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Amber Riley: 'Cotton Club Parade' Star!
Posted in Amber Riley: 'Cotton Club Parade' Star!
About Photo #511028: Amber Riley greets her Glee co-star Chris Colfer backstage at the NY City Center on Friday night (November 17) in New York City. The 26-year-old entertainer paid… Read The Post Here
Posted to Amber Riley, Chris Colfer


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subset: commoncrawl


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Analysis: Rangers add slugger, Tigers get flexibility
- The Tigers traded Fielder to the Rangers for Kinsler
- Fielder has averaged 36 home runs and 111 RBI over the last seven seasons
- The Tigers will pay the Rangers %2430 million to ship Fielder to Texas
The Texas Rangers were one of Prince Fielder's most ardent suitors when he hit the free agent market two years ago. Now, in a roundabout way, they've landed the rotund slugger.
In a stunning deal more than two weeks before the winter meetings, the Detroit Tigers agreed to send Fielder and cash to the Rangers for second baseman Ian Kinsler.
BLOCKBUSTER:Tigers trade away Fielder
There had been no previous rumblings about the trade, but it makes sense for both clubs on several fronts.
The Rangers, who came within an out of winning their first World Series in 2011, failed to make the playoffs last season for the first time in four years as they dropped from first in the American League in runs scored to seventh.
Fielder, a 5-11, 275-pound first baseman, has averaged 36 home runs and 111 RBI over the last seven seasons. The five-time All-Star won't turn 30 until May and has a career on-base plus slugging of .911, although it dropped to .819 last season.
He floundered in two postseasons in Detroit, producing just two extra-base hits in five series as the Tigers won one pennant and came within two wins of another.
Now, according to a club official with direct knowledge of the deal, the Tigers will pay the Rangers $30 million to ship Fielder to Texas.
The Rangers believe there's significant upside to the deal.
"If he was coming off the best year of his career, he's not available," general manager Jon Daniels said on a Thursday night conference call. "I think that's kind of the whole idea of this deal — if anybody feels like that's a sign of things to come, that he's slipping, you may not like the deal. We don't feel that way. We don't feel that way at all.
"There's a lot more to come from him."
That's only part of the upside for the Rangers, whose incumbent first baseman, Mitch Moreland, has never driven in more than 60 runs.
The trade also opens second base for prized infield prospect Jurickson Profar, who was stuck behind Kinsler and shortstop Elvis Andrus last season, getting relegated to a utility role.
The Tigers lose power but gain financial flexibility and offensive versatility with the addition of Kinsler, a three-time All-Star who has reached double figures in home runs and steals in seven of his eight seasons in the majors.
They could use it, on the field and the balance sheet.
By moving Fielder's nine-year, $214 million contract – which has $168 million left to pay – the Tigers may have created enough payroll room to keep newly minted AL Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer.
"It makes it perhaps more possible," Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski said of re-signing Scherzer. "We had a lot of stars and they're well-paid stars. You can only have so many of those kind of players. It (Fielder's departure) does give us more flexibility. Max is a player we'd like to keep in our organization. ... We tried to create financial flexibility and keep our club ... very competitive."
With Fielder moving on, two-time MVP Miguel Cabrera will almost certainly return to first base, where he's better suited. Cabrera voluntarily switched to third when the Tigers signed Fielder before the 2012 season, but he lacks the mobility required for the hot corner. He's also less likely to get hurt playing first.
Oh, and Cabrera's contract - a very reasonable eight-year, $152.3 million deal - expires after 2015. Moving Fielder greatly enhances the chance Cabrera becomes a Tiger for life.
As for the 2014 club that will bid for a fourth consecutive AL Central title? The free agent departure of Omar Infante left a hole at second base. Kinsler, 31, has twice hit 30-plus homers in a season and provides a more potent bat than Infante while adding a speed dimension the plodding Tigers lacked. Detroit had the fewest stolen bases and the fewest attempts in the majors last season.
The Tigers seem to have an heir apparent at third in prospect Nick Castellanos, who hit .276 with 18 homers and 76 RBI at Class AAA Toledo last season and earned a September callup. Castellanos is still only 21, though, so he might require more seasoning.
The staff co-ace will be entering his final season before free agency in 2014. After accepting pitching's most coveted prize last week, Scherzer made it clear he would like to return to Detroit, but not at a discount.
The Tigers already have two players with contracts valued at more than $150 million in Cabrera and Justin Verlander, who have combined to win the last three AL MVPs.
Cabrera will no longer be able to count on Fielder's presence as lineup protection in what had been baseball's most fearsome 1-2 combo, but the Tigers should still have enough pop and plenty of pitching to contend.
Contributing: Bob Nightengale


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The KTA Hong Kong has seen a good entry again with 38 riders registering from 14 different country's which included this time Egypt, the UK, Spain and Germany.
On the cards for the event are both national and international level competitions, with the final leg of the KTA Greater China freestyle and course racing championships alongside the continuing KTA tour disciplines.
The first day was unfortunately not destined to be blessed with wind, even with the full back-up of a traditional Chinese opening ceremony for good luck conducted by the events headline local sponsors, the KHKA. Still the blessings and offerings turn out not to be in vein as day two was to see an early start to meet the slightly chilly 25kt North winds that dropped into the bay from the Lantau mountains. Earlier forecasts for the week have been giving the event cross-shore Easterly winds at around the 20kt area, but with arrival of typhoon Nida out between the Philippines and Japan the outlook of stable conditions might well now be a bit hopeful.
So for the competition beach at Cheung Sha a North wind means off-shore and a tough day for riders and organisers alike. Still following a test start on the men's freestyle it was soon obvious that the lack of wind on the inside near to the beach was going to make it a major mission for the riders, so the decision was taken to run the course racing instead as the wind was clean and stable on the outside.
So with the course set out to sea the men's fleet of 24 riders gathered for the first start. Unfortunately as the first riders cleared the start line it was clear that there had been a mass false start and was recalled. The second start though was a good one with the main pack of the races taking off on a right side tack, with only a few heading out on the left side. Port tack was the call though as Hong Kong local, Cabrinha's Mike Raper came through the first mark ahead of the fleet. Though at this point Mike caught a lull and Taner Kurt from Turkey blasted through towards the downwind mark, followed closely by the first round course race winner Yo from Thailand and the Philippines Douqe De la Santos.
Still Mike was not finished yet and once again showed the advantage of being on home turf as he again took a wide left hand run to slingshot back into the downwind mark taking the lead back for the crosswind leg. This he then held through to the finish line with Taner holding the second spot over Yo.
In the Greater China national event, again a closely fought race top honours being taken by Hoi Tin, Dennis Wong and Matthew Sprogg (Sprocket)
For the women's course race all riders a clean start on the first green flag with the lead changing several times as they tacked to the upwind mark between Calra Delmoral from Spain, local rider Hill Siu, Japan's Reiko Kimura and Kathrin Borgwardt from Germany. In the end it was to be Hill that took the mark first followed by Katherin, the fight was then on between the pair of them to the downwind mark with Carla and Rieko batting the next two spots. Hill again made the mark first and in the crosswind section pulled away from Kathrin to secure her first place position. Kathrin then crossed the line in second with Reiko taking a clean third place. The main battle was now between Carla and Aiyah who taken the downwind mark in front of Carla, but on the reach Carla hit the gas on her Ozone and pulled away from the half way stage to secure the 4th position.
Unfortunately that was to be the last race of the day as the early afternoon wind began to die, leaving many riders with a long hard upwind battle back to the beach. But all left the beach happy for following a final protest meeting for the judge, which was upheld in favour of Dennis Wong, giving him first place in the Greater China national event.
First Race Results
International Men
1. Mike Raper (NZ) (Cabrinha)
2. Taner Kurt (Turkey)
3. Yo (Thailand) (Ozone)
International Women
1. Hill Siu (HK) (Naish)
2. Kathrin Borgwardt (Germany) (F1)
3. Reiko kimura (Japan) (JN)


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I am currently working on a database-like software that is meant to process very large amounts of data. Most of this data is kept in a number of files on the disk. One thing to note is that these files exist only temporarily, i.e. they are created when the program is executed, and deleted when the Java VM shuts down. Another thing to note is that they get extremely big, in the range of 2-20 GB for practical applications of the software.
My supervisor told me to use a MappedByteBuffer to map parts of this file to the memory, and said that it was a lot more efficient than simply using a FileChannel. So I read the Java API for MappedByteBuffer and did some experiments to figure out how it works.
Since the files are way too big to ever fit into the memory, my basic idea was to map a specific part of each file to the memory, which ranges from a point A to a point B. Every time the file is accessed by a read or write operation, I check whether or not this operation is inside that window. If it isn't, I map a different part of the file to the buffer so that the starting point of the requested operation is now in the middle between A and B.
I ran some tests with this and got mixed results. Some test cases run nearly twice as fast compared to when I simply use a FileChannel. In others, it's extremely slow or simply crashes with an I/O exception.
Before I get into specific details, I'd like to ask if there are any tutorials or similar things that deal with the scenario. I have serached for things like this for quite a while now, but all I found were tutorials and examples that use a pre-existing file, which is mapped to the memory in its entirety. I also don't know anybody who has experience in using a MappedByteBuffer that I could talk to.
Since I wasn't able to find any examples about what I'm trying to do, I'm also wondering whether or not using a MappedByteBuffer even makes sense in my case, or if I should just scratch the idea and simply use a FileChannel instead. However, the increase in performance I get in some test cases is very hard to ignore.
Any help would be very appreciated. If you want more information, I'll be happy to provide it.


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Corrigan keeps them laughing with tales of Mom
For her readers, Kelly Corrigan's appeal centers on how much they identify with her through her work. Around 150 fans got the chance to hear the popular author up close and personal Feb. 12 at a fundraiser for the Community Fund of Darien at the Country Club of Darien.
Corrigan proved more identifiable than ever. The author of "The Middle Place" and "Lift" had the crowd in both hysterics and silent appreciation with selections from her latest book, "Glitter and Glue," a memoir about her evolution of feelings about her mother from childhood through when she had a family of her own.
The title, she said, was based on a comment her mother made, wherein she described Corrigan's father as glitter, while she herself was the glue.
"Do you watch `Downton Abbey?' " Corrigan asked, referring to the popular TV series. "Start with Maggie Smith. Even my mom recognizes there are similarities."
"She is sure of herself," she said. "She can be acerbic. She knows her mind. She can be judgmental. She can be a teensy bit cold or aloof, and many, many, many of my friends were afraid of her."
More InformationFact box
Corrigan said her mother had what one friend described as a BRF, "a bitchy resting face ... You know what I'm talking about," she said, explaining how in its relaxed state her mother's face has a disturbing visage.
"I left my childhood feeling like I was my father's daughter and I really didn't have anything in common with her," Corrigan said, recounting the journey from growing up in Philadelphia, attending the University of Virginia in Richmond and taking to traveling with a friend.
"That was always the ultimate goal starting in seventh grade," she said of traveling. "That was going to give me the fodder for being a writer."
Ironically, she pointed out, all her books to date focus on family life.
"I think that's because it's really, truly interesting to me -- the people who are surviving and thriving inside a family," she said, calling those who are able to create a solid family the coolest people.
"I think her voice is really true and relatable to women," Cobie Graber of New Canaan, who came with her book club to hear the speaker, said.
"She's the type of author that grabs you from the first chapter," Shiva Sarram of New Canaan, another book club member, said. "She tugs at your heart."
Marla Chandler of Darien, who helped organize the event, added, "Today we're all lucky enough to get an up-close and intimate experience with an author I believe truly gets us. She understands the daughters we were and the mothers we have become."
Ironically, Corrigan found her traveling limited, and it wasn't long before she became a nanny to two children. "I found that my mom was on my mind in a way that she never was before," she recalled.
When Corrigan finally returned home, which is where the first half of her new book ends, "the usual cycle of irritation and disappointment" began anew. The second half of the book, however, focuses on the experience of her having her own daughters, and how this helped teach her acceptance and appreciation of her mom.
"I've been trying to change my mother since the day I came into being as a young adult," she said. "I actually understand for the very first time maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I don't know what's right for her."
In telling a story how her mother chewed on some question Corrigan brought to her for a remarkable period of time -- far more than anyone else would, Corrigan said, "I don't think anyone on Earth cares as much about me as she does."
"Nobody is carrying me and my stuff the way that she is," she said.
Corrigan read some passages from the new book that had the room in stitches, including a line she shared with her husband, Edward, about how she "was a show dog, but now -- two puppies later -- I'm an ungroomed bitch that barks at flies."
She was also pleased when a number of people in the room knew references she made to the films "Animal House" and "Spinal Tap."
"Rock on, Darien," she said. "We really would be friends. I could move here tomorrow and I would be so happy."
Despite the subtle lambasting her memoir gives her mother for her various personality quirks and qualities, Corrigan said, "She thinks this is the best book by far. She really does and she's so funny about it because she doesn't even see what's amusing about that."
Jarret Liotta is a freelance writer.


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Xalapa bench or footrest apple green
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3/16'' tubing to NPT 3/8 thread push in fittings | pneumatic fittings hexagon male straight
3/16'' tubing, NPT 3/8thread push in hexagon male straight fittings (3/16'' to NPT 3/8 thread push in fittings, push to connect fittings). The thread is coated with Teflon for sealing purpose.
The body can be nickel plated brass or natural brass. Proof pressure is up to 3.0Mpa(438psi). External tightening with a flat wrench or socket wrench, internal adjustment with an Allen wrench.
Blue, Black, Red, Grey and custom color collets are available. Oval and Round shape are available.


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From: Wednesday 4 March 2020
At: 10.00am - 3.30pm
Where: St Pauls Arts Centre, Chapel Road, Worthing BN11 1EE
Phone: 07792 198665
Residents of Worthing can benefit from visiting Transition Town Worthing's Energy Shop to access practical free services and impartial money saving advice, including a tariff comparison and switching service, and energy efficiency advice.
Advisors will also help people in vulnerable situations check eligibility for the Warm Home Discount and the Energy Company Obligation, and also the Priority Services Register for free services for customers with additional needs including extra help in the event of a power cut.
We aim to provide up-to-date and accurate information, but we will not accept liability for the accuracy or currency of the information provided by third parties. Listings of events on our website should not necessarily be taken as an endorsement of that event. See our disclaimer statement for further information.


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Click here to download a PDF of Chapter 10 Action Plan: 18 Recommendations for Advancing Sustainability in Reconstructed Buildings
Click here to download a PDF of High-Performance Reconstructed Buildings: The 99% Solution, the 9th in a Series of White Papers on the Green Building Movement
1. The Energy Information Administration should update and refine the CBECS data file.
CBECS—the Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey— is a national survey by the Energy Information Administration that collects data on the stock of U.S. commercial buildings, their energy-related building characteristics, and their energy consumption and expenditures. It is the basis on which Energy Star rates buildings, and it hasn't been updated since 2003. That data hole needs to be filled.
After a budget delay in 2011, CBECS will now be conducted beginning with data collection in April 2013, with the first data releases expected in spring 2014. That work needs to be completed as quickly as possible. Following data collection, the documentation and presentation of the data must be improved so that Building Teams can utilize the data in referencing their own work against CBECS metrics.
2. Energy Star should create a new program to encourage energy efficiency in tenant spaces and reconstructed buildings.
The activities of tenants—their use of lighting, heating and cooling, plug load for electronics, etc.—impact at least half of all energy use in a typical office building. Yet there are few incentives for tenants to be more conscientious in their use of energy.
Energy Star should investigate ways to recognize conscientious energy use by tenants1 (See Anthony E. Malkin (President of Malkin Holdings LLC), "Lessons Learned at the Empire State Building: From Innovation, to Implementation, to the Future," in "Lessons Learned: High Performance Buildings," available for purchase at: http://www.earthdayny.org/education/lessons-learned/465-lessons-learned-7.html). Since 2001, Energy Star has given "Industrial Awards" to manufacturers who excel in energy management. Why not extend this concept to building owners who improve their energy efficiency? Similarly, LEED should consider a system to reward building owners whose renovations result in significant energy reduction, even if they don't achieve LEED certification.
3. Congress needs to straighten out the mess with the PACE program for energy improvements.
PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) allows states to grant local governments—cities, counties, special districts—the authority to issue bonds to fund nonpublic energy improvements for homes and commercial buildings. Property owners repay the loans over time (as long as 20 years, in some states), and the obligation to repay the loan stays with the property upon sale. Twenty-seven states have adopted PACE2 (PACENOW is advocacy blog that covers PACE-related events: http://www.pacenow.org/blog/).
On 6 July 2010, the Federal Housing Finance Agency directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to stop underwriting mortgages for properties with PACE assessments. Since then, the validity of existing PACE programs throughout the country has been thrown into doubt, and the order has had a chilling effect on the creation of new PACE programs.
PACE has had a solid record of providing voluntary financing for energy improvements without a burden to taxpayers. Congress needs to step in and clean up the mess FHFA has created. Although as a matter of principle we do not comment on pending legislation, HR 2599 (http://www.opencongress.org/bill/hr2599-112/show) makes the case for the rescision of the FHFA order.
4. States and local jurisdictions should devise ways to provide incentives for improving energy efficiency in buildings, such as reducing vehicle miles traveled (VMT) through reconstruction and retrofitting of existing buildings in urban areas.
As a gross simplification, cities use more energy for buildings than their surrounding suburbs, while suburbs use more energy for transportation than for buildings, according to the Center for Neighborhood Technology. State and local land-use planning should be directed at providing incentives for energy savings to owners of existing buildings in cities to encourage walkable neighborhoods and the use of public transit, thereby reducing vehicle miles traveled.
Further, as "The Greenest Building" notes, policy makers should also consider "the significant role that older buildings play in creating more character-rich and human-scale communities."
Many states and cities lavish huge tax breaks on corporations to locate in their jurisdictions. A more economical and environmentally beneficial incentive would be to create financing mechanisms for existing businesses to stay in place and improve their energy efficiency. Landing a Fortune 500 corporation may grab headlines for a community in the short term, but achieving long-term energy and environmental improvements could prove to be more beneficial for that jurisdiction.
5. States and localities that do not have disclosure requirements on energy use in existing buildings should consider requiring such disclosure—and, where feasible, provide incentives for energy improvements.
More and more states and cities are requiring owners of commercial buildings to reveal the energy use of their properties at the time of a sale, lease, or financing. In New York City, the Greener, Greater Buildings Plan requires yearly Energy Star benchmarking and public disclosure for large commercial and multifamily buildings. California requires commercial buildings to disclose their Energy Star ratings to the California Energy Commission at the time of a sale, lease, or financing for the entire building. The state of Washington requires commercial buildings to disclose Energy Star ratings at the time of a sale, lease or financing. The city of Austin, Texas, requires similar disclosure for commercial buildings. (For a helpful listing of all such requirements, see: http://www.buildingrating.org/jurisdictions.)
These disclosure regulations give the buyer or lessee of commercial properties valuable information to weigh in the sale or lease transaction. But they also provide useful information to those seeking to expand the base of knowledge about existing buildings3 (As Rachel Scheu, LEED AP, of Chicago's Center for Neighborhood Technology, has noted, "Understanding how our building stock uses energy is critical, and local context is important. Building stock characteristics, utility regulatory structures, and energy costs and use vary widely by geography. National datasets (e.g., CBECS) are valuable but too small. Large datasets such as New York's provide tremendous benefits for policymakers and owners to set realistic and measurable energy-reduction goals and channel resources most cost-effectively").
6. States, counties, and cities should rev up efforts to adopt green building codes that encourage high-performance reconstruction, including water-conservation measures.
It is estimated that there are still 70 million 3.5 gallons/flush toilets in the U.S., not to mention inefficient urinals, showers, and sinks. Two years ago, the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials issued the IAPMO Green Plumbing and Mechanical Supplement (available for purchase at: http://iapmomembership.org/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&vmcchk=1&Itemid=3), which provides excellent guidance for jurisdictions to adopt water-conservation regulations.
The recently released International Green Construction Code (http://www.iccsafe.org/cs/IGCC/Pages/default.aspx) also offers a path for states and localities to implement energy- and water-saving measures. It is estimated that implementing either of these measures could reduce water use in buildings by 20% compared to current plumbing codes, saving millions of gallons of fresh water at one end and eliminating the need for treating the waste water at the other end4 (For more on water efficiency, see our 2009 White Paper, "Green Buildings + Water Performance," at: http://www.bdcnetwork.com/2009-white-paper-green-buildings-water-performance).
7. State historic preservation offices and building code officials need to be more flexible in their interpretation of codes and standards, to enable "outcome-based" energy efficiency and whole-building design in reconstruction projects.
SHPOs are notorious for going by the book, especially regarding historic authenticity and aesthetics, but if more historic buildings are to be preserved, economic, environmental, and technological considerations have to be factored into the equation. SHPOs will have to be more open to compromises that improve energy and water efficiency in historic properties, especially as new, more economical technologies come on line.
Similarly, means have to be found, perhaps through performance- or outcome-based codes, for code officials to have more flexibility in borderline situations, such as scope of work questions. For example, how much renovation work should trigger a code-required energy upgrade? Fifty-one percent of gsf? Seventy-five percent? Or should code officials have greater discretion to determine if the renovation provides sufficient energy upgrading that no further work is required? These are tough calls, but if we are to create a climate that leads toward "the 99% solution," these may be the kinds of judgments that code officials will have to make in the future.
At the same time, property owners and Building Teams will have to up the ante on their own skills in finding clever ways to introduce advanced technologies into historic projects without incurring the wrath of SHPOs or code enforcers.
8. Cities and counties should look to implement "aggregation initiatives," such as Seattle's 2030 District, for energy and water conservation in existing and renovated buildings.
The Seattle 2030 District (http://www.2030districts.org/seattle) is a public-private collaborative working to create a high-performance building district in downtown Seattle, based on the Architecture 2030 Challenge for Planning (http://architecture2030.org/2030_challenge/2030_challenge_planning). The partnership is on its way to enrolling 88 million sf of existing buildings to provide innovative strategies that will assist property owners, managers, and tenants in meeting aggressive energy, water, and carbon reduction goals related to reconstruction and ongoing building operations.
Taking environmental upgrades to the district-wide level, rather than focusing on new, existing, or reconstructed buildings one at a time, is the necessary next step in a more volumetric approach to "the 99% solution." Already, Cleveland has jumped on board and will be launching its own 2030 District this month (http://www.2030districts.org/cleveland). The city of Milwaukee's Milwaukee Energy Efficiency (http://www.smartenergypays.com/), or Me2, is using $60 million in ARRA funds to link up building owners with energy service contractors and private lenders. Upfront costs of improving energy efficiency will be paid back from savings in energy use.
Denver's Living City Block (http://livingcityblock.org/) is another district-wide effort to reduce energy use, in this case a block and a half of Denver's historic Lower Downtown district. The goal: cut energy use in "Lo Do" in half by 2013. The Living City Block has spread to the Gowanus neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y.
Other cities and counties should be investigating these neighborhood-based models for sustainable building renovation as well.
9. The Appraisal Institute should lead efforts to educate the building valuation community on green commercial buildings, especially for high-performance renovations.
In our 2011 White Paper, we called for the appraisal community to develop model real estate appraisal standards for net-zero and other low-energy buildings. So, too, should the Appraisal Institute set its sights on developing standards for green renovations.
To its credit, the Appraisal Institute has been presenting education programs on the value of green commercial buildings, and it has begun to consider improved valuations for green-certified single-family homes5 (Information on these education programs is available at:
http://www.appraisalinstitute.org/education/prof_dev_programs.aspx). But the AI and the appraisal community in general need to give greater attention to the valuation of nonresidential green buildings—in particular, high-performance reconstructed commercial buildings—in order to create incentives for building owners to engage in renovations.
10. Owners of small commercial buildings need to get on the renovation bandwagon.
More than 90% of commercial buildings in the U.S. are under 50,000 sf; 73% are under 10,000 sf. The owners of these buildings are notoriously risk averse, but they are the ones who hold the key to potentially large-scale energy and environmental improvements. BOMA (Building Owners and Managers Association International) is making some progress in this direction through its BOMA Energy Efficiency Program and BOMA 360 Performance Program, but more needs to be done.
It is important for owners of smaller buildings to realize that retrofits don't have to be completed or paid for all at once—that incremental improvements over time can be done in conjunction with major events, such as tenant turnover, code-required upgrades, market repositioning, or necessary improvements to the building envelope (roof or window replacement, overcladding, insulation upgrades, etc.)6 ("Financing Deep Energy Retrofits: Workshop Report," 17 May 2011, Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance and the Rocky Mountain Institute, at: Whitepaper_Financing_Energy_Retrofits_RMI_05-17-2011.pdf). Making small improvements over time will produce cumulatively greater energy and dollar savings than waiting to undertake the whole job much later.
Other organizations that can play a significant role in reconstructing nonresidential buildings include the Certified Commercial Investment Manager Institute, CoreNet Global, the Council of Education Facility Planners International, the Institute of Real Estate Management, the International Facility Management Association, NAIOP, the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors, and the Urban Land Institute.
11. Owners who engage in reconstruction projects should meter their buildings for both energy use and water use.
Reconstruction is a perfect time to meter an existing building. However, while forward-thinking owners may "get" the benefit of metering (and submetering) for energy use, many neglect to think about measuring water use.
Advice to owners and Building Teams from Rob Zimmerman, PE, of Kohler Co.: 1) If you are doing energy monitoring, pull the water use in via a smart meter so you know your water use in real time, and make the data available on a dashboard or via the Web—don't rely on utility bills; 2) submeter major water uses like landscape irrigation and cooling towers; 3) benchmark your building's water use against similar types of buildings; 4) replace old fixtures with high-efficiency toilets and urinals, and consider using piston-style flushometer valves for commercial toilets.
12. Community colleges and technical training institutions should create programs to educate and train skilled professionals for jobs in deep energy (and water) retrofits.
The nation's community colleges, along with private-sector training institutions like DeVry and ITT Educational Services, are uniquely positioned to train a generation of mid-level experts skilled in energy modeling, building commissioning, and energy- and water-conservation practices in existing buildings and retrofits. Such an effort could start with certificate programs and lead to two-year associate's degrees in energy, water, and building materials management for retrofits7 (One model AAS program for energy management and renewable energy is offered by Lane Community College, Eugene, Ore. http://www.lanecc.edu/science/energymgmt). Certification programs that go beyond LEED-EB:O+M accreditation could also be developed for architects, engineers, and construction professionals who want to strengthen their expertise in reconstruction work8 (The Northwest Energy Education Institute is one such exemplary program http://www.nweei.org/).
13. AEC firms should consider expanding their business models to add "service integration" to their portfolios.
Due to the disaggregation of building ownership in the U.S., with half of commercial floor space in buildings under 50,000 sf, there is a need—and a business opportunity—for "service integrators" to help owners overcome their reluctance to renovate their buildings. As the NEEA/RMI report, "Financing Deep Energy Retrofits," suggests, service integrators could provide "the full spectrum of support" to take the hassle out of doing deep retrofits. NEEA/RMI have proposed that service integrators could work through the U.S. Small Business Administration (504 Green Loan and 7a programs), utility companies, and community development banks. There is a huge need for such a "one-stop" service, but making it financially feasible, especially for owners of small properties, will not be easy, which is why some sort of sponsored experimentation is called for.
14. Building Teams must become more cognizant of the long-term economic and environmental impact of building products in renovation projects.
As the NTHP report, "The Greenest Building," notes, Building Teams should pay careful attention to the amount and performance of building materials used in renovation projects, or the environmental and financial benefits of reconstruction may be lost (as in the case of converting a warehouse to multifamily use).
Along similar lines, Building Teams involved in reconstruction must be clever enough to think ahead as to how future technologies might be applied to buildings currently undergoing renovation: for example, reconstructing a roof such that it could accommodate future photovoltaic arrays—cheaper, smaller, more powerful that today's—even if PVs don't make sense for the project right now.
15. Building product manufacturers need to redouble their efforts on durability and end-of-life reuse in their products.
If it is true that the greenest building is the one that lasts the longest, then it follows that the greenest building product is the one that lasts the life of building—and can then be recycled or reused in some beneficial way. This is especially important for systems like roofing, cladding, windows, and other key components of the building envelope, as well as for interior components—flooring, furnishings, wood, ceiling tiles. Even old toilets and urinals have been known to have a second life, crushed into granules and mixed into flooring materials.
Product durability in particular needs to be emphasized, to avoid the kind of disaster that took place with some first-generation low-VOC paints and finishes that washed right off the wall (a problem that the paint industry has since rectified).
16. Public- and private-sector stakeholders need to find ways to work together on the next stage of technology innovation for sustainable reconstruction.
Technological innovation in building products and systems will require the synergies that might best be created through the collaboration of private industry, universities, and federal labs. The EnOcean Alliance (http://www.enocean-alliance.org/home/), which develops and promotes self-powered wireless monitoring and control systems for sustainable buildings by formalizing the interoperable wireless standard, is one such industry-based consortium.
A more wide-ranging collaboration is the Greater Philadelphia Innovation Cluster (gpichub.org/), a regional innovation center at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. One of three such federally funded clusters, it is unique in its focus on full-spectrum retrofits (50% or more energy reduction) of average-sized commercial, institutional, and multifamily residential buildings. The consortium consists of Pennsylvania State University, Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp., Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania, Delaware Valley Industrial Resource Center, and Wharton Small Business Development Center, with additional membership from such high-tech companies as Bayer MaterialScience, IBM Research, Lutron Electronics, PPG Industries, and United Technologies.
Research-based universities and technology-enabled companies in other parts of the country need to establish similar innovation clusters to attack specific target technologies that would benefit the renovation and reconstruction of existing buildings.
17. LEED-EB:O+M should recognize buildings that make significant improvements in reducing energy use, outside of Energy Star qualification.
Under current LEED-EB:O+M requirements, owners of the worst energy guzzlers who make substantial investments to reduce energy use in their buildings but who don't reach Energy Star top 25% level get left out of LEED-EB. This creates an obvious disincentive for owners of energy-hog buildings to participate in LEED-EB. The USGBC should appoint a committee to investigate a new form of recognition for these properties, which in some cases could be realizing greater energy-conservation gains than many certified LEED-EB:O+M properties.
18. The U.S. Green Building Council should delete a proposed credit to LEED 2012 related to avoidance of chemicals of concern.
LEED 2012, which is expected to be released in November, includes a Materials & Resources credit for "avoidance of chemicals of concern." Among the substances to be avoided is PVC/vinyl.
This latest attempt to get PVC blackballed by LEED should sound familiar to those who have followed the controversy in our White Papers over the past decade. (Note: The Vinyl Institute and Sika Sarnafil, a maker of PVC-based roofing products, are sponsors of this White Paper, but the views expressed here are entirely those of the editors.) Ten years ago, the USGBC asked its five-member Technical and Scientific Advisory Committee, chaired by Scot Horst (now Senior Vice President of LEED at the USGBC), to investigate.
The TSAC spent four years reviewing hundreds of scientific documents and studies related to PVC. Based on the TSAC report, the LEED Steering Committee concluded "that the evidence available at present is not conclusive, but it is suggestive that a credit specifically targeting PVC is not warranted." In essence, the USGBC's own blue-ribbon committee concluded that there was insufficient scientific evidence to prevent vinyl from being used in LEED-rated buildings.
The new MR credit came about as the result of a "pilot credit" experiment in which, after two years, only two projects gained credit for avoiding "chemicals of concern." Two data points do not a scientific conclusion make. Moreover, the list of chemicals to be avoided is based primarily on data from a private ecolabel that does not have an open, ANSI-type process. The proposed credit also makes reference to California Proposition 65, which calls for labeling of certain chemicals used in all sorts of products but does not ban them.
The MR Credit for Avoidance of Chemicals of Concern is another example of the USGBC overstepping its bounds, as it has in creating a de facto wood standard in LEED. The LEED credit development process is not fully open and transparent, unlike that of ANSI and other recognized standards-setting organizations. The USGBC argues that the use of LEED is voluntary, yet its website keeps a tally of all the government entities (442 localities, 34 states, 14 federal agencies) that treat LEED like a de facto standard—without a fully open, ANSI-based standards development process.
The USGBC should not be in the business of creating so-called "red lists." USGBC staff and members are not professional chemists, biologists, epidemiologists, or toxicologists, and they are not qualified to determine the health risks, if any, of specific building products. That's the job of Congressionally authorized federal agencies with the appropriate expertise and capability. +


text:
Another useless author
She's already written two, or is it three?, best selling books. Now Entertainment Weekly is reporting that Tori Spelling will be releasing a children's book called Presenting...Tallulah "the tale of a spunky little girl who is constantly told what not to do: not to wear jeans, not to get dirty."
How about not to steal people's husbands and take them away from their newborn babies?
And how is it that she's a success in the publishing industry? The problem isn't that she wants it, because of course she wants it. The problem is that people are buying it. WHO?
They probably haven't read Katherine Graham's Personal History but Tori-hood, or whatever her book is called, is on their bookshelfves. Great.
Here she is on Rachel Ray yesterday with Kevin Federline Jr. These are the assholes who will be informing your parenting. I hate people.
Photos from Wenn.com


text:
Shamaila Dilnawaz
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PrettyElly video. More videos (3)Free chat with PrettyElly
Hi! I am a girl who likes to smile and have fun. I think that my eyes have the perfect shine and if you take a look into them you can see my soul . I am waiting for you to come closer to feel my positive energy and that will make your day better for sure.


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Please don't post about Charizard's gender being unknown. It's very annoying. Our policy is that the gender stays unknown until someone in the anime calls it a male or female.
- Archive 1 (discussions from January 14, 2007 – January 4, 2009)
I'm not sure if it should be editted in, but since Charizard DO only have one ability, shouldn't Charizard's ability be listed as Blaze? Me and my fellow torchics agree on this - Sk8torchic. 16:27, 28 February 2009 (UTC)
- Unlike May's Blaziken and Ash's Chimchar, it has yet to show its ability in the anime. Yes, in the games, it has only one ability.. But since it's the anime, we are clueless of what the writers could do. D: ►Ҝəυzø8 16:30, 28 February 2009 (UTC)
If Charizard comes back in the D&P League then maybe they could have ash mention it while he is there - unsigned comment from MR115 (talk • contribs)
Steel Wing
Text says it used it in the fight against Kevin, table says in battle against Brandon. What's right? --×Impoleon xy× 16:40, 21 May 2009 (UTC)
Why is this page protected? I was just going to add a bit of trivia about it. Ghostkaiba297 07:08, 24 May 2009 (UTC)
- Someone keeps adding images. Try checking the article's history next time. :D tc²₆tc26 07:09, 24 May 2009 (UTC)
- Can an admin add that until Charizard Chills, Charizard only seems to want to obey Ash while fighting another Fire Pokemon? (Blaine's Magmar, Mewtwo's cloned Charizard, and Richie's Charmander) Ghostkaiba297 07:18, 24 May 2009 (UTC)
Unlike the situation with Ash's squirtle and Surf (Ash's squirtle has never outright used or was issued to use the move Surf) Ash's Charizard actually learned to fly with ash on its back in Charizards Burning Ambition. Although it has never been used in battle Charizard did explicitly learn it so should it be counted as a move it knows? -- D558 01:50, 12 June 2009 (UTC)
- I agree. Also, unless I'm mistaken, Ash has commanded charizard to "Use Fly!" on multiple occosions, especially in Fighting Flyer with Fire. I think someone should add it. --GEN1KING 01:37, 29 January 2010 (UTC)
- Nope, this issue has already been resolved before. See here. --rockersk08 01:40, 29 January 2010 (UTC)
- Actually if you watch "Charizard Chills" Ash says "Charizard Fly" which can be taken as Charizard using the fly move to get up out of range of attacks but(if it was in the game) missing with the next attack. Though truth be told a lot of the moves in the anime are way different to the games as in the anime Pikachu's Agility and Quick Attack are pretty much the same as Pikachu has always hit the opponent when using Agility. So in truth we probably shouldn't list attacks at all since they could be inaccurate.--Lycos Ex Mortis 11:00, 8 March 2010 (UTC)
- Nope, this issue has already been resolved before. See here. --rockersk08 01:40, 29 January 2010 (UTC)
Mega Punch
I think it should be noted in the moves section that Ash commanded Charizard to use Mega Punch in Charizard Chills, which implies that he had learned it. --GEN1KING 05:07, 2 February 2010 (UTC)
Fire Spin?
Episode 32 of the season 1 The Ninja Poké-Showdown during the battle between Koga's Golbat and Ash's Charmander, was the first time Fire Spin was used by Ash's Charmander, not as Charizard in Fighting Flyer with Fire. - unsigned comment from Pookiemon (talk • contribs) --Pookiemon 21:51, 5 February 2010 (UTC)
Charizard Disobeying Ash
Can someone put a picture of Ash's CHarizard ingnoring his orders? I uploaded one but the admins removed it.
Pedraito 22:43, 8 March 2010 (UTC)
Uh, Oh...
Who changed the main picture of Ash's Charizard? I like it a lot better, but there was already a debate about this. I seriously hope this doesn't lead to another edit-war... --GEN1KING 04:11, 10 March 2010 (UTC)
Charizard's Gender
Given that DP149 confirmed without a doubt that Pokémon of the same gender cannot fall in love then doesn't this mean that, due to the romance with Charla, Charizard is definitely male? Watchermark 16:57, 11 April 2010 (UTC)
- In that case, we do have proof that Ash's Torterra is a male Pokémon but we can't put it until or unless it is clearly said or mentioned in the anime. ♫♪AdyNiz♪♫ 17:03, 11 April 2010 (UTC)
- Look at this big note on the top bar of this discussion page.
- Please don't post about Charizard's gender being unknown. It's very annoying. Our policy is that the gender stays unknown until someone in the anime calls it a male or female.
- So, discussion ends here. Thank you. ♫♪AdyNiz♪♫ 17:06, 11 April 2010 (UTC)
Charizard's voice in EP271
I posted this at Talk:EP271, but figured that it would probably get more notice/traffic here. I was watching the raw version of EP271 (Ash's battle vs Harrison), and I noticed that the voice Charizard uses when it is sent out at the end is considerably different from the one used in the English dub in the same shot. As far as I'm aware Charizard's voice has been the same between the two versions throughout the series, with this one shot being the sole exception. Is there any information out there on who substituted Charizard's voice for this one shot, and why that change was made? It's probably worth noting in both articles if the information is out there. Matkin22 03:57, 10 September 2010 (UTC)
So its not listed under moves anymore but there's a picture with a caption: "Using Fly". Should it stay there?--Burgundy 02:55, 6 February 2011 (UTC)
Can't Edit
Is there a reason Charizard's page is locked, I can't find the edit button, so that's what I'm assuming has happened. There's just a minor grammer problem I was going to fix, nothing major. - Ash1Ketchum4 18:11, 17 February 2011 (UTC)
- The page is not locked, and the Edit buttons are next to each section heading like they're supposed to be, along with the "edit this page" tab at the top of the page. —Minimiscience 18:31, 17 February 2011 (UTC)
- Actually the page is locked for unestablished users. Certain pages have been subject to edit wars by newly registered users so they're protected so only established users may edit. Just point out what you'd like fixed here and someone should take care of it. ★Jo the Marten★ ಠ_ಠ 18:35, 17 February 2011 (UTC)
No Problem, in the History section in the 6th paragraph one of the sentences says, "Liza occasionally visit the..." It should be "Liza occasionally visits the..." Again it's nothing major, just a grammatical error I noticed. Thanks. - Ash1Ketchum4 18:59, 17 February 2011 (UTC)
Removed trivia?
I just noticed that this (relatively) recent revision removed a bunch of trivia that seems to be correct. Is there a reason why this was removed? AySz88 02:06, 18 June 2011 (UTC)
- The reason the said trivia was removed was because we did a clean-out of all comparison trivia in articles expecially articles having to do with the anime. --Pokemaster97 02:25, 18 June 2011 (UTC)
On Damian's page the template of Charmander implies that it is male, despite on the main article, it says that Charizard's gender is unknown. Should I delete the male sign? --YoshisWorld 14:26, 14 July 2011 (UTC)YoshisWorld
Reopening the Fly discussion
Just a point of consistency on this website. Literally every single time a Pokemon is ordered to use its agility, this Wiki takes that to mean Agility, regardless of whether the Pokémon is able to use that move (Gary's Umbreon). However, in the battle between Charizard and Blastoise, Ash quite clearly ordered Charizard to "fly", which followed by Charizard flying into the air and then diving down to attack. Fly is obviously a hard one to place because of its status as a verb, but if we are classifying "agility" (which I maintain just means the same thing as "dodge it!") I believe that at least this instance should count for Fly. Toon Ganondorf (t c) 22:56, 8 October 2011 (UTC)
If Damian was Charmander's trainer, how does Ash was able to capture it? I mean, Damian was suppose to still have Charmander's pokéball, right? (and you can't capture a captured pokémon o.o --AfO 04:23, 22 October 2011 (UTC)
- IIRC, Damien released Charmander.--ForceFire 04:27, 22 October 2011 (UTC)
- I don't recall Damian officially releasing Charmander, but I think Pokemon can release themselves. Like they hint Snivy did, then the Frillish in BW037 releasing the contest Pokémon on her own. That being said, I think Charmander made it clear he didn't want to be Damian's Pokémon anymore, and released himself. ★Jo the Marten★ ಠ_ಠ♥ 04:31, 22 October 2011 (UTC)
I've mentioned on Talk:EP105 about the Rage/Dragon Rage discrepency. However, if I'm agreed with, can someone please help find the true debut of Dragon Rage? Toon Ganondorf (t c) 07:59, 6 November 2011 (UTC)
Should we lock this page because of the rumor of the Charizard that appears in the N arc being Ash's Charizard? Iml908 (talk) 20:26, 9 December 2012 (UTC)
- As of now, it's just a rumor, so I say no. But I think it'd be best to take it up with Kenji-girl. Ataro (talk) 20:32, 9 December 2012 (UTC)
Shouldn't we put at the top that it will be unlocked once the Kanto festival episode airs since it is now confirmed that it is indeed Ash's Charizard that returns that episode??RBK (talk) 18:19, 12 February 2013 (UTC)
I can see why was the page locked (too many edit wars in this page), but you should have at least written "Ash' Charizard is going to reappear in BW116" already. It is confirmed! - unsigned comment from BlueWartortle (talk • contribs)
Charizard finally used a Flying-type move. Is it trivia worthy?
In BW116, Charizard finally used a Flying-type move (Wing Attack) for the first time. Is it trivia worthy to mention that Charizard learned a Flying-type move almost 20 years and 727 episodes after his evolution back in Attack of the Prehistoric Pokémon? --PKMNAdventurer (talk) 17:16, 7 March 2013 (UTC)
Left the Valley?
Is it safe to say at some point in time, Charizard finished its training in Charizard Valley and then went to Prof. Oak? Or is "speculation not allowed on this wiki"? Mr.Char (talk) 22:43, 9 March 2013 (UTC)
No picture with Ash
How come there is no image "with Ash" here? like every other Ash's Pokémon's pages? --Pao27 (talk) 07:58, 13 March 2013 (UTC)
- I believe there was an image at one time for "with Ash", but it may have been removed. I think that this image has enough images that an image for "with Ash" really isn't necessary at this time. --Pokemaster97 20:15, 13 March 2013 (UTC)
Seismic Toss
So was the throwing move in today's episode, Seismic Toss??RBK (talk) 17:54, 28 March 2013 (UTC)
Charizard's Gender (male):
In Pokémon official's site, I found a summary where it calls Charizard as a 'he': ChecK: http://s1224.photobucket.com/user/XOzelinkOX/media/1-1_zps639f37f7.png.html?sort=3&o=4 Also, watching BW season 2 episode 32 (where Charizards appears), there were many scenes where Ash addressed Charizard as 'he' and 'his'. LOOK: http://s1224.photobucket.com/user/XOzelinkOX/media/08b5c1b6-f5a4-4ba8-9a88-9783e2303b71_zpsb24742fa.jpg.html?sort=3&o=1 then at the right side there's a botton that says OPTION, click it and click DOWNLOAD and you'll see the image in full view.
All this plus Charizard's infatuation towards Charla (who's a female, wears a pink ribbon and has eyelashes). Indicate that he is male. --MsIsamisa (talk) 00:56, 19 April 2013 (UTC)
- A) That website is for the dub only, not the original. We already note that it is confirmed male in the dub. B) Fan subs prove nothing. Gender pronouns do not exist in Japanese. C) While the infatuation strongly implies that it's male, it's still not concrete evidence. --ケンジのガール 06:09, 19 April 2013 (UTC)
If you said that 'We already note that it is confirmed male in the dub', then change the gender to male, then. --MsIsamisa (talk) 21:22, 19 April 2013 (UTC)
- It's only listed as confirmed completely when it's confirmed in the original Japanese version. Otherwise it's listed as Charizard is now, unknown, but male in the dub. --It's Funktastic~!話してください 21:25, 19 April 2013 (UTC)
Hi, @Funktastic :): Check here: http://s1224.photobucket.com/user/XOzelinkOX/media/08b5c1b6-f5a4-4ba8-9a88-9783e2303b71_zpsb24742fa.jpg.html?sort=3&o=1 then at the right side there's a botton that says OPTION, click it and click DOWNLOAD and you'll see the image in full view.
- That's just the fansubber's mistake. You cannot call anybody "he" or "she" in Japanese.--電禅Den Zen 21:32, 19 April 2013 (UTC)
I find it pretty odd, Charizard has many evidences that he's actually male, but anyways. --MsIsamisa (talk) 01:42, 22 April 2013 (UTC)
Voice Actor/actress
Watching the recent episodes again, anyone noticed that Charizard's roars sound different from previous episodes? I don't think it's Shin'ichirō_Miki voicing him in BW. Hitmonchan107 (talk) 05:58, 25 April 2013 (UTC)


text: November 10th, 2017 → November 17th, 2017 Posted: November 17th, 2017Author: zittelFiled Under: InstagramLeave a Comment Just found this from spring of 2014 with @mettdodge and @danjohnanderson and his dad Sam who masterminded the operation – (And now you know how that concrete patio slab got there.) by @danjohnanderson Leave a Reply Click here to cancel reply. November 10th, 2017 →


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ESPN.com's Page 2 is closing today. What that means for you depends on how old you are.
There's a generation that knew it as ESPN's entrée into attitude-inflected sportswriting: Back in 1999, crazy though the thought might be, ESPN was a couple of television channels, rather than a Synergistic Norbytastic Multimedia Platform Powerhouse. Hiring Hunter S. Thompson and Ralph Wiley and David Halberstam meant something.
That era of Page 2 faded, as eras do, and in came the Bill Simmons/DJ Gallo/Jim Caple era, when the site was more about humor than literary titans. But in the pre-sports-blog era (or in the era before the reader would discover sports blogs), it was funny and fresh and cool and a welcome upgrade to the jokes the local sports columnist would run alongside his Sunday column. (I'm in this generation, and I remember loving the yuks I found in their corner of the web when I was 15. This is how under-the-spell I was: I looked forward to reading Gregg Easterbrook.)
Then the Sports Guy became bigger than Page 2, and ESPN.com grew still. Rick Reilly showed up. ESPN hired an army of sportswriters to work independent of the broadcast presence. And the Page 2 conceit no longer made sense, not because its style was outdated but because so much of ESPN's internet presence had adopted its style. (And perhaps Lynn Hoppes' arrival had a little something to do with the site's demise.) What is Grantland, really, but a resuscitation of Page 2 with one contributor, rather than several, as its star?
The site's relaunching Monday as something called ESPN Playbook, which will probably irritate us all. (The name seems to conjure a screeching Norbygasm.) But if you're planning on eulogizing Page 2, don't: it's everywhere now.


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RotavatoR wrote:We've been interacting with various well-known literary characters during the course of this Alternate Reality Game, but I think there's actually a lot of people who haven't read some of their books, including me. That's where this topic comes in. Now I'm not sure how this would work (as it obviously needs some fine-tuning) but I feel like this would be a great motivator for me and others to discover the literature that our fascinating friends are born from.
Also, this is a place to discuss the wonderful worlds and characters, and to enjoy these books as a group.
-Alice in Wonderland
-Anansi's Web
-Don Juan
-Don Quixote de la Mancha
-Gulliver's Travels
-Hercule Poirot
-King Arthur
-Phantom of the Opera
-Romeo and Juliet
-Sherlock Holmes
-Sweeney Todd
-Treasure Island
-Wizard of Oz
(I've probably forgotten a few books, so feel free to mention them here.)
Qara-Xuan Zenith wrote:Alice I read, though I didn't particularly enjoy it; I stopped partway through the sequel.
I've read a couple of Anansi stories, plus of course Anansi Boys, which I loved.
I have read a vast amount of different takes on the Cinderella tale.
Don Juan I think I've only got from osmosis, and (heh) the Don Juan play-within-a-play in Phantom.
Quixote-- I've seen Man of La Mancha. Still need to read the original (I'm held up on that because I'm torn between struggling through the original Spanish, or doing enough research to find a translation I'll be able to stand).
Dracula and Frankenstein-- Okay, I know at one point I took both of these out of the library, and started one with the intent to finish both. But then... I got bored and wandered off? (Anyway, I'm familiar with both because osmosis. I think sometime I'll give them another try.)
Gulliver-- haven't read it yet. Mostly I know of him from osmosis, and the extended allusion in Terry Pratchett's Bromeliad trilogy.
I have not read Poirot.
I haven't read Le Morte D'Arthur or one of the other "authoritative" Arthurian compendia, but I have read a great many retellings of Arthurian myth.
Phantom-- enjoyed the book, somewhat enjoyed the Andrew Lloyd Weber musical.
R&J I've read. I quite enjoyed it, actually, taking into account the fact that the main characters are idiots. (Maybe I only liked it because we studied it in my favourite English class. ^_^)
I've read a number of Holmes stories, and a couple of the novels, but not all of them by a long shot.
Sweeney Todd I only know from osmosis.
Treasure Island I've read, and enjoyed (and then re-read during TWWF, the better to manipulate LJS).
I have read the Wizard of Oz (and seen the movie and the play Wicked, but WHATEVER), as well as ALL the Oz books written by L Frank Baum, the original author (plus a number of Oz books not written by him, though none of the Thompson ones). And a good deal of the other stuff he wrote.
Oz was the first series of books I actually became obsessed with, way back in... grade two? I think grade two.
Pixelmage wrote:Well, guess I should contribute my own then... But...
Alice in Wonderland I have read. But it's been quite long, well, I was a kid back then and don't remember it all that well. So it deserves a reread, because I do remember enjoying it quite a lot back then.
On Hercule Poirot, I do have 3 novels by Christie that star Poirot sitting on my bookshelf right now. I'm not aware of their english release names, save for The Murder in the Orient Express. I've read and enjoyed them and I would read other books from his canon if given the chance. So, probably will read more in the future.
For Dracula, I also read the Stoker novel along with having watched some odd movie about him and other adaptations, but mostly the novel itself. It's one of my favorite books, and one I actually remember well even now.
Now, regarding the following list:
-Don Juan
-Don Quixote de la Mancha
-Gulliver's Travels
-King Arthur
-Peter Pan
-Phantom of the Opera
-Romeo and Juliet
-Sherlock Holmes
-Wizard of Oz
All of these I knew from adaptations, or movies, or from somewhere I don't remember. They feel like I've always knew them, but I never read any of the originals at all, even though I was familiar with the characters. Nope, not even for school and I'm really not amused at my lack of reading there.
Now, regarding these fellows:
-Anansi's Web
-Sweeney Todd
-Treasure Island
I was introduced to them by the ARG. Yes, I didn't know Long John Silver before the ARG. Even being familiar with some pirate related things, I had no idea he existed and not even imagined that Muppet Treasure Island was actually a thing. Same for Todd and Anansi, although in their case I wasn't familiar with anything regarding them, at all.
RotavatoR wrote:Well... This is awkward.
I've never read a single one of these books. I've heard about them all of course :/
I've started reading Alice in Wonderland today, and so far I like it all right. Anyone else feeling a sudden urge to read some?
RotavatoR wrote:Well... This is awkward.
I've never read a single one of these books. I've heard about them all of course :/
I've started reading Alice in Wonderland today, and so far I like it all right. Anyone else feeling a sudden urge to read some?
eli_gone_crazy wrote::)
-Alice in Wonderland- A book I read to shreds.
-Anansi's Web- I had never HEARD of anansi before the ARG
-Cinderella- ... hasn't everyone read an adaptation of this?
-Don Juan- nope, and I don't really have that much interest in it.
-Don Quixote de la Mancha- never read it, though I was always interested in the windmills
-Dracula- I haven't read dracula, though its sitting in my bookshelf, waiting to be read
-Frankenstein- I did a research paper on this in high school, and loved every minute of it.
-Gulliver's Travels- I read this book to tattered bits
-Hercule Poirot- tried to force myself through a poirot story once... it didn't end well. :/
-King Arthur- I read this book in high school, and I always pitied morgan
-Peter Pan- I loved this book as a kid.
-Phantom of the Opera- >_< I've never read/seen it. but I want to!
-Romeo and Juliet- >_> I have avoided this play
-Sherlock Holmes- I love the sherlock holmes stories, especially The Adventure of The Speckled Band
-Sweeney Todd- never even heard a song
-Treasure Island- I read it a long time ago, but it would do with another readthrough
-Wizard of Oz- I love this book so much
Scarab wrote:-Dracula- Read it. I also once heard an audiodrama by a group on Virgin Radio called Urban Soundtracks, which mixed large stretches of music in with the story. It was AWESOME. They also did Jack the Rpper, The Little Mermaid, and a few others. I have tried in vain to find it again since
Scarab wrote:-Gulliver's Travels- Another one I think I read too long ago to recall... But I DID see a Disney animation of it.
narrativedilettante wrote:Oh god this is such nitpicking I'm horrible This was probably a Fleischer animation, not Disney. Seriously though it doesn't matter.
Scarab wrote:narrativedilettante wrote:Oh god this is such nitpicking I'm horrible This was probably a Fleischer animation, not Disney. Seriously though it doesn't matter.
That's right. you're a terrible, terrible person Dilly
The Wild West Pyro wrote:Scarab wrote:narrativedilettante wrote:Oh god this is such nitpicking I'm horrible This was probably a Fleischer animation, not Disney. Seriously though it doesn't matter.
That's right. you're a terrible, terrible person Dilly
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(Cancer of the Adrenal Cortex; Adrenal Cortical Carcinoma; Adrenal Cancer)
Adrenocortical carcinoma is cancer of the adrenal cortex. The adrenal glands are 2 glands located above each kidney. The glands produce important hormones. These hormones regulate heart rate, blood pressure, and many other vital functions, including response to stress and infection. The adrenal cortex is the outside layer of the 2 adrenal glands.
Cancers of the adrenal cortex are rare. The majority of these tumors produce excess hormones. The excess hormones can change hormonal balance.
Anatomy of the Adrenal Glands
Copyright © Nucleus Medical Media, Inc.
The cause of adrenocortical carcinoma is unknown.
Risk Factors
Risk Factors
There are few known risk factors for cancers of the adrenal cortex. A genetic defect may cause adrenocortical cancer in some children, but the majority of cases are nonhereditary.
Approximately 40% of people with adrenocortical carcinoma do not secrete any hormone. These people do not have any specific symptoms. Adrenocortical carcinoma is discovered as part of a physical examination for abdominal pain.
Other tumors are hormonally active. Excess hormones may produce symptoms such as:
- Pain in the abdomen, side, and/or back
- Nausea and vomiting
- Unintended weight loss
You will be asked about your symptoms. A medical and family history will be collected. A physical exam will be done.
Your bodily fluids may be tested. This can be done with:
- Blood tests
- Urine tests
Images may be needed of your bodily structures. These can be made with:
- CT scan
- MRI scan
- Positron emission tomography (PET)/CT scan
- Adrenal angiography and/or venography
- X-ray
After cancer of the adrenal cortex is confirmed, you will be referred to an oncologist. This is a cancer specialist.
Additional testing will be done to determine what stage the cancer has reached. The stage of a tumor is determined by its size and how far it has spread from its point of origin.
Treatment depends on the stage of the tumor and your overall health. Talk with your doctor about the best plan for you.
The following methods are used to treat cancer of the adrenal cortex:
Adrenalectomy Surgery to Remove the Tumor
Surgery to remove the adrenal tumor is the first treatment approach for most cases. Surrounding tissues or lymph nodes that contain cancer cells may also need to be removed.
Radiation therapy and Chemotherapy
These treatments tend to be less effective in treating this type of cancer. They are most often used if the cancer has spread. Chemotherapy may also be used if there is a high chance the cancer will come back.
Other Therapies
Mitotane is the drug most often used for this type of cancer, especially for hormonally active tumors. It blocks hormone production by the adrenal gland. It also destroys adrenal cancer cells. This drug does have serious side effects.
It is sometimes given in combination with other drugs.
- Other hormone-blocking drugs may be given to control the symptoms of excess hormones.
- Research of new drug and radiation therapies are under way. This includes gene and immunotherapy.
If treatment is successful, you will still need to be screened for reoccurrence of the cancer on a periodic basis.
There are no known preventive measures. Healthy lifestyle choices may reduce your risk for all types of cancers.
National Cancer Institute http://www.cancer.gov
Canadian Cancer Society http://www.cancer.ca
Adrenocortical carcinoma. National Cancer Institute website. Available at:
Accessed June 15, 2015.
Adrenocortical carcinoma: treatment statement for health professionals. National Cancer Institute website. Available at:
Updated June 10, 2015. Accessed June 15, 2015.
Allolio B, Fassnacht M. Adrencortical carcinoma: clinical update. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2006;91:2027-37.
Detailed guide: adrenal cortical cancer. American Cancer Society website. Available at:
Accessed June 15, 2015.
Kirschner LS. Review: emerging treatment strategies for adrnocortical carcinoma: a new hope. J Clin Endocinol Metab. 2006;91:14-21.
Van Ditzhuijsen cI, van de Weijer R, Haak HR: Adrenocortical carcinoma. Neth J Med. 2007;65:55-60.
Last Updated: 5/27/2014


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The SO-CAL Art Deco License Plate Light is fashioned after automotive designs of the late '30's and '40's. It's beautifully die-cast and features luxurious chrome plating. The flush design requires two 3/16â€dia. mounting holes and a 7/8†dia. hole for the light receptacle. Includes; light bulb, pig-tail socket, mounting hardware and neoprene gasket.
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OpenVR OMNI Overlay
Here is a paypal link. https://paypal.me/pools/c/81eZoHWVPaMarkV said:
Skaarah, how can I help with the donation? Paypal? Patreon? Or something else?
A quick update on progress. I tried playing FalloutVR with it. It worked pretty well for the most part. Up until I had to run up hill. At that point the game decided that I was meant to be underground and I fell under the game world. So I'm working now on the overlay application and what I want to do is have some sliders that I can interpolate between any axis offset, trackpad input, etc. I think this will help alleviate boundary issues for games that support trackpad locomotion.
Okay, I kicked it off with a $100 donation - it's the least I can do given all the hard work people have been putting in to make the Omni usable.
FastRobPlus Posts: 15$50 from me just now. I have not tried this or even gotten the Omni setup yet, but like MarkV I appreciate the work in trying to get Omni usable.
Trying it is on my list as my well. I grabbed the distribution last night and it looks like you just use a command in the SteamVR binaries directory (vrregpath) to add the path of the DLL that is included in Skaarah's distribution. There's a removepath as well, so I imagine if it breaks something, it's easy enough to undo. I'm unclear whether OpenVR needs to be installed as I think I installed it on everything.
Oh, one more thing - if you're trying to figure this stuff out for yourself because you haven't had the time to keep up with everything, I highly recommend OVRDrop (at least for Steam games). It allows you to put a window up inside of VR and manipulate that window (or the whole desktop). I think the new Oculus Dash stuff does this as well. I thought OVRDrop was supposed to work with Oculus games, but I wasn't able to get it working in From Other Suns (for example).
Anyway, the reason OVRDrop matters is so that you can change settings and read documentation without having to go back and forth in the headset and the Omni. I have one of the Omni stands (VR Rack) and have the keyboard right up next to the Omni so I can type while in VR. Still inconvenient, but nowhere near as annoying as having to exit and enter the Omni every time I need to do something. OVRDrop lets you pull the window up nice and close so you can actually read text in windows and then shove it away when you aren't using it. I like to put the window above myself as I am typically not looking up. You can also hide it with spacebar (that is configurable as well).
Another thought - haven't tried this with the Omni, but a while ago I picked up a Targus wireless keypad (https://www.amazon.com/Targus-Wireless-Numeric-Keypad-AKP11US/dp/B002NUYTCA) and mounted it to some sort of Velcro ipad band. You wear it on your forearm... It's a great way to have macros on hand when you can't get to your keyboard. A lot nerdy and it's not a high quality keypad, but sometimes having another 18 keys to press can be useful. If you don't want it conflicting with your existing keyboard macros, there is an application (have to dig to find it again) out there that will let you assign different devices to appear as different keyboards to windows. Thinking about this - wasn't there a keyboard tray that was supposed to mount directly to the Omni ? Sort of like a mobile VR Rack ? Since the harness/diaper rides around the Omni donut, I can see where this is an issue.
MarkV said:
Okay, I kicked it off with a $100 donation - it's the least I can do given all the hard work people have been putting in to make the Omni usable.
HOLY HELL YOU GUYS! Thank you! I was expecting just a couple dollars. With that enthusiasm I'll focus on getting the installer and steamworks ready. Good idea on the mini keyboard. I have one for my TV pc but never thought to strap one on for vr. @MarkV: you don't need to install anything from OpenVR except for having steamVR installed from inside steam. The only reason to install the openVR sdk is to build the apps yourself. Which btw I have included in the git repo as submodules.FastRobPlus said:
$50 from me just now. I have not tried this or even gotten the Omni setup yet, but like MarkV I appreciate the work in trying to get Omni usable.
Edit: My profile avatar is exactly how I look right now thinking about your generosity.
Any updates for the weekend? I hope to get some time to play with your existing stuff this weekend.
I got approved for Steamworks but I'm still working on the installer. I'll try packaging it up tonight and upload it and generate some beta keys.
AWESOME!!!!!Skaarah said:
I got approved for Steamworks but I'm still working on the installer. I'll try packaging it up tonight and upload it and generate some beta keys.
Alright gents. I do believe the installation is ready to go. Just have to wait for the product keys to go through. PM me "GimmeStemKeyPlz" and once I get one I'll pass it to you. Testing on your various environments will not be smooth so please be patient with me.
when trying to launch it i am getting invalid app configuration
There currently is no launchable options. Once it installs it should just work. If not than I botched something. I think I'll write up a quick configurator app to use as the launch options with some buttons to help figure out the problem.
MrHmYesQuite Posts: 26I disabled the hydra drivers from the workaround, launched vanishing realms with slide settings on, and nothing happened. I'll try some other games, and see if the movement works. I have openinput emulator still installed, as well as using the beta input branch of steamVR. I could be missing something, or maybe something is somehow conflicting, but I have plenty patience as we test things out.
ty MrHmYesQuite. The OpenInputEmulator might have conflictions. My driver is doing some similar tricks so can you try uninstalling that? Btw it should even work in vrHome. I was just reading up on some games though and it seems like a lot of games have a 10x10 walkable area. So the current implementation wont work well for those games. I've been working on getting the customizer overlay application in so that you can edit the configuration while inside of vr.
Skaarah, by "just work", do you mean - install it, run game, nothing to configure? Turn on the Omni, start Fallout 4 VR, walk around ? Should get to try it out tonight. I do get the "(invalid app configuration)" but that sounds like it is just because Steam wants a configuration file and there isn't one.
It throws that error right now because there isn't anything for it to launch just yet. But I figured since I'm making a helper app to try and debug these issues I might as well pack it into the overlay application at the same time. I'll try to have that up and running by this weekend.
I'm still working on the configurator. In the mean time I would like to thank everyone who contributed to the steamworks liscense and to those who have been helping to test. It's going to be a long road getting this to be a semi professional product but we will get there.
Okay. Ive updated the beta branch with a piece of the overlay app. it has a button to install the driver. Something isn't working with the steamworks install settings so for now try running that. It is located in bin/win64 of the OpenOmni install path.
Small update while I figure out how the new Input system works.
- launch options updated. should show config app when launched.
- added stubs for omni configuration
Just checking in on how things are doing. Skyrim VR will be the next FO4 for Omni so it will be interesting to see if it can working with the Omni.
Things have been a bit crazy so I haven't had much time to work on it. But the current beta release should support locomotion controls replaced with the omni input. The forward direction of walking will move you in the direction the first vive wand that was turned on.
Skaarah, thanks for the update. Should we assume that the directionality of the Omni ring will be hard to support generically? Your work is based on the OpenVR SDK ?
Right now my current trouble isn't using the direction of the omni ring. In fact that all works perfectly. The problem is with most locomotion implementations. I can't tell the game what the yaw ... is ... wow. Okay, so, in my explaination I figured out what I need to do to fix it but you might not like it. Lemme break it down real quick.
Most locomotion games use the direction the wand is facing to set what the forward walking vector is. For example, in PavlovVR when you point the wand forward and press UP on the touchpad your character walks forward. When you point the wand to the left and press UP on the touch pad your character walks left. The road block I was hitting was in attempting to 'undo' the wand orientation. In my head the math checks out but for some reason it just wasn't working out.
My new plan that you might not like is to replace the wand YAW value with the Omni YAW value. I'll test out how it goes with only overriding when walking but it might not make a big difference. I'll get working on that tomorrow.
Upon the request of ragtag I started a discord channel. https://discord.gg/XPq8xh2
And after debugging a little bit I found out the paths for the install button were wrong so it should work now.
so does this work with the Rift or is it strictly Vive? i am having no luck at all with it
Rabid, the game would need to support OpenVR. I don't know if the Oculus specific games are using it.
ok, has anyone gotten this working with a steam VR game using the rift?
Sponge101 Posts: 477I'm curious too. Want to try this method myself for the Rift.


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represents a sum of terms.
- Plus has attributes Flat, Orderless, and OneIdentity.
- The default value for arguments of Plus, as used in x_. patterns, is 0. »
- Plus[] is taken to be 0.
- Plus[x] is x.
- x+0 evaluates to x, but x+0.0 is left unchanged.
- In mixed fractions such as 1, the implicit addition can be entered as 1 + or 1 \[ImplicitPlus]. This evaluates to 1+, but implicit addition is an operator with much higher precedence than +.
- Unlike other functions, Plus applies built‐in rules before user‐defined ones. As a result, it is not possible to make definitions such as 2+2=5.
Background & Context
- Plus is a function that does addition (summation) of expressions. The expression Plus[a,b,c,…] is commonly represented using the shorthand syntax a+b+c+…. Special cases include Plus[], which is taken to be 0, and Plus[x], which is taken to be x.
- Plus sorts its arguments and collapses any terms of the same type. Plus also threads element-wise over lists.
- To perform summation at a particular level of a list or to apply compensative summation to reduce numerical error for inexact summands, the function Total can be used. Accumulate gives a list of the successive accumulated totals of elements in a list. AddTo, Increment, and PreIncrement can be used to increase the value of a given variable. Minus gives the arithmetic negation of an expression, and Subtract gives the difference of two numbers.
- Summation of a function over a range or list of arguments is done using the function Sum.
Introduced in 1988Updated in 2007


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Boston reggae singer Mighty Mystic celebrates new CD with Bridgeport show
Whether in his native country of Jamaica or his current home of Boston, Kevin Holness, better known by his stage name Mighty Mystic, has observed the callousness bred by intrusive technology and rampant materialism.
He fears we're turning into a "concrete world."
"We're getting so hard in our ways that we've forgotten what really matters," Mystic said in a phone interview last week. "It's not our cars or our phones -- it's friends and family and the Earth and Heaven that really matters."
The theme is central to the reggae singer's sophomore LP, a collection of socially-conscious reggae songs that rose to the Top 10 of the Billboard Reggae Albums chart last week.
Mystic celebrates the release of the album, "Concrete World," with a performance at Bridgeport's Acoustic Cafe on Friday, Feb. 14. I Anbassa, Connecticut's celebrated veteran reggae ensemble, will open.
Influenced by the musical traditions of Jamaica, where he was born in 1980, as well as popular contemporary American styles, Mystic makes roots reggae infused with alt-rock riffs and hip-hop beats to create a sound he dubs "hard roots."
His songs are club-ready while retaining the social and political awareness of his roots reggae forebearers.
"I'm all about bringing a positive message and enlightenment to the world," Mystic, 33, said. "And I also like to have fun with it."
The "positive message" comes across most acutely on the title track of "Concrete World." The song, which features a deep reggae groove produced by Stephen Thunder, finds Mystic lamenting the state of our society: "What happen to the roots and the culture / We desecrate the sepulcher / Me say we move like a vulture / We put the faith in a de concrete sculpture."
"We're getting so caught up in the materialistic things -- things that don't really matter," Mystic said.
Mystic was born in Jamaica in St. Elizabeth Parish, about two hours from the capital, Kingston, in 1980. He moved to Boston when he was 9. Performing under the name "Mystic" (the childhood sobriquet of his father, and coincidentally, the area where he and his family relocated to in Boston), he has pursued a career in music since the late 1990s.
However, it wasn't until years later that Mystic made a name outside of Boston, his success propelled by the release of his 2005 single, "Riding on the Clouds." The song received heavy airplay on regional radio (JAM'N 94.5 of Boston offered crucial support), and later, reggae, R&B and hip-hop stations across the East Coast. His debut LP, "Wake up the World," dropped in 2010.
Honing his performance chops at the Paradise Rock Club, a hotspot in the city's Allston/Brighton section, he went on to tour with some of Reggae's biggest names, including Steel Pulse, Damian Marley, Toots and the Maytals, Lee Scratch Perry, Shaggy and The Wailers. His fanbase stretches from Connecticut to California.
With "Concrete World," Mystic is urging people to "wake up" -- to turn off their cell phones and focus on what really matters.
"That's what the vibe of this album is all about," he said. "When's the last time you actually said hi to your neighbor?"
email@example.com; Twitter: @scottgarg
Acoustic Cafe, 2926 Fairfield Ave., Bridgeport. Friday, Feb. 14, 10 p.m. $10-$8. 203-335-3655, www.acousticafe.com.


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Here is how to update WhatsApp on your Nokia S60 device:
- Open WhatsApp and go to Options > Settings > Updates.
- Click on Check for updates.
- Follow the on screen instructions to install the update.
You can also update manually by opening www.whatsapp.com/download/ on your phone's web browser and clicking on Download Now.
Note: You do not need to remove or uninstall WhatsApp in order to update. If you do remove WhatsApp, you may lose your entire WhatsApp chat history. To learn more about chat history read this article.
WhatsApp Support Team


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Aspen trees turn yellow and orange in early October, South Fork of Bishop Creek Canyon. Bishop Creek Canyon, Sierra Nevada Mountains, Bishop, California, USAStock Photo: 17531Species: Quaking Aspen, Populus tremuloidesLocation: Bishop Creek Canyon, Sierra Nevada Mountains, California, USAFormat: Digital 2:3Copyright © Phillip Colla, all rights reserved worldwide.
Keywords: aspen, aspen tree, aspens, autumn, bishop, bishop creek, bishop creek canyon, bishop creek canyon sierra nevada mountains, california, eastern sierra, eastern sierra fall colors, environment, fall, fall color, fall colors, foliage, forest, grove, high sierra, landscape, mountain, nature, outdoors, outside, plant, populus tremuloides, quaking aspen, scene, scenery, scenic, sierra, sierra nevada, terrestrial plant, tree, trees, usa
Updated: February 24, 2020


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Words of kindness. We often forget to share them. We discount how far reaching or significant they may be. Words that lay unspoken like an infant's sock dropped on a neighborhood sidewalk. Abandoned. Never to be paired with their match. Earlier this day someone took a moment to consider my sock. A friend from the remote past (one I still envision at 18 even though she's well past the half century mark) offered me the profound gift of her simple yet generous words. Why today? Why not?
A smile, a word, a nod, a note can change another's day or life. With little effort on our part we can offer the encouragement or reinforcement another may need. I would never have known this woman read my words unless she told me. How do people know we care if we don't speak out? Forget the "they should know," because chances are they don't. We've become a world of wanna be mind readers and last time I checked, it wasn't particularly effective. There's no way I could have known where my words had reached without this friend declaring our connection.
When was the last time you offered a generous word for "no good reason"? Is there someone whose name you think is cool? Tell them. Do you think his phrase was perfect or her tenacity and brilliance admirable? Offer it up. Even brilliant people have doubts. Remember: a smile, a word, a nod, a note can change another's day or life. Why not begin today?
Corby... this one's for you with gratitude!!
Diamonds in the Soul - helping high-functioning, under-living people recover and nourish personal delight & joy in life.
Friday, August 26, 2011
Pondering... 30 in 30 - Day 25
Posted by Kayce aka lucy at 3:00 AM
Labels: Friendship, Grace, Mindfulness, Pondering, Witness
3 comments:
- Shea said...
I enjoy your postings and often quote them to the love of my life, my wife. Thank you.
- Kayce aka lucy said...
ah, shea - that's what i'm talkin' about. thanks for making my heart sing today!!
- Maureen said...
Every day there are small acts of kindness on Twitter, some might be surprised to find, as random as as an unexpected "follow" mention or as deliberate as a "thank you" for sharing some item. It's one of the very few social media sites where an etiquette is in place... and typically observed. And it's amazing how much people get out of the kindness of being noticed in that space flooded with tweets useful and not.
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**The NJ Tax Forms will NOT be available at the Main Library. However, Federal Tax Forms are in the Reference Department.**
For Additional Information:
If you would tax forms to be mailed to your home call 609-292-6400 or, between 8:30AM and 4:30PM., Monday through Friday.
You can also fax your order to 609-826-4500 or print the forms using a library computer from this website:
Contact My Local Office in New Jersey (Face-to-Face Tax Help)
Listed below is the contact information of the New Jersey Treasury Department, Taxation Division:
124 Halsey Street, 2nd Floor
Newark, NJ 07102
Telephone: (973) 648-6190
Fax: (973) 648-7072
Tax Forms can also be accessed through the Internet with the following sites below:


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Home Page Chess Life Online 2011 July The July Check is in the Mail
|The July Check is in the Mail
|By Alex Dunne
|July 9, 2011
Championship 24 Final
Marjan Semrl of Slovenia
The 24th World Correspondence Champion has been crowned. Marjan Semrl's score of 11-5 can be equaled by Tansel Turgut but Semrl's better tiebreaks give him the crown.
The three players US readers should be familiar with: Tansel Turgut is a Turkish player who is a surgeon in Decatur, Illinois. Jason Bokar is a US Grandmaster who earned his title in 2007. Cesar Blanco Gramajo won the 2006 Electronic Knights Championship.
The race between kingside action versus queenside action always makes for exciting chess. The Game of the Month follows the ICCF plan: to win tournaments you have to beat the guys at the bottom.
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.Ne1
Semrl sidesteps the Bayonet Attack with 9. b4 perhaps in deference to Tiemann's record of playing both sides of the Bayonet back to 2002.
9...Nd7 10.Be3 f5 11.f3 f4 12.Bf2 g5 13.Rc1
Semrl chooses a popular sideline rather than 13. a4 which scores the best percentage.
This, too, is a popular sideline. The most common play here is 13...Ng6, but Tiemann's choice has been scoring well lately. Black's plan is the standard in such KID positions: throw everything at the White King.
14.Nd3 Rh6 15.c5 a6
The move of choice lately has been 15...Qe8 here. Krush-Dembo, 39th Olympiad 2010, continued 16. Nb5 Qh5 17. h4 Ng6 18. g4 fxg3 19. Bxg3 Nf4 20. Nxc7 with an edge to White though Black eventually won.
16.Qb3 Kh8 17.cxd6 cxd6 18.Rc2 Rg6 19.Rfc1 h5 20.Qa3 Rb8 21.Nb1 g4 22.Nd2 g3 23.hxg3 fxg3 24.Ba7 Ra8 25.Be3 Nf6 26.Nc4
This game was another of those long trailed games where Black played the same line against another opponent to the same result. Here Semrl varies with the more aggressive 26. Nc4. In Munoz Moreno-Tiemann, 24 World Championship Final, White also won after 26. Ne1
If Black can't break through on the kingside, White will bteak through on the queenside, hence the sacrifice.
27.exd5 Nf5 28.Ne1 Bd7 29.Bd3 Qh4 30.Bxf5 Bxf5
30...Qh2+ leads nowhere.
31.Nxd6 Bf8 32.Nxf5 Qh2+ 33.Kf1 Bxa3 34.bxa3 1-0
Black's Queen is imprisoned on the kingside and White's d-Pawn has wings. Black could fight on with 34...Rf8 but chances are very slim after 35. Rc8.
ERRATA: In the June issue of "The Check" a pair of moves were excluded. Here is the correct version of the game.
ICCF has inaugurated a new policy that is NOT part of USCF correspondence play. That policy is "Use 40 days for next move".
Please note that for USCF play Rule 10 is the operative rule. Rule 10 requires you to notify your opponent if you need to take longer than 10 days. After 10 days official 30-days a year leave time is operative.
Trophy Quad
Gary Gallagher 09Q11 5-1
Laverne Gildner 08Q18 3 ½-2 ½
Don Dostal 08Q18 3 ½-2 ½
Lester Ferrell 09Q19 5 ½-½
Joseph Korman 09Q21 5 ½-½
Swift Quad
Justin Pickens 11W15 5 ½-½
John Collins
Charles Carter 09C31 6-0
Thomas Babcock 09C32 5 ½-½
John Ellison 09C33 5-1
Walter Muir
Errol Acosta 11W12 6-0
Do Close Ratings Matter in Postal ?
It has been suggested that ratings don't matter as much in postal because of the correspondent's ability to consult books, take one's time, move pieces in analysis, etc. In a unscientific study to see how valid that premise is, I decided to see how rated players finished in the 2008 John Collins tournaments. In an ideal world, the highest rated player (of four) should always finish in first place, the second rated, second, etc. Here is what I found. At the tope level, Master/Expert, the #1 rated player finished first 36% of the time, the #2 rated also finished in first 36% of the time and the third rated 14% and finally the bottom rated won the tournament 14 %.
At the A rated level the highest rated won 39 % of the time, 2nd: 27%, third a dismal 0 % and fourth 33 %.
B-rated John Collins saw player #1 finishing
first 33% second 33% third rated won 22%
and the low man finished first 11 % of the
C-rated players saw the high rated finishing first 62%, second 25%, third 12 % and the low man winning the tournament 0 %.
Finally Class D saw the high rated man wining 10%, second rated 20% third rated 10% and the #4 man who was almost always unrated, winning 60% of the time.
Excluding the bottom group it would appear to me that the ELO rating system holds up very well in postal play.
Astronauts Greg Chamitoff and Greg Johnson
The USC and NASA fought another spacemen versus earthlings match with the earthlings adopting a new method of winning a chess game.
Moves were voted on by the earthlings with the astronauts having to decide between the two players Greg Chamitoff and Greg Johnson.
The voting closed as the astronauts prepared to return to earth, when the earthlings voted to determine the outcome of the game. Earth voted 59% in favor of a win for their home planet, thus assuring the victory.
Legend has it that the great Akiba Rubinstein (born 1882) learned the moves of the game when he was 18 and quickly worked his way from a Knight-odds player to Master and Grandmaster. The legend is a neat one, but in the book The Life & Games of Akiva Rubinstein by Donaldson and Minev (who prefer the Akiva spelling) an early Rubinstein correspondence game is given, and if the date is correct, Rubinstein at 15 is playing like he is the odds giver.
LEARN CHESS BY MAIL ! Lessons given by mail, telephone, ICC - many different ways. I specialize in players rated 800-2100 who would like to improve their game. Contact me for information. Alex Dunne, 324 West Lockhart St., Sayre, PA 18840 or [email protected]
Chess booklet for sale: 2004 Golden Knights Championship -- booklet of the 57th USCF CC Championship -- $10.00 postage paid. 35 pages, 90+ games
The Canadian Postal strike continues through most of June. During the strike, Canadian mail has not been delivered. As of this date, 24 June, the Canadian government has not yet intervened, but plans to do so are in the works. Canada also had to intervene in its last national postal strike in 1997.
Reflection time for postal games during the strike will not be in effect for USCF games with a Canadian opponent.
Quote: "Usually I don't use engines in a positional game, as they have very little to offer for a strong correspondence player. Instead, in sharp and tactical situations engines are mandatory as they speed up a lot of the analysis work. Even then it is clear that you can't trust blindly to engines' opinions. Perhaps this is a blessing for correspondence chess". - Pertti Lehikoinen 20th World Champion.
Black plays upon White's long diagonal weakness and then on his back rank weakness to execute a neat tactical coup.
Two-time Hames Award winner Harry Simon submits this game where Simon shows that an attack on the King can sometimes be as effective in the endgame as it can be in the middlegame.
White's Pawn sacrifice on Move six only brings fruit many moves and a few sacrifices later. That is not unusual. In the old days they sacrificed that Pawn on Move two.
White attacks and attacks and attacks his way all the way to a winning endgame.
BENONI (by transposition) (A68)
The draw between the new World Champion and the 2006 USCF Electronic Knights Champion was no peaceful affair. Both sides played for the full point. The half-point probably came as either a disappointment or a relief to both men.
The Primary lesson of defense -- always defend with more than your opponent can attack with -- is illustrated in this resistible assault by White.
For a full crosstable of the World Championship, download the pdf version of this article and also see an index of Check is in the Mail columns.