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Washington (CNN) - The number two House Democrat believes the deadly shooting at the Washington Navy Yard will renew the debate over gun control, but admitted that outside groups opposed to any new restrictions make it unlikely that Congress will enact any new laws.
"If the past is prologue that prologue is not very helpful," House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, referencing failed attempts on Capitol Hill to pass new gun laws after previous mass shootings, told reporters on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.
The Maryland Democrat said there are "mixed messages," noting that public opinion polls show overwhelming support for enhanced background check laws. But at the same time he said politicians noticed when two Colorado legislators recently lost their elected posts for supporting those laws.
Hoyer said stronger background checks used to be supported by some gun rights groups, "but the politics have changed and yes, the groups in this instance –on these single issues - obviously hold a great sway, particularly in a Republican party," Hoyer said.
Hoyer also told reporters that Republicans aren't going to bring up a gun control bill on the House floor. And a GOP leadership aide reiterated they have no plans to move any legislation unless the Senate passes something first.
Three of the victims killed in the shooting at the Navy Yard lived in Hoyer's suburban Maryland district.
Over 2 million times per year a gun is used in self defense.
Liberal lobby likely to block background checks to prevent future incidents like this. If this discriminates from someone getting a job based on their color regardless of their past history no big deal.
The gun lobby does NOT represent WE THE PEOPLE!
instead of shaking your head and saying "what's the use," why don't you make them show up and argue their rationale behind blocking laws that would have prohibited this troubled young man from obtaining weapons in the first place.
Wong, wrong, wrong... No "LOBBY" can block anything. Only gutless congress persons can...
No news here. The NRA has these politicians shook to death. Particularly those on the right. They should all grow a pair as Manchin and Toomey did.
The toughest part of this discussion/debate revolves around the role of the NRA in driving the "no restrictions" language that becomes GOP policy. Clearly, a vast majority of Americans see the problem with unfettered gun access- innocent people die (more than 7200 this tear alone so far). No rational person recommends "taking guns", but clearly there needs to be responsibility on the part of the guns lobby. It is not beyond logic to demand better background checking, nor does a registry violate the 2nd Amendment. It would seem supremely logical that if we have to buy automobile insurance (for damages we may cause incur by accident) that gun owners step up and do the right thing- own all the weapons you wish- but undergo the requisite checks so we know you aren't a criminal, drug addict or a kook. The NRA apparently has a database of its members and their guns, why not law enforcement. It is done that way in other first world nations, and it works. Gun bans and automatic weapons restrictions are problematic, and may never become reality, but we all have an interest in keeping firearms away from children, criminals and the insane. It IS the best step forward.
The risk of ignoring this is clear. The day may not be far off when Americans will reject the 2nd Amendment, and demand far sterner actions that will limit the legitimate rights of legitimate gun owners. The NRA is not being smart by in essense saying 8,000 needless deaths in America is price for a very few's "freedom". Meanwhile if the GOP were smart, they would step away from the ever more radical and crazy sounding NRA (really? guns for blind people?!).
I'm not advocating for it, but nothing will get done unless the tragedy hits them personally. Let it happen to be one of their children, or husband or wife gunned down like a dog, then their opinion will be swayed. Until then, keep dreaming on passing gun control.
As long as average Joe interprets the First amendment as his right to bear nuclear weapon we will have these shooting and the lobbyist, the owners of the guns industries, the representatives and the senators will make their money.
I can see the article now – NRA will blame Obama and new guns sales will skyrocket. Wayne gets a woody when these mass shooting happen cause he knows he can say Obama is here to take your guns and the wacko crazies will go out there and buy more guns. These people are on foods stamps but the can afford a AR15 for sure.
How can you revamp your efforts to ban AR-15s when the shooter didnt even have an AR-15 to begin with?
This excerpt comes from a CNN article by the way:
"A U.S. law enforcement official said Monday that gunman Aaron Alexis unleashed a barrage of bullets using an AR-15, a rifle and a semi-automatic handgun. Authorities believed the AR-15 was used for most of the shooting, the official said. The news prompted Sen. Dianne Feinstein, one of the strongest proponents of a ban on assault weapons like the AR-15, to issue a statement the same day asking, "When will enough be enough?"
However, federal law enforcement sources told CNN Tuesday that authorities have recovered three weapons from the scene of the mass shooting, including one - a shotgun - that investigators believe Alexis brought in to the compound. The other two weapons, which sources say were handguns, may have been taken from guards at the Navy complex.
The sources, who have detailed knowledge of the investigation, cautioned that initial information that an AR-15 was used in the shootings may have been incorrect. It is believed that Alexis had rented an AR-15, but returned it before Monday morning's shootings. Authorities are still investigating precisely how many weapons Alexis had access to and when."
So, it kind of puts out that fire. Just saying.
New laws for what exactly, firearms that weren't even involved?
Keep trying, Steny. And again, and again, and again. The people want background checks. Give us what we want.
Likely??? The NRA is the most powerful lobby out there. Only their rights count. Those of us that don't want to be surrounded by guns everywhere we go should just sit down and shut up. Apparently we have no rights. Just ask the two Congress people that just lost their jobs last week simply for voting the way some in the state wanted and some didn't. I'm almost positive that many in Congress will just wait for this to blow over for fear of being recalled. It's quite pathetic. Which is why I feel ZERO sympathy for those going through what they are going through in Colorado. It's called karma. Maybe they should use their guns to fight off the floods......
Our Federal Branch of Govt. has become paralyzed by a lunatic fringe from trying to respond to problems facing this Country that Govt. could possibly help make better.
As long as people (as instructed by the NRA) interpret "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed" as meaning "the right of the people to BUY and SELL arms shall not be infringed"......NO legislation will ever be passed.....so...why not take it a step further and allow everyone (including juveniles, felons and the mentally impaired) to "keep and bear arms" also...???....just sarcastically asking
BTW,.....if juveniles, felons and the mentally impaired COULD buy guns, they would'nt have to steal yours or mine.
Gop is nothing but trash


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Another over-the-counter fitness and weight-loss supplement has come under the scrutiny of the US Food and Drug Administration, with some experts calling for an all-out ban on the compound called DMAA.
Last month, the FDA issued warning letters to 10 manufacturers of dietary supplements containing the amphetamine-like substance "for marketing products for which evidence of the safety of the product had not been submitted" to the agency. On Monday, a Harvard Medical School researcher published a research letter in the Archives of Internal Medicine calling on the FDA to pull DMAA-containing supplements from shelves, citing possible health risks from case reports that include panic attacks, seizures, heart attacks, stroke, and deaths in those who took high amounts.
"It's been one of the replacement products for ephedra," the herbal product banned by the FDA in 2004 after it was linked to rapid heartbeat and heart attacks, said Dr. Pieter Cohen, an internist at the Cambridge Health Alliance and assistant professor at Harvard who wrote the research letter. "Although, in animal models DMAA has been shown to be more potent than ephedra."
DMAA is an amphetamine-like compound that purports to boost workouts and weight-loss efforts by increasing energy and metabolism. It was once found in decongestant nasal sprays that were taken off the market in the 1970s because of a lack of efficacy.
"Before marketing products containing DMAA, manufacturers and distributors have a responsibility under the law to provide evidence of the safety of their products. They haven't done that and that makes the products adulterated," Daniel Fabricant, director of FDA's Dietary Supplement Program, said in a statement.
The US Army recently banned DMAA-containing supplements from being sold in commissaries on its military bases and launched a study of DMAA after two soldiers died last year from heart attacks following a workout, according to the New York Times; both soldiers had traces of DMAA in their blood.
Supplement manufacturers claim the substance is natural -- found in the leaves and stem of a rose-scented geranium plant -- but Cohen said that's based on a single study from decades ago showing that the plant is composed of less than 0.7 percent DMAA.
According to the current federal law regulating supplements, manufacturers can include any compounds in their products if they can demonstrate they've been in the food supply for years with no safety hazards. Rose-scented geranium (Pelargonium graveolens) has been used to flavor cakes, jams, and ice cream.
Given the minute amount of DMAA found in geranium plants, Cohen said, "it would be virtually impossible to produce even a small fraction of DMAA" from the plants themselves.
Instead, manufacturers must make it synthetically in a lab, which the FDA said requires them to demonstrate that the chemical is safe for human consumption.
GNC Holdings Inc. -- which operates GNC stores that sell DMAA supplements like Jack3D and Oxy Elite Pro -- issued a statement last week disputing concerns over the safety of some of its best-selling supplements. The company asserted that the FDA failed to provide medical or scientific evidence showing that DMAA is unsafe and said, when used as directed, DMAA supplements have "the same effect on the body as drinking two cups of coffee."
While studies are lacking to determine the exact safety hazards, if any, posed by DMAA, Cohen said he tells his patients to avoid any supplements containing it. "I saw a patient just today who was taking this supplement to improve her workouts," he said. "She bought it in a health-food store and assumed it must be safe."
It was hard, Cohen added, to convince his patient to throw the product away since she wasn't having side effects. He told me he didn't know whether she was ultimately swayed by his admonitions.
Deborah Kotz can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com. Follow her on Twitter @debkotz2.

subset: commoncrawl


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21st Century Learning #91: Dr. Jonathan Becker
21st Century Learning #91
Dr. Jonathan Becker
January 15, 2009
This week, Dr. Jonathan Becker joined us to discuss education research and technology integration. He is an assistant professor at the Educational Leadership Department at Virginia Commonwealth University. He teachs courses in school law and educational research methods.
You can also check out Jon's K-12 Online presentation entitled Facilitating Technology Integration: A Synthesis of the Research.


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It's one of the traditional pictures of the holiday season in 20th Century America -- the whole family gathered around the bright lights of the Christmas tree as the radio plays softly in the background. From the very beginning of the medium, there's been a strong connection between the holiday and broadcast radio.
Whether it's Jack Benny going shopping, Johnny Dollar stopping suspicious Santas, or a drama desperate for a miracle - no matter the performer, no matter the style, Christmas always brought the most merry and moving of messages to the air.
Episodes Include: Fibber McGee & Molly: Fibber Cuts A Christmas Tree 12-16-41; The Great Gildersleeve: Selling Trees for Needy Children 12-23-53; Author's Playhouse: Christmas By Injunction 12-21-41; Grand Central Station: Miracle For Christmas 12-24-49; The Jack Benny Program: Christmas Shopping 12-22-40; Father Knows Best: Stranded By A Storm 12-24-53; Sergeant Preston of the Yukon: The Sergeant's Present 12-23-49; The Lone Ranger: Mission Bells 12-24-47; Red Skelton Show: Red's Christmas Book of Satire 12-24-46; The Aldrich Family: Christmas Eve With the Family 12-21-52; Christmas Special: Jingle Bell's Happiest Christmas; Christmas Special: The Greatest Gift 12-24-46; Suspense: The Night before Christmas 12-21-53; Romance: Richer By One Christmas 12-24-55; My Friend Irma: Irma's Christmas Party 12-20-48; Life With Luigi: Christmas Show 12-20-49; The Couple Next Door: The Night Before Christmas 12-24-58; Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar: The Department Store Swindle Matter 12-24-49; The Roy Rogers Show: Night Before The Night Before Christmas 12-25-52; The New Swan Show: Doris Day and Bob Hope Go Christmas Shopping 12-07-48; The First Nighter Program: Oh, Little Town Of Bethlehem 1949; The Couple Next Door: Christmas Day 12-25-58


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Adobe recommends using the SPA Editor for projects that require single page application framework-based client-side rendering (e.g. React). Learn more.
A Space is a convenient location to store entities that are exposed through the Content Services REST API. This is especially useful because an app (or any channel) can be associated with many entities. Forcing Entities to be within a Space forces the best practice of grouping an App's requirements. Optionally, you can associate an app in AEM with a small number of Spaces.
To make something available to any channel from Content Services, it needs to be under a space.
If the user wants to expose a bunch of content and assets to a mobile app, the user creates the space using the AEM Mobile dashboard.
For the first time user, who has not configured content services to work with spaces, the AEM Mobile dashboard displays only Apps after selecting Content Services.
Prerequisites for adding a space
Check the Enable AEM Content Services to work with Spaces and enable it in your AEM Mobile application dashboard.
See Administering Content Services for more details.
Once you configure Spaces in dashboard, follow these steps to create Spaces:
Choose Spaces from Content Services.
Choose Create to create a space. Enter Title, Name, and Description for the space.
Click Create.
Once you create a space, click on the left to manage the space in the list.
You can view properties of the space, delete the space, or publish the space and its contents to an AEM publish instance.
Viewing and Editing Properties of a Space
Publishing a Space When a space is published, all folders and entities in that space are also published.
You can Unpublish a Space, which removes the space from the publish instance.
The following image illustrates the actions that can be performed, after you publish the space.
Spaces can include folders to help further organize space's content and assets. Users can create their own hierarchy under a space.
Click on the space in the list in the space console and click Create Folder
Enter the Title, Name, and Description for the folder
Click Create to create the folder in a space
Language Copy is not fully functional for this release. It only sets up the structure.
The Language Copy feature allows authors to copy their master Language Copy and then create a Project and Workflow to automatically translate the content. Language Copy creates the correct structure. Once you add a folder in a space, you can add Language Copy to your space.
It is recommended that any content that might be translated, should be placed under the Language Copy node.
Once you create space, click on that space to create a language copy.
Click Create and choose Language Copy.
Language Copy nodes can only exist as a direct child of the Space.
Choose Content Package Language* and enter the Title* in Create Language Copy dialog.
Click Create.
Once you create a Language Copy, it appears in your space in Language Masters.
Select Language Masters to view the language copy folders.
Select the folder from the list of space contents
Click Delete from the toolbar
To navigate into a folder and to see its contents or add a sub folder or entity, click on the title of the folder in the space's content list.
Entities represent content that is exposed through the web service endpoint. Entities are stored in spaces so the can be easily found and are kept independent of the AEM repository structure that holds their related content.
You may want to group entities together in some logical gathering. To do so you can create any number of folders.
If entity children, which are other entities, are gathered for data modeling, the developer user may create specific "Group Models" from the "Entity Group" model type, provided out-of-the-box.
Entities are always associated with a space, so most of the entity user interface is accessed through the space console.
Open the Space console and click on the title of the space.
Optionally, you can navigate to the folder by clicking on the title of the folder in the list.
Choose the model for the entity. This is the type of entity that you want to create. Click Next.
You have the option to choose the Assets Model, Pages Model, or a model of entity type you created before.
See Creating a Model, to create your custom entity.
Enter a Title, Name, Description, and Tags for the entity. Click Create.
Once you are done, the entity appears in your space's descendants.
Once you have created an entity, go to your folder or space and choose your entity from the Space console to edit.
Select an entity for editing and click Edit.
Depending on the template you choose to create your entity, the UI will be different for both, for editing and viewing properties of your entity. See the steps below for more details.
If you choose the template for creating the entity as Assets Models, clicking on Edit allows you to add assets as shown in the figure below:
Alternatively, you can click on Preview to view the json link.
If you choose the template for creating the entity as Pages Models, clicking on Edit allows you to add assets as shown in the figure below:
Click on the icon in the Path to add an asset
Once you add an entity, it must be saved for the Preview link to work. To view the preview, click Save. Clicking on the Preview shows the json of the added asset, as shown in the figure below:
When you are done adding assets to your entity, you can either choose Save to save the changes or choose Save & Close to save and redirect to the Space console list where the entities are defined.
Additionally, select an entity from the space console list and click on Properties to view and edit the properties for a defined entity.
You can edit the title, description, tags and add the assets to your entity.
Select the entity from the list of space contents
Click Delete from the toolbar to remove the specific entity from the space
You have the option of choosing Publish Tree or Quick Publish to publish your entity.
Select an entity from the space console list and click **Publish Tree **to publish that entity and its children.
Click Quick Publish to publish that specific entity.


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Occupy W Street Growing
Boston Correspondent Karin Friedemann reports on growing "Occupy Boston†phenomenon
By Karin Friedemann, TMO
Since the end of September, hundreds of protesters under the banner "Occupy Boston†have set up camp in downtown Boston, Massachusetts to support the ongoing "Occupy Wall Street†protests in New York. Their demands are varied, but seem to be focused on unemployment, rising food prices, and the unfairness of billions of dollars of tax money being spent on useless wars and bank bailouts while the American dream of home ownership and "a chicken in every pot†steadily dies, as ordinary citizens lose their financial security.
Tents have filled up a public park while crowds chant slogans such as "Tax the Rich,†hold up hand made signs and fill the air with music and drumming. Celebrities have come to perform, and the homeless have been receiving free food and clothing. Compared to the scene in New York, Occupy Boston is enjoying a festive atmosphere despite the chilly weather, free of tension without any hint of police brutality. Various people drop by with donations of money, food, blankets and kind words, while the number of campers continues to grow.
The mayor of Boston, Thomas Menino and the governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick have decided that there will be no arrests of protesters and have in fact stated publicly that they support the right of citizens to express their opinions. The protesters have been told they are free to camp out as long as they choose.
Media criticism has focused on the cost upon taxpayers to pick up the garbage and provide the tent city with electricity. It is highly probable that the City of Boston has decided to avoid the bad press that comes along with police violence against angry mobs. It is also much cheaper to provide these very basic services to the protesters than to arrest and detain them and then pay for all of them to go to trial and provide them all with court-appointed lawyers. Furthermore, there might be some quiet agreement with the slogan "Tax the Rich†among many in the leadership, for this is one of the principles upon which the State of Massachusetts operates, as the only state in the US that provides free health insurance to the lower middle class.
Massachusetts is already well-known as the US state which takes the best care of its poorer citizens out of its wealthy tax base, providing government-subsidized child care starting from the age of one month, after school and summer programs for teens, nearly free sports programs, food and cash aid and reduced housing prices for the poor. Yet it is still not enough for everyone to feel secure. The working middle class is hardest hit by the economy since they do not qualify for most of these programs and often go into debt trying to provide for their families due to medical bills, childcare or the high price of gasoline.
Occupy Boston is not your usual group of punks and hippies with nothing else to do but complain. The movement has been joined by college students, nurses, pilots, and other workers. As I drove on the highway today past the electrical workers' union I saw a fancy electrical sign reading "We the People Occupy Boston.â€
America's largest labor union, the AFL-CIO with 11 million members has backed the growing movement, stating: "The Wall Street banks and the largest corporations refuse to pay their fair share of taxes while our infrastructure crumbles. They sit on record profits while the rest of the country suffers, and they still refuse to put people back to work.â€
The Boston Herald reports that many of the elderly are showing their support. A retired 71-year-old gentleman, who ran his own corporate headhunting firm, visited the tent village yesterday afternoon to advise the young people to focus on making clearer demands. "I'd like to see the group more focused on applying pressure to specific areas,†he stated.
Some feel it makes no sense using so much personal energy to speak out against such a vague term as "Corporate Greed†without actually naming names of bankers or lobbyists who should go to jail, for example, or demanding some specific reforms of the process of electing public officials. Specifically, Occupy Boston could use its voice to demand universal health care for all of Massachusetts, a measure that would even save the rich thousands of dollars a year. MassHealth is the best health insurance in America, with zero co-payments and even free replacements for broken eyeglasses. Preventing disease is so much less costly than treating it.
Occupy Boston is a unique and bizarre political situation, where banks and financial corporations have opened their doors to the hundreds of anti-bank anti-corporation protesters to let them use the toilet. The unrest seems to be good for local capitalism, since all these people have to eat. One of America's leading pro-Israel advocates Rabbi Michael Lerner has been actively recruiting Jews to participate in the protests – perhaps to steer the conversation away from cutting US aid to Israel, which would be an obvious way to quickly make more money available to the masses of disgruntled Americans.
Even more contradictory are the conflicting views of the people involved. Right-wing Libertarian protesters demand an end to the credit-based economy and want to return to the Gold Standard, while the Leftists and Liberals simply want to steer more borrowed government money into improving and expanding welfare programs. But most are in agreement that jobs are more important than foreign wars and that the government needs to focus more on its citizens not the demands of corporate lobbyists.
Karin Friedemann is a Boston-based freelance writer


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It's not often I use project Life cards for other than what they were intended - Memory Keeping. I am simply not that clever. BUT - when I got my hands on the new Stampin' Up! All Year Long Project Life kit, my mind just exploded with ideas!
So, my challenge to you is to have a look at a PL kit you have and see if you can turn a title or filler card into a greeting card! If you don't have any PL kits, just visit my Online Store by clicking on any of the pictures below, and pick one up today!
Product List
If you live in New Zealand, I would love to be your Demonstrator. When you shop Online with me, please allow Demonstrator contact, so I can thank you properly with the gift of a card when you place an order.


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So. . . I have been working on a HUGE and I mean a HUGE project for all the moms in my daughter's co-op preschool. I am making scrapbooks for about 14 moms so all they have to do is slap pictures from the year in them and be done with it.It will have about 22 pages to each of them and then I will bind it with my Cinch It. I am a bit worried that my Expressions is going to die on me mid-project since I have been giving it a work-out and I am really having fun learning how to use my Imagine to take some of the load off of my beloved Expressions. So that is why I have been not competing in any challenges, or doing any special projects for myself.
Now, when I get a little overwhelmed, I find myself in the kitchen or outside doing something active. Since I am out of commission right now on anything active due to a minor surgery and healing foot issues, I head to the kitchen. I made these two cupcake recipes and they were soo much fun to make and eat. It was mainly for "reasearch" for my daughter's birthday party ideas for next year… Vintage Circus or County Fair theme…
Needless to say the Twinkie and Orange Creamsicle will be on the menu! I found a cupcake corer at Williams Sonoma for around $5. It totally worked amazingly well… I was actually surprised how well it worked for how cheap it was. Just goes to show you, Williams Sonoma knows kitchen needs well!
Orange Creamsicle Cupcakes: Click here for the recipe: PLEASE NOTE: I did not use the citrus olive oil and did not sub in anything. I also used a 13 oz jar of fluff instead of 7 0z. I found it too buttery for the filling with only 7 oz.
Thanks for sharing a piece of the "pie morphing into a cupcake" pie with me!


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If you had told me then that Chicago would remember me as the man who brought the Beatles, I would have laughed at you. It was August 1966. A week earlier, John Lennon had set off an uproar with his offhand observation about art and life. It was all over the papers in this country: "We're more popular than Jesus now. I don't know which will go first — rock 'n roll or Christianity.â€
Maybe he was right, but some people were saying Lennon had put his foot fatally in his mouth this time. The Beatles' very career was threatened. The press was in a tizzy. A movement was taking shape in the South to ban Beatles records from stores.
Lennon had refused to say anything more in England. But the group had promised a press conference in Chicago to kick off their fifteen-city tour of the United States, and now hundreds of press types were pouring in from all over the world to see if there would be an apology. Brian Epstein, the Beatles' manager, was flying over to handle the onslaught himself. And there I was at the ramp at O'Hare Airport, waiting for Brian Epstein.
Jack Mabley, in his column for the Chicago Herald-American that day, was thundering that the Beatles should take their money and go home. I had brought in Mabley to introduce the Beatles form the stage at the last concert they did for me, but he had apparently changed his mind about them since then. Len O'Connor, a commentator for the big WGN radio station, added a loud attack on the air. I guessed that if even these guys had had such a profound change of heart, it meant proper society must be pretty thoroughly shocked. Epstein was sure the reporters would have his boys' heads for it.
They could have them, for all I cared. My main concern at this point was to get this over with and get home. I didn't have much to say to Epstein about anything. I was much more interested in Vladimir Lenin's views than in John Lennon's. I guess I was in the minority on both those matters, but I was used to that.
In any case, I was just the promoter. My job was to put the asses in the seats, and if I did it well, I expected to be left alone.
Norman Weiss, the Beatles' booking agent at General Artists, had called at the last minute and asked me to meet Epstein myself with a limousine. In my eight years in the business I had occasionally been forced to hire limos for artists, but I had drawn the line at attending them personally. This time I reluctantly agreed, sure that this was the final step in my progress as a sellout.


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2‑1/8" Hole Saw
- 60 mm (2-3/8 in.) cutting depth for 40% deeper holes in 1 pass and increased productivity
- Fits with Snap-Lock Plus™ mandrel system allowing a quick and easy change with no down time
- Mandrel fits all Diablo hole saws, from 5/8 in. to 6 in. diameter
- Tool free plug ejection for fast material removal
- Variable Tooth Design provides faster cuts with less vibration


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It's easier than ever for gamers to get their fix, whether playing "Words With Friends" on a plane, "League of Legends" for free online or the latest "Call of Duty" on Xbox or PlayStation consoles.
Figuring out how to maximize revenue on these platforms is a lot more challenging. Last year, the overall videogame market declined again, despite blockbuster launches of "Call of Duty: Black Ops II" and "Halo 4," surging digital sales and the arrival of Nintendo's next-generation Wii console for the holidays. Microsoft and Sony are expected to follow suit with new consoles before the end of the year, potentially splintering the market further.
"Ten years ago, you made a boxed product that might be played between 8 p.m. to 12 a.m. and maybe on the weekends," says Chris Early, vice president of digital publishing at Ubisoft. "What we're seeing now is because of the change in hardware and (mobile) devices, we have more access to the player's time that we can use to engage the player's mind. So how do we make those experiences and brands relevant at other parts of their day, which might involve a different piece of hardware in their hands?"
One way is to make complementary experiences on various platforms. "Our strategy is largely ecumenical about distribution and platforms," says Strauss Zelnick, chairman and CEO of Take-Two Interactive Software, who points out his company has released new and catalog titles for smartphones and tablets. "We aim to be wherever consumers want to be entertained and provide them with experiences that are perfectly suited for each specific platform."
Christian Svensson, senior vice president of strategic planning and business development for Capcom, says the traditional side of the business can and should learn from the emerging mobile sector. "There are keys to success in these areas that will become essential for us to master if we're going to continue to be successful even within our traditional core business," Svensson says, citing the need to understand real-time metrics and nurture strong community development. "So perhaps as important as the direct revenue contribution of these sectors, will be the ongoing corporate cultural changes that they will impart to our whole organization as we become more experienced with them."
There are more than 67 million Xbox 360 units in people's homes, as well as 64 million PlayStation 3's and 96 million Nintendo Wiis. Apple has sold more than 85 million iPhones in the U.S. alone (as well as 34 million iPads).
Android numbers are a bit harder to pin down, since there are so many different providers, but Samsung sold 21.25 million phones and 1.4 million Galaxy Tab and Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablets in a two-year period between mid-2010 and mid-2012.
The free-to-play movement, which has been incredibly successful in Asia, is quickly becoming a force in the North American market as well. "League of Legends," a free to play multiplayer battle game, has some 32 million monthly players.
And Sony Online Entertainment, which once required players to pay a monthly subscription fee for its massively multiplayer online games, has recently converted all of its titles to a free-to-play model. The action has resulted in a 300% increase in new players for "EverQuest 2," a 125% increase in item sales for "EverQuest" and a 350% bump in registrations. "Planetside 2," its most recent release, has more than 1.6 million registered users — with 750,000 logging in to play every week.
"Sometimes you make a decision and you're like 'Oh God, let's buckle in and hope everything goes well.' That's how it was with free to play," says John Smedley, president of Sony Online Entertainment. "Now we look back and wonder 'How did we ever survive before this?' Living in a world where retailers control your software was horrible."
Cloud-based gaming, still in its infancy, is showing some promise. While OnLive seemed to be the early leader, striking deals with Google TV and Vizio, the company suffered a setback last year when it abruptly fired all of its employees, transferred ownership to a new company and moved forward with a skeleton crew.
Insiders later reported the company consistently failed to make money and was burning millions of dollars per month.
Competing service Gaikai, however, got a boost when Sony purchased the company for $380 million in July — and the technology could be included in future PlayStation models.
For all the growth on the mobile side, there's no denying the power of potent console games. "Call of Duty: Black Ops II" grossed $1 billion in 15 days in November, shortly after "Halo 4" outpaced previous installments in the franchise with $220 million in first-day sales. Clearly, there's still life left in console games.
Says Zelnick: "The paramount factor in capturing any audience is to give them an incredible entertainment experience that is worthy of their time and money — regardless of the platform."
• Hollywood could learn from videogame franchise strategy


text:
Data Center Products & Services | Best Providers
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Hi There Furiends,
Oliver here. I'm answering this week's fill ins. I hope you are all well and safe and enjoying a lovely fall, even if it's from the window sill inside the house (one of my favorite spots). I invite you to join this blog hop hosted by 15andmeowing and Four-Legged Furballs. If you would prefer to opine about your answers in our comment section, please feel free to do so.
Purrs & Head Bonks,
This week's questions:
My Answers:


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December 13, 2011 -
A Congressional subcommittee will hear testimony on Thursday from a panel of current and former homeless children as it examines government barriers that prevent many homeless youth from receiving housing assistance.
The Financial Services Subcommittee on Insurance, Housing and Community Opportunity is examining how conflicting definitions of "homeless person" in the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act make it more difficult for children and youth to obtain housing assistance. Passed by Congress in 1987, the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act established federal homeless assistance programs and provided the first statutory definition of homeless persons.
Subcommittee Chairman Judy Biggert said, "Children living in shabby motels or jumping from couch to couch deserve help, too. Every child should have a safe place to sleep at night and a chance at a brighter future. That's what this hearing is all about, and I hope my colleagues will listen closely to the stories these young witnesses, who have come from all over the country, will tell us."
A study released Tuesday by the National Center on Family Homelessness says one in 45 children in the U.S. experience homelessness annually.
During the hearing the Subcommittee will also discuss H.R. 32, the Homeless Children and Youth Act, introduced by Chairman Biggert. H.R. 32 harmonizes the conflicting definitions of "homeless person" in the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. As a result, H.R. 32 would not only increase the number of children and youth who could receive housing assistance and services, it would also allow the Department of Housing and Urban Development to more accurately estimate the number of homeless persons in the United States.
The hearing will take place on Thursday, Dec. 15 at 10 a.m. in room 2237 Rayburn House Office Building.
Witnesses scheduled to testify:
Panel I:
Panel II:
Print version of this document


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Those of you who were rejoicing that a Justice League movie was finally happening... you might want to put the celebration on hold. Stuck in a Variety interview with Warner Bros. movie division president Jeff Robinov comes the disturbing news that Justice League is by no means set in stone — it's dependent on how the Superman reboot Man of Steel does this summer. The passage in question:
Further out, the studio's planning a "Justice League" tentpole — encompassing DC Comics mainstays Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash and the Green Lantern — on the order of Marvel's "The Avengers." Will Beall is scripting but no director has been attached yet.
Stakes are high for "Man of Steel." Other than Nolan's Batpics, Warners has not been able to effectively exploit the DC library. Its 2011 "Green Lantern" underperformed, and a "Justice League" film wouldn't likely be in theaters before 2015, as Warner's top brass has indicated that they are awaiting the results of "Man of Steel," which opens June 14, before moving further ahead.
Well, as long as people want their Superman to be bearded, working on a fishing boat, and kind of bummed, Justice League has nothing to worry about. If not... it'll only mark the most recent time WB has announced a JL movie and changed their minds. But on the plus side, Man of Steel doesn't need to actually be good to make a lot of money, which is all Hollywood cares about. And Man of Steel does actually feature Superman punching things, which may be all audiences need to buy tickets to see it. I can take a lot of Superman's Deadliest Catch as long as there's a genuinely kick-ass fight scene in there somewhere.


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Home>Products>Castor Oil Plant>hot sale quail egg shelling machine with factory supply
hot sale quail egg shelling machine with factory supply
- Castor Oil Plant
- Shandong,China (Mainland)
- 1 Set/Sets minimum order for quail egg shelling machine
- US $1 - 3,500/ Set
- paypal,UnionPay, Visa/MasterCard, Amex, Discover,T/T
- 500 Set/Sets per Month supply order for quail egg shelling machine
- Myra2020-07-10 09:46:19
Welcome to my shop! Glad to serve you! Please send your question!
Product Details
|Place of Origin:
|Jinan, China (Mainland)
|Brand Name:
|Model Number:
|quail egg shelling machine
|After-sales Service Provided:
|Engineers available to service machinery overseas
|quail egg shelling machine
|304 Stainless Steel
|Customer Demand
|Processing Types:
|One Year for quail egg shelling machine
Product Description
Shandong Leader Machinery Co.,Ltd. cold and hot amphibious screw oil press machine is a new research improvement product.Castor Oil Plant hot sale quail egg shelling machine with factory supply is for oil extraction from oil-bearing materials,such as rapeseed, peanut, tea seed, soybean, sunflower seed, shea butter,palm kernel and so on. Equipped with micro-electrical control, infrared heating and filtration system,hot sale quail egg shelling machine with factory supplycan press oil through cold press and hot press.pour raw material to the machine,Shandong Leader Machinery Co.,Ltd. can get pure oil which can be eaten directly.hot sale quail egg shelling machine with factory supply is very suitable for individual users.Welcome to contact shandong leader machinery co.,ltd.,contact name: Ms.Myra for a quotation(Tel/whatsapp:0086 18363092712, Email:[email protected],Skype:leaderfoodmachine2).
hot sale quail egg shelling machine with factory supply advantage:
(1) High oil yield ,obvious economic benefit.
(2) Residual oil rate in the dry meal is low.
(3) Improving the quality of the meal and oil.
(4) low processing cost,high labor productivity.
(5) High automatic and labor saving.
flow chart of castor oil plant:
Oil seeds→cleaning→stones removal→magnetic selection→cracking→softening→flaking→cooking→to oil press
product description
Machine Introduction:
1. This machine is automatic, which can seperate the egg and shell quickly, it is high efficiency.
2. It saves water and energy, which can reduce cost.
3. For our machine, it is made of full stainless steel. It meets the health standard.
4. For this machine, the egg broken rate is less than 3%, keep egg in good condition.
5. Note: We use the imported high quality rubber pipe and 100% copper wire.
1. Copper shaft block;
2. Rubber pipes;
It adopts water circulation filtration systerm and the inlet increases superfine stainless steel strainer to make sure that the pump will not be blocked.
It uses imported high quality rubber tubes, with gum good, anti-aging, durable, non-skind, good peel effect.Peeling Effect Packing & Delivery Our Service
Pre-sale Service
1) Confirm the voltage in your region, we will customized it as your demands for free.
2) Confirm the nearest port to your location and provide delivery cost for your reference.
3) Take real pictures or video of the goods, send them to you to confirm.
4) Any techincal questions about our machines, our engineer team will solve it within one day.
after-sale service
1) Make one English instructions in time for your reference.
2) We provide 1 year warranty. During this period, we will provide the spare parts at factory price or for free. If there is something wrong with the quality, we promise change one for you for free.
3) For large production line, we can send enginners to help you install.
4) Any questions, you can email or call us anytime, we will solve it immediately.
our customers
1. Currently our machines are exported to more than 20 foreign countries.
2. For different areas or different countries, we can provide customers CE, ISO, Certificate of Origin to help you clearance customs or reduce tax.
3. China has signed The free trade agreement with some countries, such as Australia, Pakistan, Chile etc. If you need CO, please inform me in advance.Cutomer from Russia
This customer purchased Green tea processing machine and he used it to produce Ivan tea.
Customer from Saudi Arabia
This customer purchased Mint leaves processing line and produce dry Mint leaves for drinks.
All of the goods will be packed into wooden case, then arrange the shipment to sea port.
We have 3*450 square meters warehouse to produce machines
Our worker is producing some spare partsContact Details
Native to Africa and India,Castor Oil Plant is a large, flowering shrub with seeds that are poisonous to both humans and animals.Castor Oil Plant has now naturalised throughout Australia and is found in all states and territories except Tasmania.Castor Oil Plant is often abundant along gullies, watercourses and roadsides,and on floodplains and disturbed land.Castor Oil Plant can spread quickly,overtaking prime grazing land and making it unfit for livestock.
Shandong Leader Machinery Co.,Ltd. are one of the leading Manufacturers and Suppliers of hot sale quail egg shelling machine with factory supply.Shandong Leader Machinery Co.,Ltd. manufacture hot sale quail egg shelling machine with factory supply making machine using cutting-edge technology,Shandong Leader Machinery Co.,Ltd. have many kinds of edible oil machine for you reference,Shandong Leader Machinery Co.,Ltd. can meet your different requirement in Castor Oil Plant.Welcome to contact shandong leader machinery co.,ltd.,contact name:Ms.Myra for a quotation
(Tel/whatsapp:0086 18363092712, Email:[email protected],Skype:leaderfoodmachine2).
Contact Us
- Shandong Leader Machinery Co.,Ltd.
- Email[email protected]
- AddressNo.15, Lanxiang Road, Tianqiao District, Ji'nan, Shandong, China
- Phone(Working Time)86-0531-85064681
- WhatsApp+86-18363092712
Product Categories
- Castor Oil Plant
- Shea Butter Oil Plant Equipment
- Palm Fruit Processing Line
- Small Scale Screw Pressing Machine
- Sunflower Seed Oil Plant Equipment
- Wheat Flour Processing Plant
- Flax Seed Oil Plant
- Peanut/Groundnut Oil Plant
- Sunflower Oil Plant
- Rice Bran Oil Plant
- Crude Oil Refining Machine
- Rice Bran Oil Plant Equipment
- Mustard Oil Plant
- Oil Fractionation Equipment
- Soybean Oil Plant
- Shea Butter Oil Plant
- Corn Flour Processing Plant
- Coconut/Copra Oil Plant
- Oilseeds Pretreatment Equipment
- Seed Hydraulic Press Machine
- Biodiesel Oil Production Line
- Auxiliary Machine For Oil Press
- 1-20TPD Small Scale Oil Refining Line
- Solvent Extraction Plant
- Canola/Rapeseed Oil Plant
- Sesame Seeds Roasting Machine
- Auxiliary Machine For Oil Press
- Cottonseed Oil Plant
- Solvent Extraction Line
- Sesame/Niger Seed Oil Plant
- Large Scale Screw Pressing Machine
- Palm Fruit Processing Line
- Screw/Hydraulic Oil Press
- Palm Oil Plant
- Full Continuous Refining Line
- Crude Oil Refining Plant
- Edible Oil Filling Line
- Corn Germ Oil Plant
- Almond Oil Plant
- Coconut Oil Plant Equipment
- Soybean Protein Line
- Oilseeds Processing Line
- Groundnut Oil Plant Equipment
- China Supplier Microwave Drying And Roasting Equipment
- Spices Microwave Dryer Sterilizer
- Large industrial microwave system
- Microwave Vacuum Dehydrator
- Microwave Seafood Dryer
- Chemical Material Drying Sterilization Equipment
- Microwave Drying Equipment
- Microwave Thawing Machine
- Tea Microwave Dryer Sterilizer
- Microwave Crops dryer sterilizer
- Microwave Sterilization Equipment
- Microwave Herb Drying Sterilization Equipment
- Industrial Microwave Convection Oven
- Nut Microwave Roasting Machine
- Frozen Meat Microwave Thawing Machine
- Noodle drying machine
- Wood veneer dryer
- Hot air drying oven
- mesh-belt drier machine
- Grain drying machine
- Tea drying machine
- Nut drying machine
- Meat drying machine
- Seafood drying machine
- Laboratory freeze dryer
- Microwave Drying Processing Line
- Microwave Heating and Thawing Processing Line
- Microwave Pyrolysis and Extraction Process Line
- Ligne de flocons de maïs / céréales de petit-déjeuner
- Casseroles d'ébullition machinery
- Matériel de séchage de produits en papier
- trancheuse à viande machine
- la machine des chips
- machine à macaron
- Machine à céréales petit-déjeuner
- Sécheur à vide
- Machine de remplissage
- Équipement de nettoyage
- matériel de jouet de maïs magique / emballage de remplissage
- Doritos / Tortilla / Frites de maïs
- Chaîne de production de casse-croûte soufflé
- Micro - ondes Machine de séchage
- Flocons de maïs / Ligne de production de céréales
- matériel de séchage
- machine de traitement de poulet
- machine à éplucher les arachides


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Effective Date: December 2019; Last Updated: August 2021
This Privacy Policy describes how Buchanan Group treat and process personal information collected on the websites and platforms where this policy appears. This policy does not apply to how we treat employee or prospective employee information.
We use your information based on your consent to our practices. Your use of this website indicates that you agree to our collection, disclosure, and use of your information as described in this Privacy Policy.
We collect contact information.
As part of the registration process on alphatesterclub.com, for example, we collect your name and email address. We may also collect your address and phone number.
We collect information you submit or post.
We collect the information you submit to complete a product review. Reviews on our website are associated with your first name and your city and state or province. Reviews syndicated to third party sites are associated with either your first name or a nickname you select and your city and state or province. They are also associated with your profile picture. We may also collect information you submit on a third party site. We will also keep information you submit in reviews and in emails to us.
We collect demographic and survey-qualifying information.
We collect your age and gender when you register. We may also permit you to provide your health information as an optional question for qualifying for certain surveys and products. To better tailor surveys and products for review to you we also collect information about your shopping habits and household. We may also ask you how many children are in your household.
We collect usage and device information.
We may collect information about the browser or device you are using. When you visit our website from one of our referring partners, we may collect information to know which one of our partners referred you. We collect information about the sites you came from and where you go next.
We collect information directly from you.
We collect information from you when you register or use our "contact us" form. We may also collect information when you email us or update your profile.
We collect information from you passively.
We use tools like browser cookies and web beacons to collect information from you. We do this on our websites and in emails that we send to you. We collect information about users over time when you use this platform. We may use third parties to collect personal information this way.
We get information about you from third parties.
Social media websites may provide us with information about you. We may also get information about you from your friends who use our "email a friend" features.
We may combine information that we have collected offline with information we collect online. Or we may combine information we get from a third party with information we already have. We may also combine information from your profile with information you submit in product reviews or surveys.
We use information to respond to your questions and requests.
We use your information to respond to questions about products or your relationship with us. We also use information for customer support.
We use information for product reviews and surveys.
We use your information to send you a product for review. We also use your information to tell you about new products. We use information we have about you to tailor these invitations to you. Occasionally, third-party brands may ask us to get additional information from you about your experience with their product.
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We may use your information to protect our company and our customers. We also use the information to protect our websites.
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For example, we might provide you with information about new products and special offers. We do this when legally permitted.
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We may contact you about this Privacy Policy or our Terms of Use. We will also communicate with you about product trials in which we believe you may want to participate.
We use information as otherwise permitted by law or as we may notify you.
We will share information within the Buchanan Group family of companies.
The Buchanan Group includes Buchanan Advertising (Australia) Pty. Ltd. and Buchanan Group Holdings Pty. Ltd. and its subsidiaries (we refer to ourselves collectively as the Buchanan Group). This also includes Joint Ventures, PT Home Tester and licensees, Steve Cragg Advertising Private Ltd and Steve Cragg Advertising (Pty) Ltd. This Policy describes the practices of the Buchanan Group. We will share information for our business purposes and to otherwise engage in the practices described in this Policy.
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We will share information if we think we have to in order to comply with the law or to protect you or ourselves.
For example, we will share information to respond to a court order or subpoena. We may share information if a government agency or investigatory body requests it, including to U.S. law enforcement or government agencies. We may share information if we believe we have to for adverse event reporting purposes. We might also include your information on a winners list if required by law to do so.
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We keep personal information as long as it is necessary or relevant for the practices described in this Privacy Policy. We destroy information after that time. We also keep information as otherwise required by law.
Information we collect may be stored in the United States, and Australia. We may also store information in other countries. If you live outside of the United States, you understand and agree that we may transfer your information to the United States. This platform is subject to U.S. laws, which may not afford the same level of protection as those in your country.
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Phone: +61 3 9644 0000
From time to time we may change our privacy policies. We will notify you of any material changes to our Privacy Policy as required by law. We will also post an updated copy on our platform. Please check our platform periodically for updates.


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text:
I'm so excited to share my article There's Nothing Wrong With Your Child. Really. It went live today on WhatToExpect.com in their Word of Mom section.
I hope this gives some peace and perspective to those of you who struggle with what to expect when you get the unexpected… like we did.
Rachel Coleman is the Emmy-nominated host and one of the creators of the children's television show and DVD series, Signing Time! and its sister-series Baby Signing Time! Inspired by her daughter Leah's deafness, Signing Time teaches families to communicate through American Sign Language. Rachel's newest project, "Rachel & The Treeschoolers," takes on the ambitious task of teaching a full preschool curriculum in 12 musical episodes and activities. (You can become a part of making Treeschoolers a reality by participating in our Kickstarter campaign)
Rachel and her husband, Aaron, reside in Salt Lake City, Utah, with their daughters Leah and Lucy, and Lucy's Canine Companion service dog, Wilona. Rachel shares her family's unexpected adventures (aka "life") on her blog www.rachelcoleman.com.
Rachel is a board member for The American Society for Deaf Children. She is the President of the Signing Time Foundation whose mission is to put communication in the hands of all children of all abilities.


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I realized recently that I haven't updated the Resources page in three years. Obviously, there are a lot more recent, more interesting resources out there now. So many, in fact, that I should probably entirely replace what was there. But I do want to retain that info, so here it is in a post. Refreshed Resources page, coming soon.
[As of 10/7/09]
I gathered the following resources to be a handout to go along with my "Content Gone Wild!" talk at the MIMA Summit 2009. These articles and sites support the Content Strategy practices discussed in the examples from the presentation. These are not the only resources, and they're not necessarily the final word on these topics, but they should provide some good information and get you started with practical techniques and tips.
General Content Strategy Resources
- Content Strategy Knol, by Jeffrey MacIntyre, Colleen Jones & Bob Maynard
- Content Strategy Google Group
- Scatter/Gather: A Razorfish Content Strategy blog
- Search for #contentstrategy on Twitter
- Content Strategy for the Web, by Kristina Halvorson
- "User Research for Personas and Other Audience Models," by Steve Baty , UXmatters
- "Setting Up Business Stakeholder Interviews, Part 1," by Michael Beavers, Boxes & Arrows
- "Setting Up Business Stakeholder Interviews, Part 2," by Michael Beavers, Boxes & Arrows
Content Assessment
- "Content Analysis: A Practical Approach," by Colleen Jones, UXmatters
- "Content Inventory," Usability.gov
Writing for the Web
- "Be Succinct! (Writing for the Web)," by Jakob Nielson, Alertbox (An old classic)
- "Writing for the Web," by Sarah Horton, Web Teaching Guide
- "Web content, writing for web sites," by Shirley Kaiser, WebsiteTips.com (includes links to many writing resources)
Voice / Tone
- "Tone in Business Writing," by Victoria Kellough and Angela Laflen, The OWL at Purdue
- "What's all the fuss about tone of voice?," by Barnaby Benson, Barnaby Benson Ltd
- "Online tone of voice for business," Tom Albrighton, ABC Copywriting Blog
Taxonomy & Metadata
- "Metadata: Defined," by Rachel Lovinger, Razorfish White Paper
- "Developing and Creatively Leveraging Hierarchical Metadata and Taxonomy," by Christian Ricci, Boxes & Arrows
- "Representing Taxonomies: What am I looking at here?," by Rachel Lovinger, Presentation from Semantic Technology Conference 2007
Social Media Strategy
- Social Media Governance, by Chris Boudreaux (Policies from several companies and organizations)
- "Razorfish Social Influence Marketing Guidelines," by David Deal, Razorfish
Corporate Blog Strategy
- CEO Blog Watch
- "Blogging Strategy 101: a Primer," Scout
- "Corporate Blog Design: Trends and Examples," by Steven Snell, Smashing Magazine
- "Corporate and political blogging — get rid of the fear, be yourself!," by Robert Scoble, Scobleizer
- "10 Harsh Truths About Corporate Blogging," by Paul Boag, Smashing Magazine
- "10 Features of Successful Blogs," RSS Pieces
Looking for Taxonomy & Metadata Resources?
Here are some resources I gathered about metadata, taxonomy and ontology data.
- Taxonomy Glossary on CMS Wiki
- Metadata? Thesauri? Taxonomies? Topic Maps! – A paper on Topic Maps that includes a good overview of these terms. By Lars Marius Garshol of Ontopia.
Making a Business Case
- Dublin Core Metadata Initiative – includes business cases, ROI presentation, etc.
- Taxonomy today, ROI tomorrow – By David Berlind, ZDnet
Working with Existing Data
- Thousands of OWL documents are indexed in Google. Add "filetype:owl" to your search and see what comes up.
- Piggy Bank – open source tool for scraping data from a website.
Prototyping – test it out
- MindJet® MindManger® – commercial mind mapping software
- FreeMind – open source mind mapping software
- Bubbl.us – an online brainstorming tool
- TopBraid Composer™ – a commercial tool for building ontologies and semantic web applications. TopBraid Ensemble™ adds a layer that makes it more user-friendly for content providers, and may also be useful in prototyping.
- Protégé – an open source ontology editor
- Knoodl.com – a semantic wiki, combining collaborative editing with ontology models
Shared Knowledge – join a community
- Taxonomy Community of Practice
- CM Pros – Content Management Community of Practice
- Semantic Web Interest Group
Information Design


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04/11/2016 Liebherr Selected to Equip Light Rail Vehicles in San Francisco
Liebherr-Transportation Systems has been selected by Siemens to supply upper articulation connection units for their new light rail vehicles, which will operate in San Francisco, California (USA).
The contract order comprises 215 car sets and additional 45 car sets as an option for the light rail vehicles which Siemens will build at its rail manufacturing hub in Sacramento, California (USA). These vehicles will be operated by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) on the lines connecting the neighborhoods of San Francisco. The deliveries of the upper articulation connections units to Siemens will start in 2016.
The upper articulation connection is a special hydraulic spring, which is integrated in a very compact space envelope above the articulation between two car body segments. Due to its design, the spring always brings the car bodies from different roll angles back to the neutral position. The spring force in the upper link limits wheel unloading and enhances ride comfort in curves.
Liebherr-Transportation Systems and Siemens have a long-term partnership and this contract constitutes the first Liebherr order for a U.S. Siemens project.
Liebherr-Transportation Systems – Renowned Manufacturer of Railway Technology
Liebherr-Aerospace & Transportation SAS in Toulouse (France) is one of eleven divisional control companies in the Liebherr Group and coordinates all activities in the fields of transportation and aviation equipment. It employs around 4,900 people worldwide.
Liebherr's transportation systems division deals with air conditioning, hydraulic actuation systems and electronic components for rail vehicles of all kinds, and is backed by many years of experience in the development and manufacture of these technologies. In addition to its own sales and service centers, the division has access to the Group's development and service facilities around the world. This global set-up means that Liebherr-Transportation Systems is there for its customers wherever they may be.


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Here is a selection of resources on blog, whitepaper and case study to help you understand distributed applications end-to-end and sustain application health and security.
Dec, 2020 | 15 minutes reading
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FastCompany today posted an in-depth look at the differences between Apple's MapKit and Google's recently launched Google Maps for iOS SDK from the perspective of developers. The lengthy piece gets insight from several iOS app developers with apps that rely on the SDKs and sheds some light on a few things that Apple is doing much better than Google despite a perception from users that Google Maps are superior:
"Google doesn't currently charge for the Places API, but they do require a valid credit card for access–which gives you a quota of 100,000 daily requests. So you have to wonder if they plan to start charging sooner or later," McKinlay explains. "That 100,000 limit perhaps sounds reasonable, but each user session can generate many requests–particularly when using the 'autocomplete' feature of Tube Tamer–and some types of requests count for 10 times the quota each, so it can get used up pretty quickly."
While noting that Google wins out with location lookup services, 3D buildings, directions, geocoding, and better hybrid satellite imagery, the developers were also quick to point out downsides of the Google Maps SDK such as quotas for the Places API, an increased app size, and limitations with markers, gradient polylines, and overlays.
Developer of transportation app Tube Tamer, Bryce McKinlay, discussed some of the benefits of using Apple's MapKit:
"Subjectively, the current version of the [Google] SDK does not perform as well as MapKit," McKinlay says. "GMSMapView's frame rate is capped at 30fps, which is lower than typical for iOS and results in a slight but noticeable 'jitter' effect when panning and zooming the map. Drawing of labels and POIs sometimes lags behind if you pan quickly, even on a fast device like the iPhone 5."
"The fact that annotations in MapKit are UIViews also means that animation and other effects can be applied easily using Core Animation, which isn't currently possible with the Google Maps SDK approach," McKinlay says. He also points out that MapKit has some other handy features that Google's SDK currently lacks, like "Follow user location" and "Follow with heading" modes. "MapKit provides a button that automatically moves the map to follow the user's location, and rotates the map according to the compass heading. This is very helpful for pedestrian navigation. It is possible to implement this manually in Google's SDK, but it adds extra development time/effort."
It looks like some developers feel Google has some work to do with their Maps SDK for iOS. While Apple isn't free of its own issues with MapKit, developers will definitely want to read Fast Company's entire post before deciding which solution will be best for their app. The developers ultimately end up recommending MapKit over Google's Maps SDK for the majority of developers.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.


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While we work on Lawless Legends we thought you'd like a NEW mini adventure to play: Ancient Legends is a fantasy Role Playing game made for the Apple II series of home computer created by 8 Bit Weapon and friends! The game was created as a DEMO for the Outlaw Editor!
Download your free Ancient Legends copy here:
Download an Apple II emulator for Windows here: http://wsxyz.net/applewin.html
The Story: You are Quinn of Thane, the westernmost island in Merkania. Since the last of great wars your family has lived in peaceful seclusion for generations. Raised on ancient legends, you have often dreamed of exploring what lies beyond the island. You surmise that dark times must have befallen the mainland, as dark creatures now sully the sanctuary of your island home as well.
Now you are the last of your line and have decided to venture to the mainland and seek your fortune! You pack your things, take your family's heirloom amulet for luck and enter the forest for adventure…
The game is a demo for the powerful Outlaw Editor game development system:
Enjoy, adventurer!
Outlaw Editor Demo Credits:
Produced & Directed by Seth Sternberger of 8 Bit Weapon
Coding – Martin Haye, Brendan Robert, and Dave Schmenk
Font Code – Andrew Hogan
Graphics – Seth Sternberger
Scenario – Seth Sternberger
Playtesting & Quality Assurance – Andrew Schultz
To make your own games get your free copy of Outlaw Editor here:
Seth & Michelle


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No two loaves of bread are alike - bread inspection with machine vision
The Dutch company Niverplast is one of the world's largest manufacturers of machines for inspecting bakery products. These machines are supplied all over the world and use machine vision technology from STEMMER IMAGING for the reliable detection of faulty loaves of bread and bread rolls.
It all began with plastic bags: Niverplast was founded in Rijssen in 1986 and initially sold plastic bags, such as those frequently offered in supermarkets for carrying home one's purchases. That soon became too little for the Dutch, however, and machines followed that could automatically open such bags, machines that could place the bags in cartons or erect cartons, and devices for welding and folding plastics. Today, Niverplast's core competence is the manufacture of complete systems with which objects can be inspected, counted and packed. Apart from plants for meat, fish, oils and greases as well as other products for the non-food segment, the company specialises in the field of bakery products.
Niverplast only entered the field of bakery products in 2009, but has grown in the short time since then into one of the world's largest manufacturers of such systems. "About 80 percent of our plants are conceived for industrial-size bakeries and are used all over the world", says Albert Danneberg from the Niverplast R&D team.
Quality inspection and counting
Danneberg describes the basic process of such a system for inspecting and counting bakery products as follows: "The pre-baked loaves or rolls can be fed to the machine in two different ways, depending on the user's wishes: we either develop an automated supply direct from the deep freezer, or the frozen dough products are manually placed on the conveyor belt. Before the products enter the machine, a metal detector first of all checks whether undesired metal parts have got into the bakery products in the preceding processes."
Machine vision systems play the decisive part in the steps that follow: At the first station a quality inspection takes place in which the geometrical dimensions such as the length, width and height of the bakery products are measured and analysed. In addition, the machine recognises at this point whether there are any breakage errors or, for example, whether features like browning, topping or roundness of the bakery product is correct. After this first station, faulty products are separated out fully automatically via dynamic conveyor belts before the positively evaluated bakery products are counted at the second station. "We offer this first test cell for quality inspection as an option, but most customers order their system with both cells", says Danneberg.
Subsequently, the bakery products are packed in the desired quantity according to the customer's specifications, e.g. in cartons or bags. In the system described, the customer wanted to pack the inspected bakery products in certain quantities in bags placed in cartons. Two separately controllable belts are used here for the transport of the empty and full cartons.
Machine vision as the core element
The essential core element of the two test cells is machine vision, for which Niverplast relies fully on its long-standing partner STEMMER IMAGING.
Dietmar Serbée, managing director of the Benelux branch office of STEMMER IMAGING, well remembers the start of the cooperation with Niverplast: "Initially the requirement was only to count the bakery products; the detection of errors was added later. Niverplast had already approached several other machine vision companies in search of solutions, but in the end they decided to choose STEMMER IMAGING as their machine vision partner."
According to Serbée, the particular difficulty with the task was that no two loaves of bread are alike: "The shapes of the pre-baked loaves of bread and bread rolls are never identical. They are always slightly different. It is very difficult for an automated system to decide, for example, whether a depression in the surface of a baguette is a deliberate cut or the start of an undesired breakage."
Following an intensive development phase, Serbée was able with a proprietary software solution based on the programming library Common Vision Blox to reliably distinguish between such features. Serbée also selected the necessary hardware components for the machine vision system. "In the preliminary investigations we carried out tests to determine which camera, lens and illumination could achieve optimum results. In the end we chose a combination of line scan cameras and the matching line scan illumination and lenses. With those we can optimally cover the conveyor belts, which are up to 1300 mm wide."
Service from a single source
Apart from the delivery of a few further components such as the PC systems and various cables, STEMMER IMAGING also took care of the connection of the imaging software to the graphical user interface of the system, via which amongst other things the programs for the next batch of bakery products are adjusted. "The GUI itself was made by Niverplast. We cooperated closely on the connection in order to fully satisfy our customer's wishes", Serbée remembers.
Albert Danneberg is more than satisfied with his machine vision partner's service: "Niverplast has its own in-house machine vision specialist, but nevertheless we are happy to rely on additional support from STEMMER IMAGING when needed." This support doesn't end after the delivery of a system either: "Whenever we need further information about new machine vision developments or technologies, we know whom to contact!"
Good development
The largest system that Niverplast has developed and delivered so far encompasses two parallel lines, each with test cells based on machine vision for the quality inspection and counting of bakery products.
Despite the very good order book situation, the developers at Niverplast have further ideas that will be incorporated into the design of future systems. Danneberg reveals one of these ideas: "The height of bakery products can be measured using a multiple 3D triangulation system. Loaves of bread and bread rolls can thus be measured even more accurately and defects in the bakery products can be recognised more reliably, therefore we will be offering this possibility as a further option for our systems."


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Popular Mechanics contributing editor Jeff Wise, a private pilot and long-time aviation writer, takes on his biggest challenge yet: Flying withoutan engine. Follow along as Jeff learns that no matter how experienced the pilot, getting a glider license is no easy sail.
It's a beautiful summery day as I pull into Freehold Airport in upstate New York, with traces of cirrus wisping the sky. Located just north of the Catskill Mountains, this sleepy grass airstrip is home to the Nutmeg Soaring Association, a 50-year-old glider club that was originally founded in Connecticut, but moved to Freehold a few years ago. I'm here to work on getting my glider license—which should be a fairly straightforward undertaking since I already have my powered-airplane license. According to the FAA, power-pilots like me only need ten flights to make the transition to gliders, and I've already gotten 35 under my belt. But somehow I haven't yet bothered to come up with a concrete plan for getting that magical piece of paper. My mission is to rectify that situation—within the next week or so.
Were I really hell bent on that certificate, I could go to a commercial school, and get the thing knocked out with an instructor. But with gliding, the journey is the destination, and I've been enjoying leisurely turns around the sky, sometimes by myself, and sometimes with and instructor. Sure, I've had to learn to be patient—to wait for the weather and for my turn behind the tow plane. But that's okay because gliding is to power planes what sailing is to motor boats: Patience is a prerequisite, patience to pay attention to Mother Nature's whimsy. But the rewards are unparalleled, an ineffable sense of freedom and a purity of experience. When you're riding the sky with nothing to power you other than the natural movements of the air, you're really flying.
More From Popular Mechanics
And that's to say nothing of the camaraderie that comes with club flying. When I get to the field, I help another member, Mac, move his glider to the take-off area, and then he helps me haul my plane, pulling it on a rope from a golf cart as I walk alongside, holding the wing. Before I take off, another friend from the club—Tom—helps me strap in, and he signals to John, the tow pilot, who—like many Nutmeg members—is a retired airline pilot with many thousands of hours of flight time under this belt.
My aircraft is a Schweitzer 1-26. It's a contraption that's probably older than I am, and relies on very little technology that we'd currently recognize as such. To get to in the air, I rely today on the Piper Pawnee that John is flying, a stout-muscled workhorse originally designed for agricultural spraying.
After a last preflight checklist, I signal to Tom by waggling the glider's rudder; Tom signals to John by swinging his arm in a circle, and John hits the throttle. Grass swooshes under the hull as we gather speed, and then, with a bump, I'm airborne.
As we climb, I quickly realize how rusty I've gotten in the month since I last flew. The glider skitters around the sky, and I have to concentrate to keep it lined up behind the tow plane. At 4000 feet, I pull the red knob that unlatches the towrope, and, with a jerk, I'm free, left alone in the cockpit with only the sounds of my breathing, and the gentle whoosh of air rushing over the canopy. As per procedure, I bring the nose up and bank to the right.
When you're in a plane with no engine, you're always heading downward through the air. What makes gliding a sport is finding upward-moving air so that, in the balance, you can stay up and fly. It's a bit like walking down an up-escalator. There are different reasons that air rises, but today I'm be counting on thermals: the warm columns or bubbles of rising air.
Gliding is a bit like fishing—you have your tricks, your favorite spots, but at the end of the day it's Mother Nature who either delivers, or doesn't. You keep your fingers crossed. I cruise toward the Catskills, hoping for that telltale nudge in the seat of my pants announcing that I've flown into a column of rising air. I scan the horizon for other planes, and then the instrument panel: The two dials that are of main interest are airspeed and the vertical speed indicator, which tells me how quickly I'm rising or falling through the air, and, thus, if I've found lift. Of less pressing interest is the altimeter, since I already know how high I am. Then my eyes move to the most important glider instrument, which isn't on the panel of all: It's a piece of yarn taped to the canopy, and it tells you whether a turn is "coordinated"—that the plane is moving cleanly through the air—or if it's at an inefficient (and potentially dangerous) angle.
After a few turns I feel as though I've knocked most of the rust off. My turns are smooth and efficient and I even manage to locate a few weak pockets of lift—not enough to gain altitude, but enough to halt my descent for a while.
Twenty minutes of this and the inevitable starts to loom: Gravity works. I'm running out of altitude and I have to head back to the airstrip. Pay attention, because this is when the part about not having an engine becomes really important. If you descend toward a runway in a powered airplane and you somehow screw it up—you're too fast, say, or you haven't got it lined correctly with the runway—it's no big deal: Put in the throttle, climb out, and go around for another try. That's not an option in a glider. When you come in to land, you land.
The last glider I flew was a different model from the 1-26—it was a heavier, two-place ship called a 2-33. The 2-33 sinks faster than the 1-26, which might be why my approach to landing seems to be going really, really well—just until I make my final turn and realize that I'm much too high. The airstrip is way down there; I'm way up here. If I try to land, I think, it's not going to work. I'll go off into the creek at the end, or maybe even hit the trees beyond the creek.
I'm in a bad place. And when you're in a bad place, you have to do something. You weigh your options, and you take the one that is the least worst. So I do exactly what I'm not supposed to do: I crank the stick hard over, put the nose down, and pull a tight 360-degree turn. It's a rule that this is a big no-no. You don't pull 360s on short final, where there's so little margin for error. My heart is pounding, wondering just how badly this is all going to turn out.
Finally, I roll out. I'm a little off center, but my overall situation looks better—I'm lower. I put in the speed brakes and set the ailerons opposite to the rudder. It's a manuever called a slip, an intentionally inefficient configuration that's good for losing altitude quickly.
As the ship settles down over the grass I hold it off—just a few feet over the rushing green—until the skid under the nose bounces and settles down. Half the runway lies ahead of me, unused. But most importantly, I'm on the ground, safe. As they say in aviation, any landing you walk away from is a good one.
Is that the end of it? No way. One of the side benefits of learning with a glider club is that if you screw up, everyone knows all about it. As I'm cooling off in the shade a few minutes later, Bill, a senior member of the club, pulls up in his golf cart and gestures me over. "Let's have a word in my office," he says. I sit down with him and explain what happened. We talk about the things that I could have done differently, such as relying more on the speed brakes, which probably would have gotten me on the ground safely, and without that 360 degree turn.
On my next flight, I once again find myself high on short final, but I've been thinking about the problem for over an hour. This time, it's a piece of cake. As I climb out of the cockpit onto the cool grass, I feel a huge sense of relief. I screwed up, I learned and I moved on. Instead of a disaster I had a teaching moment and now I know: No 360s on short final. And by that one small increment, I'm a better pilot than I was this morning.—Jeff WiseNext: Grounded, If For A Day.
Easy Glider: The author in his Schweitzer 1-26 sailplane (engine never included).
Look Ma, No Throttle! The crowded, yet simple instrument panel of the 1-26's cockpit.
Heads Up Display: A length of yarn functions as arguably the most important instrument on board, measuring the efficiency of turns.
Hang Time: The view from 3000 feet, but not updrafts in sight.


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How Are Prices Determined?
The prices, practices, and level of profitability are regulated primarily by the Maine Public Utilities Commission (PUC). The PUC was created by Maine law and began work in 1914. Its three commissioners were nominated by the Governor and confirmed by the Maine Senate.
The Commissioners are assisted by legal, technical, financial and consumer-assistance staff. PUC proceedings use court-like standards of evidence, procedure and decisions that allow opportunities for interested citizens or groups to participate as formal interveners in the process.
Our transmission prices are determined by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
- The distribution piece covers the costs of local power lines, meter readers, and bucket trucks. For most customers, this makes up the majority of their delivery price.
- The transmission piece covers the costs of large power lines and substations and is regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
- The stranded cost piece covers costs of power contracts with small hydro, biomass, waste-burning and nuclear plants that were left over from before we became a delivery-only utility (we ceased selling energy when that part of the electric business was de-regulated in March 2000). Stranded costs continue to decline.
- The conservation assessment piece funds energy efficiency initiatives.
- The Electricity Lifeline Program (ELP) provides assistance to residential customers who qualify for the Home Energy Assistance Program.
There are five components that make up a delivery price. The PUC separately sets the five pieces that make up our delivery prices.


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Best Tips For Lead A Great Life Try to do your daily work regularly. Never keep it for tomorrow. If you put up your work for next day, it will create anxiety to your life. Sometimes it will not complete ever. Create a routine of your own. Follow …Read More »
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NM International Intimate Tequila Tasting
Alexander Perez and Mike Morales from Tequila Aficionado do a recap on the historic CATA that took place at the NM (New Mexico) International Intimate Tequila Tasting that took place July 22, 2011.
Find out more about M.A. "Mike" Morales' experiences and efforts in tequila education at www.TequilaJournalist.com
Organized by Mike Morales, the NMIITT is an official "Cata de Tequila" or tequila judging held under the guidelines of the American Academy of Tequila and/or the Mexican Academy of Tequila. The "Catadores", or judges blind taste a series of tequilas by class (Blanco, Reposado, Anejo, and Extra Anejo) having no knowledge of name or distilleries participating. Each tequila is scored on its own merit of sight, smell, and taste then rated on a twenty-point scale.
The event was held at Nativo Lodge over a full weekend, where the judges first gathered in a private room for the Cata. The following day a public tasing was held along with the announcement of the winners in each catatgory. ~ Forbes Magazine


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Kony 2012: 75 million viewers later, some Ugandans get first glimpse of film
Invisible Children's Kony 2012 film has sparked a global conversation about African warlord Joseph Kony. So far, however, little has been heard from those living closest to the conflict.
| Nairobi, Kenya
Soon after sunset Tuesday, on a projector screen in a dusty park in the center of a northern Ugandan town, survivors of Joseph Kony's war of terror will watch the film about him that has swept the world and been watched more than 75 million times on YouTube.
Few in Lira, once the epicentre of fighting between Kony's rebels and the Ugandan armed forces, have access to the Internet at speeds that will allow the 30-minute film to stream.
But Victor Ochen, director of a Ugandan charity working with people abducted or maimed by Kony's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), is making sure that they will be able to see Kony2012.
"We have brought a projector up here and a very big screen, and even as I talk to you, we are setting it up in Lira Mayor's Garden," he tells the Monitor from the town, 220 miles north of the capital, Kampala. "It is only right that this thing which is being talked about in every corner of the world is also seen by the people whose story it sets out to tell."
The film, made by Invisible Children Inc., a San Diego-based activist organization, aims to focus US efforts to help bring about the arrest of Joseph Kony (pronounced Kohn), the LRA's leader. While it has spawned a global debate on the merits of Invisible Children's movie and social media campaign, little of the reaction – even from within Uganda – has come from those who have lived for years in the shadow of the conflict.
Mr. Kony's 26-year war started in northern Uganda, where tens of thousands of children were abducted to be soldiers, "wives," or porters, and where thousands more who resisted were permanently disfigured. Kony became the first suspect indicted by the International Criminal Court, in 2005, and faces 33 charges including murder, rape and kidnapping children.
Invisible Children, and Kony2012's director, Jason Russell, have been criticized for over-simplifying the conflict's causes and for spending more money on management, media, and movies than on grass-roots projects.
This issue 'still needs more attention'
But Mr. Ochen, whose brother and cousin were both kidnapped by the LRA and are still missing, says the criticism misses a key point.
"How would we ever be able to have so much global attention come to us, on an issue which has been running for almost three decades, and which still needs more attention on a daily basis," he asks.
"That film has put Kony's name on people's lips. They are asking questions, they are trying to understand.
"The film is not without its challenges, but the more people get connected directly to the victims, and the more that people understand what Kony did here, and what he may still be doing in other countries, the more everyone can work together for real, long-lasting peace."
Fred Opolot, a spokesman in the office of Uganda's president, Yoweri Museveni, agrees.
"We are encouraged by this outpouring of international support for our continuing campaign to eliminate the threat posed by the LRA to all countries and communities," he said in an emailed statement.
"Uganda welcomes all campaigns which seek to raise awareness and highlight the plight of people affected by the LRA."
LRA no longer active in Uganda
However, even this praise is tempered by an implicit reprimand of the film-makers, as Opolot goes on to say: "Misinterpretations of media content may lead some people to believe that the LRA is currently active in Uganda.
"It must be clarified that at present the LRA is not active in any part of Uganda. The LRA has retreated to dense terrain within bordering countries in the Central African area. They are a diminished and weakened group with numbers not exceeding 300."
Growing numbers of Ugandan bloggers, newspaper columnists, and individual citizens are making public their concerns with the film, most of which center on claims that it fudges the current status of the conflict, and that it portrays the war as winnable, or Kony as stoppable, only with Western interventions.
Military response a right one?
Via the film, Invisible Children's main aim appears to be to encourage its supporters to pressure Washington to maintain funding for 100 US military advisers, currently training armies in four African nations affected by the LRA – Uganda, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
"One wonders why this campaign came now, and why the call for direct military intervention and not dialogue - when everybody knows that in 26 years, the military intervention has failed to bring that war to an end," Samuel Olara, editor of the Acholi Times, wrote in a newspaper editorial.
The Acholi are the people of northern Uganda worst affected by the LRA conflict.
"The people in northern Uganda have always advocated dialogue and a political solution to this Kony-Museveni war because they know that killing Kony won't fix the problem, just like killing Osama bin Laden has not ended terrorism."
Invisible Children has responded to many of its critics, and said: "The Kony2012 campaign … supports the deployment of US advisers and the provision of intelligence and other support that can help locate and bring Kony to justice, but also increased diplomacy to hold regional governments accountable to their basic responsibilities to protect civilians from this kind of brutal violence.
"Importantly, the campaign also advocates for broader measures to help communities being affected by LRA attacks, such as increased funding for programs to help Kony's abductees escape and return to their homes and families."


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