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Emmy-nominated actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who plays the red-haired lawyer half of a gay couple on the hit ABC comedy "Modern Family," and his real-life partner, Justin Mikita, are mixing fashion with political activism.
The recently engaged pair are behind a limited-edition, 20-piece collection of neckwear called Tie the Knot that went on sale just a few days ago exclusively through online retailer the Tie Bar. Proceeds from sales of the jaunty, all-silk, self-tie bow ties are earmarked to benefit groups working for marriage equality.
On a Sunday afternoon, just days before the general election that would see the number of U.S. states where same-sex marriages are legal grow by 50% (from six to nine), Ferguson, 37, and Mikita, 27, sat down with The Times in the Silver Lake home they share to talk about their Tie the Knot Foundation, their foray into fashion, what inspired the inaugural collection and the importance of humor in the fight for same-sex marriage.
Ferguson says he first started thinking about delving into the bow tie business about a year ago. "I wear a lot of bow ties, and we thought this would be a fun way to dip our toes into the fashion world in a simple, easy, low-key way," he says. "I wasn't looking to design a full clothing line."
It was Mikita's idea to make the fashion statement a philanthropic one. A development associate with the non-profit American Foundation for Equal Rights, the group that brought the federal court case seeking to overturn California's Proposition 8 ballot initiative outlawing same-sex marriage in the state, he suggested using the proceeds to support groups working toward marriage equality.
Ferguson says that trying to line up manufacturing and retail partners in the early stages of the project "felt like a slow-moving train." Mikita thinks that's at least partially because of the cause it's backing. "It's such a high-profile social issue right now," he says, "that I think major corporations are tentative to get behind it."
Then, this summer, Ferguson decided to reach out to the Tie Bar, a Chicago-based e-tailer of men's furnishings from which he'd purchased neckties. "I think we just looked up their contact information on the website and called them up," Ferguson says. "And I think we were talking to them about an hour later. ... Once they said they'd do it, it was full speed ahead."
Greg Shugar, who started the Tie Bar with his wife, Gina, in 2004, knows gay marriage can be a divisive issue. "As a business you try to stay away from hot-button political issues," he says. "But for whatever reason [marriage equality] has always been an issue with me, and this was right around the time of the whole Chick-fil-A thing" — when the fast food restaurant's president touched off a wave of controversy by expressing his opposition to same-sex marriage.
So when Ferguson and Mikita explained their plan for a line of bow ties that would generate funds that would go to U.S. organizations working toward marriage equality, Shugar decided that the risk of alienating a few customers would be outweighed by the benefit to civil rights. And, as he had expected, he did lose a few customers.
"When the partnership was first announced back in September, we did get a few guys who said: 'I'll never order from you again'" he says. "But we also had customers who said, 'I'm proud that your company is doing this,' and 'I used to like your company but now I love your company,' and I wasn't expecting that. All I'd been able to think about was the negative — about having customers leave us."
The Tie Bar isn't just the exclusive retailer of the bow tie collection. It also is the design and manufacturing partner for the line, helping shepherd Ferguson and Mikita's vision from design inspiration to finished product.
"We would send them photos of things that inspired us," Ferguson says, "and they would create fabric designs based on that inspiration and we would tweak them from there. I didn't actually think it could be that easy."
As Ferguson guides a guest through their house it becomes readily apparent that the design inspiration is as personal to them as the cause. Ferguson points first to an upholstered chair and then to a quilted wall hanging. "That was the starting point for one of the floral ties," he said of the chair, "and that blanket we hung on the wall to cover a couple of outlets was the inspiration for the tie with the zigzag pattern."
Mikita scoops up their dog Leaf (whose full name, Leaf Coneybear Ferguson-Mikita, is an homage to the character Ferguson played in the Broadway production of "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee") as Ferguson explains how the pet unwittingly inspired another design.
"Our dog came back from the dog groomer's one day wearing a bandanna, which is what inspired these," Ferguson says, holding up two bandanna-print ties, one red and one blue. "We named this style the Jack & Ennis after the characters in 'Brokeback Mountain.'"
Ferguson points to a navy blue tie with a silver, bubble-like pattern that he says was inspired by a favorite roll of wrapping paper and to several plaid patterns that are riffs on images he found in a book of tartans that had belonged to his grandmother.
There's even a back story to the label's logo, which appears as an allover embroidery on several of the ties. Mikita said he suggested the visage of a wide-eyed, bow-tie-wearing horned owl after noticing the bow-tie-wearing figure that serves as the logo of Beverly Hills' Mr. C Hotel. And why the specific choice of an owl over, say, a penguin (which, after all, already appears to be wearing formal attire)?
"Everyone knows the owl represents wisdom," answers Ferguson. "But they also represent patience and dignity. That's something I think the people who are in the fight for marriage equality have to embrace, that there's a certain amount of patience that comes with [the fight]."
The initial offering consists of 15 hourglass-shaped butterfly-style bowties and five with a slightly more fashion-forward diamond tip. Each tie was produced in a limited run of just 200 pieces. All net proceeds — roughly $20 of each $25 tie — will be donated by the Tie the Knot Foundation to U.S. organizations working for marriage equality, with a single group as the beneficiary each season.
Mikita says that the approximately $80,000 raised from the first fully sold collection will be donated to the group Human Rights Campaign.
A spring collection is already in the planning stages, and, if the concept catches on, the couple has discussed saying "I do" to a whole range of products.
"We're thinking about doing cuff links with the owls on them," Ferguson says, "or maybe teaming up with a really great stationery company to make wedding invitations ... and we've talked about doing wedding bands, [scarves] for women and pocket squares. But we like the idea of keeping it in the wedding arena."
As for their own wedding (Ferguson popped the question to his boyfriend of two years in July, during a trip to Mexico to celebrate costar Sofia Vergara's 40th birthday), the couple has yet to decided where and when they're going to make it legal.
"We have some ideas," Ferguson says. "We're thinking about New York, where it's legal now, and it could be as early as the spring of next year — or as late as the spring of the following year."
But there's no doubt that when it happens, the choice of nuptial neckwear is a no-brainer — especially considering a tie slated for release on Valentine's Day.
"The collection was originally 20 ties," says the Tie Bar's Shugar. "But this 21st one is a black, satin bow tie with a very subtle version of the owl [logo] on it. It's meant to be a formal tie to be worn for a same-sex wedding. We see it as marriage equality's version of the Lance Armstrong bracelet or the pink ribbon."
Ferguson says the humorous approach to the line, from the label's name to the very funny video the couple made to announce the project, will make it easier for some to tackle the topic.
"If you can talk about something very serious like civil rights and marriage equality with humor and grace and wit, you're going to get a lot farther than with just the dry facts," he says.
"That's something I learned from being on 'Modern Family.' We deal with a lot of sensitive issues on the show, but we have writers who do it with such grace and humor that I feel like we get a lot farther. We're not going to be on the front lines angry with a bullhorn."


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Don Olson Named as Recipient of the 2014 Klopsteg Memorial Lecture Award
College Park, Maryland, United States, February 19, 2014—The American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) announced today that Donald W. Olson is the 2014 recipient of the Klopsteg Memorial Lecture Award. This award recognizes educators who have made notable and creative contributions to the teaching of physics. The lecture and award will be presented during the AAPT Summer Meeting in Minneapolis, MN.
Don Olson is nationally known for his ability to apply physics to solve mysteries in art, history, and literature - and to communicate the results to the public in a coherent, exciting way. His work has been published in more than thirty articles in Sky & Telescope magazine and has been featured in the Smithsonian Magazine, Scientific American, and a host of major newspapers. Olson's recent book, Celestial Sleuth (Springer, 2014), collects his research in chapters devoted to night sky paintings by Vincent van Gogh, Edward Munch, Claude Monet, and J. M. W. Turner, moonrise photographs by Ansel Adams, events from military history ranging from the Battle of Marathon to moonlight and tides during World War II, and references to celestial phenomena by Chaucer, Shakespeare, Mary Shelley, Walt Whitman, and James Joyce.
Olson earned his B.S. in physics from Michigan State University, receiving upon graduation the Thomas H. Osgood Undergraduate Physics Award - an award named after the professor who was an early editor of the American Journal of Physics and the inspirational teacher in the first physics courses that Olson took at MSU. After earning his Ph.D. in physics from the University of California-Berkeley, Olson studied galaxies and cosmology for four years at Cornell University and two years at the University of Texas at Austin, and he then began teaching at Texas State University in 1981. He has received many teaching awards during his career, including the 2011 Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching, Texas State's top teaching award.
Olson has been a valuable participant at Texas Section AAPT/APS meetings for many years. He has twice given plenary talks on the use of astronomy and physics to solve mysteries in historical events and in topics from art and literature.
Regarding his selection as 2014 Klopsteg Award recipient, Olson said, "I am deeply honored to receive this recognition, especially because the award commemorates Paul Klopsteg, who dedicated so much of his life to physics education."
About the Award
Previous Awardees:
Additional winners
About AAPT

subset: commoncrawl


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Difference between revisions of "User:Bootiack/AOLserver"
(No difference)
Revision as of 03:24, 1 April 2010
=INSTALLING Aolserver 4.5 http://www.aolserver.com http://www.tcl.tk
What are the advantages over any other web server?
20x Faster and massively scalable, and has all the features of an appserver builtin.
Phil Greenspun said it best: http://philip.greenspun.com/wtr/aolserver/introduction-1.html
notes on Installation: (read README)
get+compile your own tcl 8.4: (example)
./configure --prefix=/opt/tcl --enable-threads --enable-shared make make install
I pop it in my path:
ln -s /opt/tcl/bin/tclsh8.4 /usr/bin/tclsh
was a real bitch for me on Arch Linux this time around after it was easy before; until a guy named frankie on irc chat #aolserver (freenode server) gave me the following:
In aolserver-4.5/configure, comment out the below lines, and add right below them:
# case "$LDLIB" in # *gcc*) # LDLIB="$LDLIB -nostartfiles" # ;; # esac LDLIB="$LDLIB -nostartfiles"
this now works: /path/to/tclsh8.4 nsconfig.tcl -install /aolservers_new_dir make make install
In /etc/hosts you must have the ip of your nic matching `uname -n`
after you cp base.tcl to nsd.tcl; you must chown -R your_user: /aolservers_new_dir
vi /etc/ld.so.conf and add path to tcl and aolserver /lib directory close and run ldconfig
cp -p base.tcl nsd.tcl
bin/nsd -ft nsd.tcl -u your_user & will start the server on port 8000.
then tune into http://your_ip:8000 and blam! your in bizness
fro a little guidance check out http://philip.greenspun.com/tcl/


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The DT 797 is the perfect combination of the closed DT 770 PRO studio headphone, the high-quality condenser microphone of the DT 297 and a new pivoting, gooseneck microphone boom. This headset is especially developed for Live purposes in very loud environments like sporting event etc., where isolation of ambient noise, durability and wearing comfort are of prime importance.
The powerful headphone-systems with a frequency response of 5 – 30.000 Hz, provide a perfectly balanced sound characteristic. The sound insulating housing and soft-skin ear pads cause superb isolation from ambient noise and the new pivoting goose neck microphone boom makes sure the condenser microphone can always be optimally adjusted into any required position. The pivoting microphone boom can be used at left or right side or can be moved into standby (upper) position.
The microphone is equipped with a larger capsule with improved bass response. The condenser microphone with cardioid polar pattern guarantees an extremely high gain-before-feedback and noise cancellation. Both cables, in the headband and in the goose neck microphone boom are covered to avoid damage during usage. The single-sided cable is available with different connectors which allow all necessary connections.
▲ NEW – Improvement of immunity against RFI (Radio Frequency Interference) caused by GSM, DECT, UMTS, Tetra etc.
▲ Excellent ambient noise attenuation
▲ High-quality condenser cardioid microphone for improved bass response and with high gain-before-feedback
▲ Very high speech reproduction quality and excellent intelligibility
▲ Pivotable, flexible gooseneck for optimal positioning with elastical microphone suspension
▲ Robust, easy serviceable construction as all parts are replaceable
▲ Single-sided cable
▲ NEW – Limiter (Optional)
▲ Neutrik Connectors
▲ Closed headphone
▲ Comfortable fit due to rugged, adjustable, soft padded headband construction
▲ Softskin, circumaural ear pads


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Friday, June 15, 2012 - Wank Party 2012 #6, Part 2 - WANK PARTY
Wank Party 2012 #6, with Tomek Sirnad, Kaja Kolomaz, Roman Ditrich, Albert Kroka and Radim Valovy continues apace in this 2nd part. Tomek is fucking Roman while Kaja is having his ass fingered by Radim while he is sucking on Albert's bick cock. Very soon Kaja is getting it at both ends as Radim begins to fuck him and Albert starts sucking him as well. Roman is rimming Albert's ass at the same time as taking Tomek's big, fat cock. Those asses are really getting it good and before long the guys switch around. So now Albert is giving it to Roman while Radim lays down and has Tomek's ass sliding over his thick dick. But that isn't all Kaja has climbed onto to Tomek's cock too and really works his ass over it. Kaja really slides all the way and and down Tomek's hard shaft as Albert continues to deep fuck Roman. When Albert pulls out for a moment we see Roman's hot hole fully stretched and open. Kaja wants even more so he moves to sit on Radim's thick dick and then Tomek shoves his cock in that ass too, so Kaja is taking both cocks at the same time. Roman's ass is resting as he sucks on Albert and then the guys change again. Tomek has Kaja on his back and fucks him nice and deep while Radim does the same to Roman. Roman is wanking himself very hard as he takes that cock and soon blows his creamy load. He is followed by Radim, who pulls out of Roman's ass and shoot his load all over him. Kaja is soon ready too and drops a nice load for us. His ass tightens around Tomek's dick as he does and induces Tomek to shoot his load to, filling his condom and then dripping it onto Kaja. Last to cum is Albert who keels over Roman and Kaja to give us a nice big load. The scene is ended with Kaja and Roman sharing a kiss. What a great scene, with 5 excellent guys really going at it.
... more about Wank Party 2012 #6, Part 2 further in this newsletter
Our Coming Soon Set Preview
Mirek Hodbod is a great looking guy. But we don't see him at first as the Gonzo cameramen is pitching to passers-by hoping to hook someone who will get naked for the camera. He doesn't succeed though and eventually comes across Mirek. After a chat he gives Mirek some money to take off his shirt. Mirek then explains that he has to leave. So the cameraman offers him more more to get naked in public. Directed by the cameraman Mirek walks off to a secluded spot and after taking more money he strips off completely. The cameraman immediately starts to touch Mirek, but is told to stop. So more money comes out and the touching can proceed. The cameraman starts to wank on Mirek's cock but Mirek is a bit concerned about being caught so they have to move to another location. Once there the cameraman gets his cock out, persuading Mirek, on the promise of more money, to wank him. That cock is nice and hard as Mirek wanks it and soon he is persuaded to suck on it too. He takes the head in his mouth and begins to suck. Next his gets his cock out again too, and it is hard. He wanks himself and continues sucking the cameraman. Soon, on the promise of even more money Mirek is presenting his ass for fucking. That big cock slides in that the fucks him nice and deep, really stretching the hole. The cameraman builds up very nicely until he needs to shoot and dumps his load over Mirek's chest. It is then time for Mirek to cum too and he wanks himself to a big, creamy load, all over himself. A very nice model in a great shoot.
You can watch my Vlog for this Newsletter by clicking above or by going over to the Blog : http://www.wheuro.com/?p=10190
Tomorrow, we are doing an Ambush Massage, with Miro accosting the more homophobic of the two buddies who came in from Ostrava. Divide and rule. It will be a good on to watch live on Prague Buddies.
I prepared another first look documentary of The Garage shoot. However, compressing it is taking too long. I must get the Newsletter out so Kyptus can go home, so here's the link. The video will be online by the time you see this newsletter: (Update: The video finished compressing immediately after I wrote the above, so here it is):
Part 2 of Wank Party 2012 #6 is our feature presentation today, with Roman Ditrich, Kaja Kolomaz, Tomek Sirnad, Albert Kroka and Radim Valovy. We then have Tomas Mizera's Erotic Video, Anton Regner's Erotic Video and Anton Malac's Session Stills.
We have a great line-up of castees today as well, Tomas Kukal, Adam Toula and Adam Afzal. All three a very good looking make any choice for today difficult in the extreme. But if push comes to shove I will opt for Tomas Kukal, just because of his superb definition.
MESSAGE ABOUT LINKS TO THE OLD WH WEBSITE - WILLIAMHIGGINS.com ARCHIVES:
Please be aware that the link www.williamhiggins.com takes you to this brand new website now. If you bookmarked our old website in the past and you want to keep the bookmark as a shortest way to access the old WH website you need to change the link in the bookmark to:
You do not need to remember this link, you can conveniently get to the old WH Website - WilliamHiggins.com Archives anytime you need through the "WH 2001-2010" in the top menu of the new WilliamHiggins.com website.
Today's Weather in Prague
We have launched our all new Kink only site with no solos. It's not for the feint hearted. Do take a look (if you dare):
At present, Members of CzechGuysNextDoor will be able to access the new site with their user information. If you have problems, write email@example.com
Latest Sets At Our NEW STR8HELL.com Website
Open Set "David Mertlik - Mad Monk - SPANKING"
Open Set "Anton and Paul - DUTY BOUND"
Members of CzechGuysnextDoor.com - to log in the member's section of the new STR8HELL website use your present username and password, if you forgot your password or encounter a log in problem please feel free to contact us at: firstname.lastname@example.com
Non-members - you are welcome to browse our complete content - each regular set contains free video preview and free photos, if you decide not to become a member of our website you can also buy sets separately (we huge, well organized and easy to search library of models - there is always few models you may like) you can pay only for what you really want see ;-). You are always welcome to come back.
All members of www.CzechGuysNextDoor.com get a free access to STR8HELL.com till the end of November 2011!
Please use your present CzechGuysNextDoor username and password to log into the members area.
We have terminated updates to CzechGuysNextDoor.com website. CzechGuysNextDoor.com website will stay online, but now only as an archive of all CzechGuysNextdoor.com sets. Anyone who wants to access CzechGuysNextDoor.com Archives needs to have a STR8HELL.com membership. STR8HELL.com will continue with most of the czechguysnextdoor.com projects. Anyone who joins STR8HELL.com will gain access to two websites STR8HELL.com and CzechGuyNextDoor.com Archives which contain 2500+ sets. STR8HELL.com has exactly same features and controls as NEW WilliamHiggins.com website.
Direct access to CzechGuysNextDoor.com website is now through the link: archive.czechguysnextdoor.com or through "Archive Sets 2004-2011" links on the new STR8HELL website.
Thank you for your loyalty to CzechGuysNextDoor.com website,
William Higgins
BurnDVD.tv Website Latest Updates
Starting today you can download our videos in Full HD quality 1920x1080px!
Please remember that most of the videos available on BurnDVD are easily able to be downloaded with a single link, but some of the very large files, such as the newsletter DVDs have to be split into three separate links, as detailed below.
The videos with very large file sizes are now split into more than one part, using a program called HJSplit. If you wish to buy one of these larger videos to Burn to DVD, you will receive a link for file and then it is a simple process to join the downloaded files together to make the .iso file for Burning to DVD.
You can see all the available videos at www.burndvd.tv
Before downloading any videos to burn to DVD I advise you to read the BURNDVD Manual, which explains how you can burn the file to DVD. The file is an ISO file which contains all the required DVD files. The process for burning to DVD is fully explained.
The BurnDVD manual is easy to follow, with a step by step guide. Burning a DVD is easy to do, though it is helpful if you have previously burned DVDs or CDs.
The manual can be viewed here: BURNDVD Manual
Anyone who has any problems understanding the manual, or burning their download to DVD, or indeed any questions about this service please email email@example.com . Geoff will be happy to assist you.
You can view all the available downloads at www.burndvd.tv, by clicking the on the categories. A direct link to the latest files available will be published in each newsletter.
Our Latest Sets at www.BurnDVD.tv
Today we have Part 2 of Wank Party 2012 #6 and Tomas Mizera's Erotic Video and Duty Bound with Anton Malac and Paul Fresh and Submission Wrestling with Gregor Bortel and Radek Kupsky.
The direct link to "Wank Party 2012 #6 - Part 2"
The direct link to "Tomas Mizera"
The direct link to "Duty Bound - Anton and Paul"
The direct link to "Wrestling - Gregor vs. Radek"
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Take your seats for the brand new reality show, set in London's D&B Academy of Performing Arts. This is no rehearsal, it's the real deal. Every day is a competition for these young hopefuls, and they'll do anything to make their stage dream come true.
Share page
Titles, characters and all other elements are the trade marks and copyright of TVNZ or its licensors. All rights reserved. Further details available here.


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Popular Categories
Depending on the time of the year and seasonal availability, we offer over 300 bushes and shrubs. The terms bush and shrub have similar meanings and we use them interchangeably on this site to describe a low woody perennial plant that usually has several stems. Bushes (or shrubs) are often the anchors of a landscape. Bushes come in a multitude of sizes, colors, shapes and many have flowering attributes. The contrasting leaf colors can be positively riveting for the eye. A good example of such shrubs would be row of Diabalo Ninebarks fronted by a row of Little Henry Sweetspire. The lighter bright green leaves of the sweetspire contrast so distinctly with the Diabalo Ninebark. Because there are so many uses and so many distinctive combinations for shrubs and bushes, it is up to you to decide what species please your eye.
Shrubs can provide four-season beauty to a landscape. Some bushes have beautiful fall colors; some provide brightly colored stems and branches for contrast against the winter snow. Other shrubs provide early spring flowers that seem to flow like a fountain and many provide summer privacy and attractive foliage. Evergreen shrubs can provide an inviting look to an entry way or driveway. Most bushes are easy to care for and will remain attractive for long periods of time with minimal effort.


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Just spoke at a session called "Reputation monitoring and management through search" at the SMX Sweden, with a great pannel of colleuges . The topic was quite wide and actual the title does not explain it to the fullest.
We talked about the challanges facing companies and individuals when information is available to the world as they arrive and can as demostated in the session spiral out of countrol.
The session was moderated by Sante J. Achille who did a great job and speakers inculding me where
Mikkel deMib Svendsen, Creative Director at deMib.com and David Lerdell the CEO & Founder of Lerdell Investigation AB. So it was a multinational session and reflected that quite well.
Great stuff and I always learn something when Mikkel is there, great speaker and full of knowledge.


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Methodology for Developing the REScheck Software through Version 4.4.3
This report explains the methodology used to develop Version 4.4.3 of the REScheck software developed for the 1992, 1993, and 1995 editions of the MEC, and the 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, and 2012 editions of the IECC, and the 2006 edition of the International Residential Code (IRC). Although some requirements contained in these codes have changed, the methodology used to develop the REScheck software for these editions is similar. Beginning with REScheck Version 4.4.0, support for 1992, 1993, and 1995 MEC and the 1998 IECC is no longer included, but those sections remain in this document for reference purposes.
Publication Date:
Thursday, September 27, 2012


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MINISINK — The Millennium Pipeline Co. is asking federal regulators for the green light to start its $43 million gas compressor station by May 15.
MINISINK — The Millennium Pipeline Co. is asking federal regulators for the green light to start its $43 million gas compressor station by May 15.
In a letter Monday to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Millennium asked for permission to start its two 6,130-horsepower compressors with a pair of exhaust stacks 52 feet tall off Jacobs Road.
The compressor station has met with vehement opposition from locals since the federal approval process began in late 2011. Those opposed have flooded public meetings, taken bus trips to commission headquarters in Washington, D.C., picketed the site and faced arrested for disorderly conduct.
The station would compress natural gas in Millennium's 168-mile pipeline, which crosses Jacobs Road, increasing the amount of gas that could be transported through the pipe.
Meanwhile, a lawsuit brought by two locals, Mike Mojica and John Odland, against the commission and the company is working its way through the courts. The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington denied a request by the Pearl River-based Millennium to dismiss the case in March, but also denied opponents a request to stop construction on the site.
The compressor station site occupies 2.35 of 73.4 acres that Millennium bought from Farmstead Land Development LLC, a sale completed in August 2012 for $1,175,000. The contact for the company, formed March 10, 2003, is listed by the New York Department of State as Westtown resident Dean Ford Sr., father of Brian Ford, a town councilman.


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By CARLOS GARCIA, Puente Arizona | Source: Politic365.com | July 20, 2012
The migrant rights movement in this country is about to enter a new phase and every person, no matter their position, will have to decide how they will relate to it.
While many are waiting to see the decision of the Supreme Court related to the Department of Justice's SB1070 case, a human rights crisis of epic proportions is already roiling in Arizona.
The status quo we face now and the results of even the best possible decision from the Supreme Court still represent a steady march toward anti-immigrant attrition that the state has constructed over years. First we faced efforts to restrict our ability to function in society: drivers' license bans, denial of social services, and English only rules. Then they built ways to humiliate and dehumanize us through Sheriff Arpaio's outdoor jails and Florence's expanding penal colonies.
From 2007 to 2010, even before SB1070 was introduced, our community faced checkpoints, bore witness to women forced to give birth in shackles, and traveled to work and school on a daily basis already wondering if we would reunite with our families and loved ones at the end of each day. In 2010, Arizona sought to erase us from history with a ban on ethnic studies and remove us altogether through SB1070.
Continue reading "Arizona, Arpaio and SB1070 Spur Crusade for Immigrant Rights" »


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Do you know how important is it to have your business card with you at all times? Even if you have the most eye-catching card printed and you keep them sitting in the box, it will do you no good in terms of cost and productivity. It does not only act as a billboard of your business, it represents the professionalism of your business and you as a whole.
Here are some great tips to help you market your business with business cards:
Always have some business cards with you
Do keep some in your purse, pocket or in the car, be it during or after working hours as you'll never know who you might bump into. Always remember to have them with you so that you could distribute it to people as a way of introducing yourself to others.
Drop your business card in the mailbox around the neighborhood, schools and restaurants
This method may be useful if your business is focusing at certain residential areas. If you're offering plumbing services for example, have someone to distribute your business cards around the area, people may be interested in having your service in the near future. If you happen to walk into any restaurants or bars with a fishbowl in place, drop one in.
Have your staff to distribute the business cards
From the highest ranking right down to the lowest ranking employees, they should have their own sets of cards with their name and contact details printed. You could make use of their contacts to introduce your services or products as a way of generating more business quickly.
Create an alternative card instead of the conventional business card
Nowadays, business card does not necessarily consists only your name and contact details. It can also be designed and printed as a coupon card, discount card, bookmark and calendar. This is a great way to encourage people to remember your business by keeping the card instead of ending up in their trash cans.
Design it professionally
If you do not have the skill to design business card yourself, please seek for advice from a professional graphic designer to get ideas on the design. An ugly looking business card will reflect your professionalism, thus, giving you a minor advantage among competitors in the field.


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HOUSTON – Mark Trumbo hit a two-run double in the eighth inning before Alberto Callaspo's go-ahead sacrifice fly sent the Angels to a 6-5 victory over the Houston Astros in a long game that Los Angeles played under protest Thursday night.
The struggling Angels snapped a four-game skid and avoided an embarrassing sweep against last-place Houston, which has a payroll that's more than $100 million lower than Los Angeles' ledger.
The game took 4 hours, 7 minutes – making it the longest nine-inning contest in the majors this season, according to STATS.
Josh Hamilton and Brendan Harris homered for the Angels, who have won just three of their last 12 road games.
The dispute came with two outs in the seventh inning when Astros reliever Wesley Wright ran onto the mound and threw several warmup pitches before manager Bo Porter raced onto the field between the mound and home plate to stop him from throwing more.
Hector Ambriz soon jogged out of the bullpen and onto the mound, and Wright headed to the dugout.
Angels manager Mike Scioscia ran onto the field and argued that Ambriz shouldn't be able to enter the game because Wright didn't face a batter. Scioscia remained on the field for several minutes while the umpires huddled and discussed the situation.
Pinch-hitter Luis Jimenez was in the on-deck circle when Wright went to the mound, but was replaced by Scott Cousins when Ambriz came on.
The umps eventually allowed Ambriz (0-2) to remain in the game. He retired Cousins to end the inning.
Scioscia lodged an official protest that likely became moot when the Angels rallied to win.
Trumbo tied it at 5 with a bases-loaded double down the right-field line with nobody out in the eighth, chasing Ambriz. He was replaced by Travis Blackley, who intentionally walked Howie Kendrick with one out before Callaspo's sacrifice fly.
Garrett Richards (2-3) pitched a scoreless seventh for the win and Ernesto Frieri got five outs for his fifth save.
Houston had runners at second and third with one out in the eighth, but the Astros came up empty after Matt Dominguez struck out and pinch-hitter Carlos Pena grounded out.
Dominguez put Houston on top 5-3 in the sixth with a two-out, two-run single that chased starter Jason Vargas.
The left-hander, who was coming off consecutive complete games, yielded 10 hits and five runs in 5 2-3 innings.
Jose Altuve added three hits for Houston to raise his average to .345, and Chris Carter and Brandon Barnes each drove in a run for the Astros. Dominguez made three errors at third base after entering the game with one all season.
Houston starter Lucas Harrell yielded four hits and two runs, but walked six in five innings.
Paul Clemens replaced Harrell to start the sixth and Harris connected on his third pitch for a homer to center that tied it 3-all.
Altuve singled and stole second base in the fourth before Carter's two-out single tied it at 2.
A grounder by Barnes dribbled away from Trumbo at first and into the outfield for an RBI single that put Houston up 3-2 in the fifth.
Hamilton, who broke a 20-game home run drought with a solo shot Wednesday, opened the second inning with a drive to the bullpen in center field to make it 1-0.
Dominguez tied it with an RBI single in the bottom half.
Trumbo reached on an error by Dominguez – his second of the game – with one out in the third. Harrell then loaded the bases on consecutive walks before a sacrifice fly by Callaspo put the Angels up 2-1.
NOTES: Angels reliever Scott Downs left in the eighth with a right foot injury. … Angels shortstop Erick Aybar left in the bottom of the fourth because of tightness in his right hamstring. He was replaced by Harris. Aybar went 0 for 3, ending an 11-game hitting streak. … Chris Iannetta walked a career-high four times. … Angels reliever Ryan Madson, who missed last season after Tommy John surgery, threw 21 pitches in a camp game at extended spring training. Scioscia said Madson will probably pitch in two games there before moving to the Class-A California League to continue his work. "His stuff looked good, so it's a first step," Scioscia said. Madson is scheduled to throw again on Saturday.


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Yesterday the United Nations Security Council voted to establish an international tribunal to prosecute suspects in the assassination of of Lebanon's former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The vote was 10-0 with five abstenstions. United States Ambassador to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad issued a statement on the vote:
Those who killed Rafiq Hariri and so many others will be brought to justice and held responsible for their crimes.
The tribunal will also serve to deter future political assassinations. Those who might be tempted to commit similar crimes will know there will be consequences for perpetuating political violence and intimidation in Lebanon.
We shall see.
To comment on this post, go here.


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Glendale Heights cops hunting for bank robber
Glendale Heights police and the FBI say they are searching for a man who robbed a bank Monday morning and escaped with an undisclosed amount of money.
Authorities said they responded at 10:23 a.m. to the Chase Bank branch at 2150 Bloomingdale Road for a report of a robbery.
Authorities said a man entered the bank and told a teller he had a weapon, although he did not display one. The robber fled on foot, leaving through the front door and possibly walking east. Authorities searched the area with a canine unit.
No injuries were reported.
The suspect is described as a Hispanic man, roughly 25 to 30 years old and standing about 5 feet 10 inches tall. Police said he had a medium build and black hair and black eyes. He also was described as having "big bags" under his eyes, police said.
The suspect was wearing a plaid sweater with white and green checks, black pants and black shoes.
Police Sgt. Douglas Flint confirmed a suspect matching a similar description robbed a nearby 7 Eleven store about 10:30 p.m. Saturday. The suspect, wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt, stole lottery tickets, Flint said.
Anyone with information is asked to call Glendale Heights police at (630) 260-6070 or the FBI at (312) 421-6700.


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Join us as Rutherford students teach us some great tips for using the iPad.
FREE babysitting, snacks and door prizes presented in English and Spanish. No registration needed—just show up, we'd love to have you.
Do you want to delete all occurrences of the recurring appointment "Free Family Engagement Classes: iPad Camp", or just this one?
Delete this occurrence.
Delete this series.


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How character switching makes Grand Theft Auto 5 more convenient
Grand Theft Auto V producer Leslie Benzies goes into more detail about how the character switching mechanic will impact the game.
Grand Theft Auto 5 lets you play as three different characters. While Rockstar faced some design challenges implementing the feature, producer Leslie Benzies says that it will make the game far more convenient for players.
"To make [character switching] as seamless as possible we've had to overcome many problems," Benzies told IGN. "Off-mission, players aren't forced to switch characters, they make the choice themselves - so it is important to ensure each character brings a unique aspect to the game. The player needs to want to switch between them and see each of their stories develop. If each character doesn't have this appeal the player would find a favorite and try to only play as them, missing out on the bigger picture."
By having multiple characters, many of the annoyances inherent to the franchise can be taken care of, such as the long drives between missions. The player can switch characters any time, even when not on a mission, and the characters generally occupy different parts of the map. This means that you can switch to a new character while the old one takes care of the busywork.
"One character might have an ambient activity that takes them out in to the countryside; if the player decides that they want to do something different they can switch to another character and be back in the city ready to start their next mission," Benzies said. "Having three characters allows players to explore the whole map without having to worry about the long drive back to their next objective."
The second trailer for the game is set to be released tomorrow. It's due out next spring.
From The Chatty
Steve Watts posted a new article, How character switching makes Grand Theft Auto 5 more convenient.
Grand Theft Auto V producer Leslie Benzies goes into more detail about how the character switching mechanic will impact the game.


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The latest update to Skyrim's Creation Kit now allows for Hot Plugin Loading. So what does that mean? Here's BGS level designer Joel Burgess to explain…
As you know, we recently released version 1.6.89 of the Creation Kit. As previously mentioned, the CK is the same toolset the developers use – and that means that the latest version comes with an experimental new dev feature – Hot Plugin Loading.
Simply put, hot loading allows you to save and update your plugin from the Creation Kit, and immediately view those results in-game. No need to restart the game to see your changes! This has had a huge impact on iteration time around Bethesda Game Studios, and we hope modders will find it just as beneficial.
Note: As mentioned, this is an experimental feature. Not everything will work as expected, and there may be crashes or other hiccups. Many thanks to programmer Jay Woodward (aka RadHamster) for his work on this awesome new feature!
- Load the Creation Kit as normal. Load your plugin (or create a new one)
- In this example, we'll pretend our active plugin is "nifty.esp"
- Launch Skyrim as normal.
- Make some changes in the Creation Kit, such as moving or adding a static.
- In-game, open the console (~) and enter the command: "FCF"
- This step only applies if you loaded nifty.esp in the Data files section of the launcher
- This only has to be done once per boot of the game.
- FCF is shorthand for "force close files", and allows the Creation Kit to save a loaded plugin
- Return to the creation kit and save nifty.esp
- Return to the game. If possible, position yourself where you'll notice your changes.
- Open the console and enter: "HLP nifty" (or the name of your .esp file)
- HLP is shorthand for "Hotload plugin"
- The scene will re-load. Your changes show now be visible in-game!
For more on the Creation Kit, visit our official Wiki and forums.


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I made a dry storage and feed box for my filament that sits beside the printer. This way I can keep unused filament clean and dry and easy to change over to a different type. This is an 80qt. Sterilite air tight box with a steel rod to support 4 spools (could fit 5 regular spools). Feed through flanges pass the filament outside to a shared filament guide tube that feeds into the back of the printer enclosure. Inside the enclosure frame is a filament filter. On the box lid are some open cell foam blocks that create some drag on the spools to prevent over rotation and unspooling of the filament:
or link if the image won't load for you:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B89_D ... XFhTVR6V00
I have a YouTube playlist with the step by step videos and all the various components called out in the video description:
https://youtu.be/xzPvQJxFql0?list=PLpY2 ... YHcbzAiKvj
So far it's working very well, no jams and the relative humidity inside the box stays around 20% day and night.
Filament dry box.
Share any mods you have made and the awesome results.
Moderator: Elijah
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The Daily Standard
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Saturday, August 1st, 2009
Auglaize County Fair kicks off 7-day run this weekend
Officials finishing last-minute work in time for Sunday
By Margie Wuebker
Luke Leffel, 13 St. Marys, adds feed to this rabbit pen on the Auglaize County F
. . .
WAPAKONETA - An air of expectancy hangs over the Auglaize County Fairgrounds as workers finish last-minute jobs and concessionaires ready food stands and carnival rides for the 157th fair.
The event, which draws thousands of visitors and participants, begins Sunday and continues through Aug. 8.
"This is the calm before the storm," fair secretary Fred Piehl says. "It won't be long until this place is really hopping and that is what the fair board likes to see."
Planning began more than a year ago in hopes of putting together the right mix of entertainment, contests and special events.
"Our goal is to provide something for everyone who comes through the gates," Piehl says. "We need to give people lots of reasons to visit the fair."
Entertainment ranks high on the list with free performances daily at the Mike Sweeney Entertainment Tent. In addition to four installments of the popular Battle of the Bands, the schedule includes a variety of performers ranging from comedy juggler and ventriloquist Mike Hemmelgarn to the nationally known Mustang Sally group.
Meanwhile, the gospel tent will offer daily programs featuring such groups as Soul'd Out, Just Us, The Pfeifers, Hoosier Harmony and The Isaacs.
Popular attractions at the grandstand include dirt track motorcycle racing, the Extreme Truck Challange, harness racing, wrestling and a demolition derby. There is no additional charge for these events after visitors over the age of 9 plunk down $8 for admission to the fair.
With more than 2,000 youths participating in Junior Fair activities, there is always something going on in terms of competition, exhibits and demonstrations.
Piehl says registration numbers show definite increases in goats, swine, poultry, rabbits and steers while dairy entries have stabilized after several years of declines. Many family and consumer science entries as well as non-livestock and FFA shop and crop projects were judged in recent days and those numbers also remain strong.
"The Junior Fair is particularly exciting because there are new participants each and every year," the fair secretary says. "And that brings even more parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles."
The grounds have sprouted a city of campers and recreational vehicles with an estimated 1,500 residents. The fair remains an annual vacation destination for many families and former residents who now live away from the area.
"Do you think the state of the economy will have an effect on this year's fair?" is a question Piehl hears frequently these days.
He chuckles before replying, "Ask me Aug. 8 when everything is over."
If he was a betting man, the New Knoxville-area resident would wager attendance figures come in the same as or even higher than last year. He still considers the fair one of the best bargains around.
If you go:
Here are the particulars of this year's 157th Auglaize County Fair:
• Dates - Aug. 2-8.
• Hours - gates open daily at 8 a.m. with midway and concessions open noon to 10 p.m. Sunday through Friday and noon to midnight on Saturday.
• General admission - $8 daily; youths 9 and under admitted free.
• Season pass - $25 for the week.
• Special admission days - $2 discount for seniors with Golden Buckeye card or other proof of age on Tuesday; children up to age of 18 also will be admitted free from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday; veterans with proof of service admitted free on Thursday.
• Ride wristband specials - $10 noon to 5 p.m.; $12 6-11 p.m.; and $15 for all day. There is a $2 reduction for the first two times on Tuesday in observance of Kids Day.
• Free parking - east and west lots.
• Special service - No golf carts are permitted but the New Bremen Historic Association will provide daily courtesy cart transportation at the east gate.
• For more information - www.auglaizecountyfair.org or call the secretary's office at 419-738-2515.
-Margie Wuebker
Auglaize County Fair schedule:
• 10 a.m. - Open horticulture show (horticulture barn)
• Noon - Extreme Truck Challenge (grandstand)
• 1 p.m. - Children choosing Christ (gospel tent)
• 2 p.m. - 4-H Style Review (Junior Fair Building)
• 2 p.m. - Open/Junior Fair beef shows (Show Barn I)
• 4 p.m. - Cake auction (entertainment tent)
• 5 p.m. - Open class barrow/gilt show
• 7:30 p.m. - Just Us quartet (gospel tent)
• 8-10 p.m. - Battle of the Bands (entertainment tent)
• 9 a.m. - Junior Fair horse/pony show (horse show)
• 9 a.m. - Junior Fair swine showmanship (swine arena)
• Noon - Ribbon cutting (front gate)
• Noon-dusk - New Knoxville historical displays/demonstrations (log cabin)
• 5 p.m. - Ayrshire-Brown-Swiss-Guerney-Jersey Show (Show Barn I)
• 6:30 p.m. - Open horseshoe pitching tournament
• 7 p.m. - District 12 Holstein Show (Show Barn I)
• 7 p.m. - Junior Fair king/queen crowning (grandstand)
• 7:30 p.m. - Dixie Melody Boys (gospel tent)
• 7:30 p.m. - Cheerleading contest (grandstand)
• 8-10 p.m. - Battle of the Bands (entertainment tent)
Archive of August 1st, 2009
Subscriber only stories on this date
Elections board holds closed door sessions
Mayor taps Bachelor for safety service director post
Copyright © 2018 Standard Printing Co. All Rights Reserved


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Sibelius Compass scores with Best Secondary Software: Content and Tools award at BETT 2005
Sibelius Software is proud to announce that its market leading Compass composing program has been awarded one of the most sought after awards in the education industry: a BETT Award for best Secondary Software: Content and Tools. Compass fought off tough competition from a variety of educational software and hardware suppliers from across the country to clinch this prestigious accolade. The annual BETT Awards have become renowned among teaching communities across the world for setting the standards in Information Communication Technology (ICT).
Sibelius Compass, which was first announced at last year\'s BETT is a unique program designed to help students learn how to compose, it was recently described by the Times Educational Supplement as \"the most useful dedicated music software written for music education\". The program covers all of the topics associated with successful composition including melody, harmony, rhythm, timbre, texture and form. These lead on to complete composition projects, allowing students to write and play back their own pieces.
Sibelius CEO Jeremy Silver commented, \"We are delighted to win this prestigious award. Developing Sibelius Compass has been an exciting project for us, allowing us to combine our experience in composition with our newly acquired sequencing technology, SequenceXtra. We have been very pleased by the positive reaction of music teachers to this innovative, inspirational and practical way to teach music composition.\"
The Awards, one of the many highlights of the BETT 2005 educational technology show (12-15 January 2005, Olympia, London, www.bettshow.co.uk), are run by EMAP Education, in association with the British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA), EC&T magazine and the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta).
Ray Barker, Director of BESA and Joint Chair of the Judges, comments: \"The BETT Awards provide that much needed link between the ICT industry and the teaching community. The BETT Awards also play a key role in demonstrating how ICT can be embedded into subjects across the curriculum. The year-on-year rise in entries illustrates how important the BETT Awards have become in the eyes of teachers and suppliers alike.\"
The BETT Awards, launched six years ago, have become the benchmark for ICT product development. The awards recognise and reward creativity, innovation and commitment in developing the highest quality and most effective educational ICT resources.


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Sticky chicken drumsticks
Prep: 5 mins Cook: 35 mins
Delicious chicken drumsticks with a sticky soy glaze that can be cooked on the grill or the barbie - weather permitting
Nutrition and extra info
- Uncooked
Nutrition: per serving
- kcal267
- fat14g
- saturates4g
- carbs4g
- sugars4g
- fibre0g
- protein32g
- salt2.04g
Save to My Good Food
- 8 chicken drumsticks
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
Soy saucesoy sor-s
An Asian condiment and ingredient that comes in a variety of of varieties ranging from light to…
- 1 tbsp honey
Honey is made by bees from the nectar they collect from flowers. Viscous and fragrant, it's…
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Olive oilol-iv oyl
Probably the most widely-used oil in cooking, olive oil is pressed from fresh olives. It's…
- 1 tsp tomato purée
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
Make 3 slashes on each of the drumsticks. Mix together the soy, honey, oil, tomato purée and mustard. Pour this mixture over the chicken and coat thoroughly. Leave to marinate for 30 mins at room temperature or overnight in the fridge. Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6.
Tip the chicken into a shallow roasting tray and cook for 35 mins, turning occasionally, until the chicken is tender and glistening with the marinade.
Recipe Tip
TipThis marinade is also delicious with pork. Try marinating spare ribs and slow-roasting them until the meat is sticky and falling off the bone.
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Comments, questions and tips
16th Jan, 2017
Definitely don't add the oil! Its a very runny mixture - I added extra honey and also some sesame seeds for an added bit of texture. Once I removed from the oven I also placed into a hot pan for one minute on both sides just to add a little crisp and I'm glad I did Went down a storm and my family loved it! Great recipe just forget the oil!
13th Nov, 2016
Made these last night with a mixture of thighs and drumsticks. I too used wholegrain mustard as I prefer this t dijon. From reading the other reviews I will leave out the oil next time, as Didn't really add anything to the recipe. All in all quite a nice recipe and far cheaper than buying shop bought marinade.
20th Oct, 2013
Disappointed by my first attempt following the recipe, as some other posters have said- it is lacking in flavour. It was also too oily for me! I will try some of the other suggestions, it definitely needs something like chilli to give it a kick. I used wholegrain mustard which has a nice texture. Needs improvement...
17th Nov, 2013
Would advise tasting as you mix and tweaking the basic ingredients-am i the only one whose mouth was on fire with a tablespoon of Dijon!!!!!? Found it to be too oily and watery with only a teaspoon of tomato puree......swop the two quantities around however and you're getting somewhere........ (i did wonder if it was a mistake?) try a bit of extra soy sauce if too sweet. The second time i made it i added a teaspoon of garlic granules and mmmmmmmmm.............


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Huskers unveil Pinnacle Bank Arena floor design
Huskers unveil Pinnacle Bank Arena floor design
LINCOLN, Neb. —
The design plan for the Huskers' court at Lincoln's new arena may look familiar.
According to Huskers.com, the Pinnacle Bank Arena court will bring back the outline of the state of Nebraska -- a look similar to the one from the Bob Devaney Sports Center between 1986 and 1996.
A Block N at center court and a star signifying Lincoln as Nebraska's state capital are part of the design of the new arena.
The plan was created by the athletic department administration and both Husker basketball coaching staffs.
According to Executive Associate Athletic Director Marc Boehm, the goal was to give the area a distinctive feel for Husker fans.


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Getting an effective dose of long-chain omega-3s DHA and EPA is a challenge if you don't eat fish or take fish oil. Good news for vegetarians and vegans then, last week in a report in the Journal of Nutrition, that algae-sourced DHA supplements may boost good (HDL) cholesterol and reduce triglycerides, important heart-health benefits.
The DHA supplements also raised LDL (bad) cholesterol slightly, but researchers from Harvard and the Cleveland Clinic noted that these were generally large particles, which are considered less harmful that small, dense particles. The net effect is likely to reduce cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk.
Ovega-3, another algae-based omega-3 recently launched by Amerifit (Martek), is the first to offer both DHA and EPA, a breakthrough that may mean even more heart plusses.
One point that caught my eye: Supplementing with algal DHA (approximately 200 mg) costs about three times as much as fish oil supplementation, according to the report. (Perhaps they were considering Walmart or Costco prices; I don't consider high-quality fish oil cheap!)
Ultimately, I wonder how critical heart-health benefits are for most vegans and vegetarians, who have much lower CVD risk factors. Having a family history of CVD no doubt plays some role, but investing in a healthy, nutrient-rich (and low or no) meat diet is a great step toward lower overall disease risk, even without supplements.


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BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — The embattled president of Central African Republic on Tuesday accused the rebels who have seized the northern half of the country of being backed by "foreign terrorists" and said he is heading to this week's peace talks to defend democracy.
President Francois Bozize, who himself took power in 2003 following a rebellion, has offered to form a coalition government with the rebels. Some fighters, though, insist they will not join the government unless he steps down.
While Bozize's government has faced previous challenges from rebel groups, this latest joint offensive launched one month ago has posed the gravest threat to his rule during his nearly 10 years in power.
"In a democracy, change is made at the ballot box and not with weapons," he said Tuesday during a news conference at the presidential palace in Bangui, the capital.
Rebel leaders and the delegation representing Bozize's government already have arrived in Gabon, where the peace talks are set to begin later in the week. Bozize said that if the rebels come with something positive to say, he is prepared to hear it.
"If the terrorists come to talk terrorism, the whole world will know it," he said. "If they come to discuss defending the cause of Central African Republic, we are going to listen to them. If there is something positive, we will accept it. If it's armed robbery, we will not accept it."
The rebels of the Seleka alliance come from four separate groups that have now joined forces against Bozize's government.
On Tuesday, the president again accused outside forces of aiding them and said "there is a risk that a religious cause is behind Seleka."
He said it appeared there were Janjaweed, or fighters from neighboring Sudan, along with "people who don't speak Sango, French or even English" from beyond the country's borders.
"Foreign terrorists are attacking the established power in Central African Republic. Under those circumstances, I am proud of having served my country normally, that democracy is functioning normally," he said.
Seleka began its offensive Dec. 10, and the rebels have seized a dozen towns in a month's time. They said they were halting their advance before reaching Bangui in an attempt to give the peace negotiations a chance.
However, a spokesman for Seleka in Paris warned earlier this week that they still had the strength to attack the government-fortified city of Damara as well as Bangui.
"If we wanted to take Damara, it would already be done. We have the means to take Damara and also to take Bangui today, but we don't want the capital to suffer attacks," rebel spokesman Eric Massi told The Associated Press in Paris on Monday.
The rebels behind the most recent instability signed a 2007 peace accord allowing them to join the regular army, but insurgent leaders say the deal wasn't fully implemented.
They have claimed that their actions are justified in light of the "thirst for justice, for peace, for security and for economic development of the people of Central African Republic."
Despite Central African Republic's wealth of gold, diamonds, timber and uranium, the government remains perpetually cash-strapped. The land-locked nation of 4.4 million, a former French colony, is among the poorest countries in the world.
Associated Press writer Hippolyte Marboua contributed to this report.


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Mortuary Van Service/ Harsh Van Services in Moti Bagh
Jyoti Ambulance Services are known for giving careful 24 hour Mortuary Van Service.Available to ensure easy transportation of dead bodies via road and air ambulances, the company has satisfied numerous customers' needs within least time frames. Offering Harsh Van Services which are required for traveling expired body from healing center to home or from a home to crematory grounds, the company plays a vital role. Having a group of experienced and capable work force to render quality answers for customers, Harsh Van Services can be benefited from entryway ventures, at wanted time.
The requirement for Mortuary Van Service is raised all of a sudden and satisfying the same inside minimum time has been the strength of the organization in this. Harsh Van Services is required for dispatching of human stays in mass deaths happened because of common cataclysms like air crash, seismic tremor, prepare mishap, surge, building breakdown, scourge and so forth. These circumstances additionally raise the requests of pine box boxes as a pre-imperative for Mortuary Van Service.
Giving exhaustive help round the clock for powerful administrations of dead body transportation, the Harsh Van Services rendered through street satisfy the customers' needs past their desires. Giving a group of qualified staff, attendants and others alongside the vans and caskets, the organization ensures just unrivaled review Harsh Van Services. Respectful care and humble comprehension with the expired individual's families have been the strong point at Jyoti. That is the way it gains a major name for offering best Mortuary Van Service.


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Monday, 7 April 2014
A-Z Challenge 2014: F is for FamilySearch
Current stats include that it covers 3 billion (yes, that's billion) names worldwide. There are parish records, census records, images of the original record - it just goes on and on. There is also a place where you can record your own Family Tree; it is the home of indexing (more about that in the letter 'I' blog post later this week); it's a place for photos and family stories; there are interactive fan charts and live help...
If you have ever looked at the paid-for sites and wistfully realised you just can't afford their prices, or even if you can afford them - use FamilySearch as a jumping-off point for your research, and as a place you come back to again and again. Bookmark it - you're going to want to visit and revisit!
7 comments:
looks like you have a focus for you A-Z challenge..making it even more ''effortless.''ReplyDeleteReplies
Genealogy is definitely my focus! Thanks for stopping byDelete
I seem to remember you from last year's Challenge! Nice to see you again :)ReplyDelete
Blogging from Alpha to Zulu in AprilReplies
I went to the link you posted above, and it looks really interesting. New follower!Delete
Thanks for stopping by
I will have to check this out. I have my mom's records but my dad's is difficult-name changes and all that. Thank you for posting thisReplyDeleteReplies
I would *definitely* recommend checking this out. Be prepared to spend quite a bit of time there - it is so fascinating!Delete
Thanks for stopping by
I got an e-mail recently from the site I have my family tree at. Thought you might be interested. I know that these graves are a big part of genealogy records as my grandfather has traveled place just to see the tombstones himself. http://blog.myheritage.com/2014/02/myheritage-and-billiongraves-join-forces-to-digitally-preserve-the-world%E2%80%99s-cemeteries/?lang=ENReplyDelete
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Blog Archive
- ► 2015 (28)
- A-Z Challenge 2014: Z is for Zealous
- A-Z Challenge 2014: Y is for Ye
- A-Z Challenge 2014: X is for eXpert
- A-Z Challenge 2014: W is for Webinar
- A-Z Challenge 2014: V is for Vital Statistics
- A-Z Challenge 2014: U is for Uncle
- A-Z Challenge 2014: T is for Transcript
- A-Z Challenge 2014: S is for Sources
- A-Z Challenge 2014: R is for Rootstech
- A-Z Challenge 2014: Q is for Queries
- A-Z Challenge 2014: P is for Parish Registers
- A-Z Challenge 2014: O is for ONS
- A-Z Challenge 2014: N is for Nonconformists
- A-Z Challenge 2014: M is for Monumental Inscriptio...
- A-Z Challenge 2014: L is for Legacy
- A-Z Challenge 2014: K is for Kith and Kin
- A-Z Challenge 2014: J is for Jargon
- A-Z Challenge 2014: I is for Indexing - Changing a...
- A-Z Challenge 2014: H is for Half-Baptised
- A-Z Challenge 2014: G is for GenUKI
- A-Z Challenge 2014: F is for FamilySearch
- A-Z Challenge 2014: E is for Elderly Relatives
- A-Z Challenge 2014: D is for Death Certificate
- A-Z Challenge 2014: C is for Census
- A-Z Challenge 2014: B is for Backup
- A-Z Challenge 2014: A is for A-Z Challenge
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- ► 2012 (59)
- ► 2011 (53)


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In a new post today, David Skalr demonstrates how he solved a simple problem - looping through all of the characters in a string in a UTF-8 enabled environment.
So I've got this string (in PHP) and I need to scan through it character by character. I can't scan byte by byte because it's 2007, our users write in all sorts of languages, and the string is UTF-8.
To remedy the situation, he falls back on an old standby - the mb_* functions, mb_substr and mb_strlen. His benchmarks show that, with a 1500 character string, running his sample script gives him around 61 scans per second. (The PHP6 version with TextIterator works much faster, though - 450 scans per second).


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MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico City officials say two more police officers have been arrested in connection with the May kidnapping and killing of 12 young people from an after-hours bar in the capital.
There are now three police officers in total among the 15 arrested in connection with the crime, which authorities have linked to rivalry between two gangs over the rights to sell drugs in bars and nightclubs in some upscale neighborhoods.
Officials say the mass slaying was revenge for one gang's killing of a dealer belonging to another gang.
The city attorney general's office said Monday that the two officers have been put under 30 days house arrest. Both were assigned to the Zona Rosa, the area of nightclubs and bars where the 12 young people were kidnapped from Bar Heaven.


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Perry High School will be the host site for an Big Ten wrestling dual match between Ohio State and Michigan State on Feb. 7.
Ohio State wrestling coach Tom Ryan has made a point in his eight seasons in Columbus to try and wrestle once a year in a high school gym. Generally, the location is based upon the hometown of one of the current Buckeye wrestlers.
This season, that Buckeye barnstorming tour will bring them to Perry High School on Feb. 7 to wrestle Michigan State. The dual match will start at 7 p.m., and tickets — which are going fast — can be purchased at OhioStateBuckeyes.com.
"That's a pretty big deal," Perry head coach Dave Riggs said.
Former Perry state champion Nick Heflin is a two-time team captain for Ohio State, wrestling at 197 pounds. Heflin is a redshirt senior and a two-time All-American for the Buckeyes.
The ex-Panther has placed fifth at the NCAA Championships the last two seasons.
"He's a team captain for Ohio State, so he's going to get a chance to compete in the high school gym his senior year," Riggs said.
Among the past stops for Ohio State has been duals at Oak Harbor (last season), West Holmes (2011), Perrysburg (2011), Maple Heights (2007) and St. Edward (2007). Most of the time, it has served two purposes: to bring one of the Buckeye wrestlers back home, while also generating exposure for the program around the state.
It also is a benefit for recruiting in what is considered one of the nation's better high school wrestling states. Ryan's predecessor, Russ Hellickson, drew some criticism for not keeping some of Ohio's premier wrestlers from leaving the state for such programs as Michigan, Northwestern, Penn State and Minnesota.
But when Ryan arrived in Columbus, he made keeping Ohio talent in Ohio a priority. The current Buckeye roster has 26 Ohio natives, with six members of their current recruiting class also from the state.
Riggs feels that traveling the state for Big Ten duals is something that has helped the process as well.
"If you look in the past, Ohio State hasn't always kept some of the top kids in the state," Riggs said. "They've been going to various places, between Iowa, Michigan and others. Now, Ohio State is doing a better job of keeping those top kids in the state of Ohio. I really credit a lot of it to their coaching staff doing that.
"In return, what they're trying to give back, letting some of their top seniors or kids in their program wrestle in their old home gyms one time ... . Looking at their recruiting class this past season, whatever they're doing, it's working. They're definitely keeping the top kids in Ohio."


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Yeah, it's true. As the main character, with the story you should be wanting to read about Bella, not just Edward. I honestly don't understand why SM made her so boring, or maybe to her she's intriguing?leahroselover wrote:But its not Edward's POV, its Bella's she should get more attention from fans and others. The only time they ever compare Bella to another main character from a vampire series is Sookie Stackhouse from True Blood.
I understand that some have preferances for other characters, I for example adore Jasper above and beyond anyone, but maybe if Bella wasn't so boring more people who prefer her . . . normally I do prefer the heroine to anyone in the story, because it's their story but Twilight isn't really Bella's story. It's her story sure, but without the supernatural activity surrounding her, would anyone be interested in her?


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As the search for the Browns' next head coach begins, all eyes turned to Foxborough and its tributaries. No one should be surprised if Lombardi and the Browns go after Josh McDaniels or Bill O'Brien.
Browns general manager Michael Lombardi isn't just another Bill Belichick fan. He worked with Belichick in Cleveland. His son has worked for Belichick in New England.
As the search for the Browns' next head coach begins, all eyes turned to Foxborough and its tributaries. No one should be surprised if Lombardi and the Browns go after Josh McDaniels or Bill O'Brien.
McDaniels was Belichick's offensive coordinator on a 2007 Patriots team that set NFL offensive records in going 16-0. A year later, McDaniels kept the Patriots' offense afloat with Matt Cassel at quarterback, work that landed him an interview for the head coaching job in Cleveland. McDaniels instead became head coach in Denver.
O'Brien replaced McDaniels and, after helping the Patriots reach the Super Bowl in the 2011 season, took the head coaching job at Penn State.
McDaniels was fired during his second season in Denver and lost another job after his 2011 team, St. Louis, made a coaching change.
Belichick wasted no time in bringing back McDaniels as offensive coordinator. Now, there apparently is an opening in Cleveland.
Last December, about a month before the Browns hired him, Lombardi talked about McDaniels in his media role as an NFL analyst.
He likened McDaniels' failed run in Denver to Belichick's growing pains in Cleveland.
"I've often said this to Josh McDaniels," Lombardi said. "When he took the job in Denver, I said, 'The missing point that you had when you took that job is you didn't know what Bill went through in Cleveland. You didn't know the mistakes we made to get there. And so when you went to Denver, Denver became your Cleveland. You made mistakes there that you went through, and that's part of life."
The extension of the thought: It is know Lombardi likes McDaniels. It can be guessed he sees McDaniels succeeding in his second head-coaching job, as Belichick did.
The difference: Belichick used Cleveland as his training grounds; McDaniels could put his learning to work in Cleveland.
If the McDaniels story gets legs, so could the possibility of landing quarterback Ryan Mallett. Mallett began learning the New England style of offense as a rookie Round 3 pick in 2011.
O'Brien headed for bidding war?
It remains to be seen how the Houston Texans' interest in Bill O'Brien will play out relative to the Browns' head-coaching search.
The Texans have interviewed O'Brien as a candidate to replace Gary Kubiak, but others have been under consideration as well. Former Cardinals head coach Ken Whisenhunt also is on Houston's radar.
O'Brien interviewed for the Browns' opening last year, but that was before Michael Lombardi was hired by Cleveland.
He is 15-9 since succeeding Joe Paterno as head coach at Penn State.
Browns 'kept getting worse'
Ian Rappaport, who got to know Michael Lombardi well during their mutual travels with NFL Network, shot off a scathing Tweet three hours after the Browns' loss:
"The likely firing of Rob Chudzinski is due to lack of improvement. Source: 'The more time coaches spent with them, the worse they got.'"
If that's what a "source" thinks now, what was the brass thinking when it hired this staff?
Until now, the Browns never have had a "one-and-done" head coach. They have had their share of short-timers.
Bud Carson was hired in 1989 and fired midway through the 1990 season.
Chris Palmer was hired when the team came back in 1999 and was fired after the 2000 season.
Eric Mangini (2009-10) and Pat Shurmur (2011-12) each lasted two years.
A look at some of the head coaches who have gotten only one year:
Mike Mularkey got the boot after going 2-14 with the Jaguars last year.Ray Rhodes replaced Mike Holmgren in Green Bay in 1999, went 8-8, and went away.Jim Mora replaced Holmgren in Seattle in 2009 and was fired after a 5-11 year.Cam Cameron went 1-15 as Nick Saban's Miami Dolphins replacement in 2007, and was shown the door.Marty Schottenhimer went 8-8 with the 2000 Redskins, butted heads with owner Daniel Snyder, and moved on.Pete Carroll steered the Jets to a 6-10 finish in 1994, then was shoved out the hatch.Doing the math
Browns wideout Josh Gordon finished the year with 1,734 yards from scrimmage. He passed Peyton Hillis early in Sunday's game to become to Browns' expansion-era leader in receiving-rushing yards for a single season.Jason Campbell led Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger 240-179 in passing yards and 71.2-61.1 in passer rating. Antonio Brown led Gordon 87-82 in receiving yards.Gordon's 1,646 receiving yards represent the ninth biggest season in NFL history. Ahead of him on the list are Calvin Johnson (1,964, 1,681); Jerry Rice (1,848); Isaac Bruce (1,781); Marvin Harrison (1,722, 1,663); Torry Holt (1,696), and Herman Moore (1,686).Greg Little finished what is expected to have been his last year with the Browns by catching one pass for nine yards. His production went down in each of the last two seasons. He caught 41 passes for 465 yards in 2013.Final Browns passer ratings: Brian Hoyer 82.6, Jason Campbell 76.9, Brandon Weeden 70.3. Browns' record in games they started: Hoyer 3-0, Campbell 1-7, Weeden 0-5.Willis McGahee, who dressed but did not play Sunday, finished the year as the Browns' leading rusher with 377 yards.A Spartan duel
The Browns' new running back hoped to recover some lost turf Sunday.
Edwin Baker's last 2013 audition for a role on the 2014 Browns came against the man, LeVeon Bell, who knocked him down a peg at Michigan State. Baker gave the Browns 69 yards on 18 carries. Bell ran 20 times for 90 yards for Pittsburgh.
"I feel like I've done my part," said Baker, who ran for 171 yards, 4.0 per carry, in a three-game Browns trial.
Baker's best year in the Big Ten, by far, was 2010. He ran for 1,201 yards (5.8 average) and 13 touchdowns. Le'Veon Bell, now with the Steelers, was beginning to emerge. In relief of Bell, he ran for 605 yards at 5.7 per carry.
Bell's playing time increased substantially in 2011. He had barely more carries than Baker, 182-170, but produced substantially more yards, 948-665, and touchdowns, 13-5.
By the time the Spartans reached the 2011 Big Ten championship game, Bell was the man. In a 42-39 loss to Wisconsin, Bell ran 18 times for 106 yards. Baker ran nine times for 31 yards.
The Spartans capped an 11-3 season with a 33-30, triple-overtime win over Georgia in the Outback Bowl.
Baker went to the NFL in 2012 as a Round 7 pick (San Diego). Bell finished his career at Michigan State and was picked by Pittsburgh in Round 2 this year.
Bell is having a so-so year (770 yards, 3.4 average) but is coming off a 124-yard game at Green Bay. Baker has given the Browns 102 rushing yards at 4.1 a carry in two games.
Bell (6-1, 244) is a big back. Baker (5-8, 210) is trying to prove he's big enough.
"He's explosive," Bell said. "He hits the edge real fast."
Locker-room chatter
• Quarterback Jason Campbell on what at the time were merely rumors head coach Rob Chudzinski was in trouble:
"This is the NFL. There will always be rumors. I give a lot of credit to his ability to not let the outside world destroy what he's trying to build."
• Campbell on his first Browns season, in which he went 1-7 as the starter:
"I had some really good games. I had a game or two where I wish I could have done some things better. One thing I learned ... you can't put too much pressure on yourself."
• Center Alex Mack on Chudzinski's future:
"I think he's going to stay a while. There's something to be said for continuity. You need to build upon a system."
• Browns safety T.J. Ward, who can become a free agent:
"I'm glad I made it through the season healthy."
• Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger on rallying from 0-4 to 8-8:
"We had the worst record in football. Guys never quit. I'm really proud of what happened."
Extra points
• Eric Mangini thought the Browns had turned a corner when they beat the Steelers late in the 2009 season. Since then, the Browns are 1-7 against Pittsburgh.
• Head coach Mike Tomlin improved to 12-2 against the Browns, including 7-0 in Pittsburgh.
• Ben Roethlisberger is 17-1 against the Browns, including 9-0 at Heinz Field.
• Josh Cooper gave the Browns nine catches in the final two games.
• Jabaal Sheard finished as the Browns sacks leader a third straight year, but he had only 5.5, and he didn't get one Sunday.
• Rookie Round 7 pick Garrett Gilkey made his first NFL start, at left guard.


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STOCKTON - Dressed in business gray, Lucy Gleason rose from her defense table chair. She looked directly at Superior Court Judge Carter P. Holly and argued her client's Miranda rights in a pretrial hearing.
STOCKTON - Dressed in business gray, Lucy Gleason rose from her defense table chair. She looked directly at Superior Court Judge Carter P. Holly and argued her client's Miranda rights in a pretrial hearing.
Using deliberate gestures, forceful language, numerous references to case law and a healthy dose of confidence, Gleason and Holly, a 19-year veteran of the bench, went back and forth.
Gleason, a 15-year-old high school sophomore who later said Holly was intimidating, held her own with the judge.
And thus began Round 3 of this year's 2013 San Joaquin County mock trial competition, a hypothetical exercise that tests critical thinking, speaking ability and legal knowledge.
The mock trial competition is a 20-year tradition in the county. It is sponsored by the San Joaquin County Bar Association, the Laurence Drivon School of Law at Humphreys College and the San Joaquin County Office of Education.
Gleason, a student at Venture Academy, hopes to attend Brigham Young University in three years and eventually become a lawyer. On Saturday morning, she hid her nerves. Gleason admitted there is an adrenaline rush for students involved in the intense courtroom setting, however fictitious it might be.
"Sometimes I get so excited that I think I'm going to pass out," Gleason said after court was adjourned.
She and her classmates, who filled all of the courtroom positions except judge, impressed the scoring panel of four lawyers sitting in the jury box.
Venture's all-girl legal team defended Adrian Vega, a prominent resident of the make-believe community of Hidden Valley. Under the scenario argued all week, Vega, son of the mayor, was charged in a hit-and-run accident involving a bicyclist.
Eleven high schools were involved in the mock People v. Vega case, and they took turns at defense and prosecution.
Dozens of students filled six courtrooms Saturday on two floors of the courthouse in downtown Stockton.
Annie Cunial, in charge of special events with the county Office of Education, was coordinator of the mock trial.
Pitted against Venture's defense team in Round 3 was the all-girl lineup of three prosecutors from Merrill F. West High School. They were trying to prove that Vega drove the car that hit bicyclist Cameron Douglas.
Both teams were praised by the lawyers scoring their exercise.
Holly said he was impressed by the students' poise and preparation. He issued a verdict that had no bearing on how the respective schools performed.
"The key issue is the identity of the driver," he said. "It is clear that a crime occurred, and there is permanent disability to the bicyclist. But there is reasonable doubt regarding who was driving, thus Mr. Vega is not guilty and free to go."
In 2012, Venture Academy won the mock trial competition but this year, Tracy High, the 2010 champions, prevailed and will compete next month at the state level. Venture finished second.
When Round 3 ended, Gleason quickly packed up her notebook and, along with her classmates, headed to another courtroom. She and her classmates had to flip hats; this time they would prosecute Vega.
Gleason said she will be back for two more years of mock trial. "It's really fun, and I am planning to go into it someday. Plus, it's good preparation for college.
Contact reporter Kevin Parrish at (209) 546-8264 or firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Comprehensive DescriptionRead full entry
DescriptionAnnuals or perennials. Inflorescence a cylindric, spike-like panicle, consisting of deciduous clusters of 3-11 spikelets surrounded by an involucre of stiff bracts; bracts narrowly-elliptic, free to the base with obtuse or awned apices. Spikelets as long as the bracts. Lower glume 0. Upper glume subulate with a broad base; back facing inwards. Upper lemma cartilaginous.


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Embedded software developers have long relied on MATLAB® for algorithm design and prototyping and on C code for implementation on embedded processors and DSPs. As a high-level language, MATLAB facilitates design exploration. In contrast, programming in C is well suited to optimizing DSPs for performance, memory, and processing power. The challenge is to transition a design from the flexible development environment of MATLAB to the constrained programming style of C. The solution is automatic translation of MATLAB to embeddable C.
Manually translating MATLAB to C involves incorporating into the code low-level details such as data-type assignments, memory allocations, and optimizations for computational load and memory. A great deal of effort is required to ensure that the MATLAB code and the C code remain equivalent.
When your MATLAB algorithm uses the Embedded MATLAB™ language subset, the translation to C becomes unambiguous, enabling you to focus on refining your design rather than producing and verifying hand written C code.
This article outlines the challenges involved in the manual translation from MATLAB to C, demonstrates how to use the Embedded MATLAB subset for automatic translation, and provides best practices for coding your MATLAB algorithm to improve the generated C code.
Challenges of Translating MATLAB Concept Code into Implementation Code
MATLAB has several advantages for design exploration, such as polymorphism, matrix-based functions, and an interactive programming environment. During translation of an algorithm from MATLAB to C, however, software designers face some important constraints. For example:
MATLAB is a dynamically typed and C is a statically typed language. When writing a MATLAB program, you do not need to define data types and sizes for your variables. While this flexibility makes it easy to develop algorithms as proofs of concept, when it comes time for translation to C, the programmer must assign appropriate data types and sizes to all variables.
MATLAB is polymorphic. Functions in MATLAB can process different types of input parameters and can apply a different algorithm to each type of parameter. For example, the
abs function computes the absolute value of real numbers and norm of complex numbers and can process scalars, vectors, or matrices.
>> abs(4-3i) ans = 5 >> abs([4 -3]) ans = 4 3
This kind of flexibility is not supported in C, which assigns a single algorithm to each parameter type. To translate a polymorphic MATLAB function to C, the programmer must maintain separate function prototype for each possible parameter signature.
MATLAB is based on compact matrix notation. Most MATLAB expressions containing vectors and matrices are compact, single-line expressions similar to the corresponding mathematical formula. The equivalent C code requires iterators, such as
for loops, to express the matrix operations as a sequence of scalar computations.
Automating the MATLAB to C Workflow
Automatic MATLAB to C conversion with Real-Time Workshop® addresses many of the challenges outlined in the previous section. For example, consider an algorithm depicted in the function
euclidean.m. This algorithm minimizes the Euclidean distance between a column vector x and a collection of column vectors contained in the matrix cb. The function has two output variables: y, the vector in cb with the minimum distance to x, and dist, the value of the minimum distance (Figure 1).
In the body of the Euclidean function, we use the MATLAB function
norm to compute the distance between x and each column vector of cb. To visualize the computed distances between any pair of points, we call the
plot_distances function inside the loop. We use the
%#eml directive to turn on the MATLAB M-Lint code analyzer and check the function code for errors and recommend corrections.
Figure 2 shows how the
plot_distances function helps us visualize the process of computing all distances in a 2D space and finding the minimum value.
To generate C code from this algorithm, we must use only operators and functions that are part of the Embedded MATLAB subset. Visualization functions, such as
line, and
grid, are not supported by the Embedded MATLAB subset. When you open the
euclidian.m function in the MATLAB editor, the M-Lint code analyzer identifies and reports on these unsupported lines of code.
While it makes sense to use visualization functions to debug and verify the algorithm, when we implement the algorithm as C code, we must separate the offline analysis portions of the design from the online portions involved in embedded C code generation. In our example, we can make the algorithm compliant with the Embedded MATLAB subset simply by identifying and commenting out the
plot_distances function.
Now we use the
emlc command in Real-Time Workshop to generate C code for the Embedded MATLAB compliant function
Typical syntax for translation is
>> emlc -eg {x,cb} –report euclidean.m
The example option (following the
–eg delimiter) sets the data types and dimensions of function variables by specifying an example at the function interface. The
–report option opens the Embedded MATLAB compilation report with hyperlinks to C source files and header files generated from the MATLAB function. The generated C code is created in a file named
euclidean.c (Figure 3).
By using the example option, we declare the data type, size, and complexity of the variables x and cb in the function interface, enabling the Embedded MATLAB engine to assign data type and sizes automatically to all the local variable in the generated C program. The generated C code correctly maps to zero-based indexing for accessing array elements, and the vector operations are automatically mapped to scalar computations with
for loops. As a result, many difficulties encountered in manual MATLAB to C conversion are eliminated through automatic translation.
Design Patterns for a MATLAB to C Workflow
In an embedded system, the size and data type of each variable must be set before implementation. In addition, if the performance requirements are not met, the algorithm's memory and computational footprint must be optimized. The following sections examine design patterns that use supported Embedded MATLAB features to ensure that the generated C code adheres to these requirements.
Accommodating Changes in Variable Dimensions
In the MATLAB language, all data can vary in size. Embedded MATLAB supports variable-sized arrays and matrices with known upper bounds. This means you can accommodate the use of variable-sized data for embedded implementations by using buffers of a constant maximum size and by addressing subportions of the constant-size buffers. Within your Embedded MATLAB functions you can define variable-size inputs, outputs, and local variables, with known upper bounds. For inputs and outputs, you must specify the upper bounds explicitly at the function interface. For local data, Embedded MATLAB uses in-depth analysis to calculate the upper bounds at compile time. However, when the analysis fails to detect an accurate upper bound, you must specify them explicitly for local variables.
We update the
euclidean.m function to accommodate changes in dimensions over which we compute the distances.We want to compute only the distance between first N elements of a given vector x with the first N elements of every column vector contained in the matrix cb. The resulting function,
euclidean_varsize.m, will have a third input argument, N (Figure 4).
The compilation of this function will result in errors because we have not yet specified an upper bound for the value of N. As a result, the local variable 1:N will have no specified upper bound. To impose the upper bound we can constrain the value of the parameter N in the first line of the function by using the
assert function with relational operators (Figure 5).
The function
varsize_example.m shows another common pattern, one where an array such as y is first initialized and then grows in size based on a condition related to the value of an input or local variable:
The compilation of this function will again result in errors since we have not specified an upper bound for the variable y. To accommodate this type of size change for the local variable y, we can specify the upper bound using the
eml.varsize function for all instances of that local variable. In this example we constrain a maximum dimension of 1-by-8 for the variable y. In the upper branch of the
if statement, the variable y has a dimension of 1-by-6 and in the lower branch, a dimension of 1-by-7. The resulting function will be
Optimizing for Memory or Computational Complexity
Another common refinement is to optimize the generated C code for memory and complexity. In our
euclidean.m algorithm, to compute the distance between two points,
norm takes the square root of the squared values of each element of a given vector. Because computing the square root is computationally expensive, we can update our function by computing only the sum of the squared elements, without any loss in the intended behavior. The resulting function, which has a much lower computational load, uses the
sum function supported by the Embedded MATLAB language subset (Figure 6).
It may be desirable to reduce memory footprint of the generated C code. In some cases, the initialization of new variables in your Embedded MATLAB function may produce redundant copies in the generated C code. Although Embedded MATLAB technology eliminates many copies automatically, you can eliminate data copies that are not automatically handled by declaring uninitialized variables using the
eml.nullcopy function. In Figure 7, the variable y is initialized with such a construction.
Using Fixed-Point and Native Integer Data Types
By default, MATLAB uses 64-bit double-precision numerical representation for variables created in the workspace. As convenient as this choice is for design exploration, it is not memory-efficient for real-time processing of many common signals, such as image or audio signals represented natively with word lengths of 8 or 16 bits. To handle these types of signals and to implement your MATLAB algorithm on target processors with limited word lengths, you must convert the design to a fixed-point or integer-based representation. You can use Fixed-Point Toolbox™ to create fixed-point variables and perform fixed-point computations. Since the Embedded MATLAB language subset supports the fixed-point data object (fi), by using Real-Time Workshop you can generate pure integer C code from your Embedded MATLAB code. This usually involves modifying your original MATLAB function to declare variables based on integer or fixed-point representations.
euclidean_optimized.m function can process integer data types or fixed-point data types as its input variables. To generate C code we only need to compile the same function with integer or fixed-point variables in the example option of the emlc command. The command syntax for input variables of 16-bit signed integer type, for example, will be
>> emlc -eg {int16(x),int16(cb)} –report euclidean_optimized.m
The resulting generated C code contains only integer C data types, and can be readily compiled into fixed-point processors (Figure 8).
A Common Language and Development Environment
Automatic translation of MATLAB to C with the Embedded MATLAB subset eliminates the need to produce, maintain, and verify hand written C code. Design iterations become easier, as you stay within the MATLAB environment and take advantage of its interactive debugging and visualization capabilities. Many desirable features of MATLAB programs, such as matrix-based operations, polymorphism, variable-size data, and fixed-point numerical representations, are automatically translated to C code, enabling you to focus on improving your design rather than maintaining multiple copies of the source code written in different languages.


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Contact: Cam Savage
Ripley County Prosecutor Hertel Files over 250 Felony Charges
Indianapolis, IN -- Secretary of State Todd Rokita today praised Ripley County Prosecutor Richard Hertel for the filing of 102 felony criminal charges against both Gary J. Bentz and John E. Brinker Jr., both of Ohio, and 53 criminal charges against Ripley County, Indiana, resident Leonard E. Eckstein.
The felony charges include counts alleging all three men offered and sold unregistered securities, were unregistered agents, and sold securities in a fraudulent manner.
The criminal charges are the culmination of an investigation initiated approximately three years ago by the Secretary of State's office regarding activities at Wellington Capital Holdings Limited, Inc. Hertel's office has the authority to file criminal charges under Indiana law. Detective Tracy Rohlfing of the Indiana State Police has spent the last 13 months investigating and developing the case against the three individuals.
Prosecutor Hertel said that these individuals, by their actions, have conned Ripley County residents out of approximately $1 million. He noted, "Savings, retirements, and college funds have been stolen from law abiding citizens, not by men in ski masks with guns, but by men with pens and briefcases. These crimes have a direct and lasting impact on numerous people who reside in Ripley County."
"The filing of these charges sends a clear message that we will tenaciously pursue anyone who intends to defraud Hoosiers of their hard-earned savings. By cooperating fully, Prosecutor Hertel's office, the State Police, and the Securities Division of my office have made Indiana safer for investors," Rokita said.
Rokita and Hertel both had high praise for those investigating and coordinating efforts to this point, primarily Securities Commissioner Jim Joven, Secretary of State Securities Division Enforcement Attorney Paul Lawson, and Detective Rohlfing.
Hertel further cautioned Ripley County residents about other potential scams and to research any opportunity prior to investing.
Businesses holding themselves out to be corporations should be registered with Rokita's office, as should both investments and their sellers. Information can be verified at Rokita's website, http://www.sos.in.gov/, or by phone at 317.232.6576 (for corporations) or 1.800.223.8791 (for securities).