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ENGLEWOOD Two short years ago, Broncos owner Pat Bowlen sent out a letter to season ticket holders. You deserve more from this franchise, he wrote.
Then, he went out and fixed it first by hiring John Elway, who remembered how things worked when the Broncos were one of the NFLs premier organizations, then by bringing on John Fox as coach and, eventually, Peyton Manning to play quarterback.
On Monday, the day after the Broncos closed out a 13-3 regular season and wrapped up the No. 1 seed in the AFC, the team distributed a different kind of memo, a five-page list titled Denver Broncos 2012 Regular-Season Superlatives quite a fitting symbol for a franchise that has transformed itself from a punch line with a 4-12 record to a Super Bowl favorite in the span of two years.
How to explain a turnaround that came ahead of schedule?
You look at Pat Bowlen and his career as owner of the Denver Broncos. Hes amassed an unbelievable record. That doesnt just fall out of the sky, Fox said of his owner, who has brought two Super Bowl and 10 division titles to Denver since he became owner in 1984. John coming back to the organization, his background. Just his commitment to being successful, doesnt matter what that was, whether it was football or business. I knew what kind of competitor he was.
And Ive done it before. In Carolina. It was just a good fit, and Im happy it worked out.
Back with the Broncos and running their front office, Elway signed Fox, citing his positive attitude and the quick-turnaround ability he showed in taking Carolina from 1-15 to the Super Bowl over the course of two years. Elway drafted Von Miller, who finished the season with a franchise-high 18½ sacks. And Elway, of course, signed Manning while also jettisoning Tim Tebow, whose success in Denver created a confusing, emotional mix that might have made it difficult for a less-beloved figure to sort out.
I dont look so much at who was here, who wasnt here, who gets credit, Fox said. Its more what that one guy in 53 can bring to the team and bring to winning a world championship.
Of Denvers 53 guys, Manning, of course, is No. 1. The quarterback is in the hunt for his fifth Most Valuable Player award. Nearly an entire page of the five-page handout from the Broncos is dedicated to listing his achievements this season.
Among them:
Single-season franchise records for completions (400), yards (4,659), completion percentage (68.6), touchdowns (37) and passer rating (105.8).
Tied a personal best and set a team record with nine 300-yard games.
Became first quarterback to make a Pro Bowl after missing the previous year due to injury.
Led Denver to 11 consecutive wins by at least seven points, tied for the second-longest streak ever.
I had no real expectations for what this year would be like, so I dont know if you can exceed expectations if you never really had any, Manning said after Denver wrapped up home-field advantage with a 38-3 win over the Chiefs on Sunday. Some things were really kind of wait-and-see for me, but its been a gratifying regular season and very humbling. I have to admit that.
Fox is using the bye week to stay sharp, calling for short, crisp practices on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and a mandatory weight lifting session Saturday, mainly to keep the team focused, not concerned with flights to other states and those type of things, especially close states. (Think Nevada.)
After the weekend, the Broncos will know who their next opponent is either Cincinnati, Baltimore or Mannings old team, the Indianapolis Colts.
The playoff game is scheduled for Jan. 12 two years minus one day to the date Fox came to the Broncos, who were a mess at the time, reeling from an embarrassing videotaping scandal, a midseason coaching change, a league-worst defense and the presence of Tebow, who was drafted by a coach who wouldnt put him in the lineup. That coach was Josh McDaniels, now offensive coordinator for the Patriots, whose name still raises hackles in Denver.
In so many ways, however, his departure feels like longer than two years ago.
Its a lot of people with a commitment to work hard to make it happen, Fox said. Its a big commitment. Not just a little bit of interest. Its a commitment to being world champions, and weve been working on it for two years. We get that opportunity again to get in the tournament and see what happens.


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Messaging & Collaboration Slideshow: Texting While Driving: The Real Mobility Risk
By Don Reisinger | Posted 03-23-2011
We already know you're worried about your mobile workers, particularly when it comes to managing them, their devices, and the information they're accessing at large. Here's another cause for concern: Your road warriors may very well be actively chatting or texting while driving. Employees who use their mobile devices while driving are a massive risk for companies. A recent study finds that the effects of texting while driving are worse than driving drunk. If an employee during work hours gets into an accident or, worse, hurts themselves or someone else because they're texting while driving, your company could potentially be at risk. Realizing that, we thought it would be a good time to give you a look at the latest research on the dangers of text messaging and mobile phone use while driving, as well as the latest on state rules and regulations.
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Shure Introduces Super 55SH BCR Limited Edition
Shure Introduce Limited Edition Super 55SH BCR
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Web Price:209.00
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November 12. 2013 12:00AM
Addison's case first time court ruling on NH death sentence
Staff report
Garry Rayno's Statehouse Dome: Diverse group favors death penalty repeal
Clergy want NH death penalty discussion and change in law
The New Hampshire Supreme Court's decision last week upholding the death penalty for convicted Michael Addison is expected to lead to multiple attempts by his attorneys to keep their client from being put to death by lethal injection.
In upholding Addison's conviction for the murder of Manchester Police Officer Michael Briggs, the state's highest court swept away challenges to the way the facts of the case were presented and judged, as well as objections to the fairness of the prosecution and possibility that the verdict was tainted by being rendered in the same community where the murder happened.
The justices also rejected efforts to strike down the death penalty on state constitutional issues.
"They have approved essentially the standards that the (death penalty) statute described; that it is not unconstitutional to have a death penalty in New Hampshire under the state constitution," said Albert Scherr, a professor at the University of New Hampshire School of Law.
The appeal to the state Supreme Court was mandatory under the law.
But Addison has another round in state court before taking his appeal to the federal courts.
The justices did not rule a mandatory "proportionality review" of the sentence, which is a look, required by state law, at whether the death penalty for Addison is out of proportion with penalties in similar cases elsewhere.
Legal analysts say last week's decision is significant because it was the first time the state's highest court has had to rule on the death sentence since the current capital punishment law was adopted.
Old penalty repealed
New Hampshire's old mandatory death penalty was repealed in response to the 1972 U.S. Supreme Court decision in a Georgia case that led to a moratorium on executions.
Last week's ruling was unanimous and issued "per curiam," Latin for "by the court," meaning it effectively spoke with one voice, since it was without dissent and without ascribing its words to an individual justice.
"It is clear that the court has spent an enormous amount of time thinking about this case and deliberating it," UNH law professor Erin Corcoran said. "They took their job very seriously, and a tremendous amount of resources were marshaled just to write the opinion."
Her colleague, Scherr, said clarity in the decision and its impact seems to have been a goal.
"They certainly intended to bring as much clarity to the issues that were in front of them so that going forward the same issues were not relitigated again," Scherr said. "It dealt with some of the basic issues; it's going to take something dramatically different to be relitigated."
A unanimous opinion may have had the same objective. Corcoran said decisions that are eventually overturned are often cases decided by small margins or in which there is vigorous dissent.
"To the extent that you have cases where there are unanimous views, there is an idea it is a stronger precedent," Corcoran said. "I think the court was able to come to a place where they all agree you have a sense the decision carries more weight."
But the justices decided not to rule on the "proportionality" review required by state law. Instead, the court ordered that issue to be briefed and argued again by defense and prosecuting attorneys. Procedural questions over the review were resolved three years ago, and the matter was addressed in both written briefs and oral argument prior to last week's decision.
The order that a new round of argument be conducted on proportionality triggered speculation about whether the court feared that an issue on which there could be dispute within its ranks could obscure its desire for clarity.
In a procedural ruling in the case issued in 2010, the court ruled that comparison of Addison's sentence to other cases is "restricted to cases in which a defendant committed the same kind of capital murder as the defendant," or murder of a police officer.
No premeditation found
That ruling means the court has said it will not compare the murder of Briggs to the murder-for-hire conviction of businessman John Brooks a few years ago. Brooks escaped the death penalty and was sentenced to life in one of only two other capital cases in New Hampshire since the new law was adopted.
The procedure favored by the court in the final stage of its review could set the stage for at least one federal appeal.
In sentencing Addison to die, jurors unanimously found that the murder of officer Briggs was not premeditated and was not intentional. If the penalty is upheld, Addison could seek to have a federal court rule his case should have been compared to cases in which no death penalty was imposed because the killer lacked premeditation, since the jury decided there was no premeditation in the murder of Briggs.
"To the extent that in cases in other states where someone is not given the death penalty because there is not premeditation, it could have an impact here," Corcoran said. "In New Hampshire, premeditation can be one way to get the death penalty, but another way to get the death penalty is to shoot an officer in the line of duty."
Scherr said last week's decision to uphold the verdict and the penalty doesn't necessarily mean that the death penalty won't be set aside in the high court's proportionality analysis, as unlikely as that would appear given the unanimous decision.
"What they've already done is not necessarily predictive of what they will do in the proportionality phase," Scherr said. "But hey, if they've gotten through all the issues ... and found that so far so good, one is never inclined to think they're willing to do something dramatically different this time around."


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Below, are the production details and historical owner information for 2009 Corvette ZR1, Serial #567:
|Vehicle Identification Number: Hidden
|Build Date *: NA
|Order Number:
|LT5 Engine Builder: NA
|Exports / Fleet Sales: Not Applicable
|Delivering Dealer / Invoicing Agent: Marc Heitz Chevrolet, 2424 WEST MAIN STREET, NORMAN, OK
* The official build date is considered to be the date the vehicle was invoiced by the manufacturer.
|Current Owner: Marc Heitz Chevrolet
|Corvette Action Center Forum Member: NA
|Current Location: Norman, OK, USA
|Current Odometer: 0 miles
|Current Status: For Sale
|Previous Owners: 0
|Do you have information about this ZR1? Update / Inquire about this Corvette ZR1
The window sticker below is a facsimile of what the real window sticker might look like. We are not responsible for the accuracy of the numbers and details below.
The Corvette Action Center does not have the resources to validate or confirm information provided to and for this Registry. Information provided in this Registry is as accurate as the information provided to us. It is not the intent of the Corvette Action Center to document fraudulent data, nor do we have the expertise to question beyond reason, information provided. The Corvette Action Center does due diligence to accurately document the Corvettes listed in this Registry, but does not, nor will the Corvette Action Center advise, inspect or arbitrate information provided.


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On Feb. 14, Christians and non-Christians alike remember St. Valentine, a priest who suffered a martyr's death in Rome.
And it is fitting to do so, for he is among the saints of the day in the 2004 edition of the Marytrologium Romanum (Roman Martyrology), the most recent edition of the Church's official listing of the saints — who are honored throughout the universal Church — and the blesseds, whose liturgical veneration is permitted in certain places following beatification.
Not as widely known in the United States as St. Valentine is, two other saints are at the top of the list on Feb. 14, and recent popes have repeatedly sought to draw greater attention to them. Pope Leo XIII (1880) and Blessed John Paul II (1985) devoted encyclicals to them; Pope Pius XI (1927), Blessed John XXIII (1963), Venerable Paul VI (1969), and Pope Francis (2013) wrote letters about them; and Pope Benedict XVI (2009) devoted a Wednesday general audience to them. In 1980, Blessed John Paul declared them co-patrons of Europe.
Their names are Constantine and Michael, two Greek brothers better known as Cyril and Methodius, the names they took upon becoming monks. In evangelizing the Slavs, they changed the course of history.
Methodius was born around 815 in the Greek city of Thessaloniki, the second most important city of the Byzantine Empire. Following in the footsteps of his father, who was an important government official, he became a leading provincial administrator in northeastern Greece, an area that had a significant Slavic population. He abandoned his career, however, to become a monk in what is now northwestern Turkey, and later became an abbot.
Cyril, the youngest of Methodius' six siblings, was born around 827. Educated in Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, he became known for his high intelligence. When a professor attempted to arrange a marriage to a prominent woman, Cyril demurred; he also decided not to embark on a political career.
Instead, he was ordained to the priesthood, became librarian at the famed church of Hagia Sophia, and was appointed secretary to the patriarch of Constantinople, two centuries before the Great Schism between East and West.
In time, Cyril, too, became attracted to the monastic life and slipped out of Constantinople to pray at a monastery.
Six months later, he was found; he returned to the imperial capital to teach and became known as "the philosopher." The emperor and the patriarch later sent Cyril, who had great linguistic gifts, on a diplomatic mission to the caliph of Baghdad, the most prominent Muslim ruler of the day.
Eventually, Cyril was able to join his brother at his monastery.
There they might have remained for the rest of the their lives if the emperor had not sent Cyril, joined by Methodius, on a mission to the Khazars on the northern edge of the Black Sea around 861.
During their mission, they discovered the relics of St. Clement I, the fourth pope, who had been exiled to the region at the end of the first century and had died a martyr.
During Cyril and Methodius's childhood, Great Moravia, a territory that included the modern Czech Republic and Slovakia, had been evangelized by Franco-German clergy. Three decades after this initial evangelization, Duke Rastislav of Great Moravia wrote to the Byzantine emperor that "since our people rejected paganism, they have embraced the Christian law; but we do not have a teacher who can explain the true faith to us in our own language." In response, the emperor sent Cyril and Methodius, who had returned from their mission to the Khazars.
They arrived around 863 and translated the Bible and liturgical texts into the people's language, Old Slavonic, with Cyril devising its alphabet.
"It was a crucial event for the development of the Slav civilization in general," Pope Benedict XVI said in 2009. "Cyril and Methodius were convinced that the individual peoples could not claim to have received the Revelation fully unless they had heard it in their own language and read it in the characters proper to their own alphabet."
The brothers' decision to celebrate the liturgy in Old Slavonic provoked opposition, and they traveled to Rome to defend themselves. Stopping in Venice, they debated churchmen who believed that the liturgy should only be celebrated in Hebrew, Latin or Greek.
Bearing St. Clement's relics, they arrived in Rome and met Pope Adrian II, who approved their mission and the translation of the liturgy into Old Slavonic.
Cyril soon became ill, entered a monastery in Rome and died on Feb. 14, 869.
Methodius, now an archbishop and papal legate to the Slavs, traveled to Great Moravia and Pannonia, which included portions of Hungary, Austria and several Balkan nations. Again facing opposition from Franco-German political and Church leaders, he was imprisoned for two years and released in 873 at the intervention of Pope John VIII, Pope Adrian's successor.
Back in Great Moravia, Rastislav's successor, Svatopluk I, opposed Methodius' mission and spread rumors against him. Called to Rome in 880, Methodius defended himself, and Pope John ruled in his favor. Methodius then returned to Constantinople and "devoted the last years of his life principally to making further translations of the Sacred Scriptures, the liturgical books, the works of the Fathers of the Church and also the collection of ecclesiastical and Byzantine civil laws called the Nomocanon," Blessed John Paul wrote in 1985.
Methodius also trained clergy who would continue his apostolate, and he died in Velehrad, a village in the Czech Republic, on April 6, 885.
Methodius' disciples faced intense opposition: Pope Benedict recalled that they were "persecuted and imprisoned; some of them were sold as slaves and taken to Venice where they were redeemed by a Constantinopolitan official." Following their release, they went to Bulgaria, and five of them — Clement of Ohrid, Gorazd, Naum, Sabas and Angelarius — are recognized as saints.
In time, the apostolate launched by Sts. Cyril and Methodius would reach other Slavic peoples as well, from the Balkans to Russia.
"Cyril and Methodius are in fact a classic example of what today is meant by the term 'inculturation': every people must integrate the message revealed into its own culture and express its saving truth in its own language," Pope Benedict observed. "The two holy brothers have left us a most important testimony of this."
J.J. Ziegler writes from North Carolina.
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Mossberg Patriot Super Bantam, Bolt Action, 243 Win, 20" Fluted Barrel, Blue Finish, Synthetic Stock, 4Rd 27839


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Tampa, FL
Sponsored Topics
The city of Tampa, Florida, offers a great mix of culture, arts, entertainment, sports, and eclectic cuisines to satisfy travelers of all ages and interests. Many attractions are within a short walk of each other and the city is also relatively close to the popular beaches of Clearwater and St. Petersburg.
Must-See in Tampa
Get your full dose of marine life at The Florida Aquarium, with both inside and outside exhibits to delight visitors of all ages no matter what Mother Nature has in store. Next, continue the animal parade at Lowry Park Zoo, voted no. 1 in the country by Parents Magazine. If you are looking for a little more excitement and adventure, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay offers thrills great and small spread across a 335-acre African-themed animal theme park.
Where to Stay in Tampa
If cost is a concern, check hotel prices downtown or near the airport. Travelers of all ages, from singles to families with children, will enjoy all that downtown Tampa has to offer. Hotels in this area provide convenient access to the aquarium and Channelside Bay Plaza, which often boasts live music in the central courtyard. Countless restaurants and watering holes make it easy to grab a good meal or quench your thirst, and there's always something to do no matter what the weather is like.
Best and Worst Time to Go to Tampa
Florida can be extremely hot in the summer, so keep this in mind if you have any health conditions or strong preference for climate. The best and most affordable time to visit Tampa tends to be from September through December. January through April can also be a good time to visit, but expect to pay more.
Where to Get Lost in Tampa
The Tampa Riverwalk is a fun place to spend a few hours just strolling, browsing, and noshing. The Riverwalk is a hub bringing together Tampa's cultural attractions as well as serene parks and the city's business community. Here you will find numerous boats and boating attractions, sports arenas, museums, restaurants, playgrounds, and splash zones.
The Best Deal in Tampa
A tour of Tampa's Yuengling Brewery is a must for anyone who enjoys lager and free tours. The best value may be the beer samples after the tour.
Transportation in Tampa
The city of Tampa is very well connected with public transportation, with options ranging from buses, historic TECO Line Streetcars, and Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority's Intown Trolley Line to cabs and even water taxis and open-air, electric vehicles offering eco-friendly transportation services. Many areas are also safe for biking and walking to gain a little exercise between attractions.
Getting in from Tampa International Airport
Several charter bus companies operate from the airport, and the public Hillsborough Area Regional Transit bus stop is located at the Red Baggage Claim. HART Route 30 provides access between the airport and downtown Tampa at Kennedy Boulevard, Whiting Street (connection to TECO Line Streetcar System) and Marion Transit Center. You can also make reservations with shared passenger van services to many of the area's hotels and stops within Pinellas County, Hillsborough County, and Pasco/Hernando Counties, or simply hail a taxi. A wide variety of rental car companies are also ready and waiting to get to your destination conveniently and independently of the public transportation system.
Local Tip for Visitors to Tampa
Use caution if you decide to check out the nightlife in Ybor City, one of Tampa's earliest neighborhoods with a rich history in the cigar manufacturing trade. This neighborhood has a lot to offer in bars, clubs, food, and fun, but it's also best enjoyed as part of a larger group and with a wary eye. Crime does tend to occur here more than other parts of Tampa from time to time.
Author's bio: Kathryn M. Van Druff is a freelance writer, marketing specialist, and owner of the company Dances with Words. She enjoys traveling with her family and exploring new cities and locations.


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PSNH works to repair underground linesBy APRIL GUILMET
Union Leader Correspondent
August 29. 2013 10:26PM
LONDONDERRY — With autumn fast approaching, workers at Public Service of New Hampshire are scrambling to repair Londonderry's many miles of underground power lines before the winter frost.
The town was among the first Granite State communities to require underground utilities in future developments, according to PSNH spokesman Elizabeth LaRocca.
That mid-1970s mandate means much of the town's underground cable system is now nearly 40 years old and reaching the end of its productive lifespan.
That factor has no doubt contributed to the higher frequency of power outages in recent years, LaRocca said, though company officials are working hard to address the problem.
In 2005, PSNH embarked on a formal program addressing the older developments and the following year the underground cables on both Shasta Drive and Rolling Ridge Road were replaced for approximately $1 million.
"It can be difficult to determine where an outage is located when it comes to our underground cables," LaRocca said on Thursday.
Complicating the matter further is the tendency for residents to attempt to screen the green transformer boxes on their property by spreading mulch and planting shrubbery around them.
"This can often cause the equipment to fail prematurely," LaRocca said. "When our crews have limited access to the equipment, they have no choice but to remove that vegetation and that wastes precious time and resources."
Right now, PSNH officials aren't wasting any time in preparing for the coming winter season.
LaRocca said the ultimate goal is to go the less-costly route of rejuvenating the existing cables rather than waiting for them to completely fail.
Right now, Londonderry has 15 underground cable projects scheduled for completion by year's end, at a total cost of $1.9 million.
As of mid-August, work crews had completed replacement cable work at Fieldstone Drive in the Mountain Home Estates complex, as well as along Old Country Road and South Road in the Olde Country Village complex.
Scheduled for rejuvenation and/or repairs are 21 sections of Arrow Head Estates at Evergreen Circle and Forest, Hemlock and Spruce streets; five sections of Woodland Village at Capital Hill and Constitutional Drive; Davis Drive, Holton Circle and sections of Winding Pond Road in Century Village.
Among the sections being replaced are another 10 sections of Arrow Head Estates, an area of Red Deer Road, four sections of Royal Lane, four sections of Sherwood Road, a section of Wellington Woods off Tokanel Drive, and about nine sections of Wimbledon Estates, located off Sherwood Road.
"The goal is to try and repair or rejuvenate as much as we can," LaRocca said. "When we have to go in and replace these cables altogether, there's a lot of trenching involved and that can get very disruptive and very costly."
This year, PSNH's southern division earmarked $4.3 million solely to address underground cables.
Business Public Safety Technology Weather Londonderry Top Section Stories


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This November La Plata County voters will elect candidates to fill two seats on the three-person board of county commissioners. In District 3, two candidates are vying for the position: Harry Baxstrom, a longtime Bayfield veterinarian, and Julie Westendorff, a real estate agent and lawyer, former tribal prosecutor and former Bayfield town judge. Wally White, the eastern La Plata County districts current commissioner, is term-limited. Commissioners must live in their district, but are elected to their seats by all of the countys residents.
The Durango Herald sat down with the District 3 candidates to dig deeper into issues facing the county today.
These responses have been edited for clarity and brevity.
What is one action taken by former or current commissioners that you admire?
Westendorff: One that comes to mind was the regulation of medical marijuana growers in the county. The reason I admire or respect what they did was, the Planning Commission had made a bunch of recommendations that would apply only to these medical marijuana growers, and they were things that, in another industry, we would have said, Hey you as a business owner, you decide if you need this or not. I felt like it was not equal treatment for these marijuana growers.
(Note: The commissioners nixed certain security requirements for medical marijuana facilities, such as specific fencing requirements, when they approved land-use regulations for those facilities in June.)
Baxstrom: I think the development of our energy regulations have been good for the county. Fighting to maintain our energy impact funds here, I think that has been really good for the county.
If elected, what are two initiatives you would like to tackle within the first two years of your term?
Baxstrom: I would like to see a comprehensive plan, a good functional workable comprehensive plan. Id like to see county government change in the manner that it would become way more business friendly.
Westendorff: I would like to see a business park. The thing I like about a business park is it will provide an area where businesses that want to expand from their current location or that want to move here can look at an area and say, The infrastructure is there, and the land use has been established and either were in or were out. The other thing I would like to see happen is the completion of the transitional standards (for areas just outside the city of Durango, such as Grandview) the commissioners are working on now.
What general philosophy would you bring to the job of reviewing land-use changes?
Westendorff: I think if you own a piece of land ... your voice is going to be the one I listen to first. Within that limitation of compatibility, Im going to look and see how you impact your neighbors and what is your neighbors right not to be impacted. Another thing that I really pay attention to is externalization of costs. That is, are you taking one of your costs and putting it off on your neighbor.
Baxstrom: As long as it doesnt hurt your neighbors, I believe you should be able to do it on your property within the code that we have functioning at the time.
How will you address the comprehensive plan that commissioners shelved last year?
Baxstrom: I think we spent too much money hiring outside consultants. I believe, right now, through involvement of the community, we could come up with a comprehensive plan.
We need more public education. At least, in my situation and that of so many other people I have talked to (who attended the meetings), they never got feedback about what happened to this? Where did this go? Why did my idea get incorporated and why didnt my idea get incorporated? We didnt reach out with information back to the public.
Westendorff: I think it should be revived. The role of the comprehensive plan is the guide. I think its still a valuable document from the data standpoint and I think it did a good job of identifying challenges and opportunities for this county. It seems really foolish to just ignore it.
What issue(s) should get more attention from the commissioners?
Westendorff: Veterans. We have a veterans services office, and I think commissioners need to make sure that is a priority.
Baxstrom: I think we are going to be faced with some economic realities or shortcomings in funding for the county. Were not going to be as solvent as we are. We (also) need to figure out a logical progressive way to report things back and keep the community advised of whats going on (in the county).


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New Threads Friday
Working with this yarn is just too much temptation. One cannot sit down with a plate of fresh warm chocolate chip cookies and eat just one, non?
So far, I've only made a sweater out of this stuff and a scarf. It was infinitely intriguing to watch the stripe patterns unfold and reveal their secrets. This is the type of yarn I want to unspin to see all of the nuances of strands that make up its mystery. (Nothing beats being entertained by the yarn itself when one is making Christmas gifts!) Needless to say, this was also a hit on the bus. Riders of the #66 give Kureyon a big thumbs up and to my happiness KNEW I was knitting a HAT!
ChicKnits Bucket Hat
Design: moi
Yarn: Noro "Kureyon"
Color: #52
Gauge: 18sts/24 rows over 4″
Type: Hand Knit


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Aluminum Marine Flame Arrestor - 600-800 recommended CFM
8"(A) x 3"(B) x 3/4"(C) x 5"(D), no vents, no flame tube, 600-800 recommended CFM
PART# 720-13Be the first to write a review
$125.95 Suggested Retail
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Marine Flame arrestors are required, by law, for every boat with a gasoline engine. Holley marine flame arrestors are designed to protect your vessel from the potentially disastrous effects of backfire, plus they look great. A properly sized flame arrestor is a must to get the maximum performance from your vessel. A flame arrestor that is undersized will restrict engine breathing as would a dirty air cleaner. Holley offers aluminum, chrome and stainless steel flame arrestors in various sizes. The charts below list these by finish and also their sizes and recommended CFM. The recommended CFM column is a selection guide so that the flame arrestor could be properly sized to the carburetor's CFM capacity and existing space restrictions.
|Base Style
|Emission Code
|Filter Height
|Filter Type
|Steel Mesh
|Stainless Steel
|Product Type
|Flame Arrestor
|Part Number
This part is legal for use on Uncontrolled (Non-Emissions Controlled) Vehicles or Racing Vehicles.
The following vehicles are considered Uncontrolled (Non-Emissions Controlled) Vehicles:
- 1965 and older U.S. manufactured California Certified vehicles
- 1967 and older U.S. manufactured Federally Certified vehicles
- 1967 and older Foreign manufactured vehicle
Racing Vehicles are vehicles that are used exclusively for racing or other forms of competition that are not registered and that may never be used on the street.
Tech Resources
*Free Shipping & Handling only offered to the contiguous US on orders over $100.
Some parts are not legal for use in California or other states with similar regulations.


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European governments set up a full-time 500 billion-euro ($648 billion) fund to aid debt-swamped countries and, not for the first time in the three-year crisis, expressed confidence that the financial muscle won't be needed anytime soon.
Finance ministers from the 17 euro countries declared the European Stability Mechanism operational, while saying that Spain, its biggest potential near-term customer, isn't on the verge of tapping it. Decisions were also put off on Greece's next aid payment and on an aid program for Cyprus.
Creation of the permanent fund "makes the strategy of member states credible and equips the euro area with much better tools to appropriately respond to future crises," Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker told reporters after presiding over the ESM's inaugural meeting in Luxembourg today.
The fund's birth was eased by the European Central Bank's offer in August to buy bonds of fiscally struggling countries, which has driven down interest rates in Spain and Italy and bought European governments time to address the root causes of the crisis.
The ESM will replace the temporary European Financial Stability Facility, which has spent 192 billion euros of its 440 billion euros on loans to Ireland, Portugal and Greece. The two funds will run in parallel until the EFSF is phased out in mid- 2013.
'Problem of Contagion'
Finance ministers touted Spain's economic overhaul, said its bank-aid program will cost far less than the 100 billion euros allocated for it and declined to press Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos to take additional budget-cutting steps.
"Spain is also suffering under the problem of contagion, like other countries, from speculation that's the result of the uncertainty surrounding the euro area as a whole," German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said. "But Spain doesn't need an assistance program."
Ministers said the next move on Greece is in the hands of the so-called troika of officials from the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund, now in talks with the Greek government over budget cuts, asset sales and economic reforms.
The holding pattern on Greece comes a day before German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the dominant figure in European bailout politics, makes her first trip to Athens since the Greek government uncovered hidden holes in its budget in October 2009.
Greece is undertaking "a lot of efforts, it's very difficult down there," Luxembourg Finance Minister Luc Frieden said. "If we need to give them additional time, if that does not require a lot of additional money, we should support Greece. However, it's not a one-way street."
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No. 8 Escalon (10-2) at No. 5 Los Banos (11-1); No. 1 Foresthill (10-1) vs. No. Brookside Christian (9-2)
Kickoff: 7 p.m. today
Skinny: The Cougars earned a thrilling 27-26 win at No. 1 Placer on Friday on a 23-yard field goal by Thomas Diniz on the game's final play on a rainy night in Auburn. Diniz's kick just fluttered over the crossbar between the goal posts, and Escalon celebrated another victory that belongs among the other nail-biters the program has enjoyed through the years. "We told them at halftime that there's something special about this program, no doubt about it, when we play in big games," Cougars alum and coach Mark Loureiro told the Modesto Bee after Friday's game. Senior running back Nathan Chunn has been Escalon's biggest weapon for much of the season, but against the Hillmen, quarterback Phil Kimble and receiver Alex VonAlvensleben, both seniors, and the Cougars' defense stepped up big time. Placer ran only three plays on offense and a punt after the 1:57 mark in the third quarter holding onto a 26-17 lead. Kimble culminated an 18-play, 65-yard drive with an 8-yard TD to VonAlvensleben to make it 26-24 with 5:02 left, and later the duo hooked up on a 38-yard pass play to the Hillmen's 9-yard line to set up Diniz's game winner. Tonight, Escalon has a chance to pay back the Tigers for their 34-32 win Aug. 24 at Los Banos. Senior quarterback Chris Corpuz was 16-of-18 passing for 251 yards and four touchdowns. Senior Daeton West had eight receptions for 130 yards, including a long of 51 yards, and the Tigers ran for 144 yards on 30 carries. This season, Corpuz has thrown for 2,028 yards and 29 touchdowns, and junior James Sams has rushed for 1,824 yards and 17 touchdowns. Escalon counters with a ball-control wing-T offense led by seniors Kimble, Chunn and VonAlvensleben. The Cougars aren't built to throw 30 times in a game, though they can if they have to. Chunn is the workhorse with 2,014 yards (third most in the section) and 31 touchdowns. The winner tonight will play the winner between No. 6 Modesto-Central Catholic and No. 10 Sacramento-Center on Nov. 30 or Dec. 1 at Lincoln High, with the time to be announced.
Kickoff: 1 p.m. Saturday, Lodi Grape Bowl
Skinny: The Wildfires are the No. 1 seed for the first time since the school's inception in 2002. This is their third consecutive playoff appearance, with their best previous showing last season when they reached the championship game but lost 62-6 to Sacramento-Bradshaw Christian. Brookside Christian didn't make the playoffs last season after winning the section title in 2010 and playing in a state bowl game. Foresthill knocked off Ripon Christian 32-26 last week, and the Knights blasted Modesto-Big Valley Christian 52-0 for their third consecutive shutout and fourth in their past five games. Brookside Christian junior quarterback Austin Caldron has thrown for 2,709 yards and 28 touchdowns. His favorite target has been junior Javier Rodriguez with 49 receptions for 1,031 yards and 11 touchdowns. Caldron spreads the ball around, as six players have caught 14 or more passes. Senior Darius Henton leads the Knights in rushing with 520 yards and touchdowns on 59 carries. He had 117 yards and two TDs last week against Big Valley Christian. Henton, who also plays linebacker, leads the team with 62 solo tackles and 136 assists, and has caused four fumbles. Wes Archbold has rushed for 1,026 yards and 12 touchdowns to lead Foresthill's ground game. The Wildfires average 224 yards rushing per game, and junior receiver Matt O'Brien has caught 11 touchdown passes.
- Bob Highfill


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PEEKSKILL, N.Y. -- VIPs at the Super Bowl will get to see Peyton Manning, Richard Sherman and try the sweet potato pie of Peekskill-based G and K Sweet Foods.
Gay Wheeler-Smith and and Kecia Palmer-Cousins are the CEOs of the company which will be on hand at the big game, serving their pies to VIPs. Both said they were excited for the opportunity to showcase their business and their pie.
The duo received an email a few weeks after last year's Super Bowl about an informational session to become vendors at the game.
They met members of the host committee and more importantly, shared samples of their cookies and pies.
"We are excited to be a part of Super Bowl 48," Palmer-Cousins said. "This will be the most watched event in the country."
Both Wheeler-Smith and Palmer-Cousins said their sweet potato pie is the best in the country.
"It melts in your mouth," Palmer-Cousins said. "It is yummy goodness."
Palmer-Cousins grew up a Steelers fan, rooting for Franco Harris but now said she roots for the Giants. Wheeler-Smith said she also grew up rooting for the Steelers because of Lynn Swann, but she was also a fan of Joe Namath and the 1969 Jets.
"This is an opportunity for a lot of people to taste our pies," Palmer-Cousins said. "There are not too many companies from Westchester, especially owned by women that get to be a part of the Super Bowl."
The women said being a part of the Super Bowl is a great marketing tool and they hope to use it to grow their business.
"It will allow us to build relationships," Palmer-Cousins said. "We can meet potential clients and customers."
Wheeler-Smith said she is excited to be a part of history.
"This is the first time two states have co-hosted a Super Bowl," Wheeler-Smith said.
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The International Network for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises-INSME is a legally recognized not-for-profit Association open to international membership.
Its mission is to stimulate transnational cooperation and public and private partnership in the field of innovation and technology transfer to SMEs.
This is justified by the challenges posed by globalisation, that force SMEs to strive to be more competitive through accessing innovation and technology. Policy Makers and Intermediaries play a crucial role in assisting SMEs in this respect:
- Policy Makers provide support through the creation of innovation policies and by orienting public funding towards SMEs that need innovation services;
- Intermediaries provide more 'hands-on' support, working directly with SMEs to resolve their problems.
Given this scenario, INSME's role is to create a link between these entities so as to enhance the level of support provided. In doing so, INSME acts as a hub, multiplier and disseminator of knowledge, a facilitator for alliances, a promoter of networking and a catalyser to encourage North-South and South-South international cooperation and political dialogue.
INSME was first launched as an informal multistakeholder community gathering Governmental bodies, International Organisations and NGOs, Intermediaries and their networks acting in the field of innovation, technology transfer and SME related issues.
In mid-February 2004 the network evolved into an independent legal entity initially founded by organisations from Italy, Romania, Spain and Switzerland. Membership in the Association is reserved for the above mentioned categories.
Individual SMEs cannot apply for membership in the INSME Association, but they remain indirect beneficiaries of its activities.
The Association provides services and facilities to its Members, some of which are also made available through this portal. Gathering and dissemination of information are achieved through collaboration and exchange among Members, which may occur through e-mail contacts, discussion in the dedicated rooms of the Discussion Group Area of the portal, periodical meetings and conference calls.
INSME is an initiative promoted by the Italian Government within the OECD Bologna Process on SMEs.
The INSME Association's official working language is English.
On the basis of bilateral MoU, INSME exchanges membership for free with other networks so as to increase collaboration cross border for mutual benefits and provide its Members with better opportunities worldwide.
INSME is at present member of the following non for profit organisations dealing with SMEs and innovation around the globe:
- The European Trade Association for Business Angels, Seed Funds and other Early Stage Market Players- EBAN
- European Association of Development Agencies - EURADA
- Institute for Small Business & Entrepreneurship - ISBE
- International Society for Professional Innovation Management - ISPIM
- ANIMA Investment Network
- World Technopolis Association - WTA
INSME also encourages long term knowledge partnerships with other international initiatives and associations in line with its own scopes, so as to avoid overlapping of activities and maximise the flow of information and benefits to INSME Members, with the final goal to better reach SMEs and meet their needs.
To learn about the International partners of the INSME Association, please, click here.
To propose an international partnership with INSME, please contact: firstname.lastname@example.com


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A New Al Qaeda
- 53 Artículos
The Sunni-Shiite split happened c. 650 C.E. In the religion of Islam, it carries great political and theological weight. Historically, Islamic states (e.g. Arabia, Persia, Ottoman Empire, Mughal India, etc.) have always lent themselves to be theocratic. The first state leaders who emerged from the birth of Islam c. 600s CE were the Caliphs. Over the next one thousand years, the world would see various Sheikhs, Sultans and Khans all vie for power in the culturally flourishing part of the world which is known as Southwest Asia, or the Middle East. Islam, although contrary to what may meet the eye today, was the cause of serious development in the region. Architecture, arts, mathematics, astronomy and medicine were all revolutionized by empires which spanned thousands of miles and thousands of years. Today, the Middle East is known as a universal hotbed. Every day, children live in fear for not only their lives but for the lives of their families. The simplicity of the Sunni-Shiite split could not be more evident. Yet, I say this as a Hindu, as a non-Islamic person. The split was caused by dissent concerning the succession of caliphs after the great prophet Muhammad. The Sunnis all believed it should have been Abu Bakr, one relative of Muhammad. The Shias felt that the title belonged to Ali, yet another relative. And similar to Christianity, various sects in Islam developed with time (e.g. Twelver Shiism, Sufism, Kwajism, etc.). Nevertheless, I am not here to give you a history lesson. I am here to talk about the "New Al Qaeda."
If you've been following the news recently, you will know that a new terrorist organization by the name of ISIS has plagued Iraq in civil strife. ISIS is the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, a Sunni driven campaign which seeks to spread the word of Allah as stated in Sunni beliefs and universalize Islam by way of jihad, or holy war. After a gruesome PR campaign was launched and released by ISIS, the United States was quick to raise arms and fairly literally, run around like chickens with their heads cut off. Within the matter of weeks, the terror in Iraq has brought attention to the policy of President Barack Obama. Obama's desire to assess the situation carefully, and to take steps to a helpless Iraqi government seeking foreign intervention, has got partisan America in a twist. How? Why?
I am proud of my nation and its democratic ability to resolve its issues; however, in recent times, I question the very nature of my country's democracy in its effectiveness. Why does the Republican Party wish to throw Obama in a gutter? This is not the appropriate time to point fingers. And after a near 14 year war, I think we should stop trying to meddle in foreign politics. If the United States were to "protect its interests" in another way, we wouldn't be in this partisan rift in the first place. Anyway, I want to ask you, the teens and youth of the world: what do you think about this new terrorist campaign? How would you like to see your country react? Do you think Islam will forever be sullied by sectarian conflict?
Comment below!


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Update: Spain revokes asylum status of anti-Islam filmmaker
The Interior Ministry has decided to revoke the asylum status of Imran Firasat, a Pakistani national living in Spain since 2010 who on December 14 announced his intention to release a video in which, among other things, he asks whether Mohammed "was a child molester and a murderer."
Spanish authorities contacted those in the USA to alert them over Firasat's association with Terry Jones, the Florida pastor who excited the rage of the Islamic world when he laid out his plans to burn copies of the Koran and circulate a video of the event.
A Madrid court banned the release of Firasat's inflammatory work and elected to rescind his asylum status on grounds of a threat to the security of the state. Firasat can appeal the decision but if it is upheld by the judge, he will have to leave the country. The governments of Belgium, France and the US had expressed their concern over the ramifications the release of the video could produce. Belgium raised its security alert level after Firasat announced his intention to upload it to the internet. He had already released a trailer filmed in Madrid's Plaza de Colón with the Spanish flag in full view.
Who did they contact in the U.S. and what did the U.S. authority tell Spain? What concerns did the U.S. government express? That Muslims will kill innocent people in the name of Allah?
Original post:
via Spain to Deport Filmmaker for Anti-Islam Documentary | Radical Islam.
A judge in the Plaza de Castilla in Madrid has charged a Pakistani refugee, who announced the publication of an anti-Islam film a few weeks ago, with incitement to religious violence. The judge has prohibited the publication of the video on the network and makes the filmmaker's liberty conditional on not distributing the video.
The Pakistani [who gain refugee status and is now a citizen of Spain] Imran Firasat appeared this morning in front of the judge in the Court of First Instance number 50 in Plaza Castilla for two hours. The magistrate ordered him to be freed on condition that he does not publish even a single still image from this video which today was shown in the office of the judge and whose publication authority he has again been made responsible for.
According to legal sources, the magistrate maintains the charge against Fisarat for the crime 510 of the Penal Code, a crime that punishes incitement to hatred and violence for racial, ideological or religious reasons. Meanwhile, the Ministry of the Interior has initiated a process to revoke his asylum status for "threatening national security with the production of this video." — Cadenaser
Here is RadicalIslam.org's report on the case by writer Soeren Kern:
The Spanish government has warned a political refugee that he faces deportation for making a documentary critical of Islam.
The move comes after Belgium raised its terror threat level to the second-highest ahead of the release of the film, originally planned for December 14.
The case demonstrates how the fear of Muslim rage is threatening the exercise of free speech in Europe.
The one-hour amateur film, "The Innocent Prophet: The Life of Mohammed from a Different Point of View," by Imran Firasat, was posted on YouTube on December 15 and purports to raise awareness of the dangers of Islam to Western Civilization.
Firasat, a Pakistani ex-Muslim, obtained political asylum in Spain in 2010 due to death threats against him in both Pakistan and Indonesia for criticizing Islam and for marrying a non-Muslim.
Firasat told the Belgian newspaper De Morgen that he decided to make the film "when I heard that the U.S. ambassador was slain. I said, 'Okay, you Muslims use violence, but we will continue to make films. One day one of us will lose.'"
The Spanish government, apparently afraid of provoking another terrorist attack similar to the train bombings in Madrid in April 2004, has attempted to silence Firasat by threatening to deport him if he goes ahead and releases the film.
In an interview with the online newspaper International Business Times (IBT), Firasat said he has received far more threats from the Spanish government than from angry Muslims.
Firasat told IBT, "Seven years ago I was granted refugee status in Spain for the reason that I used to criticize Islam. It has been seven years [and] since [then] I have taken the fight against Islam very far. And my right to freedom of expression was always respected by this great country. But now suddenly, for doing the same thing which I have been doing since for the last seven years, I have been threatened by the authorities [and told] that my refugee status will be revoked; I will be deported back to Pakistan where the death penalty for blasphemy is waiting for me, and that I may be detained if I continue with the plans to release the movie."
IBT then asked Firasat, "What made the Spanish authorities 'suddenly threaten' you? What could be the reason?" Firasat responded: "That's a very funny, interesting and surprising question, even for me. Why now? I was granted asylum because of my criticisms of Islam. I have formally asked the Spanish government for the prohibition of Koran in Spain. I have given thousands of interviews to radio and TV channels. I wrote articles in newspapers. But I was never told by anyone that what I am doing is illegal. Now suddenly they try to revoke my refugee status, detain me and prosecute me for offending Muslims' religious sentiments. Why? There may be two reasons: Fear of violence by Muslims abroad and in Spain, and conflicts in diplomatic relations with Islamic countries which are investing in Spain … This is not the Spain I arrived in seven years ago, where there was complete liberty of expression."
Or conflicts in diplomatic relations with Obama – who arrested and jailed the last Mohammed film maker. Whatever the reason, Spain is now undoubtedly under Islamic sharia law.
Watch it here or here.


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Fears about a change in radio bands for county and city agencies turned out to be similar to those related to the millennium and computer problems — fear, but few problems.
At A Glance
The Arkansas Wireless Information Network
The Federal Communications Commission is requiring the network to reduce the radio bandwidth the network is using.
The network provides a reliable, statewide means of communication for the state's first responders. The system consists of more than 100 tower sites scattered throughout the state. There are more than 20,000 radios authorized for use on the system. Every county in the state has access to the system through their county emergency managers, but most counties have several other authorized users such as the county sheriff or local police departments.
Source: The Arkansas Wireless Information Network Website
This story is only available from our archives.


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BAGHDAD (AP) — Gunmen near Iraq's capital kidnapped and later shot to death six men, the deadliest of a series of attacks Sunday that killed at least 11 people across the country, authorities said.
The gunmen broke into the homes at dawn Sunday in the town of Latifiyah, a mainly Sunni town 30 kilometers (20 miles) south of Baghdad, a police officer said. Authorities later found the bodies, all with gunshot wounds to the head, in remote, rural farmland near the capital, the officer said.
No one immediately claimed the slayings and the motive behind the killing was unclear. Shiite militiamen could be seeking revenge for the ongoing Sunni insurgent attacks against Shiite neighborhoods. Militants with al-Qaida's local branch targets Sunnis in attacks as well or it also could be a personal vendetta.
However, the slayings come amid escalating sectarian violence in Iraq, which last year saw its highest death toll since the worst of such killings in 2007, according to the United Nations. In November, 18 Sunnis kidnapped by men in Iraqi army uniforms were found dead, just days after police found the corpses of 13 men all killed by close-range gunshots to the head.
Since late December, Iraq's minority Sunnis has been protesting what they perceive as discrimination and tough anti-terrorism measures against them by the Shiite-led government. Now some call for Shiites to create armed "popular committees," attached in some form to the regular security forces. The idea raises the specter of some of Iraq's darkest years following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein's Sunni-led regime, paving the way for long-repressed majority Shiites to seize power.
The ongoing violence also comes as the country prepares for its first parliamentary elections since the withdrawal of U.S. troops on April 30
Meanwhile Sunday, a suicide bomber rammed a fuel tanker into a police headquarters in the northern city of Tikrit, killing three police officers and wounding 13, another police officer said. Tikrit is 130 kilometers (80 miles) north of Baghdad.
In Maidan, a town about 20 kilometers (14 miles) southeast of Baghdad, a bomb in a commercial area killed two civilians and wounded five, police said.
Three medical officials confirmed the casualty figures for the attacks. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to release the information to journalists.
Associated Press writer Murtada Faraj contributed to this report.


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Over the past few months, the wildest rumors in video game industry circles haven't involved the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Two. The most interesting chatter has centered on a tech company that's been quietly making moves to tackle video games in a big way: Google, the conglomerate that operates our email, our internet browsers, and much more.
We haven't heard many specifics about Google's video game plans, but what we have heard is that it's a three-pronged approach: 1) Some sort of streaming platform, 2) some sort of hardware, and 3) an attempt to bring game developers under the Google umbrella, whether through aggressive recruiting or even major acquisitions. That's the word from five people who have either been briefed on Google's plans or heard about them secondhand.
Google has been exploring video game initiatives for most of the decade. In 2014, the company was reportedly poised to
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before Amazon swooped in. Rumors percolated for years that Google was also attempting to launch an Android-based console, similar to Amazon's Fire TV, but that didn't happen. In 2016, the Google-incubated studio Niantic scored one of the biggest gaming successes of the last decade with Pokémon Go , but it had spun out into an independent company the year before. And Google has a long history of hiring game developers for projects that never quite materialize.
In recent months, however, the chatter about Google has gotten louder. At the Game Developers Conference in March of this year, Google representatives met with several big video game companies to gauge interest in its streaming platform, which is code-named Yeti, sources said. (The existence of Google's Yeti was first reported by the website
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earlier this year.) Google also took meetings at E3 in Los Angeles a few weeks ago, those sources said, and from what we've heard, the company is looking not just to woo game developers to the Yeti service but to buy development studios entirely. (Google did not respond to a request for comment.)
So what is this streaming platform, exactly? Like Nvidia's GeForce Now, the Google service would offload the work of rendering graphics to beefy computers elsewhere, allowing even the cheapest PCs to play high-end games. The biggest advantage of streaming, as opposed to physical discs or downloads, is that it removes hardware barriers for games. Games like Call of Duty can reach a significantly bigger audience if players don't need an expensive graphics card or console to play them. As one person familiar with Yeti described it: Imagine playing The Witcher 3 within a tab on Google Chrome.
Sounds too good to be true, doesn't it? Or sounds too much like the promise of other streaming platforms like OnLive, which failed because of lag and video compression that reduced quality? Many of the rumors we've heard need to be presented with some skepticism until we actually see them in action. One pie-in-the-sky idea I've heard floated, for example, is heavy integration between Yeti and the Google-owned YouTube. Imagine you're playing a game and you run into a tricky boss or don't know how to solve a puzzle. Instead of opening up your laptop or checking your phone for a guide, you could press a button to activate an overlay on your screen that cues up a YouTube walkthrough of the game you're playing.Add a new section
Name your new section file
. Click
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. Your new file will open in the code editor.
Delete all of the default code so that the file is empty. Copy all of the content from your
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directory), and paste it into your new
You can add as many custom form fields to your product page as you need. You can use the Shopify UI Elements Generator tool to easily generate the HTML and Liquid code for each form field that you want to add to your cart page. This tool was created by Shopify to help simplify the process of adding custom user interface elements, such as form fields and icons, to Shopify themes.
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In the
Selection, Enforced Reproductive Isolation, and Low Dispersal
experiment, the number of individuals and species stabilized very early (
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). In this experiment, the well-defined reproductive barrier, strong natural selection, and clear spatial isolation between populations act jointly to create a very stable world. As can be expected, this experiment also generated the highest number of individuals per species. In the Selection and Low Dispersal experiment, because of the removal of the enforce reproductive isolation mechanism, the number of individuals sharply increase during the first 2000 time steps, then sharply decrease because of an exhaustion of food resources. Then, the number of individuals per species increased steadily and stabilized ( Train100 sneakers Blue Polo Ralph Lauren LvcIM3
). In the Selection and High Dispersal experiment ( Fig 5 ), the number of individuals per species was initially lower than in the Selection and Low Dispersal experiment and then much higher from time step 3000 to 10,000, during the recovery period, after exhaustion of the food resources. In the high dispersal configuration many isolated sub-populations are formed reducing the overall gene flow leading to a higher number of species. Subsequently, the number of individuals per species of the Selection and High Dispersal experiment finally converged to the same value as the two other experiments with selection. These phenomena may be explained by the competition for resources between individuals. The increase in genetic diversity due to genetic drift and large population sizes is likely countered by natural selection, as the individuals too genetically different from their parents will not benefit from their co-adapted gene complexes and, thus, behavioral suites. This finding was confirmed by the lower fitness for the hybrid individuals when compared to no-hybrid parental species (section 3–2 in S1 Materials ).
In the experiments without natural selection, in contrast, genetic diversity (and, hence, the number of species) simply increased until each species was represented by only a few individuals ( Fig 5 ). In these experiments, the individuals do not use a behavioral model to perceive the world and chose their action. Further, there is no competition between individuals for resources because birth and death was only governed by the Lotka-Volterra model. As a result, genetic diversity increases with time and is not counteracted by the filtering of natural selection, leading to the emergence of increasing numbers of species. However, these 'species' do not represent pools of similar genomes, well separated from the others and do not adhere to the genomic cluster or biological species concepts (section 3–1 in S1 Materials )–so they aren't really species.


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This service is a joint project of the University Library and Applied Technologies for Learning in the Arts and Sciences (ATLAS), and is available to everyone on campus. Services offered include: acquiring data sets needed for teaching and research; locating, downloading and preparing data for secondary analysis; and identifying and creating course materials and teaching tools (including customized data sets drawn from various data repositories).
Survey Research Lab is available on Tuesdays for free consultations on survey design and analysis.


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Review: MGMT remains unpredictable on 3rd album
MGMT, "MGMT" (Columbia)
Leave your preconceptions at the door — the new self-titled MGMT album is worlds apart from the group's debut "Oracular Spectacular" and 2010′s "Congratulations."
Gone are the days when the Connecticut boys sing of models and drugs. "MGMT" is dark. The melody on the record's debut single "Your Life is a Lie" is uplifting with cow bell added to up the tempo. But the lyrics are cutting. "Count your friends on your hands, now look again, they're not your friends," lead singer Andrew VanWyngarden sings with an Eels-esque sardonicism.
Lead-off song "Alien Days" is as close to the old MGMT material as you're going to get. It opens disconcertingly, with strange female vocals, and then drifts into a lazy, slow drum beat and guitar strum. VanWyngarden wryly distorts his voice when singing, "I love those alien days."
The album has weird moments: "A Good Sadness" sounds like computer glitches before VanWyngarden's voice creeps in and under, and a cover of Faine Jade's "Introspection" has an interlude of what seems to be a whistle, juxtaposed with drums and synth, all building up to the chorus.
If you're expecting pop music like "Kids" or "Electric Feel," you won't find it here. But spent time with "MGMT" and you'll find it's an interesting concoction.


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Leglock Encyclopedia with Gokor Chivichyan - Vol 5 (On Demand)
Gokor Chivichyan
No one in the world knows more leg attacks than Gokor. Accordingly, no one knows the best - and more importantly - SAFEST way to escape. Don't get hurt trying to escape the wrong way from a heel hook. And better yet, learn how to counter your opponent's leg attacks with a counter of your own!
**You can watch as many times as you want.


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Truck/Bogie Hoist to assist in rail vehicle maintenance
Various capacity, shallow pit design, full pit, four or two post truck (bogie) hoist.
Equipment is used in rail vehicle maintenance facilities for the inspection, repair and maintenance of rail vehicle trucks (bogies).
Spinning Posts can also be provided with these hoists to allow for the rotation of the wheels.


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Robotic Surgery
The da Vinci Robotic System for surgery has provided patients with prostate cancer and gynecological cancers less invasive surgical options with decreased side effects. Now, utilizing the da Vinci System, thoracic robotic surgery is available at Smilow Cancer Hospital for patients with lung cancer.
Anthony Kim, MD, Associate Professor of Thoracic Surgery, is currently the only thoracic surgeon in Connecticut actively using this technology to perform lobectomies for the treatment of lung cancer. Presently, the Yale Cancer Center Thoracic Oncology Program (TOP) is performing the most robotic lung procedures in Connecticut. Smilow Cancer Hospital's robotic technology, the da Vinci Si, is the most advanced robotic platform available.
Smaller incisions, greater surgical precision, less pain for the patient, and a quicker return to normal activity, are just some of the benefits this technology allows for. Yale is one of a handful of institutions in the country that provides robotically assisted thoracic surgery for lung cancer. Although this form of treatment is still in its early stages, it shows great promise for the benefit of patients with lung cancer.


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First try at Ficelles
The wonderful pictures in dmsnyders recent bog post -- http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/9839/ficelles-made-anis-bouabsa039s-baguette-formula -- inspired me to try it out. I did a room-temperature ferment with less yeast (100 grains of active dry yeast) for 24 hrs but otherwise did pretty much the same. I got everything to work except the scoring which I still can't figure out how to do on such wet dough.


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Prayer walk to honor double-homicide victims
Prayer walk to honor double-homicide victims
OMAHA, Neb. —
First responders will be holding a prayer walk Thursday evening for Dr. Roger Brumback and his wife, Mary Brumback, who were found slain inside their home near 114th and Shirley streets Tuesday morning.
The public is asked to meet on the curb area in front of 11421 Shirley Street at 5:30 p.m. Shirley Street is between West Center Road and Pacific Street. The prayer walk will end at 6 p.m.
Roger Brumback, a professor of pathology, psychiatry and neurology at Creighton University, had announced his retirement and was looking forward to moving to West Virginia. A piano mover who arrived at the couple's home Tuesday morning called 911 to report that the door was open and a gun clip was on the floor.


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With all of the new technologies impacting the data center – for the enterprise and cloud providers – it's important to accelerate the performance of the data center infrastructure. Big Data analytics, Cloud Computing, Social Media and Mobility– all are pushing data center capabilities to their limits.
The sheer amount of data coming at us is at an all-time high – and growing. Flash technology is here to address this data tsunami. Flash storage delivers exceptional performance and much improved power efficiency, when compared with enterprise storage systems based on hard-disk drives (HDDs) – using 15K or 10K RPM HDDs using legacy storage controllers. Up to now, though, concerns around endurance levels of flash drives and the cost to buy them have affected consideration of all-flash arrays for some customer sites. Importantly, the search for Tier-1 data services in flash-based arrays continues: Purpose-built flash storage appliances often lack high availability features and advanced data services – and they end up being separate data silos in the data center.
IDC estimates that, by the year 2020, the world will see 44 zettabytes (ZB) of data generated per year, including structured and unstructured data1. Each zettabyte equals 1,000 Exabytes – or 1 billion terabytes (TB). At the same time, business managers want to address the megatrends of Big Data analytics, Cloud Computing, Social Media and Mobility – and all of the data that comes with those technologies impacting the infrastructure. IDC calls this phenomenon the "Third Platform", and Gartner calls it the "Nexus of Forces". Business professionals know that they'll need to contain the operational costs associated with the data center, focusing on "real estate" use, power, and cooling. Something needs to change.
Figure 1: HP 3PAR StoreServ 7450 All-flash Array offers SanDisk's 1.92TB SAS SSD
This paper presents an overview of the HP 3PAR StoreServ 7450 All-flash Array and the solid state drive flash technology at the heart of it. It describes how HP and SanDisk have collaborated to significantly lower the cost, improve endurance, and increase the scalability of flash-based storage. Now, there is an all-flash array that delivers all the Tier-1 data services, along with flash technology's high capacity and high performance. Customers now have the flexibility to deploy flash-based storage to a much wider range of applications.
HP 3PAR StoreServ 7450 Storage is a no-compromise all-flash array for accelerated application performance without sacrificing resiliency, efficiency, or data mobility. A flash-optimized architecture reduces the performance bottlenecks that can choke general-purpose disk arrays that have been retrofitted with SSDs. However, unlike other purpose-built flash arrays, the 3PAR StoreServ 7450 doesn't require an entirely new architecture to achieve flash-optimized performance. As a result, there are no compromises around rich, Tier-1 data services, quad-node resiliency, advanced functionality, enterprise-class efficiency, or seamless data mobility between systems.
Flash-based storage has the potential to deliver exceptional performance and much improved power efficiency when compared to enterprise storage systems deployed with conventional spinning disks. This, in turn, can help organizations control operational costs by doing more with less. For example, 10 SSDs can potentially deliver performance equivalent to 500 hard disk drives (HDDs),2 reducing both storage footprint and power consumption for significant operational expense (OpEx) savings.
Up until now, flash deployments have been limited to niche applications due to the relative high cost, limited scale, lack of enterprise-class resiliency, and the need to create a separate data silo for added complexity. As they are mechanical devices, HDDs do wear out over time. Similarly, flash is an electronic media that wears down with each write over time.
Some flash solutions currently targeted at enterprises come saddled with serious deficiencies. For example, one common approach that's seen in the marketplace is to take general-purpose, enterprise-class storage arrays that were never designed to accommodate flash-based storage and retrofit them with SSDs, commonly producing performance bottlenecks. This is due to controller design insufficiencies that cannot be addressed without a system redesign.
On the other hand, flash-optimized appliances require a different trade-off by asking customers to accept another completely separate and distinct storage architecture into their data centers, and one that often asks them to compromise resiliency and data services—thereby creating an additional silo and adding complexity to the storage environment.
The HP 3PAR StoreServ 7450 All-flash Array, utilizing SanDisk SSDs, addresses the challenges facing many storage administrators today. It delivers predictable lower response times at the same price as high performance spinning media without sacrificing enterprise-class storage resiliency and petabyte scalability or the rich data services demanded by enterprise data centers. This allows the 3PAR StoreServ All-flash Array to support a wide variety of workloads running in the enterprise network, while meeting enterprise-level service level agreements (SLAs).
The introduction of HP 3PAR Thin Deduplication and Thin Clones software demonstrates how HP continues to set the gold standard for hardware-accelerated thin technologies. These technologies which added to the benefits of existing thin provisioning with zero-block deduplication reduce usable capacity requirements by more than 75 percent3 making flash more cost-efficient. Now organizations can start thin, get thin, and stay thin with an enterprise-class solution that extends flash storage investments without compromising performance or resiliency. Also, Adaptive Sparing uniquely extends SSD usable capacity by 20 percent4 and aids wear management within the drive, offloading this task from the storage controllers.
SanDisk's high capacity SSDs, including the 1.92TB multi-level cell (MLC), deployed in HP 3PAR StoreServ 7450 Storage, further eliminates cost and scale limitations that force compromises on competitive all-flash systems. SanDisk's advanced endurance algorithms allow customers to take advantage of less costly mid-grade MLC flash in SSDs, rather than more expensive Enterprise MLC or SLC (single-level cell) flash, yet achieve similar levels of business critical longevity and reliability.
SanDisk's innovative Guardian Technology™ Platform, complements HP's Adaptive Sparing technology, helping to support high levels of reliability and endurance. As this paper will show, both companies supply technologies that support product endurance which drive a 5-year warranty to protect a flash storage investment, along with high levels of performance, capacity and reliability.
Accelerated IOPS at low latencies, made possible by flash media, means little if you don't have the right architecture in place to fully realize the performance potential of flash storage. Unless you have a storage architecture that avoids bottlenecks in the entire I/O path, which includes controllers, cache, and firmware purpose-built for the performance of flash technology, your applications won't benefit from flash.
To take advantage of the accelerated IOPS delivered by flash media, the architecture must scale beyond just dual-controller designs in order to provide greater headroom for performance scalability. And to serve hundreds of thousands of IOPS within a very small latency band, cache management for I/O operations becomes critical.
HP 3PAR StoreServ 7450 All-flash Storage is a purpose-built, flash-optimized architecture without compromising resiliency, efficiency, or data mobility.
The HP 3PAR StoreServ 7450 delivers application performance that exceeds 900,000 I/O operations per Second (IOPS) – nearly 1 million IOPS – with less than .7 milliseconds of latency.5 At 500,000 IOPS, the array delivers an impressive .378 milliseconds of latency6.
Unlike other purpose-built arrays on the market that solve SSD performance issues by introducing an entirely new architecture, the HP 3PAR StoreServ 7450 provides an array of Tier-1 data services, along with 4-node resiliency (quad-node resiliency), enterprise-class efficiency, and data mobility.
HP 3PAR StoreServ 7450 allows users to consolidate additional applications on a smaller amount of infrastructure, while still delivering a predictable performance in order to meet service level requirements. HP 3PAR Priority Optimization is optional software that allows organizations to manage service levels for applications and workloads as business requirements dictate to assure quality of service (QoS). This means provisioning storage performance is now as easy and efficient as provisioning storage capacity. Reduce contention and certify that performance is delivered where it is needed most in multi-tenant environments.
A highly automated approach quickly and easily assigns a minimum goal of I/O per second, bandwidth, and latency to protect mission-critical applications in enterprise environments. Organizations also have the flexibility to assign performance thresholds on workloads with lower service level requirements.
Flash-based storage has the potential to deliver exceptional performance and much improved power efficiency when compared to enterprise storage systems deployed with conventional spinning disks. Even so, there are lingering concerns in the IT community about SSDs endurance, and its cost, in $/GB. These types of concerns are seen in the evaluation process for flash-based technologies. However, HP 3PAR StoreServ 7450 with SanDisk SSDs provides the performance, density and endurance technologies to overcome these concerns. With 3PAR StoreServ's Flash Optimized architecture and superior performance, and the increased capacity and reliability of SanDisk SSDs comparing favorably against HDD-based arrays, customers can buy fewer overall arrays. Thus, the number of enclosures, power supplies, host bus adapters (HBAs), cables and other hardware is reduced, which results in lowering the up-front total cost of acquisition (TCA).
HP 3PAR StoreServ 7450 Storage and SanDisk offer flash-based innovations to deliver additional media endurance that enables you to extend the life of your SSDs to get the most out of every dollar and I/O for increased storage return on investment (ROI).
HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage and SanDisk, working together, are applying multiple technologies to ensure that a five-year product life warranty is met – and that performance promises are kept over time.
The following features help maximize the efficiency of HP 3PAR StoreServ 7450 Storage to drive down the overall cost of flash performance and protect your critical investments:
Finally, 3PAR StoreServ's Adaptive Sparing is an example of HP and SanDisk joining forces to extend flash based media endurance by lowering the internal over-provisioned capacity in SSDs. While other architectures generally reserve entire drives to use as spares, in the 3PAR architecture, the system reserves spare "chunklets" within each drive. When using flash-based media, Adaptive Sparing adjusts sparing policies on the fly to avoid using SSDs for sparing and therefore lengthens flash media lifespan and drives down the cost of flash performance. Also, HP now offers a standard 5-year SSD warranty on new 1.92TB MLC SSD, 480GB and 920GB SSDs to protect investments in flash storage.
Independent of HP, SanDisk has solely developed the technology that makes up the Guardian Technology™ Platform. This platform consists of three technologies: FlashGuard™ Technology, DataGuard™ Technology and EverGuard™ Technology that can be found in the SanDisk 1.92TB SSD. For endurance at the drive level, SanDisk offers the Guardian Technology Platform - a suite of enterprise features and endurance enhancement technologies that make the most cost-effective NAND (MLC) fully usable for enterprise application and database workloads. SanDisk's vertical integration and ownership of the flash intellectual property (IP) ensures that the Guardian Technology Platform and the NAND work seamlessly with each other, enhancing endurance, performance, and reliability capabilities that this platform provides.
Three key technologies are included with the Guardian Technology Platform:
Aggregated Flash Management
Advanced Signal Processing
Intelligent Flash Mixing
Figure 2: The Building Blocks of FlashGuard Technology
All of these Guardian Technology Platform capabilities are built into HP 3PAR StoreServ 7450 Allflash Array. The ability to use less expensive NAND technologies, while ensuring data integrity and protecting against data loss, are valuable assets in any mission-critical storage system solution.
More energy efficient, more compact, and more predictable than spinning drives, flash-based media is the future of high performance storage. Solid state drive technology is both mature and capable of giving you incredible performance in a superbly efficient package. However, there is still a significant cost difference between SSDs and spinning media—meaning that, now more than ever, efficiency mechanisms like thin provisioning, block-level deduplication, and space reclamation are essential to getting the most out of SSD capacity.
The introduction of HP 3PAR Thin Deduplication and Thin Clones software demonstrates how HP continues to set the gold standard for hardware-accelerated thin technologies. This, added to the benefits of existing Thin Provisioning with zero-block deduplication, reduce usable capacity requirements by over 75 percent7.
HP 3PAR StoreServ 7450 when deployed with SanDisk's new high-density 1.92TB MLC SSD, and combined with HP 3PAR compaction technologies, lowers the cost of storage to below $2 per usable gigabyte. This is the same cost as systems using performance-oriented spinning HDDs today.
For the first time, HP and SanDisk are working together to enable customers to deploy all-flash arrays for a much wider range of applications by scaling to 460 terabytes (TB) raw capacity and more than 1.3 petabytes of equivalent usable capacity. This industry leading, all-flash scalability is six times that of typical raw and usable capacities provided on first-generation all-flash systems.
Figure 3: The Benefits of the HP 3PAR StoreServ Flash-optimized Architecture
Budgetary considerations are key to any new system acquisition – whether it is purchased or leased. Systems that cannot provide their utility and their operational efficiency should not be included on the short-list for acquisition.
Here are the key business attributes that the HP 3PAR StoreServ 7450 All-flash Storage brings to the data center customer.
Now, let's take a step back from the product details, and look at the business value that the 3PAR StoreServ 7450 All-flash Array brings to the storage marketplace. This solution is built to deal with the data tsunami that is posed by the four big megatrends of our time: Big Data analytics, Cloud Computing, Social Media and Mobility.
These trends are reshaping the data center's infrastructure – and demanding higher levels of performance, capacity and flexibility from storage systems than ever before. That combination provides powerful price/performance in a smaller data center space, resulting in a highly adaptable and useful flash-based array solution for our times.
1. Digital Universe with Research and Analysis by IDC, The Digital Universe of Opportunities: Rich Data and the Increasing Value of the Internet of Things, April 2014.
2. As compared to not using data compaction technologies. HP internal tests demonstrated a 4:1 data compaction with the 3PAR StoreServ 7450.
3. Based on HP Internal Testing.
4. Based on HP Internal Testing.
5. Source: HP 3PAR StoreveServ 7450 All-flash Array Datasheet.
6. Based on HP Internal Testing.
7. As compared to not using data compaction technologies. HP internal tests demonstrated a 4:1 data compaction with the 3PAR StoreServ 7450.
8. Based on HP Internal Testing.
Of u nu een Fortune 500 bedrijf bent of een starter met 5 werknemers, SanDisk heeft oplossingen die u zullen helpen het optimale uit uw infrastructuur te halen.
Of u nu een paar eerste vragen wilt stellen of er aan toe bent om een SanDisk-oplossing te bespreken die speciaal aansluit bij de behoeften van uw organisatie, het SanDisk-verkoopteam is er om u te ondersteunen.
Wij beantwoorden uw vragen graag. Vult u dus het onderstaande formulier in, zodat we aan de slag kunnen.
Hartelijk dank. Wij hebben uw verzoek ontvangen


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METAIRIE, La. (AP) Cam Jordan had a question for anyone surprised to see the New Orleans Saints back at .500 and in the hunt again for a playoff spot.
``Why are you astounded?'' the Saints' second-year defensive end began. ``We have the quarterback that we have. We have the key defensive players that we have. (It was) sort of disappointing to start off the way that we did, of course. Everybody expected a lot better of us and we expected a lot better of ourselves. Now that we're back at .500, we're trying to put this thing back on the right track and keep it rolling.''
After an 0-4 start, New Orleans has won five of six games to get back to 5-5, one game behind three 6-4 teams - Seattle, Minnesota and Tampa Bay - currently tied for the last NFC wild-card spot.
``Maybe to the outside (New Orleans' turnaround) was shocking because it was such a slow start. But there was never a doubt in anybody's mind that it could happen inside this locker room,'' center Brian de la Puente said. ``There was never a doubt in anybody's mind that we could get back to .500 and continue this winning because this organization, this coaching staff, this team - we have a winning tradition that they've set here.''
The offseason bounty scandal and resulting season-long suspension of head coach Sean Payton provided the Saints with an excuse for an off year, but the club seems to have adjusted.
The Saints now have six games to make up remaining ground to get to a fourth straight postseason, but what's left of their schedule is tough, with the next three games against current division leaders: San Francisco, Atlanta and the New York Giants. That might explain why assistant head coach Joe Vitt, who has helped guide New Orleans to wins in three of four games since his return from a six-game bounty suspension, sounded like he was warning his players against acting like they'd accomplished anything yet.
``We've got miles to go. We're nowhere near where we need to be,'' Vitt said Monday. ``We're nowhere near where anyone on this team wants to be. That's why every practice and every meeting and every chance you have to get better is critical. This is a marathon.''
In terms of statistical rankings, the Saints remain about where they were after Week 4. Their offense, led by ever-prolific quarterback Drew Brees, ranks fifth. The defense ranks last, having given up more than 400 yards in every game this season, even in the 38-17 victory Sunday at Oakland.
However, New Orleans has made significant strides in the running game during its current three-game winning streak, while its defense has been stout in the red zone and more opportunistic in the turnover department.
In their first seven games, the Saints eclipsed 100 yards rushing once and failed to gain more than 53 yards four times. In their last three games, they've rushed for 140, 148 and 153 yards - all without Darren Sproles (broken left hand), who could return this week.
``With the early struggles we had in the run game, we just kept at it. We stressed the little things. We knew we were close the whole time,'' de la Puente said. ``We are at a point right now where we're very confident in our run game.''
The defense is gaining confidence as well.
In the Saints' victory over Philadelphia three games ago, the Eagles had five possessions inside the Saints 20 without scoring a touchdown. New Orleans forced Atlanta to settle for two field goals in the red zone and the Falcons turned the ball over on downs late in the game from inside the 5. Against Oakland, New Orleans safety Roman Harper intercepted a tipped pass in the Saints' end zone to thwart another red-zone chance.
Meanwhile, first-year defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo continues to see evidence of his players adjusting to his scheme. A prime example was Malcolm Jenkins' interception return for a score at Oakland.
Safeties were expected to make more plays on the ball in Spagnuolo's system, and that has been happening more for Jenkins and Harper lately.
``Sometimes it takes a little time,'' Spagnuolo said. ``Both those guys have come a long way in this system and they're both good football players.''
Many Saints players are quick to point out that even as they opened 0-4, each loss ended as a one-possession game.
``We kept plugging away and kept believing that things would turn, and they have,'' Brees said. ``We're starting to catch some breaks. We're starting to just kind of hit our stride, but still I feel like our best is yet to come. I still don't feel like we've put together just a fantastic performance.''
That may be required of Brees and Co. soon enough.
Notes: Vitt could not provide an update on an apparent right knee injury to offensive lineman Charles Brown, who started the past two games at right tackle because of a left groin injury to starter Zach Strief. Vitt said the Saints may work out some free-agent offensive tackles on Tuesday, but also were pleased with how reserve Bryce Harris played after Brown went down at Oakland. Reserve guard Eric Olsen also works at the tackle spots and would be the next backup at that spot, Vitt said.
Online:http://pro32.ap.org/poll andhttp://twitter.com/AP-NFL


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By Rachel Bennett
TUSCALOOSA, AL (RNN) - Students at the University of Alabama hunkered down as a massive, mile-wide tornado came within a mile of the campus that houses thousands of people. It became the site of terror many of them had never before experienced.
As the tornado approached, journalism student Aldo Amato took shelter with others in the Reese Phifer building, adjacent to Bryant-Denny stadium.
"It sounded just like they describe it, as a freight train," he said.
Junior Michael Neese, a business student, was even closer to the path of destruction that left several blocks leveled. Buildings, restaurants and stores were reduced to piles of rubble after the twister roared through.
"It was like a white cloud just twirling in the parking lot next door to me," he said.
He was in his apartment, right next to the path, marking where normalcy ends and grand-scale destruction begins.
Neese said he lost power and took cover in a concrete stairwell in the middle of his building.
"All of 15th Street is gone," he said.
Amato said he watched his normally stoic professor become visibly shaken through the event.
"That's the most agitated and less confident Chris Roberts I've seen. He was definitely nervous," he said. "Everybody started praying, panicking."
Most students thought the storm would not cause any damage, he said, just like the two storms earlier in the month that came and went.
"I couldn't believe it touched down," he said.
Frightened professors told their students to say their last words, and a girl was crying.
Their fear became terror as they watched the tornado bearing down on them from a TV inside the building.
The tornado bypassed the campus, but plowed through neighborhoods and businesses less than a mile away. The adjacent apartment complexes house hundreds of students.
After the tornado passed, students flocked to the leveled 15th Street, only a couple of blocks away, to see the widespread devastation.
Amato said he and two friends went down to see the area, and couldn't recognize it.
"It looked like somebody bombed 15th Street," Amato said.
Cars were flipped and leaking gas, power lines were down, crates were floating in the lake, trees were snapped in half as far as the eye could see and dazed residents looked in horror, made phone calls and texted friends and family.
A street that once held many restaurants, shopping centers and neighborhoods now looked like the landscape had been swept away by a terrible monster.
Overnight, rescue crews worked to free people trapped in their homes and cars. So far, more than 130 people have been confirmed killed in the state. At least 70 deaths have been confirmed in five other states.
Officials expect the death toll to continue to rise.
"It kept me speechless for a good 30 minutes on 15th Street," Amato said.
That police soon ushered students away from the destruction in fear that a second tornado, in a following storm, was on its way, he said.
"I've never seen such an organized police activity in my life," he said. "I don't think this was expected. The police looked panicked."
He also said most students were dealing with a loss of power, and many, including him, had left to find a friend of family member who lived where the lights still worked.
Neese said he tried to get his girlfriend at the other end of 15th Street after the had storm passed, but couldn't reach her because of the damage.
"I couldn't go down that far," he said. "Power lines and trees were all over the road."
Phone lines were jammed, but Neese eventually received a call from his girlfriend. She was safe in her apartment with her roommate and young dog.
The tornado could be seen blowing through transformers and lighting up the sky with them as it hit the city.
Reports soon began trickling in of debris from Tuscaloosa landing more than 100 miles away in Gadsden, AL.
Building parts could be seen falling from the sky as news cameras watched the wedge tornado, still on the ground, shoot toward heavily populated downtown Birmingham, more than 50 miles away.
The tornado barely skirted around the north of Birmingham.
After the storm passed Tuscaloosa, Neese said students rushed to the Publix on campus, which had electricity, to buy food and beer or to hang out and stay cool in the air-conditioned building.
The University of Alabama canceled classes Thursday. The school opened up the student recreation center for storm victims and offered counseling.
Wednesday night Amato said he was going to keep trying to get in contact with his father, who lives in the northern part of the state in Huntsville, also was also hit by tornadoes earlier in the day.
He said it was hard because cell phone reception was spotty, and he could only receive the occasional incoming phone call.
"I might go up to my local church and see what services are needed."
Copyright 2011 Raycom News Network. All rights reserved.