this column, should it ever need one.)
Obviously, I've seen "Two and a Half Men" a few times – mostly in the Charlie Sheen era. And I've laughed. Some of the ribaldry is funny in that way that no one can possibly be proud of laughing at.
What Lorre did in redrawing the real Charlie Sheen as a prime-time comic version of a "degenerate" (Lorre's own word), he did next with a free-form re-creation of Ashton Kutcher as a clueless and helpless billionaire chick magnet. Meanwhile, Jon Cryer, with all the professionalism in the world, muddles on in the Felix role of any odd couple he could possibly be in.
It goes without saying, of course, that when all of this first hit the fan, original star Charlie Sheen himself – he of the Mercury Surfboard and the wildly quotable but losing "winning" tour – couldn't resist jumping in with his own devil-may-care eloquence.
"A hive of oppression" old Charlie called Lorre's show. No one could partake, according to him, "without some form of an emotional tsunami" (one of Charlie's favorite words. Clearly this is a man whose view of life entails constant surfing and tidal waves and the requisite cleanups. George Burns and I would probably agree on it being an awfully strenuous way to live, if not downright dangerous.)
When he wasn't doing that, Charlie was giving Lindsay Lohan $100,000 to pay her unpaid taxes.
In gratitude, she got herself arrested at 4 o'clock in the morning yesterday for hitting a woman in the face in a Manhattan nightclub. (One would think she'd realize at this point that nothing good will ever happen to her in any nightclub anywhere at 4 a.m.)
"Filth" is a bit hyperbolic and draconian to describe most of the doings on popular sitcoms, but it's certainly a word that's in the ballpark, for all of its unfortunate pious connotations. They're all adolescent and post-adolescent yawps – maladjustments for laughs that reduce our species to organs, glands and easy sentimentalities, each one grosser than the next.
Family has always been TV's biggest subject, whether you're watching a sitcom or "NCIS" or a local TV news broadcast. Successful sitcoms usually leave the bathroom and bedroom doors open and titter at the results. I'm not prepared to declare it all unhygienic, mind you, much less the work of the devil, but artful "junk" and "rubbish" suffice a good part of the time to describe the end result.
But then, one man's crafted rubbish is another's et cetera.
The same, of course, is true of the tsunami (thank you, Charlie) of "wholesome" holiday television that is about to soak us all to the skin.
For every classic giving us Charlie Brown's Christmas or the inimitable Boris Karloff reciting the transgressions of Dr. Seuss' "Mr. Grinch," there are about 20 indigestible clumps of sour, unrefrigerated cookie dough tossed onto platters and offered up for our delectation with toxic cynicism.
You could perish from all the poisonous "wholesomeness" on television during this season. Who doesn't want to ride a "Mercury surfboard" elsewhere sometimes?
If you're a Time Warner digital cable customer fleeing from both filth and gratuitous uplift, whatever you do don't land on Channel 180. It has been announced that it will now show RLTV for Over-50's, full of "programming designed to engage, inform and resonate with a diverse audience of 50+ viewers in areas including health and wellness, relationships, transformations, exploration, finance, and political and public policy issues."
For instance, "Money Matters" with Jean Chatzky and "Good Food, Good Deeds" starring Florence Henderson and Meals on Wheels, which "combines the excitement of a cook off with the lifesaving version of one of America's most extraordinary philanthropic organizations.
Let's hear it – always and forever – for Meals on Wheels.
As for Florence Henderson and "exciting" cook-offs, George and I are going to stroll outside the French doors for a couple of minutes, put a cigar in its holder, pause for comic effect and think that one over before giving our opinion.
email: firstname.lastname@example.com


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On December 26, 2004, a tsunami devastated Sri Lanka, claiming nearly 40,000 lives and displacing one million people. In the southern province of the country, the costal children hospital was destroyed and many nurses died in the tragedy. Three years later, much rebuilding remains to be done. As Faiza Elmasry tells us, efforts are underway not just to rebuild this hospital, but also to bring in modern technology, train medical staff and renovate Sri Lanka's health care system.
After the tsunami hit Sri Lanka the day after Christmas, 2004, Physicians for Peace, a non-profit that provides medical assistance around the world, was contacted by a group of people who wanted to help.
"A group of young physicians that were from Sri Lanka wanted to go and help their own country," says Carolyn Ramwell, a pediatric nurse practitioner and long-time volunteer with the group. "When they went back, they discovered that all the infrastructure had been devastated."
Ramwell says the scale of the devastation was so huge that these young doctors urged Physicians for Peace to get involved, and do more than just restore the buildings. They had a long-term goal of changing the way medicine is practiced there "in terms of bringing more modern techniques, having information centers and utilizing technology to bring education to the physicians and nurses and staff."
Achieving these goals required funding, which became available in early 2007.
The ground breaking was March 22, 2007. Ramwell says former Presidents Bush and Clinton donated $400,000 to the project, called Project Peace, which was started by the World Children's Initiative. That organization, she says, invited Physicians for Peace to join them.
Together with the World Children's Initiative's local affiliate, Physicians for Peace started work on a children's hospital in Matara, in the southern region of Sri Lanka.
"We want to set this as a sort of model pediatric hospital for other hospitals in Sri Lanka to follow," says Lionel Jayarante, the Initiative's director in Sri Lanka.
"The new hospital that we are going to construct will be away from the sea," he adds. "So there wouldn't be huge threats from tsunami. It will have more space for children and even for mothers."
Javarante says the land is ready. "The government has done the leveling, providing the other basic necessities like water and electricity for us to do the construction work. Our plan is to complete this project within 18 months."
And while the construction plans for the hospital are proceeding as scheduled, other efforts are underway to prepare the health care staff that will work there. "We went to the hospital and talked to as many nurses, as many physicians, as many technologists as possible, to find out what they wanted," says Carolyn Ramwell, who recently returned from Sri Lanka.
Ramwell was part of a Physicians for Peace delegation. The trip, she says, helped them understand the realities of the health care system in Sri Lanka.
"I was pleasantly surprised," she says. "Sri Lanka has a very comprehensive health care system, very much designed upon, originally, the British system. The problem really is supplies, amount of staff and opportunities for education. We found physicians and nurses were well-educated, but due to the volume of the patients that they have to see and because it's a public health program, they just don't have the opportunity for as much education as they wish."
Physicians for Peace will provide such training opportunities.
"We are looking at probably a five-year-project," she says. "We want to change the culture of accountability and responsibility for one's education. We go in and teach advanced pediatrics, basic life support, nursing education, advanced critical care."
Ramwell says the Physicians for Peace's education strategy is very simple: train the trainers.
"We will identify two nurse champions from the U.S., hopefully from Children's Hospital of Pittsburg and Children's Hospital in DC," she says. "We will have these champions go twice a year, alternating, to offer education every three to six months. We'll identify nurse champions there. They will be our focus for education. We'll offer them professional support, e-mail support, online community support, to get them to be in a position where they are the trainers."
Through this program, Carolyn Ramwell says, Physicians for Peace hopes to train 30 to 60 nurses who will eventually be able to train dozens of other health workers and raise awareness about pubic health issues in the local communities. So, by the time the hospital opens its doors, she says, everyone will have a role in making the health care system work better than it did three years ago.


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Dear visitor, welcome to SPRINKLER TALK FORUM - You Got Questions, We've Got Answers. If this is your first visit here, please read the Help. It explains how this page works. You must be registered before you can use all the page's features. Please use the registration form, to register here or read more information about the registration process. If you are already registered, please login here.
Thursday, June 17th 2010, 11:16am
Friday, June 18th 2010, 8:29am
Friday, June 18th 2010, 8:38am
Only problem is I am going down to my parents this weekend and may not have time to order the WIlkins. I don't know of any stores that carry them. I know I don't want more than 75 PSI anyway....would a watts one set at 75 PSI cause me any issues?Get a Wilkins BR4 pressure reducer and install it upstream of the backflow preventer. The Wilkins can be adjusted to set points above 100 psi. Let it take the brunt of the hammer forces.
Supreme Member
Friday, June 18th 2010, 8:57am
Friday, June 18th 2010, 9:22am
Supreme Member
Friday, June 18th 2010, 1:12pm
Sunday, June 20th 2010, 8:34am
Sunday, June 20th 2010, 9:04pm
There is additional pressure loss in a PRV beyond what the usual charts will show. There are certainly variations of the Watts PRVs with set points beyond 75 psi, but they are special-order and expensive. The Wilkins BR4 has the high range built in, and with an RPZ downstream, you figure to not see as much as 50 psi by the time the water reaches the heads, when you have a 75 psi regulator upstream of the system. If you don't need 50 psi at the heads, any regulator should do the trick.
Thanks. I had the watts 25-75 regulator so I installed it. Seems to be working fine...SLIGHTLY smaller range on the sprinkler heads though. I have two zones in the front yard (the house is at the top of a hill). One zone is across the bottom, near the street, one zone is across the top. Each zone is 4 hunter heads.
After installing the watts regulator (and removing the hunter one in the valve box), the top ones almost hit the street. The bottom ones go about 2/3rds the way up the hill. This is ok, right? There is full head-to-head coverage within each zone (side to side).
Monday, June 21st 2010, 7:13am
Monday, June 21st 2010, 7:27am
Thanks! Actually - it's a double-check valve assembly (Watts 007) if that matters.The RPZ will likely last much longer if it isn't subjected to hammering, so good for you for adding the PRV!


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Stephanie Chin is most likely the only Summer Student Fellow whose project could one day operate in space—at least in theory. She worked on building a prototype for a biologic pump sampler for the autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) Sentry, under the guidance of scientists Rich Camilli, Chip Breier, and Dana Yoerger in Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's Deep Submergence Laboratory.
Sentry is designed to discover deep-sea hydrothermal vents, but NASA has partly funded the project with the hope that the technology might be applicable to space exploration, particularly on Jupiter's massive moon Europa, which may have an ocean beneath its icy surface. Sentry is a free-swimming robot that can explore without any attachments to a larger ship, which enables it to travel to remote locations. Autonomous vehicles currently require programming before they start exploring, but the goal is for Sentry to make its own navigation decisions based on what it senses along the way—a technology WHOI scientists are constantly working to refine.
Marine biologists often use pump samplers under water to look at organisms filtered through large amounts of seawater, but the the samplers are traditionally attached to a tethered remotely operated vehicle (ROV) or to fixed moorings. By creating a pump sampler for an AUV such as Sentry, Chin and her advisors hope to expand the possibilities of underwater biology exploration.
"By designing a compact unit to put on an AUV, scientists can gain the freedom of not needing to have a priori knowledge of the terrain," Chin said. "Samples can still be taken along the AUV track, and in communication with onboard sensors, the AUV could be used to 'sniff out' interesting places to take samples."
The sampler, which can filter larvae, plankton, and microbes, could also collect samples of DNA from marine life. Some of its components include an advancing filter on a spool that can store samples, and a fluid motion pump with a flexible impeller, which turns itself with changes in pressure and provides a uniform flow. All that must fit into a compact package that doesn't take up valuable space on Sentry. Chin built and tested a prototype of the sampler herself.
"You get a lot of skills having your own project, learning to manage everything yourself," she said, although she credits her Deep Submergence Lab colleagues with helping her improve the design along the way.
Chin is a senior with a major in mechanical and ocean engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she participates on the ROV team. The Westwood, Mass., native also enjoys reading and dancing and expects to go to graduate school to continue studying ocean engineering.


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If Santa had a list of bad bloggers, I'd surely be near the top of the list. I don't know where my time has gone, but it definitely hasn't been devoted to this space lately. I promise I'm working on some things, more to come over the break and in the new year. In the meantime, pop on over to JOAT to see a few of my favorite things among other goodies. Merry Merry!
Add These To My List
I've yet to own own a pair of Tom's because I haven't been able to decide on a color/pattern, but I think these may be the winners. How adorable is the herringbone with a pop of color on the sole? Santa, are you reading this? If so, I will take a 6.5, you decide the color.
Eye Candy Friday
Two of my very favorite gents - Justin Timberlake and Jimmy Fallon. Seriously, how great are they? They're especially incredible together when they perform history of rap (part 1). I've loved JT since his N*Sync days and have been fortunate enough to see him in concert two times, went to an awards show he hosted and he walked right past me at another awards show (I'm not positive we made eye contact, but I'm pretty sure there was something there). I'd love to attend a taping of Late Night With Jimmy Fallon and he was of course awesome on SNL (it was always the best when he'd crack up and lose character).
I 'd love to own this Lilly Pulitzer shoe storage ottoman I saw in Real Simple a few months ago. Such a great idea. I only wish it came in additional colors.
Boot Scootin Boogie
I popped into the Gap over the weekend to see if there was anything I just had to have, since I got a 40% off friends and family discount. Happily I came across two fabulous pairs of fold-over boots. The taupe ones are actually more of a light grey and are soft and almost suede-like. I wore the black pair last night and they were ridiculously comfortable.
Avery Bleu's Picks of the Day {Week of 10.02.11}
It's a Wrap!
I'm kind of in love with this ASOS wrap dress. I'm not quite sure how flattering the tulip skirt would be over my hips don't lie, but it sure its a pretty dress (and a seal of a deal).
Bust a Move
- Year without Rain (The Alias Club Mix) - Selena Gomez & the Scene
- I Wrote the Book - Beth Ditto
- Little Bad Girl - David Guetta (feat. Taio Cruz & Ludacris)
- Late Night Automatic - Kevin Rudolf & Three 6 Mafia
- Give Me Everything - Pitbull (feat. Ne-Yo, Afrojack & Nayer)
- Letting Go (Dutty Love) - Sean Kingston (feat. Nicki Minaj)
- Where Them Girls At - David Guetta (feat. Nicki Minaj & Flo Rida)
- Vato - Snoop Dogg (feat. B-Real)
- Save the World (Radio Mix) - Swedish House Mafia
- Feel It - Three 6 Mafia & Tiesto (with Sean Kingston & Flo Rida)
- Spaceship (Radio Edit) - Benny Benassi (feat. Kelis, Apl.de.ap & Jean-Baptiste)
- On the Floor - Jennifer Lopez -(feat. Pitbull)
- Animal (Peter Bjorn & John remix) - Miike Snow
- Lisztomania (Alex Metric Remix) - Phoenix
- Shake Senorita (Remix) - Pitbull (feat. T-Pain, Sean Paul & Ludacris)
- Wonderman - Tinie Tempah & Ellie Goulding
- Dancing On My Own - Robyn
- I Wanna Go - Britney Spears
- Beautiful People (feat. Benny Benassi ) - Chris Brown
- Without You - David Guetta & Usher
- Lights (Bassnectar Remix) - Ellie Goulding
- N***as in Paris - Kanye West & Jay-Z
- The Show Goes On - Lupe Fiasco
- Fly - Nicki Minaj & Rihanna
- Cheers (Drink to That) - Rihanna
- We Found Love (feat. Calvin Harris) - Rihanna
- Hang With Me - Robyn
- Best Love Song (feat. Chris Brown) - T-Pain
- Bottoms Up (feat. Nicki Minaj) - Trey Songs
- Liv Tonight - Nelly & Kerri Hilson
- Motivation - Kelly Rowland & Lil Wayne
- Sweat - Snoop Dogg & David Guetta
- You Make Me Feel - Cobra Starship & Sabi
- I Remember - Deadmau5 & Kaskade
Bikers & Bombers
I stopped by Target the other day and picked up this bomber jacket, which I'm so excited to wear this fall. It's super soft and stylish and doesn't look like a $40 piece to me. I found a bunch of similar options at various price points.
Top: DKNY Jeans $98, Flying Tomato $78, MICHAEL Michael Kors $263, DKNY Jeans $98, BLK DNM $1,190, Via Spiga $86, Mackage $354, DKNY $239
Right: bebe $348, PRPS $352, 3.1 Phillip Lim $1,100, Express $98, Coach $698, Coach $698, Victoria's Secret $199
Bottom: Joe's $204, Juicy Couture $698, Stella & Jamie $300, Flying Tomato $78, EVER $695, Converse $398, Gap $298
Left: Guess $128, Guess $108, Mike Gonzalez $655, Steve Madden $200, Old Navy $50, Jou Jou $40
I'm sure the majority of us agree that Mondays typically blow. We're sleepy, in need of coffee and one more day to get things done. I wish every weekend could be a three day weekend. But this Monday means I'm one day closer to heading to San Diego for the weekend to see my bff, B who's in town to do her thing at the San Diego State game. Can't wait! xo
Orange Crush
It's kind of an unexpected combo, but I'm loving the bright orange blazer + neutral dress and shoe ensembles Rachel Bilson and Molly Sims have sported. Perfect pairing as we arrive in autumn.
images via People
Avery Bleu's Picks of the Day {Week of 9.18.11}
Alexa Chung For Madewell
Two of my favorites - Alexa Chung and Madewell. Me likey. See all looks here
Avery Bleu's Picks of the Day {Week of 09.11.11}
Emmy Fashion
There were lots of gorgeous dresses on the Emmy Awards' red carpet and most all of the gals did a nice job with their hair, makeup and jewelry choices. There were a few looks I wasn't too fond of, but overall I thought it was a nice showing. I don't know if I had one favorite though.
Eye Candy Friday
Love me some Jon Hamm. Or is it Don Draper I adore? I think it's both, even in spite of Don's philandering ways. Such a handsome gent. I'm finally watching Mad Men. Still on season 1, but hoping to catch up soon. So many shows, so little time...
I'm Pinterest-obsessed. Seriously, I think it's a problem. Fortunately, I know I'm not alone. Follow me.
Ch-Ch-Check It Out
Yellow Brick Blog to see my picks for summer in Lyndsy's Summer Essentials Series.
Avery Bleu's Picks of the Day {Week of 9.04.11}
Eye Candy Friday
Once again, Bradley Cooper. While I'd like to post about him every Friday, I will refrain and give some other stylish gents some attention.
Top Knot{ch}
Lately I'm loving top-knots. I probably sport one every other day. Perfect for laziness and dirty hair. I like them best when a bit messy and not too perfect and smooth.
Spotlight: J.Crew {Day 6}
As a new school year approaches, I'm reminded how much I absolutely loved back-to-school shopping. I'd of course wear my favorite ensemble on the first day and would carefully plan out my outfits in advance for the days ahead. What a dream it would have been if J.Crew's Crew Cuts were around back then. They clothes are stuff I'd wear now myself, but in pint-sized versions. A tad pricey yes, but oh so ridiculously cute.
Eye Candy Friday
A year ago JOAT and I were headed to Greece. It's a damn shame we didn't encounter anyone resembling the ridiculously hot Joe Manganiello while in Santorini. However, we did enjoy many glasses of rosé, which I'm glad they incorporated into this shoot.
images via
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Welcome to StartSkins.com,
the only place where you can customize your homepage!
-You can now Customize Your StartSkins URL! Change it from StartSkins.com/123456 to StartSkins.com/yourname!
How do I do this?
1. Log in to your account.
2. Click Settings
3. Below My Account you will see the option!
4. Insert your URL and you're set! It will congratulate you that you now have your new StartSkins URL.
-Be sure to check out the popular Social Network widgets! You can add Twitter and Facebook directly on your homepage, without even opening a new window! Get these widgets directly on your customized StartSkins homepage!
-Check us out on Facebook!
-Yet another widget has been added! We call this one the 'Of the Day' widget! This widget provides you with Fact of the Day, Joke of the Day, and Quote of the Day! Go into your Skin Builder and click the Fact icon to add the widget on your skin!
-Fun new feature has been added. Listening to some music with your MP3 widget, want to check out another skin from your gallery? Only way to change your rotating skins from your My Skins gallery is to refresh your page. Well, refresh nomore! Don't lose your spot in your music playlist because now you can click the rotating arrows icon in the bottom right of your StartSkin to rotate your skins! One click it will change your skin without refreshing your page!
-Have you noticed the new rating system? If not, under each skin is now a five-star rating option! Check out all of the Top Rated Skins and rate your favorites today!
-Do you like your StartSkin? Support us by clicking the Like or Share buttons to the right! Spread the word!
-Add more skins to your gallery! You can add as many premade skins to your My Skins section. Don't forget to try out the Rotate Skins feature found in the My Skins box. Check off your skins and on each refresh your skin will change up! Really fun feature to have if you have a large gallery of skins!
-Add holiday and seasonal effect to your StartSkin! If you go into your Widget tab you will now see a Christmas Lights icon! In one click you will have your holiday lights setup and ready for the holidays!
-Get all your top stories or anything at all with our all new RSS Feed Widget! Go into your Skin Builder, click the Widgets tab and you'll find the RSS icon there! You can add your own news feed and even customize the widget itself! More additions: Twitter widget has been updated so you can see not only see the timeline tweets but you can now see your followers tweets directly on the widget!
-Well we did say we will be adding plenty of more widgets over time! Now is the time for yet another StartSkins widget! Add the Calender Widget! With this customizable widget you can view the past, present and future! Add events and even customize it with plenty of premade themes! Now you have no excuse for being late, just set up your calender widget!
-We just released a new look for your skin builder! You will see the sleek new look on the skin builder along with the other areas on your skin! Also releasing a new customizing option that allows you to customize the color and transparency of the top and bottom bars on your skin!
-Are you a big fan of your custom homepage and StartSkins.com? Become a Facebook Fan!
-Rock on! Now open your homepage to some music with the all new Music Player Widget! Stock up on as many songs as you want and create the best playlist ever!
-Tweet, tweet! Enjoying the new widgets? Good! Add yet another widget to your homepage! Start tweeting with the new Twitter Widget! This widget can be found with the rest of the widgets in the Skin Builder.
-We are on a Widget frenzy! We have just released our latest feature, the Hulu Widget! Watch Movies and TV Shows on your homepage! Go into your Skin Builder, click the Widgets tab and add the Hulu Widget, search what you want to watch and click play!
-Another new widget has been released! Start checking your Facebook directly on your homepage with the all new Facebook Widget! Update your status, check your notifications, watch the live newsfeed and even check your messages! Go into your Skin Builder, click the Widgets tab and in one click get your new Facebook Widget!
-StartSkins is just dishing out new features left and right! More so, new widget features! We just released the Weather Widget last week, and now… Post It Notes Widget is available! Go into your Skin Builder and click the Widgets tab. There is a [+] to click to add a new note! You can customize the notes font styles, size and color along with the size and color of the note itself! Add as many notes as you want, edit them whenever you want directly on your homepage! Never forget anything when logging on to your computer again!
-We just added yet another addition to your homepage! Did you hop on your computer before going outside? Well, you might as well check the weather and now you can as soon as you open your web browser! With the new Weather Widget you can check the daily forecast for the week! It even recognizes your location and provides a map with all of the weather for each location! Go check it out in the Skin Builder, click the Widget tab and check off the Weather Widget!
-Want EVERYTHING on your homepage? Well… we're getting there! Now you can check your email directly on your homepage! Add your Gmail, Yahoo, MSN, Hotmail, AOL or even setup your own Pop3 email accounts directly on your homepage! To access your new mail box, direct your mouse to the top of your StartSkin where the links for web, images, videos, etc is located. Click the 'mail' link and the mail box options will appear there!
-Do you like a skin from the gallery, but it just doesn't fit your screen? Now you can crop or resize skins that are too small or large on your screen! Simply upload your background or select from the skin gallery and if it does not fit your screen click the Crop/Resize Background link and create the skin to fit your new homepage!
-A brand new feature has been released! Now you can easily add as many skins as you want directly from the skin gallery! Simply click the green plus sign to add the skin, all without going through the whole process of previewing, setting as your homepage and saving it from your My Skins section. Just click, click and click to save the skins you want! Wow, now that's easy!
-Have you contributed to the StartSkins.com User Submitted Skins category? Well, if you'd like to submit your designed skins, firstly it should be a nice high quality skin. If you have that already set, save your skin into your My Skins section. From there, hover the skin you'd like to submit and click the configuration icon. Once in the skins configuration, click on the Submit to Public link. Within 24 hours you'll either see the status changed from pending approval to either approved or denied. If approved, you will then see your skin in the User Submitted Skins category! If denied, recreate a new skin and give it another shot!
-We would like to give a special shout out to KristinaSkin for submitting such great skins! You can check them out in our User Submitted Skins section!
-Hope everybody is enjoying the new features that we have recently released! Hope it is much more easier to customize your skin with the direct search inside the skin builder for our users. Keep in mind that if you create a cool skin, you can submit it to the site to appear in the User Submitted Skins category! Just go into your My Skins area, click the configuration icon and click Publish. Please note, do not submit skins that are already placed in the skin gallery. They will be removed.
-Feature Friday! Today's new feature… Search for your backgrounds directly inside your Skin Builder! You no longer need to search for backgrounds outside your homepage! With the ability to search the images from Google, Photobucket, Flickr and Bing you can instantly find your new background for your StartSkin! Simply type in your search, browse through the images and click it for a live preview! Want that background? Search it, click it, customize it and save it! It's that easy!
-Ready for another huge update? We are ready to release a new feature, currently a staff favorite and hope to be a user favorite feature! The new feature we call Rotate Skins! What is it? Well, if you have a StartSkins account and have a nice gallery saved in the My Skins area, you can now rotate your skins enabling it to have a new skin appear each time you come to your homepage! We will soon be releasing this feature to the public, if you are not a member click here to register today!
-With Valentine's Day right around the corner, what other way is there to show some love with some hearts? Go to your Skin Builder and click on the Widgets tab! From there you can now Enable Hearts! Just like the falling snowflakes feature, you can now add falling hearts to your StartSkin!
-We have recently just added a new search box feature! Not only can you already adjust the logo, width and color of the search area but you can now adjust the search bar field background transparency! Set the search bar background color and using the slider, thicken the color or create it fully transparent!
-Have an idea for a future StartSkins feature? Check out our Facebook Fan Page and post up your idea and we'll look into it! Who knows, you're request may just be the next StartSkins.com feature!
-Once again, new feature Friday is here! We have just released a cool new effect for your StartSkin page! This feature will auto hide your top and bottom menu bars but when you move your mouse towards one of them, the bar will then reappear! Enjoy this feature and there will be much more fun customization to come!
-Wishing all of our StartSkins users a Happy New Year as 2011 is here! We will be releasing some cool new features in the upcoming weeks! Stick tight and we will keep you posted on the next feature on our Facebook Fan Page as well as our StartSkins Blog!
-Merry Christmas to all of our StartSkins users out there! Remember you can celebrate the holidays directly on your startpage with our latest feature found in the Skin Builder's Widget tab which allows you to enable animated Christmas lights and Snowflakes!
-The countdown to the Christmas holiday is closing in, 20 more days until Christmas! Check out the Christmas Skins we offer! Seasons are changing as well, and the cold weather is already here! Decorate your homepage with some Winter Skins today!
-November is coming to an end which means tons of celebrating in the month of December. Not only is winter approaching but Christmas will slowly creep up on you before you know it! We'll be adding more and more Winter Skins and Christmas Skins over time so get ready to deck your homepage with skins of holly, fala-lala-laaa, lala-la-laa!
-Customize the size of the search engine logos! With this new feature, you can now shrink or enlarge the search logo (ex: Google, Yahoo, etc) to whichever size you'd like! Don't forget, if you don't want the logo at all you can hide it as well! Just go into the skin builder and click the Search tab and all the options are right there!
-Another cool feature has been released! Rotate your text! It's a simple and easy feature! Simply insert your text and click on the bottom left of the text box and rotate it! You can customize the color, link up your text and now rotate it too!
-Frame your pictures is a huge hit! If you haven't heard about our latest feature, you can now frame your pictures on your StartSkin! We will also be adding more frames over time! If you have frames you'd like to see on StartSkins feel free to send them to email@example.com or post them on our Facebook Fan Page!
-Back to back new features for your StartSkin! Last week we released the ability to link your images and text and now we are releasing yet another feature! To get to the point, you can now frame your pictures! It's as easy as uploading your picture and clicking Frame It! Add and remove the frame at any time, all within a click of a button! Choose from the variety of frames featuring the cool polaroid frames! Much more frames will be added over time as well! Enjoy the new feature and we already have another new feature for next week in the works!
-This weeks new feature is in! Forget about bookmarking your favorite websites! With the latest feature you can link all of your images and/or text to any website! Have fun and be creative with it, you can upload an image of your friend and link it directly to their Facebook page! Just upload and link!
-Let's all review what you can do with your new homepage. StartSkins allows you to add backgrounds, upload images, set your favorite links, insert text, resize the search bar, customize the search button and bar background, and even add widgets. But that's not going to be all! Tons of brand new features are in store and we'll be releasing one new feature each week! Yes, one new feature each week! Have an idea for a new feature? Post it here!
-October is the month of Breast Cancer Awareness. Let's support all of the patients fighting breast cancer by adding a Cause/Awareness Skin to your homepage!
-If you haven't heard about the new update yet, you can now customize the search bar border! Match up the search button with the search border to match your your skin, or just go all out and create a cool and colorful skin! Try it out today!
-Looking for a new skin? Check out all of the Featured Skins including some of the hottest skins with Taylor Lautner, Scarlett Johansson, Justin Bieber and more! Guys, are you getting ready for football season? Check out our Sports Skins section and represent your team today!
-StartSkins now has its own Facebook Fan Page! Get all the recent updates and inside scoop on StartSkins.com!
-Rick Springfield, the artist behind 17 top 40 hits and over 20 million records sold, is now partnered with StartSkins! StartSkins is the only place to find Rick Springfield authorized Google skins (approved by the artist). Check out his skins in our Music/Musicians Skins category today!
-Just in! One of the hottest UK bands, JLS, now has a wide variety of JLS Skins! Startskins also wants to thank Startskins user, Rosebud1824, for submitting two of the hottest Twilight Skins! Check out their skins, Twilight Wolfpack Skin and Twilight Cullens Skin! More Twilight Skins available in the Movies/TV Skins category!
-How many skins have you created? With our Skin Builder go to the extreme and create as many homepage skins as you want! What can you do with all of these skins? Once you create your own account, you will have the ability to create, save, edit and use your created skins whenever you want! Not only can you save all your customized homepages, but you can submit them into the User Submitted Skins category for other users to set as their homepage!
-Another new feature has been released! To get straight to the point, you can now add YouTube Videos, Flash Toys and other flash widgets to your Startskins page! There has been a 'Flash' tab added to the skin builder where you can plug-in your flash embed code of your video, flash toy or widget. Don't know where the flash embed code is located? Click here to check out our blog for an example of how to add a Youtube video to your homepage!
*Looking for some cool flash toys? Check out FreeCodeSource.com!
-You now have the option to rate the skins! Simply go to a skin you would like to preview and you will see a five star rating option in the top right corner. Rate the skins between 1-5 stars! All user submitted skins will show the ratings, so check back to see where your submitted skin is ranked!
-Having fun customizing your own skins? Trying to share your creations? Submit your own customized skins to the gallery now! User Submitted category features all the approved skins that were publicly submitted! Think you have what it takes to have your skin displayed on the front page? *Submit yours today!
*Don't know how to submit your skins? Login to your account and click 'My Skins'. Hover over the skin you want to submit and click on the Configure skin button. From there, you can 'publish' your skin to the gallery and await approval.
-Join our Facebook an Page or Add our Twitter for updates on our upcoming features!
-What's new on StartSkins? Tons of new skins featuring all sorts of creative abstract art, sexy models, celebrities and cars! Update and customize your skin today! Remember you can customize and save as many skins as you want with our all new user account system!
-Huge updates for Startskins.com users! We've just released the ability to save your skins in your own skin gallery! Don't have a user account? Sign up today to see these cool new features!
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-Have you been keeping up with the StartSkins updates? Follow us on Twitter or check out our blog to get the inside scoop of what's in store for StartSkins.com!
-StartSkins.com is the only place to customize your homepage! With a wide variety of skin backgrounds, you can choose from over a thousand homepage skins! New skins added daily! Start browsing and get your free homepage skin today!


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Conference Primers: #18 – SummitPosted by rtmsf on October 30th, 2007
Predicted Order of Finish:
- Oakland (21-8) (15-3)
- Oral Roberts (16-11) (12-6)
- North Dakota St. (16-12) (12-6)
- Missouri-Kansas City (14-17) (9-9)
- Southern Utah (13-16) (9-9)
- Centenary (12-17) (8-10)
- Western Illinois (8-21) (4-14)
- South Dakota St. (5-24) (3-15)
WYN2K. Someone in PR at the Mid-Continent Conference decided that the league needed to be rebranded to effectively portray the goals and ideals of its member institutions. Hence, the Summit, which immediately reminds us of the orange and white
monstrosity court at the University of Tennessee, but which league commish Tom Douple stated, represents "the top in athletics and academics." Good luck with that, Tom. In the spirit of change, the league's most well-known school (at least for hoops), Valparaiso, left for the Horizon League, while it added three new members – Indiana/Purdue-Fort Wayne (IPFW – shouldn't it be IUPUFW?), North Dakota St., and South Dakota St. Of the three, only IPFW will be eligible for the league championship this season, as the Dakota schools will have to wait until 2008-09.
Predicted Champion. Oakland (#14 seed NCAA). We see four teams with championship credentials in this league, but Oakland stands out to us as the team most ready to take over the top spot from Oral Roberts. The small school from suburban Detroit (not California) returns three starters from a squad that finished second in both the regular season and tournament, and played ORU very tough in its last two meetings (Oakland won by 1 pt at home, but lost in the MCC championship game by 4 pts). Despite losing all-MCC player Vova Severovas, the Golden Grizzlies will have a superb backcourt led by Eric Kangas, an exceptional shooter who made 109 threes while shooting 43% from deep last year. Oakland is also expecting a big contribution from Rutgers transfer Dan Waterstradt, a 6'10 forward who possesses size and ability that most big men at this level do not have. We also like Oakland in close games – last year it's ft% (76.9%) was third in the nation.
Others Considered. We're not sure who will be the second-best team in the Summit, so we copped out and predicted a three-way tie among the next tier of teams – Oral Roberts, North Dakota St., and IUPUI. IUPUI is the media/coaches pick to win the league, with three of its top four scorers returning as well as guard George Hill, the presumptive best player in the league who had a broken foot that kept him out of action last season. Our main concern with IUPUI is whether Hill will be able to seamlessly transition into the backcourt after a productive first season from guards Austin Montgomery and Gary Patterson, the top two vote-getters for newcomer of the year. If things are rosy, IUPUI could make a run at the title. Another team we considered was North Dakota St., an independent last season who ran off twenty wins (20-8) including a win at Marquette (64-60) and near-misses vs. Texas Tech (81-85) and Kansas St. (81-83). NDSU isn't eligible for the league title, but it returns four starters and seven of its top eight scorers. Wouldn't it be interesting if they ended up with the league's regular season crown? We'd be remiss if we didn't also consider two-time defending league champion Oral Roberts as well. Scott Sutton returns a lot of players, but we can't overlook the two he lost – Caleb Green and Ken Tutt, who combined for six all-conference selections, three POY awards (all Green), and scored over 4500 pts (!!!) for the program. If ORU's depth, and there is plenty of that, can overcome the loss of those two stalwarts, we might just see the Golden Eagles in March again this year.
Games to Watch. The Summit will play a true round-robin of 18 games each, so there will be ample opportunity for each team to distinguish itself against the other good teams.
- IUPUI @ Oral Roberts (01.17.08) & Oral Roberts @ IUPUI (02.16.08)
- Oakland @ IUPUI (01.24.08) & IUPUI @ Oakland (02.21.08)
- Oral Roberts @ Oakland (01.12.08) & Oakland @ Oral Roberts (02.07.08)
- The Summit Championship Game (03.11.08) ESPN
RPI Booster Games. The Summit loves its Big 12 and Big 10 teams. Last year the league went 2-22 (.083) against BCS teams, with Oral Roberts pulling one of the biggest early-season shockers of last year (ORU 78, #3 Kansas 71) as well as defeating Seton Hall 76-74. There are some good opportunities this year, and several of them will be televised:
- North Dakota St. @ Florida (11.09.07)
- IUPUI @ Marquette (11.10.07) ESPN FC
- UMKC @ Kansas (11.11.07) ESPN FC
- Oral Roberts @ Texas A&M (11.13.07) ESPNU
- Oakland @ Michigan St. (11.24.07)
- Texas Tech @ Centenary (12.01.07) ESPN FC
- North Dakota St. @ Minnesota (12.03.07)
- Wichita St. @ UMKC (12.15.07)
- Oral Roberts @ Oklahoma St. (12.20.07) ESPN2
- Oregon @ Oakland (12.22.07) ESPNU
Odds of Multiple NCAA Bids. Still none, although we wish they'd let NDSU into the Summit League Tournament just to see what might happen if they won.
Neat-o Stat. By most objective measures, Western Illinois was one of the worst teams in America last year. Its record was 7-23 and its offensive and defensive efficiencies were among the bottom fifty. However, it was also one of the unluckiest teams in America, losing two more games than would be expected by its overall statistical profile and losing eight games by four points or less, the most such instances in the nation.
64/65-Team Era. The history of the league shows that the MCC has had a tendency for one team to dominate for a while before ceding its power to another. From 1987-1990, Southwest Missouri St. won four consecutive NCAA bids. After a few years of several teams winning the league, Valparaiso started its run of seven NCAA bids in nine years in 1996. The last two years Oral Roberts has been winning the bids, with a great shot at a third straight this season. Over the 23-year era, the league has a solid low-major record of 8-23 (.258) in the NCAA Tournament, including two trips to the Sweet 16 (1986 – #14 Cleveland St.; 1998 – #13 Valparaiso). Unfortunately, in the nine years since that Bryce Drew-led run by Valpo, the league has lost its first round game (avg: #15.0 seed) by an average of 21.7 pts (excluding the 2005 PiG, where Oakland, with a 13-19 overall record, defeated Alabama A&M 79-69). Speaking of young Mr. Drew…
Note: video cannot be embedded, so double-click on the YouTube logo above to get it to play.
Final Thought. Notwithstanding the name change, the Summit appears to be a league in transition. Oral Roberts has already shown a commitment toward building a serious program by keeping Scott Sutton on board with a seven-year contract extension. Oakland and IUPUI have also shown signs of long-term progress, and a newcomer like North Dakota St. is well positioned to be competitive in the league immediately. Last year the league earned its highest computer rankings (mid-teens) of the last decade and even with the loss of Valpo, the conference should have enough talent in its top half to keep it among the best of the low majors.


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Established by a Dubai Government decree in 2006, the Emirates Institute for Advanced Science and Technology (EIAST) is a strategic initiative launched to promote scientific innovation and advanced technology in the UAE and the region.
EIAST's primary roles are to promote the culture of advanced scientific research and technology innovation in Dubai and the UAE, create an internationally competitive base for human skills development, position Dubai and the UAE as a science and technology development hub among advanced nations, and establish international collaborative links and joint projects with industry and research organizations.
EIAST focuses on four main scientific programs: Space programs, Astronomy programs, Energy programs, and Environment and water research programs.
EIAST is currently researching in four main areas - observation and fog forecast; use of satellite pictures in predicting sand storms; quality of water in the Gulf region - especially the effect of waste distillation in environment and marine life surrounding the oceans existing in the UAE; and study on ways to improve the clarity of satellite pictures.Less...
Contact Information:
PO Box 211833
Dubai, United Arab Emirates


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The big stories this week include still more fallout from the Oracle-Google lawsuit, 10 differences between Linux and BSD, the joys of determining Linux market share, Microsoft says they love Open Source..again, and last but not least Paul Allen decides to sue just about everybody for patent infringement. Enjoy!
10 differences between Linux and BSD: How often do you hear people lumping together Linux and any of the BSDs? I've done it on occasion, and I hear it all the time. Of course, there are plenty of similarities between Linux and BSD: They are both based on UNIX. For the most part, both systems are developed by noncommercial organizations. And I must say that both the Linux and BSD variants have one common goal–to create the most useful, reliable operating system available. Still, there are significant differences as well. And when people overlook them, the whole BSD community shivers with anger. So I thought I would do my best to help my BSD brethren out and explain some of the ways Linux differs from BSD.
Oracle forms new 'axis of evil' against open source, claims Adobe: Oracle has replaced Microsoft as the FOSS community's number one enemy, according to Adobe System's open source boss. David McAllister, the Flash and Photoshop maker's open source and standards director, said in a blog post yesterday that the implosion of the OpenSolaris Governing Board highlighted how "the axis of evil has shifted south about 850 miles or so".
Linux Market Share: In the course of a normal work day I take several little breaks to check the news. On my list of news sites are Slashdot, Linux Journal, and Linux Today. Frequently I see something that gives me an idea for an article. Sometimes I even find an article on a topic that I was planning to write about myself. Such was the case today when I came across this well-written piece from the Royal Pingdom Blog referenced on Linux Today. It's about the failure of desktop Linux to break the 1% market share barrier, and I confess that it left me a little depressed. But I decided to add my two cents on the subject anyhow.
Microsoft: 'We love open source': Everyone in the Linux world remembers Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's famous comment that Linux is a "cancer" that threatened Microsoft's intellectual property. Ballmer is still CEO of Microsoft, but that comment occurred in 2001, a lifetime ago in the technology market. While Microsoft hasn't formally rescinded its declaration that Linux violates its patents, at least one Microsoft executive admits that the company's earlier battle stance was a mistake. Microsoft wants the world to understand, whatever its issues with Linux, it no longer has any gripe toward open source.
Apple's Enhanced OpenGL Stack Versus Linux: While our primary focus at Phoronix is on providing Linux benchmarks, we do enjoy trying out and benchmarking other operating systems like FreeBSD, Solaris, and Mac OS X. When Apple originally launched Mac OS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard" we were the first to provide detailed Mac OS X 10.6 benchmarks compared to Mac OS X 10.5 and also how Apple's new operating system at the time compared to Linux. We have continued to monitor the performance of Snow Leopard and found that some point releases had introduced some regressions and we have compared the performance of Mac OS X 10.6 to Windows 7 and Ubuntu 10.04 LTS.
Microsoft Open Source Strategy is Upside Down.: Last April (April-29-2010) there was a local event in Ecuador organized by AESoft, the Ecuadorian Software association. This event was names "Integrated Technologies" and was sponsored by Microsoft, CodePlex, Port25 and The Apache Foundation. On this conference Microsoft sent a message saying that they are Open Source friendly and they support Open Source development. I saw this even as a Microsoft response of the growing "Free Software" (as in Freedom) movement here in Ecuador. So Microsoft tried to convince the audience that they care about Open Source and there are a lot of OSS software they promote.
Pearson Education – You will NOT use Linux for Online Education: I'm starting to get the feeling that education companies dislike FOSS operating systems. Pearson's Online education system, which is java and flash based, refuses to let you login unless you are using Internet Explorer AND Windows.
Making Ubuntu look like Windows 7: Although it won't help Linux run Windows-specific software applications, this easy hack produces an Ubuntu desktop that looks and feels a lot like Windows 7. It's particularly suitable for reviving older PCs or laptops on which the main activities will be web-browsing, email, document writing, and streaming music and videos from the web.
Ubuntu One taking care of Windows users … not so much users of other Linux distributions: A look at the roadmap for Ubuntu One reveals the following feature planned for Maverick — Windows file sync: Addresses the needs of the many Ubuntu users who operate in a mixed platform environment of Ubuntu + Windows … Will support syncing files between Windows desktops and your Ubuntu One personal cloud … I wonder, what about a free, open-source Ubuntu One client that could be used in any Linux distribution?
GCC – 'We make free software affordable': GCC and GNU Emacs are the two facets of the GNU operating system that have probably done more than any other to take GNU and free software from idealistic concept to a utilitarian reality. Having previously looked at GNU Emacs and the Hurd, Richard Hillesley looks at the history and progress of GCC.
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen sues Google, Apple, Facebook, eight others over patents: Billionaire Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft, has sued 11 major Web-based companies, including Apple, Google, Facebook, Yahoo, YouTube and eBay, alleging they infringed internet patents he owns.


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When he travels the world, Jerry Lee Bogard sees how other nations grew rice. "It's vastly different than how we (do it in the United States) and that wasn't a factor until recently," said Bogard, who farms in Arkansas' Grand Prairie and runs Midland Rice, a rice exporting company.
However, data from last year show some 11 percent to 12 percent of U.S. rice consumption is of imports. What most consumers don't know is that such rice — "typically long-grain aromatics, Basmati or jasmine" — is often grown in systems tolerant of things unacceptable inside U.S. borders.
"They can use DDT and heavy metal fungicides as regular practices," said Bogard, who spoke at the Arkansas Rice Growers Association meeting in Brinkley, Ark. "There's very little inspection or any process where a production model is held accountable. (American farmers, conversely) are held accountable.
"These products come into our country essentially duty-free, tariff-free, VAT-free. And they come in without any sort of credible report function — they go straight to supermarket shelves. And, in most cases, they command about a 30 percent price increase since they're specialty rice."
Bogard insists he's not against free trade. "We've got rice being off-loaded in Ghana today. We've also got rice in Nigeria… being sold on the streets of Lagos."
While for free trade, Bogard is against Congress allowing potentially tainted rice to be imported. Especially grating, he said, is rice farmers overseas using products banned in the United States for the last two or three decades.
"This rice is coming into our markets and being sold to our consumers. That shouldn't happen."
Bogard called on the Arkansas Rice Growers Association to push Congress to address the situation. Those importing into U.S. markets should "be able to prove a production standard equal to (that of U.S. farmers). You can't come in here and feed our folks the highest pesticide residue food content in the world."
Bogard points to terrorism as another reason to look at imported rice.
"Forget about anthrax. If you wanted to melt this system down, all you have to do is lace these imports with high-density rat poison. Kill a few folks in a high-end restaurant in New York and the food system here would be in a panic… It makes absolutely no sense not to do this. If they want to (import rice), they should adhere to our standards."
Breeding specialties
With 11 to 12 percent of U.S. rice sales going to specialty rice, Bogard said its time to breed such varieties so they can be grown here.
"It isn't the breeders' fault that we don't have these varieties. Up until a few years ago, these rice varieties were photosensitive. Now, though, there are jasmine varieties that aren't photosensitive. If we were allowed to have a licensing agreement with countries that have produced those varieties, we could produce the same rice here to sell to our consumers."
This is another aspect of the current system Bogard wants changed.
"Most of the rice varieties that come out of Thailand, or even India, were developed (with the help of U.S. tax) dollars. Yet, we're not allowed to license those varieties to be grown here. Our government needs to file a lawsuit on our behalf so we can grow those varieties on our farms."
Upcoming debate
Bogard also warned of the coming debate in Congress on the proper level of agriculture appropriations.
"As farmers, we cannot afford to keep saying, 'We deserve (this funding) because we're the nation's food security and that's important.' Well, it is important — no democracy can survive long with it."
However, there are "much broader" issues where foreign policy is concerned.
"We're all sympathetic to the tsunami victims just like we're sympathetic to the people in Iraq."
But Bogard isn't sympathetic towards the UN-based World Food Program (WFP). "We've given billions of dollars and no one in our government bothered to tell the WFP they needed to buy the food from us. They're buying the food from our competitors — that makes them stronger and us weaker. WFP buys from us as a last resort.
"There should be a mandate that said any U.S. food aid money — whether for tsunami victims, Iraq, whatever — should (purchase food from the United States). There should be a legal caveat that said, 'You buy from us first, not last.'"
Without making such demands and getting results from Congress, said Bogard, "all the other issues we're debating… won't matter because we won't be in business. We have nonsensical trade agreements and a foreign policy in direct conflict with our business every day."
Following Bogard's presentation, the following resolution was adopted by ARGA:
"Currently the only testing done to food crops coming into the U.S. is performed at origin. The phytosanitary certificate is a document issued by the plant quarantine office in a county of origin declaring that the grain is free from pests and disease.
"The ARGA urges that additional testing for pesticide and fungicide residue be mandated. Regulations should be put into place that require, for instance, the producer of imported rice comply with the same regulations (of) the U.S. manufacturer.
"Consumers increasingly demand high quality food which is grown and manufactured under strict observance of all international regulations. Imports into the U.S. should not be exempt from these requirements."
e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com


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From July 10-23, and monthly through the rest of the year, the Temporary Exhibit Gallery on the fourth floor of the U-M Museum of Natural History will be transformed into The Exhibit Workshop. In this space, the Museum will be testing out ideas for exhibits for the new Museum of Natural History in the Biological Science Building, now under construction north of the Museum's current home in the Ruthven Museums Building.
Visitors are invited to see the plans and contribute their comments in this informal, interactive, pop-up style workshop setting. Each workshop will have a different exhibit topic, to be determined and posted on the Museum's website (ummnh.org) shortly before the scheduled workshop dates. Previous topics include The Tree of Life (May) and Geologic Time (June).
This month we'll be mocking up a giant, walk-through cell. Visitors can explore the cell membrane, see the different parts of the cell, and learn about their function through various proposed activities.
Future workshops are scheduled for:
August 14-18
September 18-22
October 9-13
November 13-17
December 11-15
Questions? Please contact Gene Dillenburg at email@example.com.
For more information about the new Museum project, visit


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GEAUGA COUNTY, OH (WOIO) - The trial for admitted Chardon school shooter has been moved to January.
TJ Lane's trial was set to being on November 26, but the courts tell 19 Action News it is now slated for January 14, 2013. The official reason for the delay has yet to be released.
Lane has admitted to the February 27 shooting at Chardon High School, but offered no motive. 17-year-old Russell King, Jr., 16-year-old Daniel Parmertor and 16-year-old Demetrius Hewlin were killed. 17-year-old Nick Walczak remains paralyzed from the waist down. 18-year-old Joy Rickers and a 6th, unidentified victim were treated and released from the hospital.
Lane's attorney has entered a not guilty by reason of insanity plea on his behalf.
Copyright 2012 WOIO. All rights reserved.


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National Safe Digging Month � recognized by the Senate and Florida�s governor � reminds diggers to call Sunshine 811 before starting outdoor digging projects.
National Safe Digging Month � recognized by the Senate and Florida�s governor � reminds diggers to call Sunshine 811 before starting outdoor digging projects.
Before installing a mailbox, fence, deck, garden or tree, call 811 to have underground lines marked.
The free service notifies utility companies of your plans. They send professional locators to identify and mark the appropriate location of underground line with paint and flags in colors that identify the utility type.
Visit www.call811.com/faqs/default.aspx to see which colors correspond with each utility.
Diggers who hit underground utility lines while digging can cause injuries, utility service outages to entire neighborhoods, and damage to the environment.
Calling 811 in Florida is the law. At least two full business days before digging, do-it-yourselfers and professional excavators must contact 811 to start the process of marking underground utility lines.
Be sure that all utilities have been marked before grabbing the shovel.
Follow up on your one call ticket by contacting 811 again on the third day.
See www.Sunshine811.com for more information on Florida�s utility protection law.
�Volunteer income tax assistance: VITA sites are open in Crestview at the JobsPlus center 1-5 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesdays. Call 689-7823, ext. 219 for an appointment.
�Master Gardener Native Plant Sale:8 a.m. to 1 p.m. April 13, Northwest Florida Fairgrounds, 1958 Lewis Turner Blvd., Fort Walton Beach.
�Teach Children to Save: April 22 to July 31. Youths who set a savings goal are eligible for a savings bond drawing. Complete an entry form and make deposits. Contact your bank orcredit union to participate. Details: 689-5850 or www.economiclivingexpo.com.
�Bearden guest on "Okaloosa Today": Agriculture Agent Jennifer Bearden is the April guest on "Okaloosa Today," which airs 8 a.m. Sundays, 9 a.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, and 6 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays on Cox channel 6. She talks about local farming and how Okaloosa County, University of Florida Extension can assist residents with their gardening and farming, as well as how to access local produce.
�4-H Camp: June 10-14, for ages 8-12. Cost: $220 per person. Contact Haley Worley, 689-5850 or email@example.com. Registration packets are available at 3098 Airport Road, Crestview.
Sheila Dunning is a Commercial Horticulture Extension agent at the Okaloosa County Extension office in Crestview.