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Washington (CNN)-President Barack Obama addressed the nation on the debt ceiling seven days before the nation is forecast to reach the debt limit of $14.29 trillion dollars. Lawmakers must reach an agreement before August 2 to increase the amount of money the nation can borrow and avoid the possibility of default. Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner delivered a response to the address following the president's remarks.
11:18 p.m. ET @EWErickson Boehner's plan is best called "Punt, Kick, & Pass." Punts to another commission, kicks the can & passes more debt onto future generations.
11:00 p.m. ET @ChuckSchumer Time for @SpeakerBoehner to lead his caucus; right now, extreme bloc in House is leading him instead
10:13 p.m. ET @PressSec Jay Carney (EOP) As #POTUS said, Americans are "fed up with a town where compromise has become a dirty word." Rs & Ds need to come together, and act.
10:00 p.m. ET @KyungLahCNN What do you think? #Japan's yen now below 78, big concerns in Tokyo of impact to Japan from lack of #debt ceiling deal. Who do you blame?
9:53 p.m. ET @CoryBooker Obama agrees with Reagan (and every other president over the past 30 yrs). it is outrageous not to raise debt limit and pay our obligations.
9:46 p.m. ET @JeffFlake President wants a balanced approach? How 'bout agreeing to sign cut, cap & balance.
9:45 p.m. ET @DanaPerino I think potus could help himself if next appearance included Bo the dog – dogs can help sell anything!
Read the full liveblog after the jump.
9:35 p.m. ET @JonHuntsman @BarackObama's call for tax increases and his own politically convenient timetable are misguided and reckless
9:35 p.m. ET @LisaDCNN OBAMA v BOEHNER political bottom line: Tonight was time travel from #debt debate to opening shots in 2012 election cycle.
9:32 p.m. ET @rolandsmartin It's time for YOU to ride Congress to get a deal. In the morning, CALL 202-225-3121 & BLOW UP the lines of ALL members of Congress! RT!
9:29 p.m. ET @LarrySabato Dems think Obama did well. Rs think Boehner did well. And in a nutshell there's the problem.
9:28 p.m. ET @PJCrowley The world is indeed watching. We must live within our means, but #America also has national and global interests that default would harm.
9:26 p.m. ET @EWErickson Boehner's speech was right on. The problem is Boehner's plan doesn't cut enough to avoid a credit downgrade.
9:23 p.m. ET @LisaDCNN Boehner yet to answer president's charge that his bill would just "kick the can" to next year and rattle the markets.
9:22 p.m. ET Speaker Boehner: This debate isn't about President Obama and House Republicans … it isn't about Congress and the White House … it's about what's standing between the American people and the future we seek for ourselves and our families.
You know, I've always believed, the bigger government, the smaller the people. And right now, we have a government so big and so expensive it's sapping the drive of our people and keeping our economy from running at full capacity.
The solution to this crisis is not complicated: if you're spending more money than you're taking in, you need to spend less of it,
There is no symptom of big government more menacing than our debt. Break its grip, and we begin to liberate our economy and our future.
We are up to the task, and I hope President Obama will join us in this work.
God bless you and your families, and God bless America.
9:21 p.m. ET Speaker Boehner: You see, there is no stalemate in Congress. The House has passed a bill to raise the debt limit with bipartisan support. And this week, while the Senate is struggling to pass a bill filled with phony accounting and Washington gimmicks, we will pass another bill – one that was developed with the support of the bipartisan leadership of the U.S. Senate.
Obviously, I expect that bill can and will pass the Senate, and be sent to the President for his signature. If the President signs it, the 'crisis' atmosphere he has created will simply disappear. The debt limit will be raised. Spending will be cut by more than one trillion dollars, and a serious, bipartisan committee of the Congress will begin the hard but necessary work of dealing with the tough challenges our nation faces.
The individuals doing this work will not be outsiders, but elected representatives of the people, doing the job they were elected to do as outlined in the Constitution. Those decisions should be made based on how they will affect people who are struggling to get a job, not how they affect some politician's chances of getting reelected.
9:19 p.m. ET @LisaDCNN BOEHNER: President Obama wants business as usual, a routine increase in the debt. GOP will say "not so fast".
9:18 p.m. ET @LisaDCNN BOEHNER: Introduces himself. He is the speaker of the "whole house".
9:17 p.m. ET House Speaker John Boehner response: Good evening. I'm John Boehner. I serve as Speaker of the whole House - of the members of both parties that you elect. These are difficult times in the life of our nation. Millions are looking for work, have been for some time, and the spending binge going on in Washington is a big part of the reason why.
Before I served in Congress, I ran a small business in Ohio. I was amazed at how different Washington DC operated than every business in America. Where most American business make the hard choices to pay their bills and live within their means, in Washington more spending and more debt is business as usual.
I've got news for Washington – those days are over.
President Obama came to Congress in January and requested business as usual - yet another routine increase in the national debt limit - we in the House said 'not so fast.' Here was the president, asking for the largest debt increase in American history, on the heels of the largest spending binge in American history.
Here's what we got for that spending binge: a massive health care bill that most Americans never asked for. A 'stimulus' bill that was more effective in producing material for late-night comedians than it was in producing jobs. And a national debt that has gotten so out of hand it has sparked a crisis without precedent in my lifetime or yours.
The United States cannot default on its debt obligations. The jobs and savings of too many Americans are at stake.
What we told the president in January was this: the American people will not accept an increase in the debt limit without significant spending cuts and reforms.
And over the last six months, we've done our best to convince the president to partner with us to do something dramatic to change the fiscal trajectory of our country. . .something that will boost confidence in our economy, renew a measure of faith in our government, and help small businesses get back on track.
Last week, the House passed such a plan, and with bipartisan support. It's called the 'Cut, Cap, and Balance' Act. It CUTS and CAPS government spending and paves the way for a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution, which we believe is the best way to stop Washington from spending money it doesn't have. Before we even passed the bill in the House, the President said he would veto it.
I want you to know I made a sincere effort to work with the president to identify a path forward that would implement the principles of Cut, Cap, & Balance in a manner that could secure bipartisan support and be signed into law. I gave it my all.
Unfortunately, the president would not take yes for an answer. Even when we thought we might be close on an agreement, the president's demands changed.
The president has often said we need a 'balanced' approach - which in Washington means: we spend more. . .you pay more. Having run a small business, I know those tax increases will destroy jobs.
The president is adamant that we cannot make fundamental changes to our entitlement programs. As the father of two daughters, I know these programs won't be there for them and their kids unless significant action is taken now.
The sad truth is that the president wanted a blank check six months ago, and he wants a blank check today. That is just not going to happen.
9:15 p.m. ET President Obama: History is scattered with the stories of those who held fast to rigid ideologies and refused to listen to those who disagreed. But those are not the Americans we remember. We remember the Americans who put country above self, and set personal grievances aside for the greater good. We remember the Americans who held this country together during its most difficult hours; who put aside pride and party to form a more perfect union.
That's who we remember. That's who we need to be right now. The entire world is watching. So let's seize this moment to show why the United States of America is still the greatest nation on Earth – not just because we can still keep our word and meet our obligations, but because we can still come together as one nation. Thank you, God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America.
9:13 p.m. ET President Obama: Congress now has one week left to act, and there are still paths forward. The Senate has introduced a plan to avoid default, which makes a down payment on deficit reduction and ensures that we don't have to go through this again in six months.
I think that's a much better path, although serious deficit reduction would still require us to tackle the tough challenges of entitlement and tax reform. Either way, I have told leaders of both parties that they must come up with a fair compromise in the next few days that can pass both houses of Congress – a compromise I can sign. And I am confident we can reach this compromise. Despite our disagreements, Republican leaders and I have found common ground before. And I believe that enough members of both parties will ultimately put politics aside and help us make progress.
I realize that a lot of the new members of Congress and I don't see eye-to-eye on many issues. But we were each elected by some of the same Americans for some of the same reasons. Yes, many want government to start living within its means. And many are fed up with a system in which the deck seems stacked against middle-class Americans in favor of the wealthiest few. But do you know what people are fed up with most of all?
They're fed up with a town where compromise has become a dirty word. They work all day long, many of them scraping by, just to put food on the table. And when these Americans come home at night, bone-tired, and turn on the news, all they see is the same partisan three-ring circus here in Washington. They see leaders who can't seem to come together and do what it takes to make life just a little bit better for ordinary Americans. They are offended by that. And they should be.
The American people may have voted for divided government, but they didn't vote for a dysfunctional government. So I'm asking you all to make your voice heard. If you want a balanced approach to reducing the deficit, let your Member of Congress know. If you believe we can solve this problem through compromise, send that message.
America, after all, has always been a grand experiment in compromise. As a democracy made up of every race and religion, where every belief and point of view is welcomed, we have put to the test time and again the proposition at the heart of our founding: that out of many, we are one. We have engaged in fierce and passionate debates about the issues of the day, but from slavery to war, from civil liberties to questions of economic justice, we have tried to live by the words that Jefferson once wrote: "Every man cannot have his way in all things…Without this mutual disposition, we are disjointed individuals, but not a society."
9:10 p.m. ET @AriFleischer I guess O forgot he voted against raising the debt limit when he was a senator. Not so routine then I guess...
9:10 p.m. ET President Obama: And Republican leaders say that they agree we must avoid default. But the new approach that Speaker Boehner unveiled today, which would temporarily extend the debt ceiling in exchange for spending cuts, would force us to once again face the threat of default just six months from now. In other words, it doesn't solve the problem.
First of all, a six-month extension of the debt ceiling might not be enough to avoid a credit downgrade and the higher interest rates that all Americans would have to pay as a result. We know what we have to do to reduce our deficits; there's no point in putting the economy at risk by kicking the can further down the road.
But there's an even greater danger to this approach. Based on what we've seen these past few weeks, we know what to expect six months from now. The House will once again refuse to prevent default unless the rest of us accept their cuts-only approach. Again, they will refuse to ask the wealthiest Americans to give up their tax cuts or deductions. Again, they will demand harsh cuts to programs like Medicare. And once again, the economy will be held captive unless they get their way.
That is no way to run the greatest country on Earth. It is a dangerous game we've never played before, and we can't afford to play it now. Not when the jobs and livelihoods of so many families are at stake. We can't allow the American people to become collateral damage to Washington's political warfare.
9:08 p.m. ET @LisaDCNN Getting lots of tweets from you guys that this sounds like a campaign speech.
9:08 p.m. ET President Obama: Now, what makes today's stalemate so dangerous is that it has been tied to something known as the debt ceiling – a term that most people outside of Washington have probably never heard of before.
Understand – raising the debt ceiling does not allow Congress to spend more money. It simply gives our country the ability to pay the bills that Congress has already racked up. In the past, raising the debt ceiling was routine. Since the 1950s, Congress has always passed it, and every President has signed it. President Reagan did it 18 times. George W. Bush did it 7 times. And we have to do it by next Tuesday, August 2nd, or else we won't be able to pay all of our bills.
Unfortunately, for the past several weeks, Republican House members have essentially said that the only way they'll vote to prevent America's first-ever default is if the rest of us agree to their deep, spending cuts-only approach.
If that happens, and we default, we would not have enough money to pay all of our bills – bills that include monthly Social Security checks, veterans' benefits, and the government contracts we've signed with thousands of businesses.
For the first time in history, our country's Triple A credit rating would be downgraded, leaving investors around the world to wonder whether the United States is still a good bet. Interest rates would skyrocket on credit cards, mortgages, and car loans, which amounts to a huge tax hike on the American people. We would risk sparking a deep economic crisis – one caused almost entirely by Washington.
Defaulting on our obligations is a reckless and irresponsible outcome to this debate.
9:07 p.m. ET @cnnbrk #Obama on what default could mean: "Interest rates could climb for everyone who borrows money" #debt http://t.co/3ilpiFX
9:06 p.m. ET President Obama: Because neither party is blameless for the decisions that led to this problem, both parties have a responsibility to solve it. And over the last several months, that's what we've been trying to do. I won't bore you with the details of every plan or proposal, but basically, the debate has centered around two different approaches.
The first approach says, let's live within our means by making serious, historic cuts in government spending. Let's cut domestic spending to the lowest level it's been since Dwight Eisenhower was President. Let's cut defense spending at the Pentagon by hundreds of billions of dollars. Let's cut out the waste and fraud in health care programs like Medicare – and at the same time, let's make modest adjustments so that Medicare is still there for future generations. Finally, let's ask the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations to give up some of their tax breaks and special deductions.
This balanced approach asks everyone to give a little without requiring anyone to sacrifice too much. It would reduce the deficit by around $4 trillion and put us on a path to pay down our debt. And the cuts wouldn't happen so abruptly that they'd be a drag on our economy, or prevent us from helping small business and middle-class families get back on their feet right now.
This approach is also bipartisan. While many in my own party aren't happy with the painful cuts it makes, enough will be willing to accept them if the burden is fairly shared. While Republicans might like to see deeper cuts and no revenue at all, there are many in the Senate who have said "Yes, I'm willing to put politics aside and consider this approach because I care about solving the problem." And to his credit, this is the kind of approach the Republican Speaker of the House, John Boehner, was working on with me over the last several weeks.
The only reason this balanced approach isn't on its way to becoming law right now is because a significant number of Republicans in Congress are insisting on a cuts-only approach – an approach that doesn't ask the wealthiest Americans or biggest corporations to contribute anything at all. And because nothing is asked of those at the top of the income scales, such an approach would close the deficit only with more severe cuts to programs we all care about – cuts that place a greater burden on working families.
So the debate right now isn't about whether we need to make tough choices. Democrats and Republicans agree on the amount of deficit reduction we need. The debate is about how it should be done. Most Americans, regardless of political party, don't understand how we can ask a senior citizen to pay more for her Medicare before we ask corporate jet owners and oil companies to give up tax breaks that other companies don't get. How can we ask a student to pay more for college before we ask hedge fund managers to stop paying taxes at a lower rate than their secretaries? How can we slash funding for education and clean energy before we ask people like me to give up tax breaks we don't need and didn't ask for?
That's not right. It's not fair. We all want a government that lives within its means, but there are still things we need to pay for as a country – things like new roads and bridges; weather satellites and food inspection; services to veterans and medical research.
Keep in mind that under a balanced approach, the 98% of Americans who make under $250,000 would see no tax increases at all. None. In fact, I want to extend the payroll tax cut for working families. What we're talking about under a balanced approach is asking Americans whose incomes have gone up the most over the last decade – millionaires and billionaires – to share in the sacrifice everyone else has to make. And I think these patriotic Americans are willing to pitch in. In fact, over the last few decades, they've pitched in every time we passed a bipartisan deal to reduce the deficit. The first time a deal passed, a predecessor of mine made the case for a balanced approach by saying this:
"Would you rather reduce deficits and interest rates by raising revenue from those who are not now paying their fair share, or would you rather accept larger budget deficits, higher interest rates, and higher unemployment? And I think I know your answer."
Those words were spoken by Ronald Reagan. But today, many Republicans in the House refuse to consider this kind of balanced approach – an approach that was pursued not only by President Reagan, but by the first President Bush, President Clinton, myself, and many Democrats and Republicans in the United States Senate. So we are left with a stalemate.
As a result, the deficit was on track to top $1 trillion the year I took office.
9:05 p.m. ET @AriFleischer As a senator, O supported an even more expensive, bigger Medicare drug program, which wasn't paid for.
9:03 p.m. ET @LisaDCNN OBAMA: so far, saying I inherited the deficit and then the economy tanked.
9:02 p.m. ET @EWErickson The President starts out blaming the GOP. Hey GOP, guess what he'll do if Boehner's plan passes and we lose our credit rating?
9:02 p.m. ET President Obama: To make matters worse, the recession meant that there was less money coming in, and it required us to spend even more – on tax cuts for middle-class families; on unemployment insurance; on aid to states so we could prevent more teachers and firefighters and police officers from being laid off. These emergency steps also added to the deficit. Now, every family knows that a little credit card debt is manageable. But if we stay on the current path, our growing debt could cost us jobs and do serious damage to the economy. More of our tax dollars will go toward paying off the interest on our loans. Businesses will be less likely to open up shop and hire workers in a country that can't balance its books. Interest rates could climb for everyone who borrows money – the homeowner with a mortgage, the student with a college loan, the corner store that wants to expand. And we won't have enough money to make job-creating investments in things like education and infrastructure, or pay for vital programs like Medicare and Medicaid.
9:01 p.m. ET Note: Standing off to stage right in the East Room: Chief of Staff Daley, fellow Chicagoan Valerie Jarrett, Press Secretary Jay Carney.
9:01 p.m. ET President Obama Good evening. Tonight, I want to talk about the debate we've been having in Washington over the national debt – a debate that directly affects the lives of all Americans.
For the last decade, we have spent more money than we take in. In the year 2000, the government had a budget surplus. But instead of using it to pay off our debt, the money was spent on trillions of dollars in new tax cuts, while two wars and an expensive prescription drug program were simply added to our nation's credit card.
8:41 p.m. ET @David_Gergen In past, Presidents usually give emergency speeches about someone outside hurting USA. This is a self-inflicted wound!
8:36 p.m. ET @ErinBurnettCNN Source who met w/S&P says SIZE of Boehner plan is the problem.MIGHT not be enough to avert downgrade,needs to be closer to $3TR all at once.
8:35 p.m. ET @David_Gergen On CNN, will be watching #Obama, #Boehner to see if they can get past posturing, lead us to safety.
8:22 p.m. ET Robert Reich during interview on CNN Social Security "is not the problem." Says social security is actually in surplus right now, and is making the deficit actually look smaller than it is.
8:18 p.m. ET Sen. Jeff Sessions during interview on CNN "The problem we've got is not the debt ceiling. The problem we have is the surging deficit."
6:52 p.m. ET @AWMooneycnn More on Obama's speech: He will outline no new plan
Corporate America has more cash on their books now then any other time in U.S. history and yet they fail to create new jobs for Americans and refuse to reinvest their profits in the American economy. The only way to have corporate America pay their way is to close corporate tax loopholes and collect more revenue through taxing those companies.
Please stop asking us to pay more taxes. Please lead this country by example. If you want us to give more, than the government needs to stop spending our hard earned tax dollars so frivolously. Stop blaming someone else for your spending, own up and change. Do you think about the unemployed when you are spending trillions on a health care program that doesn't work? I find it most unprofessional that you are taking the time to call Congress a Circus, who is the ring leader???? What is your plan to help this country that is in great distress? P. S. This is my first letter to any politician ever. You asked us to write, I did my part now you do yours.
This boils down to greed, re-election, and fear. To quell the fear, Obama needs to approve a weekly debt limit increase, while exploiting all this republican crap.
I can't get through to my Republican representative to tell him to vote for a debt increase or do't bother coming back to Washington State. But his "Server is too busy" so I guess he doesn't want to hear from an average American who is fed up with his behavior
Both the Democrats and Republicans are right! True leadership and really caring about the american people will be from the party that compromises and gets the deal past. I will vote for the party that concedes their position so that progress can be made.
don't play russian roulette with the country's finances. It will be UNACCEPTABLE for all members of congress and the president if we default. Period. Everyone will LOSE if that happens.
After reading some of these comments, I am shocked and appalled. You're upset about spending? Where were you when Reagan raised the debt ceiling 18 times? Bush and Bush raised the debt ceiling a total of 16 times. Where were you Republicans? I didn't hear you squawking then! Where were you when W went to congress for a special appropriation borrowing bill for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan? Right now the cost of those two wars to the American taxpayer is $1.26 trillion dollars? Who spent that money? Damn Republicans talk out of both sides of their faces!!!
Sickened by the whole affair, we are the pawns, the losers, and the bystanders who have no control. An entire nation held hostage to the demands of a radical congressional caucus as narrow minded as the Islamist terrorists we have battled in two wars. And we were supposed to be the wiser...
I am an Oregon resident. I tried to contact my representative, Greg Walden, regarding the debt limit increase. I tried every site I could find and was told that "the service is not available." Have all the Republicans shut off their e-mail?
my representative's (latta OH fifth district) server is down, reading 'server is too busy'. it's been down since obama's speech
Obama's speech tonight was a huge disappointment. His comments keep dividing our nation. He should be drawing us closer together as these "United" States. We should only spend what we bring in and balance our nations budget.
The solution is simple. Identify spending cuts and revenue increases and define the result we wish to achieve and predetermine how we will invest the revenue available. Measure the impact of each (cuts and revenues) and adjust them as necessary based on their impact. Use triggers for change based on the results we achieve so that we remain acute and agile. Let the results dictate the direction. This takes courage not partisan positioning.
The President is trying to drive a wedge into this issue and trying to crash it. Get him out of this issue and American politics now.
How can we address such a large issue with a complete lack of compromise Mr. Speaker? Let the Bush Tax cuts expire and get your house in order.
Obummer.....nothing but more scare tactics, lies, and blaming Bush and the repubs. When has this president had an idea of his own? And congress isn't any better. 545 people in Washington deciding what is right for you and me. It's ridiculous. And the corrupt media only makes it worse. This country is in serious trouble right now and most people don't even have a clue!
It is simple. Dramatically cut spending and implement a flat tax.
You can talk about who is right, who is wrong. Until the big 3 (medicaide/medicare, social security, defense) are considered in the discussion, nothing will be solved. For one minute, take a look at where our money goes.
the pres said what needed to be said.
the right wingers say it is their way or the country can go to hell.
you never hear the right wing and bsggers adress the charge of the fact that they will never give an inch. they just think their way if God's way and they do not have to do anything - it is up to the pres and dems to do the giving and up to them to winning the game against their own country. this is not a game and they are not God chosen ones. i have read the bible-i love the beatitudes. they say they are honest and christians-it is time they acted like a christian and an american.
I think the rich should pay there share,but they will not tax the hand that fees
I don't think the Republicans realize how bad they are making themselves out to be. It's interesting to note how Speaker Boehner exclaims how he is representing the American people. I didn't realize he was the President? I thought he represented the 8th district of Ohio. Or better yet he represents the wealthy donors to his campaign. It's also important to note that his district makes a median income of $43,000 dollars whereas Pres. Obama is asking for tax increases on families and individuals making more than $250k and $200k respectively. So why is Speaker Boehner fighting for no tax increases for the wealthy? His argument along with the Republican Party is that increase in taxes "kills jobs". Ok, if it does then those very same wealthy HAVE to guarantee to spend that money on creating jobs. But we all know that's never going to happen.
Pres. Obama has come across the aisle to compromise on a variety of deals to which the Republicans have emphatically denied. They are not realizing that the latest gallup polls have them blamed for the country's current woes. In addition, it's also important to note that Speaker Boehner did not make any mention of Bush's two tax cuts, an expensive, two wars ALL unpaid for. A large majority of this debt belongs to the Republicans of which Speaker Boehner agreed to raise debt ceilings all 7 times during Bush's presidency. Now Pres. Obama who ACTUALLY is trying to make CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN has made two spending bills – Stimulus and Healthcare, one of which prevented a depression and other while controversial for some, now find it beneficial as they can their children up to age 26 and NO denial of coverage for insurance. What Republican president has ever partaken such a milestone?
I am still waiting for Republicans to make sense...
I'm registered as a Republican and am fairly conservative. I've listened to both the President and the Speaker of the House make their respective cases. On this one, I agree w/ President Obama. It's the better path back to fiscal health. He had made the better case!
The republicans were against the health care program from the begining and the President fell right into their trap, Bush is the cause of the country to be in this codition, i never heard John Boenner complaining about the way they were spending money or squandering it.
You can't blame Obama the poor man is doing the best he can, Bush printed more money to solve the problem.
In the long run this is more a political issue than a finincal one and the middle class people is carrying the burden
The last time I checked the united states was not a business and nor can it operate that way to be successful. Unless we have sold our nation to privet company , and if that is the case then they should pay the debt . Members of congress should be ashamed for their actions that have gotten our entire nation into this nightmare , because of their greed and adolescent ways, the whole nation must hold its breath as we watch spoiled members of congress flex their iron fist.
Congress needs to start acting like leaders. Learn how to compromise. Us middleclass citizens can't pay much more. The rich should pay their fair share. History has proven that when the rich pay more, it does create jobs and stabalizes the economy.
The GOP is still trying to blame the president for the spending that has happened in the last decade. Why is the GOP taking such a hard line on keeping the tax breaks for the wealthy, is it the contributions they make to the GOP? They will find out the wealthy is only 2 percent of Americans and the other 98 percent will vote, it's scary for them.


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Contract workers, or freelancers, are invaluable to small businesses. They fill vital positions without the overhead of a full-time employee. They don't require health care benefits, for the most part. They can generally be reached beyond the nine to five time period, which is crucial for organizations that need to see business activity during off hours. And if you find the right contract worker that goes beyond the scope of the project, like offering additional analysis, submitting extra spreadsheets of insight into your project, or just checking in, you've struck gold. And there's an excellent chance that the freelancer will be hired again.
Business News Daily reports that Jason Snagusky, founder and president of eKoffe.com says: "We predict an even broader shift towards contract employees and utilization of freelance personnel to fill expertise gaps, as well as roles traditionally performed by full-time employees, to help ease business costs and increase cash flow. Many small businesses will continue to employ the Hollywood model, whereby small, expert teams are assembled to meet the demands of a particular client or project, then disbanded after completion. The focus towards lean, efficient employment strategies are essential to promote top-line growth. This becomes paramount given the increasing costs of retaining full-time staff, and rising health care costs."
This disbanding of a team after project completion reflects today's rapid-fire approach to business. Companies can use a team for a six-week project and then immediately apply the brakes, and hire a new team for a different assignment. And contrary to popular belief, freelancers can be on site, too – not just a faceless worker on Skype.
If contractors are on site for a brief period of time, what does each project require, besides the talents of that qualified worker? What about hardware? Laptops, cell phones, printers – all have to be shared and then shared again with the next incoming team. That's a lot of legwork. And if you allocate company-issued cell phones to multiple contractors, how can you have the peace of mind to know that each device is being handled in a professional manner in numerous hands?
Autoforward is a cell phone spy app that allows employers to keep track of all business activity that's taking place on a company-issued mobile device. The organization can view all the important actions that the contract worker is involved in, including call logs, text messages, social media activity (so important these days, as a huge amount of marketing is done through social media channels), GPS location and much more. Autoforward has a simple three-step process of download, install and monitor and is truly cost-effective for any business with one flat rate and no monthly fees. Then, as the contractor revolving door spins around, and that cell phone is distributed to another face, any company can rest easy that there's only business transacting at all times. And not monkey business. With cost reduction being on the forefront of every CEO's mind, it makes perfect business sense that outsourcing work is the right decision. Freelancers are here to stay.

subset: commoncrawl


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Facebook Director Peter Thiel Has Earned $1 Billion in Total Facebook Stock Sales, as Stock Price Falls
Peter Thiel, Facebook's Director, sold most of his shares in the social media site for a whopping $1 billion dollars, reports Bloomberg News.
Thiel sold 20.1 million shares in the Facebook on Aug. 16 and Aug. 17, which earned him $395.8 million. He also banked $640.1 million back when he sold shares during the initial public offering.
Thiel's initial investmen in Facebook was $500,000 in 2004, making him one of the biggest financial winners of Facebook.
Before his investment in Facebook, Thiel was a co-founder of PayPal and was the CEO until the company was bought by EBay for $1.5 billion in 2002.
Thiel used his PayPal money to start hedge fund Clarium Capital Management and to invest in startups, such as Facebook.
However, those who invested in Facebook stock the day it went public, May 18, have actually lost money.
Facebook's initial public offering price was $38 a share, but now the stock is down to $19.01 a share, as of yesterday.


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Luka Magnotta trial: Grisly video evidence could take a toll on jurors
Trauma of trial will likely 'wash out' with time, but PTSD still a risk for some, mental health experts say
Jurors were warned weeks in advance that they were coming and that they'd be hard to watch, but the videos played at the Luka Magnotta murder trial this week and last still came as a shock to some in the Montreal courtroom, and the scenes of dismemberment, macabre sex acts and violent death they showed could end up taking their toll.
"Just viewing the trauma can produce post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in exactly the same way as if you were actually part of it," said Ken Welburn, clinical director of the Ottawa Anxiety and Trauma Clinic.
You're seeing somebody suffering that desperately needs help, and you can't do anything.- Ken Welburn, clinical psychologist
Watching more than a dozen videos of Magnotta repeatedly stabbing Concordia University student Jun Lin with a screwdriver, cutting his throat and dismembering and defiling his corpse brought jurors face to face with the crime, and it's that proximity, along with the severity of the violent acts themselves, that can have negative psychological effects.
"You're seeing somebody suffering that desperately needs help, and you can't do anything. You're just sitting there watching it," said Welburn, who has studied PTSD symptoms in people who watched the 9/11 terrorist attacks unfold on TV. "The helplessness is a big predictor of getting PTSD."
- Jury sees unedited clips from Magnotta video
- Magnotta jury watches 'infamous' video
- Dr. John Bradford won't work Magnotta case because of PTSD
For Bradford, who has worked some of Canada's biggest murder trials, they brought back similarly shocking scenes from videos he had to watch for the 1995 trial of serial killer Paul Bernardo.
"I had this video show going on and on, and I couldn't sleep," Bradford said in a 2013 interview with the Ottawa Citizen in which he described gradually becoming more and more agitated, depressed and even suicidal in the weeks and months after viewing the Williams tapes.
Bradford, who turned down the Magnotta case because of his PTSD, was not the first to remind us that it's not only victims' families and laypeople who sit on juries who are at risk of being traumatized by disturbing evidence.
In 2010, Ontario court Judge Stephen J. Hunter refused to watch a video of a father repeatedly raping his 13-year-old daughter, saying he had seen enough such examples in his career to be able to hand down a sentence without viewing it.
Remember why you're watching, psychiatrist says
Welburn said jurors at the Magnotta trial have to remind themselves why they're watching the disturbing videos: to help ensure a fair verdict and perform a valuable service for the community.
However, he added, they must pay attention to how the content is affecting them and not become numb or dissociated.
"You have to be able to say, 'We're feeling it. Can we take a break?' so you have some control over how much you're immersed in the trauma, so you're not just sitting there helplessly," Welburn said.
- Magnotta trial hears from ex-PM's son, Karla Homolka's sister
- Blood stains described by forensic expert
- Key events in the case of Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka
Paul Hunter remembers well the effect that horrific evidence can have on those in the courtroom. The CBC correspondent covered the Bernardo trial, which, he said in an interview conducted over email, "overflowed with unthinkable horror."
"We sat and we listened, day after day, to the sound of a 15-year-old girl being repeatedly raped by two monsters," Hunter said of a video showing Bernardo and his accomplice girlfriend Karla Homolka raping and torturing Leslie Mahaffy, the first of four rape videos played in court.
"Then we sat through the same process with Kristen [French] and Jane Doe, as we had likewise with Tammy [Homolka]. With every victim, lawyers would play 'key' moments again and again and again. It was numbing."
Most jurors will get over it
Hunter says details from the trial still pop into his mind occasionally and certain songs will forever be associated with the radio soundtrack that played in the background of some of the rape videos — the same way that New Order's True Faith might become an unwelcome reminder for those who heard the song played in the edited Magnotta video shown last Thursday.
- The challenges of a not criminally responsible defence
- Emergency services need culture change to deal with PTSD
- PTSD and the ethics of erasing bad memories
To this day, Hunter won't shoot any home videos because the format reminds him of the home movies and sex tape made by Bernardo and Homolka, which were among the videos played in the view of the whole courtroom.
Psychologists say most people are able to get the violent acts they see and hear described in court out of their heads within a few weeks because humans are hardwired to subconsciously suppress such information or file it away as an aberration.
"It's really the exception that they cannot cope with it over the long term," said psychologist Stéphane Guay, co-director of the Trauma Studies Centre at the Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Montréal.
If memories persist, it could be a sign that individuals are suffering some of the same PTSD symptoms that soldiers or victims of a violent attack experience.
Having recurrent, distressing memories or dreams — this is the most frequent signal that something is going wrong.- Stéphane Guay, psychologist
"Having recurrent, distressing memories or dreams — this is the most frequent signal that something is going wrong," Guay said.
Other signs of PTSD or acute stress include depression; increased substance abuse; feeling wired, anxious or irritable; having trouble sleeping and concentrating.
"Those kind of symptoms, for a lot of people, happen in the first two days to four weeks, but for most people, it'll wash out without getting treatment. It just kind of fades," Welburn said.
Avoidant or obsessive behaviour should raise alarm
A sign that someone is not coping well with what they saw at trial is if they avoid talking and thinking about it altogether and become reclusive and withdrawn. Conversely, becoming obsessive and not wanting to talk about anything else is also cause for alarm, Welburn said.
- CBC's Dave Seglins describes the trauma of covering the Russell Williams trial
- Russell Williams pleads guilty to all 88 charges
- Jury duty: unfair burden or civic obligation?
People exposed to the details of violent crimes can also become hypervigilant, developing suspicions about strangers or beefing up their security.
"People will generalize what they saw in the trial to daily life," Guay said. "They expect this will happen in their neighbourhood."
In most provinces, jurors who find they're having trouble coping can ask the court to cover the cost of psychiatric counselling. The extent of jury support varies by province. In Quebec, jurors are entitled to five one-hour therapy sessions at a maximum cost of $65 an hour, while British Columbia and Manitoba provide jurors with a group debriefing session with a trauma expert after the trial.
There are things jurors can do on their own to cope during and after the trial, Welburn said.
"Trauma and anxiety is all about arousal [of the nervous system] ... so anything you can do to get into a relaxed state is good," he said. That could be connecting with friends and family or doing activities you enjoy.
People who have a high capacity to feel empathy or who are strong visualizers, especially, should develop strategies for keeping haunting thoughts at bay.
"Bring up some positive or pleasant images and direct your mind there rather than to the trauma," Welburn said. "When you leave the courtroom and the door closes — visualize the door closing, the TV going off and say to yourself, 'That's done now' ... and bring up the image of [a beach in] the Caribbean."
Guay says imagining in detail what you are going to see on a graphic video before it is played in court can help minimize the shock of the actual images.
Repeated exposure to horror weighs on the psyche
Journalists and lawyers have their own coping strategies.
Hunter had three rules he stuck to while covering the Bernardo trial: no black humour, make the victims part of every story and get away — mentally and physically — from the court during lunch breaks.
"Those three 'rules' helped me cope with the rest of the abhorrent sights and sounds of each day," he said.
I find that some things, and sometimes even minor bits of sadness, weigh upon me as they never would before.- Lee Burgess, Crown prosecutor
For Crown prosecutor Lee Burgess, who viewed the same videos Bradford did while working the Williams trial, having close relationship with colleagues who see the same type of evidence he sees provides "a great level of support."
Burgess has prosecuted many heinous crimes in his close to 25-year career and says that while he has built up a certain immunity in order to do his job, there is a definite cumulative effect on one's psyche.
"I find that some things, and sometimes even minor bits of sadness, weigh upon me as they never would before," he said. "Images and thoughts of disturbing events, of victims and of their families will now frequently enter my thoughts in ways they would not have when I had little exposure to such difficult cases."


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Behind the Scenes
A Little Bit of Heaven
The 4,000 delegates to GCOWE '95, from 186 countries, have now come down from their mountain-top experience in Seoul, Korea. They have returned to their home countries with a small taste of what heaven will be like. Many delegates expressed this sentiment to me directly, and it is the one thought that best sums up what we experienced at GCOWE '95.
It was heaven because of the tremendous atmosphere of Christian love and a shared passion to see the world evangelized. While the world outside still suffers under the spiritual bondage of racism and prejudice, the GCOWE delegates, representing most countries and races of the world, loved, shared, prayed for and served each other in a spirit that is very foreign to most of this world.
This global gathering dramatically demonstrated that a common love for the Lord Jesus Christ and a shared passion to see Him worshipped and glorified among all peoples is the answer to the world's problems. At various times during the consultation there were services of reconciliation between Arabs and Jews, between Japanese and Korean believers and between various denominations, accompanied by healing hugs and tears. The answer was there for all the world to see. But alas, few were watching.
This topic of reconciliation has important implications for world evangelization. Sins of one people against another which remain unconfessed and unrepented of do create spiritual barriers to the spread of the Gospel. My article dealing with this new emphasis on reconciliation starts on page 18.
GCOWE '95 was also historic because of the kind of people who came. Over two-thirds of the delegates came from Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East.
God is raising up a new brand of Christian leader that springs forth from what used to be the mission fields of the world. They have
become active and vital participants in the global missionary force. They have now taken ownership of the AD2000 vision and have become full partners in world evangelization. You can read more about this in my article on GCOWE '95 which starts on page 10.
We All Have A Part to Play GCOWE represents the laying of a good foundation for tremendous global growth of the vision to reach every people with the Gospel. But for this to happen, all of us must be serious about mobilizing the church's abundant resources for strategic involvement. Everyone, both senders and missionaries, have a role to play. The sender can mobilize his church and those of his community with frontier mission vision to adopt-a-people. The missionary can mobilize the people he is working with to start mission agencies that reach cross-culturally.
At the U.S. Center we are calling on the worldwide Body of Christ to lay aside the pursuit of self-interest and material gain and join the AD2000 and Beyond Movement in this battle to bring the Gospel to every people and every person by the year 2000.
Reaching this marvelous goal will require everyone to be willing to sacrifice of their time, energy, prayers, money and perhaps even their very lives. There is no greater purpose and no higher calling to which we can dedicate our lives. Whatever sacrifice we make will pale in comparison to the all-surpassing greatness of seeing people from every tribe, tongue, people and nation honoring, worshipping and glorifying our beloved Lord Jesus Christ. Let us all lay aside the lesser things, goals and priorities that dominate our lives and dedicate ourselves to this task.
MF Impacting the World One way that you can support the AD2000 and Beyond Movement is by supporting the work of Mission Frontiers. We printed and shipped over eight tons of material for distribution at GCOWE '95, including the official delegate handbook. We shipped over 400 sets of back issues of MF to GCOWE '95 and every set was taken. We see our job here as impacting Christian leaders worldwide with frontier mission vision. It was evident at GCOWE that we have already had an impact. Yet so much more needs to be done. As you can see on the next page we are making progress in covering our costs in 1995 but we need many more to partner with us. Please consider sending a gift of whatever you can afford to help us. We will be very appreciative of whatever you can do.
Mission Frontiers Is Now Available Electronically We are very happy to announce that Mission Frontiers is now available electronically on the Internet. The Internet is a global network of computers which millions of people all over the world now use to communicate through electronic mail and to do research from their computer. You can learn more about how you can receive MF electronically by reading the article on page 27. Millions of Christians worldwide will now have access to the frontier mission vision of MF through their computers. You will now be able to receive MF at no extra cost. You won't have to wait weeks or months to receive it either. Isn't that good news.


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- Born in 1890 and raised in Sonoma, Ed Peterson Opens his Plumbing and tinning shop at 438 First Street West (Yenni Building).
- Peterson was a plumber and a dealer of tanks, pumps, water pipes, windmills and brass faucets. His customers included the State Department of Engineers, Vallejo Barracks, Buena Vista Winery, Sonoma State Home (Sonoma Developmental Center) and schools.
Bay Area Plumbing & Mechanical Contractor Since 1915


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Needless to say, this post is pretty well dominated by Christmas. Tons of artists tend to pop up this time of year. Maybe it's because ponies look so comfy in winter clothing and Santa hats? Something about it just increases the amount of art by double.
Note: We will have a "Best of Christmas" art post in a few hours compiling the greatest of the last 6 years, along with a separated "Saucy" one judging by the amount of art that is leaning in that direction. Expect those later in the afternoon once it's all compiled up!
Until then, get lots of NEW art below!
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Happy Holidays 2016! by Wynnchi
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A Pony Kind of Christmas by The-Wizard-of-Art
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Warmth of the Dawn by Sycreon
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Back to the times when we were young by AurelleahEverfree
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Pony Kind Of Christmas by RubyW32
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A Hearth's Warming Tail by GlitterStar2000
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Good Night and Merry Christmas lil' apple by GlitterStar2000
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Happy Holidays by Bratzoid
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Merry Christmas - 2016 by InuHoshi-to-DarkPen
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Happy Hearths Warming 2016 ! -- H-W Folio 2016 by ShutterflyEQD
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In The Spirit of the Season by dm29
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Happy Holidays 2016! by DangerCloseArt
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Merry Christmas! by SwanLullaby
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Princess Luna by LadyUnilove
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Applejack's Warming Eve by AssasinMonkey
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Best of wishes by Madacon
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Ponk by Bloodatius
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Chill by GiangHanez2880
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Sleigh Belle by VanillaGhosties
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Hearth's warming eve is near! by Ulyanovetz
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A Holiday Twi by Celebi-Yoshi
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Here comes the sun by Charmilious
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Guardian of the Empire by SpectrumBlaze
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Hearth's Warming music by tyuubatu
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limestonepie 26 by kaikoinu
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Princess of Animals by PhoenixPeregrine
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On Hearth's Warming Eve by Plainoasis
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Join the friendship army today! by Aureai
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End of Christmas by Mesperal
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Rarity Xmas by Pony-Stark
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The Chosen One by Marmorexx
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Sunset Shimmer (+speedpaint) by Cloud-Drawings
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Prince Sombra - Sketch Commission by Dragonfoxgirl
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Christmas by Kinda-L
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Happy Happy for you by pridark
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F by tolsticot
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Ocean Bay by engibee
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CM: Belle Serene by Riouku
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Merry Christmas from ArcticFox and Zebra - 2016 by Ashley-Arctic-Fox
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YCH: White Feather Santa by BlazeMizu
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Merry Christmas oc! by Kinda-L
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Mary Christmas by VanillaMocha01
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Merry Christmas by Blackligerth
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Rut Allen by 0okami-0ni
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Christmas Morning by pumkinroll
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Commission: Dreaming Dawn by adostume
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[Side Art] Changeling Royal Guard by vavacung
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2016/12/25 by ciciya9318
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Merry Christmas! by Luximus17
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[MLPArtTrade] Illona by HuiRou
Sunday, December 25, 2016 op 2:00 PM
Labels: Art, Drawfriend, Not-Fanfiction
Drawfriend Stuff #2119 (Art Compilation)
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Download the reflective self-assessment tool below to determine how you may benefit from Second Season Coaching. Have questions? Watch the video for a preview. If you join the Second Season Club, submit your survey results to get feedback from Coach Deborah Minor Harvey.
With over 30 years' experience, we offer a personal development journey that empowers you to face challenges head-on and reinvent your professional life. Deborah brings insight to every phase of your reinvention from her rich experience at The Right Source, Inc. Drawing from a life full of adventure, she makes instant connection with almost any audience.
Watch a Preview of The Reinvention Assessment
A second season begins after a significant life change, planned or unplanned. It can be prompted when disenchantment with a career path reaches a tipping point. And often, dramatic lifestyle interruptions create groundbreaking opportunities when you know how to rebuild and reinvent. Whether you're rediscovering yourself after a period of grief, divorce, or loss of a home or job, life offers seasons of renewal and opportunity.
If you've experienced changes that have left you disoriented, stuck in the past, or paralyzed in your goals, Second Season Coaching is for you. We've helped clients reinvent themselves after:
- Termination or downsizing from a job
- Planned or unplanned retirement
- Forced or voluntary georelocation
- Resettlement after divorce or separation
- New career goals after an empty nest
- Hard-won independence after long-term disability
Please note: Second Season is designed to help guide you through a innovative process of establishing a new direction and reinvention. It does not offer grief counseling, divorce mediation or counseling, post traumatic therapy, psychological therapy or social services of any kind. Learn more about Second Season here.


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It is Full and Complete Game 100% Working.
Jack Nicklaus Perfect Golf is sport video game developed by PERFECT PARALLEL and published by Perfect.Golf, Inc.The game has huge potential and promise. Granted, the EA version has a few issues upon initial release but they are being caught by the new users and the Devs have a good list of things to work upon. That said, the game is beautifully playable offline and only limited today, by the online connections many games suffer from. It's best to begin offline anyway and play the game as it was made to be, a golf simulation.It was released on 3 May, 2016 for PC.we provided Jack Nicklaus Perfect Golf PC Game with pro account of mediafire(without ads, direct link) under * .Is this game is free and for Pc? Yes this game is free video game and for Computer. Please see below screenshots and system requirements to understand you, Can you able to play this game on pc? so after check out download , Install, play and Enjoy!.Now Check Out Below Download link ,download game and enjoy!.According to me Download >>Install>>Play>>Enjoy!.
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Need Help!:If everyone have problem in downloading or in installation then leave a comment.Kindly comment is related with this post.
Check Gaming Zone is a blog, which was created in 2013 and is known for having a large collection of PC Games.Where you can download most popular PC Games in Highly compressed mode.We are providing games with high server mediafire link (without ads, direct link) and also torrent link games.
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Winrar Password: checkgamingzone / checkgamingzone.blogspot.com
Winrar Password: checkgamingzone / checkgamingzone.blogspot.com
File size:5.60 GB


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Beginning Animal Communication Class
Utopia Place – 270 Washington St. in Pembroke, Ma.
$55.00 for a single person
$50.00 if you bring someone
Additional Details:
Did you ever wonder what your animals like, want or need? Bring pictures of your animals, living and in spirit. Register with Heaven On Earth at 781-857-1444 or with me at 508-672-6710. A portion of the proceeds to benefit Forever Paws Animal Shelter in Fall River, Ma. where they give animals a new lease on life. I hope to see you there and your critters do too! The second part of this class will be offered on August 19. You can take one class or both, the cost is as stated per class. You may email me at [email protected] or call me at 508-672-6710 for more information.


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Indiana gun permit applications surge 83 percent
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The number of gun permits issued by the state rose by 83 percent during 2013 compared with the previous year, according to Indiana State Police.
The state issued 111,000 personal protection permits in 2013, and at year's end Indiana had 538,000 active firearms license holders, the Evansville Courier & Press reported Sunday.
"It really was an aberration of things happening nationally in politics, and both sides, pro-gun and anti-gun, making an issue of it," Capt. David Bursten said, referring to the surge of license applications.
State police had generally received about 4,500 applications until last year, when deadly shooting events, including the one at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut in December 2012, led President Barack Obama to seek stricter ammunition policies and universal background checks. Indiana gun permit applications surged to 23,000 in January 2013, and applications for the first six months of the year reached 90,000.
Wait times for permits took weeks or even months longer than normal, prompting state police to add five temporary employees to help ease the workload.
Bursten said those five positions will remain filled indefinitely while the state evaluates whether the demand for gun permits remains steady.
Most applications can clear the state police within two weeks, but incorrect information on applications can delay processing times, Bursten said.


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Three Mexican nationals were arrested and at least 80 bales of marijuana, with a street value of $1.6 million, were found.
Members of the U.S. Coast Guard spotted the panga fishing boat floating 150 miles off the coast of Malibu just after 11 p.m. Tuesday. When the suspects realized the authorities had found them, they immediately started dumping the bales of marijuana into the water.
"So far we've recovered about 1,600 pounds of marijuana," said Ross Feinstein, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). "U.S. Coast Guard is still on scene and they are obviously continuing to recover additional bales in the water."
The Coast Guard chased the boat to Point Dume and fired shots into the engine to disable the boat. The panga was then towed to the dock in Marina del Rey, and the three men were taken into federal custody.
Authorities said this is the fourth drug bust off the coast Los Angeles since Saturday.
"We have seen an increase in the number of pangas being used to smuggle narcotics from Mexico," said Feinstein.
This was a dangerous and bare-bones operation for the smugglers. They were floating 150 miles out at sea with no lights or navigation, 20 barrels of fuel and only cans of tuna and bread to eat.
"This is not a boat that should be 150 miles off," said Feinstein. "These are obviously the boats that were apprehended, [but] we don't know how many have possibly sunk, how many lives have been possibly lost by these drug smugglers. It's very dangerous."
It was unclear where the boat was headed. But in the past, smuggling operations like this from Mexico have landed as far north as Santa Barbara.
ICE officials said increased security on the southwest border means this probably will not be the last boat they find. Since last October, 51 people have been arrested and at least 14 pangas and 11,000 pounds of marijuana have been confiscated off the coast of L.A. County.
The three Mexican nationals arrested are facing federal drug smuggling charges.


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After taking office, Eisenhower soon replaced General James Van Fleet, who had started arguing for an all-out invasion, with Lt. General Maxwell Taylor. No immediate progress was made in the negotiations other than the exchange of a few prisoners in March of 1953. In order to show strength, the Communists made an attack on Americans at "Pork Chop Hill" in April. Eisenhower was unfazed, and by the end of April talks were once again underway Panmunjom. On June 8, the two sides finally came to an agreement over the tricky POW (Prisoner of War) issue, outlining their solutions in a document call the "Terms of Reference." Under this agreement, those POWs that refused to return to Communist territory would be placed under the auspices of a neutral commission for a period of three months. If, after the end of those three months, the POWs still refused to be repatriated, they would be allowed to go free. With the POW issue solved, it seemed that a final peace treaty was in sight.
After the "Terms of Reference", however, the Communists pressed for some final negotiating leverage with a one-week offensive in June. And on a second front, the US had to deal with the problem of Syngman Rhee, who continued to spout promises about Korean reunification, and who promised to invade North Korea even if he only had the ROK army on his side. The US considered organizing a coup to remove Rhee from power, but never carried the action out. Instead, the US convinced Rhee to stop shouting for reunification by promising to intervene on South Korea's behalf if North Korea ever did invade, and by promising $1 billion in aid for South Korea's economic recovery after the war.
Despite these minor crises, agreement was finally reached at Panmunjom. On July 27, 1953, The UN, China, and North Korea signed an armistice. South Korea refused to sign, but with little effect. Under the terms of the treaty neither side would be allowed to increase the number of non-Korean military personnel stationed in Korea. The armistice also established a 2.5 mile wide buffer between North and South Korea along the 38th parallel, termed the "demilitarized zone." Within this zone, all troops and weapons were banished. In practice, however, the zone was heavily militarized, with over 1 million troops facing off. In fact, because South Korea never signed the armistice, the two countries remain technically at war even today.
After the war, North Korea and South Korea remained divided, a symbol of the effect of the Cold War similar to the division of Germany and Berlin. Families were broken up by the war and lived on opposite sides of the demilitarized zone, unable to visit or even communicate with each other.
Syngman Rhee's southern regime became even more dictatorial, and in 1960 he resigned after student riots. South Korea only became more unstable with his departure, and it is only in the last two decades that South Korea has really seen sustained economic growth. In North Korea, Kim Il-sung developed a full-scale personality cult, and ruled until his death in 1994. Tensions between the two countries remain to this day, perhaps seen best in North Korea's boycott of the 1988 Seoul Olympics, to which the USSR and PRC sent athletes. The legacy of the Korean War continues to haunt the United States, as the US worries about North Korea's possession of nuclear weapons.
Along with his vast military experience and easy-going attitude, part of Eisenhower's confidence in the spring of 1953 stemmed from the fact that the US had successfully tested an which was vastly more powerful than an A- Bomb, and had thereby surged ahead in the arms race with the USSR (the Soviets shocked the US by testing their own H-bomb in late 1953). Eisenhower considered nuclear bombs to be just another weapon and was considering using small nuclear bombs in Korea, especially because, for their price, they packed more punch than conventional weaponry. He never actually authorized their use, however.


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Steelers assistant coach Joey Porter was arrested Sunday night after Pittsburgh's AFC wild-card playoff game win over the Dolphins, according to police.
CBS Pittsburgh reported Porter was handcuffed and placed into a police car outside a Pittsburgh bar called The Flats following an altercation with a police officer. Bar security guards called police about an unruly customeraround 9:30 p.m. Sunday night, the report said.
In a statement, the Steelers said they were aware of an incident involving Porter but did not offer further details.
We are aware of an incident tonight involving Joey Porter, the team said. We are still gathering information as it pertains to the situation, and we will have no further comment until we get more details.
The Steelers' win set them up with a matchup against the Chiefs next weekend. Brock Osweiler Cheap Hockey Practice Jerseys seemed especially bothered by his third interception of the second half. His pass, intended for a double-covered C.J. Fiedorowicz, was picked off and returned by Duron Harmon to New England's 34-yard line with about three minutes left to play.
The Patriots earned their sixth straight AFC championship game appearance, the most Cheap International Soccer Jerseys all time. Oh and they covered the ridiculous spread, too.
The star of the game was Pats running back Dion Lewis, who became the first player in NFL history to score a rushing touchdown, a receiving touchdown and a kick-return touchdown in a single postseason game.


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Jesus Curses the Fig TreeMark 11.12-14
On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see whether perhaps he would find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. He said to it, 'May no one ever eat fruit from you again.' And his disciples heard it.← →


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Every spring Portland, OR fills up with people for the Rose Parade. With an influx of people from far flung tinny towns to suburbia… Oregon comes to Portland. Big trucks, 4 wheelers and a people watchers dream all make up this slightly jarring and weird tradition. So strange, Elliot Smith wrote a song about the experience.
Either way, this series of art combines photos of people from the Rose Parade, found nude girls on the internet into promotional posters for my first art website, www.squadup.net and a clothing brand Eightysixnine.
And if that's seems strange… then you've never been to the Rose Parade before.


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53-Year-Old Maggie Cheung Makes A Rare Appearance On Instagram
She still radiates cool.
Remember Maggie Cheung the Hongkong screen goddess who has all but disappeared from the public eye? Sadly, this story is not about the 53-year-old making her comeback – oh, how we wish! But this is as good as it gets. A photo of Maggie, who retired from acting in 2006, recently made its way on the Internet after a woman Instagrammed a pic she took with the former actress who she met at Iron Fairies, a bar in Hongkong. It's said that Maggie, who apart from the occasional event appearance has stayed out of the spotlight for the most of the last decade, was there to attend a party.
The pic of course generated a lot of online chatter, with many netizens noting that Maggie looks healthy and happier, at least compared to when she was in showbiz. She had quit acting to focus on her other interests like music.
Maggie, a former Miss Hongkong 1983 runner-up, is one of Asian cinema's most-loved screen icons. Her cool, languid beauty made her a star, but it was her sublime ability to disappear into any role that made her a legend.


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Introduction | Planning Guide | Party Pack | Sponsors | Official Rules
Congratulations to the winners of The Light in Her Eyes Premiere Party Pack Giveaway: Michael Parish (Tamarac, FL) & Laura Garmendia (Red Lion, PA)
|Planning Guide (PDF)Download »
Ready to host your own The Light in Her Eyes Premiere Party? It's easy--red carpet not required! Here's a guide to getting started.
Set a date and place -- Invite as many people as you like to your home, school, community center or any location to watch The Light in Her Eyes on your television or laptop. The Light in Her Eyes will have its national broadcast premiere on Thursday, July 19 at 10 p.m. (check local listings). Host your party the night of the premiere or during the first two weeks that the film is streaming online. http://video.pbs.org.
Invite your guests -- Use the Punchbowl invite template for an easy way to invite friends and family. Sign into Punchbowl for free and choose the Movie/TV theme to create your Premiere Party invitation--www.punchbowl.com
Test your A/V equipment and check your local listings -- Make sure your TV or computer connection works before the big bash. And check to make sure that The Light in Her Eyes is airing at the right time on your PBS station by entering your zip code on POV's TV Schedule Page.
Watch The Light in Her Eyes!
Talk about the film -- Encourage your guests to share their insights and reactions. You can also give your guests a bit of context about the film (head over to the Film Description to read more about the film, and see what the filmmaker has to say).
One way to get a discussion going is to pose a general question such as:
- If you could ask anyone in the film a single question, who would you ask and what would you ask him or her?
- What did you learn from this film? What insights did it provide?
- Describe a moment or scene in the film that you found particularly disturbing or moving. What was it about that scene that was especially compelling for you?
Or try a film-specific discussion question:
- How do you define "feminism"? Does Houda's work fit within your definition? Explain your reasoning.
- Houda describes education as a form of worship. In your view, how does it change education to approach it as sacred? How does this characterization of education provide women with an entree into the traditionally male sphere of the mosque?
- In what ways is the hijab an expression of identity (like a Christian wearing a crucifix)? What are the implications of such visible expressions when they are adopted by or required for only one sex or the other? What other religious or cultural traditions ask women or men to cover their heads? How do the reasons for head covering in those traditions compare with the reasons that Houda gives?
Take pictures-- Take pictures of your party and upload them to POV's Premiere Party Flickr group
Tweet, Blog, Facebook-- We want to know who joined in, what you thought of the film and what you talked about. Blog about your party and send us a link, Tweet @POVengage to tell POV what you discussed, or Fan POV on Facebook and leave us a comment.
Take Action-- Find out more about the issues and learn how you can take action.
Tell us about your Premiere Party for a chance to receive a POV Prize Pack-- Visit the The Light in Her Eyes Premiere Party Entry Page two weeks after the Thursday night premiere (the contest ends at 5 p.m. ET two weeks after the national broadcast premiere) to tell POV about your experience and to enter the giveaway.Make sure to leave us your email address, and you may be selected to receive a POV Party Pack!
There will be two Party Pack winners for each POV broadcast for a total of 26 winners. All entries will be eligible for the Grand Prize, which will include all of the gifts plus a Sony a77 DSLR camera and lens (Retail value: $1,999).
The Grand Prize winner will be announced on January 29, 2013.


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5G could be used for real-time holographic video, says UK's Ofcom
5G is very much a future thing and, despite how much various mobile industry players want to push their own ideas, it's currently very ill-defined. Nonetheless, the regulators of the airwaves need to think ahead, and the U.K.'s Ofcom is doing just that.
On Friday Ofcom launched a consultation on the use of spectrum above 6GHz for 5G services after 2020. These are pretty high frequencies as mobile communications go, but they're in the zone that many see as the base for what they want 5G to be – high-bandwidth (maybe 10-50 gigabits per second), low latency, not great at operating over long distances, but maybe usable for delivering mobile broadband with the right arrays and beam-forming techniques. (Over in the U.S., the FCC is looking to 24GHz and up.)
Seeing as we barely know what 5G is supposed to be just yet, spelling out its use cases is a bit of a rocky job. According to Ofcom:
The spectrum… could support a variety of uses, ranging from financial trading and entertainment to gaming and holographic projections, with the potential to support very high demand users in busy areas, like city centres.
A picture on that page depicts a vision of real-time holographic video communications. Well, this is five years into the future after all, and whatever 5G is, it will likely have a lot of bandwidth to play with.
"5G must deliver a further step change in the capacity of wireless networks, over and above that currently being delivered by 4G," acting Ofcom CEO Steve Unger said in the statement. "No network has infinite capacity, but we need to move closer to the ideal of there always being sufficient capacity to meet consumers' needs."
Right now, the territory north of 6GHz is used for a variety of things, such as satellite broadcasting and weather monitoring. As telecoms regulator, Ofcom will need to make sure everything can coexist nicely. Those who want to share their views with Ofcom about the use of spectrum over 6GHz for 5G purposes should let the regulator know by February 27th.


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Learn how your company can create applications to automate tasks and generate further efficiencies through low-code/no-code tools on November 9 at the virtual Low-Code/No-Code Summit. Register here.
Last year, AOL cofounder Steve Case's Rise of the Rest venture closed a $150 million seed fund to invest in startups in cities that have historically been overlooked — places like Cincinnati, Memphis, and Salt Lake City. $150 million funds don't usually get write-ups in the New York Times, but Case's did. That's because the Rise of the Rest fund's LPs are prominent executives like Jeff Bezos, Eric Schmidt, and Sean Parker.
Name recognition alone made the new seed fund one of the year's most-talked among Heartland-based startups and investors. Ultimately, the fund's goal is not just to deploy seed capital, but to create a network that startups can tap into at scale. That way, startups in Middle America can more easily access the resources they've traditionally lacked — particularly follow-on capital and technical talent.
It's still too early to tell if Rise of the Rest will succeed in that endeavor. But it's worth looking at the seed fund's first year of investments to see where it is focusing its efforts.
As of today, there are just over 100 portfolio companies in the seed fund, representing just over 30 states. Not all of those investments were made this year — about 40 of the included portfolio companies were winners from the fund's past "Rise of the Rest" tours. Case and his team have hosted startup pitch competitions in cities across the U.S. over the past several years, with the winning company receiving a $100,000 investment from Case.
A handful of others stemmed from investments Case made several years prior at Google for Entrepreneurs' annual Demo Day. Still, in a conversation with VentureBeat at the end of December, Case estimated that the seed fund has been averaging about one new investment per week this year.
When the seed fund was first announced, managing director JD Vance told VentureBeat that Rise of the Rest wouldn't lead any rounds, its checks would be smaller than $1 million, and it would be "industry agnostic." These are some of the reasons the team has been able to invest at such a breakneck speed.
Based on the group of portfolio companies listed on Rise of the Rest's website, its largest share of investments — roughly 15 percent — come from the Washington, D.C.-Baltimore metro area. That's not too surprising, given that the VC firm the Rise of the Rest fund is a part of, Revolution, is headquartered in Washington, D.C. Even a VC firm that wants to invest all over the country is still disproportionately plugged into what's happening in its own backyard.
The other cities Rise of the Rest has made the most investments in won't come as a surprise. The fund has made five investments each in the Los Angeles, Raleigh-Durham, and Chicago areas. Rise of the Rest has also made four investments each in the Austin, Dallas, and Minneapolis-St. Paul metro areas. While some are going to startups in smaller cities like Birmingham, Alabama and Memphis, Tennessee, Rise of the Rest's investments have so far been concentrated among the most developed startup hubs that comprise the "Rest."
Even for a firm that's industry agnostic, Rise of the Rest's investments cover an unusual gambit. Investments range from Wtrmln Wtr, which sells cold-pressed watermelon juice, to Palmer Luckey's defense tech company Anduril to weather station developer Understory.
Case told VentureBeat that the fund wants to remain open to diverse industries because cities have different industrial strengths — Washington, D.C. is stronger in life sciences and Indianapolis has a growing B2B software sector, for example. The idea is to bring in a lead investor with industry expertise while Rise of the Rest focuses on making connections with other entrepreneurs and investors.
"What we're doing then is … helping them on their storytelling, communications side, helping them in terms of the platform services that we provide," Case told VentureBeat.
To that end, Rise of the Rest this year launched a job board featuring open positions from its portfolio companies. The hope is that tech talent that migrated to the West Coast and wants to move back to the South or Midwest will use the board to see what companies are hiring in their cities.
Playing into its desire to be thought of as a "connector" for so-called Heartland startups, the fund also announced this year that it was bringing on two new partners to make real estate investments in Rise of the Rest cities.
"Even three or four years ago, when we were traveling around … in different cities we visited [we were seeing] interesting neighborhoods that were essentially being revitalized because of the role of startups," Case told VentureBeat. "[Investing in] mixed use and coworking space and apartments and things like that will end up making it easier for companies to start and scale."
But the follow-on funding rounds are where Rise of the Rest's thesis — that its biggest value proposition is connecting startups to investors across the country — will be tested. Can a startup in Pikeville, Kentucky with Rise of the Rest connections raise follow-on funding as easily as one in Chicago? Will startups be able to attract investors with the necessary industry expertise? And can Rise of the Rest successfully convince coastal investors with ties to its high-profile LP list to participate in a Series A or B round?
Case said that one challenge the Rise of the Rest team encounters — that they've tried to address in meetings with entrepreneurs and investors — is that entrepreneurs in smaller startup markets face more pressure from investors to sell their company early. This means they'll probably sell before generating the eight- or nine-figure exits that can draw more money back into the startup ecosystem. But Case said some startup news in 2018 has helped challenge that mindset.
"Some of the more recent things, like an $8 billion exit from Qualtrics, a [nearly] $3 billion exit from Duo Security in Ann Arbor — these things are helpful in terms of getting people's attention," Case told VentureBeat.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings.


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Remember last year when I got the flu in January? Well sheeit, I GOT THE FLU AGAIN!! I ask you people, what the hell. What the eff. I really never get sick. Last year it was because a baby puked on me, this year, I dunno, were we just being cute?
Anyway, here's my updates. I've got 18 and a half pages of rough pencils on Nanny Girl, chapter one. Two long Bachelor Girl scripts completed. I'm sore but slugging away!
Also, I will be at WONDERCON in San Francisco in about a month, and I'll have a new book! It will be a preview edition of both NG and BG. Just you wait. Mwuaa ha. I'm at table 83 in Artists' Alley.
Off to dream of the flu shot I will undoubtedly be getting next year. Cause, this shit is too much.
Kiss kiss!


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Lynn Haven to consider maximum tax rate
LYNN HAVEN — City Manager Joel Schubert proposed a maximum millage rate of 3.9 at a workshop on Monday.
The City Commission will vote on that proposal at 4 p.m. Tuesday. If approved, the rate would be a slight increase over the tax rates of 3.08 mills since 2008. One mill equates to $1 of tax for every $1,000 of value.
Local governments are required to set a maximum millage rate before the July 31 TRIM notice deadline taxpayers receive. The City Commission would still have an opportunity to lower that figure and Schubert said that up to three positions might be eliminated, two through attrition and one where an employee would be moved into a vacant position, to lower expenditures.
Schubert said his first goal for the $23.8 million budget was to create a self-sustaining general fund. The proposed budget does not have the city dipping into reserves, as they have the previous three years. The city does have the need to pay to replace filters at its sewage plant, a $2.8 million project, which Schubert suggests funding through a bond.
The commission also will consider raising solid waste, wastewater, water and stormwater fees. Per 6,000 gallons of use, the total increases would amount to $2.96, $1.44 for sewer being the largest increase. Schubert said all of these increases are recommendations based on the Consumer Price Index.
The proposed budget also includes a 2.1 percent cost of living pay increase for employees.
Schubert detailed in a presentation that the city has lost revenue since 2010, about $500,000 total. At the same time the city has decreased employees, going from 173 to 159 even though the population of the city has increased by 3,000 people. With a population of 18,911, that's one employee for 124 people, Schubert said, adding that Panama City has a ratio of 1 to 69 and Panama City Beach is 1 to 45. Panama City's property tax is set at 3.87 mills.
"Hats off to our employees doing more with less," Commissioner Antonius Barnes said. "I don't think we can keep that up."


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On Tue, 31 Jan 2012, Eduardo Horvath wrote:
What sort of machine is this and what device is the console? The cnmagic code only works on the console input device if that device has the cnmagic support hooks.
It's amd64
wskbd.c currently does not support cnmagic. Someone should probably add that. OTOH, someone should also change wscons so we don't translate from USB keycodes to whatever we're using internally to what the X server expects. It's redundant and really complicates things like adding cnmagic support.
:) I infer from your comment that I'm not likely to be succesful with ddb.Since I really only need to update a single memory location (to enable some additional printf's), can this be done with gdb on the running machine? Can I make gdb write to /dev/mem or /dev/kmem ?
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