text: 40 Watt Club The 40 Watt Club is one of the most famous and iconic music venues in the world. In addition to national acts, the club has served as a music home base for many of Athens' most beloved bands over the last 35 years, including R.E.M., the B-52's, Pylon, Love Tractor, Vic Chesnutt, Olivia Tremor Control, Five Eight, Neutral Milk Hotel, Jucifer, Drive-By Truckers, of Montreal, The Whigs, Maserati, and more. Read More Athens Area Arts Council The Athens Area Arts Council is a non-profit arts organization whose goal is to integrate the vast cultural resources of Athens into the fabric of our educational system and economy, as well as the culture of our community. AAAC also seeks to sponsor unique performances and events that will broaden the exposure of the arts in our community in the areas of art, music, dance, theater and literature. Read More Athens Ciné Athens Ciné screens a variety of intriguing films from a broad spectrum of countries and cultures. The newest domestic and foreign productions, as well as movie classics, retrospectives, features, and documentary films are shown. The selection includes well known crossover independent films and small budget films, discoveries from festivals, and local productions. Read More Athens Creative Theatre Athens Creative Theatre (ACT) presents several productions each year, including comedies, dramas, and musicals. Performances are presented at the Morton Theatre and Quinn Hall at Memorial Park. Formed in 1966, ACT continues to provide outstanding community theatre. In addition to theatrical performances ACT offers a range of theatre classes for youth and adults. During the summer ACT has two theatre performance camps out of their locations at Quinn Hall (memorial park) and the Morton Theatre in downtown Athens. For more information, call 706-613-3628. Read More AthFest 2016 | June 24-26 The AthFest Music & Arts Festival brings the best local and regional musicians and visual artists together in Downtown Athens, GA. By incorporating multiple events and venues throughout downtown, AthFest is able to reach a broad range of audiences and attracts an eclectic mix of lifestyle interests. Read More Athens Institute for Contemporary Art (ATHICA) ATHICA: Athens Institute for Contemporary Art is an independent, non-profit gallery promoting and supporting innovative contemporary art and artists through exhibitions, education, and events. ATHICA is committed to the local art community and to bringing in national and international contemporary artists of all media. Read More Caledonia Lounge Indie-rock club featuring up-and-coming local and national alternative acts. The Caledonia Lounge provides a small intimate venue for bands and has a full service bar in a space formerly occupied by the Fabulous 40 Watt Club. Read More The Classic Center The Classic Center is northeast Georgia's premier award-winning convention center and performing arts theatre. Located in the heart of downtown Athens, Georgia, The Classic Center provides unique meeting space, outstanding special events services and a wide range of entertainment options, making this unconventional convention center the choice for conferences, meetings, and special events! Read More Dragon Star Hobbies Your one stop shop for MTG, Yu-gi-oh, Warhammer 40k, Board Games, Pathfinder, Dungeons and Dragons, and all your gaming accessories. We strive to bring the gaming experience found in larger cities back to Athens, GA. Read More EcoFocus Film Festival EcoFocus Film Festival is a celebration of environmental films in Athens, Georgia. Our mission is to screen a diversity of high-quality films that promote discussion and inspire audiences into awareness and action on behalf of the environment. Read More Flicker Theatre & Bar We strive to be your downtown Athens home. Please check our events calendar for shows. We offer our theatre for rent for events, birthday parties, wedding parties, anniversaries as well as all sorts of shows. From live bands to comedy and variety shows, we are happy to host. Please contact our booking agent firstname.lastname@example.com. Read More The Foundry Giving a nod to its origin as an iron foundry, The Foundry is rooted in the concept of craftsmanship and attention to detail with fresh hints of Southern flare and fare bringing the space to life. Dating back to the 1850's, The Foundry has been repurposed offering a multi-tiered concert hall with four additional historic venues fit to host special events, meetings, and weddings. Read More Georgia Museum of Art The Georgia Museum of Art is both a university museum at the University of Georgia and, since 1982, the official state museum of art. Located on the East Campus of UGA, in the Performing and Visual Arts Complex, it opened in 1948. Recently, it completed an extensive expansion and remodeling of its building, paid for entirely with externally raised funds, that has allowed it to display its permanent collection continually. Read More Georgia Theatre The Georgia Theatre is a prominent music venue in Athens, Georgia, located in an old cinema. Many prominent acts from the early music of Athens, Georgia performed at the Theatre, including a range of folk, popular and country acts. Read More Hedges on Broad Hedges on Broad is located in the heart of downtown Athens Georgia. The building was originally constructed in the late 1890's the venue is a building of cultural and historical significance. The building has seen original movie screening's under the ownership of Paramount Pictures in the 40's, played host to live theater and orchestra as The Ritz Theatre, and been everything from a hippie hangout to a discothèque club. The brick and mortar space has held strong both physically and metaphorically as the embodiment of entertainment that has withstood the test of trends and time. Read More Hendershot's Coffee Hendershot's Coffee is an intimate live music venue, coffee shop, and bar located in Athens, Georgia. We host performances of all kinds as well as events, parties, meetings, and wedding receptions. Read More Hi-Lo Lounge Hi-Lo Lounge is located in the Normaltown neighborhood of Athens, GA. We serve craft beer, inventive cocktails, and comforting pub fare. Menu items also include vegan and vegetarian options like meat-free hot dogs and Cincinnati chili. Come by for Sunday brunch from 11am-3pm! Read More Highwire Lounge Highwire Lounge is Athens' favorite place for cocktails, having won the Athens Readers Choice awards yearly, since 2009. Signature cocktails are made from fresh ingredients and premium liquor. The whiskey and bourbon choices should satisfy every whiskey expert. With an extensive wine list, you can choose from 19 wines by-the-glass, and enjoy others by the bottle. Have dinner with us or come see us after dinner! Read More Little Kings Shuffle Club Little Kings Shuffle Club is a bar and nightclub on West Hancock Avenue in downtown Athens. This casual venue offers a nice bar setting, as well as entertainment by local musicians. Age restriction on weekends is 25+. Read More Live Wire Athens Nestled in the Northwest corner of downtown Athens GA, Live Wire Athens has quickly established itself as a premier event space, production studio, concert hall, and a beacon for true music lovers. Our staff is comprised of a team of passionate individuals dedicated to celebrating Athens' vibrant live music scene, that have summed up our mission into a two word mantra that has stood for over ten years: Love Music. Read More Low Yo Yo Stuff Records At Low Yo Yo Stuff Records, we buy & sell vinyl records, CDs, DVDs, tapes, books, posters, and anything related to music! Read More Lumpkin Street Station (Formally The Green Room) Athens' newest original live music venue covering all genres of music and sister venue to Ashley Street Station (in Valdosta, GA). Read More The Max Canada Come drink on the biggest patio in downtown Athens, play games (pool, darts, air hockey, foosball, arcade), dance party on the weekends and listen to live music in our newly renovated concert space. The birthplace of the howdy, and home bar of locals and students alike. MAX is the place where you're almost guaranteed to meet and greet a familiar face! Read More Morton Theatre One of the first, and the oldest surviving African-American built, owned, and operated vaudeville theatres in the United States, the Morton Theatre opened in 1910 and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The fully restored Morton is a rental facility that hosts a wide range of performances and special events. Read More Normaltown Records Normaltown Records is an imprint label of New West Records, co-founded in 2012 by George Fontaine, Sr. and George Fontaine, Jr. Normaltown focuses on developing emerging artists, providing full label services out of their Athens, GA headquarters. The initial label roster is Daniel Romano, Kalen Nash, Lilly Hiatt, Ronnie Fauss and White Violet. Read More Nowhere Bar Nowhere Bar, located in Downtown Athens across from Georgia Theatre at 240 N Lumpkin St., is an old dive the locals love to frequent. Athenians young and old gather here every night of the week to enjoy a game of pool, a beer and live music in the company of good friends. Read More The Rook & Pawn The Rook & Pawn is a place you can go with family, friends, or even alone to choose from a selection of over 400 tabletop board and card games to play while you eat, drink, and be merry. The Rook & Pawn serves food, coffee, tea, and spirits to enjoy while you play Candyland, Monopoly, Settlers of Catan, Twilight Imperium, or whatever game you like! Read More Rose of Athens Theatre Rose of Athens Theatre creates live performances that endeavor to speak to the entire community. We strive to both share our voices and exercise our ability to listen. By telling all of our stories and exploring our voices, Rose of Athens Theatre will strengthen our community of Athens, Georgia and further the communion of all peoples. Read More Slingshot Festival Slingshot Festival is a festival in Athens, GA hosting 40+ national, international and local musical acts, emerging international visual artists working in sound, video, and installation, a tech conference with presentations from the nation's leading innovators on a range of technological concentrations, film screenings of documentaries, narrative films and experimental art films, plus lots of laughs on our annually sold out comedy night. Read More Terrapin Beer Co. Terrapin Beer Co. began as a daydream between founders John Cochran and Spike Buckowski, who met while working for a microbrewery in Atlanta. The two recognized that they had something to contribute to the brewing industry in the southeast, and began crafting recipes. In April of 2002, Rye Pale Ale made its first appearance in Athens, GA. Only a short six months later, Rye made it to Denver for GABF, where John and Spike took home a Gold Medal for the beer in the American Pale Ale Category. Read More Tyche's Games Tyche's Games is Athens, Georgia's biggest little game store. We sell board games, card games, and roleplaying games. Play space available. Events most Saturdays. Friday Night Magic most Fridays. Read More Vinyl Mag Vinyl Mag is an experiential take on music, fashion and culture commentary as seen through the idiosyncratic lens of real pop culture fans. Its unique voice comes from personality-driven aspect of the publication, which invites readers to live vicariously through its writers, giving it an off the cuff, "live in the moment" feel as we hang out with bands, try new products and explore various aspects of popular culture. Read More Wuxtry Records Wuxtry Records was founded in Athens, GA in 1976. Wuxtry has been buying and selling records for over 35 years. We deal in all types of music but our specialties are Rock, Jazz, Big Band, and R & B. We carry Reggae, World Music, Rap, Latin, Country & Western, Folk, Bluegrass, Classical, Opera, Easy Listening, Soundtracks, and Spoken Word. Read More


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Schweizer Illustrierte has the exclusive wedding photos of Roger Federer and Mirka Vavrinec!
The private photos in the Monday issue shows 12 pages full of lovely and intimate moments.
Any Swiss friends bought the magazine yet?
Updated: Lana of Great Tennis Photos just found a photo that shows a full spread of that magazine bearing the husband and wife team.
And according to Gototennis, a Basel paper reported that Roger sold the photos for "just the customary fee" which went to his foundation.
More photos and video updates!
(Via menstennisforums.com; Updated image from rogerfederer.com via Great Tennis Photos)

subset: commoncrawl


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Thoughts and ramblings of an ultrarunner. I love long runs because I can think freely.
Friday, December 26, 2008
50/50 by Dean Karnazes - Book Review
I have had a wonderful Christmas. Wonderful because I have been around family. Joy is watching the light of happiness in a child's eyes.
My training is going well, I'm starting to ramp my miles back up. My upcoming races are mainly trail runs, so I will try to get more time on the trails. I have several goals for 2009, but will write about them next week. I will tell you that I did register for the Boston Marathon, and my application has been accepted.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
The Christmas rifle
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Time off in the Dominican Republic
For the last week, my wife and I have been in the Dominican Republic celebrating our 29th anniversary. During that time my running miles have gone way down. Less than 25 miles a week. But that is a good thing. I'm not sure I could have wound down my mileage otherwise, although the cold weather in Oklahoma may have been able to accomplish the same thing. We enjoyed our time away, but travelling at this time of the year is a huge headache. While we stayed at an all inclusive resort, within the D R people always have their hands out, and I detest that. I'm not singling out the D R, every country I've been in has been this way. And it was the same way in Miami, where we stayed a couple of days. More and more I'm convinced that customer service is almost dead. We had several occasions where we were lied to about why things didn't happen the way they were supposed to. But tis the season, so I'm not going to dwell on that. We are home, safe and sound and all is well.
Feliz Navidad Próspero Año y Felicidad!
Friday, December 12, 2008
Posted from bimactive.com
Monday, December 8, 2008
Holualoa Tucson Marathon
Well it's over. My purpose in running this marathon was to qualify for the Boston Marathon. For me to qualify, I needed to run 3:45 or better. This is an 8:35 average pace. Since Tuesday, I've been writing this blog in my mind trying to figure out how I could explain not achieving my goal. Why?, because I haven't run what I've felt like is a good long run. Sure, I've run over 30 miles three times, but saying "run" is to use the term loosely. All of those runs were really in preparation to pace a runner in the Motherroad 100 miler. And they were all run at a pace over 12 minute miles. But I had also been running pretty good tempo miles, so I knew I still had a chance. Anyway, my trip to Tucson was uneventful. Planes on time, no problems renting a car and finding the marathon expo. The expo was very small, but everything went smoothly. This race used one of the new style chips that tears off your bib and loops through your shoelaces. It's a throwaway. On my way to the expo I passed a Trader Joe's. So I knew where I would be buying dinner. I stopped there on my way back, got a sandwich and salad and went to my hotel to settle in and watch football. First I watched Florida take care of Alabama, which I figured they'd do, and then I watched Oklahoma take care of Missouri. I slept pretty good considering that I usually don't sleep well the night before a marathon. I got up at 4 and got dressed, got some coffee and headed to the parking lot to pick up the bus to the start. Got to the start and it was cold, but not as cold as I had expected. I decided not to wear anything other than shorts and my running club t-shirt top. I had gloves and long pants on but just warmed up in them, and then threw everything else into my drop bag. A countdown from 10, a horn and we're off. If any one plans to run this in the future, email me. I'm not going to go into all the ins and outs of this course, but let's just say that if you expect to be running down hill all the way, you're mistaken. But it's still a fast course. After reading other peoples experience with this course, I decided that I would let it take me along, that is bank time where I could and give it back where I needed to. I settled into my pace, still with doubts in my mind. Could I hold this pace and not crash and burn around 18-20 miles. My heart rate was running higher than I liked, but it was do or die. Also my Garmin will sometimes read high at first, but if I stop, let the rate drop, then start again it will usually stabilize. But there was going to be no stopping for that in this race. So I just pushed on with it running high. Eventually it did drop to where I wanted it, but after 12 miles it went back up. This race takes about a 4 mile detour into an area called the Biosphere. While I'm not sure I ever saw the Biosphere, this is where you have to give back time you've banked, and trust that you will bank some more after you leave here. This is a very hilly area, and I dropped to over nine minute miles based on what I had read from previous runners. Around mile 4, a lady asked what my goal was, then said that was hers also. She said maybe we can help each other and I said ok. We pretty much stayed together until after we left the Biosphere. Then she started dropping back. I had to keep pushing if I was going to make my goal. My left calf started hurting, not much but it made me think I might have problems up ahead. I remembered that I had some Endurolyte capsules, but also I have problems swallowing pills and capsules when I've been running for a while. I decided to chew them rather than swallow them whole, and after a while they seemed to work. I kept holding my pace, and when I hit mile 20 with about 3 minutes to spare, I started thinking I might be able to do this. But I also knew the wall generally resided in this area. But I kept pushing. Mile 21, 22, 23, I hit 23 with about 27 minutes to go to make my goal and I was thinking, I'm going to do this. My pace was faltering, but it was still just below 9 minute miles, and that was good enough to get me in. I started pushing near the end, you know it starts getting good to you when you smell victory, and I saw the clock was reading 3:42 plus. As I was nearing the finish line, I heard the guy was calling out names and cities, then I heard him call my name and Oklahoma City. I crossed in 3:43:01 chip time, 2 minutes to spare, sweet. I got my medal, some water and walked around for a bit. Then I went back to the finish line in time to see my new friend finish. She was beat, but said she felt ok, just couldn't maintain the pace. I then walked around some more and decided to wait to see a friend who had moved from Oklahoma to Colorado. I knew she was running, and had seen her during the out and back to the Biosphere. She was running with the 4 hour pace group, and I figured she'd be able to hold that. I saw her come in, talked to her for a while and then headed to the bus back to my car. Before I got to the buses, I saw a guy whose blog I read named Dane. He's a pretty fast runner, and is famous for having run 52 marathons in 52 weeks. He did it to raise money for a charity, and called it fiddy2. I have linked to both his blog and charity. You also might want to read his race report , since it gives more course information than mine. I then took the bus to my car headed to the airport and now I'm home. Hurting and sore, but I've felt worse. Happy to have achieved my goal, and in the next few days will decide if I will register for the Boston Marathon.


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We also got muraledesign projects to do. Check our website to learn more.
We also got muraledesign projects to do. Check our website to learn more.
I've been thinking of something to write an actual post about for a while, and I've been thinking and posting on Twitter about politics a lot lately, so I figured that would be my best bet. My politics have taken a pretty major turn in the last decade or so. I was a fairly staunch libertarian for a long time, but I came to see where I was misguided in those views. I've always been socially liberal, but I was fiscally conservative for a long time. I've realized that fiscal conservatism basically doesn't really exist anymore, and I've come to believe that governments job is to do good for it's people, not to do nothing. So this is mostly going to be bullet pointed, and it may be updated from time to time. It also will be all over the place.
It's been a while since I've made an actual post, so I figured I'd write something up.
For anyone who knows me, music is a very important part of my life, and has been for as long a I can remember. So I figured I would write up a list of my top ten albums. These are not in order, as that would be impossible, as it was barely possible for me to even do this. Two of them are compilations, but they had a profound effect on me, so they're included
And because this is my blog and I can do what I want, here are my honorable mentions:


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- Petrocam Deploys Solar Solution to Power More Filling Stations
Petrocam Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of Petrocam Trading (Pty) Limited of South Africa has opened another solar-powered petrol station in Lagos as part of the company's drive to increase its local presence in the downstream sector of Nigeria's oil and gas industry.
Before its current drive to penetrate the local market, the company's major focus was importing refined petroleum products such as petrol, gasoil, kerosene, naphtha, lubricants and greases for the oil marketing companies in Nigeria.
But in a renewed drive to tap into the local market, the company has opened another solar-powered filling station in Lekki area of Lagos, thus bringing to three the company's filling stations that are solar-powered in Lagos.
Gennex Technologies is the provider of solar solutions for Petrocam Stations.
Speaking to journalists during the opening ceremony of the new station in Lekki area of Lagos, the Executive Director in charge of Engineering at Gennex Technologies, Mr. Tunji Tayo noted that the 112 kilowatt-capacity solar power would guarantee 24 hours of uninterrupted power supply to the station.
He said the capacity could also be increased if the need arose in the future.
Tayo noted that Nigeria is lagging behind in the deployment of solar technology to address the power deficit in the country.
"Nigeria is still very far behind in terms of renewable energy. Apart from Total, which has built one solar-powered filling station in Maryland, the next retail solar-powered station is Petrocam. Petrocam has built three solar powered stations. So, Nigeria is still very far from getting there. But we are supposed to be there because that is where the whole world is going," he said.
"Solar will appear expensive if you look at the initial capital outlook but I can tell you that you should consider the fact that these solar panels are going to be there in the next 20 to 25 years. So, it is actually an asset.
If you want to build a house, you cannot say that the house is actually expensive because you know that the house probably would outlive you. So, if you look at Solar from this perspective, the manufacturers' warranty for the solar panels is 25 years. That is not to say that the panels will become useless after 25 years. No! It is just the warranty," he added.
Apart from Petrocam, Tayo said his company had deployed solar solutions to many residential houses within and outside Lagos.
According to him, the company's solar power is 100 per cent installed and engineered by Nigerians.
"So, our people can do this thing. The first one we deployed at Petrocam Filling Station in Ajah is one year old and it has no issues," he added.
Petrocam Trading (Pty) Ltd prides itself as an entity focused on commodity trading in Africa and "has in the last 10 years developed invaluable and competitive experience in operating in developing countries and has cemented its ability to facilitate trade in emerging and developing markets, relating to African import and export flows of commodities".


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Project Management Certification Prep Class
Texas A&M University-San Antonio is partnering with Project Vanguards LLC to provide a Project Management Professional (PMP) exam preparation course in San Antonio, Texas.
We meet from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. (4 hours per weekend afternoon) every Saturday and Sunday
October / November 2019 (Class Ends November 24, 2019 BEFORE Thanksgiving)
DAYS: Sat, Sun
DATE: Saturday, October 26th to Sunday, November 24th (NOTE: Thanksgiving is 11/28/2019)
LOCATION: Texas A&M University-San Antonio
ADDRESS: One University Way, San Antonio, Texas 78224
BUILDING: Central Academic Building
CLASSROOM: Science and Technology Building - Room 131B
MAP: view map
July/ August 2020
DAYS: Sat, Sun.
DATE: Saturday, July 18th to Sunday, August 16th
LOCATION: Texas A&M University - San Antonio
ADDRESS: One University Way, San Antonio, TX 78224
BUILDING: Central Academic Building
CLASSROOM: TBD the week before the class begins
MAP: view map
October/November 2020
DAYS: Sat, Sun.
DATE: Saturday, October 26th to Sunday November 24nd
LOCATION: Texas A&M University - San Antonio
ADDRESS: One University Way, San Antonio, TX 78224
BUILDING: Central Academic Building
CLASSROOM: TBD the week before the class begins
MAP: view map
Click here to Register for your PMP Certification Course. We offer courses year round! So check out our Project Vanguards website for details!
If you have questions, please don't hesitate to contact us at email@example.com or call us Toll Free at 1-888-503-7108.
Course description: Teach students everything they need to know in order to successfully take and pass the Project Management Professional (PMP) exam ON THEIR FIRST TRY. This is achieved through group/team activities, real-world scenarios, practical applications, memory joggers, mnemonics, and neuroscience which coalesce through the curriculum designed by the instructor in the USA with 100% student first time exam pass rate. (This class meets ALL requirements by the Project Management Institute and our company is a Registered Education Provider with PMI)
Materials and Resources you will receive and have access to:
- Andy Crowe's PMP Exam Prep Kit, including "How To Pass the PMP Exam On Your First Try"
- "How To Pass the PMP Exam On Your First Try" Textbook
- Audio Discs to reinforce PMP knowledge areas and processes
- Flash Cards to help your remember key terminology used on the PMP exam
- Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) 5th Edition
- Printed and Bound Course Material
- Laminated Exam Quick Reference Sheet
- PMI Requirement of 35 'Contact Hours' needed just to register for the PMP Exam
- 24/7 Live Instructor Support/Access
- Upon receiving your PMP credential, you are automatically a member of C-PMVs
- Over 6,000 Practice Questions to help prepare you for the PMP Exam
Also, and perhaps most importantly, if life happens and you need to refresh and refine your knowledge again, don't worry, because you may audit (re-take) our PMP Exam Prep class again indefinitely, for no additional charge as many times as you wish forever. There must be an open seat to allow this to happen (most likely we will have a seat for you). There is no other organization that offers this to its students. This is another incentive to take our PMP Exam Prep class.
Cost of course (pre-tax): $1,499.99
Total Number of Seats Available: 20 (First Come First Served) Once you pay for the class by going to Register for your PMP Certification Course and use the 'Pay Now' button at the bottom of the page, your seat is automatically reserved.
We offer courses year round! So check out our Project Vanguards site for details!
So what are you WAITING for? Sign up today!!!


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Nov 27, 2012 4:21 AM GMT
unfounded7 saidAin't none of ur bizness!
jmusmc85 said
Dang gurl. I just axed a question...
xrichx saidThank goodness for Tumblr.
AMoonHawk saidDefinition of porn: Sexually explicit pictures, writing, or other material whose primary purpose is to cause sexual arousal.
One man's porn, is another man's art


text: MOVIES Quaids Escape Extradition From Canada 7:26 AM PDT 7/16/2011 by Etan Vlessing FACEBOOK TWITTER EMAIL ME Evan Agostini/Getty Images American justice will elude Randy and Evi Quaid after the U.S. Department of Justice decided against seeking their extradition back to Santa Barbara, California. TORONTO – Randy Quaid will escape the Hollywood "star whackers," after all, and extradition back to the U.S. for that matter. Santa Barbara County district attorney Joyce Dudley on Friday confirmed the U.S. Department of Justice denied a bid to bring the Hollywood actor and his wife, Evi Quaid, back across the border to answer for skipping a California arraignment hearing over charges that they squatted in their former home. "In declining to seek extradition, the USDOJ noted the resource intensive and lengthy process involved in seeking extradition from Canada," Dudley said in statement. "They further stated that extradition is generally reserved for more serious offences than that with which the Quaids have been charged," she continued. The Quaids first arrived in Vancouver last October after fleeing an arrest warrant in Santa Barbara, and what they deemed "Hollywood star whackers" out to murder them. Randy Quaid has been allowed to stay in Canada for a new life because Evi Quaid has Canadian citizenship. FACEBOOK TWITTER EMAIL ME Etan Vlessing firstname.lastname@example.com etanvlessing


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Expandability Success Story – Louis
Louis is hopeful that he will find a job, thanks to the support and guidance of Deb Hanson, an Employment Specialist at Expandability. With an interview on the books and his resume ready to go he feels confident and is thankful to Expandability for helping him reach this positive attitude towards his search for employment.
Louis was referred to Expandability through the Santa Cruz Department of Rehab back in 2009, but as he is currently looking for work near his new home in Salinas, he has had to adapt his job search accordingly. This change of location is how he became Deb's client, who specializes in job placement in the Monterey County. The connection he has made with Deb has made all the difference to his attitude and confidence level; Deb's help has directly influenced his belief that he will find an appropriate job for his next life stage. Louis says that Deb has been there to help me with a lot of stuff. "It's hard out there so it's good to have someone helping you." He explains that Deb really seems to care about him and his success, which has made him feel accountable to her, and this feeling motivates him to work hard and accomplish his goals.
Working together on generating an impressive resume and cover letter has made an impact on Louis and his ability to look for work, both with Deb and on his own. Building a list of references, job searching online, and just getting out there and looking for jobs has pushed Louis to understand not only the process of job-hunting, but also how much he can achieve when he works hard and puts his mind to it.
After gathering his past experience and creating the perfect resume, Louis says that the mock interviews that Deb leads him through are the most helpful part of being her client. Practicing interview skills with an expert like Deb allows him to know what employers are looking for, what they expect, and what will impress them most. All that practice has helped Louis grow in confidence and to work through his nervousness, and now he is prepared and calm going to interviews. Louis says that he has taken to heart everything Deb has told him, from how to project confidence through body language to what's appropriate to wear to an interview.
Louis is excited to see where his job search takes him, and is confident that he will find a placement that suits his needs. As an Expandability client, Louis feels cared for; he has a true support system that he can rely on. He has happily gained experience and knowledge that will help him in his working life, and he feels ready for whatever comes his way.


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Content and Commerce Integrations
The digital commerce landscape is rapidly changing. Customer expectations are rising every day and in order to stay competitive, businesses must be able to adapt quickly and need the right tools to do so.
Until recently, most e-commerce players would put in place a standard solution such as SAP Hybris, Intershop or WCS to drive their online commerce environment. These tools are good for building category pages and product pages, but are very limited when it comes to managing and injecting additional content into the digital experience. In the age of big online marketplaces, online businesses need to offer more than a nice set of products to attract and convert visitors. They need to build a relationship with their customers by offering valuable content and a seamless customer journey.
Differentiation in commerce
In a time where people can compare prices for any product all over the web, competing on pricing alone isn't feasible for most businesses. One major way that businesses are now gaining a competitive advantage in digital is by providing a seamless customer journey that establishes a lasting relationship with the customer. Delivering this consistent cross-channel experience involves synchronizing personal data and shopping carts across all touchpoints. But to really engage with them, you'll need to offer valuable content like how to videos, tips & tricks, and inspirational pieces.
Omnichannel without fragmentation
Businesses that build on outdated e-commerce platforms are heavily challenged by trying to create the cross-channel experience their customers expect. Organizations that recognize the need for new, more content focused channels, will have to create other environments. To do this they often use add-on, less comprehensive solutions for the sake of time to market which leads to fragmentation of content and data. Businesses looking to update, share, and search for content and data consistently across every channel and touchpoint will need to look toward solutions that are built for omnichannel experiences.
Advantages of an open platform
With an open content platform like BloomReach Experience at the core of your digital landscape, content can be created within the CMS and then be served out to any possible presentation layer, getting rid of siloed content management solutions. And as part of the Digital Experience Platform (DXP), customers will be able to access each individual personalization API through pre-built widgets, available in the BloomReach Experience product.
Common integration approaches
So how do you integrate BloomReach Experience (BRE) into your existing toolset? There are three types of implementations that are most commonly used:
1. Headless
Using BRE headless means that the solution would not be generating any HTML. Instead, it provides content in a structured JSON or XML format. Depending on the type of request, this could either be a server side or a client side integration handling the data.
Simpler integration - APIs incorporate within pages.
Limited added value for the editor: no preview, no components, no drag and drop functionality and no ability to modify templates through the user interface.
2. Full BloomReach Experience
In this scenario, the solution is implemented by having BRE connect to the e-commerce platform through the usage of APIs or Microservices.
All BRE features available, preview for editors and page composition.
Control the entire experience in one central place.
More complex implementation.
3. Hybrid
In the hybrid scenario, BRE is used in a way that combines the lower impact of the headless scenario with the user friendliness of a full implementation. Hybrid can be a side by side deployment where BRE powers an entire segment of the site (see Full) or one where BRE powers fragments. This "fragments" implementation passes the API response via HTML so the customer can embed on new pages they create (a new directory or subdomain would be needed to house these pages) or on existing pages.
Easier to implement.
User friendly page composition and preview.
Maintain the CSS in BRE and on own site.
Where to start
The easiest way to get started with content & commerce integrations is to take the headless approach. This means using BloomReach experience as a content repository that feeds content into the commerce platform using our content rest API.
If you need product information on your page, this should not be done by synchronizing your CMS with your product information system. This will cause unnecessary data flows that can lead to server capacity problems, downtime etc. The much easier and reliable way is to plug your PIM system into your CMS using microservices and APIs.
Learn more about microservices on Hippo labs
If you want to build a personalized product grid or a personalized landing page, there are APIs for BloomReach Personalization available within the BloomReach Experience components. By using these, you can easily implement BloomReach's powerful AI-based personalization tools into your commerce environment.
For more information read about BloomReach Personalisation
For more background information on content & commerce integrations, download our e-book:
The Digital Commerce Landscape: Trends, Challenges & Opportunities.