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Thursday, December 11, 2008
Fiore Prepares to do BATTLE
After a solid weekend in Portland John Fiore is headed to nationals. His form is there and his head is in the right place. He left yesterday for KC. John's race is tomorrow at 3pm. Here's a couple JFiore quotes from this week:
"Just got back to work after 6 laps on the Sam Braxton "cross" course. Felt good and 80% recovered from the weekend. I'm going for a top 10 finish and plan on riding my brains out."
"I leave tomorrow AM and I'm getting really excited to hammer! Looks like highs in the low 40's for Friday's 3:00 pm start. I noticed the stairs on the course...yes!"
Totally John!!! I love it. So what are John's chances of a top ten? Well a top ten is for sure in the cards, especially if the conditions are sloppy. There are some fast 45-49 years olds who weren't in Portland. One of them is Montana's very own Geoff Proctor. Geoff has had an excellent season in Montana and looks to finish with a bang before Euro Adventure. Also in the race is Bill Cochran. He had a breakout 3rd place ride in Portland. His form is excellent and I would be surprised to see him riding well within the top ten. Another BIG name is the defending champ Steve Tilford. Yes, Steve Tilford. Tilford took a 3rd and 7th at Jingle Cross Rock this year. So.......his fitness hasn't gone anywhere (duh). Then you've got the cyclocross dad's who could still give their sons a run for their money. Randy Iddings and Russell Kappius (Ryan and Brady's dads). Fiore, Cochran and Proctor have got their work cut out for them. However with the whole state of Montana cheering from 2000 miles away maybe one of these guys can pull out a special performance and bring home the stars and bars (if that happened you better believe we'd have a national champ skinsuit made for Fiore). So tomorrow when your sitting at work in the afternoon remember John, Bill and Geoff are slugging it out with the best in the country. Give him a bell ring from your office. Go get em fellas!
Posted by Shaun Radley at 9:01 AM
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Surrender to Me – Excerpt
"Do all the subs act that way around you?" Arianna asked.
"It's the only way they know. It's what's expected of them."
"I don't understand how any woman would bow down like that. It's not normal."
"Maybe not for you." Martin understood Arianna's position. Most who didn't participate in a Dominant and submissive relationship didn't get it.
"It's degrading. She can't use the phone. She's a grown woman."
"Arianna, this is a lifestyle you can't possibly comprehend because you know nothing about it. A submissive gets just as much as he or she gives. The arrangement they enter into with a Dom is consensual. Roxy is not forced into being here. Her Dom respects and cares for her. She has a very good life."
"He punishes her."
"When she disobeys. It's in her contract."
"A contract that can't possibly be enforced in court."
"Spoken like a true lawyer." He finished his scotch. "The contract is to protect them both. It lists what is expected of a sub and what the Dominant's responsibilities are. They outline hard and soft limits. We create a safe, sane, and consensual environment, and that contract maintains trust between the two parties. As long as it is upheld between the parties involved that's all that matters."
"To each his own, I suppose." She shrugged. "I'm your real estate attorney. What you do here is none of my business."
Then why are you here, kitten?
"I'm very open, Arianna. If you have questions, I'll be happy to answer them. People should be educated in my lifestyle. It isn't as uncommon or bizarre as you may think." He reached for her hand. "I hope you won't judge me without getting to know me."
"Um, no." She looked down at their joined hands. He liked the way her cheeks turned colors when he flustered her. "Of course not. This whole environment is different. It's going to take some getting used to."
"I understand." He ran his thumb over the soft skin of her hand. "If you'd prefer not to meet here anymore—"
"It's not a problem."
"Very well." He smiled because as he suspected she wanted to be there. "Will you join me for dinner?"
Martin couldn't remember the last time he'd asked a woman to have dinner with him. He usually just summoned a sub when he was in the mood for company. Gracie was the last woman he'd spent any time with at all. Perhaps it was time to explore his options. Obviously, Arianna would be different than the women he dealt with, but he liked the change. When Gracie left him for Cade everything changed. He hadn't been interested in another sub. As a matter of fact, he hadn't been interested in another woman until now.
"I'd love to join you for dinner, Mr. Abrams."
"I'd like you to call me Martin." Allowing people to use his name wasn't a privilege he granted often, but everything was different with her. He stood from the bar and picked up her briefcase. "I hope you like Italian. I ordered enough for six people. I wasn't sure what you would want."
"Italian is fine." She took his extended hand and walked to the back of the club with him. "Why didn't you just wait and ask what I would want?"
"I'm not used to asking." He motioned for her to take a seat in the huge u-shaped booth that overlooked the Manhattan skyline.
"Oh, Martin." She giggled. He liked the way his name tumbled off her lips. "You have a lot to learn about non-submissive women."

subset: commoncrawl


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Washington, USA
OLYMPIA -- Gov. Chris Gregoire declared a state of emergency Monday authorizing state agencies to assist local governments in their response to massive wind and flooding in Western Washington that left at least two dead and caused part of Interstate 5 to be closed.
Gregoire, who said 80,000 people in the region had lost power, cautioned the public against unnecessary travel and driving through standing water on roads, noting that the full extent of the storm damage remained unknown.
All lanes of Interstate 5 near Centralia, the main route between Seattle and Portland, were closed because of flooding. Claudia Cornish, a state Department of Transportation spokeswoman, said the closure could last until Wednesday. It was the first complete freeway closure because of flooding in the area in 11 years, she said.
Mudslides halted north-south Amtrak passenger train service between Eugene, Ore., and Vancouver, B.C.
Breaking News
Massive Storm Swamps SeattleIn neighborhoods throughout Seattle, where residents normally hunker down to watch weather disasters unfold on television from rural areas miles away, nature took a destructive spin through the city.
By midday Monday, families had evacuated their homes, bewildered grandmothers were watching basement water levels rise and government officials were forced to acknowledge that their municipal systems had been pushed over the brink by near-record levels of rainfall. It was the second-wettest day since Seattle started keeping such records.
Image Above: A car rests beneath a section of Golden Gardens Drive Northwest that collapsed early Monday morning during heavy rains near Golden Gardens Park. The road will most likely be closed until spring, city officials said


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Seaport's Jr. & Sr. High Ministry exists to make disciples who will change the world. We do this by empowering students in service to Christ, uniting them in reaching their non-believing friends, anchoring them in the knowledge of the Word, training them to glorify God, and equipping each student with a heart for the Lord.
10:00 a.m. Sunday: Students in grades 6-12 meet in Room #7 when released from the main service. 6:30 p.m. Wednesday: Students in grades 9-12 meet in Room #7 when released from the main service.
"Chill Night" is our once per month youth outreach event. The night consists of food, fun games and a testimony that shares the truth of salvation through Jesus Christ. This is a great time for our students and a time for them to invite friends who never attended a church before. This is held one Friday per month, between 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Check us out on Instagram & Facebook for our calendar and upcoming events.


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Federal Water Minister Tony Burke says good progress has been made recovering water for the environment in the Queensland section of the Murray-Darling system but more must be done.
The first of three new water purchasing tenders for the Balonne region in the state's south opens today.
The other two tenders will open in February and April next year.
Mr Burke says the Federal Government is only buying entitlements from those making sell offers.
It is part of the Federal Government's bid to buy up to $350 million worth of water in Queensland.
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Before you start your visit
The region of Thetford is like nowhere else, thanks in part to its mining heritage, but also thanks to the abundance of outdoor sites: hiking, boating, cycling, golf, skiing, snowmobiling ... The possibilities are endless ! Welcome !
The Destination Why Thetford region?
Visit at the Mineralogical and Mining Museum of Thetford Mines
The Thetford area invites us to go outside, to move, to participate. It makes us climb, pedal, hit balls. It also calls for contemplation, observation, respect for nature. Then it swims, it paddles, it slides. It flies and it dives; it fishes and it rolls. The region offers us an ideal terrain to abuse all these good things in life. Go!


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It's really sad that I've waited this long long to make my first post of the 2013. Better late than never in this case.
If you've been following my Facebook page, you may already be aware of the events I am about to recount. I have become a fan of the Lizzie Bennet Diaries. So much so, that I decided to do yet another piece of fan art. I posted it on my tumblr.
Because I like to make myself suffer, I decided to color it. It eventually found its way to being reblogged by Ashley Clements (Lizzie Bennet) and production designer Katie Moest, tweeted by Geek & Sundry, and finally reblogged by Hank Green, producer of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. I actually thanks Ashley for the love and she tweeted me back. So. Life Achievement Level unlocked.
While I really, truly, absolutely love doing fan art, I am also reminded that I have my own original characters and story that I'd like to get out in some form. So last night I decided to sketch out two of the leads and go ahead and color them, too.
This is based on a scene I wrote of their first meeting after many years, which occurs in the marketplace. E'lari dressed down, trying to blend in with the more common folk (her family is stupid-rich). At first I had E'lari in a purple scarf, because that generally symbolizes royalty. Seemingly on a whim, I changed it to lapiz lazuli, which is actually a color I had her wearing in an earlier incarnation of the character. And according to Wikipedia, lapiz lazuli was an exorbitantly expensive pigment which Vermeer used in his painting "Girl With The Pearl Earring," so that works in being something a wealthy person would wear. I like Seiahn in green. It fits his more reserved, slightly mysterious character.
I'm getting better at coloring my own art, which is a relief. In this case, I can see a definitely influence from the art of Claire Hummel/shoomlah. I like the simplicity of the flat colors with just a hint of shading via gradient layers.


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The new government legislation has been geared towards motivating the working population into saving towards retirement. A workplace pension is a great way for you to save a little cash each month while your employer also contributes to your pension pot allowing it to increase over the years. You can learn more about this here.
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text: Anyone heard of To Leave, a platformer by Ecuadorian studio Freaky Creations? If not, check out the trailer below: To Leave is a psychadelic trip through a dark, cosmic Latin American mythology, derelict futurescapes, and the depths of its main character's own mind. A little bit about the studio: "Freaky Creations is dedicated to forging emotional experiences that explore the depths of the human soul. Though their creations are interactive, Freaky Creations views them more as artifacts than traditional games, as they can be used as tools to unleash the video game medium's artistic potential. They hope that, with To Leave, players can immerse themselves in a world that encourages them to examine their own emotions and empathize with the plights of others. To Leave is Freaky Creations' first title, and they hope that you will support them in bringing the Ecuadorian video game developer scene to the world stage." As you might be able to tell from the trailer, To Leave explores the mental state of the main character, Harm, through imagery, symbolism, and challenging gameplay. Harm suffers from manic depression, and To Leave follows his (potentially destructive) journey as he attempts to cope with it. Which games have you played that made you think more deeply about your own mental well-being? Are there other games out there that you think explore these themes particularly well? To Leave is coming to Steam on October 4 and is available on PlayStation 4.


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Unique ID: 10e03f04-0d4f-41aa-822f-97bfc6e28e52
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Physical factors and health conditions contribute significantly to work-related injuries. By maximizing the health of your construction employees, you can minimize risk, and therefore, reduce the frequency of claims. Healthy employees will also take less time to heal post-injury and return to work more quickly, lowering the severity of claims.
Wellness programs can positively impact your health insurance premiums while reducing employee stress and increasing employee job satisfaction and morale. This aids in employee recruitment and retention.
Additional Resources
- Tip 1: NCCI Mod Changes to Impact Workers' Compensation Costs Webinar Recording
- Tip 2: The Best Claims Management Under the Sun Webinar Recording
- Tip 3: Calculate Your Indirect Cost of Losses for an Overall Picture
- Tip 4: Protect Your Team and Score with Safety Webinar Recording
- Tip 5: Effective Wellness Programs Webinar Recording
Michael Alberico


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Affiliate Disclaimer
Please note, some links contain affiliate links. I may receive a commission of the sale if you click on a link and purchase. These are all my own opinions - money will not sway me!
beyerdynamic dt 990 pro
DT 990 Headphones on Amazon – These headphones were night and day compared to the DT 770 Pro's. They are very neutral and flat sounding, in my opinion, which is what we want when mixing/mastering our music. I've enjoyed them from my from first try.
Really Enjoyable Headphones
(You can check them out on Amazon with this link.)
My first pair of studio-esque headphones were beyerdynamic's DT 770 PROs.
My reason for purchasing the DT 770's was I didn't want sound leakage into my condenser microphone when doing tutorials or recording vocals.
Also, after reading quite a few reviews, I found that many people loved beyerdynamic as a brand; so that helped motivate my purchase, too.
What I never realized with the DT 770 PRO's were how scooped the mids were, though. I remember they took awhile to get used to get adjusted to their sound.
However, the first time I tried the DT 990 PRO headphones, it was instantly a more balanced sound to the audio I was hearing.
I instantly understood why you want to choose an open back headphone for mixing/mastering music.
These DT 990's give me a really neutral/flat sound.
Don't get me wrong, the bass is audible, and the high's are there too!
When I say neutral, I mean as a mixing engineer, we want speakers that reproduce our audio as it is so we can make accurate mix.
And that's what my DT 990 PRO's give me, from my experience so far.
Some Things I Don't Like with the DT 990 Pro Headphones
Don't get me wrong.
From a listening and production stand-point, I recommend the DT 990's highly.
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- A coiled cable instead of a straight cable
- No detachable cable for easy replacement
The DT 770 PRO's come with a straight cable, so I wish the DT 990's did too! (However, I discovered something really interesting on their website, which I share below.)
In regards to a detachable cable, this is very minor but just something to mention for convenience in case something does happen to your cord.
Custom-Made beyerdynamic DT 990 PRO's?
After making this video, I hopped onto beyerdynamic's website just to have the DT 990 PRO's a little look over.
I noticed they had a splash of red paint over the headphones for one of their products.. I thought to myself, "Is this what I think this is!?"
After clicking on this image I was brought to a page where you can customize your DT 990 PRO's!
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They even give you the option to choose if you want a straight or coiled cable.
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Another things I found out is that DT 990's come in two versions:
- DT 990 Edition
From reading on their site, they say there is no difference in sound quality, just aesthetics like straight vs coiled cable and a softer headband.
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I hope you liked my review/overview of the beyerdynamic DT 990 PRO's!
I'd definitely recommend these headphones!
You can check out the beyerdynamic DT 990 PROs on Amazon.
If you purchase through the link above, I'll receive a commission. (Thanks if you do!)


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First, thanks to Schroeder for posting both excerpts and an online link to a Harpers article focusing on Katrina and other disasters (you'll want to look at both: some of what PGR posted isn't available online).
Then, to contrast, take a look at this vile spew Steve Gilliard came across (scroll down to the post entitled Those shiftless, lazy people.
There's a whole lot to look at, particularly in the Harpers piece (if you've got the time, I urge you to read PGR and the actual link) , but I'll direct your attention to the following:
The most hellish image in New Orleans was not the battering waves of Lake Pontchartrain or even the homeless children wandering on raised highways. It was the forgotten thousands crammed into the fetid depths of the Superdome. And what most news outlets failed to report was that those infernos were not designed by the people within, nor did they represent the spontaneous eruption of nature red in tooth and claw. They were created by the authorities. The people within were not allowed to leave. The Convention Center and the Superdome became open prisons. "They won't let them walk out," reported Fox News anchor Shepard Smith, in a radical departure from the script. "They got locked in there. And anyone who walks up out of that city now is turned around. You are not allowed to go to Gretna, Louisiana, from New Orleans, Louisiana. Over there, there's hope. Over there, there's electricity. Over there, there is food and water. But you cannot go from here to there. The government will not allow you to do it. It's a fact." Jesse Jackson compared the Superdome to the hull of a slave ship. People were turned back at the Gretna bridge by armed authorities, men who fired warning shots over the growing crowd. Men in control. Lorrie Beth Slonsky and Larry Bradshaw, paramedics in New Orleans for a conference, wrote in an email report (now posted at CounterPunch) that they saw hundreds of stranded tourists thus turned back. "All day long, we saw other families, individuals and groups make the same trip up the incline in an attempt to cross the bridge, only to be turned away. Some chased away with gunfire, others simply told no, others to be verbally berated and humiliated. Thousands of New Orleaners were prevented and prohibited from self-evacuating the city on foot." That was not anarchy, nor was it civil society.
From Gilliard's link:
A Loveland lawmaker has been blasted by his colleagues for e-mailing an essay written by someone else that accused "welfare-pampered blacks" of waiting for the government to save them from Hurricane Katrina.
Rep. Jim Welker, a Republican, said Thursday morning that he forwarded the article because of its message about society victimizing people by making them dependent on government programs...
Excerpts from an essay by the Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson posted Sept. 21, 2005, on WorldNetDaily.com:
• "Say a hurricane is about to destroy the city you live in. What would you do? If you're black . . . you'll probably wait for the government to save you."
• "When 75 percent of New Orleans residents had left the city, it was primarily immoral, welfare-pampered blacks that stayed behind and waited for the government to bail them out."
• "About five years ago, in a debate before the National Association of Black Journalists, I stated that if whites were to just leave the United States and let blacks run the country, they would turn America into a ghetto within 10 years. (But) I gave blacks too much credit. It took a mere three days for blacks to turn the Superdome and the convention center into ghettos, rampant with theft, rape and murder."
• "Had New Orleans' black community taken action, most would have been out of harm's way. But most were too lazy, immoral and trifling to do anything productive for themselves."
• "Blacks are obligated to help themselves and not depend on the government to care for them. We are all obligated to tell them so."
I think I see why Solnit concluded with this:
This is the disaster our society has been working to realize for a quarter century, ever since Ronald Reagan rode into town on promises of massive tax cuts. Many of the stories we hear about sudden natural disasters are about the brutally selfish human nature of the survivors, predicated on the notion that survival is, like the marketplace, a matter of competition, not cooperation. Cooperation flourishes anyway. (Slonsky and Bradshaw were part of a large group that had set up a civilized, independent camp.) And when we look back at Katrina, we may see that the greatest savagery was that of our public officials, who not only failed to provide the infrastructure, social services, and opportunities that would have significantly decreased the vulnerability of pre-hurricane New Orleans but who also, when disaster did occur, put their ideology before their people.


text:
Hello! I'm Brian. In varying degrees I'm
- a scientist (machine learning, music understanding, recommendation, information retrieval)
- a startup person (co-founder & CTO of the Echo Nest, sold to Spotify, where I was Principal Scientist for a few years until very recently, mostly focusing on discovery of brand new music) — now founder & CEO of Canopy.
- artist / musician (ex-"Blitter")
- creator-type person working with a lot of electronics & software, mostly centered around audio, speech and machine learning, food devices
I received a masters degree in computer science focusing on Natural Language Processing from Columbia University in 2000, then a PhD in music understanding at the MIT Media Lab in 2005. After that I co-founded The Echo Nest, which grew to 70 employees before the acquisition by Spotify in early 2014. I left Spotify in late 2016 (but most of the Echo Nest team is still there making amazing discovery products.) In late 2017 I started Canopy to focus on privacy and control of algorithmic decisions and personalization. We're already up to 16 people across NYC, Boston and Oakland, CA.
I live in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, but travel around a bit regularly.
You can reach me over email — firstname.lastname@example.com
You can also follow me on Twitter.


text:
Message From CEO Steve Marlow
It's that time of year again: East-Central Iowa REC is gearing up for the 2016 Annual Meeting of the Members, which will be held Thursday, June 16, at the Heartland Acres Agribition Center in Independence.
The Annual Meeting is a special time for Cooperative members to gather, share experiences, hear from Co-op leadership and, perhaps most importantly, vote to elect your new Board members. ECI REC employees work hard to host this event, and we encourage you to attend and exercise some of the many rights you have as a member of an electric cooperative. We know the food and prizes are the best parts of the meeting, but there is so much more to the event.
Did you know the Annual Meeting is an occasion to discuss and learn more about the issues affecting our community? For example, Iowa cooperatives take an active role in communicating with legislators and those running for office about issues that could impact how much our members pay for electricity, even planning events to ask questions of presidential candidates prior to the February caucuses. The Annual Meeting gives you the opportunity to share your concerns about affordable electricity with ECI REC leaders who can carry these on to legislators.
Your Annual Meeting is also the occasion to exercise one of the greatest benefits of being an electric co-op member: voting for the upcoming year's Board of Directors.
ECI REC is not owned by far-away investors, and it is not run by an appointed board of directors. Your Cooperative is run by a democratically elected Board that is given the privilege to serve because of your vote.
So, at this year's Annual Meeting, not only will you be informed about your Cooperative (and maybe win a prize!), but you will feel good knowing that you had a voice in a very important decision that impacts one of our most vital resources—electricity.
From all of your friends at ECI REC, we hope to see you in June at the Annual Meeting.


text:
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text:
Just started Level 3 specialist support in teaching and learning and am after a study buddy
Im after someone to talk with who is also studying the course. We can share tips and help each other out when we're stuck!
Samantha Cunningham, 5 years ago
Ľuba Čičmancová Gllavica, 5 years ago


text:
Do you want to help "dress" your client for their portrait session, but just don't have the time or availability to go to their home and go through their closets? Do you still want your client to have an AMAZING experience getting ready for their session, even if you can't pop over and help them?
Do you want your clients to dress according to each of their personalities and body shapes and styles, yet still have their color pattern look coherent in their portrait?
If you answered "Yes" to the above questions then this is for you!
This style guide includes:
- The quiz that I use to know how to dress my mom clients according to their personalities
- A style spread to learn what kind of style mom has
- A body type page that goes over positive ways to dress mom according to her body type
- A page that puts it all together and gets mom thinking about what outfits would be best for her
- All of the above, but for dad
- A kid page for parents to figure out each child's personality type
- A page with hints to help them choose better clothes and style for the session itself
- Color combos pages to help mom tie everyone's choices together for a cohesive look
- Extra color wheel pages for photographers with super creative clients. The super creatives will enjoy these pages more than the color combos pages that will feel "restrictive" to them.
- Video explanation of the guide with me showing how I use my own guide
- .PDF with sample emails to various types of clients explaining why you are using this style guide and why it's important for the client to use it PLUS extra hints for what to look for in each personality type so you can create images to their personality and likeness
- Everything is made in .PSD so you can completely edit and re-arrange this guide to what works best for you and your clients
- .PSD files are in Mag Cloud sized smaller magazines, making it easy for you to print one at a time as you figure out what works best for your clients (or you can send them a digital version)
- Link to a private Facebook page where you can ask questions
Be your client's hero and answer all of their questions about how they should dress with this simple guide!
If you'd still like to learn more, here's a quick video I recorded showing my own version of the style guide!


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Posted January 24, 2013 by publisher in Legal Travel to Cuba
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Rob Sequin | Havana Journal
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has been granted a people to people license from OFAC to take participants on a 9 day cruise/culture trip to, around and through Cuba.
Participants will fly to Jamaica and then board the The MV Sea Spirit on the evening of April 5.
The ship will take the US approved people to people participants to Santiago de Cuba, arriving on April 6.
The MV Sea Spirit will then sail west to Santa Cruz del Sur on the south side of Camaguey on April 7 then on to the port at Casilda on April 8.
Overnight on the ship again and disembark at the port at Cienfuegos followed by port stops at Pinar del Rio and Maria la Gorda in the following days.
The port of Havana is the last stop for the MV Sea Spirit and the participants will spend a couple days in Havana before flying to Miami.
One has to assume that the MV Sea Spirit does not have an itinerary that includes any ports in the United States for 60 days since it would be a violation of US federal law.
People to People Cuba Cruise Overview
The official, member's flyer describing the Cuba cruise tour says "Experience Cuba from a unique perspective as we explore this beautiful island by ship! (pending final approval from the Cuban government). This spring, sail aboard the exclusively chartered yacht Sea Spirit on a historic people-to-people cruise program. Call at various ports and meet with Cubans from all walks of life—from students, to farmers, to celebrated artists.
Board the ship in Montego Bay, Jamaica, and sail to Santiago, Cuba's second largest city, to visit the oldest house on the island—now an art museum. At a nearby village, join religious
pilgrims in a ceremony honoring the country's patron saint. Connect with local artists in Trinidad, Cienfuegos, and Isla de la Juventud. Learn about ecology from marine conservationists
in Maria La Gorda, located at the westernmost end of the island on a peninsula that is a biosphere reserve, and visit a tobacco farm in Piñar del Río.
Lastly, spend three days docked in the heart of Old Havana, where encounters with architects, students, curators, diplomats, historians, and others will give us a rich perspective
on contemporary life in Cuba. Specially arranged music and dance performances will enhance our visit, as will lectures on Cuban art.
Current Restrictions on Travel and American Travelers to Cuba
There are substantial restrictions on travel to Cuba from the United States and for all Americans citizens and American residents. These restrictions apply regardless of where you are traveling from on your way to Cuba or where you travel to following a visit to Cuba. The restrictions include persons who are citizens of other countries as well. Only those who are authorized by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, known as "OFAC," may legally travel from the United States to Cuba.
Participants on this Cuba trip will be traveling under a Specific License from OFAC. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has been granted a Specific License for educational exchanges not involving academic study pursuant to a degree program to promote people-to-people contact. Its members travel under this license and must have a copy of the license in their possession at all times while traveling to and from Cuba.
Other Cuba Trips from The Metropolitan Museum of Art
This Cuba cruise is being offered immediately again following the above dates, running from April 15 to 25.
You can go on a Havana, Matanzas and Varadero Cuba trip or a Havana, Trinidad and Cienfuegos Cuba trip.


text:
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text: Lily is growing up so fast! We've enjoyed watching this little infant with "chicken legs" emerge into this cute smiley chubby little baby. She is getting so strong these days and tonight, she was sitting up by herself for an extended period of time. It was so neat to watch her steading herself when she started to lean one way or the other. I think she is really enjoying this new "sitting up" vantage point. It's a lot easier to watch everything around her!


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Third Eye Asian Fest Mumbai Celebrates Golden Jubilee of FTII Pune
Read this article about Third Eye Asian Fest Mumbai Celebrates Golden Jubilee of FTII(Film and Television Institute of India) Pune. Here you will get details of 10th third eye asian fest, films and honors of third eye asian fest and many more.
The Third Eye Asian Fest Mumbai organized by the Asian Film Foundation in connection with P. L. Deshpande Maharashtra Kala Academy and supported by Maharashtra state government will be held from 22 December 2011- 29 December 2011. The 10th third eye Asian film fest celebrates the golden jubilee of Film and Television Institute of India(FTII) Pune. As part of this celebration, a film each of the FTII's six alumni named Shaji Karun, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Vikas Desai, Girish Kasaravalli, Ketan Mehta and Jahnu Barua will be screened. As most people are aware of the fact that those people have made our country proud of their work. No doubt, this will be a honor for all of them, especially Pune FTII. Apart from this, the Third Eye Asian Fest that will be starting in Mumbai on 22 December 2011 is also having some special features. I know most of you are in a hurry to know the details of this third eye Asian fest. So without wasting your time, go through the below points.
10th Third Eye Asian Festival Features
The Third Eye Asian Film Fest will be a week-long festival in Maharashtra state, India. As part of this festival, the inaugural film of the 10th third eye Asian festival is the 11 flowers, a Chinese film by Xiaoshuai Wang while the center piece film for third eye Asian film fest is A Separation by Asghar Farahadi. It's important to note that Asghar Farahadi is an Iranian director who had won the best director award at the recently concluded IFFI Goa. The closing film for 10th third eye Asian film fest is Ranga Rasiya by Ketan Mehta. The main venue of 10th third eye Asian film fest is Ravindra Natya Mandir, Prabhadevi. Out of 400 entries received from different countries, about 50 short films and 100 feature films will be shown during this festival. 2011 third eye Asian film fest will be dedicated to the fond memories of Dev Anand, the famous Bollywood film star, who passed away on 3 December 2011. Guide, the memorable film of Dev Anand will be shown during this film festival. This festival will also pay homage to Ashok Kumar on his 100th birth anniversary this year.
Third Eye Asian Film Festival, Pune honors
The two prestigious honors of the 2011 10th third eye Asian film festival are the Asian Film Culture Award for the noted Afghani film maker Siddiq Barmak(of 'Osama' fame)and Satyajit Ray Memorial Award for Dr Shyamala Vanarase(famous film academician of Pune) respectively.
Rabindranath Tagore memory / 2011 Third Eye Asian Film FestivalPeople all over the world are familiar with the name Rabindranath Tagore, the famous Nobel laureate. The 10th Third Eye Asian Film Festival will be giving homage to Rabindranath Tagore on his 150th birth anniversary. As a part of this, 7 Bengali films made on published stories of Rabindranth Tagore by directors like Rituparno Ghosh(nauka dubi and choker bali), Satyajit Ray(teen kanya and charulata) and Tapan Sinha(Atithi, kabuliwala and kshudito pashan) will be screened.
Apart from all this, the Third Eye Asian Film Fest will also have different sections like European connection, Asian master section, focus on country section, focus on film maker section and reflections section respectively.


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- MD Motorsport | Hoosier Tire Australia - News
In an effort to offer our valued customers more tire size options, Hoosier Tire will be introducing four new R100 radial slick sizes for racers competing in GT classes. A new R80 compound will be offered as well in a few sizes when used primarily on the front end of the race car. Extensive testing has proven these radial slicks to perform with the best in class. Every aspect of vehicle dynamics, grip, turn in, steering feedback and quicker lap times, will be enhanced by using these radial slicks.
Contact your nearest Hoosier distributor or dealer for price and availability questions


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Age UK and the NHS have declared this "National Falls Awareness Week". This may seem unnecessary advertising for Catholics and similar, who already keep too strict a tally of soul-lapses, but for old bodies it is a timely nudge. Even among fit free-range elderly the probability of a fall is 35% for over 65's, and 45% for over 75's rising to 50% in institutional care. Odds are worse for women than men. For older people falls are the most common reasons for visits to hospital emergency departments and their consequences significantly shorten and impoverish lives.
We take for granted the triumph of bio-engineering our species achieved to keep balanced on two multi-jointed moving props. We need to know how our legs and bodies are located in space, by how much our joints are bent and whether, and by how much our muscles are tensed or relaxed. Losses of skin-pressure-receptors on the soles of our feet make us less sensitive to small changes in pressure caused by slights shifts of balance. Degradation of balance organs, mounted next to our inner ears, also makes our judgments of the vertical less accurate, our feel for accelerations and decellerations coarser, loses information about forward and backward acceleration and of changes in body positions when climbing and descending slopes and stairs. This vestibular information supplements vision, particularly peripheral vision that monitors the peripheral flow of the streaming world as we move forward or backward. Age losses of peripheral vision make this less reliable. Some textbooks genially comment that because seasickness is caused by the mismatch between the information that we get from our vestibular organs of balance and from our eyes, loss of vestibular information eliminates these discrepancies and frees the elderly from seasickness. I only wish my personal experience bore this out.
A key problem is that it becomes hard to recover from trips and stumbles. Not just because we lose leg-muscle strength and our limbs may collapse as we try to use them to prop ourselves but more importantly because we take much longer to notice that we have lost balance and can be well into a fall before we begin to try to correct it. Sensing danger, we are slow to make a rapid forward step to counteract a stumble and sluggish and awkward in initiating other movements to recover balance.1
It is not surprising that the changes in our brains, nervous systems, sense-organs and muscles that make it harder to balance are also signals of general ill-being. A large sample of elderly in Sweden, Denmark and Finland were assessed when they were all aged 75 and again when they reached 80 2 . Those who had died before they reached 80 had, when they were earlier tested at 75, lower balance scores than those who survived. Even very simple tests of balance are predictors of levels of general health and so of risk of earlier death and loss of mental abilities.
The relationship between risk of falls and cognitive losses is interesting because it highlights an unexpected point that walking, as effortless and unconscious as it may seem, does take up substantial amounts of our mental capacity. Sal Connolly found this while collecting data for a PhD thesis in Manchester. In what she called her "Gerry Ford Experiment" after an alleged remark by Lyndon Johnson that his successor, Gerry Ford, "couldn't walk and chew gum at the same time". This was the LBJ famous for many brutal comments such as "If you have them by the balls their hearts and minds will surely follow". LBJ does not deserve recognition for an early insight in understanding a relationship between cognition and movement because his actual pungent comment was that the unfortunate Ford "Could not fart and chew gum at the same time". (I mention this only for sake of historical accuracy. Please do not think too long about it).
Sal gave older people easy tasks such as simple mental arithmetic while they were guided through a short, easy safe indoor path. Doing an additional task caused many of them to go walk more slowly and some to trip and stumble. She found that those whose walking was most affected by these additional mental tasks had previously suffered, and recovered from strokes which had, by the time she tested them, affected their gait only very slightly or not at all. They had no problem unless they were distracted by simple mental tasks. Excellent studies at the Berlin Max Planck Developmental Psychology headed by Ulman Lindenberger and colleagues 3,4 have since confirmed and extended Sal's results by showing that not only recovered stroke patients but also healthy elderly people have difficulties in combining mental tasks with walking.
Fortunately there are many things that we elderly can do to rehabilitate ourselves and keep spry. For example an article in the Journal of the Academy of Nurse Practitioners reports the experience of elderly patients who were enrolled in a 9 week course in Jazz Dance 5 . Within three weeks of joining, and throughout the rest of the course, volunteers experienced significant improvements in balance and stability, cognitive ability and also more positive mood. Studies of elderly Chinese show that Tai-Chi preserves their balance and flexibility. An especially heroic experiment also found that regular Tai-Chi practice allows even older practitioners to preserve their balance in spite of disorienting stimulation of their vestibular systems 6 . So let's hear it for National Falls Awareness Week! Time to make rehabilitative resolutions. Line Dancing! Yoga! Pilates! Tai Chi! Determined Long Walks!
- van Dieen, J.H., Pijnapples, M., Bobbert, M.F. (2005). Age –related intrinsic limitations in preventing a trip and in regaining balance after a trip. Safety Science, 43, 437-453.
- Heikkinen, E.P., Gause-Nilsson, I., & Schroll, M. (2002). Postural balance in elderly people: changes over a five-year follow-up and its predictive value for survival. Aging and Clinical and Experimental Research, 14, 37-46.
- Lindenberger, U., Marsiske, M., Baltes, P.B. (2000) Memorizing while walking: Increase in dual-task costs from young adulthood to old age.
- Lindenberger, Ulman; Marsiske, Michael; Baltes, Paul B. Psychology and Aging, 15 417-436.
- Allpert, P.T., Miller, S.K., Wallman, H., Havey, R. et al. (2009). The effect of modified jazz dance on balance, cognition, and mood in older adults. Journal of the Academy of Nurse Practitioners, 21, 108-115.
- Tsang, W.W. and Hui-Chan, C.W. (2006). Standing balance after vestibular stimulation in Tai Chi-practicing and nonpracticing healthy older adults. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. 87, 546-553.


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Thursday, October 11, 2007
Au Wievoir? PWiemature!
Me, I'm worried more about how far south Ai Miyazato's, Mi Hyun Kim's, and Morgan Pressel's games have gone and whether Jee Young Lee's, Sarah Lee's, and Jeong Jang's injuries have healed enough for them to perform at anything close to their full capacity. I'm curious to see if Paula Creamer, Suzann Pettersen, or Maria Hjorth can hang with Ochoa. And I'm hoping the Samsung organizers learn from their mistakes and figure out how to differentiate their event from the ADT Championship and the new HSBC Women's Champions world stroke-play event (to complement their world match-play event) in Singapore that's starting next year. My suggestion would be to drop all single-event or career-based or ratings-based invites--to the year's major winners, to any Hall of Famers or sponsor's exemptions--and make entry into the tournament purely performance-based over the entire year. Invite the top 3 money winners on the KLPGA, JLPGA, and LET and the top 11 from the LPGA. Take the performance-based nature of the ADT and the worldliness of the HSBC match- and stroke-play events and you make the Samsung stand out, that is.
At least the organizers got something right: pairing Wie and Rookie of the Year Angela Park was the absolute right thing to do. Too bad they didn't pair any of the Super Sophs. A Seon Hwa Lee-Morgan Pressel showdown among the top 2 Super Sophs, or a Seon Hwa Lee-Ai Miyazato rematch from the finals of the HSBC or a Seon Hwa Lee-Jee Young Lee battle for top Korean Super Soph status would have been equally compelling. And if they were going to pair Ochoa and Pettersen, why not Korean legends Pak and Kim or top Americans Creamer and Kerr, or, even better, do some Solheim Cup rematches like Castrale and Hauert, Creamer and Hjorth? A lack of imagination for the Thursday pairings goes nicely with a lack of judgment in their lead-up to the tournament, but at some point you'd hope the tournament organizers would build on their successes.
So, yes, my overall point is that women's golf is bigger than Wie. It would be nice if anyone who wasn't already a fan noticed, but I'm not holding my breath, even for the people paid to write about women's golf. What I will say about Wie is that it's too soon to tell how her career will pan out. Every professional is going to have a slump in his or her career--just ask Julieta Granada, Brittany Lang, Meena Lee, or Karrie Webb about this year, or Grace Park and Se Ri Pak about several previous years--what matters is how you get through it and deal with the adversity. Maybe learning how to handle the pressures that come with public and humiliating failure can better prepare you to deal with the pressures that come with success. So I wouldn't put too much weight on Wie's performance this week. When I think about how much my students change over the course of their college careers, I have to laugh at the idea of writing off any 18-year-old.
[Update: Mulligan Stu has updated his post to clarify his position on Wie's career (for those unfamiliar with his writing, it's an excellent precis and representative of the fairness and thoughtfulness of his writing). For those who care about my opinion of Shackelford's LPGA/Wie blogging, you can read my comments at MS's Waggle Room. And I'm not just saying that--or this--b/c I write the occasional diary over there.]
3 comments:
- Anonymous said...
Anybody writing Wie off as "washed up" is being terribly shortsighted. I'm sticking with my opinion that the media people who are writing things like that are the people who wrote that she was the "Tiger Woods of women's golf" two or three years ago and are now mad that Michelle has so far made their predictions wrong.
- October 11, 2007 at 2:15 PM
- Anonymous said...
I suppose this says it all: from 2:40 PM PDT
T1 Lorena Ochoa -4 13 -4
T1 Angela Park -4 11 -4
3 Paula Creamer -3 9 -3
T4 Angela Stanford -2 15 -2
T4 Se Ri Pak -2 8 -2
T6 Mi Hyun Kim -1 14 -1
T6 Morgan Pressel -1 12 -1
T6 Jee Young Lee -1 10 -1
T6 Seon Hwa Lee -1 9 -1
T6 Cristie Kerr -1 9 -1
T11 Ai Miyazato E 11 E
T11 Sarah Lee E 11 E
T11 Brittany Lincicome E 10 E
T11 Jeong Jang E 9 E
T11 Stacy Prammanasudh E 8 E
T16 Nicole Castrale +1 14 +1
T16 Suzann Pettersen +1 13 +1
T16 Maria Hjorth +1 12 +1
19 Bettina Hauert +5 15 +5
20 Michelle Wie +6 11 +6
- October 11, 2007 at 5:43 PM
- The Constructivist said...
time will tell--although I'm glad to see Ai-chan is getting off to a decent start and Mi Hyun and Morgan are playing better than their last month's worth of tournaments would lead you to expect!
- October 11, 2007 at 6:05 PM


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This is particularly true in the current markets. We are seeing a rise in people who think they are trading geniuses and new funds launching, just as we saw in the late 1990s. In the United States, we are currently in the largest bull market in HISTORY. If you invested in almost any 100% long strategy, you likely have made money in the last ten years. (In fact, if you haven't made money over the last ten years in a long stock strategy, quit). A prolonged bull market like this can lead to certain strategies developing track records of five, seven, or even ten years that look quite successful – when in reality they are merely a function of a prolonged bull market. Consequently, they carry excessive risk.
By way of example. I had a long-term client, past retirement, that was quite well off. Our firm had him in hedged positions and conservatively invested. In order to maintain his current lifestyle, he needed a withdrawal rate of between one and two percent per year – well below the threshold considered safe by most advisors. He was the textbook example of a "low risk" client. That said, his son convinced him that we, as his financial advisors, didn't know what we were doing because his 3x to 5x leveraged FANG fund had been returning over 100% per year for several years in a row. Over my strenuous objections (even offering to help transfer his accounts to another competent advisor), he took his money and invested in a strategy that had a track record of over 7 years of returns of 25% or more every year. The argument was "this fund returns this every year. Why aren't you putting money into a fund such as this? Don't you know what you're doing?" As a firm, we did everything we could to convince him that he was risking his retirement chasing returns without understanding risk. He made the move in the second quarter of 2018. With the vast majority of his capital.
From July 2018 to December 2018, stocks like NFLX were down over 30%. This was a problem if the fund was using 3x to 5x leverage, because the funds were bankrupted. In other words, a track record of five to seven years making amazing returns went bankrupt in a matter of a few months. (Such a strategy could have been bankrupted in a few days at any time). Unfortunately for this investor, his future moving forward looks quite different.
This is because the strategy had not been back-tested and not vetted through different market conditions. He didn't ask the right questions, nor did he even know the questions to ask.
When a new fund is created, at least by our firm, or when we want to create a new fund or strategy the typical process is (with some variance depending on the strategy):
Come up with idea and mathematically test it;
Put it through extensive Monte Carlo testing;
Back test it across multiple market conditions, using actual rules (in order to have an effective back test, there MUST be firm rules followed, "judgment" calls cannot be used);
Then we try to blow the strategy up. In other words, do everything we can to develop theoretical market conditions that will destroy the strategy including assuming 100 down days in a row, having volatility plummet, and then go to an all-time high, and collapsing commodity prices. If we can find things that hurt, adjust accordingly or develop a plan for how to handle the change. We also make sure there won't be volume issues.
Then we attempt to figure out how big of a market impact the strategy can withstand. This is done through a volume and price movement analysis. If we want to trade the market indexes, we can likely plan for hundreds of millions in trades fairly easily. If we want to trade options on VXX —- well, good luck with anything over $100,000;
We then paper trade it for ideally a minimum of six months, preferably a year; and
- We put our own money into it, along with trusted individuals that understand the risk, and live trade it for, again ideally, a minimum of six months, preferably a year.
If, during paper trading and live trading, we have had different market environments, we develop higher confidence. If we haven't had market swings, volatility swings, rapid moves down, slow moves down, rapid moves up, slow moves up, etc., we have less confidence in the strategy and will need to make appropriate risk disclosures.
That said, if it is a prolonged bull market, it is not rational to wait until the strategy has actually had live experience in all market conditions. If that was the case, advisors might have had to wait for over a decade before starting. Not good for business.
But that does mean those advisors need to EMPHASIZE these risks to investors, and they should have a multi-pronged strategy on what to do when things don't go as expected. Potential investors should ask about the plan for how to handle different market conditions. This is particularly true if the strategy has not been through a variety of conditions.
Even then, I don't care how much advisors have tested, back tested, thought about, and modeled, when market conditions change, advisors and investors alike are likely to be surprised by the results. Maybe in a good way, maybe in a bad way. Investors should always be warned about what the maximum theoretical loss is when trades are live. (For a 100% long portfolio, even with stop losses in place, the maximum theoretical loss is always 100%). Discussions should be had under what conditions those max losses could occur. An advisor should be able to give an opinion on how likely they are (with appropriate caveats).
Once the above is done, advisors should write it all up in a format acceptable to investors. Risks should be emphasized and discussed, not hidden. To many funds attempt to hide risks instead of disclosing them.
When looking to invest in a fund, always ask questions. Always be sure you understand the risk. And no matter what, never, over allocate to one fund or strategy.
Christopher B. Welsh is a SteadyOptions contributor. He is a licensed investment advisor in the State of Texas and is the president of a small investment firm, Lorintine Capital, LP which is a general partner of two separate private funds. He offers investment advice to his clients, both in the law practice and outside of it. Chris is an active litigator and assists his clients with all aspects of their business, from start-up through closing. Chris is managing the Anchor Trades portfolio.


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The BPMA is currently showing an exhibit titled "Treasures of the Archive." It is part of the London 2010 Festival of Stamps and will remain on display until next spring. There's an online version of the exhibit here.
One of Arnold Machin's plaster casts is included in the display, but of more interest to me was a sheet of Machin color trials. The most interesting of these was the last (fifth) row that showed five metallic colors. The accompanying text says that these metallic trials were "recently discovered." Curator Douglas Muir told me that meant they were discovered after he wrote his 1997 book, A Timeless Classic: The evolution of Machin's icon.
For the record, here are the trials displayed on the page. My color names are not precise, and the lighting was dim, so just take these as giving a general idea of what is shown.
Row 1: Dark colors
Dark blue
Crimson (similar to issued pre-decimal 6d)
Dark green
Row 2: Dark colors
Red brown
Deep violet
Row 3: Light gradated colors with dark heads
Pale violet
Dark pink
Row 4: Bicolored
Black with light green(?) head
Black with orange head
Dark blue with pink head (similar to issued 1977 £5)
Black with grey head
Row 5: Metallic
Gold background with black head and value, matte
(there were three of these that appeared identical)
Silver background with lighter silver head and value, shiny
Gold background with light gold head, matte
(Many thanks to Glenn Morgan, who confirmed some of the colors when I couldn't interpret my scrawled notes after I returned home.)
Sunday, 12 September 2010
Machin Color Trials
at 04:41
1 comment:
- GBStamps said...
A reader emailed me to say he couldn't find the color trials on the BPMA web site using the links in my post. That's because the BPMA has not posted any images of the trials.
We can hope that they will do so someday.
- 13 Sep 2010, 11:14:00
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


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Tips for using the Outlook 2007 Security Hash Generator Tool
The Outlook 2007 Security Hash Generator Tool is used to generate a hash value to identify your Outlook COM add-in for Group Policy. If you are customizing security settings by using Group Policy, you'd need to enter the add-in name and hash value to identify that add-in as trusted by Outlook. The ORK article Manage trusted add-ins for Outlook 2007 covers how to get the tool, run the Hash Tool and how to specify the trusted add-in in Group Policy.
I've seen some feedback that people were having problems getting the Hash Tool to run. There is an update to the article coming to address the feedback…but in the meantime here are some tips to help if you're having issues:
· Make sure you register the Hash Tool after installing (which is step 5 in the Manage trusted add-ins for Outlook 2007 article).
· The Hash Tool doesn't like spaces in file paths or names!
· Say for example your add-in DLL is under Programs Files, make a copy of it and put it in a folder with no spaces in the name. Something like C:tempAddInDll.dll would work. The hash is based on the registered DLL and not the location of the DLL.
· If you're a techie smarty pants, you could also determine the short file path/name of the file (8.3 path) and use that. That isn't hard but my eyes glaze over when I read instructions for that - so I'll spare you.
· If all else fails and CreateHash.bat isn't working for you, try using the AddinHash.vbs with three sets of double quotes for your file path:
C:ToolsOutlookHashGenerator> cscript addinhash.vbs """c:Program FilesMy Folder With Spaces AddInDll.dll """
The output should look something like this:
Microsoft (R) Windows Script Host Version 5.8
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Generating trusted add-in settings...
Please copy and paste the following information into the group policy editor:
Value Name: c:Program FilesMy Folder With SpacesAddInDll.dll
Value : JKKEPIFOMMBLLJGKMBMEIADHDNBJJOHIIJPCLLDN
Hope this helps!
- Cat


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TEMPORARY CLOSURE: The zoo is closed until further notice following city and state recommendations to help slow the spread of coronavirus. Read More
Meltdown at Nature Boardwalk
Temperatures are above freezing! After a particularly cold, snowy patch, it seems the weather is finally warming up. Consequently, we're already seeing changes at Nature Boardwalk at Lincoln Park Zoo. The ice is breaking up and melting. This morning, mallard ducks gathered around a newly enlarged patch of open water at Nature Boardwalk.
Although it looks like the warming trend should continue for a while, this isn't the first time this winter we've observed the ice melting. Coinciding with the transition from 2010 to 2011, we observed major weather changes at Nature Boardwalk. Temperatures were as high as 56 degrees on New Year's Eve and 48 degrees the day before and after. This was sandwiched between stretches of much colder, snowier weather.
These high temperatures melted all the snow that had accumulated over the previous weeks, and began to weaken the layer of ice that covers large sections of the pond at Nature Boardwalk. As the ice melted and thinned in some places, it formed these patterns in the ice that look to me like textbook neurons.
I also noticed these when the ice was forming back at the beginning of winter. The stage is set for spring!
Vicky Hunt


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Charlie knows the world is a difficult place. He wonders how he might survive it, when the best people he's known have not. Told entirely through Charlie's letters to an anonymous friend, The Perks of Being a Wallflower spans his first year of high school. However, rather than just being an endless series of classrooms and corridors, lunch breaks and football games, The Perks of Being a Wallflower covers the spaces in between.
These in-between spaces are broadened by Charlie's English teacher, Bill, and the dynamic brother-sister duo Patrick and Sam. Bill gives Charlie extra books to read – classics like This Side of Paradise, The Great Gatsby, Catcher in the Rye, and On The Road. Patrick and Sam accept Charlie into their fold of queers and nerds, extroverts and eccentrics. In these spaces Charlie finds his wallflower qualities are celebrated and supported, and that it's okay (and even fun!) to participate in life as well as to be an observer of it.
The letter format allows Chbosky to focus on key events, as well as allowing the reader deep inside Charlie's rich inner world. We witness failed relationships and horrible events filtered through Charlie's confused attempts to understand. It's like he wants to see the best in people, and is constantly disappointed by them. Similarly, we see his own intentions to be a nice person, and his awkward failings when the right thing to do by others is not the right thing to do by himself.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower is saturated with emotion. As such, although it's set in the early 90s, it is a book that is ageless and timeless. People will always fall in love with the wrong people. People will always make mistakes. And there will always be that one kid at the back of the room, trying to make sense of it all.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower film is scripted, produced, and directed by the book's author, Stephen Chbosky. It stars Logan Lerman (Percy Jackson) as Charlie, Emma Watson (Harry Potter's Hermione Granger) as Sam, and Ezra Miller (We Need to Talk About Kevin) as Patrick. Did I have high hopes? Hell yes.
The good news is that the film perfectly captures the overwhelming emotion you feel when you are young. Remember when you felt something and it was so huge that it was bigger than your physical body? You had to dance or skip or cry or scream to even stand a chance of expressing it.
The acting is outstanding. Incredibly, Emma Watson is the weakest of the three leads – that's how good it is. Lerman captures the highs and lows, the love and pain, and the sheer awkwardness of Charlie in a way I would not have imagined possible. From subtle tics and subversive glances, to his soft voice and quick smile, Lerman is never over-the-top in a role that would be easy to be. Likewise, Miller's representation of Patrick – a proud gay teenager – is as in your face as you'd want it to be without falling into excess. (In fact, until Lerman's breath-taking finale it's possible to believe Miller is the true star of the film.) The supporting cast does not disappoint either.
It is not immediately obvious that the film is, like the book, set in the early 90s, which can only be a strength in connecting with a new generation of teenagers. What evidence remains of the era certainly resonates with those who lived through it. (Mix tape, anyone?) Chbosky has wisely refrained from saturating the film with a voice-over narrative, reserving it only for setting a few scenes. Viewers who have not read the book may wish to be cautioned that the film does not hold back in its representations of sexual activity, and recreational drug use.
The references to, and importance of, various books and pop culture is carried across in the adaptation. Music in particular forms the backbone of friendship between Charlie, Sam, and Patrick, as well as a brilliant soundtrack to the film. (Seriously.) The group's involvement in theatrical showings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show is incredibly winning and also worth a mention. It is these moments of joy that infect the viewer with an intense love for the characters, and ensures that the importance that the novel places upon caring is also translated across.
The film packs as much of a punch as the book, albeit with less finesse due to the abbreviated form. The family relationships are severely pruned to enable focus on the social ones, and a few moving moments from the book are altered in a way that, I feel, lessens them. This is in no way to say the film is not worth seeing – do. It will make you want to dance and skip and cry and scream. And then read the book.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower is released in Australian cinemas on 29 November. Thanks to Village Roadshow for facilitating this review.
You can also read what our teen reviewers thought of the film here and here on our insideadog website.


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Adventures in Voting
Visiting the Board of Elections in the City of New York's website and checking out the list of candidates didn't help my nerves- neither did visiting the New York State Board of Elections' page. The list was so intimidating. In the end, I called the BOE and asked them who would be on the ballot. Though the poll site is only two blocks from me, I didn't know exactly where it was so that, in of itself, was a little adventure.
I was excited but in the end, I couldn't vote. When I received my voter registration card, I noticed it said none beside party even though I had registered Democrat. I didn't think it would be a problem- shows I still have a lot to learn. For the primary election, I need to be registered Democrat, Republican or Independent.
I'm far more heartbroken than I thought I would be but, at least this is an easy fix (hopefully). The volunteer at the poll site gave me a form I need to fill out and mail in, which I will be doing today. I knew voting in NY would be different but I grossly underestimated how different it would be and how much I still don't know.
Lesson Learned.


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On Monday 26th September 2016, an important workshop has been held in three different halls including Dr. Nazim, Big Hall meeting and Head DSWE office at FENG Koya University that presented by Professor Sattar B. Sadkhan in title of " Local MoU – International Conference Sponsorship".
Prof. Sattar is Honorable Chair and Creator of IEEE IRAQ Section and he is pursuing as an academic staff and researcher at Babylon University – Iraq and he was invited to Koya University via DSWE at FENG. During his visiting, three separated meetings and presentation have been held. The first meeting was done between the dean of FENG and Prof Sattar with his delegation staff followed by a meeting between DSWE staff and Prof. Sattar. Both the meetings focused on how can make a good relation and cooperation between Koya University and IEEE Iraq section to do international events and conferences. Furthermore, Prof. Sattar presented a seminar in title of "Local MoU – International Conference Sponsorship" that aimed to guide for correct and successful cooperation among IEEE Iraq representatives and any academics or industrial organizations for holding successful and acceptable International Conference!
After his presentation, the presidency of Koya University was welcoming Prof Sattar and his delegation and agreed on starting the academic cooperation process between both sides.
Last but not least, such kind of relationship and cooperation between international organization such as "IEEE" will globalize Koya Universities' activities and event more and more!
Workshop Title: " Holding an International IEEE Conference at Koya University".
FENG Events >


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UK eggs declared safe – Look for the Lion Mark
What a great day. #britisheggweek and it's just been announced that the Food Standards Agency has changed its advice on eggs, declaring that eggs produced under the British "Lion mark" can be eaten by people of all ages – and that includes vulnerable groups like very young children and pregnant women.
This is fantastic news for our industry. It's almost 30 years since the salmonella scare which caused a dramatic collapse in sales of eggs and a series of warnings for vulnerable groups to avoid eating them if they were raw or runny.
Today's announcement means vulnerable groups CAN eat raw, soft boiled or runny eggs – if they are Lion eggs. ALL the eggs produced on our farms and our producer's farms are BRITISH LION EGGS.
Improvements in animal welfare and the salmonella vaccination program means almost all of UK produced eggs are virtually free of salmonella.
Here at The Lakes, we were the first in the country to guarantee farm of origin for all our eggs and still lead the field today. We are proud of our products and all our farmer suppliers, so if your egg comes from us, you can type in the egg code and "Trace your Egg" to the farm of origin.
Lion Mark – knowing what it stands for
The "British Lion Mark", printed on eggs in red ink, was introduced so that eggs could be traced back to the farm of origin and to show best-before dates.
Almost 30 years on from the initial scare, the Food Standards Agency's Heather Hancock, says runny eggs can now be eaten by everyone.
"We are now saying if there is a British Lion egg, you're safe to do that. The risk of salmonella is now so low you needn't worry. And that's true whether you're a fit healthy adult, or whether you're pregnant or elderly or young. It's only people on strictly medically supervised diets who need to avoid those eggs."
Food safety
David Brass, our Chief Executive Officer, appeared on BBC news this morning, reinforcing the benefits of the British Lion code. He said, "We know from back in the '80s when the scare started, there was an issue with eggs.
"But the Lion standard is a fully independent, audited code of practice to make sure we have standards on the farm that make sure we can't have any of those issues again.
"And it has shown time after time, in those intervening years, that it is just a brilliant food safety code."


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Photos uploaded to Facebook…
I recently re-posted all of my anime-convention stuff to a Facebook page so that folks can like/share posts, as I haven't been motivated enough to do that here.
Eventually I will, as I'd like something I can plug into other social-media platforms, but that's for another day.
Check everything out at: https://www.facebook.com/photosfromdave
— DaveNo comments
Testing out linking to gallery…
The last time I had this front page up, I messed around with the WPG2 plugin which turned out to just not work in the slightest.
I think I'm just going to link things by hand from now on, as it's a lot more reliable.
Recently I attended Jammin Java for the first time, where I got to see my friend Brian Franke play live. I happened to bring the D700 with me, which worked out well, as Jammin's stage is DARK and I really needed the extra ISO.
— DaveNo comments
Site seems to be stable…
I've updated everything, re-created all databases from scratch, and have begun the process of re-populating my gallery. I even took the time to edit the theme up a bit from the default to make it a bit less "stock."
Everything should be back as it was shortly.
— DaveNo comments
So now the rest of my DB tables were dropped.
Joy, first my gallery tables were borked/inaccessible/empty, but now my wordpress tables were dropped as well.
No comments


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From the Daily Mail: The Justice Department will not seek the death penalty against the Libyan militant charged in the Benghazi attacks that killed four Americans, federal officials have announced.
Ahmed Abu Khattala has been awaiting trial in federal court in Washington in connection with the September 2012 violence at a diplomatic compound in Benghazi that killed a U.S. ambassador and three other Americans. His attorneys had been imploring the Justice Department to remove the death penalty as a possibility if Khattala is ultimately convicted at trial.
On Tuesday, the department revealed its decision in a court filing that provided no explanation. (None needed, in my opinion. We all know why they aren't going to kill him.)
Khattala, 43, is the first militant to be prosecuted for the Benghazi violence. He was captured in June 2014 by U.S. special forces before being brought to the United States aboard a Navy ship to face trial.
Ahmed Abu Khattala
Prosecutors have described him as a ringleader of the attacks, which quickly emerged as a political flashpoint and became the topic of congressional hearings involving Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who was secretary of state at the time of the rampage.
He initially was charged with conspiracy to provide support to terrorists and multiple other counts that make him eligible for the death penalty if convicted. Among other charges, he is accused of providing material support to terrorists, malicious destruction of property and attempted murder of an officer and employee of the U.S.
Prosecutors say the attack was aimed at murdering American personnel and plundering maps, documents and other property from the post. The 18-count indictment arises from a burst of violence that began the night of September 11, 2012, at a State Department diplomatic compound. U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens was killed, along with Sean Patrick Smith, a State Department information management officer.
In the first burst of violence on the night of September 11, prosecutors allege, Abu Khattala drove to the diplomatic mission with other militants and a group of about 20 breached the main gate and later launched an attack with assault rifles, grenades and other weapons.
That initial attack killed Stevens and Smith and set the mission ablaze.
Prosecutors say Khattala "supervised the plunder" of sensitive information from that building, then returned to a camp in Benghazi where a large group began assembling for an attack on a second building known as the annex.
The attack on that facility, including a precision mortar barrage, resulted in the deaths of security officers Tyrone Snowden Woods and Glen Anthony Doherty, authorities say.
But defense lawyers have argued for Khattala to be returned to Libya as a sanction for what they call their client's illegal capture and interrogation, which took place aboard a Navy ship that brought him to the U.S.


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lover of wisdom
I feel I want to talk about something, but I don't know how to express it. It has to do with thinking about life--one's own life. What are the core issues of my life? What are the values over which I experience my conflicts?
In 1982, when I was 23 and unemployed, working on a novel, and living with my mother and aunt after spending half a year abroad, I used to go each evening to a pub in False Creek called Stamp's Landing. Since I was broke, Mom would compassionately give me $5 which would buy me two pints and get me out of the house. I would drink alone at the amber-lit pub that looked out on the dark water, watching other people talking and laughing as though I were invisible or an alien, and only occasionally would get into a conversation with anyone. (Most memorable: an older man who had just been released from prison for robbing a bank. I astonished him by knowing the definition of floccinaucinihilipilification--the act of estimating as worthless--when he said none of the lawyers he had asked had known it. Since the word was in the Guinness Book of Records, where I'd learned it, I didn't think it was a big deal.)
One night I was sitting at the bar itself, drinking one of my two pints. The woman sitting next to me started talking.
"Is that what you'd call a leather jacket?" she said.
She was referring to my coat. She was small and wiry, wearing pants and a light sweater. Her hair was cut short to her head. Her eyes were very deep-set, her cheeks hollow, and her nose had a strong hook. She was drunk.
"Yes," I said, "I would."
"What makes that a leather jacket?" she said.
"Well, it's leather," I said, "and it's a jacket. So I call it a leather jacket."
She nodded. She turned toward me.
"Are you a philosopher?" she said.
"I'm a lawyer," she said. "You seem like a philosopher."
"Not really," I said.
I slipped away. When I told my mother the story she said, "That was very perceptive of her."
"Does it really take a philosopher to know that something that's leather and a jacket is a leather jacket?" I said.
Of course I was a philosopher--and still am. When I found out a few years later that the word philosophy itself was supposedly coined by Pythagoras to mean "lover of wisdom," I felt myself even more a philosopher. So are we all, to the extent that we ever wonder why things are the way they are.
Hence my remark above about the search for the core values of my life. What matters most to me? There was a long time in my life--from the age of 20 to as recently as 43--when I would have said "enlightenment", meaning it in the Buddhist sense of complete realization of the nature of existence. I suppose I've given up on enlightenment as a goal.
I had this thought as I strode into the rain this afternoon to dump the little plastic bucket of kitchen compost into the big black compost-barrel at the side of the house. I unscrewed the lid to see the usual sight of wet worms huddled together, little frenzied flies, glistening slugs curled under tabs of plastic: a profusion of life that will all soon be dead--as will I. The ambitions of youth crumble away, and one sees instead only a short length of trail leading to the door of permanent absence from life, this life anyway.
As I screwed the lid, glossy with rain, back on, I felt calm. In some way the burden of success is lifted from my shoulders. There's no use struggling. I should enjoy myself.
Labels: everyday life, introspection, my life history, philosophy


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A ban on photography during concerts in Pershing Square in downtown Los Angeles has ignited debate on First Amendment rights in public spaces.
The National Press Photographers Association helped draft a letter that the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California sent to Los Angeles officials protesting a ban on cameras and recording devices in Pershing Square, a public park, during a summer concert series.
"Unfortunately, the NPPA sees these type of onerous restrictions far too often nationwide," said NPPA general counsel Mickey Osterreicher, who helped draft the letter. "It is still extremely difficult to understand how the City of Los Angeles and its attorneys could believe they had the authority to contractually agree to a request barring photography and recording along with audio-visual devices from a traditionally public forum such as Pershing Square during certain events."
In addition to the NPPA, the letter was joined by the Society of Professional Journalists/Los Angeles Chapter, Society of Professional Journalists/National, California Broadcasters Association, Electronic Frontier Foundation, American Photographic Artists, American Society of Media Photographers, Digital Media Licensing Association, Freedom of the Press Foundation, Professional Photographers of America, Radio and Television Digital News Association and Reporters Without Borders.
The Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks has posted on its website this restriction:
Cameras/Photography: At the request of the artist/performer, video, photo and audio devices are prohibited at Pershing Square's Downtown Stage Saturday concerts. This includes Pro cameras, monopods, tripods, selfie sticks, iPads or professional photography/video equipment of any type. This policy will be strictly enforced due to contractual agreement.
The parks department also requires a permit to hand out flyers at the concerts and the ACLU letter also protests this policy.


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(Chicago, Illinois November 1, 2017)
Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) announced new members of its Alliance for Excellence in School Budgeting. The Alliance is composed of 38 school districts working with GFOA to implement the Best Practices in School Budgeting. Alliance members include districts from 20 states across the United States serving anywhere from several hundred students to over two hundred thousand students.
Alliance members include:
- Oakland Unified School District
- Cherry Creek School District #5
- Eagle County School District RE50J
- Hanover School District #28
- Jeffco Public Schools
- Broward County Public Schools
- Cape Coral Charter School Authority
- School District of Palm Beach County
- Fulton County Schools
- Des Moines Public Schools
- Nampa School District 131
- Byron Community School District 226
- Deerfield Public Schools District 109
- North Shore School District 112
- River Trails School District 26
- Thornton Township High School District 205
- Fayette County Public Schools
- Ascension Public Schools
- Pittsfield Public Schools Public Schools of Brookline
- Traverse City Area Public Schools
- Wayne-Westland Community Schools
- Saint Paul Public Schools
- Lincoln Public Schools
- Washoe County School District
- Rochester City School District
- Hilliard City School District
- Northwest Local School District
- Beaverton School District
- Corvallis School District 509J
- Fort Worth Independent School District
- Houston Independent School District
- Westlake Academy Charter School
- Tacoma Public Schools
- Milwaukee Public Schools
- Racine Unified School District
- School District of Fort Atkinson
- School District of Menomonee Falls
GFOA initially kicked off the Alliance for Excellence in School Budgeting in September 2015 with 35 districts and held a second event in November 2016 with 36 additional districts. GFOA is excited to support the ongoing efforts of the over 100 districts across the United States implementing and improving their budget processes to help support delivery of the highest quality instruction possible to their students.
The Best Practices in School Budgeting outline a budget process that centers on aligning resources with areas of greatest impact on student achievement. Alliance members will be working on implementing the best practices over the next year with support from GFOA in the form of collaborative meetings, eLearnings, and other supports. GFOA will begin recruiting members for the next wave of the Alliance events in early 2018, including a preconference session on May 4, 2018, prior to GFOA's Annual Conference in St. Louis, Missouri, and the next Alliance kickoff meeting in October 2018 in Chicago, Illinois.
More information about the project is available on GFOA's website, http://gfoa.org/pk-12-budget.