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"The first thing I read every morning was about corruption in government, and I was inspired to change that."
Some parents give their children cars for their 18th birthdays. Phil Andrews '81 (political science) received a membership to Common Cause, a nonpartisan, nonprofit advocacy organization that works for honest and accountable government.
"I was a Washington Post newspaper carrier during the Watergate years, from 1972 to 1977. The first thing I read every morning was about corruption in government, and I was inspired to change that," Andrews says.
He began volunteering for Common Cause Pennsylvania while at Bucknell, where he majored in political science, and has since spent his professional life working for more open, responsive government. Just out of college, Andrews worked for the League of Conservation Voters in Philadelphia, later moving back to his home state of Maryland to become executive director of Common Cause Maryland.
In 1998, Andrews was elected as a Democrat to the County Council of Montgomery County, Maryland, which borders Washington, D.C. With a population of one million and a budget of $4 billion, the county is akin to a small state, Andrews says, "and it has all the issues that go along with that."
So far, his constituents seem happy with how he's handled those issues. He's been re-elected three times.
County Council work isn't the stuff of glamour, but what Andrews achieves matters for people's daily lives. He's accomplished such initiatives as requiring annual fire code inspections of county schools and reducing the county property tax rate. In the interest of public health, he led the way for Montgomery County to become the first jurisdiction in the area to require smoke-free restaurants.
Outside of his county, Andrews was appointed chair of the Emergency Preparedness Council for the Washington Metropolitan Council of Governments, a group tasked with ensuring that the area is prepared to deal with everything from snow emergencies to terrorist attacks.
He is perhaps most proud recently of taking the lead on numerous measures to open more job opportunities to people with disabilities, a group for which the unemployment rate can exceed 60 percent. "I do a lot of door-knocking to stay in touch with constituents," he explains, "and I heard from a lot of people with physical and development disabilities and their families that measures such as these would really change lives."
Although primaries are not until 2014, Andrews recently began his "grassroots campaign" for county executive, and, harkening back to his earliest days with Common Cause, still refuses to take campaign contributions from any special interest groups.
Posted July 2013


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BRANDON — In the wake of two fatal human cases of Eastern equine encephalitis, area legislators who came to the monthly meeting of the Brandon Leicester Salisbury Goshen Mosquito District here last week said they hope to move quickly to drum up funding for mosquito control.
State funding of mosquito surveillance has been cut to the point where it pays only for the one state employee who does all of the testing for mosquito-borne viruses, or arboviruses, like EEE and West Nile Virus in Vermont.
VERMONT — Proposed changes to Vermont's maple syrup grading system are stirring up controversy in the sugaring community.
The changes, which would implement a new set of international grading standards that are consistent across state and national boundaries, are supported by those who feel it will make Vermont syrup more competitive on a bigger world stage. But others say Vermont's already got the upper hand, and a change in labeling would not help the Vermont brand.
MIDDLEBURY — Kate Gridley's South Street art studio continues to draw visits from a "Who's Who" in the world of politics, law and academia.
And it has nothing to do with this being an election year.
The Middlebury artist recently drew acclaim for immortalizing former Vermont Gov. James Douglas on canvas, a portrait that was hung in the Statehouse.
MIDDLEBURY — Many politicians have been expending a lot of shoe leather during these weeks leading up to the Nov. 6 General Election.
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MIDDLEBURY — The Middlebury selectboard on Tuesday continued to make its own tweaks to the town plan update, with the most prominent revision being a move to remove a reference to a 50,000-square-foot cap on new retail proposals. The board replaced mention of that cap with a stipulation that retail store applications must be consistent with the town's zoning ordinances, noted Middlebury selectboard Vice-Chairman Victor Nuovo.
MIDDLEBURY — While many other public and private schools in Vermont are coping with declining enrollment, the Aurora School in Middlebury is planning to add seventh- and eighth-grade classes next year in reaction to demand by local parents. School officials are currently scouting two possible Middlebury locations at which to base the new middle school.
BRANDON/SUDBURY/WHITING — The efforts of legislators seeking increased funding for mosquito surveillance may be bolstered by a citizen's petition seeking an in-state testing lab.
Colleen Wright, a friend of Scott Sgorbati, who contracted Eastern equine encephalitis and died last month, has started a petition seeking support for an in-state arbovirus surveillance lab.
MIDDLEBURY — The Vermont Citizens Awareness Network's public discussion on decommissioning the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant drew only three members of the public to the basement conference room of Ilsley Public Library in Middlebury Tuesday evening.
Organizer Chris Williams and lobbyist Bob Stannard, both of VCAN, led the panel discussion. They gave an overview of the state of regulation of the Vernon plant, and talked about their organization's efforts to close it down.
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NHL Game Night 1/9: Lightning at Ducks
A good win for the Lightning and their young netminder.
Karri Ramo stopped 29 of 32 shots for the win in his first NHL start of the season.
First Period
03:28 TBL St. Louis (16), (Lecavalier)(SH)
Second Period
01:41 TB Prospal (9), (Lecavalier, Artyukhin)
08:42 ANA Ebbett (2), (Morrison, Hedican)(PP)
17:51 TB Malone (11), (St. Louis, Meszaros)(PP)
18:28 ANA Montador (3), (Morrison, Ebbett)
18:40 ANA Pronger (8), (Getzlaf, Miller)
Third Period
10:50 TB Malone (12), (Halpern, St. Louis)
This is the kind of win that helps build psychological toughness for the club. After not showing up for the third period in Phoenix and then giving up two quick goals at the end of the second, it would've been easy for the Lightning to implode in the third against Anaheim. But, they didn't. They can draw on the experience the next time they face some adversity.
Similarly, Ramo rebounded from seeing his soft goal late in the second chased by a quick tying goal 18 seconds later to shut the door stopping 8 of 8 shots in the final frame to take with win. You can't underestimate how important that is for a young netminder like Ramo who has struggled the first half in Norfolk. This is a critical juncture for Karri with a job in Tampa likely open when and if Olaf Kolzig is moved at the trade deadline. Ramo is in the final year of his entry-level deal, and he appeared a lock to move up in March at the start of the year, but confidence in the netminder has flagged slightly. Getting a big win in Anaheim will hopefully help him regain his swagger over the next month and a half once he gets sent back to Norfolk and give him the momentum he needs to seize the backup job in Tampa Bay.
Matt Smaby was +1 with 2 penalty minutes, 2 hits, and 1 blocked shot in 13:45.
Paul Szczechura had 2 hits and was 47% on draws in 15:52.
Steven Stamkos was a healthy scratch for the first time in his NHL career. Tonight would've been his graduation from prospect status at Bolt Prospects, but that will have to wait for the game against the Kings.
Box score and extended statistics from NHL.com.
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At the Take Back the American Dream conference this morning, Paul Krugman reprised what he said on the Colbert Report recently, concerning Ireland's austerity agenda and it's frightening resemblance to Mitt Romney's economic agenda.
If Mitt Romney is elected president, the U.S. will experience an economic disaster the likes of which have been recently seen in Ireland, according to Paul Krugman.
"Ireland is Romney economics in practice," the Nobel-Prize winning economist and New York Times columnist said on the Colbert Report on Monday. "I think Ireland is America's future if Romney is president." (h/t Politico.)
"They've laid off a large fraction of their public workforce, they've slashed spending, they've had extreme austerity programs, they haven't really raised taxes on corporations or the rich at all, they have 14 percent unemployment, 30 percent youth unemployment, zero economic growth," Krugman said.
Romney, the likely Republican nominee for president, recently suggested that the government should lay off more firemen, policemen, and teachers, according to CNN. Romney's campaign website says that if elected president, Romney would aim to slash federal spending at least 18 percent by the end of his first term.
As the saying goes, "Great minds think alike.
OK, OK. Granted, I'm not a Nobel-Prize-winning economist. Far from it. Still, I've been writing about Ireland's austerity debacle for what certainly seems like a long, long, long, long, long time.
I've also written a lot about Mitt Romney's economic agenda, which is virtually identical to the budget written by Rep. Paul Ryan, and almost unanimously embraced by Republicans.
Budgets, Jim Wallis says, are moral documents. They reveal our priorities, and show the world what — or whom — we're willing to sacrifice. Mitt Romney has shown us both.
In February, when Mitt Romney released his new economic agenda, Ezra Klein summed it up in less than 150 words.
Mitt Romney is promising that taxes will go down, defense spending will go up, and old-people programs won't change for this generation of retirees. So three of his four options for deficit reduction "taxes, old-people programs, and defense" are now either contributing to the deficit or are off-limits for the next decade.
Romney is also promising that he will pay for his tax cuts, pay for his defense spending, and reduce total federal spending by more than $6 trillion over the next 10 years. But the only big pot of money left to him is poor-people programs. So, by simple process of elimination, poor-people programs will have to be cut dramatically. There's no other way to make those numbers work.
Romney showed us his priorities with a budget that includes a 20% "across-the-board" tax cut that essentially requires across-the-board cuts to programs that serve and support the poor, as well as the working- and middle-classes. Romney showed us his priorities with a budget that preserves his 15% tax rate on capital gains and dividends, eliminate taxes on investment income for those earning more than $200,000 per year, and lower the corporate tax rate from 35% to 25%.
Romney showed us what and whom he is willing 10 sacrifice, with a budget that would require cutting non-defense programs by $637 billion in 2016 alone, and $6.5 trillion between 2014 and 2021. Romney showed us who and what he is willing to sacrifice with a budget that would shred the safety net, throwing 10 million off the benefit rolls for food stamps, and leave 30 million without health care coverage provided by the Affordable Care Act.
Romney showed us what and whom he is willing to sacrifice with his embrace of Paul Ryan's budget. Romney showed us what and whom he is willing to sacrifice with his support of a budget that would end Medicare as we know it, and render America itself unrecognizable.
I've written about how Romney's economic agenda would render America unrecognizable.
Yesterday, Bob Borosage wove an alternate narrative of life under a Romney presidency out of nine things Mitt Romney believes, reflected in his new economic agenda. It's a narrative of life in an America where rich no longer have "too little money."
It's a narrative of life in an America where:
- the wealthy no longer have "too little money"
- "those blessed by being born to the wealthy few should inherit the earth"
- the world is "the oyster of corporations seeking tax havens"
- Wall Street is "free to gamble with other people's money, and you rubes are on your own"
- the military no longer has "too little money," where elderly workers no longer have "too much security and leisure"
- "our schools, water systems, roads and bridges, subways and trains, nutrition programs for children, Coast Guard and FBI" no longer get "too much money" and "do with much less"
- and "children must play the hand that fate dealt them. If they are the heirs to the rich, they live charmed lives. If they are born to the poor, they must rise above it "
But perhaps the best summary I've heard of Romney's budget comes from Republican columnist Frum.
Compassionate conservatism has been dead for a long time. Romney's Detroit speech cremated the remains. As a man, Romney remains far and away the most capable of the presidential candidates seeking the Republican nomination. But he has now finally eliminated the policy differences separating him from the radical congressional wing.
Actually, America wouldn't be entirely unrecognizable. If you've seen the snapshots of austerity from Europe, there's a haunting resemblance. That's where Krugman and I see eye to eye on Ireland.
While he regularly accuses President Obama of "making us like Europe," Mitt Romney's economic agenda would truly make America more like Europe, because the Republican agenda is essentially that same austerity agenda shrinking national economies in Europe.
An odd thing happened during Mitt Romney's victory-lap speech after Tuesday's Republican primaries: He didn't once mention the word "Europe."
The absence was jarring, because Romney's claim that President Obama is dragging the United States toward a loathsome European-style "social welfare" future has been a staple of the former Massachusetts governor's shtick ever since he started campaigning in earnest.
It's always been an easy line for him: Europe, Romney's audience understands, is the land of the not-free. The continent gave birth to Karl Marx, for crying out loud! Every now and then, socialist political parties actually take power!
But there is a big problem with Romney's formulation. For the last year or two, Europe has been implementing, in real time, exactly the policies that Romney and congressional Republicans fervently believe are the best strategy for boosting economic growth. It's called "austerity," and it means cutting deficits, slashing spending, and chipping away at all those goodies the social welfare state provides.
Like I said before, I'm not a Nobel-winning economist. But when a Nobel laureate like Krugman says what I've basically been saying all along, I take it as a sign that I'm at least on the right track.


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Feedback in the Moment® Workshop
Deepen the learning from Coaching in the Moment®.
Feedback in the Moment is the vital second step toward becoming a Change-Able® Organization. When feedback is used as an integral part of "in the moment" coaching conversations, people are able to recognize blind spots and discover opportunities for doing things differently. Those are the kinds of conversations that make change happen.
Our case study-based one-day Feedback in the Moment workshop deepens the learning from Coaching in the Moment (a perquisite) by providing a framework for including direct feedback in coaching conversations. Participants learn how to provide feedback in ways that acknowledge what matters most to others, and inspire people to take action.
Continue the Learning
Making offering feedback a habit takes support and dedicated practice. Cylient offers a comprehensive network of learning support to ensure that skills learned in the workshop are immediately applied and coaching-based leadership is engrained into the fabric of your organization.
- Coach-the-Coach series — Weekly emails reinforce skill-building with quick, practical ways to apply what was learned on the job; includes audio and video support.
- Coaching in the Moment Blog — Provides graduates with a private forum to continue learning and to connect with other graduates.
- Coaching Moments® App — Simple, intuitive program that provides support for conducting coaching conversations. It's like having a coach in your pocket. Available for Apple and Android.
- Facilitator Certification — Train internal facilitators to deliver Coaching in the Moment and Feedback in the Moment. Includes a video of the workshop, comprehensive facilitator's guide and observation of first delivery of the workshop to ensure facilitators are knowledgeable and confident.
Partner with Cylient today, and bring the many benefits of coaching-based Connect and Create leadership into your organization.
Contact us for a WebEx overview of our work or to get invited to an Invitation Only demonstration of our workshops. Learn more about our full Change-Able® Organization suite of offerings.
- Construction Company
Given a charge to help 'change the culture' in an industry steeped in 'command and control,' Untying the Knot provided our teams with a simple, yet powerful model that built collaboration and teamwork, leading to more productive space for discussing solutions and realizing.
- National Construction Company
Leaders at all levels of our organization have gone through the Coaching in the Moment® workshop. I would recommend this workshop to any organization that would like its leaders to be better listeners and coaches.
- Food Processing Corporation
The Coaching in the Moment workshop improved communication across the organization, between managers and their direct reports and in group meetings. Managers now step into conversations they would have avoided.
- Financial Services Corp.
Coaching in the Moment has provided simple, yet powerful, ways to bring our company vision to life in how we coach our associates and create insight with our customers. The content resonated extremely well within our culture, and is embraced by all who have experienced the workshop.
- Health Services Company
Cylient helped our team develop insights across functional lines at a time of rapid growth and very limited resources. Cylient opened avenues for us to improve our communications and team effectiveness, which allowed us to move quickly into new areas of high impact business.
- Consumer Products Manufacturer
We partnered with Cylient to introduce Cylient's coaching methodology and the Coaching in the Moment Workshop as a part of our Leadership Development Curriculum, which has been a powerful catalyst for creating a coaching culture.
Untying the Knot® is a simple yet powerful model for helping an individual or team uncover their obstacles and move past them. This model is a critical tool for any leader who wants to help others move from average performance into high performance.
- Construction Equipment Manufacturer
Going through the Coaching in the Moment workshop gave my leadership team shared knowledge and language to defuse situations. It helped us to have a higher quality insightful conversations that produced the best team answer rather verbal combat over who had the 'right' answer.
- Construction Equipment Manufacturer
Cylient has provided outstanding MetrixGlobal evaluation services to us for many years. They are very professional, exceedingly knowledgeable, and incredibly responsive. They have become trusted partners.
- Financial Services Corporation
Through Cylient's coaching, we were empowered to discover true insights and "gifts" for ourselves through a very personal, values-based partnership. Sustainable, life-altering strategies and techniques were introduced and offered by simply shifting the way we look at a situation. AMAZING.
- Insurance Company
The Coaching in the Moment process is a common sense, easy-to-follow, practical approach to managerial coaching that, when applied consistently, encourages productive manager/employee relationships and fosters an environment of ownership and accountability.
- Tire Manufacturing Company
Coaching in the Moment helped us to transform our manufacturing culture from command and control to empowerment. The practical tools enabled our managers and supervisors to shift their styles to become empowering leaders for our work teams who engaged people at all levels.
Cylient's coaching has helped individual leaders and departments address difficult problems with grace and caring.
- Financial Services Corporation
Coaching in the Moment has introduced a different dialogue and a new voice to our organization; one that fosters curiosity, collaboration and an openness that will help us navigate the ever-changing world around us in a newly effective way through enhanced relationships and communication.
- Food Processing Corporation
Cylient consultants provided our leaders with insightful feedback along with support as they implemented changes, improving their effectiveness as leaders. They enabled good leaders to be great leaders, which provided a competitive advantage to the company.
As we updated our corporate strategic plan, we identified leadership development as one of our core strategic initiatives. Engagements with Cylient have helped us to coach our organization leaders for a future full of change.
- Construction Equipment Manufacturer
The practical skills learned in our Coaching in the Moment workshop were readily observed in my leadership team. Leaders' interactions around the table were more effective and they readily applied these new skills and insights. It definitely led to higher employee engagement scores.
- Not-For-Profit Services Organization
Cylient's work with our entire organization provided a great foundation for our Board of Directors and staff to embark on a strategic planning process and open possibilities for our continued success.
- Construction Company
The practical, well-researched, real-world examples used in the listening exercises resonated immediately with our team and helped us apply coaching approaches to our everyday issues and challenges. Our teams learned skills that helped our project partners effectively solve their own problems.
- Construction Equipment Manufacturer
Applying Untying the Knot® within my leadership team unleashed a more insightful and empowering leadership style. Instead of reflexively providing 'management's answers' to issues, leaders asked more probing questions, sought first to understand, which transformed habitual team debate into insight-seeking dialogue.
- Tire Manufacturing Company
In our business the pace of change continues to accelerate. Coaching in the Moment has really made a difference in our leaders' and managers' ability to create an engaging work environment for our employees and for our business to be successful.
- Not-For-Profit Services Organization
Our staff has had great feedback, comments and experience already from putting the Coaching in the Moment tools into action. Cylient's team of facilitators is amazing – and the coaching is life changing. I am looking forward to seeing new dynamics here in our office!
- Professional Services Firm
Coaching in the Moment is different from other coaching programs on the market because it offers one simple integrated model. The methods go far beyond asking good questions to embrace many coaching approaches. This, in my opinion, makes Coaching in the Moment best in class.
- Aerospace Manufacturer
I use what I learned from Coaching in the Moment with internal clients to explore what beliefs and attitudes they have about their current situation and then use Untying the Knot to help them see underlying issues. This approach has improved how I coach my clients.
- Food Processing Corporation
Cylient identified the key skills and behaviors needed for our leaders to engage and inspire their teams. Leaders who embraced coaching approaches were better able to tap into the talents of their teams to drive improved and sustainable results.
- Testing Services Organization
Cylient's Coaching in the Moment® provides simple, powerful, and practical tools and skills that are extremely valuable for professional coaches and managers alike. Their services also help integrate coaching into the culture to increase organizational – as well as individual – effectiveness.


text: Brian 4/19/2012 - 9:52 PM Permalink Report Abuse 18 out of 18 people found the following review helpful 5 out of 5 Lots of Pockets! This range bag has sturdy construction, an easy-access zipper flap on top, and solid padding. There are interior loops to hold your clips and exterior zipper pouches to hold your shooting glasses and whatnot. And the Beretta logo is everywhere. A sharp looking bag. Comment | Was this review helpful? Yes | No Name Leave a Comment Submit Comment


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The release date for Expelled is said to be April 18. Josh Timonen over at RichardDawkins.net seems to think it's rolling out wide on 1,000 screens, which I find frankly unbelievable. Independent features, let alone indie documentaries, don't get that kind of theatrical rollout unless they're made by guys called Michael Moore. Almost no indie has that kind of a wide release. The simple cost of creating and shipping out 1,000 prints to theaters, and then buying the saturation advertising needed to make such a release strategy pay off, is simply way out of the reach of independent productions. Unless you've been picked up by one of the boutique "indie" arms of one of the majors, like Fox Searchlight. Which Expelled hasn't.
So I suspect that an earlier figure I've heard of 100 screens is a lot more likely.
But what's problematic for the movie at this point is that there is literally no buzz for it at all outside of the science/creationism/Christian/atheist blogosphere. Which, I'll grant you, is big, but it's not exactly where Jack and Jill Sixpack go for their entertainment news. So if Expelled really does stick to its April 18 release, it might as well be called Ignored. After all, look at what else is going out wide that weekend.
That's a pretty serious slate of pre-summer Hollywood heavy hitters. Also, there is no April 18 listing for Expelled on the upcoming release pages at such major movie sites as IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, or Box Office Mojo. Those sites do, however, list one prominent independent documentary release for that date. It's the new movie by Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me), which has had serious industry buzz for months.
Seriously, going up against a release slate like that, is it any wonder Expelled's producers have been trying to bribe Christian schools to take their students to see it? Without the "church bus bubble," it's looking like any theater showing Expelled will be as empty as ID's scientific credibility.
Addendum: Jim Lippard has been dropping the occasional comment over at Pharyngula and reports that Expelled's own site claims they're rolling out on 490 screens. We'll see if that pans out. In the meantime, enjoy this entertaining report from New Scientist about a different screening, and the way that sleazebag Mark Mathis handled the Q&A. The producer of a movie complaining that ID supporters are systematically silenced threatening to throw out a challenging questioner? Gosh, fundies never do ironic, stupid things like that, do they?


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SmartDeblur is a clever graphics tool which uses advanced mathematical techniques to help sharpen blurry digital photos.
Don't be put off by the science, though - the program is even easier to use in this new version. Drag a slider, click "Analyze Blur" and watch as SmartDeblur automatically figures out the blur type, and applies its corrections.
You will need to be patient, because SmartDeblur can take a minute or more to work, and that's even after resizing your image to a maximum of 1000 pixels on the longest edge (click Settings if you'd like to change this). But the example image proves it can be worth the wait, showing absolutely spectacular improvements.
Other images don't fare so well, though, and we found plenty which SmartDeblur couldn't analyse automatically, and actually made far, far worse. But there is something else you can try. If there's a specific element to the picture which you're trying to highlight - one or two people with a countryside backdrop, say - then click and drag to draw a box around that element, click "Analyze Blur" again, and SmartDeblur will work from that area only. It sounds like a small step, but this made a huge difference in our tests.
Smart Deblur 2.2 brings new UI, Mac version, ringing artifacts suppression, internalization and more.
Slow, and a little awkward to use, SmartDeblur isn't a tool we would use regularly. But it's still worth keeping a copy to hand, just for the worst blurry images, because there it really can deliver amazing results


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4444 East Fletcher Ave - Suite #A
Tampa, FL 33613
Instead of our former biweekly e-newsletter, we use Facebook posts, Twitter tweets and the occasional e-mail or blog to provide up-to-date practice information and the latest dental health care news, stories and humor . If you have any suggested topics for these communications, you can contact us from our website or respond when you recieve an e-mail.
Our team strives to improve your health and quality of life by focusing on the preventiion, diagnosis and treatment of conditions associated with your teeth and gums. To supplement our personal care and practice newsletter, we purchased access to an online dental education library to help you learn more about dental problems and available treatments. To access its content, just click on the selections near the top or on the left side of this page.
Thank you for your interest in learning more about dental health care! Your increased dental knowledge will help us have a more effective partnership in meeting *your* dental health care needs.


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Weaver Cooperative Housing Association
Make a tax deductible donation to WCHA or Volunteer your time!
Several years ago, a group of affordable housing advocates and social justice activists from the Chapel Hill, NC area united with a mission to create living structures to accomplish two main goals:
1. Provide permanently affordable and sustainable housing for lower income families and individuals
2. Empower residents to make decisions and cooperatively control and maintain their homes and communities
This mission originated from alarm at the rapidly depleting availability of local affordable housing and absentee landlords who too often where subjecting residents to poor and unsafe living conditions.
We believe that the egalitarian, democratic values of the cooperative model address those two main goals and offer the best opportunity for healthy, sustainable communities.
From those beginnings, Weaver Community Housing Association, a charitable, 501(c)3 non-profit, has become a thriving, affordable housing organization with three unique, cooperatively-run communities in Chapel Hill-Carrboro.
Thanks for your interest!


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Neon Text on a T-Shirt.
Our sample image shows the neon colours over 4 lines. If you're looking to make an impact this is the t-shirt for you! Whether you want 1 or 4 lines of text (you have the option) the colours will remain the same i.e 1 line = Yellow. If you want specific neon colours please let us know in the notes.
We have tried to make our ordering process as simple as possible, we are always getting asked questions about our products so we have tried to answer the most common ones below. If after reading through something isn't clear or you would like to ask any other questions, please give us a call on 01225 635004. We are happy to help and assist you in anyway we can!
This vest/T-Shirt is a fitted style
Our lovely model to the left is a size 8 to 10 and is wearing a size small (8-10). As you can see it is a fitted garment, and hugs in all the right places. If you would like the garment to be looser then it is recommended to go up 1 or 2 sizes. We put so much effort into making your tops, and we wouldn't want you ordering the wrong size! If you are unsure about the sizing, why not order just 1 with your choice of text before ordering for the group? We don't charge you any extra for doing this, and this is a great way to get an idea of how they will all fit! If you are doing this, just make sure you mention in the notes that you will be ordering more. We can then save your print so the others will match.
Alternitevely, you can opt for our try before you buy service. This is to purchase a blank garment to keep your prices down.
Remember, once we've printed your order, we cannot amend it so make sure the sizes you are ordering are correct. If in doubt, always go a size up. If it is slightly too big, the top can still be worn, but if it is too small you will encounter many more problems!
Measure up
If you are not 100% sure of your UK size, measure your armpit to armpit to see which size is best for you. As the print generally goes across the chest, it is better to go a size up so the print won't stretch if you are big busted (lucky you)! The length of garment increases by an inch as you go up a size.
Want a size 20 or bigger?
We are able to print onto tops for anyone over a size 18 in the group. We usually do this by printing onto a unisex garment. Quite simply put the size under the "UK 18 (XX LARGE)" drop down and put in the notes what size it needs to be. We will change the size for you before printing. Any questions regarding this just ask.
Can I see what my order will look like before printing?
Yes, of course you can, just put in the notes that you would like to see an image before printing and we will then email you across a proof. We don't send proof's for every order as it is quite tedious chasing customers' approval. Be aware this can delay your order being sent.
Can I have text / nicknames on the back?
Yes. As you fill out the order form you will be able to select whether you would like names on the reverse or not. Select "nicknames" for £1.50 and put a unique name on the reverse of every t-shirt. For other options please see below:
1 line of text: £1.50
to do this all you need to do is select nickname whilst making your order.
2 lines of text: £3.50
Name & Location: £3.50
Name & Number: £3.50
What colour is the text on the back?
We generally print the back in the same colour as the front. If you want it to be a different colour just put this in the notes on the order form
How much is shipping?
It is £2.95 for a standard delivery and £6.95 for express delivery.
When can I expect my parcel?
Timescales are as follows:
Express delivery - 3 - 5 working days.
Standard delivery - 5 - 7 working days.
We would advise selecting express delivery to ensure delivery on time if you are concerned about the delivery date. Depending on the size of the parcel and order will depend on the shipping we use, which will either be parcel force or royal mail. Any order over £20 will be sent recorded delivery.


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New Year's Organization: The Closet Deep Clean
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Image via LA Closet Design
So guys, it's the last day of January; did you complete your closet cleanout? I decided I had better put my sweat equity where my mouth was and follow my own advice. I finished the deep cleaning but I did not do the whole color coordinating and sorting shebang. I'm here to tell you, it was gross. I did not realize how many dust balls could collect on shelves, the floor, the mouldings and my shoes; UGH!
Anyway, I finished most of it, but as an Aries, I have a really hard time completing things. I love to dive into projects but struggle to finish up those last details. For instance my bathtub is currently full of extra plastic hangers and I never going to complete that project where I take pictures of all my shoes and past them on the boxes. However, when the mid-point of the project makes two bedrooms and a bathroom look like the following pictures, you are motivated to get as close to finished as humanly possible, if only so you can go to bed that night!
One of many rewards of finishing all of this? Shipping off several boxes to an eBay trading assistant who is going to convert my too-small clothes and shoes into cash for me. Part of my hoarding problem is thinking I was actually going to do this myself.
Also, I pulled a Joan Crawford and banned the wire hangers from my closet. I hit Target and bought a bunch of those flat velvety hangers that save space and replaced the wire and plastic ones. I took all of the rejects to my dry cleaners and she was so happy and grateful that her face lit up, and then she did my alteration for free as a thank you. It was an unexpected bonus to this project. Another reward was finding a few wonderful pieces of clothing I forgot I owned that were hidden in the smush of stuff.
This brought up a great tip; I now keep two bags on my closet floor – one for giveaway clothes and one for those wire hangers that sneak their way in from the dry cleaners. Round them up and bring them back whenever you go.
Did any of you complete a project this week? Please tell us about it in the comments section!
Hi, I'm Becky. I live in Atlanta. Besides acting as the Editorial Director here on Hatch, you can find me talking design over at Houzz. Make me happy — leave a comment!


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Life Cycle Status: Mature
40 MHz Bandwidth, 16-Bit Waveform Generator Device—The PCI‑5406 can generate standard functions, including sine, square, triangle, and ramp as well as other signals like psuedorandom noise and DC signals. This function generator can generate signals from -5 V to +5 V and uses direct digital synthesis (DDS) to precisely generate waveforms.
Explore a wide range of support content, including examples and troubleshooting information.


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After a variety of ultra colorful outfits with a strong feminine vibe presented at the Milan Fashion Week, we are glad to see an equally stylish approach with a more balanced tone at the Paris Fashion Week. With a focused approach towards versatility and utility, the latest Balenciaga spring 2012 collection presented at the Paris Fashion Week impresses with structure and a careful sense of proportions. Bringing back the boxy blazer and eclectic colorful prints, the designer has chosen elegant ensembles that are easy to recreate in real life.... Read More


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Obama's Israel expectations game
President Barack Obama's domestic audience isn't much interested in foreign policy Tuesday night - and if they are, it's more about Iran and now North Korea than the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
But his global audience is eager for him to dive back in to an issue that Europeans and many moderate Arab leaders see as a rallying cry for extremism and anti-American sentiment.
Story Continued Below
Their biggest worry: they see any hope for peace slipping away.
(PHOTOS: The designated survivor)
Yet Obama seems likely to offer little for Mideast peace advocates in his State of the Union address, even as his upcoming trip to Israel and elsewhere in the region has only raised expectations for a White House with nothing to show for the president's first-term efforts on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The president has acknowledged before that one of the major problems with his administration's first big peace push was high-profile moves that led to outsized expectations of progress.
Now the White House knows it can't let that happen again. Which is why the White House wouldn't even say for sure whether Obama will draw attention to his Israel trip, news of which tumbled out in Israeli media last week.
(Also on POLITICO: 5 things to watch for in the State of the Union)
Obama could use his high-profile speech to mention his upcoming trip and underscore his oft-stated view that solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is critical to U.S. national security. Such a reference would likely come amidst discussion of the Arab Spring and the strife in Syria.
"He'll have to make some reference to what's happening in the region [but] the White House is very keen not to raise expectations about Obama's trip," said former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk, who now is vice president and director of the foreign policy program at the the Brookings Institution.
"It's a careful game of expectations management for sure," said Hussein Ibish of the American Task Force on Palestine.
Many factors are responsible for the gulf between the two sides. Israeli and Palestinian domestic politics have left the parties more hostile to compromise. The Arab Spring has led to chaos in Syria and turmoil in Egypt, undermining confidence that players in the region could join in or assure a peace deal. More Israeli settlement activity in Jerusalem and the West Bank creates new obstacles. A Palestinian gambit to seek recognition from the United Nations has angered Israel and the U.S. On-again-off-again talk of an alliance between Fatah in the West Bank and Hamas in the Gaza Strip has created uncertainty about who Israel would negotiate with — and whether it makes sense to negotiate at all.
"You pile all of that up together and it's very bleak," Ibish said.
"Obama now could well be the president who presides over two prospective calamities in the Middle East: Iran acquiring a nuclear capacity or nuclear weapon and…the end of any meaningful debate over the issue of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," said former Mideast peace negotiator Aaron David Miller of the Woodrow Wilson Center.
"You can even make an argument it's over already," said Shibley Telhami of the University of Maryland. "A majority of Arabs and a majority of Israelis believe it will never happen."
"It's hard to see how the U.S. gets the parties back not only to the negotiating table, but where they think they're talking about the same things," said Ibish. "You have no process in place…..The parties really haven't been this far apart in a long time."


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Turkey Hill
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Individual products listed as "Gluten-Free" at www.turkeyhill.com/products.
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Last season was the most successful ever for the Lipscomb Lady Bisons softball team.
They won both the Atlantic Sun regular season and tournament titles and advanced to the finals of the NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional, losing to host Alabama. They set a new school record for victories with 50. Pitcher Whitney Kiihnl was named both the A-Sun Pitcher and Player of the Year.
Softball practice officially opened Monday. One thing that coach Kristin Ryman, the 2010 A-Sun Coach of the Year, doesn't plan to do is use last year's accomplishments as a motivation for this year's team.
"We are excited about things that happened last year, but this year's team is different," Ryman said. "We have to play to the strengths of this group.
"There is a difference in the experience level. They will make some mistakes along the way. We expect some good things from this group, but we will expect even more from them in years to come."
Ryman is building a program of success, not just attempting to put together a series of good teams.
"We want to create a program that has expectations year after year of being in the NCAA Tournament," Ryman said. "When I think of a program I think of multiple years of really good team chemistry, really good success on the field and off including academic success.
"There are a lot things in building a program that go beyond wins and losses and go beyond one single year. We are going to remember last year. It is a big part of our history here. But it is in the past. We want to move forward and get back to the NCAA Tournament a second time."
The 2010 team played with confidence and composure led by seniors Kellie Sirus, Abby Keese, Lauren Dortwegt, Christen Campbell, Alaina Jacobson and Christy Grisham.
This year's team has some talented players returning such as Kiihnl, All A-Sun First Team shortstop Courtney Billington and All A-Sun First Team catcher Mollie Mitchell.
"Most of last year's team had been on the field for a minimum of two full years together and some of them for four," Ryman said. "That's hard to reproduce from year-to-year.
"This team is younger. There is not as much cohesiveness because for many of them it is their first year to play together. But this team has come together well on the field and off."
Ryman likes what she saw from the team in the fall defensively. With the first two practices held inside McQuiddy Gym defense is hard to gauge at this point of spring drills.
Offensively, several of the same hitters return from last season.
Seven freshmen will also be searching for playing time this season.
"There was so much emphasis on our senior hitters last year," Ryman said. "But a player who gets overlooked is Courtney Billington. She led out team in hitting."
Billington, a junior who made the move from second base to shortstop last season, led the Lady Bisons with a .373 average.
"Courtney is very consistent and she does have home run power," Ryman said. "She is an extremely good gap-to-gap doubles hitter. We will also be looking for her to play an even bigger leadership role."
Ryman will also be counting on Mitchell, a junior, to give the team direction both on and off of the field.
"Mollie plays such a crucial role in the leadership of our team," Ryman said. "She has really done a great job with the younger players in getting them to understand what our program is about."
Senior outfielder Mackenzie Tucker is another player Ryman is counting on in terms of playing at a higher level.
"Mackenzie has flown under the radar a little bit," Ryman said. "She has really stepped up leadership-wise with our girls. She wants that role. She wants to be relied on even more. She is 100 percent up for it."
One of the "wild cards" this season will be catcher-first baseman Vanessa Medina. In the first 10 games of the 2010 season Medina was batting .364 with two doubles, two home runs and seven runs batted. She injured her knee and missed the rest of the season as a redshirt. The question is whether she can resume her strong play at the plate this season.
"She has looked really good in practice," Ryman said. "Getting back into a game mode and getting that confidence back at the plate are keys for her.
"If she gets those things back, especially early on, that's going to be huge for the middle part of our order."
Sophomore Brea Thurman also appears to be ready to be a factor in all facets of the game.
"She stood out athletically in the freshmen group last season," Ryman said. "She had a little bit of a slow start, but she turned it on the rest of the fall and in the time we have been back this spring.
"She is swinging extremely well and growing more and more in the outfield every day. She is a smart player. She is hard-nosed. She is very competitive. She is probably her own toughest critic."
Kiihnl is only starting her third year as a pitcher for the Lady Bisons. She was 33-5, including 12 shutouts last season.
She posted a 0.95 earned run average and 344 strikeouts in 237 innings pitched. Teams batted .120 against her. She is already one of the most honored athletes in the history of the program.
"We are going to rely on Whitney even more than we did last year because we have a young pitching staff," Ryman said. "She is going to throw the bulk of the innings again.
"I think that mentally she is ready for that. She understands the difference in our team from last year to this year, especially the pitching staff. She knows we are going to be relying on her more."
Written by Mark McGee, Senior Publisher/Director of Media Relations.


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Frank: Why I want to be senator
Former Rep. Barney Frank says it was the year-end standoff over the fiscal cliff that prompted him to seek an appointment to John Kerry's Senate seat and then to go public with hopes for his next career move.
Asked why he changed his mind, Frank told POLITICO that, during a House Democratic Caucus meeting on the heated fiscal cliff negotiations, he had a change of heart, as he confronted the details of the bill that Congress would pass.
Story Continued Below
( PHOTOS: Barney Frank's career)
"We've put off the sequester for a couple of months, and we will decide in a couple of months what to do about spending cuts," Frank said. "And the debt limit will come up. And there will be efforts to reduce Medicare and Social Security. … So it was when I sat there and learned what important decisions were going to be have to be made in February, March and April, I decided that I wanted the job."
Frank had previously said it would be "presumptuous" to comment on a job that hasn't been offered when asked whether he would want the interim Senate seat that will open up if Kerry is confirmed as secretary of state. But soon after, Frank revealed on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that he had told Bay State Gov. Deval Patrick he wanted the job.
"Previously, I was facing a situation in which the first few months of the year, as they often are, would not be very important in terms of legislation, and it would have been more ceremonial than substantive. I'm not a big ceremony guy," Frank told POLITICO in an interview Tuesday.
The former chairman of the House Financial Services Committee explained that he placed the call to Patrick just days after the fiscal cliff vote, having decided that the first months of 2013 would be "very important in terms of legislation."
"I do think, immodestly, that given the important decision that will be made about these complicated questions, in February, March and April, I'm very well-qualified because I don't know of anybody else who's been doing these things so continuously who's ready to jump in," he said.


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Trojans earn all-league honors
Nine Hillsboro High School football players earned Central Kansas League all-league football honors. They are:
- Jesse Brown, first-team kicker.
- Dylan Jirak, first-team offensive line.
- Tanner Jones, first-team linebacker.
- Evan Ollenburger, first-team receiver and defensive back.
- Tyler Profitt, first-team quarterback.
- Lucas Sinclair, honorable mention linebacker.
- Shaq Thiessen, first-team receiver, defensive back, and returner.
- Tyrell Thiessen, first-team running back and honorable mention linebacker.
- Nathan Unruh, first-team offensive line and linebacker.


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December 15th is the release of the next great movie! Who is this mysterious character? Are they actually a Saiyan? Seems like it. A SAIYAN HAS NO LIMITS!
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Welcome to the DBZ fan thread. Remember the pecking order and you will do fine. There is you, the dirt, the worms in side of the dirt, Zoma, Laurcus, then Greymane. Preistalisha is awesome though, Priest made my new avatar.... WITH WORKING SCOUTER! AND IT IS STILL AWESOME AS FUCK!
Let is discuss all things DBZ! While I personally never played any of the games, talk about the games, the shows, the mini series, fan fics (i personally love AF and Multiverse), and of course the movies..... DO NOT FORGET THE ABRIDGED FOLKS! TEAM FOUR STAR!!!! Also, in recent months there has been an explosion of DBZ related channels on Youtube, but others have been around much longer. These channels are;
Dragon Ball Nation,
Quaaman's Land
All of these Youtubers make theories about Dragonball, its characters, and always have Q and A sessions with fans to discuss numerous topics, they review the episodes along with predictions based on the next episode preview, are the first to leak information or the first ones to let more people know of leaked information, and make video game related videos. MasakoX is the VA for Goku in DBZ abridged and does excellent discussions along with amazing what if scenarios. Ever wonder what would happen to the series if Raditz survived and turned good? What about Nappa?
Talk about who your favorite characters are, why, etc. Also all the snacks are worth 1 R each (R=Raditz) yes Raditz is the currency. (I never actually bought snacks).
Dragon Ball Super has had ups and downs, but so far the tournament arc and the Goku Black arc have been fantastic, and IMO the Black Goku Arc is better than the Buu arc by a mile.
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Fan fics you may enjoy
Dragon ball AF
http://dbaf-usa.blogspot.com/ They can also be found on their fan page on Facebook.
Dragon Ball AF (After Future) is two different fan fictions. There are two different authors. There is the Xicor saga and the Ize saga. Both are amazing! I prefer the Ize saga. I just have soft spot for the father of Ize. Ize has personal vendetta against Goku. I will hide for now the identity of Xicor, but let us say that he has a special connection to our favorite character. He also has something to prove. In both fan fics, Goku is in the realm of the Dragons(much more expanded upon in the Xicor saga). Both happen a few years after GT. Lets just say in that time our favorite characters in both sagas learned a few new tricks.
Toyble is the heading for the Xicor saga, Young Jijii another author is the heading for the Ize saga. Unfortunatly both of these works have, to my knowledge, been discontinued.
DBZ multiverse
This one takes place a few years after the Buu saga and is focused on a tournament that spans across multiple universes. Several of our favorite characters in alternate time lines make a grand appearance. What would have happened if Freeza beat Goku? What if Goku never came to earth? What if the Saiyans listened to Bardock? Each universe has a unique back story. Who knows how things would have went if Goku never hit his head, or what it would be like for him to fight the Goku we know and love! What if Goku and Vegeta did not difuse in the Buu Saga? What if Gohan failed against Cell? Or even Bojack!
These two are in the form of comics/manga. The next two are in the form of novelization.
Dragon Ball New Age:
Created by Malikstudios, New Age focuses on the Z fighters post Dragon Ball GT. We meet new powerful Saiyans, and brother of one of our favorite protagonists as well as a powerful deity whose strength is beyond anything seen before.
DBZ Bringer of Death
Bringer of Death is a Fan Fic based on Vegeta becoming the first Super Saiyan rather than Goku. Vegeta, now with his pride at maximum seeks to claim the empire of the Frost Demons, also known as Freeza and his family. The plot follows a similar pattern to canon, but with subtle changes due to fights brought about by the Super Prince of all Saiyans.
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The most current episode of DBZ abridged.
(Website link for Team4star http://teamfourstar.com/)
Be civil or I will KAAAAMMEEEEEHHAAAMMEEEHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA you


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We are piloting a deployment of SCCM 2007 R3 as part of our evaluation of Forefront Endpoint Protection 2010. I thought I would have SCCM up in a day to a day and a half… Ha! If you are planning to do something similar, schedule a good four+ days for initial configuration (unless you are the Windows equivalent of Bruce Lee).
- Complex PKI certificate requirements. You need to create a Windows PKI server template just to deploy one signing cert to the site management server! These certs cannot use the next-generation crypto (CNG) templates that came with Server 2008… you must use Server 2003 templates (CAPI).
- Logging shortcommings. I suppose veteran SCCM folks will think I am daft. After all, SCCM makes more logs that just about any other MS product. However, the logs are long on data, short on information. I wasted over a day troubleshooting client to management point communications that turned out to be related to permissions problems with a cert in the SCCM server system account's "My" certificates store. The problem was that I used drag/drop in the cert MMC to install the cert, but that method did not set cert permissions properly. After exporting/importing the cert, then setting permissions as detailed here:
I was able to get IIS to bind reliably to the cert, and clients started to check in. The SCCM client and server logs were no help with this.
- Reporting Services – Since I last configured reporting on SQL 2005, things have gotten easier. However, RTM releases still are not reliable enough. I discovered we needed SQL 2008 R2 CU4 or later to get SCCM to work reliably with reporting services.
- Schema Extensions – Never fun. The process is well documented on Tech Net, but it's still a pain.
- Server installation prerequisites – There are many prereqs for SCCM. The documentation lists them reliably. What is not mentioned is that the server role prereqs need to be installed simultaneously. If BITS, WebDAV, and ASP.NET are not installed at the same time, SCCM will fail to function after installation.
All that being said, the product has made great strides since I last looked at it (When it was called SMS 2003). Integration with WSUS is a plus, as is the "Advanced Client" which uses a simple client pull over HTTPS to fetch configurations and submit status. Good stuff… less dependency on RPCs and File/Print Sharing.
- For Internet/Intranet management points, your IIS cert needs a SAN (subject alternative name) with both the Internet and Intranet names of your management point. Thanks to the SCCM team for this one:
- More cool tools for assiting in SCCM troubleshooting:
The "SCCM 2007 Toolkit v2", direct from Microsoft. Not as cool as the Roger Zander's "SCCM Client Center, though:


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1712 members6383 Comments 102 Likes
Melody Aavah has not received any gifts yet
Posted on September 24, 2012 at 1:34pm 0 Comments 0 Likes
How are you guys? I had been in hiatus (two months in total). It had been a busy, crazy hectic two weeks. But I'm back in the swing of things. I started checking out my fave blogs, my old and new ones, started editing my own blog and working on starting a new one. I also started updating my website and this is in between feeding my 2 year old and taking care of 'not-getting-better' exzema.. That is another post another day.. Anywhoooo, please check out my blog and my pages.. Make sure…Continue
Hello, I have stopped by your blog and I wanted to introduce myself. My name is Sara. I blog because I do not want moms to feel like their angel babies are forgotten. I crochet Heavenly Cocoons for the angel babies at Erlanger Hospital. You can sponsor a cocoon or send yarn if you would like to help out. My blog can be found at http://heavenlycocoon.blogspot.com/. Have a great day!
P.S. If you have a blog button I would love to put it on my blog. You can email it to me at email@example.com.
Hi there and welcome from The Girlz Korner in upstate New York where you'll find light, witty and rather entertaining articles on every topic imaginable from beauty, health, fashion, parenting, sex and everything else in between. So if you get a chance to kick back and exhale, if only for a brief moment, we'd love to have you. Hope you enjoy your stay :) http://www.thegirlzkorner.com
Hello, welcome to Mom Bloggers. This is a wonderful community where you can meet other interesting moms.
I am Nekky from Reflexions, a fun loving mom of two who like to meet people, make friends and share opinions. I have some weekly blog hops: GET CONNECTED TUESDAY BLOG HOPand WELCOME TO WEEKEND BLOG HOP. Always feel free to link up every week as this will enable you gain some new followers. Come and also make new blogger friends from around the world.
Hope you enjoy your stay here. Happy Connections.
Welcome to MBC! We are glad to have you here. We look forward connecting more with you here. I'm a Super Mama who has a family friendly blog, i also have a weekday blog hop called Exposure 99%. This weekday blog hop helps you get more dedicated readers and blog followers. Hope you link up weekly. If you have any questions about how to link up do not hesitate to let me know.
Here is another great site to join: http://www.cyberconnect.ning.com
Here is my personal blog: http://nzeremm.blogspot.com


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Easy Biscuits
I can't say I've ever had a real Southern meal. Despite being a city rich with world-class restaurants serving all manner of cuisines, Singapore is not well endowed with eateries serving Southern food (that is, Southern USA — biscuits, gravy, fried chicken, grits, red velvet cake). And no, Popeye's doesn't count.
But I love biscuits. The kind you mop up brown gravy with; the kind they used to serve at McDonald's for breakfast many years ago.
My many attempts at making those flaky, fluffy buttermilk biscuits have all been in vain. Our tropical weather and my non-air-conditioned kitchen make it damn near impossible — which probably says something about my talents and patience, or lack of. So C and I would settle for the Pilsbury variety. That's until they stopped stocking it at Jason's several years ago.
So the long and short of it is that we haven't had biscuits for a while. Well, we stopped at Popeye's one night but they make a poor excuse for biscuits, which don't even come with gravy!
It's a good thing then that I discovered Bon Appetit, Y'All by Virginia Willis. Its catchy title grabbed me immediately, and as it turns out, it is filled with easy-to-do home-style yet refined Southern recipes gleaned from the author's family kitchen. Within its pages are a recipe for Buttermilk Angel Biscuits, which, with its "trio of leaveners protects even the worst of bakers from abject failure", she writes. She must be speaking to me.
But before I tread once more into that familiar territory of biscuit failure, I figured I'd have a go at a decidedly easier recipe for Mayonnaise Biscuits. It is such a simple throw-everything-together recipe that the even author confesses to — in her younger, more foolish days — regarding it as one step above a baking mix. Be that as it may, it yielded such fabulous results that I am now determined to try her recipe for Buttermilk Angel Biscuits.
When I eventually find the time to, that is.
Mayonnaise Biscuits
adapted from Bon Appetit, Y'All by Virginia Willis
(Makes 9-12, depending on the size of your muffin tins)
1 tbsp canola oil, for brushing your tins
2 cups self-raising flour (I made mine by following Ms Willis' instructions to mix 1 cup cake flour with 1 cup plain flour, 3 tsp baking powder, and 1 tsp fine sea salt)
1 cup milk
3 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tsp sugar
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
2. Brush muffin tins with the oil.
3. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl.
4. Using an ice-cream scoop, drop a scoopful of batter into each muffin tin and bake for 20–30 mins, or until golden brown. Serve warm.


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Hunters everywhere are finding King Kutter's line of ATV Products to be the perfect solution for managing their food plots with ease. King Kutter provides ATV products for all aspects of wildlife food plot management ranging from ground preparation to getting those seeds in the ground. Our line of ATV Flip Over Discs, Compact Discs, Kulti-Packers, Seeder/Spreaders, Drag Harrows, and 1.5 Ton Dump Trailers will meet all your wildlife food plot management needs.
© 2010 King Kutter Inc.


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The House Committee on Ways and Means, Subcommittee on Social Security (Shaw) on ways to encourage DI beneficiaries to return to work
Ken Apfel, Commissioner testified, accompanied by Susan Daniels, Deputy Commissioner for Disability and Income Security Programs,
March 11, 1999.
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee: Thank you for inviting me here today to discuss initiatives to assure that the Social Security Administration's (SSA) beneficiaries with disabilities who want to work have the opportunity to do so.
I am accompanied today by Dr. Susan Daniels, Deputy Commissioner for Disability and Income Security Programs. Since President Clinton took office, the American economy has added nearly 18 million new jobs; and unemployment is the lowest in three decades. The unemployment rate among all working-age adults with disabilities, however, is nearly 75 percent. According to current estimates, about 16 million working-age adults have a disability that leads to functional limitations and 14 million working-age adults have less severe but still significant disabilities. In addition, individuals with disabilities also face multiple barriers to work, which include: lack of adequate health insurance, higher costs of work, a disconnected employment service system, and inaccessible or unavailable technology. Not only is it more difficult for people with disabilities to work; when they do work, their earnings are lower. As a nation, we are best served when all our citizens have the opportunity to contribute their talents, ideas, and energy to the workforce. There are a number of initiatives underway both at SSA and in Congress which promise to make this year one in which we see significant progress in doing just that. Today I will discuss the Clinton Administration's ongoing efforts to help people with disabilities participate in the workforce.
Clinton Administration Initiatives
I would like to tell you briefly what we have done and what we would like to do. As part of this Administration's continuing commitment to the return to work effort, President Clinton established the National Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities on March 13, 1998 by Executive Order 13078. This high-level task force includes the Secretaries of Labor, Education, Veterans Affairs, Health and Human Services (HHS), as well as the Administrator of the Small Business Administration, the Chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Chair of the National Council on Disability, and the Commissioner of Social Security.Briefly stated, the purpose of the task force is to create an aggressive and coordinated national policy to bring adults with disabilities into gainful employment at a rate that is as close as possible to that of the general adult population. This involves studying existing policies to determine what changes are necessary to remove barriers to work, to develop health insurance options, and analyze the outcomes of programs related to employment for young people with disabilities.
The final report of the task force is due to be issued in July 2002, with the first interim report issued last month. As the first activity launched by the task force, Vice President Gore announced last September that SSA, in a collaborative effort with the Departments of Health and Human Services, Education, and Labor, would award grants to 12 States initially totaling over $5 million to develop innovative projects to assist adults to reenter the workforce. It is expected that the new approaches now getting underway in these States will create Federal/State partnerships and serve as models for other States to replicate. This is one of many activities recommended by and acted upon by the Administration. In fact, as of January, actions had been initiated on every recommendation in the Task Force's Interim Report. Last July, the President announced his commitment to enact affordable, feasible legislation to help people with disabilities maintain their health care-coverage and return to work.
In January, I announced that SSA will fund a Disability Research Institute to help provide policy makers with information and research data in the disability policy area, including ways to strengthen return-to-work policies for people with disabilities. The Disability Research Institute should be operational by the end of the year.
On February 12th we announced SSA's proposal to increase the amount that adult beneficiaries with disabilities can earn while still remaining eligible for benefits. The proposed increase, from $500 to $700 per month, may affect as many as 250,000 Social Security beneficiaries with disabilities. This year the President continues his commitment to improving opportunities for disabled Americans. The President's fiscal year (FY) 2000 budget contains a package of new initiatives that will remove significant barriers to work for people with disabilities. This three-part initiative, which invests over $2 billion over five years, includes: (1) the Work Incentives Improvement Act, which was introduced in the Senate by Senators Jeffords, Kennedy, Roth and Moynihan and includes the Ticket to Work proposal enacted by the House last year; (2) a new tax credit of $1,000 annually for workers with disabilities to help defray the monetary or in-kind costs incurred by people with disabilities who need transportation, special job equipment, or other assistance to return to work; and (3) expanded access to information and communications technologies. With these new proposals, the Administration will have taken action on every recommendation made in the President's Task Force on the Employment of Adults with Disabilities. As a further incentive to encourage beneficiaries to return to work, the Administration has developed a legislative proposal to assure cash and health benefits can be restored in a timely fashion for former beneficiaries who must stop working but continue to meet the disability standards. These individuals, whose entitlement was terminated because of work, could request reinstatement without filing a new application as long as it is within 5 years of the termination, and receive provisional benefits-cash and Medicare or Medicaid, for up to 6 months while SSA is making a determination.
Ticket to Work Provision
In 1997, the Administration first proposed its "Ticket to Independence," which was later included in the President's FY 1999 Budget. Last year, based on the Administration's proposal, two former members of this Subcommittee, Representatives Bunning and Kennelly, introduced the "Ticket to Work and Self-Sufficiency Act," which was passed overwhelmingly last year in the House and is a key part of this year's Senate Work Incentives Improvement Act. This proposal is included in the President's FY 2000 Budget. We believe that the Administration-proposed "Ticket" will result in many more opportunities for our beneficiaries to receive the services they need in order to work. The "Ticket" is a public-private partnership to give people receiving disability payments what they want and need-the control and flexibility to secure services tailored to their individual requirements from their choice of providers. The "Ticket" maintains fiscal discipline, since providers would be paid only for results. The ticket would enable an SSI and SSDI beneficiary to go to either a public or a participating private provider. Providers who accept the ticket would have more flexibility in selecting their preferred reimbursement. The Ticket proposal included in the President's Budget is based on the following fundamental principles:
Customer Choice: We believe that beneficiaries desire and need maximum flexibility and choice in pursuing services which will help them to become gainfully employed. Beneficiaries with disabilities must be able to choose a participating public or private employment or rehabilitation provider to receive the services that they need to participate in the workforce.
Paying for Outcomes: Beneficiaries and providers alike should focus on the goal of stable employment. A focus on outcomes and milestones is best achieved by linking it to financial rewards. Our goal is to reward success while using public funds in an accountable and targeted way. Encouraging Innovation: We believe the competitive spirit in the proposed legislation will encourage innovations in the private and public sectors by creating opportunities for State agencies, local non-profit and for-profit providers, employers, and beneficiaries. The Administration-proposed "Ticket" is designed to bring new service providers into this process. We want to develop new and innovative ways to bring beneficiaries with disabilities to the workforce based on actual outcomes, working with capable and committed service providers, and providing a strong infrastructure of information and support services. Many of these concepts are currently underway at SSA, and I would like to take this opportunity to discuss some of our initiatives.
SSA Initiatives
Historically, a very limited number of our approximately 10 million Social Security, Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance (OASDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) disability recipients leave the disability rolls each year because of successful rehabilitation. In fiscal year (FY) 1998, SSA paid State VR agencies about $102 million for their services provided to approximately 10,000 beneficiaries with disabilities who worked at least 9 months at the substantial gainful activity level. Although this was a record year for reimbursements, I believe we can do better.
Based on our experience and extensive collaboration with professional groups and advocates, we have learned that many more individuals with disabilities want to work and will do so if they have access to the rehabilitation services they need to reenter the workforce. We recognize the myriad of complex and sensitive issues that must be addressed to remove barriers to participation in the workforce. With this is mind, we have made progress on a number of other initiatives in the return-to-work arena which I would now like to share with you.
Alternate Provider
It is clear that there are many providers in the private sector who are willing to help. In March 1994, SSA amended its VR regulations to provide more opportunities for people with disabilities to receive the employment and rehabilitation services they need to return to work or enter the workforce for the first time. These regulatory changes allowed SSA to refer Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) beneficiaries and SSI recipients who are blind or disabled to VR service providers in the public or private sectors. The option of serving the beneficiary continues to be offered first to the states; however, if SSA does not receive notification that the state VR agency has accepted a beneficiary for services by the end of the 4th month after the month of referral, we may arrange for an alternate provider of rehabilitation services to serve that individual. Usually, these providers come to us from the private sector. (Of course, this process would change with passage of the "Ticket.")
To further expand the pool of alternate providers, we have released two RFPs, the second of which will remain open continuously. It is important to note that this is not a competitive procurement with limits on the number of the contracts awarded. We are interested in expanding the pool of providers who can serve our beneficiaries and will award contracts to all providers who qualify. Through the first week of March, we have signed contracts with 419 VR service providers nationally.
Some of these providers have begun to work with our beneficiaries. We just authorized payment for the first successful case, with several other cases soon to mature for payment. Alternate providers, like current VR providers, are reimbursed only after an individual has been working at the SGA level for at least nine months.
Project RSVP
Our experience with Project RSVP (Referral System for Vocational Rehabilitation Providers) will help us better understand the concept of using a program manager to oversee service providers. The objective of Project RSVP is to assure that return to work services are more readily available to SSA-referred individuals while improving the administration and cost-effectiveness of the program. RSVP is a 3-year demonstration project to test the advantages and the cost-effectiveness of contracting out certain administrative functions under SSA's VR referral and reimbursement programs, and assist in managing the alternate providers. On September 27, 1997 a contract was competitively awarded to Birch & Davis Associates, Inc. of Maryland. Birch & Davis is marketing the project to potential VR providers. In addition, a toll-free number to provide technical assistance and respond to questions from beneficiaries and providers as well as the contractor's bulletin board to refer individuals to alternate providers is in place.
Self-Referral Initiative
With the assistance of the RSVP contractor, we are expanding ways to provide SSDI and SSI recipients with disabilities or blindness increased access to rehabilitation and employment services to help them go to work. Under this process, these individuals have the opportunity to self-identify their interest in receiving return-to-work services by calling a toll-free number. Our contractor will obtain information from the caller, combine it with information supplied by SSA and transmit a referral to the State VR agency and/or the alternate provider(s) serving the individual's area of residence. We believe this initiative helps to support our intent to offer beneficiaries a more pro-active role in assessing services at a time that is most appropriate to their circumstances.
Through all of these provider initiatives, we have and will continue to gain valuable insight and experience that we will use to ensure the success of the proposed legislation. We are encouraged by the results. We have learned that many highly skilled, outcome-focused agencies and professionals are eager to assist our diverse population to return to work. And, we have learned that individualized planning and support is essential to successful work re-entry.
Delivery of Work Incentive Information
We are working with the Virginia Commonwealth University to develop and test a decision support software package called WorkWorld for use in assisting consumers and service providers in determining the effects of work on their entitlement to SSA benefits as well as other federal/state benefits, such as food stamps. This will allow our beneficiaries to make more informed choices regarding employment opportunities. We have created an attractive education kit called, "Graduating to Independence" (GTI), that is aimed specifically at youth in transition from education to employment and their families. The kit is designed for use by educators or professional organizations to instruct young beneficiaries and their families about SSA's work incentives. This multimedia kit contains a videotape and several computer disks, in addition to written materials, that combine facts with motivational examples. We have been very aggressive in distributing the GTI kits, sending them to school districts across the country, and handing them out at national conferences.
Additionally, we publish a number of other training and public information materials on work incentives. These materials are provided in multiple formats and have been designed with significant consumer input to be user-friendly. And, we have developed an Internet website which contains information about work incentive provisions, access to our publications, and information on our rehabilitation and employment programs.
Finally, SSA Operations and Program Offices are working together to assess our policies and procedures relative to our work incentive service delivery. Through this process, we are exploring ways we can improve the accuracy and timeliness of work incentive information in our field offices. Beyond that, we plan to develop methods to speed "on-demand" information to customers and stakeholders.
Demonstration Authority
The demonstration authority of section 505(a) of the Social Security Disability Amendments of 1980 expired June 10, 1996. I want to thank the members on this Committee for their support for an extension passed by the House last year, which unfortunately was not enacted. In order to initiate any new projects under the SSDI program for researching return-to-work, the Administration seeks a permanent extension of demonstration authority so that we can test new approaches to accomplish our goals in this area. With this renewed authority, SSA can develop a comprehensive strategy that integrates earlier intervention, and identification and provides necessary assistance in removing barriers to work for applicants and beneficiaries.
With renewed authority we will pursue other projects that bring us closer to our goal of supporting the active participation of our beneficiaries with disabilities in the workforce.
Health Care
Finally, although I would defer to HHS on the details, I would like to mention the issue of health care coverage, which is addressed in the President's legislative package and is part of S. 331, "The Work Incentives Improvement Act". Fear of losing health care coverage is frequently cited as the most common reason many disabled beneficiaries do not attempt to return to work. These initiatives would expand Medicare and Medicaid so that people can retain their health benefits coverage when they return to work. Under the proposal, Medicare coverage for disabled beneficiaries who return to work during the next 10 years would continue so long as they remain disabled and States would be permitted to allow disabled individuals to buy insurance through Medicaid. In many cases, people returning to work either work part-time and are not eligible for employer based health insurance or work in jobs that do not offer insurance. These health options, included in the President's budget, are essential complements to the Ticket to Work and other policies to remove barriers to work for people with disabilities.
Mr. Chairman, I want to assure you that the Social Security Administration stands ready, willing, and able to work with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to enact fiscally responsible legislation to help thousands of Americans with disabilities, who with appropriate services and support, can be successful in obtaining or continuing to work. People with disabilities can bring tremendous energy and talent to the American workforce, but institutional barriers often limit their ability to work. We need new and innovative approaches so that Americans with disabilities can work. The President's three-part budget initiative in addition to the other initiatives I have discussed today represent not only new approaches, but also a continued commitment to make every effort to enrich the lives of people with disabilities and to help those who want to work do so.
I would be happy to answer any questions.


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Reviewed by Brittany K. (age 11)
I like Sharie, the main character in this book. But, I also feel bad for her. A trait that describes Sharie is jealous. Sharie is so upset when her friend Hannah runs off with the new girl. Hannah was not popular and was always nice to Sharie before. But, when Hannah becomes popular, she forgets all about Sharie. Sharie had a friend but now she doesn't. I would not want to feel like that. I really loved this book because it had a thoughtful lesson, "Don't judge a book by its cover". In this book, Sharie learns this message because when Hannah becomes friends with the new girl, Sharie judges her as stuck up and mean. Sharie thought that she abandoned her. This is a great lesson for boys and girls alike. You should not always judge people by what you see. You should get to know the person.
Sharie reminds me of myself because like her, my friend found a new friend to replace me. This happened in the middle of my 5th grade year. They were partners for the whole time. I got mad because I thought my friend dumped me. I felt left out like Sharie. This is why Sharie reminds me of myself. As I kept reading further into the book, I felt upset for Sharie. Her parents never seem to listen to her side of the story. They always blame her for everything. For example, when Marcy, Sharie's younger sister rips up her history homework, Sharie gets blamed. Her parents say it is her fault because she left it on the ground and didn't pick it up. I don't think it was Sharie's fault at all.
I would recommend this book for kids who sometimes feel jealous and are the age of 10 and up. I think it will help kids when they are going through a tough time being jealous like Sharie. It will help them understand their feelings. I feel it is for people over 10 because they can understand the true meaning of jealousy. Younger kids don't understand jealousy as much. They are often mad at one minute and then friends again quickly. When you read this book, Best Friends Forever?, you won't want to put it down and you will learn an important lesson too.


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Indiana Abductee Found
This photo provided by the Indiana State Police shows Richard Wayne Landers, Jr. who authorities say was abducted from Indiana by his paternal grandparents in 1994 during custody proceedings. Authorities say a 24-year-old man with the same Social Security number and date of birth as Landers but living under a different name was located in October, 2012 in Long Prairie, Minn. Police said his grandparents were also living under aliases nearby and confirmed his identity. (AP Photo/Indiana State Police)


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Ask the Surgeon / Health Tip / What's New
Ask the Surgeon
People often comment on how tired and dark my eyes look. What causes the dark circles under my eyes and how can I get rid of them for good?
Dark circles may have several possible causes. As we age, the skin around our eyes starts to thin which causes the blood vessels to become more apparent. If you would like to cover up the veins, see the health tip below on camouflage makeup. Concealers that are yellow-based or green-based will counteract the blue of the undereye circle. Sometimes the dark circles are due to excess pigment in the skin. This can be treated by lasers, creams, and skin peels to lighten the skin. Another possibility is that the dark circles are just a shadow from the lower eyelids developing bulges of excess fat. This protrusion can be treated with lower eyelid surgery (blepharoplasty). Regardless of the cause, you may want to avoid applying eyeliner or mascara to your lower lashes so that you do not draw attention to the undereye area. Come in to discuss what treatment is right for you.
Whats New
There is a new way to treat acne with minimal discomfort and excellent results using a non-ablative laser.This laser emits pulses of low-level, non- thermal light energy directed at the overactive sebaceous glandsthe cause of acne. The non-ablative laser produces a wavelength of light that is strongly absorbed by water within the skin. This creates heat in and around the sebaceous glands, altering its structure and function. The result is clear skin. Treatments usually take between five to 20 minutes, with a series of three to five treatments necessary to achieve the desired clearance.
Health Tip
After a successful procedure, you are eager to return to work and the social scene. How do you hide the last remaining evidence of your revitalization or reconstruction? The answer is makeup. Both men and women can use makeup techniques to disguise those temporary side affects of facial plastic surgery. Makeup can be used soon after a procedure to cover discolorations, to hide incision lines after the stitches have been removed and the wound is completely healed, and to mask mild swelling. Camouflage cosmetics include three techniques: conceal, color correct, and contour shadows.
Concealers work well to mask discolorations and incision lines. Choose a product that is hypoallergenic, fragrance free, opaque, and waterproof. The second technique is to use a color corrector. These products are not as opaque as concealers and they come in tints; for example lavender corrector neutralizes yellow tones (bruising), while green corrector reduces red (following a skin rejuvenation procedure). The third technique is contouring, which disguises swelling. The idea is to create dimension using light and shadow. The lighter areas appear to come forward; use two shades lighter than your normal skin color. The darker areas recede; use two shades darker than your foundation. This technique may require some assistance, and we would be glad to help you. By taking these preventative steps, you will be well on your way to a good skin care regimen for the winter.


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Following up on Radley's mention of Deirdre McCloskey's article on bourgeois virtues, here's what I just posted at the Guardian's "Comment is free" site:
At Cato Policy Report the brilliant economist Deirdre McCloskey of the University of Illinois-Chicago and Erasmus University of Amsterdam (formerly the brilliant economist Donald McCloskey) writes about "bourgeois virtues," the subject of her new book. McCloskey says that in Western civilization we have traditionally recognized two kinds of virtues — the aristocratic virtues such as courage, and the peasant or Christian virtues such as faith, hope, and charity.
But, she argues, these virtues were developed for a pre-capitalist world of defined social classes. In the United States and an increasing part of the world, very few people are aristocrats and no one is condemned to peasant life. Rather, we are all bourgeois now. We live in commercial society, mostly in towns (the root of the word bourgeois). We're mostly middle class and engaged in business, as entrepreneurs, investors, managers, or employees, and also as customers.
And since the beginning of bourgeois society, the vocabulary of virtues has been used to berate and denounce capitalism. We're told that business is based on greed, not on virtue. It may be necessary to modern life, but businessmen are still expected to accept their dubious moral standing. Wouldn't sharing be more virtuous than selling? Isn't it better to serve society than to produce wealth?
McCloskey points out that the assaults on the alleged vices of capitalism "led, in the 20th century, to some visions of Hell." Surely capitalism has proven better than the alternative. But she wants to make a stronger case than that: "bourgeois life improves us ethically." It has led not just to vast increases in material wellbeing but to civility, religious tolerance, cosmopolitanism, and honesty. She examines how the classical virtues apply in a commercial world. "The leading bourgeois virtue is the prudence to buy low and sell high…but it is also the prudence to trade rather than to invade, to calculate the consequences, to pursue the good with competence."
She goes on to add temperance — to save and accumulate, but also to look for compromise. Justice is private property, along with respecting merit, not privilege, and viewing success without envy. And so on through courage, love, faith, and hope, the old virtues for the modern world.
McCloskey says that her goal is to take the word "bourgeois" back from its enemies, to make it a term of honor, by showing how the virtues inform capitalism and how capitalism encourages the virtues.


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NVIDIA's Ion platform, which combines an Intel Atom processor with an NVIDIA 9400M GPU, will begin shipping soon in a variety of products, but precise figures on pricing and power consumption have been hard to come by. Now, the first available Ion netbook is available for preorder at a French e-tailer, giving us some hard info on the economics of Ion and an early peek at battery life.
The Samsung N510 is now�available for preorder�from pixmania.com.fr for the sum of �499, or about $720. This is not a fair reckoning of likely USA prices, though, because French retailers usually sell netbooks at higher prices. To get a fair comparison, I scaled the price down in comparison to the similar Samsung NC20's relative prices on�Pixmania�and�Newegg, arriving at a likely cost of $560 for the N510 in the USA. The NC20 is practically identical to the N510 except for its different processor and GPU.
If this turns out to be true, it would mean Ion will sell at a substantial premium next to Menlow-based netbooks, and even next to Nano-based netbooks like the Samsung NC-20, which sell at a premium next to Menlow netbooks. The unbundling cost of Atom is placed by some rumors at $20, on top of the additional cost of the silicon NVIDIA contributes. If the $60 premium over similarly-configured Nano netbooks holds, Ion will be a premium product indeed, and it would be difficult to picture NVIDIA racking up much market share. NVIDIA�claimed�in January that Ion netbooks would start at $399, which is possible but now seems unlikely at this level of premium.
The N510 claims, in two places on the French page, to have a battery life of 6:30 and of 7:30.� Regardless which figure is the true one, then, it looks like Ion netbooks will suffer in battery life relative to those based on Menlow and Pine Trail, but not overwhelmingly.� The Nano-based NC-20 packs a 6.5-hour battery life, while Atom-based netbooks can go somewhat higher.� With higher power consumption, battery life will suffer less in larger Ion-based netbooks, so Ion, like Nano, will probably be confined to the larger devices.
If these specs pan out, NVIDIA may be able to carve out a nice niche in the netbook space, especially if, as has been rumored, Pine Trail is significantly more expensive than Menlow.


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By Space Coast Daily // December 16, 2015
For more than five decades, Kennedy has set the stage for America's adventure in space. The spaceport has served as the departure gate for every American manned mission and hundreds of advanced scientific spacecraft. From the early days of Project Mercury to the Space Shuttle Program and International Space Station, from the Hubble Space Telescope to the Mars rovers, the center enjoys a rich heritage in its vital role as NASA's processing and launch center. (NASA.gov image)
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