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The Wall Street Journal had a great article about "Whats Ahead for Jumbo-Loans Borrowers in 2016." It goes on to talk about with a down stock market you could see rates get even lower and as I say time and time again, every 1% increase in an interest rate reduces your buying power 11%.
A new millennium, a new wave of home buyers is on the horizon. The average age of millennials, as of 2015, was about age 25. This means that at around age 25, for the most part, schooling should be out of the way, a foundation has been started, and the millennials are looking for somewhere to start their roots. Sunny Fort Lauderdale has much to offer to any first-time homebuyers looking to begin their lives somewhere.
This program is for primary residences only and is offered at no additional cost to the buyer and can get them up to $1500 per month to pay their mortgage if they lose their job.

subset: commoncrawl


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Welcome! I'm glad you made it here safely! The site is still "under construction" so bear with me. There will be a snazzy banner and other bells and whistles up pretty soon. I also want to make the photos larger. (Anyone know how to do that?)
We're all a bit tired of being inside. I worked at home on Thursday due to the snow, Princeton was closed for staff on Friday because of the snow, you get the gist… Despite all the snow however, there's not much left. Let the mud season begin!


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Tue927 2022
Last update02:07 AM GMT
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US Hamas policy blocks Middle East peace
Failed bilateral talks over these past 16 years have shown that a Middle East peace accord can never be reached by the parties themselves. Israeli governments believe they can defy international condemnation of their illegal colonial project in the West Bank because they can count on the US to oppose international sanctions.
|Saturday, September 4,2010 15:29
Failed bilateral talks over these past 16 years have shown that a Middle East peace accord can never be reached by the parties themselves. Israeli governments believe they can defy international condemnation of their illegal colonial project in the West Bank because they can count on the US to oppose international sanctions.
Bilateral talks that are not framed by US-formulated parameters (based on Security Council resolutions, the Oslo accords, the Arab Peace Initiative, the "road map" and other previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements) cannot succeed.
Israel's government believes that the US Congress will not permit an American president to issue such parameters and demand their acceptance. What hope there is for the bilateral talks that resume in Washington DC on September 2 depends entirely on President Obama proving that belief to be wrong, and on whether the "bridging proposals" he has promised, should the talks reach an impasse, are a euphemism for the submission of American parameters. Such a US initiative must offer Israel iron-clad assurances for its security within its pre-1967 borders, but at the same time must make it clear these assurances are not available if Israel insists on denying Palestinians a viable and sovereign state in the West Bank and Gaza.
This paper focuses on the other major obstacle to a permanent status agreement: the absence of an effective Palestinian interlocutor. Addressing Hamas' legitimate grievances – and as noted in a recent CENTCOM report, Hamas has legitimate grievances – could lead to its return to a Palestinian coalition government that would provide Israel with a credible peace partner. If that outreach fails because of Hamas' rejectionism, the organization's ability to prevent a reasonable accord negotiated by other Palestinian political parties will have been significantly impeded.
If the Obama administration will not lead an international initiative to define the parameters of an Israeli-Palestinian agreement and actively promote Palestinian political reconciliation, Europe must do so, and hope America will follow. Unfortunately, there is no silver bullet that can guarantee the goal of "two states living side by side in peace and security." But President Obama's present course absolutely precludes it.
Road to nowhere
Peace talks at an impasse
The Obama administration has reversed the trajectory of previous administrations' engagement with the Middle East peace process. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush avoided dealing with the issue in the early stages of their presidency. President Clinton pursued a peace agreement far more seriously than did President Bush, but not until the closing days of his second term. By contrast, President Obama addressed the issue aggressively virtually the day after he took his oath of office. He appointed Senator Mitchell his personal Middle East peace envoy, delivered a historic speech to the Arab and Muslim world in Cairo, and presented Netanyahu's government the toughest demand for a freeze on all further Israeli settlement enlargement in the West Bank and in East Jerusalem ever made by any US administration – and all within the first year of the first term of his presidency.
But it has been all downhill since. The settlement freeze Prime Minister Netanyahu agreed to turned out to be a sham, the proximity talks a monumental waste of time. President Obama's most recent encounter with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on July 6, at which he felt constrained to express admiration for the seriousness of the commitment to a two-state solution of a man who has shown nothing but disdain for the idea, has triggered despair throughout the region deeper than was experienced during the disengaged Bush administration.
Bilateral talks cannot succeed
Such a reconsideration must begin with a rejection of the notion that a Middle East peace accord can ever be reached by the parties themselves, with the US role limited to "facilitation." Failed bilateral talks over these past 16 years have shown that left to their own devices, negotiations between Israeli governments – that believe resorting to overwhelming military power is the solution to every political and security challenge – and a powerless Palestinian adversary can only result in the enlargement and completion of Israel's colonial project in the West Bank, notwithstanding American "facilitation," or "bridging proposals," as this administration prefers to call it. Bilateral talks that are not framed by US- formulated parameters (based on Security Council resolutions, the Oslo accords, the Arab Peace Initiative, the "road map" and other previous Israeli- Palestinian agreements) cannot succeed.
A two-state solution will remain beyond everyone's reach because even the most hardline Israeli governments are convinced that the US Congress will not permit an American president to issue such parameters and demand their acceptance by Israel. Israeli governments believe they can defy international condemnations of their colonial project in the West Bank because they can count on the US to oppose international measures that would sanction their illegal behaviour.
If it is to succeed, a US effort to rescue the two- state option must be prepared to offer Israel iron- clad assurances for its security within its pre-1967 borders, but at the same time make it clear that such assurances are not available if Israel insists on denying Palestinians a viable and sovereign state in the West Bank and Gaza.
Credible Palestinian partner lacking
This view, shared by virtually every Middle Eastern political and security expert, was expressed concisely as the conclusion of a recent essay on the subject in Foreign Affairs: "Hamas is here to stay. Refusing to deal with it will only make the situation worse: Palestinian moderates will become weaker, and Hamas will grow stronger. If the Obama administration is to move its plans for peace forward, the challenge of Hamas has to be met first."1
As argued in this paper, a more balanced approach to Hamas, addressing legitimate grievances, could lead to its return to a Palestinian coalition government that would provide Israel with a credible peace partner. If that outreach fails because of Hamas' rejectionism, its ability to prevent a reasonable accord negotiated by other Palestinian political parties will have been seriously undermined.
The misreading of Hamas
Hamas' democratic mandate
The Oslo accords declared Gaza to be an inseparable part of Palestine, and obliged Israel to provide an unobstructed territorial connection linking Gaza to the West Bank. That provision was reinforced by a formal Israeli-Palestinian agreement (the Agreement on Movement and Access) in 2005 for the free movement of people and goods between these two areas, brokered by James Wolfensohn, then secretary of state Condoleezza Rice's special envoy for Gaza disengagement, an obligation Israel violated even before the ink on the document dried.2
Hamas was denied its electoral mandate and excluded from the West Bank because Fatah conspired with Israel's government and the Bush administration to carry out a putsch by Mohammed Dahlan's militia forces in Gaza to overthrow Hamas. The attempted putsch was pre-empted by Hamas in a bloody manner.3 But the way Dahlan's forces had previously dealt with Hamas' members that it had imprisoned (or the way Abbas' Fatah has dealt with them in the West Bank since) should not leave anyone with false illusions about the treatment that awaited Hamas had Dahlan's putsch succeeded.
Hamas' obsolete charter
While the government of Israel does not have a charter promising the expulsion of Palestinians from their homes and the confiscation of their land, it has been doing exactly that – regularly and systematically. These confiscations and expulsions began even before Hamas existed, yet no one in the West demanded Israel be quarantined, or even that it be denied continued massive American financial and military assistance.
More to the point, Hamas has made it abundantly clear that its charter – like the PLO's charter which Arafat famously dismissed in 1989 as "caduque" (obsolete, expired) well before it was formally annulled – no longer represents Hamas' ideology. Its various proposals for a long-term hudna (ceasefire) with Israel, if it were to agree to a Palestinian state within the pre-1967 borders, clearly contradict its charter.
A more direct repudiation of the charter's anti-Jewish and anti-Semitic diatribe came from Khaled Meshal, the head of Hamas' political bureau, in an interview conducted by the Jordanian Arabic-language newspaper Al-Sabeel in July (translated into English by the Afro-Middle East Centre in South Africa).4
Meshal was asked whether Hamas' resistance was directed "against Zionists as Jews or as occupiers." Meshal replied, "resistance and military confrontation with the Israelis was caused by occupation, aggression, and crimes committed against the Palestinian people, not because of differences in religion or belief." He said that although "religion is a cornerstone to our lives … we do not make of religion a force for engendering hatred, nor a cause or a pretext for harming or assaulting others, or grabbing what is not ours, or encroaching on the rights of others" – referring, of course, to the Israeli settlers' invocation of the Bible to justify the theft of Palestinian land in the West Bank.
Contrast this to the declarations of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, a former Chief Rabbi of Israel and the leader of the most important Orthodox political party in Israel, during a recent Sabbath sermon: "Abu Mazen and all these evil people should perish from the world. God should strike them with a plague, them and these Palestinians." In a previous sermon in 2001, he told his followers: "It is forbidden to be merciful to [the Arabs]. You must send missiles to them and annihilate them. They are evil and damnable."
Not a single member of Israel's cabinet condemned Rabbi Ovadia Yosef for these pronouncements.
Recognising Israel
Shortly after the press conference I told Usama Hamdan, a leading member of Hamas' political bureau, that a Palestinian government cannot sign a peace agreement with Israel and still maintain that it does not recognize it. Hamdan agreed, and told me that Meshal agreed as well. He noted that since state- to-state recognition is a governmental responsibility, not a function of individual political parties, Hamas' refusal to recognize Israel does not prevent a government of which Hamas is a part from granting that recognition. He noted that Israeli governments – including the current one, whose prime minister claims to want a two-state solution – have included political parties that oppose Palestinian statehood, and no one has suggested this disqualifies these governments as partners for peace negotiations, or made them candidates for sanctions of the kind imposed on Hamas.
Israeli contradictions
Indeed, not long after Netanyahu made that two-state declaration, most of his cabinet ministers formed a parliamentary caucus in Israel's Knesset, called the Land of Israel Caucus, whose goal it is to defeat their own government's effort to allow a Palestinian state in any part of Palestine in the unlikely event it were to try to do so. (It is not difficult to imagine how Netanyahu would have reacted to a "moderate" Palestinian government made up of parties dedicated to the denial of Israeli statehood.)
More recently, in a TV interview with Charlie Rose, Khaled Meshal stated that Hamas will end its resistance activities when Israel ends its occupation and accepts a Palestinian state within the pre-1967 border. This reverses Hamas' previous commitment to a struggle to recover all of Palestine. Israelis and their supporters in the US ridicule anyone who credits such statements, pointing out that in that same interview Meshal insisted on the Palestinian refugees' "right of return," which he knows no Israeli government will accept.6
Apparently they expect Hamas to concede that right – one that Abbas and Fatah also demand – before negotiations have begun. But they do not similarly ridicule Netanyahu's declared support for a two-state solution even when he attaches conditions everyone knows no Palestinian leader would ever accept. Defenders of Netanyahu insist he must be left with negotiating room for the compromises he will have to make, but apparently believe Palestinians do not deserve that same consideration.
It is this feigned Israeli ridicule of any Arab opening towards Israel that sank King Abdullah's peace initiative of 2002 offering to normalize the relations of all Arab states with Israel; "feigned," because it is not scepticism of Arab seriousness that is behind Israeli leaders' dismissal of Palestinian or Arab states' outreach to them, but the fear that it may be sincere, and would therefore compel serious Israeli responses that would expose Israel's real positions on final status.
That exposure is something Netanyahu has so far refused to risk, for it would prove that the territorial and security constraints he intends to impose on Palestinian sovereignty amount to a continuation of Israel's occupation under some other name. It was Netanyahu's refusal to provide that information to Obama when they met at the White House on March 23 that precipitated the crisis in Israeli-US relations that Obama sought to diffuse so humiliatingly at their meeting of July 6.
Hamas – pragmatic and opportunistic
Questioned by his interviewer in Al-Sabeel about the "marginalisation of women's role in political and social life," Meshal stated that this marginalisation "does not come from the text and spirit of the Sharia," but is the result of "cultural backwardness." He declared that Hamas will not allow "the ages of backwardness or the weight of social norms and traditions that stem from the environment rather than the religious text" to distort Islamic concepts, "especially since the environment of Palestine is not a closed one but a historically civilized one, enjoying plurality and openness to all religions, civilizations and cultures."
A recent report7 revealed that the view that US policy towards Hamas is based on a serious misreading of the movement is shared by senior intelligence officials at US Central Command – CENTCOM. In a confidential report to CENTCOM's commander, General David Petraeus, these intelligence officials questioned the current US policy of isolating and marginalizing Hamas and Hizbullah, and urged that Washington instead encourage them to integrate with their respective political mainstreams. They reject Israel's view that Hamas is incapable of change and must be confronted with force. They maintain Hamas is pragmatic and opportunistic, and that failing to recognize its grievances will result in our continuing failure to get it to moderate its behaviour.
At the heart of Hamas' grievances is the double standard that Israel, the US and Europe apply to the entire range of issues the peace talks are intended to resolve. Hamas' leadership maintains that what distinguishes its movement from Fatah is its refusal to swallow this hypocrisy. It insists on absolute reciprocity, especially with respect to the Quartet's three conditions for removing the political quarantine against it. These conditions require Hamas to recognize the State of Israel, accept all previous agreements with Israel, and renounce violence. Yet these three obligations – every one of them – have been regularly ignored and violated by Netanyahu and preceding Israeli governments.
Settlements violate agreements
The argument that the settlements are necessary to assure territorial adjustments required for Israel's security has no credibility. The settlement enterprise long ago exceeded the most expansively defined Israeli security needs. It was not Israel's Peace Now but former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert who, while still in office, ridiculed such claims. Olmert said that for Israel's military and security establishments, "it's all about tanks and land and controlling territories and controlled territories (sic) and this hilltop and that hilltop. All these things are worthless." He added, "Who thinks seriously that if we sit on another hilltop, on another hundred meters, that this is what will make the difference for the State of Israel's basic security?"8
Palestinian rights not recognised by Israel
As long as Israel's government refuses to delineate its borders and to recognize the right of Palestinians to a state of their own east of the 1967 lines, Hamas will reject demands that a Palestinian state of which it is a part recognise Israel. As noted above, Netanyahu refused to indicate his government's definition of Israel's borders even in the privacy of his meeting with President Obama at the White House on March 23.
The second Quartet condition is that Hamas abide by all previous Israeli-Palestinian accords. Clearly, neither President Obama nor the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, believe Israel has abided by this obligation, or they would not have demanded that Israel halt all further settlement expansion in East Jerusalem and in the West Bank. Israel's violations of previous accords have not been limited to borders and settlements, but include the "road map" and the Oslo accords' provisions that the future status of Jerusalem can be determined only by agreement between the parties, not by unilateral fiat, as Netanyahu's government seeks to do.
Non-violent alternative lacking
As a sovereign state, Israel enjoys a monopoly on the use of violence, but only within its own borders. It has no greater claim to a right to resort to violence to implement measures – such as the transfer of its own population to territories under occupation – that are clear violations of international law, than does its subject population.
It is not reasonable, to say the least, to expect that Palestinians would renounce violence and rely instead on their occupiers – who covet their land and are frantically settling their own population on it – to serve as judge and jury of their grievances. The demand that they renounce violence without being provided a credible non-violent alternative, such as a third-party monitoring authority that is empowered to adjudicate grievances from both sides, is neither defensible nor implementable.
Hamas' religious agenda
That restraint, and Hamas' formal commitment to democratic governance notwithstanding, there is no greater danger to democracy – or to any kind of civilized existence – than the toxic combination of religious zealotry and xenophobic nationalism. That holds as much for Israel as for Islamic movements and regimes. When the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) prepared their onslaught on Gaza, the chief chaplain distributed to the soldiers religious literature authored by nationalist rabbis from the settler community, instructing them that Palestinians must be considered descendants of the Biblical enemy of the ancient Israelites, the Amalekites, whom God wants utterly destroyed. The pamphlet stated it is a sin to show compassion towards Palestinian civilians, including children. What impact that "religious" literature had on the appalling disproportion of Palestinian civilian casualties in that operation, including large numbers of Gaza's children, we will probably never know.
Hamas not an al-Qaeda proxy
In fact, Hamas does not share al-Qaeda's goals, or its hostility to the West and the US. It has consistently rejected al-Qaeda's urgings that it target American and Western interests, limiting itself instead to the Palestinian national struggle, for which it would like American and European support, understanding how critical that support is to the achievement of Palestinian national aspirations. Opposition from more extreme anti-Western jihadist factions and would-be al-Qaeda supporters within Gaza has been brutally put down by Hamas, for ideological reasons no less than the threat these factions pose to Hamas' hegemony.
In his interview in Al-Sabeel, Meshal rejected violence for its own sake, or as dictated by ideology or religion. He argued violence may be necessary for pragmatic reasons, because "negotiations and peace require a balance of power, for peace cannot be made when one party is powerful and the other weak; otherwise this will be surrender." Those who are forced to negotiate out of weakness and on terms that disadvantage their rights "are the ones that will pay the price of the negotiations," he said.
Hamas is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood. Like its parent body, it has little in common with a Salafist purism that calls for a literalistic Islam insulated from modernity and from a modernizing pragmatism that seeks to adapt Islam to the modern world.9 Predictions of its likely behaviour when Palestinian statehood will have been achieved can no more be based on its behaviour during a revolutionary struggle against a powerful occupier than the Yishuv's10 resort to terror during its pre-state struggle was an indication of its comportment after the founding of the state.
Jewish terror
That there may also have been yet untold Israeli violations of international law well after the establishment of the state too incriminating to be revealed seems evident from Netanyahu's recent decision to restrict access to government archives on subjects that include, according to a Haaretz editorial entitled "A state afraid of its past,"12 expulsions and massacres of Arabs during and following Israel's War of Independence.
Zionist terrorism does not condone Hamas' terrorism. But its history serves to make two points: the inevitability of such abuses when non-violent paths to the achievement of legitimate national goals are denied, and the fallacy of the Israeli claim that a state that comes into existence by terrorist means must inevitably become a terrorist state. The leaders of the two major pre-state Zionist terror organizations, Yitzhak Shamir and Menachem Begin, became prime ministers of what Israelis like to believe is "the only democracy in the Middle East." (Not that there are many other democracies in the region, but Israeli democracy increasingly stands on the most fragile of foundations.)
The Israeli charge that, unlike the Zionists who abandoned past excesses once they achieved statehood, Hamas continued its terror assaults on Israel even after Prime Minister Sharon withdrew every Jewish settlement and settler from Gaza is disingenuous. The dishonesty of that comparison lies in its implication that with the withdrawal from Gaza, Palestinians achieved their goal of statehood and independence in a part of Palestine.
Not only the West Bank, but Gaza has remained under Israel's occupation, for it has been surrounded by the IDF on land, sea and air, and subjected to an Israeli campaign of de-development that has completely devastated what had remained of Gaza's economy. The stability that Hamas has achieved in Gaza despite Israel's relentless efforts to bring it down is at least as impressive as what the Palestinian Authority (PA) has achieved in the West Bank, given the vast European and American resources endlessly poured into the PA's treasury.13
Breaking the stalemate
Political Islam cannot be ignored
Political Islam has emerged as the dominant religious, cultural and political movement in the Arab world and in much of the larger Islamic world. Most Muslim governments recognize this reality and have come to realize that competition with political Islam "can neither be suppressed nor ignored."14 Israel is a Middle Eastern country, and cannot expect to achieve security by conducting an endless war against political Islam. Its misguided effort to do so is not a sustainable national policy.
If the unresolved Israel-Arab conflict is not to bring the region to more radical instability and deeper conflict that will inevitably exact a heavy price from America as well, the Obama administration must lead an international initiative to define the parameters of an Israeli-Palestinian agreement and actively promote Palestinian political reconciliation. If Obama cannot provide that leadership, Europe must do so, and hope America will at least follow. Unfortunately, there is no silver bullet – not even American-sponsored parameters – that can guarantee the goal of "two states living side by side in peace and security." But President Obama's present course absolutely precludes it.
* Henry Siegman is president of the US/Middle East Project (USMEP), an independent policy institute. He is also a research professor at the Sir Joseph Hotung Middle East Programme of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Mr. Siegman has published extensively on the Middle East peace process and has been consulted by governments, international agencies, and non-governmental organizations. Major studies directed by Mr. Siegman for the Council on Foreign Relations include Harnessing trade for development and growth in the Middle East (2002), and Strengthening Palestinian public institutions (1999), conducted on behalf of the European Commission and the government of Norway. In 2002, he directed a study commissioned by the US Department of State and the US National Intelligence Council on the implications of "viability" for Palestinian statehood.
1. Daniel Byman, "How to Handle Hamas", Foreign Affairs, vol 85, no. 5, September/October 2010,
2. Shahar Smooha, interview with James Wolfensohn, "All the dreams we had are now gone", Ha'aretz, 19 July 2007, http://sabbah.in/aMRnZX , acccessed 21 August 2010.
3. David Rose, "The Gaza Bombshell", Vanity Fair, April 2008, http://sabbah.in/a55MCL , accessed 21 August 2010.
4. Afro-Middle East Centre, "Hamas' Meshal lays out new policy direction", 30 August 2010, http://sabbah.in/cr8GCc , accessed 30 August 2010.
5. Barak Ravid, "Meshal offers 10-year truce for Palestinian state on '67 borders", Ha'aretz, http://sabbah.in/bb21v0 , accessed 21 August 2010.
6. Charlie Rose, transcript of interview with Khaled Me- shal, 28 May 2010, http://sabbah.in/bUzAOn , accessed 21 August 2010.
7. Mark Perry, "Red Team", Foreign Policy, 30 June 2010, http://sabbah.in/bufmrQ , accessed 21 August 2010.
8. Ethan Bronner, "Olmert says Israel should pull out of West Bank", New York Times, 28 September 2008, http://sabbah.in/ajJ46D , accessed 21 August 2010.
9. Marc Lynch, "Veiled truths: the rise of political Islam in the West", Foreign Affairs, July/August 2010, http://sabbah.in/clMfgb , accessed 21 August 2010.
10. The pre-state Jewish community.
11. Benny Morris, Righteous victims: a history of the Zionist-Arab conflict, 1881-2001, Vintage Books, 2001, p 147.
12. "A state afraid of its past", Haaretz editorial, 29 July 2010, http://sabbah.in/bbMj7q , accessed 21 August.
13. Yezid Sayigh, "Hamas rule in Gaza: three years on", Middle East Brief 41, March 2010, Crown Center for Middle East Stud- ies, Brandeis University, http://sabbah.in/b3k4ln , accessed 21 August 2010; Nathan Brown, "Are Palestinians building a state?", Carnegie Endow- ment for International Peace, June 2010, http://sabbah.in/9U9LJ6 , accessed 21 August 2010.
14. Ian S. Lustick, "Israel could benefit from Hamas", Forbes magazine, 17 June 2010, http://sabbah.in/cCy3Di , accessed 21 August 2010.
Source: Norwegian Peacebuilding Centre (PDF)
tags: Direct Talks / Peace Process / Negotiation / Bush / Clinton / Obama / Netanyahu / Abbas / Settlements / Hamas / Jerusalem / Wesst Bank / Oslo / PLO / PLC / Zionism / Rabbi / Engage Hamas / Engagement / Hamas / Meshal / Arab-Israeli Conflict / Obama Administration / Settlement Expansion / Right to Resist / Road Map
Posted in Palestine
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Create an Account - Increase your productivity, customize your experience, and engage in information you care about.
Virtual Engagement Hub
Welcome to the Museums at Union Station digital platform. Here you can find videos and activities, stay informed about our current offerings, and easily access resources for educators, students, and learners of all ages.
Scroll below to find our #MUSkids section, Virtual program for Educators and Students, and Resources and Lesson Plans.


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# Advanced Parameters
Most measurement Protocols will output a large set of parameters derived from the recorded traces and sensors. Most Users might not need all of these Parameters in their data analysis. In order to make the analysis using the Data Viewer more accessible, you can hide those Advanced Parameters and only show the more frequently used Primary Parameters. Some Protocols don't have their Parameters separated, in which case they are all considered Primary Parameters.
By default, Advanced Parameters are hidden.
# Show/Hide Parameters
If you want to show or hide the Advanced Parameters, simply select the menu in the data viewer and check/un-check the checkbox for Show Advanced Parameters. Parameters will be shown/hidden from all dropdown menus, including the dashboard, plotting, map and statistics as well as all columns in the spreadsheet.
In case an Advanced Parameters is used for a graph and saved to the dashboard, the Advanced Parameters will be shown by default.
# Creating Macros
In case you are creating a Macro for a Protocol, you can use the
order key (more), to provide an array with Primary Parameters. Macros without this key/value pair will only output Primary Parameters.


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At the core of the Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO)'s mission is an unrelenting commitment to helping both young and experienced entrepreneurs learn and grow to new levels of leadership, in business and beyond. Continuing education is important, especially when you're trying to challenge the status quo. One way is executive education, offered through university programs and other professional organizations and institutes. We talked with EO members about their experiences pursuing executive education, specifically the Entrepreneurial Masters Program (EMP) at the MIT Endicott House, located in Dedham, Massachusetts.
It happens: You've created a great company and business is moving along when suddenly it hits you: You're bored and you want?no, you need?more. Not more money necessarily, but more personal and professional fulfillment. More enjoyment, more opportunities, more challenges. Entrepreneurs with an ongoing thirst for learning often turn to executive education programs to expand their knowledge base to tackle new challenges and opportunities.
Whether it's a short course, modular or full-time program, today's leaders understand the value of executive education in improving leadership skills and growing into the CEO they yearn to become. We spoke with entrepreneurs who have participated in executive education programs to find out why they decided to enroll and what value they gained. Here's what they shared.
Why, as a successful entrepreneur, did you seek additional education?
Andrew Blickstein, business coach at Petra Coach: "I'd been managing my business by gut feeling, and that was only going to get me so far. I knew that there was a lot more out there because I'd been exposed to learning events through EO. I specifically wanted to attend EMP because I knew committing a few days every year, over a three-year period and being exposed to world-class thought leaders would force me to put these lessons into action within my business. The need to go back in and report year after year to my classmates as an accountability group while getting a world-class education was huge for me."
Hao Lam, CEO of Best in Class Education: "There is a Chinese proverb that resonates with me: 'One must keep learning as long as she lives.' So, when I discovered the opportunity to enrich my life through additional education and connect with other like-minded entrepreneurs, I knew I had to take it."
Sue Hrib, co-founder of Auntiz Agentz: "We are constantly trying to grow our businesses, and without the proper education, it's hard to do. With what I learned through executive education, I was able to double my business and sell my company."
Adrienne Lea Palmer, founder of Insite: "I am a constant seeker of personal and professional growth. I love exploring how I show up in the world and how I can personally grow in order to make a more positive impact. No matter what level of success I achieve, I will always look for opportunities to learn."
Michele Hecken, CEO of Alpha Translations Canada: "I sought additional education for the same reason professional athletes need a coach: To grow my potential and create the best company I can?to win when I compete. Surrounding yourself with successful peers from different industries and walks of life provides some of the best learning opportunities and provided a significant competitive advantage."
What did you gain from executive education?
Hecken: "EMP provided some of the best speakers, tailored to entrepreneurs' most pressing challenges, who provided concrete, actionable insights and advice which we could implement in our companies immediately. Those learnings, tools and metrics have provided a foundation upon which my company continues to grow to this day."
Lam: "Not only did I learn vital information from fantastic speakers, but I walked away with invaluable lessons and tools that I could apply both personally and professionally. Most importantly, I formed bonds with 66 other lifelong learners. We became deeply connected to each other both inside and outside of the classroom. We still share good and bad news with each other and provide much-needed support if one of us hits a wall--it's priceless."
Blickstein: "I gained a foundation in the best practices for running a business. Most entrepreneurs open businesses because we feel that we can do that job better than our last boss did. Suddenly, we realize that running a business is different than providing a service or making a product. I needed to learn how to run a business rather than just deliver marketing insights and data to my clients."
Palmer: "The EMP program looks beyond what a typical business school program would provide. It includes business learnings, tactical tools and things that make you a smarter, more effective leader. It also looks at business through the eyes of a founder and entrepreneur, which is a unique and personal journey for each of us."
The Entrepreneurial Masters Program (EMP) is a three-year program that brings together 65 remarkable entrepreneurs?each a founder or co-founder of a company that grosses more than US$1 million?for four days per year. This executive education-style program provides an intense blend of practice and theory in a format that fits busy schedules.


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Bible, Kendrick Lamar, Living, Mortal Man, music, Process, Productivity, purpose, work, Writing
I am always wary about writing with a verse from the bible as the basis. Not because I'm not proud of my religious beliefs, but because I do not want to be shackled by its freedom. I also do so because the bible is open to several interpretations and one can be roped into a path far away from what he/she intended with religious debate.
But that went out of the window and I find myself running towards this hideous danger. Because sometimes, safe is just not safe enough.
Few days ago, at about 3: 00 am, while editing a Medium post for onward publication, I stumbled on an article that led me to Twitter and then to my bible, and back to tweeting about seemingly unrelated stuff.
The trigger for this episode of Writer's Diversion, Season Infinity was King Solomon's epistle. Ecclesiastics 11 vs 1 says "cast your bread upon the waters, and after many days you will find it again." Which I interpreted as "spread your writing, it will yield more result."
The dynamic resonance generated in that verse was in line with a post I read on Medium which I even quoted on the post I was working on. The author asked, "Do you write (publish) for money or attention?" And before answering I found myself wandering around Diversion Avenue, very close to 'I hoard more than I write.' So instead of letting these words free, I become like Scrooge: wrap all of them in my arms until I no longer have space for more but yet yearning for more.
While I realize some pieces need low heat to cook properly, as Orisirisi captured in her brilliant poem PATIENCE, some others have already outgrown parenting and should be released into the world.
Kendrick Lamar's song Mortal Man re-echoed Orisirisi's PATIENCE in these lines;
"The caterpillar is a prisoner to the streets that conceived it.
Its only job is to eat or consume everything around it, in order to protect itself from this mad city.
While consuming its environment the caterpillar begins to notice ways to survive.
One thing it noticed is how much the world shuns him, but praises the butterfly
The butterfly represents the talent, the thoughtfulness, and the beauty within the caterpillar.
But having a harsh outlook on life the caterpillar sees the butterfly as weak and figures out a way to pimp it to his own benefits.
Already surrounded by this mad city the caterpillar goes to work on the cocoon which institutionalizes him.
He can no longer see past his own thoughts.
He's trapped.
When trapped inside these walls certain ideas take roots, such as going home, and bringing back new concepts to this mad city.
The result?
Wings begin to emerge, breaking the cycle of feeling stagnant
Finally free, the butterfly sheds light on situations that the caterpillar never considered, ending the internal struggle.
Although the butterfly and caterpillar are completely different, they are one and the same."
Kendrick's lines at first glance might seem parallel to how I started this post, but it's much closer than you can currently see. And it's even more ironic that a piece of literature, written several centuries ago by a King who later lost his bearing jolted me out of my comfort zone and reminded me that some of the words hidden in my closet, should be out dancing in the rain.
If you read beyond verse 1 of Ecclesiastics 11, you will notice Solomon's insistence on showing up, doing the work and trusting the process.
Cupcakes don't bake themselves, people do. Right?
This isn't a license for indiscriminately sowing seeds — Jesus' Parable of the sower is a reminder to only seek fertile ground — but a license to let things go despite the fear of rejection. It's a way bill to show up despite the possibility of undeserved and toxic criticism. Like the caterpillar that kept showing up everyday until its metamorphosis is complete.
Preachy writing is something I wouldn't touch with a pool boy's stick but this might be one of such rare occasions that I do. This is as much a sermon for me as it is a tonic for you. A reminder to show up and do the work. To cast your bread upon the waters, because there are infinite number of directions the wind can drift it to. And even if you do not do it for another person, I believe this is a situation where selfishness is applauded. You should be selfish enough to do it for you. To show up for you. Because when the frustration of the race ending without you hearing the starting gun comes, it will hurt you more than others.
Don't limit this to writing as it is a package too large to be boxed into just writing. There are waters around you waiting to be stirred. A little here, and a little there, and the result might stun you. However, you should know yourself more than anyone else. You should know where this resonant with you. Where it is calling you to just give it a trial. And even if you might not try to read the other verses of Ecclesiastics 11 for clarity, do remember this: try things out, you never can tell which of them will work out.


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1 OSHA INFOSHEET Where are eyewash stations used? Eyewash facilities are required in workplaces where corrosive chemicals are used (29 CFR 1910.151(c)), as well as in HIV and HBV research
How should hazardous chemicals in the office be labeled and who's responsible for doing it? Which dental office staff members are required to receive Hepatitis B vaccinations?
Pima County Hazardous Waste TUCSON, AZ (Tucson News Now) – The City of Tucson and Pima County are hosting a household hazardous waste collection event this Saturday, Feb. 8 from 8 a.m. to noon. This is an opportunity for … Budget cuts have forced Pima County and the City of Tucson to reduce funding for the $600,000 regional household
The mission of the Occupational Safety and health administration (osha) is to save lives, prevent injuries, and protect the health of America's workers. As part of the Department of Labor, OSHA and the states that operate OSHA-approved state plans establish guidelines and standards to promote …
Complete Waste Disposal In business since 1999, lake county green lets you concentrate on your core business while we handle any environmental needs you may have, such as Hazardous Waste, Non-Hazardous Waste, Chemical Spill Response, Universal Waste, Light Bulbs, & Battery Recycling, Reconditioned Drums, Totes, Cardboard, Paper ,Recycling ,Used Oil, Consolidating And … … as the Accra Compost
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — The Philadelphia Department of Public Health has announced the closure of three philadelphia dental offices for improper … and lapses in injection safety practices.
Academy of Dental Learning & OSHA Training (ADL) is an ADA CERP Recognized provider. ADA CERP is a service of the American Dental Association to assist dental professionals in identifying quality providers of continuing dental education.
How Often Is Osha Training Required Oregon OSHA urges employers to blend the training offered … committee and meeting requirements for businesses, including the number of committee members, how often to meet, and functions to … erie waste management The town of Erie is giving Waste Connections about 10 acres to help … renewable sources, Boughey said. 9. waste management's North
Three dental offices in Philadelphia have been closed because of unsafe … investigators from the city Department of Public Health found evidence of improper safety practices. patients were notified …
Coastal Dental also practices dental work holistically, ensuring the utmost care and safety for every patient. Plenty of information about the office is clearly listed on their website to better …


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Business challenge
e-bebek is combining the speed and convenience of online shopping with the tactile experience of the retail store—but as it transitioned to the new model, gaining insight into costs was a challenge.
By replacing manual, spreadsheet-based budgeting and forecasting with an automated, centralized solution based on IBM Cognos TM1, e-bebek enables greater accuracy and control for financial reporting.
66%shorter budget cycle will help e-bebek adapt faster to new market trends
Enablese-bebek to use what-if scenarios to identify potential opportunities and threats
Supportsdecision-makers in their efforts to contain costs and lift profitability
Business challenge story
New model, new costs
If you've ever spent hours comparing product images online or struggling to work out exactly how the child safety seat you just bought fits together, you know that help from an in-store associate sometimes makes all the difference.
e-bebek, a born-on-the-web retailer of baby and children's products, realized that offering customers the support and reassurance of an in-store shopping experience would be a powerful way to nurture loyalty and increase its market share.
To offer its customers the flexibility to shop, compare, buy and exchange goods in store as well as online, the company embraced the bricks and clicks retail model, opening 70 retail stores across Turkey. As e-bebek transitioned to the new business model, it realized that the additional operational expenses of bricks-and-mortar operations required even tighter control over budgets, and more precise and frequent forecasting capabilities.
In the past, the company relied on manual, spreadsheet-based processes to prepare its annual budget and forecast operational costs at regular intervals throughout the year. The approach was initially manageable, but with cost drivers such as commercial rents added to the mix, the company realized that its processes were becoming increasingly prone to human error.
Previously, employees would send different versions of their budgets between departments via email, which made it difficult to ensure that everyone was working with the same sets of figures. In addition, multiple versions of the truth meant that reconciliation was a time-consuming process. To deliver more accurate information to decision-makers faster, the company looked for a new way of working.
Halil Erdoğmuş, General Manager of e-bebek, comments: "To manage our business more effectively and drive toward our strategic goals, we needed deeper insight into our budgets and forecasts, and better accuracy and traceability of targets across the company."
" IBM Cognos TM1 will definitely help us to add value to our company by optimizing our cost structures. "
— Kazım Mavuş, Financial and Administrative Affairs Manager, e-bebek
Transformation story
Improving the accuracy of budgetsTo solve the challenge, e-bebek engaged IBM Silver Business Partner Intellium to replace its spreadsheet-based approach with a centralized budgeting, planning and forecasting platform based on IBM Cognos TM1.
Ali Kılıç, General Manager, Intellium Information Technologies, says: "We listened carefully to e-bebek's needs around budget planning, forecasting and what-if modeling, and proposed a solution that would help them to achieve their goals. We are delighted to have assisted e-bebek in implementing IBM Cognos TM1, and believe that our collaboration will deliver mutual benefit."
Within just four months, e-bebek deployed the IBM solution across its business and trained its people to utilize the new capabilities.
"The combination of Intellium's project management competence and technical knowhow and our clear goal-setting created valuable synergies throughout the deployment process. We worked together with Intellium to solve challenges quickly and effectively," says Kazım Mavuş, Financial and Administrative Affairs Manager at e-bebek.
Today, e-bebek employees submit their budgeting and forecasting data via a single interface, enabling the company to eliminate the need to track figures into multiple versions of spreadsheets and share them via email.
Better still, e-bebek can now perform what-if scenarios based on its actuals and forecasts. Running these scenarios can enable the company to determine the impact of changes such as logistics costs or downturns in discretionary incomes, and build long-term strategies to mitigate the impact of potential risks.
Results story
Helping decision-makers contain costsWith deeper insight into its costs from the IBM Cognos TM1 solution, e-bebek is successfully launching its new bricks and clicks business model while keeping operational costs under control.
As well as shortening the time required to capture data, the new way of working makes it faster and more straightforward for analysts to prepare budgets and identify previously hidden trends in the resulting reports. Market conditions can change quickly, and these capabilities can help e-bebek to adapt rapidly to meet evolving business requirements.
"We have improved the manageability of the budget planning process, and reduced the budget cycle substantially," says Erdoğmuş. "In fact, we anticipate that our budget planning cycle times will decrease from three months down to just one month, a reduction of more than 66 percent."
Submitting budget data is also a faster and more convenient process for managers in the company's human resources and finance divisions. Because it now takes less time to prepare budgets, managers can invest more of their working day in value-added analytics tasks.
Mavuş adds: "With IBM Cognos TM1, we have reduced the time required to prepare some of our budgets substantially. Because TM1 is quite a flexible tool, we can now generate reports that were not practical to create before."
Dimensional modeling capabilities in the IBM solution enable e-bebek to look at its financial data from different perspectives. For example, the company can view costs by store, department, supplier and more, empowering its decision-makers to identify opportunities to contain operational spend.
With tight integration into e-bebek's systems of record—including the company's ERP system—the IBM solution automates many data capture and data cleaning processes, and reduces the number of technical personnel required to prepare budgets and forecasts. As a result, the company can deliver faster and more accurate reports to the business, and reduce its exposure to risks such as talent shortages.
Mavuş concludes: "IBM Cognos TM1 enables us to prepare budgeting, forecasting, analysis and managerial reports in line with strategic goals of our company. The solution offers us store- and department-based views of our budgets, and enables us to model cost scenarios and identify potential opportunities and threats. IBM Cognos TM1 will definitely help us to add value to our company by optimizing our cost structures."
Founded in 2001 and headquartered in Istanbul, Turkey, e-bebek is a leading specialty retailer of baby and children's products. Operating 70 retail stores and an e-commerce channel, the company employs more than 1,000 people.
Solution components
- Cognos TM1
- Planning Analytics
- Retail: Digital Operations
Take the next step
IBM Analytics offers one of the world's deepest and broadest analytics platform, domain and industry solutions that deliver new value to businesses, governments and individuals. For more information about how IBM Analytics helps to transform industries and professions with data, visit ibm.com/analytics. Follow us on Twitter at @IBMAnalytics, on our blog at ibmbigdatahub.com and join the conversation #IBMAnalytics.
Intellium is an IBM Silver Business Partner based in Istanbul, Turkey. Founded in 2009, Intellium provides solutions and consultancy focused on Corporate Performance Management, Business Intelligence, and Data Management and Analytics.
View more client stories or learn more about IBM Analytics


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Time flies when you're having fun!March 15, 2008
Wow! It's certainly been a busy few months — but in a good way! I've posted some of my recent design projects, and photos.
I've also been doing a lot of custom Photoshop scripting, and here's what some of my clients are saying:
"Trevor came through for me when I was on a tight deadline. His scripting prowess is obvious as you see his ability to turn out your requests in short time, clearly and with no hesitancy to explain things. Highly recommended!"
"Got exactly what I needed quickly and professionally! I'll be back for all my scripting!"
If you have a project that you'd like to discuss with me, please contact me with the details and I'd be happy to provide you with a free estimate.
Some interesting links...March 15, 2008
For designers:
- Time Management for Creative People — free eBook by Mark McGuiness (BoDo)
- 50 Ways to Become a Better Designer (liquidicity)
- Vector Magic — online tool for bitmap to vector conversion (VectorMagic.com)
- Keyboard Shortcuts for InDesign — a free plugin for InDesign (DTP Tools)
- advent — a free font from inde-graphics (The Graphic Mac)
- 35 (Really) Incredible Free Icon Sets (Smashing Magazine)
- Layout Zones — a free InDesign script from Today Martinho da Gloria (Tim Cole's InDesign BackChannel)
- GridMaker — a free script for creating grid-based mock-ups in Photoshop (Andrew Ingram)
- Dropbox — secure backup, sync, and sharing made easy (Dropbox.com)
For photographers:
- "Lighting Gear Week" Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5 — an excellent lighting series by Scott Kelby (Photoshop Insider)
- Lightroom Cheat Sheets — keyboard shorcuts for Adobe Photoshop Lightroom (20seven)
- Convert to B&W in Lightroom — an article by Chris Orwig (Layers Magazine)
- High Dynamic Range Photography — Merging HDR in Photoshop CS3, by Colin Smith (PhotoshopSupport.com)
- Camera Accessories You Just Gotta Have (CreativePro.com)
- Fix focus after snapping the shutter (CNET News.com)
- PhotographyBB — free online photography magazine (PhotoshopSupport.com)
- JPEG XR — Microsoft's HD Photo format is endorsed by JPEG (Neowin.net)
- Nikon D300 Review — looks like a sweet camera! (CreativePro.com)


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As a followup to my last post about the planned day of protests against SOPA and PIPA I also want to touch upon an event that also involved online activists and activism but occurred just a day after the internet blackout. On Thursday, January 19th, the US Department of Justice shut down the popular file-sharing site Megaupload for a variety of offenses, most prominently the sharing of illegally pirated movies and music.
While this action by the Justice Department does touch upon some issues of interest to social movement scholars, especially those interested in movements to protect intellectual property, it was the response of the online activist group Anonymous that bears the most attention. Immediately after the announced seizure of Megaupload the hacker collective Anonymous issues a statement condemning the attack and promising retribution against the DoJ. This retribution took the form of a botnet that launched a DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack against the DoJ website. This attack was noteworthy in that it used the computers of curious bystanders who merely needed to click on a link provided by various Anonymous affiliated media sites without getting the permission of these bystanders in what is typically considered a criminal act.
This tactic by Anonymous used the computers of curious bystanders to further their own movement goals and also showed why cybersecurity and the exact dimensions of legal vs. illegal online protest have become such hot topics among those of us that research these topics.
For more information regarding the group Anonymous and their past activism I highly recommend Quinn Norton's series on the group that she did for Wired's Threat Level blog last year:
Or a short (not work safe) video on the history of the group.


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The Superbowl of '84 on the 22nd of January. What happened that was vaguely important? Well, not much, apart from the first ever Macintosh advert. Which was revolutional. We've all seen the advert right? On 100 Greatest Advert-type shows? Well if not ya must have been hiding in a REALLY deep hole. Heres the vid in case you have been living the trogledite life.
Now I didn't actually remember much about that version of the advert. I remembered the Futurama spoof better. (From the Futurestock episode.) (Theres also the 1984 segment in a Halloween Simpsons episode. It's sad that I've seen all the spoofs and parodies before the real thing… says something about our generation doesn't it?) I didn't realise how important the ad was. Even after seeing the 100 Greatest Adverts segment on it. (The White horses beer advert won at last count.) I'm not a Mac computer fan either, so it doesn't affect me *as* much as Mac users lol. Much info of the intended message of the advert here. I totally forget it was directed by Ridley Scott before I read the wiki page lol. (Gotta love Wiki.) I love the fact they thought back then they were gonna 'free the world'(from the Orwellian '1984' type world seen in the advert), specially as they're not gonna do any 'freeing' when their computers and other stuff are waaaaay expensive. And techonolgy wise, yes ipods/ifones etc are cool, but I can, and will continue to live without one.
And now for some cute Mac OS-tan imagery!
(Sourced here.)
(Sourced here. I likes her catgirl look lol. And the art style. Cute round face hehe)
Tags: 1984, 24th january 1984, futurama, futurama spoof, january 1984, mac ad 1984, mac advert, mac os, mac os x, mac os-tan, macintosh, orwell, orwellian, os-tan


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Photo: Maria Baranova
By Eugene O'Neill
Directed by Peter Richards
Received wisdom has it that Eugene O'Neill's earlier plays, with their stylized speech and melodramatic plots, are less worthy of revival than say, LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT or A MOON FOR THE MISBEGOTTEN. It is true that O'Neill found his voice and divulged more of his personal angst in his later work. That doesn't mean, however, that his earlier pieces should be dismissed as mere batting practice. Pulitzer Prize-winning ANNA CHRISTIE, with its flinty, independent female protagonist and blunt portrayal of the tribulations immigrant life, seems in some ways less dated than the playwright's more introspective later musings. On the page, ANNA language is decidedly strange. Much of it is written in dialect, with ethnic inflections spelled out phonetically ("Ay'm fool sailor fallar. My voman–Anna's mother–she gat tired vait all time Sveden for me"). When spoken by the right actors, though, these eccentric word clusters actually have an authentic ring to them. Getting the music right is essential. And in Working Barn Productions' lively revival, director Peter Richards and a gifted cast rise admirably to the challenge.
Swedish-born Chris Christopherson (Stephen D'Ambrose) spends his days piloting a coal-barge, and his nights nipping whisky at a waterfront bar owned by Johnny-the-Priest (Scott Aiello). Also on hand is Marthy Owen (Tina Johnson), a kind of drinking-buddy-with -benefits, with whom Chris sometimes spends the evening when he's ashore. Chris's routine is disrupted when word arrives by mail that Anna, the old Swede's long lost daughter, will soon be arriving in New York. Years ago, when Chris was a sailor, he sent Anna away to live with relatives on a farm in the Midwest. Here, he assumed, Anna would have a healthy upbringing. His vision of a wholesome, respectable young lady is inconsistent with the tall blonde (Therese Plaehn) who half struts, half staggers into the bar. Adult Anna can drink with the best of them and, after looking dowdy Marthy up and down, declares "You're me forty years from now". Anna joins Chris on a sea voyage, which enables her to temporarily forget her past. Her reverie doesn't last long. A nearby shipwreck propels Irish seafarer Mat Burke (Ben Chase) onto the barge, and he falls in love with Anna at first sight. Chris, who has always tried to protect Anna from "dat ole davil sea", doesn't see the sailor as worthy of his daughter's attention. But parental disapproval is the least of Anna's worries. To make a fresh start with Mat, she'll have to come clean about what really happened during her adolescence on the farm, and the compromises she had to make in the lean years that followed.
In addition to embodying the vernacular poetry of O'Neill's language, the actors capture the human, often comically, contradictory traits of characters' personalities. D'Ambrose's Chris is both worldly and naïve, Plaehn's vibrant Anna shows the scars of a hardscrabble life along with the angelic purity that causes Mat to mistake her for a mermaid. The show's impressive production values also help to deepen the mood and advance the story. Moria Sine Clinton's costumes and Emily Naylor's props reflect the built-to-last dauntless of the Early 20th Century strivers they serve. Scott Bolman's muted lights and David M. Barber's Whistleresque set design evoke a maritime world in which both danger and deliverance might lie in wait in the foggy distance.
ANNA CHRISTIE continues through December 17, 2016 at the Wild Project, 195 E. 3rd St, New York, NY 10009. Tickets: https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/cal/621/1480568400000


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crash after message is shown.GitHub
when i play mm8 there is a glitch in the clown man stage. at the midle of the level before the battle with the mid-boss in the entrance the game dont progress in that point. please fix that error for future updates :'v
split screen horizontal top screen stays glitsingGitHub


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The most patriotic thing you can do, according to Mark Cuban, is "Make a boatload of money. Pay your taxes. Lots of taxes. Hire people. Train people. Pay people. Spend money on rent, equipment, services. Pay more taxes."
With rich and successful folks like Warren Buffett and Mark Cuban saying that paying taxes is a sign of success, I wonder what the conservative talking point machines is going to come up with next. Sigh. They will come up with something.


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A traditional Georgian 4 star deluxe Town House overlooking a secluded garden square, with a feeling of 'fine country house hotel' in the heart of busy London. The Montague on the Gardens provides us with a distant echo of the activities of the rascally Ralph, Duke of Montagu, who came by this land in a very devious manner. The story begins not with Montagu - an ancestor of the present Lord Montagu of Beaulieu - but with a 'crack-brained, addle-pated fellow' named Christopher Monck, 2nd Earl of Albemarle. Christopher's father, George Monck, 1st Earl of Albemarle, had been the chief mover in restoring Charles II to the throne of England in 1660. Christopher Monck lacked the qualities of his father. He invested what little fortune he possessed in an expedition to discover sunken treasure. The wits made light of his chances but against all the odds the expedition succeeded. Unfortunately, but true to character, Christopher died on the very day the discovery was made. His Duchess, whom Horace Walpole described as 'more mad with pride than any mercer's wife in Bedlam', was possibly not as silly as she was made out to be because although she believed herself to be the Empress of China, she somehow contrived to get all the treasure for herself, the other investors never seeing a penny. The Duchess of Albemarle used her ill-gotten gains to live in almost Imperial splendor, surrounded by a host of retainers, all of whom were required to serve her on bended knee. She swore that unless the Prince of Tartary himself were to come to her door and beg her to be his wife by throwing himself at her feet, she would never remarry. Hearing of this, the unscrupulous Duke of Montagu dressed up as the Prince, prostrated himself before her and thus acquired both her hand and her fortune. He appropriated his wife's 'galleon money' to construct for himself a vast mansion, Montagu House, in Great Russell Street. The land of Montague Street formed part of its ten-acre garden, thus confirming that the Montague on the Garden is well-named.
Features an elegant separate sitting area and a luxurious marble bathroom with overhead shower.
- Room Service
- 24 hour front desk
- Cable/Satellite TV
- Restaurant
- Concierge
- Babysitting Services
- Internet Access - Free Public Access
- Currency Exchange
- Parking - Self
- Parking - Valet
- Dry cleaning service
- BBQ Grills
- Non-Smoking Facility
- Business Center
- Pet Friendly
- Lounge/Bar


text: Russia is the birthplace of vodka, and it still produces the best "little water" in the world. Restricting gambling is a policy priority in Russia, as the fall of the Soviet Union saw the emergence of a black market for games of chance. Currently, mobile online gambling is illegal and international sites are actively blocked.


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Q Even the carpool lanes on both northbound and southbound Interstate 880 between Highway 92 and the Dumbarton Bridge are bogged down and useless during commute hours. Any plans to widen this stretch of I-880?
Randy A.
A If voters in Alameda County approve a sales tax measure in the upcoming election, there are plans to rebuild key interchanges from Oakland through Hayward, and to build a carpool lane from Hegenberger Road near the A's ballpark to A Street in Hayward. But there are no other road-widening projects on the horizon. Go to http://alamedactc.org/files/managed/Document/6898/ALAMEDA_TEP_Final.pdf for details.
Q I am at a loss to understand why B Street in Hayward was closed recently at 8 a.m. one weekday morning — the busiest time of the day. There were no trucks or people anywhere in sight. I was trying to take my grandson to school and it took me 40 minutes to get from E Street to Winton Middle School.
Lois Tanner
A The city has been working on the Mission-Foothill corridor since 2010, and sidewalk, curb and gutter reconstruction is substantially done in the downtown area. Crews are now paving on Foothill and that required the closing of intersections from A Street to D Street. Work will continue on Mission Boulevard and D Street as weather permits and should wrap up early next year.
Q The only thing that would have been more helpful in your article on disabled parking was a mention of what the fine would be if you are caught parking in a handicapped spot illegally. The cost of a ticket is a big deterrent nowadays.
Steve Philips
A The fine can be as much as $500 for a first offense, $750 for a second offense and $1,000 for three or more offenses.
Q I have no idea what they're called, but they are the raised cement bumper type of barrier some evil elf installs in parking lots. These are supposedly to tell a driver when they've gone too far into a space, but the real intent is to utterly ruin the underside of anyone's car that was not built to fight a war. The builders of the Maginot Line could have taken lessons from these elves. This invention might have changed history. My question: Why?
S. Lane
A The barriers are called "curb stops," and they are installed for a variety of reasons.
Open parking lots often install them to mark the front of a space and to keep drivers from unsafely pulling through the adjoining space to exit, or to keep drivers from pulling too far forward and taking up more than one space.
In garages, curb stops are more likely used to protect whatever may be on the other side of the stop, such as electrical boxes. When no railings or solid walls are on the interior of garage ramps, they are used to keep drivers from pulling too far forward and driving off the level they are attempting to park on. When walls are present, the curb stops help keep vehicles from being driven into the wall, helping to avoid vehicle and structural damage.
Alas, as you point out, cars that are lower to the ground have the potential to sustain damage on the underside of the vehicle if the front end is positioned too far in the space and over the curb stop — like my Prius.
Q There has been a lot of road work on Highway 1 between State Park Drive in Aptos and Salinas Road in Watsonville. Most of the effort has been on repaving that stretch of freeway. In some areas a solid center barrier has been constructed and new guardrails have been installed.
However, I am at a loss to determine why a longer guardrail was not installed on a very curvy part between Rio Del Mar Boulevard and State Park Drive. Numerous accidents have occurred on the northbound side of the freeway because the road is narrow and curves sharply as it dips under the railway trestle. Some new guardrails were installed but are not long enough to protect that section of road with the sheer drop.
Marilyn Kanemura
A A guardrail is coming and will be installed on a project that begins construction next summer. The ongoing road work is repaving Highway 1 from Watsonville to Aptos, with some older guardrails being replaced.
Q For months now, there has been a big sofa chair precariously hanging on a hill at the Highway 87 exit ramp from Interstate 280 south. I thought for sure it would have been removed by now; you can't miss it. With the rain, it is just a matter of time before this sofa is dislodged and comes crashing down on the traffic exiting I-280. Can you let the powers that be know they need to remove this potential traffic hazard very, very soon?
Sue Hersom
A Done. You can also contact Caltrans yourself by making a maintenance request at www.dot.ca.gov/pioform.html.
Q It's El Camino UNreal. Always bad, southbound and northbound. Commute-hour traffic through Menlo Park on El Camino Real has worsened noticeably in the past month or so. It appears that someone may have changed the timing of the lights, and got their number wrong. With no alternative route, the car-bound in my office are in despair. Could you inquire with the authorities? You would be a hero to the masses!
Jim Gasiewski
A Repairs are under way. A paving job damaged the detection and traffic controller communication cable through Menlo Park. More paving is under way and could damage signal loops from south of Harvard Avenue to north of Berkshire Avenue in Atherton. So more delays are likely.
Q Three times recently I've been unfortunate enough to get behind gravel trucks on Highway 84 out of and into Livermore — both spraying a trail of muddy water and rocks, and splattering a trail of rocks behind every time the trailer hit a bump. Isn't there a law that prevents these trucks from laying down a swath of destruction behind them?
Travis Cox
A Yep, there is. Sgt.-Tom-the-Alameda-County-Man says: "Those truck drivers should not be leaving the quarry like that. It causes more problems than you know."
These drivers are required to cover their loads, and nothing is supposed to fall off the back of a truck except clear water or feathers from live fowl.
Join Gary Richards for an hourlong chat at noon Wednesday at www.mercurynews.com/live-chats. Look for Gary at Facebook.com/mr.roadshow or contact him at firstname.lastname@example.com or 408-920-5335. The fax number is 408-288-8060.
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Nope, it's not in the South of France or deep in the countryside of Provence. It's in the place you want to run away to & be more than anywhere - the beautiful Clare Valley right here in South Australia. Sam & Tom Barry, sons of Peter & grandsons of Jim & the young scions of the famous Barry wine making dynasty have recently purchased the winery Clos Clare in the heart of the Valley. With the purchase came the fabulous homestead Warilto....pretty nice hey.
With just a little help from your mate Millie. Have I got your attention now?


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Oh mannnnn, it's day three of the Robert Griffin III Watch, aka GRIFFINSANITY, and I haven't slept for 72 hours. I'm just afraid I'm going to miss something, you know what I mean? What if there's a crazy rumor? What if there's a rumor that Griffin III and Eli Manning got in a fistfight at a McDonald's, and now he's going to the Redskins so he can have his revenge on the field for years to come?
In fact, let's make that an official rumor. I'm calling it. Eli, Griffin, McDonald's, Redskins. Post it on your blogs because it's as good as true. If you want a reason, just say that Griffin called the Shamrock Shake "total crap," and Eli has a Shamrock Shake tattoo on his foot. Instant conflict.
Here's a quick recap of the RG3 Griffinsanity Watch so far:
Day 1
Chris Ryan was all, hey, maybe he'll go to the Redskins/Browns/Dolphins/Eagles?
Day 2
I was like, what about the Chiefs and the Seahawks?
Now it's …
Day 3
So let's see what's up.
- The Rams have said they're willing to trade the no. 2 pick well before the NFL draft in April. Shortly after the announcement, 300,000 creepy dudes with soul patches and those weird collared dragon flame shirts descended on St. Louis, claiming they could smell desperation.
- Two Washington Post columnists, Mike Wise and Jason Reid, debated about whether Griffin-to-the-Skins was a smart move. You'll have to decide for yourself if this is a Wise Read. (AWWWWWWW SNAP! They're lucky the Pulitzer doesn't have a joke category or they'd just give me the prize now.) In addition, Mike Wise had the temerity to call RG3 "Rex Grossman III." They better send him to whatever bunker Cheney used when things got bad in the District, because D.C. folks are swooning over Griffin. And apparently the Skins are willing to deal for him.
- SI's Chris Burke did the heavy legwork for us with a column about where the Griffter might end up. And man, does he throw out some names. Vikings? Worth pondering. Ravens? Flacco-yeah. Cowboys? Romo-kay. Jets? Sanchez-you-wish. Bills? Fitzpatrick-or-treat. Burke admits that he's "spit balling," but if I know the NFL (and I think I do) I would say that every single scenario he envisions will come true — over half the teams in the league will be quarterbacked by RG3.
- But wait a second … Jerry Jones and his son Steven think Romo's the man. So hold the phone on the Cowboys. The Robert Griffin phone, I mean. The phone lines of delusion can be left wide open.
- Uh-oh, Buffalo may not be in either, if you believe GM Buddy Nix. Then again, why should you ever trust a guy named "Buddy"? He's only going to hurt you.
- Griffin says his time in the 40 at the Combine may have been even faster than advertised, reports the Raleigh News & Observer. Apparently there may have been a mix-up with the clock or something, and the real time might be 4.35 instead of 4.41. Still singing your Romo tune, Jerry Jones?
- Jason Whitlock seems to be worried Griffin's athleticism will actually be a hindrance. "He's blessed with too many tools," says Whitlock. Cool. Cool cool cool.
That's it for today. If you've got a hot Griffin tip, Griffin it in to firstname.lastname@example.com. Thanks for reading, see you tomorrow.


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Drug and Alcohol Abuse and Addiction on the Rise in Naperville and the Surrounding Areas
Sadly, drug and alcohol abuse and addiction has been going up and in a big way too. The issue has been a severe and a serious one to say the least, and this has led many to consider that there couldn't possibly be anything that could be done to address or rectify it with any level of success or benefit. However, this is not the case and it never has been.
For some time now the addiction crisis has been a major problem indeed, but that does not mean that there is no solution or resolution to it. In fact, there is a solution to it and that would be to have a drug rehab Naperville program available for the residents of Naperville.
However, the facts and statistics on it are dismal and concerning to say the least. For example:
- More Americans die now from substance abuse than they used to. This is because the types of drugs that they are using and abusing are a lot more damaging and dangerous than they ever used to be. Prior to the turn of the century only about 10 to 20,000 Americans died every year from substance abuse, but now over 80,000 die every year. Unfortunately, the drugs that are causing the most deaths are also the ones that are the most popular, like prescription drugs, alcohol, and heroin.
- Much cause for concern has been aroused as a result of youth drug and alcohol abuse and addiction in the United States today. This is saddening and concerning to say the least and has been for some time now. In the 1990s, the average Americans first use of drugs occurred at the abs of 24. Now that age for first use has dropped down to 16. This has meant bad news for these youths, as youth substance abuse is even more severe than adult substance abuse is. This is clearly a big issue but also, the drug rehabilitation Naperville needs to spread the word more and market their drug rehab for all ages and how they can help you recover from any type of drug.
Awareness of Substance Abuse Problems in and Around Naperville Hoped to Make a Difference in Reducing the Drug and Alcohol Addiction Problems There
One of the big efforts that is currently being applied in and around Naperville is an overall attempt to reduce the drug and alcohol addiction nightmare problem here that has been occurring as a result of increased trafficking go narcotics into the area. With forums to raise awareness though, it can do nothing but improve the dismal and concerning situation.
These forums will also educate parents and students about the early signs of drug addiction. Organizers say there will also be testimonials, free educational material and instructions on how to talk to friends or loved ones possibly suffering from a drug or alcohol problem. Hopefully, with more knowledge we will develop a better end result when it comes to how these issues must be addressed effectively. In the end, rehabilitation is always the answer for anyone who is struggling with an addiction nightmare of some kind, and with Chicago drug rehabilitation centers the entire problem in this area will drop down significantly.


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Fab 40: Linn Digital Stream Player
With CD sales on sharp decline, it was only a matter of time before a high-end option became available. Increasingly, artists are beginning to offer music as studio-quality digital streams. These convenient downloads eliminate any previous sound compression, allowing for a fully expansive sound just as the musicians were performing before you.
As a hi-fi company, Linn has a long-standing reputation for providing pitch-perfect sound reproduction. Ever innovating, their introduction of digital stream players into the market looks set to revolutionise the industry just as they did with the revered Sondek LP12 record deck in 1972.
The imminent release of their Cara software ensures increased functionality – enabling users to flick though albums as you would Internet pages in a web browser and create drag-and-drop playlists. As a consumer parallel, witness the swing from small digital cameras to high resolution SLRs. If the iPod is the standard for portability, then Linn's Klimax DS may be the future of leisure technology in the home.


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Call (716) 855-2866
Schedule an Appointment
MRA looks at the blood flow in arteries and veins to detect any narrowing or stenosis. Although performed in the same manner as an MRI, WNY Imaging is able to perform many MRA procedures without contrast. An MRA is able to look at arteries including the carotids, brain, abdominal aorta, pelvic arteries and peripheral runoff. For patients with reduced renal function some MRA studies can be provided contrast-free. No IV or contrast injection is required and can be performed with the patient placed feet-first into the scanner.
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The Project of Social Housing in Cabinda, located in the province of Cabinda in the perimeter of the village of Tchibodo, East of the City of Cabinda, is formed by 36 lots, 90 buildings of 3 storeys, for a total of about 1.002 apartments.
The construction area is of 145.186,00 m2 and includes 78 apartments of the T4-2A type with 123 m2, 156 apartments of theT4 -1A type with 116 m2, 384 apartments of the T4-1B type with about 121 m2 and 384 apartments of the T4-1B type with 98m2.
The Work includes the execution of the following networks of the external infrastructures:
Water networks (6.500m), electricity (1.304m in medium voltage + 12.725m in low voltage), 5 transformation posts, telecommunications network (15.800m), sewage networks (4.300m) and storm water drainage (7.800m), communication ways (69.315m2), including walks (18.764m2) and parking (17.850m2).
The project includes also the construction of a Primary School with a gross construction area of 3.444 m2, a Kindergarten with GCA of 1.267 m2,, a supermarket with GCA of 410 m2 and a Medical Centre of GCA of 1.560 m2.


text: In the spirit of reviving classic literature among the lay persons, I present Literary Book Gifts, a website that sells t-shirts and tote bags with classic literature graphics on them. Melissa from Literary Book Gifts has kindly offered a 20% discount on all merchandise to CVL readers with the discount code ChristianVictorianLiterature20, which has no expiry date. A Jane Austen or Emily Brontë shirt would make a great Christmas gift for the literature lover in your life (or your favourite literature blogger).


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Public mixed on dropping judges' party labels
Online feedback regarding eliminating party labels in Ohio's judicial primaries was strongly divided, helping explain why the state's top judge has sidelined the idea despite believing it's crucial to convincing the public that judges are impartial.
Sentiment shared with Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor as she finalized a package of judicial changes she is championing ranged widely. Some commenters felt removing judges' party affiliations from primary ballots would be akin to deceiving voters. Others said leaving the labels on misleads voters into thinking a judge's political view can be reflected in her decisions, which is prohibited.
"Removing party affiliation turns a blind eye to the realities of any election," a commenter wrote. "The more information the public is given, the better."
"Party affiliation has NO PLACE whatsoever in judicial races or elections," wrote another.
One writer said removing party affiliations is disingenuous because it leads voters to believe party affiliations don't matter. Another said the labels are only one of many qualities that an informed voter might look at.
"Voters make choices for different reasons," he wrote. "For example: Voters may cast ballots for the gender or nationality of candidates. Should we eliminate gender-specific first names or Irish or other ethnic last names?"
In an interview, O'Connor said public feedback was only one factor in her decision to exclude the idea from her reform package; it was also clear that neither Republicans nor Democrats wanted to remove the labels. An unresolved Ohio case that's still pending seeks, in fact, to add party labels to Ohio's general elections for judges, which are now nonpartisan.
O'Connor said she opted to concentrate on the three strongest proposals that emerged from her yearlong review:
• Moving judicial elections to odd-numbered years and the top of the ballot.
• Enhancing voter education on candidates running for judge by establishing an election-information and engagement program.
• Increasing the basic qualifications to serve as judge.
O'Connor said she continues to believe party labels are wrong for judicial races.
"Yes, it does give a cue to voters, but it's a miscue," she said. "If you rely on that miscue, it just reinforces the misinformation that politics matters."
Polls show the public views judges as susceptible to political influence yet opposes eliminating judicial elections in favor of judicial appointments.
Of 22 states that elect judges, 14 have nonpartisan elections and seven have overtly political contests. Ohio is the only state that identifies the party of prospective judges in its primaries and then sends winners into a general election in which party labels aren't used.


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Since I have no kids, I'll share with you ten photos.
|4th of July from the parking lot of our new apartment in Vegas.
We'd moved in just a few days prior to this picture.
|Goofy girl at Yappy Hour at Rumor Boutique Hotel
|My cutie little girl!
|Crazy girl sleeping with her toy dog
|Free SURVIVOR concert at Fremont Street Experience
|Her legs are all criss-crossed, but I guess she's comfortable.
|Blue Moon captured through my phone and our mono-scope
|Tiny little nearby park where I once stopped after a run for a little yoga.
|My panting girl was SO HOT!
|I won tickets from work to go to the NHRA. It was so much fun!
Which of these in particular would you be most interested in reading a full post about?


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I am posting this information today for of my ladies who are Northsiders, as well as any other women within driving distance of us who might want to come. I'm the women's ministries rep for Tampa. I recently blogged about our meeting in Sarasota, which was amazing, and one of the aspects of the weekend was receiving the details of the first ever upcoming regional meeting. Buckle your seatbelt! It's going to be AMAZING!
So ladies, if you live anywhere in the area, please mark your calendars as the Pen-Florida District Women's Ministries is hosting their first regional event called, "Becoming", on February 6 & 7, with guest speaker Martha Tennison. If you have never heard Martha, WOW, WOW, WOW...you are missing out, so do WHATEVER you need to do to be there. You will be so blessed, I guarantee it. This is a free event, by the way. How much better can you get than that? F-R-E-E! The Friday night service is at 7 pm, with Martha, and then on Saturday morning at 9 am there is a service or "chat" as they are calling it with our district women's director, Marsha Woolley. Please join us for this incredible gathering at: Victorious Life Church, 6224 Old Pasco Road, Wesley Chapel, FL 33544. If you have any questions, please e-mail me and I'll be glad to answer.


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A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] at sacred-texts.com
2 Chronicles 5:1
ch2 5:1THE DEDICATED TREASURES. (Ch2 5:1)
Solomon brought in all the things that David his father had dedicated--the immense sums and the store of valuable articles which his father and other generals had reserved and appropriated for the temple (Ch1 22:14; Ch1 26:26).
2 Chronicles 5:2
ch2 5:2BRINGING UP OF THE ARK OF THE COVENANT. (Ch2 5:2-13)
Then Solomon assembled . . . in the feast which was in the seventh month--The feast of the dedication of the temple was on the eighth day of that month. This is related, word for word, the same as in Kg1 8:1-10.
2 Chronicles 5:9
ch2 5:9there it is unto this day--that is, at the time when this history was composed; for after the Babylonish captivity there is no trace of either ark or staves.
2 Chronicles 5:11
ch2 5:11all the priests that were present . . . did not then wait by course--The rotation system of weekly service introduced by David was intended for the ordinary duties of the priesthood; on extraordinary occasions, or when more than wonted solemnity attached to them, the priests attended in a body.
2 Chronicles 5:12
ch2 5:12the Levites which were the singers--On great and solemn occasions, such as this, a full choir was required, and their station was taken with scrupulous regard to their official parts: the family of Heman occupied the central place, the family of Asaph stood on his right, and that of Jeduthun on his left; the place allotted to the vocal department was a space between the court of Israel and the altar in the east end of the priests' court.
with them an hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets--The trumpet was always used by the priests, and in the divine service it was specially employed in calling the people together during the holy solemnities, and in drawing attention to new and successive parts of the ritual. The number of trumpets used in the divine service could not be less than two (Num 10:2), and their greatest number never exceeded the precedent set at the dedication of the temple. The station where the priests were sounding with trumpets was apart from that of the other musicians; for while the Levite singers occupied an orchestra east of the altar, the priests stood at the marble table on the southwest of the altar. There both of them stood with their faces to the altar. The manner of blowing the trumpets was, first, by a long plain blast, then by one with breakings and quaverings, and then by a long plain blast again [BROWN, Jewish Antiquities].
2 Chronicles 5:13
ch2 5:13the house was filled with a cloud--(See on Kg1 8:10).


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It's the 50th Anniversary of Jeopardy! Can You Solve 20 Real Final Jeopardy Clues?
Q: This game show debuted fifty years ago.
A: What is Jeopardy!?
America's favorite quiz program celebrates its 50th anniversary on March 30—and this season marks its 30th year with host Alex Trebek at the helm. Can solve these 20 real Final Jeopardy! clues from over the years, courtesy of J! Archive, a meticulous fan-maintained database? Scroll down for the correct responses, and post your score in the comments.
Plus, Ken Jennings, the Jeopardy! champ with the longest winning streak, shares 7 of the show's backstage secrets.
1. Category: Singers
A: The only solo artist to have 5 Billboard No. 1 albums before the age of 19.
2. Category: Science History
A: An experiment with mirrors on Mt. Wilson & Mt. San Antonio, Calif. determined what became an accepted figure for this.
3. Category: Shakespeare Titles
A: It's not one of the Bard's better-known comedy titles, but has the distinction of containing the most apostrophes.
4. Category: European Capitals
A: Although capital of its country, it is not the capital of the province in which it's located, nor is it the seat of government.
5. Category: Facts & Figures
A: With only 58% of residents, this U.S. state has the lowest percentage of licensed drivers.
6. Category: Food & Drink
A: A sign of a trend, in 2010 this product passed Pepsi to move into the No. 2 spot in U.S. soft drink popularity.
7. Category: National Parks
A: The writings of Marjory Stoneman Douglas helped preserve this area she dubbed "The River of Grass."
8. Category: U.S. Colleges
A: This college for women was founded by Joseph Taylor, a physician who lived not far from Philadelphia.
9. Category: The U.S. Space Program
A: Of the Apollo missions, the total number that successfully landed men on the moon.
10. Category: College Football
A: His name was immortalized in 1936; he holds the record for head coaching at the most Division I or major schools—8.
11. Category: Musicals
A: The two longest-running musicals in Broadway history; Cameron Mackintosh produced both of them.
12. Category: Historic Englishmen
A: Ironically, he might have saved himself from death in 1779 if he had known how to swim.
13. Category: Presidents
A: The last time there were no living ex-presidents was when this man was president.
14. Category: Hit Songs
A: This No. 1 hit from 1968 was part of a hit film's soundtrack and was originally written about Eleanor Roosevelt.
15. Category: Fictional Characters
A: He first appeared in Kipling's 1892 story "In the Rukh" as an adult who now & then refers to his very odd childhood.
16. Category: Mammals
A: One type of this aquatic animal gives milk that's 65% fat; pups are weaned in 4 days, the least of any mammal.
17. Category: Fruit
A: This fruit of North America shares its name with a literary character who debuted in an 1876 novel.
18. Category: Animals
A: Because of the requirements in pumping blood to its brain, it has the highest blood pressure of any living animal.
19. Category: Authors on Authors
A: Faulkner said this writer "has no courage" and "has never used a word where the reader [may need] a dictionary."
Related Stories
20. Category: American History
A: On April 14, 1865, Lincoln authorized this government agency; its main job then was to protect against counterfeiting.
1. Q: Who is Justin Bieber?
2. Q: What is the speed of light?
3. Q: What is Love's Labour's Lost?
4. Q: What is Amsterdam?
5. Q: What is New York?
6. Q: What is Diet Coke?
7. Q: What is Everglades National Park?
8. Q: What is Bryn Mawr College?
9. Q: What is 6? (11, 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17)
10. Q: Who is John Heisman?
11. Q: What are Cats and Les Miserables?
12. Q: Who is Captain Cook?
13. Q: Who is Richard Nixon?
14. Q: What is "Mrs. Robinson"?
15. Q: Who is Mowgli?
16. Q: What is the seal?
17. Q: What is the huckleberry?
18. Q: What is the giraffe?
19. Q: Who is Hemingway?
20. Q: What is the Secret Service?
Watch an episode of Jeopardy! from 1972 hosted by Art Fleming:


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Sharpshooting program causes friction in northern Illinois
Cherry Valley, Ill. — The animosity of a group that opposes deer culling programs and sharpshooters was recently taken up a notch as allegations of trespassing were made against DNR employees.
A Boone County landowner called police in late February after discovering customized "No Trespassing" signs had been removed from his property, which is adjacent to where DNR conducts sharpshooting.
Jim Blackmer said he has had problems with DNR since it gained permission to conduct sharpshooting on land that adjoins his, and has found evidence of places he believes the sharpshooters have shot deer inside his property line. As a result of the suspected trespassing, he and his son, Bob Blackmer, built and posted signs reading "No Trespassing/Sharpshooting" in their fields.
"I didn't think much of it when I found one of the signs bent up one day," Bob Blackmer said. "I went to get a stronger post to attach it to and when I returned, the sign was gone."
Bob Blackmer then called the Boone County police. Eventually, the Illinois State Police were also called and followed up by going to the office of Tom Beissel, DNR's regional wildlife biologist, where a similar sign to the one posted on the Blackmer property was reportedly found.
Blackmer filed charges and, according to court records, Beissel has a March 23 court date in Boone County.
DNR spokesman Chris McCloud said that the alleged incident was under investigation by the agency, and he wasn't able to give further comment. A message left with Beissel's assistant was not returned.
Boone County is one of 10 northern Illinois counties considered high risk for chronic wasting disease.
According to state records, about 7,500 deer were tested for CWD statewide during 2010-11. There were 42 CWD-positive deer from the 10 counties. Results of 2011-12 testing are not yet available.
Despite criticism from an anti-culling group, DNR maintains that sharpshooting is a valuable tool in CWD testing and research.
"Our sharpshooting program is an excellent source for collecting data on CWD where it has been found in the past," DNR spokesman Tim Schweizer recently told the Northwest Herald of McHenry County, one of the 10 counties that has had positive CWD cases. "It reduces the density to prevent it from spreading any further."
But opponents to the program have gotten more and more vocal in recent months.
Gary Nefstead, who owns 2,300 acres in Kings, an unincorporated part of Coles County, said he and his neighbor, Dick Chudoba, have been fighting the program for eight years. They actually helped the DNR with deer culling in the beginning – until they were told they were not needed.
Three dead deer this year alone have been found on Nefstead's land. Chudoba, who also hunts there, noted that he believes these deer were killed by sharpshooters. Two were bucks, and Chudoba noted that one of them had broken ribs alluding to the possibility of bullet penetration. Chudoba has become a vocal opponent of the sharpshooting program.
"The deer belong to the state – the state is the people," he said. "The DNR , in my well thought-out opinion, wishes to own the deer and be paid handsomely to control them."


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I'm a fun loving Aussie girl, always up for a new adventure. I love to be outdoors exploring this beautiful county. If I've got the opportunity to be naked and free I often am. The more you support me, the more I can show you.
My Links
A quick sneeky pic for you.
My Latest Posts
Jazzabelle Rox
@jazzabelle · 1 month ago
I was out and about and managed to find myself on a beach. So what do you do at a beach, get your clothes off right! Well I do anyway even though it isn't a nudist beach. Then I notice people coming towards me and have to scurry to get some clothes on. I have some more of the pics without the clothes on for subscribers.
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I love getting naked on the beach, even if it isn't a nude beach.
I really enjoy my live stream shows, I know those watching enjoy it to. If you want to join me online sometime make sure to head over to jazzabellerox.cammodels.com and make me a favourite so you can easily see when I'm online. Love cam to cam on there. Are you up for it?
Love the way my cam room looks with the butterfly on the wall.
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Let's do some naked gardening. Honestly it isn't that unusual for me to be naked out in my yard. I even get on cam outside when I get the chance.
I love to get out and about without clothes on. I bet my neighbours love it too. I'll post some more of these in my subscribers area tomorrow.
I started camming on a new platform this week. Do you like my room setup? You can find it on my links.
Happy Australia Day
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I loved finding this fishnet lingerie bodysuit in my sexy drawer. Playing with the settings and creating this black and white photo set, What do you think? Do you like them?
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