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Crowley's Matt Jackson, Vice President, LNG business development, served as keynote speaker. During his presentation, he discussed the positive impacts of LNG within the marine industry, reasons for the product's recent growth, and the opportunities that will be brought about by LNG. The event also featured other community business experts from Holland and Knight, JAXPORT, the Coast Guard, RS&H, Sea Star Line and JAXUSA Partnership.
In February we held two activities, which were both well attended. First was our Student Port Networking Social, where UNF Transportation and Logistics majors meet and interact with club members. (Add photo)It was well attended, especially by the board, but we encourage our membership to take this opportunity to come out and meet the best and brightest prior to their graduation.
On Feb. 13, our State of the Port event was sold out. Brian Taylor, the new CEO of JAXPORT, gave an extremely informative and enlightening presentation of the port's present status, and the vision and strategic initiatives for the future. If you are interested in the presentation, the following link will take you to a copy of the presentation. For those of you that missed out due to the sell out, we apologize for the inconvenience; we accommodated every seat the room would fit. We have committed to return to the same venue next year, but with a larger room.
In just two weeks we have our U.S. Coast Guard & Customs and Border Protection Appreciation Dinner, Thursday, March 13, at Jacksonville Golf and Country Club, where we recognize the efforts of our local partners in uniform, that work together with us to perform and forward the cause of waterborne commerce. Please join me for a great evening event; our guest speaker will be Rear Admiral Joseph Servidio, Assistant Commandant for Prevention Policy.
Our long time board member Tom Craighead from Moran, has worked diligently to put together our Spring Golf outing. This year it will be held at Queens Harbor, and as promised we have maintained our same price point again this year. Please mark your calendar for Monday, April 14 and join us.
We are still working on the venue for our May activity, the Maritime day celebration, which we will be hosting in partnership with the Kings Point Alumni Association.
I look forward to seeing you in the coming months as we work together to forward the agenda of our port and our industry, be safe,
Best Regards,
Jim Gillen


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Knowing what we don't know (on the web)
In our last posting we talked about six techniques to make our questions more precise so as to get the best answers from the Web. In this blog, we look at the other side of the equation: how can we be reasonably confident that the answers we get from an online resource are correct? How can we know that the web has given us the right answer when we do not have the subject matter expertise ourselves?
Path to "Confucian" wisdom
How to know what you don't know
The adage "True wisdom is knowing what you don't know" has been attributed to Confucius. While addressing this philosophical statement is beyond the scope of this blog, it is appropriate to title a pragmatic article borrowing from ancient wisdom. Knowing what you do not know is the essential problem of learning in the modern era. Legacy learning depends on teachers and textbooks who you can rely on to be correct. However, for contemporary learning - how can you tell the correct from the incorrect if you don't have sufficient knowledge of a domain?
We describe a four step process one can use to eliminate the really bad answers and get a decent idea of which ones are very good.
The process may not be able guarantee the answers we got are absolutely correct, but the level of accuracy of the answers we will get by following the process will be useful in most cases.

subset: commoncrawl


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Atopic prone baby skin is extremely dry, itchy, and may regularly develop rough red patches, especially on the face, folds of the skin (neck, elbows, back of the knees) and extremities (hands, wrists, ankles). Atopic dermatitis can be hereditary. It is best to visit a doctor to know if your baby is diagnosed with atopic prone skin.
The secret of babies' skin
Mustela uncovers the mysteries of baby's skin.


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Synonymous with great food and drink in Manhattan, today's guest on In the Drink, Eli Zabar was seemingly destined for notoriety in the culinary world. Host Joe Campanale chats up the NYC legend about his interest in wine and how exactly this passion began, plus thoughts behind his carefully curated (and sizable!) wine list featured at Eli's Essentials Wine Bar and details on Eli's Table as well as Eli's List. Eli also shares his business savvy and the importance of staying true to your neighborhood and how he strives to highlight old school wines with old school prices. Tune in for a wonderful conversation that covers a little bit of everything. This program was brought to you by Michter's.
"When you're ahead of the curve it sometimes takes a long tome for the rest of the curve to catch up." [2:56]
"Growing and making things has always been my passion." [5:30]
—Eli Zabar on In the Drink


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Rose Quartz Heart Charm Bracelet - Genuine Gemstone - Handmade
This Bracelet is part of my Summer Garden collection.
It has been made with 18mm rose quartz nuggets, gold plated copper spacer beads and a 20mm heart charm. These have been simply theaded on to clear jewellery elastic, so will fit most wrist sizes.
The basic size (unstretched) measures approx 6 1/2" in length.
Matching items are also available.
I will be happy to combine postage for multiple purchases.
Thanks for looking.x
Shipping & delivery
This item will be posted to you by Emerald Moon Jewellery within 3 days of receiving payment.
|Shipping destination
|Additional items
|United Kingdom
Returns Policy
You have 14 days, from receipt, to notify the seller if you wish to cancel your order or exchange an item.
Unless faulty, the following types of items are non-refundable: items that are personalised, bespoke or made-to-order to your specific requirements; items which deteriorate quickly (e.g. food), personal items sold with a hygiene seal (cosmetics, underwear) in instances where the seal is broken.


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Published on Nov 28, 2014 in The Edge Review Column
As Malaysia's dominant political party held its 68th annual general assembly this week, the familiar rallying cries of imminent crisis and racial insecurity rang out again.
The leadership tactic of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) from Dr Mahathir Mohamad onwards has been to foster insecurity among the Malay community and to use it to maintain political control.
The use of racial supremacy fears has deepened since the 2013 general election, in which UMNO faced the most serious threat yet to its political position despite securing the most seats within the governing coalition.
UMNO's waning appeal comes from an unexpected source: within the party leadership itself. In fact, one of the distinguishing features of Najib Razak's tenure has been the displacement of UMNO as a truly dominant political actor. With stealth and effective political initiatives, Najib has changed UMNO's political role, making it less of a target and, ironically, less politically relevant.
To understand this dynamic, one has to go back to 2008. Then the phrase 'Anything But UMNO' was the battle cry for the opposition. UMNO was the target, criticised for its race-based policies and entrenched corruption.
After UMNO faced winning only a third of parliamentary seats in the March 2008 polls, it had two choices: reform or transform. It was not able to do the latter. The ties between political power and economic interests and the sense of entitlement of the party elites were too deeply entrenched.
The party needed to reduce its exposure, but it could not find a response from inside to the challenges to its political power. Years of complacency and limited leadership innovation required new approaches and different structures, but the resulting changes have only seen UMNO further sidelined.
The first major change was outsourcing the calls to defend the Malays. Reactionary groups such as PERKASA, PERKIDA and other race-based organisations emerged, feeding on the racial insecurity that UMNO has relied on for years. Familiar arguments that Malays were under threat and needed to be united were now espoused by (un)civil society organisations. Some were responses to the 2008 election losses, others were more based on political calculation.
These groups were funded in part by the government, although they stayed closely linked to UMNO as most of their members are also party members, with many of the leaders holding party or government positions. But this outsourcing of "defending Malays" still marked the start of UMNO's slide to the sidelines.
A second change was to ratchet up efforts to dent the challenge from the Islamist party PAS. To do this the Najib government expanded funding for religious bureaucracy. The idea was to take over religious practices, from education to doctrine, and ultimately position UMNO as the "defender of Islam" in Malaysia.
State funding for Islam and Islamic-based groups in civil society increased sharply. Links with religious scholars were made across political lines, with the aim of splitting PAS as government funds poured into the religious schools of PAS's conservative ulama.
The impact did effectively divide PAS, but it also moved UMNO away from its moderate roots and strengthened an already powerful and increasingly autonomous religious bureaucracy within government.
Next, UMNO's interaction with voters changed. Government handouts replaced the party as the vehicle for wooing voters. Most visible was the 1Malaysia People's Aid programme (BR1M), which pays poorer Malaysians US$200 to US$300 annually. It features a broad range of new government programmes including items from textbook vouchers to tyre replacements for taxis.
As a result, the government has taken over from UMNO as the face of political patronage. Loyalty to the party is still expected, but is less direct.
Another significant factor has been changes to party financing. Traditionally, UMNO has been the fountain for political funds, supporting elections. Under Najib, though, it has relied on new vehicles for election funding, including the scandal-ridden 1Malaysia Development Berhad fund.
Today other investment arms and entities have changed UMNO's dominant position. It has opened up alternative sources of funding for party leaders, but at the same time reduced the party's role in setting the direction of financing.
Changes from inside government are also reducing UMNO engagement in politics. Notably, hired consultants were brought in for policy suggestions, with UMNO itself no longer a major conduit to offer ideas and inputs.
The party's contribution to governing had long been on the decline, with only a handful of elites and insiders participating. Now if contributions are made at all in party-affiliated "labs" they are filtered by those hired from outside.
The common feature of all of these changes has been to push UMNO back from the political front line. It no longer is the leading racial or religious champion for the Malays, it is no longer the source for patronage or financing and it has been marginalised from inputs into governance. It is not attracting the young leaders it needs, as they turn to other, more dynamic avenues for advancement.
Changes to UMNO's political role have been conducted in "survival mode", seen as crucial for the party to protect its position. But rather than protect UMNO from exposure they have made it more irrelevant.
UMNO has become more dependent on holding on to political power, on government actors and institutions rather than the other way round. It is following, not leading.
So while the party's general assembly this week may have featured themes of crisis, insecurity and even hate speech, these are largely being exacerbated by the transformations taking place in UMNO itself.


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Ready for Retirement?
Are you ready for retirement? Here are five words you should consider.
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Important Birthdays Over 50
Here's a look at several birthdays and "half-birthdays" that have implications regarding your retirement income.
Retirement Plan Distributions
There are a number of ways to withdraw money from a qualified retirement plan.


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Katz Lion King Cub Hunting Knife Fixed 5.125" Satin Plain Blade, Black Kraton Handle, Brown Leather Sheath - K300
KZK300: Lion King Cub
Katz Knives
Katz Knives was founded in 1991 by Keith Derkatz. All Katz knives are designed by Mr. Derkatz, and are made in Japan by high quality manufacturers. The Katz Knife line includes hunting knives, lock back folding knives, money clip knives and more. The blades of all Katz Knives are made of one of two types of proprietary steel: XT70 stainless steel, that tests out at 54-55 on the Rockwell "C" scale, or XT80 stainless steel, that tests out at 58-59 on the Rockwell "C" scale. With the resilience of these excellent stainless steels, the blades will hold and retain their edge to the high standard for which Katz is known.
The Katz Lion King Cub. It features a 5.125" all purpose blade, made of XT80 stainless steel that is 5mm thick. The satin finished blade is hollow ground, with a 2" texture notched thumb rest for control. The Lion King Cub knife has a fully checkered Kraton handle, flared at the butt for balance, with a pronounced choil and a lanyard hole in the butt cap. The Knife includes a leather belt sheath. The Katz Lion King Cub is 9.875" overall in length and weighs 10.5 oz.
- Blade Length: 5.125"
- Blade Steel: XT80 Stainless Steel
- Overall Length: 9.875"
- Handle Material: Black Kraton w/ Diamond Checkering
- Sheath Material: Brown Leather (made in Spain)
- Weight: 10.5 oz.
- Made in Japan
UPC Code: 799753128504
Leather is known for its durability and traditional appeal. When compared to Kydex it is preferred for its silence when bumped against other objects, as well as blade retention.
The exotic steel Capital of the World, Japan produces and innovates some of the best products, from pocket to kitchen knives and everything in between.
Customer Reviews
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Mr. DLib [1] is an acronym for Machine-readable Digital Library. The library comprises the full-texts, including the bibliographic metadata in XML and JSON format for several million academic articles. In addition, Mr. DLib offers a recommendation engine suggesting related documents for given input articles. All data in Mr. DLib, including literature recommendations, can be accessed via a RESTful web service.
This service:
- helps academic service providers enhance their own portfolio, e.g., by providing more precise literature recommendations
- supports researchers in need for (large amounts of) bibliographic data or scholarly full-texts, e.g., to perform impact or trend analyses
- provides a base to other agents for building own services upon the data of Mr. DLib.
Probability Abstract Service
The Probability Abstract Service (PAS) is a project of Prof. Jim Pitman (UC Berkeley), which makes use of the web service of Mr. DLib to acquire metadata from other sources, such as arxiv.org.
User Guide
The Mr. DLib user guide is available here.
Related Publications
[1] J. Beel, B. Gipp, S. Langer, M. Genzmehr, E. Wilde, A. Nuernberger, and J. Pitman, "Introducing Mr. DLib, a Machine-readable Digital Library," in Proceedings of the 11th ACM/IEEE Joint Conference on Digital Libraries (JCDL`11), Ottawa, Canada, 2011.
Title = {{I}ntroducing {M}r. {DL}ib, a {M}achine-readable {D}igital {L}ibrary},
Author = {{B}eel, {J}oeran and {G}ipp, {B}ela and {L}anger, {S}tefan and {G}enzmehr, {M}arcel and {W}ilde, {E}rik and {N}uernberger, {A}ndreas and {P}itman, {J}im},
Booktitle = {{P}roceedings of the 11th {ACM}/{IEEE} {J}oint {C}onference on {D}igital {L}ibraries ({JCDL}`11)},
Year = {2011},
Address = {Ottawa, Canada},
Month = {Jun.},
Doi = {10.1145/1998076.1998187},
Url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/1998076.1998188}
Website: http://mr-dlib.org/


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How machine learning can speed quality measure development
Quality measures have become an essential component of the healthcare system. But ensuring that new measures are valid, reliable and evidence-based is a time- and labor-intensive process.
Advanced algorithms using machine learning and natural language processing can help measure developers significantly reduce the research time involved and find patterns in the evidence base that human readers may miss.
Such automation also may eventually help healthcare organizations themselves with self-improvement efforts based on their own research and their data.
Over the past several years, public and private healthcare payers, including the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, have been moving toward a value-based purchasing model in which healthcare providers are evaluated, and ultimately paid, by the outcomes they achieve rather than the volume of services delivered. The quality measure program provides an objective instrument to evaluate and track provider performance and drive improvements that lead to better patient outcomes or reduced healthcare costs.
To make this vision a reality, healthcare payers need to ensure that quality measures are valid, reliable and based on robust scientific evidence. To develop each measure, researchers must find and evaluate the relevant research that has been published on each topic, a process known as environmental scanning.
That has meant searching by keyword through the National Library of Medicine as well as policy documents, study results and summary information available through other libraries—a corpus containing millions of existing documents and growing daily. Human searchers then must evaluate all of the articles that are returned to find the ones that are most relevant, reliable and useful for measure development. This process can take hundreds of human hours per measure.
This is where machine learning can help. Advanced algorithms using machine learning and natural language processing can accelerate the review scientific research and make large knowledge databases useful and usable for both researchers and clinicians.
There are several different types of quality measures. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) defines three types of measures:
- Structural measures look at the organization's systems, capacity and processes, such as the ratio of providers to patients, physical facilities and equipment, the expertise they have on staff and training programs.
- Process measures focus on the care given, including treatments, preventative services, diagnostics and other actions taken by healthcare providers to maintain or improve health for patients.
- Outcome measures are focused on the impact that a service or treatment has on patient health status, such as morbidity, mortality, complications or improvement/deterioration in the condition being treated.
Within the structure-process-outcome model, the assumption is that effective structures enable good processes, and good processes increase the likelihood of a positive outcome. Measure developers look for these evidentiary links when designing quality measures and determining appropriate targets.
The majority of quality measures—in particular measures related to outcomes and processes—can be broken down into a standardized formula. These measures are expressed as a percentage, where the denominator is the target population and the numerator is the measure focus (the process or outcome we want to measure).
For example:
Measure focus = emergency room visits
Target population = patients with asthma
In this example, we would divide the number of emergency room visits within a timeframe by the total number of asthma patients under the provider's care to determine what percentage of asthma patients ended up in the emergency room during that time.
The measure then defines a change concept (or quality construct)—that is, an action taken by the healthcare provider that is intended to produce a change in the numerator of the formula. For asthma patients, this might be prescribing a medication for better long-term maintenance. For an outcome measure, the quality measure provides a prediction that when a certain action is taken (in this case prescribing a particular medication) there will be a positive change in the outcome (i.e., a reduction in emergency room visits).
A process measure has a similar structure, but instead seeks to measure how well the healthcare provider is implementing processes that have been defined as best practices. What percentage of the time are nurses providing appropriate discharge instructions to head trauma patients? What percentage of patients older than 50 are current on their colonoscopies?
Well-designed quality measures give healthcare providers evidence-based targets to benchmark their performance against and help them identify opportunities for improvement. Measure developers use the existing evidence base to set appropriate targets and ensure that measures support best practices grounded in valid research.
The highly structured format of quality measures makes them an ideal target for machine learning. Machine learning is a type of artificial intelligence that uses classification algorithms to sort through large volumes of data and detect patterns. Natural language processing allows the algorithms to "read" and "understand" documents written in natural (human) language. Using both of these methods together, computer programs can be designed to extract knowledge from scientific literature.
This is exactly how machine learning speeds up the process of healthcare quality measure development. Instead of conducting a simple keyword search, the program scans the content of the documents to determine which documents are most relevant to answering the question at hand.
For measure development, it must search for documents that contain the elements of a healthcare measure: e.g., the process or outcome, the target population and the change agent or opportunity. The most valuable documents will contain all three along with quantitative evidence that enables researchers to draw a valid conclusion: for example, "patients with Type II Diabetes (target population) reduced (change direction) the number of days their blood sugar was elevated (outcome) by 30 percent (quantity) when they added 30 minutes of daily aerobic exercise (change agent)."
Finding these correlations using keyword searches returns many articles that are generally about the target population, through which measure developers then must manually search and then develop guidelines. Artificial intelligence can significantly speed up the environmental scanning part of the process, cutting research time from months or years to days or hours by identifying a much more targeted set of literature and providing the measure developer summary information about the article.
To address the problem of measure development, a program using ontology-based categories and axioms can be applied to construct a knowledge base that enables meaning extraction. Axioms known as "triples" can enable a program to find relationships in the data that can be used for measure development. For example, "hand washing by nursing staff (change agent) reduces the spread of staphylococcus" (outcome) for hospital-bound patients (target population).
For measure developers, such programs can quickly sort through bodies of relevant literature and create a database of facts. They can then use an ontology to determine the relationships between these facts and map them onto the basic structure of a quality measure.
Human measures developers still need to review the extracted knowledge, evaluate the conclusions and do the work of writing the actual measure. But using AI for environmental scanning reduces the most laborious part of measure development to a small fraction of the time that humans would need to complete the process. By partnering with learning machines, the industry can not only make measure development faster, but also ensure that measures are based on the very best evidence available.


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Journey bariatric supplements are nutritional products designed for those undergoing surgical weight loss. Carefully crafted quality you can trust and formulated to meet the ASMBS guidelines, we are committed to restoring your health. Simply.
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Enjoy a discount of $5.00 off per tub of protein when purchasing a quantity of 2 or more!
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Worker dies of electrocution at ESB station
THREE separate probes are under way after a young worker was electrocuted following an incident at an ESB station.
Emergency services were alerted at around 3.10pm yesterday that a man had been injured at the electricity firm's station in Coldwinters, Finglas, north Dublin.
Paramedics performed life-support on the 22-year-old ESB Networks staff member, who was from Santry, Dublin, but he was later pronounced dead on arrival in the Mater Hospital.
It is understood early indications were that he had been electrocuted. He had been working with three others at the time but there were no other injuries.
The young man had been working in a small indoor section of the substation.
Irish Independent


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I was, beyond, easily distracted this morning at work. I accomplished everything I needed to and then my focus went out the window. I am far too excited about getting out of town for a few days! I cannot wait to be on the island, enjoying the sunshine, and most importantly spending time with good friends. Have I mentioned yet how excited I am?
Once I finished the things I needed to, pretty much all hope was lost. All that was on my mind were the things I need to finish before I leave today. Really? It's not much. I decided that since I had my work done and as much of it prepped for when I'm gone as possible, I should probably just leave earlier than planned. I thought about it early this morning when I decided to stay in bed instead of working out. Actually, that's not what happened. I got up and got ready to run and then felt the urge to use the bathroom. So I waited. And waited. By the time I was ready to start working out, I wasn't left with enough time. I relaxed in bed with my doggies for a while instead. I may have even dozed off a bit longer. I thought maybe, just maybe I could leave early enough to at least do my training run, if not the core work that's scheduled too. Well? The morning went smoothly, I finished what I didn't get done yesterday and here I am... Free for a few days!!
I'm going to squeeze in a quick workout, another shower, and then get ready to go accomplish a few things. I have a dental appointment (which is why I planned on leaving early today), then I'm off to get a spray tan (I'm far too white for Florida), and a few other errands to run and then I'm getting ready to hit the road... Well to the airport anyway. I'll be in Florida tomorrow morning, ready to relax and celebrate with my friends.
As far as the weekend and being healthy....
I will continue to count my calories and use my apps for tracking. I plan to eat as healthy as possible, which most of us know is sometimes difficult on vacation! Although I think it might be a good idea to have a blood test, I'm going to try to stay away from so much gluten this weekend. I just want to see how I feel. If I feel better I know that it does have some impact on me. I will probably wait and make an appointment with the doc next week, and go back to eating as I have been before that appointment so that my labs won't show a false negative.
I'm contemplating wearing my HRM when I walk around on Friday just to see how much I burn. We shall see. Sometimes I think that's "cheating" but then I remember it isn't something I usually do so it counts. I often don't count that and think of it as an extra benefit that just doesn't need to be tracked. Anyway, I'll track my actual exercise. I might sneak in a (short!) beach run on Friday evening. It just SOUNDS like a good thing to do. Nothing long, probably only a couple miles. This will help with missing my regularly scheduled workout that day and won't tire me out too much before my long run on Saturday morning. I haven't really talked to my friends to see what's going on, so that could change if I meet up with them at some point. I'm pretty much just going with the flow on Friday.
For my Saturday run, I mapped out a couple different run possibilities. One is a just shy of seven miles and the other is nearly eight. My run for this week is seven miles. I found some others online and may draw out more, but I'll most likely use one of those. I decided to stick to the street rather than the beach since I have not yet run on the beach. I don't want to try to do seven miles on an unfamiliar surface. That might be asking for trouble. Or it might be me getting a little too ambitious.
I suppose I should wrap this up and get moving! I've gotta get some work done before that appointment! As of now it looks like I'll just be doing a run, which is fine. I can do some core work later - doesn't have to be what's on the DVD, as long as I do something! Luckily body weight training exercises can be done anywhere. I packed a resistance band so I might do a little of that at some point too. It's just going to depend on how busy I am!
I'm not sure how much I'll post over the weekend, but will try to post at some point...A trip update, if anything. Time to get ready to enjoy a couple days in paradise....
Have a wonderful weekend!!!
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Easily Distracted!
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Nature Magick is a science fiction author, singer, graphic designer, and photographer. She loves to tell stories through fiction writing, photography, artwork, and music - usually all mediums at once. We have you covered with the widest range of official Nature Magick designed cases in the market!
Refined style and protection. This stylish case suits any occasion whilst keeping your mobile device protected and functional. Its sleek hard-shell shows off the slim profile of your device, whilst allowing easy access to ports and sockets.
Stand Out. Surround your device with quality designs that demand attention.
Secure Style. Durable polycarbonate shell provides lightweight protection from daily wear and tear.
Scratch Resistant. Raised lip design protects the front screen and edges from scuffs and scratches.
A Snap to Install. Single piece body design locks in protection in a simple snap.OFFICIAL NATURE MAGICK FLORAL MONOGRAM GOLD NAVY HARD BACK CASE FOR SONY PHONES 2
Raised front edge helps protect against screen scrapes if you place your mobile device facedown, Slim, lightweight construction easily slides in and out of pockets, One-piece construction locks in protection with a single snap, Hard-Shell Polycarbonate Material protects from scratches, drops, and dust, Full access to all device ports and features, Stylish, scratch resistant, high resolution printed graphics, Official Nature Magick product
Hard-Shell Polycarbonate Material
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Get specific details about this product from customers who own it.


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You can buy insurance for your pet just like you purchase it for your home, car, and health—it's a great way to ensure your pet's continued health if something unexpected happens. Here, your Marietta, GA vet goes over the basics of pet insurance.
How Pet Insurance Works
Pet insurance works like other insurance: you'll pay a premium (monthly or perhaps yearly) and have a set deductible. If something happens to your pet, you'll be able to use your insurance at designated providers to get your animal friend the healthcare they need.
What Pet Insurance Covers
Different types of pet insurance cover different things. There is catastrophic pet insurance, which covers major accidents and illnesses, as well as more routine plans that may help with medication costs or office visits. Talk to your vet to find out what type of pet insurance might work best for you and your pet.
Insuring Multiple Pets
Most pet insurance providers offer plans to cover more than one pet at once. This can be a great way to save money if you own more than one animal companion!
For more information on pet insurance, call your veterinary clinic Marietta, GA. We're here for you!


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Researchers at the University of Minnesota Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory have identified a third strain of the porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) virus in the U.S. and believe this is a sign that the virus will continue mutating as producers work to contain it.
Named "Minnesota188" or "S2aa-del", this strain was found to be at least as virulent as an original strain that emerged in the U.S. in early 2013. Since then, a second, less-virulent strain has also been discovered and together the two strains are responsible for killing approximately eight million pigs, roughly 10% of the U.S. hog population, in the past two years. This in turn has caused a reduction in the pork supply and has been largely responsible for pushing pork prices to record highs.
According to a recent article, the third strain was discovered by sequencing the complete PEDv genome by using next generation sequencing that clarified the relationship between the U.S. PEDv strains. Researchers reportedly believe that the original pig virus strain likely mutated due to an increased immunity response in hog herds and that documenting PEDv variation is vital to understanding the natural evolution of the virus and in identifying portions of the genome associated with different clinical disease features.
Traces of the virus were first discovered in Asia and Europe in the 1970s, but it is still unknown how the virus came to the U.S. Causing extreme diarrhea in baby pigs, researchers have previously determined that the virus spreads from pig to pig by contact with manure, which contains the virus. It can also be spread from farm to farm on trucks, and means that hog producers are advised to thoroughly wash trucks and other equipment just as they should to avoid the previous two strains.
"Whether or not exposure to one of the earlier strains provides protection against this strain, I don't think anybody knows the answer to that question," Harry Snelson, a veterinarian who represents the American Association of Swine Veterinarians, said in a recent interview.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, PEDv is not a threat to humans or food safety. For more information on Neogen's disinfectants that are effective against PEDv, click here.


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Physical Condition: B (Very good condition. Some light wear.)
Electrical Condition: Meets manufacturer's specifications
Designed for changeable tone arms. Includes new Ortofon Blue cartridge and stylus. Original box.
Completely refurbished.
George Meyer AV | 4844 W. Jefferson Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90016 | Phone 310.820.1113 | Fax 310.826.9769 | Email email@example.com


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HDD Pictures of Finding the Hardscape Ideas for your Patio or Backyard
Hardscape ideas can be used in the backyard area of the house or even better when you are preparing a patio area on a part of your house. To get the idea of a hardscape, besides looking pictures on the internet you can just take a walk around your neighborhood and find the idea of hardscape around. When you see something that is attractive o you, you can make it with a modification of your own creativity.
Knowing your stone material and how to combine the brick as the hardscape is what makes many people confuse when building their hardscape. There are many inlay combination and stone or brick material that you can try to make on your hardscape, when you are looking for inspiration but still don't know which hardscape you will make, you can contact your hardscape constructor to give you a suggestion of how it will be built.
Hardscape Ideas with Fountain
Building small modern fountain on your backyard can be an amazing view while you are enjoying meal on your patio. The hardscape ideas with fountain sure will require a harder work but the result is worth the hard work because beside the view that is beautiful, you can also get the calming effect that the water makes. The modern fountain means that it should not look like it's natural with all the natural stone.
Finding the Right Hardscape Materials
There are many hardscape materials of the hardscape bricks or stones. There are natural stones, laid stone, mortared stone, pebbles and many more. You can make use of several stone and brick to combine on your hardscape. Create a harmony between the stone and make sure that the shape does not overlap each other that will make your hardscape looks messy. When you are not sure what to do, contact your hardscape constructor and he will give you suggestion of how the stone and brick will be combined to a beautiful hardscape.
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JUMPERS FOR GOALPOSTS Music & Craft night
The Alley Café – Delicious Vegetarian and Vegan food served all day until 9pm
8.30pm – late thirty pm (all right, maybe midnight)
Thursday, 21st October is JUMPERS FOR GOALPOSTS night at the Alley Café!
October is, of course, SHOCKTOBER, therefore our regular CRAFT COMPETITION will have a ghoulish edge to start the Halloween fun early.
We will set you a Craft Challenge and we'll provide all of the paper, glue, tape, googlie eyes etc and you can set the dark side of your imaginations to create something that could win you MEGA PRIZES™©®
To soothe the TERROR of tables of people creating masterpieces out of children's craft supplies while eating, drinking and chatting, getting too much, we have the excellent Cecille Grey to calm your frantic nerves. Cecille Grey are sometimes two people, sometimes many more but always beautifully calming folk-tinged songs. Be nice to them as they will be judging the Craft Competition at the end of the night.
The fun starts about nine but it may be a big one this month, so arrive early go grab a table, in fact treat yourself to a veggie sausage sandwich for your Dinner and wash it down with a strawberry lassie before it all starts.


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I am fighting ovarian cancer – now I want everyone to know the signs
Debbie Bannon says she is lucky to be alive after being struck by a cancer many people call 'the silent killer'. She is now undergoing treatment as she warns other people of the importance of knowing the symptoms to look out for in ovarian cancer.
Debbie is a Labour activist, who is chair of the party's Meols Ward in Southport and IT officer of Southport Constituency Labour Party.
Read the full story in the Southport Visiter here – Southport Visiter or go to our Facebook page and discuss it with Debbie here – Southport Labour Facebook.


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"We have not had any security problems up until now and people are casting their votes without any problem," Zolfaqari told FNA on Friday afternoon.
Iranian voters queued up at the polling stations in hotly-contested elections on Friday to choose their next legislators for the next four years.
Voters are standing in long queues to cast their ballots in favor of their candidates.
Authorities appeared overwhelmed by the large number of the people who began lining up even before the polling stations opened for the country's 10th parliamentary and 5th Assembly of Experts elections.
The polling stations opened at 8 a.m. (0430 GMT) Friday morning and are slated to close at 6:00 p.m. (1430 GMT). But the deadline would be extended if the heavy turnout continues in coming hours.
According to Iranian interior ministry figures, a sum of 6,229 candidates have been cleared to compete for the 290-seat legislature but 729 of them have withdrawn from candidacy. More than 5,500 have carried out the final registration to run in the race. Candidates from all the three major camps, the Principlists, Moderates and Reformists are present in the race.
Iranians have also gone to the polls to elect 88 jurisprudential experts out of more than 800 prospective candidates for the 5th Assembly of Experts.
The 88 members of the Assembly will also be directly elected. The winning candidates of the Assembly of Experts' next term, lasting until 2024, possibly might have to choose the next Supreme Leader of Iran, or at the very least plan for it.
Over 53,000 polling stations have been set up for people to elect representatives to the parliament.
Hundreds of foreign reporters are in Iran to cover the Friday parliamentary elections in the country.
54,915,024 Iranians are eligible to vote in the elections.


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With the film "Arrival" opening in Chinese theatres soon, we thought it would be interesting to shine a spotlight on the man behind its story, technical writer and sci-fi author Ted Chiang. Starring Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, and Forest Whitaker, the film is based on his acclaimed novella "Story of Your Life." Although Chiang still isn't a household name after juggling his twin careers for decades, he is well-known within the sci-fi community and has been honored with many prestigious writing awards.
In a recent interview, Chiang attempted to explain the difference between technical and creative writing: "Technical writing is radically different from fiction writing for me; the only thing they have in common is that they draw on the sentence-creation part of my brain. I'm not sure that technical writing has had a direct impact on my fiction, but I think the impulse that originally drew me to technical writing is also one that underlies my fiction, and that is a desire to explain an idea clearly."
Born in 1967, Chiang fell in love with sci-fi at a young age and began submitting stories to magazines by the time he was 15. He still hadn't been published by the time he reached college, though, and the flow of rejection letters demoralized him. Chiang eventually took a job as a technical writer for Microsoft in Seattle, and he continued to write stories throughout his technical writing career. In 1990, the sci-fi magazine Omni finally agreed to publish his short story "Tower of Babylon," which would go on to win Chiang his first Nebula Award – an annual prize for the best science fiction and fantasy stories published in the U. S.
It took another 8 years for Chiang to publish his second hit, "Story of Your Life," about a woman who is enlisted by the military to translate and communicate with a race of aliens whose language proves so difficult that it ends up altering the way she views the world around her. Chiang demonstrated his dedication to accuracy by spending four years studying linguistics to make the story more convincing. His work is particularly notable for its meticulous detail and consideration of scientific concepts and their effects on the human condition which result in deep, meaningful stories that often leave fans questioning their own existence.
In a 2015 interview with the California Sunday Magazine, Chiang stated that "he now spends half his time on his technical-writing work, which he says he enjoys because he likes explaining things, and devotes the other half to fiction." He once famously declined a Hugo award because he felt the story wasn't deserving of it, but now, at nearly 50 years of age, Chiang may finally gain the popularity he has long sought after. The critical acclaim (94% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) and worldwide box office (US$157 million) of "Arrival" may give Chiang more attention than he is ready for.
Like Ted Chiang, the technical writers at CSOFT are driven to explain ideas clearly. We strive to make the best edits and translations, whether we are working on engineering documents or more creative items like press releases or blog articles. We challenge ourselves and take pride in using our hard work and ingenuity to produce the best results for our clients. And who knows where the next Ted Chiang might be found?
"Arrival" is set for release in China on January 20th, 2017.
Written by Tyler Klementti, Technical Writer at CSOFT International


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Video length: 7 minutes
Speaker: Dr Tom Calma AO, University of Canberra Chancellor
Then by the time we came in to the 70s, we started to see a far greater movement across the nation and it was starting to trickle down in to Darwin where we saw places like Retta Dixon Home, which was part of where our children, our Stolen Generation's children, were accommodated and supposedly looked after by the State. Well we started to see the breakup of institutions like that and the Kahlin Compound before then as a great awareness came across the nation that it wasn't good enough to incarcerate or to take care of our children by the State. We had to redress a whole range of issues where we were over generations, successively taken away from our people, from our culture, from our land. We weren't allowed to express ourselves as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
But that was all starting to change in the early 70s and that's where we started to get a better understanding of human rights and so we then start to look at the big reforms that came. The 1975 Racial Discrimination Act, which was phenomenal. For the first time in Australia we had domestic legislation that said that, you know, you couldn't discriminate based on race, which was really an expression, a domestic expression of the international covenant on the eradication of all forms of discrimination. So they were, you know, the sort of big reforms. We saw the election of the Whitlam Government and at the time, the Labor Government that was then recognising Aboriginal people a lot more, following on from the '67 referendum.
But also recognising our relationship with land which was important. Instead of being taken away from the land, we suddenly recognized and so we saw the very famous handing over, you know, of the sand to Vincent Lingiari by the Prime Minister of the day, Gough Whitlam and you know, great movement. And we saw the emergence, in 1976, in the lead up to 1976, Aboriginal Land Rights Act, Northern Territory, which is Commonwealth legislation which gave recognition and authority to Aboriginal-Torres Strait Islander people to formally lodge claims for our land, to be recognised. It was very important because that coincided with a period when a lot of our older people were also passing on and so, you know, we've got a situation where we've been taken off our land, taken away from our culture, institutionalised. To suddenly go back, which is also happening at the same time as reforms like the Land Rights Act, you're getting reforms like the Racial Discrimination Act coming in. So they were very important in the general movement and of course we had that, in Canberra, the great events that are associated with the Tent Embassy, in the early 70s, which are important in terms of raising awareness.
So there's no single event that raised awareness but there are a whole lot of things all happening around about the same time and you know, with the '67 Referendum where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and particularly Aboriginal people, were able to get that recognition, to know that it was a bit safer to recognise that you were an Aboriginal person or of Aboriginal descent. To know that if you did say that, it didn't mean being excluded from employment, from education, from access to good health services and so forth. It then meant that you could start to apply to the Government for homes and accommodation and to live like all other citizens in Australia, we were able to live as equals and that was just the start of the process. It's still a work in progress in my view and we still haven't got equality in health, we haven't got equality in outcomes of education and employment.
So we're a long way behind, you know, in those equality issues that are very much related to human rights.


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Injury-Plagued Matt Prior Pulls Out of England Duty
Matt Prior has had a torrid season behind the stumps and his rash dismissal, unwisely hooking Ishant Sharma, played a key role in England's second innings collapse. He has dropped six catches of varying difficulty this season and with the bat he has averaged just 25.
After his side's crushing defeat by India on Monday, England wicketkeeper Matt Prior said that he will not play any more Tests this season and may have ended his international career. (India on High While England Hit Rock Bottom)
Prior, 32, said he needs time off to treat injuries, including an Achilles problem that will need surgery, which has hit his form. The Sussex player revealed his decision to step away from England action just hours after his country slumped to a 95-run defeat in the second Test against India at Lord's. (Match Report)
Lancashire's Jos Buttler is the leading candidate to replace Prior and he will learn if he has been given the nod on Tuesday when England name their squad for the third Test in Southampton starting Sunday. ('Indians Can Bounce Teams Out Too')
Prior has had a torrid season behind the stumps and his rash dismissal, unwisely hooking Ishant Sharma, played a key role in England's second innings collapse. He has dropped six catches of varying difficulty this season and with the bat he has averaged just 25. (Cook Struggles to Accept 'Tough Lord's Defeat')
Prior attributes his poor form to injury complaints. "I'm not doing justice to myself and more importantly the team and that is what matters first and foremost," Prior said."I tore my quad before the first Test and my right hand has been beaten to a pulp, but the main issue is the Achilles. (England Bullied, Bounced Out by India, Says Warne)
"Now we have the time, I want to be pro-active about how we deal with it so I imagine that I'll have an operation. I've always said as long as I can do my job I will manage the pain and get on with it, but it has now got to the point where I can't do my job to the level I expect of myself."
An emotional Prior is reported to have told his England team-mates of his decision in the Lord's dressing room following their defeat. He feels he has no choice but to have a spell out of the firing line, but is hopeful of regaining his fitness and challenge for his place next year.
For now, he accepts that with 79 Test caps to his name he may have played his last game for England. That is especially difficult to take as he was keen to play his role in rebuilding a team struggling badly after a miserable run of 10 consecutive Tests without a victory.
"It is a huge decision and not one I've taken lightly obviously because I could have played my last game. Playing for England is the greatest honour you can have in the game and that is my motivation to come back and try and play again in the best possible condition.
"I've made my decision for the good of the team and whoever comes in I genuinely wish them the best of luck and hope they go well and perform and help the team win. That is all I want.
"If that happens and I don't play again, then that was my lot. I'll be disappointed because there are a few things that I wanted to achieve and thought I would, but I can also look back and know I did some pretty good things," Prior said.


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WARN Act Resources
- The U.S. Department of Labor's website contains links to several WARN Act resources, including a Fact Sheet, to help workers and employers understand their rights and responsibilities under the law. (See also Compliance Assistance Materials).
- The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, Public Law 100-379 (29 U.S.C. § 2101 et seq.).
- The Federal Regulations, 20 CFR Part 639.
- Congressional Research Service Report by Cornell University's School of Industrial & Labor Relations.
- For all WARN questions or for more information contact:
Ceola Coles
WARN Policy Advisor
U.S. Department of Labor
Employment and Training Administration
Washington, DC
Telephone: (202) 693-3519
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Preventing Layoffs
Managing Layoffs
- Let Us Help
- Notice Requirements
- Benefits of Rapid Response
- Assistance to Employees
- Job Loss Due to Foreign Trade
- Health Insurance Considerations
- Environmental Considerations


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Items where Author is "Tan, Tian Swee"
|Up a level
Group by: Item Type | No Grouping
Jump to: Article
Number of items: 1.
Mazenan, Mohd Nizam and Tan, Tian Swee and Tan , Hui Ru and Azhim, Azran (2015) Statistical parametric evaluation on new corpus design for malay speech articulation disorder early diagnosis. American Journal of Applied Sciences, 12 (7). pp. 452-462. ISSN 1546-9239


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The Halliday Cup for music was presented to Sherborne School by Ronald James Rivers Halliday (1902-1963) in memory of his brother, Second Lieutenant Charles Graham Rivers Halliday (1897-1917) who was killed in action at Ypres on 13 June 1917.
Charles Graham Rivers Halliday was born on 28 June 1897 at Shawford, Hampshire. His parents were Charles George Halliday, a Professor of Music, and Francis Amy Halliday (née Rivers).
Charles attended Highfield School at Liphook, Hampshire, and in September 1911 followed his brothers, Gerard Rivers Halliday (1894-1952) and Ronald James Rivers Halliday (1902-1963), to Sherborne School where he was awarded a Scholarship. Charles remained at Sherborne School until December 1914, during which time he boarded at Lyon House and was a member of the 1st XV rugby football team (1914). He was also a Company Sergeant-Major in the Officer Training Corps (1914) and a member of The Sophists (a debating society).
After leaving Sherborne, Charles went straight Woolwich, transferring in July 1915 to Chatham. In February 1916, 2nd Lieutenant Halliday was sent to France with the 1st Field Squadron, Royal Engineers, attached to the 1st Cavalry Division. On 1 June 1917, he was transferred to 225th Field Company, Royal Engineers, and was killed in action just twelve days later at Ypres on 13 June 1917, fifteen days before his twentieth birthday.
Charles's death was announced at Sherborne School by his former housemaster, Alec Trelawny-Ross, in the Lyon House Letter:
'C.G. Halliday (R.E.) was killed in action "in front of the very front line" on June 13th. He was one of the "builders" of the House, a tower of strength when it was in the making and a great friend. He died as he would have wished, for he was every inch a soldier and a man. No.2 Dormitory will be called after him, that members of the House may learn and remember the qualities that helped him to help the House so much.'
2nd Lieutenant Charles Halliday was buried at Vlamertinghe New Military Cemetery in Belgium (III. A. 17). The inscription on his headstone reads: 'Upright in all his ways. Honoured by all. Till the day break. The shadows flee away.' He is also remembered on a memorial plaque at All Saints church at Farringdon, Hampshire.
At Sherborne School, 2nd Lieutenant Halliday is remembered in the Book of Remembrance and on the School war memorial. He is also commemorated on no. 31 memorial pew in the School Chapel and on the Lyon House war memorial.
The Halliday Cup was first awarded at Sherborne School in 1925. It was won that year by George Weldon, who would go on to become Chief Conductor with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (1944-1951) and Associate Conductor with the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester (1952-1963).
For many years the cup became a House Cup, awarded to the House which produced the best combination of senior and junior pianists, before reverting in 2008 to its original purpose.
Previous winners of the Halliday Cup:
|George Anthony Thomas Weldon (piano)
|Kenneth Desmond Findeisen (piano)
|Kenneth Desmond Findeisen (piano)
|Ronald Ernest Woodham (piano)
|Maurice Pettitt (piano)
|Ronald Ernest Woodham (piano & general musicianship)
|Maurice Pettitt (piano & general musicianship)
|John Percy Hotchkis (piano & general musicianship)
|Geoffrey Albert Collings (piano & general musicianship)
|(no competition)
|Geoffrey Albert Collings (piano & general musicianship)
John Rodie Peters (piano & general musicianship)
Adjudicator: A.E. Brent Smith
|Edward Hughes (organ)
Adjudicator: Philip Fowke
|(no competition)
|Benjamin Craw (baritone)
Adjudicator: David Bednall (OS)
|Benjamin Craw (baritone)
Adjudicator: Robert Aldwinckle
|Theodore Irvine (piano)
Adjudicator: Roderick Swanston
|Yuk Chun (Calvin) Tsang (piano)
Adjudicator: Dr Stephen Darlington
|Robert Folkes (baritone)
Sau Tak (Douglas) Mak (piano)
Adjudicator: Paul Drayton
|Finnbar Blakey (piano, baritone)
Adjudicator: Martin Walker
|Josh Cook (piano, organ)
Adjudicator: Philip Fowke
|Finnbar Blakey (baritone)
Adjudicator: Susie Allan
Posted 23 January 2018 by Sherborne School Archives.
Visit Sherborne School Archive News for more stories from the archives.


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Gouty Arthrits
Today I want to actually emphasize on highly seen but moderately treated "Gouty Arthritis". Gout which is also known as "BIG TOE" in our laymen terms is actually the joint disease caused by increase in the uric acid levels. When this increase in the particular uric acid levels exceeds than the normal, it leads to the formation of small crystal which gets deposited on the 1st metatarsophalangeal joint. This might further lead to combined inflammation causing pain and limitations of the movements.
- Not long ago i came across two cases of gouty arthritis.
- The first case was of a 43-year old man experiencing gout.
- The second case was of a 14 year old teenager.
- The symptoms of pain and inflammation had been seen on bilateral lower extremities 1st metatarsophalangeal joints.
- The sufferer reports of difficulty in performing heel rise or standing on the toes.
- The patient also reported of pain on hyperextension of the 1st MTP Joint (metatarsophalangeal joint).
Physical Therapy: The most likely goal to be achieved over here is to cut the symptoms of pain and inflammation. To be able to combat pain, actual therapists are able to use different strategies like muscle stimulation, hot packs and gentle mobilization for the joint range improvement. I recently tried the contrast bath way for the joint pain relief. I could clearly see that the patient confirmed 75% difference in his complain of pain. The pain reduction might be due to the vasodilation and constriction mechanism caused by the contrast bath method. The other technique in which I found really attractive as well as worked to my surprise is "Stretching". I found that performing the stretching of peroneus longus proved quite effective for the patient. The patient reported decrease in the pain from 8/10 in order to 6/10 on the visual analogue scale. The heavy muscle tissue massage also produced a positive response in the patient.
Gouty Arthritis (Gout) and Uric Acid
Gouty arthritis, or gout, is an extremely painful disease that affects the joints of the elderly, the obese, and the diabetics. Crystals of uric acid are found in these ...
Well as we have normally seen gout in the middle age patients I recently came across an article that states that younger patient who are obese can also are afflicted by gout. The article is presented by Demarco et al (2011). This without a doubt opens up the options for evidence based research. The research evidence suggest that obesity is not only associated with gout, but young obese patients are also at high risk for the onset of gout.
So How Does this Imply in Our Physical Therapy Practice
If you get an obese young patient with the symptoms of pain and inflammation in the MTP joint, will you ever consider other consequences associated with the symptoms? PT's normally come across more youthful patients with the signs of pain and inflammation in the foot, ankle, knee and so forth. We rather likely take outdoor games as one of the reason for the symptoms. Whereas for now it is important for us to look back to the symptoms which is often the likelihood of other pathologies and not outdoor games.. "Broad Thoughts as well as pondering out of the box is actually an important step in today's PT practice"
Reference: Demarco, M
A, Maynard, J, Huizinga, M.A, Baer, A. N, Kottgen, A, Gelber, A. C & Coresh, J. (2011). Younger age at gout onset is related to obesity in a community-based report. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2011 August; 63(8): 1108-1114


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OPIC CEO travels to Japan; Signs Commitments with JBIC and NEXI Supporting Investment in Emerging Markets
November 7, 2017
TOKYO, JAPAN –Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the U.S. Government's development finance institution, President and Chief Executive Officer Ray W. Washburne today signed Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) with Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) Chief Executive Officer and Executive Managing Director Tadashi Maeda and Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI) Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Kazuhiko Bando highlighting their commitment to tackling development challenges and bolstering investment in infrastructure, energy and other critical sectors throughout Asia and the Indo Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa. U.S. Ambassador to Japan William F. Hagerty and State Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry Kosaburo Nishime officiated at the signing ceremony.
During his remarks on November 6 in Tokyo to American and Japanese business leaders, President Donald J. Trump stated that the agreements are "a major development that will advance our shared interests in the region."
Each MOU develops a framework for cooperation between the agencies to bolster support for investment in emerging markets by mutually collaborating on projects that meet policy objectives and by coordinating business development efforts.
"These agreements will allow us to have a broader impact while strengthening the continued work between the U.S. and Japan," Mr. Washburne said. "Through focusing on infrastructure and energy projects around the globe, we can enhance the position of our respective private sector companies in an increasingly competitive global market."
The MOUs follow the recent Japan-U.S. Economic Dialogue, when the Governments of Japan and the U.S. committed to bolster energy and infrastructure projects in emerging markets. To date, OPIC, JBIC, and NEXI have coordinated support for several projects together including a 370MW natural gas-fired power in Jordan and a private equity fund supporting the renewable energy value chain in India and South Asia.
From Tokyo, Mr. Washburne is traveling to Vietnam in conjunction with President Trump's visit to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Chief Executive Officer Summit.
The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) is a self-sustaining U.S. Government agency that helps American businesses invest in emerging markets. Established in 1971, OPIC provides businesses with the tools to manage the risks associated with foreign direct investment, fosters economic development in emerging market countries, and advances U.S. foreign policy and national security priorities. OPIC helps American businesses gain footholds in new markets, catalyzes new revenues and contributes to jobs and growth opportunities both at home and abroad. OPIC fulfills its mission by providing businesses with financing, political risk insurance, advocacy and by partnering with private equity investment fund managers.
OPIC services are available to new and expanding businesses planning to invest in more than 160 countries worldwide. Because OPIC charges market-based fees for its products, it operates on a self-sustaining basis at no net cost to taxpayers. All OPIC projects must adhere to best international practices and cannot cause job loss in the United States.


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KDE Commit-Digest for 16th September 2007
In this week's KDE Commit-Digest: Continued work in Plasma, including a KMLDonkey data engine, a RSS data engine and news feed applet, and a Virtual Desktop switcher applet. More interface work for Amarok 2.0, with progress on alternate music service integration. Support for webseeding in KTorrent. Support for network access of colour palettes in KolourPaint. An Akonadi resource for the del.icio.us bookmarking service. CMake support for PyKDE4 applications. Wider logging support in KSystemLog. SVG caching optimises usage, resulting in speed gains in many applications. KTeaTime rewritten for KDE 4, KPlayer ported to KDE 4. New game based on "Deal or No Deal" arrives in playground/games. More code reorganisation in KDE SVN. KAider translation utility moves to kdereview.
Wow, I'm really, _really_ impressed by the music support for koffice, it looks extremely good and I'm sure will be very usefull! Is this all written by just Marijn Kruisselbrink in just the summer of code? Impressive!
Do you know if there also will be a little program specialised in writing music like kformula is for formules?
I think KOffice is really going to rock when it's released!
Re: impressed
Owh and I had another question, do you think musicxml can be added in the future to the odt standart like I think mathml is too?
Re: impressed
First take your go 'n kill the Open XML standard
By Martin at Mon, 2007/09/17 - 5:00am
Re: impressed
One way to kill that standard is to make ODF useful enough that people use it. Open XML gets attention because a lot of people use Microsoft Office. The more people we can get using something else, the better chance we have of killing the idea of making Open XML a standard.
To that end, adding things like MusicXML to the standard makes ODF useful to people like musicians. (Particularly if we can get someone from Open Office to add support for it, but also getting support into the programs they use, Finaly for instance)
We can't move everyone to ODF at once, but move small groups over, and those small groups together have power to force the rest of the world.
By Hank Miller at Mon, 2007/09/17 - 5:00am
Re: impressed
Let others fight _against_ it and we fight _for_ improving the usability and feature set, so that there are *good* and solid alternatives available
By she at Mon, 2007/09/17 - 5:00am
KDE 4.0 is going to be great. Guys, keep it up.
By neurondev at Mon, 2007/09/17 - 5:00am
kplayer rocks
Glad that kplayer has been ported to KDE 4. That is the best front-end to Mplayer that handles video in general and videocds, audiocds and video dvds in particular flawlessly. The way it has been designed to work with discs is especially brilliant. Congrats to the developers
By Ask at Mon, 2007/09/17 - 5:00am
Re: kplayer rocks
anybody knows how it compares to smplayer ? it also seems to be a very nice frontend (it worked when plain mplayer didn't for me...) and is moving to qt4.
By richlv at Mon, 2007/09/17 - 5:00am
Re: kplayer rocks
Thing is, why don't smplayer/kmplayer/kplayer developers collaborate together? Do they have different goals for their players or do they enjoy competing to see who can produce the best? As a bystander, it seems like needless duplication of effort but of course I could be wrong.
By Alan Denton at Mon, 2007/09/17 - 5:00am
Re: kplayer rocks
It's already getting better, the whole player engine is being abstracted away by Phonon. The simple players will really be the same, and I think these will disappear. Only the more complex ones will differentiate enough to survive. Give it some time...
Re: kplayer rocks
Do you know what's the status of Video Player, Codeine's KDE4 version?
By Richard Van Den Boom at Mon, 2007/09/17 - 5:00am
smplayer is better ;-)
SMPlayer is by far the best, no?
It is based on QT4 and Mplayer.
By veton at Mon, 2007/09/17 - 5:00am
Re: smplayer is better ;-)
smplayer has lots of features I can see from the screenshot. It has like 25 buttons, too busy for my taste. Video Player will have like a button and two sliders by default. Anyways it appears they fill different niches in the video player ecosystem.
However I read that smplayer remembers settings for video files, this was always the killer feature for Codeine for me. So that is pretty awesome. :) Every video player should have this IMO.
By Ian Monroe at Tue, 2007/09/18 - 5:00am
Re: smplayer is better ;-)
Absolutely, for 95% of my video watching needs, codeine is the absolute best choice out there. Only when I want to watch certain wmv files I use VLC, and only because xine can't decode them properly (lots of artifacts).
By Leo S at Tue, 2007/09/18 - 5:00am
Re: smplayer is better ;-)
see this entry on Xine's bugtracker: http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1795720&group_i...
certain videos work with ffmpeg (ffplay), mplayer (ffmpeg), mplayer (win32) and xine (win32, you can force it to use the dlls) but are broken in xine (ffmpeg). Really curious.
Anyway, my favourite frontend remains kaffeine 0.4.3. Just the buttons I need , simple keybindings, and I like having language settings right there, and a vertical volume slider makes me happy http://img64.imageshack.us/my.php?image=kaffeine7gu.png
By jason at Tue, 2007/09/18 - 5:00am
Re: smplayer is better ;-)
That's one thing I would like to have in Codeine / Video Player : the ability to select language for sound and subtitles through a right click option.
By Richard Van Den Boom at Tue, 2007/09/18 - 5:00am
Re: smplayer is better ;-)
Exactly. Just one button, one or two sliders, starts almost instantly when I double click on a video file, remembers settings for each video file AND no system tray.
By Richard Van Den Boom at Tue, 2007/09/18 - 5:00am
Re: smplayer is better ;-)
KPlayer has even more features, they are just less intrusive and not visible in the initial install, but are very easy to find and turn on.
KPlayer is more complete compared to SMPlayer and everything else. The multimedia library and the device handling are the killer features. Playlist handling is very nice as well.
By hmmm at Tue, 2007/09/18 - 5:00am
Re: smplayer is better ;-)
Definitely too busy. I wrote my own "ideal video frontend" and it's just a PyGTK XEmbed socket in a frame (so MPlayer can't un-minimize against my wishes when it changes files) and some Python scripting to keep track of which anime episodes I've already watched.
It looks and acts just like the non-GTK mplayer binary... just a bit more intelligent. The TODO list is still fairly large but it's usable and you can pull the bzr repo at https://launchpad.net/animu-player/ if you're curious.
Oh, in case anyone is still reading, here are some of the ideas I had for future features:
Yeah... I'm *very* lazy.
By Stephan Sokolow at Tue, 2007/10/02 - 5:00am
Re: kplayer rocks
Vir made it compile recently, but it crashes on startup. Amarok 2 is taking up my coding time currently.
By Ian Monroe at Tue, 2007/09/18 - 5:00am
Re: kplayer rocks
I wonder if there will be a plasmoid for being able to reproduce a video in a small window and always in foreground. Sometimes I like to watch videos while browsing :)
Re: kplayer rocks
These multitask people.... ;-)
By No one at Mon, 2007/09/17 - 5:00am
Re: kplayer rocks
Why do you need a plasmoid for that? Any window in KDE can be made to stay above other windows, so you can already do what you want *now*.
By Andre at Mon, 2007/09/17 - 5:00am
Re: kplayer rocks
...because plasmoids are the latest hype today. I think people would even implement start menus and mail servers as plasmoids these days...
By me at Mon, 2007/09/17 - 5:00am
Re: kplayer rocks
well, work on a startmenu is going on, I dunno about mail servers - but I'm pretty sure you'll be able to contact them using aKonadi ;-)
Re: kplayer rocks
of course, it won't be complete until there is an irc client and a text editor. =P
By Aaron Seigo at Mon, 2007/09/17 - 5:00am
Re: kplayer rocks
Great text editor, could use a desktop though. ;)
By Sutoka at Tue, 2007/09/18 - 5:00am
Re: kplayer rocks
Maybe someone can make an emacs plasmoid and get all that at once ;)
By jason at Tue, 2007/09/18 - 5:00am
Re: kplayer rocks
For that, we would just embed a KPart in a Plasmoid, no? :-)
By Andre at Tue, 2007/09/18 - 5:00am
Re: kplayer rocks
Would be so cool to have Kaffeine and Amarok in a single multimedia app.
I have a lot of Music titles stored as video clips, but not all. And I'd like to have playlists that mix video clips and mp3 files.
When friends are at home, I'm using a video projector to display video clips with kaffeine, and I'd be happy to have mp3 files played within video clips (displaying visual effects). But AFAIK, it's not possible for now (while it is using winamp on windows).
Each apps would benefit the other app great features. Multimedia desktops like MythTV and such are only regrouping multimedia applications and thus does not permit (AFAIK) the above.
Though that's only my personal feeling....
By olahaye74 at Tue, 2007/09/18 - 5:00am
Re: kplayer rocks
That's a cool idea - a "Media Konqueror" of sorts. But seeing as how the swiss army knife approach is being abandoned in KDE 4 (Konqueror->Dolphin as default file manager), such a program would probably only be an optional extra...
By Darryl Wheatley at Tue, 2007/09/18 - 5:00am
Re: kplayer rocks
You just described KPlayer precisely. Go try it, you'll like it.
By aha at Tue, 2007/09/18 - 5:00am
KDE-Edu Polishing Day
The commit digest does not mention that on Saturday the KDE-Edu team had a debug day (Polishing Day) and fixed several bugs. GUI also was improved following users feedback (KHangMan, Marble, KGeography and blinKen). Very often us developers know our application so well that we are not able to see it the way the user does.
By Anne-Marie Mahfouf at Mon, 2007/09/17 - 5:00am
Re: KDE-Edu Polishing Day
This is an important point. In fact, I think it's so important that you should write a separate article about it. Lots of pics of 'before' and 'after'. Kudos to the participants. Descriptions of the adorations of the masses. That sort of thing.
By Inge Wallin at Tue, 2007/09/18 - 5:00am
Its really nice to hear from Akonadi
By Emil Sedgh at Mon, 2007/09/17 - 5:00am
Woot! Great app, small, simple and to the point. Easy to forget when coding.... :)
By am at Mon, 2007/09/17 - 5:00am
Re: KTeaTime!
Without KTeaTime, my pizza would have burnt in the oven several times.
By Stefan at Mon, 2007/09/17 - 5:00am
lots of data engines
These plasma data engines will definitely be usefull, but a question keeps nagging at me : aren't we reimplementing a read-only, kde-centric version of DBUS ? I have a vague feeling that plasma engines are more ressource-efficient, but that's the only advantage I can think of.
What's the advantages of plasma engines over DBUS and vice-versa ? When should we use one over the other ? Does it make sense to write "DBUS plasma engine" and "plasma DBUS service" bridges ?
By Vincent de Phily at Mon, 2007/09/17 - 5:00am
Re: lots of data engines
dbus is a communication protocol. plasma data engines GENERATE the data, eg download & parse data from several weathersites and expose it to the plasmoids (that last part could be dbus, maybe it even is, I dunno).
Re: lots of data engines
The plasmoids and data engines are all in the same process and so there is no need to use dbus. The data engines just emits a signal with a hash of names and their values, and a slot in the plasmoid picks that data up.
By Richard Dale at Mon, 2007/09/17 - 5:00am
Re: lots of data engines
the point of DataEngines is to provide a uniform API that is data-centric to a variety of sets of information. the implications of this are many, including the ability to write generic visualizations (meters, text displays, etc) that can be connected to any engine or the ability to easily access a wide variety of data from scripting languages. the other goal is to keep data presentation *simple* as opposed to complex custom data structures.
it's a very specific (to the use cases of plasma) model/view implementation. dbus is inter-process communication. the two have nothing to do with each other, other than the fact that some engines use dbus internally.
By Aaron Seigo at Mon, 2007/09/17 - 5:00am
I don't really know where to write this so...
... I would just want to suggest to KWord developpers to have a look at Lotus Word Pro. I don't think it's still developped by IBM but even the 2000 versions would do.
By Richard Van Den Boom at Mon, 2007/09/17 - 5:00am
Re: I don't really know where to write this so...
Hear, hear! I absolutely agree with this. Lotus Word Pro is still the most elegant Word Processor I have every used, especially with its lovely modeless, "floating palette" interface. The only piece of software I miss from my Windows days. I hope that Open Office or KOffice can take a look at this and seriously begin implementing its features, especially the beautiful GUI.
By The Vicar at Tue, 2007/09/18 - 5:00am
Re: I don't really know where to write this so...
you mean the Lotus that IBM just put up as a free download, for both windows and linux? :) http://symphony.lotus.com/software/lotus/symphony/home.jspa
By Chani at Wed, 2007/09/19 - 5:00am
Re: I don't really know where to write this so...
I've read that it was based on OpenOffice, so I don't expect to have Word Pro in it.
By Richard Van Den Boom at Wed, 2007/09/19 - 5:00am
Re: I don't really know where to write this so...
I'll gladly borrow good ideas; but I don't have the sofware. Please spent some time explaining them. Maybe a long mail to the mailinglist? Or a couple of wishlist items on bugs.kde.org?
By Thomas Zander at Wed, 2007/09/19 - 5:00am
Re: I don't really know where to write this so...
OK, I'm going to send a mail to the mailing list.
By Richard Van Den Boom at Wed, 2007/09/19 - 5:00am
Re: I don't really know where to write this so...
Hello Thomas,
I raised the issue with the Abi people quite some time ago. If you look at this report in their bugzilla, you will see many screenshots of the Word Pro interface and a great deal of information about how it all works:
I hope you will seriously consider this as most people who have used Word Pro have (anecdotally) reported it to be the most intuitive and elegant word processor that they have used. The same floating palette-tab system was used throughout the suite.
By The Vicar at Wed, 2007/09/19 - 5:00am
Re: I don't really know where to write this so...
I don't know if my mail went through to the Koffice mailing list, Gmail seems weird in the sense that I don't seem to get back the mails I sent to ML in general.
first, thanks a lot for the wonderful work done on Koffice, I've been using it
Following a bit of a stupid post I made on the Dot, Thomas Zander suggested me
Lotus Word Pro is definitely the most confortable, powerful, well designed
2/ A single, contextual, attribute box :
3/ Organize your docs in tabs
4/ Quick format
5/ Research / replace styles
Well, that's all that comes to my mind, right now. I would need to work with
Again, thank you all for all your work.
Richard Van Den Boom
By Richard Van Den Boom at Thu, 2007/09/20 - 5:00am
Re: I don't really know where to write this so...
I have also emailed Thomas directly with some specific detailed information relating to the "single, contextual, attribute box" which was the feature I most desire in a Linux word processor. He was very gracious in his reply and promised he would look into it.
By The Vicar at Fri, 2007/09/21 - 5:00am


text:
Garden Gnome -- Digitized!by MakerBot Jul 5, 2013
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Here's our second scan with the MakerBot Digitizer. We're building the Digitizer to be an affordable, simple 3D scanning tool that fits on your desktop and works perfectly with our MakerBot Desktop 3D Printers. This Garden Gnome shows some great steps toward that goal.
Take a look at the detail in the beard and clothes. This is surface detail that we want to be sure to capture, and it looks good here.
You'll notice that we printed this file on the MakerBot Replicator 2 at a smaller scale than the original. This is a simple operation in MakerBot MakerWare, our software that processes 3D models to prepare them for printing. Scale up, scale down, no problem. The scan envelope of the MakerBot Digitizer is about eight inches tall, meaning you could print full-height objects on the MakerBot Replicator 2 by turning them on their side.
Click here to stay fully up-to-date on the Digitizer progress in our lab, or check out our blog.
You can see the full "Digitized!" collection here.


text:
A classic of Grand Central Station, but so often neglected by us New Yorkers, is The Oyster Bar. The two times I've ever dined there (using the term "dined" somewhat loosely when you're sitting at a counter bar for a total of 45 minutes while waiting for a train and a bowl of chowder, hoping the latter arrives before the former) were with friends who live in Washington, DC and in Paris, at their requests. For some reason (perhaps the middling quality of the cuisine?), this isn't a place that quickly comes to the minds of those of us who live here.
OK, is the food the greatest? Nah, but the seriously classic throwback-to-another-time ambience and those Guastavino ceiling tile vaults make it a must-do at least once in a New York visit, even if that visit has an open-ended return to somewhere else (ie., you live here). And, if you're into seafood like oysters, clams, mussels, or even for that quick bowl of chower, it sure beats the noisy food hall in Grand Central's lower level - for recognition points back home, relative comfort (there's plenty of seating) and speed of service.
At least once, and take pictures!


text:
Event: March 4-8
Trade Show: March 6-8
George R. Brown Convention Center
Houston, TX
If you have questions or need assistance, please contact Brenda Kitts at firstname.lastname@example.com.
If you are not a member of the National Association of College Stores (NACS) please fax copies of the following to the NACS Registrar at (440) 775-1920 or mail to: 500 E. Lorain St., Oberlin, OH 44074.
For states without sales tax, any three of the above may be presented
If you are a company/vendor/wholesaler who is NOT a member of NACS, the only access to the trade show floor is to participate in the CAMEX Walk-through on Monday, March 7 from 3-5:30 pm. There is no fee, but the Walk-through is only offered at this time.
Sunday, March 6 to Monday, March 7
8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.
Tuesday, March 8
8:30 a.m.-2:00 p.m.
Thursday, March 3
8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.
Friday, March 4 to Saturday, March 5
7:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m.
Sunday, March 6
7:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.
(expect waits of 1-2 hours)
Monday, March 7
8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.
Monday, March 7
4:30-5:30 p.m.
Available to CCRA Members only and includes:
Licensed Retailers Only (not vendors) for all three days.
Does not include Educational Sessions or Special Event Tickets.
Family member-not business associate or staff member.
If you requested the mail badge option, your badge will be mailed to you at least two weeks before the event. Badges will not be mailed to countries outside the Continental U.S. Residents of other countries may pick up badges onsite at the CAMEX Scan & Go Stations in Houston. You will need your confirmation barcode.
Pre-register online and pick up your badge and tickets (if applicable) at the CAMEX Scan & Go Stations in Houston. You will need your confirmation barcode.
Please wait to register in Houston at the CAMEX Registration Desk.
In order to receive a refund, you must notify NACS in writing by mail, fax, or email by Feb. 19. Tickets and badge must be returned to the NACS Registrar before your refund will be processed. No refunds will be made after Feb. 19 or for no-shows.
CAMEX policy states that children, newborn thru age 18, are not permitted on the trade show floor at any time, other than during family hour from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. on Monday, March 7, 2016. Children must obtain a badge at Registration, and must be supervised by an adult while on the trade show floor during that hour.
If children, newborn thru age 18, will be accompanying you to Houston, please make arrangements for them during CAMEX.
Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.


text:
The inhabitants of the Black sea: jellyfish, dolphins, stingrays, sharks, crabs, fish. page 11 – Rest in Anapa
Fair to say that on the black sea coast is far less dangerous creatures than in many other places. Due to the low salinity and the poverty of the animal world, the Black sea very friendly to visitors. And yet, in rare, rare cases some nasty creatures may spoil our stay.
Stingray. Feeds on benthic molluscs. Visit sandy beaches, can stab or cut them serrated poisonous spine on the tail. Symptoms – severe pain, fever, nausea, heart problems. The long wound that never heals. Stingray prefers deserted sandy beaches, often to the shore at night. Safety measures: not to jump in such conditions in shallow water – try to lie down and float. To observe the cautious, meeting with floating ramp, removing it from the hook. You can get toxic shot, even the dead Stingray.
The Scorpion, sea ruff. Well camouflaged in the stones, overgrown by algae. Not shy. Dorsal spines contain a powerful venom. The injection causes severe pain, nausea, swelling. To get the shot, stepping on a Scorpion, removing it from the hook or razdelyaya.
Weeverfish.Often occurs on stony shallows. Quite shy, swims up to his hand. Can attack and jab poisonous sharp spines. A strong poison that causes loss of consciousness, prolonged malaise. Requires hospitalization.
Shark-Katran. Length of about one meter. Found at great depths far from shore. Not dangerous for tourists, as only fishermen when fishing it is possible to prick of poisonous spikes on the back or get a bite.
Jellyfish-kornerot. A large, purple jellyfish with long tentacles. Behind it in the water, stretching the filaments poisonous mucus. So you can get burned in the distance. Burns like nettles. Some sensitive people develop an allergic reaction. Precautions – do not swim for jellyfish if you touch the jellyfish, do not RUB eyes. Often the poison gets under the swimsuit, and burns the tender places. Need to go to the beach, change into dry – burning will cease.
Snake. Snakes (with yellow spots on the head) can be found in the dunes, the woods, by the river, in the sea (where they swim, hunt for fish). Snakes are harmless, but frightening. Large it can hurt to bite. Teeth are not poisonous, but prickly. The main weapon of the snake – stinking excrement, which he squeezes if to grab him. Also there are a Viper (spotted). Their bites many deaths.
Chaika. Huge aggressive bird. Able to fire droppings. Most dangerously wounded Seagull that can't fly and falls into the hands of compassionate children. Can inflict terrible wounds with its beak, gouge out an eye. The same hazard can pose other seaside birds (cormorants, pelicans, herons, terns, crows, rooks).
Dolphin. Large, very strong sea beast with a hundred sharp needle like teeth and bone with a battering RAM. Can be aggressive, hurt, hurting obsessive bathers.
Crab. Stone or grass crab can be very painful to pinch to break the skin.
Marine invertebrates. To burn or sensitive can tweak polychaete worms, marine crustaceans, cockroaches, and amphipods.
Bedbugs. Everyone knows bed bugs. You can meet them at the rented apartment. But there are wild bugs that sting. This water bugs (Gladysh, Plautus), has plenty of overgrown fresh water.
Mussels. Eating mussels can be poisonous of capital. Mussels filter microscopic toxic algae found in "blooming" water.


text:
If you were caught stealing $750,000 and convicted of the crime, how much time in prison do you think you would receive? In most states, a felony of this magnitude would result in a 10+ year prison sentence.
Do you think any of your family or friends would have enough power or connections to get you a lighter sentence? Or let me ask you, do think that someone in a position of power or influence should get a lighter sentence because of who they are or the position they hold? What about a US Representative? Should they get preferential treatment because they're an elected official?
In my opinion, our elected leadership should be the models of law abiding citizenship, and as such should be subject to harsher penalties for convictions of crimes, but that's not the case.
Jesse Jackson Jr., son of racist activist Jesse Jackson was the Representative from Illinois in the US House of Representatives. His position gave him the impression that he was above the law, much like President Obama. In typical corrupt Chicago political tradition, Jackson Jr. and his wife Sandra believed that they could get away with using campaign contributions for their own personal pleasures.
Jackson Jr. wasn't the brightest kid on the block when it came to money as he tried to push a stimulus package that he said would only cost $804 billion when simple math showed the total cost being $3 trillion.
By the time they were caught, the couple had pilfered $750,000 that they used for personal travel, furnishings for their home, and even for a nightclub hostess with whom he was having an affair. They also bought a gold-plated Rolex watch, furs, car repairs and numerous shopping trips to Costco.
At least Jackson Jr. was smart enough to see the writing on the wall and resigned his seat in Congress. Then both he and Sandra did their best to plea bargain down their sentence.
On Wednesday, US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson sentenced Sandra to a whopping 12 months in prison and Jackson Jr. to a lengthy 30 month sentence. Yep, two and half years for stealing three quarters of a million dollars. During the four hour long sentencing hearing, Judge Jackson, who made it known that she was not related, stated that Jackson should have lived up to a higher level of integrity and that he in fact did use campaign money as his 'personal piggybank.' Afterwards, she stated:
"There may be blurred lines for Congress to follow when their lives are political. This case did not come near those areas," she said after a hearing that lasted more than four hours.
"This was a knowing, organized joint misconduct that was repeated over many years."
The judge may have indicated that she wanted to be harder on the couple because they're not living up to a higher integrity, but because they were allowed to plea bargain, constraining her desire to sentence them to longer sentences. And why were they able to work out such a soft plea bargain? I suspect it had to do with Jackson Jr. being a former congressman, along with who his dad is and the fact that he represented Obama's Chicago neighborhood and that they were friends.
The one clear message this case sends is that if hold a position of power or prestige and are convicted of a crime, you stand a good chance of getting a slap on the wrist compared to the sentence the rest of us would get.


text:
Tools for Sellers
What to Expect in a Residential Real Estate Transaction
Recommended Title & Escrow Companies
• Ticor Title- Marisa Behnke
• Escrow Closing Services- Julie Timmins
Schools and Education
• Great Schools – The premier online guide to K-12 schools
• eSchool Profile – Providing quality school information online
• McCormack's – Newcomer-relocation-school guides to metro California
• CA School Test Scores - California Department of Education
• US Department of Education – Promoting education excellence for all Americans
Home Loans & Refinancing Info
• Charis Loans, Inc. – Loan Resources, Online Application, Local Southern California Company
• Daily Mortgage Rates – Mortgage rate updates by mortgage market information services
• Fannie Mae – Financial services make it possible for low, moderate, & middle-income families to buy
• Freddie Mac – corporation chartered by Congress to create a continuous flow of funds to mortgage lenders
• Mortgage Daily - Latest news in the mortgage industry
Moving Resources
• Click and Move – They've compiled a directory of over 1,000,000 moving and relocation related services
• Pods - PODS Moving Containers Make Moving Easy!
Tax Info and Resources
• Propositions 60 & 90 - Potential property tax savings for senior citizens.
• Los Angeles County Property Taxes
• Orange County Property Taxes
• Riverside County Property Tax Website
• San Bernardino County Property Taxes
• Taxpayer Relief Act – Explanation of 1997 law and it's implications
• 1031 Exchange – Use a 1031 exchange to defer payment of capital gains taxes
Home Inspections
• America's Hometenders – Local Southern California Home Inspection Company
• ASHI - National professional organization of home inspectors in the US and Canada
• CSLB - Contractors State License Board licenses and regulates contractors
• Code Check – Guide to the most commonly cited code violations for one and two family dwellings.
• Home Inspector Locator - Searchable database of over 3,000 experienced Home Inspectors across the US.
• House Detective – "Ask the Inspector," a public awareness forum
• Pest World - Why you need to inspect a home for termites before buying or selling
Search Like an Agent


text:
In 2008 Nigel Green completed a practice based PhD at UCA Maidstone which looked at the relationship between photography and the representation of modernist architectural space. His photographic work has been exhibited and published widely and in 2003 he completed a commission by Photoworks to document the power station complex at Dungeness in Kent. The book, which accompanied the project, was shortlisted for the 2004 Arles Festival Book Awards. Other major projects include 'Transmodernity: Calais Reconstruction' which documented the reconstruction architecture of the town and was published as a book in 2001 by the Calais Museum of Fine Art. Having a long-term interest in French reconstruction architecture he completed a project for the Picardy based photographic organisation Diaphane, which was exhibited and published in Amiens in March 2010.
Nigel came to photography through a fine art practice and continues to work on visual art projects alongside his purely photographic work. He also works as a freelance architectural photographer and his photographs have been included in many journals and papers. In 2009 he was commissioned by the De La Warr Pavilion to photograph six buildings for the exhibition 'Mind into Matter' which celebrated the 175th anniversary of the RIBA. Nigel also works as a sessional lecturer at the University for the Creative Arts.
Contact: firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
There's Never Just One Mouse
On Throw Back Thursday:
Seven years ago when my cat alerted me to a mouse under the heat duct, I knew in my head that there's never just one mouse. But my heart refused to listen and I said to myself, "Of course there's only one mouse, and when I catch that one I'm done."
Hah! Every fall I'm reminded that there are victories but in a 111 year old house you're never done. Thankfully there are so few mice this fall that Emmalina has not noticed them. Does this mean there are none or that she's too old to care?
On Throw Back Thursday, here's how naive I used to be about mice. It started with Mouse in the House and followed up with The Observer Effect.
p.s. The photo at top is seven years hold. Here's a recent one of Emmy, 12 years old now, playing with her treat ball.
(photos by Kate St. John)


text:
Email: "Are you still doing TrainerRoad workouts?"
Wednesday, November 27, 2013 by John Stone
Filed under Daily Blog
Yesterday I received an email from a JSF visitor who was wondering why I've not been doing any indoor TrainerRoad workouts lately. The simple answer is THE WEATHER! 🙂
For many cyclists this time of year is ideal indoor training weather, but where I live the cool and somewhat drier air is a welcome change from the incredibly long, hot and humid summer months. After six or seven months during which I break into a full sweat while airing up my bike's tires, I just can't bring myself to train indoors when it's 65° and sunny outside.
I'll probably return to structured indoor TrainerRoad workouts in January.
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and I'll be cooking a traditional Thanksgiving dinner for our family. I have a lot of prep work to do before the family arrives tomorrow, so I'm going to try to sneak out of the office about mid-day. I'd better get back to my work if I have any hopes of doing that. Have a great day!