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Attackers can cause potentially harmful hard drive and operating system crashes by playing sounds over low-cost speakers embedded in computers or sold in stores, a team of researchers demonstrated last week.
The attacks use sonic and ultrasonic sounds to disrupt magnetic HDDs as they read or write data. The researchers showed how the technique could stop some video-surveillance systems from recording live streams. Just 12 seconds of specially designed acoustic interference was all it took to cause video loss in a 720p system made by Ezviz. Sounds that lasted for 105 seconds or more caused the stock Western Digital 3.5 HDD in the device to stop recording altogether until it was rebooted.
The device uses flash storage to house its firmware, but by default it uses a magnetic HDD to store the large quantities of video it records. The attack used a speaker hanging from a ceiling that rested about four inches above the surveillance system's HDD. The researchers didn't remove the casing or otherwise tamper with the surveillance system.
"For such systems, the integrity of the recorded data is vital to the usefulness of the system, which makes them susceptible to acoustic interference or vibration attacks," the researchers wrote in a paper titled "Blue Note: How Intentional Acoustic Interference Damages Availability and Integrity in Hard Disk Drives and Operating Systems."
The technique was also able to disrupt HDDs in desktop and laptop computers running both Windows and Linux. In some cases, it even required a reboot before the PCs worked properly. The technique took as little as 45 seconds to cause a Dell XPS 15 9550 laptop to become temporarily unresponsive when it was exposed to a "self-stimulation attack"—meaning when the laptop played malicious audio over its built-in speaker. When the sound played for two minutes or more, the computer had to be rebooted for the drive to work properly again.
The technique works because audible sound can cause an HDD's head stack assembly to vibrate outside of normal bounds. The vibrations push the head far enough from the center of the drive track to temporarily prevent writing. Ultrasonic sound, by contrast, can create false positives in an HDD's shock sensor, which is designed to prevent a head crash. This causes a drive to unnecessarily park its head. Besides being used against computers and surveillance systems, the researchers said the attack might also target medical devices that use magnetic HDDs.
The research is largely esoteric, because there are already much easier ways to temporarily take down computers and embedded systems. Still, it raises the possibility that, one day, attackers may have a new means to perform denial-of-service attacks. The researchers, who demonstrated the technique at last week's IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy, have proposed several methods for detecting and preventing the attacks, some of which can be implemented with simple firmware tweaks.


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You probably hear a lot about the cloud and how much your businesses are benefitting from it. If you believe everything you read, it seems like everything is better in the cloud. So what is the cloud exactly?
The cloud is a network that hosts applications and services either onsite or remotely thanks to the dependable fast Internet services today. Unlike the traditional network located in a typical datacenter, the cloud it not hardware centric and location is irrelevant. It can service users whether it is located on premise or a thousand miles away. The generally accepted definition of cloud computing comes from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
"Cloud Computing is a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction."
The cloud has some distinct advantages for business and their enterprises, but it is important to understand what the cloud can do for your organization. According to a recent report, 95 percent of IT professionals reported migrating some part of their infrastructure to the cloud in the past 12 months. However, 35 percent said they had also ultimately moved workloads out of the cloud and back on premise. Undoubtedly, some of the respondents who reversed their cloud migrations may have been overanxious to move to the cloud and neglected to scrutinize if the cloud is indeed a fit for their organization. The truth is, the majority of enterprise applications are not ready or the cloud. There are also many organizations that cannot use the cloud due to compliancy and regulatory reasons such as those who must follow HIPAA or PCI standards. Other organizations may have strict security policies that prohibit the hosting of company data on third party platforms.
Cloud Deployment Models
It is imperative to have an understanding of what the cloud can do and develop a cloud strategy beforehand. The first step is to understand what type of cloud deployment model fits your organization. There are three primary cloud deployment types.
Cloud Service Models
The next step is to pick a cloud service model. A service model dictates what elements the cloud service provider and the customer are responsible for managing. This is similar to the demarc of a public telecommunications company that provides phone and Internet services to a company. The demarc is the point of separation between the customer's equipment and the provider's.
The Need for a Consultant
Cloud providers are constantly changing their service offerings and price structures so it is important to consult with a cloud expert who stays abreast with the latest trends, innovations and alternatives that are available.
The Executive Network Group of Houston
3900 Essex Lane, Suite 1000
Houston Texas 77027-5133

subset: commoncrawl


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Beautiful brass Merkato earrings
Inspired by geometry, travel and life's unexpected opportunities.
The Merkato layered earrings showcase precision, attention to detail and dimension.
These stylish geometric stunners look fabulous on any gender.
Available in Brass or White Brass
One Size. L: 60.32mm W: 60.32mm
Standard Size. 1.29mm (16g) pin
Weight: 26g
Hand forged
Sold as a pair
Worldwide Shipping
Also available to pre-order in:
Silver and Copper
(please see Merkato pre-order product, for info on how to order)https://rebelsrepublic.com/product/merkato-pre-order/


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Arnold for 3ds Max 2018
Arnold for 3ds Max is provided by the MAXtoA plug-in.
Release Date
July 13, 2017
This version uses the Arnold 220.127.116.11 core, and is MAXtoA build 832.
Get the installer on Solid Angle Downloads.
- Polymeshes can now be volume containers.
- Global AOV shaders exposed.
- Indirect AOV checkbox added to the skydome light.
- RGBA (beauty) AOV now allowed.
- Indirect Sample Clamp and Indirect Specular Blur exposed in the rendering options.
- Iridescence (thin film) section added to the Standard Surface shader.
- Normal Map shader now exposing a strength parameter.
- Coat built-in AOVs added.
- New CLM license.
See the Arnold 188.8.131.52 release notes for the full list of core enhancements and fixes.


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A breath of fresh air in Nuremberg
More and more German cities are being sued for low air quality and must show an action plan to meet target levels. As the first city to test the new CyPT-Air tool, Nuremberg can present a plan to lower emissions with detailed predictions about the impact of policy and technology changes.
The city of Nuremberg, Germany – loved by tourists and residents for its expansive old town and scent-filled Christmas market – was one of 45 cities to have legal measures initiated against them by the nonprofit association Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH, Environmental Action Germany) in mid-2017 for exceeding thresholds of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), an irritant compound that attacks the skin and causes respiratory problems. The cities were given a deadline by the campaign group to unveil the short-term measures they will take to ensure target levels are met as of January 1, 2018. The legal action wasn't the first against German cities for their air quality, and, most likely, it will not be the last.
In the case of Nuremberg, the city has a progressive environmental policy and is among the top 25 cities in the Mercer Quality of Living Ranking. It has been working for years to reduce air pollution and greenhouse gases. Nevertheless, due to local traffic, Nuremberg does not always meet World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations for air pollution levels, in particular nitrogen dioxide and fine dust particulates.
Unlike other cities targeted by DUH, Nuremberg can show environmental activists, citizens, and policy makers more than its short-term plan of action to lower air pollution: It now has predictions of air pollution levels in 2030, as well as calculations showing which policy and technology changes will lower which types of pollutants by how much and when.
We now have a powerful analysis for convincing citizens and lawmakers what measures to take to reduce air pollution.eter Pluschke, Deputy Mayor of Nuremberg
The analyses come from a new version of the City Performance Tool (CyPT) software, developed by Siemens. It is called CyPT-Air because the parameter-modeling tool was adapted for air quality. Nuremberg is the first city worldwide to use CyPT-Air to measure key pollution indicators, create a package of measures to reduce pollution, and make predictions about air pollution levels over the long term. Nuremberg participated in a pilot project with Siemens that lasted roughly twelve months and resulted in three comprehensive transport scenarios that the city can use to reduce air pollution.
Peter Pluschke, Nuremberg's Deputy Mayor in charge of environmental and health issues, was deeply involved in the project. He says: "We now have a powerful analysis for convincing citizens and lawmakers what measures to take to reduce air pollution."
Why Nuremberg?
Nuremberg was chosen as the global pilot city for CyPT-Air because of its close ties to Siemens (which has a major campus in nearby Erlangen) and the wealth of data available here, including some data that other cities don't collect, such as air pollution measurements made with mobile reading stations.
For all sectors under consideration, CyPT-Air reports both environmental and economic indicators. Nuremberg used data on mobility and transportation to calculate the impact of 40 traffic and technology measures, such as banning vehicles in the city center, creating incentives for more bicycle use, or extending the subway system.
Nuremberg used a wide variety of its own data sets, provided by different city offices, to develop three scenarios for reducing pollution. The first, called "Intelligent E-Mobile," is focused on reducing NO2 by 2020 and includes putting into place an environmental zone around the city, implementing a toll, and introducing more electric vehicles, including buses, taxis, and cars. If Nuremberg takes all the steps it has as mapped out, it could reduce NO2 emissions in 2020 by 45 percent, according to calculations made with the CyPT-Air tool.
The second scenario is called "Car-Free Fun" and is focused on tolls and taxation to give people an incentive to use other types of transport than cars, in order to reduce fine dust and carbon emissions by 2025. The third scenario, "Livable City 2025," would create an overall intramodal transport concept to encourage behavioral change, for instance through faster turnaround times and lower prices for public transport.
About CyPT-Air
CyPT-Air was piloted for the first time this year, but actually has a long history. Its roots are in the GCI, the Green City Index, which Siemens used to compare indicators in different cities, such as sustainable development, carbon reduction, or waste management. The GCI evolved into the CyPT, which forecasts indicators, mostly carbon related, until 2050 and serves as a planning tool for dozens of cities around the world including Shenzhen, Minneapolis, and Helsinki. With CyPT, Siemens models specific areas of a city, such as buildings and energy systems, and looks at the impact of applying technologies and infrastructures, including wind power, solar PV, or building automation.
Cities can find out which indicators will change by how much and when, based on particular actions or inaction.Florian Ansgar Jaeger, Engineer, Siemens Corporate Technology
Now, with the CyPT-Air tool piloted in Nuremberg, Siemens does the same for clean-air targets. Florian Ansgar Jaeger, who led the CyPT-Air pilot in Nuremberg for Siemens, explains: "Our calculations are very detailed and precise and give cities a solid basis for understanding the costs and benefits of their choices. Cities can find out which indicators will change by how much and when, based on particular actions or inaction. This is something that most cities don't know in detail."
Jürgen Zöbl, who works closely with the city of Nuremberg as a representative of the Mobility Division at Siemens, says: "Many cities have plans and ideas about measures. They also have lots of studies for individual measures, but they often aren't able to visualize how it all fits together." Looking forward, Siemens is working to feed live data collected automatically into the CyPT-Air tool so that cities can make quick decisions about short-term measures to reduce pollution.
"It's important to move from a point-in-time analysis to continuous monitoring," says Pluschke. "Especially considering the lawsuits [over air quality] that you have probably read about in the newspaper, we will need to show the impact of the measures we're planning. The CyPT tool will help us do that and lend us credibility."
Author: Rhea Wessel, freelance writer in Frankfurt, Germany.
Picture credits: Siemens AG
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By: Bethanie Jones As we head into the holidays, it's pretty normal to have a plethora of conflicting emotions and to swirl things around in our minds. While the world tells us, "it's the most wonderful time of the year",
Mentors in our Life
By: Tom McCrary (This is a portion of a written assignment completed during Yoga Teacher Training. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna represents the divine, Arjuna represents ourselves. Dharma is our path in life. As we move into this season of


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Gol Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes S.A. has announced it reached an agreement with the Boeing Company ("Boeing") regarding the 737 MAX, which includes cash compensation and changes to future orders and associated payment schedules.
"Gol remains fully committed to the 737 MAX as the core of its fleet and this agreement further enhances our successful long-term partnership with Boeing," said Paulo Kakinoff, Gol's CEO.
Since its founding nearly twenty years ago, Gol has operated a single fleet of Boeing aircraft. The Company is one of Boeing's largest customers for the 737 family globally and to date has received and operated over 250 Boeing 737 aircraft. Through this valuable partnership with Boeing, Gol has delivered the Brazilian market one of the most successful low-cost carriers in the world.
In the first quarter of 2019, the unexpected grounding of the 737 MAX by regulatory agencies worldwide, including the FAA, the EASA and the ANAC, resulted in seven (7) of Gol's operational 737 MAX aircraft being grounded, and the non-delivery of 25 737 MAX aircraft scheduled for 2019. This grounding adversely impacted GOL's operations, growth and fleet renewal plan.
After carefully considering these impacts, the Company and Boeing reached an agreement that provides Gol with compensation and flexibility to implement its dynamic fleet requirements to match supply with demand. While the details of the agreement are confidential, it includes cash compensation and the termination of 34 orders, reducing the Company's remaining firm orders for 737 MAX aircraft from 129 to 95 and increasing flexibility to meet Gol's future fleet needs.


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Columbia cannabis dispensary hosts grand opening
Shangri-La Dispensaries will host a grand opening celebration Friday at its first Columbia location, 3919 Peachtree Dr.
The celebration takes place 3-6 p.m. at the second of the mid-Missouri company's three medical marijuana dispensaries to open. The Jefferson City dispensary at 2118 Missouri Blvd. opened in March. Shangri-La's Columbia Super Store, at 1401 Creekwood Parkway, opens later this summer. More information, including directions to the store, can be found at http://shangriladispensaries.com.
Nearly 120,000 Missouri patients have been approved as medical marijuana cardholders by the state Department of Health and Senior Services. Medical cannabis sales in Missouri include an additional 4% sales tax, with the proceeds dedicated toward veterans' health and care services.
The department has licensed 349 facilities across the state to cultivate, manufacture, test and dispense medical marijuana safely to Missouri patients. The medical marijuana program, which was approved by 66% of Missouri voters on the November 2018 ballot, has already generated nearly $54 million in tax revenue to the state of Missouri through May.


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Writing is a solitary pursuit, but that doesn't
mean scribes don't enjoy getting together. And when they do, it's often a scintillating experience.
To that end, eight members of the Straw Dog Writers Guild will gather on June 14 in the Smith College Poetry Center to celebrate and read from their recent literary works. Writers include Michele Barker, Dick Bentley, Ellen Hopman, Terry S. Johnson, Rich Michelson, Bill Newman, Suzanne Strempek-Shea, and Jane Yolen.
Yolen explained the gathering.
"It is a kind of tasting party, though instead of food, it's the taste of new books by some of the folks who are on the board of the Straw Dogs Writers Group," she said. "That means each person reading gets about six or seven minutes of reading time. And there will be tasty treats."
Straw Dogs, she added, is ever-growing group of Pioneer Valley writers who in turn support other Pioneer Valley writers. Although she is maybe best known for her children's books, Yolen writes adult fiction and poetry as well. She will be reading from a new poetry book, "The Bloody Tide."
"I actually have a half dozen or more new books, but have chosen to read from my newest book of adult poems, 'The Bloody Tide,' because it's unexpected. That is, most people expect me to read a children's book, but those are easy to find and adult poetry is not," she said. "In this book, I have poems about the Newtown Massacre, the guns-no guns argument, women's issues, voting rights, and the like."
Strempek-Shea will read from her latest book, "This is Paradise: An Irish Mother's Grief, an African Village's Plight and the Medical Clinic That Brought Fresh Hope to Both." The book is the story of former guidance counselor Mags Riordan and the clinic she founded in Malawi in honor of a son who drowned there. Strempek-Shea said she enjoys these group readings.
"I find that it's a lot less stressful when you share the bill," she said. "And, selfishly, I get to enjoy hearing others read and speak, rather than just hearing myself read and speak. And in this case, the authors are locals so I'm all the more excited to hear what my writer-neighbors have been been up to."
The event, which runs 4-6 p.m., is free. The Smith College Poetry Center is in Wright Hall, to the right of the Neilson Library.


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I have a picture of it - any ideas what this is? it will be a settings thing but have tried without success to remove it.
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from Berlin, label Serafin Audio / MetanoiaBack
Iorie is a producer & dj from Hannover, Germany. He started young singing, playing instruments and combined it all later by starting to produce at the age of 15. His music ranges through all tempos always conjunct in the prupose to shake your body, move your heart and excite your mind. In his tracks he uses the sounds of his travels and tries to capture all the encounters that come along them in personal, philosophical lyrics.
The Sanctuary Milan
The Sanctuary
Roma, Italy


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Batter Corn Bread
We're close to the Roman festival of Fornacalia, for which this site is named, so here's my contribution. As befits a befuddled non-historian, the recipe is for cornbread, meaning maize, which the Romans knew not. I generally make cornbread only as an accompaniment to chilli, and so it was this time. The chilli was amazing, and the cornbread more than held its own.
I adapted the recipe from Bernard Clayton Jr's Complete Book of Breads, mainly by omitting the dried milk powder and much of the sugar and by weighing the ingredients, so you won't have to.
- Plain white flour 450 gm
- Cornmeal 285 gm I use Bramanta cornmeal for polenta; any coarse cornmeal is good, but do not use anything resembling instant polenta
- Eggs 2 lightly beaten
- Butter 125 gm
- Sugar 40 gm
- Salt 10 gm
- Yeast 1 block (25 gm) fresh or 1 package instant
- Warm water 375 ml
In a large bowl, stir together the dry ingredients; flour, cornmeal and sugar.
If using fresh yeast, crumble it in with the dry ingredients. If using dried yeast, follow the instructions, either adding to the dry ingredients or first proving with a little of the warm water.
In a second bowl, cut the butter into smallish pieces, add the eggs and salt, pour on the warm water and mix. Add the proofed yeast, if that's what you are using, and stir well.
Pour the liquid onto the dry ingredients and beat well into a stiff batter.
Grease two loaf pans — mine are 11 x 24 x 7 cm — with butter and pour in the batter, smoothing the surface with a wet spatula. Set the loaf pans aside for an hour to rise, covered with a damp tea towel. The batter will easily double.
Preheat the oven to about 200°C, place the tins in the middle of the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes. Test like a cake, with a toothpick, which will come out clean when the bread is done.
Serve with lashings more butter. This bread does not keep too well. But then, you won't need it to because it will be all gone before you can say "knife". For the chilli, you're on your own.


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2 reviews for It's Just Personal: A Personal Chef's Essential Guide to Shopping, Cooking, and Eating Smarter
She's the best! Chef Ellen has changed my life. I would highly recommend her back to basics approach to eating healthier.
I've been using Ellen's recipes for years, always a crowd pleaser, easy to follow and most importantly… delicious!! Also makes a great gift for the person in your life who likes to cook. ?


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Wallace's report on the secret Tiananmen papers
A quarter of a century ago, the world watched as Chinese military tanks rolled on Tiananmen Square and began firing on student protestors, killing hundreds-- possibly thousands -- as they called for freedom of the press, freedom of speech, and an end to government corruption.
It was one of the bloodiest chapters in Chinese history, and as Mike Wallace reported for 60 Minutes in 2001, there was a bitter debate among China's top leaders about whether to use force against the students.
That information was exposed 11 years later when a senior Communist Party official smuggled out of Beijing secret transcripts known as "The Tiananmen Papers." The papers document the debate and divide within the highest levels of the Chinese government about whether violence was a necessary strategy against the protestors.
According to Wallace's report, posted in the video player above, the secret documents reveal an intense power struggle inside the Communist government between the traditional hardliners and the reformers.
The man who smuggled out the papers spoke with Wallace in 2001 and insisted that his identity be concealed and his voice altered because he planned to return to China.
"It's probably hard for Westerners to understand the degree of the risk that I've undertaken," he told Wallace through a translator.
When Wallace asked why he risked his life to smuggle out the documents, he said, "At the time of the events, I saw corpses. I saw a depressed mood among the public. I saw a split in the top leadership. Yet there's been no way to raise the question and to bring it out."
He also told Wallace that Zhao Ziyang, who was the head of the government and the Communist Party during the protests, did not want to use force against the students. Ultimately, Zhao was overruled by hardliners who initiated the crackdown on the student protestors.
With tears in his eyes, Zhao visited the students in Tiananmen Square and begged them to go home. The Tiananmen Papers show why he was so emotional: Just hours earlier, Zhao had lost the power struggle and the next day the government declared martial law.
Zhao was removed from power in 1989 and placed under house arrest, where he remained until his death in 2005.
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How cities and Purdue are preparing for a potential electric scooter invasion
WEST LAFAYETTE — Take this for what it's worth: Electric scooters are not coming to Greater Lafayette anytime soon, according to city and Purdue University officials.
But those scooters can show up at any moment. Ask Indianapolis. Ask Cincinnati. Ask Detroit.
What transpired in Indianapolis – the city had to react quickly to regulate the scooters after they showed up unannounced – isn't lost in officials' minds. So, they are starting to discuss how to regulate those scooters if they are to show up.
"(The scooters) have a potential to be a real game changer, but it can also be a real nightmare," said Aaron Madrid, alternative transportation coordinator at Purdue.
On Transportation:Bangert: Purdue-born bike share program loses its ride on campus
On Transportation:Greater Lafayette cyclists are rolling into health
What are those scooters, and what are their benefits and drawbacks?
The scooters are dockless, meaning they can be parked anywhere, and typically can go as fast as 15 miles per hour. People can use those scooters typically through a smartphone app at a $1 initial fee per ride and 15 cents per minute.
Startups have jumped to manage those scooters, with nearly a dozen companies requesting permits in San Francisco alone. But there are three major companies: Spin, Lime and Bird. Spin and Bird use the same types of scooters, while Lime uses scooters that have a bit longer range.
The scooters began popping up in cities such as Los Angeles in 2017 and have recently reached Midwest metropolitan cities such as Indianapolis.
Indianapolis is the only city in the state so far that has the scooters, although South Bend – home to the University of Notre Dame – is pondering them as well.
The hope is that the scooters will address an issue plaguing cities for decades: Getting people through the final mile to their home, work or night out.
"They are a really exciting new mode of transportation," Madrid said. "The second I bring scooters, (people) want to ride them."
But those scooters have brought a lot of headaches. Wearing helmet is encouraged, but not necessarily followed. People have gotten into accidents while on a scooter, with questions about whether the companies are liable for the accidents. Abandoned scooters on sidewalks can block people with disabilities from accessing ramps and entrances.
The scooters are also electric, meaning like a car, they don't need much effort to operate.
That can increase the risk of something like a low-speed DUI, said Karthik Kannan, a Purdue management professor working on the implications of bike-sharing services in China.
"Those are much more important in college towns because you're going to have a lot more people in the crowd," he said.
When will the scooters be coming?
As stated above, not anytime soon. Lime did not respond to request for comment. Bird said it does not typically comment on future launches, and said the company "works in partnership with all of the cities (it has) launched in."
Madrid said an electric scooter startup, Spin, reached out to him, even bringing its scooters to campus for a conference a couple months ago.
"Research suggests that scooters could be a great fit for several cities in Indiana, including at West Lafayette," said Spin spokesman Cam Mullen in a statement. "We always work with city officials before launching (per our partnership promise) and we don't yet have a precise timeline to share."
Officials ponder regulations
Madrid and other officials want to hear from the companies first. But they know that's not a given.
"(So) our plan is to get out in front of it," said Erik Carlson, West Lafayette's development director.
Carlson hopes to bring regulations to the city's council by early fall.
Dennis Carson, Lafayette's development director, said Lafayette's discussion on its policy may become public in a month or two.
"It's something we need to address," said Lafayette Mayor Tony Roswarski. "We don't want scooters dumped in our city."
So, what will the regulations look like?
At Purdue, it may be as simple as treating those scooters like bikes, at least for now, Madrid said.
"We have at least a semblance of a game plan," he said.
But the officials said all options are on the table, from setting a permitting process to requiring those scooters to be parked only at certain spots. They have been discussing the issue among themselves and others in the area.
"(The scooters) don't get priority among the users of sidewalks," said Margy Deverall, Lafayette's bike pedestrian coordinator.
But if the scooters are to show up and cause troubles before regulations set in, the officials uniformly said they will take action, from impounding those scooters to fining the companies.
Lafayette, for instance, has policies on abandoned bikes – impound them after a few days – that can be imposed on abandoned scooters, Deverall said.
"(The companies) need to understand what the city code says."
Kannan said in light of what may happen in Greater Lafayette, officials should begin thinking about policies on individual mobility services as a whole, rather than playing whack-a-mole with each type of those services.
"Who knows what the next generation (of those services) may be?"
Contact Journal & Courier reporter Jeong Park at 765-420-5339, email@example.com and follow him on Twitter: @jeongpark52
St. Joe's College sued for defrauding Sodexo of $1.35 million
Acquitted murder suspect pleads guilty to misdemeanors
Ex-teacher accused of sexual misconduct argues for change of venue
Cozy Tavern aims to bring back business to South Street
Greater Lafayette World Series organizers optimistic about growth


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Birchwood Farm Caravan & Camping Site is a suitable destination for many tourists. Set in a picturesque surrounding of the Derwent Valley, the site has much to offer for cyclists and ramblers. Midshires Way that leads to High Peak Trail lies nearby and is a great attraction to take up.
Tents, motorhomes and tourers are catered at the site for. You can also hire static homes. The facilities of the camp include all modern conveniences to provide with convenient stay. There are free showers and an on site shop. The site has all the conditions for a great family holiday.
Other facilities include: electric hookups, chemical disposal point, dish washing, childrens play area, toilets, gas, launderette.


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BIOTEC is a specialized engineering company providing services of:
- Engineering (design, supervision of works, inoculation, commissioning).
- Construction / Erection
- Operation
It is sometimes difficult for an industry to define what pathway, and what products and services, are the most adapted to its specific case. Sometimes an industry takes contact with BIOTEC for environmental issues and "discovers" so many possible solutions that it is definitively very difficult for it to choose without a deep and long comparison of advantages, disadvantages, and costs.
When the industry cannot define by itself the best "pathway", what is quite normal when it is not its core business, we recommend asking for the support of specialized consultants.
The job of the consultants is to present clearly to their clients all the possible solutions/options of effluents and "waste" management, and to analyze, size and budget them, looking for the most suitable option for each case in function of the industry priorities and cash flow.
BIOTEC launched and supports two specialized consulting companies to provide that evaluation service to the agro-industry, municipalities and financing institutions.
Both have the focus of ZDM (Zero Discharge Milling), transforming potential pollution problems into business units.
Both receive the technological support of BIOTEC and HYDRA, as well as of other specialized Technology Providers, so that they have a wide database of possible solutions and costs, as well as of operational results of hundreds of projects all over the world operated by BIOTEC or HYDRA.


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With lyrics like, "Fuck the police coming straight from the underground, a young brother got it bad cuz I'm brown," Ice Cube has proved himself to be both a G and a sage.
There's also the line, "Check yourself before you wreck yourself," which seems to be written right for Bill Maher, who put his foot in his smarmy mouth last week when he called himself a "house nigger" (hard "r" on that).
Maher, who just happened to have booked Cube the week he had to pay the piper, was his usual arrogant self, but as one Twitter user (the Notorious K.W.S.) noted, Ice Cube came out in his black fitted L.A. cap, and you know he meant business.
He also gave Maher the business about his racial "transgression" (Maher's words).
"I knew you were gonna fuck up sooner or later … I did," said Cube right off the bat. "But you be bucking up against that line; you got a lot of black jokes. Sometimes you sound like a redneck trucker."
Cube continued, "My thing is this, I just want to know … what made you think it was cool to say that?"
Maher replied, "There was no thought to it."
Cube then said that he accepts Maher's apology but that "we need to get to the root of the psyche."
"Because I think that there's guys who are a little too familiar … who might have a black girlfriend or two that made them some Kool-Aid every now and then, and they think they can cross the line. And they can't," he continued.
"It's a word … that's like a knife … that's been used as a weapon against us by white people," Cube said. And then, kinda gangster like, "And we not gonna let that happen again."
Peep the rest of O'Shea Jackson taking Bill to school:


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The European Commission recently published a legislative proposal containing measures to improve the European single market for electronic communications and to achieve a Connected Continent. The proposed rules allowing open Wi-Fi hotspots should be closely scrutinised.
Wirless networks
Article 14 of the proposal concerns the regulation of wireless local area networks. The clause restricts telecommunication providers and public authorities from preventing end users from making their Wi-Fi access available to third parties.
Private individuals, commercial providers and other organisations will all be able to utilise this right in order to make their Wi-Fi access publicly available.
General authorisation
Under the proposals, public authorities must allow the deployment, connection and operation of unobtrusive small-area wireless access. They must also permit the provision of Wi-Fi access to networks of telecommunication providers and the use of the harmonised radio spectrum. The last point is subject only to obtaining general authorisation.
The proposals foresee that the European Commission will later adopt administrative measures defining the scope of such "general authorisation". It will concern aspects such as the maximum size, power, electromagnetic characteristics and the visual impact of the small-area wireless access points.
Wi-Fi hotspots and file sharing
The question arises as to how these new rules will interact with copyright and file sharing scenarios.
Under Art 12 of the EU's E-Commerce Directive (transposed by § 8 of the German Telemedia Act), internet service providers are generally not liable for the information which is exchanged on their networks.
It is unclear whether current providers of small-area wireless access points, more commonly known as hotspots, are liable for the content transferred via their connection.
The EU's plans to create a connected continent do little to bring clarity to this question of liability.
One possible interpretation of the legislative proposal is that future Wi-Fi hotspot providers would be liable for the content transferred from the access point they offer. This is because such small-scale providers are explicitly excluded from being classed as general telecommunication providers; particularly where the provision is not commercial in character, or is merely ancillary to another commercial activity or public service. This means they would not benefit from the above-mentioned exclusion from liability.
The question of liability for providers of small-area wireless access points needs to be clarified.
If Wi-Fi hotspot providers continue to be a risk of receiving warning letters for file sharing due to the content exchanged by users on their networks, it seems unlikely that the European Union's commendable goal of achieving a connected Europe will be achieved.


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Global education allows you to view the world from different lenses; to develop a sense of empathy that is essential as part of the human spirit. The question is, how do we do that? Where do we start? This presentation will give tips on how to incorporate global issues into curriculums with specific examples that have worked in a science classroom. From weekly hot topics to in-depth project-based learning initiatives, globalizing your curriculum exposes your students to life outside the walls of their school and helps to foster curiosity of other cultures and countries. It's important for our students to develop the perception that there is unity within diversity and give them a sense of belonging to a larger world community.
The powerpoint that accompanied this presentation is here. Please feel free to follow up with me regarding questions about the content found within. I am happy to help!


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I've hijacked our blog today as I want to perform an elaborate curtsy whilst declaring in a joyous squeal, "Congratulations, you're so FAB," to the Queen of Vintage – the one and only Kirstie Taylor. Not only is she my right hand girl at Kitty & Dulcie, she's also the brains and beauty behind our award winning sister company Flo & Percy.
We're delighted that Perfect Wedding Magazine readers have voted Flo & Percy as winner in the category of Best Hair Accessories in this year's Perfect Wedding Awards.
Kirstie has a unique talent, I know how very hard she works and I can't think of a more worthy winner. So kick up your heels and sparkle at this week's awards presentation. A giant well done to you and all your team at Flo & Percy.
I'm currently doing a conga round the sunny streets of Essex in your honour. Whoop Whoop.
Shelley xx
I'm currently doing a conga round the sunny streets of Essex in your honour. Whoop Whoop.
Click HERE to check out Kirstie's brand new Flo & Percy Magdalene Collection It's a beauty.


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Today, thanks to advertising, marketing and competition we have all heard of, or read about the term "the 3rd wave of coffee".
But let us analyse exactly what the term means.
The course of coffee throughout the years has been long and always altering.
It began in the 16th century with the first wave
The first wave's aim was to increase sales and consumption rates. At this stage coffee is consumed purely for the psychostimulant properties of caffeine. Instant coffee also bloomed.
Then between 1980 and 1990 the second wave
foreshadowed the rise and expansion of franchise-style coffee chains. Coffee at this stage was in its most commercial and profitable form, leading to a consequent increase in Robusta. Robusta is a type of coffee tree which produces coffee that has a strong and bitter taste as its main taste characteristic. Therefore, due to the decline in quality and the bitter taste, there was an increase in beverages with added sugar, syrups and various sweeteners.
The third wave of coffee
refers to the total expression of flavour and the development of coffee that we enjoy drinking. This means high quality raw material, clear taste characteristics, perfectly controlled roasting methods and groups of people whose aim is the continuous development of coffee.
In the third wave we will hear the terms "Speciality Coffee", "Micro Lot", "Single Origin" and "Single Estate".
We will use coffee making appliances such as Chemex, V60, Syphon.
We will roast using state-of-the-art machinery and with our extended knowledge succeed in achieving greater flavour growth and caramelisation depending on the varieties of coffee we are handling.
We hope to be able to take coffee to the next level. A level where no one will need to add sugar to it.
Here at CoffeeLab we are a team of expressionists! 3rd wave coffee expressionists.
We apply full sustainability and traceability which means we are in full control of the coffee production process starting from the farm and making its way all the way to the consumer, with respect to each stage.
We ourselves pick the high-quality raw material, participate in the processing method and control its storage and transportation to our modern facilities. It is there that each coffee bean will be roasted to reach its maximum flavour potential and will then be shipped to our stores where the highly trained baristi will handle it with care and knowledge.
We choose to respect the farmers and their prosperity by achieving higher market prices for green coffee. We believe in a future filled with quality and fairness for all.
We train the barista in our stores with attention to detail for the highest quality product and unprecedented competitive customer service.
Evolution, innovation and a good mood. Key words for our everyday life.


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Shabazz Muhammad, Nerlens Noel Decision: Live Analysis and Twitter ReactionApril 11, 2012
Today is D-Day in college basketball.
Forget the national championship—that was over a week ago. Tonight, Shabazz Muhammad and Nerlens Noel will make their decisions as to where they will play college basketball. The nation's No. 1 and No. 2 recruits, according to Rivals, can change the landscape of college basketball depending on where they go.
Muhammad, a 6'6" guard from Las Vegas and McDonald's All-American MVP, is as hard a worker as he is talented, which makes him a very dangerous player. He is choosing between Kentucky, UCLA and Duke.
Noel is a 6'10'' center, who recently reclassified from 2013 to 2012. Of the Anthony Davis mold, he is an athletic freak, an incredibly long shot-blocker and a raw offensive talent. To put it simply, he doesn't have a ceiling. Noel will be choosing between Syracuse, Kentucky and Georgetown.
Stay with me all day as I give you all the up-to-date news and live-blog their decisions being covered on ESPNU. Fair warning: I am a Kentucky fan. I apologize.


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Although our website is about astronomy, we receive many questions that are related, in whole or in part, to the science of physics.
This isn't a surprise, because astronomy and physics are intimately tied together. Physics is the study of the laws that govern the universe, and to the best of our knowledge, those laws are the same here and now as they were long ago and far away.
In order to explain what we see in the night sky, therefore, we appeal to theories originally developed to explain physical phenomena on the Earth. In addition, the extreme environments encountered in astrophysical situations provide a "laboratory" to test these theories under conditions that we could never hope to recreate ourselves.
Physics and Astronomy
Isaac Newton provided one of the first examples of the link between physics and astronomy in the 17th century, when he reasoned that the force of gravity which pulls objects to the Earth is the same force which keeps the Earth and other planets in orbit around the sun.
Later on, in the 19th century, astronomers who were studying stellar spectra (the light from stars split up into its component colors) began to notice that the patterns they saw matched those that occurred when light was shined through different gases in laboratories here on Earth. This discovery allowed astronomers to determine the chemical composition of stellar atmospheres, and in fact, their work later came back to help physicists; the element helium was discovered in spectra from the Sun nearly 30 years before it was found on the Earth.
In recent years, rapid developments in physics and astronomy have kept pace with each other. The twin goliaths of 20th century theoretical physics - general relativity and quantum mechanics - helped explain an enormous number of developments in astronomy, from black holes to cosmology to the various processes by which light is emitted and absorbed in stars, galaxies and the spaces in between. Nuclear physics, meanwhile, predicts and is tested by reactions that take place in the centers of stars, those like the Sun and those undergoing violent events like supernovae.
Despite the above success, there is still much work to be done in physics, especially in the areas that relate to astronomy. General relativity (which deals with massive objects) and quantum mechanics (which deals with small objects) are known to contradict each other, which means we don't currently understand the laws that govern some of the most interesting aspects of our universe - the centers of black holes or the first fraction of a second after the Big Bang.
Physicists continue to seek their holy grail - a unified theory which explains everything in the universe in one fell swoop. One possibile way to reconcile general relativity and quantum mechanics lies in string theory, a theoretical model of the universe still being developed that would involve many more dimensions of space-time than the currently accepted number of four.
Will string theory eventually succeed, or will something else come along to take its place? We don't yet know. But the quest of physicists to understand the universe will continue, and the implications of our increased understanding - on philosophy, religion and society as a whole - will continue to grow.
Questions About General Physics
- What is a singularity? (Beginner)
- Do most astronomers believe in God based on the available scientific evidence? (Beginner)
- Why is looking out into space the same as looking back in time? (Beginner)
- How can I nominate myself for a Nobel Prize in Physics? (Beginner)
- Is the speed of light constant? (Beginner)
- How can we understand the meaning of large numbers like "a million million?" (Beginner)
- What is a dimension? (Intermediate)
- Can you use an infinite line of reflectors to send light to the edge of the Universe? (Intermediate)
- How fast do particles travel in space? (Intermediate)
- Can you fire a gun on the Moon? (Intermediate)
- Is there such a thing as hyperspace? (Intermediate)
- How does melting a material reset its radioactive clock? (Intermediate)
- Could a different theory of gravity explain the dark matter mystery? (Intermediate)
- Would the biggest airplanes cause tsunamis if they crashed? (Intermediate)
- Has there been an experiment that measured speed faster than the speed of light in vacuum? (Advanced)
- What is the difference between the "Doppler" redshift and the "gravitational" or "cosmological" redshift? (Advanced)
- Why can't a plane fly slowly and let the Earth pass underneath? (Beginner)
- Does the Coriolis force determine which way my toilet drains? Does it affect black holes? (Beginner)
- How does the Moon stay "suspended" in the air? (Intermediate)
- What makes a satellite geosyncronise itself with Earth's orbit? (Intermediate)
- Is the gravitational force exerted by the Earth on the Moon equal to the centripetal force acting on the Moon? (Intermediate)
- Where does the kinetic energy of infalling bodies come from? (Intermediate)
- Since Earth is spinning, why do we land in the same place when we jump or fall? (Intermediate)
- What happens to a bullet fired on the Moon? (Intermediate)
- How close do you have to come to the Earth to be influenced by its gravity? (Advanced)
- Do electrons age? (Beginner)
- What causes a particle to decay? (Intermediate)
- What is a graviton? (Intermediate)
- Does quantum entanglement imply faster than light communication? (Intermediate)
- What is the SU(3) quark model? (Intermediate)
- What is the photoelectric effect? Why can't multiple low-frequency photons free an electron? (Intermediate)
- How are photons created and destroyed? (Advanced)
- Can superheavy elements (such as Z=116 or 118) be formed in a supernova? Can we observe them? (Advanced)
The Ask an Astronomer team's favorite links about General Physics:
- Physlink.com: a web reference for all types of Physics, including a section in which you can ask the experts. If you think you are an expert you can even try answering the questions yourself!
- Physics Virtual Bookshelf: Documents on various physics topics written by staff members at the University of Toronto.
- Hyperphysics: Clear and succinct explanations of general physics.
- Cern Public Site: CERN is the European Centre for Nuclear Research - the world's largest Particle Physics centre.
How to ask a question?
If you have a question about another area of astronomy, find the topic you're interested in from the archive on the side bar or search using the below search form. If you still can't find what you are looking for, submit your question here.


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ANMP 2019 Recap
Last week, the Contact Mapping team flew to the ANMP event in Dallas with aspirations to make a massive impact at once of the largest annual conferences in Network Marketing. By every metric, we blew the doors down! I couldn't be more proud of the team and what we were able to accomplish. I wanted to share some of the highlights.
For those that aren't aware of Contact Mapping, our flagship product is the Contact Mapping app. Its primary goal is to help our users keep track of and prioritize one their most valuable asset: their personal and professional relationships. In network marketing, relationships are the lifeblood that allows each individual to grow and sustain their business. Our product can provide value to virtually any one of the 90 million people in this industry, and we have big ambitions to reach and help as many of them as we can.
Back to Dallas...
The beta version of our app debuted one year ago at the ANMP conference. At the time, the app was free, but it was still new, and the goal was to provide as many one-on-one demos in the hopes that people would try the beta and stick around. All told about 200 people participated in a demo.
This year we wanted to step the result in a much bigger way. Our big hairy goal was to demo to half the people at the 1,000 person conference and convert 300 our trial with a credit card on file. To do so would not be trivial given all the speaker sessions, other vendors, etc. To that end, we created an end to end strategy to provide swag and raffles for people that came through every step of the process: watching the demo, signing up for the trial, and even coming back and showing us they successfully used the app 10 days. That last piece was critical because studies have shown that to make a lasting impression, a person needs to have at least 5 touch points with a service.
The good news is that we were so overwhelmed with interest and activity that we had 4-7 people helping out at the booth starting from 8 AM in the morning until 8 to 10 PM at night. It was non stop demos, questions, sign-ups, and selfies! While we ultimately didn't hit our big hairy goal, 40% of the attendees watched a live, 2-minute demo and one our of every five attendees started a trial. That was HUGE. Everyone remarked at how much buzz there was at the booth. And the feedback since the event has been overwhelmingly positive.
At Contact Mapping, we still have a long way to go to reach our multi-year vision of being an industry standard, MUST HAVE app for anyone in the Network Marketing and Real Estate industries. However, ANMP 2019 was a significant step in the right direction towards achieving that vision.
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this, can I ask you for a favor?
I would like the opportunity to connect with you on an ongoing basis with the intention that I continue to provide you with valuable information and insights to help transform your life personally and professionally. To that end, it would mean a lot to me if you performed one or more of the following.
- Sign up for my newsletter to get new articles sent right to your inbox.
- Follow me on Twitter or connect with me on LinkedIn. Don't forget to say hi!
- Contact me to setup a free, 15-minute consultation.
- Share this article with anyone that might benefit from it.
Thanks again for your time and attention! It means the world to me to know that you gave me this opportunity to connect with you.
About Rick Manelius
Quick Stats: CXO of Atomic Form. Graduated from MIT in '03 (BS) and '09 (PhD). Life hacker and peak performance enthusiast. This blog is my experiment in creative writing, self-expression, and sharing what I've learned along my journey. For more information, read my full bio here or contact me.


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Kong, F, Yin, H, James, P ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9079-3953, Hutyra, LR and He, HS 2014, 'Effects of spatial pattern of greenspace on urban cooling in a large metropolitan area of eastern China' , Landscape and Urban Planning, 128 , pp. 35-47.Full text not available from this repository.
Urban areas will experience the greatest increases in temperature resulting from climate change due to the urban heat island (UHI) effect. Urban greenspace mitigates the UHI and provides cooler microclimates. Field research has established that temperatures within parks or beneath trees can be cooler than in non-greenspaces, but little is known about the effects of the spatial pattern of greenspace on urban temperatures or the optimal spatial patterns needed to cool an urban environment. Here, urban cool islands (UCIs) and greenspace in Nanjing, China were identified from satellite data and the relationship between them analyzed using correlation analyses. The results indicate the following: (1) Areas with a higher percentage of forest-vegetation experience a greater cooling effect and a 10% increase in forest-vegetation area resulted in a decrease of about 0.83. °C in surface temperature; (2) A correlation analysis between mean patch size, patch density, and an aggregation index of forest vegetation with temperature reduction showed that for a fixed amount of forest vegetation, fragmented greenspaces also provide effective cooling; (3) The spatial pattern of UCIs was strongly correlated with greenspace patterns; a mainland-island greenspace spatial configuration provided an efficient means of enhancing the cooling effects; and (4) the intensity of the cooling effect was reflected in cool island characteristics. These findings will support better prediction of the effects of specific amounts and spatial arrangements of greenspace, helping city managers and planners mitigate increasing temperatures associated with climate change.
|Item Type:
|Schools > School of Environment and Life Sciences
|Journal or Publication Title:
|Landscape and Urban Planning
|Related URLs:
|National Natural Science Foundation of China
|Depositing User:
|USIR Admin
|Date Deposited:
|19 Oct 2016 10:06
|Last Modified:
|27 Aug 2021 20:32
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Governor announces long-term care testing program
Last updated 6/4/2020 at 1:46pm
The state Department of Health on Thursday, May 28, issued an order that will require widespread testing within long-term care facilities.
Residents and staff in nursing homes will be tested within approximately two weeks, with a completion goal date of June 12. All residents and staff in assisted living facilities with a memory care unit will be tested within four weeks, with a completion goal date of June 26.
"Residents of long-term care centers are some of our state's most vulnerable," said Gov. Jay Inslee during a news conference. "This effort will serve as an invaluable tool to reduce any introduction of COVID-19 into these facilities. Especially as we reopen the state, we must double down on these efforts."
Facilities that completed a COVID-19 point prevalence survey of residents and staff on or after April 1 will be excluded from this round of testing.
To help in this effort, the state will pay for the cost of the tests and the PPE necessary to administer them for staff, which is estimated to total $1.5 million for nursing homes alone. Cost estimates for other facilities are continuing through the Office of Financial Management and other state agencies.
Facilities unable to meet these requirements in the designated time frame must notify the Department of Health to avoid violations of the order.


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Sexual Plasticity in a Marine Goby (Lythrypnus dalli): Social, Endocrine, and Genetic Influences on Functional Sex
Date of Award
Degree Type
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
First Advisor
Mattew S Grober - Chair
Second Advisor
Kim Wallen
Third Advisor
Charles Derby
Fourth Advisor
Laura Carruth
Fifth Advisor
Tim Bartness
Sex determination occurs early in development for most animals, at which time sex is fixed for life. Many teleost fishes, however, exhibit remarkable sexual plasticity throughout their life history, ranging from multiple morphs within a sex to functional adult sex reversal. To understand the development and evolution of adult sex reversal, I examined behavioral, endocrine, and genetic contributions to the regulation of functional sex in adult animals, using the bluebanded goby (Lythrypnus dalli) as an experimental model. This species was found to be equally capable of sexual transitions from female to male (protogyny) as from male to female (protandry). Throughout adult life, sexual phenotype is determined by social status, an emergent property of agonistic behavioral interactions that follows a relatively simple social convention: if dominant become or remain male, or if subordinate, become or remain female. The translation of social status into a change in sexual phenotype in the protogynous direction requires a rapid drop in circulating estrogens and an increase in the gonadal expression of a testis differentiating gene dmrt1. Steroid hormones do not play a significant role in modulating status, but the androgen 11-ketotestosterone does positively correlate with the expression of paternal behavior. Taken together, these findings suggest an evolutionary mechanism in sexually plastic species that has linked the conserved molecular cascades of sexual differentiation to a novel signal that varies over life history, social status, thereby allowing for lifelong phenotypic plasticity.
Recommended Citation
Rodgers, Edmund William, "Sexual Plasticity in a Marine Goby (Lythrypnus dalli): Social, Endocrine, and Genetic Influences on Functional Sex." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2007.
doi: https://doi.org/10.57709/1063870


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Genre: YA Contemporary
Pacing: Average/Normal
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Published: September 18th, 2018
Pride and Prejudice gets remixed in this smart, funny, gorgeous retelling of the classic, starring all characters of color, from Ibi Zoboi, National Book Award finalist and author of American Street. Zuri Benitez has pride. Brooklyn pride, family pride, and pride in her Afro-Latino roots. But pride might not be enough to save her rapidly gentrifying neighborhood from becoming unrecognizable.
When the wealthy Darcy family moves in across the street, Zuri wants nothing to do with their two teenage sons, even as her older sister, Janae, starts to fall for the charming Ainsley. She especially can't stand the judgmental and arrogant Darius. Yet as Zuri and Darius are forced to find common ground, their initial dislike shifts into an unexpected understanding. But with four wild sisters pulling her in different directions, cute boy Warren vying for her attention, and college applications hovering on the horizon, Zuri fights to find her place in Bushwick's changing landscape, or lose it all. In a timely update of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, critically acclaimed author Ibi Zoboi skillfully balances cultural identity, class, and gentrification against the heady magic of first love in her vibrant reimagining of this beloved classic – Synopsis by Goodreads
"Sometimes love is not enough to keep a community together…"
It hurts to give this low of a rating, but I was just so disappointed with Pride and it was a highly anticipated book for me.
Pride is a remix of one of my favorites classics, Pride and Prejudice (P&P). Usually I'm a little nervous when someone touches one of my favorite books but with this one I really wasn't. The idea of a modern twist with black characters was such a fantastic and fresh idea I thought. My little heart danced and I was eagerly awaiting some great representation and some banter that would make me turn many shades of red – Yes, I blush at romances, I'm a goof. Atlas, my little heart did not do any dancing through-out this story and I found myself more and more frustrated as the book went on.
The lead characters Zuri and Darcy were obviously our updated Lizzie Bennett and Mr. Darcy. The first few chapters I had some hope with Zuri, she seemed independent, intelligent and very likeable, she started out well enough. She lives with her sisters in the "hood," all piled in one bedroom of a very small house. Although they live in poverty, she loves where she treasures the neighboor hood that she grew up and it is very concerned that it will change with rich people building houses in the neighborhood. This is where Darcy comes in, he movies in directly across the street from Zuri's family in a very large, wealthy home. Zuri is resentful right off the bat and Darcy is aloof and distant, very reminiscent of P&P.
I really was trying to not go into this book with a bias, since I love the classic so much. I figured it had it's own take on the story and I'd just go along for the ride. Unfortunately, the parts that were inspired by the classic, were the parts that really dragged this book down. It probably would've been a much better story if the author hadn't tried to weave in all the plots from P&P, it really didn't work well at all. One of my main issues is that the main characters, Zuri and Darcy, have zero chemistry. At no point does it get better and their banter isn't clever, it's fairly redundant. Lizzie is a really free character, she doesn't hate Darcy just for having money, she hates him because he's a complete asshat to her constantly. In Pride, Zuri is almost obsessed with the fact that Darcy has money and talks about it all the time, which gets a little tiring. I did like the relationship between her and her sisters and think that would've been a much more interesting story to tell.
There are a lot of plots that are going on in P&P and they are pretty much all present here but the biggest problem is that they are thrown in, not really ever dealt with and they just go away suddenly. We are talking about some fairly big plots, they just go after in a couple of pages. You could easily take them out and it wouldn't change a thing and would honestly make things a little less confusing. Most of you that love the book know that one of the most horrible but fun characters to read is Mr. Colin, well he is present here. Sort of… Yet again, another thing that is thrown in for no real reason and is never built upon at all. I did like the party scene – it was perfect and I felt so embarrassed for Zuri and the Lady Catherine scene was also pretty solid. There were pieces of this book that almost worked and I tried so hard to get into them, but they just kept speeding by. The romance that does form between Zuri and Darcy does seem kind of out-of-nowhere and really forced and I never really bought that they were into each other. Maybe it's because there was never a romantic tension before-hand.
I also had a bit of an issue with the fact that Zuri kept trying to make Darcy act "more black." She constantly shamed the way he acted and talked and when he finally explains why he is the way he is, I suppose she accepts it but again it doesn't really feel solved or dealt with. It made me uncomfortable.
Did anything about this book work for me? Yes, like I mentioned before, I really liked the sisters relationship, I loved the descriptions of the neighborhood and how Zuri felt about it. I particularly loved the neighborhood party, I really felt like I was experiencing it. It felt really authentic and these are the moments I was really craving more of through-out the story. I also loved hearing about the University that Zuri wanted to attend and the reasons why and reading about her exploring her possible future there. The poetry in the book is also wonderful. All of these things were so much more interesting than checking off all the plot points from P&P. There is also lots of wonderful representation in this book and it's an ownvoice author, that in itself is something to celebrate. Also the cover and end pages are a freaking work of art. I'm hanging on to the book just to look at it, not even kidding.
At the end of the day, this book just wasn't for me. I know the book has mixed ratings overall and I'm not saying to not pick this book up. You might love it and if you aren't familiar with Pride and Prejudice, that might actually be a positive going into this one. You won't be making the constant comparisons. I would completely read another book by this author, as long as it's not another remix.


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Great Article With Lots Of Insights About Web Design
Creating an efficient website can seem such as a huge job. When you have no training to little experience, or although you may have a considerable amount of experience, it could always be a job which is intimidating. When identifying your design, there are lots of things you much make a decision on. The most up-to-date methods of website design will probably be constantly changing. Use the following advice for top level website design possible.
Watch for new tips on forums devoted to web design if you want a jump start, or perhaps to find out more. You will find more details online at no cost, too.
Do not use a lot of graphics. Graphics are critical, however they can also clutter up a page. Graphics will not be intended to be used as mere decorations they're supposed to better your website content. Also, for example the "right" number of images makes it much simpler to navigate the site.
Avoid use of way too many different fonts in virtually any one website design. Also think about how fonts try to find differing people Website designer in Huntersville, North Carolina Small serif fonts like Times New Roman can be difficult to read on small screens. Lots of sites use typefaces like Verdana as it reads well in various sizes and colours.
When you have links in your page, those links should have text connected with them. Visitors can simply see links which provide content. If links on the site tend not to contain text, visitors may accidentally select them using keyboard shortcuts.
The more time you spend caring for your site, the easier website design will become. The easiest way to learn is as simple as establishing your very own page and begin with simple scripts in HTML or PHP and upgrading while you become comfortable. It is essential that you begin practicing without delay.
If you wish to build an excellent website, give Adobe Dreamweaver a shot. Even beginners can easily discover how to make use of this program. You can include features and use their various layouts and templates.
Start by making smaller websites, in order to view your weaknesses and strengths prior to starting a major site. Start off by making a number of pages that simply have basic information plus some easy text, then asses how it works for yourself.
Usability tests that are task based are a sensible way to determine what design works for your website. The purpose of these tasks is to discover a part of information which is buried somewhere on the site. When you have a great site, it does not take a long time. When the user has trouble, it can provide you with valuable understanding of areas where you may improve.
It is crucial that you examine your website's statistics often. This is significant simply because you should stay abreast of which pages your website visitors check out the most and where your prospects are placed. This information will allow you to know what direction you should take when updating your blog with new content so that you can help to keep customer's attention.
There are several components that comprise web site design, like layout and color scheme. A well-designed website includes many different elements, but that does not mean that learning every one of them is impossible. When you use the info using this article, you will discover that anyone can design an appealing, functional website..


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Funeral arrangements changed for Jackson native shot, killed in Dallas
Funeral arrangements have been announced for a Jackson, Miss. woman who was shot and killed in Dallas, Texas last week.
Jacquelyn Davis, 36, was shot on June 5 in South Dallas, police said. Davis was transported to an area hospital in critical condition but died June 7.
The father of Davis' son, 47-year-old Pettis Gage, is charged with her murder. The shooting was the result of an argument, the Dallas Police Dept. said.
There will be a public viewing for Davis on Friday, June 15, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Jackson Memorial Funeral Home. Visitation and family hour will be Friday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at First Hyde Park Missionary Baptist Church located at 2750 Coleman Avenue in Jackson. The funeral service will be Saturday, June 16, at 11 a.m. at Stronger Hope Missionary Baptist Church located at 223 Beasley Road in Jackson.
Gage is being held on a $250,000 bond for the murder charge in the Dallas County Jail. Gage is also charged with possession of marijuana and driving while intoxicated.
More:Husband charged in deaths of Madison County mother and daughter


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IFCC Network for Standardization of HbA1c
Welcome to the website of the IFCC Network for Standardization of HbA1c
The purpose of the IFCC Network for Standardization of HbA1c is to standardize HbA1c test results of routine methods to the IFCC Reference Measurement Procedure.
Diabetes Mellitus has become a worldwide epidemic, affecting 400 million people. Effective and efficient monitoring of diabetic control and diagnosis requires a good marker for estimation of the average blood glucose over a longer period. HbA1c meets this requirement for such a reliable compass to guide therapy.
For optimal clinical use (e.g. uniform clinical guidelines, uniform reference values, comparison of scientific studies) equivalence of results is desirable: results of any laboratory anywhere in the world and irrespective the routine method used, should be the same. This requires standardization. The IFCC Reference Measurement Procedure for HbA1c is the analytical anchor for the worldwide standardization of all routine HbA1c assays.
General information
NEWS EurA1c 2021
The EurA1c trial, organized yearly, investigates the performance of HbA1c assays across countries and manufacturers. The trial has Eurocentric roots but in the meantime also non-European countries are participating. In 2020 more than 5000 laboratories in 21 countries participated. The 2021 EurA1c trial will be running from October 2021 to April 2022. Results of the first EurA1c trial are published in Clin Chem 2018;64:1183-92


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At Lafayette's insistence, Sookie called the lawyer that Eric Northman had given her while she was drinking her second cup of coffee. She'd been forced to leave a message since the office did not open until nine. Honestly, she didn't think she would hear back from them today, if at all. To her utter astonishment, a secretary had called her back within fifteen minutes of the office opening telling her that they had an appointment that afternoon if she would like to come in. Sookie had been so stunned that she said yes without thinking. She had roughly five hours to sober up and get her shit together so she didn't walk in their smelling like a pirate after a week's stay in Tortuga.
Thanks to Lafayette and Tara, Sookie pulled into the parking lot of the office building where Desmond Cataliades' office was located fifteen minutes before her meeting looking as if she was fresh from the salon, and hadn't spent the night drowning inside a few bottles of tequila. After showering for what seemed like an hour, Sookie had let Tara style her hair in a low knot at the nape of her neck while Lafayette worked his magic with a makeup brush. Sookie has been wearing makeup since she was thirteen years old, but even she didn't know all the tricks and tips that Lafayette pulled out to make her look the way she did. You couldn't see a single imperfection on her face by the time he was finished and she looked well-rested, not like a washed up sailor.
They do say appearances are deceiving.
Sookie had chosen to wear an all black dress that she had purchased to attend a funeral. She certainly felt like she was attending a funeral as she stepped out of the elevator and towards the receptionist desk.
"Can I help you miss?" A professional looking woman sitting behind the desk looks up at Sookie, a polite smile on her face as she waits for Sookie to respond.
"I'm sorry; I think I'm on the wrong floor. I'm looking for Mr. Cataliades," Sookie replies quietly and tries to retreat back to the elevator.
"You're in the right place, miss. This is the law offices of Desmond Cataliades," the receptionist responds with a warmer smile.
"Oh," Sookie utters quietly as her eyes dart around to look at all the hustle and bustle taking place in the cubicles and offices behind the glass wall that separates the reception area and the offices. "I didn't realize there were so many lawyers here."
"Mr. Cataliades owns the firm, but there are many lawyers here; all specializing in different areas of the law," she replies brightly. "Did you have an appointment with Mr. Cataliades?"
Sookie shakes her head. "Yes, I'm Sookie Compton."
"I'll let Mr. Cataliades know that you are here. Would you care for something to drink while you wait?" Sookie shakes her head no and moves towards one of the sofas in a cozy seating area. She still feels slightly queasy from the night before, and of course, her own nerves aren't helping her feel any better. There aren't butterflies in her stomach; it's a herd of stampeding elephants.
How am I gonna afford all this? I shouldn't have come here; I'm wasting this poor man's time. What if Bill finds out I consulted a lawyer and gets mad? Sookie's working herself into a panic over all the thoughts swirling around in her mind. She stands up, ready to run from the office and avoid all of this, but a young woman in a shockingly bright lime green dress with even more shockingly fuchsia pink hair stands at the door with a pleasant smile on her face.
"Mrs. Compton? I'm Diantha, Mr. Cataliades' assistant. Won't you please come this way?" However, the way the woman talks makes all of this sound like one long word. Sookie struggles to understand what the woman said but the wink and head jerk from the receptionist let Sookie know that she is supposed to go with the woman standing in the door. Sookie smiles gratefully at her before she hurries towards the brightly colored woman.
Diantha leads Sookie down a long hallway of glass-walled offices, every office increasing in size until she leads her to the one at the far end of the hallway. There is another woman sitting at one of the two desks in front of the door marked as Desmond Cataliades. This woman is also as equally bright as her counterpart, though she is wearing an electric blue dress with purple hair.
What is it with the bright colors?!?!?!
Diantha knocks softly on the open glass door and the man sitting inside gestures for her to enter. With unsure steps, Sookie walks inside the office. Diantha closes the door softly behind her, and Sookie whirls around in a panic. She feels trapped; she needs to escape.
"Mrs. Compton," a man says congenially as he rises from his chair to circle the desk. Sookie swings around to focus on the man approaching her. "I'm Desmond Cataliades." He offers his hand to Sookie in greeting. His large warm hand engulfs hers, making her feel tiny. The lawyer gestures at the seating area of his office. "Won't you please have a seat?"
Sookie sits uneasily on the firm leather sofa as she looks around at the tastefully decorated office. Looking at the artwork and other items decorating the office, Sookie can tell that Mr. Cataliades does very well for himself, which means he will cost a pretty penny. It's not that Sookie doesn't have money, but given that she is going from two incomes to one, she will need to tighten her belt and limit her expenses. An expensive attorney, unfortunately, isn't in her budget.
Sookie rises abruptly from her seat, clutching her purse tightly in her hands. "Mr. Cataliades I'm so very sorry, there's been a mistake. I'm sorry to have wasted your time; I shouldn't have come here today." Sookie tries to walk around the coffee table and make her way out of the office, but the portly lawyer hurries to stop her.
"Mrs. Compton, with all due respect, the only mistake would be in leaving my office today. From what little I know, you are in need of representation and protection during this difficult time," he offers in a gentle tone so as not to frighten her.
Sookie tears up hearing his words. "I don't know what to do," she utters helplessly as the tears begin falling in earnest down her face. Desmond quickly grabs the box of tissues from the table and offers them to her. Once she has one in her hand, he sets the box down with a thud and guides her back to the sofa. Sookie collapses on the leather surface, burying her face in her hands as heaving sobs rack her body.
The attorney does not say anything while Sookie has her emotional release. He patiently waits for her to regain control. Desmond Cataliades is sensitive enough to know that this is a highly traumatic time in anyone's life. When Sookie finally gets herself together, the lawyer offers her another tissue. She smiles gratefully though she is ashamed of her outburst. It's one thing to let go in front of friends and family; it's something completely different when you do it in front of a stranger.
"I'm so sorry to break down in front you like that." Sookie wipes at her face trying to fix the damage of her tears. Thankfully, she knew Lafayette had used waterproof mascara, so she hopefully didn't have any black tracks running down her face. Of course, her foundation and blush are probably damaged beyond repair.
"There's a mirror over there," Desmond offers kindly as he points helpfully towards an open door in the office. It turns out the door leads to a private bathroom, to which Sookie makes quick use of. She stares in disgust at her face; it's red, blotchy, and swollen from her recent crying jag and no amount of cold water on her face is going to fix that. She looks around the bathroom, hoping for a way to escape, but alas there are no secret passages or windows for her to use. With a last deep breath, she opens the bathroom door. She finds the attorney standing beside the seating area which now has a tea and coffee service on it.
Desmond looks at her with concern. "Are you alright my dear?"
Sometimes the hardest thing to bear when you are down and out is the kindness of strangers. Sookie takes several deep breaths trying to keep control of her emotions. The last thing she needs is to start crying again. "Not really," she manages to squeak out.
"Please have a seat. Can I get you anything to drink? I have tea and coffee here, but if you prefer something else I'll be happy to get it for you." As a true gentleman, Desmond waits until Sookie sits before sitting himself. Once he is seated, he unbuttons his jacket to get comfortable.
"Coffee please," she mutters weakly. The gracious host that he is, Desmond quickly hands her a small china cup and saucer filled with the dark liquid. She'd foregone cream and sugar due to her unsettled stomach. Desmond also pours himself a cup of coffee though he adds more cream than coffee to the cup, and the amount of sugar in that cup is enough to rot at least five teeth.
"I have a fondness for sweets," Desmond says with a conspiratorial wink when he notices Sookie staring in horror as he stirs his beverage with the spoon. My wife doesn't let me have sweets at home. Doctor's orders," he says patting his rotund stomach. "She's even gotten my assistants to side with her, though Gladiola and Diantha are my nieces, so they side with her more out of familial concern. The only time I get anything sweet is during client meetings. I hope you'll keep my secret." Desmond winks at Sookie as he brings the sugary drink to his lips.
"Of course," Sookie replies automatically. She takes a sip of her own drink. When she sets the cup back in the saucer, she leans forward to place it on the table. "Mr. Cataliades, I'm so sorry to have broken down on you like that."
"Nonsense," he replies with a wave of his hand. "And please, I insist you call me Desmond."
"Desmond," Sookie begins only for the attorney to cut her off.
"May I call you Sookie?" She nods her head and Desmond continues. "Sookie, what you are going through is one of the most life-altering experiences a person can go through. Thousands of people a year go through divorce, but no two people go through it the same way. I've been a divorce attorney for over thirty years, and while many situations have similarities, no two have been the same. How can they be the same when you are involving people's emotions and lives?"
"I appreciate that. Lots of people have been tryin' to tell me they know what I'm goin' through, but I feel so alone. I feel so lost," Sookie admits in a choked voice.
Desmond leans forward and pats her knee reassuringly. "And that is why you have me, my dear. I am here for you. As my client, I have your best interests at heart. Everyone else will try to offer you their opinions, but unfortunately, what is always just or right, isn't necessarily what is allowed by the law."
"Desmond, I don't think I can afford your services," Sookie retorts in a small voice. In a short period, this man has done more to make her feel better about her situation than anyone else in her life. It's heartbreaking to realize that she's finally been given a lifeline, but can't take it because of money.
Desmond pats her knee reassuringly again. "Don't worry about that; we'll figure something out. From the details you gave my assistant on the phone, you need someone like me in your corner to deal with your spouse. To be honest, I've been waiting for you to call."
"WHAT? How do you know anything about me?" Sookie looks at the lawyer baffled.
"Eric Northman called me a week ago, asked me if I would represent you. It's a good thing he gave me your name. Your spouse called my office Wednesday last week seeking an appointment. Gladiola turned him down citing a conflict of interest."
What color Sookie had in her cheeks drains away. She doesn't know what shocks her more; that Eric Northman called the lawyer on her behalf or that Bill called last week seeking legal counsel. Was the fact that Mr. Cataliades office turned him away the reason that he took everything out of the house? If they are supposed to be doing this amicably, why is he looking for legal counsel? Sookie's head swirls with all her questions.
"Why would Eric Northman call you about me?" That's the first question that Sookie latches on to.
Desmond chuckles slightly as he picks up his coffee and then takes a long sip. "He was calling in a favor, and I agreed. However, after listening to the recording of Gladiola's conversation with your husband, I am willing to take your case pro bono. I shall enjoy making sure he gets everything coming to him." The congenial expression on his face disappears and Sookie can see a vicious demon in its place. It is easy to see why Desmond is so successful in the courtroom if he looks like that. He's intimidating as hell! All he's missing is the ability to shoot fire from his hands!
As if remembering where he is, the dark expression disappears from Desmond's face to once again be replaced by a friendly smile. "Finish your coffee, my dear. We'll get down to business once you're ready. I've had the girls clear my schedule this afternoon so that we have all the time that we need."
Nearly three hours later, Sookie walks out of the office building feeling somewhat better about her situation. It's hard to feel good about her divorce, but at least she feels comforted by the information that Desmond provided her with. The first thing that he cautioned her to do is change the locks on the house as well as the alarm code. Sookie cannot deny Bill access to the house since his name is also on the mortgage and the deed, but she can restrict his access to it on the grounds of feeling unsafe given the way he came in and took everything he wanted when she wasn't there. Desmond also suggested filing a temporary restraining order against Bill, though Sookie said she would have to think about that. He's never been violent towards her in the past, but who knows what he will do now?
Desmond also recommended contacting all the companies that Sookie and Bill had joint accounts with to let them know that they are going through a divorce. One of the common things Desmond said he sees during divorce proceedings is where one tries to ruin the credit of the other. Sookie had panicked hearing that, but Desmond reassured her that it's only been a week; Bill cannot have done that much damage in such a short period. Desmond had Sookie list all the accounts that they had jointly; other than the house, bank, and time shares, Sookie and Bill had maintained separate finances. Bill did not have access to her personal checking account, but Sookie did have access to his, as well as their savings accounts. Desmond had requested Sookie access the account information while she was there to verify the savings account had the proper balance in it; thankfully it did. She spoke with the bank to flag the account so that Bill could not withdraw all the funds and close the account without her knowledge.
It was something at least.
From this moment forward, her attorney had advised her to have all communication with Bill come to him. It will prevent situations from escalating out of hand.
That's the theory anyway.
Walking down the steps of the office building, Sookie reaches into her purse to pull out her cell phone. She'd promised Lafayette and Tara that she would call them as soon as she had finished with the lawyer. The two of them are probably freaking out because they haven't heard from her by now. Plus, she should probably call Gran and let her know what has happened in the last twenty-four hours. Maybe then Adele Stackhouse will understand that there is no saving Sookie's marriage.
Sookie tries dialing the number for Lafayette first, but the call does not connect. She tries multiple times and the same thing happens. Next she tries Tara only to have the same problem. Maybe it's poor cell reception so she decides to fire off text messages to the both of them, letting them know she'll call them later. However, the group text message says it cannot be sent; delivery failed.
"What the hell is going on?" Sookie presses the button on her iPhone so that she can close out all her applications and then shuts off her phone. Pressing the button again, she waits impatiently for the electronic device to start up. Only when she inputs her security code does she see the message in the upper left-hand corner indicating no service.
"What the hell?" Sookie repeats herself, but is completely baffled. She knows she had service before her meeting because she sent Lafayette a text to let him know she arrived safely.
"He didn't!!!!!"
Sookie rushes back inside with the epiphany banging around loudly in her mind. She's too agitated to wait for the elevator and takes off running up the stairs. When she arrives at the receptionist for Mr. Cataliades law firm she is huffing and puffing but she manages to blurt out to the worried woman manning the front desk, "He shut off my cell phone!"
Pamela Ravenscroft is sitting in her office trying to tie up some loose ends from the day since her group had been short-staffed. She doesn't mind pitching in to help, especially knowing what Sookie is going through. Pam had listened to the rambling voice mail from Sookie several times before she understood the gist of what happened. She wished that she were a witch and could send every curse known to man to Bill Compton. He is an ass of the first order for putting Sookie through all of this. Pam had disliked Bill from the moment she met him. She'd never told Sookie this, but Bill had tried to proposition her the night they met.
Did she mention the night they met was the night of Sookie and Bill's engagement party?
Pam never understood what it was that drew Sookie to Bill; in Pam's eyes Sookie deserved someone better.
Someone like Eric if he could get his head out of his ass, though Pam didn't have high hopes for that.
"What are you still doing here?" Eric leans against the door frame of Pam's office with his hands in his pockets.
"I'm trying to finish this up so Sookie won't have to deal with it tomorrow. She's got enough on her plate without having to deal with the idiotic comments this client sent," Pam says without looking up from typing away on her keyboard. Customer service is a thankless job; you're stuck trying to please the client all the time and it doesn't help when the client is too stupid to read what is right in front of them. The email Sookie had sent the client with the attached documentation clearly outlined where everything was and when they could expect the remaining information that was pending. Of course the client didn't read any of that and asked question after question about where the rest of the data was and when they would receive it.
"How is she?" Eric steps further into the office and drops down in one of the chairs across from Pam's desk. It's been eating him up all day that there is nothing he can do to help Sookie. When Pam told him why Sookie wouldn't be in today, Eric had been ready to rush out of the office and drive to her house, ready to wave a sword around like a knight in shining armor. It was only Pam's interference that had kept Eric at the office all day. He'd been so worried about Sookie that he'd been checking in with Pam every half hour to see if she had heard anything. Pam had gotten so annoyed with him that she'd told him to get the fuck out of her office and she didn't want to see his skinny Scandinavian ass again unless he had something work related to discuss.
Why hasn't he fired her yet?
"You can't fix this for her Eric," Pam cautions him as she stops typing. Eric opens his mouth to protest but she shuts him down. "I know you want to save her, to be her knight on the white horse, but you can't. She's going to wonder why you got involved with the lawyer as it is."
"How did you know I called Desmond?" Eric's skin darkens with embarrassment. He hadn't told Pam that he called the attorney; he didn't even do it from the office! Eric swears she's planted listening devices and cameras everywhere to keep tabs on him. Pam knows far too much about his life.
"Pillow talk among girls," Pam smirks as she begins collecting her belongings to go home for the evening.
Eric rolls his eyes as he stands up from the chair. "Which one of the flowers are you dating? I can never keep them straight." While Pam gathers her belongings, Eric walks back to his office to grab his jacket. He doesn't carry a briefcase; if he wants to work from home he can use the company's servers from there. It's very rare he works from home though; if his first marriage taught him anything is that he needs to have definite separation between home and work. His late hours and dedication to his job were among Yvetta's chief reasons about why she sought comfort in the arms of another.
Sought comfort, spread her legs: same difference.
"Gladiola," Pam purrs as she flips off the lights for her office and then pulls the locked door shut behind her. "She has a tongue that should be in the pussy licker's hall of fame!"
Eric smirks and shakes his head ruefully. "Is there such a thing?"
"Of course; I'm the founding member," Pam retorts which earns a chuckle from Eric. She has more to say but the ringing of her cell phone stops her and they both freeze hearing that particular song. David Bowie's "Little China Girl" plays loudly from inside Pam's purse and she hurries to get to the call in time.
"Sookie? What's the matter?" Pam's face looks stricken as she listens to whatever it is Sookie is telling her. Eric hovers close by, trying to hear every word that is coming from Sookie, but he cannot make out much due to her crying. He clenches his fists, ready to go find Compton and pound him into the ground for making Sookie cry. Eric feels so helpless! All he wants to do is take care of Sookie, make all of this ugliness go away so that she can get back to being the sunny, carefree woman he fell in love with.
"Alright. You sure you're OK now? Good. You can take tomorrow if you need it too; there's no need to push yourself." Sookie must not like that because Pam hurries to reassure her that she's more than welcome to come back to the office tomorrow. The conversation ends quickly and Pam slips her phone back in her bag. Her expression look murderous and the suspense is killing Eric.
"Well? What happened now?"
"The clit-beaked, cunt-faced, ass hat cut off her cell phone!"
"Excuse me?" Eric isn't sure he heard her correctly. What the hell does a clit-beaked, cunt-faced, ass hat look like? You know what, doesn't matter; it definitely applies to Bill. "Did you say he cut off her cell phone?"
"Yes; the bastard didn't even tell her he was going to do it. She found out when she left Desmond's office. I swear to God someone needs to dump his body in a swamp and let the alligators have him," she declares darkly.
"I agree," Eric affirms. His expression turns to worry. "Is she OK?"
Pam lets out a deep sigh. "The shit just keeps piling up. I honestly don't know how much more she can handle before she snaps."
That's what Eric is afraid of.


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LOUISVILLE, Ky.—February 18, 2019—Monogram® will demonstrate how a new specialty product will deliver an unmatched sipping experience when it showcases the Forge heated sphere ice press at the Kitchen and Bath Industry Show 2019. A product of FirstBuild, the innovation incubator and co-creation community of GE Appliances, a Haier company, Forge was designed for use in the homes of bourbon connoisseurs and by professional bartenders and mixologists.
"We worked alongside whiskey experts and enthusiasts to bring the luxury of ice spheres into sophisticated kitchens and home bars and the finest tasting rooms," said Larry Portaro, executive director of FirstBuild. "Our initial small batch of the Forge press will be produced in Louisville—the heart of bourbon country and location of FirstBuild's state-of-the-art microfactory."
Spherical ice has become the gold standard for discriminating bourbon palates. Because it melts slowly and chills liquid quickly, it preserves flavor and enhances the sipping experience. Until now, achieving a transparent sphere was a time-consuming process, especially in the home bar. Forge uses a heated press to shape clear blocks of ice into Instagram-worthy spheres for a sophisticated appearance that matches its sleek exterior. FirstBuild is also working on the forthcoming release of a countertop clear ice maker to accompany the ice press.
"As thoughtfully crafted as the bourbon produced in its home state of Kentucky, Forge will elevate consumers' entertainment experience," Portaro said. "We are excited to bring this product to market this year."
Forge is the latest among FirstBuild's unexpected and widely appreciated line of products that also includes the popular Monogram Hearth Oven, which will also be on display at KBIS 2019. The Forge Clear Ice System, including both the heated press and the countertop ice maker, will be available for bourbon enthusiasts to preorder the first half of 2019.
You can learn more and sign up for product updates at www.ForgeClearIce.com.
About FirstBuild
FirstBuild is a global co-creation community backed by GE Appliances, a Haier company, that harnesses the power of the maker movement to change the way major home appliances are conceived, designed and manufactured. With centers of excellence in Louisville, Kentucky, Shanghai, China, and Hyderabad, India, as well as an online community of more than 30,000 individuals, FirstBuild quickly delivers better products that improve the lives of consumers. For more information about how to get involved, visit FirstBuild.com.
About Monogram®
Monogram® takes pride in its quality and artistry, crafting appliances that are expertly engineered and purposefully designed with a minimalist elegance that reflects the feedback, personality and lifestyles of owners with distinctive tastes. With an uncompromising attention to every detail, every material and every industry-exclusive, award-winning feature, Monogram Appliances Elevate Everything™ in the kitchen. For more information on Monogram ranges, cooktops, microwaves, pizza ovens, refrigerators, freezers, ice makers, wine reserves, dishwashers and compactors, visit www.monogram.com.