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LIFE+ GLEE Project
Solvay is committed to develop an innovative water-based production technology that will eliminate the toxic solvent NMP, reduce manufacturing costs, and improve performance and life of Li-Ion batteries.
Introduction to the LIFE+ GLEE Project
The Solvay LIFE+ GLEE Project is aimed at developing and demonstrating a sustainable technology for the manufacturing of Li-Ion batteries. The project is supported by the European Commission via funding from the LIFE financial instrument of the European Community.
This project aims to eliminate NMP, a toxic solvent historically used in the rechargeable Li-Ion battery manufacturing process, thanks to an alternative technology using water-based green binders which, in addition to not carrying toxic risks, also reduces the manufacturing costs associated with the NMP solvent recovery and re-purification processes
The objective is to prove that these new Li-Ion batteries, created using the innovative Electroless Cathode Coating Technology (ECCT) and sustainable manufacturing, will outperform conventional Li-Ion batteries. The effectiveness of this alternative process, in particular for electric vehicles, is realized within a pilot Li-Ion battery materials' plant in the Solvay Specialty Polymers R&I Center of Bollate, Milan (Italy). The pilot plant produces Cathode Active Materials (CAM) under real industrial conditions that are available for evaluation by battery makers and research organizations. It is currently operative.
The Li-Ion Battery Marketplace
There are two main factors behind the enormous success of commercialization of lithium batteries. One is related to the continuous evolution of mobile electronic systems such as cellular phones, laptops and tablets, which requires new types of high power and high energy-density batteries. Then the continuous demand of energy and the increasing pollution due to the growing CO2 content in the atmosphere requires the use of clean energy sources at a much higher level than today. The dream of a consistent replacement of combustion-engine cars with electric or hybrid vehicles relies anyway on the availability of suitable storage systems.
The rechargeable lithium-ion battery is the most suitable energy storage system for these purposes, because it has several advantages over other competing rechargeable battery systems. In practice, it is much smaller and lighter than other technologies as Nickel Cadmium (Ni-Cd) and Nickel metal hydride (Ni-MH) rechargeable batteries, and it also offers excellent energy density, which can be traded for high power.
This explains why lithium batteries receive most attention at both fundamental and applied levels.
In the current production, NMP solvent is used in cathode electrode manufacturing. NMP is toxic and of high concern for human health. The European Union's REACH regulation encourages progressive substitution of NMP in all applications.
Steering Committee: The LIFE+ GLEE Project is supervised by a high level Steering Committee composed by 4 Senior Managers of both Solvay Specialty Polymers and Solvay Corporate
Project Manager: Maurizio Biso (Lithium-Ion Batteries Researcher) is the LIFE+ GLEE project manager. The LIFE+ GLEE project belongs to the worldwide Solvay Open Innovation organization with the target of keeping perfect balance between technical results and dissemination and collaboration actions.
Process Development: The coordinator of the New Technology Development Lab and the inventor of the GLEE technology represent together with their team the core competencies of the LIFE+ GLEE. Following an Open Innovation approach, the Team is working in close contact with the Politecnico of Milano to bring additional scientific insight in the LIFE+ GLEE technology.
Technology: Three experienced engineers are assigned to the project in order to scale-up the technology from lab- to industrial-scale conditions. Under their responsibility there will also be the planning of a number of sustainability measures to minimize the project carbon footprint and overall environmental impact of the initiative.
Testing & Quality: This team will contribute to test the output of the pilot plant and interact with external labs to have independent validation. In addition, this group will be in charge of liaising the LIFE+ GLEE project with the many European projects and initiatives on Lithium ion batteries.
Engineering & Infrastructure: Several professionals worked at different levels to the building of the new and customized GLEE pilot plant.
Monitoring: A special committee will be assigned to assess the environmental impact and carbon footprint of the project.
Communication: The project has the objective of communicating in a comprehensive way with a very wide range of stakeholders. The Marketing and Communication Team works very closely with the LIFE+ GLEE Team in order to ensure visibility and support all GLEE activities.
Public Relations: Special attention is and will be given in the links and involvement of the project's Stakeholders during the whole project's duration.
The Innovative Idea
High-performance, high-capacity Cathode Active battery Materials (CAM), including Nickel Cobalt Aluminum (NCA), Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP), Cobalt-based lithium-ion (LCO) and Nickel Cobalt Manganese (NCM), are a critical core component of Li-Ion batteries. That's why the rush in the industry to develop the next generation's Li-Ion batteries, with even higher power and more energy densities, has normally focused on the investigation of new and higher performing CAM. These developments, however, are impeded by the sensitivity of CAM to moisture and their inability to resist harsh environments.
The technology at the basis of the LIFE+ GLEE project addresses and brilliantly solves this issue by providing an easy way to coat the active material with a protection layer.
The immediate advantage of the protected CAM is to allow the usage of water-based formulations in the production process of Cathode slurry. In addition, during battery operation, the protection coating enhances CAM resistance toward the electrolyte.
The Technological Challenge
Problem: Water-borne cathode electrodes cannot be manufactured due to low stability of active materials when in contact with water.
Solution: Protective coating on active material surface prevents interaction with water and maintains good battery performance.
Protecting a water-sensitive material with a coating is not a difficult task. The unique challenge of shielding cathode materials is preserving the essential process of intercalation and deintercalation of Li-Ions within their structure to retain the full functionality in Li-Ion battery operation. To that purpose, the LIFE+ GLEE technology developed a coating that is permeable to Li-Ions and is also impermeable to water and other aggressive media. This innovation is achieved by close control of coating deposition and layer thickness.
The LIFE+ GLEE Protection Process of CAM
Powders of active materials are coated using an electroless deposition process.
This is composed of three steps:
- Activation: the surface of the particles need to be activated. This is done by the adsorption of a catalyst; the powders are dispersed in an aqueous solution containing, for instance, Palladium ions. Clusters of Pd atoms will be created after adsorption on the surface of the particles, and they will act as active sites where the reduction of metal ions will take place during the deposition process. This preparatory action is fundamental to achieve an efficient deposition in the following step.
- Deposition of protection layer. The protective layer is plated by a controlled chemical reduction of metal ions, dispersed in an aqueous solution, on the surface of the powders. The activated particles from previous are immersed in the deposition bath. The aqueous solution into which powders are dispersed contains metal ions and a reducing agent. The latter is able to provide the electrons needed to complete the metal ion-reduction process. The progressive reduction of metal ions will create a continuous layer on the surface of the dispersed particles.
- Final coating formation with subsequent annealing. In order to allow their use in manufacturing electrodes for Li-ion batteries, at the end of the process powders have to be dried. Once the deposition process is completed, the particles are separated from the plating bath and dried at high temperature in contact with air.
Now the powders are protected and ready to be used in manufacturing a Li-ion battery.
What is Electroless?
- Metallization process based on autocatalytic metal ion reduction
- Can coat conductive and non-conductive substrates
- Produces conformal coatings
- Substrate can be of any geometry and shape
The electroless deposition (ELD) is an electrochemical plating technique that allows the reduction of metal ions from an aqueous solution, without the need of an external power source. ELD is also known as autocatalytic deposition, since the reduced metal acts as catalyst for the reduction of metal ions dispersed in the plating solution.
The most important components of an aqueous ELD plating bath are the salt of the metal to be deposited (source of metal ions) and the reducing agent (source of electrons). The redox reaction that is established in the system is composed by the oxidation of the reducing agent, that generates electrons necessary for the reduction of metal ions dispersed in the plating bath.
Among the metals that can be deposited using this technique there are gold, silver, copper, nickel. Substrates made of glass, metals, polymers and oxides can be coated using ELD, with few limitations on its geometry, since deposition takes place wherever the plating solution is wetting the substrate.
Lithium ion Batteries Configuration
In the classical configuration a Li-Ion battery is made of a cathode, an anode and a separator which divides the two.
The battery operating mechanism consists in the cyclic migration of lithium ions among the two electrodes (cathode and anode).
CAMs are coated with a binder, usually Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF), and a conductive additive (CA), generally carbon black or graphite to improve the electrical conductivity of the electrode, on thin metal foils that act as current collectors (typically Al and Cu).
Lithium ions move in the electrolyte interacting with cathodes and anodes: active materials have to intercalate and de-intercalate lithium ions in their molecular structure or have to react reversibly with lithium ions.
Located inside the battery, the electrolyte is typically a liquid with dissolved salts which increases the ionic conductivity. The electrolyte needs to have a good ionic conductivity but no electrical conductivity because this could cause an internal short circuit.
In a standard battery, a separator is used to physically separate the anode and cathode in the electrolyte solution to prevent an internal short circuit. However, the separator is permeable to the electrolyte in order to maintain the desired level of ionic conductivity.
Carbon-based materials (conductive additives) are used to improve the electrode's electrical conductivity and create a continuous network of filling the pores between the CAM particles.
The function of the polymeric binder in the electrode is to link together the different components in order to create a mechanically and chemically stable network.
The most widely used binder for cathodes is PVDF. It is a high performance partially-fluorinated polymer with excellent thermal, chemical and electrical stabilities.
This polymer grants good electrochemical performance and excellent adhesion among the materials which forms the electrode and the current collector.
Expected Outputs
The demonstration process will use a single multi-purpose off-the-shelf automated apparatus. The pilot plant shall be scaled to produce approximately 1kg of CAM per batch and to operate at standard capacity of one batch per day. This is roughly enough material for 50 small phone batteries per day at standard operating capacity. This volume, approximately 200 times smaller than a modest battery production facility, will be produced using real equipment and processes and will be scalable to hundreds of times the size by replicating the process with larger equipment and/or multiple lines.
The Plant Design
The LIFE+ GLEE pilot plant is located in the Solvay Specialty Polymers HQ of Bollate (Milan), one of the most advanced research & innovation centers in the Solvay group. The site, which hosts more than 300 employees, includes laboratories specialized in the development of innovative solutions for sustainable technologies in the photovoltaic, Li-Ion battery and hydrogen markets. The GLEE plant covers an area of nearly 300sqm and includes two cisterns which contain the solution needed by the process, a reactor where the chemical reaction occurs, and a filter which divides the powder from the liquid phase, allowing for treatment in the drier at the end of the process. All this equipment is protected by the Glove Box, a structure which prevents the operators' contact with any of the agents used during the process. The whole plant is monitored by an automated system which simplifies the activities while granting improved safety.


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Intuitive Visualization in Architecture
A Center for the Study of the Built Environment (CSBE) interactive two-day workshop led by Sahel al-Hiyari, and assisted by Hiba Shahzada
Friday and Saturday, March 14 and 15, 2014
Click here to view the workshop flyer.
Click here to download the registration form.
Click here to view images of the workshop.
Click here to view sketchs by the workshop participants.
Workshop Announcement Contents:
- Workshop Description
- Eligibility and Number of Participants
- Date and Time
- Location
- Needed Materials
- Tuition
- Certificate of Attendance
- Registration
- Instructors
Workshop Description
The target of this workshop is to engage the intuitive faculties of expression. It therefore aims at accessing the innate tools for understanding and engaging in artistic expression, architectural and otherwise, through imagination. The workshop shall focus on the idea of creation through a series of specific exercises that range from visualization, breathing, and drumming, to spontaneous writing, drawing, and possibly model making.
Such an approach aims at temporarily suppressing the scientific / analytic aspects of our mind, which often hinder our abilities at thinking creatively. The approach taken in this workshop consequently attempts to disperse rationalist and reductivist thought processes, which primarily govern how we see, understand, and describe ourselves within the world we inhabit. The workshop therefore aims to dislodge such thought patterns in favor of more immediate, experiential, and, above all, intuitive responses.
Eligibility and Number of Participants
Although the workshop addresses the field of architecture among other fields, it is open to all age groups and to people from all disciplines, and no background in design or architecture is required. A maximum of 17 participants will be admitted to the workshop in order to guarantee an optimal level of interaction between the participants and the instructor.
Date and Time
The workshop will take place on Friday and Saturday, March 14 and 15, 2014. Each session will take place from 10 am to 5 pm.
The workshop will take place at the Graphic Arts Studio of the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts, Jabal al-Luweibdeh, Amman.
Click here to view the site map.
Needed Materials
Each participant will need to bring the following to the workshop:
- Exercise or yoga mat
- Sketchbook or paper
- Pencils, pens, markers…
In addition, participants may bring any other media they would like to work with such as materials for model building, collages, or painting; a computer …
Tuition for the workshop is 100 JD. Tuition fees should be paid within two days of registration. Additional payment details will be provided upon registration. Tuition fees are non-refundable, but are transferable.
Certificate of Attendance
Participants in the workshop will receive a certificate of attendance from CSBE.
Registration for the workshop starts on February 23, 2014, and will be on a first-come, first-served basis.
To register, please download and fill the registration form, and send it to firstname.lastname@example.com. Confirmation will be emailed upon receipt of this form.
For additional information and inquiries, please contact CSBE at +962 6 461 5297 or send an email to firstname.lastname@example.com.
Sahel Al Hiyari is a Jordanian architect and painter, and is the principal architect at Sahel Al Hiyari Architects. His professional experience includes design work with Dar El Handasah: Shair and Partners in Cairo; Machado Silvetti Associates in Boston; and Jafar Tukan and Partners in Amman. His teaching activities include the design studios Arch Lab I & II, which were organized by the Center for the Study of the Built Environment (CSBE) in collaboration with the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2002 and 2004, as well as an option studio at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design (fall 2010) and a vertical design studio at the American University of Beirut (fall 2011).
His work has been published internationally and has been exhibited in Amman at The Khalid Shoman Foundation and in New York at The Center of Architecture. He is co-author of Sahel Al Hiyari | Projects (2005), which presents a number of his works. In 2002, Mr. Al Hiyari was chosen as the first architect to receive the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, according to which he was a protégé of architect Álvaro Siza of Portugal. He also served as a reviewer and a jury member for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture. Additionally, he is a painter, and has exhibited in Jordan, Lebanon, and Italy.
Mr. Al Hiyari holds bachelor's degrees in Architecture and Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design, and a Master's of Architecture in Urban Design from Harvard University. In addition, he carried out post-graduate work at the School of Architecture at the University of Venice, where he also taught from 1993-1995.
Hiba Shahzada is an architect at Sahel al Hiyari Architects. She received her Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Jordan, and her Post-Professional Master of Architecture degree from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. She is a recipient of a 2010 - 2012 Fulbright Foreign Student Scholarship Program Award, and is also a recipient of the Dean's Merit Award at the Graduate School of Design for 2010 -2011 and 2011 -2012. Her graduate studies work has been exhibited at the Singapore Institute of Architects, and as part of the Platform 5 Exhibition at the Graduate School of Design. Her academic work has also been included in several publications including GSD Platform 5, A View on Harvard GSD, Vol. 3, and Dense+Green: Architecture Experiments for Singapore's New Waterfront.
Ms. Shahzada served as a design / architecture critic at the German Jordanian University in 2013 and at the Applied Science University in 2014. In addition to architecture, she also has a passion for and pursues visual art independently as a painter and photographer.

subset: commoncrawl


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Thursday, 18 July 2013
- EYE_White_Colour_Vector: The white colour around the iris.
- EYE_Iris_Colour_Vector: Colour the iris itself.
Eye_white is black and the iris is orange:
The Illusive Man eyes:
- Slightly different than normal eyes.
- EYE_Iris_Spec_Colour: Spec glow in the eye. Changes here doesn't seem to really do anything.
- EYE_Iris_Colour_Vector: Base Iris colour.
- Emis_Color: The colour of the 3 dots.
- Emis_Scalar: Adjusts the Emis_Color.
Iris set to green, Emis to purple, and a fairly large Emis_Scalar to make the purple visible, otherwise it would be pretty faint and disappear into the green.
Zaeed eyes:
- Haven't personally used these myself yet. But the options seem similar to the other eyes.
- Hopefully I'll have time to play with these at some point.
2 comments:
- Anonymous25 January 2015 at 11:04
How do you add both Emis and Iris color fields to vector parameters? I try adding one or the other, and it won't let me edit the value.ReplyDeleteReplies
You need to use Gibbed's ME3 save editor to give yourself the Illusive Man's eyes.Delete
Open your savefile with Gibbed and go to Player -> Appearance -> Presets -> Open from file.. it should open a dialogue that lets you pick presets to apply to your Shepard. Go in to the Eye folder and open one of the presets for The Illusive Man. Once that is done you should now be able to find the right vector and scalar parameters that can be edited to whatever values you want.
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You currently have JavaScript turned off. To utilize this portion of the website, please turn JavaScript on. To learn more about JavaScript, please visit our Help section.
This website is presently under construction and may include incomplete or inaccurate information. If you are searching for a healthcenter closest to you, please visit the HRSA.gov Health Center Locator.
posted on Thursday, September 22, 2016
Beaufort-Jasper-Hampton Comprehensive Health Services, Inc. (BJHCHS) recently welcomed their ninth class of medical students from A.T. Still University School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona. Since 2008, BJHCHS has had a partnership with A.T. Still to educate these transfer students in our community. The students rotate with BJHCHS and Beaufort Memorial Hospital physicians, private physicians, and all the area hospitals in Beaufort, Jasper, Hampton, and Colleton counties.
"Most people don't know that we have a medical school in Beaufort," says Dr. Faith Polkey, Regional Director for Medical Education (RDME) and a Pediatrician at BJHCHS. "The students spend their first year of medical school in Mesa, Arizona and then relocate to Beaufort for years 2-4 to complete their education. Our goal is to increase the number of physicians entering primary care and returning to underserved communities."
The curriculum is delivered by Dr. Polkey and Dr. Eve Ashby, who is also an RDME and an OB/GYN with Beaufort Memorial Lowcountry Medical Group, LLC.
A.T. Still was founded in 1892 as leading health sciences university. The institution has two campuses in Mesa, AZ and Kirksville, MO with an average annual enrollment of 3,100 students.
The students were welcomed to South Carolina with a reception at Saltus River Grill on Aug. 18th. This year's class is comprised of Victoria Calvelage, Navid Mahabadi, Stephen Ingle, Ashley Doucet, Osman Lodhi, Elizabeth Cornell, Ashley Coaston, and Jordan Rosenberg.
For more information about the medical school, call the Ridgeland office at (843) 726-3341.


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An accomplished married woman, a mother of four professional children and married to a retired CPO US Navy. An origin of Manila Philippines but has adapted completely with the western way of living and thank you America for embracing me although instilled values and culture remains. A Nurse by education but thwarted into a different career with the Hospitality Industry now on almost two decades and currently with Hilton Worldwide as Director of Sales. I competed for Mrs. International 2011 the fun of it but I took the pageant seriously afterwards and thought of becoming a Director for Mrs. Philippines International. I was very impressed on how the Mrs. International Pageantry runs with utmost respect and dignity. I support Go Red for Women with the American Heart Association, active member of Northern Anne Arundel Chamber of Commerce and I serve as a Lector and Eucharistic Minister at Holy Trinity Church Glen Burnie Maryland, member of Philippine Glambassadors of Hopes, a division of Philippine Hearts and Hopes Society, Inc. based in New York. Volunteering for various cause and activities means a lot to me and with the recent humanitarian mission in the Philippines through the aid of Friends Indeed USA. My admiration to all married women out there with pride and dignity we share our equal beliefs.
Phone: 443-722-4550
E-mail: email@example.com
Website: http://www.mutyangamerika.webs.com


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the red fetish and teething veils in dc: oct 11 and 15
Two great fall shows are coming up in DC.
On Oct 11, The Red Fetish share their monthly residency at the Black Squirrel with the mighty Park Snakes, who are releasing their debut EP. Come on down. RSVP.
On Oct 15, A rare DC appearance from Elisa Flynn. A rare live set from Anna Connolly. Etxe's own Teething Veils close out the night. Come to Slash Run. RSVP.


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HIV/AIDS News
NIAID Renews Funding for Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has awarded five-year grants to continue the work of the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS), the largest continually followed group of HIV-infected or at-risk individuals in the world. Approximately $6 million in first-year funding will be distributed among MACS research centers at The Johns Hopkins University; the University of Pittsburgh; Northwestern University; and the University of California at Los Angeles.
"We're delighted to continue supporting the MACS," says Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., director of NIAID. "This study has been instrumental in advancing our understanding of the pathogenesis and natural history of HIV disease, and thus has important implications for therapy."
The MACS has enrolled more than 5,600 individuals since 1984. Currently, there are 1,775 active enrollees, of which about 38 percent are HIV-positive. A total of 1,237 MACS volunteers have died of AIDS.
MACS data have contributed to nearly 700 publications in medical and scientific journals. The study's collection of clinical specimens spans most of the history of the HIV epidemic, from uninfected individuals of the early 1980s to long-term nonprogressors - people who remain healthy 10 years or more after becoming infected with HIV - today. Its size and longevity have uniquely positioned the MACS to answer questions that other studies could not easily approach.
"In its 15 years, the MACS has amassed a wealth of clinical information and biological specimens," says Jack Killen, M.D., director of the Division of AIDS at NIAID. "Together with the huge databases to which they are linked, these specimens provide the general scientific community with an invaluable research resource for multidisciplinary investigation." The availability of MACS specimens has led to research collaborations with more than 100 investigators outside the MACS.
The idea for the MACS evolved in the early 1980s, before anyone knew what caused AIDS, which, at that time, primarily affected homosexual men. With the hope of discovering the disease's cause, NIAID launched a multicenter effort to enroll volunteers at risk for developing AIDS. When the discovery of HIV and its subsequent link to AIDS occurred shortly thereafter, the focus of the study shifted toward investigating how the disease progresses and how to prevent it. The MACS originally was composed of clinical research centers at the institutions mentioned above and at the University of California at Berkeley. The Berkeley center left the MACS in 1988 to pursue an independent NIAID-funded investigation, the San Francisco Men's Health Study.
MACS volunteers are evaluated every six months. Volunteer visits include an interviewer-administered questionnaire, a physical examination, and the collection of blood samples for analysis of the immune system and to monitor volunteers' HIV status.
"It's really comforting to have been a part of this research from the beginning," says Louis Hughes, Jr., a Baltimore resident who enrolled in the MACS at the Johns Hopkins University site in 1984. "It's been a bittersweet struggle, but to see the progress from knowing so little about HIV/AIDS to where we are today when people with HIV are living longer, better lives is very exciting." Mr. Hughes, who is HIV-negative, notes that he has lost many friends to AIDS. "But I know that other friends of mine are benefiting from this research," he adds.
The MACS has played a crucial role in HIV/AIDS research over the past 15 years. One of the first major MACS breakthroughs came in 1988, when John P. Phair, M.D., and colleagues at Northwestern University reported that HIV-infected individuals' risk of contracting Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) dramatically increased once their CD4+ T-cell levels dropped below 200 cells per cubic millimeter (mm3) of blood. This discovery provided a rational basis for initiating treatment to prevent PCP once T-cell levels dropped below that threshold.
In early 1990, the MACS underwent a fundamental change in focus. "Until that time, the MACS had largely focused on questions of clinical outcome," explains Carl Dieffenbach, Ph.D., associate director of the Basic Science Program in NIAID's Division of AIDS. "We started asking, 'What features of the interaction between HIV and the person it infects might explain variations in disease progression?'" To address this question, the MACS brought together teams of virologists, immunologists and epidemiologists.
"We knew we had to conduct these studies under the same roof with the same patients at the same time," says Dr. Dieffenbach. "The MACS really took the lead in organizing combined studies that united these various scientific disciplines within a study group."
Another groundbreaking discovery came in 1996, when John W. Mellors, M.D., and other MACS researchers from the University of Pittsburgh reported that viral load was the single most important indicator of HIV disease progression. Previously, physicians had used CD4+ T-cell counts as the primary determinant in treatment decisions.
More recently, MACS data have expanded knowledge of how differences in the genes that encode HIV co-receptors - the molecular handles on immune system cells to which the virus attaches itself - make individuals resistant to HIV infection or affect HIV disease progression. Analyses of cohort data have also contributed vital information to understanding AIDS-associated opportunistic infections, cancers and neurological disorders. Ongoing MACS research is examining the emergence of drug resistance to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), as well as the metabolic side effects HAART produces in some individuals.
"In the coming years, we are confident that MACS will keep providing critical information as we pursue the best ways to treat, manage or prevent HIV infection," says Dr. Fauci. "There is no other study of its kind in the world, and it is important that we continue to support this vital multicenter effort."
NIAID is a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). NIAID conducts and supports research to prevent, diagnose and treat illnesses such as HIV disease and other sexually transmitted diseases, tuberculosis, malaria, asthma and allergies. NIH is an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Press releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related materials are available on the NIAID Web site at http://www.niaid.nih.gov.


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No matter why you start your business, the business of actually running or starting your business can be tricky.
Whether you launch your business with years of experience or just barely know the ins and outs of running it, at some point you'll need to know more about the day to day operations than how to balance your business checkbook.
Continuing education resources can help. People who are primarily employees will often take courses and seek knowledge in order to better themselves, become more competitive and stay relevant – business owners aren't any different.
But where do you start? Who do you trust to educate you?
Luckily for us, there are plenty of great government and non-profit entities who maintain educational libraries for small business owners. Here are seven of the top resources to start you off.
The Online Learning and Education Small Business/Self-Employed Section of the IRS Website
Tax season has just passed us – are you confident about your filing? The IRS has a video portal with free information, in a training portion of their site dedicated to the small business owner or self-employed individual.
The Small Business Administration Learning Center
You'll find videos, training, and even chat sessions on their site, and you can even find local help offline.
The Women's Business Development Center's Resource Section
Their collection of helpful online business resources links includes links to federal contracting resources, business plan outlines, and Women's Business Enterprise certification.
US Women's Chamber of Commerce's Learning Center
You can access their webcasts and database with topics ranging from retirement planning to business start-up.
The SME Toolkit
Put together by IBM and IFC, the private sector arm of the World Bank, is "a free program that enables entrepreneurs and small businesses to learn how to implement the sustainable business management practices needed for growth." On their site you'll find sample templates, tools, articles, and resources.
SCORE's Online Workshops
SCORR provides live online workshops in webinar format that you can register for free of charge. The next one on 4/25 is about getting your business ready for financing.
The General Services Administration (GSA)
Do you want to sell to the US government? The GSA has free training for small businesses, and a video library, just to name a couple. Don't forget to check out the Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contract Program if your business is 51% owned by one or more women.
Have a favorite resource? Leave a comment and we'll add it to a future update!
Image courtesy of Flickr user Dustin DiazGoogle+


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Cordwell Surname Ancestry Results
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2012 Inkwell I&I - Shiraz
James Halliday Wine Companion - Review By Campbell Mattinson
Vintage: 2012
Rating: 95
Drink By: 2025
Price: $30.00
Date Tasted: 01 Aug 2014
Alcohol: 14.5%
Creamy, ripe, voluptuous shiraz. Fresh through the finish but awash with dark-berried flavour for the most part. Cloves and other woody spice notes. Fruit-shot tannin. Comes at you in waves. Made from estate-grown fruit and matured in French oak, though 85% of this oak is used/old. Fruit shines in all its dark glory.
InDaily - review by Philip White
30; 14.5% alcohol; screw cap; 93++ points
Maybe it's the vineyard's proximity to the Gulf St Vincent (patron of viticulturers) that has soothed this wine to a more mellow state than the mighty 2012s made in regions further from such calming Mediterranean humidity; perhaps it's Dudley Brown's increasing wisdom as a grower and maker who understands his geology. I reckon it's both. Whatever. This is a rich dense syrup of prune and pickled morello cherries with a drying topnote that's as much soft-and-pithy Ditters dried apple as the chalky clay and ferruginous sandstone of the site.
In the Vales, sandstone often seems to impart more morello, while the rare bits of chalky calcrete give tighter, less humourous, Coonawarra-like tannins. But that's the bouquet. In the mouth the wine is more typical '12. It's long and intense and bone dry with the sort of fine tannin that will carry it for the year or two it will take for its lovely fruit juice to properly swell and cushion that natural grapeskin and pip preservative. Right now, I'd love the opportunity to have it with numerous spoonsful of ripe Stilton. Which is how my mate Max Schubert preferred to take a younger Grange.
Published on 6 November 2014
The Wine Front - review by Mike Bennie
This is 100% shiraz, and the blend that the winemaker deems best, from the other blends, if you get the drift – all estate fruit. The last three years the picking has been earlier. I & I for the song by Bob Dylan, and also because Irina, Dudley Brown's wife's initial is I so it is him and her. Awww. I like to think it is more about the oneness of Jah and that Brown is a closet Rastafari.
Coffee, mocha, choc-berry characters. Perfume is heady and attractive. Fleshy and succulent to taste, excelllent in texture, silky but rich, finishes with spice and chalky pucker. Medium bodied, smooth, compact and feels very fancy.
Rated : 92 Points
Tasted : JUN14
Alcohol : 14%
Price : $40
Closure : Screwcap
Drink : 2014 - 2024
Australian Wine Review - by Andrew Graham
Unusual in Vale terms as it is wild fermented (which is the regional exception). Produced from all four Inkwell blocks, this is an absolute bargain. 14.5% TA 6.1, pH 3.68. $30.Thick, fruit cake ripeness to kick off, luscious red fruit ripple palate with good concentration and a mid weight balance. Definitely a more energetic style of Vale Shiraz (and tastes warmer than many in this lineup), if not quite a heavyweight in terms of extract. Lovely style though - feels really unforced and pure, the withering blackness keeps on and on. It's bold and fruitcakey to start but that finish and length keeps on and on.
Top shelf. 18.5/20, 94/100
Published on October 19, 2014
Wine Will Eat Itself - review by Jeremy Pringle (in memoriam)
References to a Bob Dylan song, Rastafarianism and Dudley Brown's marriage to Irina Santiago last year. I tasted this with the happy couple over dinner when in McLaren Vale earlier in the year but no notes were made. A magnificent cheesecake and an extended viewing of Scorsese's "The Last Waltz" took both us and our conversation long into the night.
Black and blue fruits, licorice, chocolate and tar. Unashamedly full-bodied but the weave of tannin provides very good form and refreshment. Sweet brown spice. Deliciously pitched, controlled oak input and even pacing. All velvet and muscles. 93+
Region: McLaren Vale
Alcohol: 14.5%
Closure: Screwcap
Price: $40
Tasted: July 2014


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Speak Up! The Voice Alternative
In case you haven't noticed, just about everyone is using a cell phone these daysbut maybe not to its fullest. Thanks to huge advances in speech recognition, text-to-voice, and XML technologies, voice-portal applications are staking a claim in both the business and consumer markets.
These services bring the power of the Internet and your corporate network to the telephone. For example, it's now possible to access Web information, retrieve e-mail, or check stock investments from any phone.
We looked at four voice portals in two categories: those you pay for and those you don't. The free services are geared toward the consumer, offering information on celebrities and movies, and driving directions. The free services do come at a cost, though: You have to sit through advertisements as you get information. The pay services, by contrast, target the mobile professional. These offer a wider range of voice-activated features, including virtual receptionists and unified office messaging.
Mountain View, CA; 800-555- 8355; www.tellme.com. ****
Of the two free services we looked at, Tellme Networks' was the easiest to use, providing listings of local restaurants, entertainment content, stock quotes, and a host of other topics via the Tellme menu. By dialing the toll-free number, you can obtain verbal driving directions, weather and traffic reports, and sports updates anywhere in the U.S.all delivered in a variety of voice patterns that make you forget you're talking to a machine.
Planning a trip was handled with one call by simply asking for the airline of our choice. Tellme placed a call for free to the airline, and it remained in the background until the call was completed. It then went on to offer hotel, car rental, and dining information in that region and continued to connect us to our choices for reservations.
Another menu option, the Phone Booth, connected us to any phone number we wanted for a free 2-minute call. We played blackjack with a dealer whose Sean Connery-like brogue provided an entertaining way to spend downtime. More important, the Tellme "operator" understood every command we used, enabling us to change requests and menu selections, without having to repeat ourselves or start over. The only downside to using Tellme was being subjected to the continual voice ads that played between menu options and while waiting for the portal to gather information from the Web.
Sunnyvale, CA; 800-423-86225; www.bevocal.com. **
BeVocal's voice-activated service is similar to Tellme's in that you can gain free access to information such as dining, hotel, and driving directions from any phone by dialing 800-4-BeVocal (800-423-8622). The virtual operator will locate businesses, provide flight infomation, or place a free call to your destination if requested, but the similarity ends there. We found the speech re- cognition capabilities not quite as voice-friendly as those of Tellme and the place-one-call abilities not as comprehensive.
On our tests, BeVocal couldn't interpret voice commands on several occasions. More often than not, we were asked to repeat requests two or three times and still ended up in the wrong menu, forcing us to hang up and start over again. We found that BeVocal would act confused, pausing for 15 to30 seconds before bringing us back to the home menu to try again.
Conita PVA
Columbia, SC; 888-515-6200; www.conita.com *****
Conita PVA (Personal Virtual Assistant) is a suite of software applications designed to connect mobile professionals to their network infrastructure through the use of the telephone. Conita PVA provides access to data that resides behind the corporate firewall, allowing you to retrieve customer, sales, and financial information by dialing in and asking for it. In addition, the PVA software integrates with existing telephone systems, enabling call management functions such as conference calling, voice messaging, and call forwarding from any phone, as well as being able to access the Web to receive information such as news and weather updates.
During a demonstration of Conita PVA, we dialed into the PVA portal and were able to tap into Conita's customer database. This is where we received spoken sales and product information on a particular client. We then conferenced in two Conita executives to discuss potential opportunities and schedule a meeting with the customer. The PVA checked the schedules of those on the conference call, booked the meeting into their calendars, and sent e-mail to their mailboxes, all through a simple set of voice commands. The PVA operator understood every request and did not require us to run through a menu of options. The key to PVA is its ability to process voice commands that are spoken in a normal manner, as if you were speaking to a live person.
SANDi (Sound Advantage Natural Dialog Interface) is a voice-activated messaging system produced by Sound Advantage, which uses Lucent's speech recognition and text-to-speech engines to unify office communications via a virtual receptionist. SANDi will send, receive, and forward voice and e-mail messages, and act as your personal secretary by screening your calls and capturing the caller's phone number for automatic callbacks. Designed to support your existing PBX system, SANDi is a Microsoft Windows NT Server-based application that requires the installation of Dialogic cards on your server to integrate your network applications with your telephone system, providing a voice portal into your scheduling, e-mail, and contact database programs. SANDi will also search the Web to retrieve stock quotes and weather info.
We set up our user account and were assigned a personal phone number to receive our calls. After entering our POP3 mail information and additional numbers to be reached, such as cellular and office extensions, we called in and were greeted by the friendly voice of SANDi. She asked us who was calling and whether we would like her to take a message or try to locate the party we were calling. We answered "locate," and SANDi found us at our cellular number, screened the call, and asked us whether we would like to take the call or send it to our mailbox. And although the dialog was slightly choppy, it was clear enough to understand.


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Long before actor Masi Oka broke into Hollywood with the NBC TV hit, "Heroes," his work had been seen by millions of people on the big screen. It's just that they didn't know it. Oka spent years as a programmer for George Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) writing hundreds of thousands of lines of code. It was his programming that allowed ILM to bring the water effects to life in films like The Perfect Storm.
In fact, even though he doesn't actively write code for ILM any more, his technology can still be seen on the big screen in films like Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. While Oka is currently starring in the CBS hit, "Hawaii Five-0," he's using his programming background to actively develop original video games aimed at the Japanese audience. The tech guru and self-professed gamer talks about his latest projects in this exclusive interview.
Complex: In the past you've been a devoted World of Warcraft player. Have you been able to check out Cataclysm?
Masi Oka: I haven't been able to play Cataclysm at all. I know if I picked that up, I'm going to be addicted to it. Even in Hawaii when I have any free time, I'm focusing right now at least trying to get these other projects up, whether it's these new game projects I'm working on or writing, producing, and even directing stuff. It's been taking up my time.
I love games. When I have time, I'll play it, but these days I just like to play my social games and the casual apps on my iPad because I know it's going to be a small investment of my time. If I pick a COD or a WOW again, I know I'm going to be completely hooked and spending my time there. As much as I love it, I have to take a break for a good year or two until I get my other things set up, then maybe I can just relax a little. Hopefully, if I ever have kids, one day I'll be able to play with them.
What casual games do you play on your iPad?
Mostly for iPad I'll just play games like Civilization, Pirates, and Final Fantasy and the Chaos Rings, which has a great nostalgia factor. I love strategy and RPG games.
How has your programming background from ILM helped you with your new videogame projects?
Without a doubt, it's been a huge help because it allows me to talk to designers. Coming from a programming background, I have a good sense of what's feasible and what's not feasible in a game. I wasn't the best UI programmer, but I know to use the interface and that stuff. It's definitely given me a leg up in terms of being able to talk to the people in the games industry.
Coming from a programming background, I have a good sense of what's feasible and what's not feasible in a game.
Literally, I don't have that many ideas that I want to push, but the one that I do push, I've had people react very favorably to. It's just everything moves slower in the gaming world and the digital world.
When will people be able to see your first game?
We're still working on a couple of things. There are a couple of new ideas that are being worked on, as well.
Do you have a publisher, or are you just self-publishing the stuff?
For the casual stuff, I have a developer and a publisher, but they're just behind the things that need to get settled. Then I'm just working on a couple of other things with some Japanese publishers, as well.
Are your games targeted specifically for the Japanese audience, or do you see any of this coming out in the U.S.?
Oh, yeah. I could see definitely a lot of it coming out in the U.S.
How has the boom in the mobile and social gaming business impacted your ability to turn an idea into a videogame?
It's been huge. On the console side, I had this great idea and I had a developer and everything. I was going around to all of the publishers and it was tough to get anyone on board because they needed to see something concrete.
At least with casual and social games, you can prototype something much quicker and much cheaper if you bring people on board. In some sense, games – and apps, in particular -- can become the new comics for the Hollywood entertainment industry, where you can generate IP through introducing new apps and games.
Are you looking for your casual games coming out on smartphones, tablets and PCs?
Look at past EA deals that they made with Steven Spielberg and Zack Snyder. I haven't seen much come out of that.
Yes. Console games are just hard to break into in terms of original IP. Look at past EA deals that they made with Steven Spielberg and Zack Snyder. I haven't seen much come out of that. Even console games makers are starting to get a little bit protective, because they don't want to invest that much money into a new franchise if it's not proven.
It's just like the movie models these days, where everyone is going with franchises, sequels, or big name stars. There's no reason for the publishers to really go after a "new IP" unless it makes huge business sense to them and something's guaranteed. That's why it's much easier in the mobile space.
That's basically what Activision is doing. Outside of Call of Duty and World of Warcraft, they're not doing a whole lot of games.
Yeah, it makes sense business-wise. Hopefully, they can ride those franchises forever and ever. With gamers, I think you have people who like franchises and there's always that next generation that's coming into the games. Fortunately, you have your IP and game engine in place, so you can go on top of it and just add new features with each new title or expansion. I remember when I had friends who were working on the Tony Hawk franchise, that's what they did. They built an engine for a couple of games and then just added new features on top of it.
Then there comes a time when you need a complete technology change and you have to really build for the future, but a lot of times when you get to release new stuff, you can rebuild on the IP. It's like a movie franchise, where you're rebuilding all the old characters and just coming up with new stories. It's a lot more efficient that way. So I can understand business-wise it's much easier, but it just becomes difficult to find new stuff. For us, trying to create a new IP, it makes it difficult to break in outside of the more casual and social games space.


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A Kid's Guide to Arab American History
Arab American National Museum
2014 Arab American Book Award - WINNER - Children/Young Adult
A Kid's Guide to Arab American History dispels stereotypes and provides a look at the people and experiences that have shaped Arab American culture in a format enjoyable for elementary students. Each chapter focuses on a different group of Arab Americans including those of Lebanese, Syrian, Palestinian, Jordanian, Egyptian, Iraqi, and Yemeni descent. Short biographies of notable Arab Americans, including Danny Thomas, Paula Abdul, Helen Zughaib, and Ralph Nader, demonstrate a wide variety of careers and contributions. The book also features more than 50 fun activities that highlight Arab American arts, language, games, clothing, and food.
More from this collection


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Madhya Pradesh is expecting Rs 1,300 crore investment, from both private and public sector, this financial year for upgradation of tourism infrastructure.
Madhya Pradesh is expecting Rs 1,300 crore investment, from both private and public sector, this financial year for upgradation of tourism infrastructure.
"Upgrading infrastructure is a continuous process and we are looking at doubling our rooms inventory in next five years, in the three-star and above category. We are also planning to build over 300 wayside amenities every 50 km.
Overall, for upgradation of infrastructure in the the tourism sector we are looking at Rs 1,300 crore investment, from government as well as private sector this financial year," Madhya Pradesh Tourism's Additional Managing Director Tanvi Sundriyal told PTI here.
ALSO READ: Madhya Pradesh to promote water tourism with Hanuwantiya Island
At present the state offers 5,400 rooms in the three-star and above category.
Madhya Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation will give franchises to private players for constructing over 300 wayside amenities including cafes, restrooms, parks, parking facilities, etc., every 50 km, she said.
Besides the religious tourism, the state Government is focusing on wildlife tourism as Madhya Pradesh has six sanctuaries. It is seeking to promote rural tourism around these sanctuaries, heritage wedding destinations, and meetings, incentives, conferencing, exhibitions (MICE) segments.
"We are planning to develop rural tourism around the heritage sites that will give tourists an authentic feel of the state," Sundriyal added.
The state was developing Khajuraho and Orcha as international MICE destination, she said.
The state has not had any tie-ups with neighbouring states for joint promotion of tourism circuits, but it is on the agenda for the future, she said.
Madhya Pradesh, which received around eight crore tourists, both domestic and international, in 2015, is expecting 20 per cent growth in numbers this year.
The state is currently conducting roadshows across the country to facilitate direct B-2-B (business-to-business) contact between the private service providers and the tour operators.
Do you know What is Wholesale Price Index (WPI), Public Debt, Finance Commission Grants & Other Transfers, Economic Survey, State Finance Commission? FE Knowledge Desk explains each of these and more in detail at Financial Express Explained. Also get Live BSE/NSE Stock Prices, latest NAV of Mutual Funds, Best equity funds, Top Gainers, Top Losers on Financial Express. Dont forget to try our free Income Tax Calculator tool.


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Jonti-craft 3494JC34 Sproutz Kydz Computer Desk
The 3494JC34 Sproutz Kydz is the right desk. There are lots of resources where you may get a desk, along with comparisons you can obtain the best items and the right prices. While it is great to shop in nearby retail stores for your pieces of furniture, keep in mind buying online offers considerably more choices and much better prices. You will discover numerous excellent online home furniture stores that allow it to be simple to find the desk you are looking for. I want you to get the best price when pruchasing a desk, check out the shopping cart add to shopping cart button on this site.
jonti-craft sproutz kydz computer desk jonti-craft's
Jonti-Craft's Sproutz KYDZ Computer Desk is an eco-friendly computer desk that has an adjustable keyboard shelf from 15 ½"to 21 ½"high. 29 ½"wide x 30"deep x 25 ½"high. Desk height is 22 ¼ inches."Full-back"construction protects cords. These preschool computer desks are made from 100% recycled wood fiber and have a non-toxic laminate finish to provide safe indoor air quality to any classroom, preschool or daycare. Locking casters.


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Two aerial views of Miri - above is view from sea to land, below is view from land to sea.
I have fond memories of Miri in two respects. First as a young student where I came to town in 1967 doing my Fourth Form studies at Tanjong Lobang School. At Tanjong I completed my Sixth Form education in 1970 at the age of 19. My school days at Tanjong was instrumental in moulding my adolescent personality and has resulted in some deep traits in me. I'll find time in future to write more on this very early influences in another blog here .
The story continues ...>>>>http://mykambatikworld.blogspot.my/2008/12/miri-city-and-grand-old-lady.html


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What is an elder law attorney?
Elder law is a specialized legal area focused on older adults and their adult children. These type of attorneys focus on specific needs, including:
- Power of attorney and other important legal documents
- Long-term care planning & paying for care
- Medicare and Medicaid planning
- Veterans benefits
- Estate planning
- Disability planning
- Elder abuse
How an elder law attorney can help
1. Plan for the future and protect assets
Everyone's situation is different and the law is confusing and full of state-specific "fine print." An elder law attorney can help answer questions and plan for things like:
- How can I qualify for Medicaid so it will pay for nursing home care?
- How do I protect mom's house and assets, but still afford the care she needs?
- How do I make sure my wife will have money left after all my care expenses are paid?
- What to do if I need to become dad's guardian or conservator?
- After I pass away, will Medicaid try to get money from my estate for the medical bills they paid and cause problems for my spouse or kids?
These are complicated questions and the answers will be different for each person. Consult a reputable elder law attorney to find out how they can help protect your senior's legal and financial situation and help you figure out how to pay for the care they'll need.
The fees could be well worth it if they can save your family thousands of dollars (and avoid nasty legal headaches) down the road.
2. Make sure you have all the correct legal documents for your state
A local elder law attorney can also make sure that you've completed the important legal documents for your state.
Laws are different (and very specific!) for each state, so it's important that documents are prepared correctly, especially for things like Power of Attorney, Living Will, and other critical planning documents.
Bottom line
Legal planning for your older adult can be overwhelming and confusing. Instead of struggling to figure it out yourself (and possibly missing an important detail), it's better to find an experienced elder law attorney that you can trust.
Next Step Find an elder law attorney in your area
You might also like:
— How to Find an Elder Law Attorney You Can Trust
— The Five Wishes Living Will Makes End-of-Life Easier
— POLST vs Living Will: What's the Difference?
By DailyCaring Editorial Staff
Image: All My Faves


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Prospect's caramel corn good to the last pop
Some people, according to the 1908 song, want to be taken out to a ballgame for some Cracker Jack, and maybe some peanuts. For me, however, you can skip the ballgame. Take me directly to Prospect.
While I'm not an avid fan of baseball, I am of the caramel corn from this San Francisco restaurant, which opened last year and quickly rose to a place in the 2011 Top 100 Bay Area Restaurants standings.
Prospect pastry chef Elise Fineberg uses Zuckerman's popcorn. The company sells its kettle corn at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, but the unpopped kernels aren't available to the average consumer, so we found other brands that work just as well.
The caramel corn isn't the only dish from Prospect that could earn a place in a restaurant hall of fame. Fineberg pairs strawberries with pistachio angel food cake, and creates a molten chocolate peanut butter truffle cake that she serves with roasted banana ice cream, bittersweet chocolate sorbet, salty peanut toffee and bruleed bananas.
I could also mention many savory courses from chef Ravi Kapur, such as his black cod with mild red curry; shiso shrimp fritters with shiitake mushrooms and snap peas; and crisp-skinned duck with glazed turnips, pickled grapes, pistachios and a rum-raisin puree. Later this year, in fact, we'll share the recipe for his Green Goddess Salad, which includes avocados, cucumbers and caper vinaigrette. It's one of the best and most versatile salads I've come across.
Prospect is the little sister of the oh-so- popular Boulevard, but it has a more contemporary vibe and gentler prices. All in all, there are a lot of great things to cheer about at Prospect, and caramel corn is one of them.
Prospect, 318 Spear St. (at Folsom Street), (415) 247-7770 or prospectsf.com. Dinner nightly; brunch Sunday.
The secrets
The popcorn: White Cat and Arrowhead Mills Organic are excellent; the more commercial brands, such as Orville Redenbacher's, aren't quite as good.
Baking: After being tossed with the caramel, the popped kernels are baked to create a crisp coating.
Cocoa nibs: These dry-roasted pieces of cocoa beans, pictured at right, have a pleasantly bittersweet flavor that balances the sweet caramel.
Prospect Popcorn
Makes 2 quarts
The adult version of caramel corn served at Prospect in San Francisco has a dark, not-quite bitter edge, which moderates the caramel sweetness. Cocoa nibs, small dry roasted pieces of cacao found in the baking section of well-stocked supermarkets, add another layer of flavor.
- -- Canola oil or pan spray as needed
- 1/2 cup popcorn kernels (see Note)
- 1/2 vanilla bean
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 5 ounces (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 ounces (5 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon) dark corn syrup
- 1 tablespoon cocoa nibs
Instructions: Preheat the oven to 325°. Use canola oil or pan spray to coat a large bowl, two large spoons and two rimmed baking sheets (or line rimmed baking sheets with silicone mats).
Pop the popcorn according to package directions; place in a large bowl. Split the vanilla bean and scrape the seeds into a medium pot. Add the brown sugar, butter, salt, corn syrup and cocoa nibs; mix well. Place over medium heat, and bring to a boil, whisking continuously.
When the sugar has dissolved, remove the pot from the heat. Pour the mixture over the popcorn, stirring with the two large spoons or rubber spatulas, until all the popcorn is well coated.
Divide the popcorn between the two rimmed baking sheets. Bake about 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes.
Remove the baking sheets from the oven, and stir the popcorn for a few minutes to prevent it from sticking together as it cools. Let the popcorn cool until it is no longer warm and becomes crisp. Break apart into manageable chunks and store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Note: Any good quality popcorn, such as White Cat Corn and Arrowheat Mills Organic, will work for this recipe.
Per 1-cup serving: 310 calories, 1 g protein, 45 g carbohydrate, 15 g fat (9 g saturated), 39 mg cholesterol, 437 mg sodium, 1 g fiber.
Michael Bauer is The Chronicle's restaurant critic. E-mail him at email@example.com.


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Master Musicians of Jajouka feat Bachir Attar 2000 - MMOJ with Talvin Singh (2000)
world | 1cd | eac-flac-cue-log-cover | 225MB
Point MusicAllmusic:
Talvin Singh was reportedly pleased and amazed to win the Technics Mercury Prize in the U.K. in 1999, a highly commendable trade achievement, for his eclectic CD OK. His instant reaction to receiving the award was to disappear off the European club and concert circuit to jam for months with the famed Master Musicians of Jajouka, heroes of the Rif mountains in a less than easily accessible region of Morocco. Beat author William Burroughs once described the Master Musicians as "the World's Only 4,000-year-old band," and Brian Jones recorded a tremendous album with them in 1969 shortly before he died. The outfit of long, strange, and wonderful renown achieves something heretofore unexplored in the company of Singh. Here the guest introduces a hallucinogenic, soulfully high-tech texture to the primordial rhythms and riffs of the masters, creating one of those rare syntheses of past and present, a gorgeous (of loosely hooked) carpet of colors and shapes. There is a whiff of the controlled jam here, not as fresh or far from the studio as one might expect from the high Rif, but this may be due to the production hand of Singh himself in the elaborate remix. A heartfelt and utterly noncommercial collaboration, probably meaning that winning the Mercury doesn't mean that everything, stylistically, must be cast in stone.
-01. "Up to the Sky, Down to the Earth" - Attar, Singh - 6:29
-02. "The Truth Forever" - Attar - 10:23
-03. "Searching for Passion" - Attar, Singh - 3:37
-04. "Taksim" - Attar - 2:51
-05. "You Can Find the Feeling" - Attar, Singh, Somatik - 5:46
-06. "The Blessing for the World from God Only" - Attar - 6:46
-07. "Jammin in London" - Attar, Singh - 4:10
-08. "The House of Baraka" - Attar - 7:39
-09. "Above the Moo" - Attar, Singh - 4:30
-10. "The Magic of Peace" - Attar, Singh, Somatik - 5:47
-11. "The Magic of Peace [Remix]" - Attar, Singh, Somatik - 8:48


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Hehe, you know maybe it's time to capitulate when what used to be one of the most oversized items in your wardrobe starts feeling tight and when you by the end of the day need assistance to get shoes off (!). I'm definitely there, but since I just cannot sit at home waiting for anything to happen, and feel perfectly good when on my feet (heels!), I might even attend a few shows during LFW that kicks off tomorrow, well, we'll see how it goes.
Anyway, hoop earrings and chunky knitwear are on my sartorial mind these days and if you're looking for hoop earrings without spending too much you'll find a great selection at Topshop.
Maternity jeans by J Brand, old YSL knit, leather jacket by Joseph, Topshop earrings, bag by Celine and boots by Saint Laurent Paris.


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Magnetic Activities
Ease of Use:
"This is fun and we are learning" - Girl aged 5
Lets put in a tree, The spider climbed in tree - Boy aged 7
"Oh so 'ay', now it's hay" - Girl aged 6
Skills Developed
Promotes vocabulary building
Develops letter and sound blending skills
Develops confidence with words
Improves phonetic awareness
Encourages learning to read/write
The Magnetic Phonics with Pictures & Words set is a fantastic yet simple way for children to practice their phonics. The magnetic pieces include individual phonics, as well as words which include these (for example, ee, sheep and sweet), and pictures to illustrate the words. Children can match up the words with their phonics, and then practice their handwriting and spelling by copying these out or writing them into a sentence. There are also fun activities included to help children practice their knowledge.
Recommended by Good Toy Guide
Teaches children phonics
Set includes 48 words, 48 pictures, 24 phonics, magnetic board and dry wipe pen
Chunky magnetic pieces - ideal for little fingers to grasp
Children can enjoy learning with fun pictures to help them
Use the board and pen to compose other words with the phonic pieces
Designed in conjunction with an educational expert to make learning the phonic sounds fun and engaging for the child. Not just a collection of words, but an all-round resource with fun pictures to match to the words and a dry wipe board to write more words and sentences.
Age: 4+ (18 x 25.5 cm, Pieces: 122)
Code: T-2677
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Mulgrave Combined Cricket Association
Edmonton, Queensland
Mulgrave Combined Cricket Association has been playing out of a ground at Fuller Park Edmonton. The Cairns Regional Council is developing new grounds at Walker Road Edmonton which will initially include 2 cricket fields with future plans for a 3rd. Fuller Park is not large enough for all our junior and senior teams and Walker Road facility will enable all our teams to play at the same venue and allow us to continue to grow.
While the fields will be developed we need to raise funds to assist development
1. modern practice nets under a roof given the sun and rain issues we have in the far north
2. Lighting to enable games especially for our juniors to be played out of the heat of the day.
We expect these projects to benefit existing players, officials and supporters and to significantly increase participation. Other users of facilities including Cricket Far North Representative sides, other cricket clubs in the area, local schools, community groups including the local Indian community who now have a team under association umbrella, Rotary and the social players will also benefit from these facilities.


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They are investigating claims of a plot in 2004 against his political rival Nicolas Sarkozy, now French president.
Mr de Villepin faces claims that he encouraged the leaking of papers which falsely implicated Mr Sarkozy in a bribery scandal, sources say.
Mr de Villepin has strenuously denied any involvement in the affair.
He has demanded to be declared an "assisted witness" in the inquiry, a move which would enhance his legal rights and give his lawyers access to police files.
He has curtailed a holiday to monitor the search.
A separate six-hour search of his home was conducted in Paris on Thursday.
Chirac's silence
The alleged scandal is known as the Clearstream affair, after the Luxembourg clearing house in which Mr Sarkozy and other figures were falsely accused of holding secret accounts into which bribes were paid.
He was French foreign minister at the time of the alleged plot, but went on to become prime minister. The claims against him suggest he was hoping to scupper Mr Sarkozy's presidential ambitions.
Justice officials say some information key to the inquiry was allegedly retrieved from the laptop computer of a former military intelligence general.
The computer files were said to support claims that Mr de Villepin initiated a meeting that led to Mr Sarkozy being falsely accused of receiving money in relation to a controversial defence contract - the sale of French frigates to Taiwan in 1991.
Last month, a lawyer for former President Jacques Chirac told Europe 1 radio station that his client would not co-operate with investigators over the Clearstream affair, citing presidential immunity.
Mr de Villepin once harboured presidential ambitions of his own and seemed to enjoy the support of Mr Chirac, before Mr Sarkozy was officially designated as the candidate for the governing UMP party for the 2007 presidential poll.
Mr de Villepin was interviewed last December about the affair.
Most Popular Now | 56,514 people are reading stories on the site right now.";


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Select Specialty/Regency Hospital
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Perform verification of utilization criteria reviews
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Facilitate multi-disciplinary team meetings including physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists and rehabilitation therapists
Master's of Social Work degree
ACSW licensure
Passion for providing superior quality of care and excellent organizational and communication skills
Adequate experience in an acute medical case management setting and confidence to manage and direct a plan of care for chronically critically ill populations
Additional Data
Select Medical Corporation


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Welcome back to another issue of Podcast Evolved!
This week the guys take us through some light Halo news including some details on the upcoming Yapyap THE DESTROYER DLC. Then Aaron gives us a quick refresher on Grunt history including a run down of some of the more memorable Grunts in the Halo universe.
Join us by participating in discussions and game nights with our community on our Facebook Group!!!
Evolved Crew Gamertags
David - CanineCerberus
Aaron - PerpetualBigAC
Oran - Tetrahedrite


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Welcome to the last installment of our photos from Central Asia. Yes, the umbilical cord with the former Soviet Union has finally been cut. We have exchanged Cyrillic letters for Mandarin characters and statues of Lenin for Mao. But before we get ahead of ourselves, we leave you with images from Tajikistan.
We spent most of our time in Tajikistan in the Pamirs, a remote and mountainous region in the southeastern part of the country between the Kyrgyz and Afghan borders. Our visit appeared well-timed, as the autumn landscape revealed itself in astonishing layers. And as rumored, the Pamiri people were both fascinating and welcoming. After a spectacular and terrifying flight that caused us to find numerous religions while in the air, we ended our Tajik sojourn in the capital city of Dushanbe.
Tajikistan Travel Photos
- Pamir Mountains to Murghab
- Skirting Afghanistan in the Wakhan Valley
- Last Days in the Pamirs – Ishkashim to Khorog
- Eating Our Way Through Dushanbe
This concludes our photos from Central Asia. We are not quite finished with the region yet, however. To confuse our readers even more, we'll continue to post written reflections of our time in Central Asia as we make our way through China.


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[ US & Them I – Us & Them II – Us & Them III – Us & Them IV ]
This is not, in fact, an essay about the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; they fit neatly into the Beltway enforcement establishment I described two posts back. This is a post about the two of those things which do not provide evening news headlines for ATF bosses to make political hay out of. Representing industrial drug-merchants like Phillip Morris and AB Inbev, Big Booze and Big Tobacco lobbies are significant contributors to the propaganda campaign that underpins the War on Drugs, and just like Big Pharma, they've got skin in the game.
Profit MotiveI mentioned before that as early as 1972, the US Government's own experts were reporting that were cannabis legal, alcohol use rates would fall by up to 25%. As far as the Big Booze lobby is concerned, I could end the article here: a 25% drop in market value would make even Inbev wince. Big Tobacco has a more complicated problem with marijuana; more or less every lie they told about tobacco back in the day is true of cannabis. The tobacco lobby used to claim tobacco was good for you, which it isn't: but cannabis has well-understood health benefits. The tobacco lobby used to claim tobacco didn't give you cancer; cannabis is believed to inhibit cancer formation. Basically, Big Tobacco have been pushing the wrong drug all this time, and the world has rolled on far enough that they're getting called on it.
But simultaneously, Big Tobacco care less, and spend less, than the beer brewers: if cannabis were widely legalised, no industrial superpowers are better placed to move into that market than tobacco companies. They already operate a vast industry based around a semi-tropical crop; and marijuana is much easier and cheaper to grow, harvest and package than tobacco, which is notoriously prone to horticultural misadventure and is tricky to store. To the beer giants, the competitive threat posed by the specter of cannabis legalisation is more direct, and it has kept the big booze concerns reaching for their cheque-books, year after year, for decades.
Continue reading 'Perverse Incentives III: Alcohol, Tobacco and FUD'


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I would like to remind my readership of this very special offer for a 20% discount off of purchases made from Greenbranch Publishing. They offer industry-leading medical practice management books, journals, and educational materials. I encourage you to take advantage of this special savings while it lasts!
Courtesy of Nancy Collins, President & Publisher
The Journal of Medical Practice Management, Greenbranch Publishing
I am announcing an agreement between Reed Tinsley, CPA (RTACPA) and Greenbranch Publishing, giving RTACPA subscriber's a 20% off discount on Greenbranch's industry-leading medical practice management books, journals, and educational materials.
"Today the practice of medicine must be recognized as a business. Greenbranch, the Publishers of The Journal of Medical Practice Management, has been front-and-center with independent and authoritative guidance for administrators, physicians, and business managers in running private practices, academic practices, and hospital practices. I welcome the opportunity to bring such classic books as Secrets of the Best-Run Practices, 2nd edition, by Judy Capko, to our friends and clients," said Reed Tinsley.
"No longer can the business of the medical practice be based on the intuition of the physician or administrator. Running a profitable medical practice takes more than your staff's strong clinical skills," said Nancy Collins, CEO of Greenbranch Publishing. "Today's medical practice management is complex – declining reimbursement per patient or procedure, complexity in managing the patient process, technology needs, personnel management. We are pleased that the RTACPA clients via Reed Tinsley will have access to our authoritative publications to enhance their level of medical practice management knowledge."
The promotional code to use at check-out is TINSLEY at www.greenbranch.com or via (800) 933-3711. Clients can also send an email to: firstname.lastname@example.com with questions.


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Every year, PNC Bank publishes their "Christmas Wealth Index" to track the cost of the Twelve Days of Christmas. For 2014, it's $116,273.06, up 1.4% from 2013. (And you thought your holiday spending was out of control!)
The index may not be completely accurate — for example, the ten lords-a-leaping are valued using the cost of male ballet dancers, rather than actual lords, and the eight maids-a-milking don't come with eight actual cows. But still, it got us to thinking . . . what sort of taxes are we looking at on the whole affair?
- Twelve drummers drumming and eleven pipers piping make quite a racket every holiday season. Hiring all that help will stir up a cacophony of payroll taxes!
- Ten lords may look perfectly happy while they're leaping. But surely they must pay a king's ransom in income taxes — after all, they are lords!
- Nine ladies dancing make a lovely sight at Christmas time — especially if they're Rockettes. They also pay a cabaret tax for the privilege of displaying their talent.
- Eight maids-a-milking help make sure we have plenty of eggnog to drink. Good thing so many states offer dairy tax credits to spur the cows on to higher holiday production!
- Seven swans-a-swimming? Six geese-a-laying? If we accept the rule of thumb that two birds per acre of pond is a manageable number, then we're looking at some serious property taxes to host our holiday flock!
- Who doesn't want five gold rings under the tree? But selling those rings can be an expensive proposition. Remember, jewelry held for personal use is still subject to 20% tax on long-term capital gains, plus an extra 3.8% "net investment income tax"!
- Four calling birds use a lot of cell phone minutes over twelve days. (They're calling birds, so unlimited texting won't help.) Naturally, that means a 5.82% federal excise tax, plus state and local sales tax too.
- Three French hens add a sophisticated "continental" touch to anyone's holiday festivities. But don't forget the import duties you pay to bring foreign livestock into the country!
- Two turtle doves are known among bird watchers for forming strong "pair bonds," which makes them a symbol of devoted love. (That's why they're in the song!) Too bad that means they pay that pesky marriage penalty that hits high-income couples who file jointly! (Okay, we know this this one's a stretch. But we've got twelve days of taxes to file here, so what can we do?)
- Nothing says "Christmas" like a partridge in a pear tree. And our tax code is full of juicy incentives for growing pear trees. You can deduct operating expenses associated with your crop; you can depreciate equipment and land improvements you use to manage your groves; and you can even take generous charitable deductions for rights you give up for conservation easements. Why, the tax savings alone should be more than enough to pay for the partridge!
Yes, even Twelve Days of Christmas just means twelve more opportunities for the tax man!
We wish you and your family the best this holiday season. We'll be back in 2015 to make sure you pay as little tax as possible, not just during the holidays, but all year long!
Let's Talk! For a deeper conversation on our services, or to become a client, call Kenneth Hoffman at (954) 591-8290 Monday - Friday for a no cost consultation, or drop me a note.
Kenneth Hoffman of K.R. Hoffman & Co., LLC is a highly sought after tax and business counselor. As a trusted senior advisor and counselor working closely with Entrepreneurs, Professionals and Select Individuals, Mr. Hoffman provides counsel to his clients who are navigating through the complexity of today's business, tax, and accounting challenges.
Click here to schedule an appointment with Kenneth Hoffman.
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New Taser Stun Gun Can Shock 3 at a Time
FOUNTAIN HILLS, Ariz. – Taser International unveiled its first new stun gun since 2003 on Monday, a device that can shock three people without being reloaded.
Older Taser stun guns, in use by 14,200 law enforcement agencies throughout the United States, have to be reloaded after one shot, which can be a problem for an officer who has missed a target or has more than one suspect to subdue.
Taser CEO Rick Smith and his brother, Chairman Tom Smith, unveiled the new device to hundreds of law enforcement officers and distributors at the Scottsdale-based company's annual conference. They stood on stage, each holding two new Tasers, and fired six rounds a piece at metal targets to whoops and applause.
"This is as big a step as when firearms went from a muzzle loader to the revolver," Rick Smith said later. "If I was a cop I'd want to carry one."
The new stun gun costs $1,799, compared with $799 for the older model, though Smith said law enforcement agencies could trade in their older ones for credits worth $300-$800.
He said the device will be available to law enforcement agencies in late August. Officers at the conference will receive free ones provided they pass an operating test.
Smith said he believes the device will become the new standard for police officers who want greater tactical abilities and allows for greater accountability because it has sensors that measure each discharge; that data can then be downloaded and analyzed.
He said the devices are in line the costs of other law enforcement tools, and that Taser hopes law enforcement agencies can tap tap federal stimulus funds.
Like the older models, the new stun gun shoots two barbed wires that deliver about 6 watts of electrical current for several seconds, temporarily immobilizing people from a distance.
The device, which can hit people up to 35 feet away, looks like a bulky gun but weighs less than two pounds. It's about 2.5 inches wide and seven inches tall.
While the device can be used against three people, it target the same person more than once. Smith said each barb would deliver a separate shock.
Human rights groups contend Tasers cause heart attacks. Taser spokesman Steve Tuttle said the company has won 96 of 97 wrongful-death and product liability lawsuits filed against it and is appealing after being found 15 percent responsible in the one suit it lost.
Amnesty International says 351 people in the U.S. died after they were shocked with Tasers, and that in 50 of those cases, medical examiners cited a link between Taser shocks and death.
Curt Goering, deputy executive director of Amnesty International USA, said while he hasn't been able to fully examine the new mode Taser, it raises concerns.
"The new models will likely fuel the controversy about the potential lethality or abuse because there's potential for repeat Tasings," he said.
He said his organization generally supports the development of non-lethal force for police agencies but claims officers are using Tasers far too often. "The threshold for use of force is often lower, so police are using these weapons in situations where the operation of a firearm would never be justified," he said.
Smith said Tasers are saving the lives of suspects across the country and saving police departments money that would have gone for workers' compensation for injured officers and litigation stemming from the use of firearms.
"It's just one of those things that unfortunately, Amnesty is more about what they're against than what they're for," he said. "We are the new technology — it's splashy because of the electricity, you can make it scary. And I'm really disappointed they haven't taken a more constructive approach."


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The Billionaire Bachelor
Marrying the Enemy
BUy the Book
Amazon // Barnes & Noble // Apple Books
Google play // Kobo // Audible
Marriage of convenience.
Enemies to Lovers.
A disembodied doorknob.
#ReesesRocket 🚀
Manwhore. That's what the board of directors-and the tabloids-thinks of billionaire bachelor Reese Crane. Ordinarily he couldn't care less, but his playboy past is preventing the board from naming him CEO of Crane Hotels. Nothing-and no one-will keep him from his life's legacy. They want a settled man to lead the company? Then that's exactly what he'll give them.
Merina Van Heusen will do anything to get her parents' funky boutique hotel back-even marry cold-as-ice-but-sexy-as-hell Reese Crane. It's a simple business contract-six months of marriage, absolute secrecy, and the Van Heusen is all hers again. But when sparks fly between them, their passion quickly moves from the boardroom to the bedroom. And soon Merina is living her worst nightmare: falling in love with her husband . . .
Series Info:
Book 1, Billionaire Bad Boys
Featuring Reese Crane & Merina VanHeusen
Pinterest Inspy
Dear Reader,
A modern-day arranged marriage between a man looking to clean up his playboy reputation and a woman who will do anything to keep her family's boutique hotel agree to marry on paper, but find there are more fringe benefits than they expected.
My first married couple! I was so excited to tackle these two–and it was fun to watch them tackle each other. In the midst of making an all-business arrangement, Reese and Merina can't deny the palpable attraction they have for each other… and that's when the fun for us, the readers, starts.
Enjoy the first book in the Billionaire Bad Boys series, and hang onto your hats, because Reese has two brothers who are about to meet their matches. For more behind-the-scenes fun and previews of future books, be sure to sign up for my newsletter the Lemmon 15, which comes to your inbox on the 15th of each month.


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Purdy to pursue cell phone tower ordinance
On June 9, the Purdy City Council authorized Don Trotter, city attorney, to write an ordinance to regulate cell phone tower placement within the Purdy city limits.
Discussion on a cell phone tower ordinance began earlier this year when the aldermen heard concerns about a communications tower that was reportedly contracted to be constructed near 37 Tire and Service Center in Purdy.
At the council's January meeting, the aldermen shared copies of a letter from Verizon stating that the company had decided not to construct the tower inside the Purdy city limits due to citizen concerns. Although citizens were pleased with Verizon's decision, they asked the aldermen to consider passing an ordinance to regulate future placement of communication towers inside the city limits.
The aldermen hope to review the proposed cell phone tower ordinance, which will be written by Trotter, at a meeting in the near future.
The council also voted to re-appoint five city employees during the June meeting. Employees who were re-appointed to their city positions include: Debbie Redshaw, city clerk; Jackie Lowe, police chief; Trotter; Mike Redshaw, emergency management director and building inspector; and Ken Real, city treasurer.
In new business, the council voted to amend the 2007-08 budget to reflect actual totals and reviewed and approved the 2008-09 fiscal year budget.
The aldermen also voted to opt out of the state-imposed sales tax holiday and continue the city's lease purchase agreement for the Purdy water tower.
In other business, the Purdy City Council:
* Voted to purchase a new mower deck for the city's Grasshopper lawn mower from Straights.
* Decided not to charge Windstream for damaging water lines when the company was installing new telephone cable after a tornado hit Purdy in May.
* Authorized Trotter to modify the city's nuisance ordinance to regulate burning and the curfew ordinance to include skateboarding regulations.


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Warning this site can make you retarded read at your
own risk
Date: July 11th
Place: somewhere in Vermont
Time: 5:36 pm
What I'm currently doing: Smoking crack while driven a car
Well i made it safely out of Maine and into Vermont. Only a few thousand miles left until Mexico. I stole a piece of shit car from a drug dealer and then stole his drugs. He went to the police and said the murderer stole his drugs. Well he got sent to the slammer, but now the police know where
I am and now I got to keep a move on, but I'm really high right now so I don't know were to
I maybe be high but i still know how many drugs there are in this
book...............................I think, so don't steal any!


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(Conway, Arkansas) I was asked by my closest and dearest friend, Ashley Hunter, to write a piece on our friendship. Simple enough; I've known her since we were in high school, we were college roommates, and she has been a pivotal part of my life since then. Put simply: she's family to me. From the outside, I'm sure we look like any normal friendship (well, as normal as we get anyway) until someone find outs she's a Pagan, and I'm a Christian. Then suddenly we become an enigma to some people – they question how or why we could ever be friends with such diametrically opposed faiths and views. I'm here to address those exact questions, and show how relatively simple it is for people of differing religions to not only coexist, but thrive with one another. This is about my Pagan best friend, from a Christian perspective.
I can vaguely recall the day Ashley told me she was Pagan. It wasn't something shocking or scandalous – it was something new and different about a good friend. We were living in separate states at the time, so nearly nightly phone calls were the norm for us. This memory is jumbled up in there somewhere – it wasn't some pivotal trial in our friendship for me. My friend had shared something new about herself and my response was "Cool, tell me more about that."
There has to be an openness and willingness to share without fear of judgment or condemnation on both parts of the friendship. I listen when she talks about her faith, and she listens when I talk about mine. We both ask each other questions on what the other thinks, even if it is just from a curiosity standpoint. We recognize that each of us is communing with something divine, and it's not our place to judge what that means or how it has to be interpreted. Answering questions honestly but tactfully has always been the key – there is a huge difference between "Well for me, it's a violation of my core tenants of faith" and "That's a sin and anyone who does it is going to hell." We don't speak in absolutes: we talk to each other from a personal aspect and keep it that way.
I can also recall a time where I felt like I was losing my friend. The nightly calls waned to weekly ones as she became involved heavily in her community. I was supportive; my friend was exploring a new part of herself and what she believed, and that's not an overnight thing. But as time wore on, suddenly I felt pushed out not by her beliefs themselves, but the amount of time they demanded of her. Anytime we talked, it was about her new faith, friends and community – and I suddenly felt no longer a part of her life because I was not a part of that. It's when I broached the question "If I talked about Jesus like you talk about your faith, and spent as much time in the church as you are with yours, would you be worried about me?" Suddenly a lens snapped into focus for both of us. I was honest about how I felt without casting judgment, and Ashley could hear was I was saying because I broached it with tact and compassion. It had nothing to do with the tenants of our faiths, but everything to do with how we were handling them.
Temperance is a key when talking about religion – even with people who are the same faith, let alone different ones. Faith and spiritually is an intensely personal thing – we are interacting and connecting in some way with something divine. It can be an emotional, powerful experience that changes who we are and what we believe – and we want to share those with the people we love. The issue with something passionate, is we often want to share passionately what our experiences are so that others can share in what we've felt and discovered. We get swept up in this intensity and can share too intensely, where it starts to sound like we are trying to force the same experience on others. This never works, as it's presumptuous on our part. We ourselves are not the divine and cannot just create these experiences. Can we be used as tools to create an experience by the divine? Absolutely, but it's not likely to happen when the goal going in is force that feeling and connection. So we share with temperance, and keep it personal. It's the difference between "Let me share with you what this meant to me" and "This is what this means, I know it." Again, avoiding absolutes is pivotal.
So it's all come full circle for our friendship. We are closer than ever, especially now that we live in the same city again. I celebrate with her, even when our faiths aren't the same. We spent Yule together and I brought a few of the accoutrements without issue or hesitation. Anytime she invites me, she always adds the caveat "if you're comfortable" and never takes offense if I decline. For her, an experience may be intensely spiritual, but for me it may just be something fascinating from an objective point of view. The same goes for her: I may share something about my faith, and she listens from a curiosity standpoint.
Ultimately, it's about remembering that just because we may disagree on an interpretation of something doesn't mean that there is a wrong answer. It's not up to us how the divine chooses to communicate to us. For her, it may be an offering to Hecate and for me it may be reading a passage out of the Bible. Both have merit and value, even if we experience things differently. We choose to focus on the things that make us similar rather than getting hung up on the things that make us different.


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text: So I got both a nice and nasty surprise in my mailbox today. Two postal notices. One was for my TV card, which is great because I was really starting to worry since I hadn't heard from the guy I bought it from on EBay in two weeks since I transferred the money. Thought I was going to have to call the polizei. :) I just picked it up and installed it in my Mini-ITX system. Still installing the software, but it looks really cool. I'm sure the system is way underpowered for use as a PVR, but it will be interesting to see if it can cope (thus making my upgrade to the Pentium M system rather needless). The nasty surprise was the other notice. This time not from the local post office, but from DHL in Helsinki, who want another €34 to deliver the package that I already paid the company to deliver. What kind of a freakin racket is that? So that basically toasts the cost savings I had by ordering it from Germany instead of Finland. Live and learn I suppose. The good news is that my entire system should be ready in a week!


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Featured Videos
Latest Blog Posts
Latest Tweets
RT @AliKolbert: Me when I see a dog: omg you're so cute what's your name how old are you Me when I see someone I know: omg turn around omg did they see me
RT @EpcotCentre: Epcot has absolutely nothing to hide. Period. End of story.