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KMHS Alumni: Valeriia Klymenko, MD Candidate
by Kaplan Medical Honor Society | July 23, 2020
We created The Kaplan Medical Honor Society to acknowledge and applaud our students' excellence in the medical field. The KMHS is made up of students who have taken a Kaplan course and achieved a 250 or better on Step 1, Step 2 CK, or Step 3. Most of our KMHS members are International Medical Graduates that come from over 40 different countries to study at our centers and experience life in the US. In this blog series, you will learn about their journeys to the US, how they managed the rigors of medical school, and what steps they took to ensure their successes on USMLE. This week, we're pleased to introduce you to Valeriia Klymenko, MD from Ukraine.
Name: Valeriia Klymenko, MD
Home country: Ukraine
Name of medical school attended: Kharkiv National Medical University
USMLE Scores:
Step 1 236
Step 2 CK 250
Step 3 222
Tell Us About Yourself
Which field of medicine do you plan on specializing in?
I am currently doing an internal medicine residency at St. Vincent's Medical Center, Bridgeport, CT. After completion of my training I plan to apply to a residency program in Ophthalmology.
Why did you decide to take the US licensure exam?
I believe the US has the highest standards of patient care. I like the medical environment and culture here―doctors have to stay up-to-date and continuously educate themselves to provide the best evidence-based care for patients.
Also, I set up this extremely ambitious goal―to become a physician in the USA―and was able to achieve it. And now, looking back, it feels extremely satisfying that all the hard work and efforts I had put into it, ultimately paid off.
How do you think your unique background has prepared you for success as a doctor?
I am originally from Ukraine where I grew up during the economic turmoil. My parents used to work extremely hard to not only survive during these hard times, but to also provide me with a good education. They are a perfect example for me and they helped me to realize that life is not easy and that if you want to achieve your goals, you should give it all you got (and a little extra!)
Tell Us About Your Study Habits & Kaplan Courses
How did Kaplan help you on your path to becoming an MD in the United States?
For all USMLE steps, I prepared using Kaplan materials. First of all, I liked the content, the lectures, and lecture notes that had the most relevant information. Kaplan Qbank was more sophisticated than UWorld and this helped me to prepare better for a real test.
The most useful and life changing period for me was when I came for Kaplan live prep course for Step 1. It helped me realize what a USMLE was really like as well as to build up my study and test-taking strategy. It also allowed me to blend in with a student environment as I was surrounded by people who were going the same path as I was. It also helped me to successfully network with people who matched to residency before me―the strategy that brought real results. Finally, it gave me enough confidence when I realized that one did not be a superhero to pass USMLE and that I too would be able to do it.
Please describe how the Kaplan Medical course helped you achieve your high score.
I think to succeed in USMLE steps you need to combine two things:
#1. Relevant concise source of information; but to not be lost in multiple medical resources
#2. A good study plan to develop the right habits.
Needless to say, Kaplan courses helped me with both of them. Kaplan lectures and books have enough information to help you succeed on a test day and I highly recommend sticking to these materials only. This would allow you to focus precisely on studying and avoid delaying your test day. It is also crucial to use Kaplan Qbank as much as you can―test examples will prepare a candidate for real-life situations he/she would encounter during the actual test.
Kaplan instructors laid out the testing strategy and walked us all through the preparation materials while gradually increasing the complexity of questions. It was also essential to integrate studying for USMLE in my busy daily routine―working as a physician in Ukraine and taking care for my child. The most important thing was to stick to my study plan and to never skip planned study days. This structure will help you to build good study habits and become the most efficient.
Can you tell us more about your studying habits?
Key features of my study plan:
#1. Study 6 days a week, one day off―persistence and consistency are the key for success
#2. Schedule 6 hours per day for studying: 2 hours in AM, 1 hour during lunch time, and 3 hours in PM
#3. Never skip any day of studying, no matter what happens!
#4. Start to do Qbanks from Day 1:
- First begin to do 20 questions/day
- Then progressively increase the number of questions per day
- Closer to a test day do 120 – 160 questions/day (3-4 blocks)
- And always go through explanations carefully.
What does being in the Kaplan Medical Honor Society mean to you?
When I received my CK results and I was accepted to KMHS, I was extremely proud. It helped me understand that sky's the limit and that with hard work and a good plan, I can achieve everything.
Tell Us About Your Medical School Experience
What was the most challenging aspect of medical school as an international student?
It was challenging to understand the concept and aspects of medical education and communication in the US. Because culturally the US is a little bit different from Ukraine, I had to learn how to best present myself on the interview day and how to present myself among colleagues.
At the beginning of my residency, everything felt completely new. Specifically, I had to deal with the following:
- Beginning a whole your life from scratch and adaptation of the whole family on the new place
- Get an understanding of US visa policy and process
- Language barrier
- Cultural difference
- Understanding US medical culture and principles of interaction with colleagues and faculty
- Blend in with a professional environment
- Get familiar with US medical insurance and taxation system
- Meet residency requirements, work long hours and complete your duties at the same time!
Share A Few Interesting Facts
Do you have a personal or professional hero?
My personal hero is my grandmother, Anna. She was a small, tiny woman with an iron will. She was the first person in my family who received a higher education.
She was born in a small village in the middle of Ukraine. Her childhood was during WWII and famine. Her mother could not neither read or write, but she always told my grandma that an education was a must. And Anna first finished three classes in her village and then finished middle and high school, although she had to walk to the nearest village about five miles each way. She did that walk every day despite harsh Ukrainian winters and poor roads! Also, while studying in school, she had to work very hard to support her family.
After graduation, she passed all exams and was accepted to the University in Kiev. At the age of 20, she came to a big city for the first time―she had never seen cars or radio! I think that her life was similar to what one would call an "American Dream"―she came from a middle of nowhere, from a village that you could not find on the map, and she ultimately became a successful financier.
And she always told me: "Education is a must, it brings independence."
Sometimes when I get extremely tired during my residency when trying to combine work, family, and research, I think of Anna. And I think if she could do that, I can also do this too. And maybe one day my child will write about me.
And finally, what are your plans for the future?
I plan to be happy and for that I need two things: my family and my medical profession.
Sometimes a medical career is very demanding and requires studying and working long hours. Therefore, the most important thing is to find a perfect balance between my work and family.
Currently I'm PGY-1 at St. Vincent Medical Center, Internal Medicine department. I am extremely happy with my program and the hospital. It is a lovely, friendly place where everyone knows each other. We have a supportive environment and it's the best place to grow as a physician. After graduation I plan to continue my professional growth in a more specialized field such as ophthalmology.
Stay tuned each month for a new blog post from one of our amazing Kaplan Medical Honor Society students!
A note about the recent USMLE Step 1 Announcement:
While we understand that the future move to Pass/Fail on Step 1 will have an impact on the residency application process, Step 2CK will continue to be a scaled three digit score, and as such becomes an even more important metric for students to differentiate themselves from other applicants.
Welcome to the Kaplan Medical Honor Society (KMHS) monthly blog series! Kaplan created The Honor Society to acknowledge and applaud our students' excellence in the medical field. These scores are crucial to their career options and we're proud to recognize the best of the best. This blog series will be a showcase for their stories that we hope will inspire others around the world. The KMHS is made up of Kaplan students who have taken a Kaplan course and achieved a 250 or better on Step 1, Step 2 CK, or Step 3. We reward them for their hard work and success by giving them a free online course for Step 3, exclusive course discounts, and even job opportunities within Kaplan Medical. Applicants for US residency also get the ability to list Kaplan Medical Honor Society under Awards and Achievements on their ERAS applications.


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Introducing Our New Editors
Of the many parts of Portland Monthly we imagine that you read, the masthead ranks low in our hopes. But in its own way, the list of people who create this magazine tells a story, too—none better than the shuffle at the top you'll see this month.
Rachel Ritchie's name first appeared on the masthead in 2007 under the heading of "editorial interns." A Boston native and graduate of Colby College whose only experience in journalism had been a brief stint writing at the Hartford Courant, she—like so many of this magazine's interns—quickly showed her talent for fact-checking, copyediting, and writing. But she also proved her mettle at getting stuff done—impeccably. Rachel became an associate editor and, soon thereafter, managing editor of another of our company's magazines, Portland Spaces. And in the recession-darkened days of 2009, when Spaces ended its sadly too-short run, she leapt to Portland Monthly and helped steady its rocking ship. She was 25 years old. Besides showing how organization and management can be both a science and an art, Rachel has led the talented team shaping Portland Monthly into the city's most authoritative source of news and opinion on our exploding food and drink scene.
Zach Dundas began his paid career in journalism delivering 15,000 weekly copies of the Missoula Independent from his 1983 Oldsmobile Cutlass. But his early writings for his high school paper and various '90s zines earned him a spot on that Montana alt-weekly's masthead, writing calendar entries and, soon, the crime and politics beat. He came to Portland in 1999 and landed at Willamette Week, first as music editor, then city hall reporter, plus, with his gift for wry observation, writer of "funny stories." In 2005, he struck out on his own, with regular bylines in magazines like Maxim, Monocle, and Good, and on the cover of The Renegade Sportsman, his book about such oddball athletic pursuits as bike polo and beer-slugging running. In 2010, after contributing to Portland Monthly on such subjects as Ross Island's future and electric cars, he came aboard. His wealth of ideas, journeyman editing and writing skills, and that ever-sparking sense of humor eventually boosted him to senior editor. The lively mix of news, culture, and comedy that we call Mudroom is like a steep ski run through the slalom of Zach's mind.
This month, Rachel and Zach move up the masthead, both taking the new title of executive editor. And after four years as editor in chief, I'm transitioning to "editor at large." It means that Zach and Rachel get to worry about budgets and planning, and I'm very happily returning to what I love most (and did for 17 years before turning editor): wandering the city, meeting the people shaping it, and writing stories.
As far as this column goes, we imagine that you'll hear from Zach, Rachel, me, and other members of our editorial team from time to time—maybe we'll draw straws, or engage in tests of strength...if the latter, it will be Rachel.
That's the news from the masthead. We hope that the far more interesting news follows in the pages and issues to come.

subset: commoncrawl


text: Billy Graham Is Respected And Loved Around The World. And This Work Is His Magnum Opus, The Culmination Of A Lifetime Of Experience And Ministry! Chapter By Chapter, Graham Leads Us On A Journey In Faith. We Learn About God And His Purpose For Our Lives; Who Jesus Is And What He Has Done For Us. We Are Reminded Of The Things God Has Given Us To Live Successfully: The Bible, The Privilege Of Prayer, Fellowship And The Church, And The Holy Spirit. We Learn To Deal With Challenges Along The Way: Temptation, Wrong Thoughts And Motives, Emotions That Can Defeat Us, Habits That Destroy Our Spirit, And What To Do When Life Turns Against Us. And We Are Given Practical Advice On Knowing God's Will, Making Right Decision, Strengthening Our Marriages, Being Wise Parents, And Using Our Gifts To Share Christ With Others.


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Touchstone Level 2 Workbook B
English Type
American English
Unavailable - out of print
Product description
The Touchstone Workbook provides follow-up exercises for each lesson in the Student's Book, allowing for a thorough practice of new vocabulary, structures, and conversation strategies and providing extra reading and writing activities. A progress chart at the end of each unit helps students evaluate their progress and plan further study. Workbook 2B contains units 7–12, the second half of the complete Level 2 Workbook.
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Student's Book with Self-study DVD-ROM and Online Workbook Pack
Interchange Fourth Edition is a four-level series for adult and young-adult learners of English from the beginning to the high-intermediate level.Author: Jack C. RichardsEnglish Type: American EnglishCEF Level: A1Publication date: October 2012
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Body Found In Open Space In Arvada
DENVER (AP) — Investigators are refusing to suggest any connection between a body found in the Denver suburb of Arvada and a missing girl from another suburb.
Police in Westminster declined to say Thursday whether the body was that of a child.
Ten-year-old Jessica Ridgeway of Westminster was last seen leaving for school on Oct. 5. The body was found Wednesday in the Pattridge Park open space in Arvada, about seven miles southwest of Jessica's home.
The open space is south of the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge and is dotted with abandoned coal mine shafts. The area is favored by mountain bikers and model airplane flyers on weekends.


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Désilets "Wireless Organ' was a unique instrument that was designed to create and transmit musical tones generated by electronic sparks. Désilets, the bishop of the small town of Nicolet in Quebec, Canada, had set up his own radio station to transmit religious music and required an organ to complete his choir. Using the standard, pre vacuum tube process of generating radio waves with a spark-gap alternator; Désilets mounted a series of spark-gap 'studded' disks on a rotating conical drum spinning at a fixed rate powered by an electrical motor . The ratio interval between the studs caused an approximate sinusoidal waveform to be created in a series of predetermined musical pitches. The instrument was designed to be audible over a wireless transmission – this being, in these pre-amplification days, the only way the instrument could be heard;
The first version of the instrument was a had a short drum that delivered a 1 1/2 octave range, Désilets later attached a 4 octave touch sensitive organ keyboard to a much longer spark-drum and attached a foot controlled rheostat to allow expression control. To produce higher and lower octaves (without the complexity and scale of creating a longer spark-drum) the motor speed could be varied to double or half the speed to deliver the required pitch change. Semitones were achieved by a gearing mechanism:
"…semitones are obtained in the preferred form by a set of rows exactly corresponding to the rows 27 30, 36, 40 and 45 traveling at a rate -of speed 1/20 less than the rotor 1. For example, if the rotor 1 is revolving at 500 r. p. m.,.the semitone rows must revolve at 47 5 r. p. m. The different speeds of rotation may be obtained by gearing"
The instrument was capable of playing polyphonically if the input charge was boosted to allow multiple spark generation:
"…Obviously, in order to produce chords, it is only necessary to supply a current of sufficient intensity to permit of a plurality of different sets of sparks at the same time consequent upon the pressure of the corresponding number of keys."
Désilets radio station was closed during the 19-14-18 war – the Canadian government closed all non-military radio stations for security reasons –and his wave-organ silenced. When the station reopened, the invention and popularity of the vacuum tube by Lee De Forest and others had made his spark-generating experiments obsolete.
"Those who have heard it agree that it is real music. Chords are produced by pressing two or three keys, and if the feeding transformer can supply the necessary power we have surprising results and pleasant effects. Obviously a more elaborate machine, constructed on the lines suggested, would give even better effects. Unhappily my station was closed las year on account of the war, and my organ is now silent. I hope to resume my experiments later on; meanwhile, I wish I could, for a time, live on the free soil of the United States, paradise of the wireless amateur."
Georges Désilets. The Wireless Age Magazine. USA, September 1916
Biographical notes
Georges Désilets was born in Nicolet, Quebec, Canada on November 29, 1866, the son of Isaiah Désilets, farmer and Léocadie Belcourt. After studying classics and theology at the Seminaire de Nicolet (1880-1888), he was ordained as a priest on July 26, 1893.
Désilets began teaching at the seminary as a professor of physics, chemistry and astronomy (1893-1897) and then from 1900 to 1904 natural history and music. Désilets was then appointed chaplain of the 'Hospital Sisters of St. Joseph' in Arthabaska, Quebec, which he left four years later due to health problems.
Désilets became the resident Bishop of Nicolet, where he had his own amateur radio laboratory installed in the turret of the bishopric building. he created the radio station '9 AB' which broadcast music for an hour every week performed by the orchestra of the Nicolet Seminary "Quartet 9-AB".
In 1914, Désilets began experimenting with a way of creating musical tones using electronic sparks which led to the design of the 'Wireless Organ'. He was also responsible for a number of patents in the field of wireless communications.
Father Desilets died in hospital of Christ the King of Nicolet, on 29 June 1954 at the age of 88. Buried in the cemetery of the Major Seminary.
The archives of the Seminaire Nicolet. https://archivesseminairenicolet.wordpress.com/2013/05/09/fonds-georges-desilets/
'Radio Amateur News'. (Magazine) June 1920 Vol 673. USA.
Archives of 'Phonothèque québécoise / Musée du son'
'Histoire de la radio au Québec: information, éducation, culture'. Pierre Pagé. Les Editions Fides, 2007
Wireless age; an illustrated monthly magazine … v.3 (1915-16).


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amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research
March 2009—A question that has plagued the HIV community for years is when to start treatment to achieve the best outcomes. In the mid-1990s, Dr. David Ho recommended "hitting early and hitting hard," meaning that antiretroviral therapy (ART) should be started as soon as HIV infection is diagnosed, and a multi-drug regimen should be used. Because treatment of HIV is life-long, however, side effects from ART can make it difficult to tolerate prolonged treatment and maintain adequate adherence to therapy.
The most recent HIV treatment guidelines issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2006 recommend starting ART for people without symptoms of disease when their CD4+ count is less than 200 cells/mL3, and less than 350 cells/mL3 in persons who have advanced HIV disease. But the 2008 US treatment guidelines recommend starting those without symptoms at a CD4+ count of less than 350 cells/mL3. This translates to starting ART before the immune system becomes severely compromised (CD4+ less than 200 cells/mL3) but not too early to risk fatigue from ART (greater than 350 cells/mL3).
Results of a recent study, however, suggest that starting ART even earlier may lower the risk of death. These recent findings were from a large study involving 22 research groups in North America and included data from 8,374 patients. The study examined patients with CD4+ counts of 351-500 cells/mL3 who were being actively followed between 1996 and 2006. Their results showed a 70 percent improvement in survival for people starting ART with CD4+ counts above 350 cells/mL3 over those patients who waited until their CD4+ counts dropped below 350 cells/mL3.
This means that these patients from North America had a lower risk of dying when they were started on ART at a higher CD4+ count. In many parts of the world, however, people are often not diagnosed with HIV infection or started on ART until their CD4+ cells have dropped below 200 cells/mL3. These findings highlight the need for people to get tested earlier so they can receive greater benefit from ART, and they also raise questions about whether international guidelines should be revised to encourage earlier treatment initiation.
© 2021 amfAR All Rights Reserved || amfAR's mission is to end the global AIDS epidemic through innovative research


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Teachers union threatens strike
POPLAR GROVE — North Boone School District teachers are threatening to strike unless they can work out a fair contract with the School Board.
The North Boone Education Association, which represents 110 educators who serve 1,665 students, unanimously voted to file its intent to strike notice Thursday. Dozens of teachers walked from the Upper Elementary School building to the district office to deliver the message but found the doors locked once they arrived.
The group has been working without a contract since June 30.
North Boone Education Association President Kelly Hanaman said sticking points are retaining salary schedules and contractual guarantees that respect the professional integrities of members.
"This contract has been all about take backs, charging more for different things, taking things away from us that have been given to us in the past, and we want to put an end to the take backs," Hanaman said.
"It's time to end the uncertainty for our students, our parents, our community and also our members. We are determined to settle a fair contract, and we will do whatever is necessary to achieve that goal."
The union and School Board have been bargaining since March and had their fifth mediation session Thursday.
A potential walkout is weeks away.
The union must give 10 days notice of an intent to strike, and the group can't strike until 14 days after a final offer has been made public, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.
School Board President Don Ward said in a press release that the board has offered solutions in good faith to keep negotiations moving.
"The Board of Education is committed to reaching a settlement that is fair for the students, community and teachers within the resources available to the district in these times of dramatically decreased funding. We remain hopeful the union leadership is also working towards that end," Ward said in the release.
If schools must be closed because of a strike, the district will use the nbcusd.org website, School Messenger, Facebook and Twitter to notify students and parents.
The North Boone Education Association filed an intent to strike notice in 2011 but was able to reach an agreement. Hanaman said the relationship has not improved since then.
"We don't have a very happy relationship with the district office. I would like to see that improve," Hanaman said.
Jennifer Wheeler: 815-987-1354; email@example.com; @jenmwheeler


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Cars We Remember: 'Old geezer' has several questions and lots of great memories
Q: Greg I am an "old geezer" — age 87 years old with lots of memories. I'd like to find out something I've been trying to find an answer to for many years. It has to do with convertibles, as I've seen them in the early 1930s and early 1940s. I've even seen them in 1937 and 1938. But I've never seen or heard of a convertible in 1939. What do you know about this? Did they (the U.S. car companies) make a convertible in 1939?
I also used to race at Moc-A-Tek Speedway dirt track between Scranton and Hawley, Pennsylvania, in the early 1960s. I enjoyed many good years back then in my 1936 Hudson Coupe with a de-stroked Hudson Hornet six-cylinder engine in it that measured 308 cubic inches. We had 2 years where we were the high point trophy champions and it was number 45 on the side. They kept tearing us down after the races we won, but we were always found legal and we got to keep the tear down money posted by the competitors who challenged us. We drove them crazy.
My daughter lives in Owego, New York, and she saves your articles for me and I really enjoy them. In one of your stories, you mention a Pontiac V8 in 1955. Did you know that Pontiac made a V8 in 1932?
I'd love to talk to you in person one day and maybe we could swap a few stories.
— John "Butch" Wittenbrader, Jefferson Township, Pennsylvania
A: John thanks so much for your handwritten letter. I sure do appreciate all your nice comments and am happy you enjoy my columns.
Let's start with that convertible you seek to find from the year 1939. According to my records, there were several manufacturers here in the USA that built convertibles. Ford built the most, as it assembled 14,000 Deluxe models that year out of a total of near 300,000 Fords built. However, that's less than a 5-percent convertible to coupe/sedan ratio.
Buick, meanwhile, only built 5,600 convertibles in 1939 from a total run of near 208,000 units. That's just 2.7 percent of the total and many were "special order only." Other manufacturers produced less than 500, which is probably why you haven't seen a 1939 convertible at any of the recent car shows or, for that matter, in your 87 years. Of note is that Hudson did indeed have a convertible in 1939, both in Deluxe and Country Club models. However, both are very rare and production numbers are unavailable. Olds, Packard, Plymouth, LaSalle, Lincoln and even Mercury in its initial year had convertibles, but also in limited numbers.
As for your speedway accomplishments, congratulations on a fine career and your many wins. Regardless of when you raced, winning two championships in that 1936 Hudson is worth a nice "pat on the back." Being that you ran dirt at Moc-A-Tek Speedway, you already know as well as I do that it takes a special breed to win on dirt. Additionally, and being I started going to the races back in 1958, I remember well those great years and what it took to win consistently. That de-stroked Hudson Hornet engine, similar to those that dominated NASCAR in the early 1950s, ala those Fabulous Hudson Hornet entries, were tough to beat even though they were six-cylinder engines running against V8 competition. As for the tear down competitor "challenges your legality" monies you got to keep, that's great.
Finally, I did know that Pontiac had a V8 in 1932, a unique "sideway compression" flathead type model designed by Oakland, the latter car company purchased by GM in 1909 and then eliminated in favor of Pontiac. It measured 251 cubic inches and produced 85 horsepower. Pontiac discontinued the Oakland V8 in 1933, and went with an inline Straight 8, which it used through 1954. Then as you note, the new Pontiac overhead valve V8 appeared in 1955 as a 287-incher putting out from 173 to 200 horses.
Again, I want to thank you for your letter and I'm glad I was able to clear up that 1939 convertible question you had on your mind for many years. When I get a chance, I'll look you up and we'll have a cup of coffee together.
— Greg Zyla writes weekly for More Content Now and other GateHouse Media publications. He welcomes reader questions at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Avid Media Composer still can not support AVCHD, MTS, M2TS etc files from Canon, Sony, Panasonic, JVC, Sanyo etc HD camcorder. It now can natively accept MXF and MOV files.
Avid Media Composer is a type of computer software application known as a Non-linear editing system. Now Avid MC has upgraded to 5.5.3 for Mac OSX 10.7 Lion and allows for film editing, uncompressed standard definition (SD) video and high definition (HD) editing and finishing.
MTS to Avid Media Composer converter allows you to convert Canon, JVC, Sony, Panasonic, Sanyo etc AVCHD, MTS, M2TS, TRP, TS files to MOV/HD MOV for importing to Avid Media Composer for editing. At the same time, the conversion can keep 1080p HD resolution and video origal quality.
More function of MTS Converter: Import mts video to iPod, iPad, iPhone, Blackberry, PSP, PS3, Sony Vegas, WMP, Premiere Pro, Mobile Phone, upload mts files to Youtube, Facebook etc metacafe etc using MTS to WMM program.
Also supports the new 2011 device, like: blackberry 9860, iMovie 11, Final Cut Pro X Mac Lion and to Galaxy S2, HTC Titan, HTC Radar, Galaxy Note, Curve 9360, Wave 3, Torch 9810, Xperia Arc S, Optimus 3D, Galaxy Ace, HTC Wildfire S, Xperia Mini Pro, HTC Desire HD, HTC Sensation, iPhone 4, HP TouchPad, Windows 8, Android 3.0, Sony Tablet S, Sony Tablet P, Kindle Tablet, Transformer, Galaxy Note, Galaxy Tab 10.1, Motorola Xoom etc.
Surely, clip, trim, split, merge, join, crop mts video, set output parameter, apply effect for mts files also can using MTS to Windows Movie Maker software.
Pricing and Availability Iorgsoft MTS to Avid Media Composer converter software is priced at only $35.00 for single-user licence. It provides a free trial for download, and registered users are entitled to free lifetime updates and technical support. For more specifications, click MTS to Windows Movie Maker
About iorgsoft Corporation iorgsoft Corporation publishes high-performance consumer digital multimedia software, iorgsoft's user-friendly, affordable software offers power, speed, and simplicity for millions of computer users worldwide.
Contact For Mac: MTS to iMovie 11 converter


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Last week, when Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz called Coney Island "a natural" for casino gambling, and said it would bring jobs and revenue, he gave voice to what Coney Islanders with long memories have been talking about since Governor Cuomo proposed legalizing casino gambling in New York. It brings back memories of the late 1970s when "Casinos Mean Jobs- Let the People Decide" was the slogan of a group of Coney businessmen who lobbied Albany. Will the casino gold rush of that era, which finally ended when Governor Carey nixed the idea of a referendum, replay in Coney Island and set off another wave of real estate speculation?
A chapter in Charles Denson's book Coney Island: Lost and Found vividly documents the "casino fever" that seized Coney after casino gambling was legalized in Atlantic City in 1976 and the New York State Legislature began studying the idea. A billboard saying "Welcome to Coney Island, The Perfect Resort for Casino Gambling" was put up by a local business group writes Denson, who worried that casino gambling would wipe out the amusement area and wouldn't benefit the neighborhood. He notes that "for a brief period during 1979, the asking price for property on the Boardwalk rose from $3 to $100 per square foot." Interviews with Horace Bullard, whose Shore Theater was said to have caught Frank Sinatra's eye, as well as with Astroland owner Jerry Albert and realtor Charles Tesoro portray the "Casinos for Coney" mania that prevailed during a four-year period.
"It was crazy," Tesoro told Denson. "Limousines would pull up with guys coming up to the office from Las Vegas, in silk suits, saying, 'sell to us now, get us some property, we wanna get in!' It was like a crazy house, like the gold rush…They'd sit at my desk and say, 'Waddaya got? We want options on everything you got. Everything!' They wanted options because if gambling didn't go through, they're out. But if gambling went through, they'd pay triple the asking price for the property."
One of the reasons gambling didn't go through was behind-the-scenes lobbying of politicians by the Trumps, who were already involved in Atlantic City, Tesoro and others say in Denson's book.
When we first read that Governor Cuomo proposed legalizing casino gambling in New York and Mayor Bloomberg said as long as New York City shares in the revenue, we bet Joe Sitt began dusting off his Vegas-y renderings for the south side of Surf in anticipation. And we imagined that the mostly vacant, fantastically high-priced properties for sale or lease in Coney Island would sit empty for another couple of years, until the referendum on casino gambling could be put to a vote. That won't happen until November 2013 at the earliest.
Horace Bullard still owns the Shore Theater, which currently has an asking price of $13 million, and his Thunderbolt parcel, a three-acre development site next to the Cyclones stadium, is up for grabs too. On the north side of Surf, there are the infamous furniture stores in buildings with price tags of $5.4 million and $3.39 million. These sites are among the 24 privately owned properties for sale or lease on the CIDC's map of Coney Island Retail Opportunities Fall 2011, now called Coney Island Property Opportunities Winter 2011-2012. Will the map morph into Coney Island Casino Opportunities in 2013?
The Washington Baths property, which Bullard acquired during the casino gold rush and later sold to Joe Sitt, who in turn sold it to Taconic Investment Partners, which got it rezoned for high-rise condos, would make a dandy casino complex. The 5.5 blocks of vacant land is just west of MCU Park. Blackjack and Baccarat on the Beach? Taconic also has a 99-year lease on the landmarked terracotta palace on the Boardwalk that was once the Childs Restaurant.
The monkey wrench in the plan for a Coney casino is a possible demand by Genting, which already operates a racino at Aqueduct, to ask the state for exclusive rights to casino operations in New York City. However, Governor Cuomo's spokesman told the Post, "There's no agreement on exclusivity."
The Associated Press reports Malaysia-based Genting spent more than $774,000 on New York lobbying in the first 10 months of 2011, or 10 times its total for 2010. Their lobbyist is SKDKnickerbocker, the same firm that represents Thor Equities, Mayor Bloomberg, and other high-powered clients. Coney Island has already been impacted, and not in a positive way, by Genting's venture at Aqueduct. The displaced Aqueduct flea market vendors moved to Thor Equities Stillwell Avenue property last summer. Their dismal debut was billed as a "festival" because a flea market is not a permitted use in Coney Island's amusement zone.
Related posts on ATZ…
December 27, 2011: Amusing the Zillion's Top 10 Coney Island News Stories of 2011
December 7, 2011: Jones Walk's "Miss Coney Island" Shimmies Over to 12th St
November 15, 2011: Coney Island 2012: What's New on the Boardwalk
May 16, 2011: Thor's Coney Island: Aqueduct Flea Vendors Make Dismal Debut


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Art Collections Online
WALTERS, Evan (1893 - 1951)
(We are not able to provide an image for this item at this time. This is either due to copyright restrictions, or because the item is awaiting digitisation. We apologise for any inconvenience.)
Date: 1943
Media: oil on millboard
Size: 50.8 x 40.6 cm
Acquired: 1953; Bequest; Evan Walters
Accession Number: NMW A 5121
Comments are currently unavailable. We apologise for the inconvenience.


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Trauma Night
Most hospital nurses work a specific territory: one unit in the facility, one slot in a sprawling hierarchy of caregivers.
Not Jennifer Parker. The 40-year-old Legacy Emanuel nurse describes her job as "putting out fires wherever they happen." She's one of the hospital's handful of trauma and critical care response nurses, a position Emanuel developed to keep its operation afloat through sometimes-crazy evenings and nights. "Between 3 o'clock in the afternoon and 3 in the morning is when the sickest of the sick come in," Parker says.
During her 12-hour-plus shifts, Parker tracks critical cases all the way from the North Portland hospital's emergency room to its operating tables to its ICU. As patients move from one team of specialists to another, Parker stays with them, managing the transitions, relaying critical information, and providing hands-on care.
"There's no set job description and no task that we're limited to," she says. "In the course of one night, I can go from the cute kid who swallowed a penny to someone who's screaming, swinging, and kicking at me." The position requires 300 hours of emergency nursing training. "In trauma, when people are dying," says William Long, Legacy's medical director of trauma services, "it's the medical equivalent of what a football team that's behind does in the last two minutes of a game."
Beyond training, a steady nerve, flexibility, and a sense of humor are mandatory. "All I know when I show up is that I'm getting my pager and clocking in," Parker says. "I think that's the attraction: the job's diversity. I could be mopping a floor, or trying to keep someone's heart beating."
"People do die, no matter what you do," Long observes of what Parker brings to her position on medicine's front lines. "You need someone who doesn't get rattled."
On a Friday night, a family passes time in the Legacy Emanuel ER's waiting room, eager for news. In one year the hospital's emergency department treats about 40,000 patients—around 110 per day. Only two Oregon hospitals, Emanuel and OHSU, are designated Level 1 trauma centers, equipped and staffed to provide the highest level of care to acutely sick and badly injured people. The two hospitals take in patients from across the state via ambulance and helicopter.
The Legacy trauma unit treats a female gunshot-wound victim. Damage to her liver and bowel complicates the three-hour surgery. "Her leg might never be the same," says Parker, who helps coordinate an effort that involves as many as 12 doctors, nurses, and technicians at a time.
"Now stop that. Stop acting like a child. You want this to look pretty don't you?" Intermediately gruff and soothing, Parker contends with a female patient who requires stitches after suffering a facial laceration from being hit by a car. The intoxicated patient struggles so much, restraints are required. "It took three of us to do a repair a 3-year-old should have been able to handle," Parker says.
Parker celebrates when she checks the clock and sees her shift ends in 15 minutes. Her typical week includes three 12-hour shifts from 3 p.m. to 3 a.m. She says adrenaline makes transitioning out of shifts difficult. (She relaxes during her drive home.) Below, Parker hugs fellow nurse Karyn McComb.
Editor's note: The position of trauma nurse is not one of the categories evaluated in Portland Monthly's Top Doctors & Nurses survey.


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Emulex to Present at Deutsche Bank Technology Conference
COSTA MESA, Calif., Sept. 3, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --
COSTA MESA, Calif., Sept. 3, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --
WHAT: Emulex Corporation will present to investors attending the Deutsche Bank Technology Conference on Tuesday, September 10, 2013 at 10:20 a.m. Pacific time. Emulex President and Chief Executive Officer, Jeff Benck will host the presentation. The presentation can be heard and viewed live on the Internet via a webcast at www.emulex.com. The archived version of Emulex's presentation will be available for seven days following the conference in the audio archive section of the Company's website.
WHEN: Tuesday, September 10, 2013 at 10:20 a.m. PDT
WHERE: Live webcast can be accessed here or at www.emulex.com
CONTACT: Frank YoshinoVice President, Finance (714) 885-3697
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120403/NE81278LOGO )
About Emulex Emulex, a leader in converged networking solutions, provides enterprise-class connectivity for servers, networks and storage devices within the data center. The company's product portfolio of Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapters, 10Gb Ethernet Network Interface Cards, Ethernet-based Converged Network Adapters, controllers, embedded bridges and switches, and connectivity management software are proven, tested and trusted by the world's largest and most demanding IT environments. Emulex solutions are used and offered by the industry's leading server and storage OEMs including, Cisco, Dell, EMC, Fujitsu, Hitachi, Hitachi Data Systems, HP, Huawei, IBM, NEC, NetApp and Oracle. Emulex is headquartered in Costa Mesa, Calif. and has offices and research facilities in North America, Asia and Europe. More information about Emulex is available at www.Emulex.com.
Emulex Safe Harbor Statement "Safe Harbor'' Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: With the exception of historical information, the statements set forth above, contain forward-looking statements that involve risk and uncertainties. We expressly disclaim any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or changes to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect any future events or circumstances. We wish to caution readers that a number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. These factors include the possibility that we may not realize the anticipated benefits from the acquisition of Endace on a timely basis or at all, and may be unable to integrate the technology, operations and personnel of Endace into our existing operations in a timely and efficient manner. In addition, intellectual property claims, with or without merit, that could result in costly litigation, cause product shipment delays, require us to indemnify customers, or require us to enter into royalty or licensing agreements, which may or may not be available. Furthermore, we have in the past obtained, and may be required in the future to obtain, licenses of technology owned by other parties. We cannot be certain that the necessary licenses will be available or that they can be obtained on commercially reasonable terms. If we were to fail to obtain such royalty or licensing agreements in a timely manner and on reasonable terms, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be materially adversely affected. Ongoing lawsuits, such as the action brought by Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom), present inherent risks, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, or results of operations. Such potential risks include continuing expenses of litigation, loss of patent rights, monetary damages, injunctions against the sale of products incorporating the technology in question, counterclaims, attorneys' fees, incremental costs associated with product or component redesigns, liabilities to customers under reimbursement agreements or contractual indemnification provisions, and diversion of management's attention from other business matters. With respect to the continuing Broadcom litigation, such potential risks also include the adequacy of any sunset period to make design changes, the ability to implement any design changes, the availability of customer resources to complete any re-qualification or re-testing that may be needed, the ability to maintain favorable working relationships with Emulex suppliers of serializer/deserializer (SerDes) modules, and the ability to obtain a settlement which does not put us at a competitive disadvantage. In addition, the fact that the economy generally, and the technology and storage market segments specifically, have been in a state of uncertainty makes it difficult to determine if past experience is a good guide to the future and makes it impossible to determine if markets will grow or shrink in the short term. Continued weakness in domestic and worldwide macro-economic conditions, related disruptions in world credit and equity markets, and the resulting economic uncertainty for our customers, as well as the storage and converged networking market as a whole, has and could continue to adversely affect our revenues and results of operations. As a result of these uncertainties, we are unable to predict our future results with any accuracy. Other factors affecting these forward-looking statements include but are not limited to the following: faster than anticipated declines in the storage networking market, slower than expected growth of the converged networking market or the failure of our Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) customers to successfully incorporate our products into their systems; our dependence on a limited number of customers and the effects of the loss of, decrease in or delays of orders by any such customers, or the failure of such customers to make timely payments; the emergence of new or stronger competitors as a result of consolidation movements in the market; the timing and market acceptance of our products or our OEM customers' new or enhanced products; costs associated with entry into new areas of the network, server and storage technology markets; the variability in the level of our backlog and the variable and seasonal procurement patterns of our customers; any inadequacy of our intellectual property protection and the costs of actual or potential third-party claims of infringement and any related indemnity obligations or adverse judgments; the effect of any actual or potential unsolicited offers to acquire us; proxy contests or the activities of activist investors; impairment charges, including but not limited to goodwill and intangible assets; changes in tax rates or legislation; the effects of acquisitions; the effects of terrorist activities, natural disasters, and any resulting disruption in our supply chain or customer purchasing patterns or any other resulting economic or political instability; the highly competitive nature of the markets for our products as well as pricing pressures that may result from such competitive conditions; the effects of changes in our business model to separately charge for software; the effect of rapid migration of customers towards newer, lower cost product platforms; transitions from board or box level to application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) solutions for selected applications; a shift in unit product mix from higher-end to lower-end or mezzanine card products; a faster than anticipated decrease in the average unit selling prices or an increase in the manufactured cost of our products; delays in product development; our reliance on third-party suppliers and subcontractors for components and assembly; our ability to attract and retain key technical personnel; our ability to benefit from our research and development activities; our dependence on international sales and internationally produced products; changes in accounting standards; and any resulting regulatory changes on our business. These and other factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements and are discussed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our recent filings on Forms 10-K and 10-Q, under the caption "Risk Factors."
All trademarks, trade names, service marks, and logos referenced herein belong to their respective companies.


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Please check out this new project by my friend Steve over at everythingesteban blog.
Show us a photo that represents to you God's presence in the natural world.
My husband and I have settled into middle age and the empty nest by picking up a new hobby: gardening. I recently posted on Facebook that it's a wonder I managed to raise three kids when I killed every houseplant I ever came into contact with, so this gardening thing is, well, comical.
And yet, we have great success. We've managed to grow fruits and vegetables in spite of ourselves, and we're delighting in the beauty of flowers whose names I've only just recently learned.
The garden attracks butterflies and birds, and little creatures who help themselves too much to my berries.
We enjoy sitting in the backyard in the early evening waiting for the sun to go down, lulled into a quiet repose. Our silence is broken only by the occasional suggestion to look at a bird feeding, and we quickly return to our quiet state.
I should point out that we're the ones who are quiet; the backyard is full of life and all the noises and sounds that come with that — but it's through our interior silence that we're able to take in all the activity around us. The different kinds of birdcalls, for instance. One of these days I hope to differentiate between the cardinals and the bluejays. I can identify my enemy, the mockingbird, and I've even seen some bluebirds venturing into the trees, too.
My husband has worked hard at making this little getaway for us and filling it with a variety of things to both entertain us and beautify the area, but it is the Master Gardener who ultimately put the finishing touches on this, His masterpiece. His loving touch embraced me suddenly and unexpectedly — aren't His gifts always an amazing surprise?
Last evening, in the dwindling light, a soft breeze came up, carrying with it the scent of honesuckles. It filled the patio with the sweet scent, and it carried me back a million years (or maybe forty) to my childhood. Funny how something like a scent or a sound can do that.
I followed my nose to the source, a wild and messy blanket of honeysuckles covering a little corner of the yard that I've remarked is unsightly and in need of attention. God, it would seem, had me covered.
He always does.


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It's Friday and you know what that means – Master Classes! Today we ran a master class called "Ships as material culture." This MC examined the "ship" as an artefact. From the wood it was constructed with to all of the fittings like winches, capstans, anchors and cannons, we explored their use, materials and positions on ships. A few fun exercises got the hearts racing. The first was to label the basic ship timbers in a frame-first constructed vessel. The second exercise was a bit more challenging and had a bountiful book prize. Participants were split into teams and given a ship model to label. Approximately fifty ship parts were on the list to be labelled with little stickers. Our winners were Lynda Bignell, Roger Halliday, Phyllis Coxhill and Maddy McCallister. Congratulations!
I think everyone walked away with a finer appreciation of ship construction. When you next see Lynda, Roger, Phyllis and Maddy ask them what a "cathead" is and I'm sure the will enlighten you.


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What's the worst part of going to the doctor? For me, it's talking to the doctor about my BMI (she says it's too high).
Okay doc, I get it.
But, I might not be as unhealthy as I think—at least according to Oxford University mathematics professor Nick Trefethen. The numbers genius recently told The Economist that the decades-old BMI formula is flawed.
His argument: The current formula is biased against tall people.
More From Cosmopolitan
"We live in a three-dimensional world, yet the BMI is defined as weight divided by height squared," he wrote, adding that it's skewed to make shorter people think they're healthier than they really are.
Trefethen also revised the formula to support his argument (you can calculate your BMI based on both formulas here).
Does the new BMI formula really change that much? Not really. What really matters—at least from a health perspective—is body fat percentage.
And from a personal perspective? If you're happy with your body and feel healthy, that's all that matters.
Want more from Meagan? Follow her on Twitter.


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I just came across this, pretty much by accident. It's amazing, a small film by Guilherme Marcondes, a Brazilian filmmaker, based on the William Blake poem. He uses puppetry, illustration, photography and CGI to make a fantastically rich little gem:
Mr. Marcondes is influenced by the pastiche of Brazilian culture and the DIY quality of the Brazilian film schools of which he came. Clearly, he uses anything he can get his hands on, including things like origami and the ancient Japanese puppet-art of bunraku. It's all very stylized and fabulous, and makes me want to know more about his earlier life -- did he study all these kinds of art? He must have.
I went to his website, where he has samples of his work, and I found this, from a movie called Bunraku, the opening sequence of which he was given carte blanche to do:
I never heard of this movie, Bunraku. It looks like it was released in France and Canada, but not here...? It looks like a very violent movie, definitely not my type of thing, but the art direction looks really interesting: the pans through cities seem to unfold like a pop-up book, and the scenery is an odd conglomeration of bits. Which leads me to the fact that Mr. Marcondes originally studied architecture:
"I like experiencing architecture, not practicing it. Just as I go to the movies or listen to music, I like to wander around a city, paying attention to how the space is organized, how the transportation works,
etc. I'm interested in how the environment we live in changes and conditions our personalities. That's clearer in Tyger than in any other film I've made. That also explains why I like J.G. Ballard so much!" [link]
And on that note, I will leave you to ponder a world where cities are made to pop up as you move through them, and when the apocalypse comes, flowers of light grow through the cracks of the world.


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First look: Lucky Belly, a new Honolulu ramen restaurant and bar
Expect "chef-inspired" ramen, a late-night takeout window, and a sake and whisky bar.
The last time I talked to Dusty Grable, a partner in the new restaurant Lucky Belly, he was the front of house manager at Formaggio in Kailua. We were talking about Formaggio's Dining in the Dark, where you wear a blindfold to dinner. It was supposed to heighten the senses, I remember him saying. For my dining companions and me, the dark simply brought our neuroses to light: we felt claustrophobic; we clutched our wineglasses for fear of knocking them over; we were frustrated at not knowing what the hell we were eating.
This new project, Lucky Belly, is much more promising.
In the two years since we last talked, Grable has been busy. He moved to San Francisco, "a city that lives and breathes food, where you can't help but learn about food and beverage," worked at Gary Danko, a San Francisco institution, and ran the beverage program at Ame, a Michelin-starred restaurant in the St. Regis. He moved back to Honolulu in early May because Jesse Cruz, previously the chef at Formaggio, where the two met, had found a space for the restaurant they had always been talking about.
It used to be Mini Garden; it has never looked better. The floor has been ripped out and is now polished concrete. It turns out the dividing wall was hiding a brick wall—it has now been exposed.
The restaurant is still in its soft opening phase, with a limited menu that calls to mind Momofuku (what doesn't these days?). The focus is on the "chef-inspired ramen," as Grable calls it: a Lucky Bowl ($8) with the usual sort of ramen fixings (bean sprouts, wakame, soft-boiled egg); Belly Bowl ($12), stocked with pork belly, smoked bacon and sausage; and Shrimp Kimchee Bowl ($12).
Lucky Belly is currently open for lunch, Monday through Saturday. From Thursday through Saturday, 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., it will open up the takeout window, with a short menu of $5 items like kimchee shrimp fried rice and pork belly bao.
Grable and Cruz plan to officially open Lucky Belly in mid-July with dinner service and a bar focusing on sake and whisky. Grable hopes that soon, "people will say 'let's go drink sake at Lucky Belly' the same way people drink beer at Bar35."
50 N. Hotel St.


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ABSTRACTWhile index updates are fast on average, worst-case update performance may be significantly slower. To make index updates consistently quick, we must manually intervene to control the process of index segment consolidation.
The problemOrdinarily, modifying an index is cheap. New data is added to new segments, and the time to write a new segment scales more or less linearly with the number of documents added during the indexing session.
Deletions are also cheap most of the time, because we don't remove documents immediately but instead mark them as deleted, and adding the deletion mark is cheap.
However, as new segments are added and the deletion rate for existing segments increases, search-time performance slowly begins to degrade. At some point, it becomes necessary to consolidate existing segments, rewriting their data into a new segment.
If the recycled segments are small, the time it takes to rewrite them may not be significant. Every once in a while, though, a large amount of data must be rewritten.
Procrastinating and playing catch-upThe simplest way to force fast index updates is to avoid rewriting anything.
Indexer relies upon IndexManager's recycle() method to tell it which segments should be consolidated. If we subclass IndexManager and override recycle() so that it always returns an empty array, we get consistently quick performance:
package NoMergeManager; use base qw( Lucy::Index::IndexManager ); sub recycle { [] } package main; my $indexer = Lucy::Index::Indexer->new( index => '/path/to/index', manager => NoMergeManager->new, ); ... $indexer->commit;
However, we can't procrastinate forever. Eventually, we'll have to run an ordinary, uncontrolled indexing session, potentially triggering a large rewrite of lots of small and/or degraded segments:
my $indexer = Lucy::Index::Indexer->new( index => '/path/to/index', # manager => NoMergeManager->new, ); ... $indexer->commit;
Acceptable worst-case update time, slower degradationNever merging anything at all in the main indexing process is probably overkill. Small segments are relatively cheap to merge; we just need to guard against the big rewrites.
Setting a ceiling on the number of documents in the segments to be recycled allows us to avoid a mass proliferation of tiny, single-document segments, while still offering decent worst-case update speed:
package LightMergeManager; use base qw( Lucy::Index::IndexManager ); sub recycle { my $self = shift; my $seg_readers = $self->SUPER::recycle(@_); @$seg_readers = grep { $_->doc_max < 10 } @$seg_readers; return $seg_readers; }
However, we still have to consolidate every once in a while, and while that happens content updates will be locked out.
Background mergingIf it's not acceptable to lock out updates while the index consolidation process runs, the alternative is to move the consolidation process out of band, using Lucy::Index::BackgroundMerger.
It's never safe to have more than one Indexer attempting to modify the content of an index at the same time, but a BackgroundMerger and an Indexer can operate simultaneously:
# Indexing process. use Scalar::Util qw( blessed ); my $retries = 0; while (1) { eval { my $indexer = Lucy::Index::Indexer->new( index => '/path/to/index', manager => LightMergeManager->new, ); $indexer->add_doc($doc); $indexer->commit; }; last unless [email protected]; if ( blessed([email protected]) and [email protected]>isa("Lucy::Store::LockErr") ) { # Catch LockErr. warn "Couldn't get lock ($retries retries)"; $retries++; } else { die "Write failed: [email protected]"; } } # Background merge process. my $manager = Lucy::Index::IndexManager->new; $index_manager->set_write_lock_timeout(60_000); my $bg_merger = Lucy::Index::BackgroundMerger->new( index => '/path/to/index', manager => $manager, ); $bg_merger->commit;
The exception handling code becomes useful once you have more than one index modification process happening simultaneously. By default, Indexer tries several times to acquire a write lock over the span of one second, then holds it until commit() completes. BackgroundMerger handles most of its work without the write lock, but it does need it briefly once at the beginning and once again near the end. Under normal loads, the internal retry logic will resolve conflicts, but if it's not acceptable to miss an insert, you probably want to catch LockErr exceptions thrown by Indexer. In contrast, a LockErr from BackgroundMerger probably just needs to be logged.


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by Lesley Drayton, Curator, Local History Archive
We've been working on scanning the number one issue of the Larimer County Express newspaper, published in Fort Collins on Saturday, April 26, 1873.
This fragile paper consists of four pages full of interesting tidbits and advertisements that shed light on life in Fort Collins only a few short months after the town was officially incorporated. It's a real treat to read!
Fort Collins historian Ansel Watrous wrote in the newspaper history section of his 1911 History of Larimer County that the Larimer County Express first newspaper printed and published in Larimer County, and sure enough, column 2 of page 3 of this 1873 paper supports this assertion:
Several prominent in this gentlemen have spoken for the first copy printed of this issue,–being the first paper ever printed in Larimer county. We shall be unable to furnish more than about fifty 'first' copies! Applications should be made without delay!
We'll have the entire newspaper available for viewing on the Fort Collins History Connection website soon; for now, enjoy perusing the first page of the paper below!


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WW: How about a little introduction?JM: Hi, my name is Jamie McCauley. I'm 16 years old. I'm from Lake Villa, Illinois. I've been wakeboarding for eight years now, but it was more of an every other weekend thing until about three years ago. I started taking it seriously and that's the year when I landed my first invert, a tantrum. This year I rode on the Jr. Pro Tour. I'm honored to be riding alongside these great riders. WW: Do you remember the first day you stood on a wakeboard?JM: Yeah, I remember it pretty clearly actually. I remember I saw one of my dad's friends doing it behind their boat and I told him that I wanted to try it. The next day we went to a pro shop and picked up a wakeboard and I actually got up first try. That's all I remember from it. WW: What is the name of the lake that you splash around in?JM: For the most part I ride on a lake called Long Lake. It's about 10 minutes from our house. Other than that it doesn't really matter. I'll ride anywhere where there's water and a boat. WW: Is wakeboarding a hobby for you or more of a lifestyle?JM: Wakeboarding is definitely a lifestyle for me now. My whole life revolves around it. I'm actually hoping to move down to Florida this summer to help me improve my riding and take it to the next level. WW: Do you ride with a set crew of people or do you mix it up a little?JM: I mean, there are certain people I ride with more than others, but I'll ride with anyone. I'm not too picky. If you've got gas money, you're welcome to come ride with us. WW: What kind of boat are you getting dragged behind?JM: Right now we have a 2013 Supra SA450. It's pretty awesome, haha! WW: What is your wakeboard setup looking like?JM: Well, for this year I rode the Liquid Force B.O.B. with Shane boots, but for next year I'm going to be on the Harley again. WW: What gets you excited most about wakeboarding?JM: I can't really pick one thing that I like most about wakeboarding. It's between the feeling of being free and not having to worry about a thing and the adrenaline rush that it gives. There's nothing not to like about it...besides the falls. WW: What do you like to do when you're not shredding?JM: When I'm not wakeboarding I'm usually at school or sleeping. Other than that I spend most of my time on the boat. WW: Do you have Wakeworld.com set as your home page?JM: About that... WW: Are there any tricks that you are working on or want to work on?JM: As of recently I just landed a couple toe 9's and crow 5's, but other than that I'm really about working on my consistency now. WW: What would your ideal day be like?JM: My ideal day would consist of:• Waking up at around 11 or noon• Head to the lake• Take a couple sets with some friends• Grab something to eat• Win the lottery or something awesome like that• Spend the rest of the day on the boat• Go to bed• Repeat WW: What is your favorite wakeboard flick?JM: Probably Defy. I've probably seen it close to 20 times. Just the way the video is put together and all of the riders in it. I think Kilgus did an awesome job. WW: Do you have any riders that you look up to?JM: I look up to a couple riders; Bob Soven, Harley and Raph. Bob has crazy style and he's just a funny guy, Harley can land almost every trick and Raph because he's an amazing all around rider. WW: Are there any spots that you would like to ride at?JM: I think it'd be awesome to ride Blue Lake from Defy. I think that lake is quite possibly the coolest lake I've ever seen and it would be an honor to ride on it. WW: I am guessing that you are looking to turn pro one day?JM: Going pro is definitely something I am shooting for. It's my ultimate goal and I am going to do everything in my power to make it happen. WW: Do you do any training outside of your regular riding?JM: During the winter (we don't have all-year riding here) I snowboard a bunch and I workout every now and then. That and school keep me pretty busy. WW: Have you had any injuries?JM: Aside from a couple concussions and a groin injury, I've been blessed by staying injury free (knock on wood). WW: Do you think wakeboarding will ever be an Olympic sport?JM: I really would like to see wakeboarding as an Olympic sport. If not the Olympics then back in the X-Games. I mean, if snowboarding and skateboarding are in, why not wakeboarding? WW: If you were given the power to make a major change within the wakeboard industry, what would that change be?JM: If I could make one change instantly to the sport of wakeboarding, it would be to have the sport have the popularity and participation of snowboarding. Honestly, wakeboarding is such an awesome sport and it deserves more recognition than it gets. WW: Are you getting some sponsor support?JM: I'm very grateful to have some great support from Supra Boats, Liquid Force and Boat House Chicago. Overton's, of course, sponsors all the Jr. Pro riders and I'm grateful not only for the support but for all they do at the tour stops. This is a tough sport to participate in without sponsor support and they've really helped me get a start to my career. WW: What do you do to keep your sponsors smiling?JM: Pretty much I do everything I can. I try to always promote them whether it's wearing their clothes, talking up their brands, etc. I'm also big into social media and I try to promote them there as much as possible. I put out some videos each year. I work boat shows, etc. Basically, I do everything I can to make them happy, because without them I wouldn't be able to participate in this sport. WW: Is there any advice that you were given when you started that may help someone that is just starting out?JM: I think the most important thing for someone starting out is to take the time to learn the basics. The mistake I made was to jump into tricks before learning all the building blocks. Sure I could do them, but when I wanted to progress the trick to the next level I didn't have the skills I needed to do it. In the end I had to go back and learn those building blocks anyway. It also helps reduce the hard falls and keep the sport fun. WW: You know what they say… gratitude is the best attitude. Who would you like to thank?JM: Well there's been a lot of people this year that have helped me a ton. First, I'd like to thank God for the amazing opportunity to participate in this sport and the talent to be able to do it. Next, I'd like to thank my parents. Without them I wouldn't have a boat, wakeboard or anything of the sort. I'd also like to thank my sponsors; Liquid Force, Supra and Boat House Chicago. My coaches, Trevor Hansen and Tarah and Cobe Mikacich. There have been a lot of other people that have helped me out the last few years; Nick Cankar, Tom Pazerunas, Timmy Burnier, Ethan Rau, my brother Zach, Lisa Roller and Whitney Rupp (amazing photographers), Corbin Blanton, Spencer Liautaud and Ryan Murphy for sick videos and Tony Duffy of All Action Sports. I'm sure I'm forgetting some and I apologize to those I've missed.
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Another Try by Google to Take On Facebook
Remember Google Buzz? What about Orkut, or Google Wave?
Google has tried several times, without much success, to take on Facebook and master social networking. Now it is making its biggest effort yet.
On Tuesday, Google introduced a social networking service called the Google+ project — which happens to look a lot like Facebook. The service, which is initially available to a select group of Google users who will soon be able to invite others, will let people share and discuss status updates, photos and links, much as they do on Facebook.
But the Google+ project will be different in one significant way, which Google hopes will be enough to convince people to use yet another social network.
It is meant for sharing with groups — like colleagues, roommates or hiking friends — not with all of one's friends or the entire Web. It also offers group text messaging and video chat.
"In real life, we have walls and windows and I can speak to you knowing who's in the room, but in the online world, you get to a 'Share' box and you share with the whole world," said Bradley Horowitz, a vice president for product management at Google, who is leading the company's social efforts with Vic Gundotra, a senior vice president for engineering. "We have a different model."
When it comes to social networking, Google finds itself in an unusual position, one that its competitors in Web search know all too well: playing catch-up with a service that dominates the market.
The debut of Google+ will test whether Google can overcome its past stumbles in this area and deal with one of the most pressing challenges facing the company. At stake is Google's status as the most popular entry point to the Web. When people post on Facebook, which is mostly off-limits to search engines, Google loses valuable information that could benefit its Web search, advertising and other products.
But Google+ may already be too late. In May, 180 million people visited Google sites, including YouTube, compared with 157.2 million on Facebook, according to comScore. But Facebook users looked at 103 billion pages and spent an average of 375 minutes on the site, while Google users viewed 46.3 billion pages and spent 231 minutes.
Advertisers pay close attention to those numbers — and to the fact that people increasingly turn to Facebook and other social sites like Twitter to ask questions they used to ask Google, like a recommendation for a restaurant or doctor.
Analysts say that Facebook users are unlikely to duplicate their network of friends on Google+ and post to both sites, but that they could use them for different types of communication. Google+ could also attract Facebook holdouts who have been uncomfortable sharing too publicly.
"Can someone eclipse Facebook in terms of its hold? It is a fantastic broadcast mechanism," said Charlene Li, a social media analyst and founder of Altimeter Group, a technology research firm. "But if Google becomes the owner of your private groups, it's going to be a splintering of our social lives."
Mr. Gundotra and Mr. Horowitz said that knowing more about individual Google users would improve all Google products, including ads, search, YouTube and maps, because Google will learn what people like and eventually personalize those products.
"To think we could achieve Google's stated mission of organizing the world's information absent people would be ludicrous," Mr. Horowitz said.
But Google has been criticized for failing to understand the importance of social information on the Web until competitors like Facebook and Twitter had already leapt ahead.
Larry Page, Google's co-founder, regrets Google's failure to lead in this market and has spent time working with the team since he became chief executive in April, people at the company say. He promoted Mr. Gundotra to senior vice president this year, placing him on an equal level with the heads of Google's core products like search and ads.
Part of the blame, analysts say, falls on Google's engineering-heavy culture, which values quantitative data and algorithms over more abstract pursuits like socializing.
Exhibit A is Buzz, a sharing tool for Gmail users. It automatically included users' e-mail contacts in their Buzz network, setting off widespread criticism that Google had invaded the privacy of users and failed to understand that people's e-mail contacts are not necessarily their friends.
Google quickly changed the service so it did not automatically connect people. In March, Google settled with the Federal Trade Commission over charges of deceptive privacy practices related to Buzz and agreed to 20 years of audits.
Mr. Gundotra and Mr. Horowitz, both of whom worked on Buzz, say they were chastened by the experience. Google+ grew out of those mistakes, they said, because they realized how much people care about controlling the information they share.
And unlike its approach with Buzz, which was tested only by Google employees before its broad introduction to the public, Google is calling Google+ a project, as a way to emphasize that it is not a final product. The company says it will undergo many changes to fix problems and introduce features. Still, its new Web site, plus.google.com, is Google's most fully formed social networking tool yet.
Mr. Gundotra and Mr. Horowitz said they took pains to mimic people's relationships in real life and eliminate the social awkwardness that things like friend requests and oversharing can generate on other sites.
Google+ users will start by selecting people they know from their Gmail contacts (and from other services, once Google strikes deals with them). They can drag and drop friends' names into different groups, or circles, and give the circles titles, like "sisters" or "book club." Then they can share with these groups or with all of their friends.
Unlike on Facebook, people do not have to agree to be friends with one another. They can receive someone's updates without sharing their own.
Facebook has also recognized people's desire to share with smaller groups, and last year introduced Groups to make that possible. It has been one of Facebook's fastest-growing products, with users creating 50 million groups in the first six months, according to Facebook.
"We're in the early days of making the Web more social, and there are opportunities for innovation everywhere," a Facebook spokeswoman said in response to Google+.
When users visit their Google+ home page, they see three columns and a stream of status updates in the middle that looks remarkably like Facebook. But Google said that besides an easier way to share with select groups, Google+ has several other features that distinguish it from competitors.
It offers group video chats, called Hangouts, that other members of a group can join as it is happening. Users can search a section called Sparks to see articles and videos from across the Web on certain topics, like recipes or ailments, and share them with relevant groups of friends.
And on the Google+ mobile app for Android phones and iPhones, people can chat with groups using a feature called Huddle. Photos and videos shot with cellphones are automatically uploaded to a private album, so Google+ users can quickly view and post them from their phones or later on a computer.
With these services, Google will compete with a host of start-ups, like Path for sharing with small groups, SocialEyes for video chat, Flipboard for articles on certain topics and GroupMe for group texting.
"The notion that online sharing is broken is not an insight that is unique to us," Mr. Horowitz said.
"We have a way to bring in millions of users in a way that is challenging for a start-up."


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Many ESL learners have excellent educations, training, and skills in their native countries. However, their dreams of success elude them in English-speaking countries because they cannot write effectively in their new language. This course will show you what English readers expect and how your writing can achieve your goals.
You will learn about the entire writing process and its five stages: prewriting, outlining, writing, revising, and editing. You will learn to generate and focus your ideas. You will discover how to write clearly focused topic sentences and thesis statements, which will guide you in writing logical, unified paragraphs and essays. You will also learn to refine and perfect your work, making it free of grammatical and punctuation errors.
You will gain important critical thinking skills and learn some techniques for writing concisely. When you finish this course, you will be able to write clearly, logically, and cohesively, and you will be able to apply what you have learned in any academic or work setting.
Dr. Sabri Bebawi
Dr. Sabri Bebawi has been a college instructor for 20 years. His educational background includes law, journalism, and English education, with a Ph.D. in education and instructional technology. Dr. Bebawi has worked as a journalist in Europe and in the United States, writing on a wide range of topics.
Hardware Requirements:
Software Requirements:
Instructional Material Requirements:
The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.
Lesson 1Knowing how to write well is one of the most important skills you can have, whether you're writing e-mails and letters at work or essays and research papers in school. In our first lesson, we'll explore the key differences between speaking and writing plus a few techniques for continually improving your writing throughout your life. But there's more! You'll also understand the whole process of writing, starting with the prewriting stage and going all the way through the editing stage. You'll see that you truly can master writing in English, and I'll show you how!
Lesson 2Do you ever struggle with not knowing what to write about? Many of us do. In today's lesson, you'll learn two effective methods for generating all the ideas you need: brainstorming and clustering. Then, once you have your ideas, you need to organize them. You'll do this in the outlining stage. An outline is like a detailed map of where you want to take readers in your writing. When your outline is finished, you're ready to begin writing. So, we'll also examine two crucial elements of any written piece: the topic sentence and paragraphs.
Lesson 3In this lesson, you'll learn all about how to write effective essays. Why should you learn about this particular form of writing? The essay form will hone your writing and thinking skills, helping you develop and connect your ideas in a clear, logical, focused way. You can certainly apply these skills in any setting! A vital component of all essays is the thesis statement, so we'll spend a lot of time exploring this. When you finish with this lesson, you'll be able to write strong thesis statements that will set a sure course for your essays.
Lesson 4Now it's time to try out what you've learned so far about essays! In this lesson, you'll learn about three different essay types: descriptive, narrative, and explanatory. Each type has its own distinct purpose. Descriptive essays have vivid details that help your readers get involved in what you're writing. Narrative essays tell stories, starting at the beginning and moving logically to the end. Explanatory essays allow you to explain something you know about to your readers. I've provided lots of examples to show you how to write each kind of essay. You'll have fun with these!
Lesson 5You'll be able to apply the essay styles you learned about in the previous lesson to many other kinds of essays, including the one you'll learn about today: the compare and contrast essay. These essays let you examine, describe, and explain the similarities and differences between at least two topics. Additionally, you'll get acquainted with the importance of transitions and see what they can do for your writing. Rest assured--I'll provide you with lots of examples to walk you through how to write these very interesting pieces.
Lesson 6Have you ever struggled to explain to your child what the effects of a certain course of action would be? Or have you ever tried to explain to your boss how one thing caused something else to happen? You may not have realized it, but you were engaging in the logical thinking required to understand cause and effect relationships. In today's lesson, you'll sharpen your logical skills by learning how to write cause and effect essays. Sometimes you'll analyze how one cause produced several different effects. At other times, you'll analyze how one effect had several causes. Once again, I'll provide you with sample essays that will point the way in your own writing.
Lesson 7Do you feel confident in presenting or defending your opinions? In this lesson, you'll acquire one of the most important skills in writing: how to argue your point of view convincingly. You'll learn how to develop a sound thesis, organize your supporting evidence, and explain your argument fairly and persuasively. Most important, you'll learn how to think critically, as well as recognize and avoid fallacies. This will be a most interesting lesson, and as always, I'll provide you with many examples to guide you along your way.
Lesson 8In the past seven lessons, you've explored the prewriting, outlining, writing, and revising stages of the overall writing process. In the balance of this course, you'll strengthen your grammar skills so that you can perform the final stage--editing--with a keen eye and a sure hand. In this lesson, you'll study the art of wording. You'll learn how to rephrase wordy, redundant, pretentious, and vague language. You'll also understand what homophones and homonyms are and safely discern the right word to use. Finally, you'll learn to guard against slang and clichés so you can communicate well in any setting. Most of all, you'll see how fun and useful grammar can really be!
Lesson 9Native English speakers and writers often struggle with verbs, so this tricky area will be something ESL learners will want to be extra careful about. Verbs can be the most powerful words in your sentences, but if you don't use them correctly, they become powerfully confusing. Today, we'll examine verb tenses and inflections, subject-verb agreement issues, and active vs. passive voice. When you finish this lesson, you'll use verbs with confidence!
Lesson 10Having spent the entire previous lesson looking at verbs, you now need to learn about the other parts of speech. So we'll review important features of nouns and pronouns, adjectives and adverbs, prepositions, and conjunctions. Next we'll look at the three types of clauses: noun, adjective, and adverb clauses. Finally, you'll gain another important technique for trimming wordiness: reducing clauses to simple phrases.
Lesson 11The English language, though certainly not the most difficult, can present native and non-native speakers alike with challenging problems. In this lesson, you'll see how to avoid some common problems with subjects and objects so that your writing will always be clear. Next, you'll laugh as you learn about mistaken and dangling modifiers. These misplaced and unclear words and phrases often create as much unintentional humor as they do confusion! Finally, you'll discover how to tell possessives and contractions apart. This is sure to be an entertaining, as well as informative, lesson!
Lesson 12In our last lesson together, we'll focus on punctuation, paying special attention to the helpful but often misused comma. In addition, you'll learn how to skillfully use semicolons, colons, and dashes, along with the concluding punctuation marks. Next, you'll see how you can apply what you've learned about academic writing to your workplace. Finally, we'll wrap everything up with a review of the key points of the course. You should be very proud of all that you've learned!
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