text:
Chef's Delight
The 25th annual Chef's Delight will be held Tuesday, Oct. 8, at the Holiday Inn Beaumont Plaza at 6 p.m.
The Sabine Area Restaurant Association (SARA), sponsor of the event, will honor long-time board member and community supporter Arthur Berry. Berry is executive director of Emeritus at Dowlen Oaks and president and owner of Absolute Equipment serving Southeast Texas and Southwest Louisiana. He has been diligent in giving back to his profession, including many area boards and a past state president of the Texas Wholesale Distributors Association. SARA president Jay Jenkinson will recognize Berry at the dinner for his many contributions in the region.
Tickets are $60 each or a table of ten for $600. Members of the Golden Triangle Chefs Association will prepare dinner for approximately 500 guests, featuring Oyster Shooters, Muffuletta Bouchee, DuckConfit Salad, Braised Short Ribs, Sweet Potato and Yukon Hash, Roasted Cipollini Onions and Mushrooms and Turtle Crepes. Chef Traci Gates, president of the local chefs' association and a Lamar Alumnus, states that the dinner "is an opportunity to spotlight the outstanding talents of chefs in Southeast Texas." Students from Lamar University's Hospitality Management and Culinary Programs will assist the chefs.
The evening will also feature a live auction with packages including a New Orleans Saints and Carolina Panthers game in New Orleans with hotel accommodations for two and a sports package offering tickets to a Texans and New England Patriots game with hotel accommodations for four for one night.
Proceeds from Chef's Delight support scholarships for Lamar University Management and Lamar Institute of Technology's RIFM programs, the Texas Restaurant Education Foundation, education and professional development for the Chef's Association and donations to local charities.
SARA has provided funds to the YMBL Auction, Special Olympics, Southeast Texas Food Bank, Nutrition Services for Seniors, Beaumont Humane Society, Orange Food Bank, Some Other Place, Boy's Haven, Dogtober Fest, Girl's Haven, and the Walter Price Scholarship Fund and has donated more than $325,000 to Lamar University for scholarships and equipment over the last 25 years. Last year, SARA completed the funding of its $250,000 endowment at Lamar University in support of its Hospitality Management and Culinary Arts programs.
Event chairs are Matt Peterson and Charles Duit at Lamar University. Contact (409) 880-8962 for more information.
- press release


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'The Help,' Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer take NAACP Image honors
The box-office hit "The Help" took top honors Friday at the 43rd NAACP Image Awards, winning best film, lead actress and supporting actress.
Viola Davis won lead actress and Octavia Spencer earned the supporting actress prize for the film, a look at domestic help and their employers in the South on the cusp of the civil rights movement. "The Help" is also nominated for the best film Oscar at next week's Academy Awards ceremony, and Davis and Spencer are also nominated.
The Image Awards were presented at the Shrine Auditorium and telecast on NBC. Actress Sanaa Lathan and actor Anthony Mackie hosted the event, which featured a tribute to the late Whitney Houston performed by gospel singer Yolanda Adams.
The romantic comedy-drama "Jumping the Broom" also scored well in the feature film categories with Laz Alonso earning the lead actor award, Mike Epps supporting actor and Salim Akil best director.
Other film awards handed out Friday evening included "Pariah" for outstanding independent motion picture, Angelina Jolie's "In the Land of Blood and Honey" won foreign film honors and Ann Peacock won for her screenplay of "The First Grader."
George Lucas received the NAACP Vanguard Award.
On the television front, "Tyler Perry's House of Payne" won best comedy series and Keshia Knight Pulliam won supporting actress for the sitcom. Malcolm-Jamal Warner and Tracee Ellis Ross won lead actor and actress in a comedy series for "Reed Between the Lines" and Nick Cannon earned supporting actor for "Up All NIght."
"Law & Order: Special Victim's Unit" took best drama series honors, while LL Cool J won best actor in a drama series for "NCIS: Los Angeles" and Regina King took home best actress for "Southland." James Pickens Jr. earned supporting actor for "Grey's Anatomy" and Archie Panjabi won supporting actress for "The Good Wife."
For a complete list of winners, which also include music and literature categories, go to http://www.naacpimageawards.net
--Susan King
Photo: Cicely Tyson, left, Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, producers Michael Barnathan, Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Tate Taylor accept the award for best film for "The Help" at the NAACP Image Awards. Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images for NAACP Image Awards.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Evaluation of Events: Scandinavian Experiences
Lena L. Mossberg
Structure of the Book
Chapter 1. Event Evaluations
Lena L. Mossberg
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Definitions
1.3 Events Tourism Evaluation
1.4 The Framework of the Book
Chapter 2. Traveling to Events
Magnus Bohlin
2.1 Background
2.2 Theoretical Framework
2.3 Empirical Studies
2.4 Conclusion
Chapter 3. Effects of Events on Destination Image
Lena L. Mossberg
3.1 Background
3.2 Theoretical Framework
3.3 Empirical Study
3.4 Conclusion
Chapter 4. The Locals - Local Knowledge, Participation, and Identity
Monica Hanefors
4.1 Background
4.2 Theoretical Framework
4.3 Empirical Study
4.4 Conclusion
Chapter 5. Learning Effects - The Case of the Lillehammer Olympic Winter Games 1994
Bente R. Løwendahl
5.1 Background
5.2 Theoretical Framework
5.3 Empirical Study
5.4 Conclusion
Chapter 6. Financial Effects of Events on the Public Sector
Tommy D. Andersson and Lars A. Samuelsson
6.1 Background
6.2 Theoretical Framework
6.3 Empirical Study
6.4 Conclusion
Chapter 7. Event Economics: Top-Down Approaches
Lars Hultkrantz
7.1 Background
7.2 Theoretical Framework
7.3 Empirical Study
7.4 Conclusion
Chapter 8. Beyond Intermezzo? On the long-Term Industrial Impacts of Mega-Events - The Case of Lillehammer 1994
Olav R. Spilling
8.1 Background
8.2 Theoretical Framework
8.3 Empirical Study
8.4 Conclusion
Chapter 9. Event Strategies in Practice
9.1 Events as Part of the Destination Marketing
9.2 Destination Marketing as Part of the Communities Competition
9.3 Attitudes of the Locals Toward Events
9.4 The Decision Process of Events Related to Public Financing
List of Exhibits
7.1. Summer Olympic Games in Stockholm 2004
List of Figures
1.1. Diagrammatic event framework
1.2. An economic categorization of public events
1.3. A framework for monitoring the impact of tourism events
1.4. The building blocks of the book
2.1. A general relationship between interaction and distance
2.2. Spatial significance of the demand function for event tourism
2.3. The relationship between attendance at the Falun Folk music Festival and distance to the city of Falun 2.4. The hinterland of the Falun Folk music Festival 1989 - attendance related to regional population
2.5. The relationship between attendance to the Choir Festival and distance to the event
2.6. The hinterland of the Choir Festival in Skinnskatteberg 1990 - attendance related to regional population
2.7. The relationship between attendance at the Nordic Ski Championship and distance to the city of Falun
2.8. The hinterland of the Nordic Ski Championship in Falun 1993 - attendance related to regional population
2.9. Travel flows to second homes located in the region of Bohuslän. The share of visitors are shown by proportionate line width. Shaded regions supply visitors to Bohuslän (based on TDB-data)
2.10. The hinterland of those participating in Vasaloppet ski race in 1995 - attendance related to regional population
2.11. The hinterland of the three ski races Vasaloppet, Öppet spår and Tjejvasan respectively - attendance related to regional population
2.12. The hinterland of the visitors to the Swedish Rally 1998 in the cities of Borlänge and Fatun - attendance related to regional population
2.13. The hinterland of the Swedish Rally 1998 - attendance related to regional population
2.14. A simplified travel model portraying two major types of travel itineraries 3.1. The awareness pyramid
3.2. Awareness levels and image objects - a synthesis
3.3. The attribute/holistic and functional/psychological components of destination image (pre and post)
3.4. The common/unique and functional/psychological components of destination image (pre and post)
3.5. The attribute/holistic and the common/unique components of destination image (pre and post)
4.1. Local participation in 'workshops' (n=289)
4.2. Local participation in audience (n=289)
4.3. Voluntary work/engagement during the Festival (n=289)
4.4. 'The Festival visitors from elsewhere like Skinnskatteberg' - an argument corresponding with local opinions (n=289)
4.5. Does the Choir Festival paint a 'portrait' of Skinnskatteberg? (n=289)
4.6. The Festival as irritant - two arguments not corresponding with local opinions (n=289)
4.7. 'I gain economically from the Choir Festival' - an argument not corresponding with local opinions (n=289)
4.8. 'I would prefer Skinnskatteberg not to hold the Choir Festival - an argument not corresponding with local opinions (n=289)
5.1. Stylized stakeholder map
6.1. Three levels of evaluation of events according to a 'bottom-up' perspective
6.2. A general model of the effects of events on the public sector. Boxes with bold text represent the effects that have an impact on the public sector
7.1. Decision tree for a choice between two arenas (Outdoor and Indoor) when pay-offs (displayed in the diagram) are contingent on weather (Sun or Rain)
7.2. Decision tree for a choice between three arena alternatives (Outdoor, Outdoor with tent, and Indoor) when pay-offs (displayed in the diagram) are contingent on weather (Sun or Rain)
7.3. Decision tree for a choice between two arenas (Outdoor and Indoor) when pay-offs (displayed in the diagram) are contingent on weather (Sun or Rain) and arena reservation can be cancelled after the appearance of a reliable weather forecast
7.4 a-c Three different dynamic impact responses of an event on a dependent variable
7.5.a. Guest-nights in July (1994 = 100)
7.5.b. Guest-nights in August (1994 = 100)
8.1. Stylized models for regional impacts of mega-events
8.2. Storey's model for evaluation of local employment initiative (Storey 1990)
8.3. The Olympic region
8.4. Participants in mass sports events in Lillehammer 1987-1997
8.5. Development of guest nights in the three destinations most affected by the Olympics
8.6. Development of unemployment 1988-1996 (Data from Statistics Norway, Unemployment statistics)
8.7. Population development 1980-1997 (Data from Statistics Norway, population statistics, data as of January lst each year)
List of Tables
3.1. The objective and methodology of previous destination image research
3.2. The respondents
3.3. The most frequent descriptions regarding the open-ended questions
3.4. Mean values for selected image scale items
6.1. A basic input-output transaction table (cf. Fletcher 1989)
6.2. A description of the secondary effects of the estimated economic impact of Olympic Games 2004 in Stockholm. The third column describes the vector Snxl from Model (1)
6.3. The net direct secondary effects and the indirect effects calculated by using the column Snxl and the 'Leontief inverse.' The third column corresponds to Nnxl in Model (1)
6.4. The distribution of tertiary effects among 'basic economic elements'
6.5. Hypothetical Swedish tax rates applied to the four 'basic economic elements'. This table corresponds to the matrix P3x4 in Model (3)
6.6. A column showing the tax revenues and social security fees circulated according to Model (3). All values in BSEK. This table corresponds to the matrix T3x1 in Model (3)
6.7. A calculation of estimated total effects on the public sector of Olympic Games 2004 in Stockholm.
6.8. Effects for the event and the public sector
7.1. Estimated ARDL-equation for the number of guest nights by visitors from Norway in the Göteborg region. The guest-night variable is differenced twice (one month and one year), and the price variable is differenced once (one month)
8.1. Key figures on the Lillehammer Winter Olympics 1994
8.2. Stages of industrial activity related to the Olympics
8.3. Visitors at tourist attractions located in the Lillehammer area 1990-1997
8.4. Visitors at Olympic facilities 1992-96
8.5. Summary of impacts related to the Lillehammer Winter Olympics
Book Reviews
The following excerpts are from a book review by Don Getz, University of Calgary, appearing in the journal Event Management (2000), Vol. 6, pp. 205-206:
This book is a significant and unique addition to the event literature, both in terms of its research base and the Scandinavian perspective. It is a compilation of material, basically from Sweden and to a lesser extent Norway, that demonstrates the strength of event research in that part of the world. The contributing Scandinavians are drawing from traditional disciplinary approaches including economics, geography, other social sciences, and tourism, and are not from departments that have event management programs.
It is difficult to see this book being used as a text in event management programs, or outside Scandinavia, but it has real value in advancing theory and methods of event evaluation. It belongs in every tourism and event library.
The following excerpts are from a book review by Hubert B. Van Hoof, Northern Arizona University, appearing in the Journal of Travel Research (2001, August), Vol. 40, p. 117:
The study of the various impacts of events has seen a tremendous growth over the past two decades.
Evaluation of Events: Scandinavian Experiences, which is a result of this trend, emphasizes "the importance of systematically evaluating the various impacts of events, as an adjunct to the planning and policy development activities of public and private sector organizations" (p. 2). The reason it primarily looks at Scandinavian events is twofold. First, there is a lack of books that look at events from a European perspective (most existing books offer U.S. or Australian perspectives). Second, it is the result of a 4-year research program into the economics of events conducted by the Stockholm School of Economics and sponsored by the city of Stockholm. With the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics in their own backyard, many of the contributing researchers in Scandinavia had a mega-event to sink their teeth into.
The editor has succeeded very well in bringing together scholars from various disciplines to present their views on event impacts, and each chapter offers a nice combination of theory and practical application. This is a book that can be recommended to anyone interested in the topic, and it will be of definite interest to those looking for different ways in which events and their impacts can be analyzed.


text:
|This does not yet work with any akonadi agents/resource as they need to be ported first (only akonadiconsole has been ported so far). Don't use it unless you know what you're doing.
The multi-instance Akonadi setup allows to run multiple Akonadi servers in parallel, using the same posix-user and D-Bus session bus. D-Bus service names are postfixed with an instance identifier and all relevant configuration files/directories are either postfixed or put in a separate directory, to avoid any clashes, making it safe to run multiple instances in parallel.
The behavior of a normal Akonadi instance is not changed.
To run multiple Akonadi instances in parallel it is required to assign to each instance a unique identifier using:
akonadictl --instance IDENTIFIER start
An application will then connect to a server depending on the AKONADI_INSTANCE environment variable (set to IDENTIFIER).
You can run a normal Akonadi instance (without --instance) in parallel with multi-instance Akonadi instances.
Each instance will run it's own Mysql server by default, just like a regular Akonadi instance does.
start instance:
export AKONADI_DISABLE_AGENT_AUTOSTART akonadictl --instance IDENTIFIER start
connect any Akonadi client (see also risks section below):
export AKONADI_INSTANCE=IDENTIFIER akonadiconsole
stop instance:
akonadictl --instance IDENTIFIER stop
The multi-instance setup puts it's files in the following directories:
To cleanup an instance, just delete all the directories and configs above.
To connect to an instance using a Akonadi client application, export the following environment variable first (with inst1 being the instance identifier):
export AKONADI_INSTANCE=inst1
Unlike regular client applications, akonadiconsole will automatically detect the presence of multiple Akonadi instances and asks to which one to connect to if more than one was found.
Some of the debugging facilities do not work correctly yet, these are the known issues:
You can also connect to the Mysql instance directly using the Mysql console (standalone, not the akonadiconsole one):
mysql --protocol=SOCKET --socket=~/.local/share/akonadi/instance/<inst1>/socket-<hostname>/mysql.socket
In order to make Akonadi code work in the multi-instance setup all unique identifiers need to be made distinguishable between instances. That includes most prominently:
You only need to change these, if you add/use D-Bus interfaces, or access configuration files directly. Most things have already been taken care of using the AgentBase/ResourceBase classes.
Note that it is not possible to change the D-Bus names or the prefixed directories just in kdepimlibs, as the Akonadi server makes assumptions on where to find the directories and D-Bus services.


text:
Disney Gift Cards can be used for most everything Disney. Plus with hundreds of designs, no fees, no expiration, free shipping and more, it's practically perfect in every way!
There's a Disney Gift Card for any occasion, from birthdays to holidays and more! Pick your favorite design and add some extra magic with a unique gift card carrier.
Simply provide the required information to register. Registering will allow you to save your Disney Gift Card as well as transfer balances from one card to another.


text:
Keeping up to date with the pace of change in the energy markets can be a daunting task. Our Energy Spectrum package comprises three publications designed to ensure you stay ahead of the game without taking valuable resources away from your core business.
Energy Spectrum Ireland provides insightful and timely reporting and comment on developments in the wholesale and retail gas and electricity markets in both the Ireland and Northern Ireland. The package consists of two publications designed to ensure you can stay ahead of the game without taking valuable resources away from your core business.
Whether you are an energy executive, trader, broker or investor, the Energy Market Bulletin will help you make better investment and contract decisions. It will allow you to manage your exposure to risk, improve your opportunities to hedge, and increase your visibility into wholesale energy markets.
In April 2017 the water sector opened up to greater competition in the English non household market, raising the prospect of more choice for customers and innovation from market players. But, as with any significant change, the road ahead is likely to be complex.
The balancing mechanism and imbalance price are fluid and vary every day, potentially resulting in material fluctuations in revenues and costs incurred by generators and suppliers alike. Understanding what factors led to a price imbalance, which generators were bidding their spare capacity at the time, and what the reserve scarcity price was, is all a key part of being an intelligent competitor in this market.
Distinguish your company from your competitors and provide your staff and clients with valuable insight into the energy industry. Our expert team of researchers, analysts, and writers can create a publication tailored to your exact requirements. Whatever you want to achieve, we can make it happen – saving you time, while minimising cost and stress.
Energy and water markets are undergoing massive change and transformation, to keep track of these changes and to provide you with insights on the work of the Cornwall Insight team, we are delighted to launch our new industry information service - Chart of the Week.
2030 is a critical point in the transformation of UK energy; the vision to achieve this is emerging. We know the basic outline and where we want to get to but overlaying the solutions of today on the challenges of tomorrow will not work. We need to think about what we will want for or energy system in 2030 and design the future model to deliver that vision. Energy:2030, which is published monthly will provide you with the news and insight from the GB and elsewhere that will help you navigate the future.
A weekly publication to help you understand and take advantage of the opportunities arising in Ireland and Northern Ireland energy market.
International and local energy and water markets are undergoing massive change and transformation, to keep track of these changes and to provide you with insights on the work of the Pixie Energy team, we are delighted to launch our new industry information service - Pixie Chart of the Week
Being a part of this ever-changing and increasingly globalised energy market, it is essential that industry stakeholders have access to clear, independent and reliable information on wholesale market developments.
12th July 2019
As a pre-eminent energy research, consulting and market intelligence business that operates in Australia and Great Britain (GB), we have analysed how the outlook for wind in each market is being shaped by market design and infrastructural as well as network realities. Here we share some of our findings.
Helping you make sense of the energy and water sectors
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Helping you make sense of the energy and water sectors.
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text: Hot Air Ballooning is our passion. Let us launch you into the majestic world of hot air ballooning. Experience the sheer joy of the oldest and most romantic form of aviation in the world. The incredible feeling of time suspended as the world drifts quietly below you. It's something you will never forget. From the minute you pick up the phone to the traditional champagne reception, we'll give you "the experience of a lifetime." We service the St. Louis area.


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The second half of the excavation campaign at the Macellum yielded some significant results. The northern half of the ca. 20 m wide central courtyard has been uncovered: the limestone pavement, the gutter collecting the rainwater falling from the portico's roof and the shallow, 0.50 m high staircase supporting the northern colonnade were all found in a very good state of preservation. Among the specific features discovered during this campaign were two circular gameboards divided in four compartments found carved on the pavement.
The study of the collapsed architectural members of the north portico allowed an accurate documentation of the original layout of the Corinthian colonnade. Among the discovered fragments were recorded sixteen sections of the Greek dedicatory inscription originally figuring on the architrave-frieze blocks. Referring to Publius Aelios Antiochos Akulas, the local citizen who built the Macellum, the dedication bore the erased name of the emperor Commodus and honorific formulas praising the city of Sagalassos and the building's founder. This series of inscriptions completes those from the west, east and south porticoes found during the previous campaigns, and also proves that the dedication of the Macellum was repeated on the four porticoes surrounding the central courtyard.
The excavations also shed light on the later phases of the Macellum's occupation. The rainwater gutter running along the north portico's staircase presented interesting elements in that respect. It appeared that two of the gutter blocks–those bearing a circular drainage hole, which were easier to remove–were at some point lifted up and put back vertically at their original emplacement. The reason behind this rather awkward operation could be an attempt to improve the carrying capacity of the drainage system. Indeed, below the easternmost of these gutter blocks – once it had been removed by the crane – the archaeologists found a blocked drainage tunnel (W. 0.60 to 0.65 m; D. ca. 1.25 m) running underneath the rainwater gutter. This tunnel must originally have ensured the drainage of the rainwater falling from the porticoes' roofs and from the courtyard's pavement into the underground evacuation system of the Macellum. The reason why it has at some point been blocked remains obscure. An impressive amount of finds were retrieved from this fill: no less than 219 coins were recorded, together with large fragments of ceramic vessels and butchery refuse.
During the last week of the excavations, the central tholos of the Macellum was cleaned on the occasion of the visit of the KULeuven Alumni. In a near future, the lower platform and parts of the elevation of the rounded monument will be restored.


text:
Fricking Brilliant.
via Neil Versel
Posted by shadowfax at 8:40 PM
That's one of the cleanest pumpkins I've ever seen.
This was a meaningless use of electrons.
OK now I am hungry.ReplyDelete
Some study says, EMR (Electronic Medical Records) is the new standard in medical technology. Basically, hospitals are hoping to have the entire medical record of patients available on the computer system, including all notes written for that patient. You can see the potential benefits. Anyway, thanks for the post.


text:
Actress Zoe Kravitz adopted a unique diet to lose weight for her role as a woman battling an eating disorder in "The Road Within" – she drank clay.
The star dropped 20 pounds to portray a woman with anorexia and bulimia, and she says she wanted to lose the weight the safest way she knew how.
She tells Us Weekly magazine, "I did a cleanse. I tried to do it the healthiest way possible, even though it's not healthy to do.
"I ended up drinking clay, because it cleans out your body and fills you up. I was eating like a Mason jar of pureed vegetables a day and running."
Kravitz achieved the results she wanted, but admits the process was difficult.
She continues, "(It was) awful. (I would) never encourage anyone (to do it)."
Kravitz isn't alone in her odd cleanse – actress Shailene Woodley recently revealed she is a big fan of eating clay, saying: "Clay binds to other material in your body and helps your body excrete those materials that are not necessarily the best for you."


text:
MIAMI – Cheered by new polls, Mitt Romney is all but predicting victory in tonight's Republican presidential primary. Newt Gingrich is looking past Florida to regroup, vowing he won't stay buried long.
"With a turnout like this, I'm beginning to feel we might win tomorrow," an upbeat Romney told a crowd of several hundred at a stop in Dunedin on Monday as he and Gingrich zipped across the state making their final appeals.
Gingrich, in turn, acknowledged that his momentum had been checked but promised not to back down. He characterized Romney as an imposter, and his team started to plot a strategy for upcoming contests.
"He can bury me for a very short amount of time with four or five or six times as much money," Gingrich said in a television interview. "In the long run, the Republican Party is not going to nominate … a liberal Republican."
GOP officials in Florida were anticipating a big turnout, more than 2 million voters, up from a record 1.9 million in the Republican primary in 2008. More than 605,000 Floridians had already voted as of Monday, either by visiting early voting stations or by mailing in absentee ballots, ahead of the total combined early vote in the GOP primary four years ago.
In the span of a volatile week, the tables have turned in this potentially pivotal primary state.
Gingrich rode a triumphant wave into Florida after a South Carolina victory nine days ago. But since then, Romney and his allies have pummeled the former House speaker on TV and on the campaign trail. Romney turned in two strong debate performances, while Gingrich faltered. Now opinion polls show the former Massachusetts governor with a comfortable lead here.
Romney and Gingrich have been the only two candidates to compete in Florida in earnest. Neither former Penn- sylvania Sen. Rick Santorum nor Texas Rep. Ron Paul campaigned much in the state, and they were elsewhere on Monday.
A win by Romney would again reset the 2012 GOP race, seen early this month as his to lose, then thrown into doubt by Gingrich's come-from-behind win in South Carolina.


text:
The word nerd and Lamborghini never worked very well in the same sentence together however, the sensational Italian automaker has become quite the whiz kid in recent years. With some help from their friends at Boeing Aerospace Lamborghini is quickly being considered an authority figure on carbon-fiber hyper-machines. So savvy indeed I felt quite intelligent just by reading up on the Sesto Elemento. The name alone suggests a degree of scientific pedigree as it means "Sixth Element" in Italian or moreover the Sixth Element on the Periodic Table aka Carbon.
Debuted for the first time at the 2010 Paris Auto Show, the Sesto Elemento was introduced to the world as a technological demonstration piece by Lamborghini, a little flex of their muscle if you will. Well that little flex raised a lot of eyebrows and generated quite a buzz. With the excellent feedback and numerous requests received about the Sesto Elemento, Lamborghini had been convinced to embark on the challenge of producing a vehicle with the unique characteristics demonstrated at the Paris Auto Show. One year later voila', you have a very limited (20 units), track-only, extreme masterpiece of lightweight engineering that delivers unparalleled performance.
How unparalleled you ask? The 5.2-liter V10 borrowed from the Gallardo produces 570 hp but that's not what raises your heart rate. The Sesto Elemento weighs in at 2202 lbs enabling this car to rocket from 0-62 mph in a ridiculous 2.5 seconds and has a top speed of 186 mph. While its all-wheel-drive system and 6-speed paddle shift, semi-automatic transmission certainly aid the car in achieving those staggering numbers, it's the cars impressive horsepower-to-weight ratio (.26hp/lbs) that plays the major role.
The Sesto Elemento's lightweight is due largely to the chassis, body, driveshaft, and suspension components all being made of carbon-fiber. Aside from being the lightest car Lamborghini has ever produced, it also embodies some very unique design features. The sharp and stealthy lines resemble a snap shot of speed and velocity captured in one frame. As you peer towards the back there lays 10 hexagonal holes in the engine cover placed there strictly to release perspired air from the engine bay. That's right people the car actually sweats! Two hexagonal intakes provide the Sesto Elemento with enough air to help cool down the hard working Italian. All 20 of these bad boys have already been spoken for and pricing rumors are all over the map ranging from $1.4M to as much as $2.6M. It's safe to say however, if you have to ask you probably can't afford it.
Among the numerous attributes and accomplishments Lamborghini has accomplished over the years, I would have to say that most notably is their latest, making it so cool be a nerd.
Also be sure to check out my Bugatti Veyron Super Sport post as it weights twice as much as the Sesto Elemento and has the same 0-62 time.


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Staff writer
USD 398 Superintendent Ron Traxson discussed an emergency plan for intruders for Peabody-Burns schools Monday at the board of education meeting.
One suggestion he offered was that every adult at Peabody-Burns Elementary School would need to wear a badge for identification. Visitors are already required to wear tags but teachers and staff would also be required to don badges.
"It teaches the kids that anybody without a badge is suspect," Traxson said.
He mentioned that PBES had recently conducted a successful lockdown drill.
PBES principal Ken Parry said he should have an Emergency Operations Plan completed by April. He said he had been working on the plan before the tragedy at Newtown, Conn.
Sixth grade
Peabody-Burns Junior High School teachers Cindy Sattler, Courtney Dealy, Kim Topham, Joyce Eurit, and Annette Weems gave a presentation about teaching sixth graders.
"I've never had the homework rate I've had this year," Dealy said. "We have no sixth graders on the ineligible list."
This is the second school year sixth grade has been a part of PBJHS instead of PBES. Last year's sixth-grade students struggled, at times, with the transition, as was reported by principal Tim Robertson and former counselor Sarah Grout. This year teachers have been active in separating sixth graders from the rest of the PBJHS population to ease the transition.
Sattler, Dealy, Topham, Eurit, and Weems have also been meeting on a weekly basis to develop an integrated curriculum and track student progress. One example of integration was a fractions lesson in Topham's science class.
Sattler, a math teacher, reiterated the importance of the sixth-grade being a part of PBJHS for curriculum concerns.
"Sixth grade is the year for math," she said. "Algebra I students are struggling with the same stuff as sixth-graders."
In other business:
- The board approved a supervised agricultural experience project for PBHS freshman Josh Morgan. Morgan will place eight cows his family owns on six acres of farmland owned by the district. He plans to have every animal off the property by April 15 and is prepared to have every animal sold by then.
- The board approved one-year extensions on contracts for Parry, Robertson, and PBHS Assistant Principal Ray Savage.
- The board accepted a $2,000 grant from the Peabody Community Foundation including $500 for calculators, $550 for tuxedos and dresses for Voices, $250 for Safe Kids Camp on April 25, and $700 on bicycles for Adventure Club.


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Last night, the FAA issued an emergency airworthiness directive for Boeing's 787 Dreamliner, after a battery malfunction led an All Nippon Airways flight to make an emergency landing.
The FAA review will cover the design and manufacturing of the aircraft, and focus on its battery, which is believed to be the source of a fire in a parked Dreamliner last week in Boston.
To deliver improved fuel economy, a key upside of the 787, Boeing uses a powerful lithium ion battery and five times more electricity and electrical systems than other jets.
The Dreamliner is the sole plane to use this kind of battery as its primary backup power source, according to Wired, and the FAA only certified its use under several "special conditions."
Lithium ion batteries generate more energy than other types of batteries, which is why Boeing chose to use them. But they tend to overheat, causing "thermal events" — like fires — according to Rick Newman at US News.
University of Dayton professor Raul Ordonez told CNN, "These kinds of batteries are slightly more likely to cause problems."
Dr. Eric Stuve, a professor of chemical engineering at the University of Washington, told Wired, "These batteries have flammable components, that it well known."
In an airline industry that is struggling to make profits in the face of rising fuel costs, the promise of improved fuel efficiency is the biggest selling point of the Dreamliner,
The big question now is whether the battery troubles are a result of flawed design or manufacturing. A fault in the manufacturing process would be relatively easy to repair.
But if the design of the aircraft is flawed, Boeing would have to go back and make fundamental changes in how the plane is built, likely at a huge cost.
For the time being, all of the 50 Dreamliners Boeing has delivered around the world will remain on the ground until further notice.
Here's a full history of the problems with Boeing's Dreamliner >
Get the latest Boeing stock price here.


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Resolutions for a gardener:
1. To plant a row for the hungry, donating extra produce to food pantries.
2. To introduce my very helpful 4-year-old grandson to the fun of planting seeds, watering plants and watching them grow.
3. To plant a healthy vegetable that is new to me and my family and learn ways to prepare it.
4. To plant zinnias for cutting and give bouquets (does anyone use that word anymore?) to friends and neighbors.
5. To put those fabric grocery bags I have accumulated someplace where I can't forget them before shopping. To turn down plastic bags whenever I can carry the items or put them in my purse or pocket.
6. To find a way to help the City of Gardens win another America in Bloom award for Rockford.
7. To resume my visits to Winnebago County Forest Preserve sites until I have seen them all at least once.
8. To pick up garbage in parks and streets when I see it, hoping others will do the same.
9. To exercise by walking around my neighborhood more often, with grandchildren in tow when possible, introducing them to interesting trees and people along the route.
10. To wear a sun hat when working in the sun.
11. To resume an old habit of taking morning and/or evening walks around my yard and garden, noting and enjoying the changes that occur day to day.
12. To compliment fellow Rockfordians who create and care for beautiful yards that we all enjoy.
13. To plant something tropical and special in memory of a friend who died last year.
14. To clean my garage, organizing and storing garden equipment in one place so it's easy to find when needed.
15. To keep all these resolutions, even No. 14, the only one on the list that involves real work. These, after all, are a piece of cake compared to losing weight, saving money or giving up vices.
Geri Nikolai writes about home, garden and nature for the Rockford Register Star. You may contact her at firstname.lastname@example.com or 815-871-6850.


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Dummy dressed as child used as ploy in attempted carjacking, deputies say
Dummy had fake plastic heads and kids clothing
Dummy had fake plastic heads and kids clothing
A woman narrowly escaped being carjacked after spotting what she thought was a child sitting in the middle of the road at night, according to officials in North Carolina.
The Carteret County Sheriff's Office said the woman slowed her car when she saw what appeared to be a child
The woman told deputies that is when two men wearing dark hoodies approached and pulled on her door handles.
The woman sped away and called for help as the men ran away, according to authorities.
Maj. Jason Wank said authorities destroyed the dummy, which was constructed of a fake plastic head and kids clothing including a red Field & Stream shirt.
Anyone who has information are asked to call the Carteret County Sheriff's Office at 728-8400 ext. 8849 or Crime-Stoppers at 726-INFO (4636).


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Last week the New York Times reported on the story of Estrella Family Creamery, an award-winning, very-small-scale producer of raw milk farmstead cheeses in Montesano, Wash. The family faces a Food and Drug Administration ban on its products because the food pathogen listeria has been found in its facilities; when it expressed defiance, the FDA proceeded to stage a raid to seize its entire cheese stock. It's not easy to sort out how large a health risk may be involved (listeria, a widely disseminated form of bacteria, poses a real danger of food poisoning, but no actual illness has been traced to Estrella cheese). I was struck, in any event, by these paragraphs from the Times account:
"If the F.D.A. wanted to shut down the U.S. artisan cheese industry, all they'd have to do is do this environmental surveillance and the odds of finding a pathogen would be pretty great," said Catherine W. Donnelly, co-director of the Vermont Institute for Artisan Cheese of the University of Vermont, referring to the listeria testing at cheese plants. "Is our role to shut these places down or help them?"
Kurt Beecher Dammeier, owner of Beecher's Handmade Cheese, an artisan cheesemaker and retailer in Seattle, said the F.D.A. needed to work harder to understand artisans like Ms. Estrella. "The F.D.A. comes from an industrial, zero-defect, highly processed, repeatable perspective, and she comes from a more ancient time of creating with what she gets," he said. "I'm not sure they can really even have a conversation."
What lends some urgency to these continuing debates is that that the Senate is expected to vote as early as this week on a bill that will conscript thousands of food producers, processors and "facilities" – including many that produce or import relatively low-risk foods for specialty, local or ethnic clienteles – into a best-industrial-practices safety model with extensive recordkeeping requirements and other regulatory burdens. The bill cleared a Senate cloture vote the other day 74-25 and is scheduled for floor consideration Monday.
Much of the bill's press coverage – as with a USA Today editorial which followed ridiculously slanted coverage in that paper – appears blithely unaware of the apprehension the bill has raised among small farmers and organic/"locavore" advocates. Some of those fears played out in a battle over an amendment offered by Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) to lessen regulatory burdens on smaller local producers, and strongly backed by (e.g.) foodie guru Michael Pollan. Most big "consumer" groups, however, including Consumers Union and the Center for Science in the Public Interest, lined up against the small farmers and facilities, as did (following their lead) the New York Times, whose editorial managed to denounce the Tester amendment without actually saying what it did, lest its readers (who of course include many foodie/locavore believers) be confused. Moreover, many big agribusiness sectors have actively opposed the Tester amendment as well, on the view that any regulatory regime they have to live with, Uncle Perry with his parsnip patch should have to live with too, even if it means he won't manage to stay in business while they will. Despite that line-up, Senate leaders have now reportedly accepted a watered-down version of the Tester amendment, which does not by any means exempt small producers from federal regulatory control – they will face plenty of it – but at least nods toward the principle of "tiering" burdens. (Earlier here, here, here, here, etc.)
The wider question is whether the bill as a whole, with its massive ramp-up of federal regulation to displace both voluntary market choices and state-level regulation, is a good idea. As I observed to TownHall's Jillian Bandes, despite the panic atmosphere generated over the issue in recent years, the best evidence is that the incidence of food poisoning continues to fall, not rise; one reason for the greater press coverage of the issue is that science has gotten better at identifying and tracing the sorts of outbreaks that were happening all along. To some who promote a more intensive regulatory state, the resulting "crisis" presents a welcome opportunity, even though, on these advocates' own terms, the existing array of laws provides ample means by which federal agencies can crack down on food actually shown to pose a hazard.
When the new Congress convenes in January, it will bring to Washington dozens of new lawmakers with more skeptical views about regulation, who may listen with favor to colleagues like Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), who has argued against the pending FSMA as an unjustified power grab. Could that be why Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is determined to force through the bill during the lame duck session? In this case – as with the very bad Paycheck Fairness Act, which Republicans managed to stop earlier this month, and the even more appalling "Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act" to force unionization on local public safety workers – it's almost as if the point of the post-election session is to push controversial measures that would encounter more resistance if held over to the next Congress. Is this really a proper use of the lame duck?


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The people of ICM possess a passion for living and for giving. And we express those passions both on- and off-the-clock by supporting many local, national, and international causes.
- We support the Union Rescue Mission in Wichita, Kansas which provides help and shelter for the homeless.
- ICM employees support the Salvation Army Angel Tree effort to buy Christmas gifts for families in need.
- We support Wichita Young Life, a program that focuses on introducing adolescents to Christianity and helping them grow in their faith.
- We support WAY-FM, a radio station whose mission is to encourage youth and young adults in their Christian lives.
- We support the local Colwich community in which we are based, including participation in the annual Colwich Heritage Days Festival.
- We sponsor local youth and adult sports teams, many of which have direct ties to ICM employees.
- We actively support several missionary organizations and families around the globe, providing clean water pumps and food shelters.
- We support Orphans Unlimited, an organization whose primary purpose is to reach the most remote parts of Africa and provide aid to widows and orphans in distress.
- ICM designed and built a cassava-based ethanol plant for CleanStar Mozambique (a partnership with CleanStar Ventures, Novozymes, ICM and Bank of America) that provides clean-burning fuel to thousands of families in Mozambique. The program teaches local farmers sustainable agriculture methods and provides a cooking fuel that is much safer and cleaner than the expensive and inefficient charcoal that has been used in the past.


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Sergey is a senior developer for Aleri. He can be contacted at [email protected]
A great many ways of parallel processes (or threads) synchronization have been invented over time. They are devised with different usage models in mind and with different levels of overhead. Some synchronization primitives are really most basic.
Even before multithreading became popular in the user programs, it was used in the operating system kernels. Quite a few terms and primitives came from there. Many of them pre-date even the multiprocessor systems: even the single-processor kernels had very similar synchronization needs.
Two of the very basic primitives connecting a portion of code to a portion of data are locks and holds. Both are widely used in the OS kernels and often get people confused. Locks, also known as "mutexes," are the simplest, most lightweight, and widely used synchronization mechanism. When a lock is locked (or, in other words, "acquired" or "held"), a thread says "don't anybody touch these data", until it unlocks (or "releases") the lock. Locks are used often, in many interesting ways, and are mentioned in every introductory text on the subject. Still, there are interesting points that aren't always considered.
Let's start with simple things. What lock granularity should be used? How many locks to use? How much data should be protected by each lock? Obviously, if all the data in the program is protected by one lock, this essentially means single-threading all the logic. Not very good. However too many locks may be bad too: locking and unlocking creates extra overhead. What is the best granularity? Depends on the particular program. The only way to find out is to try and see what happens.
A typical place where this issue comes up is in the composite data structures. Suppose, we have a list. The choice here is to have a single lock for the whole list, or have a lock for the whole list plus a lock for each element of the list. With a single lock, the logic is simple: anyone using the list or any of its elements must acquire the lock. With the multiple locks, the logic can be written in pseudocode:
Addition of an element: Create and initialize the new element; Lock the list; Add the new element to the list; Unlock the list; Access of an element: Lock the list; Find the element; Lock the element; Unlock the list; Perform the operation on the element; Unlock the element; Deletion of an element: Lock the list; Find the element; Lock the element; Remove the element from the list; Unlock the list; Unlock the element; Destroy and free the element;
Note that locking an element guarantees not only that the element won't be accessed by anyone else but also that the element won't be destroyed. Because of this, the deletion also needs to lock the element before destroying it. What if you work with an element and then decide that you need to delete it? You can't just lock the list and proceed. This would create a possibility of a deadlock, if some other thread has already locked the list and now tries to lock the same element as the first thread. The only way around is to unlock the element and then proceed with the deletion from scratch: lock the list, find the element, lock the element, and only then delete it. Even the finding of the element can't be skipped, since some other thread might have already deleted in the meantime.
This applies to any kind of composite data structures, and the structures may be nested further and make the question of the best lock granularity even more complicated. The rule of thumb is: if there is not likely to be much contention for some data, don't bother with the fine-granularity locks around it.
Mixing the locks with object-oriented languages makes some things easier and some things harder. Exceptions are a bit of a pain. Normally you don't want to leave the locks unintentionally locked if some error condition is found. In a classic procedural language it's not that hard to get it right:
lock(); ok = call(); unlock(); if (!ok) return false;
But exceptions happen unexpectedly and make the function return without showing it obviously in the code. So if there is any chance of exceptions, the locks must be wrapped in try/catch statements:
lock(); try { call(); } catch() { unlock(); throw; } unlock();
In C++ another feature comes to the resque. The objects defined in a block get destroyed on any exit from the block, normal or on exception. So many multithreading libraries feature an "automatic lock" class, as in Listing One. The constructor remembers the lock and locks it; the destructor unlocks the remembered lock. This makes the code a lot cleaner. Java doesn't have the destructors but it does one better: it provides a keyword synchronized() that does the same thing and more.
However a thing that is usually overlooked and missing is the opposite thing, an "automatic unlock". It's often necessary to release a lock temporarily in the middle of a loop, to perform some lengthy operation:
lock(); for(...) { ... unlock(); long_operation(); lock(); } unlock();
If we look at it sequentially, locks and unlocks don't line up, they have mismatched block boundaries. But if we look at it the other way, that's an "automatic unlock" nested inside "automatic lock" and they line up perfectly. A simple C++ implementation is shown in the Listing Two. This way things are much harder to get wrong. An important point is that the variable in the loop block is normally created and destroyed with the lock locked. It may depend on that. If the long operation throws an exception, this condition won't be violated. First, on destruction of AutoUnlock the lock would get locked, then the variable destroyed, then on destruction of AutoLock the lock will be unlocked again.
Unfortunately, things aren't so easy in Java. There is not only no opposite to synchronized() but it also uses an implicit lock built into the object, and there is no apparent way to work with that lock explicitly at all. This adds a startling amount of complication to things that could be so very simple. Even the simple loop shown above becomes a tangle.
For another concrete example, suppose you have a socket or a device driver file. How do you check if there is data available on it without blocking? Java gives no built-in way to do it but the solution is straightforward: make a wrapper object containing a buffer and a background thread that keeps reading data and placing it into the buffer. Then all you need is to check the buffer: if the buffer is empty, there is no data available. It would be so easy to just make the whole class synchronized and forget about the manual locking. But things don't work this way.
When the background thread gets stuck reading from the file, it takes the lock with it. Any attempt to check the state of the buffer gets stuck forever until the file gets closed, since that's when the method run() in the background thread exits and releases the lock. The manual synchronization has to be used instead.
Now let's move on to the holds. The holds have been used even in the single-procesor Unix OS kernels (the interrupt priority levels were playing the role of the locks at the time). When a thread gets a hold on an object, it says "I may be not actively working with this object right now but I need it, so don't anybody dare to delete it". Essentially, it's a reference counter. Get a hold -- increase the counter, release a hold -- decrease the counter.
With the classic reference counters, whoever decreses the counter to zero deletes the object. In the multithreaded programs things may be more complicated. Only a certain thread might be capable to delete the object correctly. So when the counter goes down to 0, instead of deleting the object, often some other thread gets notified and takes over from there. A class implementing such an approach with POSIX threads is shown in Listing Three.
In other cases the object with hold count of zero doesn't get immediately deleted but is put for a while into the cache of free objects. If someone needs it again, it can be quickly resurrected from the cache. Unless the memory becomes needed for something else and the cache gets cleared.
In some cases the objects on the cache may stay referenced even while their reference counts are zero. This works only if all the objects in the cache are pre-allocated once and never freed. Then a thread that needs the same kind of an object again can try to go directly to the object it used last time, get a lock on it and check if the object hasn't been cleared or reused yet. The lock guarantees that the object won't get reused while the check is in progress. If it wasn't reused, the thread can get a hold on this object (i.e. increase the reference count) and proceed like nothing happened. This approach is often used for all kinds of buffer caches, an object may be a page from a disk file cached in memory.
Of course, locks and holds are not sufficient by themselves to solve all the synchronization needs. But they form the important basics.


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Egyptian Bloggers Forum
We've started something. The Egyptian Bloggers Forum is a new initiative that requires your contribution. What follows is the description of the forum:
This is an attempt to build an arena for Egyptian bloggers to host their collective ideas and thoughts, and nurture constructive discussions and debates. This is not necessarily a virtual community, as it does not have to be simply virtual dialogues between virtual people. Something real may develop out of this, since real people are discussing real issues --but its not a necessary outcome.
A few people are starting out by maintaining this forum, by raising the issues objectively. Other people can then pitch in, exchange ideas, communicate, discuss, debate, and potentially follow through on some actions that some might decide to take.
People who will be maintaining this site would initially be Egyptian bloggers, whom are non-experts on most of the topics here. However, a goalof this site is to attract experts on the topics, have them atleast contribute in the discussions, as well as post their thoughts here to engage the participants.
The bloggers maintaining this site would typically keep their personal blogs running, but not necessarily separate from the discussions ongoing here (possibly double posting here what's relevent from their blogs). However, as their personal blogs may be more personal, this forum should be less so.
To start with, here is the first cut of list of the topics for discussion:
I would add that having just the maintainers of this site write posts and raise issues that only get read with no participation would not achieve the goal of this forum. Unlike blogs, its not about speaking your mind (or the different other reasons for personal blogs). Constructive discussions is the main goal here.
There are no written rules for discussions here, everyone knows what a civil discussion means. Its as simple as this, no discussion is allowed to turn into a personal attack on individuals or into a racist attack on a group of people. That sums up the rules.
This forum is an ongoing project that is always in development, always open to feedback and ideas from the participants to better imporve it.
Thanks to Alaa and Manal for hosting this forum for free.


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Franco Simone
Adjunct Professor of Law
- JD/MBA, 1992, University of San Diego
- BA, 1989, University of San Diego
Areas of Expertise
Professor Simone teaches Interviewing & Counseling and is a supervising attorney for USD's Small Claims Clinic.
Professional Experience
Simone is a partner at the Law Office of Franco Simone in San Diego. He has more than 18 years experience in contract law, business litigation, landlord-tenant law and other real estate legal matters.
Honors and Affiliations
Simone graduated magna cum laude from the University of San Diego School of Law and School of Business.


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Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has ordered a delayed opening for state offices on Wednesday morning, directing all nonessential state employees to report to work at 10 a.m. The delayed opening will allow extra time for transportation crews to clear the roads of the snowfall forecasted to impact the state beginning early tomorrow morning. For further updates, state employees should continue monitoring local media as well as the website of the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, where they can locate an "Early Release/Late Openings/Closures" button.
"As I continue to get updates from state emergency management officials on the potential impact of the severe weather headed our way, I've decided to ask all executive branch agencies to enact their delayed opening plans so that we are not bogged down during the usual morning rush, right when the snowfall is forecasted to be at its heaviest. Private sector companies may want to consider similar plans," said Malloy in a press release. "If you do not need to be on the road tomorrow morning, please stay home."


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Lawrence Wright, who wrote the excellent and definitive account of the September 11 attacks, THE LOOMING TOWER, has written a new expose about Scientology, which was excerpted recently in The New Yorker. It's worth reading.
In this week's issue, there are two letters in response to Wright's piece. Here they are:
Lawrence Wright, in his Profile of Paul Haggis and his thirty-five-year relationship with the Church of Scientology, asks why the Church counts so many successful Hollywood celebrities among its followers ("The Apostate," February 14th & 21st). One factor not considered is that these successful, talented, and creative people tend to be undereducated. Some celebrities dropped out of high school, and may sincerely wish for a formal education. Some have revealed that they suffer from dyslexia, attention-deficit disorder, hyperactivity, or restlessness. Some may show impatience; many are known to be highly imaginative. A lack of education, coupled with great imaginative powers, leaves people open to suggestion and yearning for a better grasp of truth. The promise that Scientology offers—that knowledge can be acquired without traditional study—is appealing, and seems authentic. But knowledge is a form of power that takes time and effort to acquire. It's not easy, and no one book, person, or theory can bestow it upon us.
Anna Bates
Lafayette, Calif.
Cults are distinguished from religions only by the number of believers that they attract. The most depressing feature of Wright's article was that any of the other ten thousand or so religions that the human ego has invented could have been substituted for Scientology. Only the names, dates, and places would need to be changed. In reading Wright's piece, I am reminded of Edward Gibbon, who wrote, in "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," "So urgent on the vulgar is the necessity of believing, that the fall of any system of mythology will most probably be succeeded by the introduction of some other mode of superstition."
Ross Taylor
Canberra, Australia
Read more http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/letters/2011/03/28/110328mama_mai...
Is reader Ross Taylor right? What, if anything, does distinguish a religion from a cult? Sometimes a distinction may be imposed by law or decree.* What does that tell us about a culture's inclination to tolerate, or to reject, a body of beliefs?
Views: 3082
Look at Scientology - considered a cult, but it has millions of members. Some countries have banned it, mainly because stories of abuse, and how much money is involved, are coming from people who have left the cult. They don't even bother to mention god or jesus - it's all about the money. Ron. L. Hubbard claimed to be a religion, purely to evade paying tax.
I think ALL religions are cults. I think the word cult is loved by the bigger cults, like the catholic church, to try to differentiate and create distance, to make their 'cult' look legitimate.
Right, Suzanne. As Jerry Coyne wrote a while back:
>>> Most of us probably consider Scientology a cult rather than a religion, but that's only because it has relatively few followers compared to, say, Mormonism, and because its official dogma is so bizarre.
But is it? As The Los Angeles Times reported, here's the "theology" of Scientology, a theology that has been deeply hidden by the Church and emerged only during lawsuits:
"A major cause of mankind's problems began 75 million years ago," the Times wrote, when the planet Earth, then called Teegeeack, was part of a confederation of ninety planets under the leadership of a despotic ruler named Xenu. "Then, as now, the materials state, the chief problem was overpopulation." Xenu decided "to take radical measures." The documents explained that surplus beings were transported to volcanoes on Earth. "The documents state that H-bombs far more powerful than any in existence today were dropped on these volcanoes, destroying the people but freeing their spirits—called thetans—which attached themselves to one another in clusters." Those spirits were "trapped in a compound of frozen alcohol and glycol," then "implanted" with "the seed of aberrant behavior." The Times account concluded, "When people die, these clusters attach to other humans and keep perpetuating themselves."
Okay, that sounds really crazy, but is it any crazier than the Christian myths? As actress Anne Archer (another celebrity Scientologist) points out in the article, one of the reasons Scientology is despised is simply because it's new. When we're around to see how a faith is really formed—L. Ron Hubbard popping pills and writing science fiction, Joseph Smith pretending to find golden plates, Mary Baker Eddy's recovery from a back injury—we see the chicanery, duplicity, and credulousness that attends the whole enterprise. But as a faith ages, it gains more and more respectability, so we rarely think of how crazy theological doctrine really is. If Scientology survives another 200 years (and I'm not sure it will), it will be a respectable faith.
It depends. The word cult originally just meant a system of ritual practices, its only more recently that it came to be associated with negative practices like brain-washing and small authoritarian groups with odd beliefs. In Sociology, the term cult is usually used to describe any group with new religious beliefs, so under that definition all religions started off as cults and then grew to be larger and more socially accepted. A lot of religious people use it as a slur against any religion that is too different from their own, like when christian fundamentalists call Islam or neo-paganism cults. I think most people nowadays use the word cult in reference to fringe groups, like Scientology, the FLDS, and groups like the Heaven's-Gate cult. Some people I've heard say that cults are any group that brain-wash and condition people to control them, but under that definition I think you could make the argument that all religions are cults since they all involve indoctrination to some extent. Just watch "Jesus Camp".
It's true enough that nowadays the use of the word "cult" to refer to longstanding mainstream religions (as opposed to Scientology, say) seems to many ears a denigration or an insult---and that says something about how the connotations of the word have evolved.
But, in fact, the enduring, primary definition of "cult" (from the redoubtable Webster's Third Unabridged) is: "(1) religious practice; worship (2) a system of beliefs and ritual connected with the worship of a deity, a spirit, or a group of deities or spirits." With this definition in mind, it seems plain that, to an objective observer, ALL religions are properly described as cults.


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AUSTIN, Texas - The Texas doctor convicted in the death of pop superstar Michael Jackson has sued the state over stripping his right to practice medicine.
Conrad Murray accuses the Texas Medical Board of prematurely revoking his license. The former Houston cardiologist was released from a California jail this week after serving less than two years for involuntary manslaughter.
Murray was convicted in 2011 of giving Jackson a lethal overdose of a powerful anesthetic. But in a lawsuit filed in Austin last week, Murray claims his conviction isn't final in California until his appeals are exhausted.
Murray states in an affidavit that he's more than $400,000 in debt and can't afford to pay court costs.
Texas Medical Board spokesman Jarrett Schneider said the agency cannot comment on pending litigation.


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Exoplanet spin measured for first time
Eight-hour day on Beta Pictoris b is shorter than day of any planet in our solar system
I. Snellen/Leiden Observatory, adapted by S. Egts
Astronomers have measured the rotation of an exoplanet for the first time. A day on the planet Beta Pictoris b is roughly eight hours long — shorter than on any planet in our solar system, the researchers report in the May 1 Nature.
Beta Pictoris b orbits a young star 63 light-years away in the constellation Pictor. To measure the planet's rotation, Ignas Snellen, an astronomer at Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands, and colleagues analyzed the planet's spectrum. The spectrum reveals certain wavelengths of light that are absorbed by carbon monoxide in the planet's atmosphere. By measuring how much the absorbed wavelengths are Doppler shifted by the rotating atmosphere, the researchers determined how quickly the planet spins.
In our solar system, more massive planets spin faster. Beta Pictoris b, which is about 11 times as massive as Jupiter and roughly 1.65 times as wide, continues


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text:
Arma 3: Apex (v1.62.137494 + All DLCs + Working MP, MULTI9) [FitGirl Repack]
seeders: 27
leechers: 145
DownloadFast Safe Anonymous
movies, software, shows...
Available in versions: PC
Arma 3: Apex (v1.62.137494 + All DLCs + Working MP, MULTI9) [FitGirl Repack] (Size: 16.75 GB)
System Requirements
Arma 3: Apex v1.62.137494 + All DLCs + Working MP
Release Date: September 13, 2013 ~ July 11, 2016
Genres/Tags: Action, Tactical shooter, First-person, Third-person, 3D
Developer: Bohemia Interactive
Publisher: Bohemia Interactive
Platform: PC [Repack]
Engine: Real Virtuality 4
Steam User Rating: 85% of user reviews are positive (based on 591 reviews)
Interface Language: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Czech, Polish, Portuguese-Brazil, Russian
Audio Language: English
Crack: built-in (CODEX/ALI213/3DM/LumaEmu)
Minimum requirements:
Operating System: Windows Vista SP2 or Windows 7 SP1
Processor: Intel Dual-Core 2.4 GHz or AMD Dual-Core Athlon 2.5 GHz
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT or AMD Radeon HD 3830 or Intel HD Graphics 4000 with 512 MB VRAM
DirectX: 10
HDD Space: 25 GB
Screenshots - click to enlarge
KAT Screenshots:
Enlist for active duty with Arma 3 Apex and be deployed to a brand new warzone. With its distinct geographical features, the South Pacific island archipelago of Tanoa introduces fresh opportunities for all types of combat operations. Engage in Arma 3's tactical gameplay, where movement, shooting, and teamwork truly matter, and make use of new vehicles, weapons and gear to overcome the challenges of a hostile foreign terrain. The Apex expansion represents the pinnacle of over 15 years of Arma development. Enjoy one of the most meaningful gaming experiences on PC; feel the adrenaline-rush of a hard-earned victory, discover a continuously evolving platform packed with official and player-created content, and join one of thousands Arma community groups to meet new people from across the world. Authentic, open, and diverse – this is the PC's premier military game at its finest. Welcome to Arma 3 Apex!
Included content
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Problems during installation?
If you experience errors (Xdelta or Unarc ones) during installation, try the following things:
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To share this torrent use the code below and insert it into comments, status messages, forum posts or your signature.Torrent: Arma 3: Apex (v1.62.137494 +...MP, MULTI9) [FitGirl Repack]
Uploader Comments
anonymous •
Is this the full game or only the apex expansion?
VergilCrimson393 •
what do you mean by "limited Multiplayer support"?
anonymous •
Waiting one week for just 2GB smaller size and 2 hour installation time. Hahahahah! [:Qlol
All Comments
evilelect2236 • Show comment
Love fitgirl, love arma, don't love 30 second spawn time in single player.
Last edited by evilelect, 25 min. ago
Is there anyway to get Apex with this if you have the paid version?
wowmagic1163 • Show comment
Source: http://cs.rin.ru/forum/viewtopic.php?t=55261
Installation x86:
1. Copy LumaEmu.ini and steamclient.dll to the game folder.
2. If the game is using Steam.dll then copy this file and ClientRegistry.blob to the game folder.
3. If the game doesn't use Steam.dll then rename the orignal steam_api.dll to ValveAPI.dll and copy the new steam_api.dll to the game folder.
4. Change the "SteamClientDll" path in LumaEmu.ini.
5. Create steam_appid.txt with the correct AppID for the game or use the "-appid" parameter on the exe.
6. If you need to mount GCF or NCF Files set the steamapps folder path in LumaEmu.ini and change "UseCacheFiles" to = 1.
7. Start the game through the game exe file.
Installation x64:
1. Copy steamclient64.dll and LumaEmu.ini to the game folder.
2. Rename the original steam_api64.dll to ValveAPI64.dll and copy the new steam_api64.dll to the game folder.
3. Change the "SteamClientDll" path in LumaEmu.ini.
4. Create steam_appid.txt with the correct AppID for the game or use the "-appid" parameter on the exe.
5. Start the game through the game exe file.
Last edited by wowmagic1, 25 min. ago
wowmagic1163 • Show comment
Can someone explain how the limited multilayer support work? Please.
anonymous • Show comment
Thank's FitGirl [:Qboo
again a very nice job [:Qthumb_up
i like fast install, but i think 45 min installation is normal for this game, even if it is from CODEX or another group, repack or not. I would like 5 minutes, but that will happen only in my dreams ... [:Qfunk
anonymous • Show comment
Waiting one week for just 2GB smaller size and 2 hour installation time. Hahahahah! [:Qlol
FitGirl102.67K •
Show comment
2 hours is for slow machines, not ready for this game anyway. And also I have a life, you know.
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text:
Hope College will present the panel discussion "Charting Your Future: A Diverse Panel of Perspectives Preparing for Careers Related to Health Care" on Wednesday, Feb. 10, from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Maas Center auditorium.
The public is invited. Admission is free.
The program will provide students and guests the opportunity to receive insights regarding health-related careers, including effective preparation for working with diverse populations and teams. The panel will feature guest speakers from diverse backgrounds who will share information and advice about a wide range of careers related to the health care industry.
The event is underwritten by Blue Cross Blue Shield of West Michigan. It is sponsored by the college's offices of multicultural education and career services and Phelps Scholars Program, and the Holland Area Chamber of Commerce.
Panelists will include Lloyd L. Banks, III, community responsibility and civic affairs manager for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan in Detroit; Tahnee C. H. Prokopow, a 1992 Hope graduate who is program evaluation specialist, pre-med advisor and business manager of the Diversity and Career Development Office of the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor; Carlos Sanchez, executive director at the West Michigan Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Grand Rapids; and Floyd Wilson, Jr., vice president of human resources for Metro Health, Grand Rapids. The event moderator will be Dr. Brian McClenic, a 1983 Hope graduate who is a founding partner of Intervention Spine and Pain Management Centers, and medical director of pain management and chair of the bioethics committee at Community Hospital in Munster, Ind.
The Maas Center is located at 264 Columbia Ave., on Columbia Avenue at 11th Street


text:
6 second BMW - V.S Motors builds an 1850 horsepower twin turbo S85 V10 monsterOk, so this is not a street BMW but a dedicated drag car. Still, it is powered by a fire breathing 1850 horsepower 4.8 liter S85 V10. The bore has been slightly reduced to increase cylinder wall thickness. The body is designed to look like an E92 and made out of carbon fiber by Kjell Arne Solberg at Carbon Design. This drag car has run 6.93 @ 203 mph on 26 psi fueled by methanol. Your tuned BMW doesn't feel quite so fast anymore after seeing this, does it?
This article was originally published in forum thread: V.S Motor BMW M3, M5 V10 Twin Turbo - 6,93sec/327kmh - 1/4mile started by Morten Authen View original post8 Comments
Puerto Rican 335d - 05-10-2013, 08:05 AM
Sticky just ask SLS AMG and Portman they might know them LOL jajajajajajajajaja
leveraged sellout - 06-29-2013, 04:33 AM
Been following this thing for a while, unreal numbers. Shows what the S85 is capable of, too bad TTs won't really fit inside an E60/E63 engine bay. Maybe SC kits will get there someday. This is truly an accomplishment.
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text:
Leaves turn
Begin to drop
God directs the seasons
Linda Kruschke on life and death, faith and fearlessness, music and poetry
God's Word
They triumphed over him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much
as to shrink from death.
Revelation 12:11 (NIV).
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text:
How to Use
the Readings
Inquiry Question
Reading 1: Servants at Brucemore
At first glance, Brucemore appears to be a monument to a few wealthy owners. But a closer look uncovers much more. Brucemore's story is about hundreds of immigrants drawn to Cedar Rapids to work in the families' businesses. It is about new technology and the expansion of railroads that brought an economic boom to the Midwest. It is about a servant staff whose labor granted their employers a privileged lifestyle.
George Bruce Douglas had a strong influence on the industrial development of Cedar Rapids. He worked first in his father's cereal business, which became The Quaker Oats Company. George and his brother started Douglas & Company, which grew into one of the largest corn processing plants in the world.
When George and Irene Douglas moved to Brucemore in 1906, they had two daughters, Margaret and Ellen. Another daughter, Barbara, was born shortly afterward. The Douglases personalized the estate to meet their needs as a growing family and transformed their home into a fully functioning country estate. They increased the size of the property from 10 to 33 acres and added the guesthouse, servants' duplex, greenhouse, carriage house, squash court/bookbindery, tennis court, pool, pond, and formal garden.
The Douglases employed many servants to work in the house, on the grounds, and for other responsibilities. Like most large homes built in the 1880s, the mansion had clearly defined areas for servants, including a separate entrance, dining area, and set of stairs. Servants could become virtually invisible as their work and living spaces could be closed off from the family's side of the house. Two rooms on the mansion's third floor served as servant bedrooms. Usually, the butler, cook, and maids shared these rooms. The head gardener and his family lived in the servants' duplex on the estate. The nanny's room was on the second floor next to the nursery.
Inside the mansion, duties were numerous, and a specialized staff of five to six handled the day-to-day operations of the house. Coming with his family from England in 1912, Alfred Batten was the Douglases' butler for eleven years. He held one of the higher positions among the servants. His responsibilities would have included answering the door, serving formal meals in the dining room, and taking care of the silver and other precious items stored in the butler's pantry. His wife Ivy also worked for the Douglases as a maid. Her duties might have included helping Mrs. Douglas bathe and dress as well as general straightening and cleaning. A Swedish cook, Mabel Seay took charge of the kitchen and the elaborate meals that were part of the formal dinners at Brucemore. Additional maids most likely assisted her with the more tedious aspects of food preparation as well as cleaning the mountain of dishes that resulted from a formal meal. Alfred's brother Bert was the Douglases' chauffeur from 1915 to 1937, surpassing all other staff in length of employment. He drove the cars but also maintained them, which required an understanding of mechanics. Alfred and Bert's sisters and nieces also worked occasionally when extra help was needed for large parties.
In addition to the specialized house staff, the Douglases hired men to care for their gardens and grounds. The head gardener, usually the highest paid employee, was an important part of the staff. His job included choosing plants, operating the greenhouse, and planning the care of the grounds. In the spring and summer, he supervised five to eight men. In the winter, his responsibilities included snow removal and firing the boilers in the mansion, greenhouse, and carriage house. Archie White, the Douglases' last head gardener, worked at Brucemore for nearly sixteen years. Archie, who was born in Jamaica, British West Indies, lived in the servants' duplex with his wife, Jeanie, and children, Agnes and Edward.
At Brucemore, a larger staff allowed for greater specialization in jobs but also some sharing of tasks. These servants enjoyed greater flexibility and more personal time than the typical maid-of-all-work. Their hard work provided the Douglases with a comfortable lifestyle and made it possible for them to pursue recreational and community service activities.
Questions for Reading 1
1. Create a chart listing all of the employees mentioned in Reading 1 and what their responsibilities were.
2. What caused an economic boom in the midwest? Why were immigrants drawn to Cedar Rapids?
3. At any given time, a mix of immigrants and American-born servants lived and worked at Brucemore. What are the nationalities of the Douglas employees mentioned in the reading?
4. Why do you think the mansion was built with separate areas for servants?
5. How might working for the Douglases and other wealthy families differ from working as a maid-of-all-work? If needed, refer to Setting the Stage.
Reading 1 was compiled from Faye Dudden, Serving Women: Household Service in Nineteenth-Century America (Hanover, NH: Wesleyan University Press, 1983); David M. Katzman, Seven Days a Week: Women and Domestic Service in Industrializing America (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978); and Daniel Sutherland, Americans and their Servants: Domestic Service in the United States from 1800 to 1920 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1981).


text:
University of Central Florida
- School Accreditation: SACS COC
- School Type: Public, Non-Profit
- Undergraduate Tuition: $22,467
- Graduate Tuition: $28,657
- Recommendation Rate: 88%
School Highlights
Top Military
20+ Online
Online Degrees Available at University of Central Florida
All Bachelor's Master's Doctoral Certificate
Bachelor's Degrees (31)
- Anthropology, BA
- B.A. in Political Science - American Politics and Policy
- B.A. in Political Science - International Relations: Comparative Politics
- B.A. in Political Science - Prelaw
- B.S. in Health Services Administration
- BA in Sociology
- Bachelor of Applied Science
- BS in Sociology
- Communication and Conflict, BA
- Criminal Justice, BA
- Criminal Justice, BS
- English - Creative Writing, BA
- English - Literature, BA
- English - Technical Communication, BA
- Health Informatics and Information Management, BS
- Health Services Administration, BS
- History, BA
- Information Technology, BAS
- Interdisciplinary Studies, BA
- Interdisciplinary Studies, BS
- International and Global Studies, BA
- Latin American Studies, BA
- Legal Studies, BA
- Legal Studies, BS
- Political Science, BA
- Psychology, BS
- Religion and Cultural Studies, BA
- RN to BSN
- Social Sciences, BS
- Software Development, BAS
- Technical Education and Industry Training, BS
Master's Degrees (37)
- Aerospace Engineering: Thermofluid Aerodynamics Systems Design and Engineering, MSAE
- Applied Learning and Instruction, MA
- Criminal Justice, MS
- Digital Forensics, MS
- Educational Leadership, MA
- Engineering Management, MSEM
- English - Technical Communications, MA
- Executive Master of Health Administration, EMHA
- Forensic Science, MS
- Health Care Informatics, PSM
- Healthcare Systems Engineering, MS
- Hospitality and Tourism Management, MS
- Industrial Engineering - Operations Research, MS
- Industrial Engineering - Quality Systems Engineering, MS
- Industrial Engineering - Simulation Modeling and Analysis, MS
- Industrial Engineering - Systems Engineering, MS
- Industrial Engineering, Human Systems Engineering/Ergonomics, MS
- Industrial Engineering, Interactive Simulation and Training Systems, MS
- Industrial Engineering, MS
- Instructional Design & Technology, MA
- Master of Arts in Career and Technical Education
- Master of Arts in Teaching - Art Education
- Master of Education in Exceptional Student Education
- Master of Public Administration (MPA)
- Master of Public Administration (MPA) and Master of Nonprofit Management (MNM) Dual Degree
- Master of Public Administration (MPA) and Master of Science in Criminal Justice (MSCJ) Dual Degree
- Master of Science in Nursing - Nurse Educator
- Master of Science in Nursing - Nursing and Health Care Simulation
- Master of Social Work (MSW)
- Materials Science and Engineering, MS
- Mechanical Engineering, MS
- Nonprofit Management, MS
- Nursing - Nursing Leadership and Management, MSN
- Nursing, MSN
- Public Administration, MPA - Criminal Justice, MS Dual Degree
- Research Administration, MRA
- RN to MSN
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- BSN to DNP: Adult/Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (Hybrid)
- BSN to DNP: Adult/Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner (Hybrid)
- BSN to DNP: Family Nurse Practitioner (Hybrid)
- Nursing Practice, DNP
- Nursing Practice: Executive, DNP
- Nursing, PhD
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- Applied Operations Research, Graduate Certificate
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- Graduate Certificate in Autism Spectrum Disorders
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- Graduate Certificate in Initial Teacher Professional Preparation
- Graduate Certificate in Mathematical Science
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- Graduate Certificate: Adult/Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (Hybrid)
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text:
Yesterday, TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington sued his ex-girlfriend, Jenn Allen, for defamation and publication in a false light. He's seeking "general" and "special damages" according to "proof." He also wants the cost of the lawsuit covered and "any other relief the court deems just and proper."
This afternoon, Gawker obtained a copy of the 43-page lawsuit.
We've read all of it and the evidence against Allen is hard to argue. There are messages that show her instigating both playful and highly emotional messages to Arrington after March 2012, the month Allen said the alleged rape took place. Allen has yet to publicly respond to Arrington's suit.
Here are the highlights of the filing.
On March 29, 2013, Jenn Allen posted a statement on Facebook that accused Arrington of physical and emotional abuse. Allen alleged that Arrington "threatened to murder her if she told anyone" about the way he treated her.
News of Allen's post quickly spread to media outlets, most notably Gawker, which addressed Allen's post and did some further research into the allegations. Allen responded multiple times on the Gawker articles with messages that further blemished Arrington's reputation.
Arrington's lawyer asked Allen to write a public retraction of her "defamatory" statements by close of business on April 15 2013. Allen didn't. Arrington's lawyer obtained a message Allen sent to someone named "Chris" commenting on the alleged rape on May 3 2013.
In the message to Chris, Allen mentions some sort of PowerPoint presentation Arrington made that may address the allegations against him. (If you know about it or have a copy, please let us know here.)
Allen also sent out the following messages on Twitter on April 11, the day Arrington's lawyer notified her of the potential lawsuit. They imply that Arrington impregnated her at least once, with one other false alarm:
"Rape the first Friday of March 2012 in the early morning…in SF at the Airport hotel," and "If you were raped twice in the 8 yrs by Mike, in result pregnant twice by rape, one false pos preg, never a lie, pls have empathy."
One day later, Allen changed the rape date in another Twitter message:
"This is hard to look back on. Michael Arrington raped me Friday March 30, 2012 @ 1:30 am near SFO; was there to talk about past."
There are a pile of "exhibits" and attachments that further suggest Arrington's innocence, or at least show Allen is extremely emotional. Some are written by friends of Arrington's defending him, like Techmeme founder Gabe Rivera and former TechCrunch CEO Heather Harde.
Others are damning messages Allen sent to Arrington via email, Twitter and text message over the past year. One from July 2012 shows Allen emotional over a new relationship Arrington entered:
"You, Mike, seem happy with the most boring arrogant fake personalities person on the planet, who you treat the way I should have been treated," Allen wrote.
Five months ago, in October 2012, Allen sent Arrington a message asking how he was doing. Arrington did not appear to respond.
Below is the full lawsuit.