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Raytheon Co. has been awarded a $7.6 M engineering and manufacturing development contract to supply anti-jam Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers to the Air Force's C-130 Avionics Modernization Program (AMP).
Boeing Integrated Defense Systems selected the Raytheon digital anti-jam receiver (DAR) to provide C-130 airlift and special mission aircraft with robust and highly accurate navigation components. Under a follow-on production contract, 982 DAR systems at a cost of approximately $37.3 M may be required. Raytheon's Space and Airborne Systems will adapt the DAR militarized GPS anti-jam sensor, originally developed for high performance fighters such as the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, to the Boeing C-130 AMP architecture. Each DAR system will include a 24-channel selective availability anti-spoofing module (SAASM) receiver, digital anti-jam electronics and a multi-element antenna. "The DAR system gives the C-130 the ultimate in military GPS technology," said James Hvizd, avionic technology manager for Raytheon's Precision Guidance Systems business area. "By integrating a 24-channel GPS SAASM receiver and adaptive beam-steering anti-jam electronics into a single line replaceable unit, the DAR system is fully compatible with the existing GPS Antenna System-1 (GAS-1) antenna electronics." The system includes provisions to incorporate emerging joint precision approach and landing system (JPALS) and GPS modernization requirements. And, by leveraging the common core technology from the JSF anti-jam GPS sensor, the DAR system provides a dramatic savings in production and life cycle costs compared to legacy GPS receivers and anti-jam electronics.


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Here you'll find some shots from two of the more central, and perhaps easy to find spots for urban art in Barcelona, the Parc de les Tres Xemeneies near avinguda Paral.lel, which is on the border between the ever-gritty (but overpriced) Raval and the recently-hip Poble Sec neighborhoods; and the Jardins de Walter Benjamin, which are just near the bottom of Montjuic, at the beginning of the road which leads to the Port and later the airport.
These are both part of the legal painting walls initiative, so artists have more time to paint, can do so in broad daylight, and have relatively little to worry about in the way of law enforcement interference. That said, the Parc de les Tres Xemeneies is frequently used for neighborhood events and is also a skate park, so it can also sometimes be difficult to work in peace, if that's what's desired.
There are also shots from the Arnau Gallery public art project which is on Paral.lel, and is always worth checking out when in the area.
There are various artists and styles in this batch of images, among my favorites are the tribute to the late hip hop star Craig Mack, and Peter Griffin from the Family Guy.

subset: commoncrawl


text: Back Hair: The Long and Short of It Some hair on your head falls out every day, no matter what your age. And that is perfectly normal. Each hair strand goes through two phases: a growing phase and a resting phase, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP). The growing phase lasts two to six years, during which the strand grows about half an inch a month. When the growing phase ends, the hair enters a resting phase of two to three months. After the resting phase, the hair falls out and a new hair begins growing. About 10 percent of your hair is in a resting phase at any one time, the AAFP says. About 95 percent of all cases of excessive hair loss are caused by male pattern baldness, according to the American Medical Association (AMA). This condition, technically called androgenetic alopecia, occurs most often in men, but women also can experience it. About 40 million U.S. men are affected by male pattern baldness. About a quarter of men begin balding by age 30, the AMA says. Two-thirds of men begin balding by age 60. Excessive hair loss can be caused by other things, as well. You can lose hair three to four months after an illness or surgery, because of the stress on your body. A hormonal imbalance -- caused by thyroid disease, for instance -- can cause hair loss. Women often notice hair loss about three months after giving birth; this hair loss is related to levels of certain pregnancy hormones. Other causes Fungal infections can cause hair loss. These infections occur most often in children. Treating the infection stops the hair loss. Certain medications can cause hair loss. These include blood thinners, gout medicines, chemotherapy medicines, oral contraceptives and antidepressants, the AAFP says. An excess amount of vitamin A also can cause hair loss. Diabetes and lupus are two diseases that can cause hair loss. Treating the disease can help stop the hair loss, the AAFP says. Using tight hair rollers or wearing your hair in pigtails or cornrows can lead to hair loss. Chemicals used in permanents also can lead to hair loss. If you have male pattern baldness, be wary of miracle cures. The good news is that there is hope: medications such as minoxidil, which is applied topically, or finasteride taken as a pill, can help restore hair growth, and techniques such as hair grafts or transplants can be successful. Proper care can keep hair healthy. The difference in shampoos for oily, dry and normal hair depends on pH balance -- whether they're acidic or alkaline. Dry or damaged hair, for example, needs acidic shampoo, with a pH below five. And if you have trouble making your hair look lively, maybe you should not be surprised. Your hair is made up of layers of dead cells filled with the protein keratin -- which also makes up your nails and your outer skin.


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PANAMA CITY – The administrator of the Panama Canal says work will resume Thursday on a major expansion of the canal two weeks after it was halted over a disagreement with a contractor on $1.6 billion in cost overruns.
It says the European-led construction consortium will go back to work even though they haven't reached a final agreement on how to finance the remaining work on a set of new locks
The dispute that began in January threatens to further delay completion of the $5.25 billion expansion project that will allow extra-large tankers and container ships to use the canal and cut travel time between Asia and the eastern U.S.
The consortium led by Spain's Sacyr blames poor planning for the cost overruns. Panama says the company is responsible for any unforeseen costs.


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Women's work: Breaking the glass ceiling in the surgical suite
They often are mistaken for nurses.
Surgical patients make appointments with them to receive detailed explanations about opening the body and making life-changing repairs. Still, some are amazed to realize these women will be the ones holding the scalpel, directing the operating-room team and performing the surgery.
It's a situation Dr. Sandra Ettema frequently encounters, and it makes her smile to think how far women have progressed in medicine, but how far they still have to go.
"People are just now getting used to doctors being women," said Ettema, 39, a head and neck surgeon at Springfield's Southern Illinois University School of Medicine.
"Doctors are still considered to be men. Especially surgeons — people think 'men' right away."
By the numbers
Nearly half of the country's medical students are female, and women account for 28 percent of all practicing physicians. But except for obstetrics and gynecology, where 44 percent of doctors are women, medical specialties involving surgery overwhelmingly remain male-dominated.
Nationwide, women represent only 4 percent of heart surgeons, 6 percent of neurosurgeons, 12 percent of plastic surgeons and colon surgeons and 5 percent of orthopedic surgeons.
Studies say these low numbers may be related to the often-unpredictable lifestyle associated with surgery, long training periods and harassment or gender biases reportedly faced during training.
While more young, female doctors are entering surgery residencies, short-term numbers aren't likely to change, as surgery-training programs and fellowships last longer after medical school.
Not including obstetricians or gynecologists, Springfield is home to 20 female surgeons. At SIU, where 12 are employed, 24 percent of surgery faculty members are women. Based on figures from the Association of American Medical Colleges, that's almost twice the national average.
Balancing family and work
As with professional women in other fields, Springfield's female surgeons juggle work and personal responsibilities, making sacrifices along the way.
The willingness of SIU surgery chairman Dr. Gary Dunnington to make "family time" a priority for surgeons was a selling point for Dr. Jan Rakinic. The colorectal surgeon and divorced mother of two left the faculty of Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia to join SIU in 2001.
At many medical schools, where male surgeons traditionally set the tone, "family time is not considered a priority," she said.
"You can't legitimately say, 'I need to leave at 3 o'clock because my son has a basketball game,' " Rakinic said. "Surgery is such a macho undertaking. Getting through the macho is so hard."
Female surgeons say they enjoy working with their hands, the adrenaline rush of troubleshooting on their feet and seeing, almost immediately, the results of their sweat — for good or bad. Several female surgeons said women take more time and communicate more easily with patients.
"We're not afraid of showing care and compassion," said ophthalmologist Dr. Sandra Yeh, 46, owner of Prairie Eye Center. "We have that natural nurturing ability."
These doctors aren't immune to the guilt of many working women, though high incomes make it easier to afford nannies, baby sitters, housekeepers, spacious homes and take-out meals.
Median earnings for surgeons generally range from $300,000 to $400,000 a year, depending on the specialty, compared to about $170,000 for family physicians and pediatricians, according to the Medical Group Management Association and other sources.
Dr. Gayle Woodson and her husband, surgeon Dr. K. Thomas Robbins, raised three children and a stepson from Robbins' previous marriage. The youngest child just finished her freshman year in college.
"We had continuous live-in help for 16 years," said Woodson, 58, an otolaryngologist and chairwoman of SIU's division of head and neck surgery. "The one fundamental thing is: If there's something you don't like doing, you hire somebody else to do it so you have time to do the things that you want to do, like helping your kids with their homework."
But female surgeons are much less likely than their male counterparts to be able to depend on a stay-at-home spouse for child-rearing and other family responsibilities.
Dr. Nicole Sommer, 37, an SIU plastic surgeon and married mother of three children younger than 7, joked she sometimes considers male colleagues' situations and thinks, "I need a wife, too."
Still, Sommer's husband, Eric, a 35-year-old mechanical engineer, has made sacrifices to allow her to build a practice in Springfield. He recently operated a furniture-making business from their home and currently is working to finish the interior of their family's new house.
On most days, two of their three children — ages 1 and 4 — spend time at Memorial Medical Center's day-care center, with Eric and both sets of grandparents available as a backup.
Yeh's husband, Mason City dentist Gregory Kane, takes Fridays off to take part in activities with their sons, Alexander, 14, and Jonathan, 8.
Breaking through
At age 5, Woodson told adults she was interested in being a doctor like her father, a small-town family physician in Texas.
"People would say, 'Oh, you mean a nurse,' because this was in the '50s," said Woodson.
So Woodson didn't plan to become a doctor when she entered Rice University in Houston.
That changed after she interviewed a female pediatrician for a sociology assignment. She enrolled at Baylor College of Medicine and gravitated toward surgery.
Woodson began her surgical training at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore during the 1970s. "In those days, sexual harassment was common," she said.
She recalled a night sleeping at the hospital as a resident while on call. Her boss, a male chief resident, climbed in bed with her. Woodson said she laughed — and neutralized his advances with a strategic kick — but didn't consider complaining to supervisors.
"I was embarrassed, and I did not know I had any grounds for complaint," Woodson said. "It was not politically correct at that time. The men have to be very careful now about what they say and what they do."
Yeh said she encountered chauvinism and a hostile work environment after moving to Springfield in the early 1990s and joining the practice of a male doctor planning to soon retire.
"The first day I started, he actually came up to me and said, 'I like my tea with two lumps of sugar and a dollop of cream at 3 o'clock.' He was not joking," Yeh said. "And then he said, 'I only hired you because you're a woman and you're so easy to control.' "
Yeh said she also dealt with a backstabbing, all-female office staff.
"Sometimes your worst opponents are not men. They're women who are used to serving men," said Yeh, a native of China whose physician parents moved her family to the Chicago area in the 1960s.
When she took over the practice, Yeh said, she made the office environment warm and inviting. She began operating in many rural hospitals, and the main Prairie Eye Center in Springfield now has five branches. Yeh's 70 employees include four other physicians, all men.
Relationship ups and downs
In college, Dr. Ruth Mayforth considered becoming a pianist or a scientist. She said choosing surgery was like choosing both science and music.
"A lot of it feels the same to me," said Mayforth, 45, a pediatric surgeon at SIU. "You have to have the procedure memorized, and even if something goes not according to plan, you have to keep playing."
Mayforth never married or had children.
"That's probably been largely influenced by my decision to go into surgery," she said.
Female physicians are less likely to be married than male physicians, and female surgeons are even less likely than other female doctors be married or have children, according to a 1998 report in the American Journal of Surgery.
Ettema broke off an engagement during medical school when her fiance made it clear he wanted her at home for dinner by 6 p.m. each night. She said they'd dated for years and discussed a doctor's lifestyle, but the man (a construction worker) made his demands "once the ring was on the finger" and while an exhausting, multi-year surgical residency was ahead of her.
"We never would have made it through residency," Ettema said.
She is engaged once more, this time to a mechanical engineer from Champaign, and they'd like to adopt a child or two after marriage this summer.
Rakinic, 50, has two children, ages 8 and 12, and has been divorced twice.
"Being a female surgeon doesn't mix well with having a lot of relationships," said Rakinic, 50. "We're used to being in control and running the team. You take that home."
Rakinic first was married to a neurosurgeon-in-training and, later, an Internet startup consultant who became bothered that she worked a more high-powered job, and earned more money, than him. Now, the Detroit native uses two part-time nannies to help with her children.
Rakinic tries to always do homework with them and made it to most of 12-year-old daughter Alina's volleyball games with the Franklin Middle School team this past school year.
Sommer's first and third pregnancies were unplanned, which might seem surprising for a physician. But she's glad because she might have only one child otherwise.
"There's never really a good time," said Sommer, whose mentor was her father, Dr. Elvin Zook, founder of SIU's plastic surgery program.
Having one baby was manageable, just barely, for Dr. Anjali Singh, an SIU pediatric orthopedic surgeon.
"Having two is going to be hard," Singh said, weeks before delivering her second child, a boy.
Singh, 37, who grew up in Sherman and whose father was an obstetrician/gynecologist, is married to another orthopedic surgeon, SIU's Dr. Thomas Hansen.
Working and raising children "can be done," she said. "It's just hard. I think it's hard no matter what your job is."
She and her husband previously practiced in Rochester, N.Y., and joined SIU two years ago when two faculty spots opened. The timing was right, she said, because she was having difficulty managing work and child-rearing responsibilities in Rochester. She knew a "stay-at-home" best friend from high school in the Springfield area who could help with the kids in emergencies.
Singh's 3-year-old daughter is in Memorial's day-care center, but Singh was worried about care for her newborn son because that center wouldn't have room. And no other relatives live nearby.
But those concerns apparently didn't affect Singh during the corrective surgery she performed May 23 on 12-year-old Courtney Hilleary of Potomac.
One person on the operating-room staff at St. John's Hospital said Singh and other female surgeons are generally "more empathetic toward their patients" and kinder to the staff.
Courtney's mother, Michelle Watson, 32, said Singh is "a great person" and treats Courtney "like she was her own kid."
Learning to say 'no'
Women differ little from their male counterparts in approaching a surgeon's often-unpredictable life, said Dr. Colleen Johnson, 36, an SIU vascular surgeon who grew up a dentist's daughter in Cape Girardeau, Mo.
"You have to have some sort of personality disorder to do this job," Johnson said, half-joking. "Normal people just don't accept as a fact of life that on a Friday night, you may have plans and you're not going to do them. You just accept that you're not going to have a scheduled life."
Johnson, however, has managed to have a life outside of work. She is engaged to a public-service administrator with a state agency. One of her patients set them up.
Dr. Diane Hillard-Sembell, a standout high school and college basketball player from a small town near Galesburg, went to Northern Illinois University to become a physical therapist but became enthralled by surgery when she witnessed a knee operation.
"I just followed my heart," said Hillard-Sembell, 47, an orthopedic surgeon at Springfield Clinic and medical director of AthletiCare Sportsmedicine.
She and her husband, real-estate developer Mark Sembell, were married 11 years before their son, Evan, was born. Hillard-Sembell delayed having a child to focus on orthopedic training and building a practice so that she could better control her schedule.
She said Mark's flexible work hours help to meet Evan's needs. But Hillard-Sembell has adjusted her office hours to be able to fit in family activities, and she limits the elective surgeries she performs.
"I've had to learn sometimes to say no," she said. "My priorities are faith, family and career. I've been blessed to have the jobs of wife, mother and orthopedic surgeon, and I'm determined to be the best I can at all three."
Is it worth it?
Like many surgeons, Dr. Jacquelyn Quin has had second thoughts about her choice of career.
"The highs are high, but the lows are really lousy," said Quin, 44, an SIU cardiothoracic surgeon who grew up in San Diego.
Good jobs in heart surgery aren't available everywhere, so Quin lives in Springfield with her 2-year-old daughter, Lauren, while her boyfriend and Lauren's father, Jim Macy, lives in Connecticut. Macy works as a veterinarian on the faculty of Yale University.
Neither is willing to give up good jobs to live in the same town, said Quin, who added that they might marry someday regardless of where each is living at the time.
They visit each other once or twice a month, and the couple and Lauren all get together via Web cam every night. Lauren will spend the summer with Macy, and Quin's mother visits her and her boyfriend frequently to help with the toddler.
"This kid bounces all over the country," Quin said.
While acknowledging her situation isn't ideal and can't continue forever, Quin said her lifestyle doesn't mean Lauren suffers for lack of attention.
Quin said her Christian faith helps her deal with life-threatening and disabling conditions requiring her care. Over several recent days, she inserted a trachea tube twice to help Bruce Jacobs of Chatham breathe easier after an earlier surgery at Memorial to repair a tear in his aorta.
For her, surgery's financial rewards don't offset the stress of caring for patients whose lives depend on her quick decisions. Quin became visibly upset recounting how Jacobs, a 57-year-old retired Air Force weapons loader, regained partial consciousness after initial trachea-tube surgery and told his wife he wished he were dead.
Jacobs' spirits improved in the following days, and his wife, Pat, said on June 17, "He's doing great now. He gave me a kiss."
Quin, said Pat Jacobs, "is the most caring and personable person I've every known. There couldn't be a better doctor."
Dean Olsen can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com or (217) 788-1543.


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Getting ready for the challenge to write each day!
Lots of us start blogs with the intention of writing regularly, but quickly find ourselves struggling to sit down at the keyboard. Cultivating a consistent writing habit isn't as easy as starting a blog — but we can help!
Writing 101: Building a Blogging Habit is a write-every-day challenge designed to help you create a writing habit, publish posts that mesh with your blog's focus, and push you a bit as a writer. It's also a great way to make new friends and find new favorite reads. All bloggers are welcome, whether you use WordPress.com, are self-hosted, or use another platform entirely.
Here's how it works:
- We'll post a new writing assignment just for Writing 101 each weekday in June on The Daily Post. Assignments will publish at 10:00 AM EST (14:00 PM GMT). You can follow The Daily Post to get assignment notifications.
- There are no weekend assignments — you're…
View original post 197 more words


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Game:Alone in the dark/Engine
You are alone.
It is dark.
This is your information panel. During the game this will inform you of various events that may be significant.
To the left of the information panel is the main game screen. By moving the mouse around the screen you can move forward, backward, left and right. To interact with any of the objects in the main screen simply click on them.
Below this panel is your items. Any items that you pick up during the game are displayed here. You can use these items in various ways throughout the game. To access your items click on the show/hide link below.
Also in your items menu you may go back to the last saved game. The game is saved at pre-determined places throughout the story. This is the first save point, and from the items menu you can click on Save point 1 at any stage to come back here.
But for the moment your first step is to get out of this attic, where you are trapped.
In the dark.


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The National SPE conference is being held in Philadelphia in early March 2010.
Click here to learn more about scholarship opportunities and how to apply.
Each year just prior to the start of the National, my colleague Susan kae Grant and I offer a closed-door Student Seminar for the scholarship winners and conference volunteers (only). Our dedication to this annual event comes in part from our having met while serving as as students volunteers at SPE conferences throughout our college years. We hope to see you there!


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ABR Imagery, Inc. is your #1 glass supply source.
We carry a full line of Northstar, Glass Alchemy, Momka, Simax, Elvis – TAG glass, and Gilson Opals to list a few. We also carry all the tools you will need to start glass working, from bench rollers, molds, lathes, fume hoods, frit trays and accessories, to electroforming kits, measurement devices, molds, reamers, titanium pens, graphite tools, and many more.
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Shop online at the ABR Imagery web store or call us at (866) 342-4764 if you do not locate the items you are looking for. We are here to help you!


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NEW YORK, N.Y. — The fan who returned Derek Jeter's ball from his 3,000th hit will get a bit of memorabilia to keep — his own baseball card.
Topps says it will produce a trading card featuring Christian Lopez that will be included in sets later this year.
"We thought what he did captures the essence of what baseball and the Topps company is about," said Mark Sapir, Topps vice-president for sports.
The recent college graduate with outstanding student loans will get some financial help, too.
Memorabilia dealer Brandon Steiner and sporting goods CEO Mitch Modell said they will make sure Lopez gets at least US$50,000 toward his outstanding student loans of $150,000.
Steiner said he got a call on Wednesday from his buddy Modell, and they got the ball rolling. Steiner set up an auction of memorabilia that eventually will include baseballs signed by both Lopez and Jeter and said Modell is pledging five per cent from the sale of Yankees-related merchandise at the Modell's chain during what will be called "Christian Lopez Week."
"That itself is a totally awesome situation right now for all parties involved," Lopez said.
What impressed the sports executives — as well as countless fans across the country — was the way a 23-year-old mobile phone salesman passed on the chance to sell the ball.
Instead, Lopez gave the ball to Jeter, saying he deserved to have the keepsake.
"Can you believe how good a mensch this kid was?" Steiner said.
Lopez has been overrun with requests since Saturday.
"It's been overwhelming to be honest with you," he said. "It's been a little crazy. But I'm handling it as best I can. I'm trying to get back to everybody I can."
That includes Topps.
"Yeah, I spoke with them a couple days ago," Lopez said. "All I know, is they kind of want to make a baseball card out of me."
Lopez was an avid collector as a kid. He said he has "probably a couple thousand baseball cards."
His favourite? A Yankees card, of course. It depicts Babe Ruth and one of the Yankees' owners at the time he came over from the Red Sox in 1920.
"It's a very dear card to me. I've had it for 15 years now or so," Lopez said.
Now he'll have another Yankees card to keep next to it.


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Anyone who doubts that Allen Scott loves live music should watch him at a concert.
The passion is abundantly clear when he's standing by the soundboard and giving the musicians every ounce of his intention. He seems utterly transfixed by the magic being made by the musicians onstage.
Fortunately for him, he gets to go to hundreds of concerts each year. It's his job.
The Oakland resident is the executive vice president in charge of the concert division for Another Planet Entertainment, the Berkeley-based promoter that celebrates its 10th anniversary this week.
Scott has had a huge hand in helping transform Another Planet from a startup with big ambitions to one of the major players on the Bay Area concert scene and beyond. Another Planet now books shows at such prime-time venues as the Independent in San Francisco, the Fox Theater in Oakland and the Greek Theatre in Berkeley. It also hosts two of the Bay Area's best parties — the Outside Lands and Treasure Island music festivals.
There's a ton of buzz around this year's Outside Lands, set for Aug. 9-11 in Golden Gate Park, given that it will feature such top acts as Paul McCartney, Nine Inch Nails and Red Hot Chili Peppers. With final preparations underway, Scott joined us for an email interview.
Q What's it like to throw one of the biggest music parties in the world?
A It is exhilarating. We work on Outside Lands year-round, booking and preparing for the event down to every last detail. When the weekend finally comes in August, it is like fireworks going off.
Q How cool is it that Sir Paul is on the bill?
A We are thrilled to host McCartney at Outside Lands. It is going to be amazing to see him perform in Golden Gate Park.
Q What's the philosophy behind booking the show?
A The Bay Area has eclectic musical tastes, and we try and reflect that in the booking of Outside Lands. We begin with the headliners and build from there. You always hope that you can grab bands that are on a rapid trajectory — even if most people are not familiar with them before the lineup announcement.
Q Of course, Outside Lands is only one of your concerns. You also have Treasure Island coming up Oct. 19-20 as well as all your regular venues. How do you keep it all straight?
A I love booking venues of all sizes, whether it is the 500-capacity Independent or the 8,500-capacity Greek Theatre, or wherever. We book over 500 concerts a year and do three festivals at Another Planet. Fortunately, we have a fantastic booking team, and it is a collaborative effort.
Q The Fox is one of the best success stories of recent years. How satisfying is it to see people embracing the restored venue?
A It is satisfying and makes us proud at Another Planet. The Fox Theater is a catalyst for and a symbol of Oakland's renaissance. Dozens of restaurants, bars, art galleries and retail (spaces) have sprung up around the venue since it reopened in February 2009.
Q OK, it's time to give us some tips. What shows do you have coming up that we should be really excited to see?
A There are so many upcoming shows that I am excited to see. Alt-J is an artist playing the Fox (Aug. 29-30) that has blown up in the past year and is still relatively under the radar. And I am especially excited for the Treasure Island Music Festival on Oct. 19-20. This is our seventh year, and I think this is our best lineup ever.
Follow Jim Harrington at Twiter.com/jimthecritic, Facebook.com/jim.bayareanews and http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/category/concerts.
Featuring: Paul McCartney, Nine Inch Nails, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Willie Nelson, The National, Jurassic 5, Hall & Oates, D'Angelo, Trombone Shorty, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Gary Clark Jr., Phoenix, Vampire Weekend, Band of Horses, A-Trak, Zedd, Pretty Lights and more
When: Aug. 9-11. Festival gates open 11 a.m. each day
Where: Golden Gate Park
Tickets: Single-day tickets $105-$229.50, three-day tickets, $249-$545; details at www.sfoutsidelands.com.
back story


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I am having a hard time with wording of a simple agreement (just as an exercise, not a real thing, of course).
I am trying to express that for each hour the person spends on some task, he will get $10. To be specific, if a person spends 1 hour and 1 minute on the task, he will get $20 in total.
Is there a single adjective I can use to write something like "For each my-adjective-here hour spent on the task, you will get $10"?


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Welcome back for the seventh week in our Medieval Monday First Encounter theme. Today's guest is Mary Morgan with a snippet from her novel, Dragon Knight's Axe
Order of the Dragon Knights, Book 3. Don't forget to leave Mary a comment to be in the running for our giveaway! Happy reading and enjoy…
Tripping over a fallen log, Fiona fell flat on her face. "Ouch!"
At once, strong arms pulled her up. His face so close, she could see the dimple in his chin beneath the shadow of his beard. Yet, it was those lips that caught her attention—full and sensual. Lips that could devour a woman. A slight tremor ran down her spine.
Releasing her, he backed away.
"Thanks," she mumbled. What is wrong with you, Fiona? Did you hit your head?
He drew forth his dirk. "Hold your arms out."
Confused, Fiona complied. In one swift slice, he cut through her bonds. Rubbing at her wrists, she smiled up at him. "Thank you…again."
Dragon Knight's Axe
Order of the Dragon Knights, Book 3
Alastair MacKay, a battled-scarred Dragon Knight flees to the sea to separate himself from his fae-given power connecting him to the land. But it is on land that he rescues a woman from a slave trader in Ireland. It is through Fiona he steps back inadvertently into a world filled with magic—taking on the role of protector and at the same time leading him on a journey to confront his greatest regret and fears.
Research assistant, Fiona O'Quinlan loves translating ancient artifacts at Trinity College. When she falls asleep on an archeological dig, she awakens in another time. She soon discovers a Dragon Knight's relic has been entrusted into her care. Determined to return the artifact to the Great Glen, Fiona is unprepared for the danger ahead—losing her heart and soul to Alastair "Beast" MacKay.
Will their love be strong enough to soothe the beast and heal the man? Or will Death swing its axe, leaving them lost for all eternity?
Buy Links:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Dragon-Knights-Axe-Order-Book-ebook/dp/B00Y5756TO/
BN: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dragon-knights-axe-mary-morgan/1122070231/
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/dragon-knight-s-axe-1
iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/dragon-knights-axe/id996720081?mt=11
Follow along next week on Elisabeth Hobbes's blog: https://elisabethhobbes.co.uk/
Leave a comment for a chance to win a digital copy of Dragon Knight's Axe by Mary Morgan.
You can also find the next snippet from For All of Ever on Mary's blog here.
Don't forget to continue following and commenting on our blogs for your chance to win the eBooks from our current theme.


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- Home
- Services
- Development Services
- Planning
- Development Activity
- Promenade at Castle Rock
Promenade at Castle Rock
Project at the Promenade
The Town of Castle Rock knows it's important for residents to have access to a variety of shopping, dining and entertainment within the Town. You may have heard your friends and neighbors talking about the new master-planned Promenade at Castle Rock, located on the north end of Town, between Interstate 15 and U.S. Highway 85. Perhaps you have already visited some of the businesses that have opened at the Promenade.
The project is being developed by the Colorado-based Alberta Development Partners, LLC, a real estate, development and investment firm. Alberta determines, based on the market, which stores will be located in the Promenade. A strong market mix is anticipated to bring new goods and services to the Town. Shops and restaurants already open for business are listed below.
For updates on new businesses coming to the Promenade, visit Alberta's ShopPromenadeCastleRock website.
What's Coming?
Alberta Development Partners will announce the new retailers, restaurants and services at the Promenade at Castle Rock. Visit their website
Promenade at Castle Rock Brochure (PDF)
The project has the potential to bring 900,000 square-feet of commercial space and 320 multi-family units on approximately 166 acres. The project broke ground in November 2014.
Documents and more information
At each stage of a project, the developer is required to provide numerous documents, plans and studies, many of which are detailed below. Please note that some of these will be large and may take a few moments to download. If you would like a hard copy of any of these documents, please contact Development Services at 303-660-1393, or by email.
Overview documents
- The Promenade at Castle Rock Vision Book – The developer's vision for the character and design of the Promenade.
- Ordinance No. 2015-09 – Town Council approval of the development plan, zoning and development agreement.
Zoning documents
- PD Plan – The zoning map designates different planning areas for open space, commercial and multi-family residential
- PD Zoning Regulations – Describes development standards and provides the types of allowed uses in the commercial, multi-family and open space areas
- Architectural Design Guidelines and Standards – Describes the anticipated design for the site layouts and buildings
- Master Sign Criteria – Shows the elevations, dimensions and locations of the monument and directional signs
- Tenant Sign Criteria – Provides detailed design guidelines for tenants within the Promenade


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text: All of our advertised cruise rates are in US dollars are per person based on double occupancy, include port charges and are capacity controlled. Taxes, fees and port expenses additional. Restrictions apply. Call for details. Itineraries are provided for reference only. Please verify itinerary on your individual sailing before booking your cruise. Shipboard Credit (if offered), is per cabin not per person, unless otherwise stated in ad. Pre-Paid Gratuities (if offered) are for the first two people in the stateroom only. We make every attempt to keep the website up to date but hot deals sell out very quickly. Rates can be increased at any time by the cruise lines until your cruise is under deposit. We are not responsible for typographical errors that from time to time may occur. We apologize for any confusion that these may cause and attempt to fix these as soon as they are identified.


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When I owned my shop, time off was really scarce. Like, really really. Like, I went almost a year without having two days off together.
So when I did find the time to get out of the UK (because leaving the country was genuinely the best – and only – way to distance myself from work), I found ways to hit two places at once. Denmark and Sweden. Amsterdam and Berlin. Gibraltar and Morocco.
This time, we were off to two of the big ones: Barcelona and Rome.
And it's about damn time I blogged about Italy.
Barcelona immediately threw up a fun travel disaster when we turned up to a dodgy-looking building where our hostel, Buba House, should be. (I've just realised the photo makes this look like I thought the hostel was inside a "dodgy-looking" building called the Sagrada Familia…) I did venture inside as the door was open, to find myself in a huge, empty hallway with one of those old metal elevators in the middle. Too scared to get in the lift, I started to warily climb the stairs in darkness before chickening out and walking out again. The whole building felt deserted and I was amazed that we had even got inside.
We wandered around more and ended up asking at a hotel across the road if they knew where the hostel would be.
"Oh I don't know that one, I'm afraid. There are a lot of hostels around here."
"We do have a lot of people asking where that one is. I'm not sure anyone actually knows."
I even phoned my mum in a panic to ask if she could look it up for us, to double check we were even in the right place. It seemed we were, but with no signs whatsoever and the outside door now locked anyway so we couldn't get in to check again, we took off round the corner to the closest hostel I could see, Hostal Eden.
We explained our predicament and asked if they had any rooms. Thankfully they had some private rooms left, if a little more than we were due to pay at this other hostel, but before they booked us in, they kindly looked up the other hostel for us and tried to get hold of them to no avail. It seemed like the hostel just didn't exist.
After that fun start to our trip, we were happy to be checked into a different hostel who were so genuinely helpful, and set off to explore the city.
I wasn't really feeling Barcelona, to be honest. All the streets were too wide for what I thought should feel like a quintessential European city; everything was too far apart, and for me it seemed to have this huge hole where a bit of character should be. It took what felt like hours to walk to the Sagrada Familia, although I did enjoy the little stops by the other Gaudi architecture.
Then we headed back to Las Ramblas, and I started to get it. The atmosphere of the street is infectious. I found myself being amazed by the street artists and performers. I loved all the stalls. I liked the look of all the restaurants, as touristy as they seemed. In the back of my mind I also knew that this was pick pocket central, so I was vigilant with everything and had no problems whatsoever. Yup, it was safe to say I was starting to finally enjoy Barcelona.
Realising just how spread out the city is, we decided we'd have to get the hop on hop off bus the following day if we wanted to see anything else. Can I tell you a secret?
I'd never been on one of those buses before.
I don't know. They just feel so touristy and I love walking around and getting lost and working out the public transport for myself in new places (yeah, screw you, Milan! I couldn't work out your metro for shit!). But for Barcelona, it's the perfect way to get around.
There are a few lines you can take, so base it on what you want to see. Our main port of call was Park Guell, but we stopped off briefly at Camp Nou (Barcelona's football stadium) and a view point that I'm struggling to pinpoint on a map. I think it was the national art museum de Catalunya? The whole day was pretty poorly planned on my part, and by the time we got to Park Guell, we didn't even have a lot of time there – because that evening, we were off to Rome!
So with a quick pit stop back by the Sagrada Familia and a late lunch, we were off to destination number two of our four day trip. We flew with Vueling, which was my first experience flying internationally (as in, without the UK being part of the journey), and my first experience flying with an airline I'd never heard of.
Well all I remember is Barcelona airport is a very weird shape (or not a weird shape at all, however you look at it – I'm pretty sure we only walked in one direction the whole way from the entrance to our gate because the entire airport was like a massive corridor!) and Vueling were slightly delayed.
We arrived in Rome, therefore, pretty late at night and after even joking about it, the first thing we noticed was a lack of signs outside the building our hotel was supposed to be in. Oh God, I groaned. Ash was about to go ballistic (or break down, I'm not sure which), when one of us noticed a small sign next to one of the buzzers along with a TripAdvisor sticker.
We breathed a sigh of relief and were let inside. It was not what I had been expecting at all. All hostels had been booked out and y'all probably know how expensive hotels are in Rome, so I booked us a "budget hotel".
This was more of a bed and breakfast really, with rooms on one side and the family's living quarters on the other. We were immediately put at ease though; the mother was friendly and although we were kind of left to our own devices for our stay and not a lot was explained to us, it wasn't an unwelcome place.
The next day, we walked a LOT.
And let me tell you something – I absolutely LOVED Rome!
I know it's cliché to love it, but I really do. Even looking back on my pictures now fills me with wanderlust.
But what I loved about it was that we walked and walked and there was constantly something to see. And suddenly, it was 4pm and we'd seen virtually everything we had dreamed of seeing in Rome – and plenty that we hadn't expected. Every corner turned up something new – a monument, a church, a ruin that we had never heard of.
Compared to Barcelona, Rome felt TINY!
I adored the maze of alley ways leading round corners and then BAM! There's the Pantheon. Oh you know, just a bunch of ancient pillars rising high above me and knocking me off my balance. Round a few more corners and oh, we're back at the Trevi fountain.
The fountain, despite being absolutely crowded to shit and almost intolerable in the heat of midday, was one of my highlights of Rome. It is just spectacular and left me in awe every time I bumped into it (oh, so casual).
We also picked up some obligatory gelato nearby to cool off; there are tons of crowded touristy gelateries in the area, but we headed to one I'd read about called Il Gelato di San Crispino, tucked away a couple of side streets behind the fountain. IT WAS DELICIOUS and nowhere near as busy as most of the places we'd passed.
Another highlight? Surprisingly, the Vittoria monument. I think because it's so understated in all the guide books and the images in your head of Rome. But it's so bold and imposing and bright and beautiful that it really took me aback, and we ended up stopping in a coffee shop just for an excuse to sit and look at it for a while.
(We then got surrounded by an entire tour of school kids which was our cue to leave.)
This was where we started to run into problems with Rome. You see, at this point of my travels, I wasn't used to street hawkers and tourist traps as it was, so I think it annoyed me more than it perhaps would do now. But even looking back, Rome is the worst for it. It even gave our experience of Morocco a run for its money, and THAT is saying something.
What I am good at is saying no. What I'm not good at is knowing what the hell to do when someone runs over and sticks a budgie on your shoulder and then demands money for this incredible and unique privilege. So what did I do? I ran away while he shouted at me!
In fact, I probably ran all the way to the Colosseum (which in fairness probably wasn't very far away at this point).
In hindsight, I wish we'd gone into the Colosseum, although I have no doubts that I'll go back there one day soon. I have the same regrets for the Vatican. But when we arrived, the queues for both were just ridiculous.
Let's bear in mind that we were there outside of school holidays, in shoulder season (May), and the queue for the Sistine Chapel was nigh on two hours long. We could pay a load of money for a tour to skip the queue, but I just thought what's the point? (yeah I know, I can feel you death staring me through your screen)
So that was that. We had a quick look around Vatican City and then headed back into Italy. Where we stumbled across one of our favourite places.
Piazza Navona is a super cute cobblestone square (seriously, it seems I have no pictures of it whatsoever, yet I remember it being cobblestone!) housing loads of restaurants. Don't ask me to remember where we ate or what we ordered, but I can tell you there was a guy playing soulful guitar just outside our restaurant and afterwards we sat at one of the statues and listened to him as the square lit up around us.
It felt like a magical place, and I wonder now if it's one of those really touristy places that no one would actually GO, but I'd love to go back and find out.
And so onto our final day, where we weren't sure what else we wanted to see. We swung by the (quite frankly disappointing) Castel Sant'Angelo, lost ourselves around the Trevi fountain again, and finally found ourselves at the Spanish steps, where more tourist traps awaited us.
This time, pieces of string appeared around our wrists, and I jumped back and said 'no! no money!' to which the guy laughed and said 'no, no money. This bracelet represents your safe return to Rome. I do it free.' Meanwhile a rose was thrust into my other hand by his accomplice and I pushed it back and it somehow kept finding its way back to me again.
At the end, we were asked for money for the bracelets and the rose. I was pissed off, especially because Ash eventually conceded and paid for the damn rose. We had no way of even getting the bracelets off, but do you know the funny thing?
I chucked the rose an hour later, but those bracelets (we did give them a small amount of money in the end but didn't pay what he asked for) stayed on our wrists for months. I still remember when Ash got out of the shower one day with a sad face on and said his had finally broken. Does that mean we'll never have a safe return to Rome? Ooooooo.
I wasn't hugely taken by Barcelona, but I legitimately fell head over heels in love with Rome. The truth is, we didn't exactly delve deep into either city with barely two days in each. Now when can I go back?!
What do you think of these two cities? Do they live up to the hype or are they overrated?
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Get excited Wizards fans, your favorite magical cast is back in action! Tonight, Wizards of Waverly Place reappears on Disney Channel with "The Wizards Return: Alex vs. Alex," a one-hour special featuring original cast members like Selena Gomez, Jake T. Austin, and Jennifer Stone.
In the show's first new episode since January 2012, the Russo family travels to Italy and runs into some supernatural trouble when Alex accidently casts a spell that creates two versions of herself: one good, and one evil.
What ensues is an epic Alex vs. Alex showdown that Selena says was a blast to shoot! "I'm really happy with it and I think it will look really cool," she said of the fight scene, adding that she thinks this is the best Wizards ep yet!
More From Seventeen
We can't wait to see Selena and the rest of the cast back together when the show premieres tonight at 8 on Disney Channel!
Check out the trailer below and let us know what you think! Will you be watching? Tell us in the comments below!


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Double Lockable Box with Personalized Top and Heart Engraving
$ 62.99
Wine Box! Fits all standard size wine bottles. Box measures: 14.1 x 4.52 x 3.93 inches.
This listing includes a personalized wine box/wedding capsule. The engraving featured on the top is totally customizable and can read whatever you'd like. Also includes engraving on the heart like shown. This box will also includes 2 lockable hinges, all you have to do is add your own padlocks or purchase the matching ones here!
This makes for an awesome wedding ceremony time capsule and an even better gift!
Pictured in Early American stain. Additional stain options are available..


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WASHINGTON, Sept. 2, 2013— -- Emerging from a White House meeting with President Obama on Monday, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said it would be "catastrophic" for Congress to reject the president's request to take military action against Syria's use of chemical weapons, but that the administration needs to outline a stronger case to the American people.
"If the Congress were to reject a resolution like this after the President of the United States has already committed to action, the consequences would be catastrophic in that the credibility of this country, with friends and adversaries alike, would be shredded and there would be not only implications for this presidency, but for future presidencies as well," McCain told reporters shortly after meeting with the president in the Oval Office.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who along with McCain, met with Obama for roughly an hour, was optimistic that the administration is developing a comprehensive military strategy -- a "pretty solid plan" -- but said he needs to see more details.
"For the first time, I see the development of a strategy that will upgrade the opposition as well as degrade Assad," said Graham, who urged the president to "up his game" in explaining the need for action to the "skeptical" American public.
McCain added: "Tell us without any hesitation, Mr. President, what does it matter to us as a nation if this war goes on and Assad wins?"
"I believe the president is capable of doing that, has not yet done it, but he is ready to do it. And if he's ready to do that part, I'm ready to go to my colleagues in the Congress and say, 'Now's the time for us to come together before it's too late.'"
By extending an invitation to McCain to visit the White House this afternoon, the administration is hoping the president's one-time foe will become a crucial ally to help convince skeptical lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to vote for military intervention in Syria.
After the president announced Saturday that he will seek congressional approval for any military strikes in Syria, Graham and McCain, both foreign policy hawks, could be important pieces to the puzzle as the administration tries to rally support for military action against Syria among war-weary lawmakers and the nation.
Russia Says U.S. Evidence on Syria 'Does Not Convince'
Congress will not vote on the war resolution until at least the week of Sept. 9, when both chambers return for legislation business, giving the White House a short opportunity to build the president's argument that the Syrian government's use of chemical weapons on its own people merits a U.S. military strike.
Obama's decision to seek congressional authority sets the stage for the biggest foreign policy vote in Congress since the Iraq war.
McCain, who traveled to Syria in May to meet with rebel forces, and Graham support military action in Syria, but they don't think the president's plans go far enough and are calling for more than just isolated strikes.
Where Do the Possible 2016 Presidential Candidates Stand?
It's likely that today's meeting is meant to address such concerns of his and others in Congress who say they believe the president is doing too little after the attack in the Damascus suburbs last month that the United States says included the Syrian government's use of sarin gas on its own people, killing more than 1,400 civilians, including more than 400 children.
"We're in a bit of a dilemma here because I think Senator Lindsey Graham and I and others will be wanting a strategy, a plan," McCain said on CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday.
"Rather than just we're going to launch some cruise missiles and -- and that's it -- and even worry more when the president's chief of staff -- chairman of the Joint Chiefs -- says, 'Well, it doesn't matter when we strike.' Well, that's not a military action then. That's a symbolic action. So we need to have a strategy and a plan, and that plan, in our view -- the best way to eliminate the threat of Bashar Assad's continued use of chemical weapons -- and, by the way, we know he's used them a number of times before -- would be the threat of his removal from power," McCain said.
Despite his criticism, McCain did signal a possible willingness to support the president, acknowledging that the "consequences of the Congress of the United States overriding a decision of the president of the United States of this magnitude are really very, very serious.
"And, already, we're sending a bad signal to Iran, to North Korea, to Bashar Assad," although he did not confirm a vote, saying he first needs to see a "strategy" that military action "will achieve some goals that we need to achieve."
"We have to have a plan. It has to be a strategy. It can't just be, in my view, pinprick cruise missiles," McCain said, echoing what he and Graham said in a statement this weekend, which said while they support military intervention they "cannot in good conscience support isolated military strikes in Syria that are not part of an overall strategy that can change the momentum on the battlefield, achieve the President's stated goal of Assad's removal from power, and bring an end to this conflict, which is a growing threat to our national security interests."
This won't be the first time the president turned to the two Republicans, one who happens to be a former presidential foe, for counsel. Obama asked McCain and Graham to travel to Egypt in early August to assess the situation and to urge the Egyptian military to proceed with new elections.
Of course, there are many other lawmakers, a bipartisan group of both Republicans and Democrats, who disagree with McCain, as well as the president, and don't want to see military action at all. In talking to lawmakers Sunday, several intimated to ABC News that they believe it would fail.
"I'm not there yet," Rep. Janice Hahn, D-Calif., said after the briefing. "I am hoping to find an answer to the question, is there another way to hold Assad accountable?"
Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., added, "There's a lot more questions I have to have answered. I want to know exactly what the game plan is."
The president, as well as Secretary of State John Kerry, have said while the president is seeking authorization from Congress, he has the power to act even if the vote fails.
Many members Sunday complained that the administration's resolution is too broad and gives the president too much discretion for what has been described as a "limited" and "narrow" strike.
"The biggest single concern among the members may very well have been a very broad request for authority with supposedly a very narrow intent to do anything and I think that has to be narrowed down in the next week," Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said.
"At the same time, the limited willingness to do anything that would actually change events on the ground except discourage further use of chemical weapons is something that members, including me, are going to have to deal with whether or not that limited effort is worth the next step."
Blunt said that new language is more than likely to come about before Congress takes the vote.
"The administration is open on the language issue and I think they will have to be if they want to get their language through Congress," Blunt said.
The administration's efforts continue Tuesday when Kerry and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel will testify at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, a Senate aide confirmed.
ABC News' John Parkinson contributed to this report.


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I wrote this in a journal entry not too long ago and I always refer back to it:
surrender to the stillness of this moment
and feel the possibilities arise
you are the maker of your own happiness
do not rely on others for safety
the most unconditional love is inside of yourself
you are your own home
make it comfortable, make it beautiful.
love more and fear less.
I have been doing a lot of soul searching lately and I feel stronger than ever that I truly know who I am and know the things I need to work on. I will never give up on progressing. It is a constant state for me as I do not think we are ever at our best selves. There is always more we can accomplish in this life. It can often seem easier to succumb to the harder times in our life and to stay in a place of denial. I assure you both of these couldn't be further from the truth. When life is harder than usual, let it happen to you but don't let it become who you are. Fight to stay strong. Strive to be more positive every day. If you can wake up every day morning that you are going to handle the day to come with grace, patience and positivity and can go to sleep knowing that you did the best that you could do, that is all that matters. You owe yourself a beautiful life.
"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." – Anais Nin
I hope that anyone reading this can find something in these words to make you feel just that much better about your day and your life.


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Plumbing & Home Improvement in Montgomery County
Are you looking for a reliable plumber in Gaithersburg, MD? R.V. Carey's has been providing plumbing and heating services to homes and businesses throughout Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC since 1979. We work hard to establish a positive working relationship with you through organization, high-quality plumbing services, a professional attitude, and guaranteed workmanship, all in an effort to provide the best customer service you can find.
Our Services in Gaithersburg, Maryland
R.V. Carey's has the solution. Call today if you need:
If you're looking for quality plumbing and heating services from friendly, licensed professionals, call R.V. Carey's today—301-424-8899!
Construction Services
For more than three decades, R.V. Carey's has been a preferred plumbing contractor for new construction jobs in the Gaithersburg, MD area. We are committed to providing quality work with an honest commitment to excellence. When you hire R.V. Carey's, you'll have the comfort of knowing the job will get done to your exact specifications.
We have new construction plumbing experience in all of the following areas:
- Office Buildings
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We also offer remodeling services to Gaithersburg residents! Call today to get a quote on your next remodeling project.
About R.V. Carey's Plumbing & Heating, Inc.
Fast and Friendly Service
When you call for a plumber, you're looking for more than plumbing services –you want the peace of mind that comes from knowing the plumber you hired is trustworthy and polite. In addition to being background checked and drug tested, all of the technicians at R.V. Carey's are friendly and courteous and can answer any questions you may have regarding your plumbing system.
Time and Materials
Many plumbers charge a flat rate for each job, regardless of how long it takes. We prefer to charge based on time and materials—here's why. First, no two plumbing jobs are the same. Even a seemingly simple leak repair can vastly differ from another leak repair! Since a job may take longer for one person than another, a flat fee may lead you to overpay for your service. Next, we feel we can provide a better service by encouraging our technicians to work carefully instead of rushing between jobs. By charging time and materials, we're able to ensure that you get the highest quality of service possible while still sticking to your budget.
Community Engagement
We wouldn't exist without the generous support of the people in our community. So to show our gratitude, we like to give back what we can, whenever we can! We support a number of local and national organizations.
The R.V. Carey's Promise
- All plumbers are well trained and educated to provide customers with honest and respectful support.
- Our level of experience ensures our ability to complete a job in a timely manner, thus saving the customer money.
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When you call R.V. Carey's, you're calling the best. If you need plumbing services in Gaithersburg, Maryland, call us today!


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Floor coatings Kitchener, Ontario
KSL Flooring Solutions is an Ontario company that specializes in providing the quality floor coatings and services for interior and exterior floors all over Kitchener, Waterloo, Guelph, Cambridge, Brantford, Woodstock and neighbouring communities. Our well-resourced and fully-bonded flooring professionals have the specialized knowledge, experience, and state-of-the art technology to deliver lasting quality results for any flooring system. KSL Flooring Solutions directly employs each of our engineers, electricians, and millwrights. With a reputation for providing a comprehensive range of quality flooring solutions for residential, commercial, industrial and other markets, Our floor coatings Kitchener team specially tailors every flooring project to meet client needs.
Our floor coatings Kitchener specialist provide a full suite of floor coatings:
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Effective works Phase 2 - 3
2012 : week 41
The concession of C-Power in the North Sea for the erection of a windfarm is divided into two area's, area A and area B. In area A 30 wind turbines and an offshore transformer station will be installed. In area B 24 wind turbines will be installed. The execution of the project is devided in three phases. Phase I, terminated in 2008, was a test phase with the installation of 6 wind turbines in area A on gravity base foundations. Phase II, terminated end of August 2012, consisted in the installation of 24 wind turbines in area B, 6 wind turbines in area A and an offshore transformer station also in area A. Phase III will be executed next year, 2013, and consists of the installation of the remaining 18 wind turbines in area A. This phase is planned to start in March 2013 and to be completed in September 2013.
All the wind turbines are erected offshore on jacket foundations. A jacket foundation is a steelstructure of tubulars designed to support the windturbines. The height of a jacket varies between 40 and 50 m. The construction of the 48 jacket foundations of the project started in Januari 2011. 9 months later the first 24 jackets for area B were assembled. The construction of the 24 jackets for area A followed immediately hereafter in September 2012. 7 months later, April the 1st 2012, they were all assembled. So in a total of 16 months all 48 jacket foundations were build.
The pile driving works started in area B of the windfarm on Wednesday 6th of April 2011. Steel piles of 40 to 50 m are driven into the seabed by a hammer installation mounted on the jack up platform Buzzard. These so called "pin-piles" are the anchors to seal the jacket foundations into the seabed. The length of the piles depends on the soil conditions. To assure an installation of the piles on the correct locations a template is lowered onto the seabed. On Sunday August the 21st 2011 all pile driving works for the project were complete which means that 196 piles were driven into the seabed in about 4,5 months.
The jacket foundation installation for the offshore transformer station, (OTS), was executed on the 15th of August 2011.
The Heavy Lift Vessel "Rambiz" installed the first jacket foundation for the windturbines in area B on Sunday 12/06/2011 and on Tuesday 14/06/2011 this foundation was grouted to the pin-piles. On 28/09/2011, so after a period of 3,5 months, all the 24 foundations of area B were successfully installed and grouted. The Rambiz was again mobilised to start on 2/03/2012 the foundations installation in area A and on Tuesday 29/05/2012 the last jacket was installed and grouted. All 24 jackets of area A were installed in 3 months and the completion date was 2 months ahead of the original master schedule.
The 33 kV infield cables of area B, making the future electrical connection between the wind turbines, were picked up in Karlskrona, Sweden, on the 23th of July 2011 and were transported to Zeebruge by the cable lay vessel CS Sovereign. The infield cable laying works for area B started on 12/08/11 and were completed on 3/11/2011. A cable burial vessel, called the Innovator, jetted down these cables into the seabed. Two teams of special trained people did the final hang off of the cables in the so called mid-sections of the WTG foundations. The production of the infield cables for area A was also done in Karlskrona. The same cable lay vessel as for area B, the Sovereign, was again mobilised and picked up the infield cables in Karlskrona on 12/06/2012. The ship arrived on site on 24/06/2012 and started with the infield cable laying in area A on 28/06/2012 after the wet trials. Today all the infield cables of area A are laid down and connected to the mid sections of the WTG's. The burial of these cables started on 9/08/2012 and all the cable strings between the offshore transformer station and the wind turbines got a first burial pass. The surveys of the burial depths are complete and where necessary some remedial burial works are executed. The vessel Innovator has been mobilized for that job and is for the moment working on the remedial burial works of the infield cables of area A.
The produced electricity by the wind farm has to be brought on land by two so called export cables. The first export cable, cable A was laid during phase I. The second 150 kV export cable, cable B, has to be laid during phase II. The cable was manufactured in Karlskrona, Sweden. The factory acceptance tests were carried out on 13/03/2012. The cable lay vessel "Stemat Spirit" loaded the cable in Karlskrona between 22 and 29/03/2012, sailed to and arrived in the port of Ostend on 4/04/2012. The vessel beached at the cable landing area and the export cable B was pulled on land through a HDD pipe on 11/04/2012. On 22/04/2012 the complete 38,7 km of export cable was laid down on the sea bed between the coast and the Offshore Transformer Station. The vessel Pearl River backfilled the cable trench. The trajectory of the export cable in the shallow waters was jetted down into the seabed. The 150 kV export cable was then pulled in into the OTS. The connections of the cable conductors and fibre optics were terminated and passed a succesful 24 H test on 30/05/2012. This means that the electrical connection between the offshore windfarm and the onshore substation of Elia was then energized, which was a very important milestone for C-Power.
A dredging vessel, the "Breughel", prepared the trench where the 150 kV export cable B is crossing the shipping lane "Vaargeul 1" and in a part of the trajectory where a seabed was found of stiff clay.
The trajectory of both export cables crosses two international communication cables and an international gas pipe. These crossings need special attention and protection. They were protected by asphalt mattresses before the export cable laying and will now been protected by rock dumping after the export cable laying. The rocks for this rock protection are delivered on the Halve Maan site of C-Power at Ostend. A rock dumping vessel, the Pompëi arrived on site for this job and started on 4/10/2012 with the rock dumping on the PEC crossing and the Interconnector South.
The Offshore Transformer Station sailed out from the fabrication yard in Schiedam to the Thorntonbank site on the 15th of March 2012 and was installed on the OTS foundation on 16/03/2012.
The productions of the wind turbines components were carried out at different locations: the towers by AMBAU-Cuxhaven Germany, the blades by LM Glasfiber Holding Denmark, the generators by VEM Germany and the gearboxes by 2 constructors, WINERGY-Vörde Germany and HANSEN-Belgium. An onshore offloading, assembling and loading site for the wind turbine components of REpower in the harbour of Ostend was rented and prepared to receive these components. The first set of blades arrived on the onshore site of Ostend on 2/03/2012 and the first batch with 3 towers, hubs and nacelles on 7/03/2012. Every week new turbine components arrived in Ostend, either by sea or by land. Since 22/06/2012 the components of the last 3 wind turbines of phase II arrived in Ostend. So all the deliveries for the phase II of the project were on site on time. The productions in the factories of the components of phase III WTG's started in June 2012.
A jack up transport and installation platform, the Neptune, sailed out on 18/03/2012 to the Thorntonbank for the first WTG erection. Another jack up platform, the Vagant, assisted the turbine installation teams with the mechanical completion of the wind turbines. On 21/03/2012 the first wind turbine was installed. On Friday the 27/07/2012 the 30 wind turbines that has to be erected this year were installed. So it took about 4 months to install 30 wind turbines. The transport and installation jack up platforms Neptune and Vagant were then demobilised from the project. They are scheduled to come back in March next year for the installation of the last 18 WTG's of C-Power's project. Special teams executed the terminations of the infield cables into the wind turbines. As the export cable B was energized the commissioning of the WTG's could start. For the commissioning of the WTG, the 33 kV infield cables between the offshore transformer station and each wind turbine had also to be energised. Today all of the 5 strings of infield cables of phase II are completely energised. It takes about a week to commission 1 wind turbine. At the start of the commissioning of the first wind turbine of phase II the first KW's were injected into the grid on 2/06/2012. Today 28 WTG's out of 30 of phase II are commissioned and are producing electricity. Reliability tests are now undertaken before substantial completion.
The horizontal directional drillings under the dunes for the onshore landing of the second export cable coming from the windfarm offshore transformer station was successfully completed on 5/3/2012 and the cable laying onshore between this export cable landing and the Elia sub-station was completed at the same time. The connections of the cables into the Elia sub-station were also completed. Electrical commissioning tests on the complete onshore cable connections were successful. The new export sea cable and the new land cables were jointed together.
Another important milestone in the C-Power project has been achieved: the 6 wind turbines of the first phase were connected to a temporary sub-station onshore via the first export cable A between the turbine D1 and the sub-station. Today the temporary sub-station has been replaced by the offshore transformer station. So the wind turbines of phase I had first to be disconnected from the export cable A of phase I and had to be energized via the new export cable B and the offshore transformer station. After that operation the first export cable A from phase I has been disconnected from the wind turbine D1 of phase I, has been cut and sealed and re-routed to the OTS. The cable has been picked up from the seabed and pulled in into the OTS. Special teams de-armoured the cable phases and connected them to the OTS. On Tuesday 14/08/2012 the export cable A was re-energised. The transformer in the OTS linked to that export cable has been energised on 13/08/2012. Thanks to that operation the windfarm is now connected to the onshore sub-station of Elia with two 150 kV sea cables.


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We last detailed our laundry list of bond haters earlier this year. The list is long and includes some very impressive names. We have also highlighted the table below which currently shows 88% of economists surveyed (71 of 81) expect higher rates in the next six months. Back in May, when the 10-year was 2.40%, 100% of economists surveyed (64 of 64) thought rates would be higher in six months. As of this writing the 10-year is at 1.75% and November is just two weeks away.
Despite this bearishness, many investors are still throwing money into bond mutual funds. The chart below bears this out. The second panel in blue shows continued outflows from all stock funds while the third panel in green shows hefty inflows into all bond funds.
The bears will often scratch their head at these flows and assume the public is making a huge interest rate bet. However, this is not necessarily the case.
As the chart below shows, the public's inflows into bond funds peaked in March 2010 and has since pulled back significantly. Of the $261.15 billion in flows into bond funds over the past year:
Over half of these flows ($146.86 billion) are going into credit focused funds. This group includes corporate bonds, high yield, and strategic income.
Flows into muni and world funds (bottom panel in blue), which are tax plays or currency bets, are getting another $49.19 billion of the public's flows.
The pure interest rate bet of government and mortgage funds are getting less than 25% of all inflows ($65.11 billion). These funds were getting outflows less than a year ago.
Add it up and we do not see a big interest rate bet being made by the public. We see tax plays, currency bets and a big bet in corporate bonds, which can also be described as a low-beta stock market bet.
Treasuries are bought by the Chinese central banks, the Japanese central bank, the Federal Reserve, and dealers/banks capitalizing on carry trades thanks to the Federal Reserve's 2014 low-rate guarantee. That's it! Because the Federal Reserve is unlikely to take back this low rate pledge, we do not expect this list of buyers to drastically change over the next couple years.
So what hurts the bond-buying public? Since they are making a big credit bet, one could argue a big correction in equities that dramatically widens credit spreads would be more harmful than a rise in interest rates.
Source: Bianco Research


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Remarks by Angel Gurría, OECD Secretary-General
OECD, Paris, 16th February 2012
(As prepared for delivery)
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a great pleasure to welcome you all to the OECD for the 2012 Global Forum on Competition. I would like to extend a special welcome to Pascal Lamy and Otaviano Canuto: both of our distinguished guests are regular visitors to the OECD.
Pascal, I believe this is the first ever appearance of the WTO Director-General at an OECD competition meeting. We are delighted you could join us, especially given the crucial links that exist between trade and competition.
Today and tomorrow's discussions couldn't be more timely. We are facing exceptionally challenging circumstances: the global economic recovery remains fragile and the outlook has never been so uncertain. Pascal, Otaviano, you both joined us for OECD Week back in May of 2010, when the theme of the event was "the road to recovery". Looking back, our discussions – which at the time we had thought were incredibly downbeat – now seem, if anything, rather optimistic. We need to turn the situation around as a matter of urgency.
Competition is key to the recovery
It is encouraging to see that governments, including those severely affected by the crisis, are implementing pro-competition reforms as key to making their way out of the crisis and promoting long term strong, sustainable and inclusive growth. There is a recognition that competition is good for consumers, good for the economy and also has enormous potential for fostering clean government.
Indeed, this growth perspective really is crucial. Our analysis shows that even as economies recover the crisis could well have reduced potential output by about 3% in the OECD area as a whole compared with the levels that would have prevailed otherwise. This output loss will need to be restored to make sure that our economies will be able to grow strongly in the years to come.
That's why pro-competition reforms are so important. By removing barriers to entry in protected sectors and guaranteeing a level playing field for entrepreneurs, reforming governments can unlock opportunities for investment and for the creation of jobs.
Organisations and experts in competition need to come together to offer solutions to these challenges. This Global Forum on Competition provides the opportunity to do just that.
Volatility in commodities markets – worsening poverty and harming development
I am pleased to see that you have selected price volatility in commodity markets as a key theme for your discussions. It is hard to think of a more important issue. High food prices directly impact on people's livelihoods. So do high prices for minerals, which feed into higher prices for many goods and services.
Poverty is not just caused by low incomes, but equally by high prices. What matters is not how much you earn, but how much you can buy. I am horrified by the rule of thumb: that every 10% rise in food prices drives another 10 million people below the poverty line.
Faced with these pressures, governments must act. And they need good advice if their policies are going to change lives for the better. It is all too easy to reach for solutions that generate good headlines in the newspapers, but in reality make the problem worse and impede development.
Take price controls, including subsidies, for example -- if the problem is high prices, policymakers may be tempted to control these prices. But we know that this can stifle the very incentives for increased production that could bring prices back down again. Instead of getting cheap food, consumers might indeed get no food at all!
I understand that this topic has attracted a record number of submissions from delegates to this Forum. You will be able to share each other's perspectives as well as draw on the expertise that the OECD has assembled here today. Your work on the role of competition policy in addressing the problems associated with commodity price volatility will also support the G20's important work in this area.
Joined-up international action against international cartels
Also significant in this Forum is co-operation among international agencies against cross-border cartels, which you will address tomorrow.
Cartels are the worst form of antitrust violation: they are a fraud upon the public, with no redeeming features. Almost all of the jurisdictions represented here have outlawed them. But cartels persist, and there sometimes seems little to stop them operating internationally.
Chairman Jenny, you have often spoken about international cartels operating with impunity - for example the Heavy Electrical Equipment cartel, which is estimated to have cost importing countries 300 to 500 million dollars per year. Companies made deals that would be illegal at the national level but were able to get away with it because their cross-border business is not matched by the cross-border reach of national competition agencies.
That's why solving the international problem of cartels requires effective international co-operation. The OECD's Competition Committee has just launched a three-year programme to bring competition authorities together to find solutions to international competition problems. The OECD is uniquely placed to do this, and I am proud that we are leading this important initiative.
Promoting competitive neutrality
Another burning issue on your agenda is tomorrow afternoon's discussion of state-owned enterprises – and issue that is also often known as 'State Capitalism' – and the OECD's project to promote competitive neutrality.
Some pundits are saying that State Capitalism – the front page of The Economist a few weeks ago – did better in the last few years, so why not look there for fresh ideas for growth? The important issue in this matter is not state ownership per se, but the governance of state-owned enterprises to ensure that the playing field is level for investors and that the presence of the State in the economy doesn't thwart competition.
I am pleased that this project will be discussed as part of the Global Forum on Competition. There are more of you here than ever before, with 90 countries among which 56 non members countries represented here today, accompanied by 18 international organisations involved in competition, regional banks and donors, as well as representatives of civil society. I am also delighted that the OECD will provide the venue for the second meeting of the new Africa Competition Forum.
Ladies and gentlemen,
You have an action-rich agenda over the next two days, covering critical issues for the global economy. Governments across the world have turned to you, the competition authorities, for help. You need to be well prepared with analysis, evidence and the accumulated experience of your counterparts elsewhere to engage with governments and to help them find solutions.
I hope you will benefit fully from the OECD's expertise and the many international experts who will be taking part in the Forum. It is an important job you do; promoting competition in your home countries; making markets work better; creating the conditions for strong, sustainable and inclusive growth in the years to come.
I wish you every success and look forward to hearing the outcomes of your discussions.
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Criminal Lawyers all CT State & NY Federal Courts
New Haven & all Connecticut Cities
Jaycee Dugard is suing the US, alleging 'gross neglect' by federal officers in charge of supervising the parolee who abducted her. A spokeswoman for Jaycee Dugard says proceeds from the suit would go to her charity.
Abduction and rape victim Jaycee Dugard's lawsuit against the US government, which challenges the principle that the government cannot be held responsible for the actions of federal officials, also raises the issue of violence against women and children.
Ms. Dugard was held for almost two decades, during which time she was repeatedly raped and gave birth to two children. Her lawsuit alleges �gross neglect� on the part of the federal parole officers in charge of supervising Phillip Garrido, the federal parolee who kidnapped her.
The case drew sensational headlines in 2009 when Dugard was discovered. Now 31, she was 11 years old when she was kidnapped from a South Lake Tahoe, Calif., street by Mr. Garrido and his wife in 1991.
She was taken to a home where she spent the next 18 years captive in a backyard tent. She gave birth to two daughters fathered by Garrido, who has since been sent to prison. He had been granted parole in 1988 after serving 11 years in prison for another kidnapping and rape.
Legal observers say Dugard's suit, which she filed Thursday morning in a San Francisco court seeking unspecified damages, is focusing a spotlight not only on her own case, but the larger issue of violence against women and children.
�Sunlight is the best disinfectant,� says Andrew Stoltmann, a Chicago-based attorney. �Ms. Dugard is likely filing the suit to draw attention to the incompetence of parole agents who allegedly failed to properly monitor Garrido, with the hopes of preventing future cases similar to hers,� he says.
According to a statement released Thursday by her spokeswoman, Nancy Seltzer, any award from the lawsuit would go to Dugard's private charity, the JAYC foundation, which assists families recovering from abduction and other trauma.
Mr. Stoltmann notes that Dugard has already received a large monetary award. In 2009, her family received a $20 million settlement through a state victims compensation fund after the California inspector general found that state corrections officials failed to properly supervise Garrido, whose parole case was handed over from federal officials to the state in 1999.
The US Department of Justice so far has no comment on Dugard's suit, according to spokesman Charles Miller, who notes, �we have not seen the papers yet.�
There is general agreement among legal analysts, however, that her case is a long shot at best.
These cases are hard to win, says Detroit attorney Mary Massaron Ross, �because of the strong immunities in place to [shield] local, state and federal officials.�
�Sovereign immunity typically bars suit against the federal government. Even if there were no immunity, the Supreme Court has made failure-to-protect claims virtually impossible to advance to a jury,� says author and lawyer Norm Pattis, via email.
Beyond that, he says, �she cannot establish that better monitoring would have prevented her abduction.� No matter how sympathetic she may be as a plaintiff, he says, �the case should be dismissed without discovery.�
While the suit faces stiff obstacles, Villanova University law professor Michelle Dempsey says the case may be important on other grounds.
Courts in the US have been trending away from the principle that government has an obligation to protect women and children against violence, she says.
But international legal trends have been headed in the opposite direction, calling it a basic human rights issue, Ms. Dempsey notes. She points to a recent decision that underlines this point in the case of a Colorado woman, Jessica Gonzalez, who sued the local police after her estranged husband kidnapped and killed her children.
Ms. Gonzalez pursued her case through the US Supreme Court, where she lost. But in August she won her petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, in which she claimed that the US was responsible for human rights violations resulting from the police inaction and the Supreme Court's decision.
Dempsey acknowledges that the Dugard case will be decided on US legal principles, but, she adds, �it is important to realize that courts all over the world are moving towards seeing the protection of women and children against violence as a basic human right.�
At the same time, there is only so far courts can go in allowing victims legal redress against government officials, says Los Angeles attorney Jason Feldman, of Feldman and Wallach.
�It could potentially open the floodgates if everyone was allowed to second guess the decisions of police and other government officials every time they did their job,� he says.


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Some of you already know it. In my youth, I worked in the fashion industry, then in theater and then in front of and behind the cameras for television and film productions. At the age of 24, a milestone happened in my life. Not long after I gave up everything. I started again from scratch. I went back to university and five years later became a science journalist, a job I've been doing for 20 years now. Over the past two years, I've added a string to my bow by becoming a fashion and style blogger. It's a bit of a homecoming, but with the added experience of many years of intellectual rigour and work ethic. Why do I tell you part of my journey? Simply to illustrate that our lives are not a long calm river. There is always astir, some splashing. It's normal. Just like the ecosystems that work in nature we are in a constant state of flux. We respond to our surroundings. We all are Fashioned by Nature. Wether it is painful or not mostly depends on us. Change is rarely easy, often scary, but it doesn't have to be painful.
"Change is never painful; only resistance to change is painful." – Buddha
Recently, the When Fashion and Nature Collide team experienced such a change. Our friend Roda decided to devote herself entirely to her Apiary. Lisa, Darren and I are happy to see her realize her dreams and we wish her lots of success in her projects. Our Happy Trio continues its collaboration and will ensure to inspire you each month with outfit ideas and creative artworks Fashioned by Nature. This name given to our company that will soon allow you to get the products created by the team is evocative of the change that I spoke about. It is looking to the promising future that fashion is not a source of pollution but becomes a socio-eco-friendly model that respect and encourage us all to live in harmony with nature. Lisa's logo captured perfectly the essence of our message and its made with elements from each of us. We believe that alone we might go faster, but as a team, we go further!
Mark your calendar.
The November edition of When Fashion and Nature Collide is on the 21st.
Note: In case you've not seen these capsules before, the When Fashion and Nature Collide project is a monthly collaboration with my WP friends: Lisa of Lismore Paper and Darren of The Arty Plantsman.
The third wednesday of each month you can see outfits styled by me, and art from Lisa, that were inspired by Darren's flower pictures and the critter pictures of photographers who collaborate with the team. With the spirit of protecting nature I pull together my outfits with clothing already available in my wardrobe. When purchases are to be made, these come from vintage shops and thrift stores or from socio-eco-friendly brands.
Let's stay connected: Bloglovin – Instagram @3cstyle_fashion
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As you all might imagine, I'm not into the moral victories.
If the win isn't determined by the scoreboard, there is little to discuss.
I was one of the few to point out that the 2009 season, the only time the Rockets have won a playoff series in the last 16 years, was a disappointing season.
Those Crutch City Rockets, who ended the season with Yao Ming, Tracy McGrady and Dikembe Mutombo all unable to walk without assistance, were supposed to be title contenders.
The current Rockets weren't supposed to be much of anything, yet they won more game (45) than any Houston team since 2009, making the franchise's return to the playoffs to boot.
Yes, this was a good season.
So, the Rockets lost to Oklahoma City last night. The game and the series.
But in this case, putting things in the proper perspective should give Rockets fans plenty to be excited about.
An ESPN SportsNation poll showed the Thunder was an overwhelming favorite in Game 6, with its color-coded U.S. map looking like Whataburger ketchup had spilled on the State of Texas, the lone red state, the only state the Rockets carried in the voting.
That is what you get when a No. 8 seed challenges a team that won 60 games.
Houston is in better shape than it has been in a very long time. There is still plenty of work for Daryl Morey to do, and this should be an exciting offseason.
At least now, Red Nation can see the possibilities. In recent years Morey was trying to make something out of nothing. Now he is trying to make something special out of something pretty darn good.
The Rockets showing us all that they have something pretty darn good is better than a moral victory.


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