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Blizzard Sweeps Through Northeast
Hundreds of Thousands Lose Power in New England; 10 Deaths Blamed on Storm
EASTON, Mass.—A historic blizzard pummeled the Northeast, dumping up to three feet of snow across New England and knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of customers in New England.
The storm set record snowfall in Portland, Maine, with nearly 32 inches. Parts of Connecticut got more than three feet of snow.
"This has been a record-breaking storm," said Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. The cleanup "will go on for a number of days; this will not all be done today," Gov. Malloy said.
Keeping warm was a concern as motorists were stranded for hours and as some homes were looking at days without power. An 11-year-old boy in Boston died of carbon-monoxide poisoning Saturday. He was helping his father shovel snow and took a break to warm up in a car. Apparently snow was clogging the exhaust pipe, emergency officials said. They also warned residents to make sure home-heating vents were cleared of snow, saying a number of people had been taken to the hospital for carbon-monoxide inhalation.
Several rescued motorists in Connecticut were treated for hypothermia, state officials said, and Gov. Malloy said heating centers were being set up in areas without power.
At least 10 deaths were being blamed on the storm. In addition to the boy in Boston, a Connecticut woman using a snow blower was killed Friday night in a hit-and-run accident and a 49-year-old man died early Saturday, apparently while shoveling snow. A 23-year-old man in New York died after he went off the edge of a roadway while plowing his driveway and a 74-year-old man died after being struck by a car whose driver lost control in the snow, police said. Also in New York, a 58-year-old man died while clearing snow from his car. A 74-year-old woman died in a car crash in Maine and three people died in Ontario, Canada—an 80-year-old woman who collapsed while shoveling her driveway and two men in car accidents.
Nearly 630,000 customers in New England remained without power Saturday afternoon. Massachusetts—particularly the southeastern portion of the state, where electricity in several towns was almost completely knocked out—bore the brunt, with nearly 400,000 homes and businesses without power.
It is likely to take days to restore power to all 250,000 of its customers affected by outages along the Massachusetts coast, utility NStar said. The blizzard brought "devastating damage to our system," said NStar spokesman Michael Durand. "It's been near impossible to get out on the roads. Now that we are starting to be able to do that, the assessment and repair of damage is going to take several days."
The Pilgrim nuclear-power plant in Plymouth, Mass., automatically shut down Friday night after the facility lost its electricity supply from the grid, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Saturday. Diesel generators were supplying electricity to the plant, which was stable, the NRC said. The Pilgrim plant is operated by Entergy Corp.
The storm also knocked out power to nearly 186,000 homes and businesses in Rhode Island, and about 39,000 in Connecticut, utilities said. About 10,000 customers remained without power Saturday in Long Island, the worst-hit part of New York state, where some areas got more than 30 inches of snow.
More than 38 inches of snow fell in Milford in central Connecticut. Areas of southeastern Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire notched two feet or more of snow. In Concord, N.H., the 24-inch snowfall was the second biggest on record. Boston got 25 inches of snow, short of a record. Wind gusts in Massachusetts reached 83 mph and the storm ranked among the top five recorded in the state, said National Weather Service meteorologist Bill Simpson.
From Connecticut to Maine, many people couldn't open their doors because they were blocked by so much snow.
As the storm moved out, some officials began easing orders restricting mobility. Massachusetts, Connecticutt and Rhode Island lifted bans on nonessential travel Saturday afternoon.
"But it is still the better judgment, if you can, to stay in, and off the roads," said Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.
Flights began to resume Saturday in New York City-area airports, but Boston's Logan Airport remained closed and more than 2,000 flights in the region were canceled Saturday, according to Flightstats, bringing the total since Friday to 6,333 flights. Logan Airport said it expected to reopen one runway late Saturday night, the Associated Press reported.
Amtrak extended its suspension of train service between New York and Boston through Saturday night, and the Boston area's transit network remained shut down for the day on Saturday.
Two neighborhoods in Quincy, Mass., were evacuated because of flooding concerns.
Still, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino said at midday Saturday that the city had weathered the storm well so far. "No major power outages, no severe flooding, though we still have a ways to go," he said.
Some of the worst of the storm appeared to hit Connecticut, where the snow made travel nearly impossible even for emergency responders who found themselves stuck on highways all night. In the shoreline community of Fairfield, police and firefighters could not come in to work, so the overnight shift was staying on duty, said First Selectman Michael Tetreau.
"It's a real challenge out there," Mr. Tetreau told the Associated Press. "The roads are not passable at this point."
More Storm Coverage
- Connecticut Will Need Days to Recover
- Weather Journal: Two New Storms on Horizon
- The Impact, State by State
- Telecom Companies Report Minimal Disruption
- Storm Puts Northeast at a Standstill
- Blizzard Chronicles Through Vines
- For Snow-Removal Firms, This One's a Mixed Blessing
- Blizzard Resurrects Sandy Anxiety
- Best Storm-Tracking Apps
- Driving in a Blizzard: Five Tips to Make the Trip Safer
Early snowfall was blamed for a 19-car pileup in Cumberland, Maine, that caused minor injuries. Several state police cruisers in Maine were stuck in the deep snow. In New York, hundreds of cars got stuck on the Long Island Expressway on Friday and dozens of cars remained disabled Saturday as police worked to free them.
Even the U.S. Postal Service closed post offices and suspended mail delivery Saturday in New England.
New York City, where 11 inches of snow fell in Central Park, avoided the worst of the storm. "We were very lucky," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. He said all city streets would be cleared of snow by the end of Saturday.
In New Jersey, the worst-hit area was northern Bergen County, which got 15 inches of snow. Utilities reported minimal power outages in the state.
Meteorologists were blaming the nor'easter on the collision of two storm systems: cold air traveling south from Canada bumping into a moist low pressure system heading north from the Carolinas.
—Cassandra Sweet, Sean Gardiner and the Associated Press contributed to this article.
Copyright ©2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8


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Part 3 of our Atomic Robo actual-play:
In this all-star episode:
Mike Olson, creator of Atomic Robo RPG, is the GM.
Shanna Germain of Monte Cook Games is Helen 'Nightingale' McAllister.
Devon Kelley of the Sharkbone Podcast is Donovan 'Jack Tarot' McAllister.
Lou Anders, author of the Thrones and Bones book series is Atomic Robo.
and RpgGamerDad is Professor Pierson.
RpgGamerDad Podcast: Inspiring the family through tabletop gaming.

subset: commoncrawl


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PORTLAND, Ore. – Starting today, fans can vote Portland Timbers players to the 2014 AT&T MLS All-Star Game on Aug. 6 at Providence Park. The MLS All-Stars will face Bayern Munich in the Rose City at 6:30 p.m. (Pacific) live on ESPN2 and UniMás.
Media members nominated a total of 152 players to the fan ballot. Fans may vote online at www.MLSsoccer.com through July 11 at 12 noon (Pacific) and via Twitter from July 2-6. Eleven players – one goalkeeper, three defenders, four midfielders and three forwards – with the highest combined votes will be named to the All-Star Fan XI.
Timbers players included on the ballot are goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts, defender Pa Modou Kah, midfielders Diego Chara, Diego Valeri and Will Johnson, midfielder/forward Darlington Nagbe and forwards Gastón Fernández and Maximiliano Urruti. All Portland players will be eligible for consideration in later phases of the MLS All-Star selection process.
The 11th player – a forward – will be determined by the AT&T/EA SPORTS™ "More than a Vote" Challenge. Fans have the opportunity to vote one forward into the 2014 AT&T MLS All-Star Game by scoring goals in EA SPORTS FIFA 14 on the Xbox One, PlayStation®4, Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system, and the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system. The forward with the most votes – one goal equals one vote – on July 11 will occupy the final forward spot on the All-Star Fan XI.
All-Star head coach Caleb Porter of the Portland Timbers will choose the game day roster and the starting lineup against Bayern Munich on August 6. The first marquee MLS event to be held at Providence Park in Portland, will be broadcast live on ESPN2, UniMás, and in Canada on TSN and RDS, starting at 6:30 p.m. (Pacific).
A total of 32 All-Stars are named each year, per the collective bargaining agreement. Media, fans, players, the All-Star coach and MLS Commissioner Don Garber all contribute in the All-Star selection process.
The 32 players named 2014 AT&T MLS All-Stars will be selected in four phases:
1) Ballot creation: Media members determined the field of players – eight players per team – who are most deserving of consideration for this year's AT&T MLS All-Star Game. Those players are eligible for fan voting.
2) Fan voting: From May 28 through July 11, fans will select the "Fan XI" All-Stars. Fans can vote via any of three platforms:
a. At MLSsoccer.com: vote for your starting lineup of 11 players, beginning May 28
b. Via Twitter: from July 2 at 6 a.m. Pacific until July 6 at 8:59 p.m. Pacific; full details of Twitter voting will be released on MLSsoccer.com in the near future
c. Via the AT&T / EA SPORTS "More than a Vote" Challenge: fans will score as many goals as possible with their favorite MLS All-Star forward candidate in FIFA 14, with one goal equaling one vote. The forward with the most votes will occupy one of the forward spots on the All-Star Fan XI.
3) Team selection: The MLS All-Star head coach will select the game day roster from the pool of eligible players, consisting of the Fan XI, MLS Commissioner Don Garber's two selections and players who received votes from at least two players.
The Commissioner selections and game day roster will be announced on July 19 or 21.
4) Player selections: MLS players will determine the remainder of the 32 All-Stars named annually per the CBA (known as the "inactive roster").
The final list of 32 All-Stars (4 goalkeepers, 8 defenders, 13 midfielders and 7 forwards) will be announced on MLSsoccer.com on August 6.
2014 AT&T MLS All-Star Game Voting Timeline
May 28: Fan voting begins
July 2-6: Fan voting – Twitter Window
July 11: Fan voting closes
July 16: Fan XI unveiled
July 19 or 21: Game day roster and Commissioner's picks announced
Aug. 6: MLS All-Stars vs. Bayern Munich at Providence Park at 6:30 p.m. Pacific (ESPN2, UniMas, TSN, RDS)


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Updated for 2019, the patented StratoSpire 1 is our best-performing solo model across the widest range of weather conditions. The patented design of the StratoSpire 1 uses trekking poles and an unconventional design to maximize the amount of useable living space. The result is an unbelievably spacious interior, with exterior support strong enough to weather multi-day storms.
Need to sleep two or more? Have a look at the StratoSpire 2.
Want much lighter with room for two? Have a look at the StratoSpire Li.
StratoSpire 1
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Your order includes:
- StratoSpire 1 Fly
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- Silnylon stuff sack


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Although there are 2.6 million registered nurses in the United States, by 2020 America will enter a nursing shortfall of more than 1 million nurses. Growing population and cuts to nursing schools are two main reasons for the shortfall.
However, this infographic from VeterinaryTechnician.com offers solutions to the nursing shortage, along with statistics about the nursing occupation.


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Terence and Christine Hodson. Photo: Penny StephensInvestigators still believe former detective Paul Dale ordered the murder of police informer Terence Hodson.
On the last day of evidence at the inquest into the deaths of Hodson and his wife, Christine, who were killed at their Kew home in May 2004 during Melbourne's underworld war, the Coroners Court heard police maintained the same theory as five years ago, when Mr Dale was charged with Hodson's murder.
Detective Senior Sergeant Boris Buick, who is leading the still-active investigation, said police believed Mr Dale asked underworld boss Carl Williams to have Terence Hodson killed and that Williams had gun-for-hire Rodney Collins carry out the hit.
"There is nothing to suggest that working theory is incorrect," Detective Senior Sergeant Buick told the court on Friday.
Terence Hodson had agreed to give evidence against alleged police corruption over the 2003 burglary of an Oakleigh drug house when he was killed.
Mr Dale, a former drug squad detective, and Collins were in 2009 charged with murdering Terence Hodson. Collins was also charged with killing Mrs Hodson.
The cases against both men collapsed when Williams was bashed to death in prison in 2010.
Williams had told police he ordered Terence Hodson's murder on Mr Dale's behalf.
Mr Dale and Collins, who is serving a jail sentence for an unrelated double murder, deny involvement in the Hodson murders. Both men refused to give evidence at the inquest.
State coroner Ian Gray adjourned the inquest to November, when closing submissions will be made. Judge Gray said there was still a $1 million reward for information that led to a conviction.
The inquest heard earlier on Friday that the Hodsons' son, Andrew, took a gun from his parents' home for protection after he and sister Mandy found their parents' bodies.
Andrew Hodson said he established that the gun his father used for protection was not used in the murders because a used .22 cartridge his sister found near the bodies did not match the calibre of his father's pistol, and he decided against handing it over to police.
"You're not exactly talking about cleanskins. I had a criminal record, my family had criminal records. You find your parents face-down with bullets in them and the amount of people who had died at the time, wouldn't you think it's a wise choice to protect yourself?" he said while giving evidence via video link.
"They had been executed, basically, and I didn't know if they [his parents' killer, or killers] were going to come after me, come after my sisters. And if they did come after me, at least I had something to protect myself with."
Andrew Hodson said he passed the gun to police several days after the murders. A magistrate later imposed a suspended sentence on him for possessing the gun.
The inquest heard police considered Andrew Hodson a suspect in the murders but cleared him of any responsibility.
Also on Friday, the inquest heard Andrew Hodson learnt his father was a police informer from gang boss Tony Mokbel, while the two men were in jail together. Andrew Hodson admitted he used to "indirectly" sell drugs for Mokbel.
"He got word from [then crime patriarch] Lewis Moran that my dad was a dog," Andrew Hodson said of his conversation with Mokbel in jail, some time between August 2001 and May 2002.
He said that later, when out of jail, Mokbel showed him a police document with Terence Hodson's name on it and a registered informer number.
The inquest heard Andrew Hodson was disappointed to learn his father was an informer and the two men fell out over the matter. He said he reconciled with his father well before he was killed.
Hodson said he urged his father to enter the witness protection program for his safety, even though his parents had security systems in their home. He said that had they entered witness protection they would most likely still be alive.
This story Administrator ready to work first appeared on 苏州美甲美睫培训学校.


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Now for a bit of good news - and from an environmental group at that.
Drew Koslow, the Choptank Riverkeeper, reports that while walking the shore of Harris Creek in Talbot County, he saw an "amazing" abundance of oysters growing in the intertidal zone, inundated by water at high tide but exposed to the air at ebb.
"You literally couldn't take a step without walking on oysters," Koslow said in a recent release by the Mid-Shore Riverkeeper Conservancy. "In my four years as the Choptank Riverkeeper, I have never seen spatfall density like there is in Harris Creek."
Harris Creek, on the east side of Tilghman Island near the mouth of the Choptank River, is the focus of a state and federal effort to restore oysters to a corner of the Chesapeake Bay. The estuary once brimmed with the shellfish, but disease, pollution and overharvesting reduced the population to barely one percent of historic levels.
Oysters are a key to the bay's health. Not just tasty to eat, they help filter the bay's waters, and their depletion coincided with the bay's decline.
Harris Creek was targeted for restoration to fulfill one of the goals set by President Obama's 2009 executive order on the bay, which calls for reviving oyster populations in 10 Maryland water ways by 2025. The Army Corps of Engineers and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources began working last year to expand historic oyster bars in the creek and seed them with baby oysters, or spat, produced in a state hatchery.
Waterfront property owners also are contributing to the effort, through the Maryland Grow Oysters Program. It's run jointly by DNR, the Oyster Recover Partnership and various nonprofit groups, including the Midshore Riverkeeper Conservancy, of which Koslow is a part. Dock owners raise oysters from spat for a year in wire mesh cages hung from their piers, then the bivalves are placed under water on bars or reefs in one of the tidal creeks or rivers set aside by the state as sanctuaries.
State, federal and nonprofit groups placed 634 million spat in Maryland's portion of the bay last year, with most going into the Harris Creek oyster sanctuary. The reef buildup and plantings covered nearly a third of the 360 acres of creek that are targeted for restoration.
Oysters appear to be doing better these days, with more surviving the diseases that once decimated them, and summer 2012 saw good reproduction, according to DNR. Koslow said he saw in Harris Creek the fruits of the decades-long struggle to bring back the bay's oysters.
"The amazing thing was the thousands of oysters of differing ages," he said, "indicating successful spatfalls over a number of years."
Latest Environment
The bay's oysters still have a long way to go to recover their historic abundance, but for now the signs are encouraging.


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Jon Eisenberg
Jon B. Eisenberg, "of counsel" with Horvitz & Levy, has 35 years of experience in appellate litigation. He is the principal author of the leading treatise on California civil appellate practice, The Rutter Group's "California Practice Guide: Civil Appeals and Writs." He has argued a dozen cases in the California Supreme Court and nearly 100 cases in the California Courts of Appeal and the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and D.C. Circuit. In 2011, Mr. Eisenberg received California Lawyer magazine's "Attorney of the Year" (CLAY) award for his work on Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation v. Obama, a lawsuit challenging President George W. Bush's warrantless wiretapping program. Mr. Eisenberg received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of California at Irvine and his Juris Doctor from the University of California Hastings College of the Law.


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Zebra Bundt Cake
Hello friends..I am very happy to write my first post on Spicy-Aroma..I have changed my blog name and transferred my blog to new doma...
Hello friends..I am very happy to write my first post on Spicy-Aroma..I have changed my blog name and transferred my blog to new domain..Just to celebrate the new beginning, I made zebra cake. This was my first attempt and fortunately it came out good.,I hope you will like it. :)
- Sieve the dry ingredients i.e. flour, powdered sugar, baking powder and baking soda. Add salt to taste and keep it aside.
- Melt the butter in microwave for 20-25 seconds and let it cool down completely. Add eggs into mixing bowl and beat them nicely. Add butter, vanilla essence and milk to it. Again beat this mixture for about 10 minutes.
- Then start adding little quantity of dry ingredients at a time and beat slowly. Add extra milk if needed. Once all ingredients get blended with each other nicely, divide the mixture into two parts. In one part, sieve the cocoa powder and mix well.
- Before you make layers, preheat the oven at 350 degree F and grease the cake pan. Now, pour around 3 tbsp of white (plain) batter at the bottom of cake pan. Let it spread for few seconds. Pour 3tbsp of chocolate batter at the center of white batter and again wait for few seconds to spread it over white batter. Now, pour white batter at center of chocolate batter and wait for few seconds till it spreads. Keep repeating the alternate layers till you are out of batter. Bake cake for about 30-35 minutes.


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The UC College of Medicine, founded in 1819 by medical pioneer Daniel Drake, MD, is one of the oldest medical schools in the nation.
From graduate degrees to continuing education, the college offers a broad spectrum of educational opportunities.
The UC College of Medicine is continuing its upward path in cutting-edge research to enhance discovery sciences and facilitate translation of these discoveries to improve health and clinical care while recruiting new faculty. The new undergraduate program fosters scientific curiosity and investigation for our students. We are creating an environment of advanced clinical care that surpasses any in the region.
The College of Medicine features 26 academic departments, offering clinical, education and research opportunities.
The UC Cancer Center focuses on disease-based centers of excellence to offer a multidisciplinary approach to cancer care, education and research.
The UC Gardner Neuroscience Institute provides advanced evidence-based treatment and active research of complex neurological conditions.
The UC Heart, Lung and Vascular Institute builds upon its nationally known cardiovascular diseases discoveries to make significant contributions to research, education and patient care.
The Center for Integrative Health and Wellness promotes the value of treating the whole person and works to provide evidence-based wellness initiatives across the Academic Health Center and into the community through education, research and clinical care.
The College of Medicine has identified four institutes in which we have outstanding quality, a track record of success, opportunities for funding and ability to advance translational research and deliver high-quality personalized care.
The University of Cincinnati College of Medicine is known for its strong educational programs. From medical degrees to summer research programs, the College of Medicine offers some of the most innovative and captivating science and research opportunities in the nation.
Today is
Friday, Feb. 21, 2020
The Department pioneered in the training of occupational physicians and industrial hygienists and has more recently developed a strong teaching program in toxicology and epidemiology, biostatistics and ergonomics. The graduates, called the Academy of Kettering Fellows, number more than 1,000. They hold positions of leadership around the World in the private, public, and labor sectors and other organizations. The department offers graduate degrees and medical residencies. Its graduate programs are Environmental Genetics and Molecular Toxicology , Environmental and Occupational Hygiene, Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Environmental and Occupational Medicine, and Epidemiology.
Graduates find careers ranging from the practical, such as occupational medicine and environmental hygiene, to basic research into how genetic and environmental factors affect susceptibility to disease. Our graduates share a common goal: to improve the quality of life by understanding the causes of environmental damage and identifying the effective methods of prevention.


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The NinX Advanced HTPC is the proverbial beast. The unit is small (6.5″ x 7.9″ x 10.3″), and perfectly designed. A sleek, glossy, well-polished case ensures an eye-catching, yet subtle addition to any home theater set-up.
Speaking of, set-up is simple. The unit comes with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit pre-installed, and one could literally plug it directly into the HDTV display and from start up be able to watch 1080p HD video. The NinX Advanced HTPC is loaded to the brim, with a 1.6 GHz Intel Atom processor, an onboard NVidia GeForce 9400M graphics card, 2 GB DDR2 800MHz or a 4 GB maximum, 22x DVD Burner or a 8x Blu-ray/DVD Combo drive, ASUS AT3N7A-I Motherboard, and 500 GB or 1 TB Green hard drive, you can see why your current receiver just looks shabby in comparison. Yes, we frowned, too.
Any mode of entertainment is achievable with the Advanced HTPC, storing entire collections of videos, photos, backups, and music on one central unit is unparalleled. The ability to play, rip, and burn DVDs or Blu-Rays while you watch the latest episode of Fringes, comfortably from your couch… Well, that's a great feeling.
The NinX Advanced HTPC is unique because the possibilities are not limited to the traditional home theater receiver. This is a well-built, virtually silent, powerful computer designed into a compact unit that fits in perfectly next to the TV speakers. An excellent addition to any serious home theater set-up.


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I make an effort to take at least 5 minutes each day and just sketch... usually with my mouse in photoshop. Sometimes I forget, and sometimes it turns out so terrible that I don't save it, but I save most of them (even with small mistakes), sort of like a doodle diary. I change up my brush type, give it odd filters, or play straight with textures sometimes, too. It's a good way to practice both my mouse-drawing and using my preferred image-editing software, Adobe Photoshop. Sometimes I go straight to MS Paint, or use GIMP, or do it the old fashioned way: pencil and a sketchbook, or corner of my notebook.
These are a few doodles I made this week.
I do recommend that, if you like drawing at all, to take the time to sketch each day, even if only for 5 minutes in MS Paint. It's fun and a good break, and it doesn't have to be perfect (or so I keep having to tell myself)... because you're just drawing for yourself.
Try it :)
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Mouse-Brush Sketches
Labels: fun
1 comment:
awww cute! and your talented wish i could do that.... someday! XD
- November 4, 2009 at 7:04 AM
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Sprechen Sie mit einem Experten
Millimeter-Wave FCC Part 15 Transmitter Compliance
Achieve compliance with FCC Part 15 Regulations using harmonic mixers and standard gain horn antennas
OML's harmonic mixers and standard gain horn antennas when combined with the Keysight PXA signal analyzer or PSA spectrum analyzer insure that you can achieve compliance to FCC Part 15 regulations for your millimeter wave transmitters.
- Certify millimeter-wave transmitters to FCC Part 15 regulations
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- Four configurations spanning 40 GHz to 220 GHz
- Request more information and Keysight's partner, OML, Inc., will contact you to discuss your requirements in more detail.
Documents & Downloads
Millimeter-Wave FCC Part 15 Transmitter Compliance Test
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Brochure 2012-04-10


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Hi all, Please find below a Call for Chapters for a new contributed book to be entitled Linking_Government_Data. Please distribute this information as widely as possible to help us collect useful success stories, techniques and benefits to using Linked Data in governments. Thanks in advance. Regards, Dave -- David Wood announces a Call for Chapters for a new book to be entitled Linking Government Data. First proposal submissions are due November 30, 2010 to firstname.lastname@example.com. The book is intended to be published in print, ebooks format and on the Web, but a publisher has not yet been chosen. More than one publisher is interested. CHAPTER PROPOSALS INVITED FROM RESEARCHERS AND PRACTITIONERS IN LINKED DATA, DATA MANAGEMENT AND WEB INFORMATION SYSTEMS 1st Proposal Submission Deadline: November 30, 2010 Full Chapter Submission Deadline: March 1, 2010 Linking Government Data A book edited by David Wood, Talis, USA I. Introduction Linking Government Data is the application of Semantic Web architecture principles to real-world information management issues faced by government agencies. The term LGD is a play on Linking Open Data (LOD), a community project started by the World Wide Web Consortium's Semantic Web Education and Outreach Interest Group aimed at exposing data sets to the Web in standard formats and actively relating them to one another with hyperlinks. Data in general is growing at a much faster rate than traditional technologies allow. The World Wide Web is the only information system we know that scales to the degree that it does and is robust to both changes and failure of components. Most software does not work nearly as well as the Web does. Applying the Web's architectural principles to government information distribution programs may be the only way to effectively address the current and future information glut. Challenges remain, however, because the publication of data to the Web requires government agencies to give up the central control and planning traditionally applied by IT departments. A primary goal of this book is to highlight both costs and benefits to broader society of the publication of raw data to the Web by government agencies. How might the use of government Linked Data by the Fourth Estate of the public press change societies? How can agencies fulfill their missions with less cost? How must intra-agency culture change to allow public presentation of Linked Data? This book follows the successful publication of Linking Enterprise Data by Springer Science+Business Media in October 2011. II. Objective of the Book This book aims to provide practical approaches to addressing common information management issues by the application of Semantic Web and Linked Data research to government environments and to report early experiences with the publication of Linked Data by government agencies. The approaches taken are based on international standards. The book is to be written and edited by leaders in Semantic Web and Linked Data research and standards development and early adopters of Semantic Web and Linked Data standards and techniques. III. Target Audience This book is meant for Semantic Web researchers and academicians, and CTOs, CIOs, enterprise architects, project managers and application developers in commercial, not-for-profit and government organizations concerned with scalability, flexibility and robustness of information management systems. Not-for-profit organizations specifically include the library and museum communities. Recommended topics include, but are not limited to, the following: – social, technical and mission values of applying Web architecture to government content, such as the means by which deployment agility, resilience and reuse of data may be accomplished – Relating to other eGov initiatives – Building of social (human-centered) communities to curate distributed data – Enterprise infrastructure for Linking Government Data – Persistent Identifiers – Linking the government cloud – Applications of Linked Data to government transparency, organizational learning or curation of/access to distributed information – Publishing large-scale Linked Data. Contributions from those working with government Linked Data projects of all sizes are sought. Many stories exist from the U.S. and U.K. government agencies, but contributions from Estonia, Germany, New Zealand, Norway, etc, etc, are more than welcome. IV. Publisher The book is intended to be published in print, ebooks format and on the Web, but a publisher has not yet been chosen. More than one publisher is interested. This book is expected to be published in late 2011. V. Proposals Proposals for chapters should consist of a summary of intended material, approximately 1-2 pages in length. Please provide a working chapter title, authors names and affiliations, relevant experience with Linked Data projects for a government entity (or approaches applicable to such entities) and a description of the proposed chapter's contents. VI. Important Dates November 30, 2010: Proposal Submission Deadline December 22, 2010: Notification of Proposal Acceptance February 28, 2011: Full Chapter Submission March 21, 2011: Review Results Notification April 15, 2011: Revised Chapter Submission May 1, 2011: Final Decision Notification May 15, 2010: Final Revised and Formatted Chapter Submission Inquiries and submissions should be sent by electronic mail to: David Wood (firstname.lastname@example.com) VP Engineering Talis Inc.Received on Thursday, 7 October 2010 14:02:42 UTC
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Friday, 17 January 2020 16:21:05 UTC


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Every so often, the great Internet resource that everyone uses Wikipedia starts asking people for donations. This year a gigantic morning pee-coloured banner pops up asking for a few bucks so the lights can stay on and we can all get free information. It's a great cause! Can you imagine the internet without Wikipedia? But have any of you guys ever donated?
NY Mag hilariously decided to find out who the people who donate to Wikipedia are and "if they're just better people in general"? It's pretty great, they ask people if they've donated to Wikipedia and why and then ask them a follow up question involving picking up trash, calling their parents and pressing the 'close door' button in an elevator. Check it out here. [NY Mag]


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While Andrew Jones clearly designs great speakers (I've personally heard the Reference models), one has to wonder if all the exotic materials and extreme expense really produces a better sounding speaker. It seems like the TADs, Magicos, and Best Loudspeaker In The World company ( from the ever modest YG Acoustics) are living in a vacuum - at least where mini monitors are concerned. With speakers like the KEF 201/2 Reference offering in some instances better performance ( measured cleaner midrange/tweeter spectral decay, for example) at a fraction of the price ( $6000/pair), it would seem that some of the design parameters for the uber priced mini monitors are a bit misplaced. While Andrew's job with the 8 inch woofer in the compact Reference is commendable, one can achieve noticeably better performance with a properly integrated sub or a modest sized tower like the Revel Ultimas at a fraction of the cost. Concentric beryllium speaker units are a wonderful thing but only if the end result and it's associated cost can be justified with improved performance. On that count, the verdict doesn't seem very clearly in favor of this uber pricey mini monitor.
TAD Compact Reference CR1 loudspeaker
Andrew Jones designed some superb-sounding speakers for Pioneer, including the S-1EX, which Kal Rubinson enthused over in the March 2007 issue of Stereophile; and, more recently, the SP-BS41-LR, which, said Robert J. Reina in his September 2011 review, offers astonishingly uncolored sound quality for just $150/pair.
But it has been two Jones designs for Pioneer's Technical Audio Devices Laboratories division (TAD) that have attracted the press's attention at recent audio shows, both designed with no apparent limit on the bill of materials: first the floorstanding Reference One ($78,000/pair), then the stand-mounted Compact Reference CR1 ($37,000/pair plus matching stands for $3600/pair). I couldn't envisage how I'd be able to get a pair of 350-lb Reference Ones down the steps into my basement listening room. But the Compact Reference weighs a more manageable 101.4 lbswhen I visited the TAD room at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show last January, I asked Jones for review samples.
Andrew Jones had worked on the groundbreaking Uni-Q drive-unit when he was at KEF, which mounts a dome tweeter on what would have been the midrange unit's dustcap at the center of its cone. The benefit of this is that the acoustic centers of the midrange unit and tweeter coincide, and their directivities can be made to match in the crossover region. There are therefore no discontinuities in the speaker's radiation patternno off-axis flares or gullies that can lead to coloration, even when the on-axis output is flat. The trade-offthere are always trade-offsis that the symmetrical acoustic environment for the tweeter means that diffraction effects from the boundaries of that environment all occur at the same frequency. Minimizing these effects requires that special attention be paid to the profile of the midrange cone.
All of the TAD Reference speakers' drive-units are made by TAD. The midrange and treble are handled by what TAD calls the Coherent Source Transducer (CST). As shown in the exploded diagram on the next page, this is a concentric driver combining a 6.5" midrange unit with a 1.375" tweeter. Both diaphragms are made of beryllium, which is both a very light metal and extremely rigid, properties that make its use optimal. The diaphragms are produced using a vapor-deposition technique developed by TAD. The profile of the tweeter dome was developed using what TAD calls the Harmonized Synthetic Diaphragm Optimum Method (HSDOM) of computer analysis. The result is a response that is truly pistonic within the audioband, and is claimed to extend to 100kHz. Because beryllium is very brittle, the CST drive-unit is protected by an integral wire-mesh grille, and is mounted within a silver-finished ring that smoothly continues the midrange cone's flare.
Frequencies below 250Hz are produced by an 8" woofer mounted below the CST unit on the CR1's matte-black front baffle. The woofer has what TAD calls a Tri-Laminate Composite Cone (TLCC). This features a central, foamed-acrylic core, with front and back woven coatings of an aramid material. Again, the goal was to produce a diaphragm that would be light and stiff, but with good internal damping. Unusually in these days of ubiquitous half-roll rubber surrounds, the woofer cone is terminated in a corrugated suspension that TAD claims offers high linearity. The voice-coil is 4" in diameter but only 12mm long, operating in a 22mm-long, magnet gap, which again confers excellent linearity over a wide range of cone excursion. TAD calls this an Optimized Field Geometry Magnet Structure (OFGMS). The woofer is reflex-loaded by a rectangular port at the base of the front baffle that is 9" wide by 1" high, including the flared profile at the port's sides, and is covered by a removable black mesh grille.
The crossover network features air-cored coils and film capacitors in the high-pass feed to the CST driver, and inductors with laminated steel cores in the low-pass woofer feed, to give high power handling and low saturation. Electrical connection is via two pairs of high-quality binding posts on an aluminum-alloy panel set into the enclosure's rear.
The Compact Reference's enclosure is made using what TAD calls Structurally Inert Laminated Enclosure Technology (SILENT). This has a strong internal framework formed by 0.9"-thick, CNC-machined birch plywood clad with high-frequency, hot-pressformed, laminated MDF panels. A 1.1"-thick aluminum base lowers the center of gravity and stabilizes the cabinet. The top of the cabinet and the gently curved side panels are veneered and finished in an attractive transparent coat. The matching, wooden, three-pillared stand has the same matte-black finish as the speaker's front baffle. Two small positioning pegs on the speaker's base fit into corresponding holes in the stand's top plate, and the stand is locked to the base of the speaker with an Allen-head bolt. The result is a visually unobtrusive yet attractively styled piece of furniture.
Andrew Jones helped me set up the Compact References in my room. And before you write to complain that this is special treatment, at this price level it should be mandatory for the dealer to set up the speakers in the customer's home. We moved the speakers back and forth and from side to side, using a CD that Andrew was familiar with, until he had gotten a balance between the midbass and upper bass that he felt was optimal. Only then did we screw the carpet-piercing cones into the bases of the stands. Though the low frequencies were extended, they were well controlled, meaning that the speakers could be placed a little closer to the sidewalls than with the Vivid B1s that had preceded them. The centers of the woofers ended up 75" from the wall behind them, 24" from the LPs and books that line their respective sidewalls, and 30" from the floor. This gave a rather wide-angle view into the soundstage, but that stage was stable, without any hole in the center.
Though the CR1 is ostensibly a stand-mounted design, it didn't lack low frequencies. The one-thirdoctave warble tones on Editor's Choice (CD, Stereophile STPH016-2) were reproduced with full weight down to the 32Hz band, but with a fast rolloff below. Listening to the half-stepspaced toneburst track from Editor's Choice with a stethoscope pressed against the enclosure revealed no resonances. The tonebursts "spoke" cleanly, with only a slight degree of blurring at the onset of each burst below 100Hzexcellent performance for a ported design. And again, the signal was reproduced with full weight to 32Hz.
I've been on a Bill Frisell jag since seeing the hyper-imaginative guitarist live at the Village Vanguard a few months ago. I somewhat belatedly picked up a copy of his 2001 Blues Dream album (CD, Nonesuch PRCD 300361), which has a Stygian double-bass ostinato underpinning the horn arrangement of "Ron Carter." The CR1 is not a minimonitor, of course, but the impact and weight of David Piltch's bass as reproduced by the TADs would have done a pair of big floorstanders proudit had me wondering where the subwoofer was!
don't forget the marvelous (IMHO) dynaudio c1.
Being involved with musicians, I have the opportunity to hear live unamplified acoustic music (from up close in a variety of spaces) several times a week. To my ear the TAD's capture more of that original acoustic texture and detail woven throughout the spectrum than other technologies (save for large panel speakers)
While on a 3-4 year quest for a reference speaker for my listening room/post production studio and to possibly sell, I had an opportunity to hear most of the highly regarded, latest technology transducers available, some in my own system.
In my extended evaluation of the TAD, I tried playing just one CR1 and another single (cutting edge) speaker, both being fed a mono signal.
Moving back and forth between the 2 different speakers, I could finally understand what the TAD's were doing. That single CR1 playing a mono signal possessed an ease and a freedom in air the other speaker didn't. There wasn't a mechanical nature to the TAD. The other speaker sounded extremely good (a keeper hadn't the TAD showed up), but in contrast, the music from the CR1 just flowed and imaged a 3d presentation that didn't have that "reproduced sound". The impersonation of stand up bass was spot on (so thought a friend who owns a stand up) and a horn blast really emulates that bell sound I hear from horn players live.
The evaporated beryllium cones are so thin and in fact brittle to the touch (hence the grills) that they are highly responsive in a way that I don't hear with other driver materials. In early TAD experiments it turned out that vapor deposited Beryllium sounded better for cones than even using diamonds. Acuton does make a diamond midrange (to match their tweeter) but just the 2 raw mid drivers cost more than a full pair of CR1's.
The coincident design of the mid/hi driver allows one to hear phase information in recordings that is normally not as available. Details like subtle movements in a singer's position relative to the mic capsule can now be easily heard, and from many places from within the room!
The fact that studios like AIR and Bill Schnee chose TAD's means that what you're hearing at home isn't just stunning and beautiful effect, it's a highly critical tool and an accurate transducer.
I've now used the CR1's on tubes and various solid state technologies with great results.
When you're in the New York area, you can hear TAD's at our studio.


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Coloradan Jeff Bridges has a starring role in a blog post about Occupy Harvard, a most unusual 99 percent camp.
Bridges, who worked on John Salazar's first congressional campaign, is a master's student of divinity at Harvard University. The 1998 graduate of Arapahoe High School was interviewed by blogger Quinn Norton, who is embedding with Occupy protestors for pieces appearing on Wired.com. Occupy Harvard is not like other camps, she wrote.
Bridges, Norton wrote, "speaks with the ease and polish of someone that knows the media."
Well, that's no surprise considering his work history and pedigree.


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Daimoinon would fall under my no infernal vampires thing, unfortunately.
is this still open?
More the merrier I say, like I said seems like a fun group overall save we have no Baali it would have been fun to play one. But I like my concept of my character it should be interesting.
Thanks Ruby,So, this is my current character concept:A sixth generation Lasombra who follows the Road of Kings. He was born in the early 5th century. During his mortal lifetime, he was a Roman Legionnaire of Germanic, possibly Goth or Marcomanni origin. He was a third generation soldier born in the early 5th century, at a time when the sons of soldiers were required to take their fathers' profession. He lived through the Visigoth sack of Rome. He performed a great feat of arms in defense of Rome, during the sack. Shortly thereafter, the Methuselah Sybil embraced him before she decreased her generation via diablerie. Alternatively, I thought he may have joined one of the nascent monastic orders and impressed the Sybil with his faith and martial acumen. He was involved in the Second and Third crusades. He has, or perhaps had, a connection and some measure of influence over the Templars, like Owain and Montrovant from the Blood Curse and Grail's Covenant Trilogy. I thought perhaps the increasing dominance of Mages of the Knights of the Temple of Solomon, specifically the Cabal of Pure Thought, may have necessitated his flight to Constantinople.Regarding the references to the Cabal of Pure Thought, I do not expect them to show up in the game. This is just background fluff.
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Franklin paves way for new hospital
Franklin Township approved an ordinance that may clear the way for a new hospital building during Monday's special meeting.
"It's just opening up the zoning so it includes health care, because we have nothing in there right now that says they can put something like that there," chairman Jason Frey said.
Representatives from St. Luke's recently presented a basic sketch of a prospective health care center to Franklin's planning commission, though no other documents have been submitted.
The supervisors said that a similar ordinance was to be added to the zoning code in the near future, but they decided to pass the overlay ahead of time in case St. Luke's, or any other health care facility, wishes to begin construction any sooner.
"We're redoing our zoning right now, and that was going to be put in there, but they just wanted to move forward before we get to that point. It may take us eight or nine months yet before we update our zoning," vice chairman Robin Cressley said.
Frey said that the ordinance will allow for the construction of health care facilities on plots of land measuring at least 30 acres within the township.
"This actually comes out of West Brunswick Township in Schuylkill County. That's the basis for it, and I reviewed it and somewhat modified it," solicitor William Schwab said.
In addition to providing jobs and easy access to emergency medical care, the establishment of a health care facility could also increase property values in the area. Frey said that this a particularly attractive benefit, as the township will lose its elementary school soon, which could adversely affect residents' property values.
Though no one made any comment on the matter at the special meeting, Frey said that he has heard overwhelmingly positive responses from people in the township in regard to a new hospital.
"I believe it means good things. Hopefully, they'll decide to build in our township. We're trying to be business-friendly and do exactly what they ask so we can get that in the township," Frey said.
BTW, this whole "I don't have kids in the school" excuse for not wanting to pay taxes is one of the worst examples of how selfish and self centered we have become. You went to school. Your kids went to school. During that time, tax payers without kids helped pay the bills. I doubt you complained that it was unfair for them. Now that your kids are grown and you got what you wanted from the schools, you have decided you don't want to pay. Being a good citizen means paying taxes for services you no longer need.
By the way, it is those who are aged and in retirement that cost the tax payers the most. Senior housing, PACE, Social Security, Medicare, senior transport, senior centers, etc etc are all paid by the current workforce. What if they took your attitude that they shouldn't have to pay since they don't use those services?
As for your request for higher taxes, donations are always accepted.
Your idea of taking from those that do not have is not new and still is an immoral request. Read Horatio Bunce and Davy Crockett, "Not yours to give". Don't be the fool that repeats history, especially destructive history.
Citizen David F. Bradley Sr.
Exempt Land 1,432,800
Exempt Building 145,898,800
Taxable Land 0
Taxable Building 0
Total 147,331,600
Taxable Total 0
Mills Taxes
County 3.640000 $ 0.00
School 18.040000 $ 0.00
Municipality 8.110000 $ 0.00
Total $ 0.00
These are all big ZEROS in the tax columns. This data is from the Lehigh County Assessment site.
So I would guess Carbon County/Franklin township are similar?
If not then congrats to St.Lukes for planning on paying taxes in Carbon and Franklin.
Look out fixed income home-owners, this one will probably hurt badly.
Personally I like not paying higher taxes...I can keep adding to my 401k and IRAs.
Here's a thought. Since you are on a fixed income, move into one of the senior high rises in the area, or to senior centers. If life is passing you by, and you can't keep up, you have to fix yourself, not try to force other to hold themselves back just so you can benefit.
Can you call me son, though, too please. I want you to feel superior to me, and think you are better than me :)
This is a money grab by the retirees, pure and simple. The average family will have their tax burden increased.
But I am more interested in a previous LTE written by Byron Schnell where you referenced my first name yet I never mentioned it, nor did anyone else. This raises privacy concerns and possible legal issues. It suggest you work for Times News and accessed my login information.
I don't work for the times and I have no way of accessing your info but you very obviously post under multiple handles. You do the exact same cuts and pastes under each handle
Defend something that is well known and is well understood? The bill is a guaranteed dollar for dollar tax shift off property owners and onto everyone in the state and even some from out of state in the form of increased PIT and SUT. It is a far more fair and just way of funding schools. It is the heart and soul of the bill, SB76, and I explained this all in detail previously. As I posted on the other discussion and straight from the PA IFO analysis of SB76. The elimination of property taxes would significantly reduce the property tax share and would clearly increase the attractiveness of the Commonwealth for business location and expansion. (Page 25).
PIT goes away when one retires meaning all the folks going on fixed income have a built in inflation hedge. A very compassionate and much needed reality of SB76.
Funding schools is a major part of the state budget, I think the PA IFO team took the task of analyzing SB76 damn seriously. They could literally bankrupt the state if their analysis is not correct. Oh wait, the current method of funding schools is already doing that, sorry!
Since you stated you have a business background, check the credentials of the PA IFO team. http://www.ifo.state.pa.us/about.cfm
It is true that organizations such and the PA Chamber of Commerce are against the bill because they consider a PIT and SUT increase a tax on business despite the fact they would be relived of their biggest tax bill, SD tax. In reality, it is special interest driving these organizations. Once again, the PA IFO analysis of SB76 clears the air on these false talking points where one can easily discern it is special interest as driving force.
I should never use The_Facts handle when discussing SB76. Full Disclosure follows. Yes my first name is Robert, my full name is Robert Kistler. I am co-chair of the Pennsylvania Taxpayers Cyber Coalition (PTCC) of Carbon County. We are one of nearly 90 grassroots organization who crafted the wording of SB76. We own the bill, no changes can be made to the bill unless we okay the change. No pork can be added to the bill. We simply found lawmakers willing to work with us to sponsor the bill. I am on the PTCC Leadership Team. We work directly with Legislators on efforts to get SB76 enacted into law.
We already discussed your 61% scare number, as clarified in other LTE discussion, the vast majority still win. These are tired PSEA talking points that have be discounted many times over. Despite the 61% scare number the PA IFO states, "Working age homeowners realize a tax cut. The analysis finds that the increase in federal income tax (through lower itemized deductions), state income tax, and sales tax is more than offset by the reduction in property taxes. (Page 21)".
They state CUT, not increase as you desperately try to project.
61% is the accurate number and any other way of presenting it is dishonest. Let me ask you this, if your property tax went from $1000 to $1610 what would you say it went up? Why would you try to characterize income tax differently? Can't have it both ways.
You can't find the IFO analysis of HB/SB 76? Are you mentally challenged, fool? It's right here: http://www.ifo.state.pa.us/releases.cfm?type=5&yr=2013
Aren't you cute, criticizing the "terribly built" PTCC website? That's typical of low intelligence people like you - if you can't offer a valid argument, resort to insults instead.
Finally, your 61% PIT increase argument is a sleazy way to alarm people with large numbers and proves your dishonesty. The increase in the PIT is 3.07% to 4.95%, an increase of 1.88% or a bit less than two cents on the dollar. That's the truth in simple terms, not your exaggeration.
I'll take you on head-to-head on this subject any time you wish, genius, and I will drive you into the ground. You know NOTHING and I am an expert on this legislation; I am licking my chops for the opportunity to embarrass you. I don't see that happening, though, because you are a coward who will not stand up to his lies.
I'll address the business part. I am yet to find a business group or chamber in agreement with the bill mainly due to the tax impact on small business. However, most small businesses do not own the property they operate out of, especially start-ups that do not have capital to fund the purchase of property. Therefore they do not get the benefit of the property tax decrease but feel the full force of the income tax and sales tax. They will also be hurt by decreases in consumer spending(acknowledged in the IFO report.)
Since you're so smart, tell me how your argument addresses this. In January of this year the IFO predicted that for the foreseeable future and if the paradigm doesn't change, school property taxes will increase by ONE HALF BILLION dollars annually. Even you should be able to see that this is unsustainable. How do you propose to solve the problem? BTW, this is factual but this time you can do your own research.
Unless you are willing to debate me in person, I'll have no more to say on this page because it's really pretty useless. Just one final question: For whom are you a shill? The PSEA, the PSBA, PASBO, PICPA, the PA Chamber or any of the other greedy special interests who couldn't care less about the families who are suffering because of the damaging property tax? At least have the courage to identify the group you represent. Those who wrote the piece at the link below which, by the way, was distributed by schoolchildren with your tax money, are the people you are defending. Are you proud of yourself? You are despicable. http://www.ptcc.us/pdf/psba_rebuttal_011717_it-bold.pdf
I agree with the IFO, costs are going up. There are many factors that contribute, health care and pensions especially. I would be supportive of a bill that specifically addresses the cost issues, perhaps through a statewide health insurance plan that leverages the high number of school employees to drive per employee costs down and a transition to a 403b type of pension program. The problem with 76 is it does not address costs, it is a revenue and taxing bill. It seeks to provide relief to a narrow group, seniors, at the expense of many others. Families, according to independent analysis, will pay around $400 a year more under this bill. The over 70 demographic only pays 18% of the school taxes as it is, a further shift will hurt families. Business will be taxed more too.
Address the cost issue first and resist passing a taxation bill and muddying the water with a solution that does more damage than good
You have no comment about the PSBA handout that YOU helped to finance? I would have thought you would have had something to say. And your solution to move to a statewide health insurance plan and a transition to a 403b type of pension program verifies your lack of knowledge of this entire issue since these measures do nothing to address the true problems. To solve this problem permanently the entire public school finance system must be gutted and replaced. Oh, and your comment that "the problem with 76 is it does not address costs" is another of your inaccuracies. See Chapter 13 of SB 76, P/N 913, where the cost controls are defined by limiting annual increases to to the schools to the rate of an inflation index. The IFO estimates that this will afford every school district an approximate annual 4% increase.
I said before that I was finished but I couldn't help but renege when I thought about the piece at the link below. If you are so concerned about businesses, have a look at this:
http://www.ptcc.us/lobbyist080316.htm I'd really like to hear your thoughts on the piece.
Still waiting to debate you!
Of course I have financial interest in the bill. As a family with a modest home, purchased well within my means, who works, we stand to get clobbered by this bill. I put my numbers in the calculator on the PTCC website and I will be bitten for an additional $2000 annually. You have financial interest in it too. What's your point?
76 places restrictions on increases in tax that arent even as stringent as what already exists. But tax is not a cost to the school district, it's a revenue so it is a cap on revenue not costs. Without cost controls, revenue will not meet costs within a year and there will be deficits.(IFO report 2013). Where the money comes from has no affect on the costs. It's like believing your health premiums and mortgage payment will suddenly decrease if you don't get a raise this year from your boss. Please understand what cost and revenue means when discussing this.


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VICTORINOX x WK INTERACT = awesome swiss army knife on a chain.
HyperSonic Sound system invented by Elwood "Woody" Norris a couple years back, picked up by American Technology Corporation.
love this short directed by Tony Roche. "how to tell when a relationship is over". via coudal.
rene gagnon's "top dollar trash" is awesome. a great example of LEGAL street art. tagging trash with posh logos. brilliant!
the higher-end version of his holiday dinnerwear collection, tablestories by tord...i love this spider bowl
as new year's resolutions come around. it seems time to bring back the NeXfit's BK-A6, an exercise bike for gamers. The arms of the bike move, and a control stick is integrated into them, allowing you to navigate your favorite games. SWEET!
meduse pipes spotted on designspotter. what gorgeous water pipes...
dude, its called mayo! its actually a piece of furniture for children designed by fitorio bowo leksono.
Seitz 6x17 Digital. 160 million pixels.
Cappucino art : six differet designs packed in lluminium box by Aerolatte
Design by Lone Oerum.
Benq Siemens Concept Phone. Not a single Phone, not a single Personal Assistant, not a simple camera. All of these thanks to an interactive screen
with everyone on vacation, these b.d. covers seemed appropriate. comic covers for something pretty unfunny...leaving your poor pets at home.
Beautiful and very cool Carnifexum fly swatters that made in artlebedev studio.Those who are fed up with killing flies with a rolled newspaper.
Concept for a new type of telephone, looking back to simple action. No camera, no GPS, no MMS, no Internet navigation. Just dial and talk
berlin based potipoti has some adorable prints and cute pieces. =)
Unfold: the second episode of Backspace by Stephen Watkins. Beautiful. Via Wooster Collective
FEATUREDFull Vinyl: The Art of Subversive Toy Design Book review over at .com... Yes, that is a rubber squid keychain in the corrugated cardboard cover.
Taschen has opened its own store in SoHo, featuring favorite Taschen titles, including 'The Big Book of Breasts' and the 'Cabinet of Natural Curiosities.'
The Vibro-Sounder (or is it Freedom Driver?) is tiny and allows solid objects to function as speakers. Originally via Compact-Impact but it now seems to be missing.
An interesting play on an old theme. [Editor's note: whatcha trying to say about LA? =P ]
Superdupia's Spaghetti Book is a brilliant way to perfectly measure your pasta portions, and store it on your bookshelf.
Paul Baars Plug Nightlights ~ via Polkadot.it
Mooooo. Luxist's description of these Sweet Bliss Moo's will make you drool.
FEATUREDSecret swallowable notes for pill poppers... these should have been THE xmas present tags for the new year... oh well, next year.
"Hello Sea Pony" by Amy Sol. She's doing a group show with Stella Im Hultberg and Audrey Kawasaki at the Compound Gallery in Portland Jan 4
FEATUREDThe works of Stella Im Hultberg... there's something about the hair worth getting lost in...
CONDOLEEZZA is Scott Teplin's latest sketch, done in pen, ink and watercolor on paper.
These Modern Mantras are mind blowing... reminiscent of hirschfeld... only taken to an extremist perspective doodling? By Swedish Thomas Broome
Designers: DresserJohnson a design team responsible for the MOMA icons above and the BKLYNBUNNY blog. HOW magazine also had a nice write up about them recently.
The Compact Oasis - mini portable humidifier...
TokiDoki on Smashbox ~ Shade Elaine and i think bonus points for someone who gets pictures of a real person pulling the TD smashbox compact out of a TD le sportsac while wearing TD fornarinas?
You can't say "photoshopped."
Amazing photograph of Tiger's Nest monastery above the Paro valley, a place of pilgrimage for Buddhists, taken by Leo Palmer.
Frank Kozik creates a glow in the dark hoodie for Kidrobot! Great piece and only available in limited numbers as of end of this week!
Three very small comics might be tiny, but are big in imagination, from robots trying to get away to fighting monsters in alphabetical order and finally conquering one sheperd these stories are completly random and fun.
Some really nice street art by dutch artist lennard schuurmans. Take a look at the "type" section... nice work!
FEATUREDMore of D.L.&Co.'s curious goodness. Absolutely love this thorn apple!
A Melbourne artist unleashes his (her?) inner graffiti geek on a brick wall. Coolio.
Join interior designers MOMO as they pursue thier creative journey. Another piece of work by Dezainwerkz.
Impressive flickr set "Tiny Animals on Fingers"
Collection of 18 Bond No. 9 NY neighborhood scents. What does chinatown smell like? roast duck and firecrackers and random herbs?
Awesome clock available at Anthropologie. I need it.
Now not only does Oakley have a great selection of designs in their sun glasses line up, but it's now possible for you to customize your own pair.
Merry x.mas, as pentagram has rebranded xmas for the brand equity machine it really is. Happy Christmas 2.0 kids.
Custom 1-UP Mushroom Crochet Scarf Diy Mario Bros. Nintendo by Urban Princess
Start the new year off with this beautiful alternative to the traditional wall calendar. designed by W. Bradford Paley (via infomation aesthetics)
FEATUREDNew Tree Gourmet Belgian Chocolates - i love the packaging and the delicious flavors like Sexy, Blush, and Vigor.
From design duo Tram Pham and Dominic D'Andrea comes the Li Xi Gift Envelope, just in time for Chinese New Year. The envelopes are beautifully laser- crafted out of crepe.


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John L. Allen, Jr., author of "The Global War on Christians," today told the U.S. House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations that one reason Christians are increasingly persecuted is that Christianity is expanding in countries where religious freedom is lacking. Some states in India are prime examples. While most estimates of deaths from the 2008 attacks in India's Orissa (now Odisha) state are around 100, Allen said the figure could be as high as 500.
"In 2008, a series of riots ended with as many as 500 Christians killed, many hacked to death by machete-wielding Hindu radicals, and thousands more injured and at least 50,000 left homeless," he said.
Tehmina Arora, an attorney with Alliance Defending Freedom-India, told the subcommittee that the impunity that violent mobs enjoy is an important factor in anti-Christian persecution in India.
"Police resist filing criminal complaints and have on several instances allegedly threatened to falsely incriminate victims in some cases," she said. "The hostility of the state machinery towards the victims of communal and targeted violence was most evident in the aftermath of the violence in Orissa. The National People's Tribunal on Kandhamal, a private inquiry titled 'Waiting for Justice' clearly outlined the apathy of the state administration towards the victims and their families. The report also highlighted the fear faced by victims and survivors as well as the refusal of police to register complaints."
In many cases, only orders from the High Court in Orissa prompted police to file reports against assailants, Arora said. In one case, a Christian whose house was burned down filed a report but no case was registered against the named suspects.
"I was attacked during the 2008 riot and my house was burnt," Gajana Digal told Alliance Defending Freedom-India. "I lodged in the local police station, Tikabali, which was not registered against the accused persons ... I have repeatedly sought help from the local police station for my protection but no action was taken in spite of my petition dated 19 May 2010 against the criminals with specific names like Dahia Mallick, Sudhira Pradhan, Ajiban Mallick, Mantu Gauda and Biranchi Behera. My petition was not registered and no action was taken against the accused persons."
As in other states, the government of Orissa has failed to effectively prosecute those accused of carrying out violent attacks against the Christian community, Arora said. Though the Orissa government claims it took strict action against the accused, statistics show that of 827 reports filed, charges were brought in only 512. Just 75 cases ended in convictions, with only 477 people convicted, primarily for smaller or "petty" offences such as burning of houses and damaging property, she said.
"Only nine people have been convicted for their role in killing of the Christians," Arora told the subcommittee. "Human right activists claim that as many as 84,000 people were accused by the victims in the over 2,500 complaints sent to the police. The acquittals have been due to shoddy investigation and lack of judicial oversight."
In several murder cases, police failed to gather key forensic evidence such as bone fragments after mobs set bodies on fire; nor did they produce key witnesses at trial, she said.
"Police also failed to provide adequate protection to witnesses, many of whom later retracted their statements made to the police allegedly due to fear and intimidations," Arora said. "Even years after the violence, Christians in Kandhamal, Orissa continue to live in fear, unable in many parts to return to their homes and fields. They have been threatened and coerced to convert to Hinduism."
Vacant Post
Elliott Abrams, a commissioner of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), told the subcommittee that lack of an ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom has sent a message of apathy to countries that routinely persecute religious minorities.
"The president last week at the National Prayer Breakfast suggested a nomination would be coming quickly -- I hope so, because this is the key official within the U.S. government in the executive branch, coordinating and developing U.S. policy for international religious freedom," Abrams said. "And if there is a long vacancy, it weakens the attention of the executive branch, it weakens the efforts of the executive branch, and it sends a message to countries around the world of inattention and lack of concern."
Obama left the post vacant until midway through his second year in office, finally nominating Susan Johnson Cook on June 15, 2009. The Senate put a hold on her nomination, which then expired at the end of the 111th session of Congress on Jan. 3, 2011; she was re-nominated and confirmed in April 2011, but she resigned in October of last year.
The Obama administration has not set a timeline to nominate another ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom. Obama, whose administration has come under criticism for limiting the definition of religious freedom and doing little to protect it, defended his record before the 3,500 people at the prayer breakfast on Thursday (Feb. 6).
Asserting that promoting religious freedom is a key objective of U.S. foreign policy, Obama appeared to agree with long-time pleas from advocacy groups that the White House regards international religious freedom as an integral part of national security.
"History shows that nations that uphold the rights of their people -- including the freedom of religion -- are ultimately more just and more peaceful and more successful," he said. "Nations that do not uphold these rights sow the bitter seeds of instability and violence and extremism. So freedom of religion matters to our national security."
Obama also called on Iran to release imprisoned pastor Saeed Abedini and on North Korea to free missionary Kenneth Bae.
At the subcommittee hearing, which was live-streamed this morning, chairman Chris Smith (R-N.J.), asked USCIRF Commissioner Abrams why the administration has been slow to designate violators of religious freedom as Countries of Particular Concern (CPCs) as directed by the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) of 1998.
"The system is not working the way it was established in the Act -- it hasn't under several administrations, it's not just the Obama administration," Abrams said. "The Obama administration made CPC designations only once in the first four years, and the Act requires it every year."
Such inaction sends a message to other governments that the United States does not care about violations of religious freedom, Abrams said. The IRFA empowers the United States to impose sanctions on countries designated as CPCs.
"There are a lot of things that can be done," Abrams told the subcommittee. "On the sanctions angle, all too often there are no sanctions or there's a doubling -- you have a country that's under some other sanction, and so you say, 'Well, that's for religious freedom too.'
"There's lots of flexibility, and I'm afraid we're not using it, so the message that comes across is one of inattention. The CPC system, I would say, is broken."
This story first appeared at Morning Star News (www.MorningStarNews.org), a California-based independent news service focusing on the persecution of Christians worldwide. Used by permission.
Copyright (c) 2014 Southern Baptist Convention, Baptist Press www.BPNews.net


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Tobacco Education Program
Our department's goals are to:
- Increase the awareness of the effects of smoking on public health,
- Improve communities' abilities to change smoking behavior,
- Increase the influence of existing legal and economic factors that discourage smoking, and
- Strengthen social norms and values supporting non-smoking.
Personal quit smoking counseling services are offered, or, you can call the helpline numbers listed below.
To report indoor smoking at a worksite in California, call the Mono County Health Department in Mammoth Lakes at (760) 924-1830.
Remember...Keep Quitting Until You Quit For Good!
For further information, please contact the Mono County Health Department in Mammoth Lakes at (760) 924-1830 or in Bridgeport (760) 932-5580.
For More Information Call the Listed Phone Numbers or Visit the Links Below
California Department of Health Services - Smokers Helpline: (800) NO-BUTTS
California Department of Health Services - Chewer's Helpline: (800) 844-CHEW


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Southwestern Chemistry Professor Lands Publication in Prestigious Journal
September 29, 2011
September 29, 2011
When Maha Zewail-Foote returned to the chemistry labs at UT-Austin for a sabbatical in 2009-2010, she never imagined it would lead to a publication in one of the world's most important scientific journals.
But it did.
Zewail-Foote is one of two co-first authors on an article that will be published in an October issue of Nature Chemistry, the leading journal in original chemistry research. The article was published online Sept. 25.
Zewail-Foote, who is an associate professor of chemistry at Southwestern and chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, said she was ecstatic when she learned that the article had been accepted for publication.
"I knew this research was important and I knew it would be published in a good journal, but this was beyond my dreams," she said.
Zewail-Foote conducted the work for the publication with researchers from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UT-Austin. Among them was Brent Iverson, who was on her Ph.D. committee when she was a graduate student at UT. Her co-lead author was Garen Holman, who conducted the research for his Ph.D. dissertation.
Their article, titled "A sequence-specific threading tetra-intercalator with an extremely slow dissociation rate constant," details a major achievement in DNA binding by a synthetic molecule.
Zewail-Foote and her colleagues were able to document that this compound had a half-life of 16 days after it was bound to DNA. This is one of the longest non-covalent complex half-lives reported for a DNA-binding molecule. Zewail-Foote said this is significant because 16 days is enough time to disrupt biological processes such as transcription and replication. "Researchers have been developing small molecules to target DNA and modulate biological processes for more than 30 years," she said.
Zewail-Foote said understanding fundamental processes such as this may someday enable researchers to develop drugs that can target specific DNA sequences with such long half-lives.
Zewail-Foote said she has been fascinated by DNA since she was an undergraduate at the California Institute of Technology. Her general chemistry and organic chemistry professors are pioneers in nucleic acid chemistry and were role models for her.
In addition to being an honor for herself, Zewail-Foote said the publication also is an honor for Southwestern. "Publications in Nature are few and far between for any university, let alone small liberal arts colleges," she said.
Zewail-Foote said she has another reason to be proud of the publication. She is keeping up with her family tradition of high impact research in chemistry. Her father, Ahmed Zewail, won the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1999.
"I'm continuing to keep the Zewail name in scientific circulation by publishing in Nature Chemistry," she said.


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A young woman walks into a liquor store and tries to buy alcohol. The clerk takes just a cursory glance at her ID, failing to notice that she's underage. He goes ahead and sells her a six pack of beer.
Bad decision. The woman is working for the local police and the state liquor licensing enforcement unit. The clerk is busted and must go before a county judge with the likelihood he will have to pay a predetermined fine.
The liquor store owner is also busted. His penalty, however, depends in which municipality he operates. If he lives in Loveland, Leadville, Berthoud or Limon, he will likely have his license suspended for 15 days, with 5 days to be served and 10 held in abeyance for one year.
If his business is located in another community, the suspension could be greater or less.
He also could be given the option to pay a fine ranging from $200 to nearly $3,000 in lieu of an active suspension. While that sounds harsh, the reality of losing $1,000 a day or more while suspended makes paying a fine very attractive.
All of which brings us to our little town.
While communities around the state kind of run loose with penalties for liquor license violations, they at least have a policy.
Estes Park does not. It has guidelines that were recommended some time ago.
The town board would like to see that change. That's why the public has been invited to town hall next Tuesday night at 7 to weigh in on what they think should be "fair" penalties for liquor code violations, such as selling alcohol to minors.
It's a two-sided issue.
On one side of the issue, no one wants alcohol to be sold to minors. It just cannot be tolerated.
On the other side, there needs to be a firm but fair penalty for first-time offenders and a firmer but equally fair penalty for second- or third-time offenders.
But, determining just what is fair will be the task and, truly, the devil will be in the details on this.
That's why it's so important for the public to get involved, to be heard. Town officials are pleading for input.
Don't let them down. Better, don't let yourself down. Selling alcohol to minors is a big deal and we need to take a firm stand – right now – on this.


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This site is the archived OWASP Foundation Wiki and is no longer accepting Account Requests.
To view the new OWASP Foundation website, please visit https://owasp.org
Local News
Q3 Call For Presentations
On August 18, 2011, at 1PM at the Conference Center of BMW Financial, the Columbus OWASP chapter will be presenting is Third Quarter Meeting, specifically on the subject of Web Application Security Analysis.
This Call For Presentations (CFP) is open to all professionals who agree to adhere to the Speaker Guidelines, and who have a topic of interest in web application security that they are willing to present to attendees. Web application security topics of special interest include many contemporary areas of security research.
Please download the CFP here (PDF). Abstracts are due July 15, 2011. Thank you for your interest.
Chapter Info
Stay in touch with Columbus OWASP
- The first stop to connecting with the community is our mailing list, feel free to contribute and interact with the list - it's not just for listening!
- We're a group on LinkedIn as well, please join us. Facebook is coming soon.
Become a voting member
We encourage organization and individual supporters of our ethics & principals to become a voting MEMBER. Please review the Chapter Rules and the OWASP overview, and contact the chapter leaders for more information.
The professional association of OWASP Foundation Inc., is always free and open to anyone interested in learning more about application security.
We want your participation!
To submit educational topics for upcoming meetings, submit your ideas and slide deck (if available) using the OWASP Template and include a speaker BIO. It doesn't have to be formal, we're happy to provide some assistance in organizing your thoughts. You only need an interest and knowledge of your independent research or related software security topic.
Sponsorship, too!
There are myriad opportunities to sponsor the chapter, including meeting space, food, marketing, and monetary donations. We're always looking for assistance. Inquiries regarding chapter or per-meeting sponsorship opportunities can be directed to the chapter leaders. As a 501(3)c non-profit professional association your support and sponsorship of a meeting venue and/or refreshments is tax-deductible and all financial contributions can be made online right now: <paypal>Columbus</paypal>
Current Meetings
Our chapter meets quarterly; we're organizing several different event styles in addition to traditional presentations. There will be opportunities for Columbus OWASP members to meet other local security groups through event cross-participation and cooperation. The next quarterly meeting is being planned for August 18th, 2011.
Feel free to contact us at email@example.com with any questions.
Previous Meetings
Q2 Meeting - June 10th, 1PM - Defensible .NET
Presented by Jason Montgomery, Sr. Security Specialist, Active Technologies Group, Inc.
ASP.NET and the .NET framework have become the preferred foundation underlying enterprise applications. While Microsoft has prioritized integrating security into the ASP.NET framework, attacks at the application layer are dramatically increasing. How effective are the security controls built into the ASP.NET framework? Application developers must understand the limitations of the framework and ensure their code is secure. Focusing on the OWASP top ten, Jason Montgomery will explain the latest defensive techniques specific to the ASP.NET environment. Jason is Sr. Security Specialist at Active Technologies Group, Inc. (ATGi). He is a SANS instructor in .NET application security and co-author of the secure coding certification, GSSP.NET. Jason has spent the past five years guiding software security practices at the Department of Defense, and currently leads ATGi's secure software development and assessment practice.
3rd Annual Central Ohio Infosec Summit
The goal of this event is to educate regional Information Security professionals and support collaboration by bringing leading speakers in the information security field together to educate the community on the latest industry trends and issues.
This Information Security Conference will provide information security professionals with the most up-to-date information, tools, trends, legislative information, products, services, and strategies for addressing information security issues. The conference will focus on key topics related to information security with presentations provided by recognized experts and exhibits by some of the nation's leading organizations.
2010 Q1 Meeting
- PHP Security presented by Jon Canady, Web Application Developer, Innova Partners, March 23rd, 2010
Meeting Summary: PHP is a widely used, general-purpose scripting language, originally designed to produce dynamic web pages. In 2007, The PHP Group reported it was utilized on over 20 million websites and 1 million web servers. In 2008, the National Vulnerability Database claimed PHP accounted for 35% of software vulnerabilities, with nearly all caused by poor programming practices. Every PHP developer, hoster, and security professional should understand the primary attack vectors being used by attackers against PHP applications. During this OWASP meeting we dived deep into PHP security - specifically the OWASP Top 10 in the context of PHP.
In addition to the presentation, chapter leadership changes were announced as well as the new leadership's plans for increasing the visibility and participation of the chapter.
The Columbus OWASP Chapter leadership would like to thank BMW Financial Services for hosting this event and Innova Partners for providing lunch.
Presentation slide deck: OWASP_Q12010_PHP (pdf, 4.5M)
Columbus OWASP Chapter Leaders
Please feel free to contact the chapter leaders at any time.
You can also reach the chapter leadership at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Would you like to post something here?
If you have any connection to the San Francisco Bay Area music scene, Beserkley Records, Rather Ripped Records, KSAN, etc. during the 60s, 70s and 80s, you've probably heard of or met Gary Phillips, a.k.a. Gary Philippet.
Or you may have known Gary from Spokane or
Penrith Farms in Newport, Washington.
Your thoughts, memories, etc. are very welcome on this blog!
Please feel free to email your posts and any photos or audio clips to
Your requests or suggestions for improvement are
gratefully accepted as well.
- Thanks!
Sunday, January 28, 2007
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West Wales Web reserves the right to refuse any purchase request, domains are normally sold to the highest bid.
© Copyright 2002 - 2018 West Wales Web / W3 Hosting / Dean Williams, all rights reserved.
All images copyright and trade mark protected, no use of content without written permission from W3 Hosting.
W3 Hosting are market providers of fully secured 24/7 Unix servers with PHP, Apache, CGI, Pearl and MySQL databases and full POP3 email accounts including webalizer daily stats and MyWebSpace website builder based in the UK. Easy to install applications such as Word Press, Joomla and osCommerce plus many more. We are a leading hosting provider offering inexpensive web hosting to the small and medium sized business. Please feel free to drop us an email with any questions regarding our services.


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WASHINGTON, June 24 (UPI) -- Syria's foreign minister said his country wants a successful outcome at the upcoming Switzerland conference on Syria, but will not cater to the opposition..
"We will head to the [Geneva] conference seriously to reach a halt of violence and terrorism that we deem as a popular demand," Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said Monday at a news conference.
The conference, initially scheduled to take place in July, is expected to be attended by Syrian government officials, as well as opposition group leaders and is aimed at settling the more than 2-year-long civil war taking place in Syria, China's Xinhua News Agency reported.
However, the Syrian National Coalition, the main opposition group, said it would only participate in the conference if Syrian President Bashar Assad agrees to step down.
"As a state, we are going to Geneva carrying with us directives from President Bashar al-Assad to make the conference a success," Muallem said, adding that "President Assad will not step down and whoever placed this condition, may he never come" to the conference.
"We are not going to hand over the authority to the other part and whoever thinks so, is delusional," Muallem said, stressing that the Syrian government is "ready to discuss the mechanisms of curbing the violence and the armament and training of the armed rebels."
Muallem added that his government would not accept any foreign-imposed solutions and "will never even accept thoughts that are imposed from outside. The dialogue is between the Syrians themselves."
Meanwhile, Russian officials strongly condemned a decision by a U.S.-led group that plans to arm the Syrian rebels as a step that only ensures more bloodshed, RIA Novosti reported.
Russia, a close Syrian ally, has backed the Assad regime and opposed international action to support Assad's ouster.
Eleven countries -- the United States, Britain, Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey -- said they will immediately begin arming the rebel forces opposed to Syrian President Bashar Assad after evidence presented by Western countries appeared to show Assad had unleashed chemical weapons on his own people despite U.N. inspectors who said U.S. laboratory testing to verify Assad used chemical weapons on the opposition is not verifiable.
The United States announced last week it is expanding military support to Syrian rebels after three months of testing to determine Assad used chemical weapons in January, killing 100 to 150 people.
U.S. President Barack Obama said in August if Assad used chemical weapons it would cross a "red line" and would draw a U.S. response.
The United States, Britain and France supplied the United Nations with what they say is evidence proving Assad used chemical weapons, but U.N. inspectors doubt the authenticity of the samples tested because they were smuggled out of the country, The Washington Post reported Thursday.
"You can try your best to control the analysis but analysis at a distance is always uncertain," said David Kay, a former U.N. weapons inspector.
U.N. policy is that its own inspectors must collect soil and other samples to prove the use of chemical weapons themselves. Smuggled evidence could have been tampered with by the opposition, the Post reported.
"If you are the opposition and you hear" [about Obama's red line] you have an interest in giving the impression that some chemical weapons have been used," said Rolf Ekeus, a Swedish scientist.


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Category : Coloring.
Topic : Usa flag colouring page. Author : .
Posted : Sun, Nov 03rd 2019 08:02 AM.
Format : jpg/jpeg.
There are coloring pages available online on every conceivable topic you can think of. The primary stimulation to the brain they provide is that knowledge of colors. It is not merely colors that help but the kids get that aesthetic sense by the act of drawing images. Child starts to recognize the various shapes and forms and also gets to know what are boundaries and lines.


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Microsoft Corporation (India) Pvt. Ltd. has launched the first of a planned 100 Microsoft Innovation Centers (MICs) that will impact the technology expertise of some 500,000 students.
The Indian centres, which will be at full strength in two years, "will impact over 500,000 students, certifying 100,000 students on Microsoft technologies", a Microsoft statement said.
"The program will also drive innovation and help build a product-based software economy by supporting product development, and over 500 start-ups.
"The MICs will act as innovation hubs at select colleges and technology institutes, providing incubation and expert hands-on support on Microsoft technology innovation, research, and software solutions, aiming to create a pool of student technology experts across India," the statement said.
Each MIC will function as a hub for five other neighboring colleges and will operate in a hub-spoke model driving employability, innovation, and entrepreneurship in the academic ecosystem around it.
Fourteen MICs have initially been launched by signing MoUs with leading academic institutions across four states. They will be located in Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Rajahmundry, Khammam, Bapatla, Guntur, Tirupati, Raipur, Bhopal, Trichy, Vellore, Coimbatore, Madurai and Salem.
This is part of a worldwide programme that currently has 75 MICs.
Commenting on the launch of MICs in India, Joseph Landes, General Manager, DPE, Microsoft India, said they "are designed to offer a unique environment conducive for student entrepreneurship. As knowledge and innovation become primary catalysts for economic growth in India, the Microsoft Innovation Centers can play a vital role in generating powerful new ideas through training, education and knowledge transfer."
The MIC program, the statement said, "will act as the key driver of Microsoft's vision for developing new talent in India at the student level. Budding developers will be encouraged to innovate across key priority technology focus areas that are driving growth and change for the economy, namely: Mobility (Windows Phone), Cloud (Windows Azure), Kinect, Accessibility, Healthcare and a wider ambit for solving problems with an India focus".
Expressing his vision for MICs at his institution, G. Viswanathan, founder and chancellor, VIT University, Vellore, said: "Innovation is an intrinsic part of the philosophy we live here at VIT University, which was established with the aim of providing quality higher education on par with international standards".
"Our students have been actively involved in the Imagine Cup - another great program from Microsoft that fosters innovation among students to address key global challenges," Viswanathan added.
The MIC announcement comes days after the India launch of Microsoft's new global philanthropy initiative - YouthSpark-aimed at addressing the opportunity divide faced by the young people of the world.
"In particular, MICs will play a crucial role in deepening the relationship between academia and industry, enhancing at a very basic level, employability and education, reducing the digital divide, support for innovation and driving sustainable socio-economic impact," the statement said.


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14" Smooth Acrylic with 6" Fitter Neck (14SAF20014-)
14" Smooth Acrylic with Fitter Neck Smooth spheres are designed for commercial and residential post top and pendant applications and are available with fitter neck, twist lock, neck, screw neck and neckless openings. PLEASE look at pictures to the left and identify what type of neck your existing globe/sphere is. Colors available: Clear Acrylic, White Acrylic, Bronze Acrylic, Smoke Acrylic and Frosted LD Acrylic (visual comfort). Materials: Acrylic: UV resistant with continuous operating temperature up to 90 degrees Celsius and transmittance of 92% (application dependent). Frosted LD Acrylic: UV resistant with continuous operating temperature up to 90 degrees Celsius and transmittance of 90% to 94%(application dependent).
Understanding Plastics
Polycarbonate - uv stabilized Characteristics: Polycarbonate is a superior engineering plastic material for extreme requirements. UV Stabilized to ensure a long life. The high continuous working temperature of up to 257° F (125° C) even under extreme environmental conditions, allows the installation of lamps with a high wattage. The high impact resistance and durability remain even at subzero temperatures (down to -40° C)
Acrylic - absolutely uv resistant Characteristics: Acrylic is a material with unsurpassed resistance to weathering and aging. Acrylic has an exceptional brilliance, which does not diminish even after prolonged use- thanks to an optimum surface hardness. Acrylic lamp housings are highly competitive particularly with modern light sources where the maximum working temperature does not exceed 194° F (90° C)
|Item #


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Let me get this straight: a spontaneous movement arises and takes up the name "Tea Party" based on historical actions and the acronym "taxed enough already," amasses a very large number of either followers or sympathizers, and literally reverses the party breakdown in the U.S. House of Representatives and state-level assemblies, but it is not worth receiving any reporting. When it is reported upon, the items are buried deep within the pages of The Sun and are usually flippant or derogatory in nature. Adherents are perceived as backward, ignorant, uneducated and subject to every epithet that can be used in the open press: bigoted, homophobic, sexist, religious zealots, etc. Every unfortunate incident, especially gun crimes in other than inner city locales, is ascribed to them. And yet the actual mien of these people is honest, law abiding, respectful, and willing to follow the law at every turn.
On the other hand, the "Occupy Wall Street" movement is something of a throwback. Representing what appears to be a collection of 1960s radicals, unemployed people whose choice of educational study did not pan out and now are deep in debt, strident progressive activists who want guaranteed "cradle to grave" security, and a mixture of anarchists, nihilists, and even a few homeless who see the "movement" as a quick way to get some shelter and better quality food, and yet numbering only in the tens or hundreds wherever they gather, rate "above the fold" coverage. That coverage is usually glowing and lauds the goals and principles of these people. Yet they tend to be slobs, leaving behind unsightly trash and even human waste, tend to be unwilling to follow simple rules or when confronted police directions, and instead siphon off municipal assets, personnel and funds to ensure no damage is caused or crimes are committed.
To cite Nancy Pelosi, "Are you kidding?"
This isn't even close enough to be called "bias" but blatant, subjective activism of the worst sort.
I used to be taunted at parties when I said that I was a military intelligence analyst,. There was always some "wit" who sniggered that "Military Intelligence" is an oxymoron. I noted that so is "objective journalist."
Stephen L. Sewell, Aberdeen